Vista Aero
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Much has been mentioned about the new graphic enhancements with Vista's
Aero.
While some of it are merely nice decoration, there are also a lot of
practical benefits |
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1. | Transparent Glass - An example of this is
in the following graphic. |
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2. | This is a screenshot of Word2003. Notice
how the clock is in focus above the toolbar. With Aero Glass, the
toolbar is slightly transparent and objects behind are a little out
of focus. |
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While this may be nice to look at, where I
really find Aero useful is in switching between applications.
There are some new ways to do this and I
will show the differences. |
Switching Applications from the TaskBar
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1. | The first is if you hover the mouse over an
application in the taskbar. |
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2. | It will show not only the name of the
application but the open document as well. |
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Alt-Tab Application Switching
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1. | The next way to switch is the traditional
Alt-Tab method. |
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2. | The difference with Aero is that it shows
the application name in the title. If a program has a document open,
it will show that name as well. This is useful if you have multiple
files open in a program. You can easily open to the exact one you want. |
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3. | You can keep pressing the tab key until you
get to the application you want. |
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4. | A slightly quicker way is to use the mouse
to select the application you want |
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Flip3D Task Switching
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1. | The last new way to switch between
applications is with the 3D switching. |
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2. | While holding down the Windows key, press
the tab key to get a 3D stack. |
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3. | You will see a stacked series of smaller
windows of your running programs, each with the view of the application. |
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4. | Continuing to hold down the Windows key
while you press the tab key, brings the next window to the front. |
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5. | When you have the window you want, release
the keys and that application and file will then be the one you can
work on. |
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6. | Alternatively you can simply click on the
window you want to open. This is much faster since you don't have to
spend the time to cycle through the windows. |
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7. | You can also use the tab arrow keys or
wheel mouse to scroll through pages |
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8. | In the following example, first is Word,
then Front Page. then the Desktop, then Outlook |
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