Post your tips in the Windows Secrets Lounge

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INTRODUCTION[/size] Post your tips in the Windows Secrets Lounge[/size] ByBrian Livingston Beginning this week, all articles appearing in Windows Secrets have their own threads in the WS Lounge, where you can submit any additional information you have. You’re not restricted to commenting on columns, though — we have a whole lotta other forums where you can post anything you discover about Microsoft Windows.[/size] The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/2010/01/07/01 (opens in a new window/tab). Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.

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Hi Stephanie! I thought I’d get started by posting a link to a comment I made in another forum. Feel free to move it over here, or start a new thread with it, whatever!
http://lounge.windowssecrets.com/index.php?showtopic=770632&view=findpost&p=817112

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I’ve been reading Windows Secrets Newsletter for many years, and have yet to uncover an outright scam among the ads. Some advertised products and services are better than others, but none seems to be malicious or totally fake. You folks at Windows Secrets have done a much better job than many on line newsletters at keeping the riff-raff at bay. Keep up the good work.

If I ever see an ad in WSN which seems to be a scam, I will be sure to post.

I really like this new system of commenting about WSN content here in the Lounge, via embedded links. It makes for a freer and more open forum for readers, and directs anyone who has a strong opinion or extra information here, so that maybe more readers will get a chance to add our wisdom to the collective body of knowledge which has made WSN such a valuable resource over the years. The only obstacle now to reader comments is the Lounge log-in, which is a reasonable requirement, in my opinion.

-- rc primak

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XP tip.

I thought how great it would be – since I’m very “shortcut” and “macro” based, to make my most frequently-used programs have XP shortcuts. (take a .lnk, right click, properties, shortcut key, etc)

WELL, at times I’d use a shortcut and my XP WOULD FREEZE FOR 10 SECONDS.

I thought this umm, sucks, and I have to figure why.

Using some of the great tools at Sysinternals, I managed to — I think — figure it out!

“EEK”. XP, at boot up, or at first shortcut use, or ever!! — does NOT build a table of shortcuts.

Instead, it goes through every user (or maybe yourself and “all users”?) in the start menu, “seeks” to every shorcut, and either reads the 65th and 66th byte of the .lnk, -or- uses an API to find it, sees if you typed it, and if not goes on!

Well, if you use a shortcut, it takes a long time the first time, but if you re-use it while the entire tree of the documents and settingsuser… directories and .lnk files are in cache, it is pretty fast.

but if not, then depending upon speed of your machine, speed of your disk, fragmenting of your disk, etc, it takes a VERY long time, during which — EEK again — “explorer.exe” (i.e. the XP “Shell”) seems to be single-threaded and looking about for your shortcut key! !

My solution was to use my program that finds all shortcuts (don’t ask, it is written in Mansfield Kedit), then REMOVE all shortcuts.

THEN redefine all shortcuts in “Macro Express” (http://www.macros.com). WHEE! FAST!

Ward Christensen
Inventor of Xmodem & (W/Randy Suess) BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems)
Yah, in the way-back machine (’77, ’78)

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