Category: tip

This tip was provided by Jacky Howe.

Follow these steps to create a Windows 7 system repair disc:

1. Press [Windows] + R
2. Type control in the Run dialog box
3. Click Enter
4. Open Backup and Restore
5. In the left pane, click Create a system recovery disc (you may be prompted to enter an administrator password or confirmation)
6. Select a CD/DVD drive, insert a blank disc into the drive, and click Create disc

Note: Insert the Windows 7 installation disc if your computer isn’t able to find the files needed to create the system repair disc.

Here’s how to use the system repair disc:

1. Insert the system repair disc into your CD or DVD drive
2. Restart your computer using the computer’s power button
3. At the prompt, press any key to start the computer from the system repair disc
4. If your system isn’t configured to start from a CD or DVD, check the information that came with your computer. You may need to change your computer’s BIOS settings.
5. Choose your language settings, and then click Next.
6. Select a recovery option, and then click Next.

Print these instructions and keep them in a safe location with your system repair disc.

If you have other tips for repairing or restoring your Windows 7 systems, please share them in the discussion thread.

Send in your own TR Community tip that we can feature in the TR Out Loud blog to trol@techrepublic.com.

This tip was provided by .Martin.

Pressing the [Windows]+number will do a few different things in Windows 7. For example:

• If it’s not already open, press [Windows]+1 to open the first item on your Quick Launch (and so on with 1-9)
• With tasks open, press [Windows]+respective number (including Quick Launch) to switch from one task to another (pressing multiple times will change between instances of a task that are grouped together)
• If you want to open another instance of task that’s already open, simply press [Windows]+[Shift]+number  — or [Windows]+[Shift]+[Ctrl]+number to open with admin rights

If you know other helpful keyboard shortcuts in Windows 7, please post them in the discussion thread.

Send in your own TR Community tip that we can feature in the TR Out Loud blog to trol@techrepublic.com.

This tip was provided by .Martin.

If you have some time on your hands — and Google Earth version 4.2 or later — you can have a bit of fun by uncovering an easter egg.

1. Open Google Earth
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+A (or Command+Option+A in OS X) to open up a flight simulator
3. Page Up and Page Down will increase or decrease the speed
4. Use the arrows for navigating

There are quite a few other keyboard shortcuts for controlling the flight simulator. and it also supports a joystick.

After the first time you use the flight simulator, the feature will then appear in the Tools menu.

Don’t get caught using this at work!

Are there other cool easter eggs that you’ve discovered in Google Earth? How about in other software? Please share them in the discussion thread for this post.

Send in your own TR Community tip that we can feature in the TR Out Loud blog to trol@techrepublic.com.

This tip was provided by TechRepublic’s moderator Tammy Cavadias.

In Windows Vista, when you want to shut down your PC, you typically first click on the Start button. At the bottom of the menu, you see three icons: a power symbol, a padlock, and an arrow. Clicking the Power button would seem like the logical choice to turn off your system, but it actually places your computer into Sleep mode. Instead, you have to select the arrow and then choose shut down from the menu.

Follow these steps to change Vista’s shut down behavior:

1. Click the Start button and type Power Options in the Search box, or open the Control Panel | System
   and Maintenance | Power Options (this brings up the “Select a power plan” sub-configuration header by default)
2. Under Preferred plans, select Change Plan Settings
3. Navigate to Change Advanced Power Settings
4. Click the + sign next to “Power buttons and lid” to expand the menu
5. Expand the “Start menu power button” menu, and change the selection to “Shut down” (the default is Sleep)
6. Click OK to apply the changes

Voila! Not only can you now easily shut down Vista using the Power button icon, but you should also notice that the color of this icon has changed to red.

For you geekier folks out there, you can use this method:

1. Press the WindKey + R to open the Run dialog box
2. Type cmd and press Enter
3. Now type powercfg.cpl,1 to open the Advance settings under Power Options
4. Follow directions 4-6 as mentioned above

Do you know other ways to accomplish this task? Please post them in this discussion thread.

And if you have your own TR Community tip, please send it to trol@techrepublic.com so that we can feature in the TR Out Loud blog.

This tip was provided by Jacky Howe.

Follow these troubleshooting steps if you receive a RAW filesystem message when connecting to an external hard drive via USB.

1. First off, try connecting to a rear port, as it could be just a problem with the USB connection, the USB cable, the USB hub, or the USB enclosure
2. If that isn’t successful, remove the drive from the USB enclosure and connect it directly to the motherboard (see the documentation that came with your system)
3. Start the system
4. Open Internet Explorer to check the drive letter that’s been allocated to the drive
5. Restart the system
6. Press the WindKey + R to open the Run dialog box
7. Type cmd and press Enter
8. Now type chkdsk driveletter:/r

Let it run through, and you should now have access to your data.

If you have additional tips for dealing with RAW filesystems, please post them in this discussion thread.

Send in your own TR Community tip that we can feature in the TR Out Loud blog to trol@techrepublic.com.

This tip was provided by TechRepublic’s moderator Tammy Cavadias.

Windows XP, by default, shows the thumbnails view of certain folders. Even if you choose some other view and apply it to “All Folders,” Explorer may still revert back to the Thumbnails view. It does this for any folder in which it finds the THUMBS.DB file. Naturally, if you delete this file, it won’t happen again. The problem is that Windows seems to recreate the THUMBS.DB file automatically.

Here’s how to stop this from happening in Windows XP:

1. In Explorer, go to Tools | Folder Options (or open the Folder Options icon in the Control Panel)
2. Choose the View tab, and deselect the “Do not cache thumbnails option”
3. Click OK

For Vista users:

1. In Explorer, go to Organize | Folder and Search Options (or open the Folder Options icon in the Control Panel).
2. Choose the View tab, and check “Always show icons, never thumbnails”
3. Select “Apply to Folders” to assign these changes to all folders
4. Click OK

If you have your own TR Community tip, please send it to trol@techrepublic.com so that we can feature in the TR Out Loud blog.

This tip was provided by TechRepublic’s moderator Tammy Cavadias.

Have you ever found yourself needing to include a copyright symbol or registered trademark symbol when coding in HTML?

Here’s some basic HTML code for everyday characters and symbols you may find yourself needing:

© copyright sign - ©
® registered trade mark sign - ®
£ pound sign - £
¥ yen sign - ¥
¿ inverted question mark - ¿
à latin small letter a with grave - à
ã in small letter a with tilde - ã
ö latin small letter o with diaeresis - ö

If we missed your favorite or most commonly used HTML character code, please add it to the discussion thread.

And if you have your own TR Community tip, please send it to trol@techrepublic.com so that we can feature in the TR Out Loud blog.

This tip was provided by Jacky Howe.

You can create a VB script to easily access a password-protected account in Internet Explorer. Simply save the script to a folder and then create a shortcut to it. If you’re running Windows XP, place the shortcut in C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Favorites\Links. Windows Vista or Windows 7 users should place the shortcut in C:\Users\UserName\Favorites\Links.

Note: The Favorites folder that you are navigating to is displayed as the Favorites Bar. In Internet Explorer, you’ll have to enable the Favorites Bar under View | Toolbars to access the links.

When you get to the site that requires your username and password, place the cursor in the first field, which is normally the Logon ID, and left-click the appropriate link in your Favorites Bar. User information is copied over, and you’ll have access to the site. Log off when you’re finished.

Below is an example of the script. Copy and edit the text in NotePad. Also, be sure to give it a recognizable name with a .vbs extension. The names can be edited on the Favorites Bar by right-clicking and selecting Rename.

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(”WScript.Shell”)
WScript.Sleep 600
WshShell.SendKeys “Logon ID in here”
WScript.Sleep 600
WshShell.SendKeys (”{Tab}”)
WScript.Sleep 600
WshShell.SendKeys “Password in here”
WScript.Sleep 600
WshShell.SendKeys “~”

Send in your own TR Community tip that we can feature in the TR Out Loud blog to trol@techrepublic.com.

This tip was provided by Jacky Howe.

Have you lost the male voice when updating Avast antivirus software? This quick tip should help get it back.

The voice lives in here with the wav files: C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ENGLISH

1. Right-click on the Avast icon in the Taskbar
2. Select Program Settings | Sounds
3. Right-click on Settings
4. Check under Program Events for Avast! Antivirus. The file associated with Automatic VPS update is: C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\English\vpsupd.wav

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This tip was submitted within the forums by TR member aabishop@….

Many people are now using photos from digital cameras in Word documents and PowerPoint presentations. These can often create enormous file sizes.

If you are using any type of graphic from any source, use the following process to reduce your file sizes dramatically:

1. After downloading pictures from your camera, you can insert them into any Office document or presentation by clicking Insert | Picture | From File
2. Locate the folder where the photo resides and click Insert
3. Resize the picture as required (if you are resizing manually, always use the corner handles to maintain height/width proportion)
4. Use Edit | Cut (or Ctrl+X) to cut the picture
5. Click Edit | Paste Special
6. Scroll down and select Picture (JPEG)
7. Click OK

This will convert your photos to JPEGs and keep you file sizes manageable. Read the full thread. Also, if you know other quick and easy ways to reduce the size of photos, please share them in the discussion thread.

Send in your own TR Community tip that we can feature in the TR Out Loud blog to trol@techrepublic.com.