Underused tools hiding in Windows 7 and 8

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	TOP STORY[/size][/font] Underused tools hiding in Windows 7 and 8[/size]
	By Michael Lasky Back in Window’s younger, simpler days, its coders hid small programs and features — called Easter eggs — in the OS for others to find. Microsoft eventually banned those unofficial applets, but there are still some relatively hidden features in Win7/8 that users find helpful. Here are my favorites.

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The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/top-story/underused-tools-hiding-in-windows-7-and-8]/ (free content, opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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“Keep in mind that the shortcut can live only on the desktop. Unlike apps, shortcuts for websites can’t be pinned to the Start screen or the taskbar (although files, folders, and website shortcuts can be pinned to associated apps that are pinned to the taskbar).”

It can be done in W8 and should work in W7 as well. Create a new shortcut on the Desktop and then extend the url as in the following example.

C:Windowsexplorer.exe http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2654993

The shortcut can now be dragged onto the Taskbar, having been given a suitable icon, and deleted from the Desktop.

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Michael,
I loved the All commands trick.
I tried the powercfg /energy twice, showing several errors and warnings. It created the expected HTML, but was unreadable by firefox 31, IE 10 or Word 2010.
I tried downloading the free Connectivity APP who is having a 70% sale by the way, but could not getting this virus warning:
37581-Connectivity-Virus

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Michael,
I loved the All commands trick.
I tried the powercfg /energy twice, showing several errors and warnings. It created the expected HTML, but was unreadable by firefox 31, IE 10 or Word 2010.
I tried downloading the free Connectivity APP who is having a 70% sale by the way, but could not getting this virus warning:

What AV software do you use? Also, from which website did you try to download the app?

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What AV software do you use? Also, from which website did you try to download the app?

I am using Trend Micro Enterprise, but this was from the Fortinet device on the AT&T Wan.
I used the link in the article. I have heard back from Kevin C at Conectify stating: We have a version of the Connectify installer with ads for upgrading Lite users. Some AV software will flag this as malicious.

You can try downloading from the following link instead.

http://downloads2.connectify.me/ConnectifyInstaller.exe

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Kevin C

I was able to download from that location.

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I am using Trend Micro Enterprise, but this was from the Fortinet device on the AT&T Wan.
I used the link in the article. I have heard back from Kevin C at Conectify stating: We have a version of the Connectify installer with ads for upgrading Lite users. Some AV software will flag this as malicious.

You can try downloading from the following link instead.

http://downloads2.connectify.me/ConnectifyInstaller.exe

—
Kevin C

I was able to download from that location.

Glad to know you managed to download. Thanks for posting back. 🙂

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I failed to notice that this was for 7 or 8 I tried it in vista.

To create this folder, take the following steps:

Right-click a free spot on the desktop and select New/Folder.
Give the new folder any name you wish, as long as it’s followed by a period and the following string of characters: {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
For example, the file name could be something similar to this: All Commands.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Double-click to open the folder, and it should be populated with more than 250 functions.

When I created the folder, my screen went blank and I could not get to te start menu or anything else.

I had to boot from a linux dvd and delete the folder from the desktop and than my PC worked again in windows.

I would have been screwed if I did not have the linux dvd.

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Michael,
I loved the All commands trick.
I tried the powercfg /energy twice, showing several errors and warnings. It created the expected HTML, but was unreadable by firefox 31, IE 10 or Word 2010.
I tried downloading the free Connectivity APP who is having a 70% sale by the way, but could not getting this virus warning:
37581-Connectivity-Virus

Browsers/Word can’t open the html file in system32. Copy it to the Desktop to read it.

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My Win7 Ultimate installation (Dell XPS-17 with Win7 factory install, upgraded to Ultimate) does not show “Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter.” Is there a way to add it?

I too have a energy-report.html that cannot be opened in IE10. There is also an energy-report.xml file that can be opened with a variety of editors (Word 2010, UltraEdit, Notepad) but none will render the report — reading raw XML is not enjoyable!

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interesting / useful tips, thanks…
when I ran the powercfg /energy I get a couple errors relating to USB, e.g.

“USB Suspend:USB Device not Entering Suspend

The USB device did not enter the Suspend state. Processor power management may be prevented if a USB device does not enter the Suspend state when not in use.
…”
and I wonder what they mean … the only USB device plugged in is a mouse

Also, maybe I’ve mis-posted this comment – by using the “reply with” button – but didn’t see any other way ?

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My Win7 Ultimate installation (Dell XPS-17 with Win7 factory install, upgraded to Ultimate) does not show “Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter.” Is there a way to add it?

To re-enable the Miniport open a Command Prompt as an administrator and enter –

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=name of your SSID key=router password

You’ll get various confirmations and then when you go into Device Manager/View/Show hidden devices/Network adapters you will see the Miniport reinstated.

However, if you start getting normal connectivity problems, right click on it and select Disable.

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To read energy-report.html, try copying it to the desktop and reading it there.

Jerry

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the flight sim in flight.js was an april fools joke.

