Right-clicking on a file or folder brings up a context-sensitive menu, but sometimes that menu doesn’t show all your options. Hold down the Shift key when you right-click to find hidden but useful commands like copying a file path or expanding the Send To options. More »
Windows: If your context menu in Windows Explorer and/or Internet Explorer is a little more cluttered than you’d like, Menu Maid makes entry removal easy. More »
Windows only: Point tiny open-source application Folder Vanity Remover at a folder filled with empty directories, and it’ll check for and remove any empty folders. Cleanliness and something about godliness, right?
There’s nothing more to this app. It’s tiny and does this one, simple thing. There’s no fancy options, but if all you want is to quickly and easily clean out your file structure, it can certainly help. For a more feature-packed application with a similar bent, check out previously mentioned Remove Empty Directories. (These developers have gotten so creative with their names!)
Folder Vanity Remover is a free, open-source download, Windows only.
We’ve already mentioned the new Jump Lists feature in Windows 7 as one of our favorite features of the burgeoning operating system, and today we’re taking a closer look at how you can use them to save time.
For those of you that haven’t yet tried out Windows 7, when you right-click on a taskbar button in Windows 7, a menu slides out with recent documents and application tasks. You can even access it with the left mouse button if you choose. Here’s a rundown of our favorite Jump List boosters.
Before we even dive into all the great things you can do with Jump Lists, you'll probably want to increase the number of recent items that show up on the list. You can easily do so by heading into the Taskbar properties, choosing the Start Menu tab, and then clicking the Customize button. At the bottom of this window you should be able to choose the amount of items you want to show up in the Jump Lists—though you might want to play with the setting a bit to see what works best for you.
Having quick access to your music is essential for a productive work environment, and the Jump Lists feature lets you access your frequently used media, hit the next button, or pause whatever is playing when the boss walks in—right from the taskbar button. Windows Media Player users have this functionality built in, as does anybody using iTunes 9, but foobar2000 or Winamp users aren’t left in the cold either, with the same functionality available through plugins.
When you want to quickly open up a new Private Browsing window, you really don't want to have to open up the browser, find the button for private browsing, and then switch the browser to private mode—you want an instant way to open it up, and Jump Lists give you exactly that. Internet Explorer has this feature baked in, Google Chrome added this functionality recently as well, and while Firefox users are currently left out, you can use an add-on application called Winfox to at least add Jump List support under Windows 7, though private browsing isn’t currently an option.
Reader Stephen showed us how to pin Outlook templates to the taskbar for quick access when emailing the same thing over and over, but the same technique works for just about any application—you can create a template document in your favorite application, and then simply drag it to the taskbar button to pin it to the Jump List. Then, the next time you need to use the template you can simply right-click on the taskbar button to open it up. It's a huge time-saver, especially if your job involves a lot of repetitive tasks.
You can't, by default, pin applications to a Jump List—that's what the start menu is designed for—but with an add-on application called JumpList Launcher, you can do just that. Simply pin the launcher to your taskbar, and then use the settings to add all of your favorite applications. You can create separate groups, and consolidate many of your taskbar launcher buttons to save space when you want quick access to an application, but don’t necessarily want it taking up space on your taskbar. If the JumpList Launcher doesn’t do it for you, you should take a look at how StandaloneStack can do application launching and file browsing right from your taskbar.
Perhaps the biggest time-saver for me is the ability to pin your most frequently used folders to the taskbar, but most people don't realize you can actually pin a search as well. Simply open up the Windows 7 search, put in your search criteria, and then drag the icon from the location bar down to the Windows Explorer taskbar button to pin the search there. I've got a habit of losing that file I was just working on, so I've created a search that finds recently modified files and pinned it to the start menu—this way I never completely lose that document again.
The How-To Geek is wearing out the right mouse button ever since he switched to Windows 7. His geeky articles can be found daily here on Lifehacker, How-To Geek, and Twitter.
We’ve referred to Windows 7′s Libraries as a top thing to look forward to, and then as one of the best underhyped features—but if you really can't get used to them, you can disable it.
The new Libraries feature in Windows 7 creates what are essentially virtual folders—you can combine multiple document folders together into a single library that combines them all into a single folder, create new libraries, and access them from common file open dialogs.
It's an excellent feature that's a huge step forwards in Windows file management—but if you aren't able to get used to a new way of doing things, the Tweaking with Vishal blog has a registry hack to completely eliminate them. Simply download, extract, and double-click on the provided registry hack file, then restart your computer and you'll see that the Libraries are completely gone. There's also an uninstall registry script provided just in case.
Reader Kevin used his ubergeeky AutoHotkey scripting skills to create a hotkey that opens a command prompt window at the same location as the folder you are browsing in Windows Explorer.
To use the script, you simply hit the Ctrl+Alt+H shortcut key sequence while looking at a folder in Windows Explorer and a new command prompt window will open, already set to the same working directory. We’ve already covered how to open a command prompt window from the context menu, but this method is even simpler.
To create this hotkey for yourself, create a new AutoHotkey script or add the following to your existing script:
#IfWinActive ahk_class CabinetWClass ; for use in explorer.
^!h::
ClipSaved := ClipboardAll
Send !d
Sleep 10
Send ^c
Run, cmd /K "cd `"%clipboard%`""
Clipboard := ClipSaved
ClipSaved =
return
#IfWinActive
Once you’ve added, saved, and launched the script, you should be able to start using the hotkey immediately. Thanks, Kevin!
For more Windows shortcut goodness, check out how to make Win+E open the folder of your choice, learn how to use Caps Lock for hand-friendly navigation, and see how Taskbar Overlord tweaks the Windows 7 taskbar. Brand new to AutoHotKey and its time-saving ways? Peek at our beginner’s guide to learn how to add this script, or write your own.
Reader Raghav writes in with a small, but useful tip: using AutoHotkey, you can re-map the Win+E shortcut key combination to open something other than My Computer.
The default Win+E action opens the My Computer folder in Windows Explorer—not nearly as useful as opening your user folder, or even the desktop folder—but with a simple AutoHotkey line you can change it to whatever you would like. Simply create a new AutoHotkey script and add something similar to the following line, substituting your preferred folder as the argument.
#e::Run explorer.exe {FolderPath}
You’ll need to launch the script and keep it running for the hotkey to stay active, but it’s a useful idea to turn a shortcut you might not be using into a quick way to pull up your preferred folder. For more, check out how to turn any action into a keyboard shortcut, knock down repetitive email with AutoHotkey, or get the best Windows 7 shortcuts in XP or Vista. Thanks, Raghav!
Have you re-mapped any of the default Windows hotkeys into something more useful? Tell us in the comments.
