Short cuts and other tips Vista Tips Discuss Short cuts and other tips in the Windows Vista forums; Photo Gallery allows you to add ratings to your photos. Why rate your photos you may ask? Using ratings will help you organize and find your favorite photos much faster. ...

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Photo Gallery allows you to add ratings to your photos. Why rate your photos you may ask? Using ratings will help you organize and find your favorite photos much faster. The rating system consists of five stars, with one start being the lowest rating and five stars the highest rating.

You can rate your pictures using either one of these methods:

1. With Info pane open, click the picture you want to rate and click one of the stars listed in the Info pane. To clear the ratings, simple right-click the stars rating and select “Clear Rating”.
2. You can also right click the picture you want to rate, select properties, go to Details tab and click one of the stars. You can clear the rating by moving your mouse pointer just to the left of the one star rating until the ratings are cleared and do a single click.
3. Using your keyboard, use the Ctrl+Windows Logo key+a number from 0 to 5, e.g. to rate a photo five stars; press Ctrl+Windows Logo key+5. To clear all rating press Ctrl+Windows Logo key+0. (The number “0” will clear the ratings)

Once you have completed rating your photos, you can find those photos simply by going to the Navigation Tree and selecting or clicking the rating corresponding to the pictures you are looking for. Happy computing!

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Do you remember storing photos in shoeboxes? Do you remember how difficult it was to find a picture then? You had to go through the whole box just to find one specific picture. Today is no difference; although must of us stored pictures in our computers, finding them can be frustrating if they are not well organized.

Windows Photo Gallery has many options designed to help you organize, find and view your photos. Earlier, I provided an overview of the “rating” system. Now let’s take a look at another option called tagging.

A tag is basically a way to describe your picture. You can created and add tags at any time or when importing them from your digital camera.
To make better use of tagging, I recommend you organize your tags in a tree, or what is known as a hierarchy. This will make your files more manageable, especially if you have a large collection of photos.

Let’s take a look at an example of a tree. We’ll name this tree “Family”.

1. Open Windows Photo Gallery; go to the Navigation Tree, and under Tags, select Create a New Tag.
2. For the purpose of this overview we’ll name the tag “Family”. Name your tag and the tag named “Family” is created.
3. To add tags to the “Family” tag, right-click “Family”, select Create Tag and type a name for the new tag, e.g. Dad, Mom, Brothers, Sisters, Husband, Wife, Significant Other and so forth.
4. You can further organize your tree by adding tags to the tags you just created. Example, right-click the “Sisters” tag, select Create a Tag and type a name for the new tag, e.g. “Younger Sister”, “Older Sister”, ect.

Now that you created a hierarchy tree, what is this going to do for you and you picture collection? Well nothing really, unless you tag your pictures to those tags you just created.

To tag a picture, simply select the picture you want add a tag to, go to the Info pane, click Add Tags, type a name for that tag, e.g. Younger Sister, and press enter.

If you have multiple pictures of your younger sister, do one of the following:

1. To select just certain pictures from a group of pictures, press the Ctrl key on your keyboard and using your mouse, click the picture you want to select. Now using your mouse, drag those pictures to the “Younger Sister” tag.
2. If you want to select all the pictures within a group, press Ctrl+A simultaneously, then drag those pictures to the “Younger Sister” tag.

A hierarchy tree is an easy way to organized photos, files, folders and so forth. It’s only limited by your imagination. Happy computing!

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In Windows Photo Gallery, you can use the Search box to quickly locate your photos. When you use the Search box, it filters down the photos in view to only those that match your text criteria.
For example, if you are looking all photos of your “Younger Sister”, as you begin typing “Younger Sister”, all photos not related to “Younger Sister” will begin to fall away from view until just photos of your younger sister remain.
The reason for that is because on the previous post we had tagged all pictures related to your younger sister with the “Younger Sister” tag.
However, photos don’t have to be tag to find them using the Search box. When you do a search, Photo Gallery will match your search to any words that it finds in Tags, File Names, File Paths or even Captions.
You can type multiple words, e.g. trains cars. This search will show photos that match the cars and trains criteria. Happy computing!

