Optimize Windows 7 for use with Touchscreen enabled devices

Contributor Icon Contributed by seamonkey420 Date Icon September 20, 2009  
Tag Icon Tagged: Microsoft Windows 7

Lately, there has been a sudden resurgence back into touchscreen technology and adding of touchscreens to laptops and other devices.  Windows 7 is setup to handle touchscreen input pretty good out of the box, however trying to use the scrollbars and start menu can prove to be a challenge on netbooks with a touchscreen or smaller devices.  This recipe will show you how to use an existing Vista utility, Microsoft Origami Experience 2.0 (free) to optimize the GUI to allow easier navigation using touchscreen inputs.  This barely known but very useful add-on also will give us the Origami add-on and also picture password as an added bonus.  :) 

This will of course also work on Vista computers too since the add-on was originally release for Vista and UMPC machines.

  • - Reboot
  • - Go to your Start Menu > All Programs > Origami Experience 2.0 > Touch Settings.
  • - These are the settings I use for my touchscreen on my MSI Wind U100 (solderless kit).  Since i do not use a pen for writing, i leave the Tablet PC Input Panel as No Change.
  • - Log off and back on for changes to take affect.
  • – Also, the origami now and central apps are really nice media players/information boards that are optimized for touchscreen devices (ie UMPC, netbooks w/touchscreens) and runs decently on an Atom N270 cpu w/2GB DDR2.
  • – Picture Password lets you setup a password that uses a picture and your password would be you touching a certain pattern.

Before:

After:

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  • NOTE:

    if you have issues w/the Origami Central or Now application or don't want it to run. Just go to your Start Menu > All Programs > Startup and remove the Origami items.

    This can help login time for those pc's without as much ummph (ie netbooks) and those that get errors after installing the pack.
    -thanks to James K at http://jkontherun.com/ for the heads up
  • sam6
    I don't think Windows 7 is setup to handle touchscreen out of the box, you will need to buy a seperate Multi touch pack for it.
  • it is setup to handle touch; just not multitouch. you would need to get the proper drivers given your tablet/pc can handle it/support it.

    my touchscreen kit i have on my msi wind is an aftermarket, resistive touchscreen (multitouch are capacitive) and worked right out of the box. the touchpack is actually made for multitouch capable devices and would be pointless to install on a single touch input (plus, only OEMs have access to the touchpack).
  • sam6
    I don't think Windows 7 is setup to handle touchscreen out of the box, you will need to buy a seperate Multi touch pack for it.
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