One of my favourite features in Windows 7 is Windows Mobility Center
“Designed for laptops, Windows Mobility Center makes it easier to work from anywhere.”
Where you can set laptop settings such as (please note not all setting s are available for every laptop)
Brightness. Move the slider to temporarily adjust the brightness of your display. To adjust the display brightness settings for your power plan, click the icon to open Power Options.
Volume. Move the slider to adjust the speaker volume of your laptop, or select the Mute check box.
Battery Status. View how much charge remains on your battery or select a power plan from the list.
Wireless Network. View the status of your wireless network connection or turn your wireless network adapter on or off.
Screen Rotation. Change the orientation of your Tablet PC screen from portrait to landscape, or vice versa.
External Display. Connect an additional monitor to your laptop, or customize the display settings.
Sync Center. View the status of an in-progress file sync, start a new sync, set up a sync partnership, or change your settings in Sync Center.
Presentation Settings. Connect your laptop to a projector, and then click Turn on to get your computer ready to display a presentation. Your laptop will stay awake, and system notifications will be turned off.
I always access it using the Windows key and X
Rob
great article!