Adding drives to your sendto menu

Ever wanted a quicker way to send a file to a thumb or external hard drive than via drag and drop? Or maybe you want a quicker way to open a family photo in your image editor instead of your default image viewer. While Windows 7 provides a few different options for opening and transferring files quickly, one of the most convenient methods for many users is through the good old “Send To” option.
For those who don’t know, “Send To,” as the name implies, allows a user to send a file to be opened in a specific program or transferred to a specific location, simply by right clicking on the file and choosing where you would like to send it in the “Send To” list. While this handy feature saves time by allowing files to be copied to, or opened in, a specific location in just two clicks, many find Windows 7 default implementation of this feature – particularly the way in which it decides what programs and locations will show up in the “Send To” option – leaves much to be desired. However, with a bit of tinkering, virtually any program, drive, or folder can be added to the “Send To” list by following these simple steps:

Step 1. Click the “Start” button to open the Start menu.

Step 2. Click “Computer” to open your computers’ drive listing.

Step 3. Double click the “C:” drive, followed by the following folders, in order:

“Users” > (the name of the profile you are currently logged in to) > “AppData” > “Roaming” > “Microsoft” > “Windows” > “SendTo”
Alternatively, if your account has the proper security privileges, you may access the “SendTo” folder via the “Start” menu:

Step 3-1. Click the “Run” button. The Run dialog box will appear.

Step 3-2. In the Run dialog box, enter the following, without quotes:
“%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo“
or
“shell:sendto“

Step 4. Click the “OK” button. The “SendTo” folder should appear on screen.

Step 5. Move the open “SendTo” folder to the side, and re-open your computer drive listing (as shown in Steps 1-2 above.)
Your next step will vary depending on the type of item you wish to add to the “Send To” menu:
Adding a fixed disk (Hard Drive, DVD Drive, etc.) to the “Send To” menu


Step 6. To add a fixed disk drive to the “Send To” menu, simply click on the drive which you wish to add, and drag its icon into the “Send To” folder. A shortcut to the drive will be automatically created, and will appear as an option in the “Send To” menu.
Adding a removable drive (Thumb Drive, SD Card, portable hard drive, etc.) to the “Send To” menu


Step 7. To add a removable drive to the “Send To” menu, follow the same steps outlined in Step 6. However, be aware that adding a removable drive to the “Send To” menu will only work if you plug in the removable drive in the same USB/Memory Card/etc. port each time you re-connect the device. Failing to do so may cause Windows to assign the drive in question a different drive letter than what had been assigned when the shortcut was created and added to the “Send To” menu, which in turn will cause the shortcut to stop working until the device is once again plugged in to the original port.
Adding a Program to the “Send To” menu

Step 8. Find your desired programs’ shortcut icon in the Start > All Programs menu or on the Desktop and click it once to select it.

Step 8-1. Right click the icon and select “Copy” to copy the selected shortcut.

Step 8-2. Select the “SendTo” folder and press CTRL+V to paste a copy of the shortcut in place.
Your program shortcut will now be listed in the “Send To” menu.
If you are unable to find the program shortcut you need in the All Programs menu or on your desktop, perform the following:

Step 8-3. Find the programs’ installation folder (usually located on the C: drive in one of the “Program Files” folders.)

Step 8-4. Right click on the programs’ .exe file and select “Desktop (Create shortcut)” from the “Send To” menu.

Step 8-5. Find your newly created program shortcut icon on the desktop, then drag and drop it into your “SendTo” folder.
Adding a Folder to the “Send To” menu

Step 9. Find the folder which you would like to add to the “Send To” menu.

Step 9-1. Right click on the folder and select “Desktop (Create shortcut)” from the “Send To” menu.

Step 9-2. Find your newly created folder shortcut icon on the desktop, then drag and drop it into your “SendTo” folder.
Note: If you decide to delete or uninstall a folder or program, which has been added to the “Send To” menu, from your computer, you may also need to delete it from the “SendTo” folder to make the now useless entry disappear from the “Send To” list.
While it takes a bit of work during the initial set up, adding a drive, program, or folder to your “Send To” menu will most definitely save you time while adding to your productivity in the long run. Enjoy!

