How do I make a new SkyDrive photo album?

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Ludwig

There are a number of ways of making a new photo album or folder in SkyDrive. Here are several of the procedures.

Create new folder in SkyDrive

When you are in your SkyDrive online, that is, viewing it in a browser, there is a “New folder” link above the main pane. Click it to make a new folder or album. Instantly a new folder tile will be added in the main pane. The folder name will be highlighted indicating that you can just type the folder name. Type the name you want to assign to the folder or album.

This folder will initially be set to Folder type Documents. You can see that when you expand the Information section in the pane on the right. There will be a Change link there. You can change it to Photos, or you can just leave it as is. When a photo is uploaded to the folder it will change to Folder type Photos by itself.

Create a new SkyDrive photo album from Live Photo Gallery

Sometimes the easiest way to add a new SkyDrive photo album is to do it as you upload photos from Live Photo Gallery. In Photo Gallery sign in to your Microsoft account (upper right). Then select the photos you wish to upload to a new SkyDrive photo album. Click SkyDrive in the Share section of the ribbon. A dialog pops up with the first option being the defining of a new SkyDrive photo album. Type in the name you wish to assign to the album and click Publish. Note the Publish button is not enabled until an album name has been typed. The SkyDrive photo album will be created and the selected photos will be uploaded to the album.

Creating a SkyDrive photo folder in the desktop app

If you have the SkyDrive desktop app installed you can create a new folder for photos just the way you would create any other new album using Windows Explorer. Open Windows Explorer, click SkyDrive in the left navigation pane. Then click New Folder.

Using the SkyDrive desktop app allows you to create the new folder anywhere in the folder hierarchy in your SkyDrive. Keep in mind that you cannot upload from Photo Gallery into any sub-folders.

.:.

Technorati Tags: SkyDrive,SkyDrive album,create SkyDrive folder,create SkyDrive album,Live Photo Gallery,SkyDrive desktop app

What is that “Links” item on the Windows 8 taskbar?

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Ludwig

The taskbar in Windows 8, and earlier versions of Windows, provides a very convenient place to manage your tasks, keep track of them and launch applications.

You can pin shortcut icons for applications, even documents and folder to the taskbar. In addition there are a number of toolbars than can be placed on the taskbar to make this even more powerful.

The “Links” toolbar is one of these. It provides a quick way to launch Internet Explorer and go to a favorite site.

First you have to have some websites marked as “favorites” so you can get back to them quickly. When you are viewing a site and wish to mark it for future visits, click the star near the top right the browser window. Click the down-arrow by the “Add to favorites” command, then click Add to Favorites bar. See the red arrows in the illustration. There are some other ways to accomplish this task, you may prefer another.

The “Favorites bar” will get turned on. This lets you get to your most often needed sites with just a click.

Before long you will have more favorites sites than fit on the bar and you need to click on the double-chevron at the end of the bar to see the rest. You might also prefer to not have this bar take up real estate in the browser window. You can turn it off by right-clicking in the top area and unchecking the tool bars. Those that are checked will be displayed.

So what good is a “Favorites bar” if it is turned off? You still have quick access to your favorites with the “Links” bar on the task bar. If you don’t see it there, right-click on an empty spot on the taskbar. In the pop-up, click on Toolbars. Then click Links so the checkmark shows.

You will now have the Links toolbar. Move the pointer to the area where the double-chevron shows and click, the menu that pops up shows all your sites on the Internet Explorer Favorites bar.

You can edit the names, you can rearrange the order by just dragging the listings up or down. You can, of course, also change the size of the taskbar and the toolbars that are on it. With the taskbar not locked, you can drag the taskbar top edge to change the height, you can drag the dimples at the end of the toolbars to resize them. Here is a view of part of my taskbar so rearranged.

Some things that are possible, are not necessarily good ideas. Having the Links toolbar, however, is very useful.

.:.

Technorati Tags: Windows 8,taskbar,toolbar,Links toolbar,Internet Explorer,Favorites bar

How do I lock the screen for Windows 8 in a virtual machine?

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Ludwig

Aha, you noticed that when running Windows 8 in a virtual machine the lock-screen shortcut, logokey+L, locks the host system as well as the guest system. This is true for VMware Player and Oracle Virtualbox.

This shortcut is intercepted by both the host and the guest and you have to sign in to both to get back. It is a very convenient and quick way to blank the screen when you need to leave the computer.

To lock just the virtual machine here is the long way: Press the logokey, then click on your name in the upper right and click Lock.

If you are mostly working in the desktop you can also place a shortcut on the desktop to allow locking with just a double-click on an icon.

Here is the procedure for setting up a desktop lock shortcut

Right-click on a free space on the desktop.
Click New and in the secondary menu, click Shortcut.
In the Create a Shortcut dialog, enter this text: shutdown /l – the word “shutdown” followed by a space then a slash and a lower-case L. Don’t worry, this command will not shut down the system just lock the screen.
Click Next.
Replace the default shortcut name “shutdown” with lock or lock screen for the name of the shortcut.
Click Finish.

You now have an shortcut on the desktop that looks about as shown here. For a better looking icon, right-click the shortcut, click Properties, then click Change icon. Click OK in the complaint dialog.

An icon selection dialog opens. Click the one you like. I like the padlock symbol.

Click OK to close the Change Icon dialog.

Click on Normal window in the Run box and click on Minimized. This will prevent the command box from flashing on the screen when the icon is double-clicked.

Click OK to close the Properties dialog.