USE GODMODE TO MAKE WINDOWS SUIT YOU
1 Schedule almost anything Want your PC to perform a specific action at a particular time of day – like turn itself off at night, for example? Windows Task Scheduler tool lets you automate a wide range of actions and specify the precise conditions required for them to be carried out. We use it all the time, but for some reason Microsoft has buried it deep within Windows. Thankfully, it’s easy to access using Godmode – just click ‘Schedule tasks’ in the Administrative Tools section.
To schedule a common action, such as starting a program, sending an email or displaying a message, click Create Basic Task on the right, then follow the instructions to name the task, choose a trigger (a specific time or event) and select an action. To shut down your PC at night, for example, select Daily as your trigger, then click Next. Enter the time of day you want your PC to switch off and click Next again. Select ‘Start a program’ as your action and click Next. Then under Program/script, click Browse, navigate to C:\windows\system32 and double-click shutdown.exe (see screenshot above right). In the ‘Add arguments (optional)’ box, type -s-f -t 0.
Not all tasks require this many steps, but the shutdown command needs to tell Windows you want to shut down your PC immediately at the time you specified (without showing a warning screen that would stall the process). Click Next, then Finish to save the setting. 2 Create your own special characters or fonts Windows comes with dozens of fonts. But what if you’re looking for something specific and none of these suit your needs? Windows has a built-in tool that will let you create your very own custom fonts.
Private Character Editor has been around since XP and is possibly one of the most overlooked Windows tools – even the operating system itself seems to have forgotten it’s there. Thanks to Godmode, however, you can find it easily in the Fonts section. Open the tool, then click a blank square in the Select Code box and click OK.
You’ll now see a grid. Using the Pencil, Line, Shape and Eraser tools on the left, you can either design a character from scratch, or you can click Edit and Copy Character to select a base character that you can adapt (see screenshot below left). Getting the right look can be tricky, but when you’ve finished, click File, Font Links, then select ‘Link with All Fonts’ and click OK. To insert your new character into a document, click Start, type character and open the Character Map. Select All Fonts (Private Characters) from the Font dropdown menu, then select your character, click Copy and paste it into your document. 3 Manage and back up saved passwords Not many people realise that Windows has a built-in password manager. Called Credential Manager, it stores encrypted versions of online logins saved by Internet Explorer (and Edge on Windows 10), as well as other log-in details, such as for Skype accounts, Microsoft Office subscriptions, network passwords and more. To view these, back them up for safekeeping or delete them (if you’d rather use another password manager, for example). Double-click Manage Windows Credentials under Credential Manager in Godmode.
To create a new entry (so that you automatically log into a website the next time you visit it in Internet Explorer or Edge), click ‘Add a Windows credential’. Type the website’s URL into the ‘Internet or network address’ box (www.gmail.com, for example), then enter your username and password and click OK. Note: this won’t affect Chrome, Firefox or other browsers.
To back up your saved passwords, click ‘Back up Credentials’ (Windows 10) or ‘Back up vault’ (Windows 7) and follow the on-screen instructions. To change or delete an existing login, click Windows Credentials or Web Credentials (Windows 10 only), then click an item in the list, then click Edit or Remove. 4 Include Zip files when searching your PC By default, Windows completely ignores the contents of ZIP files when you search your PC. To change this, and get more comprehensive search results in general, click ‘Change search options for files and folders’ in Godmode’s Folder Options section, then tick the box next to ‘Include compressed files (ZIP, CAB…)’ and click OK (see screenshot left).
5 Get instant access to Magnifier and Narrator Godmode provides a speedy way to get to useful accessibility tools that otherwise can be fiddly to locate. Open Godmode and you’ll find all 26 of Windows’ accessibility tools listed in the ‘Ease of Access’ section. However, you can make it even easier to access the tools you need.
Let’s say you often use Magnifier. Right-click the ‘Magnify portions of the screen using Magnifier’ entry and select ‘Create shortcut’ (see screenshot right). Click Yes if you see a prompt, and you’ll now have a dedicated shortcut to the Magnifier on your desktop. This trick works for all Godmode’s tools. And you can also create mini-godmode shortcuts for groups of tools – see the box on page 55 for more. 6 Stay safe by letting Windows monitor your programs Another scandalously under-used Windows feature is Data Execution Prevention (DEP), which helps to protect your PC from malware by monitoring programs to make sure they use memory safely. If Windows detects that a program is using your PC’S memory in a suspicious way it will automatically shut the program down and display a warning.
By default, DEP is only activated for essential Windows programs and services, but you can enable DEP for any programs you want. To do this, open Godmode, scroll to System, then click ‘Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows’. In the window that opens, click the Data Execution Prevention tab and tick the ‘Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select’.
It’s worth noting that not all programs are Dep-compatible – especially older ones. And enabling DEP for all programs may cause some of your tools to close down unexpectedly, even if they’re safe. To get around this, click Add, then browse to the program’s ‘.exe’ file – usually in C:\program Files – and click Open. Click OK when you’re finished. This will stop DEP monitoring that particular program, letting it run unhindered. 7 Add a clock for a different time zone If you have friends or family abroad, it’s good to know what their local time is, so that you don’t inadvertently Skype them at 3am. Godmode offers a quick way to add an international clock to your taskbar.
Double-click ‘Add clocks for different time zones’ in the ‘Date and Time’ section, then tick the top ‘Show this clock’ box and select the time zone you want from the dropdown menu. Give the clock a recognisable name – New York, say, or ‘Bob and Justine’, then click OK (see screenshot above right). To view your second clock, move your mouse over the time in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen (but don’t click). You’ll see the name you typed for your clock and the current time in that time zone. 8 Show hidden folders and recover lost files By default, Windows hides certain folders, because it doesn’t trust us not to muck up those files that are crucial to Windows working properly. But there are occasions when you’ll need to access some of these folders – such as the Appdata folder ( C:\users\youruser Name\appdata). This can often contain junk you’ll want to remove, or important data you’ll want to back up. Microsoft Office programs like Word, for example, store Autorecover versions of your documents in the C:\users\ Youruser Name\appdata\roaming\microsoft\ folder, letting you restore documents lost after a crash or an accidental deletion. But you won’t be able to find any Autorecover files if the Appdata folder is hidden.
To make hidden system folders visible, click ‘Show hidden files and folders’ under File Explorer Options (Windows 10) or Folder Options (Windows 7) in the Godmode panel. Then click the ‘Show hidden files, folders and drives’ option and click OK. 9 Switch from double-clicking to single-clicking Many Windows users prefer to open programs using a single-click, rather than a double-click. But if you’re sharing a PC with someone who prefers to doubleclick, then it’s useful to have a quick way to switch between the two different methods. Godmode offers an instant link to this setting (you’ll find it listed as ‘Specify single- or double-click to open’) under File Explorer Options (Windows 10) or Folder Options (Windows 7). For even quicker access, use the right-click trick we explained earlier (Tip 5) to add a shortcut to the single- or double-click setting to the desktop.