USB Device Disconnect automatically

This was a major problem if you are using internet through a USB device. Suppose of a big download/upload breaks for this reason, especially from rapidshare like sites, where Download resume is not supported.

There are two reasons for this. The power scheme of the computer stops USB device after a specific time interval. Or it may occur due to defective drivers. Here is the solution that worked for me.

Disconnect the device and go to device manager. (Right click on “My Computer” and click Manage. From the left panel of management console, choose device manager.)
Expand USB controller (generally at bottom) and change power scheme of each ports. To do it, double click on each port, go to power management tab and uncheck the box
“Allow windows to turn off the device to save power.”

After this, connect your device again and test if it is disconnecting or not. If it is still disconnecting then follow the next step.
Go to the device manager again without disconnecting the device. The device should be listed under USB. Right click on the device and choose Uninstall.

After uninstall completes, disconnect the device, reboot computer and reconnect it again. The computer will load the drivers automatically.

My USB connection with mobile phone was disconnecting automatically. I solved the problem this way.

Arrange folders by size

In windows, we can not directly see the size of a folder. We have to move the mouse over it, or go to properties. But I encountered a situation, where I had to find and compare the size of some folders. In short, I need to arrange forlder accoring to their size. But there was no built in support for it.

After some searching, I got a very good solution in net. That is "FolderSize.exe" It is a simple utility, that calculates the size of all folders I see in explorer.

Download FolderSize (Win 2000/XP)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/foldersize/
Installation 
Just like any other programm, run the installer.

Use
After installation, it is accessible via windows explorer detail view. (Where you see the size, date etc of the files. Right click on the header labels, (ie on 'size') and a list of available fields will pop up. Enable "Folder Size" from the list. You will get the size of all folders and files also. Now you may turn off the filesize column because the filesize is listed under foldersize column.



Stopping FolderSize
You may stop the service without uninstalling it and may start again when required. Go to control pannel and there is an entry for FolderSize. Double clicking on it will open a box where you can stop it.


Uninstalling
Like any other software, it can be uninstalled via control pannel's Add Remove Program.

Keep backup of your Firefox passwords and add-ons

If you are using firefox, then definitely you have dome add-ons and saved passowrds. I have more than 100 password saved in my firefox. What happens when I have to remove firefox for any reason and re install it? Or more worse situation, if I have to reinstall Windows?

Export the saved passwords in a file.

The problem has a ready-made solution. Firefox has an add-on that can backup and restore all saved passwords in XML format or CVS (coma separated values) file. These backup files can be re-imported to any system having Firefox. You can Keep this file in a pen drive and even put them in all of your computers.

Password Exporter is the add on for this work. Just download it and restart firefox.

To use it, open Tools->Add-ons and click the "option" tab of Password Exporter. Choose "export password" or Import password  button.


Save your add ons in a file

OPIE is a Firefox add-on that lets you backup your other Firefox add-ons. Just get it and run.

Keep Windows running for ever without slow down.

Many people use Windows operating system for its simplicity. But windows OS has a drawback. It requires re-installation time to time. Only a few expart user can use Windows OS for a long time without reinstalling it. I am using Windows XP for 3 years without reinstalling. I achieved this target after many reinstallation. Now I know the settings those are fit for such long drive.

Here is the process I used.

What you need before you install windows?

1. Proper partition of your hard disk is very important. you must keep your system drive (in which you install Windows) size for your requirements. If your machine is for office use, then keep the size at least 20 GB. If you like to install games etc, keep it larger than 30 GB.
2. At least two other drives (Total 3 drives).

Remember that you must keep at least 1 GB free space in your system drive to run windows properly. 3 GB free space is recommended.

After you finish installing Windows, do the followings

1.  Move your ‘My Documents’ folder to another drive from C:

This is for security reason. If your system crushes and you have to reinstall it again, your documents will be safe in another drive. So you can format your system drive anytime without any problem. To move you’re my Documents’ folder to D drive, just follow the steps.

a.       Right click on the “My Documents’ icon on desktop or start menu and click properties

b.      You will see a button <move>. Click it and select a location.

c.       You can set back anytime by clicking Restore button.

Now your documents will be saved in another drive. You can format and reinstall system without affecting your documents. When you reinstall, you have to change the documents folder again. Of course, you can manually save your documents to any folders. So the moving is not mandatory.

