Block all Windows notifications when Screen Sharing

I see it all the time – someone is sharing their screen during a meeting and an email notification pops up, usually to the audience’s amusement and the presenter’s chagrin.

There’s a simple trick you can do to block Windows (and Microsoft Outlook) from interrupting your screen sharing.

1. Open the Windows (Start) menu and type “Present”.
2. Select the first item titled “Adjust settings before giving a presentation”

 


3. Click the check box at the top of the window that appears “I am currently giving a presentation”

 


This will add the following icon to your icon tray:
 

 

4. When you are done presenting, simply right-click on this icon and select “Stop Presentation”

 

Good luck with your presentations!

What’s new in Windows 10? (And whatever happened to Windows 9?)

Last question first – according to a Reddit poster (a reputable source of news I know…) the name Windows 9 may have been skipped due to lazy developers.

Apparently a lot of 3rd party products (e.g. non-Microsoft) may have checked the Windows version they were running on by looking for “Windows 9” to figure out if they were on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98SE, etc. An easy way around breaking a bunch of old software was to simply skip to Windows 10. Certainly makes the most sense out of anything else I’ve read. 🙂

Now – what’s new in Windows 10?

Here are the highlights:

1. Windows 10 is free to upgrade too for 1 year. After that, it’s a flat, up-front fee to buy the software – no annual fees (like Office 365).
2. Microsoft’s version of Siri or “Ok Google” is called Cortana and it’s coming to all devices including your laptop. This means built-in dictation as well as interactive search, etc. May be a bit difficult to use in an open-cube environment but otherwise has a lot of potential.
3. Universal Apps – the pipe dream of many end users is now a reality – developers will be able to build apps (aka “programs”) that run on any device including your phone, tablet, XBox, & PC. This means that regardless of what device you pick up, you theoretically can use the same app everywhere.
4. Microsoft Edge – with Windows 10, Microsoft gets rid of Internet Explorer. To replace it, they have built a brand new internet browser called Edge which brings Microsoft’s browser into the 21st century. Not a lot of new functionality over other modern browsers (such as Chrome or Firefox), however one major update is the ability to literally draw on a web page and add notations, then share your marked up page with anyone. In addition, Edge comes with handy Cortana integration built-in which means that Cortana is constantly scanning the websites you are on to try to help you. For example you go to a restaurant’s website – Cortana will ask you if you would like to make a reservation. If you say yes, Cortana can initiate the call over Skype right from your browser.
5. I don’t run in the hard-core gamer circles but for those of you with an XBox One, it can now send live gaming to your Windows 10 PC, allowing you to remotely play XBox One games anywhere provided you have your PC with you.
6. For those Command Line power users out there (myself included of course!) the good old DOS prompt has gotten a much-needed face-lift. Text will now wrap, the window is fully adjustable to your screen, & you now have the ability to Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V into & out of the console!
7. No longer limited to Microsoft applications, Windows Notifications are now accessible by 3rd party applications (such as DropBox, Google Drive, etc.) to let you know when events occur.
8. You can pin the recycle bin to the Start Menu & Taskbar & finally delete it off your desktop!
9. File Explorer now opens by default to a new “Home” screen that shows you any files & folders you’ve designated as favorites as well as your most frequently used files & folders.
10. Windows has had the ability to give you multiple “virtual” desktops for quite a while. With Windows 10, you now get two key shortcuts to make switching quicker & easier. Win + Tab brings up an interface showing thumbnails of each of your desktops, allowing you to select one. Ctrl+Win+Right/Left will switch desktops in either direction.
11. File History has been an on-again, off-again feature of Windows but is now standard in Windows 10. Basically it gives you a built-in time machine for accessing previous versions of files (provided you have it turned on).

All in all, I’m definitely looking forward to upgrading from Windows 8.1!

Automating File/Folder Deletion

As promised in my last post, here is a sample batch file for automating deletion of files or folders.

