Keyboard shortcuts are the fastest way to navigate and manipulate windows and data in the Operating System.

Here’s a list of the new Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts:

Win + Home : Hide/Unhide everything but the current window.
Win + Space: Make all windows transparent so you can see the desktop.
Win + T: Cycle through the entries on the taskbar.
Win + P : Cycle through projector or secondary video output mode.
Win + (+/-) : Activate the windows magnification tool and zoom in/out.
Win + Up: Maximize the current window.
Win + Down: Restore or minimize the current window.
Win + Left/Right : Move the window to the left or right of the screen, or over to a second monitor.

[ "Win" is Windows Key ]

When you load up Windows Explorer you might notice a delay, this is due to Windows XP automatically checking the network for shared folders and printers. Depending on the size of the network you’re on, this can take a bit of time.

Disabling this feature is easy. First load up Windows Explorer (right click on the "My Computer" icon and select "Explore") then click the "Tools" menu and select "Folders Options". From there click the "View" tab and find the "Automatically search for network folders and printers" check box and uncheck it. Press the "OK" button, reboot your computer and you’re all set.

From now on Windows Explorer will no longer check for shared folders or devices on your network automatically when first loading up.

If you are logged in as a standard user and need to access a program that requires administrative rights, simply press the "Shift" key and right click on the program file. You will now see the "Run as…" option and when you select that, it’ll prompt you for a user name and password. Simply enter the administrator name and password and now you can run that program as the Admin. Administrative rights will only be enabled for that program alone, and once it has been closed admin access will be terminated.

This works in just about every version of Windows  and can even be used on programs in the Start Menu.

Have you ever wanted to change the name Windows is registered to without reinstalling the computer?

First load up the registry editor (Start -> Run then type regedit and press the ok button) and follow this path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> WindowsNT -> Current Version. In the window on the right find the RegisteredOrganization and RegisteredOwner string values and change them to whatever you like. Once that’s done simply exit and you’re set.

Now whenever someone looks at your system properties, the OS will be registered to the right person.

The RunAs Command option is great but sometimes its best not to allow users to have access to that feature. Disabling it is quick and simple, all we need to do is edit the registry.

First load up regedit (Start -> Run then type regedit and press the Ok button) and follow this path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows -> CurrentVersion -> policies -> Explorer. From there create a new DWORD value and name it HideRunAsVerb and give it a value of one. Once that’s done you’ll need to restart your machine. Now users won’t have the ability to run programs as other users.