3D Pinball Space Cadet works on Windows 8

In case you wondered, 3D Pinball for Windows, aka Space Cadet, (which was introduced in Microsoft Plus 95 and part of Windows NT 4 by default) works great on Windows 8.

Link: More info & how to get it

Download Tip: Create Regular Expressions in a snap

I have almost no clue about Regular Expressions, but still I can create even pretty complex RegEx patterns in a snap and therefore can impress collegues with those (almost non-existant) skills.

How do I do that, you will ask?

Well, I use Expresso Regular Expression Tool

It's free (although you have to register after a period to receive your free registration code) and helped me a lot. Highly Recommended!

Control multiple computers with a single keyboard and mouse

What the author says:

“Input Director is a Windows application that lets you control multiple Windows systems using the keyboard/mouse attached to one computer.”

Link: http://www.inputdirector.com/

Converting Virtual PC virtual machines to VMware

The most reliable way to convert your Virtual PC/Virtual Server/Hyper-V virtual machines to VMware is to use the "VMware vCenter Converter" (available free of charge).

ERROR: Your client does not support opening this list with Windows Explorer

When trying to switch to "Explorer View" or open a SharePoint document library in Windows Explorer and receive the following error message:

How to fix

Install: Software Update for Web Folders (KB907306)

More information: KB907306

Undelete Files with the free Undelete Plus

You urgently need a tool to undelete files you accidentally deleted?

I had the situation and was quite happy with Undelete Plus. It's free and you don't need to install it.

IFilter for enabling PDF full-text search on 64-bit Windows Vista

Not Microsoft. Not Adobe. But Foxit.

Read about it: here.

Download it: here.

Increasing the speed of Windows Search indexer by updating to version 4.0

Windows Search 4.0 includes the following improvements:

• Support for indexing encrypted documents of local file systems
• Reduced affect on Microsoft Exchange when you index e-mail in online mode, and there is no local cache (.ost)
• Support for indexing online delegate mailboxes
• Support for client-to-client remote query to shared indexed locations
• Improved indexing performance
• Faster previewer updates for Windows XP
• Per-user Group Policy settings
• Windows software updates for Watson errors
• Support for the following new enterprise Group Policy objects.

[Download]

Sidebar Gadget to monitor and control the Windows Search indexer

Information from the author, Brandon Paddock:

Features

• Monitor the current state of the indexer
• See how many items need to be processed
• View the total count of indexed items
• Stop and start the indexing service
• Open the Indexing Options control panel
• View the installed Windows Search version number
• Multiple backgrounds / color combinations

[Download]

[IFilter] Indexing contents of RAR files

I'm using this RAR IFilter from the IFilterShop.com (free for non-commercial users) and my RAR files are now indexed including the contents.

They also offer interesting IFilters for ASPX, CHM, MSG, MS Project, Mind Manager, and many more other file types.

Note from the readme file:

In Vista Windows Search and Windows Desktop Search you need to configure a custom temporary directory:

1. Open registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\IFilterShop\RarFilter"
2. Add new String value named "TempPath" and enter the full path to the new temporary directory
3. Restart Indexing Service

Synchronize your files and folders with SyncToy for Windows XP and Vista

SyncToy [1] is a free PowerToy for Microsoft Windows XP and Vista that provides an easy to use, highly customizable program that helps users to do the heavy lifting involved with the copying, moving, and synchronization of different directories. Most common operations can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional customization is available without adding complexity. SyncToy can manage multiple sets of directories at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another. Unlike other applications, SyncToy keeps track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized folder.

[1] Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e0fc1154-c975-4814-9649-cce41af06eb7&displaylang=en

[2]  Article: Synchronizing Images and Files in Windows XP Using Microsoft SyncToy

Updated: for SyncToy V1.4 for Windows XP and Vista (based on .NET Framework 2.0)

Pimped by Windows Live Writer

Read about it, downloaded it, added plug-ins from here, here and here, and love it. :-)

Configure the Windows Vista bootloader with ease using EasyBCE

EasyBCD is a must-have tool for Windows Vista to manage the new bootloader:

File replication with ROBOCOPY - Robust File Copy for Windows

Robocopy is a 32-bit command-line tool used for file replication. This tool helps maintain identical copies of a directory structure on a single computer or in separate network locations. Robocopy is included in the Microsoft® Windows® Resource Kit. (Update: Robocopy is already included in Windows Vista and higher.)

 

• Download
• Robocopy FAQ
• Robocopy GUI
• Article: Real-World Scripting: Data Migration with Robocopy, Part 1
• Article: Real-World Scripting: Data Migration with Robocopy, Part 2
• KB 323275: How to Use Robocopy to Copy Security Information Without Copying Any File Data
• Feature Comparison XXCOPY vs ROBOCOPY
• How to synchronize two Windows computers