|
Switch Off Use the Web Annoyance
 Whenever Windows stumbles across a file type it doesn’t
recognise you are will see a message box that says Windows cannot open this
file’ and gives you the option to ‘Use the Web Service’, to find the necessary
program. I don’t know about you but I can’t recall a single instance where it
has worked and it’s usually much quicker just to Google the file name or
extension. Well, thanks to the clever folk at ‘howtogeek’ here’s a way to zap
that dialogue box and go straight to the Programs list, that you would get if
you chose the second option. It works in both XP and Vista and involves editing
the Registry, so pay attention, and bear in mind the usual warnings and
disclaimers about backing up the Registry first, and not messing with it if you
don’t know what you are doing.
Begin by opening the Registry Editor (‘regedit’ in Run on
the Start menu) and pop along to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
If there is a key called Explorer skip the next step, if not
create one by right-click Policies then New > Key and rename it ‘Explorer’
(without the quotes). The Explorer key should now be open in the right hand
pane, right click into it and select New > DWORD Value, rename that to:
‘NoInternetOpenWith’, right-click it, select Modify and change the Value to 1.
(Changing the Value to 0, or deleting the key will reset the hack). That’s it,
close Regedit, there’s no need for a reboot, so all that remains is to try it
out by creating a file with an unrecognised extension and see what happens whenyou try to open it.
24/04/08
Dealing With Doubles
 Sooner or later most of us have to confront the problem of
running out of hard disc space. Usually there’s no alternative but to bite the
bullet and delete some files and applications, upgrade to a larger hard drive,
install a second hard drive, or if the PC is coming to the end of the road, buy
a new one. However, it may be possible to delay the inevitable by scanning your
drive with this freeware utility. It’s called DoubleKiller
and its job is to track down and eradicate duplicate files. You would probably
be surprised how many duplicate files you accumulate over time, I found several
hundred megabytes worth on a quite modestly well-used office PC. It’s a stand-alone
program, so it doesn’t have to be installed on your PC, and it is very easy to
use, and very safe too as you can specify exactly which types of files to look
for, and manually or automatically select the files to be deleted.
28/01/08
Free and Easy Email Archive
 Over the years we’ve looked at various manual methods of backing
up and archiving your email messages but here’s a clever little program that
makes the whole thing much easier. It’s called MailStore
Home and it works with all of the popular email client programs, including
Outlook Express, Outlook, Windows Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird and so on. It
allows you to take all of your emails and store them in one convenient place
with a single click, on your hard drive or a CD or DVD, and it is smart enough
to only save one instance of each attachment (in case you have been sent the
same one several times). You can also search your archive and preview messages
directly, or open then in your email program. It’s fast, easy to use and free,
so what are you waiting for?
21/12/07
Speedier Searches for XP
 Those of you who have migrated to Vista will probably
appreciate the excellent Search facility, which finds things on your with
impressive speed and ease. There are various ways to search the contents of an
XP PC, but they tend to be a bit unwieldy and slow. Here’s an alternative, it’s
called Copernic 2
and it’ll search all of your hard drives in less than a second. It’s really
easy to use, and even suggests alternative spellings by comparing what you have
typed with its index of your hard drives. It’s all free, uses minimal resources
and new additions to your hard drive, emails web pages and so on, are
automatically indexed as they arrive.
10/12/07
New SyncToy Understands USB
 File and folder synchronisation over a network and using USB
flash drives just got a little easier with the release of Microsoft
SyncToy 2. This free utility is an update of the old SyncToy, the new
version, which syncs the contents of two folders, has extra features including
automatic driver letter detection. Basically this means if you are using more than
one USB drive, and Windows assigns them different drive letters when you plug
them in to your PC, SyncToy will figure out which one is which. There’s also
better management, making it easier to include or exclude individual files.
This is still a Beta release; so if your PC or pen drive explodes (they
probably won’t…) don’t blame Microsoft, but it looks pretty stable to me, so if
you are getting your pen drives in a muddle it’s well worth a try.
29/11/07
Hide Folders For Free
 We’ve all got our little secrets, personal and private stuff
on our computer that we want to keep safe or rather not share with others. But
hiding things on a computer can be difficult, especially If you can’t remember
where you put it, and encrypted files are a dead giveaway that you have
something to hide.
Free Hide Folder
is what you need, it simply makes folders and their contents disappear from
Windows, so even if someone is snooping around your PC it won’t show up, and
what they can’t see they can’t break into. It’s unbelievably easy to use, just
set a password, confirm it, specify the folders you want to hide and click OK.
The only way to make them appear again is to open Free Hide Folder and enter
your password, so just remember to hide the program, or give it a different
name. Now hang on, what happens if you forget where you’ve hidden the program?
