tech.junkie

Windows 7 Favorite Features – Problem Steps Recorder

2009-11-11T00:33:00.001-05:00

Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) is a great tool that can be used to greatly assist in troubleshooting or ‘need help’ situations. As an end user, how many times have you encountered an error of some sort but can’t find the best way to describe the problem to someone if they are not sitting there with you? Or maybe you are learning a new program but run into an issue and the results are not what you expected? How about if there was a utility that could just record what you are doing and then allows you to email that recording to someone who can help you? PSR is that utility.

As a tech, how many times have you had someone call you asking for assistance but they can’t articulate the issue or clearly describe the steps that resulted in the error? End users are not usually up to speed all the computer lingo and proper naming so it can be hard for them to describe what they are doing and seeing on the screen so wouldn’t it be nice if they could just record it and send you the recording so you could see for yourself?

PSR is the answer many end users and techs have been looking for. New for Windows 7, users have a built in utility that will monitor everything they do so that they can send a tech a step-by-step recording of what lead up to the error or problem and any resulting error messages, complete with screen shots.

To run PSR, just type “psr” or “record” into the Start Menu Instant Search box. If you type “psr” you can click on either psr.exe or Record steps to reproduce a problem, both run the same utility. If you type “record” into the Instant Search box, you will only see the Record steps to reproduce a problem link. After you launch PSR, you simply click on the record button, then reproduce the issue you are having. When you’re all done, stop the recording, save it somewhere when prompted (saves in the Desktop by default), then email the recording (it’s a Zip file) to your tech for review.

Problem Steps Recorder is an application that every tech and Windows 7 user should become familiar with; it can save a lot of headaches.

For a short video of PSR being used, you can watch this TechNet video.

There are many more on YouTube as well… example below (Chris Pirillo is pretty exited about PSR).

Windows 7 Favorite Features – Snap

2009-11-10T22:41:00.001-05:00

Snap is a new feature in Windows 7 that lets you “snap” your application windows to various parts of the screen. The best example of this is when you want to look at two windows side by side.

For example, maybe you want a web browser on the left half of your screen and a Word document on the right half. Before Windows 7 you would accomplish this by moving the windows around and resizing them to fit but now with Windows 7 you can accomplish this easily and perfectly by dragging the windows to the left and right of your screen or by using some keyboard shortcuts.

When you want to make a window take up the right half of the screen you just have to click and drag that windows title bar (the topmost part of the window) to the right. When you get the little animation that shows where the window will be placed you can let go of the title bar and the window will “snap” to that position. Once you become familiar with the Snap feature you can use keyboard shortcuts in place of dragging windows around with your mouse. The keyboard shortcut for ‘snap to right’ is [WinKey]+[Right Arrow] (Holding down the Windows key on the keyboard and pressing the right arrow).

Play around with these keyboard shortcuts to see what they do (hint- these can be used on windows that are maximized too):

[WinKey]+[Right Arrow]
[WinKey]+[Left Arrow]
[WinKey]+[Up Arrow]
[WinKey]+[Down Arrow]

For a video showing Snap in action, go here: Windows 7 Snap

Windows 7 Favorite Features – Jump Lists

2009-10-29T20:40:00.001-04:00

The more I use Windows 7, the more I like it. This time I’m going to tell you about the Jump List feature that I’ve come to love. Jump Lists are a feature that everyone will not only use, but use often.

The Jump List gives you quick and easy access to your most recently used files for various applications and also quick access to certain program commands.

Jump Lists appear when you hover your mouse over an item in the start menu or when you right-click on an item in the task bar. You can accelerate the fly-out of the Jump List for the Start menu items by clicking on the arrow that appears on the right of the items.

The items that appear in the jump list are chosen dynamically. By default, the last 10 files that you used with the application appear in the list. This is a huge timesaver because usually the files you want to open are the ones you recently worked with; and the way most people opened these documents before was typically by searching for the files on the desktop, in your My Documents folder, or in any number of other places. With the Jump Lists you don’t have to waste time finding the file if it’s something you recently worked with and not wasting time equals more productivity and just getting your task done quicker.

As mentioned earlier, Jump Lists can also be used to provide quick access to certain application functions. For example, the Jump List for Windows Media Player allows you to start playing all your music with just two clicks.

Take Jump Lists for a spin and I’m sure you will start using it on a regular basis.

To learn more about Jump Lists, you can visit the Microsoft page that describes it here: Windows 7 Jump Lists