CoNetrix

Blog: Windows 7

I needed to make an audio recording using my laptop.   Previously I had good success using an USB Plantronics headset which has a microphone (DSP 400).

This was my first recording with my new laptop (ThinkPad T410, Windows7).   The T410 uses the Conexant 2085 SmartAudio HD sound adapter.

I downloaded the open source software “Audacity.”  It is great software with many advanced features I have never tapped.  It is simple enough I can use the basics and be up and running as soon as it is installed.

When I plugged in the Plantronics headset, it was recognized right away, but there were a couple of problems to address before being able to record.  [more]

First the internal microphone on the laptop was not deactivated when the headset was plugged in.  This meant extra noise and sounds were being captured. 

I looked through the sound control panel “Recording” tab and could not find any means to the mute the microphone.  (A co-worker later showed me the control panel microphone mute button.  It has the same icon as the speaker mute button, so I overlooked it.)  What I did discover was the volume slider did not appear to effect the internal microphone as the recording level meter continued to register sounds even when the slider was all the way down.  For my first recording I resorted to disabling the internal microphone in order to limit recording to the headset microphone.

Second, when I did a test recording with Audacity, there as a stream of white noise which was as loud as my voice.  Back in the Sound control panel I remembered seeing some Windows settings to automatically adjust sound volumes when the PC is used to place or receive phone calls (Skype-like calls I assume).  I went to the Communications tab in the Sound control panel.  By default the setting was set to “Reduce the volume of other sounds by 80%.”  I changed the setting to “Do Nothing.”  I made another test recording and the white noise was gone.

After I completed the recording project, I attempted to enable the internal microphone.  It was gone from the Sound control panel.  With the headset unplugged there were no recording devices listed. 

The only way I could get the internal microphone to reappear was to uninstall Conexant in the device manager and restart the laptop.  When the laptop restarted it reinstalled the Conexant adapter and the internal microphone was available again in the Sound control panel under Recording.

Preparing to write this post, I was able to take the time to look further for a way to mute the internal microphone.  And, the Gotcha took on new dimensions.  There is a “Mute Microphone” button at the top of the keyboard.  My old laptop didn’t have this button and so I never thought about having a dedicated mute button.  No need to disable and ultimately reinstall, just press the button.

UPDATE:  People have commented that the mute microphone button did not fix the problem for them, but turning off the microphone boost did.

General, ThinkPad, Audacity, Windows 7, Plantronics,
 

In a prior post I outlined a method to set the time zone from the command line using a control panel applet.  I needed to do this to fix a problem with the Mac RDP client which doesn't work correctly with time zone redirection.  Using the control panel applet works great on XP and 2003 Server, but only launches the Date and Time applet on 2008 and Windows 7.  After a little bit of research, I found a utility called tzutil that's included with Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7.  This is the same utility Microsoft used to change time zones during the last daylight savings time calendar change. [more]

Syntax:   tzutil /s "Central Standard Time"

Networking, RDP, Windows 7, Mac, Windows 2008 Server,
 

Back in 1982 Digital Research released DR PalmDOS which ran on Palm personal digital assistants.  When you used a PCMCIA card for storage, instead of adding a drive letter, it added a drive number - 0:, 1:, 2:. Today, even with Windows 7, non-alphabetic characters can be used, including  $ [ ] ` { } etc.  But some characters are just too special and cannot be used: % & ^ = | \ " ; , /..

The subst command is the only way I could find for using these, though.  This could be handy for a system where you are connecting removable media and you would have trouble knowing which drive letters would be available.  For example: [more]

subst 1: "C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents"

subst *: "C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents"

Unfortunately, the regular Explorer windows cannot handle these "special" drive designations, but they can be used from the command line.

