I really value your feedback; every day I receive feedback about this and other sites I run; this feedback helps me improve the site and improve your experience here.

Today I am asking you to take a moment to submit feedback to me about Windows Guides (mintywhite.com.) Please share any bugs, glitches, errors, annoyances, grammar mistakes, and problems in general.

How to make your feedback really helpful:

• Include the URL (address) of the page where the problem exists.
• Please detail anything you do to get the error.
• Please refrain from sharing feedback like “I wish the background was green and not blue” etc. While I do welcome this feedback, this will not help in this exercise.

I promise to read every email I get and, if you ask questions, I’ll get back to you.

Submit a Bug etc. to me

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• Stream Media to Any PC (or iPhone) in the World with Orb

This time, Let’s share stories about the Tech Support People who weren’t any help, or who never should have picked up the phone that day at all. I have a few stories here that made me laugh and I hope they can brighten you day as well.

What I’d really like thou, is for you to share your story, with me and the rest of our faithful readers.

“Who’s the MCSE Certified Expert here ??”

You probably already know where this is going, right ?
Okay, a System Manager Trainee was called over to a workplace together with the company’s MCSE. The computer in question would not log on to the network. After about 30 minutes of troubleshooting, the trainee tapped the MCSE guy on the shoulder, saying:” I might know what causes it..” The MCSE Replied: “Shut up, just watch and learn how a professional does things.”.. “But…” The trainee said, before he was cut off, yet again, “Hey, Who’s the MCSE certified Expert, here ? You, or me ?”

The Trainee, then crawled under the table and pulled out the Network Cable, which was unplugged from the wall socket. Guess who got blamed for not saying so in the first place…

“Let’s do it My way…”

Customer: “My laptop won’t boot.”
Tech Support: “Have you tried rebooting?”
Customer: “I can’t reboot, because it doesn’t boot in the first place.”
Tech Support: “Sir, we have to do things my way, okay?”

“Are you sure it’s not a CD-Rom Drive ??”

This one I found on the net somewhere:

Back in 2000 a family decided to get ISDN Internet connection. Now the computer they had at the time, was not the most modern one, it didn’t even have a CD-Rom Drive. The only tech savvy person in the household was out for the day (let’s call him Rich) when the Internet Tech Support guy showed up to install everything they needed.

When Rich came home, he found the tech support guy scratching his head, looking very confused. And Rich’s mother in front of the computer trying to pry out the CD-Rom from the 5 1/4″ floppy drive.

“I have no clue, mam”, The Tech Support Guy said, “I’ve never seen one of those before, are you sure it’s not a CD-Rom drive ??”

[Side Note: You might learn something...]
What is a 5 1/4″ (5.25″) Floppy ? Well, back in the good ol’ days – it was what we used even before there were Hard Drives. It was the predecessor of the 3.5″ diskette and was called a floppy because they were housed in bendable jackets. It could store a staggering 1.2MB. The Disk Drive had the approximately same size as the CD, but was mostly out of use in the mid 1990 ies.

Your Turn!

I’m sure you have a funny story around somewhere in the back of your mind. It doesn’t need to be self experienced. But it should have some plausibility to it. Please share your story in the comments.

I can’t hardly wait!

Regards, Thomas

Further Reading

• Remote Desktop, No Installation Required – Freeware
• ImgBurn, Free CD/DVD Burning and Backup Tool
• Get Windows 7 Style Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in XP [How To]
• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]

I love Windows 7, I think it’s a great operating system.  There are a few things however that I do not like.

This guide is going to show you how you can remove the Screen resolution, Gadgets & Personalize from the Desktop context menu.

I really can’t understand why MS have put these two here. Especially Screen resolution, once you’ve set your resolution, under most circumstances you’ll likely never click it again (to be honest, you probably didn’t use it in the first place), why put it pride of place in this context menu?  Surely other commands would be much more useful.  Restarting Explorer for perhaps?

I’m not a lover of gadgets either, I like a nice clean Desktop to work in.  This context menu item for me, has to go.

For anyone who is the same as me and can’t understand why these 2 entries are here and too, have no need for them and want to remove them, you’ve come to the right place!

This guide involves editing the registry, please see here before modifying it at all.

Usually all we would have to do is delete a key or two from the registry.

This guide is a little more involved however and requires permission changes to the registry.  Sounds scary I know but as long as you’ve had a look here, understand the risks and follow the guide to a tee, all will be fine and dandy!

