Windows 7 - Making Search/Finding files Easier

Tried finding a file in Windows 7? How many time have to come across inaccurate search results or felt limited by the search options? Desktop Search is bad and ineffective , in my opinion in Windows 7.

Lol.. Win XP was rather advanced in terms of file search capability.

Feeling frustrated at my efforts to finding a file, I finally found a nifty little tool to help me get a Win XP style search.. rather an advanced version of it.

Try it out
http://download.cnet.com/SearchMyFiles-64-bit/3000-2248_4-75445352.html

This is a 64-bit version of Searchmyfiles that I used for my purpose. I am sure a 32-bit version exists too if you need.

Happy Searching!

Hide Desktop Icon - Windows 7

Do you have a cool new theme or photos on desktop that you like , but the cluttered look taking its sheen away?
Well I have a love hate relationship with those desktop icons. They are handy, but left unmanaged (as it often happens) clutters up your desktop background.. which we selected after so many google searches :)

One way to get around is to mnaully hide/Unhide desktop icons every time.

Tried a few Desktop Icon Hide & Unhide tools. Butmost of them were not working on my x64 based Win 7 system.

However, finally found a working solution and this one seems to be quite good to handle this more gracefully.

Kudos to the developer!

http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Microsoft/AutoHideDesktopIcons

My New Laptop - Which one to choose?

Now that my old and faithful workhorse , Dell Latitude is 4 years old (still working!) it was time to look for a replacement..and boy! technology has definitely advanced in those 4 years.. new i-series of Intel processor being one of the major changes. Confused between i3 vs i5 vs i7 for the laptops and what the hell these series meant, the new weekend task was cut out - researching reports and user feedback on these processors on Google. The information was readily available.. However, after some research I was able to settle down for i5. Why i5? i3 - more on the basic range, i5 - powerful and heat factor still manageable. Plus gives the option for going with switchable graphics and increase in battery life. i7- beast of a processor but generates LOT of heat. Many a good looking, high spec laptop had been reportedly trashed by user for the heat they generate and the laptops not being able to handle them... But then... manufacturer's learn from the the mistakes of Users..:) and perhaps are designing better system... but I felt more comfortable with i5.

Now the search for that oh-so-perfect laptop.. with i5 core..at least 4G ram..mousepad WITH buttons, discrete graphics...

Contenders - Dell XPS 15, HP Envy , Lenovo W- Series

HP Envy was eventually ruled out because of their non-configurable options in my country and horror stories with regards to After Sales Service...plus their price was way too much..

HP Envy is a nice series .. but somehow.. I decided against it..

Lenov W-Series - This is beast in performance.. high end graphics card, good resolutions (900p as well as 1080p), Matte Screen (yes, I think they are good.. ) and loads of configurable options.. but these machine dont come cheap... a decent config takes you to 3k $... but with boxing week discount.. one could get this + 3 year support within 1700 $.. incl tax.. hell of a deal...

but .. but... my current screen being a matte one.. wifey wanted a glossy... :P :P.. and me.. I agreed.. i should try out glossy too.. :P.. dont scream... yet...:)

Dell XPS -15..

decent config

decent configurable options

GLOSSY screen...

4 year warranty at price of 3

and my bias for Dell (having a solid performance from Latitude....)

dell after sales support.. (overall good experience- so far)

so yes.. went for Dell XPS 15..

and ordered it...

Geez.. chosing a laptop can be quite an affair if you would like it that way... :)

Next Post -> my review of Dell XPS 15..

Disclaimer : All the opinions in the post are personal and your experiences may vary. These are based on how i feel/felt .

How to Partition your External / Portable Hard disk Free!!!

Just got a Iomega eGo 500 GB portable hard drive.

The drive has got a nice casing which makes it durable. On the downside, it needs two USB ports... the manual says that you "might" need to connect second port for additional power..

And yes, at least I need the second USB port to be connected.

So yeah... if your drive does not get recognized , make sure you have connected both the USB connectors.

One more trivia : documentation of Iomega eGo drive indicates that the second or power connector will have a symbol on the same. However, there is no such symbol. In fact there is an easier alternative to tell which is the additional "power" port - the thinner cable of the two usb port.

The drive speed is pretty good.. 1 GB from my 7200 rpm laptop HDD in around 1 min..

so the next step after connecting 500 gig drive is to partition it.. I prefer to partition my drive for manageability and it also provides some recovery advantages.

Here is how you can manage (add/delete) partition from you portable drive in Windows XP :

and yeah.. this is totally FREE... no need to buy software to setup partition on your new portable drive.. ! :)

1. Go to Start-> Run. Type "mmc" [ this opens up Microsoft management console ]

2. Click of File -> Add/Remove Snap in

3. Click on Add and Select "Disk Management" and click Add. Click Finish on next screen

4. Close the Snap in popup and go back to main screen [ console ]

5. Click on disk Management. Your new portable drive should be listed.

6. Right click on your drive and click delete partition

NOTE: This will DELETE and REMOVE all the data from the drive you are changing partition. 7. You can see all the drives will space and partition info listed graphically, just below the list.

8. Right click on your drive (graphical section) and click Add partition. Choose the size and quick format option.

9. Repeat it to create other drives until no free/unallocated partition is remaining for the drive..

Thats it... now you are set. Your new portable hard drive is set up with new partitions.

Split Excel Sheets into different files

Need to split your xls file with multiple sheet into different file for each sheet.

Try google and you will mostly find the paid softwares to do this task. However, google deep enough and you might come up with multiple posts with VBA code - which does this for free.. and yes yes,, hold on.. most of these dont work..

But since I was able to find a working solution I am posting the same here

Scenario 1

Split Excel File having Multiple Worksheet - Each Worksheet saved as separate file. Each file will only have one sheet.

VBA Code:

Sub SplitBookIntoSheets()

Dim i As Integer

Dim ws As Worksheet

Dim CntSheets As Long

Dim FileFolder As String

FileFolder = InputBox("Where would you like these saved?", "filename", "C:\Temp\")

For i = 1 To Worksheets.Count

CntSheets = Worksheets.Count

If CntSheets <> "1" Then

Sheets(CntSheets).Move

ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:=FileFolder & ActiveSheet.Name & ".xls"

ActiveWindow.Close

Else

ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:=FileFolder & ActiveSheet.Name & ".xls"

ActiveWindow.Close

End If

Next i

End Sub

Scenario 2

Split Excel File having Multiple Worksheet - Each Worksheet saved as separate file with file name as the sheet name. However, each copy will hold all the sheets..!! not sure if you will ever need this scenario.

VBA Code:

Sub SplitSheets() Dim W As Worksheet For Each W In Worksheets W.SaveAs ActiveWorkbook.Path & "/" & W.Name Next W End Sub

Hope it helps ! :)

Comments Welcome.....