Recent used programs and documents list items at Start Menu Properties

The great thing with the new design of start menu of windows is that, you can easily access all your recent opened software easily. It will display all the icons of your programs with its labels as long as you use that everyday.  Also all file items that you have used recently will be shown at the Taskbar e.g. Recent Drafts and Posts.

Let’s study how it was done first at windows registry (regedit.exe) by going to the folder location below:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Start_TrackProgs = 1 (checked value, 0 to unchecked)

Start_TrackDocs = 1 (the option is checked, 0 to unchecked)

Note: When you unchecked the Recent Programs list it will clear all the items at the start menu, same thing with the Documents Recent list.

Use WinBubble to unchecked and apply the registry setting

If you just want to clear them (the start menu items) and later after several days you want to restore all items, Use WinBubble Enhanced “Display Recent programs at Start Menu” option to unchecked and apply the registry settings.

 

If checked it will restore all the Program items list.

Winbubble automatically backups the list then later you can restore them using the option.

Cool?!

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Preview desktop with Aero Peek located at the Taskbar Tab Properties

When you move your mouse over the Show desktop button located at the end or rightmost portion of the Taskbar, you’ll be able to preview the entire desktop.

The new feature in Windows 7 creates a temporary transparent view of the entire desktop like glass.

Anyway, If you felt that it will just heat up your video card and motherboard – you can turn off or on the function, go to the Taskbar Properties and at the bottom part, you’ll see the option as shown above.

Next, Here’s the Windows Registry location of the tweak:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

DisablePreviewDesktop = 1 (unchecked)

DisablePreviewDesktop = 0 (checked value of the Taskbar option)

For the Keyboard combination of the feature, Press Winlogo key  + Spacebar to quickly preview the desktop and release the keys to restore.

That’s it! The technical details of the function in windows registry.

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Configure the Start Menu Power Button function at Taskbar Properties and Start Menu Tab in Windows 7

This is a new feature at Windows 7 that lets you configure the start menu power button function and action. You can easily access the feature at the Taskbar and Start Menu properties as shown.

Let’s dig on its technical details.

 

Windows Registry Settings

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Start_PowerButtonAction	Value Data
Switch user	100
Log off	1
Lock	200
Restart	4
Sleep	10
Hibernate	40
Shutdown	2

 

Here’s an example, we used the value data 4 for Restart function as shown below:

 

Usually, when you bought new laptop nowadays, the initial settings for the power is to Sleep after touching the button. This is the easiest alternative way to add a shutdown function to start menu.

That’s it!

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Windows 7 Start Menu Taskbar Appearance and Tweak UI using Regdevelop

Windows 7 updates the Taskbar to a minimal state that you can access everything as simple as possible. There are exact similarities with my design last 2007 for the taskbar in Vista, the icons became larger and more accessible.

The auto-hide feature, and locking the taskbar is still there, same with the previous version of Windows. To customize the taskbar buttons, the default mode now of taskbar buttons is Always combine and hide labels and you can still configure Combine when the taskbar is full and show program names or labels.

For Taskbar location on screen, you can move the taskbar location all throughout the screen – Bottom (default), left, right and top.

Here’s the Technical details in Windows registry:

Registry Location

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Lock the Taskbar

TaskbarSizeMove = 0 (checked)

TaskbarSizeMove = 1 (unchecked)

Use small icons

TaskbarSmallIcons = 0 (unchecked)

TaskbarSmallIcons = 1 (checked)

Taskbar Buttons

Always combine, hide labels – default

TaskbarGlomLevel = 0

Combine when taskbar is full

TaskbarGlomLevel = 1

Never combine

TaskbarGlomLevel = 2

Although you can access everything at the taskbars properties, let’s practice creating the same function using Regdevelop and create your own Tweakui:

Drag and drop 5 checkbox control and 1 label control

Configure the captions and start entering the registry location, value names and data from the technical details that we discuss.