Step 1.

Press the WinKey+R to open the Run dialog box.  Type regedit and click, OK.

Step 2.

In the registry editor, navigate to;

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell

Under ‘Shell’ you will notice three keys; Display, Gadgets & Personalize.

Head over here to learn how to backup individual branches of the registry and backup those three branches (Display, Gadgets, Personalize).

Step 3.

Once the keys/branches are safely backed up, select the one you wish to remove (in this example I’ll remove the Display key and with it, the Screen Resolution context option).

With the Display key selected, go to Edit > Permissions…

Step 4.

In the Permissions window, click Advanced.

Step 5.

The Advanced Security Settings window will popup.  Click on the Owner tab.

Check the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects box, click your administrator account and click, Apply.

Note the current ownership is now changed.

Now click on the Permissions tab.

Step 6.

Check the Replace all child objects with inheritable permissions from the object box, select the same user account as before and click, Edit.

Step 7.

The Permission entry window will popup.  Under Name, make sure the correct user is displayed, It applies to this key and subkeys and check the Full control box in the Allow column.  Click, OK.

You will get a security warning, click Yes if you are happy with it.

Click OK in all of the remaining ‘Properties’ windows to return to the registry editor.

Step 8.

In the registry editor make sure Display is selected and go to Edit > Delete.

Accept any prompts.

Now right click on the Desktop to see the changes.  If you want to delete the Gadgets or indeed the Personalize entry, follow these steps exactly the same but for the remaining keys under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell.

Returning to default

Returning to default should be an extremely easy case of merging the backed up copies of the keys you have deleted.

If you haven’t backed up then shame on you!

Not sure how to merge registry entries?

See here for more information.

Further Reading

• Restart Explorer from the Desktop Context Menu [How To]
• Reset the Notification Area in Windows 7 [How To]
• Enable or Disable Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in Windows 7 [How To]
• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• Remote Desktop, No Installation Required – Freeware

Windows Guides’ Rating	User Rating	Compatible with
4+ out of 5	Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

PROS: The program is simple and very easy to use. It has all the necessary functions you would expect and a few more. ImgBurn is not just for the Novice User, but also for the Experienced Tweaker. CONS: No direct MP3 to CDA conversion VERDICT: Get it while it’s free :) Some day they’ll discover they can make money on it. PRICE: Freeware VERSION REVIEWED: 2.5 Download Link in the Article

My first impression

I have always been partial to use Nero Burning Rom – the all time best – in my book. Until, that is, I discovered ImgBurn. Not only is it a great freeware, but it is also easy to use and handle. Where as Nero has grown to be this gigantic Software Suite with tools I would never even consider using, ImgBurn has kept it simple and neat. All the important functions is a tiny interface.

Overall I love it from the very beginning.

Discovery and Burning

First time I boot up a program I try to use it without tweaking anything. Sometimes that is a good idea and sometimes it’s not. This time it was. The default settings works like a charm. I chose some DivX files I had lying around and told ImgBurn to burn the DVD.

ImgBurn then prompted me; it had discovered that my disk contained DivX files and therefor should be burned using  another setting, than the default. Talk about smart. One thing I didn’t get ImgBurn to do, was to detect MP3 files and ask me if it should be converted to CDA (Music CD) or burn as ISO.

Calculate Space

Once you have put a blank disk in your drive, ImgBurn let you calculate necessary Disk Space and available Free Space, after Burn. The Calculate Function is not on by default, but it remembers the Auto Feature if you leave it on when you close the application.

Backup

If you have expensive DVD’s or CD’s lying around being in danger from kids, girlfriends, dog, your cat etc. Then ImgBurn can help you. ImgBurn has the ability to create ISO-Files from an existing Disk (even commercial ones), it can also create ISO-Files from files and folders and of course write ISO-Files to disk.

Just insert your disk into the drive and click on Create Image File from Disk, and press the Action Button.

For the Tech Savvy, as well…

ImgBurn isn’t just for the novice users who need a simple program to burn their files on a disk. It allows you to control ever aspect of the burning and ISO-Creating session.

In the Settings Dialog you are allowed to control How ImgBurn should interact with Windows, with your Registry and how your Disk Drive should behave. So if you love to tweak your applications, squeezing every ounce of performance out of it – you should really give ImgBurn a try.

