One Tip A Day » Desktop

How to keep your favorite programs always visible on Desktop

Umar — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:20:21 +0000

Is there a particular program you want to be always visible? For instance you are working with multiple spreadsheets but every time you are working on Excel, your calculator gets shoved to the back, and you need to click it each time to use it. Once or twice is fine but soon it gets quite frustrating.

An excellent solution to this is Deskpins.

The file to be downloaded is unbelievably small (~100 KB) so setting up the program becomes a very fast process.

Here is how it works: once the program is installed, it neatly sits as an icon on the taskbar.

By clicking on this icon once with the left mouse button, you prepare it to pin a program. For instance I have opened Microsoft Math and I want it to stay on top of all windows, I will click on the Deskpins icon once, the cursor will transform from the regular mouse pointer to a different shape; now I move this pointer over to Microsoft Math, and I have it pinned.

The screenshot above is of the pinned Microsoft Math. Regardless of what happens, whether a new program is opened or some other program pops up an alert, my first and front-most view will be of Microsoft Math.

Key features include

Unlimited number of pins available.
Intelligent handling of various application types.
Powerful wildcard-based automatic pin support.
Global hotkeys.
Negligible system resources usage.

There really isn’t much requirements to run this freeware. It can be run on all the major Windows operating systems including Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003.. Other than that you must have at least 386/10MHz class CPU or higher, 4 GB (even though I ran it on 1 GB and it works just fine with that as well).

Deskpins is a minuscule application that packs a heavy punch and come quite handy if you need some application to always stay in front of your eyes.

Download Amazing High Dynamic Range Wallpapers

Tony Williams — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:40:17 +0000

If you want to give your desktop that wow factor then you should check out High Dynamic Range Wallpapers from HDR Walls. HDR wallpapers are created by taking multiple shots for the highlights, mid-tones and shadows seperately and then merged into a single image.

If this means nothing to you, then just check out some of the amazing wallpaper results below:

In total there are 478 gorgeous wallpapers to choose from, in sizes from 800×600 to 2560×1600.

More: HDR Walls

How To Download Images When Right Click Is Disabled

Tony Williams — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:41:28 +0000

I hate when websites disable the right-click mouse menu. Usually this is because I just want to go ‘back’, but sometimes it’s because I want to copy some of the images on the page.

Digital Inspiration have shared an easy way to copy images when a website has disabled the right-click menu:

Just point your mouse pointer over the image you want
Press and hold the left button and drag them image either to the address field in the browser or to a blank space on your desktop

Simple! I love it when tips are as simple as this.

Readers Tips – How To Hide Your Desktop Quickly

Tony Williams — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:36:46 +0000

How often have you sat in or given a presentation, and everything is going well until you have to flick to your messy desktop, exposing how unorganised you are or your inappropriate wallpaper featuring some bikini-clad babes?

The solution is simple, and has been right before me for some time, but I wouldn’t have thought of it if Nick hadn’t emailed in this tip:

It can often be embarrassing to show up to give a presentation and have everybody there take a peek at how cluttered your desktop is. To quickly get your desktop looking spic’n'span, just right click on your desktop, follow the “Arrange Icons By” menu and uncheck “Show Desktop Items”. Voila! Your desktop is completely clean and you don’t have to worry about people seeing all of those game shortcuts on your desktop. After the presentation is over, just recheck “Show Desktop Items”. It is as simple as that!

Thanks Nick and $20 dollars is on it’s way to you. If you have a tip you think that other readers will enjoy, then send it in to tips@onetipaday.com and if it’s published $20 will be yours, and the adoration of fellow One Tip A Day readers!

Add Tabs To Your Windows Desktop With Stick

Tony Williams — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 16:17:12 +0000

Stick is another nice freeware app that can bring order to your desktop. This cool app allows you to add tabs to your desktop. Each tab can perform a particular function e.g. Notes, Calendar, RSS Feeds, Calculator and Navigator tabs. Once open, each tab can be opened or closed by clicking on the tab or using a hotkey.

More tabs can be created if you are feeling up to it, as the source code of Stick can be downloaded as well.

Source: gHacks

WinTabber: Add Tabs To Any Windows Program

Tony Williams — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:30:44 +0000

I love programs that allow me to flick through open files or windows using tabs like Firefox and Excel. So, as soon as I read about WinTabber I downloaded it straight away. WinTabber allows tabs to be added to ANY program, allowing multiple sessions or copies to be managed easily.

