Build your own internet Search Connector: Windows 7

Windows 7 has a very useful new feature called a search Connector that lets you search through a Web site from right inside Windows Explorer. With it, you type in a search term and select the search Connector for the site you want to search, Windows Explorer searches the website without having to open the Internet Explorer and the result appear right inside Windows Explorer. Click any of the result to head there using your default Web Browser.

Normally, you’ll need to get each search connector from the Web site through which you want to search, and very few connectors are available, but you can create your own by this simple trick. Sites normally stick to OpenSearch standards in order for their connectors to work.

The search connector uses Windows Live search as a kind of go-between. You Don’t need to know any code for this, Just follow these steps:

1. Copy the following text and paste it into notepad. The text you will need to change is in bold:

2. Save the file in notepad, choose UTF-8 from the Encoding drop down list near the bottom of the Save As screen and give it an .osdx extension.

3. A sample search connector (searching Wikipedia) has the above modified code as:

4. In Windows Explorer, right click the .osdx file and select Create Search Connector. The Search Connector will be created.

5. You can now use your Search Connector. To use it go to Your_User_Name –> Searches –> Connector.

Windows 7 Explorer Tips: Use Check boxes to select multiple files

Windows Explorer is the heart and soul of Windows interface ad overall it works quite well but you can make it much better.

In order to select multiple files for tasks such as copying, moving, deleting, in Windows Explorer, you generally use the keyboard and mouse, CTRL-clicking every file you want to select. But if you are a mouse centric, there is a way to select multiple files in Windows 7 using only your mouse, via check boxes. To do it:

1. In Windows Explorer, click organize, and then select ‘Folder and Search Options.’

2. Click the View Tab.

3. In Advanced Settings, scroll down and then check the box next to ‘Use check box to select items’ and click OK.

4. From now on, when you would hover your mouse over a file in windows explorer, a checkbox will appear next to i; click it to select the file. Once the file is selected, the checkbox remains next to it. If you uncheck it, the box will disappear when you move your mouse away. For details look at the screenshot below:

Get a Power Efficiency Report: Windows 7

This is a must if you are using your laptop and you are puzzled that why your laptop’s battery drains so fast. Windows 7 includes a built in hidden tool that will examine your laptop’s energy use and then make recommendations on how to improve it. To use it follw these steps:

1. Run the command Prompt as an Administrator. To do this , press Start button   and type cmd and when the cmd icon    appears, just right click on it and choose “Run as Administrator” as shown below:

 

2. Provide the confirmation and then in the command prompt type  powercfg –energy –output \Energy\energy_report.html

Note: Here there is a space between powercfg and –energy and similar space exists between –energy and output and also with –output and \Energy\energy_report.html. Here ‘Energy’ is the name of the folder which is present at C: drive and Energy_report.html is the name of the file that would be generated after windows check the power settings.

Make sure that you don’t type the complete path, like if you are making a folder ‘ABC’ at root of C: drive, then make sure to mention the name of the output folder as \ABC and not as C:\ABC, otherwise Windows would interpret the output folder as C:\C:\ABC and not C:\ABC. For further reference see the figure:

After the efficiency report is generated, the Command Prompt will notify you to see the energy report at the pre-set location. From this energy report, you can follow the recommendations for ways to improve the power performance of your computer.

Force activation of Aero in Windows 7

If you are experiencing problems with activating and run Aero in windows 7,you can try the Aero Peek hack for Windows 7. Read more to learn how. 

1. Open the registry (Write regedit in run)

2. Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ DWM
If the DWM key is not found in the registry, right click on the Windows folder and pick New -> Key and calll it DWM.
3. In the second detail window to the right, a new DWORD (32-bit value) has to be made, with the name UseMachineCheck, this has to be set to 0.
4. In the same detail window to the right a new DWORD (32-bit value) is created with the name Blur, and this has to be set to 0 as well.
5. In the end a new DWORD (32-bit value) has to be made with the name Animations, this again has to be set to 0.
6. Restart Desktop Window Manager Session Manager in Services in Controlpanel: Write services.msc in the Run field (windows button + r) or use the following commands in a command prompt with administrator rights.

net stop uxsms
net start uxsms
7. You can now try to activate and use Windows Aero in Windows 7. Restart the computer if needed.

Speed Up Windows 7 Shutdown Time

1. Open the registry editor (enter regedit into search field)
2. Go to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control”
3. Lower the value (12000 is the default value = 12 seconds) to a value of your choice

Speed up Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Preview

1. Click on Start, enter “regedit” into the search field.
2. Goto: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse

3. Double-click on “MouseHoverTime” and change the value to 100 or lower:

Change the mouse hover time to 100 or lower

4. Your thumbnail previews should appear a lot faster now.

How To Increase Your Internet Speed By 20%

If you use Windows XP Professional then it is possible to squeeze an extra 20% out of your internet connection. By default Windows XP Pro holds back 20% of your Internet speed for various services like windows update and spyware checks.If you want to tap into this locked speed then make the following changes:

1. Go to Start-> Run-> and type gpedit.msc
2. Expand the Administrative Templates branch
3. Expand the Network tab
4. Highlight QoS Packet Scheduler
5. Click on Limit Reservable Bandwidth and check the enabled box
6. Then Change the Bandwidth limit % to 0 % 

Once you have done this click apply and restart your PC. After rebooting you should see a noticeable improvement in your net speed.