Tips and Tricks: Windows Eco System

Huge Pointer Stick to replace the mouse pointer–Great for presentations

2011-12-09T09:22:00.001-08:00

PointerStick is a portable tool that presents on the Windows Desktop a virtual pointer stick, for example for Presentations to highlight the current mouse position and the emphasis on presenting will be better.
The use of the virtual pointer stick is ideal for projectors (Beamer) and larger LED/LCD screens.
# Features:
# Very Small Program
# Low CPU usage
# Adjustable size of Pointer Stick
# Several Pointing-Stick textures (bitmaps)
# Optional alpha transparency
# Optional deactivation by mouse or keyboard input
# Optional translation feature
# Portable
# Multilingual

Download it here: http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Freeware/PointerStick

Outlook: Recover deleted items from any folder (not just Deleted Items folder)

2011-08-18T23:24:00.001-07:00

Outlook provides a way to recover items after you have permanently deleted them, including after emptying the Deleted Items folder. Your Exchange server administrator specifies the retention time for permanently deleted items on the Exchange server. After this time has elapsed, you cannot recover the deleted items.

By default, to use the Recover Deleted Items command on the Tools menu, you must be viewing the Deleted Items folder. By modifying the registry, this command is available regardless of which Outlook folder that you are viewing. You can view and recover deleted items, including those items that were permanently deleted by using SHIFT+DELETE, for the folder that you are viewing.

To enable this feature follow the steps below.

Exit Outlook.
Open the Windows registry editor.
Browse to My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\Client\Options.
On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
Type the name DumpsterAlwaysOn.

Note Do not type any spaces in the name.

Set the DWORD value to 1.
Restart Outlook.

The Tools menu now has the Recover Deleted Items command for every Outlook folder.

Source: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/recover-deleted-items-from-any-folder-HA001116528.aspx

Windows 7: Disable wireless when you connect to Wired network & Vice Versa

2011-08-18T23:15:00.001-07:00

If you are willing to spend few minutes for this solution, continue reading. It involves firing a batch file based on event log entries using Task Scheduler.

1. Create a batch file named “Wireless_Disable.bat” with the following contents. Open Notepad, copy/paste the following text and save it as above file name.

netsh interface set interface "Wireless Network Connection" Disable

2. Create another batch file named “Wireless_Enable.bat”. Open Notepad, copy/paste the following text and save it as the above filename.

netsh interface set interface "Wireless Network Connection" Enable

3. Open Event Viewer. Click Start Orb/button and type Event Viewer and select the “Event Viewer” application from search results.

4. Expand Windows Logs and select System.

5. I would suggest unplug your network cable from your laptop and plug back in. Click on Filter current log option in Actions pane. In Event ID text box (in the middle), type 9,4 to filter by event id 9 & event id 4. Click OK.

6. Find Event Id 9 from the filtered list and double click to open it. Make sure this event is for your correct wired network card. Note down the Source value. In my case it is b57nd60a. Click Close button to close the event properties window.

7. Leave the Event Viewer window as it is. Click Start orb/button again and type Task Scheduler. Select Task Scheduler application from search results.

8. Click Task Scheduler Library on your left pane. Click on Create Basic Task.. on the Actions pane to create a new scheduled job.

9. On Create a Basic Task section, Type a name (Dock the Laptop) in Name field and type some description about this task. Click Next.

9. On Trigger section select When a specific event is logged options and click Next.

10. On When an Event is Logged section Select Log as System, Select Source same as you noted down in step 6, and type event ID as 9.Click Next.

11. On Action section Select the option Select a program and click Next.

12. On Start a Program section click on Browse… button and select the batch file you created in step 1. Click Next.

13. Select the check box for Open the Properties dialog for this task.. Click Finish button on Finish section.

14. On the task properties dialog box, select the check box for Run with highest privileges and click OK to close.

15. Create another basic task by do the steps 7 through 14 again. On Step 9 type task name as "Undock the laptop”. On step 10, type event id as 4 instead of 9.

16. THAT’S IT. Task will automatically fired when you plug and unplug the network cable on your laptop (or dock and undock it).

