Microsoft has always allowed applications to shut down or restart Windows programmatically. Installers of various desktop apps, or the apps themselves as well as various Windows components such as Windows Update can automatically shut down or restart your PC on demand or on a schedule. If you do not like this behavior, thankfully, Windows has a way to avoid it. Using a simple, third party tool called ShutdownGuard, we can stop automatic shutdown, restart, and logoff without affecting manual ways to do it.
Author: Gaurav Kale
Gaurav is a software enthusiast from India and Classic Shell tester & UX consultant. He started with Windows 95 and is good at software usability testing. He firmly believes that user experience is just as important as software code quality and architecture for software to be successful.
How to change the default Shut down power action in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8
Windows 8 made it more cumbersome for PC users to shut down the PC by increasing the number of clicks it takes using the mouse and keyboard. There are actually a dozen ways to shut down so you can use any method you like. One of them is the classic Shutdown dialog which appears when you press Alt+F4 on the Desktop. It is a good way to shut down as it can do a hybrid shut down and it doesn't show the Metro UI. However the default action in that dialog is no longer changeable from the Taskbar Properties in Windows 8 because of Start Menu settings going away. Let us see how we can change this action.
Sync files in Windows Briefcase without any errors
Windows Briefcase remains an easy way to sync files locally between your PC hard drive or SSD drive and removable storage such as USB flash drive or microSD/MMC storage. It can also be used to manually sync a folder on the network. Even though it was removed in Windows 8, it can be restored using a registry tweak. Briefcase doesn't offer sophisticated sync options like advanced tools have such as Microsoft's SyncToy etc, nor does it have any integration with online storage services. But for the basic task of keeping two folders in sync, it's still a handy tool. Unfortunately, Windows Vista broke some Briefcase functionality. Luckily, Briefcase can be used without errors if you follow this trick.
How to check if a process is running as administrator (elevated) in Windows
Ever since Windows Vista introduced User Account Control, there has been a need to occasionally run some programs as administrator for doing some functions. If the UAC setting is set to the highest level in Windows, then you get a UAC prompt when you open an app as administrator. But when the UAC setting is at a lower level, signed Windows EXEs are elevated silently. Also, there are some scheduled tasks which run as administrator and you can even create your own shortcuts that run elevated but you don't get the UAC prompt for them. In this article, we will see how we can determine if a process is running as administrator.
Show numbers on taskbar buttons with 7+ Taskbar Numberer
Previously, we wrote about how you can use 7+ Taskbar Tweaker to improve your Taskbar usability and bring back many classic options. The developer of 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, has another tool called 7+ Taskbar Numberer. It shows numbers on your taskbar buttons so operating the taskbar using the keyboard becomes easier.
How to create PDF files natively or turn off print preview in Google Chrome
Did you know that Google Chrome not only can render PDFs natively but also has a built-in feature to create PDF files? You can convert any web page to PDF in Chrome without even having to install any software PDF printer driver. This functionality does not even require any extensions for the browser. Any web page, image or text file can be printed to PDF. Let us see how.
How to disable Metro edge swipes and touch charms bar gestures for trackpads (touchpads) in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8
One of the most annoying features of Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 are the touch gestures for indirect touch devices such as trackpads (touchpads). These gestures invoke various aspects of the Modern UI such as Charms, App Switcher, App bar etc. On the Desktop, these gestures aren't of much use and they often get triggered accidentally when you use your touchpad. Even if you disabled on-screen mouse pointer gestures for the Modern UI, which are triggered from hot corners, these annoying gestures remain enabled and popup at the most inopportune times. Let us see how to disable them.
Aero Glass for Windows 8.1 released, download links inside
If you were a fan of the Aero visual style on Windows 7 and Vista with transparencies, blur, glow and other fancy effects, you would surely have missed it on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Many people were disappointed that the sleek, transparent glassy look of Windows 7 with rounded corners, glossy buttons and blur was gone in Windows 8 and replaced with flat, opaque colors without even as much as a gradient to make things look nicer. Well, you can have it back on Windows 8.1 and Windows 8. Here's how.
Customize the taskbar date and time formats in Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows 7
One of our readers wanted to know what is a good clock replacement for the default Taskbar clock in Windows because he didn't like the format in which Windows shows the time and date. While many power users would want to replace the system tray clock on the Taskbar with a more powerful one for extra features, the format of the built-in clock in modern versions of Windows is customizable. In this article we will see how we can change the format.
Reduce extra space between icons on the taskbar and tray notification area
Ever since Windows 7 got released, the Windows desktop has had a redesigned Taskbar which is also designed for multi-touch. The icons are larger on the Taskbar so they're easier to access using touch and they are spaced wider apart. The notification area icons (the small ones in the system tray) are also spaced much farther apart than they were in previous versions of Windows. While this definitely makes them easier to access, they do waste a lot of space. Let us see how we can reduce the space between the icons on the taskbar as well as the icons in the notification area.
