Disable the Favorite Links Panel
January 12, 2008
The Windows Vista Explorer panel comes with a new Favorite Links panel. If you don’t like this panel it is possible to turn it off.
It is called the Navigation Pane, turning it off is easy.
To disable the entire panel:
- 1.Click the “Organize” button.
- 2.Choose “layout” and then deselect “Navigation Panel”.
Now, the Favorite Links bar should have disappeared. On the downside, this option also hides the Folders view as well. The following instructions can remedy this.
To show the Folders view instead of the Favorite Links Panel:
- 1.Hold your mouse over the Folders Bar until it changes to a resize icon like this:
- 2.Drag the Folders Bar all the way to the top and you will only see the Folders View from now on.
- Right-click on the Recycle Bin and select “Properties” from the menu.
The Trash Properties dialog will appear and you should see the “Display delete confirmation dialog” at the bottom.
- 1.Right-click on Computer and select “Properties”.
- 2.Use the “Win + Break” key combination to bring the System Properties to the screen.
Here is a close-up view:
- 1.Open up an explorer window.
- 2.Now paste the following into the address bar.
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
(“%APPDATA%” is an environment variable that maps to C:\users\\AppData\Roaming.”) You will find a number of shortcuts like this:
This next step will allow you to add an application to the Send to menu so that you can open files in an item of your choice. In this example we will use Notepad. - 3.Drag a shortcut to Notepad into this folder.
The new item (Notepad) will appear in this menu.
This same method is possible to use with any application that is able to be opened by using a command line argument.Create Icons to Start the Screensaver
January 12, 2008
It is possible to create an icon to start up the screensaver in Windows Vista.
To create a screensaver icon:
- 1.Right-click the desktop and select “New \ Shortcut” from the pop up menu.
- 2. The full path must be entered into the screensaver file, followed by “/s” for the screensaver to be successfully launched.
e.g: %systemroot%\system32\Bubbles.scr /s
This is only an example and so in actuality you will want to substitute the name of the screensaver you want to use where “Bubbles.scr” appears above.
Also in this example %systemroot% has been used (instead of C:\windows) because not all installs use the C: drive.If you do not know the filename, you can search for it in the “system32” folder. In the search box, search for “.scr”
Here you will find all of the screensaver names installed on your system.
Change Your Windows Vista Power Buttons to Shut Down
January 12, 2008
The Power button in the Windows Vista start menu is set to Sleep by default. This setting can be changed in the Advanced Power Setting Panel. These instructions provide you a short cut to find this panel:
- 1.Type “cmd” into the Start Menu Search bar to open a command prompt.
- 2.Now type in “powercfg.cpl,1” OR you could take the longer route of (Control Panel \ Power Options \ Change Plan Settings \ Change Advanced Power Settings).
- 3. Now, once you have found this dialog, scroll down to “Power buttons and lid” as shown in this example:
Here is where the options can be changed.* The Power button action – Will change the hardware power button action
* The Start menu power button – Will change the power button on the Start MenuYou can choose from Sleep, Hibernate or Shut Down, or even nothing if you prefer for the hardware power button.
Change the Number of Recent Items Shown on Your Vista Start Menu
January 12, 2008
It is possible to change the number of documents recorded in the Recent Items menu. By default, the number documents shown in the Recent Items menu is 10. You can increase this with a registry tweak.
It is this menu below in the example you will be changing. (The example has been made to 1 for this illustration).
Manual Registry Tweak
- 1.Through the “Start Menu Search Box”, open up regidit.exe.
- 2.Scroll down to this key (create it if it does not exist):
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
- 3.In the right-hand pane, add a new DWORD 32-bit value and name it “MaxRecentDocs”.
- 4.Double-click on it to open it.
Before you can set the new value you need to change Base to “Decimal”. Then the value can be changed to anything you want.
- 5. Enter this new value into the “Value data” field.
- 1.Bring up the Start Menu and select “All Programs”.
- 2.Select the “Accessories” folder and you should see the “Snipping Tool”. If you cannot see it then it is possible you either have not installed it OR you do not have a version of Vista that comes with it.
Tip: You may not want too huge a number. 20 is very reasonable.
Assign a Shortcut Key to Your Snipping Tool
January 12, 2008
Vista has a screenshot tool that can take either region captures of full screenshots and save them easily using this snipping tool.
This tool does not have a hotkey to pop up the window. The following steps can fix this.
To assign a short cut key to the Snipping Tool:
3. If you right-click the Snipping Tool and select the “Properties” screen, you will then see a Shortcut key text box.
There is one small problem with this trick and that is that you cannot use the PRINTSCREEN key. Assigning Ctrl + F12 instead is easily remembered and is rarely used for anything else.
Add the Home Directory Icon to Your Desktop
January 12, 2008
One of the new features of Windows Vista is that the “Home” directory is openly accessible to users. In past versions of Windows such as XP and 2k, this directory was kept hidden.
Some of Vista’s new features such as the Downloads directory, can only be accessed through the Home directory. Having an icon on the desktop will make it convenient to access the Home directory.
To add the Home Directory to your desktop:
-
1.Click on the Start button.
-
2.Right-click on your User name.
-
3.Select the “Show on Desktop” option.
Now the Home Directory should appear on your desktop for fast and easy access.
Add an Application to Your Quick Launch Menu in Vista
January 12, 2008
Adding an Application to Your Quick Launch Menu in Vista
The Quick Launch menu is an easy and very useful feature of Windows. It is fast and easy to add a program to the menu in Vista.
What is the Quick Launch menu? It is the tiny icons located right next to the start button:
Now, to add an application to the menu with Vista there are two different options.
You can either:
- 1.Simply drag an application to the Quick Launch bar.
- 2. Right-click and select “Add to Quick Launch”:
- 1.Right-click the desktop and select “New \ Shortcut” from the pop up menu.
2. Uncheck the box, and close the dialog.
The confirmations should no longer appear.
Note: Remember to turn them back on when you are finished to save you accidentally deleting files.
This same method is possible to use with any application that is able to be opened by using a command line argument.
Disable Delete Confirmation Dialog
January 12, 2008
Usually when you want to delete a file, Windows will ask you “Are you sure you want to move this file to the Recycle Bin?”. If you are conducting a cleanup of your files in a large quantity you may want to turn this off temporarily so you are not prompted every single time.
Note: It is recommended that you typically leave this option ON to prevent you deleting files by accident.
To disable the delete confirmation dialog:
Customize Your Manufacturer Support Info
January 12, 2008
If your computer has Windows Vista pre-installed, when you look in the System Properties window you will see the manufacturer’s support information. This can be personally customized easily if you please.
To customize your manufacturer support information:
Now, to edit this information in the System Properties screen, you need to open your registry editor and scroll down to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OEMInformation
These following fields can all be modified to any value you please, excepting the Logo key, which shouldn’t be changed.
* Manufacturer
* SupportHours
* SupportPhone
* SupportURL
* Logo
The last step to your changes is to change the bitmap file that is stored at the location specified in the Logo key. It is usually set as:
C:\Windows\System32\oemlogo.bmp
It is preferable to use a small logo file within the vicinity of 100×100 for best results. Note that administrative permissions are needed to copy the file to that folder.
Customize Your Send To Menu
January 12, 2008
The “Send to” folder is the folder that arises any time you right-click a file and open the context menu. The items in this folder are able to be customized to your preference.
If you right a file, a menu should open that looks like this:
To access the Send To folder: