Other Windows 7 Goodies!

Ok so you all now know I have Windows 7.  Well I wanted to let you in on a few little goodies that it has that are very useful.  

Up first is the Snipping Tool.  Now how many times have you been looking at something on your screen and wanted to take a photo of it in Windows XP?  Plenty of times I am sure.  That would require hitting the print screen button then opening either MS Word, Adobe Photoshop, or something else to past that into.  Well now we have the Windows Snipping Tool.  You simply click on "snipping tool" and then you have a tiny window that pops open and has some options.  You will also notice the cursor is now a set of cross hairs.  You also notice that the screen now has an opaque or whitish tint over it that you can see through.  You simply take the cross hairs and drag them on whatever it is that you want to "snip" or take a photo of.  Once you do that the selected area will pop up in a new window and allow you some save options.  It will allow you to save this as a .png, .jpg, .gif, or a .mht file that will open up in a browser.  I think this is a very useful tool and I know I will get a lot of use out of it.

Second up we have Sticky Notes.  Yes now you don't have to download some other program.  You simply click sticky notes and one pops up on your desktop.  You can write yourself a note and you may also select the color that you wish the sticky note to appear.  This is great to throw up some quick reminders on your desktop if you want something simple. 

Another item that you have available in Windows 7 is the math input panel.  Now this is for use with a tablet pen or tablet pc.  It allows you to write your math out and then windows recognizes it so that you can insert it into the proper program.  It is an easy way to write mathematical expressions out and not have to guess at which keys to press.  

As some already know Windows Paint has been updated and now has a more functional usable interface that includes the ribbon style introduced in Microsoft Office 2007.  Interestingly enough Wordpad was also revamped and includes this same design update to the toolbars as well.  

If you are one of the ones who said "Where did my windows mail go?!" then you are not alone.  I preferred windows mail to windows live mail.  I think the client was more robust.  At any rate MS has taken this out and opted to make it as a separate download.  You can of course download the stand alone email client Windows Live Mail or you can download the full Windows Live Essentials.  Live Essentials sort of, at least to me, looks like MS's version of Apple's iLife.  It has a photo editor, video editor, chat and such just as iLife does yet it does include the Windows Live Mail Client.  If you wish to download any of these they may be found here:

http://download.live.com/

All in all I think MS did a good job revamping and adding in some things with Windows.  I definitely love the snipping tool and it was much needed.  I also love the sticky notes.  As always I love feedback on posts so let me know what you think.  I would love to hear from other Windows 7 users on this blog.  I am sure there are some including you MAC folks who are running Windows 7 under bootcamp.  I would love to hear how that is working for you.

-Kevin

(thedigitalbloke@gmail.com)