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20 Essential Tweaks and Tips Every Firefox User Should Know

Norman Chan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0600

Firefox may be your default browser, but that doesn’t mean you really use it to its full potential. Mozilla’s browser is a big threat to Microsoft not because it’s fast and full of unique features, but because it’s also extremely customizable. Add-ons, style scripts, and hidden preferences let you personalize your Firefox experience to meet your tastes and needs. Sure, you may know about hidden easter eggs like the about:robots page, but we’re going show you the 20 most essential tips, tricks, and tweaks to this super browser.

Undo Closed Tabs and Windows

This is actually a feature that has been around since before Firefox 3, but we’re often surprised by how many people don’t know about it. Firefox stores a record of every open and closed tab in all windows for each browsing session. So if you accidentally closed a tab, you can bring it back by pressing Ctrl + Shift + T. The restored tab retains its surfing history as well, and you can bring back old tabs even after you’ve opened several new ones since the initial close.

Speed Up Browsing

Firefox 3.5 is fast at loading pages, but its operational speed can get bogged down by overloading extensions. But you can add further optimizations to the browser by making a few tweaks behind the scenes. Load up the about:config page (by typing about:config in the location bar), and make the following changes:

Set network.http.max-connections to 96 – This sets the total number of HTTP connections Firefox can make to a web server. The default value is 30 (raised for the previous default of 24), but if you have ample bandwidth, increase the number speed up the loading of multiple-tab bookmarks.

Set network.http.max-connections-per-server to 32 – The default is 15, but you can raise it to increase the number of connections made to a single server. This is useful if you’re planning on browsing a site while downloading many files from it at the same time.

Set network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server to 8 – Raising this setting from 6 to 8 improve performance when working through multiple pages of a site. We don’t recommend setting this value to anything higher than 8.

Set network.http.pipelining to true – Pipelining is an application of the HTTP 1.1 protocol where multiple requests can be sent to a web server before any responses are received. Not all servers support it, but this will improve your browsing speed if you’re on a high-latency (slow) connection.

Set network.http.proxy.pipelining to true – Same as the setting above, but only applies if you’re using a proxy connection.

Set network.http.pipelining.ssl to true – If you’re encountering problems with pipelining enabled, the root of the problem may be a broken proxy server sitting between you and the target server. SSL (secure) sites don’t have this problem, so this setting will let you turn on pipelining for those sites only, regardless of the other pipelining settings.

Set network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to 8 – With pipelining enabled, this preference specifies the maximum number of requests to make to a server at once. Raising the default value from 4 to 8 will speed up your requests to a server, but will cause a small delay if one of the requests fail.

Use Gmail as Your Default Mail Application

When Firefox 3 was first released, one of the new features was the option to associate html protocols with web applications, such as launching a webmail service when clicking a “mailto:” link. Unfortunately, at the time of launch, only Yahoo’s mail client was officially supported, and users had to either use extensions or manipulate some javascript code to enable Gmail as the primary mail handler. The current iteration of Firefox has included Gmail in the web app client list, and here’s how you turn it on.

Go to Tools-> Options, and select the Applications tab. This is a list of protocol and content associations, with their respective plug-ins for each type of content (ie. Mp4 video). In the search field, type “mailto”. Then, in the Actions drop down menu, select Gmail as your default client. That’s it! The next time you click on an email link, Firefox will open up Gmail in a new tab to send an email. Bonus tip: download and install the Better Gmail 2 add-on to add extra UI features if you’re planning on using Gmail as your primary mail client.

Disable the Awesome Bar

We think that the Awesome Bar lives up to its name – its auto-complete feature lets us get to our favorite websites even if we don’t remember the exact URL. But not everyone wants Firefox to auto-complete location bar text, especially if you visit sketchy or embarrassing sites that share common URL characters (ebay and piratebay, for example). You can disable the Awesome bar by turning off the XUL richlistbox widget that powers it.

First, open up the about:config page. Type browser.urlbar.matchBehavior in the Filter field, and right click the sole resulting entry. Click Modify, and change the value of the setting from 1 to 2. Now, whenever you start typing a URL in the location bar, you only get suggestions from websites that start with that text, not just any with those string of characters.

Now, if you want to make the Awesome Bar to not show any suggestions for pages that you have visited or bookmarked, and only show suggestions for URLS that you have manually typed, go to the browser.urlbar.default.behavior preference in about:config and change its value from 0 to 49.

3 Quick Location Bar Style Fixes

Always show the GO button

By default, the GO button the far right of the location bar only shows up if the bar is empty or if you’ve typed in something new. To make the button stay visible, go to your user Profile directory (C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ in Windows XP), navigate to the Chrome subdirectory, and create a new blank file called userChrome.css. This file lets you make stylesheet changes to Firefox. Open up the file with Notepad and type the following at the end of the file:

#go-button { visibility: visible !important; }

Restart Firefox to put this change into effect.

Disable the RSS Feed Button

If you’re not a fan of web feeds, you have no need for the RSS button at the end of the location bar. Disable it by opening up the Chrome.css file you created before in your Profile directory, and add the following line:

#feed-button[feeds] { display: none !important; }

Restart Firefox to put this change into effect.

Use Small Location Bar Icons

The location bar itself isn’t terribly tall, but every pixel counts when you’re using a tiny screen netbook or have stacked additional toolbars like the Booksmarks bar or a StumbleUpon bar. Shrink the Location Bar by right clicking the any toolbar and clicking the “customize” option. At the bottom of this screen, check “Use Small Icons.”

Reasonably Cut Ram Usage

Firefox is generally good about memory management, so we don’t normally recommend memory allocation tweaks because of the performance tradeoff. But there is one setting in Firefox that may be useful if you tend to have many browser windows and tabs open but minimized at the same time.

Open up the about:config page, and right click anywhere in the window. Select New->Boolean to create a new preference setting, and type “config.trim_on_minimize” in the pop up box. Next, choose True as the default value. This preference will offload memory using from RAM to virtual memory on your hard drives when windows are minimized. The only caveat is that “waking up” this minimized window will take a little longer than usual, since Firefox will need to transfer its state back to physical memory.

Additionally, we recommend that you try the RAMBack add-on, which gives you notifications when and how much memory can be freed up from RAM.

Browse Privately on a Public Computer

A feature actually first introduced in IE 8, Firefox’s private browsing mode lets you surf the web without retaining any URL history, form and search fields, passwords, cookies, or web cache on the local machine. This is particularly useful for surfing at work or on a friend’s computer, when you don’t want them to snoop around your shameful habits. Turning on private browsing is as simple: just hit Ctrl + Shift + P. Firefox will save your existing windows and open a new session (unfortunately, you can’t have both private and non-private mode windows open at the same time). In the privacy options settings, you can even set Firefox to start in private browsing mode by default.

Customize the New Tab Page

One thing that Chrome and IE 8 do better than Firefox is the new tab page. When you open a new tab in Firefox, it defaults to about:blank, which, appropriately, is a blank page. Mozilla actually acknowledges this shortcoming, and has been experimenting with various new types of new-tab landing pages in their Mozilla Labs department. The latest prototype shows you a page with Frequently Visited Sites, and a “You Might Want to” suggestion based on what’s in your clipboard.
You can download and install it here.

6 Essential about:config Tweaks

About:config is amazingly powerful – it lets you change almost every aspect of how Firefox functions. Going through and explaining what every preference does would not only be an impossible task, but also unnecessary since most people are happy with the default settings. There are, however, a few settings that we think are essential to change. Make these tweaks first when you encounter a fresh install of Firefox.

browser.urlbar.autoFill = True
Enable auto-complete for URLs when typing into the location bar.

browser.sessionstore.max_tabs_undo = 15
Increase the number of closed tabs that firefox has stored in its cache to 15.

browser.tabs.tabMinWidth = 75
Show more tabs in a single window by narrowing the minimum width of a tab.

browser.search.openintab = True
Automatically open new search results in a new tab

middlemouse.paste = True
Use the middle mouse button to paste text from your clipboard.

browser.blink_allowed = False
Disables annoying text with the Blink tag.

Make Smart Bookmarks

A really sweet feature in Firefox 3 is the ability to program your own smart bookmarks. These are dynamic bookmark groups that change depending on your browsing history. For example, you can have it set to show the 10 most popular pages you’ve visited within a certain domain, or the 15 most popular sites you’ve visited that contain a specific keyword in its title.

Open up your Organize Bookmarks window by typing Ctrl + Shift + B. Choose the folder you want to create your new smart bookmark, and create a new bookmark with the Organize menu. In the location bar, enter a string using the following syntax:

place:queryType=A&sort=B&maxResults=C&domain=D&terms=E

Replace A, B, C, D, and E with whatever you choose, based on these rules:

Querytype= 0 to only search your history, 1 to only search your bookmarks, 2 to search both

Sort = 1 for A to Z, 2 for Z to A, 3 to sort by most recently visited, and 8 to soft by most often visited

Domain = the domain you want to show results for, such as “maximumpc.com”

Terms = the word or words you want to show results for.

For more syntax options and explanations, visit Mozilla’s reference page.

Back Up Your Bookmarks

Keep your bookmarks backed up and synchronized across multiple computers using the popular Xmarks add-on. Formerly known as Foxmarks, this extension securely stores your bookmarks (and even passwords) on their servers, and can even analyze your saved links to give website and tagging suggestions. It’ll even sync across multiple browsers, in case you use both Firefox and IE (Chrome support eventually coming).

Know the Location of Your Profile and Settings

What if you accidentally delete your bookmarks or profile settings before storing them in the cloud? Not to worry – Firefox makes periodic backups of your bookmarks, safely backing them up in a hidden folder. You can find and retrieve them in Windows easily. First, open up Windows explorer, go to folder options, and enable viewing hidden files. If you’re using Windows XP, your Firefox profile backups will be located in the following directory:

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

Just replace USERNAME with your Windows user account name, and sort the .json files by date. Copy and save the desired backup file to your Desktop, open up Firefox, and choose the Import and Backup option under the Bookmarks menu. Locate the .json file on your Desktop, and open it to restore your bookmarks.

In Windows Vista and 7, the backups are stored in:

C:\Users\USERNAME\Application Data\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

4 Scroll Wheel Secrets

Open a link in a new tab by hovering over it and clicking the middle mouse button.
Close a tab by hovering over the top of the tab and clicking the middle mouse button.
Hold Shift and scroll your mouse wheel to move forward or backward through your history.
Enlarge or shrink the size of text on a page by holding Ctrl and scrolling up or down.

Advanced Spell Checking

Firefox’s built-in spell checker is useful for using web content management systems like Wordpress for blog entries or Google docs, but the default setting only spellchecks fields that are bigger than one line. Enable single-line spellcheking (like for Google searches) by changing the following preference in about:config: layout.spellcheckDefault = 2

Additionally, you can add different language dictionaries to the spell-check database by picking and installing the right packages from Mozilla’s language packs page. Right click any multi-line text field and you can choose to alternate between different languages for spell checking.

And in case you’ve ever unintentionally added a word to the Dictionary, you can remove the entry by opening the persdict.dat file stored in your user Profile directory. Using a text editor like notepad, delete the line containing your unwanted word, and save the file.

14 Essential Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl+T – Open a new tab
Ctrl + Tab – Next tab
Ctrl + 1-9 – Jump to a specific tab
Ctrl+W -- Close the current tab
Ctrl+N – Open a new window
Alt+Home – Go to your home page
Ctrl + R – Refresh the current page. F5 also works
Ctrl + Shift + R – Refresh the current page after flushing its current cache
Ctrl+F – Find specific text in the current page. You can also use /
Ctrl+D – Bookmark the current page
Spacebar – Scroll a page down
Shift+Spacebar – Scroll a page up
Ctrl+K – Put the cursor in the search field
Ctrl+L – Put the cursor in the location bar

Make Websites Work and Look the Way You Want

Browse websites the way you want. Use the Greasemonkey add-on with user-created scripts to automate and customize the way the way websites behave and look. You can make MP3 file links play with an in-line MP3 player, or make Google display Twitter search results at the top of all search pages. There are thousands of Greasemonkey scripts that you can use, and they’re all free to download.

Stylish lets you easily employ themes (called Styles) for any website without having to mess with CSS code. Like Greasemonkey, there is a sizeable database of preconfigured styles that users have created for you to try.

Disguise Firefox as Internet Explorer or an iPhone

Even if you don’t want to run Internet Explorer, there are some web services that only work if you use Microsoft’s browser (such as web outlook or Windows Update). IE Tab gives you the option to render pages using Internet Explorer or open new tabs using the IE engine. You can make specific sites always open with IE Tab as well.

User Agent Switcher is an add-on that doesn’t change the rendering engine, but allows you to make Firefox pretend to be a different browser when it retrieves information from a server. For example, you can have Firefox pose as an iPhone to view mobile-specific pages.

Make use of the Favicon

The favicon -- a website’s shortcut icon – is pretty to look at, but for the most part is pretty useless. Firefox lets you click the favicon next to a site’s URL in the location bar to display identity information, but most sites don’t utilize this feature. However, you can use the favicon as a quick way to access and manage stored cookies for specific websites. Just hit the “more information” button after clicking a favicon to open up that site’s page information window. Here, you can view and delete individual cookies for just this site, and even access saved passwords stored for users. It’s a really sneaky way to steal someone’s email password if you’re using their computer.

Manage Auto-Complete Suggestions

Forget to turn on private browsing mode and leave an embarrassing site in your URL history? You can delete individual auto-complete suggestions by hovering your mouse over the suspect URL and pressing the Delete key (not backspace) on your keyboard. The same trick also works for stored search history in your search bar, or any other auto-complete forms like user login.

Download like a Pro

From our power downloading guide: The Alpha and the Omega of downloading extensions, DownThemAll! is as simple to use as its name implies. When you activate this add-on for a page you're surfing, DownThemAll gives you a list of every potential downloadable item on the page--everything from ZIP archives to JPEG images. You can grab the entire page's contents and dump them in a folder, or you can selectively filter for only the file extensions that you're actually interested in. Never before has pilfering the entire contents of a Web site been quite so easy.

29 Essential Windows Tips for XP, Vista, and Win7 Users

The Maximum PC Staff — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:30:00 -0500

Make your OS better with these outstanding tips, tricks, and hacks that improve XP, Vista, and even Windows 7

By now, many of you will have a fresh copy of Windows 7 in your hands, ready to load up onto your PC (we show you the right way to do it). But while that stock Windows install may be OK for your mom, but is it good enough for you? Never! You deserve a Windows that soars above the clouds, swift and strong. That’s why we collected our team of Windows experts and spent countless hours mucking around in the registry, downloading little-known tools, and searching for new keyboard shortcuts to bring you this, our finest Windows tips guide of all time.

Dig it: we give you the definitive list of kick-ass, Maximum PC–approved tips and tweaks for Windows, whether you run XP, Vista, or Windows 7. While some are specific to Microsoft’s latest OS (you’ve upgraded, right?), many will work on XP and Vista, as well. So sit back, relax, and get ready to make Windows better.

Windows 7 Secrets Unveiled! As good as it is, Windows 7 can be made even better with these nifty tricks

Order Windows 7 to Generate an Energy Report

Windows 7 adds functionality to powercfg.exe to help you better analyze power consumption issues on your PC. To create a report, spawn a command-line box with administrator privileges. To do this, press the Windows key, and type cmd in the search box. Right-click on cmd and select Run as Administrator. Now select the box and type powercfg -energy. Powercfg will run for about 60 seconds, then generate a report called energy-report.html in C:\Windows\system32. This report will notify you of anything in your computer that is keeping the CPU turning, which in turn means burning more power and sucking down more battery life.

For example, if you want to save power, don’t run Sidebar gadgets. From the runs we’ve tested, most of the problems are due to USB devices that don’t properly support or shut-off to save power. While you might think the power consumption of a USB doohickey is pretty insignificant, if it prevents the CPU or south bridge from switching off, a trickle of power can add up to a significant hit where it hurts—your battery life. The energy report won’t fix the problem, but it’s a great tool to help you get started.

Supercharge Your PC with HomeGroups

HomeGroups make it really easy to share files and printers between your computers, but unfortunately you can only connect to a HomeGroup if you’re using Windows 7. Set up your HomeGroup in the networking control panel, then your music, photos, video, and documents will all be shared with other machines in the HomeGroup. If you want to share individual files you can by right-clicking them, and choosing the appropriate option from the Share With menu.

Launch Apps By Dragging Files to the Taskbar

We’ve already talked about pinning frequently used files to the Taskbar, but what if you want to open a file in a particular application by drag-and-dropping it in on the Taskbar icon OS X–style? All you need to do is hold down Shift when you drop the file on the Taskbar icon. You can even open files with applications that aren’t associated with that particular file type using this trick!

Using Libraries like a Pro

Libraries are virtual folders that let you collect similar files in one handy location. Windows 7 ships with several default Libraries for music, photos, and documents, but you can supercharge them by adding additional files and directories. For example, we add commonly used network shares to the documents Library. The machine hosting the share will need to have Windows Desktop Search 4.0 or higher running on it, or you’ll need to right-click on the folder you want to add and select Always Available Offline.

Harness the Power of the Jump List

Jump lists are another new Windows 7 feature. You can use them to keep shortcuts to commonly used files—not apps—easily accessible, one click away from the shortcut you use to launch the app. To add a file to a Jump List, all you need to do is drag it onto the appropriate app’s Taskbar icon. To access the Jump Lists you can right-click any Taskbar shortcut, once you (or the app) has added items.

Use Keyboard Shortcuts to Launch Apps

With the new Windows 7 Taskbar comes a whole host of new keyboard shortcuts. You’ve probably heard of the Windows key + 1–0 shortcuts, which launch the apps on your taskbar (if they’re closed) or bring them to focus (if they’re running), but there are some other kick-ass hotkeys as well. Win+T cycles through all the Taskbar apps. Win+Shift+right arrow and Win+Shift+left arrow let you move the currently focused window from monitor to monitor. Finally, Win+Space gives you a quick look at the Desktop.

Three Reasons Why Mouse Gestures are Your Friend

We love having the option to activate core UI tasks using mouse gestures in Firefox, and now Window 7 adds a handful of gestures for window management. Grab a window and drag it to the top of the screen to maximize it, drag it to either side to make it fill half the screen, or shake the window to minimize everything else. Finally, you can access an application’s Jump List by clicking on its Taskbar icon and dragging up. That’s just dandy!

Easily Check Your PC for Windows XP Mode Support

Don’t know if your PC has what it takes to support Win7’s Windows XP mode? Besides needing Win7 Pro, Ultimate, or Enterprise, you’ll also need a CPU with hardware virtualization support. To query your system, download Steve Gibson’s free utility Securable. Once you’ve downloaded it, fire it up and it will tell you if your CPU supports 64-bit or not, if hardware DEP is supported, and if hardware virtualization is in the proc.

Access the True Power of the Windows 7 Calculator

With Windows 7, a couple of the old staples like Paint, Notepad, and Calculator have gotten a graphical facelift. With the calculator, though, the improvements go beyond skin deep. In addition to the standard arithmetic calculator, Windows 7 brings Statistics, Scientific, and Programmer modes to the calculator, along with specialized functions for calculating fuel economy, leases, and even your mortgage. Does the calculator still look like it always did to you? Check out the View menu—that’s where all the goodies are hidden.

Add Websites to Native Windows Search

New to Windows 7 is Search Federation, which allows Windows 7 to add remote sources of documents (such as Flickr or YouTube) to Windows’ native search interface. Simply find an .odsx “connector” file for a service you want to search (Google “Windows 7 Flickr search connector,” for instance), download and run it. The search will be added to your User > Searches directory.

Make ISO Burning Simple and Fast

With Windows 7, Microsoft finally introduces native support for burning disc images. Just right-click an ISO file and select Burn Disc Image to bring up the Windows Disc Image Burner. It’s pretty bare-bones, but how much chrome do you really need here?

Mount Virtual Hard Drives with Ease

Got virtual machines? Now you can mount your virtual hard drive (.vhd file) and access it via Explorer just like you would any other drive, so you can pull data from it, or even transfer it easily between computers. Create, attach, and format VHDs from Disk Management. Just go to Disk Management, click a disk, and go to the Action menu, where you can create a new VHD or mount one from hard drive.

Easily Switch Between Displays with Win+P

Connecting your laptop to a projector or external monitor has never been easier. Just hook up the device to your computer, and hit Win+P. This brings up a display menu: You can choose to show your desktop on either the computer or the projector, duplicate your desktop on both, or extend it to the external monitor. It’s perfect for playing movies or giving that all-important PowerPoint at work.

Calibrate your Screen with Display Color Wizard

Whether you’re using a wall projector or small LCD, we recommend running the Display Color Calibration tool to optimize Windows 7’s color rendering. Launch the app by typing dccw in the Start Menu. The wizard will run you through a series of steps where you can adjust the gamma, brightness, contrast, and color of the screen to make images look their best.

Change Windows Explorer’s Default Launch Folder

By default, launching Windows Explorer (the shortcut for which is Win+E) takes you to the Libraries directory, but you may be more comfortable with My Computer as the starting node, especially if you want to browse multiple hard drives or network drives. To change the launch folder, access Windows Explorer by typing explorer in the Start Menu search field, right-clicking the first result, and selecting Properties. Under the Shortcut tab, change the Target field to %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

Create a Wallpaper Slideshow from RSS

Windows 7 supports creating wallpaper slide shows via RSS, but it’s hardly simple. Go to C:\Windows\
Resources\Themes and make a copy of one of the themes (we picked aero.theme) to your Desktop. Open it in Notepad and add the following code to the file:

[slideshow]
Interval=1800000
Shuffle=1
RssFeed=(your RSS feed goes here)

Then save it, and double-click to install your theme. Only RSS feeds that include images as enclosure items will work.

Search the Internet from the Start Menu

The search prompt in the Start Menu normally finds files only on your computer, but you can enable it to launch your default browser to search the Internet. Open the Group Policy Editor by running gpedit.msc in the Start Menu. Go to User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Start Menu and Taskbar. Right-click the “Add Search Internet link to Start Menu” setting and set it to Enable. Unfortunately, this works only on versions of Windows that include the Group Policy Editor, so Home Premium users are out of luck.

Bring Back the Vista-Style Taskbar

If you prefer Vista’s Taskbar to Windows 7’s, you can bring it back. Right-click the Taskbar and select Properties. Check the “Use small icons” box and select the “Combine when taskbar is full” option under the Taskbar Buttons drop menu. Launched programs will now display their full names in the Taskbar, and multiple instances of a program won’t group into one icon until the Taskbar is full. You can also bring back the Quick Launch toolbar by adding a new toolbar with the following string: %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Don't have Windows 7? Never fear, we've got a boatload of tips for XP and Vista users. Psst, most work in Win7, too!

Search Network Shares

Searching network shares is easy, if you have access to the machine that’s hosting those shares. Installing Windows Desktop Search 4.0 on a Windows machine that supports it will make any shares hosted on that machine searchable by the user. That applies to XP, Vista, and Home Server. If you want to search non-Windows network shares, you’ll need to install a third-party tool, such as Copernic Desktop Search Professional ($50, www.copernic.com).

