Adjusting Windows Task bar size: In Windows 7

In Windows 7, the usual size of the Windows Taskbar is a bit larger than usual. This takes some extra space at the bottom of the computer screen. This makes selecting the applications easier as the buttons are bigger. However for those who are using smaller screens this may be a bit annoying as it takes more space on the screen. If you want you can make the size of the taskbar smaller by following the steps below.

1. In a blank space in the taskbar right click and select properties.
2. You will see the ‘Taskbar and Start Menu Properties’ dialog box with many tabs.
3. Here click ‘Use small icons’ and select it.
4. Now click OK and close the dialog box.

Now the task bar will occupy smaller space. If you want you can also hide the task bar when not required. If you want to hide the task bar, in step 2 above, select the ‘Taskbar’tab, and in ‘Taskbar appearance’, select ‘Autohide the taskbar’. If you choose this, if you bring the mouse to the bottom of the screen the taskbar will appear and if you move away from the task bar, it will be hidden.

3outube – Download youtube videos

Even wondered how to download youtube videos to your computer hard disk? If you did a search on google to find out free applications that can download youtube videos, there are quite a few of them available.

But some of them add advertisement, or only download 60 to 70 % of the video, and if you want to download the 100% video, you may have to buy it.

Here is a free 100% online download site which enables you to download in two different formats. MPEG4 and FLA formats. All you need to do is goto youtube.com and find your favourite video.

Eg. http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY9793NCGxI

Now replace y in youtube with 3

So the URL now becomes

http://www.3outube.com/watch?v=yY9793NCGxI

This will bring you to a page where you can select which file format you want to download. MPEG4 or FLA.

Just click on the file format you want and the youtube video will be downloaded to your hard disk. It is that simple.

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Photoshop Preferences

In order to get the most performance out of photoshop, you should check out the photoshop preferences. Let’s go ahead and explore the most important settings in the preferences window of photoshop. If you are in a hurry then scroll down and do the stuff that is in Black font in order to increase the performance of Photoshop.

Go ahead and open the preferences window. Windows users should go to Edit > Preferences > General or use the keystroke CTRL+K. Mac users should go to Photoshop > Preferences > General or CMD+K.

I am using Photoshop CS3 so if you are using a different version of photoshop then your preferences window will probably look different. But don’t worry, most of the settings will be the same though they may exist on different tabs so click around and explore on your own until you get to the settings that this tutorial talks about. If you are using Photoshop CS and above then you should be okay. Just feel your way around.

The following is not a complete tour of the Photoshop Preferences. I have only covered what I believe to be the most important settings for the average Photoshop User.

General Tab.

Color picker: This setting chooses between which algorithm should be used by the color picker. The options that I have are Windows or Adobe. I set this as Adobe.

Image Interpolation: This option is used to decide which algorithm photoshop uses when resizing an image.

• Nearest Neighbour makes the pixels larger or smaller. This usually makes jaggies more visible.
• Bilinear Interpolation determines the averages of pixels and then creates a new pixel based on the results. This produces almost no jaggies but makes the image blurry.
• Bicubic Interpolation is the default setting and should be a good setting for everyone. It creates sharp edges and not many jagged edges. Photoshop CS and above has two variants of Bicubic Interpolation, the Bicubic Smoother and Bicupid Sharper. Bicubic Smoother is optimum for enlarging images and Bicubic Sharper is optimum for reducing an image. None of these enlarge images very well. They will end up making your images blurry but that is where many current enlarging algorithms are currently. My advice would be to just keep Bicubic Interpolation. If you mainly do image size reductions then you can decide if you would like to set it to Bicubic Sharper.

General Options: Most of these are entirely upto you.

