Windows
Beautiful desktop
- http://lifehacker.com/the-vinyl-desktop-1735709698
- http://lifehacker.com/the-primordial-desktop-1730911790
- https://www.flickr.com/groups/lifehacker-desktop-showandtell/pool/
- http://lifehacker.com/the-low-poly-island-desktop-1683253694
- http://lifehacker.com/the-high-orbit-desktop-1680449151
- Launcher and Docks
- For RK launcher, right click the separator to show the menu. From there, click Settings > Behavior tab. Enable the checkbox to start RK launcher with Windows. The version I am using is 0.4 beta.
License key/Reinstall
- http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1174207-how-many-times-i-can-re-install-windows-8-using-my-key/
- Find your Windows license key. ProduKey from NirSoft.
Move to a new computer
How to set up your new computer
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3040361/computers/how-to-set-up-new-computer.html
How to Migrate Your Windows Installation to a Solid-State Drive
http://www.howtogeek.com/97242/how-to-migrate-windows-7-to-a-solid-state-drive/
How to Upgrade to a Larger Hard Drive Without Reinstalling Windows
http://www.howtogeek.com/284677/how-to-upgrade-to-a-larger-hard-drive-without-reinstalling-windows/
OEM license
Watch Out For These Dirty Tricks From Discounted Software Resellers
Cheap Windows 10 Keys: Do They Work?
https://www.howtogeek.com/392080/cheap-windows-10-keys-do-they-work/, https://www.howtogeek.com/fyi/beware-counterfeits-when-purchasing-windows-10-from-amazon/
Generic keys
What Are Windows 10 Generic Product Keys? Here's How to Use Them
Microsoft Store device management
Microsoft Store device management. You can use up to 10 devices with Microsoft Store.
How to install Windows on an external drive
http://pcworld.com/article/3185777/windows/how-to-install-windows-on-an-external-drive.html
How to Find Official Windows Drivers for Any Device
https://www.howtogeek.com/352922/how-to-find-official-hardware-drivers-for-windows/
Blue Screen
How to Solve Blue Screen Errors Using WinDbg and BlueScreenView
AppData folder
What Is the AppData Folder in Windows?
Libraries in Windows 7
The full path to the hidden Libraries folder is below.
C:\Users\(User-Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries # Or %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries
On my Windows 7 machine, the Libraries include
Documents Music Pictures Videos
Note that the Pictures folder in Libraries is not exactly the same as C:\Users\(User-Name)\My Pictures folder. Similarly, the Videos folder in Libraries may not be the same as C:\Users\(User-Name)\My Videos. In fact, each one of folder in Libraries contains more than 1 folder: one is 'My' one and the other is 'Public' one. For example, the Documents folder in Libraries contains My Documents and Public Documents subfolders.
It seems Windows 8 does not have 'Libraries'. On Windows 10, 'Libraries' becomes 'Quick access' and the libraries idea is gone now; for example, the 'Downloads' is actually means the 'Downloads' folder. The 'Quick access' consists of
Desktop Downloads Documents Pictures Music Videos
Testing on <install.sh> shell script. Goal is to use wget to download the file.
- Github: choose 'View Raw' to get the url for the file. The con is the url will be changed whenever the file is updated.
- Google Drive: cannot get the raw file, only the html version.
Filenames
Long filenames
255 characters for VFAT file system from Windows 95.
Delete files with long filenames
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cant-delete-long-filenames/
What Does a Windows Folder Icon With Double Blue Arrows Mean?
https://www.howtogeek.com/307509/what-does-a-windows-folder-icon-with-double-blue-arrows-mean/
Administrator vs standard account
Administrator vs. Standard: Which User Account Should You Use in Windows?
Firewall
How Do You Reopen a Windows Firewall Prompt?
Remote Desktop
How to Access Windows Remote Desktop Over the Internet
AnyDesk
How to Remotely Control Windows PC with AnyDesk on iPhone
SendTo
Customize the Send To Menu in Windows 10, 8, 7, or Vista. Open the Explorer window and type
shell:sendto
Create a new shortcut to the program you want to add to the Send To menu.
Battery status
Open a command line prompt using administration. Then type powercfg /batteryreport. In my Windows 8 tablet, it will create a report in C:\Windows\system32\battery-report.html.
Quick format
How to Reformat an External Hard Drive Without Losing Everything on It
Read Mac-formatted drive
http://www.howtogeek.com/252111/how-to-read-a-mac-formatted-drive-on-a-windows-pc/
Bluetooth
What’s The Difference Between Bluetooth A2DP And aptX?
https://www.howtogeek.com/338750/whats-the-difference-between-bluetooth-a2dp-and-aptx/
aptX vs. LDAC
aptX vs. LDAC: What's the Difference?
Output audio to bluetooth
- control panel
- bluetooth
- click on the device (e.g. BA-500)
- click A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile)
You shall see the bluetooth device is checked now under the Control panel-> Sound box.
How to Play Android apps
How to Play Android Games on Windows 11
Log on automatically on Windows 7 or 8
- Click Start, type netplwiz, and then press Enter.
- In the User Accounts dialog box, click the account you want to automatically log on to.If it is available, clear the Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer check box.
- Click OK.
- In the Automatically Log On dialog box, enter the user’s password twice and click OK.
Automatically Log in
How to Make Your PC Shut Down at Night (But Only When You’re Not Using It)
Manage mobile broadband connection
Network discovery
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/what-is-network-discovery#1TC=windows-7
- Start -> Control panel
- Network -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change advanced sharing settings.
What’s the Difference Between Private and Public Networks in Windows?/if you want your computer to be discoverable or not by other computers. Lots of screenshots are given there.
Show all mapped network drives
https://superuser.com/questions/135752/list-mapped-network-drives-from-the-command-line-to-text-file
net use
Command Prompt in Administrator mode doesn't see mapped drives
Since mapped drives are user-centric, that Admin user context will not have the (same) drives, and you'll have to map them for that user context once the command window is open as Adminsitrator; see https://superuser.com/questions/690287/command-prompt-in-administrator-mode-doesnt-see-mapped-drives
net use Z: \\SuperServer\SuperShare
Network traffic monitor & Resource Monitor
Task manager -> Performance -> Open Resource Monitor -> Network.
See a screenshot from the #3 from the bottom.
GPU usage monitor
How to Monitor GPU Usage in the Windows Task Manager
How to Add a Static TCP/IP Route to the Windows Routing Table
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/adding-a-tcpip-route-to-the-windows-routing-table/
Convert/Save web pages as ebook format
The ebook device uses e-link. It is friendly to human's eyes. Although these ebook devices are usually small for easy to carry, reading pdf articles are not suitable. However if articles are available online as web pages, we can save these pages and read them on devices.
- For Kindle device, we can use bookmartlet from http://fivefilters.org/. After installing bookmarklet, we can click it and send any webpage to kindle device (we have to enter the Kindle email address and add [email protected] to the approved personal document email list from Amazon Account -> Manage Your Kindle. The saved file is in mobi format and it contains images too. However, pages contains tables may be lost (eg this page, but it may be the website's problem). Note that in order to read the article on my kindle device, I still need to go to http://www.amazon.com website -> Your Account -> Manage Your Kindle -> Click 'Actions' from the corresponding book -> Deliver to my Kindle (select one device). No extra charge over this method. See lifehacker's article.
- For Kobo device, one option is to use dotepub bookmarklet. However, it has a limit on the number of images in an article to save. In fact, the http://filvefilters.org bookmarklet has an option to output in epub format. It will download the epub file immediately. It works perfectly.
Create epub or mobipocket format by using pandoc
- http://puppetlabs.com/blog/automated-ebook-generation-convert-markdown-epub-mobi-pandoc-kindlegen
- http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/epub.html
Acrobat reader
- To hide the 'sign in' export PDF right panel, click 'Tools' word on the menu bar.
Convert pdf to ebook format
- pdf4kindle.com - not work well with pdf files from http://magazine.odroid.com/
- Calibre - when I test the pdf files from http://magazine.odroid.com/, the conversion does not recognize the 3-column mode. So the conversed article will mess up.
