Welcome back to part two of our article series on tips and tricks for Windows 7. Let's continue where we left off with some more ways to maximize your Windows 7 experience.
As you've read this article so far and probably know from previous experience, the Control Panel is of the essence when you want to tweak your PC. Therefore, why not keep it handy so you can access it easily? To achieve this, you should pin it to your taskbar.
Unfortunately, pinning the Control Panel to the taskbar is not as simple as dragging and dropping it onto the taskbar or doing it through the Start menu. To pin it, you will have to open up the Control Panel first. Once open, you will see its icon on the taskbar. Right click on that icon, and select Pin this program to taskbar. You now have your Control Panel pinned to the taskbar for easy access.
Keep your favorite folders handy
Like the Control Panel and other programs, you can also pin your favorite folders to the taskbar for quick access. To do this, just find the folder you want, hold down on it with right-click, and drag and drop it onto the taskbar. You will see a little prompt that says "Pin to Windows Explorer." Let go of the mouse, and you now have Windows Explorer pinned to the taskbar. To access that favorite folder, right click on the Windows Explorer icon, and you will see the folder listed under Pinned. Just click on its name, and you are in.
Allow yourself to save files in a snap to heavily used folders
If you have certain folders that you use to save files in frequently, you can keep them handy when you save. To do this, open up Windows Explorer and look for the folder you want to use. When you find it, right click on it and drag and drop it to the left side of the Explorer window in the section where it says Favorites. The next time that you go to save a file, you will see that folder on the left hand side of the Save box, so you can click on it without having to go through a bunch of other folders first.
System Tray icons can be put in the order you want by simply dragging and dropping them. Nothing else is necessary to complete this. You can move some so that they are hidden, and move hidden ones into the visible slots. This is a good task to complete if you have several programs running, but have certain ones that you prefer to monitor as to their status.
View Jump Lists in a jiffy
If you want to view the Jump Lists for a program that is pinned to the taskbar, you can do so with hardly any effort. Simply find the program's icon on the taskbar, left click on it, and drag in an upward direction. You will instantly see the program's Jump List and the various tasks you can perform. This can also be achieved by right clicking on the icon.
Customize recent programs to display in the Start menu and Jump Lists
If you use a lot of programs, but use a select few frequently, you will want to be able to access your frequently-used programs via the Start menu or Jump Lists. You can customize the amount of recent programs that show up in these places by right clicking on the Start button and selecting Properties. Click on the Customize button, and look at the bottom of the window for the Start Menu size section. From there you will be able to select the number of recently used programs that appear in your Start Menu or your Jump Lists. If you want none to show up, keep it at the default level of zero.
Expand your Send To Menu
If you send files to various sources, you should have an expanded Send To Menu. You can do this by right clicking on a folder and holding down the Shift key. Instead of having a few Send To options, you will now have several to choose from.
Go to your command prompt quickly
Those who need quick access to the command prompt can do so by holding down Shift and right clicking on the desktop. When that is completed, you will see the "Open command window here" option. From there, you can enter in msconfig or whatever other command you want the PC to perform. The same can be done in any folder. Just hold shift and right click on any spot in the folder and you will be able to access the command prompt as well.
That concludes this series on Windows 7 tips. Give them all a try. Once you get used to using Windows 7 and all of its new capabilities, you will not regret upgrading to it.
Windows Security 
Microsoft Patch Update for July
