Inside the brain of a Geek: Quick Access to your Favorite Folders

Does the desktop pictured below look familiar? There is a better way to get quick access to the folders you access the most. Today I will show how you can quickly access your favorite folders without cluttering your desktop.  In Windows 7, you have a Favorites section in Windows Explorer and adding folders is easy. 

 

Follow the directions below to add folders to your Favorites in Windows Explorer.

Open Windows Explorer (+E)   

 

Open the folder you want to add to your Favorites.

 

Right Click on Favorites and the select Add current location to Favorites.

 

My folder Inside the brain of a Geek is now in my Favorites.

Want to suggest a topic or submit a question?  Please email me using the contact form of the site!

Inside the brain of a Geek: Taming your paper headache with your smartphone

I have an iPhone , and get asked the question “What apps do you have?” a lot.  I have tons of apps, but the real question that should be asked is “What apps do you use?”  CamScanner is an app I use daily to tame my paper headache.  What does this app do for me?

1. With advertisements, PDF files created with watermark, limitation of 50 documents, 10 pages per document, and up to 3 scans every time in batch mode.”  The licenses version is $4.99.
2. It is available for iPhone and Android.

 “CamScanner turns your phone into a scanner. With CamScanner, you are able to digitize any paper documents by photo shooting. Simply take a picture of any paper documents such as receipts, whiteboards, notes, agreement and so forth, and CamScanner can auto-crop image, enhance image quality and create an industry standard PDF file. And you can easily upload documents to cloud like Dropbox, Google Doc, Box.net, and manage them by tagging or searching.

With CamScanner You Can Scan
* Receipt, Bill, Tax Roll
* Business Card, Membership Card, VIP card
* Agreement, PPT and Whiteboard
* Note, Memo, Script, Letter
* Books, Magazines, Newspaper, Poster, Coupon
* Courier Sheet, Resumes

Inside the brain of a Geek: Creating hundreds of memorable and secure passwords made EASY!

This weekI want to expand on creating secure and memorable passwords. I’m going to show you how to take the one memorable and security password we created with our password formula and use it as a base to create hundreds of memorable passwords. If you need a refresher on password formulas, please read “Are you part of the 41.69%”.  Having a password similar to “0kittYHorse* is great and with the story behind it very easy to remember.  We are going to use the password “0kittYHorse* as a base password.  We will then add to it in a way that correlates to the website to create a unique password for each site.  My examples are using the first two letters from the website name and adding them to the front of the base password. 

First two letter examples:

Gmail =GM0kittYHorse*

Yahoo = YA0kittYHorse*

Visa = VI0kittYHorse*

Facebook = FA0kittYHorse*

Now in six months when it is time to change your password.  Change the base password only.  Here, is an example.  We have had two cats Jack is a Tabby and Shadow was a Korat.  Jack was born in 1998.  My base password is now 9tabbYKorat*.  Using my new base password, I will change all my passwords.

First two letter examples:

Gmail =GM9tabbYKorat*

Yahoo = YA9tabbYKorat*

Visa = VI9tabbYKorat*

Facebook = FA9tabbYKorat*

Never share your base password and change it every six to twelve months. Before you ask, no those are not my real base passwords, they are just examples.

Inside the brain of a Geek: Are you part of the 41.69%?

While I hope your password is -  uz8I/.-X%QVopdM~wB0n#;"BH (Example 1)

The reality is that 41.69% of all passwords look like this – kittyhorse (Example 2)

Think of your password as a needle in a haystack. The complexity and length of your password determine the size of your haystack.  Example 1 would be like trying to finding a needle lost somewhere on Jupiter. Example 2 would be like trying to finding a needle you dropped on a white floor.

The mission is not to convert everyone to using randomly generated passwords but to make memorable passwords like “kittyhorse” more secure. Below is a three-step formula for converting “kittyhorse” from a 1.47-seconds hack to 1.74 centuries. Once you create a password formula use it over and over to create memorable and secure passwords.

Password example:  kittyhorse (hack time 1.47-seconds)*

Password example:  0kittyhorse* (hack time 3.76 years)*

Password example:  0kittYHorse* (hack time 1.74 centuries)*

So instead of trying to remember 0kittYHorse*.  I tell myself this story.  I’m a middle child and growing up I had a kitty but really wanted a horse.  I have a dog now and he was born in 2008.

*Calculated using the GRC's Interactive Brute Force Password “Search Space” Calculator.  https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm

Inside the brain of a Geek: Visual cheat sheet for keyboard shortcuts

Love the idea of keyboard shortcuts but can’t seem to memorize all the key combinations? Office 2007 and 2010 now have more shortcut options with a cool visual cheat sheet. Use the Alt key in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook to display KeyTips badges. KeyTips badges are a visual cheat sheet for keyboard shortcuts. See the example below.

