The Windows Fix

Get an Overview of Windows Shortcut Keys with ActiveHotKeys

T.J. Mininday — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:46:17 +0000

Most people don’t know it, but there are dozens and dozens of Windows shortcut/hotkeys out there for you to use. Whether it be using the Win, Ctrl, Alt or Shift, there are plenty to choose from. The issue that most have with it though, is that none of us really know what they are and some of us want to create our own with the available ones.

ActiveHotKeys is a simple and free application that can give you a quick and easy overview of your entire plethora of shortcut keys. Whether it be a couple key strokes with the Win key, or a few with Ctrl-Alt-Shift, this application will display them all and help you take advantage of the ones that you’re not using on a regular basis.

This program does not however list what particular application a shortcut key may be registered for, and it also does not allow you to create your own. It’s a just an easy way to get a quick look at the ones that you can presently take advantage of.

via Elite Freeware

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Device Remover is the Best Windows Device Manager Alternative

T.J. Mininday — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:42:00 +0000

One of the many built-in Windows system tools that still lacks in many ways, is the Windows Device Manager. Getting to the deep down details of the hardware installed on your system can be annoying via the default Windows method. I’ve previously seen many alternatives to other utilities within Windows, but none in particular for the Device Manager. That’s why Device Remover caught me off guard, and I was pleasantly surprised.

Device Remover is an incredibly in depth Windows Device Manager alternative that gives you many more features than the one built-in. Easy removal, driver views, troubleshooting and mass editing of multiple devices makes this easily one of the best of it’s kind out there. The best part of it is that it appears to be compatible with every version of Windows, XP and beyond, including Windows 7.

It’d be a great utility to have on a small or large network for quick troubleshooting of hardware devices on a Windows PC.

via Teknobites

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Run Applications on a Virtual Hard Drive with Sandboxie

T.J. Mininday — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:44:04 +0000

With any new application that’s installed on your computer, there’s always a worry that it’s going to possibly infect your system with something. Some worry more than others, but why should this be such a worrisome. It would be nice if you could isolate any application from the rest of your critical programs. You can run them in a complete virtual environment with VMWARE or Microsoft’s Virtual PC, but that can be time consuming and time is something a lot of us don’t have. There is another great alternative though.

Sandboxie essentially runs all applications in a isolated protected environment, away from the rest of your precious Windows programs. Secure Web Browsing, Enhanced Privacy and Secure E-Mailing are the app’s main protective measures. The program places any installed application that you specify, into a completely separate area of your hard disk. The below animation gives you a better idea of how exactly it works.

So if you want to try out some free applications, but worried about infecting your system, this program is perfect for you. Check it out…Sandboxie.

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A Simple View of Windows Programs Auto Starting

T.J. Mininday — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:46:48 +0000

There are several different places that Windows looks to find programs starting automatically. There’s a couple of different places in the registry, services and of course the Windows Start-Up folder. You can of course modify these files and registry entries manually, but you can also do it with built-in Windows apps such as MSCONFIG. These still aren’t quite as easy as programs such as AutoStart Explorer though.

AutoStart Explorer is a simplified view of all the items that start in one for or another on your Windows machine. You can not only view all of these items, but also have the ability to modify them as you please, retrieving those always needed system resources.

AutoStart Explorer – via Life Rocks 2.0

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Windows Quick Tip #3 – Add Google Search to Right-Click IE Menu

T.J. Mininday — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:14:12 +0000

I rarely use Internet Explorer, but there are certain situations that I still have to, and I find myself right-clicking sections of text all of the time to search Google for something on a certain website. Firefox has this built-in ability, IE does not. Winhelponline has found a simple and quick fix to adding such capability to the right-click menu in Internet Explorer 7 and 8.

1. Download google.zip and extract the files to a folder

2. Move google.htm to C:\Windows\Web directory

3. Double-click google.reg to run it

4. Open a new Internet Explorer window and select the text which you want to search using Google, right-click and then select Search with Google option. (Using the option with SHIFT key pressed, opens the Google search page in a new Internet Explorer window.)

Go there to check it out: Winhelponlineblog

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Keep Caps, Num or Scroll Lock Always On..or Off

T.J. Mininday — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:02:03 +0000

One of the big annoyances I continually find myself running into is that the number lock is never on when I need it to be. I open up Excel and find my highlighted cell jumping all over the place, with no numbers to be seen. I look up on the keyboard and…duhh, the number lock is of course off. This typically happens during a reboot.

