The
Technology, extensive range of tweaks, tricks & hacks
for optimizing, enhancing and securing the Windows, Linux,
Mac operating systems. Get started by exploring the
categorized tweaks below:
Windows
Vista : Software TweaksEver want to keep track of the time in a different time zone? With Vista you can now track two additional time zones with mini clocks that show up when you hover the mouse over the clock.
Add additional time zones:
1. Right click on the clock in the taskbar and select Adjust Date/Time.
2. Click on the Additional Clocks tab.
3. Check the box for either additional clock 1 or 2 and select the time zone.
4. Type in a display name for your click and hit OK.
Now when you hover your mouse over or click on the clock you will see the additional time zone.
Tip: You can also add additional clocks to the sidebar by adding more clock gadgets.
Would you like to add a shortcut to your desktop or quick launch bar that launches the new Flip 3D tab replacement?
1. Right click on your desktop and select New and then Shortcut.
2. Copy and paste RunDll32 DwmApi #105 into the location box and hit Next.
3. Enter in a name for your shortcut and hit Finish.
4. Copy/Cut and Paste your new shortcut where ever you want.
Enable Add-ins in Windows Live Messenger
Copy and Paste the following into a .reg file and import it.
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSNMessenger]
"AddInFeatureEnabled"=dword:00000001
Once you import it, restart Windows Live Messenger and under Options you will have a new list item for Add-ins.
Currently Windows Vista does not have WDDM support for the Intel GMA950 integrated graphics card. Even though this card is integrated, it supports all of the requirements for Vista Glass. It is just a matter of getting a driver that is compatible with it and vista.
After doing a ton of research, I found that there is another driver that you can actually use for now. There are some problems with it, such if you have a laptop, the external monitor port does not always work but other than that it works great for me on my Lenovo X60.
This is how I got Vista Glass to run on a GMA950:
- First, I had to open up device manager. Click on the start menu and type in devmgmt.msc and Enter to load it up.
- Once there, expand the Display Adapters section and right click on each device and select Uninstall.
- Reboot the computer.
- When it restarts, it should install a generic video driver so your screen will still work.
- Go back into Device Manager, expand the Display Adapters section again and then right click on the device and select Update Driver.
- This time select Browse My Computer for Driver and then Let me pick it from a list.
- Go the the Intel section and select the Intel(R) Lakeport Graphics Controller.
- Hit OK and install the new driver. Restart your computer.
- Once you have rebooted, right click on your desktop and select Personalize again.
- Click on Windows Colors and Appearance.
- Click on Open classic appearance properties for more color options.
- In the Color Scheme box, select Windows Vista Aero.
- Hit OK and glass will now load.
If glass does not work for you, go back to Device Manager and ensure the new display driver is working. You may have to update your system BIOS version. I had to update the BIOS version on the X60 in order for the new driver to work.
Internet Explorer 7 keyboard shortcuts
The Basics
- Stop page from loading
Esc - Refresh a page
F5 - Set focus on address
box
ALT+D - Go back a page
ALT+Left Arrow - Go forward a page
ALT+Right Arrow - Open link in new
window
Shift+Click - Add site to favorites
CTRL+D - Open context menu
Shift+F10
Tabs
- Open new tab
CTRL+T - Open link in new tab
CTRL+Shift+Click - Open link in new
behind current tab
CTRL+Click or Middle mouse button over link - Switch between tabs
CTRL+Tab or CTRL+Shift+Tab - Close tab
CTRL+W or Click middle mouse button over tab - Close all other tabs
CTRL+ALT+F4 - Jump to tab
CTRL+tab number - Open quick tabs
CTRL+Q
Search
- Set focus in
search box
CTRL+E - Change search
provider while search box active
CTRL+Down arrow - Search in new tab
ALT+Enter
Page Zooming
- Zoom in
CTRL+(+ key) or CTRL+Mouse wheel up - Zoom out
CTRL+(- key) or CTRL+Mouse wheel down - Zoom 100%
CTRL+0 - Change text size
CTRL+Mouse wheel up or down
Windows Internet Explorer 7 has included a easy new way to protect your privacy by erasing your browsing history and temporary files. This feature will clear your browsing history, delete all of your cookies, delete saved web form data and passwords as well as erase all temporary Internet files. Before you had to complete a series of steps to clear all of theses items or download privacy software, now you can clear all in just one click of a button.
This new feature can be accessed through the Tools menu-bar item. Click on Tools and then select Delete Browsing History. This will automatically launch the utility that will clear all of your private browsing information.
In Windows Vista it is now possible to resize partitions without any data loss in the new Disk Management console.
Resizing Partitions with Windows Vista:
- Click on the Start Button and right click on Computer and select Manage.
- Expand the Storage section and select Disk Management.
- Then just right click on any partition and select either Expand or Shrink to change the size of the partition.
This will allow you to safely resize your partitions without any data loss.