Try unplugging the network cable from wired network card and watch your wireless network card is enable and vice versa.

Warning: When you change your password for your domain user account you need to update the new password on these two scheduled tasks.

Windows 7: Xp-Mode apps–Pause, hibernate, reboot

2011-08-18T22:10:00.001-07:00

XP Mode is Windows 7 is greatest thing since sliced bread. Damn it was more than useful. Here are the few ways I use the XP Mode.

Installed legacy apps (that’s the point of this feature, isn’t?)
Install the apps that I want to keep for a long time. E.g., you can reinstall your computer and still keep the same VM intact and continue to use. Time to time I find a great free application at http://www.giveawayoftheday.com and I keep it installed in VM.
When I connect to work (VPN), I connect using VPN application in VM using XP Mode. Voila`, my VM is connected to work and my laptop is not. I can continue to watch movies or play games, while I am monitoring an application or logs at a server at work.

You know what was missing. We can’t hibernate or pause the VM in XP Mode. Think about click a single app opens up all the work related applications where it left off.

Found this great PowerShell script based application that does exactly what is missing in XP Mode. Now you can pause, hibernate, reboot and shutdown the XP mode VM quickly and easily. Head over to http://www.orcsweb.com/blog/james/introducing-the-advanced-virtual-pc-controls-for-windows-7/ and get AVPCC.

Free Clock Screensavers

2011-07-16T22:49:00.001-07:00

I found these two gems, liked to share it here. Enjoy.

Fliqlo: Flip Clock

Word Clock

Pulse: Automatic Wallpaper changer with a twist

2011-05-16T21:46:00.001-07:00

Pulse is an application that automatically downloads wallpapers from the web using given keyword. At this time it uses http://rewalls.com to get wallpapers. There are thousands of beautiful wallpapers with different resolutions. Pulse automatically chooses wallpapers with your screen resolution. You can make it to skip wallpapers with lower resolution or to get wallpapers with original size.

This is perfect when you don’t want to waste disk space for saving wallpapers, but like to change the wallpaper from Internet. This software is really perfect for Netbooks.

It’s a free software. You can get it from here: http://pulse.codeplex.com/

Awesome Text/ASCII Signatures for Emails

2011-03-24T20:45:00.001-07:00

I am using one of the signature generated from this site: http://www.kammerl.de/ascii/AsciiSignature.php

Those dudes did fantastic job on creating pretty awesome ASCII fonts. See some samples below. Generate one for your name and use it on your Outlook and other places.

Windows 7: Change to some cool Start Orbs

2011-03-24T20:30:00.001-07:00

With this program (http://www.door2windows.com/windows-7-start-button-changer-change-your-windows-7-start-button-with-one-click/) you can change the Windows 7 Start Orb or button something cool.

1. Download the program from above link and save the program to known location.

2. Download some cool Start Orbs from here: http://browse.deviantart.com/customization/skins/windows7/startorbs/

3. Right click on the downloaded file named “Windows 7 Start Orb Changer.exe” & run as Administrator.

4. Click Change button and select your favorite downloaded Start Orb.

Enjoy.

Find what is filling up the hard disk space?

2011-02-06T12:54:00.001-08:00

This free software named FolderSize does a great job with simple interface. And the best part is it’s available as portable software, so you can carry it in your USB disk.

FolderSize is intended to be a simple application to determine what folders takes up place on your machine and to present it to you graphically.

Download it here: FolderSize

Windows 7: Make your Windows 7 laptop as hotspot with a free program (Connectify)

2011-02-06T00:16:00.001-08:00

While ago I blogged about Windows 7: Turn your Laptop as Wireless Router (Wi-Fi Hotspot) using netsh commands. Now I found there is a free software named Connectify does it for you in few easy clicks.

This is what the developer has to say about the software:

Connectify is an easy to use software router for Windows 7 computers. After downloading and installing the lightweight application, Connectify utilizes your computers' built in Wi-Fi card to wirelessly share any available Internet connection: a cable modem, a cellular card, or even another Wi-Fi network. Other Wi-Fi enabled devices including laptops, smart phones, music players, and gaming systems can see and join your Connectify hotspot just like any other Wi-Fi access point and are kept safe and secure by password-protected WPA2 Encryption.

