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Differing Monitor Sleep Timeout by Time of Day
One hour monitor timeout during the day but 3 minute timeout at night. And it only takes a couple minutes to setup.
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Shorten Links Before Creating QR Codes
Overly dense QR codes are difficult to scan, especially at a distance. So here’s a pro tip to give your visitors a better experience and faster, more reliable scanning: first remove all unnecessary text and info from your link before you create a QR code for it.
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Automating IE With PowerShell to Capture Screenshots
My, browsers come and go so quickly these days. Microsoft’s replacement for Internet Explorer is already shuttered now that they’ve joined the Chromium open-source project to produce Edge using that codebase. And as much as I’m all here for that, it can still be handy to have Internet Explorer–especially when you can control it programatically from PowerShell.
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Use Autocomplete in Windows 10 Run and File Explorer
In the 90s, Microsoft heavily integrated their operating system and browser. Even in the latest release, Windows 10 version 1709, an option that decidedly makes more sense in Folder Options inexplicably resides in the control panel that dates back to 1993.
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Control the Windows Update Download Time Window
Today’s tip allows you to control the time window for downloading Windows Updates.
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Skip Logon Password in Windows 10 or 8
Tired of typing your password every time you open your laptop? Today we’ll be taking a look existing and new logon options in Windows 10, including how to avoid the prompt entirely.
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Tame the Windows 10 Action Center [Video]
The Windows 10 Action Center recycles its name from a former feature in the Control Panel, but is opened up to all notifications and is more customizable than you might notice at first.
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Automating Internet Explorer with PowerShell for Data Entry
IE is dead to the world, but it’s still kickin’ in Windows 10. Here’s a great way to use the browser to automate some redundant tasks and score back some extra time.
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Sort files in bulk with PowerShell
I want to find more time to learn PowerShell from the ground up. So far I’ve been scripting with it and learning chunks and cmdlets at a time as I need them. For example:
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Capture your Screen as a GIF Animated Image
If a picture is worth 1000 words, a video must be pure gold. But recording and sending a video capture of your screen for a quick how-to or to demonstrate an issue is a chore. Today I’m going to share a tool I found to make it much easier.
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Make Windows 8.1 Sit, Stay on the Desktop
If you use a traditional desktop computer for productivity work, here’s the master collection of tips to stay on the desktop and make the most of Windows 8.1, whether you have a touch screen or not.
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Windows 8 Tip: Search without leaving the desktop
Watch a Power User for a while, and you’ll soon notice that they rarely take their hands off the keyboard. Without lifting a wrist to touch a mouse, trackpad, or touch screen, these super users move seamlessly between tasks, switch programs, and navigate complex and large documents.
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Use POP email in Windows 8
The Windows Mail app is built for connected devices like mobile phones and tablets, and allows full sync across all your devices. If you move a message into an email folder from your tablet, your phone and computer will also show that same change.
Where Windows 7 required you to install your own email program to get email, Windows 8 now lets you do so right out of the box. And even if your email provider does not support synchronization like this, you still have a few options:
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Store product keys in the setup file’s name
Almost any software purchased these days includes a product key: a unique code that activate the software. In most cases, this key is what you truly purchase: it confirms your licensed right to use the program. But how do you keep track of all those keys?
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Open SkyDrive as a Desktop Folder in Windows RT
With limited storage capacity, it’s not surprising that RT tablets do not sync your cloud-stored files for offline access. Take my SkyDrive for example, which holds over 60 GB of my stuff. While Windows RT does provide a SkyDrive app for access, there are times when it would be useful to open this cloud storage as if it was a local folder or drive.
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Monitor or Limit Data Usage in Windows 8
Whether you’re trying to preserve your battery, your bandwidth, or your bottom line, there are a number of reasons you might want to limit the data usage of your PC. Here’s how to watch or curb your data usage in Windows 8 for any wifi network.
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Remove Recycle Bin from the Desktop
I do not suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, but I do display some OCD tendencies. One of these is habitually emptying the Recycle Bin on my desktop — I just cannot stand to see those virtual papers in there (if only I took out the trash at home with as much fervor).
![Radial Menu in OneNote MX [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/cmdrkeene.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/radial.png?fit=189%2C188&ssl=1)
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Radial Menu in OneNote MX [Video]
The OneNote radial menu provides finger-friendly access to common commands. When you’re familiar with the layout of the menu, you can use it without opening it first: just swipe in the direction of the command you want to select.
![More Commands in the Quick Access Toolbar [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/cmdrkeene.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Excel.png?fit=354%2C147&ssl=1)
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More Commands in the Quick Access Toolbar [Video]
Pinning submenu commands to the toolbar not only provides more direct access, but also serves as a status indicator to a state that may otherwise be hidden. For example, now I can tell at a glance the status of my Excel workbook calculations, and change it if necessary before I make an edit that would trigger a lengthy calculation.
![Using Gmail in Windows 8 Mail App [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/cmdrkeene.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Gmail.png?fit=159%2C159&ssl=1)
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Using Gmail in Windows 8 Mail App [Video]
Gmail’s use of labels instead of folders typically means that using the service with most mail clients can be tricky. If you know how Gmail archives instead of deletes messages though, you can more easily triage and archive mail from Windows 8.
![Deep Pinning on the Windows 8 Start Screen [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/cmdrkeene.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Deep.png?fit=328%2C162&ssl=1)
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Deep Pinning on the Windows 8 Start Screen [Video]
Your Start screen tiles can link deeper into your apps, providing a one-touch shortcut to the content you care about most. Whether it’s people, email, news, or content from a variety of other apps, you can deep pin it on your Start screen easily.
![Use Quick Access from the Keyboard [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/cmdrkeene.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/QuickAccessFileExplorer.png?fit=254%2C148&ssl=1)
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Use Quick Access from the Keyboard [Video]
Did you know that you can add your own commands to the toolbar at the top of Microsoft Office programs? This also applies to several apps in Windows 7, and has even been expanded to the File Explorer in Windows 8!