End hanged programs with a mouse click

Windows XP, Vista, 7

A program has crashed and is
blocking several other processes.
Normally, the only way out is to use the
Task Manager and end all programs
individually by confirming
in each case.

The ‘taskkill’ command can be used to generate a

tool for automatically ending hanged processes.

You can end programs without
any query in the command line, using
the ‘taskkill’ command. It even off ers
other options. For instance, it can fi rst
determine all the programs that are not
reacting anymore and only end those. If
you create a shortcut, you can save the
necessary options along with it. Rightclick
on a free spot on the desktop and
select the context command ‘New |
Shortcut’. Enter the following command
in the input field: taskkill /F /F1
“STATUS eq NOT RESPONDING” and
click ‘Continue’.
The first option ‘/F’ compels the
processes to end while ‘/F1’ activates
the following fi lter. This fi lter verifi es the
status of all processes and reports those
with the message ‘NOT RESPONDING’
instead of ‘RUNNING’. Provide the
shortcut with a suitable name such as
‘Ending hanged programs’ and click
‘Finish’. You can subsequently even assign
another icon using the context command
‘Properties’. In the future, calling this
shortcut will suffice for ending all
processes that have crashed.
CAUTION: Make sure that you do not lose
the saved application data. Always try to
wait for a response and end the program
in the regular manner.

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Start system tools without annoying user account queries

Windows Vista, 7

The security query every time you start

a system tool like Regedit is annoying.

Although the User Account Control can

generally be deactivated, this stops

Windows from warning you before

starting unknown programs.

Calling system tools via the Task Scheduler helps

avoid the annoying security query.

You can avoid the annoying
security query with a trick. Arrange for
an indirect program start using task
scheduling. Subsequently, start the
scheduled task using a shortcut which
then does not trigger off a User Account
Control, although this security mechanism
remains active for all other programs.
Click on ‘Start | Control
Panel | System and Security
| Administrative Tools | Task
Scheduler’. Confirm the User Account
Control query. Click ‘Create Task’ in the
actions pane towards the right. Enter the
name of the task in the ‘General’ tab.
Activate the ‘Run with highest privileges’
option shown below. Then switch to the
‘Actions’ tab and click ‘New’. Select ‘Start
Program’ and click ‘Browse’ to navigate
to the desired program. You can also
directly enter the call with the complete
path, for e.g. ‘C:\Windows\regedit.exe’.
Confirm with ‘OK’ and switch to the
‘Conditions’ tab. Here, deactivate all the
set options and confirm the dialog box
with ‘OK’. In the future, you will also find
this task in the list under ‘Task Scheduler
Library’.
Now, create yet another shortcut
for directly starting the task. For this,

and select the context command ‘New |
Shortcut’. Type the following in the input
field: C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.
exe /RUN /TN ??
For ‘??’, use the name that you have
assigned to the previously defined task.
Both the parameters ensure that the
named task is immediately executed.
Click ‘Continue’ and provide the shortcut
with a suitable, preferably short name
such as ‘regx’. Click ‘Finish’.
If you start the Registry Editor using
this shortcut in the future, there is no
annoying User Account Control query.
This method can also be used for other
programs.

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The online storage service is not just for developers. You can use it as a cheap online backup location for all your important files.

Amazon S3
Back up data using an
affordable cloud service

Amazon S3 is an online storage service where you

only pay for the space you use.

If you are looking for a simple,
inexpensive online Web storage service,
opt for Amazon S3. Contrary to the
popular belief, this service from Amazon
is not just for developers. It is equally
useful for home users. It can be used to
store your data like music fi les, videos,
pictures etc or you can use it to back up
your local hard drive. Instead of folders,
there are buckets in which you can store
your fi les. You have to select a region
where you wish to store the bucket.
Amazon S3 is available in US Standard,
EU (Ireland), US West (Northern
California), Asia Pacifi c (Singapore), and
Asia Pacifi c (Tokyo) regions. Select the
region closest to you so that you can
save time and minimize cost. You can
retrieve the fi les saved in the bucket via a
unique developer assigned key. Amazon
S3 is also very cost eff ective, as it
functions on the policy that you pay only
for what you consume.

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Adjust font size in the Firefox menu

FireFox

Adjust font size in the Firefox
menu

UserChrome.css allows you to change font sizes in

the Firefox interface.