Oh well, back to the drawing board… No serious, it’s a really neat little
program, and don’t forget to make a donation to the author if you find it
useful.
24/09/07
Sync or Swim
 I’ve said it before – many times in fact – and I’ll say it
again, backup your irreplaceable files and you’ll never get caught
short when your PC curls its toes. The trouble with most backup software is
that it’s often awkward to use, well have a look at this one. It’s called GoodSync and it couldn’t be simpler, just
tell it the name of the folder you want to backup, where you want to back it up
– it could be another partition, a CD drive, flash drive or an external drive,
and that’s it. You can set it to do straight backups, either manually or
automatically at pre-set times, or you can synchronise the two folders, so that
if the contents of one changes, the other will be updated, and this can be a
two-way process, ensuring both folders stay the same, irrespective of which one
changes. If you’ve been putting off setting up a backup system either because
it was too expensive of complicated, you have just run out of excuses!
19/09/07
Free CD/DVD Recovery Tool
 If you have been
using recordable CDs or DVDs to backup data for any length of time than you
probably have a few dodgy discs that cannot be read any longer. Recordable CDs
can fail for a number of reasons, from surface scratches to a chemical
breakdown of the recording layer, or it could just be corrupt data, either way
there’s a chance you may be able to recorder some of all of the data using this
freeware utility. CD Recovery Toolbox scans the disc, looking for files and
folders, assessing the amount of damage. Afterwards it shows a list of what has
been found, and whether any of them can be recovered. It’s safe, non-destructive,
and of course free, so you have nothing to lose.
31/08/07
DIY Memory Card
Holder
 Here’s one I made
earlier, or to be more accurate, here’s a clever little DIY project from the Indestructibles
website, which shows you in simple to follow steps, how to make a holder for
your digital camera memory cards out of an old credit card.
Not only does it
protect them from loss or damage, it means you can pop them in your wallet for
safe keeping. All you need is an old credit card, a pen, a sharp knife, a
cutting board and yes, you guessed it, some sticky-backed plastic…
16/07/07
Create a Ghost
Folder in XP & Vista
 There are endless
ways to secure data stored on your PC but here’s a really simple little trick
that hides a folder and its contents by making it completely invisible. It
works best on sub folders (i.e. folders within a folder). To make a folder vanish
you need to do two things, give it a name using a non-printing/displaying
character then replace the standard folder icon with a blank one.
Start by opening
Windows Explorer or My Computer, right click on the folder icon you want to
hide and select rename. Press the Numlock key and press Alt + 0160 then OK and
the name box should disappear. Next, right-click on the folder icon and select
Properties, then the Customize tab then the Change Icon button at the bottom.
You’ll find the blank icons about one click to the right on the bottom scroll bar;
they’re the gaps between the normal icons. Select one then click OK. Your
folder should now have disappeared so take care you don’t forget it where it
is. A ghost image or flicking hyphen will
appear when you hover your mouse over where the icon used to be and you can rename
or delete it by right-clicking on it.
04/06/07
Empty Folder Finder
 Okay, so on the list of irritants empty folders in Windows
Explorer probably doesn’t score very high with most users. On the other hand,
if you have an obsessive personality and like to keep everything -- including
your computer’s hard drive -- spick and span, and free of clutter, then this
little application, called Empty Folder
Nuker, will keep you happy for ages.
It couldn’t be simpler, just tell it where to look and off
it goes, seeking out any folder or sub folder that has absolutely nothing in
it. After a while it reports back and you have the chance to check that it
hasn’t made any terrible mistakes. If you are happy just click the Delete
button and they’re gone. Just in case they’re sent to the Recycle Bin, so if
you later decided you want one or all of them back they are safe, until the
next time you empty the bin. There’s also an option to integrate the program
with the ‘Shell’, which basically means it is added to the right-click menu in
Windows Explorer.
23/02/07
Small Furry Backup
 I’ve been banging on about the importance of backing up your
important and irreplaceable files for years, and I’m pleased to say some of you
have taken my advice but there’s still a few brave souls out there who continue
to trust in luck and gamble with their data. But now there’s no excuse. What we
have here is one of the simplest and easiest to use backup programs ever! It’s
called Filehamster
and once set it quietly gets on with the job of backing up files in real time,
while you are working, to your chosen location, saving revisions and changes as
you go. This makes it perfect for anyone who works on images or graphics, where
they often make frequent changes to files.
It’s versatile too, and the program
can be updated and expanded using freely available plug-ins, and last but not
least, it’s all free, though as with many freeware and shareware programs the
developers are not averse to a small token of appreciation in the shape of a
donation. It’s only polite, and it could be a very small price to pay as one
day this furry rodent could save your bacon. Please note if you haven’t got
Microsoft NET Framework installed on your computer you will need to download
it, but the program tells you, and guides you through the procedure.