Open a Command Line in Any Folder

The days of typing long folder addresses in Command Prompt are over, at least if you run Vista or Windows 7. Rather than opening a command prompt and typing cd Desktop\Cat Pictures\Cats on a Skateboard\Two Cats One Skateboard\, just Shift+right-click to add “open command line here” to your right-click context menu.

'Run As' a Different User

This tip is a little bit of a cheat, since it’s not something totally new to Windows 7, but actually a feature that existed in Windows XP, was removed in Vista, then reintroduced in Microsoft’s latest OS. To run a program as a different user, with access to that user’s settings and documents, hold shift and right-click an executable, then choose Run as Different User.

Make 64-bit Windows Handle PDF Previews Properly

PDF previews have been a perennial hassle to get working properly in 64-bit Windows, but luckily, it’s easy to fix that. Open Regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193}, where you should see an existing AppID value. Change that to {534A1E02-D58F-44f0-B58B-36CBED287C7C} and reboot. Then Windows (and Outlook) will properly display PDF previews.

Make 64-bit Windows Show Photoshop Previews

On the subject of proper preview-handling, files associated with Photoshop typically don’t show up in 64-bit Windows. We’re talking about PSDs, TIFFs, and TGAs, for the most part, but there are some other, even more esoteric formats that are omitted by default. Luckily, there’s a little utility called MysticThumbs (donateware, http://mysticcoder.net/MysticThumbs/) that fixes the problem. Install it, reboot, and bask in the glory of the thumbnail preview revolution.

Run Programs as an Administrator

In Windows XP and later, some operations—such as those that change core system or user account settings—can only be performed by the Administrator account. However, it’s bad form to run using the Administrator account all the time. You can use the Run as Administrator function to get the privileges you need, when you need them, without constantly switching user accounts. In Windows XP, right-click a program and choose Run As. In Vista or 7 just right-click an executable and choose Run as Administrator.

Use Shadow Explorer to Save Your Bacon

The low-rent versions of Vista don’t allow you to go back in time for older versions of files the way Ultimate does. Fortunately, although Microsoft disabled your access to the shadow copy feature, it didn’t actually remove it. The OS is always secretly making backups, you just can’t access them. To get around this, use the free Shadow Explorer from Shadowexplorer.com to reach back in time for that tax return from two months ago.

Make Windows Keep Custom Folder View Settings

Windows will often assume certain folders contain photos or music—even if they don’t—and change your folder view options. You can overwrite Windows’ view preferences by setting a custom default view. Open any folder containing files, access the Properties menu, and head to the Customize tab. Under folder templates, select Documents to change back to the default view. Next, right-click within the folder again and change the View option to Details. You can add, remove, or change the order of the Details categories shown by right-clicking the category labels and choosing the More… option. Once you have a Details setting to your liking, make this the standard view for all folders by going to the Folder Options menu under Tools, the View tab, and then clicking Apply to All Folders.

Master Your File System with Symbolic Links

Symbolic links allow you create a sort of “super shortcut”—a folder that exists in two places in the file system at once. Why is this useful? Because it means the file system is finally totally under your control. A game doesn’t let you choose where you store save files? Replace the default directory with a symbolic link to whatever location you want. Learn how to set up symbolic links, and how to use them with Dropbox to take all your apps online by clicking here.

Create a Custom Keyboard Shortcut to Launch Any Program

To avoid cluttering up your Desktop with shortcut icons, you can assign unique keyboard shortcuts to any application (or even document). First, you’ll need to create a normal shortcut to your target program if one doesn’t exist already. Right-click the executable and click Create Shortcut. Next, right-click the new shortcut file and select Properties. Type your desired keyboard shortcut in the Shortcut key field. The keyboard shortcut has to either be prefaced with “Ctrl+Alt” or you can assign it to a key on the numpad. This shortcut will work on your Desktop, while you’re in Windows Explorer, and even if you’re in other programs.

Use msconfig to See What's Running on Your PC

One of the handiest tools for keeping your computer booting and running smoothly is the System Configuration client. With it, you can view and edit the list of programs and services that start with your computer (including the hidden ones), as well as access a list of useful tools for administering your system. You can find it three layers deep in the control panel, or you can open the Run dialogue and type msconfig.

Supercharge Windows Media Player with FFDShow Tryouts

While some editions of Windows 7 come preinstalled with Divx and H.264 video codecs, Vista and XP users who use Windows Media Player are stuck with limited playback support. To play more than just WMV-encoded files, download FFDShow Tryouts (http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/), an all-inclusive DirectShow filter that plays an expansive range of video and audio codecs, along with robust configuration options.

Got a tip you didn't see here? Share it with us in the comments section below!

Windows 7 Feature Focus: Desktop, Taskbar and Start Menu

Mark Edward Soper — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:45:00 -0500

From a distance, the Windows 7 GUI resembles its predecessor, Windows Vista. However, the closer you look, the more you'll see that Windows 7's take on the GUI is a big improvement, adding more power, more customization, and better ways to open frequently-used programs and files. Keep reading to learn how you can tap into the power of the Windows 7 desktop, Taskbar, and Start menu.

Getting the Most out of Gadgets

Windows 7, like Windows Vista, includes a useful library of desktop gadgets, from customizable clocks to an RSS feed aggregator and a mini-Windows Media Player. However, Windows 7 no longer keeps desktop gadgets cooped up on one edge of your display: it sets them free. Here's how to place a gadget (we'll use the Clock in this example) wherever you want with the display options you need.

1. Right-click an empty spot on your desktop and select Gadgets.

2. Double-click the Clock gadget.

3. Click Close to close Gadgets.

4. By default, the gadget appears in the upper right-hand corner of your primary display. Click and drag the gadget to the preferred location.

5. To choose options, click the wrench.

6. Use the arrow buttons to select from different display options.

7. Customize the gadget by entering settings as prompted.

8. Click OK when finished.

9. Right-click the gadget and select whether the gadget should always be on top and what opacity it should be. In this example, I've selected Always on Top and 60% opacity.

10. In this example, I configured the clock to display eBay time (US Pacific time zone), and I've dragged it near the top of the browser window.

Follow this same basic procedure to place and customize your preferred gadgets. You can place gadgets on either the primary or any additional displays you use.

Click the Get More Gadgets Online link shown in Steps 2 and 3 to see an assortment of additional gadgets you can download. To choose from over 3000 gadgets, click the Get More Desktop Gadgets link on the Personalize Your PC browser window that appears first.

Pinning Power

"Pinning" (the ability to keep shortcuts to programs and files on a list as long as you want them there) has reached new heights in Windows 7. You can pin programs to the newly-remodeled taskbar as well as the Start menu. And, with a little chicanery, you can use "pinning power" to make frequently-used files easy to find in both places from the new Jump List display of current and recent files.

If you've already opened a program, you're more than halfway to pinning it to the taskbar or the Start menu. To pin the program to the taskbar, right-click its taskbar icon and select Pin This Program to Taskbar.

To pin a program to the Start menu, right-click the program icon from either pane of the Start menu and select Pin to Start Menu. You can also pin the program to the Taskbar from this menu:

Pinning Power for Files

You can also use "pinning power" to make access to frequently-used files easier. Windows 7 supports the Jump List, which is a list of recently-opened files maintained by some programs. To see if you can pin the file to the program that hosts it, start the program and open the file, then close it. Then, right-click the program icon in the taskbar and see if the file is listed under Recent in the Jump List. If it is, move your mouse over the data file listing and click the push-pin icon.

The file is now pinned to the program's jump list

From the Taskbar, you can open the file by right-clicking on the program icon and selecting the file from the Pinned menu. Because the file has been pinned to the program's jump list, it will stay on the list no matter how many other files you have opened (and closed).

Pinned data files are also easy to open from the Start menu's left pane. Open the Start menu. Click the right pointer to display the program's jump list.

Click the right pointer to view a jump list of recent and pinned data files. If you need to pin a data file to the program, highlight the file and click the push pin icon. To open either a pinned or recent file, click the file.

Using Live Thumbnails

Because taskbar icons can represent both currently-running programs and pinned programs, there are two ways to tell which icons represent currently-running programs:

Currently-running programs are highlighted

When you hover your mouse over an icon, live thumbnails of each program window are displayed. If a program has two or more windows open, you will see a live thumbnail of each open window:

To see a full-size preview of a program window, hover your mouse over its thumbnail.

To open the program window, double-click its thumbnail.

Unpinning Programs and Files

To unpin a program from the Taskbar, right-click the program icon and select Unpin This Program from Taskbar:

To unpin a program from the Start menu, right-click the program icon and select Unpin from Start Menu:

To unpin a file from a program's Jump List, click the inserted push-pin icon.

Changing Start Menu and Taskbar Settings

As with previous Windows versions, Windows 7 provides many options for customizing the Start menu and Taskbar. To get started, right-click the Start button and select Properties. Click Customize (arrow) on the Start Menu tab to change its default settings:

The Start Menu tab's combination of checkboxes and radio buttons enables you to create your own combination of fast access to frequently-used features while hiding features you don't use very often.

In this example, I changed Control Panel to a menu and added Homegroup, Downloads, Recorded TV, Administrative Tools, and Run to the user's menu:

If you don't like these changes, click the Use Default Settings (previous figure) button to reset the Start menu.

Customizing the Taskbar

Click the Taskbar tab to customize taskbar location (1), icon size (2), locking (3), and auto-hiding (4).

By default, Windows 7 always combines taskbar icons and hides labels, relying on live thumbnails to show you the details. If you prefer a more Windows XP-style look, select Combine when Taskbar is Full or Never Combine (click Apply, then OK to use new settings).

Customizing Notification Icons

Notification Icons often seem to have a mind of their own. In earlier versions of Windows, you could sometimes enable or disable icons through a management interface provided by the program's developer. However, in Windows 7, you can now manage all notification icons. To get started, click Taskbar tab's Customize button. You can now decide to show icon and notifications, show notifications only, or hide both icon and notification on an individual basis:

Click the Turn System Icons On or Off link (highlighted) to select whether to display system icons such as Clock, Volume, Power, Network, and Action Center:

As with Start menu customizations, you have an escape hatch if your changes are not improvements. Click the Restore Default Icon Behaviors link (arrow) to reset notification area icons to their defaults.

Creating Widescreen Wallpaper

In a previous Windows 7 Feature Focus article on Displays and Projectors, we told you how to configure multiple displays and how to select your favorite wallpaper or wallpapers as part of a theme. But, what if you want to have a single wallpaper image that fits across multiple displays?

First, you must determine the total size of your desktop (horizontally and vertically): add up the width (in pixels) of your displays and use the largest height setting from the displays. For example, if you have two 1440 x 900 displays, your wallpaper needs to be 2880x900 (1440+1440).

Second, create your wallpaper from a single photo or a montage. If you have displays with different vertical sizes (in pixels), see our own Will Smith's article on creating multiple-display wallpaper.

Third, crop your wallpaper (if necessary) to the size you determined earlier.

Fourth, open the Personalization menu and select Change Desktop Background. Browse to your wallpaper file and select it. Choose Fill as the position type:

Click Save Changes. Save it as part of a new theme.

When you return to your desktop, you should now see your wallpaper across all of your displays.

Conclusion

Windows 7 offers plenty of desktop, start menu, task bar, and wallpaper customization options to help you work (and play) more efficiently than ever before.

Windows 7 Feature Focus: Libraries

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:30:00 -0500

Previous versions of Windows have included separate folders for documents, music, videos, and photos (such as Windows XP's My Documents, My Pictures, My Videos, and My Music folders). These folders made it convenient to organize and open different types of files - as long as they were stored in the appropriate folder. However, with the increasing popularity of using network shares and external hard disks for media storage, Windows users have faced challenges in file management.