General, Windows 7,
 

New Windows 7 hotkeys

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Windows logo key +Home Clear all but the active window
Windows logo key +Space All windows become transparent so you can see through to the desktop
Windows logo key +Up arrow Maximize the active window
Windows logo key +Down arrow: Minimize the active window or restore the window if it's maximized
Windows logo key +Left/Right arrows Dock the active window to each side of the monitor
Windows logo key +Shift+Left/Right arrows If you've got dual monitors, this will move the active window to the adjacent monitor
Windows logo key +T Shift focus to and scroll through items on the taskbar
Windows logo key +P Adjust presentation settings for your display
Windows logo key +(+/-) Zoom in/out
Windows logo key +Click a taskbar item Open a new instance of that particular application

Ease of Access keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts that can help make your computer easier to use.  [more]

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Right Shift for eight seconds Turn Filter Keys on and off
Left Alt+Left Shift+PrtScn (or PrtScn) Turn High Contrast on or off
Left Alt+Left Shift+Num Lock Turn Mouse Keys on or off
Shift five times Turn Sticky Keys on or off
Num Lock for five seconds Turn Toggle Keys on or off
Windows logo key +U Open the Ease of Access Center

General keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains general keyboard shortcuts.

Keyboard Shortcut Action
F1 Display Help
Ctrl+C (or Ctrl+Insert) Copy the selected item
Ctrl+X Cut the selected item
Ctrl+V (or Shift+Insert) Paste the selected item
Ctrl+Z Undo an action
Ctrl+Y Redo an action
Delete (or Ctrl+D) Delete the selected item and move it to the Recycle Bin
Shift+Delete Delete the selected item without moving it to the Recycle Bin first
F2 Rename the selected item
Ctrl+Right Arrow Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word
Ctrl+Left Arrow Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word
Ctrl+Down Arrow Move the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph
Ctrl+Up Arrow Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph
Ctrl+Shift with an arrow key Select a block of text
Shift with any arrow key Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document
Ctrl with any arrow key+Spacebar Select multiple individual items in a window or on the desktop
Ctrl+A Select all items in a document or window
F3 Search for a file or folder
Alt+Enter Display properties for the selected item
Alt+F4 Close the active item, or exit the active program
Alt+Spacebar Open the shortcut menu for the active window
Ctrl+F4 Close the active document (in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously)
Alt+Tab Switch between open items
Ctrl+Alt+Tab Use the arrow keys to switch between open items
Ctrl+Mouse scroll wheel Change the size of icons on the desktop
Windows logo key +Tab Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D
Ctrl+Windows logo key +Tab Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D
Alt+Esc Cycle through items in the order in which they were opened
F6 Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop
F4 Display the address bar list in Windows Explorer
Shift+F10 Display the shortcut menu for the selected item
Ctrl+Esc Open the Start menu
Alt+underlined letter Display the corresponding menu
Alt+underlined letter Perform the menu command (or other underlined command)
F10 Activate the menu bar in the active program
Right Arrow Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu
Left Arrow Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu
F5 (or Ctrl+R) Refresh the active window
Alt+Up Arrow View the folder one level up in Windows Explorer
Esc Cancel the current task
Ctrl+Shift+Esc Open Task Manager
Shift when you insert a CD Prevent the CD from automatically playing
Left Alt+Shift Switch the input language when multiple input languages are enabled
Ctrl+Shift Switch the keyboard layout when multiple keyboard layouts are enabled
Right or Left Ctrl+Shift Change the reading direction of text in right-to-left reading languages

Dialog box keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for use in dialog boxes.

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Ctrl+Tab Move forward through tabs
Ctrl+Shift+Tab Move back through tabs
Tab Move forward through options
Shift+Tab Move back through options
Alt+underlined letter Perform the command (or select the option) that goes with that letter
Enter Replaces clicking the mouse for many selected commands
Spacebar Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box
Arrow keys Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons
F1 Display Help
F4 Display the items in the active list
Backspace Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts that use the Windows logo key .

