Tablet PC is notebook shaped computer that able to accept input directly through the computer’s screen. You can use your finger, stylus, or other device to control Windows 7 without using a keyboard or mouse.

To use all these features in Windows 7 you should turn on Tablet PC Components by following the instructions:

1. Open Start menu and choose Control Panel.

2. Choose Programs and Features.

3. Press Turn Windows Features on or off.

4. Check the Tablet PC Components item.

5. Click Ok button and follow the onscreen directions.

After performing instructions above such features will be turned on:

- Tablet PC Input Panel;

- Windows Journal;

- Math Input Panel;

- Other Hand Writing Recognition Features.

NOTE: Unfortunately Windows 7 doesn’t allow to choose what features of the Tablet PC turn on or off. You can turn on or off only all the features.

Sometimes you may need to take the screenshot of the items that displayed on the display. Screenshot is image taken by operating system to record items that displayed on the display.

You can do the screenshot in 2 ways in the Windows 7.

First – using keys’ combinations of your keyboard.

1. At the beginning you must clarify what keys should be used to take the screenshot.

Usually you should use PrintScreen key on your keyboard (or PrtScr).

But sometimes you can do the screenshot by pressing Fn or Ctrl then pressing another key.

2. If you want take the screenshot of the items that currently showed on the display

press key combination that used for taking the screenshots.

2. Open Paint (or another image editor). To open Paint go to Start menu, choose All Programs, then Accessories and choose Paint.

3. Paste your screenshot to the Paint window using Paste option or Ctrl+V keys combination.

4. Save the image to the destination folder.

NOTE: If you want to take the screenshot of the active window then you should press and hold Alt key on your keyboard and press PrintScreen key on your keyboard or another key combination that used for taking the screenshots.

You will get next result:

Second – using Snipping Tool in Windows 7

1. Open Start menu, choose All Programs, then Accessories and press Snipping Tool.

You will see next window:

2. Select area that you want to take screenshot of.

3. Save the image to destination folder.

We can see the following picture during OS boot after a bad shutdown, power interruption, etc.

That picture means that special program was launched. It’s called chkdsk and it can display the file system integrity status of hard disks, fix logical file system errors or check the disk surface for physical errors and bad sectors.

But it happens that errors are present on the disks, but chkdsk doesn’t launch automatically. In such case you can run it manually using one of the next methods.

First method - using Graphical Interface.

1. Open Start menu and click on the Computer option.

2. Right-click on the disk that you want to check and choose Properties.

3. Navigate to Tools tab and press Check now button.

4. Press Start button in the next window.

NOTE 1: If you want to scan your disk for bad sectors then check second option Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

NOTE 2: If you are attempting to check disk that in use (for example, your system disk) you receive next warning message:

Press Scheduled disk check and close all windows. Your disk will be checked at next computer boot.

Second method – using Command Prompt.

1. Open Start menu, choose All Programs, Accessories and click Run (or just press Windows + R keys on your keyboard simultaneously).

2. Type cmd in the opened string.

3. In the Command Prompt type:

chkdsk volume: /f

– volume: – disk letter (in my case it is c drive);

– /f – parameter that fixes errors on the disk.

NOTE: The disk must be locked. If chkdsk cannot lock the drive, a message appears that asks you if you want to check the drive the next time you restart the computer:

Press Y key on your keyboard. chkdsk command will check your disk for errors and fix them at next computer boot.

You will see window below:

chkdsk command has got other parameters, you can see them by typing

chkdsk /? in the Command Prompt. 

Sometimes you may experience with some errors in the Internet Explorer. You can easily clarify if these errors are related to some specific add-ons by running IE8 without add-ons. You can perform this in two ways: from Start menu or using Run command.

From Start menu:

1. Click Start button.
2. Choose All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and click on the Internet Explorer (No Add-ons).

Using Run command:

1. Click Start button.
2. Choose All Programs, Accessories and click Run.

3. In the opened string type

iexplore.exe –extoff

4. Press Ok button.

Now you have IE8 is running without add-ons.

In this mode you can manage add-ons by right-clicking on the warning message at the top of the IE window.

You can disable or enable add-ons one by one until you find add-on that causes the problem or errors in the IE.

You can use simple administrator user accounts to perform almost part of the actions in Windows 7. But sometimes you might need to use built-in administrator account.

You can easily use that account by following the instructions:

1. Open Command Prompt: click Start button and type cmd in the Start Search string. Find Command Prompt in the search result list and right-click on this item, then choose Run as administrator.

2. Press Yes button if you are prompted for User Account Control permission.

3. At the Command Prompt type:

    net user administrator /active:yes

press Enter button on your keyboard.

4. If you want set the password for this account at the Command Prompt type

    net user administrator <Password>

and then press Enter button on your keyboard.

Note: Replace the your_password with desired password that you want to set to built-in administrator account.

5. Close Command Prompt.

6. Log off the current user account and check the results.

If you want disable built-in administrator account you can perform that by following the instructions:

1. Open Command Prompt: click Start button and type cmd in the Start Search string. Find Command Prompt in the search result list and right-click on this item, then choose Run as administrator.

2. In the Command Prompt type:

    net user administrator /active:no

press Enter button on your keyboard.