ADDING YOUR OWN DRIVES TO YOUR "SENDTO" MENU

Ever wanted a quicker way to send a file to a thumb or external hard drive than via drag and drop? Or maybe you want a quicker way to open a family photo in your image editor instead of your default image viewer. While Windows 7 provides a few different options for opening and transferring files quickly, one of the most convenient methods for many users is through the good old “Send To” option.
For those who don’t know, “Send To,” as the name implies, allows a user to send a file to be opened in a specific program or transferred to a specific location, simply by right clicking on the file and choosing where you would like to send it in the “Send To” list. While this handy feature saves time by allowing files to be copied to, or opened in, a specific location in just two clicks, many find Windows 7 default implementation of this feature – particularly the way in which it decides what programs and locations will show up in the “Send To” option – leaves much to be desired. However, with a bit of tinkering, virtually any program, drive, or folder can be added to the “Send To” list by following these simple steps:

MAKING A DVD THAT WILL PLAY IN DVD PLAYERS WITH WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER

How do I make a photo/music/data CD using Windows 7 Movie Maker, that will play on DVD/CD players? The ones I make will only play on computers. I am using an Acer Aspire with Windows 7 Home Edition.
Jack, if you thought you were missing something, you weren’t. Currently, there is no way to burn a DVD directly from Movie Maker so that it will play on a standard DVD player. However, there is another free program on your computer called Windows DVD Maker, that was designed to do just that. Here’s how you do it.
1. Create your movie(s) or photo slideshow(s) as normal in Windows Movie Maker, then click the options menu in the top left hand corner of your screen and select Save Movie, then Burn a DVD. Choose where you want to save your file, and click Save.

2. Once your file is saved, you need to open Windows DVD Maker. So, type Windows DVD Maker into the search bar on the Start menu, and click on the icon to open the program.

SHORTCUT KEY FOR GETTING FILE NAME YOU WANT IN CMD PROMPT

Did you know that there’s a key you can press that will auto complete a path or file name in the Windows 7 Command Prompt? Yeah, me either – that is, until I was messing around the other day and stumbled across an article on Microsoft’s site detailing how to do it.

Here’s how!

Open a Command Prompt by clicking Start, then typing cmd in the Search Box. Click the Command Prompt icon in the results that appear or just hit Enter.









In the Command Prompt window, type in the change directory command, like this:

GET THE PDF OF THE WEBSITE YOU WANT

PDF my URL

Usually, I don’t list a website for the top spot of the newsletter, but I simply had to today! If you’re looking for a quick way to save a webpage for offline viewing, then I suggest checking out PDFmyURL. Just go to http://pdfmyurl.com/, and put the address of the site you want to save in the box…



…now hit the nifty-looking “P” icon off to the right, let the site do its work, and when the download window pops up save it! It’s that easy! 

GOT TO KNOW ABOUT THE PEN FLICKS HERE

I think the reason people love touch screens is because of how natural the hand gestures feel. For example, to scroll down a document, it feels better to just swipe down instead of pressing a little arrow key. If you’re looking to bring some of these intuitive gestures to your Windows computer, then might I humbly recommend that you enable Pen flicks.
To utilize pen flicks, your computer must be touch screen, or your laptop’s trackpad must support gestures. If you have a graphics tablet, then that will also allow pen flicks as well.
Begin by pressing the Start button, and selecting Control Panel.
Select the Classic view, and double click Pen and Input Devices.


Now choose the Flicks tab, and check the box labeled Use flicks to perform common actions quickly and easily.


Now you have two options: the navigation flicks, or the navigational flicks with editing. I personally prefer the latter, as it allows me to copy and paste with ease. Choose the option that best suits you, and of course, you can always change this setting.
If you select Customize, you can hand select what action a flick in a certain direction will perform. If you’d like to add a custom keyboard shortcut, just select the add option. For example. I made it so that a downward flick will close the program using the keyboard shortcut Alt+F4.


Finally, one last setting I’d like to bring to your attention is the flick sensitivity. If you find that you have to repeat a gesture several times before Windows recognizes it, then you should make the sensitivity more relaxed. However, if you find gestures are occurring by accident, than you should move the slider to the precise setting.


I hope this setting makes your computer feel a little bit more natural. Enjoy!

AUTOMATIC IMAGE RESIZING

Automatic Image Resizing in Internet Explorer

Have you ever been browsing around, looking for images in Internet Explorer and come across a picture that you know won’t fit your screen, but you click on it anyways? Well, recent versions of IE have this neat feature called Automatic Image Resizing, which will shrink large images so they can be viewed with ease.

Today we’re going to learn how to turn it off. Why, you ask? Well, say you’re hunting around for high resolution images and you want a genuine idea of how big it really is. Automatic Image Resizing will need to be turned off to do so.

Automatic Image Resizing On


Automatic Image Resizing Off


Click Tools>Internet Options and click the Advanced tab. Scroll down until you see “Enable Automatic Image Resizing” and un-check the box next to it. Now you’ll see images in their natural full-sized state! You can turn Automatic Image Resizing back on by following the same steps and re-checking the box.

Enjoy!

HOW TO REMOVE A PADLOCK TO YOUR FOLDER IN WINDOWS 7

In windows 7, when I look at user folders, I see some folders have padlocks on them and others do not, what causes this and how do I remove the “padlock”. When I look at the properties of each folder, I cannot detect any difference.

