We’re all looking for that way to make our work simpler and to do things faster yet we often curse our computers for slowing things down and that is usually down to us having to do too many clicks to get to do what we want or can’t remember those clicks.

Yes, it has got quicker there is no doubt about that both Microsoft and Apple work hard to make that experience better. In Windows 7 Microsoft added in some neat shortcuts as well as much faster searching for documents, if you’ve done searching on an Apple Mac you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Some of the shortcuts available are tiling programs so that you can have them side by side, adding shortcuts easily to the Start menu and task bar, jump lists to get to documents faster, using the keyboard to get to switch from program to program quickly (has always been available but now more fun and can get to the desktop quickly) and the quick searching facility.

Here are how they all work in these video tutorials and don’t forget I have more videos available on my website www.jargonfreehelp.com

With Windows 7 it is now easy to place programs side by side easily, it could be a Word document and an Excel Workbook and you need to refer to information on one or work on both together. Alternatively you could be working on a document and have the Internet or email open next to it. Check out this video to see how to do it.

Now one of my favourites are jump lists, this feature allows you to quickly get to files you have used recently or created as favourites by pinning them. To see just how easy this is to use have a look at this video.

Creating shortcuts so that programs are readily available on the Start menu or task bar is saves you clicks and the programs you use often are always there, see how in the video below.

Now something that has been around for ages on Windows but now given a 3D look and the ability to quickly jump to the desktop is using the keyboard to switch between programs. Once you use this you’ll realise this is what a lot of kid know about as they jump from Skype, a game or their instant messaging to Word hoping you still believe they are doing their homework. This video shows you how to do it too.

Finally, the feature that could really save you a lot of time is how quickly Windows 7 is at searching for documents, files and programs. If you’ve ever sat there waiting whilst the hard drive chugs away only for it to come up with no results you’ll know who infuriating it can be. Not only is it so fast you could consider it instant but now you do not need to worry about using wildcards like the asterisk (*) in your search. To see how it works watch the video below.