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Get thumbnails for all possible image and video formats in Explorer folders

Windows supports viewing commonly used picture and video formats as thumbnails in Explorer folders. But for less common formats, it does not generate thumbnails. Also, in modern versions of Windows, the programming interface for generating thumbnails has changed compared to older versions such as Windows XP, so the old shell extensions to show thumbnails no longer work. Let's look at some modern ones that do work and generate thumbnails for all possible formats you might need.

Two Firefox extensions to tweak the Find Bar, enable Highlight All, number of matches and other tweaks

In any browser, the Find bar which appears by pressing Ctrl+F is very useful to quickly locate any word or phase on the page without manually searching for it. Mozilla Firefox's Find Bar has been severely lacking in some key functions, especially in more recent versions of Firefox. Let's look at two extensions which add essential functionality to the Find Bar.

How to bring sidebar gadgets to the top of other windows

Gadgets are a very useful feature of Windows. If you use Gadgets in Windows 7 and in Windows 8/8.1 using this installer, you may be minimizing your open apps by clicking the Show Desktop button or Win+D/Win+M hotkeys to see the gadgets. There is actually a keyboard shortcut in Windows to bring Gadgets to the top of other windows.

Get Windows 8.1-like Lock screen Slideshow feature for Windows 8, Windows 7 and XP

Windows 8 introduced a lock screen, separate from the logon screen and Windows 8.1 further improved it by adding a slideshow feature to the Lockscreen. If you are running Windows 7 however, you can still get a similar experience by downloading a simple app.

Tweak the taskbar in Windows 8, 8.1 and Windows 7 with hidden secret registry settings

As you might be aware, Windows 7 introduced a redesigned taskbar which abandoned much loved classic features but introduced some really nice improvements like large icons, jump lists, draggable buttons etc. The taskbar does not have many configurable settings exposed in the GUI to tweak its behavior but there are some hidden secret registry settings which you can fine-tune.

Easier way to set, copy and manage NTFS permissions (ACLs) on files and folders in Windows

Managing Windows NTFS permissions (also know as Access Control Lists) has always been difficult for users because of the complex UI dialogs and concepts involved. Copying permissions is even harder because when you normally copy files from Explorer, permissions are not retained. You have to use command line tools like icacls to manage permissions. In this article, we will look at a free third party app called NTFS Permissions Tools that makes setting permissions extremely easy.

How to switch users fast in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8

Although the concept of multiple users sharing one device or one PC is getting rarer by the day, there are still cases when you have to share PCs and switch users fast. In earlier versions of Windows before Windows 8, we had a Switch Users command in the Shutdown menu inside the Start Menu to quickly switch users. But in Windows 8, the Start menu got removed and so the Switch Users command disappeared. Let us see how we can switch users faster in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

Access Firefox extension/addon options from a menu

We always say that the best feature of Firefox is the unrivaled customization the browser offers. Even if you don't like the UI and default look of Firefox, addons, themes and personas can change it. Accessing extension options in Firefox is cumbersome today. Firefox opens a separate addons page in a new tab to manage them. It takes several clicks to access extension options and then you have to close the Add-ons page every time. This is where an extension called 'Extension Options Menu' helps.

How to add anything you want to Control Panel

In Windows, you can add any item you want to the Control Panel's icon-based views such as Large Icons or Small icons, as well as Category view. For icon-based views, it requires only some registry tweaking, whereas for adding to Category view, you require an XML file. Let us see how you can add anything you want to Control Panel's icon views.

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