2.    Create a limited user account

The default account type in windows is Admin Account. But if any virus infects your machine, it has the privilege of admin. So make a new account without admin privilege to access any potentially unsafe data like Internet or external pen drive etc. When you connect to internet, download any file or insert an external memory, always use that limited account. If you want to install/run a program downloaded or from external source, first scan them with antivirus using the limited account. Then switch to Admin account and run them. If your machine got infected while using a limited account, it will cause much less damage than Admin account.

3.    Install a good Antivirus

Antivirus is an essential tool for windows OS. If you want free antivirus, then use Avast Home or AVG free. If you are ready to pay, use kaspersky or quick heal. BitDefender and Eset are also good choice. Keep the antivirus updated and always update it before scanning a newly downloaded file.

www.avast.com

www.avg.com

www.quick-heal.com

www.kaspersky.com

4.    Install a good media player

Many people use heavy software to play video or audio that makes unnecessary use of resource. Use KM Player, VLC Player or total video player for it. All of them are lightweight and free. Moreover, they can play all type of audio and video which is not possible in many paid players like power DVD etc. KMPlayre has a drawback, it cannot capture frame.

KMPlayer

VLC

Total Video player

5.    Install a lightweight pdf reader.

Adobe pdf reader is the heaviest reader. It consumes lots of memories and also takes more time to start. Use foxit pdf reader which is smaller and quick. But remember, it lacks some functionalities of adobe. So if you have no choice other than adobe reader, then use this trick to make it somehow faster. Just use this freeware adobe reader speedup.

You can do it manually also. Find the folder named plugins in the adobe’s folder. Move all files to another folder named optional.

Adobe reader

Foxit reader

6.    Use a good uninstaller

Windows built in control panel uninstaller cannot remove many files of the uninstalled program. It also unable to clean all the registry entries while removing it. So even we remove a program, it will affect the performance. There are many uninstallers to remove all trace of the unnecessary program. I use a free tool, revo uninstaller. It clears all files and folders created by the program and also the registry entries.

www.revouninstaller.com/

7.    Install a good defragmenter.

Windows built-in disk defragmenter is worthless. Probably it is the worst defragmenter. There is several third-party software to perform the task much better. Auslogic disk defragmenter is one of the best free defragmenter. It performs consolidation that means all similar files together on the disk. (It moves all .mp3 files together, all .doc files together etc) So the searching of any file is much faster. When you ask for an .mp3 file, the system will directly search the area where all the mp3 files are consolidated.  There is no need to move everywhere in the disk. This defrag tool can be applied to any single file or single folder also.

Ultradefrag is the best defragmenter to defrag system files. It has a boot-time defrag option, that defrags the system files which are locked by system.

Auslogic DiskDefrag http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download/

Ultradefrag http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/

Change title bar of MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Document1 Microsoft Word is the text you see on the title-bar of MS Word. But you can change the text "Microsoft Word" by any other text. it just require a single line of code. The same code will change the text ot MS Word, MS Excel, MS Power Point also.

Just open MS Word, go to Tools->Macros-> New Macro.
Create a macro with the name 'Autoexec"
Edit it with visual basic editor.
Type just a line:-   application.caption = "YOUR TEXT"

The macro will be like this.
sub autoexec()
application.caption = "Your Text"
end sub

Use this process for Excel, Power Point etc also.

Find all empty Cells in a Table

If you are working with a table and want to find which cells are empty, then it is not easy. You can find a text  using find dialog box in MS Word, but it will not work for searching an empty cell.

An epmty cell in a table does not contains zero length text. Actually every cell of a table contains a 'start character' at the begining of the cell, and an 'end character' at the end. An empty cell contains only start and end characters having nothing between them. So the length of an empty cell in not zero. It is two charakter long.

Here is a VBA macro that will highlight all empty cell of a table within your selection. Just select a part (or full) of a table and run this macro. All empty cells within the selection will be colored blue.

Just copy the code and paste in MS word macro window.
-----------------------------
Sub MarkEmptycell()

    Dim C As Cell
    For Each C In Selection.Cells
    C.Select
    If Len(Trim(Selection.Text)) = 2 Then
    C.Shading.ForegroundPatternColor = wdColorBlue
    End If
    Next C
    Selection.Collapse
   
End Sub
----------------------------

If you are facing any problem with MS Office, just send a mail to jupiter_joyprakash@yahoo.co.in

How to right vertical text in Word?

Whenever you want a vertical text in word, follow the steps:

 

Insert a table and write inside the cell.

Right click on any toolbar and open "Tables and Borders" toolbar

Use that toolbar to change the direction of the text in one or more selected cells

 

At last select the table and change the border style to "No Border"

Your task is complete.

 

You can also use textbox for this task, but I prefer Table.