random tips and tricks

[TheFiresInTheSky]

from Tweak UI

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Press Win+L to switch to the Welcome screen.

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Press Win+L to lock your workstation.

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You can switch users without going through the Welcome screen: From Task Manager, go to the Users tab, right-click a user, and select Connect.

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Hold down the shift key in the shutdown dialog to change "Stand By" to "Hibernate". Or just press H to hibernate instantly. You can even use the Power Control Panel to configure your power button to hibernate.

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To disable the password when resuming from standby or hibernation, open the Power Control Panel and uncheck "Prompt for password after returning from standby" on the Advanced tab.

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You can rename multiple files all at once: Select a group of files, right-click the first file, and select "Rename". Type in a name for the first file, and the rest will follow.

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Hold down the shift key when switching to thumbnail view to hide the file names. Do it again to bring them back.

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When dragging a file in Explorer, you can control the operation that will be performed when you release the mouse button:

 

Hold the Control key to force a Copy.

 

Hold the Shift key to force a Move.

 

Hold the Alt key to force a Create Shortcut.

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If you create a file called Folder.jpg, that image will be used as the thumbnail for the folder. What's more, that image will also be used as the album art in Windows Media Player for all media files in that folder.

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From the View Menu, select "Choose Details" to select which file properties should be shown in the Explorer window. To sort by a file property, check its name in the "Choose Details" in order to make that property available in the "Arrange Icons by" menu.

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To display the volume control icon in the taskbar, go to the Sounds and Audio Devices Control Panel and select "Place volume icon in the taskbar".

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Hold down the shift key when deleting a file to delete it immediately instead of placing it in the Recycle Bin. Files deleted in this way cannot be restored.

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If you hold down the shift key while clicking "No" in a Confirm File Operation dialog, the response will be interpreted as "No to All".

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To save a document with an extension other than the one a program wants to use, enclose the entire name in quotation marks. For example, if you run Notepad and save a file under the name

 

Dr.Z

 

it will actually be saved under the name Dr.Z.txt. But if you type

 

"Dr.Z"

 

then the document will be saved under the name Dr.Z. Note that a document so-named cannot be opened via double-clicking since the extension is no longer ".txt".

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Put a shortcut to your favorite editor in your Send To folder and it will appear in your "Send To" menu. You can then right-click any file and send it to your editor.

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Ctrl+Shift+Escape will launch Task Manager.

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To arrange two windows side-by-side, switch to the first window, then hold the Control key while right-clicking the taskbar button of the second window. Select "Tile Vertically".

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To close several windows at once, hold down the Control key while clicking on the taskbar buttons of each window. Once you have selected all the windows you want to close, right-click the last button you selected and pick "Close Group".

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You can turn a folder into a desktop toolbar by dragging the icon of the desired folder to the edge of the screen. You can then turn it into a floating toolbar by dragging it from the edge of the screen into the middle of the screen. (It helps if you minimize all application windows first.)

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You can turn a folder into a taskbar toolbar.

 

First, unlock your taskbar.

 

Next, drag the icon of the desired folder to the space between the taskbar buttons and the clock. (Wait for the no-entry cursor to change to an arrow. It's a very tiny space; you will have to hunt for it.)

 

You can rearrange and resize the taskbar toolbar you just created.

 

You can even turn the taskbar toolbar into a menu by resizing it until only its name is visible.

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In the Address Bar, type "microsoft" and hit Ctrl+Enter. Internet Explorer automatically inserts the "http://www." and ".com" for you.

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To remove an AutoComplete entry from a Web form, highlight the item in the AutoComplete dropdown and press the Delete key.

 

To remove all Web form AutoComplete entries, go to the Internet Explorer Tools menu, select Internet Options, Content, AutoComplete, then press the "Clear Forms" button.

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To organize your Favorites in Explorer instead of using the Organize Favorites dialog, hold the shift key while selecting "Organize Favorites" from the Favorites menu of an Explorer window.

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You can organize your Favorites by dragging the items around your Favorites menu.