- k2pdfopt - an article from howtogeek.com. After several tries (command line & GUI), I did not find it particularly useful. The only one case that may be useful to convert an article from multiple-column to a single column.
k2pdfopt xxx.pdf -mode fp -c -col 3
This will generate a new file called <xxx_k2opt.pdf> by converting an article with 3 columns. Note that the new pdf file will have very wide space on two sides.
Trim/Crop pdf using briss
- briss is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and it depends on Java.
- It works great when I use it to crop IRanges package vignette.
java -jar briss-0.9.jar -s [SOURCEFILE] [-d [DESTINATIONFILE]]
Convert PDF to HTML format PdfMasher
- The source code is in Python 3. There is a binary code for Windows (32&64 bit) & Ubuntu 12.04 but not for 14.04.
- http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/pdf-masher-changes-pdf-into-html-optimizes-it-for-e-book-reader/
- http://lifehacker.com/5820487/pdfmasher-turns-pdfs-into-ereader-friendly-html-the-right-way
- http://www.hardcoded.net/pdfmasher/
Sign a PDF
How to Sign a PDF: The Best Tools for Electronic Signatures
Web to pdf
- Make any web page Print Friendly & PDF (tex from this DO NOT work)
- https://www.web2pdfconvert.com/ (tex from this works but too narrow)
http://webpagetopdf.com/(slow)
Convert Kindle azw to other format
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2013/09/15/how-add-kindle-drm-removal-plugin-calibre/#.U022nHVdWKk
Note: it does not work:(
RSS and Kindle
Reabble, help. Users should have a web-based content and RSS feed reader account on Inoreader. Very nice work. Free accounts got 15 reads per day using Reabble.
Install IIS on Windows 7/Vista
Burn Windows 7/10 ISO to USB in Ubuntu using WoeUSB
- http://www.webupd8.org/2010/10/create-bootable-windows-7-usb-drive.html
- Make A Bootable Windows 10 USB Install Stick On Linux With WoeUSB
- https://launchpad.net/%7Enilarimogard/+archive/ubuntu/webupd8/+index?batch=75&direction=backwards&start=525
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8 sudo apt update sudo apt install woeusb
WoeUSB also supports a command line operation.
Note:
- dd command and Etcher can write the iso file to a USB stick, but the stick cannot boot.
- UNetbootin cannot find the USB stick.
- WoeUSB works. Note: umount USB drive before hitting the 'Install' button.
Boot from the network with PXE
Create a bootable USB
- Launching Hiren's BootCD from USB Flash Drive.
- Uninstall Ubuntu in Windows dual boot environment.
- Create installation media for Windows 8.1 an instruction by Microsoft.com.
- How to Create a Bootable USB Drive from Your Windows CD
- How to Create a Bootable USB From an ISO: 6 Useful Tools 2021
Run Windows 10 From a USB Drive
How to Run Windows 10 From a USB Drive
Clean boot
How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows
Dual boot of Windows and Linux
- How to Dual Boot Linux on Your PC
- How to Replace One Linux Distribution With Another From Dual Boot (Keeping Home Partition)
- Root partition size: 20-30 GB
- Home partition size: 30 GB or depending on your situation
- Swap: 2GB or the same as your RAM
Windows Update Deleted Linux! What to Do and How to Prevent It
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-update-delete-linux/
Best solution: Install Linux Operating Systems on Separate Hard Drives.
Undelete files
Remove crapware
Uninstall tools
- CCleaner
- Revo uninstaller
Uninstall a Linux from dual-boot
Install open-source software
Consider Ninite.
Install ubuntu on my 64GB USB drive
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/
$ df -h Filesystem Size Mounted on /cow 3.9G / udev 3.9G /dev tmpfs 1.6G /run /dev/sdb1 61G /cdrom /dev/loop0 672M /rofs tmpfs 3.9G /tmp none 5.0M /run lock none 3.9G /run/shm
If we check the drive's partition table using gpart, we will see the drive has only a fat32 partition.
Internet connection sharing (ICS)
Suppose a laptop can connect to the internt through wireless. We want to use its ethernet port to share internet on another device (e.g. raspberry pi where the device has only ethernet port).
- control panel - network & sharing center
- manage network connection
- right click wireless network connection and select property
- click 'sharing' tab and check 'Allow other network users to connect through this computer's internet connection'. For the home network connection, select 'Local Area Connection'.
- reboot raspberry pi.
When my host machine is xubuntu, the guest machine (raspberry pi) shows eth0 has ip 10.42.0.37 and the host machine shows
xubuntu@xubuntu:~$ ifconfig eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:22:19:ea:10:3d inet addr:10.42.0.1 Bcast:10.42.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::222:19ff:feea:103d/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:284 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:383 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:19038 (19.0 KB) TX bytes:85493 (85.4 KB) Interrupt:43 Base address:0x2000 lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1 RX packets:972 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:972 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:90336 (90.3 KB) TX bytes:90336 (90.3 KB) wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:17:c4:62:a0:35 inet addr:192.168.1.153 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: 2601:a:3780:6a:217:c4ff:fe62:a035/64 Scope:Global inet6 addr: fe80::217:c4ff:fe62:a035/64 Scope:Link inet6 addr: 2601:a:3780:6a:a4b9:d314:4790:a0a1/64 Scope:Global UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:6300 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:4812 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:6042745 (6.0 MB) TX bytes:659980 (659.9 KB) xubuntu@xubuntu:~$
How to use your Windows 10 PC as a mobile hotspot
http://pcworld.com/article/3194707/windows/how-to-use-your-windows-10-pc-as-a-mobile-hotspot.html
Proxy
Security
WannaCry ransomeware
https://liliputing.com/2017/05/not-reboot-pc-get-wannacry-ransomeware-try-instead.html
Secure web access from anywhere using secure tunnel
http://www.howtogeek.com/68061/setup-ssh-on-your-router-for-secure-web-access-from-anywhere/
Meltdown and Spectre CPU flaws
- Chrome OS should update to v63
- macOS High Sierra 13.10.2
- browsers
- Linux: zdnet & cyberciti & ubuntu
- Raspberry Pi: Why Raspberry Pi isn't vulnerable to spectre or meltdown
How to Check if Your PC Is Protected Against Meltdown and Spectre
What every Browser knows about you
Security and privacy apps
5 Popular Security and Privacy Apps You Should Uninstall and Replace May 1, 2018
How to Secure Your Accounts With 2FA
How to Secure Your Accounts With 2FA: Gmail, Outlook, and More
How to Opt Out of Personalized Ads from Google
http://www.howtogeek.com/285835/how-to-opt-out-of-personalized-ads-from-google/
Cloud Computing
Microsoft Azure
$200, one-month free trial
Google Cloud Platform
$300, 2 months free trial
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
12 months free trial
Access cloud storage
Amazon cloudDrive
It has a plan of $11.99/year for unlimited storage for photos and 5GB for videos and files or $59.99/year for unlimited everything. My plan (free) is unlimited storage for photos from fire device and 5GB for photos, videos, and files. Files shown in amazon.com/clouddrive are not the same as amazon.com -> digital content -> manage your content and devices -> your content -> Docs.
Cyberduck
GoodSync
Google Drive
Docs
Click View -> Show Document Outline. This will bring a TOC on the left hand side.
Sheets
Slide
- To enter the presentation: In the top right click 'Presentation' button. Or Menu > VIew > Presentation. From the current slide, the presentation will become full screen.
- To exit the presentaiton: Esc key.
