LyteByte » Tutorial

How to keep Laptop On When the Lid is Closed?

Mr.Byte — Wed, 05 May 2010 02:42:03 +0000

When you are using your laptop as the desktop replacement at home or just wanting movies from Netflix using your laptop on your HDTV, you may want to keep your laptop on and running even when the lid is closed.

So how to keep windows laptop up and running when you close the lid?

Click on the power icon on the right side of windows taskbar and click on More power options.

Click on Change plan settings on the selected power plan. Click change advanced power settings.

In the power options window, expand Power buttons and lid and Lid close action.

Change it to Do nothing on both On battery and Plugged in based on your preference.

Click Ok. Now you should be able to enjoy your laptop as the perfect desktop replacement.

This article is explained using Windows 7 and the content is applicable to Windows Vista also.

How to add Motion Loops and Video Backgrounds in PowerPoint?

Mr.Byte — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 02:53:49 +0000

Motion loops and video backgrounds in the PowerPoint are one of the good way to make the PowerPoint attractive in a public event like a PR meeting or in the church worship slide backgrounds. In PowerPoint from Office 2010, working with videos like editing, cropping, backgrounds has been made as a simple task.

So how to add motion loops and video backgrounds in PowerPoint?

Click Video from the Insert tab. Browse the video file and embed it at any location.

Using the edge points, resize the video so that it covers the whole slide page.

When you click the video, you will have new tabs for Video Tools. Under the Format tab, you can use the corrections to adjust the brightness and contrast. You can also change the color tone of the video by using the color button.

Under the Playback tab from Video Tools, set Start to Automatically, Check Loop until stopped and Rewind after playing boxes.

Right click on the video, and choose Send to Back. Now you will be able to see the areas where you can add text, insert image or embed even another video on top of this video.

You can also check this video for further instruction on how to add video backgrounds in PowerPoint.

Let us know where would you use a video background!

Record Steps to Reproduce a Problem in Windows 7

Mr.Byte — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:39:41 +0000

In Windows 7 if you have any problems and you are not sure how to solve it then you can capture the steps to recreate the problem using in-built tool. This allows the user to send it as a single page with all the screenshots and steps to a friend who know how to solve it or to the customer support for any programs.

So how to capture steps to recreate the problem in Windows 7?

Go to Start and type Problem Steps in the search.

From the search under Control Panel –> click Record steps to reproduce a problem.

You will get a Problem Steps screen recorder.

Click Start Record and proceed with the steps that led to a problem or failure of a program.

It will record all the screen shots and each individual click that you made.

You can also add comment on each step by clicking Add Comment. This will open a window to highlight problems and comments.

When you click Stop Record, it will ask for a location to save the .mht (MHTML format) file which will be zipped. You can view this file in Internet Explorer.

You can view the steps clearly in the Problem Report page.

Each Problem Steps clearly explains the user interaction and the time. Below is an example of a recorded problem step.

At the end, it will also give additional technical details of each step.

You can also view the steps in a slideshow by clicking Review the recorded problem steps as a slideshow at the top.

Change Default Sounds of Aero Themes in Windows 7

Mr.Byte — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:27:54 +0000

Windows 7 comes with various options of aero themes by default. And each themes in like Windows 7, Architecture, Characters, Landscapes, Nature, Scenes and United States has different sounds option. Sometimes you may like a different theme but you may not like the sounds that come with that theme and you may like the default Windows 7 sounds.

So how to change the sounds of aero themes to Windows default sound or other?

Right click on the Desktop and click Personalize. Choose the theme that you want to apply. Here I have chosen United States theme and you it comes with the Delta sounds option.

Click the Sounds and under the Sounds Scheme, you can chose a different one like Windows Default. Click Ok.

This will create a new theme and will show up as Unsaved theme. You can use the save theme link to save as a customized theme.

How to Delete, Remove or Restore Recycle Bin Icon in Windows 7 Desktop?

Mr.Byte — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:53:31 +0000

Some prefer to have all their shortcuts and all applications in their Windows desktop and others like me prefer to have a clean desktop other than desktop widgets or gadgets. But in Windows 7 you have the Recycle Bin which doesn’t have the delete option like it had in Vista.

So how to delete or remove recycle bin from desktop in Windows 7?

Here you can see that recycle bin does not have delete option on the right click.

