PCTips Box

Probably Windows 98 users remember that in the Start menu there was a possibility to see your recently open documents (as far as I remember, the list displayed the last 15 documents you opened). In Windows XP, this option is gone. Sometimes I found it useful, because I never remember the names I give to files, or the place I save them.

Windows XP has this information in memory, but it does not display it by default anymore. Here’s how to get access to the recent documents list:

1. Open Windows Explorer (if you don’t know how, use the shortcut keys combination “Window” + “E”)
2. Click on Local Disc (C:) (more…)

You may have created normal hidden folders in windows Xp and vista to store your private files , but these normal type of hidden folders in vista and windows Xp is quite old technique. As even if you create a hidden folder using this old technique almost every one or a normal windows user would know how to get access to that folder.

By simply going to Windows Explorer>>File Menu>>tools>>Folder Options>>view tab and check the radio option which says - “Show Hidden Files and Folders“.

But what if you can create a ultra hidden system folder which is not shown even if the above setting of Show Hidden Files and Folders is turned on or clicked. (more…)

Ever been on PC where Internet Explorer was blocked? One solution would be to use a portable version of Firefox on a USB drive, or you can access a hidden browser in Microsoft HTML Help program if removable media is not an option. This was tested on Windows XP SP2 with Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7.

1. Open calculator. You can do this quickly with Windows button+R on your keyboard, type calc in the run box, click OK. (more…)

Tired of the old Windows Vista default Boot Screen? Well then, there is a simple alternative solution involving nothing more than your copy of the operating system. And just a tad of tweaking, but nothing extensive, and certainly nothing that would cause Vista to become instable or unusable. The fact of the matter is that you will only have to make use of one of the system maintenance tools that ships by default with the platform. And of course that the first tool coming to mind is the System Configuration Utility, or msconfig.

In order to access the System Configuration Utility all you have to do is enter “msconfig” in the Search Box under the Start Menu. (more…)

you read that right! Windows XP has so many other utilities hidden to the average user. All you need is some other program to show you what they are. Check out Hidden Utilities XP. It’s a small utility that shows you 53 Windows tools and 43 Command Line utilities that have a wide array of uses ranging from system info, (more…)

In the past, I wrote several articles to present you the hidden operators available for Google’s search engine that allow you to find your information easier. Take for example filetype:mp3 that helps you search only for mp3 files so your search query time is obviously reduced. Today, the Search Bistro blog posted an article to announce 71 new search operators included in Google’s technology meant to help users find information easier. “It’s not perfect, but hey, it’s new. Google accepts all kind of new search words. Type employees and a name of a company in Google. Now you know: Yahoo has more employees then Google. Says who? Wikipedia. Google
recognizes the keywords from the info box on many pages. But that’s not all,” Search Bistro reported. (more…)

I guess all of you agree that Google is the most popular search engine on the Internet, having millions of users every day. Because it is the best search technology in the entire world, the service is able to index and crawl millions of websites although their content is not quite acceptable. Take the example of the pornographic websites or even warez or illegal material that is often accessible using a simple command typed on Google. If you didn’t know, Google has several hidden operators that allow users to find a certain type of information quicker than typing a longer phrase.

Let me present some of the most useful commands used in the Google search box to allow you to find information quicker: (more…)

There might be some rare human being around who has surfed Internet but hasn’t used Google in some way or the other. Still there are some great works of Google that are known but to a smaller community of people. They are worth looking. Today I came around a Google page where Google pays tributes to moms around the worlds. That made me search on for something more. Here is the compiled list. Worth a look for all the Google lovers/critics. (more…)

When we launched Windows Vista® in January 2007, we identified Windows Ultimate Extras as a unique series of add-ons that would be available to Windows Vista Ultimate customers. To date, we have released four sets of Extras Windows Hold’Em, 16 Language Packs for the Windows multi-language user interface, Secure Online Key Backup, and Windows BitLocker™ Drive Preparation Tool. We want to let our Windows Vista Ultimate customers know that we are actively working to deliver the remaining Extras that we identified in January. Our goal is to provide the highest-quality, most secure and reliable offerings, and as a result we are continuing our work on these offerings. We apologize for taking so long to provide a status update to customers. (more…)

Windows XP has a hidden sound track which plays as background music during Windows XP installation process, but most people can’t hear this music because they have a soundcard that won’t have drivers preinstalled on XP. Here’s a way to uncover it:

Navigate to C:\Windows\system32\oobe\images, go to Tools > Folder Options > View, (more…)