I reviewed Winlaunch before explaining how it could be used to create global shortcuts easily in Windows. Today I want to delve in a bit deeper and show you how you can add shortcuts to strings to save time when you are online. You could for instance use shortcuts to represent your email address and signature or any other string that you type in regularly throughout the day.

Winlaunch can obviously do more than that. It is a very versatile shortcut application that can create a shortcut for almost anything that you can think of. Adding strings is easily done by clicking on the Add Shortcut button in the main program interface and selecting String from the available choices.

The program asks for a specific text string in the next step and a name for that string. To add an email address simply add it to the text string field and use email for the name of the shortcut. After that select a shortcut key or combination for that new string shortcut, for example F8.

continue reading "Save Time With Global String Shortcuts"

Changing file associations in Windows XP and Windows Vista can be a tedious task. You first have to load the Folder Options in the Tools menu, select the File Types tab afterward, wait for the list to load, scroll down until you find the file type that you want to change, click on the change button to change the file association and browse the computer for the new application. You better take a day off if you want to change the associations of several file types.

Types on the other hand is a lightweight portable Open-Source software that runs on Windows XP and Windows Vista that makes it a tad easier to change file associations in both operating systems. It comes with a window that can actually be changed in size which means that it is possible to display virtually all file extensions on the screen at the same time.

continue reading "Change File Associations with Types"

Forums used to be huge back in the day. They where a vital source of knowledge for anyone getting into any field, and particularly areas like SEO and programming. They allowed people to share their knowledge, learn from those with superior skills and help beginners.

Over the last decade however with the rise of blogs Forums have lost a little of their popularity. Many people realised the knowledge they where sharing for free could still be provided via blogs, but monetized at the same time and help in building up their own ersonal brand.

Bulletin boards are still around however, and always will be I’m sure. Web Forum Reader is a application designed to help you monitor and track the forums you frequent on a regular basis.

continue reading "Web Forum Reader"

Normally users check video files and their required codecs to make sure the file plays properly on their system. But there are some users - including myself - who want to know the codecs that are installed on a system. This is useful for compatibility and playback reasons, for example to make sure that a video is always using a specific codec for playback.

Installed Codec (via Shell Extension City) is another fine NirSoft tool that displays all installed codecs of a Windows 2000, 2003, XP or Vista system in a table. All meaning all Codec drivers and DirectShow but not binary codecs which are used by some applications like MPlayer.

The software lists the name of the codec, its installation path and file, the company that developed it and if it is enabled on the system. Each codec in the list can be disabled which has the effect that this codec will not be used to play the supported multimedia files. Excellent if you want to make sure that a specific codec is playing certain videos.

continue reading "Display The Installed Codecs On A System"

One way to ensure that files do not get modified is to monitor certain directories for changes and write those changes to a log. It would then be easy to see if a file had been changed in the past since starting the monitoring. It does not really prevent file modifications but can provide valuable information nevertheless.

Directory Monitor is a simply application that can monitor folders for one or multiple of the following four events: File additions, file modifications, file deletions and file renames. The user basically selects at least one folder to monitor and the events that he wants monitored in that folder.

The software supports local folders, network folders and even hidden shares. Specific file patterns can be excluded from being monitored. Excluding text files could be achieved by adding *.txt to the options of the application. The main problem here is that those excluded patterns are global patterns meaning they are active for all monitored folders.

continue reading "Directory Monitor"