For a tutorial on setting up a task in Windows Task Scheduler – please see the following previous post:

Assuming you have set up your temporary file structure as suggested in my last post, save the following code in a .BAT file and set up an automated task to run it as a program on a scheduled.


REM CD C:\TMP\
RMDIR /S /Q C:\TMP\

REM CD C:\TEMP\
RMDIR /S /Q C:\TEMP\

REM CD "C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys\"
RMDIR /S /Q "C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys\"

REM CD "C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\"
RMDIR /S /Q "C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\"

PAUSE


You will need to update the code with your username in the 4 places that say “USERNAME”.

This code will delete all files in the C:\TEMP & C:\TMP folders as well as cleanup after Macromedia’s Flash Player which I find tends to leave quite a few temporary folders and files behind.

When the code runs, it will pause at the end for you to review its progress until you press any button.

Happy New Years!

Temp Files Cluttering Your Hard Drive? Consolidate!

Note: The following instructions are for Windows PCs and should be pretty consistent for both Windows XP, Windows 7 & Windows 8.

Your computer stores temporary files all over the place. Sometimes it is smart enough to clean up after itself – most of the time it’s not.

If you direct your main temporary directories to point to one location it will make it much easier to manage cleaning up these temporary files.

Anytime I setup a new computer (or help a friend), there are 3 main temporary directories which I re-point.

• C:\Windows\TEMP
• C:\Windows\TMP
• C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files where is your Windows log on username.

Before we begin, navigate to the folders above and delete as much out of them as Windows will allow (if there are any files it gives an error for, select the “Skip” option.

To re-point the following temporary directories:

• C:\Windows\TEMP
• C:\Windows\TMP

1. On the start menu, open the Control Panel



2. In the top right of the window, there is a drop down menu called “View By”. In the drop down, select either Large or Small Icons (depending on your viewing preferences)



3. Select “System” from the list
4. On the left hand side of the window, select “Advanced system settings”



5. The window that opens should default to the “Advanced” tab. Click on the “Environment Variables” button at the bottom of the window



6. There are two sections in the Environment Variables window. The first are variables that are unique to your user profile on your computer. The second are System variables which are global and apply to any profiles that are on your computer.
7. In each section there should be two variables (so 4 in total): TEMP and TMP
8. For each variable, highlight it and click the “Edit” button



9. In the pop up window, you want to type the folder location of where you want the variable to put it’s files. I like to have my TEMP files go into a TEMP directory right under my root (main) directory which is usually your “C” hard drive. So I type in “C:\TEMP”.



10. For TMP Files, I create a second folder called “C:\TMP”.
    The reason I like to keep them separate is that different programs use different folders and it can be easier to track down temporary files (if I need them) if I split up the files.
11. When you are done inputting the new variable values, click the “OK” button.
12. When you have finished re-pointing all 4 of your TEMP & TMP variables to their new location, continue click “OK” buttons until all windows are closed.

Re-pointing the Internet Explorer temporary directory:

C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files where is your Windows logon username.

1. Open Internet Explorer



2. On the menu bar, select “Tools” and then “Internet Options”. Note: If you don’t see the menu bar, hit the “Alt” button on your keypad and you should see the menu bar appear.
3. In the Internet Options window, on the “General” tab, select the “Settings” button in the “Browsing history” section.



There are two things to change here:

4. The size of Internet Explorer’s cache – a browser cache is where a browser stores local copies of web pages and pieces of web pages (such as pictures, videos, etc.) which you view. It cache’s these pieces so that the next time you visit that web site it will load quicker. In general, you will not notice a big difference in performance so long as you have a relatively fast internet connection, regardless of how big you make your cache. Therefore, I usually set my browser caches (this works for any browser, Firefox, Chrome, etc.) to between 10 and 50 mega bytes (MB).
5. The location of the folder where Internet Explorer stores this cache of temporary files.
6. In the “Disk space to use” box, input size of cache – I typically put 10 – I don’t think you need more than 50.



