The Playground

If you're like me, then you have a mile-long list of programs that start when your Window PC boots. You can delay some non-essential programs so they don't run until later, making your Windows boot a whole lot faster.

Startup Delayer allows a user to place a delay on each of their startup programs, so that they each have time to launch before another begins making demands on the disk and CPU. It is very simple to use, just drag a program from the listing to the white bar below. A line will appear indicating how long it will be from startup before this program begins. Drag another program to a different spot, and there is a second line. Drag the lines around to lengthen or shorten the gaps. You can also choose to autospace each application. Any program not explicitly delayed by you starts up normally.

Posted by Toni at 10:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

The Copy as Path Command

The Copy as Path command appears on the context menu when you hold down the [Shift] key as you right click on a folder, as shown in Figure B. Keep in mind that this [Shift] + Right-Click combination only works when you use it in the right hand section of Windows Explorer — it doesn’t work in the Folders section on the left.

Once you use the Copy as Path command, the entire path of the folder is copied to the clipboard. You can now select the Command Prompt window, type the CD command, press [Spacebar], and then right click anywhere inside the Command Prompt window. When you do, the entire path, already enclosed in double quotes is pasted on the command line. You can then just press [Enter] and you instantly have access to that folder on the command line.

Posted by Toni at 7:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

Quite by accident, I recently discovered Windows Live Mail, it's has been around for a while now and I've been averse to using it (don't ask me why... something to do with the anit-Microsoft thing perhaps???) but it actually seems to be quite a good program. I recently upgraded my Windows Messenger program and clicked on mail and discovered a whole new program and was quite impressed with it. All my Hotmail emails that I was previously unable to download to my computer, plus all the RSS feeds I'd subscribed to over time we here in one program.

I might need to rethink how many feeds I subscribe to though, because at the end of the day I just don't have the time to read through them all. I can see all the headers in Live Mail and skip to the ones I want but the list is quite long.

Posted by Toni at 12:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

I installed Microsoft's new Vista operating system recently and although the new look is great, it's hard trying to find where things are installed and where some things have gone. Here's a couple of great tips from PC World's Scott Dunn:

If you use the default Start menu in Windows Vista (as opposed to the Classic Start menu), the Run command doesn't appear in it. To change that, right-click the Start button and choose Properties. With the Start Menu tab active, click the CustomizeButton in the upper right. Scroll through the list of options and check Run command. Click OK twice. The command will now appear in the lower-right corner of the Start menu.

...and again from Scott Dunn:

The screen capture utility built into Vista didn't make it into all versions of the OS. Here's how to turn it on if you have it and how to upgrade if you don't.

If you have Vista Basic, you have the wrong edition all the way around. Vista Basic is essentially Windows XP with a pretty face, and not even the attractive Aero interface that comes with other Vista editions. Also missing are Vista's Shadow Copies feature, its scheduled backups, and the Snipping Tool.

Sorting out all the differences between the other Vista editions isn't easy, though some sites do offer to help you compare features. The comparison charts on Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows is a good one. But Vista itself has a feature that can help: Open Control Panel and launch Windows Anytime Upgrade. At the bottom of the window, click Compare versions for details that match your flavor of Vista against those that you can upgrade to.

If you have a version of Vista other than Home Basic, you already have the Snipping Tool screen capture utility: Choose Start, All Programs, Accessories, Snipping Tool. If you don't see it there, it may not be activated. Go to Control Panel and open Program and Features (you may have to click Programs first). In the task pane on the left, click Turn Windows features on or off. If necessary, click Continue when prompted by User Account Control. Scroll through the list of features, check the box next to Tablet PC Optional Components, and click OK. Turning on these features gives you not only the Snipping Tool, but also the Tablet PC Input Panel, Windows Journal, and other stylus-related features.

Posted by Toni at 11:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

I got an email forwarded to me tonight that got me searching the net for an answer and what I found was quite interesting.

The email was titled "Hidden program in Microsoft word"

Explain this :

Open a new Word document and type:

=rand(200,99)

then press ENTER.

Wait for three seconds and look again...

Not even Microsoft people can explain that one!

Now I found it hard to believe that the people from Microsoft would not be able to explain. I thought it might be a hidden Easter Egg, a quirky little trick that some programmers add as a bit of fun.

I found a great explanation at Web Tips:

If you are using Office 2003 you will get this ..

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

repeated in 200 paragraphs, with each paragraph saying it 99 times. Since the sentence covers each and every character of the English alphabet, its presumably a built in macro to test out fonts for generating sample texts.

But surprisingly, if you use MS Office 2007, you wont get that result. Instead you will get a nice paragraph that starts with ..

On the insert tab, the galleries include items that are designed to coordinate with the overall look of your document.

which is a kind of manual of exciting new features of Word 2007! An uninterrupted effort by Microsoft to popularise their product I guess.

Here's one more MS Word trick for you ..

How to change a selected text to all caps, small caps in MS Word?

Select the text you want to change and press SHIFT + F3 key. Press again. And again .. Enjoy!

Posted by Toni at 10:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

I use the Windows Media Player to view avi files, and invariably, every time I close the player, it tells me there is a new version and asks if I want to upgrade. That is one huge install, and requires validation to install, so I always say no.

Here's a registry tweak to disable the constant nagging to upgrade:

Go to Start, and type regedit, press ENTER.

Open the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\PlayerUpgrade

Right click in the right window and choose New, String Value. Name your string "AskMeAgain" without the quote marks, and then modify, and give it a value of "no".

Close the Registry Editor. The Media Player won't ask you again to upgrade.

Posted by Toni at 10:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

I have set Firefox as the default web browser but links from within my emails still open in Internet Explorer. Does this sound familiar to you? I scoured the Internet tonight for a fix to this problem (as I do with most computer problems I have, because you can be sure if you have a problem, a million other people have had the same problem), and yes, here's the how-to on how to fix this.

From https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=246078:

1. Open Explorer

2. Select Tools and then Folder Options

3. Select the File Types tab

4. Select Extension: (NONE), File Type: URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol

5. Click Advanced toward the bottom of the window

6. In the Edit File Type window, select open and click Edit

7. Clear the check for DDE above the DDE message box (which should contain "%1" or similar)

8. Click OK, Click OK

9. Repeat for File Type: HyperText Transfer Protocol with Privacy and FTP

Now when you click the link in an email, Firefox will open as the default browser.

Posted by Toni at 9:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

I've had a problem with avi files on my computer for quite some time, and thought I had downloaded a virus along with the file. Everytime I tried to open the folder containing my avi file, or even hovered the mouse over the file, Windows Explorer used to crash, and last night when I tried to open an avi file, Windows Media Player crashed.

Previously, I've run the antivirus and anti spyware programs and haven't been able to come up with an answer. Last night I Googled my problem, and wouldn't you know it, I'm not alone. One forum post in particular helped me to solve the problem.

Windows XP Explorer has a 'feature' to provide a preview in the Details box on the left of the file you have selected, if it's supported. Image files, HTML pages, video clips, MP3s, etc are all previewed (even with the folder view open). If you have a large movie clip and it either is corrupt (ie. no index from a partial download) or it uses an unsupported codec, then Explorer tries to load the whole file. This can slow your computer a lot and prevent deleting/renaming/moving/etc the file until it's finished.

Run regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll. This unloads the video preview utility in Explorer and solved my problem. Another suggestion was to download DivX521XP2K.exe to solve the problem without having to regedit. The second fix allows you to keep thumbnails of videos.

Posted by Toni at 10:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |