Many people do not care for the almost-new Menu navigation system for Windows 7. I personally see where Microsoft could have made some additional changes; however, I still like it very well. My favorite feature (which was also available in Vista, though not nearly as robust or accurate as in W7) is being able to click the Start button and type what you want to open or find.
Suppose you want to open a blank Microsoft Excel workbook. All you need to do is click the Start button and type, "Excel". Excel will be highlighted at the top of the list. You press Enter; it opens and is ready to go. You could also press the Windows Key on your keyboard and begin typing. It is the one on the left side of the spacebar that resembles the Windows logo. You know the key; it is the one you never use.
Let me take you one step farther. Let’s pretend that you have document which you created years ago. You know that it is on your computer; however, you have no idea what it was called or where you saved it. You do remember that it had the words, "Emerald City" somewhere in the text. You need to find that email to write some more about Dorothy.
Use the Start button again and type, "Emerald City". Then relax as your computer searches your entire hard drive for any document including email that has, "Emerald City" in the text. In just a few seconds it will appear in the list along with all the others (if there is more than one.) Just as before, clicking on the correct file will open the document and you can read away.
Of course, there is the standard procedure where you click Start, "All Programs" and scroll to the program you wish to start. Then just click and go. Of course this doesn’t find a particular document very quickly.
There are fancier solutions if you do not like the Windows’ Menus. One I have used for years is called, "Desktop Sidebar" (desktopsidebar.com). It is very customizable but will also take you a while to learn how to use. It is easy for the geekier of you out there, but complicated if you are not used to "adjusting" things on your computer.
Another more simple to use menu launcher is named, "Rocket Dock" (rocketdock.com). RocketDock is an attractive and fun program launcher. It is neatly animated and pops at you when you hover the icons. It supplies a pleasant modern interface which easily arranges your most used applications for quick access. The downside with both of these is you need to download, install and then learn how to use them. For both of these free programs there are instructions on their respective sites. Check them out if you want something new for your computer.
Next week we will look at where one of my old favorites went and how to bring it back to life in Windows 7 the "Quick Launch Toolbar".
