You can press Ctrl and scoll the mouse in Explorer to change the icon size or list view. The same goes for Desktop. And try sorting file by type for better management with extensions

 

That Ctrl + Scroll is a good one. Also holding down the Ctrl key while scrolling up and down with the mouse wheel allows you to zoom in and out of webpages, documents, and so on.

 

Last edited: Dec 24, 2018

Mouse trick #1 > Scroll wheel

You can press the scroll wheel, like a mouse button, to select a link and open it in new browser tab.

 

Mouse trick #2 >Triple-clicking

In many word processing applications, you can triple-click on a paragraph to automatically select the entire paragraph.
You can also select a URL (for example, in your web browser's address bar) by triple-clicking it. If you want, you can then use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C (Windows)to copy the URL.

 

Mouse trick #3 >Double-clicking

When working with text in a word processor or email, double-clicking a word automatically selects the word. You can then copy, delete, or add formatting to the text.

 

Mouse trick #4 >Right-clicking

You can right-click your desktop or explorer to change your background or other view options, such as the arrangement of files and applications.

 

Open a cmd window in a specific location without having to navigate all the way to the directory you want.

This PowerToy will add an "Open Command Window Here" context menu option on file system folders, giving you a quick and easy way to open a command window (cmd.exe) pointing at the selected folder.

 

Create Keyboard Shortcuts for any Programs

You can create keyboard shortcuts for any program in Windows 7. Right-click the program icon and select Properties. Select the Shortcut tab, click in Shortcut key, to set the keyboard shortcut for that program.

 

Network adapter, bluetooth, firewall, all will increase latency.

 

Im sorry, I forgot to reply to this part of your query you last night.
Start by reading this:https://www.thewindowsclub.com/remove-click-context-menu-items-editors

 

thx a lot the pirate

 

You can also just press SHIFT and right cick for a command prompt window at any given location

 

great thread guys! still using W7 as main OS for my small home studio.
After so many years there are still things I didn't know.

Thanks for the tips !

 

What I always set up in Windows to have quick control over network adapters: open Control Panel>Network and sharing centre>Change adapter settings. Now drag and drop all the connections you want to be able to easily enable/disable to desktop, making shortcuts. When you want to quickly enable/disable a network adapter you just have to right-click with a mouse on the shortcut and choose "disable" or "enable".

It's interesting to notice that a lot of the keyboard shortcuts are the same in Windows and Linux. Except those with the "windows key", obviously. Oh, actually the "menu key" works... I didn't know that.

I like to use "print screen" key a lot, to make desktop screenshots for clients, when I want to explain something. You know: press "print screen" key to take a screenshot of the whole desktop, and ALT+print screen to take a screenshot of the app window only. Then paste the clipboard into some graphic editor like GIMP or XNView and save it. Linux MATE does it automatically...

Yes I know about the "Snap Tool" in W7... but I don't use it. I suppose it could come in handy for some, though.

 

Last edited: Dec 24, 2018

Just out of curiosity... what do you guys think about "Unparking all CPU cores"? I currently have I7-4790K which is working flawlessly.
However, I remember I've read somewhere unparking cores can benefit in audio work, and some cons too.
My main DAW is Reaper who handles CPU like a charm, but other DAWS (Studio One 4 & Cubase) have higher CPU usage.

Your thoughts? Thanks, fellas!

 

Disable SpeedStep and C1 power management states in BIOS, effectively disabling throttling *and* core parking. I think. Also, go to Control Panel>Power Options>Change Plan Settings>Change Advanced Power Settings>Processor Power Management and put the Maximum and Minimum Processor State both to 100%. I don't think there will be any core parking or throttling after doing that, and what's most important - "disabling" audio crackling when the processor reaches 50 or 60%, but it will happen at about 90%, that's unavoidable. Setting bigger ASIO buffer, up to 1024 might help a bit. Anything bigger than 1024 won't help. 256 and 512 are what I generally use.

 

@playtime
absolutely, make that old beast run ! and don't forget to overclock it
You haven't bought it to keep it parked :D

 

@SineWave and @Rhodes - once again thank you greatly for the advices! Much appreciated

 

Adjusting the processor scheduling option has great impact on sound quality.

Setting the Win32PrioritySeparation parameter to 0×14 (hexadecimal) gives optimal results. You can change the value in registry by doing the following:

1. Open Regedit.
2. Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl

3. Double click "Win32PrioritySeparation"
4. Change the 2 to 14 and hit "OK"
5. Reboot