Download it here: Connectify

ClearLock: Lock your desktop and still see what’s going on your desktop

2011-02-05T23:56:00.001-08:00

ClearLock provides a convenient way to lock your desktop with a transparent layer, allowing you to see what's happening on your desktop and at the same time prevent access to the computer without the proper password. ClearLock comes as standalone executable, just run it, set your password and click the ClearLock icon whenever you want to lock your screen. To reset your password, simply delete the .ini file that was created in the same folder. ClearLock is designed to prevent others (e.g. your kids) from casually messing with your desktop, while keeping your desktop visible at the same time (unlike the Windows CTRL+L function), the program is NOT intended to be used as a security system - computer savvy users can bypass the lock.

Get it Here: ClearLock

Windows 7: Disable All Balloon Notifications

2011-01-22T23:40:00.001-08:00

Have you seen this?

Isn’t annoying? Let’s disable these popups altogether.

Open Registry Editor (click Start Orb, type RegEdit and press Enter)
Go to this location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Create a new key. Right click on Advanced and click New and select DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Type the key name as EnableBalloonTips
Double click to open "EnableBaloonTips key and change the value to 0
Click Registry Editor. Log off and log back in.
That’s it, no more popups. Enjoy.

Windows 7: How to search file contents?

2011-01-22T23:13:00.001-08:00

You would think what kind of stupid question is that? But If I ask you how to search file contents in Windows 7, it will take some time figure out. It was very easy in Windows XP (just use classic search tool).

Windows Explorer has a search box, but by default it only search file names, file content and meta data ONLY in INDEXED LOCATIONS.

Here is how you enable content searching.

Open Windows Explorer
Click Alt –> Tools Menu and select Folder Options
Select Search tab
Select the option “Always search file names and contents (this might take several minutes)” and click OK to close the dialog box

You HAVE to enable a setting to index the file contents, so you can search it later. Here is how you enable the context indexing.

Click Start Orb and type “Index”
Select “Indexing Options” from search results
On Indexing Options dialog box, click on Advanced button
On Advanced Options dialog box, select File Types tab
Select an file type extension and continue to Step 6
Enable the option for Index Properties and File Contents under “How should this file be indexed?”
Unfortunately you have select the needed file types one at time a time and repeat steps 5 and 6.

Open Windows Explorer to My Computer (instead of Libraries)

2010-12-11T00:48:00.001-08:00

I heard my friends say Windows 7 Explorer opens to Libraries page automatically. They have been used to see “My Computer” page in Explorer like below.

No Fear. To open Explorer to “My Computer” by default, follow the steps below.

If you pinned Explorer to the task bar (by default Windows 7 does it), right click on Explorer, and right click on “Windows Explorer”. Select properties.

On the properties page, copy & page this on Target text box: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

Click Ok.

Try clicking on the Windows Explorer icon on the task bar. Did you find your old love of “My Computer” page?

Configure applications as “Run as an Administrator” every time

2010-12-11T00:27:00.001-08:00

User Account Control kicks in when you try to run some applications (e.g., Administrative tools), you have to click UAC window. Or some times you simple want to run an application with high privileges and you hate every time you had to right click and select “Run as an Administrator” option. Here is the easy way.

1. On the Start menu, locate the program that you want to always run as an administrator.
2. Right-click the application’s shortcut, and then click Properties.
3. In the Properties dialog box, click the Compatibility tab.
4. Do one of the following:

To apply the setting to the currently logged-on user, select the Run This Program As An Administrator check box, and then click OK.
To apply the setting to all users on the computer and regardless of which shortcut is used to start the application, click Change Setting For All Users to display the Properties dialog box for the application’s .exe file, select the Run This Program As An Administrator check box, and then click OK twice.

Windows 7: Defrag hard disk from command line or schedule a task manually

2010-12-11T00:21:00.001-08:00

Windows 7 defrag GUI tool is simple and easy. Click Start Orb, type Defrag and Press Enter. You can configure schedule to defrag automatically on your specified time. I usually choose the day time, because my laptop is off during night.