Download ImgBurn 2.5

Download ImgBurn

Further Reading

• Get Windows 7 Style Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in XP [How To]
• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• Remote Desktop, No Installation Required – Freeware
• ESET Smart Security 4.0 [Security Software]

Windows Guides’ Rating	User Rating	Compatible with
4 out of 5	Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

PROS: Helps you watch videos of all types without having to install different codecs each time. the relatively small and efficient download. CONS: If not installed correctly, you can add lots of stuff that you will never use. In another program is lightweight, I don’t like installing programs are never use on my PC. VERDICT: If you try to play video with Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center and you either yet no sound, no video, or nothing at all, this codec pack will likely fix that problem. Thus, I recommend this program to all Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center users. PRICE: Free VERSION REVIEWED: 2.2.0 DOWNLOAD: Windows 7 Codecs Pack

To understand what a codec is and why you need them to play videos, see the Wikipedia article.

Download Windows 7 Codecs Pack

Random Posts

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Using Local Group Policy Editor

1. Click Start-Button, and type gpedit.msc
2. In the left pane, navigate to User Configuration, Administrative Templates, and Start Menu and Taskbar
   
3. In the Right Pane, Click the Setting Tab to Sort the list alphabetically
4. Double-Click on: Turn off taskbar thumbnails
5. Change Configuration to Enabled (Or Disabled to restore them)
6. Click OK

Using RegEdit

1. Open Regedit
2. Locate HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
   NOTE: The Subkey Explorer Might Not Be Present. If that be the case you need to add it (Right-Click on Policies and click New -> Key and name it: Explorer)
3. In The Right Pane, add a new DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it: TaskbarNoThumbnail
4. Modify the Value (Double-Click) to 1 (one)
5. Close RegEdit and Reboot.

NOTE!
To enable the Taskbar Thumbnails, remove the key you named:  TaskbarNoThumbnail

Further Reading

• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• Really Take Control over Your Right-click Context Menu [How To]
• Clean Up old Windows System Restore Points [How To]
• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• Can’t Delete a File? Use the Command Prompt [How To]

I have found two freeware applications for you that will do the trick. One plain and simple and one with a few more options.

This is also for those of you who desperately miss your MAC taskbar, but have to use XP at work or whatever. Curious? Read on!

Visual Task Tips (What you expect, is what you get)

Visual Task Tips is a straightforward little application that gives you exactly what you’d expect. A Thumbnail Preview. Nothing more, nothing less. Just Download and install.

Visual Task Tips Supports both 32bit and 64bit platforms.

Download here!

Visual Tooltip (The one for MAC lovers)

If you want more than just a preview, then Visual Tooltip is for you. Not only do you get the pretty Taskbar Thumbnails, you also get more.

You can control where the thumbnails appear as well as  how they appear.

With Visual Tooltip you can also replace your Windows Taskbar entirely with a
MAC-Look-A-Like Taskbar similar to the one found i OS X.

We previously covered this program here a couple of years ago and it seems to be running even more smoothly now.

Download here!

The MAC Cloned Taskbar

Further Reading

• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• Collection of 14 Free Windows Sidebar Gadgets [Chameleon Glass Style]
• Clean Up old Windows System Restore Points [How To]
• Remote Desktop, No Installation Required – Freeware

One of our readers asked:
“Where would one find the values associated with different functions?
What other kinds of functions could be added in this manner?”

Well, Alan – I think I’ve just come up with an answer.

.

.

You have, of course, read about the different “God-Mode-Folder” settings available. These settings are often undocumented features coded by windows developers for their own personal use, leaked to the public. No doubt to keep the OS interest on a high. This time there are no such hidden features – but with the help of two Freeware applications you can customize your Context Menu (Right Click menu), Exactly the way you like.

First of all, We are not just going to add functions that everyone has seen before. What I am about to show you is how you can make your own, how you control how Windows works.

First Download the two applications:

• Open++ 32-bit or  Open++ 64-bit
• NirCmd

Open++

Open++ is the tool of which we will use to add functionality to the Context Menu. It comes with its own set of settings and customization features like:

• Open Elevated Command Prompt
• Copy Path
• Register/UnRegister Dll
• Open / Close CD Drive
• Open any Program / Application

NirCMD

NirCMD is a Command-Line tool which allows you to run Actions as if you were clicking your mouse or pushing a button using Command-Line Arguments. By combining these Actions with Open++ you get the most versatile and powerful tools to completely revamp your Context Menu and it’s functions.