You can increase the font size
of the file menu items and reduce
the font size of the bookmarks if you
fi nd it to be too large. Firefox uses the
Windows default settings, so you could
increase the DPI value of the system font
size. Alternatively, you can customize
the required settings by creating a
'userChrome.css' file instead. You can
find the sample file at ‘C:\Documents and
Settings\<User Name>\Application Data\
Mozilla\Firefox\Profi les\j53h8g9g.default\
chrome'. For example, to set the font size
to 20 px for all elements of the Firefox
interface, add the line '* {font-size: 20pt
!important}'. You can also edit individual
elements, but for that, you will have to
locate the correct CSS selectors. For
more samples of CSS codes, visit : http://
www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html

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Use hardware graphic acceleration now

Chrome 7

Google aspires to boost browser
performance with the help of GPU
acceleration sometime in the future.
But is that possible even now? Adding
a parameter in the command link
of Chrome ensures faster graphical
output.

Enabling GPU acceleration provides improved

graphical performance in Google Chrome.

                         The integration of GPU 
acceleration in Chromehas been set for
version 9 of the browser. However, the
initial steps are already implemented
and can be used in Chrome 7 as well.
You can activate it with a command line

parameter. For this, close Chrome and
right-click on its shortcut on the desktop.
Select ‘Properties’ from the context
menu and activate the ‘Shortcut’ tab.
Add a space after the contents in the
‘Target’ text box and add the parameter
‘--‘-enable-accelerated-compositing’.
Click ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’ to close the
dialog box.
The processor of the graphic card
supports rendering the websites once
you reload the browser. Depending on
the computer confi guration, you can get
added speed when displaying websites
with complex graphical content.

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Configure multifunctional homepage

Chrome 4.x onwards

In Chrome, the automatically generated
selection for new tabs is really
practical. Still, you can customize the
homepage in the browser for quick
selection and other functions. A free
Chrome extension called Incredible
Startpage helps you confi gure your
Chrome homepage.

Incredible Startpage allows you to customize the

Google Chrome homepage.

You can customize Chrome to your
liking with the free Incredible Startpage
extension, which you can easily fi nd
online. Once you reach the extensions
page, confirm the installation and allow

access to personal data by clicking
‘Install’. Now open a new tab. To the left,
you will see a list of the last closed tabs
as well as the bookmarks. To the right,
the large fi eld off ers a quick selection for
a specifi c folder of bookmarks. To change
the displayed contents, navigate to the
desired bookmark folder, and click ‘Show
as main’ button at the base of the dialog.
Other bookmarks can also be added to
the right via drag-and-drop.

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Customize the Office Menu to your liking.

Office 2010

The Offi ce Menu 2010 off ers many

features, but often not where you want

it. However, you can customize the

menu to your style of working.

 

From version 2010 onwards,
you can set up the menu in all Offi ce
applications individually. To do so, open
‘File | Options’ and click on ‘Customize
Ribbon’ from the options displayed on
the left.
You can even customize the standard
commands to a certain extent. To do so,
select ‘All Tabs’ in both the combo-box
sets. The section ‘Main Tab’ defi nes the
available tabs. Individual commands
are organized into groups and to display

You can add, remove and rearrange menu items in

the Office ribbon with ease.

them, click on the plus sign in front of
the relevant tabs. You can then move the
selected group by a simple drag-and anddrop
action. But before that, you will have
to create a new group, as you cannot
add a command to the existing groups.
Creating a new group is fairly simple; all
you have to do is right-click at the desired
place and then click on ‘New Group’. You
can even rename the group that you have created. For example, in Excel, the
group ‘Macros’ is in the tab ‘View’. For
immediate access, you can move this to
the ‘Start’ tab.

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Define specific cells as per the maximum value

Microsoft Excel
You want to display the content of one
result cell in another which is to the
left of the relevant maximum value of
a specifi c data fi eld in the table sheet.



This task can be carried out using
a combination of three simple functions.
The functions are used in one single
formula. Just imagine: The fi elds “B1” to
“B4” contain four numbers. If the largest
number is in “B3”, the result cell should
return the value from “A3”. For this, enter
the formula given here:
=INDEX(A1:A4,
MATCH(MAX(B1:B4),B1:B4,0),1)
“MAX(B1:B4) fi rst identifi es the largest
value from the data set. This value serves
as a search criterion for the comparison
that is extended to the search matrix
“B1:B4”. With the comparison type “0”,
the function identifi es the position of the
fi rst value from the search matrix that is
identical to the search criteria.
The matrix variant of the “INDEX”
function then uses the searched value
from the value matrix “A1:A4” that is
located in the fi rst column of the row
defi ned by the comparison.