Although shortcuts to additional media locations, symbolic links to other locations (introduced in Windows Vista), and changing the default location used by a user's media files have all been used to cope with the problem, the results for Windows users have been:

A lot of clicking to find media files
No easy way to see all of the media files of a particular type in different locations at the same time

Enter the "new" Windows 7 libraries feature. Although earlier versions of Windows Media Center have included a libraries function to make media access easier, it worked only within the WMC interface. Windows 7 is the first Windows version to bring libraries to the Windows Explorer.

What Is a Library?

A library is a logical folder that can display the contents of multiple physical locations at the same time: in other words, as if the contents were stored in the same physical folder. When you open Documents, Pictures, Music, or Videos shortcuts from the Windows 7 Start menu, you are opening the current user's Documents, Pictures, Music, or Videos libraries. Here's a portion of the Documents library on one of my Windows 7 systems:

At first glance, it looks about the same as the Windows Vista Documents folder. However, note that under the Documents library title that there are two locations in this library. That's two folders visible at the same time.

Accessing Your Personal Folders

If you prefer to view only the contents of your personal folders, open the Start menu and click your name. The folders in the main pane are your personal folders:

Default Library Locations

To find out which folders are included in a library, open the library and click the locations link, or hover your mouse over the locations link. For example, if you have the Documents library open, the link opens the Documents Library Locations dialog:

By default, Windows 7 uses the following locations for each user's libraries (assuming C:\drive is used as the system drive):

Documents library:

C:\Users\username\Documents* (My Documents)

C:\Users\Public\Documents (Public Documents)

Music library:

C:\Users\username\Music* (My Music)

C:\Users\Public\Music (Public Music)

Pictures library:

C:\Users\username\Pictures* (My Pictures)

C:\Users\Public\Pictures (Public Pictures)

Videos library:

C:\Users\username\Videos* (My Videos)

C:\Users\Public\Videos (Public Videos)

*The default save location - if you don't specify a different location, saving a new or edited file to the library will save the file to this location.

By placing the Public folders in each library by default, Windows 7 makes it easy to for users to see the files they're sharing with other users. By default, Windows 7 libraries use the By Folder view, which enables you to see at a glance the files in each shared folder. In this example, the Videos library includes four locations, and you can see some of the contents of two of the locations:

To view all of the folders in a library, you can also expand the library in the left pane of Windows Explorer:

Because libraries are displayed in the left pane of an Explorer window, you can access them the same way you'd access personal folders, local drives, mapped drives, and network folders.

Adding a Local Location to a Library

There are two methods you can use to add a local folder or drive to a library:

Method 1:

1. Open the library.
2. Click the Locations link. Current locations are listed.
3. Click Add:

4. Navigate to the location you want to add to the library.
5. Click Include Folder:

6. The folder is added to your locations.

Method 2:

1. Open Windows Explorer, Computer, etc.
2. Navigate to the location.
3. Select the location to use.
4. Click Include in Library:

5. Select the library to use.
6. The location (which can be a folder or a drive) is included in the library.

Library Limitations: No Removable Drives

Windows 7's library feature is designed to work with folders on local hard disks, either internal or external. It cannot be used with removable-media drives or USB flash drives, as this error message shows:

Workarounds for Network Library Errors

A different error message is displayed if you attempt to add a network share to one of your libraries:

If the library function doesn't work with network shares, this would be a big problem. If you're like me, you might have one or more network shares that contain files you'd like to access easily. So, what can you do? Note that Microsoft says that the problem is that the folder is not indexed.

When you click the "How Can This Folder Be Indexed?" link, for help, Microsoft suggests three solutions. Which one's the best for you, or are there even better ways to add network shares to your libraries? Let's find out.

Option Number 1: HomeGroup

Make sure your computer and the remote computer are in the same homegroup. This method works:

There's just one catch, though: You can use the HomeGroup technology in Windows 7 only with other Windows 7 PCs. Most of us need a method that also works with older Windows versions.

Option Number 2: Make sure the remote folder's contents are indexed

It would seem logical that if you're running Windows Search 4.0 on the remote computer that its index would be usable for this purpose. However, you'd be wrong. Unfortunately, the only way to make sure those files are indexed is to try the third option - if you're using a version of Windows 7 that supports it.

Option Number 3: Use the Offline Files feature in Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions

To set up offline files, right-click the network share and select Always Available Offline:

Windows 7 uses Sync Center to make synchronized copies of the share's contents to your computer, and resynchronizes them when either the original or copy changes and the computers are connected. This method works (the green SyncCenter icon indicates an offline folder):

Unfortunately, there are a couple of problems with this feature too: The first one is that if you're opting for Windows 7 Home Premium, you don't have Offline Files support. Secondly, this option is useful primarily for mobile users who are not always connected to the shared resource. It is not practical for full-time network access or for situations in which the resource has a lot of files, as the sync process could take a long time and uses up disk space on your local drive. Is there are better way?

Adding a Network Folder to a Library with Symbolic Links

Symbolic links (which enable you to access the contents of a drive letter or network location through an empty folder), a long-time Unix and Linux feature first introduced to Windows with Windows Vista, provide an easy way to add a network share to your library without the need to sync its files to your local hard disk - if you don't mind a bit of cheating.

Both Windows 7 and Windows Vista create symbolic links the same way by using the command-line mklink tool. Here's how to use Mklink and a little misdirection of the Libraries feature to make a symbolic link that your library can use:

1. Create an empty folder to store the link in your preferred location. In this example, I created an empty folder called Netlink in C:\Users\Marcus\:

2. Add the new folder to your library:

3. Open Windows Explorer and delete the folder.

4. The location remains in the libraries dialog:

5. To create a symbolic link, open a command prompt as administrator:

6. Enter a command with this syntax:

mklink /d locallink \\remotelink

If you see a message similar to this one, you've created the symbolic link:

Symbolic link created for locallink <<===>> \\remotelink

7. Type Exit and press Enter to close the command prompt session.

8. Open the library, and you should see your photos in the remote folder:

(I learned about this method from a posting on the Sevenfourums website and a free video (with registration) available at the Winstructors website)

Dealing with File and Folder Names with Spaces

One problem with the demonstrations of this method online showed up when I tried to use this method to link to a share called
\\TIGER-ATHLON\MaximumPC\Web Articles 2009\Win7 Feature Focus\Using Win7 Photo Features\Figures:

C:\Users\Marcus>mklink /d c:\users\marcus\netlink \\TIGER-ATHLON\MaximumPC\Web A
rticles 2009\Win7 Feature Focus\Using Win7 Photo Features\Figures
The syntax of the command is incorrect.

What was wrong? After I tried this a few times, I realized what the problem was. Every example I'd seen online involved pathnames without spaces. However, the odds are good that either your local folder or remote path will have spaces. The solution? Use quote marks around the pathname that contains spaces:

C:\Users\Marcus>mklink /d c:\users\marcus\netlink "\\TIGER-ATHLON\MaximumPC\Web
Articles 2009\Win7 Feature Focus\Using Win7 Photo Features\Figures"

This time, I got the results I wanted:

symbolic link created for c:\users\marcus\netlink <<===>> \\TIGER-ATHLON\MaximumPC\Web Articles 2009\Win7 Feature Focus\Using Win7 Photo Features\Figures

If the need to use quote marks seems puzzling to you, right-click on any desktop or start menu shortcut to a program or file with spaces in the name, and select Properties. Look at the target, and you'll see that the shortcut command line has quote marks around it, as in this example for Apple's QuickTime Player:

When you open the folder that contains the symbolic link you used for the library, you will note that the link uses the shortcut arrow icon. Right-click the icon and select Properties to view the properties for the link:

Removing a Folder from a Library

At some point, you might decide that you no longer need to view the contents of a particular location as part of a library. To remove the location, open the library, open the Locations dialog, select the location, and click Remove. The files in the location are not affected, but are no longer displayed in the library.

Note: If you delete the shortcut on your local system to the symbolic link, you will need to use the command-line mklink program to recreate the link.

Working with Libraries

You can perform about any file operation you need to with a library, as long as you have sufficient rights to the location. For example, you can delete a file from the library view if it's on your local system or you have read/write access to the shared location.

By changing views, you can see the files in each of your libraries in the most effective ways for your purposes. In this example, I selected the Month view for my Pictures library:

By (File) Type for my Documents library:

By Album for my Music library:

Creating a New Library

Although Windows 7 includes only four libraries by default, there's no reason not to have more. To create a new library:

1. Open the libraries view.

2. Click New Library:

3. Name the library. In this example, I'm creating a library for games:

Once you create a library, use the methods covered earlier in this article to add locations to the library. Remember, you can choose a particular folder, an entire non-removable local drive, or a network location.

Benefits of Libraries

If you're sick and tired of hopscotching around your system to find media or other types of files, Windows 7's Libraries feature will save your aching mouse finger.

If you're looking for an easy way to make frequently-used local or network locations accessible without constantly navigating to them, Libraries solves your problem. Virtually anything you can do with a folder you can do with libraries, and best of all, you can choose when to work at a folder level and when to work at a library level.

Hit Comment and tell us your favorite library tips and tricks!

Mark Edward Soper has spent a lot of time with Windows 7, and his forthcoming book Easy Microsoft Windows 7 proves it. He's also found time for his favorite hobby, digital photography, and his new book, The Shot Doctor: The Amateur's Guide to Great Digital Photos, will help you take better pictures this summer and throughout the year, whether you use a point-and-shoot or digital SLR camera.

Rushing to Get Windows 7 RC? Redmond Says "Relax"

Mark Edward Soper — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:54:35 -0500

Microsoft's latest Windows version, Windows 7, has already proven to be too popular for the Internet's own good. Back in January, Microsoft planned to offer the Windows 7 beta to only 2.5 million lucky downloaders over a two-week period, but that didn't last long. As servers crashed under the weight of digital "gold rush" fever, Redmond extended the date to February 10th while lifting the download cap.

This time, with early demand for Windows 7 RC from TechNet and MSDN members crashing servers at the end of April, Microsoft is telling the public to relax:

You don't need to rush to get the RC. The RC will be available at least through July 2009 and we're not limiting the number of product keys, so you have plenty of time.

You can get an additional product key here.

Another tip: back up your data before installing the RC - and don't test the RC on a primary home or business PC.

And, I'd add, don't expect a bulletproof restore if you used the Windows 7 Beta's Backup and Restore Center to create a file backup. I had problems with restoring my files with the Restore function, but was able to retrieve my files by extracting them from the .ZIP files created by Backup and Restore Center. I had hundreds of backup files, and found that the open-source 7-Zip File Manager is a great way to extract multiple files. I extracted the files to a folder on my desktop, used 7-Zip's auto-renamer feature to deal with duplicate files, and dragged the folders containing my files to the appropriate locations in my user folders.

How has your experience with Windows 7 RC been so far? Hit Comment to share your war stories, tales of woe, tips, and tricks.

20 Windows 7 Tweaks & Tips – Every Secret Uncovered to Date

Norman Chan — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:00:00 -0600

It's been over a week since the Windows 7 Beta was released to the public. You've read our initial impressions and even followed our guide to installing the OS using a USB key. So what now? Microsoft's post-Vista Windows experience is more than the obvious Taskbar and user interface updates; there are plenty of hidden features and shortcuts that haven't been advertised. But fear not: we've compiled a list of every known Windows 7 tweak and secret. Follow these 20 tricks to make the most out of this beta and become a Windows 7 power user.

Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

Let's kick off with keyboard shortcuts – the first thing every power user must memorize with working with a new operating system. In Windows 7, we’ve uncovered several new sets of essential time-saving shortcuts that will make your mouse jealous with neglect.

Alt + P

In Windows Explorer, activate an additional file preview pane to the right side of the window with this new shortcut. This panel is great for previewing images in your photos directory.