Wide range of Features

• Mute/UnMute Sound (nircmd.exe mutesysvolume 1)
• Dial to “My Internet” connection (nircmd.exe rasdial "My Internet")
• Center all top-level windows (nircmd.exe win center alltop)
• Open RegEdit (nircmd.exe regedit )
• Shutdown Computer (nircmd.exe exitwin poweroff)
• Add text to an existing file (clipboard addfile "c:\My Files\info1.txt").
  Which would be useful if you do a lot of research on the web.

The Above is of course only a few examples, but I think you get an idea of what you can achieve.

How To Do it

Both applications can be programmed in so many ways, that mentioning them all would take many many hours and articles here on Mintywhite. instead I intend to show you a few examples and let you work it out from there.

NOTE!
The Context menu has a limit of 128 Commands (including Separators) – depending on how many add-ons you already have

Installation

Installing Open++ is like installing any other application: Run Setup and follow the instructions.

NirCmd doesn’t need any installation to work, just unzip the file to a folder and you are good to go. If you want to, you may copy the NirCMD file to the Windows Directory. That way you don’t need to tell Windows where it is. Once you have unpacked the files, run the file called: NIRCMD.EXE and Click on “Copy To Windows Directory“.

Add Functionality using the Custom Open++ functions

Open++ Installs itself into your Context Menu by default. To change the settings; Right-Click your desktop, choose Open++ then Customize Open++. Now you see which setting have been added to your Context Menu. If some of the settings are of no use to you, highlight it and click Delete.

I have set Windows to always open JPEG files in the Windows Photo Viewer, but every now and then I want to edit a photo in Photoshop. Of course this is already possible using the Open With Function, difference is; I can add my own “Open With Photoshop” function for any file without having to save settings for each file type.

1. Choose Where in the menu you want the new item (Or use the UP and Down buttons later)
2. Click Add
3. Choose Run With Parameters
4. Give it a Title: Open With PhotoShop
5. Click on the Browse Button (…) to choose the Program Path
6. under Parameters Choose (or type): %TargetPath1%
   (or leave blank to open Photoshop only)
7. Give it an Icon, by using the same Path as the Program path
8. Choose Associate with: Files only
9. If you want, you can set File Type Limitations, like *.jpg; *.png; *.gif (separated by semicolon)
   This will Disable it If you Click on the” wrong” File Type.
10. Click Apply or OK (OK to Finish, Apply to do more changes)
11. Test your New Context Menu Item by Right-Clicking on a File

Add Functionality from NirCMD

The Procedure is much the same as above. Instead of using the cryptic %…% Parameters we are going to use NirCmd Parameters Instead.

This time, I want to add the Command: Clear The Clipboard, which is very usable for me, as I tend to have large amount of data (screen captures) wasting valuable memory-space in my Clipboard.

1. Choose Where in the menu you want the new item (Or use the UP and Down buttons later)
2. Click Add
3. Choose: Run With Parameters
4. Give it a Title: Clear The Clipboard
5. Write: NirCMD in the Program field
6. under Parameters write: clipboard clear
7. Choose an icon (Read: Choose Icons, below)
8. Choose Associate with: Files and Folders (not that it matters really)
9. No File Type Limitations
10. Click Apply or OK (OK to Finish, Apply to do more changes)
11. Test your New Context Menu Item

.

Ideas for Context Menu items

• Add specific data to the Clipboard, like the content of a specific text file:
  Set Parameter to: clipboard readfile "c:\My Files\info1.txt"
• Add new text to an existing file: clipboard addfile "c:\My Files\info1.txt"
• In need of a Series of ScreenCaptures within a time range ?
  nircmd.exe loop 10 60000 savescreenshot c:\temp\scr~$currdate.MM_dd_yyyy$-~$currtime.HH_mm_ss$.png.
  This Parameter will let you take 10 photos with a 60 second delay between each, saving the pictures in a folder using timestamps as filenames.

Choosing Icons

Any EXE file and DLL file in windows have a set of Program Icons you can use. When you add a filename, like the Windows Default icon-library  (C:\Windows\System32\Shell32.dll) you get to choose from all the icons stored in that file.

Further Reading

To learn more about the settings and options this is where to look:

• Open++ Website
• NirCMD Website

Good Luck !