Press Alt in Word 2010 to display the KeyTip badges.

Press H on the keyboard to move to the Home tab. Now use the KeyTip badges to execute a command. 1 will turn on bold. FF will change the font. 

For more on using KeyTips in Word see the video below.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access-help/keyboard-shortcuts-in-the-2007-office-system-RZ010156267.aspx?section=8

Inside the brain of a Geek: Oh Snap!

Are you constantly resizing application windows to utilize your whole desktop? Windows 7 has a feature that makes this process a snap. This week I will show you how to use Snap’s side-by-side feature.  I use this feature daily and am actually using it now to writing and research this tip. 

Follow the detailed instructions or use the link below to watch a short 1 minute video. 

To arrange windows side by side

1. Drag the title bar of a window to the left or right side of the screen until an outline of the expanded window appears.
2. Release the mouse to expand the window.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with another window to arrange the windows side by side.

To return the window to its original size, drag the title bar away from the top of the desktop and then release.

Keyboard shortcut:  To snap an active window to the side of the desktop using the keyboard, press Windows logo key +Left Arrow or Windows logo key +Right Arrow.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Arrange-windows-side-by-side-on-the-desktop-using-Snap

Instructions and video courtesy of Microsoft.

Inside the brain of a Geek: How to rename multiple files

I deal with a lot of files on a daily basis.   It is critical that I can quickly know what the file is and the contents.   Learning how to quickly rename multiple files has saved me lots of time and headaches.  Below are instructions for renaming multiple files in Windows 7 and Windows XP. 

Windows 7

Highlight the files you want to rename.   Right click the highlighted files and select Rename.  Rename the first fill in and then hit Enter.  All the files will be renamed and a number in parenthesis will be added to the end of the name.

Windows XP

Highlight the files you want to rename, and then hit the F2 key. Rename the first file, and then hit Enter. All your files will be renamed and a number in parenthesis will be added to the end of the name. You can hitCtrl+Z to undo the rename.

Before

After

Teach your old mouse a new trick in Windows 7

"Ever need to cut through a cluttered desktop and quickly focus on a single window? Just click the top of a pane and give your mouse a shake. Voila! Every open window except that one instantly disappears. Shake again—and your windows are back."

Use the link below to watch a 30 second video on this Windows 7 "Shake" feature.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/shake

Resource: www.windows.microsoft.com

Inside the brain of a Geek: Did you reboot?

“Did you reboot?”  It always throws me when I get asked that question.  I’m a Geek and rebooting is Geek 101.  But my answer to his questions was “No.”  I had broken a Geek commandment. I did as instructed and was torn between want my problem fixed and not wanting it to be a so simple.  The reboot didn’t solve my issue but it gave us a fresh start the made finding the problem easier.  This experience made me think, what do my client think when I ask that question?  Do they understand why rebooting is important?  I’m hoping this will answer a lot of question about why Geek’s ask “Did you reboot?”  I promise no geek speak just an analogy to help you better understand the process. 

Image your computer as a daycare.  Now image your software and programs as kids in that daycare. The day starts off smoothly with children being dropped off with instructions to behave and to play nice.  But as more children arrive the conflicts arise.  PowerPoint is trying to save a presentation but Adobe is hogging the hard drive.  Firefox got a new upgrade and now Java is refusing to be her friend. No one wants to play with IE because he never passes the memory.  Word borrowed a DLL from Windows 7 and now he can’t find it.  Several hours of this and even the best children are shrieking errors and moving slowly.  Now just imagine this daycare 10 days from now?  This is exactly what is happening on your computer every day.  Some of us have a few kids in our daycare and they get along most of the time while others are beyond capacity.  What would a reboot do?  Put all the children down for a nap, put everything back in its place, a quick cleaning, empty the memory, and a few seconds of quiet.  

Below are five signs that the kids are being unruly and you need to reboot.

1.  Programs running slow

2.  Programs locking up or freezing

3.  Newly installed hardware not working

4.  Overall system sluggishness

5.  Programs not starting or working properly

Just for fun!

Below is a YouTube link to a video called “IT Crowd - Have You Tried Turning It Off And On Again?”  IT Crowd is a British sitcom about a two socially awkward IT guys.

Inside the brain of a Geek: Just Zip It!

A question we get a lot.  How do I resolve the problem of emailing large files?  Our recommend solution is 7-Zip.  Why use 7-Zip over WinZip or the native Windows option?

How to create and email a zip file you ask?

Select the files you wish to email

 

Option 1:  Right click on the selected files and select 7-Zip – Compress to “temp.zip” and email

 

Your default email program will open automatically with the zip file already attached.

 

Option 2:  Right click on the selected files and select 7-Zip – Add to archive

 

This option will allow you to customize your zip file.  You can add a password, encryption, split into volumes, and change the name.  This file will be saved on your computer which you can then add as an attachment to an email.