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To read energy-report.html, try copying it to the desktop and reading it there.

Jerry

That worked Jerry, thanks. Kind like trying to do anything in c:Program files Huh?

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That worked Jerry, thanks. Kind like trying to do anything in c:Program files Huh?

It does not work for me. I receive the error “Can’t find specified file”. I have admin rights on my user account??

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Re Underused Tools, All Commands–
I tried this on my Win7 PC. I made the file, opened it, and got nothing.

To create this folder, take the following steps:

Right-click a free spot on the desktop and select New/Folder.
Give the new folder any name you wish, as long as it’s followed by a period and the following string of characters: {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
For example, the file name could be something similar to this: All Commands.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Double-click to open the folder, and it should be populated with more than 250 functions.

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Re Underused Tools, All Commands–
I also tried this with my Windows 8.1. I copy/pasted the suggested name with characters. I kept getting a “Rename” error message back saying I could not use special characters (like your { and }) to name the folder. So I was unable to get this to work.

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I could not get anything but “folder empty” until I renamed it Godmode, then it came up in all its glory in Win7. Very useful article!

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You can easily create IE shortcut tiles on the Start screen. Go to the Start screen, click the IE tile and navigate to the desired web site. Either (1) swipe down from the top of the screen or (2) click the “…” in the lower right corner to display the address bar. Click the star icon (pop-up text = Favorites). Click the push pin icon (pop-up text =”Pin Site”). Then click “Pin to Start”. The “Pin to Start” window also allows you to (1) scroll through images from the web page to use on the tile and (2) change the default text that appears on the tile. I drag all my IE shortcut tiles into their own group on the Start screen. This really makes it easy to open your favorite web sites from the Start screen, especially if you have a touch screen monitor or tablet.

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😀 Thanks so much for the “Easter Egg” flashback, and the Godmode folder is great! I never would’ve found it on my own.

“Creating a shortcut to a website is easy: right-click anywhere on the desktop, select New/Shortcut, and then type the website’s address into the location box. Click Next and give the shortcut a name. Click Finish when you’re done.”

A little quicker way to get that website shortcut onto the Desktop is to simply drag the icon from the left-hand side of the Address Bar and drop it onto the Desktop. Instant shortcut. Then you can rename and you’re done!
(If you use IExplorer this method works fine, but for some reason when IE creates the shortcut on the Desktop, it decides to open itself to that website in a new window. Annoying as always…)

“Keep in mind that the shortcut can live only on the desktop. Unlike apps, shortcuts for websites can’t be pinned to the Start screen or the taskbar…”

This is entirely true, but if you’d like to have these website shortcuts pinned to the Start Menu, there is a workaround that will keep your Desktop a bit less cluttered.
If you have several website shortcuts on your Desktop, create a new folder named, for example, “WebShorts” or whatever. Then place all your website shortcuts into the new folder. At this point, open the “WebShorts” folder, and drag any of the shortcuts from this folder onto the Start Button and drop it. It’s now pinned to your Start Menu. From there you can rename the pinned item.
In effect, the “WebShorts” folder contains all the shortcuts that have to live on the Desktop, and by pinning the shortcuts to the Start Menu from the “WebShorts” folder, you’re “pinning” their locations as well.

I sure hope I made that understandable; it always sounds great in my head, it’s getting it down on “paper” that’s the hard part for me. ;);)

Thanks, Bob

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It works in 8.1 for me. Are you sure that you haven’t included some other characters? I tried it with a space ahead of the { (so easy to do) and it didn’t work – though it didn’t flag the rename. It worked when I deleted the space.

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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It works in 8.1 for me. Are you sure that you haven’t included some other characters? I tried it with a space ahead of the { (so easy to do) and it didn’t work – though it didn’t flag the rename. It worked when I deleted the space.

Thanks, access-mdb. Just tried again by copy/pasting and it worked for me this time. I tried a few times before but must have gotten a space added in or something.

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Underused Tools, All Commands–
I tried this on my Win7 PC. I made the file, opened it, and got nothing.

Just said “Folder empty”.

Thanks

PS: 8/8/14…Problem solved; originally did not include the “{}” around the file name. Now works like a charm.

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What a great tip. One of the best from Window Secrets. Thank You

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Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I despise the Taskbar “Pin” feature in Win7 and 8. Although I was a late comer to this feature also, I grew to love the Quick Launch toolbar. If done correctly, it enables you to see all your favorite programs, browsers and websites even while the screen is full of other stuff. Instructions for creating it are at Tech Republic, search for “Restore the Quick Launch”. In my case, I double size the Taskbar and make all the icons as small as possible. This enables me to have two rows of icons, like this:37595-Quicklaunch

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Michael:

Great tip–Command Central: Windows functions in one place. Installed on my Win 7 desktop just fine. Unfortunately, I did not want it there, so drug it to one of my program folders. Big Mistake! Just hovering over the entry filled the screen with all the options. Thankfully, I was able to use Windows Explorer and delete it.

Is there any way to structure Command Central so it can reside in an Windows Explorer Program File list?

Harry

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