Further Reading

• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• Can’t Delete a File? Use the Command Prompt [How To]
• Clean Up old Windows System Restore Points [How To]
• Remote Desktop, No Installation Required – Freeware

Set up Your old PC for Transfer

To set up the old PC with a transfer, you will need to go to your new PC and do the following:

1. Click the Start button, type transfer and click Windows Easy Transfer.

2. Click An external hard disk or USB flash drive.

3. Indicate this is your new computer.

4. You will likely need to install Windows Easy Transfer on your old computer so click I need to install it now (even if it’s already installed, this does no harm and ensures compatibility.)

5. You can transfer the installation settings via External hard disk, shared network folder, or USB drive. Click External hard disk or shared network folder if you have an external hard drive or USB flash drive if you have one of these to use.

6. Save Easy Transfer to your hard disk/network drive/USB drive.

7. Wait while Easy Transfer is copied.

8. Follow these instructions to install Easy Transfer on your old computer.

Transfer Your Files

9. Go to your old PC and, after following the instructions above, click Next on the Easy Transfer screen.

10. Select the method you indicated on your new PC (likely An external disk or USB flash drive.)

11. Indicate you are using the old computer.

12. Note the transfer key and go to your new computer.

13. Type the key on your new PC and click Next.

14. Easy transfer will make sure the transfer can complete without errors.

Easy Transfer will scan and find what can be transferred.

16. Pick what files and settings you’d like to transfer.

17. Clicking advanced options lets you customize exactly what should be transferred.

18. Transfer begins from your old computer (please don’t use it while the files transfer as you don’t want to change program settings and files that are already transfered — you’ll lose your changes on your new PC.)

19. After transfer is completed, click See what was transferred to make sure everything moved over. You can also come back and see what suggestions Windows gives for programs that need to be installed on your new PC. i.e. if you transferred .DOCX and .XLSX files over, Windows Easy Transfer will suggest installation of Microsoft Office so these files can be opened.

You can see what transferred.

See what programs you need to install on your new PC.

You will be notified that transfer is completed and you can start installing programs on your new PC (if you haven’t already done so.)

Random Posts

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• Typography: Free Stylish Fonts Collection [Set 29]
• Gates: Microsoft Windows 7 Sometime Next Year

Now, we know better. If your CD or DVD gets a scratched surface – it’s virtually unreadable. Which Is why many make backup copies of their disks – before they get damaged.

What do you do, if you don’t have backups?

There are many freeware applications that may save the contents of a scratched disk, tho the end result will depend on how scratched the surface is. Here’s my tip on how to make the unreadable, readable – again.

Repairing the surface

There hundreds of special products promising to save your scratched discs. I have tried several, with less or no luck. What I found to be working, was something that you don’t usually associate with computers or Cd’s and DVD’s: Car Polish with Rubbing compound.

Yes, you read it correctly. I Did say: Car Polish with Rubbing compound. Whats more -  you need a Polish Pad made of Wool and a power-tool or similar (Use whatever you used when shining your car). Why this?

First of all; Car polish, rubbing, wool pads etc. are easy to come by, cheaper than those “specially developed” products and, its way better. Wool pads will actually work as a sandpaper and remove the scratches, leaving a smooth surface when done. It is not good enough to do this by hand as you need speed, heat and friction to get rid of those pesky scratches.

Here is how:

• Apply the Rubbing Polish onto the disk’s surface, and smear it
• Start your power tool and carefully run the disk back and forth over the rotating wool pad, until the desired result. Now and then, wipe it clean with a soft cloth to check your progress.
  
  Not every scratch needs to be removed – the worst ones are the tiny ones that covers the surface in all directions. You just have to try. Sometimes you get it running on the first go, other times it takes a bit longer.

Readable again

The reason this works is that a CD or DVD (and even Blu-Ray) consists of layers. The precious layer where data is stored, is somewhere in the middle of several protective plastic layers (or on the backside of it). So the data is rarely damaged. The damage is only surface deep – so to say – therefore it is possible to make a disk readable again.

After you have rubbed the disk, clean and rinse off leftover polish. make sure it’s dry before testing the disk in your player.

Personally I have saved many disks this way, both “Pro” disks and home-burned ones.

The “stuff” I’m using is called Innotec Easy Polish New Formula (and is available all throughout Europe). As long as you use something that contains rubbing – you’re good to go.

Best of Luck! Not every scratch need to be removed – the worst ones are the tiny ones that covers the surface in all directions.

Further Reading

• Really Take Control over Your Right-click Context Menu [How To]
• DVDShrink Makes Back ups of your DVD’s [Security]
• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• Can’t Delete a File? Use the Command Prompt [How To]
• Remote Desktop, No Installation Required – Freeware