Here are command line options for more control (check out /X option).

Defrag <volume> | /C | /E <volumes> [/A | /X | /T] [/H] [/M] [/U] [/V]
The options for Defrag.exe are:

<volume> The drive letter or mount point of the volume to defragment.

/C Defragment all local volumes on the computer.

/E Defragment all local volumes on the computer except those specified.

/A Display a fragmentation analysis report for the specified volume without defrag¬menting it.

/X Perform free-space consolidation. Free-space consolidation is useful if you need to shrink a volume, and it can reduce fragmentation of future files.

/T Track an operation already in progress on the specified volume.

/H Run the operation at normal priority instead of the default low priority. Specify this option if a computer is not otherwise in use.

/M Defragment multiple volumes simultaneously, in parallel. This is primarily useful for computers that can access multiple disks simultaneously, such as those using SCSI- or SATA-based disks rather than disks with an IDE interface.

/U Print the progress of the operation on the screen.

/V Verbose mode. Provides additional detail and statistics.

I like this geek cartoon, by the way. Found at http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/geekandpoke/2010/11/geek-gen-x.html

IE InPrivate Filtering - Enable it by default

2010-12-11T00:04:00.001-08:00

If you don’t know what’s InPrivate browsing, here is brief introduction (or read it here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-vista/What-is-InPrivate-Browsing)

InPrivate Browsing enables you to surf the web without leaving a trail in Internet Explorer. This helps prevent anyone else who might be using your computer from seeing where you visited and what you looked at on the web. You can start InPrivate Browsing from the new tab page or the Safety button.

Now you know or already know what it is, you may want to enable it every time you open Internet Explorer. Here is how you can do it.

Open Registry Editor (Regedit.exe)
Navigate to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\PrivacIE
Create new DWORD key named StartMode and set the value 1.
Close Registry Editor
That’s it.

Enjoy your InPrivate browsing.

Multiple Monitors–different wallpapers (Free Open Source Tool)

2010-12-10T22:44:00.001-08:00

Wish you had different wallpapers for each monitor on your computer? Is one of your big monitor doesn’t display the wallpaper correctly due to different sized monitors? No worries..there is free software, named WallMaster, does the job.

WallMaster provides the following features:

Completely independent selection of wallpapers for each screen
Random selection of wallpapers based on a user defined directory
User defined interval for changing wallpapers
Selection of a different background color for different monitors
Multiple options for placing a wallpaper on a screen
- Center
  - Centers image, cropping it to the limitations of the screen
- Stretch
  - Stretch the image to take up the entire screen, distorting aspect ratio
- StretchRatio
  - Stretch the image to take up the entire screen, maintaining aspect ratio
  - This may result in either horizontal or vertical bars around the image
- Magic
  - Center an image when it is smaller than the screen, otherwise use StretchRatio
Dynamically discovers screen the number of screens
Resize images automatically when the screen resolution changes
Hides in notification tray on minimize

Head over to http://wallmaster.codeplex.com/ to download the software.

Outlook 2010: Compose and Send FUN e-mails

2010-09-30T22:30:00.001-07:00

Long back There was a email client named incrediMail that could do some tricks. I received e-mails with all kinds of pizzazz. Now you can do this with Outlook 2010. All Microsoft Word tricks can be done in Outlook 2010 Mail compose window. Here is some samples I did. Most of them you can find in Insert Tab in Mail compose window. Try some you might like it.

Word Art:

Smart Art:

Pictures:

Windows 7: Auto Login to Domain Account and lock the desktop right away

2010-09-23T00:28:00.001-07:00

I saw this blog post in Life Hacker (Make Windows load your desktop before you log in) and see the interesting idea which I used to do few years ago. That Life hacker post is for home users. It doesn’t apply to the domain computers, obviously. So I decided to explain how to auto logon with Domain account and lock your desktop on start up. Here it is.