Windows + + (plus key)

Windows + - (minus key)

Pressing the Windows and plus or minus keys activates the Magnifier, which lets you zoom in on the entire desktop or open a rectangular magnifying lens to zoom in and out of parts of your screen. You can customize the Magnifier options to follow your mouse pointer or keyboard cursor. Keep in mind that so far, the Magnifier only works when Aero desktop is enabled.

Windows + Up

Windows + Down

If a window is not maximized, pressing Windows + Up will fill it to your screen. Windows + Down will minimize that active window. Unfortunately, pressing Windows + Up again while a window is minimized won’t return it to its former state.

Windows + Shift + Up

Similar to the shortcut above, hitting these three keys while a window is active will stretch it vertically to the maximum desktop height. The width of the window will however stay the same. Pressing Windows + Down will restore it to its previous size.

Windows + Left

Windows + Right

One of the new features of Windows 7 is the ability to automatically make a window fill up half of your screen by dragging to the left or right. This pair of shortcuts performs the same function without your mouse. Once a window is fixed to one side of the screen, you can repeat the shortcut to flip it to the other side. This is useful if you’re extending a desktop across multiple monitors, which prevents you from executing this trick with a mouse.

Windows + Home

This shortcut performs a similar function to hovering over a window’s peek menu thumbnail in the Taskbar. The active window will stay on your desktop while every other open application is minimized. Pressing this shortcut again will restore all the other windows.

Windows + E

Automatically opens up a new Explorer window to show your Libraries folder.

Windows + P

Manage your multiple-monitor more efficiently with this handy shortcut. Windows + P opens up a small overlay that lets you configure a second display or projector. You can switch from a single monitor to dual-display in either mirror or extend desktop mode.

Windows + Shift + Left

Windows + Shift + Right

If you are using two or more displays (and who isn’t, these days?), memorize this shortcut to easily move a window from one screen to the other. The window retains its size and relative position on the new screen, which his useful when working with multiple documents. Utilize that real estate!

Windows + [Number]

Programs (and new instances) pinned to your Taskbar can be launched by hitting Windows and the number corresponding to its placement on the Taskbar. Windows + 1, for example, launches the first application, while Windows + 4 will launch the fourth. We realize that this is actually one key-press more than just clicking the icon with your mouse, but it saves your hand the trouble of leaving the comfort of the keyboard.

Windows + T

Like Alt + Tab (still our all time favorite Windows specific shortcut), Windows + T cycles through your open programs via the Taskbar’s peek menu.

Windows + Space

This combo performs the same function as moving your mouse to the bottom right of the Taskbar. It makes every active window transparent so you can view your desktop. The windows only remain transparent as long as you’re holding down the Windows key.

Ctrl + Shift + Click

Hold down Ctrl and Shift while launching an application from the Taskbar or start menu to launch it with full administrative rights.

Ctrl + Click

Hold down Ctrl while repeatedly clicking a program icon in the Taskbar will toggle between the instances of that application, like multiple Firefox windows (though not browser tabs).

Calibrate Text Rendering and Color

The first thing you need to do after a clean install of Windows 7 on a laptop is to tune and calibrate CleartType text and Display Color. Windows 7 includes two built-in wizards that run you through the entire process, pain free.

Launch ClearType Text Tuning by typing “cttune” in the Start Menu search field and opening the search result. You’ll go through a brief series of steps that asks you to identify the best-looking text rendering method.

For Display Color Calibration – very useful if you’re using Windows 7 with a projector or large-screen LCD – search and launch “dccw” from the Start Menu. It’ll run you through a series of pages where you can adjust the gamma, brightness, contrast, and color of the screen to make images look their best.

Better Font Management and a New Graceful Font

Font management is much improved in Windows 7. Gone is the “Add Fonts” dialog , replaced with additional functionality in the Fonts folder. First, the folder shows font previews in each font file’s icon (viewed with Large or Extra Large icons). Fonts from a single set will no longer show up as different fonts and are now combined as a single family (which can be expanded by double clicking the icon). You can also toggle fonts on and off by right clicking a font icon and selected the “hide” option. This will prevent applications from loading the font (and therefore save memory), but keep the file retained in the Font folder.

A new font called Gabriola also comes bundled with Windows 7, which takes advantage of the new OpenType and DirectWrite (Direct2D) rendering.

The Gaming Grotto is a Less Ghetto

One of our biggest pet peeves of Windows Vista is the Games Folder, which we not-so-affectionately refer to as the Gaming Grotto. Games for Windows titles and other game shortcuts would automatically install to this directory, which we could only access with a Start Menu shortcut. The concept wasn’t bad except for the fact that it prevented us from starting a game up from the Start Menu search bar. We could call up any other program by typing its name in the Start Menu field except the games installed to the Games Folder. Fortunately, this oversight is fixed in Windows 7.

Become More Worldly with Hidden Wallpapers

Windows 7 Beta comes with the Betta fish as its default desktop wallpaper, but it also includes six desktop backgrounds catered to your region (as identified when you first installed the OS). US users, for example, get six 1900x1200 images showing off famous National Parks and beaches. The available wallpapers for other regions are still included in a hidden folder.

To access these international wallpapers, bring up the Start Menu search bar and type “Globalization”. The only result should be a folder located in the main Windows directory. You should only be able to see “ELS and “Sorting” folders here so far. Next, search for “MCT” in the top right search bar. This will display five new unindexed folders, each corresponding to a different global region. Browse these folders for extra themes and wallpapers!

Take Control of UAC

Despite good intentions, User Account Control pop-ups were one of the most annoying aspects of Vista, and a feature that most of us immediately disabled after a clean install. UAC in Windows 7 displays fewer warnings, but you can also fine-tune its notification habits by launching the UAC Settings from the start menu. Just type “UAC” in the Start Menu search field and click the result. We find that setting just above “Never notify” gives a comfortable balance between mindful security and incessant nagging.

Calculate your Mortgage and Other Maths Tricks

Wordpad and Paint aren’t the only upgraded programs in Windows 7. The reliable Calculator applet has been beefed up to do more than just basic arithmetic. In Vista, the Calculator had Standard and Scientific modes. Now, you can toggle between Standard, Scientific, Programmer, and even Statistics modes.

In addition, the Options menu lets you pull out many new automated conversation tools, such has Unit Conversion (ie. Angles, Temperature, Velocity, or Volume) and Date Calculation (calculate the difference between two dates). More templates give you the ability to crunch Gas Mileage, Lease, and even Mortgage estimates based on any variables you input.

Track Your Actions with Problem Steps Recorder

The primary reason for releasing the Windows 7 Beta was for Microsoft’s developers to get feedback from users. (Notice the glaring Send Feedback link at the top of every window?) In addition, the devs have built in a diagnostic tool called Problem Steps Recorder that combines screen captures with mouse tracking to record your actions. You can launch this program from the Start Menu by typing “psr.exe” in the search field.

Hit the Record button and Problem Steps Recorder starts tracking your mouse and keyboard input while taking screenshots that correspond with each new action. Stop recording and your session is saved to an HTML slide show recreating your steps, in which you can add comments and annotations. It’s particularly useful if you need to create a tutorial for a computer-illiterate relative.

Explore from “My Computer”

Windows Explorer’s default landing folder is the Libraries directory, but some of us are more comfortable with using “My Computer” as the default node, especially if we use multiple hard drives and external storage devices.

To change the default node, find Windows Explorer in the Start Menu by typing “explorer” in the Start Menu search field and right click the first result. Select “Properties”. Under the Shortcut tab, the Target location should read: %SystemRoot% and the Target should be: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe

Paste the following in the Target field: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /root,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

New instances of Explorer will open up to “My Computer”. You’ll need to unpin and replace the existing Explorer shortcut from the Taskbar to complete the transition. Just right-click the icon, hit, “Unpin this program from the taskbar” to remove it, and then drag Explorer from the Start Menu back into place.

Burn, Baby, Burn

No more messing around with malware-infected free burning software – Windows 7 comes loaded with DVD and CD ISO burning software. Double-click your image file and Windows will start a tiny program window to help burn your disc. It’s a barebones app, but it works!

Reveal All of Your Drives

If you use built-in memory card readers in a 3.5” drive bay or on your Dell Monitor, empty memory card slots will not show up as drives in My Computer. But that doesn’t mean they’re not still there! To reveal hidden memory card slots, open up My Computer. Press Alt to show the toolbar at the top of the screen, and go to Folder Options under Tools. Hit the View tab and uncheck the “Hide empty drives in the Computer folder” option.

Arrange Your Taskbar (System Tray, Too)

The programs that you pin to your Taskbar can be moved around to any order you want, whether they’re just shortcut icons or actually active applications. We recommend moving frequently used programs and folders to the front of the stack, so it’ll be easily to launch them with the aforementioned Windows + [number] shortcut. The Taskbar, if unlocked, can also be dragged to latch to the left, right, or even top of your desktop. Windows 7 improves side-docked Taskbar support with better gradient rendering and shortcut support. It really works well if you’re using a widescreen monitor.

Just as the Taskbar icons can be rearranged at will, the icons in the System Tray (actually called Notification Area) can be dragged and set to any order as well. Hidden Icons can be dragged back into view, and you can hide icons by dropping them into the Hidden Icon well – which is easier than working through the Notification Area Customization menu.

Bring Quick Launch Back from the Dead

The Quick Launch is superfluous with the presence of the updated Taskbar, but you can still bring it back with the following steps:

•   Right-click the Taskbar, hover over Toolbars, and select New Toolbar.
•   In the Folder selection field at the bottom, enter the following string:
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
•   Turn off the “lock the Taskbar” setting, and right-click on the divider. Disable “Show Text” and “Show Title” and set the view option to “Small Icons”.
•   Drag the divider to rearrange the toolbar order to put Quick Launch where you want it, and then right-click the Taskbar to lock it again.

Cling to Vista’s Taskbar

Let’s start with the bad news: Windows 7 eliminates the option to use the classic grey Windows 2000-style Taskbar. You’re also committed to the modern version of the Start Menu. But the good news is that you can still tweak the Taskbar to make it run like it did in Windows Vista – replacing the program icons with full names of each open app.

Right-click the Taskbar and hit properties. Check the “use small icons” box and select “combine when Taskbar is full” from the dropdown menu under Taskbar buttons. You still get the peekview thumbnail feature of the Taskbar, and inactive program remain as single icons, but opened programs will display their full names. Combine this with the old-school Quick Launch toolbar to complete the Vista illusion.

Banish Programs to the System Tray

All active programs show up as icons on the Taskbar, whether you want them to or not. While this is useful for web browsing or word processing, your taskbar can get cluttered up with icons you would normally expect to be hidden away, like for Steam or a chat client. You can keep active instances of these programs hidden away in the System Tray/Notification Area by right-clicking their shortcuts, navigating to the Compatibility tab, and selecting “Windows Vista” under the Compatibility Mode drop-down menu. This only works for programs that would previously hide away from the Taskbar in Vista.

Accelerate your Start Menu

The Start Menu hasn’t changed much from Vista, but there are some notable improvements. The default power button is thankfully changed to Shut Down the system, as opposed to Hibernation, as it was in Vista. This can be changed to do other actions from the Start Menu Properties menu.

Additional customization brings Videos and Recorded TV as links or menus to the right side of the Start Menu, next to your Documents, Music, and Games. Feel free to mess around the Customization options since you can always return to the default Start Menu settings by clicking the “default” button at the bottom.

