F1 help in Windows [XP] Explorer

Have you ever accidentally hit the F1 key in Explorer when you meant F2 (or 1, or Esc)? Normally missing a key isn’t a big deal, but in this case F1 triggers the Windows help center. Help may be valuable sometimes (I wouldn’t know, I’ve never used it), but for me, the accidental keypress costs […]

Creating a new folder in Windows XP, using the keyboard

Since Windows 98, I have been searching for a simple keystroke to create a new folder in Windows Explorer. Sounds stupid, I know. But not being able to do this is an annoyance and a time waster. Every few months I get fed up and search the internet, and don’t find anything (except other people […]

Make Python Scripts Droppable in Windows

I’m writing an FTP uploader in python, and I want to be able to drop a folder on my script to make it go, using the dropped folder as the argument. Unfortunately, Windows doesn’t recognize .py files as drop targets†.

Change the number of icons displayed in Alt-Tab

I recently stumbled on a simple registry change that alters the display the Alt Tab window. You can edit the number of rows and columns of icons that are displayed when you Alt-Tab. For people like me, with a wide-screen monitor and dozens of windows open, this is a must. The default values of 7 […]

Keyboard Mappings in Windows XP

Today I was doing a little searching and happened on the “Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools” download from Microsoft. Inside this download is a fantastic tool called “remapkey.exe” that gives you a straight forward drag and drop UI for remapping the keys on your keyboard. I often plug in Mac keyboards to my PC […]