Sometimes you might want to make a note of all the files in a particular folder, but unfortunately Windows (AKA File) Explorer still provides no way to do this. A little command line work can help, though: simply click Start, type ‘CMD /C DIR "C:\Program Files" | Clip’ and press [Enter]. This will open a command window for one command only, lists all the files in the specified folder (replace C:\Program Files with whatever you‘d like to use), then copies the list to the clipboard, ready for pasting wherever you like.

Tip 62. TURN A FOLDER INTO A DRIVE

When you‘re regularly working in a folder deep in your file system, you probably spend lots of time expanding other folders to reach it. But Windows does provide another way. Click Start, type ‘SUBST z: “c:\my data\work\accounts\2008\ december”’ and press [Enter], for instance, and Windows creates a virtual drive called Z: that actually points to the folder you‘ve specified. (Enter a drive letter that doesn‘t exist on your PC, and a folder path that does, surrounded by quotes). Your new drive appears in the Computer folder, and in file Save or Open dialogs, so it‘s easy to select. And if you save, or drag-and-drop files to that folder, they actually go to the folder, just as you‘d expect – very convenient. Reboot, or enter ‘SUBST z: \D’ to delete a virtual drive (don‘t worry, the contents of your folder remain untouched).

Tip 63. SEARCHING COMMAND PROMPT WINDOWS

Every power user needs to work at the command line occasionally. But it‘s not easy, and you‘ll often find yourself scrolling up and down the window, looking for a particular file name or some other detail. Don‘t forget, though – there is a quicker way. Just right-click in the command window, choose Find, enter a key word and then Windows quickly locates and displays it for you.

Tip 64. CLOSE EXPLORER GRACEFULLY

If you need to close Explorer for some reason, don‘t do so with Task Manager except as a last resort. Instead, click Start, hold down [Ctrl] + [Shift], right-click any empty part of the Start Menu and select Exit Explorer.

Tip 65. STOP WINDOWS UPDATE FROM REBOOTING YOUR PC

Windows may reboot your PC to install some new update – annoying if you‘d left a program running and all its work is lost. To fix this, run REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU, create a 32-bit DWORD value called NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers and set it to 1.

Tip 66. TURN OFF HIBERNATE

If you don‘t use the Windows 7 Hibernate feature, turning it off frees up a little drive space, and delivers a tiny improvement in PC speeds. Click Start, type ‘CMD’, click the cmd.exe link, and select ‘Run as Administrator’, then type ‘powercfg / hibernate off’ to disable hibernation, or ‘powercfg / hibernate on’ if you need to switch it back on again later.

Tip 67. ‘RUN AS‘ RETURNS

Right-click a program in Windows XP and you see a ‘Run as‘ option, enabling you to launch the program as a different user. This is handy if you need to run a program with different security privileges to your current account. This disappeared in Windows Vista, but Windows 7 brings it back – hold down [Shift] as you right-click a program and choose the Run As Different User option.

Tip 68. FIND YOUR ROUTER‘S IP ADDRESS

If you need to change your router settings, you probably have to enter its IP address into a browser. But which address is that, exactly? To find out, type ‘cmd’ and click the cmd.exe link to open a command window, then type ‘ipconfig /all’ and press [Enter]. Scroll down the list, looking for the network adaptor that‘s connected to your router, check its Default Gateway setting, and that‘s usually the router address.

Tip 69. TWEAK SYSTEM RESTORE

System Restore is a great disaster recovery tool, but can consume loads of hard drive space – unless you stop it. To recover some of it, click Start, right-click Computer, select Properties, and then click Advanced System Settings > System Protection. Then, for each drive where System Restore Protection is set to On, click Configure, and set the Max Usage figure to the maximum amount of drive space you’re happy to lose.

Tip 70. SAVE YOUR CHATS

Windows Live Messenger can save your chats for reference later, with a tweak – click Tools > Options > Messages and check ‘Automatically keep a history of my conversations’.

Tip 71. IOBIT UNINSTALLER

www.iobit.com/advanceduninstaller.html An easy-to-use tool that (unlike the Windows equivalent) removes every trace of a program from your PC.

Tip 72. VISTA SWITCHER

www.ntwind.com/software/vistaswitcher Replaces the [Alt] + [Tab] dialog with a list of running apps, and larger previews, making it easy to switch programs.

Tip 73. COPY HANDLER

www.copyhandler.com Replaces the Explorer file copy function; it‘s more configurable, often faster, it enables you to pause and resume copies, and cancel individual files.

Tip 74. ULTRA SEARCH

www.jam-software.com/ultrasearch Ultra Search is ultra-fast and locates files with the names you specify almost as fast as you can type. It‘s far speedier than Windows Search, and doesn‘t waste time building indexes.

Tip 75. SHUTDOWN TIMER

www.sinvise.net Need a more flexible way to shut down your PC? Shutdown Timer closes in a few minutes, at a named date and time, when your CPU is idle, network activity has stopped, and more.

Tip 76. EXPLORER++

www.explorerplusplus.com This is fast, small and configurable, featuring tabbed folders for easy file management on even the most complex of hard drives.

Tip 77. WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER PLUS

http://bmproductions.fixnum.org This free plug-in extends Media Player with an easy-to-use tag editor, adds ‘What‘s Playing Now‘ information to the title bar and Windows Live Messenger status, simplifies searching, restores the last active playlist when you restart Media Player, and more.

Tip 78. START MENU CLEANER

www.iceview.com/start-menu-cleaner Every Start menu gets cluttered with broken shortcuts and empty folders. This program finds and deletes them, making it quicker and easier to navigate the rest of your system.

Tip 79. FOLDER MENU

http://foldermenu.sourceforge.net Forget desktop shortcuts or Taskbar buttons, Folder Menu brings up a customisable menu of favourite folders with just a click of the middle mouse button, then provides many shortcuts to help you access them more quickly.

Tip 80. DITTO

http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net Ditto extends the Windows clipboard, storing everything you copy there. If you copy one image to the clipboard, say, then another, Ditto ensures the first is still available and you can paste it into a document in just a couple of clicks.

The next 20 tips will be available soon