random tips about the taskbar

[TheFiresInTheSky]

if you unlock the taskbar, you can add a folder/menu to it.

right click it>toolbars>new toolbar.

you could then add my documents and it would bring up that folder.

------------------

recently, ive found that if you unlock the taskbar, right click, toolbars, desktop manager shows up.

i think this is from a windows update but it could be from a program i installed.j

it lets you run 4 different desktops for what, i dont know.

its pretty cool though.

-aaron

[Newhotness]

are you running a tweat through desktop powertoys, i used it once before for the 4 desktops in one, its pretty usefull if you enjoy watching 4 movies/shows at once (which i sometimes do) but you need a big monitor to make it worthwile, not a 12.1 lapper. If it isn't the powertoys addon then i should look into this, r u running XP or Vista?

[Humpty]

This tip will enable you to create buttons in your quick launch toolbar to quickly and easily shut down and/or restart your computer.

 

1. Right click on your desktop, scroll to new..... shortcut

 

2. In the location line, for shutdown type; shutdown -s -t 0 ie: shutdown(space)-s(space)-t(space)number zero

 

3. Name the shortcut "Shut Down PC" or whatever u want

 

4. The new shortcut is now sitting on your desktop, right click on it and go to properties, then click on "change icon". Click OK, then pick a suitable icon, there is a red "off button" icon available, then click apply and ok.

 

5. Now drag the icon from your desktop into the quick launch toolbar, resize the toolbar so all the buttons are visible, then delete the shortcut from your desktop.

 

To create a restart button the location line should read shutdown -r -t 0 name it restart pc and give it a suitable icon for restart.

 

Haven't tried the restart button but the one click shutdown button in my quick launch works fine.

 

Accidently hitting this button will shutdown windows with no warning.

[Humpty]

You can even make a "abort automatic shutdown" button.

 

Haven't tried this myself.

 

Abort automatic shutdown command

[Andavari]

Your shutdown would be better via a batch file however you have to give yourself enough time so that you can cancel the shutdown if you've accidentally click the shutdown link, or changed your mind, here it is:

 

Save as for example: Shutdown_Windows.bat

 

@echo offshutdown -s -t 20 -c "The system will shutdown soon"echo ----------------------------------------------------------------echo To cancel the shutdown press Enter on your keyboard.echo ----------------------------------------------------------------pauseshutdown -aclsexit

 

[Capman]

Been using the shutdown icons that Humpty described for years, but mine are safely tucked away up in the top right hand corner of my screen.

There is no chance of accidently clicking them then.

They are a godsend though, makes things so much quicker.

 

[Humpty]

Hi Capman,

 

Noticed you have those shortcut arrows on your icons.

 

I used a tweak within Regseeker to get rid of mine.

 

Think they look neater without them but we are all different.

[rridgely]

Tweak UI will get rid of them as well.

[Andavari]

RegSeeker's Icon flusher for some reason doesn't work correct on my system and causes WinXP to loose the alpha blending - just think of how a WinXP icon looks on Win98 or Win2k for an ideal that's what it does. Tweak UI doesn't cause such problems.

[JDPower]

Tweak UI will get rid of them as well.

 

I just tried TweakUI to get rid of the arrow on shortcut icons and it broke all my icons, they all went kind of 8 bit looking (I have display set to 16 bit). If I went to control panel>display and changed my display to 32 bit the icons displayed properly. But as soon as I change back to 16 bit they all go crappy looking again (could only fix it with a system restore)

 

Any idea why its doing this? I have tried a couple more times but it does this every time (using WinXP Home)

[Andavari]

You mean flushing the icon cache causes the icons to go crappy looking?

If so that's exactly what RegSeeker does on my system, but Tweak UI doesn't.

 

And yeah the only way to get the icons back to normal that I've ever found was to use a System Restore point to undo the changes, or an ERUNT backup.

[Tarun]

This information may be very useful. Simply make a shortcut without the need of batch files.

 

Location: Windows System32 directory

 

Shut down Windows: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe user,exitWindows

Restart Windows: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe user,exitWindowsexec

No mouse: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe Mouse,Disable

No keyboard: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe Keyboard,Disable

Connect network drives: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe user,wnetconnectdialog

Disconnect network drives: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe user,wnetdisconnectdialog

Calls System control: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL Sysdm.cpl

New link in the dir %1, the rest is made by the user: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe AppWiz.Cpl,NewLinkHere %1

Calls the dialog to change the screensaver: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe desk.cpl,InstallScreenSaver %1

Copy disk: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe rundll32 diskcopy,DiskCopyRunDll

Install inf files: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 install.inf

Starts DFU connection: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe rundll rnaui.dll,RnaDial T-Online

 

C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx n

 

 

n:

 

0 - LOGOFF

 

1 - SHUTDOWN

 

2 - REBOOT

 

4 - FORCE

 

8 - POWEROFF

 

Repaint screen: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe user,repaintscreen

Disable user interface: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe user,disableoemlayer

[Andavari]

Shut down Windows: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe user,exitWindows

Restart Windows: C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe user,exitWindowsexec

Useful with a very big but which is: some anti-malware apps will detect them (falsely of course in this case) as something like "Trojan Exit Windows", "Trojan Exploit", etc., even if they're not used as a link - they could simply be in a text document and be flagged as infected/exploit/suscipious.

[rridgely]

Jdpower Tweak UI has an option to "rebuild icons". Maybe that could help your problem.

[TheFiresInTheSky]

This information may be very useful. Simply make a shortcut without the need of batch files. smile.gif

 

those are some pretty cool shortcuts.

where did you find those?

or did you just know them?

[Tarun]

Came across them several years ago.

[JDPower]

You mean flushing the icon cache causes the icons to go crappy looking?

If so that's exactly what RegSeeker does on my system, but Tweak UI doesn't.

I just clicked the TweakUI option to remove the shortcut arrows and it knackered all my icons. Shame as I would really like that

Jdpower Tweak UI has an option to "rebuild icons". Maybe that could help your problem.

Nope, tried that, only a system restore would fix it. Very annoying.

[Humpty]

Try dropping down the size of your icons and see how you go.

 

Some info

[JohnDemolition]

djlizard's Dial-a-fix also has an option to repair the icons.

[JDPower]

Right, I now have another problem. After I flushed the icons one of the icons for a program I use has changed and now doesn't work as it should.

I use a program called Folder Access to password protect a couple of folders. When the folder is locked it changes to a 'safe' icon but since flushing the icons it has changed to the control panel icon. This causes a major problem as when I right click it now it doesn't recognise it for what it is and doesn't give the context menu option of 'unlock folder'. And when I left click it, it should popup a box asking for the password but now it just takes me to the control panel. The only way to unlock the folder now is to open the Folder Access program and unlock it from within the program, which is a nuisance

 

I tried completely uninstalling and reinstalling the program but that didn't help, also tried flushing the icons again just in case and this too didn't work. When the folder is unlocked it is the standard folder icon and I can right click it, go to properties and change the icon under the customise tab though that isn't helpful as the icon is correct when unlocked. But I can't do this if I right click the icon after locking the folder as when I open properties it only gives the general tab.

 

Anyone any suggestions on how I might fix this?

[Humpty]

You could try the routine at the link below.

 

Link

 

Don't know why some are are using the refresh icon cache .

 

With regseeker tweaks you only need to tick "remove shortcut arrows" and then apply.

 

There should be no need to use the "refresh icons" or "rebuild icon cache" tweak to remove the arrows.

[hazelnut]

Similar thing

 

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/repairicons.htm