Expand Your Collection of Microsoft Tools

Microsoft offers a sizable collection of useful yet unofficial and unsupported utilities called PowerToys. Following are the essential PowerToys for any serious computer user; all are downloadable from Microsoft's PowerToys for Windows XP page.


1. ClearType Tuner
This PowerToy lets you use ClearType technology to make it easier to read text on your screen, and installs in the Control Panel for easy access.

2. HTML Slide Show Wizard
This wizard helps you create an HTML slide show of your digital pictures, ready to place on your Web site.

3. Alt-Tab Replacement
With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open.


4. Tweak UI v1.33
This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

5. Taskbar Magnifier
Use this PowerToy to magnify part of the screen from the taskbar.

How to use:
- Right-click on your Desktop Taskbar.

- Select Toolbars

- Check Taskbar Magnifier.

6. Webcam Timershot
This PowerToy lets you take pictures at specified time intervals from a Webcam connected to your computer and save them to a location that you designate. It is also displayed in your System Tray.

Don't Lose Your Focus

So there you are, minding your own business, typing a document, e-mail, or instant message on your computer. You glance away from the screen for a moment. When you look back, you realize you haven't really entered your last lines of text. Without your knowledge, a new window or dialog box has popped up, and some of your text has been entered there--or nowhere. Applications that steal your PC's focus are more than just annoying: They can be disastrous if the focus-stealing dialog box asks to perform a potentially harmful operation and you happen to press [Enter] or type [Y], which the dialog takes as a "Yes" before you even see the request. You may also have dismissed an important scheduling alert without realizing it.

No solution exists, but the following may help you maintain your focus in Windows XP and 2000 by Microsoft's free Tweak UI.

Open Tweak UI by typing tweakui on Run, and press [Enter] and use the tree pane on the left to navigate to General, Focus. Make sure "Prevent applications from stealing focus" is checked. You can also specify whether the taskbar button should flash and how many times when the would-be focus grabber wants your attention. Click OK.





Some Tweak UI settings get changed back when a program subsequently modifies the Windows Registry. To make sure the focus lock is in effect every time you start Windows, start Notepad or another text editor.

1. On the first line, type "Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00" and press [Enter] twice.

2. Type "[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]" and press [Enter].

3. Finally, type "ForegroundLockTimeout"=dword:00030d40 and press [Enter].

4. Save name the file with the .reg extension like focus.reg), and place it to a location of your choice. Make a note of the path to the file.

5. Next, choose Start, All Programs, right-click the Startup menu, and choose Open.

6. In an empty area of the Startup folder, right-click and choose New, Shortcut.

7. In the Create Shortcut wizard, browse to your .reg file, select it, and click OK.

8. Place quotes before and after the entry, and then press [Home].

9. Type "regedit.exe /s" followed by a space in front of the first quotation mark in your entry.

10. When completed, the entry should read something like this: regedit.exe /s "C:\Registry files\focus.reg" (your path may differ).

11. Click Next, type a name for your shortcut, and click Finish. Now every time you log on, this shortcut will reinstate the anti-focus-stealing setting.

You're all set! Continue on what you are doing.