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Do you already use your laptop as your main productivity tool?
Are you thinking of making a laptop your main productivity tool?
This blog could provide indispensible laptop tips n'trick for you if you answered yes to either of the above questions.
Many of these tips n'tricks could apply equally to PC workstations.
If you would like to start a discussion on any of the items posted, or associated subjects, please use the "Comments" at the end of each blog post.

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Tuesday 22 November 2011

Tip - How to coil your ear/headphone cables so they don't tangle when you use them.



As a laptop user who takes his laptop everywhere, I had got to the point where I avoided using headphones because I figured that I didn't need to waste the time it always took to untangle my headphone cables every blasted time I used them.
After watching this video, I shall be using my earphones a lot more often:


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Thursday 17 November 2011

Tip - workaround for Windows 7 disappearing Systray Icons bug

A while back, I started using a new HP ENVY 14 laptop running Windows 7 (64-bit).
A frequently recurring  annoyance has been that when I start up my laptop from boot or from "sleep", some of the Systray icons (which should appear) are not appearing - even though the process to which they belong is active/running.

After double-checking that these icons were set to display at all times in the system, I googled "Windows Systray icons do not display", and came up with a list of results, one of which was to a Microsoft discussion forum. It's evidently a fairly common problem. One of the discussions in that forum had a link to a post made by Colin Cochrane in 2007 about this same problem, but it was with Windows Vista - Windows Vista Disappearing System Tray Icons Fix

The problem seems to be a bug in the Windows OS (Operating System) - common to Windows Vista and Windows 7.
I tried out part of his suggested workaround (it's not a fix) for the problem, and it worked a treat, so below is that part copied as a series of steps.
Note that this workaround may need to be repeated as and when necessary to restore all your Systray icons.
  1. Open up the Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), then:
  2. click on the "Processes" tab,
  3. select "explorer.exe" and click "End Process".



  4. Now click on the "Applications" tab, and
  5. click "New Task..." at the bottom-right of the window.



  6. In the message box that pops up type in "explorer.exe" (without the quotes)
  7. click "OK".



  8. Explorer.exe will reload, and that's it! The missing icons should now be back in the system-tray where they belong.
Hope this works for you as well as it works for me.
I have subscribed to Colin Cochrane's blog at http://www.colincochrane.com/
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