WinDirStat

Is your hard drive full?  Do you know why?  Sometimes one of the hardest parts of freeing up space on your computer is figuring out exactly what is taking up all of that space in the first place.  That's where WinDirStat can help.  It's a free program and you can download it at: cnet.  Here's how to use it:

1.) Install WinDirStat or open it if it's already installed.
2.) Select the drive that you want to analyze.

3.) After the graphic pops up if you hover over one of the boxes it will tell you the name of the file at the bottom left corner of the window.

4.) To go to the folder location click it once in the graphic and press Ctrl+E.

Send a fax without a phone line

It's possible to send a fax from your computer without a phone using a fax service such as FaxZero.  FaxZero is free for faxes up to 3 pages and $1.99 for faxes up to 15 pages.  Just upload and send.
http://faxzero.com/

How to rename multiple pictures at once in Picasa

If you have uploaded a bunch of files from your digital camera onto your computer they probably are just named with a default criteria.  If you want to rename them something like vacation.jpg, Picasa can do that but it will add a sequential number to the end since they can't all have the exact same name.

To rename a multiple files at once in Picasa:
1.) Select the photos you'd like to rename.
2.) Click the File menu, then choose Rename. You can also use keyboard shortcut F2.
3.) Enter a new name for these files. You have the option to include the date or image resolution in the filename.
4.) Click Rename.

Set up secure Facebook browsing

Facebook browsing is now more secure with the the ability to enable https.  The setting is turned off by default so you'll need to turn it on.  To do this, log onto Facebook and go to 'Account Settings' in the upper right corner of the screen.  Then on the 'Settings' tab, click 'change' next to the account security section. Then click the check box next to 'Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible'.

How to see if anyone else is logged into your Facebook account

Facebook lets you check the location of your most recent account activity.  You might be surprised to find that your account is logged on somewhere that you haven't been.  Luckily you can disconnect any unknown connections.  To do this you need to go to Facebook and click on 'Account Settings' in the upper right corner of the screen.  Then on the 'Settings' tab, click 'change' next to the account security section. Then if you see an unfamiliar device or location, click "end activity".  You can then set it up so that Facebook will send you an email when a new device logs on.

How to activate the admin account in Windows 7

To remove certain programs and to do certain tasks you may occasionally need to use the admin account in Windows 7.  It is disabled by default so to to enable the built-in Administrator's account by using the Command Prompt follow these steps:

1. Click Start and type CMD, then right-click CMD and select "Run as Administrator".

2.) When prompted to allow the Command Processor to run, click on "Yes".

3.) Type the following into the command prompt window to enable the Administrator's account:

net user administrator /active:yes

The next time you restart you will see the option to log on as the administrator.

Windows won't let you delete a file? Use the command prompt.

If you’ve ever seen the error message that you can’t delete a file because it’s currently in use, it is still possible to delete that file.  There’s a way to delete it through the command prompt using the following steps (in Windows 7):

1.   Type ‘cmd’ into the search bar and then right-click on ‘cmd.exe’ and choose ‘Run as Administrator’.

2.      Go to the folder you want to delete a file from. Click on the Address-field to reveal the actual folder path.

3.      Highlight the portion of the path after the Colon (:).

4.      Right-Click the highlighted part, and choose Copy (or Press Ctrl+C).

5.      Go back to your Command-Window and type: ‘CD\’ (This will open the Root Folder).

6.      Paste in the path using Right-Click, Paste (Ctrl+V will NOT work).

7.      To make sure you are in the correct folder you can type: ‘DIR’. This will show you the folder contents.

8.      To delete the file, type: ‘DEL[filename] /F /Q’.
The F means: Delete File even IF it’s reported as Read Only.
The Q means: you don’t have to Confirm.
If you want to delete all files in the folder, you can use wildcards instead of Filename
For example: DEL *.* /F /Q

How to get better search results

Searching the internet for a topic can be difficult at times but there are some techniques to searching that usually render better results.

Google gives some tips in their help section and the above graphic I’ve included is from Google.

The basic ideas are that Boolean operators and math symbols help (AND, OR, ~, +, -, etc), use quotes when searching for a phrase, and you can use a * wildcard if necessary.

