Windows 7 Presentation Mode
Have you ever had to give a presentation and tried to connect your notebook to a projector only to discover your presentation will not display because the resolution settings are too high, or the image is cropped on the sides because you have a widescreen display, or the image shows on the projector but not on the notebook?
It has happened to me on more than one occasion and I've always had to spend embarrassing time trying to configure the right display settings with a roomful of people watching. With a new shortcut in Windows 7, you don't have to fool around with the display settings any longer. Just hit the Win+P combination. (The Win key is between the left Ctrl and left Alt keys on most keyboards).
You'll be presented with a pop-up screen like the one above, with different options to change your display mode to "Duplicate" (show the same image on the notebook and projector), "Extend" (treats the projector as a second display; this is useful if you want to show the audience one thing while you view something else), and "Projector only" (image is displayed on projector only). Once you're finished you can return your notebook to normal mode by hitting Win+P again and select "Computer only" option.
For even more options hit the Win+X combination to bring up the Windows Mobility Center.
You can adjust settings in the Presentation Settings that will prevent the computer from going into screen saver mode, turn off system notifications (you don't want the audience to know your order from Amazon just shipped), or you can even change the background image to something neutral, if your wallpaper happens to be an embarrassing picture from your family vacation.