Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

The Black Box Recorder. Every developer wishes there was a way that an end-users could quickly and simply record a repro for the problem that they’re running into that is unique to their machine. Windows 7 comes to the rescue! Part of the in-built diagnostic tools that we use internally to send feedback on the product, the Problem Steps Recorder provides ...

Disable Sidebar / Desktop Gadgets on Windows 7 If you just can’t see the point of the desktop Gadgets included in Windows 7, or even the Sidebar gadgets in Windows Vista, you’ll be happy to know that you can easily disable them with a simple configuration change. If you are really, really new to Windows 7, the gadgets are accessible via the ...

The "Up" Keyboard Shortcut for Windows 7 or Vista Explorer The Explorer window in Windows 7 and Vista doesn’t have an Up button, which drives me completely batty. Thankfully I found a keyboard shortcut replacement. Note: These screenshots are from Vista, but it works the same in Windows 7. Let’s say I’m in my x:\wpmu\wp-content directory. Sure, I can usually click the “wpmu” part ...

Manage Devices the Easy Way with Device Stage in Windows 7 Remember in Vista how it was an annoying chore getting it to recognize external devices like printers, phones, and digital cameras? Well now in Windows 7 there is a cool feature called Device Stage that allows you to easily see and manage all of your external devices from one spot. Using Device ...

Access the Library folder A lot of noise has been made about the fact that the Library folder inside your user home folder is now hidden by default in Lion. Even though you can’t just go to your home folder and click on it any more, there are still plenty of ways to access it. The easiest way that should be ...

Windows Live Messenger and the system tray Close Windows Live Messenger on Windows 7 and it'll display its icon on the taskbar, chewing up useful application space, rather than in the system tray where many believe it belongs. Fortunately there's a very quick fix: right-click the shortcut to Windows Live Messenger, click Properties > Compatibility, check "Run this program in compatibility mode ...

Bring back missing sidebar items While this has been a trend for a while now, in Lion more and more things are hidden or disabled by default to stop the UI getting cluttered with stuff that isn’t useful for the majority of users. One place where this will be obvious to more experienced users is in the Finder’s sidebar and on ...

Post-it notes are a fantastic way of reminding yourself of things you need to do or remember, however they have a couple of down sides to them. Not only do they cost money but they also use paper which isn't good for our forests. In Windows 7 we can do our part to help reduce the impact of our diminishing forest ...

Here are some general tips for better wireless reception It wasn't that long ago that network cables snaked through doorways, around corners and in and out of improvised holes in walls and carpets. By contrast, wireless networking is unobtrusive and very easy. But it's not without its limitations. If you're installing a wireless network in a large house or office, you may ...

Keep Both Files This is another little feature that will make you think, “Why wasn’t it always like that!” Up until now, if you moved or copied a file to a location that already had a file with the same name, you had two options: Replace or Cancel. Finally, after the best part of three decades of Mac development, Apple have finally realised that ...

XP Mode doesn't work If you've ancient software that won't work under Windows 7 then in theory you can use XP Mode, a virtual machine with an installation of Windows XP that should be more successful. In practice, however, it doesn't always work out that way. Problem 1 is XP Mode requires hardware support from the CPU. TheMicrosoft Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool can check ...

Group selected files into a new folder This feature appears to have been inspired by the method for creating new folders for apps on the iPhone and iPad. Whereas before you had to create a new folder, rename it, and then drag all the different files into it, now you can simply select the files, right-click and choose New Folder with Selection. ...

Where's Software Explorer? If you've ever played with Windows Defender on Vista then you'll have probably noticed the Software Explorer feature, a very useful way to find out and control exactly what's launched on your PC when Windows starts. So it's a little annoying to see this has disappeared in the latest version, leaving you with only the aging MSCONFIG to ...

Windows Live MovieMaker For some bizarre reason Windows Live MovieMaker won't let you import network files by default. Okay, so they'll be large and may monopolise network traffic for a while, but shouldn't that be your choice? Anyway, a quick Registry tweak will solve this annoying problem. Simply run REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live\Movie Maker, add a DWORD value called AllowNetworkFiles and set ...

Customizing the Toolbar The toolbar can be customized to include buttons and icons for a variety of commands and items. Tips When you customize the toolbar, your changes affect the toolbar in all windows in which the toolbar is displayed. To display the toolbar, click the Toolbar control button in the upper-right corner of a Finder window, choose View > Show Toolbar, or press Option-Command-T To ...