Fix MP3 Bug

There’s a reason this Windows 7 release is a Beta. The versions of Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player that shipped with the OS have a nasty bug that may damage your MP3 files. By default, Windows Media Player 12 enables a feature that auto fills-in missing metadata on your imported music files, which includes large album art. But filling in this metadata on files that already have large headers will permanently cut away a few seconds of audio from the beginning of the track. Microsoft offers a hotfix on this page: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961367 in addition to a workaround if you don’t want to install the fix:

Workarounds for the MP3 file corruption issue

If you do not apply this update, the most effective workaround is to set the properties of all MP3 files to read-only on local hard disks, removable drives, and network shares that can be accessed by Windows 7 Beta computers. To do this, follow these steps:
1.   In Windows Explorer, select and right-click your MP3 files, and then click Properties.
2.   On the General tab, click to select the Read-only check box.
3.   We recommend that you back up all the MP3 files before you use Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center.
A simpler but less complete workaround is to disable metadata automatic updates in Windows Media Player by setting the Windows Media Player options. To do this, follow these steps:
1.   On the Tools menu, click Options.
2.   On the Library tab, click to clear the Retrieve additional information from the Internet check box and the Maintain my star ratings as global ratings in files check box.
3.   Click OK.

A possible solution to the MP3 file corruption issue

If some of your MP3 files have already been affected, you might be able to restore the corrupted MP3 files to their pre-edit status. To do this, follow these steps:
1. In Windows Explorer, right-click a corrupted MP3 file, and then click Properties.
2. On the Previous Version tab, select an earlier version in the File Versions list, and then click Restore. If multiple edits were performed, you may have to revert to the oldest version that is available.

A Welcome Gesture

Windows 7 natively supports touchscreen devices and has incorporated a gesture-based system to navigate the desktop with a stylus. Lucky for you, one of these gestures also works with a mouse. Instead of right-clicking a Taskbar icon to access its Jump List (the new program-specific menu that replaces the right-click context menu), you can hold left-click and drag upwards to smoothly call it up. Clicking and dragging down in the Internet Explorer address bar will also unveil your browser history and related favorites bookmarks. Some of the staff here found this especially useful when running Windows 7 on their Macbook Pros (*cough* Will Smith *cough*).

Ctrl + N is so 1995

We’ve already shown you a new way to open new instances of applications on the Taskbar by using the Windows + [number] keyboard shortcut. There are two additional shortcuts to popping open a new window too. You can click the Taskbar icon with your middle mouse button (which also works to launch the app if it isn’t open already), or hold down Shift while clicking the icon with the left mouse button.

Keep in mind that this only works with programs that allow multiple instances, like web browsers. It won’t work with the default Explorer shortcut, since you can only open another instance of Explorer when diving into a new folder (the Explorer shortcut always points to Libraries).

Pin-Up Your Favorites

Explorer’s Jump List shows your seven most frequently visited folders, but you can manually bookmark some favorites to the top of the list by pinning folder locations. Just hold right-click on any folder, either on your desktop or from an open instance of Explorer, and drag that folder icon to the Explorer shortcut on the Taskbar. You’ll see a message that reads “Pin to Windows Explorer” before you release the mouse button. The folder will appear under a “Pinned” section of the Jump List, and you can remove it by clicking the “Unpin from this list” icon on the right side of the panel.

More Resources

Eager for more Windows 7 tricks? Microsoft offers several resources for Windows 7 Beta support. We recommend browsing through TechNet for essential downloads and troubleshooting tips, as well as the official Windows 7 discussion forums.

50 Skills Every Real Geek Should Have

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:00:00 -0600

Back in our September 2008 issue, we published a list of 9 Skills Every Nerd Needs – a lighthearted examination of the essential abilities Maximum PC readers should have in their geek arsenal. We still stand by that list, but we were somewhat one-upped last month when we saw that Gizmodo had since run its own list of 50 key geek skills. Their list was very respectable, but we thought that we could do better by not only expanding and refining our original story, but actually teaching you these skills. The highest echelon of geeks will be able to do everything in this list, and this is by no means a full categorization of the complete geek skillset – only what we consider to be the most indispensable abilities. Have anything to add to our list? Post it in the comments!

Name These Connectors!

Finding hidden hardware gems in bins of archaic cards at computer shows and swap meets is an ever-so-crucial nerd skill. Frequently the only way to discern the difference is to do an on-the-spot ID of the edge connector. True nerds should be able to identify even the most esoteric connector in their sleep (if they sleep with their eyes open, that is). Can you separate the crap from the kick ass? No cheating!

A. PCI-Express connector
B. DDR memory
C. Dual-channel RIMM

Run All Your Essential Apps on a USB Stick

Any real nerd is almost sure to have a USB thumbdrive in his pocket at all times. After all, USB flash storage is pretty much the best way to keep data conveniently at hand. What the average nerd might not know, however, is that it’s possible to install all sorts of apps on a thumb drive, meaning that you can use your USB stick as a mobile platform for your browser, email and instant message client, office suite and more. That means you can access these programs, settings intact, from any computer with a spare USB slot.

It’s all made possible by PortableApps.com, an open source platform for portable software. To get started with PortableApps, go to this page and download whichever version of the portable suite suits your needs. Then run the installer, and choose to install to the root of your USB drive. In the future, if you want to add additional portable applications just download the app, then select “add a new app” from PortableApps’ options menu and browse to the .paf.exe file you downloaded.

Right now, there are portable versions of heavyweights like Firefox, Thunderbird, and OpenOffice, as well as a whole ton of other, awesome programs.

Straighten the Pins on an Older CPU

There are two quick ways to realign bent pins on older CPUs.

The first, quickest way is to take a credit card and run it through the rows of pins in each direction, which will realign lightly-bent pins.

If a pin is bent too far for the credit card trick, use the barrel of a mechanical pencil to sheath the pin and gently bend it back up straight.

Know the 13 Basic HTML Tags

Dreamweaver is for sissies; real geeks prove their skills by going old school and coding web pages by hand in notepad. But even if you can't keep up with the newest iterations of hypertext markup language, you should still be able to at least edit website code to make minor adjustments. So in case you’ve forgotten, here are the 13 most basic HTML tags:

<h1> to <h6> -- Heading styles from large to small
<p> -- Start a new paragraph
<br> or <br /> -- Create a single line break
<! – Your Comment Here -- > -- Make a hidden comment
<hr> -- Mark the page with a horizontal rule line
<b> -- Bold text
<em> -- Emphasize text
<strong> -- Strong emphasis
<i> -- Italicize text
<u> -- Underline text
  -- Insert a non-breaking space
<a href=”URL”> -- Anchor a link
<img src= “URL” alt=”description”> -- Insert an image

Get Through to Executive Customer Service

One of the most frustrating experiences in a nerd’s life is when a part you’ve bought turns out to be a dud. When something breaks, you have to hit up the customer service line, which can often be an excruciating process involving an endless circle of robotic menus, long hold times, and patronizing, outsourced technicians (yes, I am sure it’s plugged in, thank you for asking). However, there’s a couple of ways to make the process a little easier.

For one, if you’re stuck dealing with a robot phone menu, there’s usually a way to get through directly to a human operator. Generally, ignoring the prompts and repeatedly mashing the 0, 9, * or # keys will eventually confuse the system enough that it’ll send you to an operator. If you have a specific company that’s giving you trouble, go to www.gethuman.com, where there’s an enormous list of customer service numbers, and how to get through to a human at each one.

Second, if you’re not having any luck with the “tier 1” tech support and they won’t elevate you when you ask, consider going over their heads yourself. Search for the phone number of the offending company’s corporate office (the Consumerist has a whole bunch available, or you can search for their corporate info on Yahoo! Finance, if they’re publically traded) and give them a call.

Beat Quake in Under an Hour

The speedrun seems to be a lost art. Sure, new games like Mirror’s Edge encourage that you replay its levels in a time trial mode to compete against other players in the world, but these sanctioned game modes don’t carry the credibility or audacity of classic Quake speed runners. We’re still amazed every time we watch a video of someone beating all of Quake in less than 15 minutes. It’s not just the brevity of the run that impresses us; it’s how elegant and gracefully these players navigate through levels, capitalizing on every perfectly aimed rocket jump and timed bunny hop to shave seconds off of their run time. Watch and learn from these masters.

Build a Hackintosh

Admit it—you’ve cast some sidelong glances at OS X, wondering to yourself if Apple’s shiny OS really lives up to the hype. Well we’re here to tell you that it’s OK to be curious.

Even if your pro-PC leanings have prohibited you from buying a Mac, they don’t have to keep you from trying out OS X. The kind folks over at LifeHacker have posted a how-to about making a Hackintosh—a system custom-built from non-Apple components running OS X. So go ahead; let yourself experiment. Who knows, you might just like it.

Watch TV Shows on the Internet (Legally!)

For quite a while, watching streaming TV on the internet meant suffering through tiny, poorly encoded video on YouTube, 10 minutes at a time, hoping whatever you were watching didn’t get removed before you were done. But those times are behind us now, with a host of corporate-sponsored sites offering legal, ad-supported shows and movies in (comparatively) luxurious resolution.

So what are the options available? Hulu’s still pretty much the best site out there, offering a huge array of full-length shows from NBC, FOX, Comedy Central, FX and others. Veoh.com hosts ABC’s programs, as well as others, and YouTube has recently reached an agreement with CBS to host their shows. One of our favorite video services is southparkstudios.com, which hosts every potty-mouthed episode of South Park for viewing on demand.

Streaming movies are just now becoming available from several sources. Hulu has a modest selection of free flicks, NetFlix offers streaming movies to subscribers, and Amazon, Blockbuster.com and others allows you to stream videos for a per-movie fee.

Get Around the Content Filter on Public Computers

Are the content restrictions on public computers cramping your style. Don’t worry about it; there’s two easy ways to bypass those filters completely.

If you’re just doing some normal web browsing, and aren’t planning to send any passwords or sensitive information, you can try using a simple web proxy. Proxy.org maintains a list of free anonymous proxies. If you’re worried about privacy, using Tor is a more secure option. If you install Tor on a copy of the (aforementioned) portable edition of Firefox, and keep it with you on a USB drive, you can surf the web anonymously from any computer that allows you to run your own software.

Recite pi to 23 Decimal Places

3.14 may have been enough accuracy for 10th grade geometry, but it’s just not going to win you any respect from the other nerds. We consider 23 places the bare minimum for pi memorization.

If you’re having trouble dealing with all that, try “chunking” your memory. That is to say, instead of simply trying to remember each number in sequence (a task that humans tend not to be very good at) try to remember the numbers in groups or chunks that have more significance for you. If that’s not doing it for you, consider piems—stories and poems structured around digits of pi.

For the record, pi is: 3.141592653589793238462643...

Replace the Controller Board on a Hard Drive

Hard drive failure is more common than you think, but the culprit isn’t always a faulty platter. If your hard disk goes dead and you didn’t hear any screeching death rattles, one thing you could always try is replacing the drive’s controller board. It’s a long shot, but an essential skill nonetheless that occasionally works.

Replacing a hard drive’s controller circuit is as simple as unscrewing the PCB board from the bottom of the drive and detaching the ribbon connector. Make sure you can do this without exposing any of the drive’s internals. You also have to make sure that the new board comes from EXACTLY the same hard drive model as your defective unit – the make, model, and even firmware have to match. Mount the new board in with the same screws and connect the ribbon cable. If you did everything right and the problem was indeed the controller board, you should be able to retrieve your data.

Benchmark Your Computer

There are a lot of ways to increase the performance of your PC. But what fun is it unless you can actually see how much faster your machine runs. You might be able to get a vague idea of how much it’s improved by observing its performance while playing games, but unless you thoroughly benchmark your computer you’ll never know for sure. Professional-grade benchmarking software like we use for our reviews here at Maximum PC runs pretty pricey, but it’s not impossible to benchmark your system using entirely free software.

In fact, we’ve posted a guide telling you how to do exactly that.

