Easy Screenshots For Windows Mobile
Good news! I’ll never subject you to screenshots like the kind that were in yesterday’s post again. That just didn’t work out so well, did it? Sorry about that.
Today I happened upon an older Pocket PC Power Toy that I used to use frequently but had completely forgotten about: Remote Display Control. I can’t believe I’d forgotten about this little gem.
This is a simple little client server application: start the server portion up on your Windows Mobile/Pocket PC device, then fire up the client portion (the viewer) on your desktop and you can see and control your device from the desktop.
Of course, that means easy screenshots too.
To da!
Cool huh? Check that copyright date… Normally I’d probably edit a shot like that to crop out the upper control bar (the grey menu), but that picture shows you exactly how this looks on my computer.
Click with the mouse to tap. Type with the keyboard as normal and F1 and F2 simulate the first two hardware buttons.
Speaking of keyboard, this is also really handy if there’s a lot of typing to be done. Sure, I find my Mogul’s slide out keyboard very easy to use, but if I have a lot to type, a regular keyboard is much preferred.
Downsides? Well, I won’t be showing any screen shots in landscape mode. Ye olde cerdisp predates such things. That’s about it though…
Pownce Client Go Boom!
Here’s an interesting way to crash the Pownce Windows client that I thought I’d share.
First, you’ll need the XP Powertoy Alt-tab Replacement.
With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open.
Next, you’ll need your Pownce client installed and running. The client is built with Adobe’s AIR and is an easy way to follow your “Pownces.” (if only you could use it to create them too!). I don’t know if this happens with all AIR clients, or just this one as Pownce is the first one I’ve ever used.
Now, just alt-tab until you hit the Pownce app. *boom*
I should probably send this to the Pownce bug email, but since they don’t seem to respond to those (I’ve sent in a few) I may just assume it’s specific to me.
Know what’s sad? I blew up the Pownce client 3 times this morning before I realized I was causing it with alt-tab!
Three Options for Virtual Desktops on Windows
Sometimes, one desktop just isn’t enough. When adding more monitors isn’t an option, look at virtual desktops instead. Working on multiple projects or tasks at once? Tossing each in its own virtual desktop to help reduce clutter and logically group apps/windows together can help keep you productive.
Here are three for the Windows users that people might find interesting. I should note, in the windows world, I’m still running XP. I’ve no clue how these stand-up in the Vista world.
VirtuaWin
I’ve been running this one on my laptop for the past week. At first, I absolutely hated it, but after getting used to it I’ve grown to like it.
The key, for me, was getting used to its window list and what can be done from it.
(click for a clearer picture)
See, at first I was annoyed that I couldn’t drag a window or application from one virtual desktop to another. Turns out, that’s what the “Assign” section there is used for.
The fact that it takes about 5MB of memory is nice — and you can have up to 9 virtual desktops. A nice feature is that moving the mouse to the edge of the screen will transition you to the neighboring virtual desktop.
Virtual Desktop Manager
Here’s a classic that I’ve used on quite a few machines over the years. It is part of the Microsoft Power Toys collection, which is another way of saying, “neat, free and totally unsupported.”
The ability to have a different background in each virtual desktop is a feature that I find useful.
Tip: Don’t set the backgrounds via the display control panel. Instead, you’ll need to do it via the virtual desktop manager toolbar menu (Configure Desktop Images).
With this VDM, you can have have any number of desktops that you’d like, as long as you’d like 4. You’ll get a new toolbar to add to your taskbar with a button for each. There’s also a button that will give you a tiled preview of all 4 sessions — handy if you’re looking for an app.
I haven’t a clue as to the memory footprint of this one as it’s a bit more than “just” an application to find in the task list. The ability to set distinctive backgrounds and tile desktops makes this a favorite of mine.
Virtual Dimension
Finally, I’ll mention one that I haven’t used — yet. A co-worker swears by it, so it’s something I intend to try soon. In fact, after glancing at the features, it almost appears to be a combination of the other two I’ve used.
Unlimited desktops, there’s a preview and desktops can have custom wallpaper.
Anyone have thoughts to share on this one? I notice the last version was July of ’03, but hey… if it’s as complete as it looks, I guess that shouldn’t scare me off, true? There’s that beta from May of 2006 on the downloads page as well.
How about other options? I see tons more listed for Windows at the wikipedia virtual desktops page.
Remember PowerToys?
Every 6 months or so, I “re-discover” the Windows XP PowerToys all over again. There’s some great stuff here if you’re still running XP (as I am).
Of them all, there’s really only one that I consider essential: That’s the ClearType tuner. On my LCD displays (laptop and desktop) I find it indespensible:
This PowerToy lets you use ClearType technology to make it easier to read text on your screen, and installs in the Control Panel for easy access.
SyncToy is another one that I used to use a lot. I don’t use it nearly as much, but it can still be very helpful to have around (previous mentions of SyncToy). Definitely more approachable than xcopy or robocopy. Learn a lot more about SyncToy at this MS Digital Photography page.
Check out Virtual Desktop Manager and Alt-Tab Replacement if you’re looking for some visual flash. Check out Tweak UI if you want control over an immense amount of “hidden” settings. Powerful and maybe just a bit overwhelming.
More good stuff there too. Anyone have favorites?
StExBar – Cool Windows Utility
I found a nice little windows utility the other day, courtesy of Larkware News. It has the world’s worst name but works so well that I think that can be excused. (but seriously, ask a co-worker, “Did you grab StExBar yet?” and marvel at the looks you get…)
The utility is called StExBar and has the tagline of “What Microsoft forgot to implement in explorer.” And you know what? That pretty much nails it.
Install it and you get a new toolbar in your Windows Explorer windows. Nothing startling new under the sun here — I think I’ve seen most of what it does in various PowerToys or other utilities. But this brings them all together and saves us from yet more right-clicking and waiting. For that alone it so very useful. What does it offer?
- Open console window in current directory (one click, no waiting)
- Create Directory. Now sure, you can always right-click, wait for the list to build and then click “New Directory.” But dang, this is so much faster.
- Copy selected files or folders to clipboard
- Copy full path of selected file to clipboard
- Bulk rename — with Regular Expression support!
- Customizable, add your own stuff
- For instance, following the example, I have a little Notepad++ launcher that will open the selected file.
I installed it on my work machine yesterday and have already become very accustomed to having it around. Keeper!
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