The application can be accessed from the Accessories folder from the programs section of the Start Menu and the version you will be using is dependent on your version of Windows. Those who have Windows XP with the latest service pack installed (this will have most likely been done automatically) will be using version 2.1 however if you own Windows Vista then you will be using version 6. This skip in version numbers is due to the fact that 3, 4 and 5 were skipped to bring the program version number in line with that of the Operating System (Vista is the release name for what is essentially Windows 6.0).

Windows Movie Maker is ideal for those that want a program which will allow them to edit their home movies both simply and effectively. It is geared more towards the home user than the professional so whilst features present in more advanced software applications may be missing, this will be compensated for in both speed and ease of use.

The layout consists of a simple storyboard which you then drop in your existing video clips with the ability to split up longer files as you see fit. This view can then be changed to a timeline so that you have full control as to how long any particular clip is present on screen, the choice and timing of the background music as well as being able to select any appropriate titles which will overlay at any particular moment.

When shifting between scenes, rather than just flipping from one section of film to another, you can select transitions so that sections can blend seamlessly together. You are also able to instantly apply a number of effects to individual clips including simple tools such as brightness increase and picture rotation as well as more advanced effects such as pixilation, focus shift and picture warping. You can make sections of your film appear older by adding a sepia tone or selecting individual scenes to appear as though they are being played on an old projector.

Whilst most popular formats are supported, there are a few widely used formats such as MOV, MP4 and 3GP which have been left in the cold. If your digital camera or camera phone uses one of these formats then you will have to obtain a converter first off to make it in to something more suitable such as an MPEG or AVI format. There are plenty of free of charge applications which will be able to easily achieve this available from a site such as Freeware Files (www.freewarefiles.com).

One impressive feature is the ‘Auto Movie’ function which allows you to import an entire movie file which Windows Movie Maker will then edit for you based on a predefined style – it will analyse the movie, split it down in to multiple scenes then automatically apply effects, transitions and background music along with titles. This function isn’t infallible as it relies on a certain degree of calculated guesswork but nevertheless this is an impressive way to quickly and easily create an edited product.

Once finished, your movie can be saved to a file which can then be stored, distributed or uploaded to the Internet or alternatively it can be burnt to a DVD. The results you get won’t be studio quality but will certainly stand apart from the long, unedited and wholly unprofessional movies that are often produced at the end of a summer holiday.

The URL to download the application directly is to long to easily print in this article so you are best of doing a search for it yourself; the quickest way I can suggest is to head to www.freewarefiles.com and do a search for Winbubbles or otherwise a quick Google search will locate it for you. After installing the application you will be able to customize pretty much any aspect of your Vista installation, including the following:

Windows Customizations:

· Enable Aurora Bootscreen guide – This will allow you to change the drab black Windows bootup screen to something a lot more interesting.

· Add/Edit OEM Logo and information (this appears in system properties) as well as owners information

· Context Menu Customizations such as Move To, Copy To, Disk Clean-up options

· New screensaver properties, including options for the Windows Bubble screensaver which ordinarily has no user configurable settings.

· Alter system icons including removing the arrow on shortcut icons

· Add/Remove IE, Computer, Network, Control Panel, Public Folder icons from Desktop.

Optimizations:

· Speed-up Start menu search

· Easily deactivate and reactivate Windows Aero – This can be useful if you want to tone down the graphical effects new in Vista, for example to increase performance or laptop battery life

· Clear Multiple Monitor Configuration

Security:

· Disable Task Manager, Autoplay, access to the control panel and other restricted areas – Very useful if others have use of your computer and you want to limit the amount they can change or access.

· Add Encrypt/Decrypt to Explorer´s Right-Click Menu (Context Menu) – Allows you to quickly and easily protect any sensitive files.

· Enable/Disable UAC – Quickly and easily allows you to turn off or on the User Account Control which pops up every time Windows detects you, or an application on your computer is trying to change a system setting; I personally turned this off the second I installed Vista.

· Disable RUN command in the Start Menu and Task manager

· Hide ALL, or specific drives on your PC – Useful if you want to restrict users access to files and drives on a public computer.

This is, of course, not a complete list as there are dozens of aspects of Windows Vista that can be customized from within this application – Think of the above as more of a taster. Whilst Winbubbles doesn’t really introduce anything new and previously inaccessible, it does make the process of customizing your computer a lot easier and a lot more accessible to the average computer user and as such is certainly worth a go. Please note that this application is only compatible with Windows Vista, although there are dozens of similar applications already released for Windows XP such as Tweak UI which can be downloaded free of charge, again from the website www.freewarefiles.com

Funnily enough, now that Microsoft have hidden or moved all my commonly used menus in Windows Vista I find myself relying on these short cuts a great deal more than I used to. I’m sure that trying to convey these to you in a list format probably isn’t going to make this one of the most exciting Click articles that I’ve ever written but I do know that it’s one of the most useful.

To point out the obvious, these short cuts usually require you to press two keys at once and the ALT, CTRL, Windows and Shift keys are all located down the bottom left hand side of the keyboard. I have split the shortcuts into several sections depending on where they are going to be applied and don’t worry about which version of Windows you own as most share the same shortcut keys.

General

Alt+Enter View properties for the selected item

Alt+Esc Cycle through windows in the order they were opened

Alt+F4 Close the active window

Alt+ Spacebar Open the shortcut menu for the active window

Alt+Tab Switch between open windows

Shift+Insert Hold this down whilst inserting a CD and it WON’T autoboot

End Display the bottom of the active window

Home Display the top of the active window

Windows key Displays the start menu

Windows key+D Minimizes all windows

Windows key + E Opens a new Explorer window

Windows key + F Displays the find all files box

Windows key + L Locks your computer

Windows key + R Displays the Run command box

Explorer

Shift+Delete Delete the selected item permanently without placing the item in the recycle bin

Left arrow Collapse the current selection if it is expanded, or select the parent folder

Right arrow Expand the current selection if it is collapsed, or select the first sub folder

Clipboard

Ctrl+C Copy an item to the clipboard

Ctrl+X Cut an item to the clipboard

Ctrl+V Paste an item from the clipboard

Internet Browsing

F11 Full screen mode

Ctrl+Mouse forward Zoom in

Ctrl+Mouse backward Zoom out

Ctrl+0 Reset zoom level

Alt+Home Go to homepage

Ctrl+T Open a new tab

Ctrl+Tab Switch between tabs

Ctrl+W Close tab

Alt+D Go straight to the address bar

Alt+Left Go back to the previously viewed page

Alt+Right Navigate forward through viewed pages

Navigating to menu options within programs is also easy when using keyboard shortcuts. To select the edit menu press ‘Alt+E’ together, for the file menu press ‘Alt+F’ and so on then once the menu option has been opened you can navigate around them using the cursor keys then select an option with the enter key.

I did say that this wouldn’t be Shakespeare but cut out the list above, have a play around, and I promise you’ll find at least some of these key combinations useful. Once you’ve used them a couple of times it will then become second nature to hit the keyboard shortcut rather than relying solely on your mouse.