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In this post we’ll discuss how to fix or make minor adjustments to your photos using Auto Adjust, Adjust Exposure, Adjust Color, Crop Picture and Fix Red Eye. To correct a flaw of a photo, simply open your photo by double-clicking it and selecting Fix from the Toolbar. You can access each individual control by clicking on the corresponding button in the fix pane.

Let’s go over the controls:

Auto Adjust: Like the name implies, when selected, it automatically adjust your photo’s brightness, contrast, color temperature, and tint.
Auto Adjust works well when a photo has an off color cast such as that from a light bulb, or with pictures taken outdoors.

Adjust Exposure: Selecting this tool brings up two sliders that let you adjust brightness and contrast. The brightness control adjusts all of the pixels evenly, making them brighter or darker. Moving the control all the way to the left will result in a very dark photo, while moving it all the way to the right, will result in very bright photo.
The contrast slider adjusts pixels relative to each other. Moving the contrast slider all the left will result in a very gray, low contrast image, while moving it all the way to the right makes the colors rather vivid.

Adjust Color: If using the Auto Adjust control did not bring the results you wanted, you can adjust Color Temperature, Tint and Saturation by using Adjust Color. Clicking Adjust Color brings three sliders that work together to obtain the best color for your image. Color temperature refers to the relative intensity of blue to red. Moving the slider to the left will bring a bluish tone, while moving it to the right bring a reddish tone. Use the tint slider to adjust green and red casts in your photo, while the Saturation slider can be used to adjust the intensity of the colors. Moving the Saturation slider all the way to the left, will create a black and white image of your color photo.

Crop Picture: You can use this control to improve your photo composition or to zoom in on a certain part the picture. It has built in aspect ratios that can be used when you want your photo to fill the whole print. For example, selecting the 4 X 3 ratio, will crop the image so it can fit in a 3 x 4 photo paper. You can also crop and image to use as your PC background.

Fix Red Eye: Replaces the red-eye on your photo with a darker color. To use this tool, simply click the Fix Red Eye control, drag a box around the red-eye and let go. If you are zoomed in, you can pan your picture by pressing the “alt” key and dragging the image. I recommend zooming your photo when fixing red-eyes to get a better view and make a more accurate selection.

Use these tools to play around and practice with your photos. You can always undo any changes by using the Undo All command located at the bottom of the Fix pane. Or you can always come back to your photo and select Revert to Original. Happy computing!

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1. You can save the snip as HTML, GIF or JEP file. Just click the save snip icon or use the File, Save as.. Menu.
2. Change the ink color for the ink used to capture a snip. Click Options and select and ink color from the Ink color box.
3. To remove the ink used to capture a snip. Click Options and uncheck “Show selection ink after snips are captured”.
4. To send a snip as an email attachment. Capture the snip, go to File and select Send to Email recipient.
5. Snips are automatic copy to the clipboard. To paste a click to an application; capture the snip, open the application and press Ctrl+V on your keyboard.
6. To prevent snips from being written to the clipboard. Click Options and uncheck” Always copy snips to the Clipboard”.
7. To capture the full screen. Click New and select Full-screen Snip
8. To change the shape of the snip. Click New and select the shape
Happy computing

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When you edit a photo for the first time, Windows Photo Gallery creates a copy of the image. This done automatically so you don’t have to go around making copies, ending up with multiples copies all over your hard drive.

If at any time you want to go back to the original, you can revert back the file y following some simple steps.

1. Open the file in the Gallery Viewer
2. Click the “Fix” button
3. Click the “Revert” button, located at the bottom of the fix pane.
4. Select Revert to Original and confirm it.

You can also keep two copies of your image by going to File and selecting “Make a Copy...”. This allows you to maintain your original copy unchanged, while editing the copy you just made. This is also useful if you want to keep two images, e.g. one with adjusted exposure, and another one cropped for better printing.

Vista also gives you some control in managing your original photos. For example, you can tell Photo Gallery how long it should maintain the original. Click File and select Option. Under “Original Images” use the “Move originals to Recycle Bin After” selection box to tell Photo Gallery how long to keep your original photos.

