Open a Command Prompt at any Folder

Command prompt fans will welcome this handy tip. With it, you can open command prompt at any folder when you are in Windows Explorer. Remember – Powertoys for Windows XP ?? One tool in this PowerToy was ‘Open Command Window Here’.

Now, you can get exactly the same interface by this simple unknown trick: Before right clicking any folder, hold down the Shift key and then you would see the ‘Open Command Prompt Here’ in the context menu on clicking on which you can start a command prompt session from that folder as shown below:

Windows Explorer Tips

Windows Explorer is the heart and soul of Windows interface ad overall it works quite well but you can make it much better.

Use Check boxes to select multiple files:

In order to select multiple files for tasks such as copying, moving, deleting, in Windows Explorer, you generally use the keyboard and mouse, CTRL-clicking every file you want to select. But if you are a mouse centric, there is a way to select multiple files in Windows 7 using only your mouse, via check boxes. To do it:

1. In Windows Explorer, click organize, and then select ‘Folder and Search Options.’

2. Click the View Tab.

Search the Internet from Start Menu

The start menu search box is convenient way to search through PC – but you can also use this search box to perform double duty by making to search the internet from well within the Start menu search. To enable this log on with an administrator account and perform this:

1. In the Start menu search box, type ‘gpedit.msc’ (without quotes) and press enter to run the Group Policy Editor.

2. Go to User Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Start Menu and Taskbar.

Modify UAC (User Account Control)

The User Account Control security feature was one of the most reviled additions to Windows Vista, with good reason – its constant warning messages asking for permission to continue many operations drove the users around the bend. UAC has been improved upon a lot in Windows 7 so that it’s not as intrusive as in Windows Vista, but you can still tweak it if you like.

Nokia joins hands with Microsoft

Nokia, according to a release, will contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a wide range of price points, market segments and geographies.

World’s largest cellphone maker Nokia and software giant Microsoft will form a broad strategic partnership, a move that will help them to fight stiff competition from rivals Apple and Google in the smartphone market.

The partnership, announced today, would see Nokia adopting Microsoft’s Windows Phone as its main smartphone platform.

The two entities would form a “broad strategic partnership that would use their complementary strengths and expertise to create a new global mobile ecosystem,” Nokia said in a statement.