Understanding the Built-in Quick Launch Hotkeys in Windows Vista
January 12, 2008
You have automatically assigned hotkeys in Windows Vista for the first 10 items in your Quick Launch menu. This explains how they work.
Each icon in the Quick Launch bar has “hotkey Win + number” assigned to it. You can read these from left to right, assigned with 1-9 and using 0 for 10.
For example, this screenshot shows the first 4 icons in the Quick Launch bar. They are:
- 1.Show Desktop
- 2.Flip3D
- 3.Windows Media Player
- 4.Internet Explorer
And so this means the hotkeys are automatically assigned as follows:
- 1.Win + 1 – Show Desktop
- 2.Win + 2 – Flip3D
- 3.Win + 3 – Windows Media Player
- 4.Win + 4 – Internet Explorer
Hide Drives from Your Computer
January 12, 2008
There are so many drives in My Computer. It can be very difficult to find certain things you are not positive of their location amongst them all. Certain ones that you never access, perhaps a USB Flash drive that you are using solely for ReadyBoost, a network drives that is only used for one piece of software of a floppy drive, you may want to hide to make things tidier.
Even better, this tip only hides the drive from being displayed. You can still access it through applications and the command prompt and manually browse the folder if you type in the path.
For this example we will use the floppy drive.
Configure the Hidden Drives:
1.In the Start menu search box, open up “regedit.exe”.
2.Browse down to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
(If you cannot find this key, then you can right-click on “Policies” and choose New Key, then name it “Explorer”.)
For the next step, it is unlikely the NoDrives key already exists by default. Instead you will have to create it following:
- Right-click.
- Choose new 32-bit DWORD.
- Name it “NoDrives”.
32-bit is the value of a 32 bit number. The bits are arranged in REVERSE order. Value of 1 equals that drive being hidden.
So for our example to hide drives through from A: to F: they would be arranged like this:
After converting 10001 to decimal we are left with a decimal value of 33 or a hex value of 0×21. So now you must:
3. Double-click on the key in the registry editor
4. Select “Decimal”
5. Enter “33” into the Value data field.
To see the changes you have made, you must restart explorer.exe. Do this from Task Manager or simply log off and back on again.
Uninstall Tweak
To REVERSE the tweak, removes the NoDrives registry key.
Reference Info
This table shows a number of values you can enter for different drive letters.
To hide multiple amounts of drives, use the table of ALL the drive letters so that you can figure out the correct binary code and then CONVERT that into decimal or hex.
Our result! The floppy drive has been removed.
This tip is also valid to use in Windows XP.
Disk Cleanup in Vista
November 24, 2007
Disk Cleanup an application that has not change much at all in Windows Vista. It’s functionality is still the same and the interface was only changed slighty. There we no additional function were added. Disk Cleanup let you scan your disks, to find unnecessary files and also helps you remove them to get rid of that excess trash and make your computer run faster. From this article we will show you how to us it and how to save that valuable space from your hard drive.
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Go to Accessories -> System Tools. Or type in the search box and the word “Cleanup”. Now open “Disk Cleanup”.
When the application starts, select which partition you want to scan and clean. Now click “OK“.
Disk Cleanup will now scan the partition you selected and tell you how much space you can make available .
Wait a while to the results are visible. You can now see the total amount of the space you can make available, which is then detailed by the name and types of files that could be deleted. Select the categories you wish to erase. Now click OK.
Disk Cleanup will then ask for a confirmation. Click Delete files and Disk Cleanup will start getting to work.
Wait until the loading bar fills up and the Disk Cleanup window disappears.
In case you are not happy with the amount of space that was made available, go to More Options button in the Disk Cleanup window. Here you will be able remove all but the most recent of System Restore points or you could uninstall some of the programs you have located on your computer.
Windows Mobility Center
November 23, 2007
- Bring the tool to the front by typing “mobility” into the Search box then right-click on Mobility Center to edit.
- Use the context menu to “pin” the program on to the Start menu.
Turn on Parental Controls
November 23, 2007
- Type “parental” in the Search box to find the parental program, then click it.
- Choose which account you want to control, then you will be able to turn on parental controls and set any limits on Web browsing, program access, and also games played and time spent on the computer.
Use Multiple Clocks
November 23, 2007
- Click on the digital clock located in the System Bar then click to change time settings.
- In the other Clocks tab, you can tick one or two boxes which will let you show two more additional clocks for other time zones.
Expand Right-Click Options
November 21, 2007
There are two modes: Expanded or Standard.
- Hold down the shift key and right-click on any file in Windows Explorer.
- This will make the context menu gain several new options that let you add a file to the Start menu, copy a file’s path to clipboard, or add a file to the “Quick Launch” bar.
Windows Vista Defrag Automation
November 21, 2007
Vista will let you automate some of its maintenance jobs like defragmenting your hard drive and backing up your system documents and files.
To defrag your files regularly select the Start menu to click on Computer, then right-click on your hard drive . Select its Properties menu, then under the Tools tab click “Defragment Now”. Select the “Run on a schedule” option. Now click the Modify Schedule button and drop-down options to set a schedule.
How to Select Multiple Files
November 21, 2007
Vista has a new function that allows users to tag multiple files from a directory so that you can call the same action to all of them.
- Go to a Windows Explorer window and hit the ALT key, this will bring up the classic File menu.
- Then in the Tools menu, select Folder Options. From the View tab, tick the box “Use check boxes to select items” click the Apply to Folder button to apply these setting to all your Explorer folders.
- Now when you hover over a file, you can select it and others to copy, delete, or move as a group.
Retrieve the File Menu
November 21, 2007
- If your in Windows Explorer windows or in Internet Explorer you can get back the old menu by hitting the ALT key.
- If your in any Windows Office applications, hitting ALT will change shortcut keys over the existing menu which will let you access any of those functions from the keyboard.
