WINDOWS 7 USER INTERFACE

Windows 7 – User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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Get familiar with the desktop ..................................................................... 3 Experience with Aero theme features ....................................................... 9 Features of Aero Themes .......................................................................................... 9 Personalize desktop with Aero Themes ................................................................. 11

Handle tasks with the improved Taskbar ............................................... 12 Access favorites quickly with Jump List ................................................ 20 Find files and programs with Windows Search ..................................... 22 Use the Action Center ............................................................................... 24 Use desktop gadgets ................................................................................ 26 Place gadgets on the Desktop screen .................................................................... 26 Get familiar with Gadget options ............................................................................ 28 Get more Gadgets from Microsoft site ................................................................... 29 The following training document is using Microsoft Help and Support and Lynda.com

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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Get familiar with the desktop

At first glance, Windows 7 desktop doesn’t really look any different from the Windows Vista desktop. However, there are some changes and improvements New applications recently installed will appear for a short time on the left side of the Start menu at the bottom

At the top of the Start menu, there is a recently used list of programs or applications

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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 When the mouse hovers over programs with arrows, for example Microsoft Office Word has been used recently has a little black arrow, you can see some of the files used recently as well as quickly access them from there

 If there is a certain file used over and over, you might want to pin it to the Pinned list so it will not disappear, move the mouse to hover over the desired recent item and the little pushpin appears on the right-hand side of the file of the list and click on it to pin it.

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To unpin a file from the Pinned list, use the mouse to hover over the item and little blue pushpin appears on the right-hand side of the Pinned list and click on it to unpin.

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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 Programs and applications can be pinned to the Taskbar or kept on the Start menu 

Right click the any programs or application on the Start menu

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Select either Pin to Taskbar or Pin to Start Menu from the shortcut menu  If you choose pin the program icon to Taskbar, the icon will disappear on the Start menu

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To unpin a program on Taskbar, right click on it and choose Unpin this program from Taskbar

There is an option to create a shortcut of any program or application on Windows 7 desktop  Go to Start menu  Click and drag a desired program or application over the desktop and release it 

Create link to Desktop will display while you are dragging it over the desktop before releasing the mouse button

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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 Notes: 

Shortcuts can be moved around to organize on the desktop.

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Shortcuts are not actually programs or applications. They are paths linked to programs or applications used on a regular basis. Therefore, when you move shortcuts to the Recycle Bin, it’s just simply to delete the shortcut not the program

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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To stay organized program windows on the desktop which is useful when copying files from one folder to another, click and drag any window form its Titlebar at the top to one side of the screen, either left or right, release the mouse button to automatically resize the window and fill the a side of the desktop screen

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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To maximize any application window without pressing the Maximize button, drag from the Title bar of a desired application window, move it up to the top of the desktop screen and release the mouse button

The Getting Started or the Welcome Center of Windows 7 will provide many options for getting started with a new operating system  Go to the Start menu  Click All Program  Select Accessories folder  Choose Getting Started

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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Experience with Aero theme features Features of Aero Themes Windows 7 has a new feature called Aero Themes included in Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate A translucent glass design with subtle window animation and new window colors

Glass effects – glass window borders let you focus on the contents of your open windows

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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Switch between programs  Point the mouse over a running program or application windows to display a thumbnail preview click on it to switch between programs.

 Aero Shake feature - click, drag and shake the Titlebar of a program window needed to be focused to bring it to the front desktop and minimize and move down other windows to the Taskbar 

Click, drag and shake the Titlebar of a program window again to bring other program windows to the background

 Keyboard shortcut - press ALT + TAB key on the keybroad to see live previews of the windows for each open program, 

Hold down the ALT key and press TAB to move between running programs

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Release keys to bring the desired window displayed on the desktop

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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 Windows Flip feature – press Window  + TAB key on the keyboard, press TAB key to bring each item to the front, and release keys to bring a desired widow displayed on the desktop

Personalize desktop with Aero Themes Right click anywhere on the desktop and choose Personalize from the shortcut menu

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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The Personalization window will pop up, scroll down the slide bar in the window to find Aero Themes catalogue ( usually it’s listed under my Themes)  The number in the brackets represents the number of themes contained in the category  Selecting any themes in the category will change the current background colors and images as well as might affect current screen savers and some of the sounds

Handle tasks with the improved Taskbar Windows 7 includes an enhanced Taskbar that addresses minimizing clutter and putting commonly needed functions in a single place. Unlike Windows XP version, Microsoft made the biggest change in combining the Taskbar’s ability to manage open application icons and shortcuts which are located together on a single area to minimize the number of UI locations you need to visit to get the work done Running applications icon look different than shortcuts because they’re shaded and got borders

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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By default, running applications will appear on the Taskbar next to shortcuts and in the order that they were open. To change the order of running applications icon and shortcuts, drag a running application icon or shortcut and place it in a desired other on Taskbar

To open the new application window from a shortcut or running program icon on the Taskbar, right click on it and click on the name of the application to open a new application window

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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Aero Peek feature, a part of the Aero themes package, gives you a X-ray vision of each running application so that you can peer past all your open windows right on the Windows 7 desktop  Move the mouse hover an icon of running program  Move the mouse hove the thumbnail preview  The open window will present in front of the desktop. 

