The Windows Fix » software

Get an Overview of Windows Shortcut Keys with ActiveHotKeys

T.J. Mininday — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:46:17 +0000

Most people don’t know it, but there are dozens and dozens of Windows shortcut/hotkeys out there for you to use. Whether it be using the Win, Ctrl, Alt or Shift, there are plenty to choose from. The issue that most have with it though, is that none of us really know what they are and some of us want to create our own with the available ones.

ActiveHotKeys is a simple and free application that can give you a quick and easy overview of your entire plethora of shortcut keys. Whether it be a couple key strokes with the Win key, or a few with Ctrl-Alt-Shift, this application will display them all and help you take advantage of the ones that you’re not using on a regular basis.

This program does not however list what particular application a shortcut key may be registered for, and it also does not allow you to create your own. It’s a just an easy way to get a quick look at the ones that you can presently take advantage of.

via Elite Freeware

Extend Your Taskbar to Multiple Monitors – MultiMonitor TaskBar It’s hard to believe that with as cheap and as...
Sunday Links 10.26.08 – The Windows Fix Weekly Link Finds So, these don’t seem to be as popular anymore, but...
Sunday Links 11.09.08 – The Windows Fix Weekly Finds Monitor Bandwidth Usage with Shaplus Bandwidth Meter – WhoisMadur –...

A Simple View of Windows Programs Auto Starting

T.J. Mininday — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:46:48 +0000

There are several different places that Windows looks to find programs starting automatically. There’s a couple of different places in the registry, services and of course the Windows Start-Up folder. You can of course modify these files and registry entries manually, but you can also do it with built-in Windows apps such as MSCONFIG. These still aren’t quite as easy as programs such as AutoStart Explorer though.

AutoStart Explorer is a simplified view of all the items that start in one for or another on your Windows machine. You can not only view all of these items, but also have the ability to modify them as you please, retrieving those always needed system resources.

AutoStart Explorer – via Life Rocks 2.0

Hide Programs Quickly From View with BlindBossKey There is no doubt about it. The internet has made...
A Tabbed Windows Explorer Called SurF One of the most important and definitely most favorite items...
Optimize your Windows PC Easy with Glary Utilities There are several utilities out there that advertise that they...

Keep Caps, Num or Scroll Lock Always On..or Off

T.J. Mininday — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:02:03 +0000

One of the big annoyances I continually find myself running into is that the number lock is never on when I need it to be. I open up Excel and find my highlighted cell jumping all over the place, with no numbers to be seen. I look up on the keyboard and…duhh, the number lock is of course off. This typically happens during a reboot.

There are also times where you find yourself bumping the the caps lock key as well. It would be nice to permanently have these on or off. Well, there are registry hacks to do it, or you can do it with this simple free utility.

Numlocker quite simply allows you to “lock” the state of the Caps, Num or Scroll lock keys to Always On or Always Off. That’s all it does. It resides quitely in the background of your Windows PC and does just that. Locks the state of those keys.

Download Here – via Elite Freeware

Hide Programs Quickly From View with BlindBossKey There is no doubt about it. The internet has made...
Moo0 RightClicker Adds Must Have Options to Right-Click Context Menu One of the areas presently lacking in Windows today, are...
A Tabbed Windows Explorer Called SurF One of the most important and definitely most favorite items...

Remove Factory Installed Software with PC Decrapifier

T.J. Mininday — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:00:10 +0000

The major problem with buying a new PC at discount prices from your Best Buy, Dell, and HPs of the world that although they do come at a reduced cost, they do come LOADED with junkware. Trial Office, AntiVirus, Cheap ISPs and added security features, just to name a few. Removing these features typically is accomplished by going to Add/Remove Programs in the control panel and removing one-by-one. Fortunately however, there is an all-in-one solution called PC Decrapifier.

PC Decrapifier is essentially an uninstaller that detects junkware that is installed on your factory built laptop or desktop. It runs a quick detection process on your PC, determines what is and what isn’t needed, and then displays what can be removed.

After you select what you’d like to remove, it runs the uninstaller for each and every specified application, one-by-one, making your machine squeaky clean and diverting you from formatting the machine completely.