Forms
Drawings
OneDrive
Fetch any file on your PC
http://www.howtogeek.com/252436/how-to-remotely-fetch-any-file-on-your-pc-with-onedrive/
Mount/map onedrive as a local drive
How to Configure OneDrive to Sync Only Certain Folders in Windows 10
Windows Power Shell
Windows command prompt
- rmdir foldername /s /q to delete a folder
Return a short name for the current folder
for %I in (.) do echo %~sI
For example
c:\Program Files (x86)>for %I in (.) do echo %~sI c:\Program Files (x86)>echo c:\PROGRA~2 c:\PROGRA~2 c:\Program Files (x86)>cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArrayTools\Sample datasets\Pom eroy\Pomeroy -Project\Fortran\ClassPrediction2/" C:\Program Files (x86)\ArrayTools\Sample datasets\Pomeroy\Pomeroy -Project\Fortran\ClassPrediction2> C:\Program Files (x86)\ArrayTools\Sample datasets\Pomeroy\Pomeroy -Project\Fortran\ClassPrediction2>for %I in (.) do echo %~sI C:\Program Files (x86)\ArrayTools\Sample datasets\Pomeroy\Pomeroy -Project\Fortran\ClassPrediction2>echo C:\PROGRA~2\ARR AYT~1\SAMPLE~1\Pomeroy\POMERO~1\Fortran\CLASSP~2 C:\PROGRA~2\ARRAYT~1\SAMPLE~1\Pomeroy\POMERO~1\Fortran\CLASSP~2 # OR starting from any folder and replace the . with the full path of the file/folder c:\>for %I in ("C:\Program Files (x86)\ArrayTools\Sample datasets\Pomeroy\Pomero y -Project\Fortran\ClassPrediction2") do echo %~sI c:\>echo C:\PROGRA~2\ARRAYT~1\SAMPLE~1\Pomeroy\POMERO~1\Fortran\CLASSP~2 C:\PROGRA~2\ARRAYT~1\SAMPLE~1\Pomeroy\POMERO~1\Fortran\CLASSP~2
- how to get DOS path instead of Windows path
- How can I find the short path of a Windows directory/file?
- Using batch parameters from Microsoft.
Split/break a long command in a batch file
Use the caret to break a long line.
For example
copy file1.txt file2.txt
would be written as:
copy.exe file1.txt^ file2.txt
Open control panel
- System properties (including environment variables) - control sysdm.cpl
- See microsoft.com for a complete list.
- 8 Ways to Open the Control Panel in Windows
Hibernate
Open Command Prompt window. You must run it with administrative privilege. Enter the following command.
shutdown /h
Command prompt replacement
The 6 Best Command Prompt Alternatives for Windows
Privilege manager from BeyondTrust PowerBroker Desktop client
It will create an item (Run w/ Elevated Permissions) on right-click menu.
Package Manager
Chocolatey
Qbs from Qt
Onscreen keyboard and Narrator
Go to Control Panel classic view Ease Of Access.
Keyboard shortcut
Windows 8
Keyboard shortcut.
- Win + C: charm bar
- Win + w: search
VLC
- +/-: faster/slower speed
- Alt + arrow keys: skip 10 seconds by forwarding/backwarding
- Ctrl + arrow keys: skip 1 minute
- Ctrl + Alt + arrow keys: skip 5 minutes
- Ctrl + Up/Down: Volume
- M: mute
- F: full screen
- space bar: toggle play/pause
- A: toggle aspect ratio
Keystrokes logger
How to Check if Your HP Laptop Has the Conexant Keylogger
Windows 8
- Gestures
- When I installed Windows 8.1 from an iso file, 9GB disk space was taken.
- How to Restrict & Monitor Mobile Data Usage on Windows 8.1
Swapfile, pagefile
Boot from USB on Windows 8
HP stream 8
- https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R21XA8UO4RTHR2/ref=cm_cr_pr_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00NSHLVD2
- http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Windows-Tablets/Stream-7-Booting-from-USB/td-p/4930389 The Stream tablet has a 32-bit UEFI with no legacy support mode so the boot program must support that. Most Linux distros for instance (even 32-bit) only support 64-bit UEFI's and require tweaking to boot on the Stream so that might be your problem with Acronis True Image. Also disable Secure Boot if you haven't already.
- After I disable the secure boot, it comes a bitlocker screen. The 2nd time I reboot HP stream, I was asked to enter the secure code (this has to be retrieved from my microsoft account). See Secure boot on how to turn off Bitlocker.
- http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2012157/boot-live-usb-windows.html
- http://boardreader.com/thread/HP_Stream_11_How_to_boot_from_USB_728j6Xrde3.html
UEFI
- http://uefi.org/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface
- UEFI vs Legacy BIOS Booting: What’s the Difference?
- Legacy BIOS is run by option Read Only Memory (ROM’s), which collectively is limited to 64 KB of storage. The option ROMs that legacy systems run will only work if they are compatible with the hardware that is running with it. If you upgrade your hardware, you have to update the option ROMs to make sure every aspect of the booting process is compatible.
- UEFI solved this problem by incorporating drivers into their system in place of option ROM. The drivers have virtually no space limitations and are compatible with upgraded forms of hardware. Drivers are written separately and can be uploaded using a flash drive. The information uploaded onto the system is then processed by UEFI’s programming interface, which configures the data to ensure compatibility.
- UEFI uses C-language. Legacy systems use assembler.
- UEFI boots faster than Legacy systems.
- What Is UEFI, and How Is It Different from BIOS? The traditional BIOS still has serious limitations.
- It can only boot from drives of 2.1 TB or less. UEFI uses the GPT partitioning scheme instead of MBR.
- The BIOS must run in 16-bit processor mode, and only has 1 MB of space to execute in.
- UEFI is packed with other features. It supports Secure Boot, which means the operating system can be checked for validity to ensure no malware has tampered with the boot process.
- What You Need to Know About Using UEFI Instead of the BIOS
- Many computers with UEFI firmware will allow you to enable a legacy BIOS compatibility mode.
- In this mode, the UEFI firmware functions as a standard BIOS instead of UEFI firmware. This can help improve compatibility with older operating systems that weren’t designed with UEFI in mind — Windows 7, for example.
Access UEFI Firmware Setting on Windows 8
- http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-access-the-bios-on-a-windows-8-computer/
- http://acer--uk.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/27102/~/accessing-the-uefi-%28bios%29-setup-on-a-windows-8-system
UEFI and Ubuntu
- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI
- Create A UEFI Bootable Linux Mint USB Drive
- Dual boot Windows 8 and Ubuntu 14.04
- Remove Ubuntu from Ubuntu/Windows Dual boot (UEFI)
How to Check if Your Computer Uses UEFI or BIOS
https://itsfoss.com/check-uefi-or-bios/
How to Disable UEFI Secure Boot to Dual Boot Any System
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/disable-secure-uefi-dual-boot/
Secure boot
Secure Boot is a feature enabled by UEFI – which replaces the traditional PC BIOS – but Microsoft mandates specific implementations for x86 (Intel) and ARM PCs. Any computer with a Windows 8 logo sticker has Secure Boot enabled.
(From HP support website), Secure Boot Configuration is a new feature of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) in BIOS 8 that helps a computer resist attacks and infection from malware. When your computer was manufactured, UEFI created a list of keys that identify trusted hardware, firmware, and operating system loader code. It also created a list of keys to identify known malware.
To enter the secure boot, follow https://itsfoss.com/disable-uefi-secure-boot-in-windows-8/
If I disable the secure boot and exter/exit the UEFI (not sure it is related to secure boot or entering/exiting UEFI), the BitLocker will ask me to enter the recovery key (48 digits). Very annoying! The bitlocker is related to device encryption. To turn it off, go to PC settings > PC and devices > PC info > Device encryption. Click 'Turn Off'. Google: turn off bitlocker.
How Secure Boot Works on Windows 8 and 10, and What It Means for Linux (11/1/2016)
How to access a BitLocker-encrypted drive in Linux?
https://superuser.com/questions/376533/how-to-access-a-bitlocker-encrypted-drive-in-linux
Windows 10
- Microsoft quietly woke up update KB 3035583 from hibernation, and thus began a massive effort to get millions of Windows 7 and 8 users to ditch their existing operating system for a free copy of Windows 10. All they have to do is reserve their Windows 10 upgrade within the first year of the OS’s availability, something they can do from the comforts of their desktop via the Get Windows 10 upgrade prompt.
