Windows Tips and Tricks

Friday, July 28, 2006

Placing an application on the right-click option of the Start menu

Let's say you have about 4-5 very useful applications which you use always. By placing them all on the first level menu will eventually crowd your start menu. Now why not utilize the right-click option instead?
The right-click option gives you the ability to Open, Explore and Find. If you can add a shortcut to your application to that menu, it would be great.

To do this,

1. Crank up your registry editor by typing 'regedit' in Run box. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell in the Registry Editor.

2. Right-click on Shell and create a new key. Type in an appropriate name for the key.

3. On the right pane, double-click on the Default value, and add a title with a & character in front of the letter as an accelerator key.

4. Right-click on the key you just created and create another key under it called command. For the Default value of command, enter the full path and program you want to execute in the Value data box.

For example, if you wanted Notepad, you would add that as the first key, the default in the right panel would be &Notepad. So when you right click on the Start Button, he N would be underlined and you could just press that key. The command would be something like C:\Windows\notepad.exe.

Now when you right click on the Start Button, your new program will show up.

Friday, February 24, 2006

How to add a Command Prompt option to the default Explorer right click context menu?

If you find that you frequently open a Command Prompt window and change to a specific directory, you can add the Command Prompt to your shortcut menu. This option enables you to right-click on a folder within Windows Explorer and choose the Command Prompt - which opens a Command Prompt window with that folder as your active directory. To add the Command Prompt option to the default right click context menu in Windows Explorer you can do one of the following:

Method #1: Manually add the context menu
1. In explorer, open Tools, Folder Options.
2. Select the File Types tab.
3. For Windows XP: Go to NONE / Folder.
4. For Windows 2000: Press n to scroll to the N/A section.
5. For Windows NT/98/95: Press f to scroll to the Folders section.
6. Select the entry labeled Folder
7. For Windows 2000/XP: Press Advanced button.
8. For Windows NT/98/95: Press Edit button.
9. Select New
10. In the action block type "Command Prompt" without the quotes.
11. In the app block type "cmd.exe" without the quotes.
12. Save and exit Folder Options.
Now right click on Start, you should have a new drop down option. Open explorer and right click on a folder, select Command Prompt and a command window opens in that folder.

Method #2: Through batch file
1. Begin by creating a batch file. For example, you could create a batch file named StartPrompt.cmd. Add the following commands to your batch file: @echo offcd /d %1Title %~f1
2. Save this batch file to your Windows NT/2000/XP root directory (which is usually C:\WINNT or C:\WINDOWS for XP).
3. Open Windows Explorer.
4. Choose View Options to display the Options dialog box.
5. Select the File Types tab.
6. In the list of Registered File Types, select Folder then click Edit.
7. Click New to display the New Action dialog box.
8. In the Action text box, type Command Prompt.
9. In the Application Used To Perform Action text box, type: cmd.exe /a /k c:\winnt\StartPrompt "%l"
10. Click OK to close the New Action dialog box, then click Close twice.
Open Windows NT Explorer, then right-click on a folder. You should now see a new option called "Command Prompt" on the shortcut menu. If you choose this option, Windows Explorer opens a new Command Prompt window with the selected directory as your current directory.

Method #3: Through the Registry
1. Navigate in your Registry to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Classes/Folder/Shell and create a key called "Command Prompt" without the quotes.
2. Set the default string to whatever text you want to appear in the right-click menu.
3. Create a new key within your newly created command prompt named "command," and set the default string to Cmd.exe /k pushd %LYou may need to add %SystemRoot%/ before the Cmd.exe if the executable can't be found.
4. The changes should take place immediately. Right click a folder and your new menu item should appear.
Note: You can do the same for Windows 98. Type in "c:\windows\command.com /k pushd %L" (without the quotes).

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

How to enable the CD Burning service in Windows Server 2003?

The CD Burning service is disabled by default. To enable it:
¨ Start / Run / Services.msc / OK.
¨ Double-click the IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service.
¨ Set the Startup type to Automatic.
¨ Press Apply.
¨ Press the Start button.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Change Internet Explorer Browser Title Text

1. Click Start > Run > Type gpedit.msc
2. Click User Configuration > Windows Setting > Internet Explorer Maintenance > Browser User Interface
3. Double click on Browser Title
4. Click on Customize Title Bars
5. Change the text to what whatever you want
6. Click on Ok

7. Now you change the title of your browser and you sure see what you wrote when you open a New Window.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

IE Browsing tips with a scroll mouse

-> Hold CTRL and use the scroll wheel on the mouse to increase or decrease the font size.
- > Hold Shift and use the scroll wheel to go back or forward between WebPages.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Removing The "Go" Button In Internet Explorer

There are a couple of ways in which you can remove the "Go" button from Internet Explorer. The one we will go with is the easiest method. Just right-click on the "Go" button itself and uncheck it from the pull down list

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Converting a URL/file to PDF file with a Conversion Tool

Converting your HTML files to PDF has never been easier! Combine several of your HTML files into a single PDF file. Convert a URL / HTML file into a PDF file, or convert ANY file format to PDF file! Now choose from more options when converting your HTML files to PDF!

Click for more information on URL / HTML to PDF Conversion Tool.