Windows Vista Tricks and Tips

Here are a few Windows Vista Tricks  and Tips.  Hopefully they will help you discover new features and functions of Windows Vista that you did not know.  So I put together this Windows Vista Tricks and Tips page to help you out. You can even impress your friends and coworkers with these Windows Vista Tricks and Tips.  So without further delay here they are...enjoy. 

Cool Tip: The best Windows Vista Tricks and Tips that I like are Tip#3 and Tip#6.  It seems that I personally use Tip#6 often in Vista.

Windows Vista Tricks and Tips #1: Boost Your Memory

Windows Vista loves memory.  To get Vista running at its smoothest on your Windows computer be sure to boost its memory.  Install at least 2gb of in your computer laptop or desktop.  Vista runs like a slow boat on the open seas getting nowhere fast with only 1gb of memory for the operating system.

Windows Vista Tricks and Tips #2: Reduce Your Eyestrain

Do you ever get eyestrain from looking at your Vista desktop?  Looking at small text on your desktop will give anyone a major headache.  There is a solution that you can use.  Try to increase the text size rather than changing your screen display resolutions.

• Go to your Control Panel, than in the Search box in the top right type "adjust font size" this will take you to a nice little link screen where you can adjust the DPI for your text.   You can click the Custom DPI bottom and change it from the default setting of 120 DPI to let us say maybe 100 or 110 DPI.  Experiment with the slider control to adjust it to your taste.

Windows Vista Tricks and Tips #3: Snip Screen Shots

Did you know that Windows Tablet PC OS features are built into all premium versions of Windows Vista?  A neat little feature that you can use is a form of screen capture.  If you want to capture and snag all or part of a screen you can.  This lets you paste the screen capture into an email or document.  Hey and its even free!  Here is how you go about using it.

• Find the capture tool shortcut by typing "snip" into the Start menu Search box.  Right-click that shortcut and pin it to the Start menu or add it to the Quick Launch bar.  This way you will have easy access to it again later.  When you run the Snipping Tool, click the drop-down arrow next to the New button to select what you want to copy: a portion of the screen, a window, or the full screen. Click the Options button to open a dialog box where you can specify custom settings. I recommend getting rid of the red ink border; you might want to ditch the prompt to save files each time you exit the tool as well.

Windows Vista Tricks and Tips #4: Automatic Folder Search

When viewing a Vista directory you can have it automatically start searching as you type in your text for the search.

• Go to the Control Panel
• Select Folder Options
• Click on the View tab
• Scroll to the bottom

• Check Automatically type into the Search Box

Now automatic folder searches will start whenever you do a search.

  Windows Vista Tricks and Tips #5: Turn Hibernate off or on

If you don't need your computer to Hibernate or want to turn it back on again just from these short simple steps.

• Open the "Start Menu"
• Right click "Command Prompt"
• Select "Run as Administrator"
• To turn Hibernation off - powercfg -hibernate off 
• To turn Hibernation on - powercfg -hibernate on 
• If you turn it off, it won't even show on the Start Menu

Windows Vista Tricks and Tips #6: Quickly Change the Desktop Icon Size

• You can hold down the Control key while Vista desktop is displayed
• Move your wheel mouse to make the icons larger or smaller

By the way a cool place to other sources for tips and tricks try visiting:  My Directory Live