Windows Vista SP1
The most annoying feature of Vista, UAC interrupts with a pop-up dialogue box, consistently asking if it's OK to run things. It serves two purposes, both to protect the user in case a malicious program is run, and to get programmers to write more secure code. Which is all very nice, but it completely gets in the way of day-to-day work. Here's how to turn off the annoying nuisance forever.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. This step will change depending on whether you're using the Classic view for Control Panel or not.
o If you're using Classic View, double click User Accounts
o If you're using the default view, click on the green User Accounts and Family Safety link, then the green User Accounts link
4. There should be a link here, Turn User Account Control on or off. Click it
5. Click Continue in UAC for the last time
6. Uncheck User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer, then click OK
7. A notification will pop up — save any documents you have open, and choose Restart Now to reset your computer
8. Never deal with UAC again!
Die, die, die my darling.
(Credit: CNET.com.au)
002. Show multiple time zones in the system tray
1. Click on the time, then click on the Change date and time settings... link
2. Click on the Additional Clocks tab
3. Check one of the boxes that says Show this clock
4. Set the time zone and display name and click OK when done
5. Now when you click on the time, a second or third clock is shown, with the display name used as a label above it
World time is one click away.
(Credit: CNET.com.au)
003. Improve network performance
To turn it off:
1. Click on the Windows button
2. Type regedit and hit enter
3. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\
4. Double click the NetworkThrottlingIndex key, and enter FFFFFFFF as the Value data, making sure the Base is set to Hexadecimal
Note that the entry supports values between 1 and 70, and the default is 10. If you enter a numeric value, make sure that the Base is set to Decimal rather than Hexadecimal. The higher the number, the more the throttling is weighted in favour of the network. You may wish to experiment to suit your particular network set-up/media playing needs.
004. Control your audio
Finally, we can control volume per application. (Credit: CNET.com.au)
005. Better screenshot tool
Just open the Start menu, type snip and hit enter to load the tool. You can now specify whether you want to take a screenshot of a free-form area, a rectangular one, isolate a window or take a screenshot of the entire screen. After you've used the mouse to highlight the area you want, you can draw on the screenshot to add notes, and then save it as you would a normal file.
You can create a keyboard shortcut to it in two ways. For the first, right-click on the application, choose Properties, select the Shortcut tab and in the Shortcut key field click, and enter any alphanumeric key. By default Windows assigns a CTRL + ALT in front of the shortcut, however, we've found this often doesn't work — try holding down SHIFT while pressing a key, to make the key combination CTRL + SHIFT + [whatever key you pressed]. You might create a shortcut here that will clash with existing ones, so be careful.
By far the easier way is to simply CTRL + drag the Snipping Tool shortcut into your Quick Launch bar, effectively copying it there. Now you can access it by pressing + whatever number Quick Launch button it is (for example, if it was the first in the row, you'd press + 1).
Better screenshots for all!
Windows XP & Vista
006. View all files in Windows Explorer
1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Go to the Tools menu, and select Folder Options....
3. Select the View tab, and under Hidden Files and Folders, select Show hidden files and folders.
4. Beneath this, deselect Hide extensions for known file types. This means you should now be able to see whether a file is a .JPG or a .PNG for example.
5. You can optionally deselect Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) under this, however most people won't need this, and unless you really want to see a Desktop.ini file in every folder, it's best to just leave it off.
Make sure you can see all your files, not just the ones Microsoft wants you to see.
(Credit: CNET.com.au)
007. Turn on the Quick Launch bar
• Right click on an empty spot on the taskbar, and mouse over Toolbars. Click Quick Launch.
• If the little handle doesn't appear for you to resize the Quick Launch bar (in case you need more room for your shortcuts), right click on an empty spot on the taskbar and make sure Lock the taskbar is unticked. If it's not, simply click on it to unlock the taskbar. You may choose to relock it once you're done resizing.
• You can delete icons from here by right clicking on them and choosing Delete; can reorder them by clicking on them and holding down the left mouse button, then dragging; or add new icons simply by dragging them from elsewhere in Windows. You can also drag icons from the Start menu — but make sure to hold down CTRL at the same time so it copies the shortcut rather than moves it.
The Quick Launch bar gives you quick access to your applications. The vertical line the two arrows are pointing to is the handle, which by left clicking on and dragging you can adjust the size of the bar.
(Credit: CNET.com.au)
008. Keep your desktop icons in order
In Windows Vista, it's a little different. Right click on the desktop in an empty space, and mouse over View. Here you have the same Auto Arrange, Align to Grid and Show Desktop Icons options, however gone are the arrange options, instead giving access to Large Icons, Medium Icons and Classic Icons. You can find the extra order options under the Sort By menu, below View.
Get those desktop icons to do what you want.
