Windows 7 Annoyances

Secrets of Window Management

One of the perks you get with Windows 7 is a whole bunch of window management shortcuts and nifty eye candy to happily accompany the drudgery of generating soils reports. Here are some of the ways you can make working with Windows just a little more enjoyable.

Note

Aero Snap is the name given to the feature that automatically helps you position windows as you drag them around. Drag a window to the top of the screen to maximize, or to the left or right to half-maximize. Or, drag a window so its edge mates with the edge of another window or the edge of the screen, and it’ll snap snugly into position.

Don’t like it? You can turn it off by opening the Ease of Access Center page in Control Panel. Click the Change how your mouse works link, and then turn on the Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen option.

Tweak the Taskbar

Windows window management takes place mostly on the taskbar, which got a big facelift in Windows 7. Gone is the piddly QuickLaunch toolbar; now you can use taskbar buttons to launch programs as well as manage them when they’re already open. Jump lists, covered in Start Explorer with Any Folder, help merge these two functions nicely. You can even rearrange taskbar icons now by simply dragging and dropping.

But one thing you still can’t do is hide several icons inside of a single icon on the taskbar. As it is now, a program shortcut can either be on the taskbar or desktop, or buried several layers ...