The program is update every few months with new applications to remove, and it is continuously monitoring what items are being consistently uninstalled, display it on their website.

PC Decrapifier

The Best Freeware Uninstaller is Revo Uninstaller Removing software from Windows can sometimes be a a daunting...
Hide Programs Quickly From View with BlindBossKey There is no doubt about it. The internet has made...
Analyze Windows DMP Files / Crash Dumps with WhoCrashed Windows troubleshooting can be a serious pain. Booting into safe...

Snackr – Scrolling RSS Reader for Windows

T.J. Mininday — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:49:36 +0000

The go to method to receiving up to date news information these days is via RSS feeds. Whether through blogging, news, or just a periodically updated website, it is THE defacto method of delivering information. Although to those who aren’t quiet as tech savvy, may have no idea of its purpose, those of us whom are, are always looking for new way to receiving our “feeds”.

Google Reader quickly came to the forefront as the most popular RSS reader on the net. There were many online and offline competitors to Google’s powerful product, none have really come close thus far. One that I recently discovered that works much differently than most, is Snackr RSS.

Snackr RSS Reader is both an on and offline RSS reading solution that has a much different approach to displaying feeds. Snackr utilizes Adobe’s amazing Air product, scrolling your news across the bottom, top, left or right sections of your screen.

After you begin either manually entering your feeds, or importing them via a OPML file, Snackr will begin randomly scrolling your various articles at your specified location. As they scroll across the screen, you can simply click on any item and see a quick snippet of what it has to offer. If you want to continue onto the full article, you can do so quickly by clicking “View Post”, where it will take you to the posting in your default web browser.

via MakeUseOf

Free RSS News Screen Saver for your PC It’s still nice to find a decent screen saver to...
Sunday Links 11.02.08 – The Windows Fix Weekly Link Finds Another week gone by, another week of stellar stories and...
Hide Programs Quickly From View with BlindBossKey There is no doubt about it. The internet has made...

Discover File Extensions and Freeware to Open them on Openwith.org

T.J. Mininday — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:23:39 +0000

Discovering files that you cannot open can be a real annoyance. Whether you have downloaded it, received it via e-mail or found it on your company’s network, discovering an unknown extension typically leads you straight to Google. There are a lot of file extension sites out there, but none quite like this.

OpenWith.org is a simple online and offline application that can quickly find whatever extension that you are searching for and not only tell you what program it’s typically used for, but also free apps that will open them as well. Trying to find a conversion tool or combing for a free alternative has never been any easier.

In the below screenshot, you’ll see that I looked up the popular Powerpoint Presentation Extension, PPT. It has given me not just one, but two free options to opening this file type.

Openwith.org

Use CurrPorts to Check Open Ports on your Local Computer Whether you know it or not, for every application that...
Create your Own Online File Server with HFS Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to share files...
Moo0 RightClicker Adds Must Have Options to Right-Click Context Menu One of the areas presently lacking in Windows today, are...

Backup and Monitor the Windows Registry with SpyMe Tools

T.J. Mininday — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:44:42 +0000

Any time a new installation is needed on any version of Windows, people tend to hold their breath or cross their fingers, hoping that it won’t screw up their computer. And as we all know, malware can really screw up your system as well, especially when it does so without your knowledge. It would be nice to see any modifications made to a system in real-time. SpyMe Tools does just that.

SpyMe Tools is an application to monitor any registry and disk changes to the system. If anything is installed your PC, SpyMe is able to detect such modifications. Which can become particularly handy when it comes to adware, spyware and just about every other file change at any given point and time.

They do this by constantly looking for changes in your computer and “dumping” them during the various states that it is in. The type of procedure it uses, also makes it work very well for registry backup purposes as well. The dump files are encrypted so that any authorized access cannot look at the specific changes made to the system.

SpyMe Tools

via Lifehacker

Jump to Registry Key via Right-Click Context Menu The image below, pretty much tells it all, but the...
Modify Your Windows Desktop With These Tools My latest post on MakeUseOf is getting some serious publicity...
XP Syspad – All your Windows tools in one place A big problem with Windows XP, is the spaced out...