21/02/07
Pen Drive for a Pound?
 A few months ago you may recall that I mentioned an
excellent little gadget that turned a SD or MMC memory card into a USB pen
drive. At the time I thought I had a bargain as it cost me £5.00 at a local
computer fair. That was until I paid a visit to my local Poundland where they
have them -- you guessed it -- for just £1. It’s an incredible bargain, and
really useful for transporting images and data between PCs so get down to your
local store fast because they can’t last long at that price.
The only slight disadvantage
that I can see is there’s no mention of a Windows 98 driver; so if anyone finds
one, please let me know. While you are in the shop check out their mini DVDs and see of
they’ve got any compact USB hubs in stock. These are brilliant and for some
inexplicable reason they manage to make my PC ‘see’ a couple of troublesome USB
devices that normally just result in an error message when they are plugged in.
Poundland have stores all over the country, check the website for one near
to you.
08/02/07
Clone Hard Drives For Free
 What’s the best way to backup your hard drive? Simple, clone it, and if the worst ever
happens you can connect up your clone drive and continue working. Drive cloning
is not as easy as it sounds, at least not without specialist or expensive
software, but here’s a freebie program that promises to as good a job as its
commercial rivals for one-off and occasional use.
It’s called HDClone
and it works with most common drives (IDE, SATA, and ATA) and can copy a
drive’s contents to another, larger drive at up to 300Mb/min. (For even higher transfer
speeds and to copy to a smaller drive you‘ll need one of the paid-for editions).
HDClone doesn’t know or care about partitions or filing systems, it simply
copies everything from one drive to another. This can be quite a tricky job and
very difficult to do when Windows is running – that’s the province of the
commercial programs -- but it gets around it by creating a bootable floppy and
carries out the cloning operation using its own independent operating system. If you want to make a one-off backup for
emergencies or maybe migrate to another PC then check it out.
02/02/07
Online File Conversion
 How
do you go about converting a Word document into a PDF? How about changing a
Bitmap into a Tiff or Gif or even a Postscript file? Then there’s the tricky
problem of changing avi video files into Apple QuickTime movs. It can be a
nightmare finding the right file conversion utility to download, and avoiding
the shed-loads of freeware and shareware programs, some of which may be spiked
malware, or worse, but here’s an alternative.
Zamzar is an online file conversion facility.
Simply locate the file on your PC select the format you want to convert it to
and upload the file. Shortly afterwards you will receive an email with a link
to the converted file and it’s all free. The catch? Well, there is a 100Mb
limit on file size and the converted file is only available for 24 hours. You
also have to give up your email address so read the Terms of Service carefully,
but if you are stuck and want to convert a file in a hurry it could save you a
lot of trouble.
07/01/07
FreeCommander, Alternative Windows Explorer
 We all know Windows
Explorer is at the heart of Windows and allows you to navigate around your PC,
but have you ever wondered if there’s a better way? Maybe there is, a neat little freeware program called FreeCommander
does everything Windows Explorer does, and much more besides.
It uses the familiar dual
pane layout but that’s where the similarities end. The panes can be arranged
horizontally or vertically, there’s easy access to all drives, it has a
built-in file viewer, it calculates folder size, there’s built-in archive
handling (it can read Zip, Cab and Rar files, there’s quick access to Start
menu, Control Panel, Desktop and System folders, I could go on but don’t just
take my word for it, try it for yourself It doesn’t affect Windows Explorer,
you can even use both at once, so what have you got to lose? You might even
prefer it to Windows Explorer.
01/01/07
Driver
Backup Just in Case…
 What
would happen if the driver for a widget that you hooked up to your PC threw a
wobbly? If you are super-organised all you have to do is dig out your stash of
driver discs and update the old driver, or go on-line and download a new one,
but if you are like the rest of us, it means a lot of searching or messing
around on the web, filling out Registration forms and so on. In short it’s a
pain. But it doesn’t have to be that way My Drivers is a nifty
little donationware program that seeks out all of the drivers on your PC
then safely archives them in the location or backup drive of our choice. When a
driver goes belly-up just dial in the backup and away you go.
20/12/06
Disk
Cleaner Freeware
 If you are running short of hard disc space that’s a sign you need a
new hard disc, but for short-term relief you can probably claw back several
tens of megabytes of wasted and unused space. Most versions of Windows have a
Cleanup utility that will clear out temporary files, the Recycle Bin and so on
but for a more aggressive mucking out you need something like DiskCleaner. This freeware
program digs deep into your drive and roots out all sorts of space wasters,
including old Zip files. Log files, recent documents, prefetch files and so on.
It was originally written for Windows 98 but it works fine in XP and it is
small enough to run from a floppy or pen drive.
20/11/06
Memory Card Madness - A Cure?
 I expect that like me you now have a growing collection of
memory devices, cards for your camera or PDA, memory sticks, pen drives and so
on. I’ve become increasingly fed up with all of the different formats and about
two years ago I took a conscious decision to stick with one type, the small,
cheap and plentiful SD/MMC format.
Anything that I buy or acquire must be able
to use this type of card and surprisingly it hasn’t been too much of a problem. It didn’t even stop me buying a Canon
digital camera, which uses Compact Flash cards, thanks to my local Maplin
Electronics, which sells a MMC/SD
to CF adaptor for £20. The final link in the chain is a neat little gadget
called the Singim SG361 Card Driver and it
looks and works exactly like a USB pen drive, except that it uses MMC/SD cards.
So now I can share the same cards and move data images and music files between
PCs (Windows, Mac and Linux) and laptops, my PDA and cameras, there’s even a
Windows 98 driver for it. Mine cost £5.00 at my local computer fair and they’re
selling online from the likes of Aria for only a
little more.
24/10/06
Freeundelete Recovery Utility
 Sooner or later it will happen to
you and you will delete a file, intentionally or by accident, then some time
regret it. You might be lucky and it will still be in the Recycle Bin, but most
of the time it’s gone to digital heaven and there’s no way of getting it back,
or is there?
As you may know when you delete a file in Windows all that happens
is its directory entry is erased and the space the file occupies on the hard
drive is marked as free. Until they are overwritten -- and that could be hours,
days or weeks afterwards -- deleted files can often be recovered and one easy
way to do that is to use this little freeware utility, called Freeundelete. Set it to scan
your PC and it will tell you quickly what has been deleted and what the chances
are of recovery. It’s easy to use and very safe, so keep it handy, for the next
time you do something you might regret….
16/10/06
Index.Dat File Viewer
 In case you are wondering what this is all about a quick
recap might be in order. Al versions of Windows (since Windows 95) have a
number of hidden and protected files called index.dat, one in particular is
quite troubling because it logs the address of every web page you visit using
Internet Explorer, from the day that you first switch your PC on. Needless to
say conspiracy theorists have has a field day with it and the favourite
explanation is that it was put there a the behest of the FBI. Microsoft has
certainly never given a sensible reason for its inclusion, or why it is tucked
away and protected from deletion by normal means.
Anyway, over the years we’ve
looked at several tools that will clear out the index.dat files -- Crap
Cleaner and Spider (Windows 9x only) have done a sterling job over the
years, but here’s a new one, called Index.Dat
Spy. This little freeware utility tracks down all of the index.dat files on
your PC and shows you their contents, with the option to delete whatever they
contain on the next reboot. On my admittedly well-used multi-drive machine it
found no less than 55 instances of the file, many of them quite innocent and
belonging to other applications but anything that reveals files that may contain
personal, private or sensitive information has to be worth investigating.
04/10/06
Forbidden Characters and Filenames
 This comes from the Trivia Department, but it’s worth remembering, if
Windows tells you off, or stops you doing something, without telling you why.
There are a number of little-known restrictions on characters and names that
you are allowed to use when naming folders or files.
Most of the restrictions hark back to the olden days of DOS and UNIX,
and quite honestly the chances of you wanting to use any of them are fairly
remote, but here goes.
The characters that you are not allowed to use in folder or filenames
are: \ / : * ? " < >
|, and if you try Windows will bleep at you.
The following is a list of names that you are not allowed to
use: CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, COM5, COM6, COM7, COM8, COM9,
LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4, LPT5, LPT6, LPT7, LPT8, and LPT9. This time it will let
you enter the name but as soon as you press Return it will revert to its former
name. Before anyone writes in, yes I know there are ways to defeat the system,
but it’s really something only industrial-strength geeks would be interested
in…
24/08/06
Folder
Size Display For Windows Explorer
 One of
the Windows Explorer’s many small and niggling annoyances is the way it
displays the size of a file, but not the size of a folder, which is handy to
know if you are looking for the programs and files that are gobbling up your
hard disc space. This little utility, called appropriately enough Foldersize,
sets things straight, in Windows Explorer’s Details view just right-click on
the column title bar, select Folder Size from the drop-down menu and the new
column will appear, with the amount of disc space both folders and files occupy
clearly displayed. This makes the standard File Size column redundant so if you
want to get rid of it right-click on the title bar again and uncheck ‘Size’. In
you want to reposition the File Size column simply drag it to the spot on the
bar where you want it to be.
18/08/06
This
tip is mainly for advanced users and concerns the Windows XP Swap File or
‘virtual memory’. This is a portion of hard disc space that is used as an
extension of your PC’s RAM memory. Basically it fools the computer into
thinking that it has a lot more memory that it really has and on a well used PC
files are being moved in and out of the swap file all of the time. The trouble
is this keeps the drive really busy, which has an impact on your machine’s
performance, particularly if you have less than 1Gb of memory.
