Five Windows 7 features average users should know about -- and use!

The Search box
"I don't like Vista's start menu," I've been told by customers. "It's too hard to find anything." "Really?" I reply, "Try typing word in this box and watch what happens." Without fail, their jaws drop when Wordpad and Microsoft Word pop up at the top of the start menu. "That's handy!" they say.

Yes, yes it is. Better still, it works with just about anything, anywhere on your computer. Want to listen to your Beatles tunes? Type it in the box and watch the results appear. The search box can even tap into your emails in programs like Windows Live Mail and find that note from grandma you misplaced in some hidden folder.

It's also an incredibly easy way to get at things like theme settings, printers, system information, and more. Learn to use the search box. Love the search box.

Pinning items
Being able to "pin" items isn't really new to Windows 7. You've always been able to permanently stick items on your start menu, but it's now been expanded to the taskbar (or Superbar). Those shortcuts you've been scattering all over your desktop? Click and drag them on to the taskbar and watch what happens. Now they'll never be buried under the program windows you have open!

Backup
Windows 7's built-in backup tool is pretty slick. Plug in a USB hard drive or flash drive, and it'll ask you if you want to use it as a back up device. Create a job to back up your files to the drive, start the initial run, and every time you plug that drive in from now on you'll have the option to re-run your job. It's an incredibly painless way to keep your important files safe.

System Image Power users know all about creating images and know why it's a good idea. Creating a system image is a bit like taking a snapshot of your entire system -- Windows, your programs, your pictures, documents, and music -- and preserving it in case something disastrous happens. Even if your hard drive crashes you can restore your system image to a brand new drive and pick up right where you left off.

I recommend saving your image to an external hard drive or to a network device (like a Windows Home Server) instead of DVDs. A heavily-used computer could require a whole stack of DVDs to create an image.

As is the case with normal backups, staying current is key -- so imaging on a regular basis is a good idea.

Standard user accounts
Windows XP had the guest account, and no one used it. Vista and Windows 7 both offer different types of user accounts, but most of the systems I work on only have administrator accounts.

If you create a standard user account for regular use, you take a big step toward protecting yourself against malicious software like trojans and rogue antivirus programs. Because many infections can't occur without administrator access to certain folders, files, or parts of the registry a standard account can provide a solid first line of defense.

The Windows 7 help file spells it out nicely:

When you are logged on to Windows with a standard account, you can do almost anything that you can do with an administrator account, but if you want to do something that affects other users of the computer, such as installing software or changing security settings, Windows might ask you to provide a password for an administrator account.

By requiring that one, little additional step (asking to type in a password) you'll probably pay closer attention to what's getting installed.

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Next time I'll take a look at five more under-utilized features -- stay tuned!

Not sure where to find some of the Windows apps I mentioned? Go back to tip 1 and type 'em into the search box!

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