Computing on Demand PC News & Reviews
9. Use check boxes to select items
I can’t tell you the number of times I have been Control clicking to select multiple items to hit the wrong key and lose all the selections I have made. Windows 7 has the hidden ability to allow you to use check boxes to make this task easier. All you have to do is enable the option, put your mouse over something and check the box. To get started:
- Open My Computer
- From the Organize menu choose Folder and Search Options
- Select the View tab
- Check the box for Use checkboxes to select items
- Press OK
Thanks Joe, I never noticed the option to use check boxes for selecting! This goes great with my setting for Single-Click to open/Point to Select. (It's 12:20am and I just learned something new. I guess I can take the rest of the day off now.)
Rather than disabling Search Indexing, you'd be better off adjusting what locations are indexed. Without search indexing, the power of the Vista/Windows 7-style Start Menu is significantly reduced, because it's all about searching now. By default, indexing is configured only for the Start Menu, Users folders, IE history, and email. If you're really seeing that much churn, it's probably email-related or you're creating a lot of indexable files in your User directory. You can remove those from the Indexing Options, while leaving Start Menu as part of the indexer. That way, the only time you're likely to see indexing kick in is when you install a new application that writes to the Start Menu and you'll still be able to quickly use the search bar in the Start Menu.
Excellent tip.
Not to mention if you turn off Windows Search you can't search the guide in Media Center, if you use it.
I have updated the article to reflect my initial intention. On OLD systems with older processors, limited ram, possibly aging hard drives, disabling search indexing can positively effect performance. If you have a newer system, capable of running Aero and the like, this need not apply.