Nifty Windows Tweak
I'm fairly change averse when it comes to my computing environment. I spend most of my day in front of the computer so I develop comfortable habits and am reasonably productive. Recently I make a small configuration tweak to my Windows desktop that is down right nifty. Friends have been telling me to do this for years and I finally gave in.
This little box is the Address toolbar from IE. From it you can execute commands (the Run... option on the Start menu), type in URLs, and with the help of another nifty little tweak, quickly access your favorite search engines.
Here is how to set it up:
- Right-click on an empty part of the Taskbar and make sure that Lock Toolbars is unchecked.
- Right-click on an empty part of the Taskbar and select Toolbars > Address.
- Carefully drag the Address bar to the left hand side of the screen. Be careful to keep your mouse cursor in the Taskbar or the Address bar will leap off and won't come back.
- Right-click over the Address bar and uncheck Show Title.
- Go to IE > Tools > Internet Options... > Advanced > Browsing and uncheck Show Go button in Address bar
- Finally position the tool bars to taste and re-lock the Task bar if desired. I like to keep everything in the smallest, most tidy configuration possible. (Did I mention the comfortable habits?)
I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft makes this the default configuration in the next version of Windows, except the label will change from the geekly "Address" to the hot and sexy "Search". Of course, the search box will default to use Microsoft's web search engine and will also search Outlook, your Office documents and the rest of your hard drive.
2 Comments:
Windows is a horribly insecure and unstable operating system and I thought everyone knew that by now. If you want a more secure and more stable operating system that is also totally free, install Linux. You can go to Distrowatch (http://distrowatch.com/index.php) and read about the different Linux distributions, most of which are free to download, free to install, and free to keep as long as you want without any "registration" or "activation". But, at any rate, get off of Windows operating systems. They're awful compared to the fast, stable, secure and free Linux operating system. When you install Linux, you will find that it is easy to use and you'll never have to pay another penny for software applications for Linux.
linux is by no means "easy" to use. Yes it can do everything windows can do, and plenty more, and it is far far far far far more secure in all aspects, and in most cases it is faster (KDE can be a little resource intensive), but in order for an average user to configure a linux box to their liking takes at least 3 times longer. This is getting better, however, with the onset of package installations within various linux distributions, but its far from perfect. Only install linux if you are comfortable with using a command line for much of your work/customizations or if you are interested in a challenge.
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