In our day to day life we use or want to use shortcuts. We use them to get to our desired destination so that we shorten the time needed to get there. When we are talking about shortcuts in the computer world and Windows Vista, the definition remains the same. A shortcut is a file that contains the path towards another file or folder and, by using it, we get to the desired item faster. In this tutorial I will show you how to create shortcuts and how to place them on your desktop or other locations.

Even though we don't generally write about Microsoft Office 2007, we have received many e-mails from people asking us different things about it. One of the most common questions is: 'why Microsoft Office 2007 files cannot be opened by Microsoft Office 2003 or XP?'. That's because this version uses a new file format called Office Open XML. This new format offers a series of advantages, including a smaller file size compared to the format used by the old versions of Microsoft Office. All Microsoft Office 2007 file extensions have an ''x" at the end: '.doc' is now '.docx', '.xls 'is now '.xlsx', etc. By default, older versions of Microsoft Office cannot open files created with version 2007.

However, there are ways to save files created in Microsoft Office 2007 using the old formats. In this article we will describe them for you.

Thumbnails are reduced-size versions of your pictures and videos. Their role is to allow you to quickly scan and recognize them while browsing your computer. However, each time you use Windows Explorer, it will spend some time to generate them. Depending on the configuration of your PC and the number of files, this process can be slower or faster. So, if you have an old PC or you just want to make Windows Explorer as snappier as possible, one good tip is to disable Thumbnail Previews.

Many of our readers asked us to help them put their Volume Mixer icon back to the notification area of their taskbar. Since this has been quite a common problem, we decided to publish this tutorial to help others having this issue.

Screen savers are programs that were initially designed to prevent the so called "Phosphor burn-in" on CRT and plasma monitors. Filling the screen with moving images when you did not use your computer was preventing the loss of image quality over time. Modern LCD monitors are not susceptible to burn-in because the image is not directly produced by phosphors. This is why nowadays, screen savers are used mostly for entertainment or security purposes.

Compared to Windows XP, Windows Vista changes a bit the way you configure your screen saver. In this short tutorial I will show you how to set your screen saver in Windows Vista and how to configure different parameters.

Windows Vista introduced a big number of changes to many applications, including Windows Explorer. In this article I will show you a few cool trips & tricks that can help when working with a large number of files. If you know other useful tips and tricks don't hesitate to share it with us in a comment.

Some of our readers wanted to know how to update the album information for the tracks in their music library and how to add album covers, so that they show up in Windows Media Player. In this tutorial we will try to cover both topics as good as possible.

One of the best tips i have learned since the beginning of my career in IT is to never keep my personal files and folders (such as My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, etc) in their default locations. In Windows Vista, all the personal folders are stored on the drive where the operating system is installed. For example, if your user is called "George" and you installed Windows Vista on the "C:" drive, your personal files and folders will be stored by default in "C:\Users\George\". By leaving them in their default location, each time you have problems with the operating system there is a risk that you might lose them. If something happens and you need to format the "C:" drive that means all your documents, music, pictures, etc will be lost.

To avoid such problems you can always move them and store everything on a separate partition. This way, you can format the "C:" drive and reinstall the operating system how many times you need without risking your data. As a general advice, it is always better to keep on your "C:" drive only the operating system and the applications you use. All of your data, including documents or saved games should be kept on a separate partition.

In this tutorial we will show you how to move your personal files and folders to other partitions.

Some people might have problems reading the text of the icons and menus in Windows Vista. The font size can be too small and making it bigger might help. Windows Vista gives users the possibility to make the text and other items easier to see by making them larger.
This can be done by increasing the so called Dots per inch scale or DPI. To adjust it, just follow the steps outlined below.