- Install Windows from a USB drive. Media Creation Tool software
Download iso
How to Download a Windows 10 ISO Without the Media Creation Tool
How long can I use Windows 10 without activation?
http://superuser.com/questions/1024274/how-long-can-i-use-windows-10-without-activation
How to Remove the Activate Windows 10 Watermark
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/remove-activate-windows-10-watermark/
How to Transfer a Windows 10 License to Another Computer
https://www.howtogeek.com/404525/how-to-transfer-a-windows-10-license-to-another-computer/
How to Reactivate Windows 10 After a Hardware Change
https://www.howtogeek.com/444351/how-to-reactivate-windows-10-after-a-hardware-change/
Activation for cheap
Activate Windows 10 Professional for Less Than $15 with Bobkeys.com
Local accounts
- How to Create a Local Account While Setting Up Windows 10
- Confirmed: Windows 10 Setup Now Prevents Local Account Creation: Windows 10 version 1903
- How To Set Up A New Windows 10 PC Without A Microsoft Account. Tip: disconnect the internet connection.
- How to Download ISO Files of Older Versions of Windows 10
Automatic log in/sign in
3 Ways to Automatically Sign In to a User Account on Windows 10
Separate User Accounts
How to Safely Share Your Windows 10 PC With Separate User Accounts
How to Run Portable Versions of Windows
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/run-portable-versions-windows/
Differences with Win 7
Differences with Win 8
Windows PE (recovery)
5 Bootable Windows PE-Based Recovery Discs That'll Save Your System
Windows 10 Tips
- Uninstall Built-In Windows 10 Apps
- Tips from maximumpc.
- Express settings vs Customize settings when you install Windows 10.
- Product key myth
- How to Revert Your Windows 10 Account to a Local One
- Windows 10 Uses Your Upload Bandwidth to Update Other PCs
- How to Stop Windows 10 From Using So Much Data
- How to Monitor Your Network Usage in Windows 10
- How to Deal With Internet Bandwidth Caps
- Tweak Windows 10 and Fix Its Minor Annoyances
- How to Uninstall and Block Updates and Drivers on Windows 10
- How to Uninstall Windows 10’s Built-in Apps (and How to Reinstall Them)
- Clean installation
- Redirects Windows 10's Bing Web Searches to Google
- Use Google for Cortana web searches (with Firefox or Chrome)
- Make Windows 10 boot faster
- Recovery and roll back
- How to change your default browser in Windows 10
- Disable Windows (auto) update: use metered connection. To set a Wi-Fi network connection as metered: Select Start > Settings > Network & Internet. Select Wi-Fi > Advanced options > Set as metered connection. For this and other methods, see this post from intowindows.com and howtogeek.com.
- Privacy
- Web notes in Edge browser and howtogeek.com
- What is the Windows.old Folder and How Do You Delete It?
- Local disk space 1. 332GB free of 359GB (pro N) 2. 49.7GB free of 57.6GB (home) 3. 53GB free of 74.4GB.
- How Windows 10 Handles Memory Management
- How to make Windows 10 faster
- Gesture on a touchpad
Upgrade to Windows 10 with Windows 7 or 8 + Ubuntu dual boot
How to Change the Windows 10 Update Download Folder Location
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
https://www.howtogeek.com/393423/how-to-change-windows-10-updates-download-folder-location/amp/
Creators Update (version 1703)
- http://www.pcworld.com/article/3187408/windows/you-can-download-the-creators-update-april-5-for-a-head-start-on-windows-10.html
- http://bgr.com/2017/04/06/windows-10-creators-update-download/
- How to download the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update right now 10/18/2017
How Windows 10’s “Builds” Are Different From Service Packs
http://www.howtogeek.com/235953/how-windows-10s-builds-are-different-from-service-packs/
How can Windows 10 Function With as Little as 32 GB of Disk Space?
http://www.howtogeek.com/236457/how-can-windows-10-function-with-as-little-as-32-gb-of-disk-space/
From my observation on Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 tablets, the system takes about 12GB space. So my 32GB tablet has 14.6GB free out of 23.5GB for example.
Reject USB drives
- Windows 10, version 1809 and later: Change in default removal policy for external storage media
- Microsoft changes how Windows 10 disconnects USB storage devices
Format USB drives
- Use SD Formatter (Windows and Mac) to format a flash drive. The drive will be formatted to the FAT format.
- Right click the drive letter in File Explorer. Select Format > exFAT and click OK.
- diskpart Windows (built-in command) drive recovery.
Sandbox
How to Configure the Windows Sandbox
How to Format a Write Protected USB Flash Drive
Command prompt keyboard shortcuts
http://www.howtogeek.com/254401/34-useful-keyboard-shortcuts-for-the-windows-command-prompt/
Timeline
You Can Now Test Windows 10’s Timeline Feature
Wake-on-LAN
- How to Enable Wake-on-LAN in Windows 10 and 11
- How to Turn On Your PC With Your Android Phone Using Wake-on-LAN
Booting problem
Windows 10 Won’t Boot? Try These 12 Fixes to Get Your PC Running Again
SIM
How to use a Project Fi data-only SIM with a Windows 10 PC
Errors
Windows 11
Bash Shell & Ubuntu Linux
- Windows 10 Creators Update set to be released on April 2017
- Overview:
- Requirements:
- You MUST be running Windows Build 14316 or higher (e.g. Anniversary Update).
- You MUST be running 64 bit Windows 10 (Home, Professional editions, ...)
- Official blogs:
- Windows Command Line Tools For Developers - Windows Console, Bash on Windows, Ubuntu on Windows, WSL, Linux.
- Windows Subsystem for Linux The underlying technology enabling the Windows Subsystem for Linux
- Tips:
- The iso file name is <Win10_1607_English_x64.iso> (4.1GB) as of 1/4/2017. Note that the iso file is different from what I downloaded last time (Nov 2016) which is only 3.4GB.
- To copy a text: use mouse's left button to select lines and hit the 'Enter' key. To paste the clipboard to another bash shell, use mouse's right button.
- Check whether we are in Windows 10's Ubuntu or not: grep Microsoft /proc/version. See neofetch.
- How to Get Colored Window Title Bars on Windows 10 (Instead of White)
- Check whether Windows 10 is activated or not: Settings -> Update & security -> Activation
- To change the directory color (default LS_COLORS di value 01;34 as normal Ubuntu OS). See How do I change the color for directories with ls in the console?
# Change the color of directories from blue to cyan that was used to represent symbolic link files/directories in regular Ubuntu OS export LS_COLORS=$LS_COLORS:'di=1;36:'
- Official bug report and other links https://github.com/Microsoft/BashOnWindows
- How to get the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (version 1607); it does not work in my case. Download the Media Creation Tools from Microsoft method works in my case.
- How to Find Out Which Build and Version of Windows 10 You Have
winver
- Installation Guide from msdn.microsoft.com.
- How to Install and Use the Linux Bash Shell on Windows 10 Note the title bar color is white (not blue) in my cases.
- How to Uninstall (or Reinstall) Windows 10’s Ubuntu Bash Shell
- How to Access Your Ubuntu Bash Files in Windows (and Your Windows System Drive in Bash)
- Windows Subsystem for Linux update will let you access Linux file from Windows, Windows 10 Will Finally Offer Easy Access to Linux Files 2019
- How to Change Your User Account in Windows 10’s Ubuntu Bash Shell
- How to Run Graphical Linux Desktop Applications from Windows 10’s Bash Shell. And What is DISPLAY=:0?
- Download and install Xming X Server: <Xming-6-9-0-31-setup.exe> (2MB) and <Xming-fonts-7-7-0-10-setup.exe> (32MB).
# assuming we have already run xming export DISPLAY=:0
- Run Ubuntu (or any) Desktop Environment in WSL
- https://github.com/Microsoft/BashOnWindows/issues/637
- How to run the native Ubuntu desktop on Windows 10. Especially it discusses the socket support and D-bus issue on WSL)
- Use XcXsrv instead of Xming to avoid an error.
- If we have installed Unity Ubuntu, we can start it by typing compiz. If we have installed xfce4 Ubuntu, we start it by typing xfce4-session or startxfce4. Note that unity does not respond to keyboard and mouse but xfce4 has a good response.
- Use Alt+Tab to switch between Ubuntu desktop and Bash Shell. To exit Xfce4 just log out.
