The Windows taskbar has always been where you found your open programs.  You could easily move from one to the other just by left clicking icons on the taskbar.  The Windows 7 taskbar works the same way, but it has a few handy features of which you might want to take advantage.

Associating different programs with certain file types makes those files easy to open or listen to.  For instance, associating Microsoft Word with .doc files allows you to quickly open word files when you download them.  Other files can be associated with a variety of different programs.  Gif files, a type of picture file, can be opened by many different programs like Internet Explorer, Paint, Windows Media Player, Picasa and other photo/picture viewers.  What happens if your pictures or music don’t open in your preferred program? When that happens you need to change the file type association.

It’s almost here. In fact, it’s so close I can almost sniff the shiny new OS smell wafting in from Microsoft HQ. The Windows 7 Release Candidate is already available to some, including our own Jonathan Schlaffer, but the rest of us eager beavers will be able to get our hands on the RC on May 5. Here’s how to do exactly that.

One of the nice things about Windows Vista is the way that it allows you to directly open your Documents folder without having to know its exact physical location. But what happens if your drive is filling up and you wish to relocate your Documents folder to a different physical location such as a second hard drive? What if you want all your data files in one convenient location for backups? What if you just want to be different?