Best Practice Ezine #68 - CMOS Battery Tip

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CMOS Battery Tip

Here is a CMOS tip that you will probably never use.  However, there are elements of this story that you may find instructive for other situations.

The story started when Jimmy came around to my house and mentioned that he needed a computer - 'any old computer to get my son started'. Ever keen to help, I remembered that I had old computer in the garage, so I gave it to Jimmy. That was about 3 months ago. Well, because it was originally my computer, Jimmy keeps asking to help whenever it crashes or his son Junior does something silly on the old machine.

To cut to the chase, I went around to Jimmy's because Junior was in a panic, the machine had died and he could not print out an urgent end of term assessment. The computer was saying something like, 'CMOS Battery low' and shut down, another clue was the system clock kept resetting itself to 12:00. My wife overheard the conversation about the low battery, and said that she had the answer, a hair dryer in her voluminous bag. At first, I thought she was going to beat the battery over the head with the hairdryer nozzle. Silly me. Instead, she turned on the hairdryer full blast and warmed the battery. To my surprised, when we switched on the machine, it worked long enough for Junior to finish his homework. Next day Jimmy bought a new CMOS battery, I wish that he had a bought Junior a new computer. Something is bound to go wrong next week.

Incidentally, the warming a battery trick was perfected during childhood; we used to extend the life of torch batteries by warming them on a hot-water bottle.  Gee, it was a hard life in the old days, no central heating, no electronic toys.

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Launch Folder Window in a Separate Process

Here is a Windows Explorer setting that for years, I have overlooked.  The idea is that if one instance of Windows Explorer locks then no other Windows Explorer sessions will be affected.  The downside of this setting is that it takes more memory.  To find this check box, launch Windows Explorer, Tools, View, scroll down to the 13th check box is: Launch folder window in a separate process.

Registry Tip: Add Copy To on the Context Menu

Warning:

While this registry hack looks flash it can give problems, Kevin M kindly sent in this snippet of information.

When I select two or more files in Windows Explorer to open in Notepad or any other program, for every selected file - before opening it in the proper application - I first get a dialog asking me where to move the item.  Cancelling this dialog brings up the next asking where to copy the file. Cancelling this dialog leads to opening of the file and bringing up the next files "move-dialog"! Pretty irritating!

The scenario.  You wish to copy a file from one location to another.  What this tip will do is add 'Copy To' on the Windows Explorer short cut menu.  Once you right click a file, select 'Copy to Folder', a dialog box opens for you to select the file destination.  Instructions:

1) Launch Regedit

2) Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\

3) Create a new Key.  Name the new Key: Copy To

4) Double click the default REG_SZ and set the value to {C2FBB630-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

5) Close regedit, no need to reboot or even logoff, just launch Windows Explorer, right click a file and enjoy the new 'Copy To' feature.

6) Addendum: You can create another registry entry, which Moves instead of Copies.  Change C2FBB630 to C2FBB631 and repeat the above. 

Incidentally I tried to call the registry key: 'Guy Move'.  Windows ignored this and calls it 'Move To Folder'.  Therefore, I deduce that the display name is the code: {C2FBB631-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}  (You always learn more when you make mistake.)

Here is zipped, .reg file to make the change automatically.  CopyTo.zip

Keep Smiling

My friend Will and I were musing on the fates of two of our comic heroes.  Tommy Cooper actually died on stage, while Ronnie Barker quit at his peak and then enjoyed 15+ years of retirement.  See here for examples of Tommy Cooper and Ronnie Barker's jokes

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