• Automatically Launch Bridge: Check this option only if you use Bridge to manage your images and photographs. If not then launching Bridge automatically will just slow down Photoshop’s start time.
• Auto Update Open Documents: If you use multiple image editing programs then turn this on. It is useful if you use Imageready or another image editor while using Photoshop. If not then never mind.
• Automatically Beep: This is useful if you are using massive images and single photoshop commands take many minutes to complete. Then you can just give the command and do something else and photoshop will beep to let you know that the command is complete
• Dymanic Color Sliders: I would recommend that you check this. When you move sliders, you’ll see the colors change in real time. Other wise they will only update once you change and release the mouse button.
• Export Clipboard: I would recommend that you UNcheck this. This will free up your clipboard and leave more memory free. Only check this option if you copy and paste items from inside photoshop to other programs.
• Use Shift Key For Tool Switch: This is entirely a personal preference. If you leave this CHECKED then you can press for example Shift L to select the lasso tool. While holding the shift button down you can press L agains and again to flip through all the other tools under the lasso tool (Polygonal Lasso and Magnetic Lasso). If you UNCHECK this then you just press L to select the lasso tool and then press L over and over to flip through the lasso tools. You’ll save a nano second if you uncheck this. I prefer unchecking it.
• Resize Image During Paste/Place. I would recommend that you check this. This allows you to free transform an image as soon as you Paste or place an image.
• Zoom resizes window. I leave this UNchecked. If checked then it resizes the window along with the image when zoomed.
• Zoom with scroll wheel. I leave this UNchecked. This is personal preference. I usually resize images with the slider on my Wacom Intuos 3.

History Log: This is useful if you want to save all the steps that you made while creating your images. It will tell you exactly what tool you used and applied which filter and what order you made the changes. This is very useful you are writing tutorials or just want to remember exactly how you made what you made.

• MetaData: This will save your history log in the image itself. This will make the image file size slightly bigger. This information can be viewed in the bridge or any other program capable of displayign image metadata (irfanview)
• Text File. Saves the log into an external text file.
• Both: Saves the log into both the image metadata as well as an external text file!

Interface Tab

Use Grayscale Toolbar icon: This turns the “PS” above the tools from Blue to Gray. If the color is distracting to you then go ahead and check this.

Show Channels in Color: Check this if you want to show individual color channels in color. The default is unchecked.

Show Menu Colors: Check this if you want to show background colors in menus

Show Tool Tips: These are the tips that appear if you hover your mouse pointer over something. If you are a beginner or intermediate Photoshop user then leave this checked. If you find them getting in the way then go ahead and uncheck this.

Auto Collapse Icon Palettes: This will hide your palettes if you click anywhere else. This is useful if you feel that the palettes get in your way. I recommend that you Uncheck this. You’ll save a lot of clicks if you keep this unchecked.

Remember Palette Locations: I recommend that you leave this checked. It will allow you to better personalize photoshop according to your needs. If unchecked then all palette locations will get moved back to default between photoshop runs. This is a useful setting to have for shared computers such as in lab environments.

File Handling

Image Previews: Saving an image preview will increase the file size slightly. This is the thumb nail that appears when you click on an image in File > Open. I recommend setting this to Always Save.

File Extension: I have this set to use lowercase. I am not sure why it would be important for anyone to use upper case. Please share in the comments if you know why saving in upper case would be important for someone other than just a personal preference.

Recent File List Contains: I have set this to 15. You can increase the number to 25. This is convenient if you open a lot of files and want easy access to them from File > Recent Files >

Performance

Memory Usage: If you have RAM to spare then increase this to 70%. This will greatly increase performance. This will reduce the performance of any other programs that you might you using. Your decision regarding this option greatly depends on how you use Photoshop. If you close all other programs and only work on Photoshop then increase this to 70% or 75%. If you use other programs while using Photoshop such as a web browser, Dreamweaver, or any resource hungry program then you’ll probably be better off setting this to 55% to 69%. You always want to give photoshop as much memory as you can for the best performance.

Scratch Disks: The best performance can be achieved if you have two internal hard disks in your computer. The second best performance can be achieved if you have one internal and one external harddisk connected by a fast connection such as USB2.0 or Firewire. The least would be to have one hard disk with free space. So if you have two internal physical harddisks in your computer then set the scratch disk to where photoshop is not installed. Example, If photoshop is on X:\ (or sda1) drive then make the scratch disk on Y:\ (sdb1) drive.

History States: Set this to 30. It’s always useful to go backwards in history incase you make an error. The larger number you set, the larger your files are going to be.

Cache Levels: The default Cache level in CS3 is 6. If you have CS or CS2 then change this from 4 to 6.

Windows Vista: Get To Know The Ease Of Access Center

Windows Vista has a feature named Ease of Access Center in order to permit the user to disable some features which are not in use for the user. You have the right to configure the features of Vista on how to magnify the text and on-screen objects, change the narrator to read in a loud manner the on-screen content; to make adjustments to the contrast to have easy view on screen and to teach the operating system to be able to recognize the different voice commands.

