Category Archives: Tips & Tricks

Visio 2010 Page Sizing & Printing Tips

Read more at MS Visio Blog

Shortcut to Task Manger in Windows 7

Control-Shift-Escape

How to Delete File Associations (Default Programs) in Windows 7

In windows XP this was easy, in Windows 7, apparently one needs to edit the registry as suggested here:

Let XYZ be the extension you want to deassociate.
With a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe),

1. go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerFileExts
remove the subtree .XYZ

2. go to
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
remove the subtree .XYZ
remove the subtree XYZ_auto_file

When I tried this, step 1 seems to suffice. Why it has to be so complicated is beyond my understanding.

MS-Office Custom Dictionary File

So you worked tirelessly and updated your custom dictionary on MS-Windows with all your specific technical terms of your area of work and then you get a new computer or a new hard drive and all is gone. How to avoid this? Simply copy the file “Custom.dic” from your old installation to the new one. Where is it? Here: “UsersUSERNAMEAppDataRoamingMicrosoftUProof”; simply replace “USERNAME” with your login ID.

Outlook Settings File Location – Autocompletion

One of the annoying aspects of working on a new computer is that Outlook does not know your past recipients. Name completion in e-mails only works for previous recipients. There is a simple solution. Copy the Outlook settings file from your old default installation to the new one. But where is it? On Windows 7, the file is called “MS Exchange Settings.NK2” and can be found here: “C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataRoamingMicrosoftOutlook”; simply replace “USERNAME” with your login ID.

Duplicate Database Structure in Bento 4

Bento 4 comes with a nice set of templates. It is also easy to customize these templates; however, once customized, there is no straightforward way to duplicate a database. For instance in my case I customized the “Vehicle Maintenance” Template by replacing the ‘Location’ field with a drop down menu populated by various places I go for my car service. I did not want to set this up from scratch for another vehicle. Continue reading

Backup and Transfer ScanSnap Profile Settings

You want to move your detailed ScanSnap profile settings from one Mac to another one (or back them up), yet, the ScanSnap Manager has no built-in functionality to do so.

Not too surprisingly, profile information is stored in a preference file, but the trick is to know which one. The answer can be found here:

http://www.documentsnap.com/how-to-backup-your-scansnap-profile-settings-on-the-mac/

The file you are looking for is:

jp.co.pfu.ScanSnap.V10L10.plist

Simply copy it to the other Mac and you are all set.

Convert Mac .webloc files to Windows-compatible hyperlinks

An ideal solution would simply convert the .webloc files to .url files. I am still looking for such a solution, in the meantime, a trick I found here works well:

Open Textedit, click and drag .webloc files or URL (from Safari) into document, an Http link is formed. Press right arrow key to go to end of line, then press Return twice. Repeat.

You can save as many links as you like, or open up the file later and add more links. Save it as a .rtf document (default) and it can be used in Windows or Mac.

Fast file transfer between Windows & Mac via TCP-IP over Firewire

The basic idea and setup is described here, however, many details are missing, so I put together detailed instructions with screenshots. I am describing the configuration between a Mac running Leopard and a Windows 95 Machine. Continue reading

Optimal Setup for Gmail, Apple Mail, and iPhone with IMAP

I am truly thankful for this article that explains the best way I have found to configure everything “for maximum happiness” as the author puts it without the slightest bit of exaggeration. See for yourself:

http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253

However, I should note that I do modify the approach a little bit for my own purposes. I do happen to like Gmail’s “All Mail” concept, so I am skipping the steps suggested to hide the “All Mail” and “Starred” folders; but that is certainly a personal preference and does not change the overall excellent method described.