Throttle up your Windows 7 experience:

It's time. Windows 7 has been out long enough that many of us have a copy running on a machine somewhere. This tip was designed to show you a few of what may seem like silly functions of the much anticipated OS but which have become quite useful over the course of the last few months.

This new MS offering breaks the beige box stereotype and provides a little color in an otherwise drab design for which we have lived with in the name of business for so long. Let's take a look at a few of my favorites:

Shaking loose apps:
This is really cool. No, really. As a self proclaimed Windows 7 power user I usually have a slew of open windows polluting my desktop by lunchtime. I always set out to keep my workspace free of unwanted clutter but it is a lost cause.

The shake feature allows me to grab a single working window by its toolbar and, using my mouse, shake it silly thus minimizing all other windows to the Taskbar. This is more effective than using the Show Desktop in that the app that I want to work with is still operational. Take a moment to try this. Once you get the hang of it you will wonder how you ever lived without it.

Dual pane:
I had this on my Amiga 2000 back in 1993 (am I dating myself here?) to an extent. If you have two windows in operation that you would like to see side by side (such as two Web browsers or Windows Explorer) the need to size and adjust them to suit your desktop is now moot. Simply grab window 1 and drag it over to the far right of your screen until the window changes color and let go of your mouse button. Window 1 will resize automatically using 50% of your available workspace. Perform the same with window 2 and viola! You will have dual windows in full operation. Sooo easy and so very useful.

Step recorder:
This is just too cool for school. Windows 7 has a built in utility that records your steps, including screenshots, so that you can send them to your resident geek for support. The final output is a zipped .mht file that anyone can open within their Web browser. Activating this tool is easy. Just click on your START button and type "PSR" at the prompt. The recorder opens and waits for your next command. Clicking on the start button will begin the recording process. When you are finished then you use the stop button to halt the process.

The app will also add the specific steps to your captions. No understanding of the technical nature of the process is necessary as Windows 7 is smart enough to do it all for you!