63 Power saving

The power management settings in Windows 7 not only let you tweak your PC's performance and the brightness of its screen - be it running on the battery or power mains - but also run a report on how efficiently your computer is operating.

Better knowledge of your machine's power consumption allows you to devise ways to extend its battery life.

Click Start and type 'cmd'. Right-click the menu item and click 'Run as Administrator'.

Next, type in 'powercfg 'energy'. A file called energy-report.html will be created with details of your device's power usage.

Software: Windows 7

64 Gadgets galore

In Windows 7, you can enhance your desktop with mini-apps called gadgets.

Simply right-click on the desktop and select Gadgets. In the new pop-up window, click 'Get more gadgets online' at the bottom right-hand side of the window.

As of this month, there are more than 3,600 gadgets available. Popular ones include Full Moon, AccuWeather and Wireless Network Meter, which shows wireless signal strength, download speeds and total usage.

65 Make Windows 7 key work harder

In Windows 7, the Windows key has even more functions.

Pressit together with the left or right arrow key to automatically resize the current window to fully occupy the left or right half of the computer screen.

Or press the Windows key and the down arrow to minimise an open window.

Press the Windows key together with the up arrow to get the window to fill up the whole screen.

66 Make the monitor look better

Windows 7 now comes with a new monitor calibration tool.

This is good news for those who edit many digital photos on screen. There is no need to install screen calibration software such as Calibrize or buy a costly monitor calibrator.

To initiate screen calibration, click on the Start button, Control Panel and then the Display icon. There, you will see the Calibrate Color button. Click on it and follow the instructions to adjust the brightness, contrast and colour balance of your monitor.

Take your time to tweak until you find it comfortable to look at the screen and experience no eye strain.

67 Not lost in translation

Some older Windows XP applications do not work in Windows 7.

To get around this, install the Windows XP Mode software from www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/ download.aspx.

This creates a virtual copy of the older software to make the XP applications work. However, your hardware must be compatible. A link on that page lets you download a tool to check if your computer's processor will allow this.