Go to Start –> Control Panel –> Appearance and Personalization –> Personalization. (Or you can right click on the desktop and click Personalize)

On the left side bar, click on Change desktop icons.

From the Desktop Icon Settings, you can select or unselect the icons you want or don’t want. If you don’t want Recycle Bin on the desktop, just uncheck the icon.

Click Ok.

So how to recover recycle bin icon to desktop or appear again in Windows 7?

If you want to restore any other icons at any time like My Computer, Network, User, Control Panel or Recycle Bin, just go back to the option and check it.

How to Print First Row or Header Row on Every Page in Excel?

Mr.Byte — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:28:39 +0000

While using Excel, most often the contents overflow to multiple pages and you may have the header row on top on the first page and you would have frozen it on top so that when you scroll down the header is still visible. But when you print any Excel sheet, it would be great to have the header row or the first row printed on top of each and every page for better readability. Also see how to print first column or header column on every page in Excel.

So how to print header row or first row on each and every page in Excel?

This tip applies to Office 2010 and Office 2007.

Go to Page Layout and click on the Print Titles under Page Setup.

In the Page Setup, Under Print titles, click the red arrow icon next to Rows to repeat at top.

use the arrow to select the first row or the row that you want to repeat in each and every page that is printed.

Use the red arrow icon again and you will be taken to Page Setup screen. Click Ok.

Enable Row and Column Headings

Also if you want to row headings which says column A, B, C etc or Row headings or number 1,2,3 then you can enable them under Page Layout –> Sheet Options –> Check Print under Headings.

Here in the Print Preview (Use Keyboard shortcut Ctrl +F2) you can see that the first row and the row and column header is being printed on all pages.

Also see how to print first column or header column on every page in Excel.

How to Print First Column or Header Column on Every Page in Excel?

Mr.Byte — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:21:50 +0000

While using Excel, most often the contents overflow to multiple pages and you may have the header column on the left on the first page and you would have frozen it so that when you scroll to the right the column header is still visible. But when you print any Excel sheet, it would be great to have the header column or the first column printed on the left side of each and every page for better readability.

So how to print header column or first column on each and every page in Excel?

This tip applies to Office 2010 and Office 2007.

Go to Page Layout and click on the Print Titles under Page Setup.

In the Page Setup, Under Print titles, click the red arrow icon next to Columns to repeat at left.

Use the arrow to choose the column that you want to be repeated.

Click Ok on the Page setup.

Here in the preview you can see that the column header or the first column in this case are repeated on each and every page.

You can also print the first row or header row on all printed pages in Excel. Also see how you can print row and column heading on all printed pages.

How to Keep Windows Media Center on Top in Windows 7?

Mr.Byte — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:46:32 +0000

Windows Media Center has lots of unique benefits and features which are not explored by many who use Vista or Windows 7. It allows one to mange all the Pictures, Videos, Music, Radio, TV, Video Recorder etc and once if you start using, its hard to go for another media center as this makes it more complete.

Recently we saw how to keep Windows Media Player on top of other Windows. WMP has just become a subset of Windows media center in terms of feature. So one may use Windows Media Center as well instead of using WMP.

Here is an example of having Windows Media Center on Top of other Windows.

So how to keep Windows Media Center on Top of other Windows?

In the Windows Media Center, go to Tasks –> Settings.

Under Settings –> Click General.

Click Startup and Window Behavior.

Check Always Keep Windows Media Center on top and click Save.

Now you can have the Windows media center on top of other windows.

What to do if you temporarily don’t want Windows Media Center on Top?

Just use the Minimize button on the top right corner (or use the keyboard shortcut to minimize and maximize windows)

How to Keep Windows Media Player on Top in Windows 7?

Mr.Byte — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:36:54 +0000

Windows 7 comes with Windows Media Player 12 and it does not allow you to dock the media player to the taskbar as it has been redesigned. You can surely preview the media player from the taskbar but you cannot keep it on top so that when you go about browsing online or view other windows. (Hint: If you want to dock WMP on the taskbar, you should downgrade from WMP 12 to WMP 11)

But you can keep the WMP on top so that you can still view the media player while browsing other Windows.

Here are some of the examples of Windows Media Player on Top of other Windows

So how to keep WMP on Top in Windows 7?

Go to the Now Playing mode (View –> Now Playing) or use the Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl + 3.

Right click on the Windows Media Player screen and check Always show Now Playing on top

Now which ever window you browse or view, the Windows Media Player will stay on top.

You can also resize the WMP window to the smallest size and keep it on one corner so that it will not disturb the other work that you might be still doing while having WMP on top.

What to do if you temporarily dont want WMP on top?

Just use the Minimize button on the top right corner (or use the keyboard shortcut to minimize and maximize windows)

If you are using WMP, you can also learn how to use Windows Media Player as Alarm Clock? and Read how to keep Windows Media Center on top of other Windows?

Guide to Setup Gmail IMAP in Outlook 2010

Mr.Byte — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Gmail is one of the email services which supports IMAP feature which enables to send and receive emails from Outlook without any ads. Besides one use Outlook for all the business mails and now you can also add your personal gmail account along with it. The advantage of having setup this using IMAP is that when you read a mail or delete a mail, it is synchronized with both the web version of Gmail and the Outlook.

There are lots of features which are different in the new Outlook from Office 2010 than Outlook 2007 which makes it even more desirable to use Outlook for your Gmail.

Having said that, now lets see How to Setup Gmail IMAP in Outlook 2010?

Before you can start using Gmail IMAP in Outlook, we need to enable IMAP in Gmail settings.

In Gmail, go to Settings -> Forwarding and POP/IMAP –> Make sure Enable IMAP is checked and click on Save Changes if you made any.

If you are starting the Microsoft outlook 2010 for the first time, you will be seeing the following startup screen, just click Next and choose Yes in the next screen where they ask would you like to configure an email account?

Note: If you already have another email account or if you have chosen No in the earlier case and has already gone through the initial outlook startup settings before, follow this screenshot else continue to the next one.

Click the Office button on the top left corner and go to the Office Backstage. Under Info –> Account Information –> Click Account Settings and Click on Add Account.

On the Add New Account screen, just choose Manually configure server settings or additional server types and click Next.

Choose Internet E-mail, connect to POP or IMAP server to send and receive e-mail messages and click Next.

Here give the User information, enter your Name, your full email address including @gmail.com or your @custom-mail.com.

Under Server information,

Account Type – IMAP

Incoming mail server – imap.gmail.com

Outgoing mail server (SMTP) – smtp.gmail.com

Also enter the logon information, enter your user name in full and enter the password.

NOTE: Now don’t click Next yet, click on More settings above it.

In the Internet email settings, go to Advanced Tab to change the server port numbers.

Change Incoming server (IMAP) to 993 and use SSL as the encrypted connection.

Change outgoing server (SMTP) to 587 and use TLS as the encrypted connection.

Now go to Outgoing server tab and check My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication and choose Use same settings as my incoming mail server.

Now you should be taken back to the Add new account screen, click on Test Account Settings and see if everything works without any errors. If there are any errors go back to all the settings and recheck if you have entered correctly.

Click Ok and Finish.

Now you will be taken to the main Outlook window and on the left sidebar a new set of folders will be created to synchronize with the Gmail account. It will also include Drafts, Sent Mail, Spam, Starred, Trash and all other mails synchronized.

Note: If you have a huge Gmail account already, then it will take sometime to download all your email contents from the web server.

Setting up the Sent Items Folder

When you send a mail for the first time, it will ask you where to store the sent mails. Make sure you DO NOT SET the sent mail from Gmail. When you send a mail through outlook, it goes to the gmail server and it saves the sent mails automatically to the sent mail folder. Now if you try to save it again in the sent mail, it will create duplicate copies of the sent mails. So use the Local Folder. See my other post on Choosing the Sent Items Folder while using Gmail in Outlook

Setting up the Deleted Items Folder

In gmail, you can either archive a mail or delete a mail. When you archive a mail, they are removed from the Inbox but they still remain in All Mails folder but when you delete they are moved to the trash mail folder and eventually deleted permanently after 30 days.

Likewise, you can set the action to move the mails to trash folder when you delete them.

If you want to archive a mail but not delete it, I usually have a folder called arhive and move the mails there so that my inbox remains clean and concise.

Folders and Labels

Outlook Folders are equivalent of labels in gmail. If you add a mail to two labels it will be present in both the folders.

Also read How you can manage Gmail better in Outlook and also reduce Gmail memory space in outlook.