(This article is my submission to September’s [1] Probloggers Group Writing Project. This month’s topic is: “How to…”. You can see my Top 10 Favourite “How to” submitted articles [2] here.)

When everyone hears the word “Hack”, we almost automatically think of it in negative terms - such is our common perception to the stereotypically “Computer Hackers” that we have been accustomed to hearing about in magazines, newspapers and on television. Well, hacking in fact just a form of tweaking or modifying something - and believe it or not, there are useful/ legit “hacks” and “tweaks” out there, especially when it is relevant to your own computer and operating system.

This article reveals hidden ways and simple tricks to make Windows XP a more powerful tool tailored to your own preference and to make it more productive for you.

As with any tweak and modification to your operating system, it is always advisable to backup your computer before proceeding to dive into any “hacks” - just to be on the safe side. Disclaimer: All hacks are done at your own risk and I will not be responsible for any problems that occur. If done correctly, there should be no anticipated problems. If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to help.

Creating a One-click shutdown and reboot shortcut

This “trick” allows you to shutdown or reboot your computer at a touch of a button, instead of going through the standard Windows process i.e. clicking the Start menu, choosing Shut Down, and then selecting the Shut Down or Restart option.

Create a shortcut by right clicking on your desktop.

Choose New > Shortcut

The shortcut wizard appears. In the textbox, type “shutdown”.

You can then press Next button (located on the bottom of the dialog box), name your shortcut to whatever you want, and then click on the Finish button.

A shortcut icon will then be put on your desktop automatically. Double clicking on it will shutdown your computer.

Extra commands:

If you put these switch commands after the word “shutdown”, it may alter the overall shutdown command according to your preference. Note: make sure there are spaces between each command made.

-s … Shuts down the PC
-r … Reboots the PC
-l … Logs off the current user
-t xx … Indicates the amount of delay (in seconds) you want to wait before the shutdown action is performed. Substitute xx for the number of seconds.
-c “message text” … Display a pop up message box after the shutdown command is initiated. The message must be used within quotation marks and there is a 127 max character limit.
-f … forces all running application to shut down

For example:

Typing the command… shutdown -s -t 20 -c “I am shutting my computer down!”

will do the following … shutdown your computer after a 20 second period and display a message box saying “I am shutting my computer down!”

Typing the command … shutdown -r -t 03 -c “Hasta la Vista! Rebooting computer now!” -f

will do the following … reboot your computer after a 3 second period, close any running application automatically and display a message box saying “Hasta la Vista! Rebooting computer now!”

Adding shortcut menu items for opening specific file types

This tweak (when implemented) occurs when you right click on a relevant file in Windows Explorer. It allows you to add a menu shortcut to choose a software or application to open the specific file type. For example, in the screenprint below - when I right clicked on a jpeg file, I was allowed to choose a shortcut I just made which was to open the file using “the Foo Logs software”.

Note: Windows Explorer should not be mistaken for Internet Explorer. Windows Explorer is in fact the window that comes up when you are browsing files and folders on your computer.

In Windows Explorer, go to Tools > Folder Options

You will then be presented with a tabbed window. Click on the “File Types” tab.

Under the Registered file types list, select the file type for which you want to the shortcut to specifically open i.e. if you select jpeg from the list of file types, then the shortcut menu will always appear when you right click on a jpeg item.

Once you have chosen your file type, click on Advanced button (towards the bottom of the dialog window as shown above)

The following dialog window will appear.

Click on the New button (on the right hand side of the dialog window).

You will then see the “New Action” window.

The text box under “Action” is where you will type your own text. This is what you would want to have appear on the shortcut menu e.g. “Open with Image Composer”.

In the other text box under “Application used to perform action“, put the full path of the application program/ software you want to use to open the file and surround it with quotation marks. You may use the Browser button to easily choose the application executable. (Note: Using the browser function will automatically put quotation marks around your application path)

Leave a space and type “%1″ (including the quotation marks).

For example, the finished path could look like this …
“C:\Program Files\ImageC\execute.exe” “%1″

“%1″ is used as a placeholder where it will be substituted for the name of the file on which you right clicked on.

Clicking on the OK and Close button will have you exit out of the dialog boxes. The next time you right click on a file, you will see the option you made in the menu!

To Delete the commands you made

If you want to delete the menu command you just made, go back Windows Explorer again. Then to Tools > Folder Options > File Types (tab). Click on the Advanced button. Under the “Actions” list box, highlight the relevant menu command you made, and press the “Remove” button located on the right side to delete it. You will be asked to confirm your selection (click on Yes). Clicking on the OK and Close button will have you exit out of the dialog boxes.