If your PC has a
second hard drive then you can lighten the load on your main drive by moving
the swap file to the second drive. To do that open System Properties (Winkey +
Break or System in Control Panel), select the Advanced tab then under Performance
click Settings, in the Performance Options box select the Advanced tab and then
under Virtual Memory click the Settings button. Make a note of the Initial Size
and Maximum size settings and select the second drive, enter the Initial and
Maximum values and click OK. For maximum benefit the second drive should be on
the motherboard’s second IDE channel, so if both drives are connected together
by the same ribbon cable you might want to consider reorganising them.
26/07/06
CD/DVD Drive Lock For Added Security
 The CD and DVD drives on your PC represent a major security
loophole. For example, if someone is determined to get at the files on your
computer then all they have to do is pop in a bootable CD and bypass all of
Windows password security. Equally, when your PC is running there's nothing to
stop someone from loading a malicious program from disc, or downloading files
onto a recordable disc.
The solution is to lock your drives, and one way of
doing that is to use a little freeware utility called CD-ROM Lock. This program
disables the eject command on one of all of your drives from an icon in the
System Tray. Simply download the Zip file (it's only 55kb) and extract the
files into a folder and run the program. You can then configure the program by clicking
on the icon, select the drive or drives you want to lock or manually open and
close the selected drive.
25/07/06
Here’s another
one of those hidden features in Windows XP that are actually quite useful,
except that Microsoft forget to tell anyone that it is there… It’s called the
ClipBook Viewer and old Windows hands may remember something similar in Windows
98, called the Clipboard Viewer. Basically it shows you whatever is currently
stored in the Windows Clipboard, be it a chunk of text, image or a file. Anyway,
unless you know where to look for it ClipBook Viewer remains behind the scenes,
so this simple little tip brings it out into the open and puts it on your
desktop, as a shortcut. All you have to do is right-click onto an empty part of
the Desktop and select New > Shortcut. In the Location box type or copy and
paste the following: C:WINDOWS\system32\clipbrd.exe, click Next then give it a name and it’s
ready to use.
07/07/06
TABBED DISPLAY FOR ALL DRIVES
 Here’s a neat little trick for those of you who want to be
able to quickly review the status and amount of free space on all of your hard
disc drives, including network and removable drives. Open My Computer or
Windows Explorer and double click the My Computer icon to display all of the
drives in the right hand pane. Now hold down the Ctrl key and click on each of
the drive icons in turn to highlight them. Next, release the Ctrl key and
right-click on one of the highlighted drives and select Properties and a tabbed
dialogue box appears, showing the disk usage pie charts for each of your chosen
drives.
04/07/06
NEW LIFE FOR OLD DRIVES
If
you have been around PCs for any length of time than you probably have one or
two old hard disc drives kicking around, gathering dust. The chances are
they’re in perfect working order but they’ve been retired because they’re full
up, or the capacity isn’t large enough to for today’s space-hungry
applications. Don’t throw them away, a 20 to 40Gb drive can be quickly and
cheaply turned into an external HDD, which is ideal for data backups, file
storage or transportation. All you need is a USB to IDE converter cable and
power supply, they’re wisely available from PC suppliers, and they’re cheap
too, typically costing less then £20. Just plug it in to the back of the drive
and connect it up to your PC and Windows XP should immediately recognise it as
an external drive. The only thing to watch out for is that a ‘naked’ drive can
be quite vulnerable so you might want to protect it by housing it in a well
ventilated plastic box, or a removable drive caddy (also available from PC
suppliers for around a tenner).
23/06/06
ADD
NOTES TO YOUR FILES
Windows
(all recent versions), has a little-used facility that lets you add your own
notes to some types of files. These are hidden from normal view but easily
accessible. For example, you could add a short title or description to an image
file, detailing where it was taken, the people in the photograph and so on. You
can do something similar with audio files (though oddly enough not document or
video files). It’s really easy to do, simply right-click on the file icon in My
Computer or Windows Explorer, select Properties, then the Summary Tab (In pre
XP versions of Windows click the Custom tab) and type your notes in the
Comments box.
20/06/06
SET EXPLORER TO C DRIVE
The way Windows Explorer has been configured in XP to
open on the My Documents folder drives a lot of people nuts. It doesn’t have to
be that way. All you have to do is right-click the Windows Explorer icon or
shortcut that you use and select Properties. Next, in the Target box add the
following ‘switches’ /n,/e,c: where c: is your primary hard drive. The
Target command should now look like this:
%SystemRoot%explorer.exe /n,/e,c:
N.B. make sure there is a space before /n and the commas after
the n and the e.