Google Shortcut	Finds Pages That Have...
nokia phone	the words nokia and phone
sailing OR boating	either the word sailing or the word boating
"love me tender"	the exact phrase love me tender
printer -cartridge	the word printer but NOT the word cartridge
Toy Story +2	movie title including the number 2
~auto	looks up the word auto and synonyms
define:serendipity	definitions of the word serendipity
how now * cow	the words how now cow separated by one or more words
+	addition; 978+456
-	subtraction; 978-456
*	multiplication; 978*456
/	division; 978/456
% of	percentage; 50% of 100
^	raise to a power; 4^18 (4 to the eighteenth power)
old in new (conversion)	45 Celsius in Fahrenheit
site:(search only one website)	site:websearch.about.com "invisible web"
link:(find linked pages)	link:www.lifehacker.com
#...#(search within a number range)	nokia phone $200...$300
daterange:(search within specific date range)	Bosnia daterange:200508-200510
safesearch: (exclude adult content)	safesearch:breast cancer
info: (find info about a page)	info:www.websearch.about.com
related: (related pages)	related:www.websearch.about.com
cache: (view cached page)	cache:google.com
filetype:(restrict search to specific filetype)	zoology filetype:ppt
allintitle: (search for keywords in page title)	allintitle:"nike" running
inurl:(restrict search to page URLs)	inurl:chewbacca
site:.edu (specific domain search)	site:.edu, site:.gov, site:.org, etc.
site:country code (restrict search to country)	site:.br "rio de Janeiro"
intext:(search for keyword in body text)	intext:parlor
allintext: (return pages with all words specified in body text)	allintext:north pole
book(search book text)	book The Lord of the Rings
phonebook:(find a phone number)	phonebook:Google CA
bphonebook: (find business phone numbers)	bphonebook:Intel OR
rphonebook:(find residential phone numbers)	rphonebook:Joe Smith Seattle WA
movie:(search for showtimes)	movie:wallace and gromit 97110
stocks:(get a stock quote)	stocks:ncesa
weather:(get local weather)	weather:97132

Problem Steps Recorder Video

I've created a demonstration of how the problem steps recorder works in Windows 7.

More about AutoHotKey

There are some good places to go to find out more information about AutoHotKey on the web.
Lifehack has a page with 10 ways to use the program [LifeHack] It includes keyboard shortcuts to favorite folders, and ways to manage multiple signatures.






There's also an AutoHotKey tutorial page: [Tutorial]

And if a key on your keyboard ever breaks there's no need to get a new one either...[Keyboard]

How to use AutoHotKey as a text expander

Once you’ve installed AutoHotKey you can have it auto complete text for you.  This can save a lot of time on anything you type frequently. 

Here’s a walkthrough on how you can create an auto complete script with AutoHotKey:

1.)    Create a new script by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop. Then click on ‘New’ and then ‘AutoHotKey script’.

2.)    Open the file you just created by right-clicking on it and clicking ‘Open with’ and then select ‘Notepad’.  Note: if you just double-click the file it runs the script and you won’t see anything.

3.)    To set up a text expander function:

If you want to set up a key sequence to expand text then you can model your script after one of the examples below. For example, you could make typing ‘billyjoe@’ (without the quotes) automatically become  ‘billyjoe@gmail.com’.  If you’re setting up to have it automatically complete it’s important to have the key sequence be separate from your everyday typing.  Let’s say, for example, you set the key sequence ‘bi’ to auto complete to billyjoe@gmail.com.  Then every time you try to type ‘bike’ when the script is running you’ll end up with billyjoe@gmail.com.  So, it needs to be a unique combination.  You can also set it up to expand the text after typing ‘bi’ + the Enter key.  Any key sequence will work.  Below I’ve shown how to do this in option 2.

Option 1:

Type the following text into the bottom of an AutoHotKey script so that every time you type ‘billyjoe@’ it will autocomplete as ‘billyjoe@gmail.com’:

:*billyjoe@::billyjoe@gmail.com

Return

Option 2:

Type the following text into the bottom of an AutoHotKey script so that every time you type ‘bi + Enter’ it will autocomplete as ‘billyjoe@gmail.com’:

                                    ::bi::billyjoe@gmail.com

Return

The difference between the two is seen in the first part of the script. ‘:*’ Tells it to auto complete after typing the subsequent keys and ‘::’ tells it to auto complete after typing the subsequent keys and the enter key.

4.)    Save the file.

5.)    Right click on the script on the desktop and select ‘Compile Script’.

6.)    Double-click it to run the script.

Now type in your key sequence and watch it expand like magic.

AutoHotKey

If you’re like me, at some point you’ve had to perform mindless repetative tasks on your computer.  AutoHotKey is my favorite way of speeding up such tasks.

Here are the reasons I like it:

• It’s free.

• It’s easy.  No prior programming knowledge required.  AutoScriptWriter, which is included in the AutoHotKey, takes the guess work out.  It will record your actions and create a script that you then paste into a new AutoHotKey file.

• The script can run on any computer.  You can convert the files to .exe.

• It can do almost anything.  I did find something it couldn’t do when I was using it though.  I tried to create a script that would auto log me into a secure site but the program couldn’t retain my login info…which is probably a good thing…but I then couldn’t create the script I wanted.

• It’s a text expander.  So if you enter the same information over and over it can help save time.  For example: entering an email address.

You can download it at:

CNET

Problem steps recorder

Ever needed to describe a computer problem to someone to get help? You should try the problem steps recorder. It’s built into Windows 7. It creates a handy file complete with images and descriptions of what’s going on. If you’ve never seen it, you can go to the Start menu and search for it (it's actually called psr.exe).




You could also use this software to record the steps in doing just about anything on your PC. Note: anything you type isn’t recorded, so if you’d want to include that you could type a note.




Here’s a video demonstrating how it works:
TechNet

If you don't have Windows 7, you may be able to use Screenrecorder.  It was featured in TechNet magazine.  Here's the article:
TechNet Utility