Hana & Sarah’s blog

At work , I deal with lot of files stored in my local hard drives. And it’s very important for me to organize these files properly. So I would not do the same task - creating the same reports - over and over again.

But with so many folders and sub directories, it is virtually tiresome for me to search the right folder every time I open an Explorer Window.

However , with the help of these three freeware utilities, Now it’s quick and easy to find the right folder. Efficiency has increased 200%.

In the below image , the right column icons are all actual folders.

1. iColorFolder
This utility lets you change the folder icon and its color. By default you are required to select the folder icon styles ( Aqua, Mac OS X, Vista , Windows XP) and you can change the color of the folder icon. Therefore, it helps me to distinguish each folder with different importances and classifications.

You can change the icon by right mouse click on the folder.

DOWNLOAD : http://icolorfolder.sourceforge.net/download_icolorfolder_page.htm

2. Shedko Badges
This program allows to show small emblem icon over the Windows Icon. There are 10 different types of icons you can mark. This program is not confined to Folders. It can apply the emblem icon to any Windows file and folders.

DOWNLOAD : http://eng.softq.org/badges.htm

3. Folder Guide 1.1
This program allows you to setup the favorite folders to appear in the right mouse context menu of Windows Explorer.

DOWNLOAD: http://www.freeware365.com/desktop/folderguide.htm

All three utilities are also perfectly working in the Open/Save File Dialogs.

Microsoft provides several useful freeware utilities in its download website. PowerToy series is the most renounced utilities, but also there are some user friendly multimedia softwares such as PhotoStory 3.

PhotoStory 3 is a wizard program that let users to create a wmv movie file with a set of images.
You can

• edit , rotate, or enhance image quality
• apply special image effect.
• insert text message at the position you want (top , middle, bottom , left, right , center)
• define custom motion or transition effect. The program automatically set transition upon importing images.
• record and insert your narrative voice anywhere you want.
• set a background music using an existing music file or a generated music from a predefined set of customs musics.

It is very user friendly and provides preview button in each step for easier preview.

Selecting images

Here is the sample file that I made LINK It’s only about 1 MB. Enjoy.

Here is the website for you to download PhotoStory 3.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx

Now you can experience that fancy Vista Windows Flip 3D (START + TAB) switch effect in Windows XP.

The program is called Shock Aero and can be run without any setups.

Of course , it is not exactly the same as Vista’s but it works for me.

The 3D windows are flipping when you scroll mouse wheel or ALT+TAB continuously.

Vista Flip Style

Mac OS X style

Pros

• Freeware
• Very nice 3D effect . Very similar to the Vista Flip 3D effect
• Macintosh OS X style can be selected instead of Vista Flip 3D style. But Mac style seems little bit slower than Vista Flip style.
• No setup is required.

Cons

• Slow loading the Flip screen compared to the original ALT+TAB

Website : http://www.docs.co.kr
Direct Download

I was using the PuTTY with several profiles stored and was happy with it. One day, I got this new labtop and decided to migrate whole desktop system to this new labtop.

But for PuTTY,there was no menu for the profile export. So I spent some time to find out how to do it.

The solution was posted in the FAQ of the PuTTY Homepage.

A.5.2 Where does PuTTY store its data?

On Windows, PuTTY stores most of its data (saved sessions, SSH host keys) in the Registry. The precise location is

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY

Alright, you can extract Registry data by using regedit. Open regedit and browse the path in the left treeview upto HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY

Once you highlight the PuTTY node, click right mouse button and select the ‘Export’ Menu. A new Save Dialog window will be shown and you will be able to save the information into a file.

After you copy the data file (*.reg) to the new computer, you can register it to registry by simply double clicking on the file.

regedit /ea putty.reg HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY

They used to charge high prices for the commercial SSH client software.(SecureCRT is one of them) Then this free SSH client was released in the Internet. And we are able to enjoy secure shell environment for free! Thanks to Simon Tatham. Below is the excerpt from the PuTTY homepage.

PuTTY is a free implementation of Telnet and SSH for Win32 and Unix platforms, along with an xterm terminal emulator. It is written and maintained primarily by Simon Tatham.

If you are a developer or a system admin , you may access to the UNIX server using telnet application everyday. Telnet uses a simple raw data transmission without encryption , so if you use telnet over the public Internet, your authentication data(Password) may be captured and viewed by anyone with the right tool and the motivation. It is very vulnerable and not recommended.

SSH (Secure Shell) is similar to telnet but it is very secure. It encrypts the data before the transmission, so you can rest knowing that your password is safe with you.

When you first run the application, you will see the screen looks like above image. You can right connect to the SSH server right away by typing in the IP or domain name of the host in the HOSTNAME field and press Enter key.

There are various options and settings that you can change by using the items in the left pane. (Windows Color, Font size)

There are few settings that you may want to change before starting a session.
1. Backspace Key: By default, Control-?(127) is the Backspace key, but you may need to set to Control-H.(It depends on the server’s setting).

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