AUTOMATIC COLUMN RESIZE,
PART 2
A few days ago we carried a
simple little tip concerning a little-known feature in Windows Explorer, for
automatically resizing single columns to the correct width, so all of the file
names or items are displayed. This new improved tip does the job for all
columns in one hit, widening or narrowing them according to what’s in them.
It’s really easy, all you have to do is hold down the Ctrl key then press the
plus ‘+’ key, but it has to be the one on the numeric keypad, otherwise it
doesn’t work.
02/06/06/
AUTOMATIC COLUMN RESIZE IN WINDOWS
EXPLORER
Doesn’t sound very exciting, does
it, but this simple little trick is well worth remembering the next time you
are trying to search for something or check a file name in Windows Explorer. As
you probably know you can adjust column width by manually on the column
‘separators’ and make them wider or narrower, but there’s a better way. If you
double-click on the separator it will automatically adjust column width to the
longest file name or item in the column to the left.
For those of you who are new
to Windows it’s also worth knowing that you can sort item in columns by
clicking on the column headers. For example, to sort folders or files
alphabetically double click the Name header, click once and the order is A to
Z, click again and it sorts the column Z to A. To arrange items by date click
the Date Modified header (once for most recent at the top, twice for oldest at the
top), and the same trick works for File Types and any other column headings you
see, both in Windows Explorer and most Explorer type dialogue boxes.
DRIVER
LETTERS IN FRONT
Here’s
a neat little tweak that overcomes a minor irritant by changing the way Windows
Explorer and My Computer displays drive names and letters. Normally they are
listed by drive name then drive letter. This tip switches them around, so that
Local Disc (C:) becomes (C:) Local Disc. It involves making a small change to
the Registry, it’s not difficult but it’s not really for novices and if you
don’t know your way around the Registry and how to make a backup then it’s
probably best avoided.
If you are still with us and
want to give it a try set a new Restore Point (just in case) then open the
Registry Editor by going to Run on the Start menu and type ‘regedit’ (without
the quotes). Work your way to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer.
Right click in the right hand pan, select New > DWORD Value and rename it
‘ShowDriveLettersFirst’ (without the quotes). Double click the new DWORD icon
and change the Value Data to 4 then close Regedit. Open Windows Explorer or My
Computer and the drive letter and name should now be reversed.
FIND
FILES FASTER
There
are bound to be several folders on your PC that you’re opening several times a
day, My Documents is a likely candidate, but this trick works on any one. The
idea is you can put your chosen folder icon on the Taskbar and when you click
on it, it opens, giving you fast and easy access to the contents. Start by
right-clicking on an empty area of the taskbar and select Toolbar > New
Toolbar and use the Browse button to find the one that you want. Click OK and
it’s done, now all you have to do is click on the little double-arrow symbol
beneath the folder name and all will be revealed.
MY COMPUTER -- THE WAY YOU LIKE IT…
I have never quite
understood why My Computer in Windows XP has a different ‘look’ to other
folders so if you are anything like me you like this simple little tip, which
switches it to a normal Windows Explorer type view. Open My Computer then go to
Tools > Options and click the File Types tab. Close to the top you will see
‘(NONE) Folder’. Click to highlight then click the Advanced button. Click
‘explore’ to highligh6 then click Set Default. Click OK then Close to exit the
dialogue boxes.
GATHER
TOGETHER IN GROUPS FOR FASTER FILING
Windows XP has a very useful
way of making your files and folders easier to get at, by arranging them in
Groups. It works best on folders that contain a number of sub-folders or lots
of different files. To see what it looks like open Windows Explorer or My
Computer, right-click into an empty area then select Arrange Icons By and on
the pop-out menu that appears click Show in Groups. Immediately all of the
files and folders should be grouped together alphabetically, but there’s more.
Right-click into an empty space again, click Arrange Icons, as before, but this
time select form one of the sort criteria: Name, Size, Type, Modified etc, and
see if that makes it easier to find what you are looking for. If you want to
revert back to the normal view simply uncheck ‘Show in Groups'.
CLAW
BACK SPACE FROM SYSTEM RESTORE
System
Restore in Windows ME and XP is an invaluable facility that may well save your
bacon one day but if you let it, it will gobble up vast amounts of hard disc
space, especially on today’s large drives. By default SR is allocated 12
percent of the drive’s capacity but you can safe reduce this figure, without
compromising its ability to get your PC back up on its feet again following a
nasty crash. In fact SR only needs 200Mb of free space but limiting its
capacity by too much will reduce the amount of data it stores and the number of
restore points, so it is important to strike a balance. To change the setting
in Windows XP open System Properties by pressing Winkey + Break then click the
System Restore tab. Select your System drive (usually Local disk C:) then click
the Settings button. Move the slider to the left. On drives 80Gb or more I
suggest allocating between 500Mb and 1Gb of space. If you have a second drive
used purely for data storage you might as well disable System Restore for that
drive, as it serves no useful purpose.