Decorate Your Room Using Only Printer Paper

Some people might think that decorating a room requires a trip to Crate and Barrel and an open line of credit, but if you’re a real nerd you know better. You know that you can get all your decorating done with nothing more than a printer and some paper.

To cover your walls, you don’t need fancy stuff like “artwork,” or even real posters, all you need is the Rasterbator. Find a reasonably high-res image, and the Rasterbator will blow it up and split it into single-page-sized chunks for you to tape together. However, if you want your poster to be one contiguous image, be prepared to spend some time with a ruler and razorblade trimming off the white borders.

If your shelves are feeling a little barren, it might be time to fill them up with a little papercraft. Assuming you’ve been on the internet over the last couple years, you’re probably aware of the general idea behind papercraft—you print out a template and fold it, origami-style, into a little paper model. What you might not have known is that it’s easy to create your own papercraft templates. So get to it!

Securely Erase Your Data So it Can't be Recovered

When you format your disk, most of the data it contains is not actually deleted. Rather, the disk space that it occupies is made inaccessible and overwriteable by the file system. Until it is actually overwritten, the data on the formatted disk is still recoverable by anyone with the right tools. If you want to more thoroughly destroy your data (without destroying your hard disk) you’ll want to perform a “zero fill,” an operation which overwrites a pattern of 0s over all the bits in the hard disk.

Most hard disk manufacturers offer some sort of drivers on their website which will allow you to zero fill your drive. These drivers are the most reliable option, but if you can’t find them, there’s also free apps such as killdisk, which should do the job on any hard disk.

There is some theoretical chance that magnetic remanence could allow someone to recover data from a zeroed drive, but it’s such longshot that you’re better off not wasting money on software that promises to overwrite your drive some ridiculous number of times.

Get into a Windows Computer if you Forgot Your Password

So, you managed to lose the password to your Windows account. How screwed are you? If you’re a true nerd, not very. There are a couple of things you can do to try and recover your password.

First, if you haven’t changed the default settings on your Windows install (which you should have) you may be able to log into an unprotected administrator account by starting the PC up in safe mode. To do this, press f8 as the computer boots up. If you can get into the system in this mode, you can reset other user’s passwords by clicking the “User Accounts” icon in the control panel.

If that doesn’t work, your best bet it to attempt to crack the password using a cracker like ophcrack loaded onto a bootable CD, floppy or USB drive.

Hide Porn from Your Significant Other

Want to keep your forays into the internet’s seedier spots unnoticed by your spouse? No problem. For most users, enabling a simple feature like FireFox or Safari’s “private browsing” feature will do the trick. These features make it so that your browser temporarily stops storing any information about your activities on the web, meaning that your wife won’t get any nasty surprises the next day when Google autocompletes her search to something obscene. If you absolutely must store files to your computer that you don’t want anyone else to know about, use a thumb drive (they’re dirt cheap these days) and hide it in your sock drawer or something.

However, if you’re dating an FBI agent, or are just absurdly paranoid, there are more secure solutions. You could just encrypt all the illicit data, but then you might have to face questions like “Honey, why is there a password-protect .rar file sitting on the desktop?”

To get around this, hide your data steganographically. That is to say hide it inside another file. You might have seen this technique used on the internet (say, as part of an ARG) to hide a picture inside of an audio clip, for instance, but it can also be used to hide larger amounts of data. Using the open source app TrueCrypt, you can create an encrypted disk of any size inside of an inconspicuous-looking file.

Explain What E=MC^2 Means to a Liberal Arts Major

Sure, you know what it means. The mass-energy equivalence is Einstein’s most famous revelation and the key to his theory of special relativity. But that’s all mumbo jumbo to a Liberal Arts major, who’d rather sing sonnets than study science. Hence the challenge of explaining this famous equation in layman’s terms. Defining the variables (E is energy, m is mass, and c is the speed of light in a vacuum) may be easy enough, but getting someone to wrap their heads around the concept of how those relate will take lots of patience and even some creativity. Our tip: speak in their language (poetry or song), and do it over a glass of merlot. Or two.

Abstain from Buying Extended Warranties

Yeah, it sucks when one of your favorite doodads breaks down just one week after the manufacturer’s warranty expires, but in the long run you’re doing yourself and your wallet a disservice if you shell out for the extended warranties.

Instead, read user reviews and consumer reports about electronics before you make a purchase, and make sure you buy brands with a good reputation for reliability. Also, compare the manufacturer’s warranties offered by the devices’ makers; some companies offer much longer coverage than others.

Also, most major credit cards offer extended warranty protection. This means that if you buy something that comes with a manufacturer’s warranty, and you pay for it with your credit card, the credit card company will automatically provide some amount of warranty coverage after the manufacturer’s warranty expires. Visa cards, for instance, will match the term of the original warranty in extended coverage, up to an additional year.

Use Photoshop or GIMP to Imperceptibly Doctor a Photo

No, adding humorously misspelled text to a picture of a cat doesn’t count.

They used to say that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Now, thanks to the power and ubiquity of Photoshop (or GIMP, for the open source fans and the extra-scrupulous), everyone knows that a photo isn’t worth anything but lies and deception. They also used to say “fight fire with fire,” and that’s still good advice. Learn to use Photoshop yourself and you’ll be better equipped to see through other people’s photo trickery.

Use a DSLR in Full Manual Mode

Modern digital cameras are pretty user-friendly. You just turn them on—maybe adjust a setting or two, depending on the type of photo you’ll be shooting—then just point and click. However, if you ever want to take photos at more than an Ashton Kutcher level, you’re going to have to learn to use an SLR.

And sure, modern DSLRs can do most of the focusing and aperture adjustments for you, but if you really want to shoot like a pro you’ll need to be able to operate it in full manual. It’s not just for bragging rights, either; manually operating your DSLR will result in a better understanding of the operation and physical underpinnings of your camera, and will ultimately make you a better photographer.

Mooch Your Neighbor's Wi-Fi

Even without getting into any real hardcore hacking, there are a couple of things you can do to snag some connectivity off of nearby wireless networks. First, check the list of in-range routers for those using the factory-default router name, such as “linksys” or “belkin,” as these are the most likely to be unencrypted or poorly protected. If they have are encrypted, try common default passwords like “admin,” “password,” or the name of the router. If that doesn’t work, use this enormous list of router-specific defaults to find some others to try.

Protect your Wi-Fi

There are just a few things you need to do to keep your brand new wireless router secure. All of these changes can be made from the router’s setting page, which you get to by entering its IP address into a browser.

1.    Change the router’s name. Using the default name is an invitation to hackers.
2.    Change the admin password. As mentioned in the section above, the default admin passwords for every router are easily available to every hacker with two brain cells to rub together.
3.    Activate the router’s encryption. Use WPA encryption rather than WEP, as long as all machines on the network can use it, since it’s much more secure. Obviously, pick a strong passphrase.

Create an Animated Spray in Valve Games

Expressing your individuality online can be difficult, especially if you’re a gamer. While running and gunning your way through games like Counter-Strike: Source or Team Fortress 2 it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. But leaving your mark on the world is easier than you might think. Animated sprays are a great way for you to tell your enemy that, not only have they been pwned, but that you're the one responsible.

Custom animated sprays were limited to the most elite players in the days of Counter-Strike 1.6, but now that Source is here that’s all changed. So prepare yourself for a quick and easy way to make your own spray and let the lolcats run wild!

Set up a RAID

What kind of nerd would be satisfied with a meager one hard drive acting alone? With prices on enormous drives hitting comically low levels, now’s a perfect time to set up a big ol’ RAID. If, somehow, you’re not already familiar with the different types of arrays and their relative strengths, check out our article here. If you already have a RAID and want to build it into an inexpensive NAS, we’ve got you covered there, too.

Calculate a Pitcher’s Earned Run Average

If you thought that nerds and sports don’t mix, you’re dead wrong. As long as a sport has more statistics than you can shake a spreadsheet at, we’re all over it. A pitcher’s ERA, for instance, is nine times the number of earned runs he allows in a season, divided by the number of innings he’s pitched in that season.

Run Two Operating Systems

Dual-booting two versions of Windows or running Linux on a separate partition can be a life-saver when running into compatibility issues with Vista. Plus, power users never want to be confined to one computing environment when they can take advantage of multiple operating systems. It’s not difficult to install a second OS on a second hard drive or empty partition – you just boot from an installation disc and choose the appropriate storage device. But how about getting Linux to install without formatting or repartitioning your hard drive? Our guide explains how you can try out all the features of the Ubuntu Linux distribution without screwing up your existing data.

Install a Hard Drive in a Laptop

Some people get nervous about opening up their laptops. After all, everything in there is so small and delicate-looking. But a real nerd knows that laptop hard drives are just about as easy to replace as desktop disks, and isn’t afraid to dig into his notebook’s innards.

Remove a hard drive from a notbook generally only involves unscrewing the bottom panel of the laptop, unplugging the hard disk, then unscrewing the drive’s bracket and removing it from the computer. Then, remove a couple of screws to slide the actual drive out of the bracket. Reverse the procedure to install the new drive.

Pull Off an Elaborate Prank

It takes a lot of smarts to pull off a truly exceptional prank, so it makes sense that most of the all-time great pranks have been pulled off by the nerds at super-brainy institutions like MIT. Of course, you don’t have to be able to come up with pranks as involved as Caltech’s, but you should keep a trick or two in your repertoire. After all, you never know when the next great prank war is going to break out.

Rocket Jump Without Using a Macro

1.   Run forward.
2.   Quickly aim down.
3.   Press fire and jump at the same time.
4.   Touch the sky!

That’s it. Rocket jumping, the art of propelling yourself high in the air with the help of explosives, is actually easier than it looks. Whether you want to launch yourself to the roof above a control point or sail across a wide ditch, the only thing you need to remember is that you have to fire your rocket at the exact moment you jump. The most common problem newbies have with rocket jumping is launching the rocket too late, which doesn’t get you as high up. Also keep in mind that momentum matters, so if you want to fly forward, you have to be running in that direction as you rocket jump. Expert players will also be able master the Rocket Crouch Jump, which gets you also twice as high (and far) if you press the crouch key immediately after you jump and fire. It’s a little tricky, but the payoff is worth it.

This age-old tactic doesn’t come without a price. In Team Fortress 2, for example, a perfectly executed rocket jump takes away 51 health points. In addition to splash damage from your rocket, you also lose health from falling after a skyscraping jump (another 25 health in TF2). Avoid this extra penalty by landing on a level above your starting position.

Wire Your Home with Ethernet Cable

The future may be wireless, but in the present it’s still very handy to have your house wired with Ethernet cable. Unfortunately, if carpentry isn’t really your strong suit, the job of running thousands of feet of cable through your walls, floors and ceilings might seem a little bit daunting. But take heart in the fact that Maximum PC EIC Will Smith didn’t get scare d when faced with the same challenge, and everything worked out fine.

Know the 6 Most Important Linux Commands

Want to use Linux? While it’s not strictly necessary anymore, knowing these TK Linux commands will help you in your quest to attain ultimate nerdiness.

* cd – used to navigate to different directories on your system, cd .. takes up up one directory, while cd / takes you to the root of the drive, and cd with no arguments takes you to your home directory
* ls – like dir on DOS, ls lists the contents of the directory you’re currently in
* cp – used to copy files to a new location on your hard drive cp /home/wsmith/test.txt /home/bjones/text.txt
* mv – used to copy a file to a new destination, then demolish the old one. Uses the same syntax as cp
* mkdir – makes a new directory at your current location
* rm – deletes the files specified. With the -r option, it also deletes subdirectories.