Get to know the Ease of Access Center:

• Open up the Ease Of Access Center dialog box by clicking on to the Start button, then to select the Control Panel, and finally double clicking the Ease of Access Center in the Classic view.
• Click on to “Make the Computer Easier To See” link.
• You will have view of options to improve the looks of the content on-screen in the resultant window pane. To increase the on screen content value click on to “Turn On Magnifier” checkbox.
• After that click on the “Apply” button.
• Now you can easily configure how much you want to magnify the dock.
• You can also situate the window on to the left, right, top and bottom of the screen.

There are so many new features in the Windows Vista that you can’t even imagine. What’s better than your pc optimized for you completely? Watch the space for more Window Vista tricks.

Keyboard shortcuts

No matter what your data entry needs may be, repetitive keyboard strokes of the same kind can drive a person insane. In order to save time and prevent flying to the cuckoo’s nest, it is a wise idea to install keyboard shortcuts. A keyboard shortcut can be utilized to make monotonous, repetitive strokes into a simple push of a button.

Keyboard shortcuts can be used to launch applications, run commands, or simplify games. Depending on the different programs used, there are a number of ways to define the keyboard shortcuts. In gaming or word processing software, keyboard shortcuts can be associated with the mouse. If you use an up, right, left to fire the super cannon, keyboard shortcuts can minimize that to hitting one button. Programs also have Auto Hot Keys that can be set up to perform standard operations. Holding Control and B will change font size to bold, control I for italic and so on. It is a time saving as well as ergonomically safe idea to get familiarized with keyboard shortcuts. Not only will your wrists thank you, so will your fellow gamer trapped behind enemy lines.

Fix Windows Error 126

Error 126 in the Windows operating system signals a problem with the loading of a dynamic link library (DLL). DLL files are used in Windows to re-use common functionality or to make the executable file smaller. DLL files can be loaded during the startup of the application (EXE) or at runtime, when the functionality is needed.

When Windows or any program tries to load a DLL and it fails, system error 126 may occur. As a result, error 126 can happen with almost any program that is using DLL files, like games, DirectX, databases, etc.
Top Causes for Windows Error 126

Even though the basic problem with error 126 is the failure to load the DLL file, there can be a number of causes for this error. The first possibility is that the DLL file is really missing. In itself this is a rare cause, as DLL files are not normally in a location where they would be accidentally deleted.
The second possibility is that the DLL file is corrupt. When Windows tries to load the DLL file, the file needs to adhere to a specific format, or the loading will fail. Possible causes for file corruption are disk errors, viruses and malware.
The third possible option is that the DLL file is where it should be and the file is not corrupt, but the reference to the DLL file is corrupt. This would mean a problem with the Windows registry. All DLL files need to be registered in Windows, and the details of these DLLs are recorded in the Windows registry. So if the details are corrupt or missing, the DLL will not load as well.
Fixing DLL Error 126

Considering the causes for Windows error 126, there are a number of steps you can take to repair this error.

• Run a disk check to check the hard disk for any errors that may be responsible for file corruption.

• If the DLL file is a Windows system file, you may be able to repair the DLL file by running “SFC SCANNOW” at the command prompt. This will require administrator access rights, so use a user account with admin level rights. The SFC command checks the Windows system files and tries to repair any errors found. When an error is found, you may be required to provide the original Windows CD to retrieve the original files.

You can also try to manually restore the copy of a Windows DLL file from the Windows setup CD using the “expand” command, but in general the SFC command is easier and more reliable.

• Update your antivirus software and run a full system scan. This will take some time, but it will ensure that there is no virus on your hard disk that could be responsible for the DLL file corruption.

• Reinstall the software in which the error is occurring. If a game is experiencing Windows error 126, try reinstalling the game. If you get Windows error 126 for a DirectX dll, like d3dx9_36.dll, try reinstalling DirectX 9.

Reinstalling the software will generally restore the missing or corrupt DLL file and also reregister it in the Windows registry, in many cases fixing Windows error 126. If reinstalling does not work the first time, uninstall the software first, reboot and then reinstall the software.

How to Get Virtual Desktops on Windows XP

A lot of people prefer multitasking. The best tool for that purpose is virtual desktops. Virtual desktops provide the opportunity to run many desktops at the same time from a desktop computer or laptop. It is very easy to switch among the desktops by just using a button. Every virtual desktop can possess its unique applications as well as a different background.  The feature of virtual desktops is not included in Windows XP by default. However, you can easily get virtual desktops on Windows XP. The means to get virtual desktops on Windows XP is very safe for the computer. All you have to do to get virtual desktops on Windows XP is to use software. This software provides four desktops to use.

