Windows looks mostly neat and tidy on my computer but if I’ve got a really captivating image for a background I want to see all of it without the taskbar obscuring my view. To do that I use an app ...

You can pin frequently accessed folders to Windows Explorer’s folder-like icon on the taskbar, but even more helpful for some might be the ability to pin a system-wide search to that same folder.

With Windows 7’s “shake” feature, though, you can minimize every window except the one in which you’re currently working — in a single step. Click and hold the title bar of the window you want to keep ...