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Windows logo key Open or close the Start menu.
Windows logo key +Pause Display the System Properties dialog box.
Windows logo key +D Display the desktop.
Windows logo key +M Minimize all windows.
Windows logo key +Shift+M Restore minimized windows to the desktop.
Windows logo key +E Open Computer.
Windows logo key +F Search for a file or folder.
Ctrl+Windows logo key +F Search for computers (if you're on a network).
Windows logo key +L Lock your computer or switch users.
Windows logo key +R Open the Run dialog box.
Windows logo key +T Cycle through programs on the taskbar.
Windows logo key +number Start the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number. If the program is already running, switch to that program.
Shift+Windows logo key +number Start a new instance of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Ctrl+Windows logo key +number Switch to the last active window of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Alt+Windows logo key +number Open the Jump List for the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Windows logo key +Tab Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.
Ctrl+Windows logo key +Tab Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.
Ctrl+Windows logo key +B Switch to the program that displayed a message in the notification area.
Windows logo key +Spacebar Preview the desktop.
Windows logo key +Up Arrow Maximize the window.
Windows logo key +Left Arrow Maximize the window to the left side of the screen.
Windows logo key +Right Arrow Maximize the window to the right side of the screen.
Windows logo key +Down Arrow Minimize the window.
Windows logo key +Home Minimize all but the active window.
Windows logo key +Shift+Up Arrow Stretch the window to the top and bottom of the screen.
Windows logo key +Shift+Left Arrow or Right Arrow Move a window from one monitor to another.
Windows logo key +P Choose a presentation display mode.
Windows logo key +G Cycle through gadgets.
Windows logo key +U Open Ease of Access Center.
Windows logo key +X Open Windows Mobility Center.

Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Windows Explorer windows or folders.

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Ctrl+N Open a new window
Ctrl+W Close the current window
Ctrl+Shift+N Create a new folder
End Display the bottom of the active window
Home Display the top of the active window
F11 Maximize or minimize the active window
Ctrl+Period (.) Rotate a picture clockwise
Ctrl+Comma (,) Rotate a picture counter-clockwise
Num Lock+Asterisk (*) on numeric keypad Display all subfolders under the selected folder
Num Lock+Plus Sign (+) on numeric keypad Display the contents of the selected folder
Num Lock+Minus Sign (-) on numeric keypad Collapse the selected folder
Left Arrow Collapse the current selection (if it's expanded), or select the parent folder
Alt+Enter Open the Properties dialog box for the selected item
Alt+P Display the preview pane
Alt+Left Arrow View the previous folder
Backspace View the previous folder
Right Arrow Display the current selection (if it's collapsed), or select the first subfolder
Alt+Right Arrow View the next folder
Alt+Up Arrow View the parent folder
Ctrl+Shift+E Display all folders above the selected folder
Ctrl+Mouse scroll wheel Change the size and appearance of file and folder icons
Alt+D Select the address bar
Ctrl+E Select the search box
Ctrl+F Select the search box

Taskbar keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with items on the taskbar.

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Shift+Click on a taskbar button Open a program or quickly open another instance of a program
Ctrl+Shift+Click on a taskbar button Open a program as an administrator
Shift+Right-click on a taskbar button Show the window menu for the program
Shift+Right-click on a grouped taskbar button Show the window menu for the group
Ctrl+Click on a grouped taskbar button Cycle through the windows of the group

Magnifier keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Magnifier.

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Windows logo key + Plus Sign or Minus Sign Zoom in or out
Ctrl+Alt+Spacebar Preview the desktop in full-screen mode
Ctrl+Alt+F Switch to full-screen mode
Ctrl+Alt+L Switch to lens mode
Ctrl+Alt+D Switch to docked mode
Ctrl+Alt+I Invert colors
Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys Pan in the direction of the arrow keys
Ctrl+Alt+R Resize the lens
Windows logo key + Esc Exit Magnifier

Remote Desktop Connection keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Remote Desktop Connection.

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Alt+Page Up Move between programs from left to right.
Alt+Page Down Move between programs from right to left.
Alt+Insert Cycle through programs in the order that they were started in.
Alt+Home Display the Start menu.
Ctrl+Alt+Break Switch between a window and full screen.
Ctrl+Alt+End Display the Windows Security dialog box.
Alt+Delete Display the system menu.
Ctrl+Alt+Minus Sign (-) on the numeric keypad Place a copy of the active window, within the client, on the Terminal server clipboard (provides the same functionality as pressing Alt+PrtScn on a local computer).
Ctrl+Alt+Plus Sign (+) on the numeric keypad Place a copy of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboard (provides the same functionality as pressing PrtScn on a local computer).
Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow "Tab" out of the Remote Desktop controls to a control in the host program (for example, a button or a text box). Useful when the Remote Desktop controls are embedded in another (host) program.
Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow "Tab" out of the Remote Desktop controls to a control in the host program (for example, a button or a text box). Useful when the Remote Desktop controls are embedded in another (host) program.

 

 

General, Windows 7,
 

A Windows 7 user was unable to connect to or display network documents and was notified the system could not load the user profile. The problem appeared to be caused by a corrupt profile. I logged the user off and then logged in as the administrator and removed her profile. Then tried logging in as the user to reload the profile. It still could not load the user’s profile. I decided to rebuild the profile but when I attempted to it failed again.  I placed the backed up profile back and tried another system and the profile worked. 

After some research I found this issue may occur if the user profile was manually deleted by using the command prompt or by using Windows Explorer. A profile that is manually deleted does not remove the security identifier (SID) from the profile list in the registry. If the SID is present, Windows will try to load the profile by using the “ProfileImagePath” that points to a nonexistent path. Therefore, the profile cannot be loaded. The profile had not been manually deleted but I decided to check anyway. I opened the registry editor and navigated to ”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList” and found a SID for the user. I deleted it from the registry and then logged in as the user and the profile loaded fine.

Networking, Windows 7,
 

The traditional program switch to “fix” a hard disk drive may not fix everything. I have used chkdsk /f to fix disks for years, but it turns out that there is also a chkdsk /r . The /r switch does everything a /f  does and additionally checks for bad sectors on the disk.

Networking, Windows 7, Windows 2008 Server,
 

A couple months ago I bought a new HP desktop at home and it was working great except I kept noticed letters were missing after I typed sentences, passwords, etc. It seemed to happen at random and out of a couple sentences there was usually one letter that would be skipped. I thought it was me at first and maybe I just wasn’t used to the new keyboard, but after I started paying attention and made sure I was striking all the keys I realized it wasn’t me. I reinstalled the keyboard drivers and unplugged the keyboard and plugged it into a different USB port. The problem persisted. I was to the point where I was going to buy a new keyboard when I realized it was only happening in Internet Explorer. I found that disabling the Windows Live add-ons fixed the problem (i.e. Microsoft Live Search Toolbar, Windows Live Sign-in Helper, and Microsoft Live Search Toolbar Helper). I didn’t install those add-ons myself, so they must have came preloaded from HP. To manage your IE add-ons go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Programs and click the Manage add-ons button.

General, Windows 7, HP,
 

Download and run the Cygwin installer from their web site: www.cygwin.com.  OpenSSL is not one of that packages that gets installed by default with Cygwin.  The important part of install is choosing OpenSSL as one of the packages you install, because that package is not selected by default.  You do this by searching for "openssl" on the "Select Packages" step, expanding "Net" option, clicking on the "Skip" image so that a version shows, and clicking the "Next" button.  Use the image below as a reference. [more] 

Security and Compliance, Cygwin, Windows 7, SSL,
 

To find a "lost" window (displays off the side of the screen after undocking from multiple monitors):

XP:  Right click the icon on the taskbar, select "move", then use the arrow keys to move the window to where it is visible.

Windows 7:  Hover your mouse over the icon on the task bar until the thumbnail appears, right-click the thumbnail, select "move" and then move the window with the arrow keys.  Alternately, you can click the icon on the taskbar (so that the application has focus), hold down the Windows key, and press the right or left arrow key.  This will snap the window to the side of the screen.  (Sometimes, you have to hit Windows-arrow multiple times.) [more]

Windows 7 has "mouse gestures".  You've probably seen what happens when you drag a window to the top of your screen, but try grabbing a title bar and giving your mouse a shake.  It will minimize all other windows (or bring them back if you just minimized them that way).

General, Windows 7, Windows XP,
 

I received a machine from a customer that would not boot. The machine had been operating flawlessly for several months… then suddenly it would not boot. The typical error was: “The file is possibly corrupt. The file header checksum does not match the computed checksum. Also, once in a while I got an error from BOOTMGR:.  I ran diagnostics on both of the hard drives (mirrored) in the system from a BIOS diagnostic option and they reported NO errors. [more]

I could not boot from the Windows 7 CD. I could not boot from the recovery CD made from Windows 7. I finally made a bootable USB drive with DOS and it worked. I then saw an option in the BIOS to run a memory test… did it and it failed.

The entire problem (after hours of troubleshooting) was a bad memory stick!

Networking, DOS, Windows 7,