In order to get virtual desktops on Windows XP, you have to use the Microsoft PowerToys download page.

Follow these simple steps to get the virtual desktops:

Go to the “Microsoft PowerToys download page”.

Choose DeskMan.exe from the list on the right hand side of the window.

It will allow you to download the file named DeskmanPowertoySetup.exe. Double-click on the file.

Choose the option “Complete” for installing.

It will be installed in a very little time. Right click on the taskbar at the bottom of your screen.

Point to Toolbars. You will now see the new option called Desktop Manager.

Click on Desktop Manager.

Every blue button represents a unique desktop. The green button can be used to preview the four virtual desktops.

Right-click on one of the buttons to see the options for configuration.

Success! This is the preview of the virtual desktops.

You just have to click on any of the desktops in the preview screen in order to get that desktop in the front. Virtual desktops can prove to be very useful if you want to divide your recreational applications and your work applications.

Exel Hotkeys

Here is a list of shortcut keys in Microsoft Excel.

1. F1: Opens a help task pane
2. F1 + Ctrl: Opens or closes the help window
3. F2: To edit the text in the active cell
4. F2 + Shift: To write a comment in the active cell
5. F2 + Alt: Opens the save as dialog box
6. F3 + Shift: opens the insert dialog box
7. F3 + Ctrl: Opens the define name dialog box
8. F3 + Shift + Ctrl:  Opens the create name dialog box
9. F4:  To redo the last command
10. F4 + Ctrl: To close the workbook window
11. F4 + Alt: To close the excel program
12. F5: Opens the Goto dialog box
13. F5 + Ctrl: brings back to the first level of workbook
14. F6: To shift between help taskbar and the excel window
15. F6 + Shift: To goto the previous square in the open worksheet
16. F6 + Ctrl: If more than one workbook is open to switch between them
17. F7: To open spelling correction window
18. F7 + Ctrl: When workbook window is not maximised it will move the window
19. F8: To activate / deactivate extended mode
20. F9: Will calculate all the worksheets in all open workbooks
21. F9 + Shift: Will calculate the active worksheet
22. F9 + Ctrl: To Minimise the workbook window
23. F10: Will select the menu bar
24. F10 + Ctrl: To open minimised window
25. F11: Will create a chart using the current range
26. F11 + Shift: To select a new worksheet
27. F11 + Alt: To switch between visual basic editor and the worksheet
28. F11 + Alt + Shift: Opens microsoft script editor
29. F12: Opens save as dialog box
30. F12 + Shift: Saves the active workbook
31. F12 + Ctrl: To open the Open dialog box
32. F12 + Ctrl + Shift: Opens the print dialog box

Microsoft Exel Alternatives

So what if you don’t have Microsoft Excel? There are many alternative applications to Excel. Here is a list of those alternate programs to Excel.

1. Google Spreadsheets: Google spreadsheets is  part of Google Docs. You can create spreadsheets or even open an excel file from here. If you already have a gmail account, you maybe already using it. Just click on http://docs.google.com to reach google spreadsheets
2. Zoho Sheets: It is also similar to google spreadsheets and is available at http://sheet.zoho.com. You can even edit and share the same file with your friends or colleagues just as google docs enables you.
3. EditGrid: This is an online spreadsheet service. This has all the features of Excel. Available at http://www.editgrid.com
4. NumSum: Available at http://numsum.com this application also enables online creation, sharing of spreadsheets.
5. Simple Spreadsheet: You can get it from http://www.simplegroupware.de/cms/Spreadsheet/Home .
6. Wikicalc: Get this application from  http://www.softwaregarden.com/products/wikicalc
7. Zcubes Calci: This is also another spreadsheet application available online.

As you can see all the above applications are available online in internet and there is no need to install any application on your computer. If on the other hand if you would prefer to install as an application on your desktop and use it, without internet connection, then you can use the following applications which are available as desktop applications.

1. Open Office Calc: This is part of the Open Office suite of applications.
2. IBM Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets: Available at http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/product_sse
3. Abykus: Available at http://www.abykus.com
4. Gnumeric: This is part of the Gnome desktop
5. Spread32: Available at http://www.xtort.net/officeandproductivity/floppyoffice/