While being a release that has seen Microsoft regain much of the faith it lost with recent installments of its operating system, Windows 7 arrived with many long adored features either missing or peculiarly buried in such a way as to make their use unnecessarily tedious.
For those of you pining for the Quick Launch toolbar, it?s still available, but you?ll need to perform a few quick tweaks to get it working.
The contents of your Quick Launch folder can be found at this location: %appdata%MicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick launch.?Very easily, this tool will transform those shortcuts into a list that effectively acts as your Quick Launch toolbar.
Called JumpLaunch, this application is a free tool that adds a blue orb to your Windows 7 bar. Right-clicking on the orb will bring a list of applications stored in your Quick Launch list. When left-clicking on the same orb, you?re able to add or remove programs from this list, customizing it to your preferences.
Windows 7 is an excellent addition to Microsoft?s stable of programs, but it?s not perfect. At Computer Geeks, we?ll continue to offer you tips that aid you in getting the most out of this new operating system.
While Internet Explorer and Firefox are the two most popular browsing clients used to navigate the web, Google?s made some headway with a relatively new entry that?s been a recipient of high marks for its features. Called Chrome, Google?s web browser has been praised for its speed and functionality.
If you?re a web developer, you?re always mindful of the speed your website moves at, knowing that even the slightest delay could determine whether or not a new visitor will return.
Aiding developers to that end, Google has released Speed Tracer, a Chrome extension that helps developers gauge just what might be slowing things down?? Java execution, specifically.
While this is probably of no use to your average internet user, it?s certainly something worth looking into if you?re someone who either has a website or is in the process of developing one.
The video below offers a demonstration of how Speed Tracer works:
Chrome can be downloaded from this site, while the Speed Tracer extension can be found here.
Announced a couple of weeks ago, Google has recently rolled out with Google Public DNS, which is a said to increase the speed at which you browse the internet. Completely free, Google?s service replaces your Internet Service Provider?s DNS with theirs.
If you?re someone that feels uneasy when messing with the settings associated with your router and internet connection, you might be interested in an extremely easy-to-use application that gives you an opportunity to test Google?s Public DNS and determine whether its benefit outweighs whatever hassles you might fear from switching over to it.
It?s called the Google DNS Helper, and its purpose is to allow users a chance to test out multiple public DNS servers to determine which ones introduce a noticeable improvement over the speed of your current DNS server.
Using it is simple, with just two options for users to worry about, saving them the stress of having to wrangle with their network settings. With just one click, this application switches you over to Google Public DNS, saving your current DNS settings before doing so. You?re now able to browse the web with your new DNS settings, having only to click the other button if you ever want to return to your original configuration.
If you?re interested in trying out Google?s DNS solution, this is a convenient ? and, more important, safe ? way of doing so if you?re someone who?s wary of tinkering with your router and network.
As an habitual user of Google?s impressive array of services, I?ve only had one grievance, finding it frustrating to have to check every Google service for any new activity. In the past, keeping notified of such activity required the installation of an app for every service, which can prove to be somewhat tiring. Released today, there is now a free utility that consolidates notifications for every Google service you?re subscribed to, acting as a hub of alerts that spares you the hassle of having to use distinct notification apps for each service.?
Called Googsystray, this convenient tool monitors Gmail, Google Voice, Calendar, Reader, and Wave ? settling right in your system tray, where it?ll update you whenever new activity occurs.
Upon its installation, the utility allows you to determine which service you?d like it to keep you apprised of and how you?d like it to respond. For instance, once you?ve received a new email, you can toggle the application to play a sound or even commence with a preset command. Once alerted, an icon corresponding to the service in question will also pop-up; should you right-click on the icon, it?ll expound upon the notification, giving you more information about what new content has arrived.
This is particularly useful if you?re a frequent user of each of these services. Working on both Windows and Linux Operating Systems, this is a free download.
The latest iteration of Firefox 3.6 is now available, delivering over a hundred bug patches that address stability, security and performance. For further information, the details of its release can be read here. This is one step closer to the official release of the new version of Firefox, with Mozilla promising less crashes and faster performance.
You can download the fifth beta for Firefox 3.6 here.
On a shared computer, the administrator may not wish to see the computer shut off by those authorized to use it. This is particularly true in an office, where productivity can be hindered when employees arriving to work find themselves having to wait as the computer boots up rather than being able to immediately log back into their computer console.
In Windows 7, using the Local Group Policy Editor, those functions can be removed by hiding the ?Shutdown? and ?Restart? buttons from the users.
*It should be noted that this feature is not available in personal and home versions of Windows 7.
To begin, we?ll click on the ?Start? button and type ?gpedit.msc? ? hit Enter.
Once the Local Group Policy Editor window is open, take the following route:
User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Task Bar
Once there, select Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands.
Once selected, it?ll prompt you to enable the service, which is done by clicking on ?Apply? and ?OK?
After this is completed, return to the desktop. You?ll notice, when reviewing your options in the Start menu, the only ones available are ?Log Off,? ?Switch User,? and ?Lock.?
Once implemented, the omission of those features is immediately apparent, with no possible means ? outside of unplugging it ? of a user turning their computer off.