One more thing, if you use the Windows Vista Backup utility, you must select the option to backup photographs and images if you want Vista to backup your original photos. Happy computing!

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Windows Photo Gallery allows you to combine your photos and videos to play a slideshow. You can do this thanks to the blue button located at the bottom of the Photo Gallery screen.
You can use the built-in themes to view your photos in different ways, for example to vary in the number of photos/videos you see on screen, change the look-and-feel of the background or add animation effects.
Themes are organized in the slideshow menu in groups, with the top three groups, i.e. Classic, Fade, Pan and Zoom, Black and white and Sepia themes, being displayed at full-screen. The Classic theme is a carry-over from Win XP slideshow; for those who prefer simplicity.
The bottom group, i.e. Album, Collage, Frame, Glass, Spin, Stack and Travel, displays your photos and videos in a single or multi-layout format, with different themed backgrounds and some with animated effects.
Let’s take Windows Photo Gallery slideshow for a spin.
1. Using the Navigation Tree select all Pictures and Videos
2. Press the blue button and or F11 function key on your keyboard
3. Once your slideshow begins, select a theme. You can also select the speed for transitions, as well as other options. Happy computing!

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Depending on your current OS and the version of Vista you decide to purchase, your only choice might be a clean install of Vista. However, you can make your migration easier by using the Windows Easy Transfer wizard.

Using the wizard, you can transfer: User accounts; Files and folders; Program data files and settings; Email messages, settings, and contacts; Photos, music, and videos; Windows settings; and Internet settings. You can transfer your user account or all user accounts on your PC, or you can choose which data or folders to transfer.

Note: You CANNOT transfer any programs.

There are a number of ways to transfer your data:

1. USB Easy Transfer cable (not cheap). This is a special USB cable that is designed to work with Windows Vista and Windows Easy Transfer.
2. Home or small business network. If you already have a wired or wireless network, you can use it to transfer all of your data.
3. Removable (external) hard drive. You can copy your data to the drive and then copy it from that drive to your new PC.
4. CD and DVD. The CD is a good solution if you are moving only small amount of data. The DVD can hold a lot more information. Happy computing!

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Use the following Win Logo plus key keyboard combination to shortcut your way as described:
WinLogo + D: Show desktop
WinLogo + E: Opens explorer
WinLogo + F: Opens the search window
WinLogo + L: Locks the computer
WinLogo + M: Minimizes all windows
WinLogo + R: Opens the run dialogue box
WinLogo + T: Provides detail in Taskbar of application currently in use
WinLogo + U: Opens the Ease of Access Center
WinLogo + X: Opens the Windows Mobility center
Shift + WinLogo + M: Undo minimize windows
WinLogo + a Number: Opens applications located in quick launch task bar. Count left to right.
Ctrl + Shift + Esc: Open the Task Manager Happy computing!

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Vista’s 4-levels of user experience; Basic, Classic, Standard, and Aero

The Basic is the entry-level desktop experience; it's an upgrade to previous versions of Windows. It features a refined Start Menu, new Explorer and support for integrated desktop search and Live Icons. The Basic experience is available on all editions of Vista. The Basic entry requires just the basic Vista hardware requirements.

The Classic user experience level includes the Basic user experience with the Windows 2000 look and feel. As with the Basic, this user experience level is also available on all Vista.

The Standard user experience is the mid-range desktop experience, adding improved performance and reliability to the Basic user experience functionality. If your graphic card supports the new Windows Driver Display Model (WDDM), you can take advantage of smoother window handling, increased stability, and glitch-free visual experience. The Standard user level experience is available on all Vista editions, except Vista Starter. It requires the same hardware requirements as Aero.

Aero offers a transparent glass design, with fine effects such as lively reflections and silky animations. It incorporates two new features called Windows Flip and Windows Flip 3D. Flip allows you to flip through open windows (by using Alt+Tab), providing a live thumbnail of each window, rather than just a generic icon and file name. With Flip 3D, you can use your mouse wheel to flip through a stack of windows. Aero is available on Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions of Vista.

You can get more info on this and other topics by downloading the Windows Vista Product Guide from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvist...rcecenter.mspx. Happy computing!