3. Close Command Prompt.

4. Log off the current user account and check the results.

If you have Windows XP-based computer and going to upgrade to Windows 7 you should have good tool for files and settings migrating. You can use Windows Easy Transfer that created for transferring files, email, pictures, and settings.

To do the migration you need:

- computer with Windows 7;

- computer with Windows XP;

- USB flash drive.

First you should save all important personal data from Windows XP computer. If you don’t have the Windows Easy Transfer tool installed on it you can install it on the flash drive using Windows 7 computer.

Step 1. Install Windows Easy Transfer tool on the flash drive.

On your Windows 7 machine launch Windows Easy Transfer: click Start  button, choose Getting Started and then Transfer your files.

You will see the Windows Easy Transfer welcome screen.

Press Next button to proceed. In the next window choose An external hard disk or USB flash drive. 

Then choose This is my new computer.

In the next window press No.

Then choose I need to install it now.

It is time to plug into computer your flash drive. In the wizard window choose USB flash drive.

And browse for your flash drive. In my case it is Removable Disk (G:).

You will see the process of copying the Windows Easy Transfer tool files on your removable device.

Now you are ready to install Windows Easy Transfer on your old computer.

Unplug your flash drive from new computer (Windows 7).

Step 2. Transfer files from Windows XP computer.

Plug your flash drive in your old computer (Windows XP). You will see the folder WindowsEasyTransfer and icon for Windows Easy Transfer tool.

You can start Windows Easy Transfer process by double-clicking on the program icon. 

In the first window press Next button

then choose This is my old computer.

The program will scan your system drive for users’ data and settings.

You will see the list of the user accounts.

You can copy only certain files. Just press Customize and choose the items that you want to save.

Also you can use Advanced option and choose files in the more detailed mode.

Press Save button and now you are ready for transferring. Press Next button to start that process.

You will be asked to set the password to protect your future .MIG file that will contain all your settings and files, but you can leave these fields blank. Press Save button to proceed.

Choose file destination at the next window, you can use same flash drive where your Windows Easy Transfer tool is located. 

Wait until saving files and settings will be finished.

Review the information in the next window and press Next button.

Read the report and press Next button.

Press Close buton and un-plug your flash drive from old computer (Windows XP).

Press Close button.

Step 3. Transfer your files on the new computer (Windows 7).

Launch Windows Easy Transfer: click Start  button, choose Getting Started and then Transfer your files.

and navigate to the .MIG file location (it is can be your flash drive or external hard drive).

You can transfer all files and settings that are contained in the .MIG file or you can customize what to transfer by choosing Customize or Advanced Options.

Press Transfer button and wait until transferring to new computer will be finished.

After process will be completed you can review what was transferred or what programs were installed on your old computer (Windows XP) but don’t install on a new one (Windows 7).

Good luck!

Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that contains configuration settings and options on Windows operating systems. When you install/uninstall some software, drivers you make some changes in the registry. Also some viruses or other malware can make changes in the registry. Sometimes it can cause many problems beginning from slow performance to broken file associations. These problems can be fixed but in this case you need to edit registry entries. Every time you attempt to make changes in the registry you should firstly back up the registry. That’s why you need to know how back up the registry and how to restore it back. There are the step-by-step instructions below.

To open Registry Editor:

1. Click the Start  button, click Run.

type regedit in the Open string and click Ok.

2. If you don’t have Run command in the Start menu you can open registry editor in next way: click Start  button and type regedit in the search string.

Click on regedit.exe.

3. After performing the actions above the Registry Editor window will be opened.

To back up registry:

1. Press File menu and choose Export....

2. In the Save in: drop down list choose the folder where you want to save your backup file. Type the name of the backup file into File name: text box and press Save.

3. Exit Registry Editor.

To restore registry:

1. Press File menu and choose Import....

2. Navigate to folder that contains your backup file. Click on backup file and press Open.

You will see the process of registry import:

Also you can easily restore registry by right-clicking on backup file and choosing Merge.

or by double-clicking on it.

In the window that will appear press Yes.

NOTE: During restore process only registry entries that are contained in backup file will be replaced. The new entries that don’t exist in backup file won’t be deleted.

3. Exit Registry Editor.

4. Restart your computer to changes take effect. Click on Start button , click Shut down, choose Restart.

Windows 7 allows you to manage whole system volume level and each application separately.

To change the volume level for any desired application, follow this simple steps:

1. Right-click on Speakers icon in notification area.

2. Choose "Open volume mixer".

3. At appeared window you may change volume level for different applications.

For most people if you want to change your Mac computer name you just do it through the Sharing system preference, it’s quick and very easy. For those of us that are more geekishly inclined, we like to do things through the Terminal.

Here’s how to change your Mac hostname with the command line and make it permanent:

Simply replace new_hostname with whatever you want your hostname to be changed to, for example I want to change my Mac’s hostname to MacBookPro, I will use this command:

You will be asked for your admin password since you’re using the sudo command. After the command is executed you can verify that the changes took place by typing:

You can also set a temporary hostname change by using the following command:

This will reset itself after your Mac reboots though, so if you want a permanent hostname change, use the above command instead.

Mac OS X includes Samba support by default, and this is really handy if you’d like to remotely restart and monitor services running on a Windows machine.

To list services running on the Windows machine, use this command:

A practical example would be:

After identifying the service you want to restart, you issue the following command to stop the service:

Then you can restart (or start) the service by using the following command: