All PC Tips

In Windows, when you right click on any object, you will see a context sensitive shortcut menu. When you select any file or directory in Windows Explorer and right click, you will see ‘Send To‘ option. Most of us do not use this option effectively. In this article let us see how we can use this “Send To” feature effectively in Windows.

By default, the ‘Send To’ will have a ‘Floppy drive’, ‘Mail recipient’, ‘Fax recipient’ etc. But what if you want to add another drive (for example, your thumb drive) in addition to floppy drive so that you can send any file or folder directly to your thumb drive.

Let us assume that your thumb drive is assigned letter H: and you want to add this drive H to your ‘Send To’ menu. Here are the steps to achieve this.

1. Right click on ‘Start’ and select ‘Explore’.
2. Now scroll down to the ‘Windows/Send To’ folder in your Windows Explorer. If you are using Windows XP then you will have to set your ‘Folder options’ to ‘Show hidden files and folders’. To enable this click on ‘Tools’ menu and select ‘Folder’. Then click on the ‘View’ tab and select the ‘Show hidden files and folders’ and click ‘OK’. Choose the ‘Documents and settings\username’ folder. Note that this username is your name.
3. Now in this ‘Send To’ menu you can delete unwanted shortcuts. Here you can add any other shortcut you want to add. You can do so by dragging the shortcut icon and dropping it here. For example you want to add ‘Notepad’ application here. Then you can just create a shortcut to Notepad here or search for the ‘notepad.exe’ file and drag and drop a shortcut here. After you create this shortcut you can select any text file later and right click and select this notepad to open that file in notepad automatically.

You can also add a folder to this ‘Send To’ menu. To add a folder to the shortcut menu follow these steps.

1. Right click ‘Start’ and select ‘Explore’
2. Goto ‘Windows\Send to\ folder. If you are using Windows XP then follow the steps given above to goto the send to folder in XP.
3. Now in your windows explorer, right click the thumb drive (eg. H:\Removable disk) and drag and drop it to the ‘Send To’ folder.
4. You will see a new menu with many options. Choose the ‘Create shortcut’ option to create a shortcut to this drive. From now on you can right click on any file and directly send to your thumb drive.

Windows XP stands for Windows eXPerience. Sometimes you may experience strange things while using Windows XP. An allpctips member faced this problem.

She installed a new software in her computer. After the installation windows prompted ‘You have to restart your computer’, so she clicked on the ‘Yes’ button to restart the computer. But instead of rebooting, she only saw the infamous blue screen with some STOP errors.

Just as everyone else does, she restarted again and again in the hope that Windows XP will somehow restart successfully but she kept seeing the blue screen. After much frustration and a coffee, she remembered the ‘startup menu in windows‘ and restarted again. This time she pressed F8 to enter into the startup menu.

In the startup menu, she chose the ‘Safe mode’ thinking everything will be fine now. But to her surprise she still saw the blue screen again. Luckily for her, she remembered there are other options in the startup menu.

So she pressed the F8 key again and entered into the startup menu once again. This time instead of choosing safe mode, she chose ‘using the last known good configuration’ option in the startup menu. Hoooray, The computer started like a gem without any problems.

Therefore When you see the infamous blue screen at startup, before you decide to format your hard disk, try the ‘Using the last known good configuration’ from the startup menu.

While using computers, many functions are accomplished by pressing two keys together. For example when you press Ctrl + C, you can copy the selected text. But many people find it difficult to press two keys together. That is, they will just press the second key, which means when they press the second key they will release the first key.

For these people, Windows provides a solution. Even whey you press the two keys with a gap in between, you can configure windows to consider as if you pressed them together. This feature is called ‘Sticky keys‘. To enable sticky keys in Windows follow these steps.

1. Select Start->Settings->Control Panel
2. Click on the ‘Accessibility Options’.
3. Then select ‘Keyboard’ and then select the ‘Use Sticky Keys’ check box.
4. Then click on ‘OK’.

From now on you can press Ctrl + C or any other dual keys one by one but windows will take it as pressing together.

Just pressing the windows key alone will show the ‘start’ menu. But you can also use this key for many other shortcuts when combining this key with another letter. Here are the list of windows key shortcuts.

• Win key + R : To open ‘Run’ box in Start Menu
• Win key + F : To ‘Find’ window in Start menu
• Win key + E : To open Windows Explorer
• Win key + Pause/Break : To open System Properties
• Win key + M : All open windows will be minimised
• Win key + Shift + M : All minimised windows will open
• Win key + D : Will show all minimised windows
• Win key + Tab: Will rotate and select programs in the task bar

There are two messenger services available for Windows and Internet users. They are Windows Messenger Service and Instant Messaging.

Instant Messenger is used to chat, call, share files, video conference, send SMS messages between two internet users.

Windows Messenger is used to just send messages between two users in the network.

This article is about Windows Messenger Service not about Instant messaging. We will discuss how we can stop the Windows Messenger Service that can be really troublesome at times.

Is Windows Messenger Service problematic?

Yes. A total stranger can use Windows Messenger Service to send you a message. When you are seriously engaged in your work, a pop window will suddently appear in your window. You will see the message sent by the stranger. The title bar of the pop window will show ‘Messenger Service’.

Users of Windows 98/ME/2000/NT/XP will have this Windows Messenger Service. The person who send these messages over internet may not even know who you are. Likewise you too may not know who sent these messages.

To play hide and seek like this Windows Messenger Service is used. You do not need any special skills to send these messages. Even new computer users can send these messages. The Windows messenger service is so easy to use.

They may send messages that threaten as if your computer has been infected by a virus. Or a message that sends advertisements. It may even prompt you to change passwords by clicking on a link and taking you to another website. Or the message can be just about anything.

If you can stop the windows messenger service in your computer then you can prevent all these pop up windows from your computer. If required you can bring back windows messenger service anytime later.

How to Stop Windows Messenger Service?

For those Windows 98 users and Windows ME users, sorry you cannot stop this windows messenger service in your computer.

To stop Windows Messenger service in Windows NT

1. Click on Start->Control Panel
2. Double click the ‘Administrative tools’ icon.
3. Click on the ‘Services’ icon and double click the ‘Messenger’
4. In the ‘Messenger Properties’ window select the ‘Stop’ option
5. In the ‘Startup type’ option select the ‘Disable’ option
6. Click on OK

To stop Windows Messenger in Windows 2000

1. Click on Start->Settings->Control Panel
2. Click on the ‘Administrative tools’
3. Click on ‘Services’
4. Scroll down and find the ‘Messenger’ service and click on properties command
5. Click on ‘Stop’ button
6. In the Startup type select ‘Disable’
7. Click on ‘OK’

To stop Windows Messenger Service in Windows XP Home edition

1. Click on Start=>settings=>Control Panel
2. Click on ‘Performance and Maintenance’
3. Click on the ‘Administrative Tools’
4. Click on ‘Services’
5. Scroll down and choose the ‘Messenger’ and right click and select ‘Properties’
6. Click on ‘Stop’
7. In the ‘Startup type’ select ‘Disable’.

To stop Windows Messenger Service in Windows XP Professional

1. Click on Start=>settings=>Control Panel
2. Click on the ‘Administrative Tools’
3. Click on ‘Services
4. Scroll down and choose the ‘Messenger’ and right click and select ‘Properties’
5. Click on ‘Stop’
6. In the ‘Startup type’ select ‘Disable’.

Congratulations you have successfully stopped your Windows Messenger Service. Now you will not get those annoying pop windows from strangers anymore.

Do you want to make your windows application toolbars bigger. Use the steps below to increase your windows toolbars.

1. Go to ‘Tools’ menu
2. Now click on the ‘Customize’ option. Or in the toolbar right click and select the customize option.
3. In the new window, click on the ‘Options’ tab and select the ‘Large icons’ option. Now the size of all the toolbar buttons will become bigger.
4. If you like this bigger size then click on ‘Close’ button. From now on the tool bar buttons will be bigger.
5. If you want to switch back to the previous size then follow the same steps and uncheck the ‘large icons’ option.
6. Note that changing the size in one windows application will change the size in all the windows programs automatically.
7. For example if you change the size of toolbar buttons in MS Word, then the tool bar buttons in MS Excel, MS PowerPoint etc will automatically change and reflect the change you have made.

Some may feel that the mouse cursor in windows is too small. Have you wondered whether you can increase the size of the cursor. Yes you can make the cursor bigger. Click on the ‘Start’ button ‘settings’ and open control panel. Now click on the ‘Mouse icon’ and open the Mouse dialog box. Now click on the ‘Pointers’ tab. In this tab under the ‘Scheme’ section click on the drop down menu select the ‘Windows standard (extra large) (system scheme) or ‘Windows Standard (large) (system scheme). This will give you a bigger mouse cursors. You can also choose different types of cursors in the list.

Among the Windows operating system menus, ‘Startup menu‘ is one of the most important menu but least used menu. Generally this menu is not visible outside. Only if there is any problem this menu becomes visible.

This startup menu has the following startup items, Normal, Safe Mode, step by step, command prompt only etc. If you choose your preferred option the windows will boot accordingly.

The ‘safe mode’ option in the startup menu is very important. If the computer hangs due to any hardware problems then you can use the ‘safe mode’ to login and fix the problem. The usual drivers and programs will not run when computer is started in safe mode. In safe mode you can remove adware, spyware and malware.

If you want to give commands using DOS prompt then select the ‘Command Prompt only’ option.

If you want that the commands from config.sys and autoexec.bat to execute one by one then you can select the ‘Step by Step’ option in the startup menu. With this you can exactly pin point which command is causing the problem.

In the startup menu if you do not select any options within 30 seconds then windows will use the default option. The default option is the ‘Normal’ mode.

Now let us see how to bring the startup menu during booting. There are two ways. The first option is by pressing a key while the computer is booting and the second option is by bringing the startup menu automatically without pressing any button.

To bring the startup menu by pressing a key

Turn on your computer. The booting process will now begin. After the basic testing windows will show some system information. Now press the F8 key.

In the black window when you see a small line or square at teh top left corner of the screen you should press F8 key or Conrtol key based on the operating system you are using. If you are not sure try both.

To show startup menu every time the computer boots

In the above method, the startup menu will only appear if you pressed the right key at the right moment. If you missed then the windows will start booting in normal mode without showing the startup screen. But you can make startup window show everytime the windows boots.

The steps given below may differ a bit based on your operating system.

If you are using Windows 98/ME or XP the follow the steps below to show startup screen at every time the computer boots.

1. Give ‘Start->Run’ command
2. In the Run window type ‘Msconfig’ and press ‘enter’ key.
3. The system configuration editor window will open. Windows 98/ME users click on ‘General’ tab and click ‘Advanced’ button and then select ‘Enable startup menu’. Windows XP users click on ‘boot.ini’ tab and select the SAFEBOOT check box.
4. Click on ‘OK’ button

From now on whenever you start your computer it will show the startup menu.

In Windows 2000 there is no MSCONFIG utility. Therefore Windows 2000 users must use the control F8 key to enter startup menu.

If you are a Windows 2000 user and you want to download the MSCONFIG utility then you can download the MSCONFIG utility from http://www.drd.dyndns.org/softlib/utils/msconfig2k.zip

In order to copy a file in windows we usually select the file in the Windows Explorer and then drag and drop to the new location. Have you ever wondered what happens to the file? Is it getting copied, deleted or moved?

In fact Windows Operating System hints at what is happening by displaying different icons for each case. The truth is that most of us do not really notice it. When you drag and drop next time watch the mouse cursor carefully.

If a ‘+’ sign is shown in a small white square next to the cursor arrow then the file or folder is being copied to the new location.

If instead of ‘+’ you see a small curved arrow then the file’s shortcut will be created in the new location instead of copying the file itself.

If there is no change in the mouse cursor then the file is being moved to the new location hence the file will be deleted from the original location.

There is a problem when you do drag and drop. In some cases, windows default action may not be what you really want to do. For example if you are trying to move an .exe file to another location, windows may just create a shortcut instead of moving by default. There is a solution to this problem.

Instead of using ‘left click’ while drag and drop, right click and drag and drop. If you use right mouse button to drag and drop, when you release the mouse button at the destination folder you will get a shortcut menu with the options whether you want to create shortcut, copy or move the file.

For Windows XP users Microsoft released a Service Pack through its website. This includes many new features. Windows XP Firewall is one of them. There was a strong conception that there are many security holes in Windows and hackers exploited these holes to spread their viruses. But with the release of this latest service pack which also contains the Firewall, Microsoft has done a good job in making Windows more secure. Here let us see the main features and the configuration tips for making the best use of your windows firewall.

The previous versions of XP Firewall was easy to configure. Previously it was enough to just select ‘Network Connections’ and click the ‘Advanced’ tab and just select the check box for the firewall and you are done. But now, there is a separate icon in the control panel for Firewall. Open the control panel and click on the ‘Security Center’. In the new ‘Windows Security Center’ window you can ‘On/Off’ the windows firewall.

Now click on the ‘Windows Firewall’ link to open the ‘Windows Firewall’ dialog box.

In the ‘General’ tab click on the ‘On’ radio button.

The next tab is the ‘Exceptions’ tab. Here you can specify the programs that you want to allow through the internet. If you have a network and allow your internet to be shared by other computers in your network then you should use this feature wisely. Here you can list the programs that you do want to allow your other users to use. The buttons below (Add program, Add port, Edit, delete) can be used to add or delete a program in the list. A check box is given at the bottom to specify that the firewall should prompt and alert you when a program is blocked by the firewall.

The next tab is the ‘Advanced’ tab. There are three sections in this tab. The first one is the ‘network connection settings’. This is for those heavy internet users who use many networks to connect to internet. If you are a normal internet user then you don’t have to do anything to it. This is equivalent to the ‘Fine tuning’ in radios. You can use this network connection settings to allow or disallow the different network services such as FTP, SMTP etc.

If you have bought another firewall and you know that the firewall you bought is more powerful than the windows firewall then you can ‘off’ the windows firewall and use your favorite firewall instead.

If you are a broadband internet user and your computer is connected to the internet most of the time then make sure that the windows firewall or any other firewall is always turned on.

If no firewall is turned on in your computer then the Windows XP will detect this and alert you.