Win7Tip: Set Default DNS Search Domains

Problem: You need to set up Windows to use default Internet search domains for your company. This way you can just enter host names. For example, http://hr instead of http://hr.mycompany.com.



Solution: You can add default search domains pretty easily. The only thing that is hard is to find the actual dialog box to enter the information. :) To get to the dialog do the following.

1. Click on Start -> Control Panel -> View Network Status and Tasks.


2. Then on the upper left side of the screen click Change Adapter Settings.


3. Right click the network adapter you are using. Choose Properties.


4. Select one of the Internet Protocol drivers (either will work). Click Properties.


5. In the Protocol Dialog, click the Advanced button.


6. Click the DNS tab.


7. Halfway down the page you will see a box labeled "Append these DNS Suffixes". Enter your company domains here. For example:



region.mycompany.com

mycompany.com





That is it. Simple. :)

Win7Tip: Change File Time Stamps with Cygwin and Touch

Problem: I need to change the time stamp of Windows files, but I don't what to buy or install some silly shareware application.



Solution: Install Cygwin and use the Unix touch utility to modify the timestamp.

1. Start Cygwin.


2. Change to your C: drive: cd /cygdrive/c


3. Navigate to your file.


4. Use the touch command.


5. For example, set the date to Jan 6, 2010 at 4:20pm:
   
   touch -d '6 Jan 2010 16:20' myfile.txt

That's all there is too it.

Win7Tip: Java Plugin not Installed after Installing Java 6 64 bit on Windows 7

It is a bit of a long title but here is the problem.



Problem: Java JDK/JRE 6 is installed on my Windows 7 system, but the Java Plugin is not installed in any of my browsers. What gives?



Solution: My guess is, the installed browsers (Firefox, Chrome, IE, Seamonkey, Safari) are all 32 bit versions. So the 64 bit Java installer does not update them.



To solve the problem, just install the 32 bit version of Java 6. This installs the plugin for all the browsers. You end up with Java in the following locations:



32 bit: c:\Program Files\Java

64 bit: c:\Program Fiels (x86)\Java



Just put the Java of your choice in your path and you should be good to go.

Win7Tip: Hover don't Click

You must unlearn what you have learned. Yoda - The Empire Strikes back





Having worked with Windows 7 for a few weeks now, when working with the taskbar, hover don't click. What I mean by this is with XP, taskbar interactions require a lot of clicks. If you want to minimize an application, click its name on the task bar. If you want to give the application the focus you click it.

Well doing that in Windows 7, always seems to result in two clicks. One to select the application you want, and once to select the Window. But this is not what you want to do. Instead, try hovering over an application on the task bar. The open windows for that application will automatically pop up. If you hover over once of the mini preview windows as shown above, then Windows 7 hides the other open windows and highlights the window being hovered over. Once you know which window you want, then you click it.



Its a completely different mindset, but once you get used to it, hovering will become your friend.

Win7Tip: No Command Prompt Text Editor in Windows 7

One of the utilities I have used a lot since the days of MS-DOS is the edit command line editor. It is like vi for Unix, its the editor that is always there on any system.



Well with Windows 7 64 bit, its gone. After Googling around for it and such, I finally ran across a definitive statement on the subject. In Windows 7 64 bit, a number of DOS utilities have been discontinued and Microsoft has created a list here.



So this begs the question, is there something I can use as a command line editor? Well so far, the only thing I can find is a 64 bit version of VI Improved (VIM). I have not had a chance to try it out yet, but it looks promising. And of course, if you are not a Unix person, this editor is not for the faint of heart. :)  But it looks like the best option available at the current time.



Update: There is a Windows version of the Nano editor. It is quite a bit easier to use than VI. Get Nano for Windows here.

Win7Tip: Must have Free and Open Source for Windows 7

Since I am setting up a new Windows 7 machine. I though it might be a good idea to cover some of the standard applications I like to install. Most of them are free and open source.



Browsers

I like to run multiple browsers. Firefox as a development and default browser. Chrome or Safari for web surfing, and SeaMonkey for those multiple profile sort of situations.



Chrome  Firefox  Safari  SeaMonkey





Development

Cygwin - Want a Bash shell on Windows? Want some of your favorite Unix utilities?  Then Cygwin is for you.

Java - Must have the JDK.

Notepad++ - It is always a good idea to have a good native programming text editor around. For those times when you need a quick tweak or just want to view something. For Windows, Notepad++ is the best option out there.

NetBeans - A great Java open source IDE.

SQLite - File based SQL database.

Subversion - Windows 7 64 bit command line version.





Internet

Filezilla - A secure FTP client for Windows. When transferring files with a Unix system, FTP or SFTP is still your best choice.

Pidgin - Best open source chat client for Windows.

Putty - Windows SSH and Telnet client

Thunderbird - Mozilla's awesome e-mail client.





Office

Open Office - Open source office suite.

Paint.net - Open source graphics program

SVG Anti-Virus - Great free or paid anti-virus you can buy and install online.

Win7Tip: Create Unix ls and ls -l replacements

Q: Is there an equivalent the Unix directory commands ls and ls -l on Windows 7?

A: Yes there is, the dir command.

ls is equivalent to dir /w

ls -l is equivalent to dir



My brain is so hardwired for the bash shell now, that I make batch file equivalents for these programs. I create the following programs in the c:\Windows directory. To create files in this directory under Windows 7, you need to run as Administrator



ls.bat

@dir /w %1 %2 %3 %4 %5



The 5 numbers allow you to add parameters to the command for example ls c:\directory.



For a long list I use the common alias of ll.

ll.bat

@dir %1 %2 %3 %4 %5

Win7Tip: Turn Off Auto Logoff and Logon

Q: After 15 minutes of inactivity, my Windows 7 laptop logs me off the machine. My screen saver settings do not require a password. How and where do I turn this off?



A: This "feature" is not part of your screen saver settings. As you might guess, it is part of your energy settings.

1. Navigate to your screen saver settings.



1. Right click on the desktop.


2. Select Personalize from the popup menu.


3. Click on the Screen Saver Icon in the lower right corner of the screen.




2. Click on the Change Power Settings link.


3. This should bring a list of power plans for your machine.


4. Click on the Change Plan Settings option for the currently selected power plan.


5. The Edit Power Plan settings dialog is displayed. You can set all sort of power related options here. (But we must dig deeper. )


6. Click on the Change Advanced Power Setings option.


7. This brings up the Advanced Power Options dialog. At the top of the dialog, you should see a Require Password on Wakeup Option. This is the setting that is logging you off your machine. But the options are grayed.


8. To change the Wakup setting, click on the Change Settings That Are Currently  Unavailable link.


9. Clicking on the link enables you to change your wake up options.


10. Change the wakeup options from Yes to No.

That's it. Your machine should no longer automatically log you off your computer.

Win7Tip: Configure the Screen Saver in Windows 7

Q: Where do I configure the Screen Saver in Windows 7?



Answer:

1. Right click the desktop.


2. Choose Personalize at the bottom of the menu.


3. Click on the Screen Saver Icon in the lower right hand corner of the dialog.

At this point the dialog is pretty much the same as it was before in XP.

Win7Tip: Set the Path in Windows 7

Q: How do you set the path in Windows 7?



A: From the user interface, do the following



Click Start -> Computer -> System Properties -> Advanced System Properties -> Environment Variables -> Select Path under System Variables.



The computer option can be found on the right side of the Start menu. The System Properties option is on the main menu of the Computer dialog.



It seems to work pretty much like it did in XP. It is just a little harder to find.