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Broken Windows
We love it, we hate it. Okay, so we just hate it, but Windows has been on our desktops for so long that it's growing a crust. Don't just learn to live with the OS's shortcomings. Fight back!
Give S-l-o-w Menus a Goose
The Annoyance:I was primed for a fast PC experience, but there I sat, tapping my fingers as menus slowly came into view.
The Fix: In Windows 98, Me, and 2000, right-click the desktop and choose Properties, Effects. Uncheck Animate windows, menus and lists (Windows 98) or Use transition effects for menus and tooltips (Me and 2000). In XP, right-click the desktop, choose Properties, Appearance, Effects, and uncheck Use the following transition effect for menus and tooltips (see FIGURE 1). Now my fingers can tap on the keyboard.
Show All Recent Docs
The Annoyance: The Start menu's Documents folder (My Recent Documents in Windows XP) lets me reopen files I've been working on in a trice, but Windows lists only 15 documents there, and older links disappear from the list too soon.
The Fix: To get access to more recently used files, place a shortcut to Documents (or My Recent Documents) on your desktop. Navigate in Windows Explorer to the Recent folder (its location varies depending on the version of Windows; mine is at C:\Documents and Settings\username\Recent). Right-click and drag the folder's icon to the desktop. Release the right button and choose Create Shortcut(s) Here (XP loses the parentheses). When you open the folder with this shortcut, you'll see links to all the files you've worked on since the last time you purged the list.
I regularly delete dead links and files that I'm unlikely to access again. I also click either the Name or the Date Modified column heading on the right side to sort the shortcuts. To make the folder even easier to use, right-click the Name field and uncheck Type and Size; both of these are unnecessary categories in this folder since all its entries are 1KB shortcuts. And for a cool applet to limit the types of files that this folder lists, download Lincoln Spector's cleanup batch file.
Explorer's Vanishing Task Pane
The Annoyance: The task pane on the left side of Windows XP's folder windows is filled with terrific links and wizards. I used to click the Close button (the "X") in the upper-right corner of the Search or Folders pane to reveal the task pane; but when I did this in the My Network Places folder, the task pane was a no-show.
The Fix: My bad on this one. Seems I had accidentally changed my Folders view back to that of Windows 98 (or "classic"). It's an easy mistake to make, but it's also easy to correct: Select Tools, Folder Options, and choose Show common tasks in folders on the General tab. Click OK, and the left pane of the folder window will once again display those luscious (and valuable) links to common folder tasks and other desirable spots on your PC.
The Fast Track to File Paths
The Annoyance: Copying a folder's path and name to paste into an e-mail message or a file-save dialog box is unduly difficult.
The Fix: A fast alternative is to open Windows Explorer, navigate to and select the folder in question, click the Address bar to highlight it, and press <Ctrl>-C. Voila! The path is in your Clipboard. You say that your Address bar isn't showing? Select View, Toolbars, Address Bar.
Missing Quick Launch Toolbars
The Annoyance: During a lengthy session with Windows Explorer, I somehow deleted the Quick Launch toolbar and at first couldn't figure out how to get it back.
The Fix: I still haven't determined why Quick Launch pulls the occasional disappearing act, but retrieving it is a snap: Right-click a free space of the taskbar (you may have to drag it up to make room) and choose Toolbars, Quick Launch.
Bonus tip: To stop yellow file info pop-ups, open Windows Explorer, select Tools, Folder Options, View, and uncheck Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items.
Reload Start-Up Programs Without Restarting
The Annoyance: I accidentally closed a program in the system tray, and suddenly I couldn't find the program on my Start menu. Doubly annoying: The program would load when I booted, so rebooting seemed to be the only way to get it running again.
The Fix: Click Start,Programs (All Programs in Windows XP),Startup. Chances are good that a shortcut to your program is listed on that menu. Just click it, and the program starts going again. What? The program's not there? Don't fret: Select Start,Programs [All Programs in XP],Accessories,System Tools,System Information. In the left pane of the System Information dialog box, double-click Software Environment and select Startup Programs. The right pane will list all the programs that run at start-up. (Scary, isn't it?) You should find the program you're looking for in this list. Select it and press <Ctrl>-C to copy the entire line.
It would be nice if System Information let you copy just the command you need, but no: You must take the whole line or nothing. And if you use Windows 2000, you can't press <Ctrl>-C to copy the line, so instead right-click it, select Save As Text File, type restart (or the name of your choice) in the 'File name' field, and click Save. Open the text file you just created, press <Ctrl>-A to select the text, and press <Ctrl>-C to copy it.
Now click Start,Run and press <Ctrl>-V to paste the line into the Run dialog box's Open field. Delete all the text before and after the command itself, and press Enter. The program should reload, and its system tray icon should reappear.
To fix some annoyances, you need block-busting utilities--and I have a set of free de-annoyifiers you're gonna love. Visit "Fix Your Worst PC Annoyances" for the downloads.
Zip between IE windows: When you're in hyperbrowse mode, with three different apps and five or more sessions of Internet Explorer open, clicking <Alt>-<Tab> moves you through all of 'em. Brett Bartholomew's free IEScroll is like having <Alt>-<Tab> just for IE. Install IEScroll and then press the <Scroll Lock> key to jump to the next open Internet Explorer window.
Edit read-only image files: When you copy a bunch of photos to a CD, the file attribute changes to Read-Only--a big annoyance when you copy the files back to your hard drive for editing. David Crowell's free CROA tool lets you right-click the folder and choose Clear Read-Only Attributes.
IE proxy stand-in: When you take your notebook on the road, having to fiddle with Internet Explorer's proxy settings before connecting to a client's LAN or to a hotel's Internet connection is annoying. The solution is ProxyPal, a free IE add-on that lets you toggle your browser's proxy on and off. For the proxy change to take effect, you have to close and reopen Internet Explorer.
Hard copy of your MP3 playlists: Suppose that you want to e-mail a list of your MP3s to a friend as a text message. Instead of copying and pasting each file name separately into a text editor, use PrintFolder, a free utility whose sole purpose is to save or print a list of files from any folder.
Play that Flash: If you've ever enjoyed playing a Macromedia Flash movie on a Web site, you know how difficult playing it again or sharing it with friends can be. Grab a copy of the free Flash Movie Extract Pilot program; it automatically finds the Flash files in your Internet cache, plays them, and saves them in the folder of your choice. And see "Dry Video Streams" for a great tip on saving your streaming video files for replay.
