July 2008
Media Notes
Bill PetittBelieve it or not, half the year is behind us. Time flies doesn’t it? Following are several items that might be useful to you and yours.
As I’ve been using Vista for over 2 years now, I’ve discovered a handful of useful tricks that I use every day to make things a bit easier. In this month’s article, I thought I would pass on some of these tricks.
By the way, it looks like Windows XP will still be available after the end of June. You will just have to look for it. Even Dell has announced that certain models of their XPS series desktops will be shipped with XP until sometime next year. But, it looks like you will have to also buy a copy of Vista Business Premium or Ultimate, too. All the disks, including drivers, will ship with your new machine.
Instantly access Task Manager
As you know, in Windows XP, you can press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del] and instantly get to Task Manager. In Windows Vista, that same keystroke combination will blank your display and display a full screen menu from which you can launch Task Manager.
In order to get directly to Task Manager in Windows Vista, you need to press [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Esc].
Toggle Aero off and on
As you know, Aero is the fancy visual interface in Windows Vista that features the transparent glass design with cool window colors and neat animations. However, there are times when you may want to disable Aero to improve system responsiveness. For example, some games or other graphics-intensive applications may perform better with Aero disabled. Fortunately, you can easily do so with a shortcut.
To begin, right-click anywhere on the desktop and select the New | Shortcut command from the context menu. When the Create Shortcut wizard appears, type:
Rundll32 dwmApi #104in the text box, as shown in Figure C, and click Next. Then, name the shortcut Turn Aero Off and click Finish.
Figure C
Create this shortcut to turn Aero off.
You can then create a second shortcut to re-enable Aero. To do so, launch the Create Shortcut wizard again and this time type:
Rundll32 dwmApi #102
in the text box. Name this shortcut Turn Aero On and click Finish.
Keep in mind that when you turn Aero off, the process will happen without any fanfare. However, when you turn Aero back on, the screen will blink momentarily as Windows readjusts the screen display.
Using Shell command shortcuts
While you can use Explorer, the Control Panel, or the Start menu to access key features in Windows Vista, sometimes a shortcut can be more useful. Hidden underneath the Windows Vista architecture are a whole host of special shortcuts known as Shell commands. To use a Shell command, all you need to do is press [Windows]+R to access the Run dialog box and then enter the word Shell followed by a colon (:) and then command as in:
Shell:command
As you can see there are no spaces between the word Shell and the colon and the command — it is essentially one word.
While there are close to 100 Shell commands, not all of them are very useful. As such, I won’t actually list them. I’ll just discuss the ones that I find most useful in everyday situations first and then I’ll list the other ones that I find occasionally useful.
Keep in mind that not all of these Shell commands will work in all versions of Windows Vista.
Most useful Shell commands
shell:ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder - opens the Programs and Features (Add/Remove Programs) window.
shell:Sendto - opens the SendTo folder so that you can easily add more locations to the Send To list.
shell:Common Administrative Tools - opens the Administrative Tools menu as a folder
shell:Desktop - opens the Desktop as a folder.
shell:Downloads - opens your Downloads folder.
shell:Quick Launch - opens the Quick Launch folder.
shell:Searches - opens the Search folder showing all your saved searches.
The other useful Shell commands
shell:AppUpdatesFolder - opens the Installed Windows Updates location in Program and Files.
shell:Cache - opens Internet Explorer’s temporary Internet files folder.
shell:CD Burning - opens the folder where Windows Vista temporarily stores files to be burned to a CD.
shell:Common Desktop - opens the Public User’s Desktop folder.
shell:Common Documents - opens the Public User’s Documents folder.
shell:Common Programs - opens the Start menu shortcuts folder.
shell:Common Start Menu - opens the Start Menu as a folder.
shell:Common Startup - opens the Startup folder.
shell:Common Templates - opens the Templates folder.
shell:CommonDownloads - opens the Public User’s Downloads folder.
shell:CommonMusic - opens the Public User’s Music folder.
shell:CommonPictures - opens the Public User’s Pictures folder.
shell:CommonVideo - opens the Public User’s Video folder.
shell:ConflictFolder - opens the Sync Center Conflicts folder.
shell:ConnectionsFolder - opens the Network Connections folder.
shell:Contacts - opens your Contacts folder.
shell:ControlPanelFolder - opens the Control Panel.
shell:Cookies - opens the cookies folder
shell:Favorites - opens your Favorites folder.
shell:Fonts - opens Vista’s Fonts folder.
shell:Gadgets - opens your Windows Sidebar Gadgets folder.
shell:History - opens the Internet Explorer history folder.
shell:InternetFolder - opens Internet Explorer.
shell:Links - opens your Links folder location.
shell:MyMusic - opens your Music folder.
shell:MyPictures - opens your Pictures folder.
shell:MyVideo - opens your Video folder.
shell:MyComputerFolder - opens Computer window.
shell:NetHood - opens Network Shortcuts folder.
shell:NetworkPlacesFolder - opens the Network Places location.
shell:Original Images - opens Windows Photo Gallery Original Images folder.
shell:Personal - opens your Documents folder.
shell:PhotoAlbums - opens your Slide Show folder.
shell:Playlists - opens your Playlists folder.
shell:PrintersFolder - opens Printers in the Control Panel.
shell:Profile - opens your main folder.
shell:ProgramFiles - opens the Program Files folder.
shell:Public - opens the Public User folder.
shell:Recent - opens the Recent Items folder.
shell:RecycleBinFolder - opens the Recycle Bin folder.
shell:Start Menu - opens the Start Menu folder.
shell:Startup - opens the Startup folder
shell:System - opens the System32 folder location.
shell:Templates - opens the Templates folder location.
shell:UserProfiles - opens the Users folder.
shell:UsersFilesFolder - opens your main folder.
shell:Windows - opens the Windows folder.
Symantec tool fixes registry corruption caused by their security products on SP3
Symantec first blamed Microsoft and then admitted to at least partial responsibility for the problem of corrupted registries on XP computers when Service Pack 3 was installed. This is the one that makes Device Manager appear to be empty and/or causes your wireless NICs to not show up. Now they've released a utility to fix the problem. You can download it here:
T-Mobile Sues Starbucks Over Wi-Fi
T-Mobile is suing Starbucks for marketing a new Wi-Fi service with AT&T, charging the coffee giant with breech of contract.
T-Mobile claims that Starbucks agreed not to advertise Wi-Fi services from AT&T in its stores in any given market until the entire market had switched its stores from T-Mobile to AT&T. T-Mobile had an exclusive deal to provide Wi-Fi in Starbucks stores, dating back to 2002, but earlier this year Starbucks signed a deal with AT&T to take over the Wi-Fi service in the coffee shops.
However, Starbucks and AT&T have begun marketing a new Wi-Fi Service in all Starbucks stores, even though so far stores in only two markets, Bakersfield, California, and San Antonio, Texas, have fully switched to AT&T, the lawsuit alleges.
On June 3, when Starbucks launched the promotion that offered two hours of free Wi-Fi access from AT&T in its stores to users of a new affinity card, so many people tried to sign up that they overwhelmed Starbucks' Web site, the coffee company said.
As part of a transition agreement, T-Mobile and AT&T also agreed to provide Wi-Fi services to each others' existing customers in coffee shops, without charging each other for the access, the lawsuit says. But Starbucks started advertising the new Wi-Fi service through AT&T on a nationwide basis, and since T-Mobile still operates the bulk of the coffee shops, T-Mobile is currently offering access to users of the new promotion without compensation, it said. "Since T-Mobile provides the resources and equipment to support Wi-Fi services in non-transitioned stores, it is T-Mobile alone that is bearing the cost and burden associated with this 'free' Wi-Fi offer," it said in the filing.
T-Mobile is claiming loss of revenue and reputation due to the new promotion, and is looking for damages and for Starbucks to comply with its agreements with T-Mobile.
Neither Starbucks nor AT&T addressed questions about the allegations in the suit, but they both issued similar statements. "Our goal is to ensure Wi-Fi access at all Starbucks locations," Starbucks said.
AT&T added that its goal was to ensure Starbucks Wi-Fi access for its qualified high-speed Internet customers, as well as Starbucks Loyalty Card customers. Both said they have taken steps to ensure that the access will continue.
The lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York.Free image editor for Vista
Many Windows users complain that unlike its Linux and Mac competitors, Vista doesn't have a very good "out of the box" image editor. Paint has been around for many years, with only small improvements. Windows Photo Gallery lets you do some basic image editing (adjusting brightness and color saturation, cropping, etc.) but it's pretty limited. Neither supports layers, lets you sharpen photos or contains much in the way of special effects. Sure, you can get PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro but that will cost you from one to several hundred dollars. If you need more than you get with the built-in tools but not the complexity and sophistication of the expensive commercial ones, check out Paint.NET, a free image editor that works great on Vista. You can read about it here:
http://www.getpaint.net/index.htmlWell, I think I’ll send this on in to our editor. Hopefully something really exciting in the computing world will be announced before I write next month’s column.
