Author Archives: kate

How to tag photos in Windows 7 Photo Viewer?

When you have tens of gigs of photos in the Pictures library it’s hard to keep track of specific things like: how can I find photos with aunt Jane or where are those photos where we fooled around wearing fake mustaches? Things are a lot easier if you tag the images right after you copy them in your computer and it’s pretty easy to do that.

Step 1: Open the Pictures library by clicking the Start button and selecting the Pictures options from the menu on the right. Go in the folder with the pictures you want to tag and organize.

Photo viewer Win 7 1

Step 2: Select the photos which you want to tag by holding the Ctrl key pressed and clicking on the photos. Then right click on one of the selected photos and click on the Properties option from the bottom of the menu.

Photo viewer Win 7 2

Step 3: Click on the Details tab, then click on the Tags item. A new field will show up, letting you type whatever tags you think that are fit for those photos. In this example I selected three photos with flowers so that would be an appropriate tab for them. I could also tag them with the word nature or wilderness because you can add more tags. On course, you can also tag each photo individually but that could be too time consuming.

Photo viewer Win 7 3

Step: 4: To see the newly organized photos by their tags go back to the Pictures library and click on the button on the right of “Arrange by:” dialogue on the right and select the “Tag” option.

Photo viewer Win 7 4

How to restore your system to an earlier configuration in Windows 7?

Sometimes, after you install an update or download something “funny”, there’s a risk that your system will start to run extremely slow or even malfunction. Viruses can do that too and when all fails, you think of reinstalling the system. Well, there is another solution before that tedious and time consuming task: System Restore, a Windows tool that saved me a couple of times. The application simply restores your system to a previous software configuration. It’s like a time machine. Warning! It doesn’t work every single time. At the end of the process you might get the message that the system could not be restored but then you can choose another restore point.

Step 1: Open System Restore by clicking on the Start button and typing “system restore” in the search field below. The tool should be the first result. You can also find it in Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore.

System Restore 1

Step 2: You will get a new window that instructs you with what System Restore is all about in a few words. The key thing you need to remember is that System Restore does not affect any of your documents, photos and personal data but it does tell you that the programs you installed recently might be uninstalled. Click the Next button.

System Restore 2

Step 3: Select the restore point. The most recent one will be highlighted but that doesn’t mean you can’t select an earlier one. Obviously have to select the one that takes you back in time before whatever made your computer work like a wood chipper.

System Restore 3

Step 4: Next, you have to select the drive you installed the system on. Usually it’s the C:. Then click on finish and then YES, to restart the computer. Good luck!

System Restore 4

How to set the default browser and other programs in Windows 7?

Let‘s say that you made a mistake and you set Internet Explorer as the default browser, or you just installed Opera browser just to see how it works and you accidentally clicked YES on the dialogue box that asked you if you want to set is as the default browser. You can live through this but every time you will hit an external link in a document or e-mail, it will be opened with this default nightmare. Setting things right is easy as 1 2 3.

Default browser 1

Step 1: Open Control Panel (click on the Start button and select Control Panel from the menu on the right) and click on Programs.

Default browser 2

Step 2: Click on “Set your default programs” option from the Default Programs category.

Default browser 3

Step 3: You will now get to a new window. It will open a bit slowly (it takes a few seconds) because the system is looking for all the default programs and associated files. On the left you will have a list with the default programs. Look for the browser you want to set as default and click on it. Then, click on the “Set this program as default” button below.

Of course, you can do the same for every programs on the list, if they are designed to do the same things. For instance, you can set a different program for viewing photos, playing music or playing movies.