There are also times where you find yourself bumping the the caps lock key as well. It would be nice to permanently have these on or off. Well, there are registry hacks to do it, or you can do it with this simple free utility.

Numlocker quite simply allows you to “lock” the state of the Caps, Num or Scroll lock keys to Always On or Always Off. That’s all it does. It resides quitely in the background of your Windows PC and does just that. Locks the state of those keys.

Download Here – via Elite Freeware

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Windows Quick Tip #2 – Disable the Windows Error Report

T.J. Mininday — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:39:22 +0000

One of the most usesless features that Microsoft implemented into their operating systems, is their error reporting. I still get the question almost daily, asking whether or not they should or should “send the error report”. Supposedly Microsoft accumulates these errors into database and references them for future fixes and releases. How many of you think they actually do such?

If they did, the count would likely be in the billions. Most of us who work on computers on a daily basis, probably see this pop-up 5-10 times/day.

That’s why I’m teaching you how easy it is to disable it.

The instructions below are for both XP and Vista:

Windows XP
START>Right-Click on MY COMPUTER>PROPERTIES>ADVANCED>ERROR REPORTING>DISABLE ERROR REPORTING

Windows Vista
START>Search for and click “Problem Reports”>CHANGE SETTINGS>ADVANCED SETTINGS>Select OFF

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Remove Factory Installed Software with PC Decrapifier

T.J. Mininday — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:00:10 +0000

The major problem with buying a new PC at discount prices from your Best Buy, Dell, and HPs of the world that although they do come at a reduced cost, they do come LOADED with junkware. Trial Office, AntiVirus, Cheap ISPs and added security features, just to name a few. Removing these features typically is accomplished by going to Add/Remove Programs in the control panel and removing one-by-one. Fortunately however, there is an all-in-one solution called PC Decrapifier.

PC Decrapifier is essentially an uninstaller that detects junkware that is installed on your factory built laptop or desktop. It runs a quick detection process on your PC, determines what is and what isn’t needed, and then displays what can be removed.

After you select what you’d like to remove, it runs the uninstaller for each and every specified application, one-by-one, making your machine squeaky clean and diverting you from formatting the machine completely.

The program is update every few months with new applications to remove, and it is continuously monitoring what items are being consistently uninstalled, display it on their website.

PC Decrapifier

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Snackr – Scrolling RSS Reader for Windows

T.J. Mininday — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:49:36 +0000

The go to method to receiving up to date news information these days is via RSS feeds. Whether through blogging, news, or just a periodically updated website, it is THE defacto method of delivering information. Although to those who aren’t quiet as tech savvy, may have no idea of its purpose, those of us whom are, are always looking for new way to receiving our “feeds”.

Google Reader quickly came to the forefront as the most popular RSS reader on the net. There were many online and offline competitors to Google’s powerful product, none have really come close thus far. One that I recently discovered that works much differently than most, is Snackr RSS.

Snackr RSS Reader is both an on and offline RSS reading solution that has a much different approach to displaying feeds. Snackr utilizes Adobe’s amazing Air product, scrolling your news across the bottom, top, left or right sections of your screen.

After you begin either manually entering your feeds, or importing them via a OPML file, Snackr will begin randomly scrolling your various articles at your specified location. As they scroll across the screen, you can simply click on any item and see a quick snippet of what it has to offer. If you want to continue onto the full article, you can do so quickly by clicking “View Post”, where it will take you to the posting in your default web browser.

via MakeUseOf

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Windows Quick Tip #1: Make “No” Equal “No To All” During Copy/Paste

T.J. Mininday — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:30:19 +0000

Periodically, and maybe even daily at some point I’m going to be bring Windows Tip and Tricks from Windows XP, Vista, 7 and even Server 2003. Today, I’m going be giving you a tip that will work in all versions.

When using the copy/cut and paste utility in Windows, the “Yes To All” option to paste over the top of a particular is quite useful. A nice addition so that you don’t have to click each and every file as it goes through the process. However, it would be nice to be able to have a “No to All” option as well.

The fact is that although there isn’t a “No To All” key, you can get this effect by simply holding down the SHIFT button and clicking No.

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