PC Heaven
jjones | Guides | 30/06/2008 14:31pm
14 Comments
See Also
PC Hell
We teach you how to avoid a hellish experience with your PC.
How Windows Vista can save you money
Your computer is a potential source of money – not just of income in the shape of earnings, but of reductions in your household outgoings. So much money, in fact, that you can make it earn its own keep.
7 features that make Windows Vista essential to any PC
If you’re new to Windows Vista or wondering whether or not to upgrade, discover the functions you must try today
6 brand new, but unmissable tips, for any Windows Vista user
Use these tips and your Windows Vista experience will be more rewarding and safer as a result.
Save energy
Leaving your PC on wastes both energy and cash: running it overnight could cost you more than £100 a year. It’s time to stop sinning and make some savings.
1 PICK A PLAN
Click Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Power Options. If your system uses the High Performance power plan then
you can save a little energy by selecting Balanced.
2 SAVE ENERGY
Selecting Very low power delivers a real energy cut, but mainly by limiting the work your CPU can do, so it’s best used on laptops or PCs that aren’t running anything too intensive.
3 OFF TO SLEEP
Click Change plan settings for your plan. Windows Vista normally turns the display off after 20 minutes of inactivity; cut this to 10, perhaps set the PC to sleep after 20 minutes or so.
Save power – disable Windows Aero at will
Run REGEDIT and go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\Shell. Right-click the Shell part, select New > Key and call it
Aero On.
Right-click the Aero On key you’ve created, and create a new key called command. Double-click this (in the right-hand side of the screen) and give it the value Rundll32 dwmApi #102.
Right-click the Shell key again, select New > Key, and call this Aero Off. Create a command key below it, as you’ve just done, and give it the value Rundll32 dwmApi #104.
Now, right-click an empty part of the desktop to see your options, and select Aero On when you want fancy effects like Flip 3D, and Aero Off when you’re after raw speed.
ON-OFF RELATIONSHIP Forget about poking around in Control Panel, and toggle Aero on and off in a couple of clicks
Blissful browsing
The next time you find yourself revisiting a frequently updated site like Digital Spy, Digg or BBC News, stop and select Tools > Feed Discovery. If the site provides an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed then you’ll see one or more links listed here. Choose one and click the Subscribe option.
Now launch the Windows Sidebar, if it’s not already running, click the plus sign and double-click on the Feed Headlines gadget. This will pop up and display all the latest headlines from the site, and they’ll be updated as new stories appear.
INSTANT UPDATES Why waste time revisiting sites for new stories, when the Feed Headlines gadget can bring updates directly to you?
Boost your productivity
Learn a few angelic Windows keyboard shortcuts
- Hold Shift when inserting a CD
Prevent the CD from autoplaying - F4 in Windows Explorer
Display the address bar location list - F5
Refresh the screen - Ctrl and Z
Undo an action - Ctrl and Y
Redo an action, in case you’ve used undo incorrectly - Shift and Delete
Delete the selected file(s) without moving to the Recycle bin (be careful!) - Shift and F10
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item - Alt and Tab
Switch to the previously active window - Alt and F4
Close the active window - Windows key and D
Show the desktop - Windows key and E
Open Windows Explorer - Windows key and F
Open a Search window - Windows key and G
Cycle through Sidebar gadgets - Windows key and R
Open a Run window - Windows key and T
Cycle through and preview all the applications on the taskbar - Windows key and 1
Launch the first program on your Quick Launch toolbar - Windows key and 2
Launch the second program on your Quick Launch toolbar - Windows key and Tab
Use Flip 3D to cycle through all currently open applications - Windows key and Spacebar
Select the Windows Sidebar - Ctrl and Mousewheel
Changes the view of your current folder - Left Alt and left Shift and Print Screen
Toggles the highcontrast display
Divine file manag
ement
Having to open Windows Explorer just to move a file gets annoying. But there is a quicker way.
