====== Windows tips and tricks ======

  * For a list of system variables, such as $HOME etc. see these links here:
    * [[http://windowsitpro.com/systems-management/what-environment-variables-are-available-windows|WindowsITpro]]
    * [[https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749104(v=WS.10).aspx|Microsoft TechNet]]
    * Home dir equates somehow to ''%HOMEPATH%'' or ''%USERPROFILE%''
    * Wikipedia Env Var is also helpful: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_variable]]
  * Win10: Disable  folders being automatically shown in the "Quick Access" section of the Win Explorer window: Open an explorer Window -> File -> Change folder and search options -> Uncheck the "Show frequently used folders in Quick Access". Source: [[https://www.howtogeek.com/219936/how-to-disable-quick-access-in-file-explorer-on-windows-10/|Howtogeek.com]]
  * Win10: How to get a Window that is off screen to display on the main monitor again: alt-tab to application, then press <key>alt</key>+<key>space</key>+<key>n</key> to either move or maximise the lost window. Another alternative is to use <key>alt</key>+<key>space</key>+<key>m</key> and then either use the mouse or the arrow keys to move the window to the main screen [[https://www.techjunkie.com/find-recover-off-screen-window-windows-10/|via TechJunkie.com]].




===== Setting your $PATH =====

[[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9546324/adding-directory-to-path-environment-variable-in-windows#9546345|Stackoverflow]] to the rescue here:

  set PATH=%PATH%;C:\xampp\php
 
This adds the part after the semicolon to the ''$PATH'' environment variable in  a current terminal/console window. To set the path permanently:

  setx path "%path%;C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin\"

But this can apparently truncate your ''$PATH'' variable to 1024 characters:

> ''SETX'' truncates the resulting PATH to its first 1024 characters, with the message "WARNING: The data being saved is truncated to 1024 characters." Execute ''ECHO %PATH%'' and save its output somewhere safe beforehand.

To overcome the 1024-char limit see [[http://superuser.com/questions/387619/overcoming-the-1024-character-limit-with-setx|this post on Superuser.com]].

Print the content of the ''%PATH%'' variable using Powershell - type ''$env:PATH''

===== Command line use =====

  * [[https://superuser.com/questions/246825/open-file-from-the-command-line-on-windows|Open afile]] from the command line: simply type ''filename.ext''(e.g. ''test.svg'').
  * [[https://howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/stupid-geek-tricks-open-an-explorer-window-from-the-command-prompts-current-directory|Open an explorer window]] from the command line: type ''start .'' 


===== Backups =====

There are various ways to back up the user parts of Windows using command line tools. One of the native ways is to use [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/robocopy|robocopy]]. That comes with various options 

Some links to helpful pages:

  * [[https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-quickly-back-up-just-your-data-in-windows-10-with-robocopys-multi-threaded-feature/|techrepublic - win 10 backup]]
  * [[https://datahamster.com/2018/03/30/using-robocopy-to-create-a-windows-backup/|data hamster]]
  * [[https://superuser.com/questions/314503/what-does-robocopy-mean-by-tweaked-lonely-and-extra/445137#445137]]
  * [[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40744335/how-do-i-force-robocopy-to-overwrite-files#40750265]]


====== Having fun with M$ software ======

here's my personal, completely subjective list of reasons why I think some of Microsoft's products are inefficient and painful to use.  

  * MS Outlook - Decreasing the quote level is not possible - see: [[https://superuser.com/questions/224138/breaking-the-outlook-2010-e-mail-blue-quote-line-for-inline-responses#257518|this SuperUser thread]]. An email application that requires more than 15 seconds of search in an email application to simply decrease the quote levels?? I guess no surprises if MS Word is used as email editor... Hilariously, someone had to wrote an add-in to fix that functionality. A quote from the [[https://superuser.com/questions/224138/breaking-the-outlook-2010-e-mail-blue-quote-line-for-inline-responses#257518|this SuperUser thread]]: //As far as I'm aware, though, there is no way to deal with this problem unless you install an addin to do it, because this is essentially caused by a bug in Microsoft Word's conversion of documents to HTML (which needs to happen before you send an Outlook HTML e-mail).//m(