If you just can’t see the point of the desktop Gadgets included in Windows 7, or even the Sidebar gadgets in Windows Vista, you’ll be happy to know that you can easily disable them with a simple configuration change.

If you are really, really new to Windows 7, the gadgets are accessible via the desktop context menu, and can be dropped anywhere on the desktop you’d like.

The shortcut icons in Windows Vista have Huge arrows on them. If you are worried about the look of your desktop, you may not want to see the ugly arrows.

Note: We’ve tested this and it works perfectly in Windows 7 as well. Here’s some before and after pictures so you’ll know what to expect:

Default:

The caps lock key is one of those remnants of another age of computers, back when people used to shout at each other more often. Since it’s not entirely useful anymore we’ll learn how to disable it. If you aren’t interested in the explanation you can skip to the bottom for the registry files.

Windows doesn’t have a default setting to allow for disabling the key, so what we have to do is re-map the key to something non-existent so as to completely disable it.

One of the hot new features in Windows 7 is the improved window management functions… you can simply drag a window to the top or sides of the screen, and it will be maximized or resized to take up only half of the screen.

The only problem is that some people like to drag windows partially off the screen, a very useful technique when you only need to see the edge of a window… but in Windows 7 it will resize the window to fill half the screen. So how do we disable it?

One of the interesting new features in Windows 7 is the way you can grab a window by the title bar and “shake” it back and forth to minimize everything else. It’s a fun feature, but just in case you want to disable it we’ve got the solution for you.

If you are an experienced PC power user you might be annoyed with the balloon notifications popping up and telling you what you know already. Perhaps you don’t want to see anything in the notification area at all. Today we take a look at how to disable the notifications using Local Group Policy Editor.

If you have a computer with pre-installed Windows 7 or Vista, most likely you’ll notice the manufacturer’s support information when you look in the system properties window. If you’d like to customize this information or use a picture of your own in this space, you can do so easily.

Right-click on Computer and choose Properties or use the Win+Break key combination to bring up the System properties screen:

Reader Jeffrey wrote in asking how to create an icon to start up the screensaver in Windows Vista. This question is so common that I figured I’d write up the answer for everybody, as well as provide a downloadable set of shortcuts to all the default screensavers (for Vista users).

Note that this technique should work for Windows 7, Vista, or even XP.

Create Screensaver Icon

Right-click on the desktop and choose New \ Shortcut from the menu.

The new version of Windows seems to be a lot for stable than previous releases, however you never know when a malfunction might occur. Today we take a look at an option in Windows 7 that lets you create a System Repair disc in case you need to boot from it to recover your OS.

Create System Repair Disc

Type system repair disc into the search box in the Start menu.

Create the Shortcut

Right-click on the desktop and choose New \ Shortcut from the menu.

In the location box, enter in the following command, and then on the next page give the shortcut a helpful name.