Three Vista Quickies
Quick Tip #1: Resize Desktop Icons with Your Mouse
I’m sure you’re all aware that Windows Vista supports three default sizes of desktop icons, whereas Windows XP only supports one. But, the real reality is that Vista can support even more than that, with just a simple scroll of the mouse. Follow these directions to resize your desktop icons quickly and easily:
1.) Click on the icon you want to resize.
2.) Hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard.
3.) Next, just start scrolling your mouse wheel.
Voila. Your icons instantly change to whatever size you need!
Quick Tip #2: Skip the Product ID
One of the very first steps you’ll see when setting up your Windows Vista computer is the prompt to enter a product ID number. If you’re familiar with Windows XP, you can probably enter that number with no problem. But, in Windows Vista, you can leave the product ID box blank, if you’d like. If you do that, you’ll get a stern warning from Microsoft that basically says you better put the ID number in if you know what’s good for you! Well, you can still safely skip it if you know you have (or will have) a legitimate product ID number in the near future. Or, if you’re just planning to evaluate Windows Vista for 14 days or less.
It just gives you a little breathing room. Cool, huh?!
Quick Tip #3: Make the Cursor Easier to See
The blinking cursor in Vista that indicates where you can type text is as thin as Kate Moss, which can sometimes make for frustrating moments when you’re not able to locate it. So, to make your cursor easier to see, just go to Start, Control Panel and type “optimize visual display” in the search box. Next, click the shortcut to see the dialogue box, shown here:
Bumping up the size of your cursor from 1 to 2 makes a noticeable difference and going all the way to 11 would really make it impossible to miss!
I hope these quick tips have been helpful to you. Give them a try today!
~ Ramachandran Kumaraswami