How to make a Restart tile for Windows 8

I hope you have found last week's post on making a Shutdown tile for Windows 8 useful. (Go here if you missed it.)  As a continuation to that, this week's tip on computers is on making a Restart tile for Windows 8.

As the name suggests, we are now going to make a tile that will show up on Windows 8's flagship feature, the metro user interface, that restarts your system in one click, so you don't have to drill through the settings, or use Alt+F4 on desktop (Especially helpful if your desktop app is not responding! )

To start off, go to desktop, right click anywhere and choose New→Shortcut.

In the window that shows up, type in shutdown -r (NOTE: There is a space between 'shutdown' and '-r')

Click next. The default name given should be 'shutdown.exe'. Change this into any name you like, preferably 'restart.exe' . Click finish.

Optional Step: This step is just for an aesthetic effect. Right click the newly created shortcut, and go to Properties→Shortcut→Change Icon and choose an icon of your choice. I picked an icon that resembled restarting. Click OK.

Now, right click on the newly created shortcut and choose 'Pin to start'. That's it!

The end result, alongside the shutdown tile should look like this:

Hope this helped!

How to make a 'Shutdown' tile for Windows 8

A new way of shutting down windows was one among the many bizarre changes that came with the much celebrated Windows 8 that frustrated long time users of Windows to no end.

While most of us have learned to Alt+F4 our way out of windows by now, instead of going through the multi-click procedure that hides the shutdown button the same way an mobile network provider tries to hide their USSD code for disabling all cash-leeching 'services', its always convenient to have a big fat tile sitting on the Metro UI that is a one-click solution to end your windows woes.

It's cool, it something that not everyone has, and hey-you are doing some (very simple) scripting for this!

Well to start, right click on the desktop, select new → shortcut.

In the window that pops up, type in " shutdown /p". (Don't include the quotes, and there is a space between 'shutdown' and '/p')

Click next. The name already in place now should be 'shutdown.exe'. Change it if you wish, and click 'Finish'.

Now right click on the newly created icon on the desktop, and choose 'Pin to start'.

You are essentially done, but just for an aesthetic effect you might want to change the icon of the shortcut to the shutdown picture through Properties→Shortcut tab→Change icon and choosing the shutdown icon.

And now, the end results should look like this:

Now that's definitely good addition, ain't it? See you again next week!

Splitting PDF files with Google Chrome

It's time for one of those posts that will further reduce your need to download extra softwares or rely on online converters to get something done because you had the necessary equipment in your computer all along. This post shows you how to split PDFs with Google Chrome.

Okay, I know that Google Chrome is a third party software that does not come with your PC, but when you are talking about the most used web browser in the entire world, it is only normal to expect  that you to have it installed.

PDF is one of the most popular file formats in the world, thanks to Adobe and Amazon, and there is a multitude of situations in which you will need to split such files. Huge 800-page books rendering at snail's pace in lower-end smartphones? Ripping off a section for showcasing online? Your problems have been solved. Thank the folks at Google for making such a nice web browser and read on.

The first step, is to open the PDF file in question in Google Chrome (Duh..)

Oh, and open it in the default Chrome PDF Viewer. If you have an alternate PDF viewer plugin installed, disable it by typing in "chrome://plugins/" in the omnibox and disabling every PDF viewer other than Chrome PDF Viewer.

It should look like this:

Then click the print button or hit 'Ctrl+P' on your keyboard.

In the resulting box that pops up, set the destination to 'Save as PDF' and specify the pages that you want to split. Click the save button and specify the location you want to save the file, and you are done!

Hope that helped! Cheers!

How fast can you type? Find out with Speed Typing Online

Ever envied some friends who can blitz through a huge passage in a matter of seconds, with fingers flying all over the keyboard?

Well, there are tons of different websites that offer typing test and training courses, online and offline, paid and free. In these times were nearly every field of work requires some decree of interaction with the computer, whether it be for programming, writing a blog, or simply entering data,  whether it's just a hobby or if the number on the paycheck received at the end of the month is dependent on it, a decent typing speed is essential for everyone in the current world.

Today I shall share with you a simple website that does what it says on the tin : http://www.speedtypingonline.com/typing-test .

This website is simple and efficient. The page loads a test, and just waits for you to enter a key to kick off the timer. The box that displays the passage also shows what you have typed by superimposition, and the mistakes are highlighted in red, allowing you to easily correct them.

Oh, and if the defaults setting fail to appeal, the test time can be altered between 30 seconds and 10 minutes, and the myriad text options vary from random words to short stories that can can be enjoyed not only by typing, but also by reading. It supports multiple keyboard layouts, and shows your typing speed and some other useful information.

If your speed isn't what you expected, try the test once per day and your wpm (Words Per Minute- the unit of typing speed) will shoot up in no time.