CREATE
YOUR OWN THUMBNAIL AND ALBUM ART
If
you use the Thumbnail View in Windows Explorer you may be wondering why some
folder icons show a little image, and others don’t?
If the folder contains
images Windows will make an apparently random selection but you can override
this with a picture of your choosing. All you have to do give the picture you
want to use the name ‘folder.jpg’ (without the quotes) and save it in the
selected folder. This simple trick can also be used to good effect on folders
that contain multimedia files. Your chosen folder.jpg image automatically
becomes that folder’s ‘Album Art’ image when it is opened in Windows Media
Player, which you will see if you go to View > Visualisations.
ADD FILMSTRIP VIEW TO ANY FOLDER
Windows XP has a very useful feature in My Pictures called Filmstrip that
allows you to quickly step through and display image files stored in the
folder. You can add this feature to any other folder in Windows Explorer. Just
right click the folder icon, select Properties then click the Customize tab. On
the ‘Use this folder type as a template’ drop down menu choose either
‘Pictures’ or ‘Photo Album’ and if you like tick the ‘Also apply this
template…’ option and click OK. When you next open the folder you will find
that Filmstrip has been added to the list of options when you select the View
menu or click the View icon on the toolbar.
FAST FOLDER SHORTCUT
If you use your PC to listen to music, or perhaps need to
access our picture files regularly or in a hurry, here’s a way to create a
simple keyboard shortcut that will quickly open any folder in Windows Explorer
whilst other programs are running and maximised. This is what you do: open
Windows Explorer, right click on the folder you want to access (My Music, My Pictures, etc.) then click
Send To > Desktop Create Shortcut. Right click on the folder icon on your
desktop, select Properties then the Shortcut tab. Click into the Shortcut Key
box press Ctrl + Alt then a letter or symbol of your choosing (e.g. M for
Music, P for pictures). In some cases you may find that the shortcut character
is already in use by something else when running a program, in which case go
back and try another one.
INSERT NO MORE
How many times has your PC asked you to ‘Insert the
Windows CD’, when you are installing a new piece of software or hardware? It’s
okay if you are super-organised and know exactly where you can lay your hands
on the disc but for the rest of us it means scrabbling around in drawers and
cupboards to find it.
Admittedly Windows XP is nowhere near as demanding as previous versions but it
still happens, so here’s a way to avoid seeing that message. (Before you ask,
if Windows was pre-installed on your PC and it didn’t come with an installation
disc you almost certainly don’t need to worry about this Tip…).
Just pop your Windows XP disc in the CD drive and when it
open click ‘Perform additional tasks’ and then ‘Browse this CD’. Right click on
the I386 folder and select Copy, now open Windows Explorer, highlight the C:\
drive, right-click and select Paste and hopefully you’ll never need to play
hunt the disc ever again.
ADDING MORE DETAILS IN
WINDOWS EXPLORER
Did you know in Windows XP
you can add extra columns to the Details View in Windows Explorer? There are
lots to choose from, just right click onto the column header bar and a list
appears. If you have a large collection of MP3 or music files the Bit Rate, Artist,
Album title, and Track Number columns should prove useful. For picture files
try Date Created and Camera Model. Don’t forget, this only works in the Details
View, so make sure that is selected, either from the View menu or the View icon
on the toolbar.
MORE ROOM FOR THUMBNAILS
Following on from the Top Tip change the size of Thumbnail images in Windows Explorer -- see below -- here’s another way pack more
images in the display by switching off the filenames. Simply hold down the
Shift key when you double-click to open a folder in Thumbnail View. Windows
Explorer will remember the setting so if you want to restore the filenames just
repeat the exercise.
CHANGE THUMBNAIL SIZE (EXPERTS
ONLY!)
The Thumbnail View in Windows
Explorer can be really useful for previewing images stored on your hard drive
but the size of the thumbnail images are fixed, which may be inconvenient if
you have a lot of images in each folder, or you just want to see more detail.
If you know your way around the Windows XP Registry then there is a way to
adjust the size but as always I have to stress that Registry editing is not for
novices, and you should always make a backup first.
Start by opening the Registry Editor
(‘regedit’ in Run on the Start menu) and click your way to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer.
Right click into the right hand
window and select New > DWORD Value and change the default name to 'ThumbnailSize’
(without the quotes). Next double click the newly created key and in the Value
box enter a number between 32 (smallest) and 256 (largest). Close Regedit and
open Explorer and check your newly shrunken or enlarged thumbnails for size.
