Six Windows Tweaks I Couldn't Live Without
Every time I install or reinstall Windows, I find myself stopped, stymied, and stupefied by the operating system's default settings. Here are six tricks I rely on to make Windows easier to live with.
Create Your Own Stickies
Many shareware utilities let you put virtual sticky notes (designed to behave like the digital equivalent of paper Post-It Notes) on your screen; but a simpler way to add these notes takes advantage of Windows' support for long file names.
>>TIP To use this home-grown annotation technique, open Explorer (or any folder window) and choose View, Folder Options or Tools, Folder Options, depending on your version of Windows. Click the File Types tab, and then select New or New Type. In Windows 2000, Me, or XP, type stky for File Extension, and click OK. With the 'stky' extension selected in the 'Registered file types' list, click Advanced. Type Sticky Note in the box next to the Change Icon button. In Windows 98, type stky in the 'Associated extension' text box, and Sticky Note in the 'Description of type' box. In all versions, click the New button, type open in the Action text box, and enter notepad.exe in the 'Application used to perform action' box. Click OK, select the Change Icon button, and choose an icon to represent your new sticky notes.
I use a blank (invisible) icon I created myself using IconEdit Pro icon-editing shareware. But Windows provides icons that almost match the subtlety of IconEdit Pro's. To locate them, make sure that shell32.dll is listed in the 'File name' box ('Look for icons in this file' in Windows XP). In most versions of Windows, scroll through the icon list until you reach the icon in the third row of the eighth column (see FIGURE 1). Windows XP's invisible icons are in the second, third, and fourth rows of the thirteenth column (and the first row of the fourteenth column). Select one and click OK or Close as many times as needed to close all dialog boxes.
To add your new Sticky Note file type to your right-click New menu, choose Start, Run, type regedit, and press Enter. Click the plus sign next to 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT', right-click the key (folder icon) named .stky, and choose New, Key. Type ShellNew and press Enter. Select the ShellNew icon in the left pane, right-click inside the right pane, and choose New, String Value. Type NullFile, press Enter, and exit the Registry Editor.
Make sure that your system is set to hide file extensions of known types: In the Folder Options dialog box, click the View tab and confirm that 'Hide file extensions for known file types' is checked. (In XP, this option appears as 'Hide extensions for known file types'.)
To add a sticky note to the desktop or to any folder window, right-click it, choose New, Sticky Note, type the text of your note, and press Enter (see FIGURE 2). You can't use colons, question marks, or other characters that are forbidden in file names. If your notes aren't wide enough, right-click the desktop, choose Properties, and click the Appearance tab. In Windows XP, click Advanced. In all versions, choose Icon Spacing (Horizontal) from the Item drop-down list. Increase the Size value and click OK. Note text that exceeds two lines will be truncated--an ellipsis symbol (...) will indicate this--but you can see the whole note by selecting it. To make a note longer than 255 characters, double-click the note and add supplementary information in Notepad. To move a sticky note, simply drag the icon area above the text.
Lightning Launches
>>TIP The fastest way for me to launch folders and applications is to set up a priority system for Windows' many launch pads. I do this by dividing applications--and other shortcuts--into three priority levels based on how often I use them: keyboard, Quick Launch, and custom menu.
Keyboard launches: I assign a keyboard shortcut for the files and applications that I launch many times a day, such as the volume control. Simply right-click an application shortcut in the Start menu or on the desktop and choose Properties. Make sure the Shortcut tab is in front. Click in the 'Shortcut key' box and press your desired shortcut keys. Windows requires that your shortcut use at least two modifier keys ( Ctrl, Shift, or Alt), unless you press a function key or a key on the numeric keypad. Click OK, and your new keyboard shortcut is finished. If you change your mind later on, just return to this dialog box, click in the 'Shortcut key' box, and press Backspace. Then click OK and restart Windows.
Quick Launch openings: Second-priority items I access via the Quick Launch bar. (If you don't see it, right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars, and make sure Quick Launch is checked.) Drag any application, folder, or document icon to the toolbar to create a tiny icon that launches that item. I prefer to limit the Quick Launch toolbar to between six and eight icons to keep it from becoming cluttered and to make spotting individual icons easier. Keeping Quick Launch small also allows more room on the taskbar for other items.
Custom menus: To handle third-priority items, I make custom submenus off the Start menu. Begin by creating subfolders inside the Start Menu folder. Right-click Start, choose Open or Explore, and select File, New, Folder. Then add a sensible number of shortcuts to each subfolder you create. Those shortcuts will appear on a menu when your new Start menu subfolder is highlighted. If a menu gets longer than 20 or so icons, it may be time to break that folder into two separate folders.
