There’s more than a few tweaking programs or registry edit tips out there to add the option of opening the selected folder (directory) in Explorer within the Command Prompt window but there is a much simpler way to do this in Windows 7 (and apparently Vista as well).
Continue reading Simple access to the Command Prompt in Explorer »
Skydrive is Microsoft`s attempt to bring cloud storage to Windows users desktop with 25GB of free online storage. As well the company is integrating the service into just about everything as evidenced with Office 2010. Just about everything it seems can be connected to your Skydrive account: photos, Favorites, and Office Web Apps are among the supported programs.
Before accessing your Skydrive account usually meant having to log in through your browser but now thanks to Gladinet you can hook into not only your Skydrive account but a whole list of cloud file storage services through Windows Explorer.
Whether you choose the free edition or the professional release you will at the very least be able to manage your Skydrive account as a mounted drive in Explorer. I have installed the Starter Edition to have a look around and once you install Gladinet it performs as promised.
Step 1 – Install and select what you want to do
To add your Skydrive account as a mounted drive select the second option here. As you can see there are other things besides just hooking into your cloud provider. Unfortunately most of them are only available in the Professional version as you can see by the menu for the notification tray access.
Step Two – Select cloud service
As you can see from the drop down list Gladinet supports the following cloud file storage services:
Step 3 – Windows Explorer
Once you have added your Skydrive account you will be able to open up Explorer (or it will open up automatically once you have added the connector) and access your files in your Skydrive account just as if they were local.
Step 4 – Adding a new cloud provider as a mounted drive
Now if you want to add any of the other supported cloud file storage services just select My Gladinet Drive in Explorer and then double click on “Click to mount [cloud storage].gvd” which will then display the Mounting Virtual Directory dialog where you can select the provider you want to add.
For a full listing of the differences between the Starter Edition and the Professional Edition check out the comparison page on the Gladinet site but to give you an idea here short list of the additional things that comes in the Pro edition
At the current special of $39.99 I’ve added it to my next month’s “software to buy” list so hopefully the price will still be good then.
Of all the software I use on my computer I would have to say that when I’m not using Chrome or VLC chances are that I have Explorer open on the desktop doing something. The only problem is that the version of Explorer in Vista is a piece of crap. It never seems to remember its screen position of window size between restarts of the program. It doesn’t matter what you do it never remember the view setting for different folders even though I have set specific folders I always use to a specific view type more times than I care to count.
It never fails that every time I open up Explorer I am having to reselect the view I was for a folder, I am having to move it from the default start up position on the desktop and I’m having to re-size the window. I’m not kidding in the least when I say I almost dread having to use the damn piece of crap. I honestly can’t believe that they let this irritating piece of crap program go gold.
Now it’s not that previous versions of Explorer were all the great either but at least those versions were able to remember their settings – at least for the most part. The idea that an integral program to the operating system can’t even keep some of the simplest settings between uses is just plain ridiculous. So I think the time has come to give Explorer the boot and check out some alternatives to it. Any suggestions of replacements for Explorer will be appreciated. Just leave a comment with a link for me to follow and I’ll definitely give them a tryout.
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