PreviewConfig Tool Registers File Types for the Preview Pane in Windows Vista

Windows Vista introduces the Preview pane in Explorer, which shows the contents of the currently chosen file. You can also play multimedia files from the Preview pane, without opening Windows Media Player. This article explains how to use the PreviewConfig utility to register a custom file type for the Preview pane in Windows Vista Explorer.

Registering file types for the Preview pane

If you have a custom file type and wish to register a plain text or a multimedia Preview handler for the custom file type, you can do so using this utility.

Usage

Download and run PreviewHandler utility (requires administrative privileges to run). Select the file type from the listing, and choose the type of Preview you want for this file type (Media / Plain-text / None), and click Apply.

Additional details are available in the Readme.txt file.

Adding new file types

If a file type is not displayed in the listing, you may manually type the file extension (example, .cpp) into the text box provided, and choose the Preview type for this file extension.

Example

You may use this utility to register text previews for plain-text file types such as:

.REG | .CSS | .BAT | .CMD | .INF | .CS | .VB | .CPP | .SQL

Preview Handler information

When you select a file type, the information of the Preview handler registered for the file type will be displayed in the text box. You can copy the contents to Clipboard by double-clicking the text box.

How to enable the Preview pane in Windows Vista

You can enable the preview pane by selecting Organize | Layout | Preview Panefrom the folder’s menu.

Faster and more powerful Internet searching then ever before

This tweak will have you searching the Internet faster and more powerfully then you ever have before.

1. Get TweakUI Powertoy for WindowsXP

2. Start -> Programs -> Powertoys for Windows XP -> TweakUI for Windows XP

3. Click the '+' next to 'Internet Explorer'

4. Hightlight 'Search'

5. In the right plane click on the 'Create' button.

6. For the Prefix, type in 'Google' or if you're REALLY lazy (like me) then just 'g'

7. for the URL, enter: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%s&num=100

The 'hl' is language, the 'q' is the query, and the 'num' is the number of results per page. To search for multiple keywords at a time, use the format 'google monkey+cars' or just 'g monkey+cars' depending how you chose to set it up.

If you use another search engine, then you must have never tried Google.

Here are some reasons to help sway you: http://www.google.com/technology/whyuse.html

It has no graphics to load, no popups, no graphical ads, and codes your search terms in bold to prove the pages it lists have all you wanted.

And if that didn't work, try installing a BSD or *nix type OS, and finding solutions to cryptic error messages using any other search engine.

Sooner or later you'll realize Google is tops. Just give it a month's trial and see if you ever leave it ;)

On request for advanced users only. If you don't want to use TweakUi, use this registry file or make the according changes manually.

;--begin copy below-------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\g]
@="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%s&num=100"
" "="+"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"

;--end copy---------------------------------------------------------

Copy and paste into notepad, save as "search.reg", right click - merge.

How to fix incompatibility problems between Internet Explorer 8 and the Google Toolbar

Option 1: Update to the latest Google Toolbar
To update to the latest Google Toolbar, follow these steps:

1. Visit the Google Toolbar site to download and install the latest version of the Google Toolbar. This will resolve this issue. Click the following link to visit the Google Toolbar Web site:Download the Google Toolbar now
2. Close all Internet Explorer windows after you install the update.

Option 2: Disable the Google Toolbar
To disable the Google Toolbar, follow these steps:

1. Close all Internet Explorer windows.
2. Open a new Internet Explorer window. You will see a dialog informing you that the ‘Google Toolbar' add-on can cause Internet Explorer to crash or to stop responding.
3. Click Always open Internet Explorer without this add-on.
   

After you do this, Internet Explorer 8 will not load the Google Toolbar when it starts.