Tips for quick searches and using Run commands

1. Quickly get definitions

Would you like to get a definition of a term quickly? This quick grab of a definition works in Firefox 3.0. Say you need the definition of "allopathy." Here's what you do:

1) Hit Ctrl + L when Firefox is open (this selects the URL in the address bar)

2) Type definr.com/allopathy and hit Enter.

Here's what you get:

2. Quickly get English equivalents of Japanese terms from online references

If you have already registered your favorite bilingual database such as Glova in a an earlier article Lightning search of an online database, you should see a blue icon with white lens on the right hand side of the Firefox screen like so:

Well, you are all set to hit a few keys and search for Japanese terms too!

Here's what you do:

1) Hit Ctrl + K (shifts the focus on the search bar)

2) Paste or enter the Japanese term you wish to search and hit Enter.

That's it! Here are the results for 変換:

3. Useful run commands

As a translator, you need to use the keyboard more to reduce wear and tear of your wrist. I find run commands useful and use them whenever I can. You'll find huge lists of 156, 164, 178 and so on, run commands on the Net - but nobody in his right mind would remember or use such a lot of commands. I give here some of run commands that I find useful and which have saved me a lot of mousing around.

Remember all you need to do is hold down the Win Key, press R, then type in or copy and paste the command from the list below and hit ENTER.

COMMAND	DOES THIS
appwiz.cpl	Opens the Add and Remove Programs in Control Panel
calc	Launches the calculator
charmap	Launches character map - you can search for those Greek and mathematical symbols you wish to insert in Word.
clpbrd	View the clipboard. Shows you what you have copied to the clipboard using Ctrl C.
cmd	Command prompt - from where you can run all kinds of DOS commands
control	Opens Control Panel to gives you access to all kinds of settings
control folders	Perform folder settings
devmgmt.msc	Opens the device manager. The moment you find a yellow exclamation work next to a device here, you know something's wrong!
desk.cpl	Perform screen resolution, screen saver and other desktop settings
mrt	Checks your system for malicious software
excel	Launches Excel
mspaint	Launches Paint
powerpnt	Launches Powerpoint
winword	Launches Word
osk	Displays your Onscreen keyboard
regedit	Make changes to your Registry - take care
shutdown	Shuts down Windows
sysinfo	Shows information about your system
taskmgr	Shows what applications are running; gives you the option to close down running applications
winver	Shows you which version of Windows is running

That's all for today folks. Have a great day!

Technorati Tags: Quick searches,Run commands

Various utilities and useful links

I was in the US for more than a month and personal as well as business engagements took away time for this blog. I'm back again and hope to record convenient tools and tips during my forays into the World Wide Web. I have put through a smorgasbord  of offerings this time. 'Nuff said - here they are:

1. Launch bar

I wrote about SlickRun many months ago, and I still use this great utility. For a second line of applications that I wish to run, here is a simple method (for Windows that is, and I use XP) that does not involve installing any application. Here's what you do:

a. Right click your desktop and create a new folder;  call it “Launch Bar”.

b. Drag the Launch Bar folder to the extreme top of the desktop screen and drop it.

c. That's it - you have a toolbar.

d. Now drag the applications you need to launch and drop them in  this launch bar.

You can also right click this toolbar at the top and click on the feature to automatically hide it so that it pops up only when you bring the cursor to the top of the Desktop Screen. Here's what mine looks like:

2. New patent search site

For all ye patent buffs - here's a new site (patents.com) that gives you patents in clean PDFs and as late as last month too. I searched with keywords "planing boat" and found a patent dated Aug. 26, and another with the keyword "semiconductor" and found one dated Aug. 28.

3. Auto-complete at command prompt

I'm sure some of you must be using the command prompt especially when you want to print a list of files (see Quickly print a list of files to a file) but here's a neat trick where you can use Auto-complete to display directories or files using the tab key at the command prompt. I came across this trick in another blog by another techie. The procedure involves making a small change in the Windows Registry, so make sure you make a backup of the Registry before you make changes! The instructions for changing the just one value in the Registry are clearly given here.

This gives you the ability to hit TAB to type out long Japanese file names at the command prompt - see example below.

Until next week, here's wishing you a great day!

Technorati Tags: Launch Bar,patent search site,autocomplete at command prompt