Search-Menu Shortcuts
Most of the files I search for are in one of two folders, but I still have to type the folder path in the Search dialog box each time, or open the folder and start searching. >>TIP In the past, I could use the FindX utility in Microsoft's free PowerToys package to add shortcuts to my Search menu, and to set Search to open with the parameters I specified. Unfortunately, FindX isn't in the latest versions of PowerToys, though it still works with every version of Windows.
Download PowerToys to get FindX. Double-click the.exe file to place its contents into the current folder. Right-click the FindX.inf file and choose Install. In your Start Menu folder, FindX creates a hidden folder called Find. To open the Start Menu folder, right-click the Start button and choose Open. If you don't see the Find folder, choose View, Folder Options or Tools, Folder Options, click the View tab, and check the option to display hidden files.
Conduct a search using the parameters you specify most often, and then choose File, Save Search. Depending on your version of Windows, you may be able to save the file directly in the Start Menu's Find folder. If not, save it to the desktop; then open Explorer and drag the file with the search parameters you just specified from the Desktop folder to your Start Menu/Find folder. You may need to restart Windows before seeing the change to your Find or Search menu. Thereafter, you can choose your saved search from your Start, Find or Start, Search menu, permitting you to run a similar search pronto.
Multiwindow Management
At times you may have several windows open but want to see only two of them side by side. In other situations you may want to close some but not all of your open apps. >>TIP The quickest way to accomplish these and other multiwindow tasks is to Ctrl-click the taskbar buttons corresponding to the windows you want to tile, minimize, or close, and then right-click one of the depressed buttons and select the option you want (see FIGURE 3).
Easy Access to the Desktop
>>TIP There are a million and one ways to get to your desktop icons quickly. My two favorite routes to desktop icons use the keyboard and the mouse, respectively.
The keyboard approach: Press Windows-D to minimize all open windows (including some that don't normally minimize, such as the Control Panel properties dialog boxes). If you change your mind, press Windows-D again to undo the effect, as long as you haven't restored or launched any other windows in the interim.
The menu method: In Windows XP, you may need to unlock the taskbar. Right-click it and make sure Lock the taskbar is unchecked. In all versions of Windows, right-click the taskbar and choose Toolbars, Desktop. To make the Desktop toolbar a space-saving menu, right-click the word Desktop and choose View, Small or View, Small Icons. Right-click it again and uncheck Show Text to hide its icon labels.
Now drag the word Desktop until the toolbar is positioned where you want it on the taskbar relative to other taskbar icons and toolbars (such as to the left of the Quick Launch toolbar). Drag the dividers until no icons are visible and only 'Desktop>> ' shows. Anytime you need a desktop item, just click the double-greater-than symbol (>>) to see a menu showing what's on your desktop (see FIGURE 4).
You can put shortcuts to any folder you often use on a menu that pops up from the taskbar. Just right-click the taskbar and choose Toolbars, New Toolbar; then select the folder and click OK. (See "Folders on Start Menu" for an alternative folder-shortcut location.)
Folders on Start Menu
You might get lucky and find the file you want to open on your Start, Documents menu. But the limited number of shortcuts on this menu means you'll probably be disappointed. >>TIP I prefer to place a shortcut to the folder containing my work on the Start menu. Press Windows-E to launch Explorer, navigate to the folder of your choice, and drag and drop it onto the Start menu button. Voilą! The next time you click Start, you'll see your folder on the menu. Click it to display the folder's contents.
If you want to put a folder shortcut on your Start menu without seeing it as a cascading menu, simply open the Start Menu folder from which you will launch your folder shortcut, right-click inside the folder, and choose New, Shortcut. Type explorer.exe, followed by a space and the path to the folder. Click Next, name the shortcut, and click Finish.
Windows Toolbox: Track Hidden Changes to Your System
Every time you try out new shareware or change some setting in Windows, your Windows Registry changes, too. >>TIP Tianwei's RegShot utility provides a simple way to get a report on any changes to your computer. Click 1st shot to have the program take a "before" snapshot of your Registry. Then, after installing a new application or performing another task, click 2nd shot to take an "after" snapshot. Click Compare to have RegShot show you the differences and present a thorough report in text or HTML format. RegShot can also track the changes to one or more folders of your choice (such as the Windows and System folders). RegShot is fast, small, and--best of all--free.
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