Windows Tips and Tricks

I’m not as fanatical about a clean computer desktop as Microsoft, which has put a desktop nanny in Windows to annoy you. However, as I posted before, I think there are clear advantages to keeping the desktop from getting too cluttered. So here’s some more on the topic of a neater desktop.

Put some of the most often used icons in the Quick Launch toolbar

Frequently accessed icons are even more readily accessible in the Quick Launch toolbar since it generally remains visible even when the desktop is covered by open windows. Quick Launch is the toolbar that sits in the taskbar next to the Start button. If you do not have a Quick Launch toolbar already, right-click on a blank spot in the Taskbar and choose “Toolbars” from the menu. Then click “Quick Launch”. You may have to unlock the Taskbar first. Icons can be dragged and dropped on the Quick Launch toolbar.

Pin some frequently used programs to the Start menu

Although pinning a program to the Start menu means opening the Start menu before accessing the program, it still makes the program easy to get to. Unless you are opening and closing it constantly, pinning a program can be a useful way to have it available. To pin a program, right-click its icon and choose “Pin to Start menu” from the context menu.The program will then be accessible in the upper left section of the Start menu.

Put less frequently used icons in a folder on the desktop

If you want some icons to be close at hand but do not use them constantly, place them all in a single folder on the desktop. It adds one step to accessing them but they are still easy to find. To create a new folder on the desktop, right-click an empty spot, choose “New” and then “Folder” from the context menu. Then, just drag and drop the desired icons from the destop into the folder.

But- as they say in those TV ads- wait, there’s more. And I’ll post that in the next (and last) entry in this series on uncluttering the desktop.

I have written frequently about the usefulness of the right-click context menu entry, “Send to”. (For example, this general post and this post for Vista users.) Although it is possible to make new entries in the “Send to” menu yourself, I think many will find the free software called “Send to Toys” to be a handy way to configure the menu. I find it partcularly useful to have the ability to right-click a file and “send” it to any folder of choice. I’ve been using it for a while in Windows XP and have now added it to my Vista system. Below is the dialog for the “Send to folder” option.

After seeing the brouhaha over its disabling of the capability of Office 2003 to manage certain old file formats, Microsoft has given a way to restore the functionality. The method involves changing the Registry but Microsoft has provided some appropriate REG files.

The latest update for Office 2003 removes support for some older file types. Microsoft says it’s for security reasons. AppScout reports:

So much for rolling out new features. Microsoft isn’t exactly going around advertising it, but if you’ve downloaded Service Pack 3 for your copy of Office 2003, you might have noticed that the latest release actually features decreased compatibility with old file types.

With SP3, Office 2003 has dropped support for documents created in old versions of Word, Excel, 1-2-3, Quattro, and Corel Draw, because, according to Microsoft’s Support Center, “[b]y default, these file formats are blocked because they are less secure. They may pose a risk to you.”

How many of you are aware that it is quite easy to hide a second file, even a program, inside another file in any Windows XP or Vista system that uses NTFS? NTFS has pretty much replaced FAT as the file system for most PCs, unless you are running Windows 98/Me, and it has a little-known feature called “Alternate Data Streams” (ADS). This feature is what the technical types call a “fork” or an additional data set associated with a file. For one thing ADS can be used to store some of the metadata that you can see when looking at the properties sheet for a file. Another use is labeling a downloaded file to indicate the Internet Zone from which it was downloaded. However, for the most part, the ADS and their data are hidden. The information is not available to many Windows functions. It isn’t listed in Windows Explorer, its size isn’t added to the listed file size, it isn’t listed by a normal “dir” command. To learn more about ADS and how to find and manage them go to this article at my education site.

This post was triggered by an article at Windows Secrets

Managing files is one of the most common computer tasks and there are many applications available for various types of file jobs. Some are good and some are bad. To help make the distinction, there is a list from Lifehacker of 10 top free programs. I have personally used only two that are on the list- SyncToy, posted about recently, and the file encryption application TrueCrypt. This last is an excellent tool for hiding sensitive files.

Two years ago, Microsoft added SyncToy to its PowerToys collection. It has now been updated to version 2. The tool is designed to keep the contents of two different folders synchronized. It is useful as a folder backup or for using a thumb drive to keep the contents of folders on different computers the same. It’s a little heavy-handed since it uses certain SQL server components but comments on the Web are reasonably favorable. Personally, I use my own little program or Karen Kenworthy’s Replicator but you might like to try this free Microsoft offering. Download is here.

Addendum: Be prepared for the fact that SyncToy is very slow.

The command line repertoire contains a powerful method for copying or making backups of a folder and all its sub-folders. For many home PC users who want a simple but versatile backup method, the command “xcopy” is ideal. I discuss “xcopy” in all its glory at another site but here is an example of how to back up “My Documents” and all its sub-folders. This particular version will only copy files that are newer, thus saving the wasted effort of recopying identical files. This command makes use of an environment variable so that it always backs up the “My Documents” folder for whoever is presently logged in. The example uses a folder “D:\backup” as the destination but you can choose your own. It should, however, be a folder on a separate drive, such as a thumb drive, external USB drive, or CD/DVD. Open a command prompt and enter:
xcopy "%userprofile%\My Documents" D:\backup /s/d/y/c

If desired, you can modify this command with one or more of the other switches discussed at my command-line site. For example, to suppress the listing of all the files being copied, add the switch /q. To copy hidden or system files, add /h.

Normally, the results of a command-line operation are displayed on the screen. However, a more permanent record can be created by sending the results to a new text file with the redirect symbol “>”. If the file already exists, any previous contents will be replaced. You can append results to the contents of an existing text file with the symbols “>>”. In a post some time ago, I discussed how to use the “dir” command and the redirect to list files of a certain type. As noted in that post, the command dir “C:\my folder\*.ext” /s /q > C:\list.txtwill list all files with the extension EXT that are in my folder and its subfolders and place the list in a text file list.txt that is created by the command.

Another example of possible use of a redirect is provided by the case of selective deleting discussed in tip #3. The command lists the files being deleted on the screen. Perhaps you would like a record of what was deleted. In that case, you can modify the delete command by adding a redirect to a file. For example:del /s /f /q C:\*.tmp > C:\templist.txt

The file to be used for the list can be located anywhere you want as long as you designate the full path. Any file or folder name with spaces will require that the path be enclosed in quotes as indicated in the example of my folder in the first command above.

Periodically, I mention programs for recovering files that have been deleted and aren’t in the Recycle Bin. PC World has an article, How to Recover Almost Anything, that discusses methods for getting back lost, damaged or deleted files. One software program for undeleting that is mentioned is FreeUndelete.