REMOVE READ-ONLY ATTRIBUTE
If you have ever copied files from a CD to your hard disc
you will find that they will have been automatically given a ‘Read-Only’
attribute, which means they can’t be edited until the attribute has been
cleared. This isn’t too difficult when it only involves one or two files but if
you’ve just copied a batch of documents or images, for example, unchecking the
Read Only attribute in the file’s Properties window can be a real pain. Here’s
one easy way to unlock all of the files in a folder in one go. In Windows XP open the
DOS-like Command Prompt window by typing ‘cmd’ (without the quotes) in Run on
the Start menu. Change to the location of the folder where the files are stored
using the change directory (cd) command. So, for example, if the files are
stored in a folder called mypix, you enter the command: ‘cd c:\mypix’ (again,
without the quotes), now enter the following command to clear the Read Only
attribute: ‘attrib -r *.* /s’ then press Enter.
QUICK PREVIEW
Here’s a nifty little Windows XP trick that lets you
quickly preview multimedia files (AVI, CD Audio, MP3 etc.) in Windows Explorer,
without having to wait for Windows Medial Player or your chosen media player to
open. All you have to do is open Windows Explorer then go to Tools > Folder
Options and select the File Types tab. Scroll down the list and click to
highlight the multimedia file type you want to be able to preview. e.g. avi
movie files, then click the Advanced button then New. In the Action box give
the function a name, i.e. ‘Quickview’ then in the ‘Application used to perform
action’ box copy and paste the following command:
C:\Windows\System32\Mplay32.exe /Play %1
Click OK to exit the dialogue boxes and it’s done. Now in
Windows Explorer find an avi file (or your chosen file type), on the menu that
appears select Quickview and the file will immediately start playing.
SEE WHAT YOU’VE GOT
Windows Explorer is great for navigating your
way around your hard disc but it doesn’t really tell you much unless you delve
into the Details and Properties views. SpaceMonger is a brilliant little
freeware program that shows you exactly what you’ve got on your PC’s drives and
removable media, and how much space is being used with a clear, colourful and
easy to understand visual map. You can zoom in on the contents of files and
folders and you can also use it to delete those monster redundant files you
never knew you had.
FLASH MEMORY
Whilst flash drives are
very convenient there are other ways of transporting or carrying important data
around with you. If you have a digital camera or MP3 player you can normally
use the memory card or drive to store word processor documents, spreadsheets
etc. The card or drive will usually show up as a removable storage device in
Windows Explorer whilst downloading pictures or tunes when the camera or player
is connected to the PC by a USB cable. You can also drag and drop files into
the card using a USB memory card reader, which you can take with you, when
travelling on business or holiday, so the contents of the card can be read on
other computers
COMPRESS FLOPPIES
Every so often you may
want to transfer files between PCs on floppy disc. It's no problem, providing
the file is no larger than 1.4Mb. If it is you could compress the data, or use
multiple floppies, but there's another option, compress the disc. Windows 95
(and 98) has a utility called DriveSpace. It is intended to increase the
capacity of hard disc drives, but it works just as well with floppies, almost
doubling their capacity, to around 2.6Mb. Insert a clean disc into drive A: and
from the Start Menu click on Programs, then Accessories then System Tools and
open DriveSpace. Click on the disc icon or choose compress from the File men
and follow the instructions
FLOPPY COPY
If you need to quickly
make a copy of a floppy disk -- maybe a colleague needs to see some files
you've been working on -- then Windows can help. From your desktop or the Start
Button open My Computer then right-click on the floppy disc icon and select
Copy Disk on the menu. Windows then reads the entire contents of the disc into
the PC’s memory; a bar graph shows how the copy process is progressing. When
the indicator reaches halfway Copy Disc will ask you to remove the original
disc and load a blank formatted floppy. Make sure there's nothing on it or it
may be overwritten, click OK and the information is read back to the second
disc.
SEND TO
Send To is one of the most useful facilities in
Windows Explorer. By right clicking on a file, the Send To option will
instantly copy the file to another folder, a floppy disc or the clipboard, but
it can do many more things besides. You can add any application or drive
destination to the Send To list and save yourself a lot of time moving files
and opening applications.
Unfortunately the default
locations for Send To are a bit limited, but there’s a way around that. Send To
Toys is an invaluable little utility that lets you add to (and remove) items on
the Send To list with a single click. It’s freeware and compatible with all
flavours of Windows 9x, 2000 and XP and the download is only 400Kb. The link to
the download can be found at: http://www.gabrieleponti.com/software/
ADD TO SEND TO IN XP
Go to the Start menu then Programs and open Windows
Explorer. Scroll down the list to the Windows folder, open it, locate and
double click on Send To. Now go up to File on the menu bar, select New, then
Shortcut and use Browse to find the application you are interested in. Open the
folder and look for the relevant *.exe file, single click to highlight and
select Open. You will be asked to give the program a name -- if you don't want
to use the default -- then click Next and Finish and the item is added to the
Send To list.
|