Rip Your CDs to FLAC

Everyone knows how to rip a CD to MP3 using iTunes, but if that’s the way you convert your tunes to a portable-friendly format, you’re doing your ears a disservice. While MP3 and other lossy formats sound OK on tinny earbuds and portable players, hook them up to a true audiophile rig, you’ll be disappointed. Ripping your CDs losslessly gives you a bit-for-bit identical audio file at a fraction of the size of an uncompressed CD. Of course, if you still insist on ripping to MP3, you can use EAC and LAME to do that too.

Stream Your Movies, Music, and Photos to Any TV in Your House

You’ve taken the time to rip and transcode hundreds of DVDs for playback on your iPhone, PSP, or other digital media player. You also have a current-gen gaming console—an Xbox 360 or PS3—hooked up to a giant TV in your living room. Right now, you have everything you need to stream your high-quality DVD rips from your computer into your living room using TVersity and our handy how-to guide.

Install and Configure a Virtual Machine

Using virtual machine software you can install multiple OSes on one machine and switch between them, without rebooting! You can use VMs to do everything from run servers to setup a sandbox for testing potentially infected files and applications. Getting started is as easy as downloading virtual machine software, installing it and creating your first machine, then installing Windows, Linux, BSD, or pretty much any other OS on it. Want to move your VM to another machine? That’s easy too, just copy the file that contains your VM to your other machine, install the virtual machine software, and you’re ready to go.

Run Multiple Monitors Like a Pro

There’s no better way to assert your geek ascendancy than to load your desk to the buckling point with multiple monitors. But any old layman can plug an extra monitor into the back of his box and extend his desktop onto it in the display options menu, a poweruser knows that to unlock the full potential of his many displays, he needs a software solution like Ultramon. If you’re unsure about shelling out the 40 bucks for Ultramon, check out our guide on the app and its alternatives.

If you want to take multiple displays to the next level, consider using multiple computers, connected with a virtual KVM switch like Synergy. Now that’s sure to impress the kiddies.

Hack Firmware on a Router

Navigating through a router’s multitude of menus and configuration settings can be confusing, especially given the obtuse documentation typically bundled with the device. That’s why we prefer third-party open-source firmware, which not only streamlines a router’s graphical user interface but also adds robust functionality. For Linksys routers, our firmware of choice is Tomato (www.polarcloud.com/tomato). As with all third-party firmware upgrades, installing Tomato does come with a slight risk of damaging your router. While we’ve never had any problems with this software, it’ll definitely void your router’s original warranty. Read our guide here!

Pick a Lock

Picking locks in video games has always been pretty easy; you make a skill check, break a pick or two, maybe even play a little mini-game, and the door swings right open. In the real world picking a lock is a lot tougher, but it’s still something you can learn to do with a little practice. You can find a great article about how to pick a lock at wikihow, complete with video, diagrams, and information on how to make your own picks.

Once you’ve mastered the basic pick-and-tension-wrench method, check out the article on bumping a lock. This is an even more sophisticated and efficient method for picking a lock, and is sure to impress your friends.

Differentiate Between Dr. Pepper and Mr. Pibb

Ah, the immortal question: Which reigns supreme, Dr Pepper or Mr PiBB? Well, actually it’s not much of a contest. After all, there’s a reason that Pepper got his PhD and PiBB is still stuck slaving away in the world of blue-collar sodas. Hell, the kids these days don’t even call Mr. PiBB “Mr.” anymore; he’s just “PiBB” now. It’s shameful, really.

But just knowing which is superior isn’t enough. A true nerd can distinguish between the two in a double-blind taste test and can reverse-engineer each into its secret ingredients. There’s a long standing rumor that Dr. Pepper is made with prune juice, but it turns out that this is false. Us? Of course we could tell you what the secret is, but we’ll let you figure it out for yourself.

Avoid DRM on everything

DRM is certainly a hot button issue these days, and there’s no better way to register your opinions than with your pocketbook. It would be nearly impossible to avoid DRM completely without resorting to piracy or giving up on a lot of fun things, but there are steps you can take to companies who release their IP without DRM. For instance, you can try awesome, DRM-free games such as Sins of a Solar Empire and World of Goo.

Most digital music stores these days are DRM free, including Amazon and Walmart’s stores, so you’re pretty much in the clear there, although most of iTunes is still off limits. Unfortunately, if you want DRM free video, Bittorrent is still pretty much your only option.

Download Flash Video and Bend it to Your Will

Any old schmuck can watch streaming video on sites like YouTube, but a real nerd’s nerd can save the video to disk, convert it to run on his PSP and his modded DS, and save it to DVD, all before you can say “copyright infringement.” If you can’t do all that, educate yourself.

Get Around In DOS

With every passing year, the percentage of nerds who grew up in a time after DOS gets larger. So listen up, young’ns, because even if it’s not something you have to use very much anymore, if you don’t know how to at least get around in DOS you’re going to look like a real PC lightweight.

Commit these seven commands to heart, and you’ll never find yourself stranded in DOS:

CD: Change directory; essential for getting around
DIR: List the contents of the current directory.
COPY: Copy a file, obviously. The syntax is “copy [filename] [destination filepath and filename]”
MKDIR: Create a directory. The syntax is “mkdir [directory name]”
MOVE: Move a file. Used with the same syntax as COPY
DEL: Delete a specified file.
RD: Delete a specified empty directory. If you want to delete a directory with contents, use RD /S /Q which will delete the entire directory tree

Rip a DVD to h.264

As hard drives get to be bigger and cheaper than ever before, it makes more and more sense to rip your optical data to your disk. Video transcoding can be kind a tricky process, but we’ve written a guid e to make the process much easier. So check it out and start clearing off your DVD shelf today.

Overclock Your PC and Tune Your BIOS

If you’re still running your computer’s components at their factory default settings, you’re missing out on a lot of potential power. You can check out our guide for overclocking your CPU and RAM by following this link, and then continue on to our piece about overclocking your videocard.

But there’s no reason to stop there. Check out our in-depth article on tweaking your BIOS to get even more control over the nitty-gritty inner workings of your rig.

Use Remote Desktop

One of the most powerful mobile computing tools available to Windows XP and Vista users is Remote Desktop. It’s pretty easy to set up and allows you to securely access and control your home or office computer from anywhere. To use Remote Desktop, follow these steps:

1. On the host computer, enable Remote Desktop. On an XP computer this is done by clicking on the “System” icon in the control panel, and then navigating to the “Remote” tab. Once there, check the box marked “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer” and click the “Select Remote Users…” button to select which users can connect remotely, bearing in mind that any users with administrator access can connect automatically.

2. Assuming your host computer is connected to the internet through a router, you’ll need to enable port forwarding for port 3389. If you do not know how to do this, simply hit this link, select your router model from the list and follow the instructions.

3. In order for other computers to connect to the host computer, you’ll need to either get a static IP address from your ISP, or use a service such as DynDNS.com, which will allow you to have a subdomain which always points to your computer, even if you have a dynamic IP. Also, make sure Remote Desktop is configured as an exception in Windows Firewall.

4. On the client computer, click on the Start button, then Accessories, then Communications. Click on the Remote Desktop Connection in that menu. In the menu that pops up specify your host computer’s IP address, and click connect. Then enter your login information just like you normally would, and you’re all set.

Debate the Relative Merits of an Imperial Star Destroyer vs. the USS Enterprise

It’s the debate to end all debates. The quintessential battle between two breeds of geek: the hypothetical confrontation between the USS Enterprise (1701-D from The Next Generation) from Star Trek and an Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars. The dispute will probably never be resolved, but satisfaction doesn’t come from a resolution, it stems from the details of the discussion. Do lasers have any effect on the Enterprises’s shields? (No, according the TNG episode “The Outrageous Okona”) Should you take into account TIE fighters? What about the Force? We could go on and on.

To adequately prepare for the debate, you should watch all 176 episodes of The Next Generation along with the three original Star Wars films. In addition, you can familiarize yourself with the various technical manuals released detailing the specifications for each ship, though these might not be considered “canon”. Pointing out technical inconsistencies and plot loopholes is also a reliable way to getting on your opponent’s nerves.

Build Your Own Computer

We’re a little hesitant to say too much about this last item on the list, since we don’t want to insult our reader’s PC IQ too much and we figure that if you read Maximum PC, you’ve probably built at least one PC. However, the bottom line is that if you’ve never built your own computer from parts, you might as well just turn in your pocket protector right now, because you’re not a real nerd.

If you’ve somehow made it this far without putting together a PC and want to start now, or just want our advice on a powerful machine you can make without breaking the bank, check out our most recent No-Compromises Budget PC guide and get building!

Microsoft Releases Springboard Series Newsletter - Vista Performance and Tuning Tips

Justin Kerr — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 09:30:06 -0500

When Vista launched over a year ago we had many compelling reasons not to upgrade. But as time progressed and Microsoft silently addressed our woes, it seems clear; the Vista of today could be somewhat misjudged. That doesn’t make it perfect however, and Microsoft has owned up to this by releasing a 14 page guide with tried and tested tweaks that improve overall performance and boost notebook battery life. This free and easy to follow PDF guide walks you through native tools built into the OS which allow you to optimize Vista’s performance. The contents are especially helpful if you are new to Vista, having just come from XP, but even Vista veterans are bound to find a few things of note. If you manage to make your way through the Microsoft guide and are still looking for more, a host of other tweaks and tips can be found in both our online archives and Maximum PCs March 2008 print issue.

Improve Battery Life

- Looking for ways to improve your battery life? Microsoft suggests you start in the power options menu. Simply type power options into the start menu and select from either performance, balanced, or power saver modes. These presets will adjust sleep settings, LCD power down frequency, hard drive performance, etc.

- Tweak your indexing options. By having Vista index your commonly accessed folders such as my documents you can improve the speed at which results are delivered to you, and keep the hard drive from spinning up too often for in depth scans of your entire drive.

Improve Performance

- Disable specific aero effects to improve responsiveness. The guide walks you through how to disable individual aero features to make systems with lower end graphics cards feel more responsive.

- Use Ready Boost on computers with limited amounts of RAM to improve performance using a compatible USB key. This is no substitute for adding ram, but it’s the next best thing if you can’t.

- Use sleep mode rather then turning your computer off. While in sleep mode, some laptops draw as little as 1 watt, and can recover from sleep in as little as 5 seconds. This will help overcome the painfully slow boot times of modern OS’s. Just select sleep, instead of shut down from your start menu.

- Prevent programs from loading into the background after boot up by using msconfig or Windows Defender. Enter either of these two options into Vista’s start menu to begin. The Windows Defender interface is slightly more polished and is a better place to start if you don’t have any experience with msconfig.

- Use control, alt, delete’s task manager to view background services that are running on your machine. Found unwanted services? Disable them! Not sure what each service is? Check the Microsoft TechNet to see a list of known services and their function.

- Tweak user account control without disabling it, want to know how? Microsoft’s TechNet is a great place to look.

- Learn to use the task scheduler to enable automatic disk cleanups, and tweak your defrag frequency. Try to setup automatic backups and anti virus scans to run while your away.

- Check your Windows experience index score by right clicking my computer then selecting properties. A 3 is considered average, but 4 or greater means your PC has the right stuff for Vista. Conversely, if your computer scores a 2 or lower, you’d probably be better off with XP (though they avoid telling you that specifically in this guide).

- Think your running out of RAM or CPU cycles? Use the performance tab under ctrl, alt, delete’s task manager to monitor your systems performance. For example, by leaving the task manager open, it will record how much memory your computer is using and document the maximum amount that has been asked for during your session. This allows you to identify if you are running low on resources during normal use. Want more info? Click the resource monitor to see what processes are banging away on each individual category such as CPU, RAM, Hard Drive, or Network. This will give you a clear idea of what services are causing bottlenecks with individual parts of your machine.

Got More Tips or tweaks that you havn’t seen in Maximum PC online or print?

Share them here!