Invisiblespy.net – Windows tutorials, tricks, design tutorials

One of the most popular articles around here has been the article I wrote a year ago about using different wallpapers on each desktop using Active Desktop in Windows XP. The problem with that article is that it didn’t work in Windows Vista… but now we have a great solution that is also free.

Instead of paying money for software to use separate wallpapers, or creating a wallpaper in Photoshop, Jon Tackabury has created a Free piece of software that lets you easily set separate wallpapers for each desktop.

Once the software is installed, you’ll notice a new tray icon. Clicking the Desktop Wallpaper item from the menu will open up the dialog where you can set the wallpaper.

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Using the new Ribbon feature in Office 2007 takes time to learn…time you don’t have because projects are stacking up.  Today we will look at UBitMenu, a utility that puts the familiar Office 2003 menu into the 2007 ribbon.

When I first tried Office 2007 it took a lot of frustrating time figuring out where all of the features were located.  It is laid out much differently than previous versions of office.  When the “pointy-haired bosses” require deadlines to be met you don’t have time to learn where everything is.  This is where UBitMenu comes in, it places the classic 2003 menu in as a new ribbon.

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You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering why on earth there are nearly a dozen processes running with the name svchost.exe. You can’t kill them, and you don’t remember starting them… so what are they?

So What Is It?

According to Microsoft: “svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries”. Could we have that in english please?

Some time ago, Microsoft started moving all of the functionality from internal Windows services into .dll files instead of .exe files. From a programming perspective this makes more sense for reusability… but the problem is that you can’t launch a .dll file directly from Windows, it has to be loaded up from a running executable (.exe). Thus the svchost.exe process was born.

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The question I am asked most often is “How do I install a dual-boot with Windows XP on my new Windows Vista computer?” The answer is that it’s not that difficult, it’s just very time consuming, and you need to own a copy of Windows XP.

Note that you should not attempt this if you aren’t ready to troubleshoot any problems that might occur.

The first issue we encounter is that computers with pre-installed operating systems take up the entire drive. Luckily Microsoft included the Shrink volume feature in Vista, so we can easily shrink the Vista partition down to make room for XP.

Open the Computer Management panel, which you can find under Administrative tools or by right-clicking the Computer item in the start menu and choosing Manage. Find the Disk Management item in the list and select that.

Now we’ll shrink our volume down by right-clicking on the main hard drive and choosing Shrink Volume.

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Last week, I gave you some hidden Windows Vista tricks that I thought would be helpful to you as you begin to get accustomed to using the new Windows Vista operating system. I’ll offer a few more in this article.

Enable an auto logon in Windows Vista

As you know, one of the many areas in which there are vast improvements in Windows Vista is security. Even so, if you’re the only one who has access to your computer in your home, having to log on each time you turn on the computer, may seem like overkill. Fortunately, you can configure Windows Vista to automatically logon with your account when you turn on your computer.

To do so, click the Start button and type netplwiz in the Start Search text box and then press [Enter]. When you do, you’ll encounter a UAC confirmation dialog box and can click Continue or enter the Administrator credentials.

When you see the User Accounts dialog box, like the one shown in Figure A, make sure that your account in selected in the User for This Computer list. Then, clear the Users Must Enter A Username And Password To Use This Computer check box and click OK.

Figure A

From this hidden User Accounts dialog box, you can enable an auto logon in Windows Vista.

You’ll then see the Automatically Log On dialog box, as shown in Figure B, and will be prompted to type your password twice. To continue, click OK and restart your system. When Windows Vista boots up, it will automatically log you in to your account.

Figure B

You’ll need to enter you password twice in order to complete the operation.

Create an administrative Command Prompt

If you’re running Windows Vista from within a limited user account, you know that you can use the Run As Administrator command to open an administrative Command Prompt. To do so, you right click on the Command Prompt shortcut and select the Run As Administrator command. You then see the UAC dialog box which prompts you to type in the Administrator password. While this is a simple enough operation to carry out, you can shorten it by one step.

Right-click on the Command Prompt Shortcut and select the Properties command. When you see the Properties dialog box, click the Advanced button, When you see the Advanced Properties dialog box, select the Run As Administrator check box, as shown in Figure C. Then, click OK twice, once to close each dialog box.

Figure C

You can save yourself a step when opening a Command Prompt by activating the Run As Administrator option.

Now, when you click the Command Prompt shortcut, you’ll immediately see the UAC dialog box which prompts you to type in the Administrator password.

Check the license status

As you know, activating your license in Windows Vista is a big deal. If you ever feel the need to check the status of license on your computer, you can of course go to the System screen by pressing [Windows]+[Break] and check out the Windows Activation section to see if it is activated properly. However, Microsoft included a little VBScript tool that will provide you a bit more information about your license.

To launch this little VBScript tool, press [Windows]+R to access the Run dialog box. Then, type slmgr.vbs –dli in the Open text box, and click OK. In a moment, you will see a Windows Script Host dialog box, like the one shown in Figure D. As you can see, in addition to informing you that your copy of Windows Vista is indeed licensed, it also gives you your edition, tells how you acquired it (Retail or OEM) and even shows you a partial product key. While you can’t tell in this screen shot, it’s only the last five characters in your product key.