- To install other desktop environments
sudo apt-get install xfce4 # standard XFCE desktop environment sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop # Xubuntu’s customized XFCE desktop environment
- Error message when I run sudo: unable to resolve host (DESKTOP-xxxxxxx). Edit /etc/hosts and append your host name (check </etc/hostname>) to the first line 127.0.0.1 localhost (space separated). For example, the first line looks like
127.0.0.1 localhost DESKTOP-TC9HSRG
- How to Run Windows Programs from Windows 10’s Bash Shell
- How to Run Linux Commands From Outside the Bash Shell on Windows 10
- Windows file system is available in /mnt/ directory. For example, the C: drive is in /mnt/c.
- Ubuntu file system in Windows: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Lxss\rootfs. See this post.
- Ubuntu file system is available in Windows user account's Application Data folder (hidden).
- How to Update the Windows Bash Shell to Ubuntu 16.04 which is available only in Windows 10's Creators Update. While you can go out of your way to forcibly upgrade the Ubuntu shell to 16.04 on Windows 10’s Anniversary Update, it’s not a good idea. The underlying Windows Subsystem for Linux doesn’t fully support Ubuntu 16.04 in the Anniversary Update, so some things just won’t work properly.
- Useful apt-get commands
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install packagename sudo apt-get remove packagename sudo apt-cache search word sudo apt-get upgrade # download and install the latest versions of your installed packaes
- To quickly launch a program, execute a command, or run a script, you don't need to launch the Bash environment first. You can use bash -c to directly execute a Linux command. Bash will simply run the command and then qit.
bash -c "vi"
- You can use lxrun command to reinstall the Ubuntu environment and get a fresh Linux slate.
lxrun /uninstall /full
To install the Ubuntu, use either (the command will ask you a new username/password)
lxrun /install
or ("root" is the default username without a password)
lxrun /install /y
- Oracle Java cannot be installed directly through PPA method. However, we can download the tarball and extract the files into somewhere. See here. In my testing of running SAMtools, I extract the tarball to /usr/java. Then I modify .bashrc to include 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/java/jdk1.8.0_112'. After that, BRB-SeqTools works fine.
- Note that the htop output shows 50% CPU are used for each core. That does not match with what the 'Task Manager' gave (2% used). See this posts.
- Mounting drives. For example I assign Z: drive for the shared folder. But the Z: drive does not appear under /mnt directory.
- Limitations (from the Anniversary Update):
- There is no way to actually launch a Windows program or run a Windows command from within a Bash script or the Bash shell.
- This won’t work with server software.
- It’s intended for developers who want to run Linux command-line utilities on Windows.
- Mount virtualbox shared folder in Ubuntu
- Interop between Windows and Bash (Build 14951)
Insider Preview
- ISO download and Announcement.
- Build 14965
- Build 14986
- Build 15002 Ctrl-C in a Bash session no longer works.
- Build 15007
- Build 15063 Creators Update
- Build 16241 Ubuntu can be downloaded from Windows Store
- Build 16251 微軟Windows 10預覽版可連結手機,將瀏覽文件、網頁、郵件傳送到PC, Windows Subsystem for Linux No Longer Beta, Stable for Everyone
Notes:
- If we do not log into the Microsoft account, the desktop wallpaper will be kept to the default.
- If we log into the Microsoft account, the desktop wallpaper will be changed but still cannot be modified by users.
openSUSE or others
https://linux.cn/article-8121-1.html
Removable drives and network drives
How to Mount Removable Drives and Network Locations in the Windows Subsystem for Linux
Cleanup
- How To: Spring Cleaning for Your Drives by maximumpc.com.
How to Find Out Why Your Windows PC Crashed or Froze
http://www.howtogeek.com/222730/how-to-find-out-why-your-windows-pc-crashed-or-froze/. The article mentions two tools.
- Reliability monitor (built-in)
- Event viewer(built-in)
- BlueScreenView (NirSoft)
Securely transfer files to Linux on Windows command line
PuTTy & PuttyND
Use psftp or pscp with a script.
PuttyND gives a chrome style with multiple tabs for Putty Suite.
scp command built in Windows 10
Open a command line window or PowerShell window. Tested on Windows 10 20H2.
scp -r user@hostname:Documents/Dirname Documents\Project
Use winscp with script or in command line
See http://winscp.net/eng/docs/feature_index
C:\Program Files\WinSCP\winscp.exe" /console /script=YOUR_SCRIPT_FILENAME
Example from http://winscp.net/eng/docs/scripting#example
# Automatically abort script on errors option batch abort # Disable overwrite confirmations that conflict with the previous option confirm off # Connect using a password # open sftp://user:[email protected] # Connect open sftp://[email protected] # Change remote directory cd /home/user # Force binary mode transfer option transfer binary # Download file to the local directory d:\ get examplefile.txt d:\ # Disconnect close # Connect as a different user open [email protected] # Change the remote directory cd /home/user2 # Upload the file to current working directory put d:\examplefile.txt # Disconnect close # Exit WinSCP exit
See http://wiki.vpslink.com/Automate_Backup_Retrieval_with_WinSCP#Test_WinSCP_Backup_Script for use winscp with Windows scheduler.
winscp and rsync
http://winscp.net/eng/docs/task_synchronize
PuTTY
Change colors
Go to Configuration > Window > Colours. Select from the list that contains the blue color. Click the 'Modify' button.
Strange characters
Go to Configuration > Window > Translation. Choose 'Use font encoding' or 'UTF-8' in "Remote character set".
Putty with tabs
- Putty nd Works well
- MTPuTTY/Multi-Tabbed Putty
Has a problem with cursor. Need to specify the location of the PuTTy program. Note that you can split the screen by docking any of the windows on top of MTPuTTY.
Increase font size with keyboard shortcut
Ctrl + mouse wheel does not work!
PLINK
10 PuTTY PLINK Examples to Automate Remote Linux Commands from Windows Batch Files
Comparison of ssh client
Putty, ClisterSSH, SecPanel, Secure Shell
X11 Servers
Xming
https://sourceforge.net/projects/xming/
MovaXterm
MobaXterm: Enhanced terminal for Windows with X11 server, tabbed SSH client, network tools and much more.
VcXsrv
https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv/
Find public IP address
- http://superuser.com/questions/165986/command-prompt-command-for-external-ip
- http://superuser.com/questions/404926/how-to-get-my-external-ip-address-over-nat-from-the-windows-command-line
Create a VB script text file "ip.cbs" with a content like
Option Explicit Dim http : Set http = CreateObject( "MSXML2.ServerXmlHttp" ) http.Open "GET", "http://icanhazip.com", False http.Send Wscript.Echo http.responseText 'or do whatever you want with it Set http = Nothing
Open a command line and run
cscript ip.vbs
The output will look like
C:\Users\mli>cscript ip.vbs Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. 2601:a:3780:5b:b856:6a09:3ea3:5e26
- On windows, open a command prompt. Type 'ipconfig' and look at IPv4 Address. But 'ipconfig' cannot show only one adapter. Another choice is netsh
x <- shell('netsh interface ip show addresses "Local Area Connection"', intern = T) y <- strsplit(x[grep("IP Address", x)], " ")[[1]] y[length(y)] # [1] "xxx.xx.xx.xxx"
PATH copy copy
https://pathcopycopy.github.io/
What is the Equivalent of the (Linux) bin Directory in Windows?
http://www.howtogeek.com/231220/what-is-the-equivalent-of-the-linux-bin-directory-in-windows/
System wide: the \Windows\System32 directory, or PATH
Personal: account’s PATH environment. For example, create the directory in your own profile (%USERPROFILE%\bin) and add it to your account’s PATH environment variable.
PATH environment variable
In R, by using strsplit() and shell() functions we can quickly get the information of the PATH environment variable.
