Windows 7

Dream Desktop – a unique wallpaper manager!

March 21, 2010 0:17 am by Jal

There are lot of wallpaper managing software available on the internet today. Mostly all of them have pretty much similar functionality like maintaining a list of wallpapers and changing them at regular intervals. Today we have featured a slightly different wallpaper managing software – Dream Desktop.

Dream desktop is different in a sense that the wallpapers it uses are located somewhere on the internet. The application lets you browse through their ever growing collection of extremely high quality wallpapers. You can either choose to display all the wallpapers in the collection or your marked favorites at specified time intervals. Apparently you can download the wallpapers too if you wish.

Dream Desktop

Dream Desktop is much sophisticated too. Every aspect of the client software is superbly intuitive and is low on resources. It also gives notifications when new wallpapers are added to their online collections. Apart from that, the upcoming versions will support games too. Download Dream Desktop and experience it. I find the software rather awesome.

Download Dream Desktop / 696KB

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Windows 7: Use new 256 x 256 icons for folders

March 19, 2010 23:41 pm by Jal

Beginner Tip

Today I had a discussion with my friend about a troubleshooting session in which he wanted to change icons of some the folders. He wanted to use the native new Windows 7 icons which he could not find the new icons in its default location. Although he figured out after a while, I thought of sharing this small info.

So if you want to use the new 256×256 Windows 7 icon library, you might not get it in the default shell32.dll. Here’s what you need to do:

» Select the folder. ‘Right click’ on it > ‘Properties’.

» In the properties window, click the ‘Customize’ tab.

» Here, click the ‘Change Icon…’ button.

Change Icon...

» In the window that appears, you will find that the icons here are very old (from Windows 2000 and XP era). You just need to replace the location to C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll (where C: is the Windows installation drive)

Replace ‘shell32.dll’ with ‘imageres.dll’ and you will be able to use new 256 x 256 Windows 7 icons. imageres.dll is the new icon library.

» Select your desired icon and click ‘OK’.

Enjoy new 256 x 256 icons !

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Windows 7: Select multiple items using check-boxes

March 4, 2010 3:15 am by Jal

Windows 7 has been around for a year and by now, I think everyone using it might have gone thoroughly familiarized with it. However, Windows 7 has some hidden perks that very few might have discovered; one of them being able to select multiple items using check-boxes. Like this:

Multiple file selection using check boxes

Unlike the traditional tiring method which involves holding down the Ctrl key while you select multiple folders, this method is very handy. Just keep on clicking on the check-box shown on the top-left corner of the folders while you have a drink with your other hand.

How to use check-boxes to select items:

» In Windows Explorer, click ‘Organize’ > ‘Folder and search options’.

Folder options

» In the window that appears, go to ‘View’ tab and select ‘Use check boxes to select items’ and click OK.

Use check boxes to select multiple items

That’s it! Now you can select files using check boxes!

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How to: Disable file delete confirmation dialog in Windows

March 1, 2010 2:22 am by Jal

Beginner Quick-tip

Confirmation dialog boxes in Windows are like the best thing after sliced bread just because they give you a ‘second chance’. However, if you are smart enough and consider yourself as the ‘one who can do no wrong’, you might want to turn off confirmation dialog boxes that appear when you delete a file/folder. So here’s how you can save an extra click.

1) Right click on ‘Recycle Bin’ and select ‘Properties’.

2) In the window that appears, un-check ‘Display delete confirmation dialog’.

Disable file delete confirmation dialog

That’s it. No more annoying confirmation dialog boxes. Now you can go on a deleting spree. ;)

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Windows 7: Make your own Start Orb with Start Orb Creator

February 23, 2010 16:09 pm by Jal

Everyone loves customizability and that is why at TechExplorer we regularly include posts related to desktop customization. Today we’ll feature a small application called the ‘Start Orb Creator’ developed by a deviantArt user Blizo.

Start Orb Creator lets you use a custom image as your Start button image. The application is very intuitive and self explanatory. Just choose your image and set effects like outer glow and shadow for ‘hover’ and ‘pressed’ states.

Start Orb Creator

Download Start Orb Creator / 1.2 MB

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Glow Air theme for Windows 7

January 26, 2010 17:01 pm by Jal

Didn’t I tell you that the guys at deviantArt are crazy geniuses? Well, some of them are Winboys too. A deviantArt user kAtz93 made a superb Windows 7 theme called ‘Glow Air’ that caught my attention. Yes, it is a full fledge theme and not a themepack.

Glow Air is for those who seek slick¹ and edgy themes with some extra glare. Glow Air turns windows sharp edged and with extra faded and translucent borders. It flaunts a cool new ‘Start’ button too!

Glow Air theme for Windows 7

How to install Glow Air theme on Windows 7?

Installation of Glow Air is a bit tricky. Follow these steps:

1) Download Glow Air theme by clicking the link given below.

2) Extract the RAR file to a folder, let’s name it ‘GA’.

3) Now go to ‘GA’ > ‘uxtheme patch’. Here run the UXThemePatcher.exe. [There are two such files. One for Windows 7 x64 and the other for Windows 7 x86. So use it according to your Windows 7 architecture]. This will enable third party themes to be installed on your computer.

3) Now again go to ‘GA’ > ‘Theme’ folder and you will find a ‘Glow Air’ folder and Glow Air.theme file. Copy these two and paste them in ‘C:/Windows/Resources/Themes’.

4) Now go to ‘C:/Windows’. Here, you need to take ownership of ‘explorer.exe’ file. [Don’t know how to take ownership? Read this small tutorial]

5) Once you have taken the ownership of ‘explorer.exe’, rename it to ‘explorer.exe.old’ [This will be your back-up].

6) Now proceed further according to your Windows 7 architecture.

For Windows 7 – x86 (32 bit) users

Go to ‘C:/Windows/System32’, take ownership of ‘Explorerframe.dll’ and rename it to ‘Explorerframe.dll.old’.
Now in ‘GA’ folder, go to ‘System files’ > ‘Explorerframe (x86 Only)’ folder, copy the ‘Explorerframe.dll file and paste it in ‘C:/Windows/System32’.
Again, in ‘GA’ folder, go to ‘System files’ > ‘x86 (32-bit)’ folder, copy the ‘explorer.exe’ file and paste it in ‘C:/Windows/’.

For Windows 7 – x64 (64 bit) users

In ‘GA’ folder, go to ‘System files’ > ‘x64 (64-bit)’ folder, copy the ‘explorer.exe’ file and paste it in ‘C:/Windows/’.

7) Finally, go to ‘C:/Windows/Resources/Themes’ and double-click ‘Glow Air.theme’ to apply the theme.

If at all you find the Start button not properly displayed, restart your PC and hopefully everything will be fine.

Phew! Enjoy!

Download Glow Air theme for Windows 7 / 14 MB

¹ I am much into Alliteration these days.

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Desktop Currency Converter: ‘Coz you don’t know when you’ll need it!

January 24, 2010 9:27 am by Jal

I wish to keep this short and sweet. So, without an intro paragraph (which you don’t read anyway ;) ), here goes.

Desktop Currency Converter is well, a currency converter (duh!) with some decent features. It is a small widget-like app that stays on your desktop and converts the amount inputted in one currency to the other. It fetches Forexview’s currency conversion data.

Desktop Currency Converter