The Computer Boss [TIPS | TRICKS | HACKS | MORE]

A Cool Windows Notepad Trick

1. Open a blank Notepad file
2. Type “.LOG” (in uppercase, no quotes) in the first line of the file, followed by Enter. Save the file and close it.
3. Double-click the file to open it and notice that Notepad appends the current date and time to the end of the file and places the cursor on the line after.
4. Type your notes and then save and close the file.
5. Each time you open the file, Notepad repeats the process, appending the time and date to the end of the file and placing the cursor below it.

This is a cool way to take notes.  I have a Notes.txt saved on my Desktop at work, and every time I need to note anything, I fire up this file and type it up.  I have a date, and time stamp inserted each time for future reference.

Add comment July 9th, 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 Officially Released

Good news for you busy beavers. You favorite office productivity suite is here, and better than ever. You can have a look at some cool new features here.  I haven’t had the chance to really play with it yet- but I will have to soon, since I currently use Office 2007.

Here is the pricing structure for the new suite:

• Office Home and Student (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) – $149.99
• Office Home and Business (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote) – $279.99
• Office Professional (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access and OneNote) – $499.99

More info, and trial version here.

Add comment June 17th, 2010

MS Word Overtyping? Here’s the Fix!

We’ve all been stumped when composing a document in MS Word, results in deleting the text in front as you type.  Not only is this annoying, but also destructive to your work.

Here’s the simple fix to this annoyance: Press the “Insert” key.

This is caused by the “Insert” key being pressed unintentionally.  Pressing it again disables over-typing.

1 comment May 14th, 2010

Windows IP Commands

The following are useful Windows commands (Run > cmd) to display TCP/IP information and troubleshoot connectivity issues.

Display Connection Configuration: ipconfig /all

Display DNS Cache Info: ipconfig /displaydns

Clear DNS Cache: ipconfig /flushdns

Release All IP Address Connections: ipconfig /release

Renew All IP Address Connections: ipconfig /renew

Re-Register the DNS connections: ipconfig /registerdns

Change/Modify DHCP Class ID: ipconfig /setclassid

Network Connections: control netconnections

Network Setup Wizard: netsetup.cpl

Test Connectivity: ping www.whatismyip.com

Trace IP address Route: tracert

Displays the TCP/IP protocol sessions: netstat

Display Local Route: route

Display Resolved MAC Addresses: arp

Display Name of Computer Currently on: hostname

Display DHCP Class Information: ipconfig /showclassid

Add comment February 21st, 2010

Enable GODMODE in Windows 7

There is a little shortcut in Windows 7 called “GodMode”- remember DOOM? Well this isn’t really the same but cool name nonetheless.

Just add a new folder anywhere and name it: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

This icon will give you access to all the settings without having to browse around for them.

UPDATE: Some people on 64 Bit versions of Vista and 7 are reporting Explorer crashes. It works fine for me on Windows 7 64 Bit, but you have been warned!

Add comment January 5th, 2010

Use Remote Desktop while on a Dynamic IP Address

There are many services out there that let you access your computer from anywhere in the world. There is GotomyPC, and LogMeIn just to name a couple.

There is however a free workaround for this- all you need is a free No-IP.com account, and the Remote Desktop application on your Windows PC.

The problem is, most users have a Dynamic IP address with their ISPs- which means it’s always changing and not permanent. This causes problems because you won’t always know what your IP address is in order to connect to your machine over Remote Desktop.

If you had a Static IP, it would be much easier since the number is permanent and never changes.

Here’s the workaround:

1. Go to No-Ip.com and create your account
2. Add a host on to your No-Ip account- make note of the host name (ie: mynewhost@no-ip.biz)
3. Enable Remote Desktop on the computer you will be accessing remotely
4. Download and install the application on the computer you will be accessing remotely
   The No-Ip application will send your current IP address and update it with the host name you created on the service, so the host name will always know your latest IP address.
5. So now you can go to any PC, open up the Remote Desktop application ( Start > Accessories > Remote Desktop, or use Windows Search) and enter in the host name you created in step 2.

Boom! You should now be able to see and control your computer from anywhere in the world!

Add comment December 30th, 2009

How to Hide your Hard Drive in Windows

Do you have a hard drive in your computer you’d like hidden from casual users of your computer? NoDrives Manager will help you do just that. This utility basically hides the chosen hard drive’s entry from Windows Explorer (My Computer, sidebar,address bar, etc) so non-invasive users won’t know it exists.

The drive will remail technicaly accessable through the “Run” section or the command prompt- but chances are people using your computer aren’t looking to get technical and nosey. In other words, this is great for hiding that porn stash of yours- enjoy.

Download Here

2 comments December 20th, 2009

Give Google Public DNS a Try

Today Google launched “Google Public DNS“. It is supposed to make your web browsing experience even faster.

A lot of you may be unfamiliar with DNS (Domain Name System)

here’s Google’s explanation:

“Most of us aren’t familiar with DNS because it’s often handled automatically by our Internet Service Provider (ISP), but it provides an essential function for the web. You could think of it as the switchboard of the Internet, converting easy-to-remember domain names – e.g., www.google.com – into the unique Internet Protocol (IP) numbers – e.g., 74.125.45.100 – that computers use to communicate with one another.”

need more info? : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System

Your ISP has you run through their DNS servers by default- and if you’re a broadband subscriber, surfing web pages is probably fast enough. Google hopes to make it even faster and safer when you use theirs.

Click here to follow their easy step-by-step guide here to change over to Google DNS!

For those who already know how to change their DNS address’- the address’ are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

My thoughts:

I jumped on the chance to try it out, and I could tell you that I notice pages loading snappier. I believe it takes half a second longer to get to the page, but once it does, it feels as though the page is fully loaded and ready. I will be using it for a while to see if I want to keep the configuration.

Please let us know your experiences in the comments section below.

1 comment December 3rd, 2009