The Gazette-Enhancements9f

THE SHORTCUT BUILDER SCRIPT
If you are like most folks, you probably lack a wee bit of organizational foresight when it comes to your computer. Welcome to the club. No problem unless you need to find something, right? So what if, for some reason you wanted to access all BMP files on your hard drive all of a sudden? You can't do that very easily, can you? You could launch a search for all files with a BMP extension, but what if you wanted have access to these files regularly? Would it help to have one central location for shortcuts to all files of a given type on your hard drive? Say, in your My Documents folder perhaps? The Shortcut Builder script will do this for you.

Get Shortcut Builder Here

Shortcut Builder is a little script that allows you to create shortcuts to any file type in one location, regardless of where the source files are located on your hard drive's partition. With it, you can create a folder with shortcuts to all DOC files, and another for XLS files, and yet another for all ICO files. You can have as many as you like. It's easy to use too. Just download Shortcut Builder to a temporary directory and unzip it. Double click the script and follow the prompts.

THE REMOVABLE MEDIA SHORTCUTS BLESSING ... ER ... SCRIPT
If you've been burning CDs or ZIP disks that have complex directory structures and many files listen up, this is just what you need. What happens when you try to find one of those files you burned to a CD a few months ago? You have stacks of the things. Removable Media Shortcuts will allow you to create a catalog of shortcuts to all the files on all your removable media and have the information at your fingertips with a single mouse click. This is what to do:

Create a new folder wherever you like and call it CD Contents.
Place CD Contents on your taskbar as a toolbar as follows:
- Right click a blank spot on your taskbar and choose Toolbar and then New toolbar....
- Browse to your new CD Contents folder, highlight it and click OK.
Once this is set up you can change the settings for your new toolbar as desired. Now you're ready to run the script that will set up those shortcuts.
Download Removable Media Shortcuts and unzip it to a temporary directory.
Get Removable Media Shortcuts Here
When you run the script it will ask for the removable drive name, where to plant the directory structure (use your new CD Contents folder), for a name for the CD, and then it does the rest.
By sliding the divider over next to the title of your new toolbar, you will have a nice, neat little popup menu. Once you've finished, it will show the contents of all your CDs. Just insert the appropriate CD or ZIP and click the shortcut to the file. Amazing, isn't it?
Enjoy!

ENUMERATE FOLDER CONTENTS FROM THE RIGHT-CLICK CONTEXT MENU
This is a handy little script that adds a new command to the right-click context menu which allows you to see the number and type of files in a folder at a glance. Just download Enumerate Folder Contents to a permanent directory, unzip it and read the ReadMe file enclosed. A very cool script.

Get Enumerate Folder Contents Here

Enjoy!

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PRINT OUT A LISTING OF DIRECTORIES AND FILES WITHIN
This script, like almost all the small programs in this section, was authored by Script Maestro Extraordinaire, Steve Yandl. It prints out a complete listing of files within a directory and the subdirectories and the files contained therein from the right-click Send To... context menu item. Read the Readme.txt file and remember to be patient with those mammoth directory trees--it may take a minute, but it works. Download Directory Printer, unzip it to a temporary directory, run Install LogContents.wsf and as usual ... enjoy!

Get Directory Printer Here

LAUNCH YOUR WINDOWS PROGRAMS WITH A TYPED COMMAND -- THE WinKey+R TWEAK
This only takes a few cautious moments to set up and the result is a significant improvement in the speed and ease with which you can launch your most used programs, and you can have a less cluttered desktop in the bargain. This is presented in conjunction with Run MRU Modifier 2.0 Script listed immediately below because it further broadens the potential for the use of this WinKey+R enhancement. Read on, you'll see what I mean.

Even if you keep a shortcut to a program on your desktop or on a Toolbar with a drop down menu, it takes a few clicks to launch it if you have some windows open. If you are working and would prefer not to disturb the flow of what you are doing, what you need, is to be able to quickly hit WinKey+R and type in one or two letters to launch a program. Here is an example of how to set up Notepad, a commonly used text editor, to launch by typing just two letters. You can adapt this technique for virtually any program and it's easy to do. Heck, it's even easier to do with this script, which automates the whole process, but if you prefer to do it manually, the information is provided here.

Close all your running programs.
Launch Regedit and drill down to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\.
Now, with App Paths highlighted, select Edit then New and then choose Key.
Now type in a name for the shortcut you'd like to use for Notepad. If your memory is bad and you're a quick typist go ahead and call it Notepad.exe. Note that the name must have the .exe extension, however you are otherwise free to call it anything reasonable you please. In my case, I'll call it NP.exe. That's easy for me to remember and it's quick to type.
Now, with your new NP.exe folder highlighted, double click (Default) in the right pane and enter the full path to the executable. In our example: C:\Windows\Notepad.exe. Note that you can use this trick with any executable, regardless of it's location. It need not be located in C:\Windows. It can even be in a completely different partition.
Now let's run a quick test. Type WinKey+R, type in NP and hit Enter. Presto!
Once you've set up your favorite programs to launch this way, the letters you've typed in at the WinKey+R command prompt will remain available to you for a reasonable period of time, saving you the trouble of typing the letter or remembering the letter combination for a particular program. If you end up with a couple of mistyped lines there, you can use the script immediately below to edit the list and get rid of the bloopers.
Enjoy!

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EDIT OUT YOUR BLOOPERS FROM THE WinKey+R RUN LIST
If you are a true Windows Power User, you probably use the WinKey+R Run command prompt regularly. As graphic-centric as Windows has become, there are still many simple yet critical tasks that can be performed more efficiently at the WinKey+R Run command prompt. The tweak listed immediately above is just one example. That Windows retains the typed commands for a period of about 28 days makes this method more user friendly, especially for those of us with poor memory. The problem is, if you mistype a command and hit Enter, the blooper will also remain there for 28 days. You can launch Regedit, drill down to where the RUN list is kept and edit until your heart's content, or you can use our alternative.

As you've probably guessed by now, Steve Yandl has put together yet another of his amazing PC911 scripts which, in this case, will automate the process of editing out those bloopers from the Run MRU list. All you need to do is:

Download the Run MRU Modifier script to a permanent directory.
Get The Run MRU Modifier Here
Unzip it, delete the archive, and double click the script. It will present you with a listing of the current Most Recently Used items from the WinKey+R Run list (MRU = Most Recently Used).
Now simply type in the index letter for the item you wish to remove and click OK.
The item in your Run list won't disappear until you reboot, or, if the option is available, log off and then right back on again.
Enjoy!