7. Click the “Move folder” button



8. Browse to the location of your new C:\TEMP folder and select it
9. Click “OK”
10. Continue to click “OK” – Windows will inform you that it needs to log you off your profile in order to move the folder. Select “OK” and it will log you off. Log back into your profile and your Temporary Internet Files folder will be moved into your C:\TEMP folder.

So now you have your main culprits of temporary files in one location on your hard drive.

You can either:

• Manually go into these folders on a regular basis (once a week is fine) and delete all files in these folders (note: Windows will not allow you to delete all the files each time – if it gives you an error on a file, just click the “Skip” button)
• Or you can set up a task and script to go and delete these files for you on a regular basis. I have a script that runs once a day to clean out my temporary files.

My next post will detail how to automate a deletion script.

Microsoft Task Scheduler Tips & Tricks

I use Microsoft Task Scheduler for a couple of different jobs and over time I’ve found that different jobs require different “tricks” to get them to work properly. I’m going to try to summarize some of those tips & tricks here for you.

First though, I’m going to quickly sketch out how to create a simple task in Task Scheduler. If you are already comfortable with creating tasks feel free to skip to the Tips & Tricks section below.

As an example task – I will walk you through creating a scheduled pop-up reminder in Task Scheduler.

1. In Windows 7 or Windows 8, press the Windows key to bring up your start menu/page and type “Task Scheduler”
2. Open the program with that name
3. On the right hand side of the window, click the “Create Task” button in the “Actions” list
4. Type a name for your task in the “Name” field
5. In the “Configure for:” drop down menu at the bottom of the screen, choose the operating system that you are using (for some reason on Windows 7, this menu defaults to Vista.)
6. Select the “Triggers” tab along the top of the window
7. Click the “New…” button
8. Select from the various options what type of schedule you would like your task to run on. For this example, I have chosen to begin the task on a schedule, Daily, Repeat task every 30 minutes for a duration of “Indefinitely”
9. Click the “OK” button
10. Select the “Actions” tab along the top of the window
11. Click the “New” button
12. From the “Action” pull down menu, I have selected “Display a message”
13. Title: Reminder!
14. Message: Stand up & stretch!
15. Click the “OK” button
16. Select the “Conditions” tab along the top of the window
17. Depending on the task, I usually deselect the “Stop if the computer switches to battery power” and “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” options.
18. Select the “Settings” tab along the top of the window
19. Select the “Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed”
20. Change the “Stop the task if it runs longer than:” option to 1 hour. This will keep a task from running in the background chewing up processing power if it fails to exit cleanly
21. Click “OK”

You now have a basic reminder set to go off every 30 minutes to help you keep your blood flowing while you read my long tutorials 😉

Tips & Tricks

Okay, now for some more detailed Tips & Tricks.

1. On system start-up – if your task calls a batch job, and keeps failing to execute, you may need to grant your user(s) the “Logon as a batch job” permission
   1. To do so: In the Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, then Local Security Policy (Or simply type “Local Security Policy” in your start menu)
   2. Beneath Security Settings, open Local Policies and highlight User Rights Assignment
   3. Locate Log on as a batch job. Open the properties and add any users that need this permission
   4. When finished, save your changes and close the Local Security Settings window
   5. Your changes should take effect immediately. To make changes to the Domain Security Policy, on a domain controller, use the Domain Security Policy utility in the Control Panel
2. Instead of choosing to start a task when the system starts, choose “At logon” with the check-box for “Any user” checked. Sometimes a program will behave better if you start it at log on instead of at system start-up.
3. If you have a lot of programs that start at system start-up or user log on, you may want to stagger your tasks to start over 30 seconds or a minute after logon to try to give the computer a break between tasks. This can help keep your computer from freezing up, trying to start so many programs at once.
4. Try experimenting with calling batch files on a scheduled basis. You can automate many different chores this way. Examples that I run including automating file backups, automating e-mail backups, reminders to stand & stretch, automatically start programs at logon, deleting temporary file directories on a regular basis, etc.