---------------------------------------------------------

Caption

Lock the Taskbar

RegKeyPath1

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Value_Name1

TaskbarSizeMove

ValueData1

0

ValueType1

DWORD

DeleteWhenUnchecked

False

RegKeyPath2

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Value_Name2

TaskbarSizeMove

ValueData2

1

ValueType2

DWORD

---------------------------------------------------------

Caption

Use small icons

RegKeyPath1

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Value_Name1

TaskbarSmallIcons

ValueData1

1

ValueType1

DWORD

DeleteWhenUnchecked

False

RegKeyPath2

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Value_Name2

TaskbarSmallIcons

ValueData2

0

ValueType2

DWORD

---------------------------------------------------------

Caption

Always Combine and hide program names or labels

RegKeyPath1

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Value_Name1

TaskbarGlomLevel

ValueData1

0

ValueType1

DWORD

DeleteWhenUnchecked

False

RegKeyPath2

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Value_Name2

TaskbarGlomLevel

ValueData2

2

ValueType2

DWORD

---------------------------------------------------------

Caption

Combine when taskbar is full and show program names or labels

RegKeyPath1

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Value_Name1

TaskbarGlomLevel

ValueData1

1

ValueType1

DWORD

DeleteWhenUnchecked

False

RegKeyPath2

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Value_Name2

TaskbarGlomLevel

ValueData2

2

ValueType2

DWORD

---------------------------------------------------------

Caption

Never Combine

RegKeyPath1

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Value_Name1

TaskbarGlomLevel

ValueData1

2

ValueType1

DWORD

DeleteWhenUnchecked

False

RegKeyPath2

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Value_Name2

TaskbarGlomLevel

ValueData2

0

ValueType2

DWORD

---------------------------------------------------------

Afterwards, you can check the program by running and clicking the Start button (or by pressing F5). It will automatically restore even if you change a lot of settings while debugging.

The finally, click the Build Icon. That’s it!

Thanks for reading the article!

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Android - Toggle your Brightness level using the Power Control widget

The brightness level toggle function located at the rightmost part of the widget is very handy in conserving battery power for the Mobile Phone.

 

What-to-do

Here’s how to add the widget: Touch any vacant space longer until a Add to Home Screen window opens with options. Choose the widget icon and add the Power Control.

That’s it!

The refresh look alike function turns on/off the sync feature, thanks to some Youtube videos for sharing the tip.

Hardware Interfaces

Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity)

- a wireless network that uses 802.11 standard. Wi-Fi is always used at malls, coffee shops and airport to connect and browse to internet wirelessly. Android phones uses this type of wireless connectivity and consumes energy, to save power, you can turn on if needed and turn-off when the phone is idle.

Bluetooth

-  a technology that uses radio transmissions to communicate wirelessly to devices such as computers, mouse, and mobile phones over short distances.You can listen to music using  Bluetooth enabled wireless headphones going to your phone.

GPS (Global Positioning System)

- GPS is a navigational system that determines the location (longitude and latitude) of the object or people base on the satellites by computing the time difference of the signals.

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Important Power Management Features of Windows 7

Let's dig and cover what's important energy efficiency features of Windows 7 that core users must know.

Windows 7 doesn't include a large number of new technologies compared with Vista but it has a large number of improvements such as User Account Control (UAC) interactions, Power consumption analysis, Data Encryption, Internet explorer Protected Mode, Windows Firewall improvements and  Microsoft Anti-virus software.

Windows 7 as Energy efficient System

Windows 7 already provides rich energy saving features extending the existing capabilities by reducing the power consumption and increasing the battery life compared with the previous version of Windows.

The power policy of Windows 7 to it’s hardware components has been improve to the point that mini-laptops became popular all over world. Let’s take a look at the average power consumption of modern laptops.

Quick Tip:

• From the figure above, the easiest way to extend battery life and save energy consumption is to reduce the brightness level of the display.
• For Desktop PC, the easiest way to reduce the power consumption is to configure "Turn off the display" after 2 to 5 minutes.

• User powercfg /energy to analyze and find problems in energy efficiency related cases.

Windows 7 is already managing the processor performance and other hardware components, and changes it dynamically based on the current usage to provide performance increase when required and save energy based on the current application you are running or using.

For example, when the system is only a small portion of it’s speed or mostly idle, there is no need to be running the processor in the maximum performance mode, instead the processor voltage and frequency is automatically lowered to save power. When truly idle, the processor power consumption can be as low as 100-300mW and 35W for full-blown usage such as playing games and using processor, graphics and memory extensive applications.

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