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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