How would you like to copy or move a file directly from its right-click menu? Then try this:
Launch REGEDIT, go HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex in REGEDIT, and click ContextMenuHandlers. Select Edit > New Key, call itCopy To, doubleclick it and enter the value {C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}.
Create another key called Move To, with the default value {C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}.
Right-click a file now, choose either option, and a pop-up window will appear where you can immediately choose the destination folder. Easy!
SAVE TIME Copy or move files in a few clicks, and there’s no need to launch Windows Explorer
Celestial software updates
Make sure you keep your PC up-to-date.
1 EXTRA UPDATES
Click Start > All Programs > Windows Update, and make sure it’s set up to update your system automatically. Then click Get updates for more products.
2 READ THE DETAILS
Your PC will now check if there are optional updates and fixes available for Windows. Click View Available Updates and double-click any update to find out more about it.
3 UPGRADE EVERYTHING
Check the boxes, and click Install. Then install the free UpdateStar (www.updatestar.com), to scan the rest of your programs and let you know when updates are available.
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This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Guides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.
very helpful
Aero ON… Aero OFF… Aero ON… Aero OFF. Too Cool! Thanks!
Do away with the Windows Sidebar. It’s a resource hog. Use Yahoo Widgets instead of the Sidebar Gadgets. I haven’t found any Gadget yet that there isn’t an equivalent Widget for. . .
Cheers!
The Aero On and Off did not work for me. It said file not found when I right clicked on Desktop and then clicked on Aero On or Aero Off. I got the same message for both. I’m sure I did it exactly as the directions said. I was wondering why it would not work for me? Any suggestions? I have a new Vista Home Premium HP Computer with Aero because that part works for me.
Thanks! The ability to quickly move/copy documents is great, I love it and the Aero On/Off is pretty good too!
Aero On/Off does something for me; not sure if it is turnning it off though. It isn’t the same “forced off” that some applications like to shift me into and Flip-3D still works, but glass is gone. As a side note, if you create a string value (not a key; just a string) under the “Aero On” and “Aero Off” keys simply named “Extended”; these new options will then only show up when you hold down the shift+key while right+clicking the desktop. Good if you want to have the switch handy, but don’t need it in your face all the time.
Oh, it isn’t that bad a bar. I kind of like the look of Vista’s bar; it’s grown on me. I suppose it is currently taking 100 MB of RAM for just sitting there, but now that I have spent a lot of time debugging my gadgets, it never burns any processor cycles to speak of when it isn’t loading up. I suppose 100 MB is a little heavy for no more than it is doing over there though, and the memory could be better used to cache something or something… Got some memory to spare though.
I wish their was a better resource for gadgets out there the bar though….. The Microsoft site ones could use more screening or real hard info about how much CPU they will eat. Even some things that don’t necessarily show up on Process Explorer will drop your 3-D Mark Score a noticeable bit.
Very informative.
Make sure you didnt accidentally include the period at the end of the registry data. Rundll32 dwmApi #102.<– If you did, take it out, it is not needed.
Awesome hacks, although the Copy To Folder…/Move To Folder… would be even better if it were implemented into the shell for right-clicking on folders too. It is nice being able to increase productivity while messing with files, but and addition like this to the extension list on folders would be phenomenal.
Great, I have to play with the much feared registry with many numbers and letters to get back some decent “move to” and “copy to” ability that should have been left on the tool bar to begin with. Problem already solved. I demoted my new Vista laptop to toy status and bought a new Dell with XP Pro during it’s last few breaths of life a couple months ago!
The Aero On and Off did not work for me. It said file not found when I right clicked on Desktop and then clicked on Aero On or Aero Off. I got the same message for both. I’m sure I did it exactly as the directions said. I was wondering why it would not work for me? Any suggestions? I have a new Vista Home Premium HP Computer with Aero because that part works for me.
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Aero is far too valuable to fiddle with…sorry. No good for me.