Reprinted from The Costco Connection APRIL 2011 page17
By Marc Saltzman
CHANCES ARE, YOU’RE a PC user who relies on Windows 7—the best-selling operating system in history—and takes advantage of its intuitive user interface, fast and reliable performance and many built-in features that help you in so many activities. But guess what? This is only half the picture. If you’re using Windows 7, you can take advantage of Windows Live Essentials, a collection of free programs and services that help you take full advantage of the power of your PC. Here’s a look.
Making the most of your photos and video
You probably have hundreds—if not thousands—of digital photos and videos stored on your hard drive. Windows Live Photo Gallery can help you organize, edit, view and share these memories. For example, you can easily “tag” a photo with someone’s name, and Windows Live Photo Gallery will scan the rest of your photos and look for that person’s face. To find all photos of that person, just type in his or her name. You can also edit photos with simple tools, create a slide show or home movie, or quickly upload to sites such as Facebook. A fun and powerful feature, Photo Fuse, lets you replace one part of a photo with a better one—such as a picture of your child smiling nicely instead of looking down—so the family portrait will show everyone looking at the camera at the same time. With Windows Live Movie Maker, you can assemble your videos and photos onto a timeline, add transition effects and captions, music and narration, and then share your masterpiece.
Keeping in touch
Windows Live Messenger is an instant messaging tool that lets you type, talk or video-chat with friends, family and co-workers over the Internet. Imagine holding up a newborn to your Web camera so your overseas relatives can see the baby— in high-definition clarity. Teens can do homework together by collaborating on a document, all the while chatting, sharing photos and perhaps playing a game when it’s time for a break. Windows Live Messenger also lets you easily access social networks, such as Facebook or LinkedIn. You can also pick up your e-mail here, as well as review calendar entries and contacts. And you can share whatever is on your desktop with others.
Storing in the cloud
You can protect your important files, such as documents and photos, by uploading them to Windows Live SkyDrive, a password-
protected service that lets you store up to 25 GB of data, free. Storing your files in “the cloud” (online) offers three key benefits: You can access them from virtually any online computer in the world, your files are safe from local risks (such as fire or theft) and you can easily share specific folders with others online.
Logging in remotely
Another tool is Windows Live Mesh, which gives you the ability to log in to your PC remotely to access your
Windows 7 desktop. For example, you could access all of your media, such as music, photos and videos, on another PC while away from home. Or log in to your home PC while on a business trip to grab a PowerPoint presentation you forgot to take along.
You can also synchronize folders between multiple computers. Update a Word document on your laptop, for example, and it’ll automatically synchronize with your desktop PC. Finally, while it’s not part of Windows Live Essentials, I would be remiss not to mention Microsoft Security Essentials, a free suite of Internet security software that can safeguard your PC and help protect your personal identity. You can get details at www.microsoft.com/security_essentials. These are all helpful everyday tools that are part of the Windows 7 environment. They’re worth checking out to see if they meet your computing needs.