Open Registry Editor (Start Orb –> type Regedit.exe)
Browse to this location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Edit DefaultUserName key and type your domain user name
If doesn’t exist, Create DefaultDomainName (string or REG_SZ) key and edit it with your domain name
If doesn’t exist, create DefaultPassword (string or REG_SZ) key and edit it with your password
If doesn’t exist, create AutoAdminLogon (string or REG_SZ) key and edit with “1”.
Close Registry Editor
Open Notepad
Type this: WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Run("rundll32 user32.dll,LockWorkStation")
Save it as “LockDesktop.vbs” (NOTE: you have to type script name in double quotes, or it will save it with “.txt” in the end) to a known location (would say Documents\scripts in your profile)
Click Start –> All Programs. Right click on Startup and select Open.
On Startup Folder, right click on empty space and select New –> Shortcut.
Select your script (LockDesktop.vbs) on your saved location and create a shortcut.
That’s it. Reboot your computer and watch your computer auto login with your account and locks the desktop right away.

Make sure have a plan to change the password when your password expires in the registry (DefaultPassword key). I would create a local user account and have it handy just in case. Enjoy!

ShareWatcher – Monitor your share access on your computer

2010-09-19T22:29:00.001-07:00

ShareWatcher is designed to monitor your personal Windows File Shares and to let you know when and who accessed them. In addition, you are able to monitor other peoples shared folders for the arrival of new files. Newer versions included the ability to monitor an FTP path for these same new file arrivals.

Download it here: ShareWatcher

Windows 7: Turn your Laptop as Wireless Router (Wi-Fi Hotspot)

2010-09-19T22:23:00.001-07:00

All you need is wireless network adaptor from known manufacturers (Intel, Broadcom, etc.,) and Windows 7 on your laptop. Your can provide Internet access from Wired connection or AT&T 3G/Sprint 4g like modem to other devices.

Open Command Prompt with Administrator privileges (right click and select “Run as Administrator”
In the command window, type: netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=KickAss-Wifi key=KickAss-Password
Replace “KickAss-Wifi” with the name you want to use for the wireless network and replace “KickAss-Password” with your chosen password for accessing it)
Press Enter.
Now type: netsh wlan start hostednetwork
Press Enter.
Open Control Panel and go to Network and Sharing Center.
Click Change Adapter Settings.
Right click your Internet connection and select Properties.
Click the Sharing tab.
Check the box that says “Allow other network users to connect.”
Choose your virtual wi-fi adapter and click OK.

Check other devices seeing your KickAss-WiFi network in Wireless Network Connection list.

Send Screenshots via Outlook 2010 with ease

2010-09-18T23:33:00.001-07:00

Do you send screenshots via email time to time? how do you do it? Here is a easy way if you are using Outlook 2010.

1. Click New Email to compose a new message.

2. On the ribbon, select Insert tab and select Screenshot.

3. The current compose window will minimize automatically. Select the portion of the screen, voila!

Outlook 2010 has many more tricks under the sleeve. More coming in this blog.

Windows Mobile 6.x: Increase your Internet Browsing speed

2010-06-07T22:14:00.001-07:00

This trick (from XDA Developers) worked great on my HTC Touch Diamond 2. I doubled my browsing speed. This following tip involves editing the registry on your Windows Mobile phone. Get one of those free Registry editor at http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ if you don’t have one already.

1. Locate the following key in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings

2. Create DWORD Value as below, and then add the following registry values:

Value name: MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
Value data: 32
Base: Decimal

Value Name: MaxConnectionsPerServer
Value data: 16
Base: Decimal

3. Exit Registry Editor.

4. Soft Reset your phone

That’s it. To make sure to prove it did something, do a Internet speed test on your phone before and after registry setting.

Little “Performance Monitor” in beautiful colors

2010-05-08T00:08:00.001-07:00

Performance Monitor is a small program that shows you the CPU, Memory, Disk and Network utilization under all versions of Windows Systems.

It's composed by four fully configurable small graphs and it can work in the tray area also. The windows are fully anchor able and by moving the "CPU" window you'll move the other attached windows.

PerfMon can become transparent and permits you to forward left-mouse clicks so you can place it anywhere. You can also change the program priority saving CPU work and double its size for big monitor resolutions.

Get it HERE.