Activate Flip 3D With Your Mouse in Vista

Over the last few years I’ve had many people ask me if they can somehow activate Flip 3D by moving the mouse to a corner of the screen, and I’ve always told them to use the much more powerful Switcher replacement instead, but that’s about to change.

The solution to this problem comes in the form of a tiny little application called Vista Flip 3D Activator, and it lets you assign a corner of the screen to activate Flip 3D, providing you haven’t disabled Flip 3D like I have.

Using Vista Flip 3D Activator

Installing the application is as simple as downloading and extracting the program file and running through the install wizard. Once you’ve done that, you can then check the corner of the screen that you’d like to use for activating Flip 3D…

You can also assign a mouse button if you want, although you should note that it doesn’t override IntelliMouse settings. Once you’ve activated Flip 3D, you can use your mouse wheel to scroll between the different windows, and then click to activate.

Note: for those of you that might be wondering, you can make Flip 3D stay on the screen without using any software by either clicking the “Window Switcher” icon in the Quick Launch (second to the left), or you can use the keyboard shortcut Win+Ctrl+Tab to make it stay on the screen. When it comes down to it, this utility really only saves clicking on the Quick Launch icon.

I’ve never been a fan of Flip 3D, but it’s a good chance to show off my favorite wallpaper!

This utility is extremely lightweight, weighing in around 2mb on my system, and that was when I was toying with it.

If you are a fan of Flip 3D, this is definitely the utility for you.

Top 10 Tweaks, Tips, and Tricks for Windows Vista

1. If you’re annoyed by Internet Explorer’s incessant barking that you’ve lowered your security settings (like, if you’re a non-paranoid expert), launch “gpedit.msc” from either the Run command or Start Search field, navigate through Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Internet Explorer. In the rightmost pane, double-click “Turn off the Security Settings Check feature” and set it to Enabled.
2. If Internet Explorer’s Information Bar also annoys you, you can turn it off (again) in the Group Policy Object Editor (gpedit.msc) through Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Internet Explorer / Security Features. In the rightmost pane, double-click “Internet Explorer Processes” and set it to Disabled. Hallelujah!
3. I’ve just mentioned two tweaks that are buried inside the Group Policy Editor. Jim Allchin pointed out that there’s a Group Policy Settings Reference spreadsheet available. Makes for great weekend reading.
4. Read the Background on Backgrounds if you’re a performance junkie. Don’t set your wallpaper through Internet Explorer ever again! Now that Windows supports JPG wallpapers, there’s absolutely no need (or excuse) for using BMPs anymore.
5. If you insist on keeping UAC (User Account Control) turned on for yourself, you might care to make the elevation prompts a bit less visually jarring. Brandon told me about this one, even though I have UAC turned off. Launch the Local Security Policy manager (secpol.msc), and navigate through Security Settings / Local Policies / Security Options. In the rightmost pane, scroll to the bottom and double-click “User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation.” Disable it, and you can keep UAC turned on without getting turned off by the embarrassingly craptacular Aero Basic theme.
6. Vista can send you emails! The Computer Management tool can still be accessed by right-clicking “Computer” and selecting “Manage” from the menu. However, now you can attach a task to any event. Try navigating through System Tools / Event Viewer / Windows Logs / Application. Now, go ahead and select an event – then look to the rightmost pane and click “Attach Task to This Event.” Name it whatever, describe it however, click through the next step, then in the Action step, you’ll see the “Send an e-mail” option.
7. The Windows Task Manager gives you a lot more troubleshooting information in Vista. Flip to the Processes tab, and in the View menu, click “Select Columns” and add Description, Command Line, and Image Path Name. Moreover, when you right-click a process, you can select either “Go to Service(s)” or “Open File Location.” These are all long overdue options.
8. This one’s interesting. Open up the Date and Time Control Panel applet. Flip to the “Additional Clocks” tab. There, you can configure two more clocks from different time zones. They’ll appear in the tooltip when you hover over the Taskbar clock. No additional software (or silly sidebar widgets) necessary.
9. Applicable in other versions of Windows, I’m going to throw it in here for good measure. Create a shortcut to RegSvr32.exe in your SendTo folder. To get there quickly, enter “shell:sendto” in the Run command dialog or Start Search field. Now, when you wanna register a DLL or OCX file with the system, you can select it/them and “Send To” the RegSvr32 shortcut.
10. I figured I’d round out my first set of Windows Vista tips and tricks with a tiny bit of eye candy. It doesn’t beat Picasa, but the Windows Photo Gallery is better than nothing. Once it’s indexed all your photos, click the icon next to the Search field and turn on the “Table of Contents.” That’s kinda nifty.