Some features of WinTabber:

A tabmanager which enables you to add tab support to almost any window
Cleans up the desktop by grouping arbitrary windows into one container
It is possible to have multiple instances of WinTabber loaded …
At the moment it supports many programs, like putty, explorer, firefox

WinTabber is a great little program if like me you like to keep all your programs and documents open, and best of all, it’s free!

More: WinTabber

Add RSS Feeds To Your Desktop

Tony Williams — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:54:01 +0000

Computer Desktops are funny things. Most people spend a lot of time finding wallpaper that they like to fill the space, but other than that, Desktops don’t really do a lot. But, what if you could make your Desktop work harder?

If you’re a big reader of RSS feeds then one thing that you can do is add your RSS feeds to your desktop, which will be updated live. Instructables have put together a great guide on how to add RSS feeds to your desktop. There are a number of steps that have to be followed, but if you take your time you should get it right first time.

More: Instructables

3000 High Resolution Wallpapers!

Tony Williams — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 21:04:40 +0000

One of the easiest ways to spruce up your PC, and to wow your work colleagues and mates, is to add a new wallpaper.

If you really want your desktop to look its best, then check out these High Resolution wallpapers discovered by Ghacks from No Pixel. Over 3000 hi res wallpapers are available in resolutions up to 1900×1200. Widescreen resolutions are also covered, with 1680×1050 resolution images available.

No Pixel has a very nice navigation system, with thumbnail, slideshows and a search engine.

More: No Pixel

Use Google Search As A Calculator

Tony Williams — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:20:50 +0000

One of the shortcuts I maintain on the desktop of all my PCs is to the Windows Calculator. However, I’ve just learnt via LyteByte that you can use the Google Search engine as a Calculator! All you have to do is enter the calculation you want answered, hit search, and Google Search will calculate the answer.

The Google Search calculator service is really quite intelligent. Not only can it handle simple calculations like 5+2×2 but also queries like e^(i pi)+1 , or even what is a half a cup in teaspoons? Now I bet your calculator doesn’t do that!

Spend Less Time On MySpace With “You Got Comments”

Tony Williams — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 22:12:34 +0000

It’s far too easy to get sucked into spending hours each day leaving comments and responding to comments on MySpace. Wouldn’t it be great if you were sent an alert whenever you received a new message, rather than logging on a zillion times a day to check for (or hoping for!) new message?

Well, thankfully for any MySpace addicts out there YouGotComments is now available. YouGotComments checks your MySpace and notifies you via Desktop Alert, text message and/or email when a new comment is received. You can control how often alerts are sent e.g. instantly or every 15 minutes.

As always with everything I promote it’s free. To give YouGotComments a go click here

Source: CybernetNews

Brilliant Freeware Apps To Keep Your Desktop Fresh & Tidy

Tony Williams — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 17:17:24 +0000

Sometimes even when you have multiple monitors it seems like there just isn’t enough space on your desktop. Windows XP likes to encourage multi-tasking but if you have a big PC session you can end up with multiple windows open that can make navigating around your desktop very hard.

I used to struggle, until I started some of the cool Freeware programs listed below to keep my desktop nice and tidy and fresh.

Deskloops 2.0

Deskloops is Windows XP’s answer to Vista’s Flip 3D function. In fact, I think it does a better job than Flip 3D. This brilliant freeware application adds all of your windows to a drop-down Strip which shows all of your windows as thumbnails. Windows within the stip can be scrolled a-la Vista Flip 3D, and once you find the window you want to use just stop and the window will open.

Download

Tray Devil

I discovered TrayDevil in December. TrayDevil allows windows to be minimized to the system tray simply by clicking on a Window at the same time as pressing CTRL, as well as the following very quickly on a window by window basis:

Set Windows To Be Always On Top
Disable The Minimize, Maximise and Close Buttons
Adds Additional System Tray Options
Control Restart, Shutdown or Lock Functions from the system tray

Make Your Own FREE Video Screensavers

Tony Williams — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 00:01:46 +0000

Want to jazz up your desktop? Well there are two great apps that allow you to make your own free video screensavers.

The first one is ‘My Video Screen Saver‘ which supports the following features:

Plays AVI, MPEG, WMV video files as a screen saver
Displays videos randomly
Allows the volume of each video to be adjusted
Allows videos to be previewed from the settings window
Adjust videos to 100%, 150% or 200% for each file
Runs on all Windows operating systems

The second one was discovered by gHacks. The Windows XP Video Screensaver also allows you to adjust the playback size (Fullscreen or 50% – 400%), play a random file, loop the file, mute the audio and alter playback speed (from 0.1 to 3.0). Most file types are supported, the most common ones are of course avi, mp3 and wmv – the tool basically supports all file types that the windows media player is able to play.