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Display hidden data on the server

Filezilla

An FTP client normally shows no

hidden fi les on the connected server

whose name starts with a leading

point. However, if you need to access a

file with the name ‘. htaccess’, the FTP

client Filezilla can be forced to display

the hidden files on the server.

One simple option can gives you access to hidden

files in Filezilla.

If you want to see the hidden files
on the connected server, you can easily
do so by a simple click. If you are using
version 3.x, select ‘Server’ from the menu
bar, click the option ‘Force show hidden
fi les’. If you are using version 2.x instead,
go to ‘View’. Here you will fi nd the option
to show hidden files.

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Create e-mail signatures with text and images

Thunderbird

Instead of a signature that just
contains the sender details, it’s
possible to create a sophisticated
signature with an image or logo.

Signatures with logos lend your emails a more

professional feel.

Thunderbird supports text-based
signatures, but if you need images to
go with your signature, you will have to
code it as an HTML fi le. You can use the
Word editor to arrange your image and
text settings. Save the fi le as a webpage.
Next, open Thunderbird, ‘Tools | Account
Settings’. Next, select the e-mail account
to add the signature. Now, select the
‘attach the signature from a fi le instead’
and select the created HTML fi le. For this
to work, make sure that the messages
are being sent in HTML format. To enable,
click on ‘Composition & Addressing’ on
the left. Enable the ‘write messages in
HTML format’ option and click OK.If your image is not showing up in the
signature, you will have to convert the
image to base64 strings. The process
converts the image into its original
base code that can be incorporated
into an HTML fi le. To convert the image,
go to http://webcodertools.com/
imagetobase64converter. Load the
image, and replace the image in the
HTML fi le with the contents appearing
in the Image tag text box, and save the
fi le. The image will then appear in your
selected signature.

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Install new fonts and manage them centrally

Windows 7 has a wide range of fonts
but they are still not enough for some
users. Unfortunately, a command for
installing more fonts is not available in
the font folder at first glance.

Simplify font management with Windows' own

built-in tools.

In order to configure fonts, click
‘Appearance and Personalization’ in the
Control Panel and then ‘Fonts’. In this
view, every entry already has a mini
preview of the relevant font.
There are several options for installing
new font types. It is usually enough to
copy the new font fi le into the folder ‘C:\
Windows\Fonts’. The disadvantage of
this method is that only the fi le name
and not the font name is later displayed
in applications. It is thus better to select
one of the following procedures: Open
the folder with the desired font fi le in
Windows Explorer. Right click the fi le
entry and select the context command
‘Install’. Even the preview window of the
font type which opens on double clicking
has an ‘Install’ button. A click on it
integrates the font into the system.
The other option is to open the Fonts
folder and press [Alt]. Windows then
displays the menu bar. Click ‘New Font’
in the ‘File’ menu, navigate to where the
new font is saved and open the fi le.
You can also uninstall fonts via the ‘Fonts’ folder, for example, using
the context menu command ‘Delete’.
System-relevant ones are an exception.
Today’s computers are so potent that
system performance is not aff ected even
if a lot of fonts are installed.
If you just want to reduce the number
fonts displayed in the selection lists,
you can simply deactivate the unused
ones. These then continue to be in the
system but cannot be used. For this, right
click the entry and select the context
command ‘Hide’. You can reactivate the
font at a later time using the context
command ‘Show’. But unfortunately,
not all programs respect this option.
Microsoft Offi ce 2010 continues to display
all fonts.

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Display the month or day for a specific date

Excel 2003, 2007, 2010

You want to define the month or the

day for a specific date automatically in

a work sheet.

The “TEXT()” formula converts dates and times in

Excel cells into different text outputs.

Use the Excel function “TEXT()”.
It converts numeric values into text
outputs. Excel internally saves a date as
a numeric value. You can infl uence the
text output using the formatting sign and
can for instance determine the week day
for a particular date. The function has
two parameters: the numeric value to be
converted and the formatting sign with
inverted commas on both sides.

