Scaling Remote Desktop To Specific Resolution (aka still show your taskbar)

May 27, 2011 by Paul Spoerry 3 Comments

There’s no denying that Remote Desktop is one of the greatest features of Windows. It’s incredibly handy and it’s speed and performance beats VNC and many other remote control solutions in speed and picture quality.

One gripe I have had with Remote Desktop is that I want to be able to connect to my desktop machine (my work laptop) at a resolution which would allow it to be a full size window but NOT full screen. In other words, I want it full screen but still showing MY taskbar. It turns out scaling the window to fit without scrollbars isn’t that difficult; you just can’t do it from the GUI.

Here’s how to pull this off:

Configure your remote connection from the GUI as usual.
In “Local Resources, make sure that “Apply Windows key combinations” is set to “On the remote computer”.
Save the connections settings to a file. Call it for example “MyLaptopRDP.rdp”.
Open Notepad and edit the file you just created. Here’s a shortened version of what you’ll see:

screen mode id:i:1
desktopwidth:i:1280
desktopheight:i:800
session bpp:i:16
winposstr:s:0,3,0,0,800,600
compression:i:1
keyboardhook:i:1

Add a new line with this text: “smart sizing:i:1?
Change the desktop width and height to what you want (for example I set mine to the laptops 1600×900).
Save and quit Notepad. Double click on MyLaptopRDP.rdp (this part is important… you have to use the NEW RDP connection file to launch to get this to work) and now you’ll have an RDP session that fits on your screen but still shows you default machines taskbar. Super sweet!

Enhance Productivity on Windows with Free Extensions For Windows

April 28, 2009 by Paul Spoerry Leave a Comment

Searching through several menus to find commonly used applications and utilities can be quite annoying. Today we will look at a program that adds extra functionality for faster computing and increased productivity.

Extensoft helps you avoid the annoyances by offering an unofficial Windows upgrade. Extensions for Windows includes Enhanced Windows Explorer, Desktop Recorder, Keyboard Shortcut Manager, and Disk Analyzer utilities just to name a few. This is a handy package of very useful, easy to access upgrades that can increase your productivity. Lets look at some of the extensions and some of their stand-alone utilities which are available for free.

After installing the Extension For Windows package you decide which components you want to include and update them.

Much like the way Shell Menu Tools works, Extensions also integrates into Explorer so we can easily access their functions from context menus.

In this example we are easily able to access the Disk Analyzer utility to find what is taking up hard drive space. This extension is also available as a free stand alone utility.

Another very cool feature to point out is the Explorer Extension which really enhances the Windows Explorer experience and allows for configuration for easier navigation.

We can easily go in and change various options for each extension from the Extension pack interface. You can also tweak options while individual utilities are running.

Conclusion

Extensions For Windows is definitely a nice addition for the Windows power user who would like most of the features available easily rather than spending time downloading separate applications for each feature. Extensoft offers a free 90 day trial for their package which contains 12 extensions and is only $19.95 after that. They also offer these free stand alone utilities.

Logo

Download Extensions For Windows Work On Vista & XP (32 & 64 bit)

Source: How-To Geek

Stardock Fences – Organize your desktop

February 5, 2009 by Paul Spoerry Leave a Comment

Fences Display I’ve been searching for something like this forever; the awesome desktop customization company Stardock finally came up with it. Many people want a “clean” desktop. Not me… I keep all my “current” stuff in view… I don’t care so much about looking at a pretty wallpaper (though Fences will help with that if you want it to). My PC is there to do work and my desktop has my current workload.

Fences lets you organize your desktop into icon groups and then you can hide your icons when they’re not in use. A “Fence”, a term coined by this program, is an icon group on your desktop. This doesn’t replace your current desktop, it just augments it and allows for better organization of your existing desktop.

In short, Fences allows you to draw labeled shaded areas on your desktop, which become movable & resizable containers for your desktop icons. You can then use these groups to organize your computer’s desktop. Messy desktop’s say goodbye!

Basic Features

Rope off your desktop
Fences allows you to create shaded areas on your desktop that you can place icons in. You can label them however you wish, and move/resize them anywhere on the desktop. Pre-included layouts help speed the process for new users.

See your wallpaper again! Quickly hide & show all your icons with an easy double-click
Double click blank space on your desktop, and all your icons will fade out. Double click again, and they’ll return. We think this feature is so useful, we’re applying for a patent on it. And with the upcoming Fences FeaturePack / included in the community preview, you can even pick icons and individual Fences to exclude.

SmartFences, snapshots, skinning, automatic scaling (for screen size changes), and more

Fences is a great tool to have – and with Fences Pro FeaturePack, it’s even better. The Fences FeaturePack is not yet available, but sign up here to be notified when it is.

System Requirements

Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
On Vista and Windows 7, both 32bit and 64bit versions are supported.
Fences is free (at least while it’s in beta) and you can grab a copy from Stardock here.

QTTabBar – Tabbed Browsing in Windows Explorer

January 29, 2009 by Paul Spoerry Leave a Comment

QTTabBar is an add-in that gives a Tab Browsing Feature to Windows Explorer. The page is pretty sparse so there’s not a lot of information directly available. However, the forums on the site show there is a bit of activity going on this project. Essentially, QTTabBar gives you tab features like in your browser. Cool idea, wonder why this isn’t baked right into the OS as it is? I know I hate having a bunch of Windows Explorer windows open!

QTTabBar requires Windows Vista or Windows XP + .Net Framework 2.0 or later ( Tested on 32bit ). You can download QTTabBar, plugins, and themes all from the main site: http://qttabbar.wikidot.com

DExposE2 – Windows clone of Mac Expose

December 16, 2008 by Paul Spoerry Leave a Comment

Mac users love Expose. DExposE2 is a clone of Mac OS X’s Expose feature for Windows XP and Vista. Aside from the basic Expose featuresDExpose2 features a handful of extra features like interactive previews, hot corners, multi-monitor support, and more. You can get DExposE2 as both a portable and installable application. Hit the portable install if you want to check it out without installing anything or if you’re sure you’ll use it hit up the full blown application.

DExposE2 can be downloaded at Devrexster.

You can also check out this video to see it in action: