Windows

Microsoft has made a lot of significant changes from the way things worked in Windows XP to how they work now in Windows Vista and Windows 7. One of the most frustrating changes in my opinion is Windows Search. I used the search function in XP on a regular basis to do everything from a basic search for a file to more advanced things like searching for certain text within a file. In the effort to make things "simpler" Microsoft has removed the interface that used to allow you to do that.

If you are not too thrilled with the Windows Vista/7 shutdown menus or just want the convenience of having those options on your desktop it’s pretty simple to do.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 both have a great option called the Preview Pane. Instead of having Windows classic style folders with file names, icons, and maybe some details, you can have a pane on the right side of your Explorer window that will preview any file selected including graphics files and Microsoft Office files without having to open them.

When you try to open a file in Vista and the OS doesn’t recognize the file extension because it’s not associated with an installed program, a dialog box pops up that gives you the option to "Use the Web service to find the correct program" or "Select a program from a list of installed programs." Most of us want to do the latter, and so you have to go through that extra click to get to your list of programs.

When you try to right click a network connection in the Network Connections folder in Windows XP and select Properties, you get an error message that says "an unexpected error occurred". Not very descriptive, so what is the problem?  The most common cause of this problem is damaged registry settings that prevent you from viewing the network connection’s properties.