> x = shell("PATH", int = TRUE) > strsplit(x, ";") [[1]] [1] "PATH=C:\\Program Files (x86)\\VNI\\imsl\\fnl600\\Intel64\\lib" [2] "C:\\Program files\\MPICH2\\bin" [3] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\VNI\\imsl\\fnl600\\IA64\\lib" [4] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\VNI\\imsl\\fnl600\\IA32\\lib" [5] "C:\\Program files\\MPICH2\\bin" [6] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Intel\\ComposerXE-2011\\redist\\intel64\\mkl" [7] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Intel\\ComposerXE-2011\\redist\\ia32\\mkl" [8] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Intel\\ComposerXE-2011\\redist\\intel64\\mpirt" [9] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Intel\\ComposerXE-2011\\redist\\intel64\\compiler" [10] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Intel\\ComposerXE-2011\\redist\\ia32\\mpirt" [11] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Intel\\ComposerXE-2011\\redist\\ia32\\compiler" [12] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Intel\\ComposerXE-2011\\compiler\\lib" [13] "C:\\Windows\\system32" [14] "C:\\Windows" [15] "C:\\Windows\\System32\\Wbem" [16] "C:\\Windows\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\" [17] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\QuickTime\\QTSystem\\" [18] "C:\\Program Files\\cvsnt" [19] "C:\\Program Files\\ActivIdentity\\ActivClient\\" [20] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\ActivIdentity\\ActivClient\\" [21] "C:\\Program Files\\TortoiseSVN\\bin" [22] "C:\\graphviz\\i386\\bin" [23] "C:\\graphviz\\x64\\bin" [24] "C:\\gtk\\bin" [25] "C:\\gtksourceview\\bin" [26] "C:\\libxml2\\bin" [27] "C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\Downloads\\binary" [28] "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Miktex\\miktex\\bin\\" [29] "C:\\Pandoc\\bin"
An open source program to edit PATH variable is available from http://sourceforge.net/projects/pathtool/
On my computer, I need to open a Windows prompt with admin privilege and then type 'sysdm.cpl' in order to change the PATH variable.
WinCVS
Difference of "P" and "U" when running an update on WinCVS.
It means "Patched", which in effect is exactly the same as "Updated". The only difference is that the server did not send the complete file but only a diff (aka patch).
Notepad++ (text editor)
Go to Settings->Preferences -> Print. Check 'Print line number' and check 'Black on white' instead of no background color.
Line wrap works too. About 62 lines per page in my case. Cannot change font size though.
Other editors like Sublime and Atom do not even have the print function.
But sometimes it shows a message 'Before you can print, you need to select a printer. If you need to install a printer, either double-click the Add Printer icon or click the Find Printer... button located on the General tab of this dialog.':(( In this case, I just need to re-start notepad++.
Font size
How to increase font size? Just hold Ctrl and use scroll wheel. See here. It even save the status when you restart Notepad++.
Theme
Setting > Style Configurator > Select theme dropdown list > Zenburn.
If we download other themes from internet, those themes do not have a support for R languages so the syntax highlight will be lost.
Default language
And for convenience, we can change the default language to R in Notepad++'s Settings.
Proxy
? > Set Updater Proxy.
Text Editor
Notepad++
See above for the printing problem on my Win 7.
Rstudio
Does not support to print line numbers
GEdit (Linux/Windows)
- Check the option of print line numbers.
- Uncheck the option of syntax highlight.
- Adjust font size used in printing.
On Windows 10, the print function does not work well though the print preview looks good.
Qt Creator
No option to support print line numbers
PSPad
Line printing works. But some characters are lost in long lines.
TextPad
No way to print line numbers.
EditPad
When printing line numbers, it cannot support line wrapping. So a long line becomes several lines (line numbers).
Image and Photo Editors
Visual Studio
Visual Studio 2010
- Create simple form using VS C++ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8E4C0zbIHA
Visual Studio 2013
Visual Studio 2015
Download offline version http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30070584/how-to-install-vs2015-community-edition-offline
vs_community.exe /layout
Cygwin
For something we cannot find a good Windows version of program; for example, cvs client. See my notes in Linux page.
Youtube
Use desktop client like minitube which can eliminate the ads and allows downloading videos.
Powerful usage of VLC
RealPlayer
Toggle mute sound
- free utility called nircmd http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.zip
- create a shortcut: "C:\Michal\Code\Mute Sounds\nircmd.exe" mutesysvolume 2
- set up shortcut key by right click the shortcut and choose property
Record Skype calls
https://www.howtogeek.com/365082/how-to-record-skype-calls/
Calibrate your speaker
How to Calibrate Your Computer Speakers Without a Fancy Microphone
Mind mapping software
- Free mind
- Mindmap (web based)
- MindMup (web based). It can export to Freemind .nm format. No registration is required.
Command line
find date/time
@echo off For /f "tokens=2-4 delims=/ " %%a in ('date /t') do (set mydate=%%c-%%a-%%b) For /f "tokens=1-2 delims=/:" %%a in ("%TIME%") do (set mytime=%%a%%b) echo %mydate%_%mytime%
Then save it as <datetime.bat> and run
C:\Program Files\R>c:\users\brb\Desktop\datetime.bat 2015-09-16_ 908
http://superuser.com/questions/228056/windows-equivalent-to-unix-time-command
@echo off echo %time% < nul cmd /c %1 echo %time% < nul
Then run your program as an argument to this script...
timer myprogram.exe
and for arguments...
timer "myprogram.exe -sw1 -sw2"
Examine your system’s energy efficiency: powercfg
Reconnect to the internet with a new IP address: ipconfig
'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file
- https://www.gfi.com/support/products/Error-Program-is-not-recognized-as-an-internal-or-external-command-operable-program-or-batch-file-9009-when-deploying-patches
- https://github.com/ramnathv/rCharts/issues/333
cmder: Portable console emulator for Windows (git, awk, cp, curl, find, gawk, ...)
How to Change the Primary Email Address for Your Microsoft Account
http://www.howtogeek.com/277170/how-to-change-the-primary-email-address-for-your-microsoft-account/
8 Ways to Email Large Attachments
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-ways-to-email-large-attachments/
Outlook
See Outlook.
MS-Office alternatives
The 7 Best Microsoft Office Alternatives
Excel
See Excel.
Reference management software
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software
EndNote
When we find an article in PubMed, we can choose "Send to" and select "Citation manager" and then click the "Create File" button to download the reference. After the citation file is downloaded (*.nbib, an ASCII format), we can double click it to open the file in EndNote. The reference will be inserted into our library file (e.g. ~/Documents/My EndNote Library.enl). We can delete the *.nbib file now.
Now in Word click "EndNote X8" on the menu. It will bring up a Ribbon at the top. Before we click "Insert Citation" button, change the Style from its default 'Annotated' to say "APA 6th". The default 'Annotated' style will insert the abstract in the reference area. After clicking "Insert Citation", we can enter a keyword and if the match is found, we can insert it to our Word document. We can also use "Edit and manage citations" to remove citations.
RefMan
- https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/reference-manager/
- supported by scholar.google.com
RefWorks
- https://www.refworks.com/Refworks/WNCDownload.asp
- supported by scholar.google.com
Zotero
Zotero: An Open Source App to Help You Collect & Share Research
Folder synchronization
cwRsync
https://www.itefix.net/content/cwrsync-free-edition. Just unzip.
Pick a light weight linux distribution.
rsync from Rtools
- http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/Rtools/
- http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/Rtools/Rtools.txt
C:\Program Files\R>where rsync C:\Rtools\bin\rsync.exe
Got an error (tried 3.2 and 3.3)
rsync: Failed to exec ssh: No such file or directory (2) rsync error: error in IPC code (code 14) at /home/lapo/package/rsync-3.0.9-1/src/rsync-3.0.9/pipe.c(84) [Receiver=3.0.9] rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [Receiver] rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at /home/lapo/package/rsync-3.0.9-1/src/rsync-3.0.9/io.c(605) [Receiver=3.0.9]
rsync from cygwin
Got a permission error when the target is a network drive.
Got an error: connection unexpectedly closed.
Windows sync toy
For some reason, it does not find the missing files so it does not copy files from source to target.
Another bad thing is there is no way to uninstall it.
FreeFileSync
http://sourceforge.net/projects/freefilesync/
For some reason, I cannot download it successfully. If I manually copy it from a linux machine to windows, it just get deleted. Probably there is a security reason.