If that’s the window you want to switch to, click once on the thumbnail preview of the application to get it to the desktop

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To quickly close the running application, click the red close button in the top right corner of the thumbnail

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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Preview Desktop, a part of the Aero Peek’s functionality, is a feature improved and renamed from Show desktop icon on the Taskbar of previous Windows version because it is still used to hide all open windows by instantly turning them transparent. This feature allows you to see the desktop, any shortcuts or any gadgets running  Move the mouse hover the small rectangle on the right side of the Taskbar to turn running application windows transparent  Click once on the rectangle to minimize all windows down to the Taskbar

By default, Taskbar is locked down at the bottom of the desktop screen. To move it to different location on the desktop, do the following:  Right click on any blank area on it and uncheck Lock the Taskbar option from the shortcut menu to unlock it

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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 Move the mouse to a blank spot on Taskbar, click and drag it over to the left/right/top of the screen where you desire it to be located.  After placing in the desired position, right click on a blank area on it and select Lock the Taskbar option to lock it

For other options allowing to change Taskbar properties, right click on any blank on Taskbar and choose Properties option form the shortcut menu

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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 Auto-hide the Taskbar feature is a popular feature which hides the Taskbar out of the way when it’s not being used 

Go to Taskbar tab

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Under Taskbar appearance section, check Auto-hide the Taskbar box

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Do one of the following:  Click Apply button to keep the Taskbar and Start menu Properties window open  Click OK button to close the Taskbar and Start menu Properties window

 To change Taskbar location, click on the down arrow next to Taskbar location on screen and select a desired location to apply to Taskbar

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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 By default, the Taskbar buttons always combine and hide labels because this is important when you start to run different programs at the same time or have multiple files open in an application. To change Taskbar button behavior, click a down arrow next to Taskbar buttons and select a desired option

 Notification area which icon and notifications appear is located on the right side of Taskbar. To customize the Notification area, click on Customize button in the Notification area to change which icons you want to hide and show in this area

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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 By default, the Aero Peek feature is enabled. To manually turn on/off the feature, go to Preview desktop with Aero Peek section and check/uncheck Use Aero Peek to preview the desktop

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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Access favorites quickly with Jump List Jump List provides quick and easy access to frequently used files, sites, options and even information for any program displayed on the Taskbar by right clicking on any running application icon or shortcuts

Under Frequent category, there is a list of frequently or recently visited sites  Click on any of those sites from the list to quickly launch Internet Explorer and directly go to the site Pin the most frequently used sites in to Pinned category

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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By default, the number of items appearing on a Jump list is set to 10 items. However, you can manage the number of recently items to display in the Jump List  Right click on any blank spot on the Taskbar  Choose Properties  Go to Start menu tab  Click Customize button  Under Start menu size, adjust the number of items displayed in Jump List by clicking up or down arrow corresponding to Number of recent items to display in Jump List

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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Find files and programs with Windows Search In Windows 7, Windows Search functionality has been greatly enhanced because you can obtain the fastest search results from network-based file shares as well as your local hard drives such as documents and programs If you know the file was located somewhere in a specific location, do the following:  Go to the location  In the top right-hand corner of Windows Explorer, enter the filename or keyword in the Search field

 For more information, move the mouse to hover over the file in the list to see brief information such as its content, when it was updated and so on

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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If you do not know or remember where to find the file, do the following:  Click Start button  At the bottom of the Start menu, type the file name or keyword in the Search field  Click on a desired file in the list to open it

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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Use the Action Center Action Center is a new feature of Windows 7 which consolidates system notifications into a centralized location to easily monitor issues and maintenance status of the PC including Windows Error Reporting, Windows Defender, and User Account Control Action Center is represented by a little white flag icon in the system area or notification area in the right hand corner of Taskbar

Typically, you will not interact with the Action Center unless there is an issue with one of the tracked features. If Windows requires your attention, you will see a little red X at the white flag icon. When you move the mouse hover the icon, you see brief information about the notification.

To actually view the Action Center information and address the issues, you need to click the Action Center icon to gain access

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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To go to Action Center, click Open Action Center link to get more information about the messages of the alerts and suggested fixes for any problems.

 There are some very important features on the left-hand side of the Action Center window 

Control Panel Home

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Change Action Center Settings

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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Use desktop gadgets Windows 7 installs with a number of desktop gadgets which allow you keep information you would like to have on your Desktop screen at all times

Place gadgets on the Desktop screen To get a gadget on the Desktop screen, do the following:  Right-click anywhere on the Desktop screen  Choose Gadgets from the shortcut menu

 The Gadget window including some default gadgets installed with Windows 7 is displayed, do one of the following: 

Double-click a desired gadget in the window to place it on the Desktop screen

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Drag a desired gadget in the window and place it on the Desktop screen  Weather gadget – provides information about the current and forecasted weather  CPU Meter gadget – shows you your computer’s performance, the CPU and memory  Currency gadget – helps you convert currency at your fingertips  Pictures Puzzle and Slide Show gadget – go through your different photos  Feed Headings gadget – displays RSS Feeds (headline news) on your Desktop screen

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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To get more information about a selected gadget, do the following:  Click a desired gadget to select it  Click a down arrow button next to Show details

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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Get familiar with Gadget options Move the mouse hove the gadget to see some buttons appear:  Close button  Larger Size button – to maximize the gadget  Options button – to modify settings of the gadget  Drag gadget button – to move the gadget around on the Desktop

Right-click a gadget to bring a shortcut menu display some additional options:  Add gadgets… - access additional default gadgets from the Gadget window  Always on top – make a gadget always appear on top of any program that is running

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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 Capacity – adjust the transparency of a gadget

Get more Gadgets from Microsoft site Open Gadget window Click Get more gadgets online link at the bottom-right corner

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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The Microsoft site will be displayed  Select Desktop Gadgets section

 Click Get it now link to install a desired gadget on your Desktop screen

 Click any desired gadget to see more detail information before you install it, click Download button to install the gadget

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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 Scroll down and click Get more desktop gadget link if you want to see additional gadgets organized in catalogues

Windows 7- User Interface Last Edited: 2012-07-10 Technology Training and Education © Metropolitan State University of Denver

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