 

Alternatively, you can open the Favorites pane and hold the Alt key while pressing the up and down arrows to change the order of your Favorites.

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To run Internet Explorer fullscreen, press F11. Do it again to return to normal mode.

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If your "Printers and Faxes" folder is empty, you can hide the "Printers and Faxes" icon when viewed from other computers by stopping the Print Spooler service.

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To add or remove columns from Details mode, select Choose Details from the View menu, or just right-click the column header bar.

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In Internet Explorer, hold the Shift key while turning the mouse wheel to go forwards or backwards.

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In Internet Explorer, hold the Shift key while clicking on a link to open the Web page in a new window.

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In Internet Explorer, type Ctrl+D to add the current page to your Favorites.

 

This and many more keyboard shortcuts can be found by going to Internet Explorer, clicking the Help menu, then selecting Contents and Index. From the table of contents, open Accessibility and click "Using Internet Explorer keyboard shortcuts".

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In some applications (such as Internet Explorer), holding the Control key while turning the mouse wheel will change the font size.

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To shut down via Remote Desktop, click the Start button, then type Alt+F4.

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[kobrakommander56]

pretty cool tidbits!

 

APPROVED

[zaphirer]

These are great tricks, going to save them somewhere

 

 

Random firefox trick I learned today:

 

When downloading extensions/themes, right click them to have them install immediately (instead of the 5 second pause).

[Andavari]

 

• Merging/Combining two files such as readme1.txt and readme2.txt into one file named readme.txt:
  Start a Command Prompt and type in:
  copy "readme1.txt"+"readme2.txt" "readme.txt"
   
  
• If an mp3 won't play attempt to fix it in Foobar 2000 by right clicking it in the playlist and selecting Fix MP3 Header.
   
  
• Make an all inclusive updater batch file (.bat) with the path to your update programs that will run most or all of your update programs for antivirus, and antispyware.
  e.g.;
  "C:\Program Files\CA\eTrust Internet Security Suite\eTrust EZ Antivirus\autodown.exe"
  "C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware SE Personal\Ad-Aware.exe"
  This works best on WinXP because it will wait for a particular program to exit before loading the next.
   
  
• How to enable Error Correction in Windows Media Player ("WMP")
   
  Enabling Error Correction:
  1. Run WMP by clicking:
  Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Entertainment -> Windows Media Player
  2. In WMP click: Tools -> Options -> Devices
  3. Select your CD/DVD drive and then click: Properties.
  4. Tick both Use Error Correction boxes, then click Apply, and then click OK to exit.
   
  Repeat these steps for each CD/DVD drive you have installed that you wish to use with WMP.
   
  What this does:
  * It allows WMP to playback audio CD's that you only wish to listen to using Error Correction.
  * It allows WMP to rip audio CD's with Error Correction.
  * Allows you to rip your audio CD's more "securely" meaning it decreases that chances of errors such as glitches in the ripped audio files.
   
  Note:
  If an audio CD has severe enough scratches, or is physically damaged you may not get a perfect copy. However with Error Correction enabled in most cases it "may or will" eliminate very annoying sections where errors can't be fully repaired - it's a "this is as good as it gets scenario."
   
  What is Error Correction (taken from the WMP help file):
  In Windows Media Player, a process to ensure that digital audio data is read from the CD-ROM drive accurately during playback or copying. Using error correction can prevent undesirable noises that are not part of the original material.
   
  
• Displaying A Bigger Font In Burnatonce
   
  Here's how:
  1. Close burnatonce
  2. Open: C:\Program Files\burnatonce\burnatonce.ini
  3. Search for: Font
  4. Change the CommandLog Font to: Verdana
  5. Change the CommandLog Size to: 8.25
  6. Save the burnatonce.ini file.
   
  This is what it should look like when finished:
  CommandLog Font=Verdana
  CommandLog Size=8.25
   
  Note:
  You can substitute Verdana with another easily visible font it you wish, just keep in mind that you'll need to run burnatonce afterwords to see if the font is legable in the program.
   
  Burnatonce is a freeware CD writing program, available at burnatonce.com.