Password Protect any Windows Folder from Anyone

T.J. Mininday — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:49:21 +0000

Protecting confidential data is highly important in today’s world. In a life scammers, identity thieves and many other crooks. The built-in security in Windows sometimes just isn’t enough protection when it comes to protecting tax documents and confidential data. If your PC is left on and someone wants to walk in and peruse your folders, it can easily be done. Having password protection on folders even against the administrator account is necessary.

My Lockbox can password protect any folder from any user account on your computer. It has the ability to require a password from even the administrator and even in safe mode. Almost any folder can be protected.

As you can see above, protecting folders is as simple as browsing to its location, selecting it, and setting your password of choice.

Just another added piece of security, in a every growing insecure world.

My Lockbox

via Techie Portal

TrueCrypt is the Easiest way to Encrypt Your Hard Drive Keeping your data safe from the outside can prove difficult...
Password Tester from Microsoft I like when websites incorporate a password integrity checker when...
Reset Windows Passwords With Ubuntu Linux or with Bootable Windows CD Here are two great ways to reset your administrator account...

A Tabbed Windows Explorer Called SurF

T.J. Mininday — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 08:01:45 +0000

One of the most important and definitely most favorite items that came along with Firefox is tabbed browsing. The ability to open multiple websites without cluttering you taskbar and completely confusing yourself, made life much easier. Granted, Firefox wasn’t the first to do so. The first application that you and I probably first saw it in, was Microsoft Excel. Now several years later, we’re beginning to see it in most every app, including Windows Explorer.

SurF is a free Windows program that uses a pyramid tab style for opening Windows Explorer. You’ll get a better idea in the screenshot below, but essentially, it makes for MUCH easier browsing of Windows directories on your PC. Instead of manually browsing or entering the address of folder locations, you can simply click to where you are going in the pyramid.

Along with the pyramid style of browsing, for each different directory that you open, you begin seeing multiple tabs for each of these locations. The below screenshot has a couple of different locations, each with their separate pyramid for navigation.

It’s a very simple and free alternative to Windows Explorer. It may not be as advanced as other Explorer alternatives, but it gets the job done in a much easier and better fashion.

SurF

mRemote – Tabbed Remote Desktop Network Administrators of large corporate sized Microsoft Environments, often find...
XP Syspad – All your Windows tools in one place A big problem with Windows XP, is the spaced out...
Play Flash Files in Windows with Play FLV Downloading YouTube videos to your PC for archiving has become...

Hide Programs Quickly From View with BlindBossKey

T.J. Mininday — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:54:18 +0000

There is no doubt about it. The internet has made the world lazier. Whether at work or home, the vast majority of people connected to the net have become obsessed with it. Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Blogs, Entertainment, News, etc, etc, etc…we’re ADDICTED! At home it’s not a big deal, but at work it can become a problem. Especially when your boss is crawling up behind you and sneaks a peak at your screen, and you’ve got the latest ESPN scores up. It would be nice to quickly hide what you’re reading huh? Well, that’s what I’m here to talk about today.

BlindBossKey is a simple application that runs in your system tray, awaiting a hot key sequence, to hide whatever processes you have specified.

After you simply specify active Windows, active processes or any program that you’d like to hide in the program, you can quickly enter your specified hot key sequence and instantly all program minimize into that system tray. A system tray icon that you can modify or even hide as well.

One of the other nice features of BlindBossKey is the ability to specify what program you’d like to come to the forefront. So now, when you’re boss approaches and you’re supposed to crunching those accounting numbers, you can add that special workbook as the “Top” item.

A very handy utility to continue making it look like you are productive, but really aren’t. Other then that, this program really has no other use that I can think of.

Link: BlindBossKey-Lite

via Techie Buzz

Problems Ejecting USB Drive ??? Use EjectUSB USB flash drives are a must these days. Now that...
Use CurrPorts to Check Open Ports on your Local Computer Whether you know it or not, for every application that...
Fix SVCHOST Errors and Problems with SVCHOST Viewer Whenever your PC begins problems, most people try the infamous...