Unison
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/
I download Windows binary version. However, it does not work. It depends on GTK but it still complain it cannot find libgtk-win32-2-0.0.dll even I downloaded/installed/change PATH variable.
DirSync
http://sourceforge.net/projects/directorysync/?source=recommended (NO installer is there)
Internet Tricks
View all steps from instructables
Just add ?ALLSTEPS after the url's forward slash. See here
How to Set Up Your Own Home VPN Server
http://www.howtogeek.com/221001/how-to-set-up-your-own-home-vpn-server/
How to See If Your VPN Is Leaking Your Personal Information
http://www.howtogeek.com/253475/how-to-see-if-your-vpn-is-leaking-your-personal-information/
How to Auto-Connect to a VPN for Specific Apps in Windows 10
How to Auto-Connect to a VPN for Specific Apps in Windows 10
Cloudflare Warp
Cloudflare WARP 免費 VPN 測試版 Windows、macOS 下載
Search Tools
The 17 Best Free Search Tools for Windows 10
DocFetcher search for MS-Office files too.
File Manager/explorer
Search
- How to Search for a Specific Phrase in Windows 10 File Explorer. Type the following string in the search box: content:"your phrase"
- How to Search Through File Contents on Windows 10
- How to Search the Contents of Any File Type Using Windows Search
- How do I search for files containing a specific word or words Windows 10?
- File Explorer Search Filters Every Windows User Should Know
Group by date
Why the Files in Downloads folder are grouped by date in Windows 10?
FreeCommander
Keep tabs open from last session
Settings > Folder Tabs > Tab Management tab
- uncheck the box "Close all not locked tabs when the program ends."
- check the box "Keep current tabs if open layout"
7zip to open zip files
- http://www.forum.freecommander.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5142. Settings > Archiver plugins. Unfortunately I did not find a source to download the plugin.
Back up to external drive or another computer
Turn off Ipod nano 4th generation completely
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_KprYnP1hA
The steps are
- Center + Menu
- Center + Left
- Sleep, Deep sleep
Hide a Windows program
http://superuser.com/questions/43206/windows-application-to-hide-an-application-from-the-taskbar.
Especially the RBTray program works well. When it was launched, we can use 'right click' on any program's minimize button to minimize it to the tray. To exit the program, just right click on any tray icon created by RBTray and click Exit RBTray in the popup menu. Or run RBTray.exe with the --exit parameter.
ProgramData folder
What Is the ProgramData Folder in Windows?
Windows XP mode in Windows 7
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/5460/our-look-at-xp-mode-in-windows-7/
Screenshot Annotation
Evernote Skitch, Snipit, SnagIt (commercial), hotshot GNU written in C++ & Qt, Jing, Picpick (commercial), Paint.Net, szoter online annotation, IrfanView, Open office, Shutter for linux.
Paint.Net
Printing will truncate the top and bottom. So when we want to print, switch to Window's Paint program.
Back up
Backups vs. Redundancy: What’s the Difference?
https://www.howtogeek.com/346907/backups-vs.-redundancy-what%E2%80%99s-the-difference/
Dropbox
How to Sync Only Specific Folders With Dropbox
Evernote backup
Record screens
This howtogeek.com guide tells how to record you screen on different platforms (windows/mac/linux/android/ios).
Adobe Illustrator
The 8 Best Free Browser-Based Adobe Illustrator Alternatives
Adobe Illustrator vs. Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator vs. Photoshop: What's the Difference?
Inkscape
- Tutorial basic
- List of tools shown on the left hand side.
- Tutorial from youtube (tutor4u)
- Transparent text
- Select the arrow key when we want to change an object property (eg enlarge).
- The straight line tool is located two above the Text tool. When we draw a line, we can use ENTER key to stop continuation.
- When we want to enlarge an object, we want to hold the CTRL key so the size will be changed proportionally.
- Keyboard shortcut. For example, Ctrl+d to duplicate selection.
Affinity Designer
Why Affinity Designer Is the Best Adobe Illustrator Alternative
Note Taking
- KeepNote: cross platform (pro: tab for different notebooks, export to HTML)
- Notebook is saved in a folder format (Folder name = notebook name)
- CherryTree: cross platform (pro: still under development, one file only, recent documents)
- File extension is .ctd
- I use version 0.28.5 for ATtasks\Doc\RServe, GSE6861 Projects
- Zim: cross platform
Check web change
- https://www.changedetection.com/ as mentioned by For those web sites without RSS feed
- Page Monitor chrome extension (we can 'Pick' part of a page)
- http://page2rss.com/ (convert page to RSS)
- https://www.followthatpage.com/
Screenshot of a big webpage
Screengrab add-on for Firefox
Reminder
ReminderFox is an add-on for Firefox
Tile of webpages
TileView is an add-on for Firefox
Wallpaper
Windows 10
How to Change the Wallpaper on Unactivated Windows 10
Download Bing wallpaper
- http://www.bing.com/gallery/#
- http://www.ampercent.com/download-high-resolution-bing-wallpapers-bing-homepage/10998/
Windows Virtual Machine download
https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/. These virtual machines expire after 90 days. Recommend setting a snapshot when you first install the virtual machine which you can roll back to later. The password to your VM is "Passw0rd!"
The guest machine seems to be working out of box. Desktop zoom in and copy/paste work.
Specs: 4GB memory, 40GB virtual storage.
Audio out recorder
Total Recorder. The standard version ($18) already allows to record by schedule. The Professional version (+$18) allows to capture streaming audio directly without opening another application.
PDF file
- Convert pdf to word Unipdf
- Edit pdf file PDFescape
- Split/Merge pdfs PDF Split&Merge
Windows Movie Media
I got a message Another program is preventing Windows Essentials from installing when I was installing Windows Essentials 2012 on Windows 7 Enterprise w/ Service Pack 1.
Screencast
This article from PCworld.com.
YouTube
http://lifehacker.com/record-a-screencast-with-nothing-but-youtube-1753803412
CamStudio
Camstudio works in Virtualbox guest machine too while Screencasting 101 gives me an error. Also the Virtualbox's built-in video capture function does not create videos correctly (I only got a blank/green screen and the video's length is wrong).
Make sure to install Camstudio lossless codec too.
Useful settings:
- Region -> Fix region 1024*720 (screen will create 4 corners when you hit the record button or F8)
- Options -> Video. Camstudio lossless Codec v1.5.
- Options -> Cursor. Highlight cursor.
- Options -> Audio.
- Options -> Program Options -> Keyboard shortcut (F8=record, F9=Stop)
- Toolbar icon -> 6th one is to toggle flv, avi, mp4. Avi is good.
Screenpresso
Camtasia
30 days trial is free to download. It is possible to blue a region with Camtasia. Check out this page or some videos like this.
Video Editing Tools
- 4 Free Video Editing Tools: VSDC (Windows free/pro) and Shotcut (cross-platform)
- The best video editing software (Sep 2017)
- The Best Video Editing Software for Beginners May 2019
VideoPad Video Editor
How to Edit Videos Like a Pro With VideoPad Video Editor
Cyberlink PowerDirector
Got blue screens when I import video files (tested on Windows 7 VM, PD v12).
VSDC
- Text annotation is easy and more variable
- Audio fade out does not work. Alternatively we can use Audicity to fix this problem.
- Export video is very slow (at least on the Free version). 1 minute video takes 1 minute to export. So it does not make sense if we just want to make a small adjustment.
Shotcut
- Text annotation is too simple to be useful
LosslessCut
- https://github.com/mifi/lossless-cut
- Free Video Cutter LosslessCut Adds Multiple Cut Points, Video Merging Feature
Create a symbolic link
cd "YourDirectoryContainingSymLink" mklink -d "Foldername" "RealPathToFolderName"
- Complete Guide to Symbolic Links (symlinks) on Windows or Linux where Link Shell Extension was used.
Default location of TurboTax and HRBlock
Documents\TurboTax with a file ext name like .tax2014.
Documents\HRBlock with a file ext name like .T14.