Figure D

Windows Vista contains a little VBScript tool that will provide you with information about your license.

Use check boxes to select files

When you want to select multiple files in Windows Explorer, you can hold down the [Ctrl] key as you click on each file. If the files are in consecutive order, you can select the first file, hold down the [Shift] key and select the last file. However, when using either of these techniques, it’s easy to slip up and have to start all over. In Windows Vista there’s a way to put check boxes next to each file in Windows Explorer. As such, you can select files for regular file management operations just like you would select files in many backup programs.

To enable this feature, launch Windows Explorer, press the [Alt] key to toggle the Menu Bar on, pull down the Tools menu, and select Folder Options. When you see the Folder Options dialog box, select the View tab. Then, under the Advanced Settings scroll down to the bottom of the list and select the Use Check Boxes To Select Items check box. Click OK to complete the operation.

Now, when you hover your mouse pointer over the files in Windows Explorer, a check box will momentarily appear next each file as you move past it. If you select the check box, it will remain next to the file and the file will be selected. You can continue selecting files in this manner until you’ve selected all that you want, as shown in Figure E. You’ll also notice that there is a check box in the Name column header. If you select that particular check box, all the files in that folder will be selected.

Figure E

Activating the check boxes feature makes it easier to select multiple files.

Conclusion

When using Windows Vista, chances are that you’re on the look out for any and all hidden tricks that will help you get more comfortable with the new operating system and in this article I’ve provided you with a few more hidden tricks.

I’ll cover more hidden tricks in upcoming editions of the Windows Vista Report. In the meantime, please drop by the discussion area and let us know if you have discovered any cool tricks in Windows Vista.

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Every operating system could stand some tweaking. No matter how many developers you throw at an OS as complicated as Windows Vista, power users will always find something they can modify or hack to make it run faster, or better, or just differently. Here are just a few of the Windows Vista tweaks, tricks, and hacks we have discovered so far.

1: Add the Run command to the Start Menu

Beginning way back with the release of Windows 1.0, Microsoft has been all about the GUI interface (more or less effectively). But sometimes you just want to run a program without having to navigate the GUI maze of menus and folders. Windows Vista, by default, does not include the Run command on the Start Menu. This was a common and favorite feature of Windows XP.

To add the Run command back to the Vista Start Menu, follow these steps:

1. Right click the Taskbar in an open area
2. Click on Properties

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If you’re using Windows Explorer to work with your files and folders, you’ve probably already discovered the new Views menu. You just click the arrow next to the Views icon on the toolbar to bring up the Views menu, as shown in Figure C, and then drag the slider up or down to change the size and appearance of the file and folder icons.

Figure C

The slider on the Views menu has seven settings that range from Extra Large Icons to Tiles.

While clicking the icon and dragging the slider is simple enough there is an easier way. Simply hold down the [Ctrl] key and scroll your mouse wheel up and down to resize the icons from Tiles to Extra Large Icons.

Using the [Ctrl] key and the mouse wheel combination also works on the Desktop. While the Desktop is selected, just hold down the [Ctrl] key and scroll your mouse wheel up and down to resize the icons from a microscopic 16 x 16 all the way up to huge 256 x 256 renditions.

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As you can see in Figure D, the Menu Bar in Windows Explorer is no longer visible. However, it’s still there, as shown in Figure E. Just press [Alt] key to toggle the Menu Bar on and off.

Figure D

The Menu Bar no longer appears in Windows Explorer default layout configuration.

Figure E

Pressing the [Alt] key temporarily brings the Menu Bar back into the layout.

If you’d rather have the Menu Bar visible all of the time, just click the arrow next to the Organize icon on the toolbar, open the Layout submenu and select Menu Bar, as shown in Figure F.

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In the article, Customizing Vista’s Taskbar and Start Menu, I showed you how to put the main area of the Start Menu to much better use by configuring it as a launching area for all the programs you use most often. However, Windows Vista provides you with an even better way to quickly access your favorite applications–you can assign them to special [Windows] key combinations.

To take advantage of this hidden trick, all you have to do is add the shortcuts to your favorite applications to the Quick Launch toolbar, which you can do with a simple drag and drop operation. You can have up to 10 shortcuts on the Quick Launch toolbar to use with the [Windows] key. By default, the Show Desktop and the Switch Between Windows/Flip 3D shortcuts are already on the Quick Launch toolbar, so with the idea that you’d leave them there, you can add up to 8 additional shortcuts.

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Have you ever wanted to obtain a copy of the path of a file nested deep down in your hard drive’s organization structure? If so, you know the drill, launch Windows Explorer, traverse the directory to the file, select the contents of the address bar, copy the path, paste it in Notepad, and then type the filename itself.

Fortunately, with Windows Vista, you no longer have to perform such acrobatics just to get the path to a file. All you have to do is hold down the [Shift] key, right-click on the file or folder, and select the new command titled Copy as Path, as shown in Figure G. When you do, the path to the file or folder is copied to the Clipboard and you can simply paste it anywhere you want.

Figure G

The Copy as Path command saves a lot of time and effort when it comes to getting path listings.

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