Games and Windows 7 : Using the Games Explorer (part 2) - Customizing Games Explorer

1. Customizing Games Explorer

In addition to the Set up game updates and options window, which is accessible from the Games toolbar menu item, there are a number of ways in which you can configure the Games Explorer in Windows 7.

New to Windows 7 is the More Games from Microsoft link in Games Explorer. When you double-click this icon, Internet Explorer (or your browser of choice) opens and navigates to the Microsoft Web site, as shown in Figure 6. From this page, you can explore Microsoft's nonbundled game options, which include a wide variety of online and downloadable games, some of which are free.

Figure 6. Microsoft offers far more for both casual and extreme gamers than the handful of titles that are bundled with Windows 7.

At the time of this writing, Microsoft's online PC game options were spread between three services: MSN Games, Windows Live Messenger, and Games for Windows - LIVE Messenger. The first two options include mostly casual games—card games such as Uno, board games like Checkers, and the like. Games for Windows, however, is far more involved and includes expensive retail offerings.

Games on MSN Games and Games for Windows - LIVE Messenger will typically run in a browser window, accompanied by ads, but they also offer you the opportunity to compete against other people online. A typical MSN Games title, Bubble Town, is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Most of the MSN Games titles are lighthearted, easy to play, and fun.

1.1. Sorting the View

You probably already know that Windows Explorer supports various icon view styles, such as Large Icons, Tiles, and the like. And it's probably no stretch for you to realize then that the Games Explorer also supports all of these view styles, enabling you to customize the window exactly the way you want it. This is Windows 101 stuff, folks.

What may be less obvious, however, is that you can also modify the Games Explorer view in far more useful ways. We mentioned previously that one of the things that Windows 7 will track—if you want it to—is which games you play most frequently, as well as which games you've played most recently. You can use this information—as well as related information, such as which games have been provided updates by their publishers most recently—to display your games in ways that may be more meaningful to you.

The trick, as is the case in any Explorer window, is to utilize right-click and the various Sort By and Group By options. For example, you can sort the game icons in Games Explorer by Last played so that the games you've played most recently are at the top of the window. You can also use the system's grouping options, if desired, to segregate the icons into date-related groups such as Today, Yesterday, Last Week, and the like. In Figure 8, you can see that the Games Explorer has been customized to show the most recently played games at the top.

Figure 8. Make Games Explorer your own with folder customizations.

1.2. Adding and Removing Built-In Games

While the selection of games that come with Windows 7 is pretty decent, you may not want one or more of them installed. Likewise, your PC maker may have chosen to leave some games uninstalled for whatever reason—perhaps to push their own subscription game offerings. In either case, you can customize the games that appear in Games Explorer by installing or uninstalling individual titles so that only the ones you want appear.

To do so, you'll need to access the Windows Programs applet, which is part of the Control Panel. Open the Start menu and select Control Panel. In the Control Panel window, select Programs and then Turn Windows features on or off. (If the Control Panel is displaying an old-school grid of icons, choose Program and Features and then Turn Windows features on or off.)

Either way, you should now see the Windows Features window, shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Windows Features lets you install and uninstall a subset of Windows features.

Windows Features doesn't let you uninstall (or install) every single Windows feature, but it does provide a far wider range of options in Windows 7 than it has in several previous Windows versions. To see which games are available on your system, expand the Games option. As shown in Figure 10, you have a number of options, though what you see here will vary depending on which Windows 7 product edition you're using.

Figure 10. Inside of Windows Features, you can uninstall and install various built-in games.

To uninstall a game, uncheck the box next to its name. Likewise, you can install a missing game by checking the box next to its name. Once you've made your choices, click OK and Windows 7 will make the changes. These changes will be reflected in Games Explorer when the process is complete.

NOTE

Users of touch-compatible computers running Windows 7 may see additional games installed, courtesy of Microsoft's Touch Feature Pack for Windows 7. This package of applications is typically provided via your PC maker and includes Microsoft Blackboard, a fun physics-based puzzle game; Microsoft Rebound, an electronic air hockey-type title; and Microsoft Garden Pond, in which you guide origami creatures across a pond by rippling the water via touch-based gestures.

For more information about the Touch Feature Pack for Windows 7, please visit the SuperSite for Windows: Paul has the complete rundown.

www.winsupersite.com/win7