How to Get Rid of the Mysterious Padlock Icon From Your File Folder

Windows 7, as in previous version of Windows, allows the creation of multiple user accounts with varying degrees of privileges on the same computer or network. As such, there are users whom have the ability to make the same changes that the computer’s owner can make (Administrator accounts). There are also users with limited abilities in updating and changing computer settings (Standard User accounts,) and users with very limited privileges whom are dis-allowed from making nearly any change to the computer’s configuration (Guest accounts.) These differing account types allow for multiple users to use the same computer without, for the most part, disturbing the programs, settings, or display of others whom they share the computer with. Occasionally however, changes made from one user account can create confusion within other user accounts; particularly when actions on one user account change how familiar icons look or behave throughout all user accounts.

One such example can be found when a formerly normal looking shared file folder displays a padlock next to itself when viewed.

Baffling as this may be when first discovered, there’s actually a simple explanation for the odd little golden padlock icon suddenly appearing next to a previously standard looking folder: another user has changed its’ “permissions” and has “locked” the folder.

When creating shared file folders in Windows 7, there are a variety of options available which allow a user to safeguard information contained within these folders, by restricting how folders are shared amongst various users on the computer or network. By right clicking on a file folder, then selecting Properties, followed by the Security tab, you can view and modify various security options (permissions) available to different users, for that particular folder. Owners of a particular folder can choose to allow or deny other users full or partial abilities to view, edit, modify, or delete said folders and files contained within, as they see fit. As each user can change folder permissions, confusion can arise when multiple users start to change and update permissions without notifying other users of the computer on the network. Adding additional confusion, Administrator accounts and Standard User accounts have differing abilities when modifying folder permissions. Generally speaking, most permission changes made by a Standard User account, can be overridden by an Administrator account, but not vice versa.



As such, when you see a familiar file folder suddenly appear with a padlock next to it where there had previously been none, the first thing to do is to check the folders’ permission settings:

(Note: These steps assume you either have ownership of the folder in question, or are logging in using an Administrator account.)

Step 1. Right click the file folder.



Step 2. In the context menu which appears, select Properties.



Step 3. Click on the Security tab; find the name you log in with under Group or user names: and click to select it.



Step 4. The Permissions for box will update to show the permissions for the user account you selected.



Step 5. Scroll through the permissions list and check for any permissions which should not be associated with this folder (i.e. permission for Full Control of the folder has been set to deny for this user, when it should be set to allow.) If a wrongly set permission is found (any permission set to Deny,) follow these steps to fix it:

Step 5-1. Click the Edit button in the middle of the dialog box.



Step 5-2. In the dialog box which appears, select the user whose permissions are incorrectly set.



Step 5-3. Check the Full Control, Allow check box under Permissions for (NAME)



Step 5-4. Click the Apply button followed by the OK button on all dialog boxes, and check your folder icon.



Once permissions have been reset to Full Control, the padlock next to your folder icon should disappear. If any permissions are still set to Deny, the padlock will typically remain until Full Control is granted.



If, after following the above steps, you are still unable to remove the padlock icon from the folder, you may need to log in as an administrator or folder owner, backup all files located in the folder, delete, and then re-create the file folder to fully remove the errant icon. Doing so will also remove any previously defined permissions, and will un-share the folder from any other users who had been granted access to it. Why this process is occasionally necessary to clear the padlock icon from a file folder is not completely clear, other than that it is just an as yet unresolved glitch in Windows 7. However, if you really must rid your file folder of an annoying padlock icon, and all else fails, this method will usually do the job.

ADDITIONAL SECURITY TO YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT

Facebook Login Notifications

Hey, Facebook users – Did you know that you can set up America’s favorite social networking site to send you an e-mail or even a text message if anyone tries to access your account from a new device?

It’s great for that extra layer of security – and I highly recommend it!
Here’s how:

While logged in to Facebook, click the arrow next to your name, then Account Settings.



Once at the Account Settings control panel click the security category off to the left, then click Edit.



Now simply choose how you’d like to receive a notification when/if your account is accessed from a new/different computer. Click Save Changes when you’re finished!

Added security to your system

Ctrl+Alt+Del to Log On – Windows 7

If you’re looking to add an extra layer of security to your Windows 7 system, then you may want to consider implementing a bit of a “human touch”, just to be extra sure. 

By requiring users to physically hit Ctrl+Alt+Del to access the log on screen in windows, you ensure that malicious programs (ones that try to mimic a system logon to hack passwords) can’t even make it through the front gate.

Here’s how you do it:

Hit Start, and in the search box type netplwiz – click the icon that appears in the list above.



Once the User Accounts window opens up, click the Advanced tab. At the bottom you’ll see the Secure logon field. Put a check in the box next to Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete



Hit OK, and you’re all set! If you want to go back to a Ctrl+Alt+Delete-free world again, just follow these steps and un-check the box!