Although the notification area has been around since Windows 95, it wasn't very customizable and useful until Windows 7 was launched. Even though many know what it is and what it does (or at least in theory), few know how customizable it has become. In Windows 7 and Windows 8 you can change every aspect of its functioning and make it look and behave the way you want to. Here's how:

Task Manager is a great tool that helps you manage the way programs, processes and services run. In Windows 8 it has received many improvements, some of which are simply awesome. But, before we go into detail about how the new Task Manager works in Windows 8, we would like to share all the ways to launch the tool. There are many more than you would think and some methods will surprise you.

Geeks and IT professionals love the Command Prompt and for good reason - it allows you to perform many administrative tasks with ease. But what are all the possible ways to launch it? Have you thought about that? I did, and I have come up with 7 methods for launching this tool. Do you know other methods?

The Control Panel is one the most used features in Windows and for good reason. With each new version of Windows, it was expanded to include more tools and configuration items. Also, many usability improvements were made. However, there are quite a few users who love the classic way of viewing Control Panel items that was used in the old Windows XP. If you are one of those users, here are all the ways to switch between the different Control Panel views available in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

When using Windows 8, you encounter all kinds of scenarios in which you are asked to enter one password or another. And, as all operating systems do, Windows 8 masks the passwords you enter with bullets, so that they cannot be read by someone standing nearby. A useful security precaution. But, what if you want to double check what you just typed, to make sure it is correct. How do you temporarily reveal the password you just typed, before submitting it?

We have created the biggest library of Windows 7 and Windows 8 shortcuts. We have almost everything you need and we are willing to expand our collection, which now includes 139 shortcuts for Windows 7 and 137 shortcuts for Windows 8. They are created in such a way that they all work on every Windows computer. Also, if you want a shortcut that is not included our collection, leave a comment and we will try to add it to the package.

Snap is a great productivity feature of Windows 7 and Windows 8, which we covered only briefly here at 7 Tutorials. On a computer with a single monitor, you can use it both with the mouse and the keyboard but on a multi display setup, it doesn’t seem to work the same way. At least not to snap windows side by side. How do you snap windows if you have two or more displays? This tutorial will show how.

In a previous article, we've shown how to add or remove standard shortcuts on the Desktop, such as Computer, Network, Control Panel or your User's Files. In this article we would like to cover the next step: that of customizing the icons used by these shortcuts. In case you will not be pleased with the changes you make, this article shows also how to revert back to the default icons. The procedure is the same in both Windows 7 and Windows 8.

When you first open Windows 7 or Windows 8, you find on your Desktop only the Recycle Bin shortcut. Depending on your computing habits, you might want to get rid of it or add more useful shortcuts such as: Computer, Network, Control Panel or your User's Files. This tutorial will show how it is done in both operating system.

The new Start screen is by far the most controversial feature in Windows 8. Personally, I view it as a glorified full-screen app launcher, which makes it easy to start any app you want. But, until you see things my way, you will need to learn how it works, experiment and work with it for a while. To help you become productive, I would like to show how to pin to the Start screen everything you need: Windows 8 apps, desktop applications, folders, libraries, network locations, websites, control panel items, etc.

Even though Windows 8 is hybrid in nature, it doesn’t mean you cannot use iton traditional desktops and laptops. It works just fine and, most times, faster than Windows 7. But Windows 8 does things quite differently from what you may have been used to in previous versions of Windows. You will need to experiment, and you will probably want to do more customization than you have been accustomed to do doing in the past. Once you go through a couple of steps and learning experiences, you are good to go and you will be productive. Here’s how:

It can happen that your Desktop tile is gone missing from the Start screen. Accidents happen and you will want to have it back. Fortunately, Windows 8 makes it easy to add its tile back to the Start screen. Here’s how: