Saravana's Blog

Few Tips on Windows XP.

Today I installed a tool “Tweak UI” of PowerToys in my machine. This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more. You can download it from here.

First menu in this tool provides few tips on Windows XP. I found some of the tips in that list were new to me; here I am listing those tips which might be new to you also..

1. To arrange two windows side-by-side, switch to the first window, then hold the Control key while right-clicking the taskbar button of the second window.  Select "Tile Vertically".
2. Hold down the shift key in the shutdown dialog to change "Stand By" to "Hibernate".  Or just press H to hibernate instantly. You can even use the Power Control Panel to configure your power button to hibernate.
3. You can rename multiple files all at once: Select a group of files, right-click the first file, and select "Rename". Type in a name for the first file, and the rest will follow.
4. If you create a file called Folder.jpg, that image will be used as the thumbnail for the folder.  What's more, that image will also be used as the album art in Windows Media Player for all media files in that folder.
5. To close several windows at once, hold down the Control key while clicking on the taskbar buttons of each window.  Once you have selected all the windows you want to close, right-click the last button you selected and pick "Close Group".
6. In Internet Explorer, type Ctrl+D to add the current page to your Favorites.
7. This and many more keyboard shortcuts can be found by going to Internet Explorer, clicking the Help menu, then selecting Contents and Index.  From the table of contents, open Accessibility and click "Using Internet Explorer keyboard shortcuts".
8. In some applications (such as Internet Explorer), holding the Control key while turning the mouse wheel will change the font size.