An example explains the process:
the “A1” cell has a date. You now want to display the week day for this date
in the adjoining cell “B1”. For this, enter
the following formula in the “B1” cell: -
TEXT(A1, “tttt”)
The formatting sign “tttt” coverts the
specifi ed date into a week day. If you only
require an abbreviation of the week day,
you can use the “ttt” format, for instance.
The time can be displayed in the 12-hour
format with an identifi er for mornings
(am) and afternoons (pm). For this, add
the desired identifi er “AM/PM”, “am/
pm”, “A/P” or “a/p” after the time format,
separated by a space.
These diff erent formatting signs
can also be combined. If, for instance,
you want to display the exact time
without the seconds, you can use
=TEXT(A1,“hh:mm”).
If the time is in the 24-hour format,
and Excel needs to display it in a 12-hour
format, then you can use =TEXT(A1, "hh.
mm am/pm"). The table (above) lists
the possible formatting signs and their
functions for date and time output.
Pay attention to the upper and lower
cases here.

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Define the actual folders hidden behind shortcuts

From Vista onwards, specifi c
folders seem exist for the sake of
compatibility, but actually redirect
to other real folders. This messes up
scripts and batch files you’ve written
yourself.

Backward compatibility is maintained through

logical shortcuts called Junction Points.

These shortcuts, called junction
points, exist throughout Windows.
For example, programs can try to
save data to the old ‘Documents and
Settings’ folder, but will be seamlessly
redirected to the applicable new ‘Users’
folder. The operating system however
hides this persistently. Attempts to
access the junction points directly
(Windows displays them if you enable
the display of the system fi les via the
folder options) are aborted with an
error message. And another stumbling
block is that real folder names need
to be used in scripts or batch files.
Else, they hang during execution.
The free tool NTFSLinks-View provides
help. It lists the active junctions in the
system. Download the program from
www.nirsoft.net/utils/ntfs_links_view.
html. The tool ‘nftslinksview.exe’ can
immediately be started. The program lists
all active junctions in the folder of your
user profi le.
In the ‘Target Path’ column, it displays
the relevant real folder which the junction
controls in the ‘Full Path’ column. Right
click an entry and select the context
command ‘Open Target Path’ to open
this target folder in Explorer.
In order to check other directories,
enter the folder in the input fi eld, e.g. ‘C’
and click ‘Go’. Use the key combination
[Ctrl]+[A] to select all entries and then
‘Save’ them to a text fi le using ‘File I Save
selected items’.

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Add data types to hard drive cleaning

Hard drive cleaning helps in tracking
trash on the system. Unfortunately, the
functionality is restricted to predefi ned
fi le types.

You can add more data types
for this function to clean out. For this,
right click a free place on the desktop
and select ‘New | Shortcut’. Enter the
following command in the ‘Item location’
input field:
C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe
/c cleanmgr /sageset:4711 &
cleanmgr /sagerun:4711
and confi rm with ‘Next’. On the second
page, define a name for the new link

such as ‘Hard drive cleaning selection’.
Then click ‘Finish’. If you use this link to
run the Disk Cleanup utility in the future,
you will see more entries such as ‘Old
CHKDSK fi les’, ‘Setup log fi les’, ‘System
error memory dump files’ and ‘Log files
for Windows Upgrades’ for selection.
The command behind this link makes
Windows call up the hard drive cleaning
utility ‘cleanmgr.exe’ twice, with diff erent
start options. First with ‘/sageset’ and
then with ‘sagerun’. The number after the
start options must always be identical
and must be between 1 and 65535.
The option ‘sageset’ results in

Additional options for cleaning up disk space can

be revealed.

The option ‘sageset’ results in
Windows opening the ‘Settings for
cleaning the hard drive’ dialog box in
which the drive cleaning settings can be
configured. The system then saves this
confi guration in the registry under the
specifi ed number. The option ‘/sagerun’
then executes the confi guration saved
under the specified number.

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Hide unused libraries in Windows Explorer

The Libraries function in Windows
7 help in structuring data. But a lot
of users still prefer the conventional
folder structure.



