Hints and tips

Resolve a broken web page with a single key press

The World Wide Web is a fantastic thing, but with so much data flying around the planet, it can sometimes seem a bit sluggish. Windows tries to get around some of the problems by caching web data; the first time you visit a webpage, Windows will store a local copy of it on your hard disk. The next time you want to visit the page, Windows will use some or all of the locally saved content to quickly display the page again, without having to resort to your Internet connection and wait for it to deliver the data.

This is a great idea, but unfortunately it is sometimes prone to errors. For example, if there was a problem with the webpage when it was originally downloaded, this problem can persist in your computer’s local copy of the page until Windows actually goes out to the web and fetches a fresh copy. If you are experiencing problems viewing a website, you can force your browser to download a page from the Internet, rather than relying on a locally saved copy, by hitting [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [R]. You should find that the page now loads properly.




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Fix a faulty Vista sidebar

The Windows sidebar made an appearance in Vista, but due to many users dislike of it, it hasn’t made it through to Windows 7 (at least not in its original form). However, many Vista users still use the sidebar, as it provides a single place to view images, check your calendar and make notes. If your sidebar goes wrong – it hangs or freezes, for example – you can quickly reset it by following the steps below:
Right-click on the sidebar icon in the System Tray and choose Exit. Click Exit Sidebar.
Press [Windows Key] + [R] type TASKMGR and click OK.
In the Task Manager, click on the Processes tab.
Select any processes called sidebar.exe and click End Process. This will ensure the sidebar is fully closed.
Press [Windows Key] + [R] type %localappdata%\​microsoft\​Windows Sidebar and click OK.
Right-click on the file Settings.ini (This will appear as Settings if you have Hide Extentions for Known File Types enabled) and choose Rename. Rename the file Settings.old. Click Yes if prompted.
Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Windows Sidebar. The sidebar should now restart without problems.



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Essential Download: Advanced Windows shutdowns with Shutdown Timer

If you want to automatically shut down your PC at a set time, you can use the Windows Task Scheduler to automatically set a time for shutdown. However, this is pretty much the extent of Windows self shutdown capabilities. You can’t set Windows shutdown to be triggered by other events, for example when your PC’s CPU utilisation drops below a certain threshold for a long period of time (indicating that whatever your PC was doing has now stopped).

This week’s essential download, Shutdown Timer, can help. It provides an easy-to-use interface that allows you to specify events that lead Windows to shut itself down. For example, if you are downloading a large file and have to go out, you can configure Shutdown Timer to power off your PC when the network activity ceases, and hence the download has finished. An essential tool to both save power and protect your PC.

You can get Shutdown Timer here:

http://sinvise.net/home/projects/software/shutdown-timer

Thanks Les..

Nice...thanks for sharing.