Storage/disk space problem on Windows tablet
Some ideas:
- http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/threads/guide-to-maximizing-disk-space-on-your-dell-venue-8-pro-or-other-windows-8-1-system.60268/
- http://www.umpcportal.com/2014/04/how-to-survive-with-32gb-storage-on-windows-8-1-tablets/
- http://www.howtogeek.com/188072/how-to-make-the-most-of-a-windows-8.1-tablets-limited-storage-space/
- http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-update-1-tip-manage-disk-space
- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/free-up-disk-space
- http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/important-disk-cleanup-job-after-upgrading-windows-81.htm
- http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2014/04/11/wimboot/1 WIMBoot
- https://thommck.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/freeing-up-disk-space-on-a-windows-8-tablet/
- http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/maximizing-storage-on-a-windows-tablet-what-are-your-options/
BIOS
- How to Enter the BIOS on Your Windows 11 PC. Method 1: F2. Method 2: Setting > System > Recovery > Restart now.
- How To: A Guide to BIOS Settings
- How to update your PC's BIOS
MBR vs GPT
MBR vs. GPT: Which One Is Best for Your SSD?
Convert Fat32 file system to NTFS
It is know Fat32 has a file size limit of 4GB. That means it is impossible to use Fat32 partition to transfer a >4GB virtual machine file (ova) to a fat32 USB drive.
The ntfs partition created by Gparted program may not be recognized by Windows OS. So if a drive has been used/partitioned in Linux machines, it is recommended to keep using Gparted to partition the drive to FAT32 first and then bring the drive to Windows OS for ntfs conversion/re-partition.
Command line
To convert a fat32 partition to NTFS, run the following in the command line prompt (or type help convert to get help).
convert <drive_letter>: /fs:ntfs
GUI
Use HP USB Disk storage format tool (96KB) <HPUSBDisk.exe>. The USB drive still needs to be assigned to a drive letter first.
RealTemp
It provides trustworthy temperature readings.
CPU fan control
How to Auto-Control Your PC’s Fans for Cool, Quiet Operation
Paper size: A4 vs US letter
- A4 8.26 x 11.69
- US Letter 8.50 x 11.00
See a comparison here and Wikipedia.
Printer IP
Right click the printer icon -> Printer properties (not Properties) -> Ports. Widen the first column (Port). The IP address is shown there.
HL-5250DN
The old printer is not shown as an option from Brother. I need to click the 'Windows Update' button to update all lists.
Hard drive
Hard drive monitor/benchmark tools
Has an advantage about the size than the internal drive. For example, my Dell Precision 3500 can support up to 2TB.
See http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2014566/4tb-hdd-problems.html
See the internal link Linux -> GParted.
Hard disk monitor tools
- HWMonitor (freeware) from CPUID. Need to be run as admin; otherwise it only shows brief info about CPU. It does show temperature from cpu, memory, internal hdd and graphical card. Does not include External hdd.
- SpeedFan (freeware) from Almico.com. This required an installation. It will be installed under C:\Program Files (x86)\SpeedFan. This can detect my ext 4TB hdd (WD4003FZEX). It shows the temperature 40C for this ext hdd (under the Readings tab or more details under the S.M.A.R.T. tab). My other 2 int hdd temperature is 34C and 40C currently.
- Crystal Disk Info (freeware). Support USB connection and RAID. This looks very good too and it only focuses on HDD/SSD. It has both installer & portable versions. Explanation of the interface. The source code is on afterdawn.com. Give Your Hard Drive a Check-Up from maximumpc.com. The best and fastest USB3 Flash Drives of 2016, comparison, benchmark.
- smartmontools. Windows can run it through cygwin.
- HMonitor (shareware).
The hdd temperature is OK in the range of 25C to 46C. See http://www.buildcomputers.net/hdd-temperature.html
Hard disk space monitor
SSD
Speed Up Your Solid-State Drive by Re-Aligning Its Partitions
Speccy
Fast, lightweight, advanced system information tool for your PC. It also displays the temperature from CPU, MOBO, fan speed, et al.
Use WinPatrol to Monitor Your Windows PC for Changes
http://www.howtogeek.com/212494/how-to-use-winpatrol-to-monitor-your-system-for-any-changes/
Wireless network watcher
Webinar
- WebEx Below is a screenshot when the camera is off and microphone is muted.
- To increase the screen and hide unnecessary windows, click "Floating Panel View (The default is "Video Strip View" and the 2nd option is "Side by side View") and then a small reverse triangle to "Hide Video View".
- Full-Screen Content Sharing Views in Cisco Webex Meetings and Cisco Webex Events
- Webex App | Share your screen or application in a meeting
- GoToWebinar which supports title=GoToWebinar+Support+for+Chromebook+and+Linux+Attendees Linux for video part.
Miracast
- http://www.pcworld.com/article/2907520/how-to-use-miracast-to-mirror-your-devices-screen-wirelessly-on-your-tv.html
- http://www.pcworld.com/article/2927493/lenovos-cheap-hockey-puck-like-cast-media-streamer-ignores-pesky-walls.html
Intel Boot Agent GE
Logitech M510
Go to http://support.logitech.com/en_us/product/wireless-mouse-m510 and download 64-bit full installer (not smart installer) of SetPoint.
SetPoint software can be used to re-program forward and backward buttons on the mouse. For example, I can set the forward as 'j' and backward as 'k' for feedly.com website.
Amazon digital credit balance
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000811661#gc or https://www.amazon.com/norushcredits which gives expiration dates on credits.
Note that the credit has a short expire date. So go to the email and search "Your Amazon.com Promotional Credit". Good luck keeping track of them.
Amazon Prime Is More than Free Shipping: Here Are All of Its Extra Features
Amazon reward points
Stop Spending Your Amazon Reward Points on Purchases for Better Cash Back
Amazon two factor authentification
How to Turn on Two-Factor Authentication For Your Amazon Account
Watch web videos without flash
http://www.howtogeek.com/223338/how-to-watch-web-videos-after-uninstalling-flash/
Firefox Developer Edition for private browsing
How to Identify a Song on Any Smartphone, PC, or Tablet
http://www.howtogeek.com/226184/how-to-identify-a-song-on-any-smartphone-pc-or-tablet/
Rainmeter
Similar to Conky in Linux.
Launchy
It uses Alt+Space to launch anything.
Note that it has Linux (binary and source) and Mac versions too.
XAMPP
I downloaded the portable version (without the installer) from More Downloads >> link.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xampp/files/XAMPP%20Windows/5.5.28/ (xampp-portable-win32-5.5.28-0-VC11.7z).
Note that xampp has to be extracted to the top level directory such as C:\.
When I start the Apache server, Windows' firewall will pop up. Since I am not the system admin, I can only click the 'Cancel' button.
The virtual machine can use the host's IP to get an access to the Apache web site. But the other computer cannot.
More help.
Window Services
How to Run Any Program as a Background Service in Windows from howtogeek.com. Plex is used as an example.
View Running Processes
See also Which Windows Account is Used by the System When No One is Logged In?
Process Hacker
Process Explorer
Console Window Host
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4996/what-is-conhost.exe-and-why-is-it-running/
Google account permission for webs, apps and devices
Go to account settings -> Sign in and security -> Connected apps and sites.
How to Play Your Favorite NES, SNES, and Other Retro Games
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/22721/how-to-play-your-favorite-retro-video-games-on-your-windows-pc/
Online games
How to delete Yahoo account
http://www.howtogeek.com/280322/how-to-delete-your-yahoo-mail-account/
It’s Time to Leave Yahoo: How to Quit and Move to Gmail Right Now
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/leave-yahoo-quit-move-gmail/
How to delete Gmail or Google account
http://www.howtogeek.com/280361/how-to-delete-your-gmail-or-google-account/
How to Import and Manage Multiple Email Accounts in Gmail
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/import-manage-multiple-email-accounts-gmail/
How to Download Wikipedia for Offline, At-Your-Fingertips Reading
http://www.howtogeek.com/260023/how-to-download-wikipedia-for-offline-at-your-fingertips-reading/
The Best Places to Find Free Audiobooks (Legally)
https://www.howtogeek.com/354016/8-places-you-can-find-free-audiobooks-legally/
PIV card
ActivClient v6.2 program