(Credit: CNET.com.au)
009. Know your keyboard shortcuts
Universal shortcuts
Opens Start menu. You can also use CTRL + ESC
window Key + R Open Run dialog
window Key+ E Open Windows Explorer
window Key + D Show desktop
window Key + L Lock computer
window Key + PAUSE or BREAK Load system properties
window Key + B Make the system tray active. Use Enter to simulate a double click, or use the arrow keys to select the icons
window Key + TAB Windows XP: Cycle forward through applications in the taskbar
Windows Vista: Cycle forward through Flip 3D
window Key + T cycles the taskbar forward in Vista
window Key + SHIFT + TAB Windows XP: Cycle backward through applications in the taskbar
Windows Vista: Cycle backward through Flip 3D
window Key + SHIFT + T cycles the taskbar backward in Vista
ALT + TAB Cycle forward in task switcher
ALT + SHIFT + TAB Cycle backward in task switcher
CTRL + ALT + DEL Bring up the Windows Security dialog, allowing you to log out, change password, lock the computer, shutdown or run the Task Manager
CTRL + SHIFT + ESC Load the Task Manager
PrintScreen Take a screenshot, and copy it to the clipboard. To retrieve it, you'll need to paste it into an imaging program like Paint and save it
Windows Vista Only
window Key + any number Hotkeys for the appropriate entry in the QuickLaunch bar. For example, + 1 will execute the first shortcut, + 2 the second, and so on.
File operations in Windows Explorer
CTRL + C Copy the file
CTRL + X Cut the file
CTRL + V Paste the file. If you previously performed the copy shortcut, the file will be copied to the chosen location. If you previously performed the cut shortcut, the file will be moved to the chosen location
CTRL + Z Undo the previous file operation
Holding CTRL when click dragging a file Upon release of mouse button, force the file to copy to the new location
Holding ALT when click dragging a file Upon release of mouse button, create a shortcut to the file in the new location
Holding SHIFT when click dragging a file Upon release of mouse button, force the file to move to the new location
ALT + ENTER or
ALT + double left click on icons Load the properties dialog
SHIFT + DEL Delete file immediately, without sending it to the Recycle Bin.
SHIFT + arrow keys, or HOME/END Group select/deselect multiple sequential files
CTRL + left click Select/deselect multiple specific files
F2 Rename file
F3 Open search Explorer bar
F4 Go to address bar
F5 Refresh contents
Numpad * Expand entire selected folder tree
CTRL+ A Select all files in current window
or numpad + Expand current folder
or numpad - Collapse current folder
BACKSPACE Go up to parent folder
Shortcuts with text
CTRL + or Place the cursor at the beginning or the end of the current word.
CTRL + END Send the cursor to the end of the document
CTRL + HOME Send the cursor to the beginning of the document
Double click Quick select the clicked word
Triple click Quick select the clicked paragraph
SHIFT + arrows, HOME, END, PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN Select text
Navigation without a mouse
SHIFT + F10 Same as right clicking a file
TAB Navigate menu elements forward
SHIFT + TAB Navigate menu elements backward
ALT + F4 Close the current application
ALT + SPACEBAR Display application system menu
ALT + Underlined letter in menu Open that menu
SPACEBAR If a checkbox or radio box is selected, activates this. If a button is selected, clicks it
ENTER Click the default button (usually OK)
ESC Equivalent to clicking the CANCEL button
010. Turn on QuickEdit mode in Command Prompt
1. Open Command Prompt (usually found in Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt)
2. Click on the icon in the top left, and click Properties
3. Check the box that says QuickEdit Mode, click OK
4. A pop up will appear. Select Modify shortcut that started this window
QuickEdit in action.
(Credit: CNET.com.au)
011. Auto-tile applications vertically or horizontally
Sometimes you just need to show three things at once on screen.
(Credit: CNET.com.au)
012. Stop that annoying click sound
1. Click on the Start button
2. Mouse over Settings and select Control Panel, then open Sounds and Audio Devices
3. Click on the Sounds tab
4. Under Program events, scroll down to Start Navigation
5. Under Sounds at the bottom of the dialog, change the drop down box to (None).
6. Click OK
To turn it off in Vista:
1. Click the Windows button, and click Control Panel
2.
o If you're using the default view, click the green Hardware and Sound link, then under the Sound category, click the Change system sounds link.
o If you're using Classic View, just double click the Sounds icon.
3. Click the Sounds tab
4. Under Program, scroll down to Start Navigation
5. Under Sounds at the bottom of the dialog, change the drop down box to (None)
6. Click OK
For the love of all things silence — stop clicking!
(Credit: CNET.com.au)
013. Maximise/restore window quickly
014. Expanded context menu
015. Reduce crash recovery time
1. In the Control Panel, open System. If you're using Vista, you have one more step: on the left hand side of the pane that opens, click the Advanced system settings link.
2. Click the Advanced tab, and in the Startup and Recovery section click the Settings button.
3. Deselect Write an event to the system log, Automatically restart and set Write debugging information to (None)
4. Click OK, then OK again.
Keeping crash time to a minimum.
(Credit: CNET.com.au)
016. Turn off security warning when running files
Here's how to limit how much this not so lovely feature annoys:
1. Click the Start button, then click Run — if you're using Vista, just click the Windows button
2. Type gpedit.msc and hit enter
3. The Group Policy editor has now loaded. On the left, expand User Configuration
4. Expand Administrative Templates
5. Expand Windows Components
6. Click on Attachment Manager
7. Double click Inclusion list for low file types, and set the radio button to Enabled. In the field that appears below, enter the filetypes causing you issues, separated by semicolons. For example: .exe;.doc;.ppt;.xls. Click OK when you're done
8. Restart your machine for it to take effect
If you'd prefer to leave the feature on, but just unblock one file:
1. Right click the file and click on Properties
2. Click on the Unblock button and click OK
Yes. We're sure we want to run it. That's why we clicked on it, right?
(Credit: CNET.com.au)
No comments:
Post a Comment