This is the start of a new series of articles here at Inspect My Gadget. While most how-to articles you will find on this site will help you to be more productive, it’s sometimes fun to plant a practical joke on your work mates computer. You’ll have them pulling their hair out and screaming at their computer while you work quietly nearby. 

None of these articles will damage your computer or expose you to viruses, and they will all be easy to revert the computer back to it’s previous state, at least, after a few laughs.

I will start with an old favourite. This is sure to trick many as the effect is almost flawless. The only noticeable clue is that the clock in the tasktray will not change.

The result:

• The desktop will appear untouched.
• The start Menu will not work.
• None of the default icons on the desktop will work.
• It will take around 30 seconds to return the computer back to it’s fully working state.

Read on to find out how to make this happen, and how to restore the system quickly before you get decked.

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If you are reinstalling your system, it is often a pain to dig out your old software packaging, especially if you keep all your disks in a binder. What would you need the old packaging for? The product keys for Windows and the other various applications you want to reinstall. There are also situations when the flimsy OEM sticker has fallen off your computer and your cat has run off with it.

Keyfinder 2.0 will list a number of your product keys currently used on your system. These keys are usually hidden. You can then save the product keys into a text file or print them out. It is designed mostly to grab Microsoft software such as their Windows and Office ranges.

This program has been around for quite some time, but it has recently been completely rewritten. This is a new version with support for some more current software.  Keyfinder 2.0 Beta 3 is available for free from Magic Jelly Bean Software. It’s worth a look just for the name.

I recently read an article over at gizmodo about a Colorlight DVD which rotates through a collection of flat colours on your TV. This can be used for setting the mood of your room, effectively making your TV work as a mood light. If you like a colour, you can pause the DVD and the colour would remain.

I liked the idea and thought this was nice. I could imagine it next to my LED eggs and lava lamps. The only problem was the cost of $US25 which I thought was way too much money for something this simple.

I thought there must be a PC version out there for free, so I searched everywhere but came up with nothing. It was time to learn how to code in VB.NET. I hadn’t coded since qbasic days but I thought this would be a good project to get my coding eye back in.

After fiddling for a few hours I came up with what I call Moody Hues which behaves in the same way that the DVD would, only this time on your computer. This is an initial release which I am unsure if I will take further. That depends on the response.

Currently there are only a few things I would like to add to this program; Dual monitor support, a speed controller of some type and I would like to set it up so it can run as a screensaver.

There are not many options in the program, which makes it really easy to use. Click on the screen to pop up the controls, press the anykey to pause.

While I don’t think there will be many bugs as the program is very simple, this is my first attempt at coding in this language so use it with caution. I have tested it on three machines (both XP and Vista) with complete success. You may need the .Net framework from Microsoft.

The package is in zip form, run setup.exe and the program will install shortcuts in your start menu without prompting. If you want to remove it, this be done through Add/Remove Programs. I don’t know how to make it any tidier at this stage.

Download it for free from Inspect My Gadget. Feel free to share it around.

When I first played with Vista, I found the sidebar to be an annoyance which took up valuable desktop property. As time has gone on, I am using it more and more. This is mostly because there are a lot more worthwhile gadgets available than when I first started using it. It is now becoming quite useful to have.

Logitech has a new range of Vista Sidebar Gadgets available from their website. All of the Gadgets mentioned here can also be used as Yahoo! Widgets. Each of these tools are related to keyboards. Best of all, you don’t need a Logitech keyboard for them to work. I am using a Microsoft cordless keyboard and all of the gadgets worked fine.

Key Lock Status Gadget: Cordless keyboards generally don’t have LEDs in them to tell you when your num/caps/scroll locks are active or inactive. This is often the job of the receiver. You are able to get software that shows a popup on your screen, but these fade away, clog up the tasktray or look really ugly.

This gadget from Logitech sits in your sidebar and shows you the state of your keyboard. The response time is a little slow (around 1 second) but it looks nice and is always visible.

If you like that, it’s just the beginning of what Logitech has for us…

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In Linux there is (and has been for as long as I can remember), a feature in which you can have multiple desktops/workspaces that you are able to switch between. This is ideal for organising your running programs. I like using workspaces so that I can have one workspace for work, and another for play. WindowsPager is the ultimate boss key!

Microsoft has not responded to this well used feature, with anything that is worthwhile for Windows. They did release a powertoy which serves the purpose, but it shows numbers as the workspace icons, rather than showing what is actually in the workspace.

There are a number of freeware and shareware options which will allow you to have multiple workspaces in Windows. I have tested a number of them, and found them to be much larger and complex than they need to be, yet they are still not as functional as the switcher built into a Linux operating system. I wanted a program that was small, functional and easy to use.

WindowsPager is a new project hosted at SourceForge and it has come a long way in a short time. It sits snuggly in your taskbar. There are four squares (by default), each representing an individual workspace. It looks the same as the Linux switcher, and it is just as easy to use.  To switch workspaces, click on the workspace you want to go to. To move an application from one workspace to another, drag the icon of it to another workspace.

WindowsPager has been working well for me since version 0.8. WindowsPager 0.10 has just been released. All the releases are currently alpha releases, so bugs are to be expected. There are some obvious bugs here and there, but as it continues in development, we can look forward to added functionality and stability. I am finding that it is much more valuable for me to have a buggy version of it, than nothing at all.

There are a couple of limitations. You cannot drag a window from one workspace to another using the title bar. Saying that, I have not come across a Windows workspace switcher that can do this. There is also no dual screen support. It does work with dual screens, but only the preferred screen will be shown.

If you have trouble getting this to work properly, an initial restart may well help you. To have WindowsPager load at startup, create a shortcut to it in the startup folder of your start menu.

I am very excited about this project. Get your copy for free from Sourceforge.