In such a case, you can hide
the libraries and thus make space for
displaying more folders. For this, right
click the fi rst library ‘Pictures’ and select
the context command ‘Do not display
in navigation fi eld’. Repeat this step for
all other unused libraries. In order to
display individual entries again, click
‘Libraries’ in Explorer. Then right click the
desired element and select the context
command ‘Display in navigation fi eld’.
The main entry ‘Libraries’ cannot be
deleted so easily. To do this, a detour

Reduce clutter by hiding unnecessary Library

targets from the Explorer pane.

via the registry is necessary. Type
‘regedit’ in the search fi eld of the Start
menu, press Enter, and confi rm the
user account control prompt by clicking
‘Yes’. Now navigate to the key ‘HKEY_
LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
Desktop\NameSpace’. Then select the
sub-key ‘{O31E48257B94-4dc3-B131-
E946B44C8DD5}’ and open ‘File | Export’.
Then select a safe storage location, enter
a fi le name such as ‘Explorerlibraries’
and click ‘Save’. This is to back up the
entry. Then simply delete the subkey
in the Registry Editor and confi rm with
‘Yes’. Now close the registry and restart
Windows Explorer. A system restart is
not required.
In order to display the libraries again,
double click the exported REG fi le and
confi rm the requests for user account
control and adding values into the
registry with ‘Yes’. The libraries will be
visible once again the next time you start
Explorer.

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Switch between applications quickly with Apple’s Exposé function

When you fl ick the cursor to a specifi c
corner of the monitor, Exposé shows
thumbnails of all active programs
minimised on the desktop. You
can then quickly switch to another
application – but only on Mac OS X.



The tool SmallWindows equips
Windows with the practical Exposé
functionality of Mac OS X. SmallWindows
has two functions: It either minimizes
all windows so that it is easy to toggle
between applications, or it moves all
windows to the screen border so that you
get a free view of the desktop. You can
download it from http://smallwindows.
sourceforge.net. A wizard guides you
through the setup. Under Vista and
Windows 7, you need to authorize the
installation by selecting a user account
with administrator rights and entering the
relevant password if needed.
At the time of the fi rst start, confi gure
the program asks whether Windows
should automatically load it during
startup so that it is at your disposal
immediately, so confi rm the query
with ‘Yes’. After the start, a new icon
is displayed in the system notifi cation
area. Right click it and select the context

Add the cool Exposé feature to Windows XP with

this simple free tool

command ‘Settings’ to open the dialog
box for confi guring the application.
Here you can also deactivate the
automatic start during system start by
removing the checkmark on ‘Start when
Windows starts’.
The hot zones are the four corners of
the desktop via which you can activate
SmallWindows. For every hot zone,
defi ne a reaction using the relevant fi eld.
In case of all ‘All’, Windows displays all
the open programs in one minimized
view. You can select a program with
just a click and bring it into foreground.
You can deactivate the function with
‘None’. ‘Desktop’ moves all windows to
the screen border and gives a free view
of the desktop. ‘Related’ minimizes the
current program. This function is however
of no use otherwise. In addition to fl icking
the mouse, you can also defi ne key
combinations for individual functions via
‘Hotkey Activation’.

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Get a constant overview of several time zones

When making a call to another country

such as the USA, you don’t want to

inadvertently wake someone up in

the middle of the night. But this can

actually happen if you do not pay

attention to the time diff erence.

Additional clocks can be placed in the system tray

to help you work better with international clients.

Windows provides help in

displaying several time zones. Click

the clock to the right of the taskbar.

A window with an analog clock and a

calendar is displayed. Use the ‘Change

Date and Time Settings’ link in this

window. The ‘Date and Time’ dialog box

opens. Activate the ‘Additional times’

tab in it. This tab can be opened via the

control panel as well as via the ‘Time,Language and Region’ and ‘Add times for

diff erent time zones’.

Alternatively, in the classic view of

the Control Panel, double click ‘Date

and Time’ and activate the ‘Additional

Times’ tab. You can defi ne up to two

more time zones that Windows then

displays near the analog clock with the

local time. For this, there are two ‘Display

this time’ fi elds in the ‘Additional Times’

tab. Checkmark the heading to activate

the fi eld. You can then select ‘Select time

zone’ and ‘Enter display name’ with the

help of which you can later identify the

time zone. The country name would be

an ideal entry. Repeat these settings for

the third time if required and confi rm

with ‘OK’.

Now after clicking the taskbar clock,

Windows will show both additional time

zones. If you simply hover the cursor over

the time, a small tooltip with the current

date and the various times is displayed.

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