Vista Useful Tips and Tricks

Tip #1: Shrink a partition

If you have created one or more partitions on your hard drive and a few months later you think "mmmmh this partition has to be a bit smaller", it is possible in Vista to shrink them. You can do this even with a 'system partition'.

How to shrink a partition?

Step 1:
Click with your right mouse button on 'Computer' and then click 'manage'.
The next screen is shown.



In this screen you click in the left pane on 'Disk Management' below 'Storage'.
Then the next screen is shown.



Now you see all your partitions which you have created. To shrink a partition you simple right click on the partition and in the menu which appears you click 'Shrink Volume'.
The next screen is then shown.



Here you can enter the amount of space to shrink in MB.

If there is empty space available behind the partition there is also the possibility to extend the the partition using the option 'Extend Volume'.
There one thing you can not do. You can not move a partition or extend it with an empty space which is in front of a partition.

Tip #2: Use ReadyBoost to speed up your system!

What is ReadyBoost and what is SuperFetch?
Microsoft introduces, using Windows, these new techniques, which have to speed up your computer which is used for daily usage.

How do these technologies work?
Do you really get a super system when you extend the memory using a USB stick?
The memory in computers increased dramatically since a few years ago. This is logical because there is nothing what makes a computer more stable and faster than extra memory. Microsoft wants to use that new memory maximum and equipped Windows Vista with a few techniques which have to take care of this.

The memory manager of Windows Vista can change the grouping of the memory any time, which decreases the chance of overloading a part of the memory. Microsoft calls this 'dynamic kernel address space'.

The possibility to assign memory dynamically is also used to decide which data have to be loaded into the memory and which data is mend for the virtual memory. Previous versions of Windows did not make any difference between data which is used much and which is used less. Windows Vista does it on another way. SuperFetch doesn't look at the data which is unused the longest, but it predicts which data will be needed as first again and keeps this data stored in the memory.If there will be any free space in the RAM-memory then SuperFetch will fill these spaces with the data of which it predicts it will be needed as first again

Avoid the UAC prompts in Vista

User Account Control (UAC) does a lot to protect your system's security, but the UAC prompts are undeniably annoying and also confusing for some users.

If you share your computer with youngsters, computer neophytes or others who shouldn't be tinkering with system settings, a simple way to maintain security while minimising UAC interruptions is to deny all elevation requests from Standard users by default. When you do this, although the user will see a message saying access has been denied if they try to install software or change system settings, they won't experience the screen-dimming and system-locking of traditional UAC prompts and they'll be able to proceed without calling for administrator assistance. This process does not entail turning UAC off, which is not a good idea; instead, you set your system to disallow any action that would normally spawn a UAC prompt.

To do so:

1. Set up a Standard account and make sure all the settings are just so and all required software is installed.
2. From your Administrator account, open the Local Security Policy editor by typing secpol.msc in the Start search box and pressing Enter.
3. Click Security Options in the Local Policies section and scroll down the list on the right to User Account Control: Behavior Of The Elevation Prompt For Standard Users.
4. By default, the setting is Prompt For Credentials. Double-click the setting and select Automatically Deny Elevation Requests from the drop-down list, then click OK and close the Security Policy editor.

Show the Run command in Windows Vista

The Run command is useful for accessing many of Vista’s advanced commands and functions, but it’s no longer visible by default on the Start Menu. While it’s easy enough to add it, in most circumstances you won’t need it. That’s because the Start Menu’s search box is a run box.

For example, in Windows XP to open the Registry Editor you click Start -> Run, type regedit and click OK. In Vista, you click Start, type regedit in the search box and press Enter.

If you’d like to have the Run command appear on the Start Menu nevertheless, here’s how to make it appear:

1. Right-click the Start orb and select Properties.
2. Click Customize.
3. Tick the Run Command box and click OK twice.

Another quick way to open the Run box is to press Winkey+R.

Get more right-click options in Windows Vista

Right-clicking a file or folder displays a list of shortcut commands. If you hold Shift while you right-click you’ll see an extended list of options. The additional options change depending on the type of file you right-click but usually include Pin To Start Menu, Add To Quick Launch and Copy As Path.

Copy As Path is useful if you need to use the full pathname of a file either in a document or to run another command. The other two commands are so handy it’s strange Microsoft didn’t include them in the default right-click menu. When you use Shift+right-click on a folder instead of a file, one of the added options is Open Command Window Here, which displays a command prompt window opened to the selected folder.

Vista has some really esoteric right-click options tucked away in unexpected places. For example, try this:

• Click a file and press F2 to edit the file name.
• Right-click while in editing mode.

You’ll see the usual Cut, Copy and Paste options plus interesting settings such as Right To Left Reading Order and the ability to display or insert Unicode control characters.