The myth of refreshing the desktop

"Do you refresh your desktop?". Ask this to any Windows user and 99% of them will reply with a "yes". Of course, there are various needs for refreshing the desktop but the majority of people who does it doesn't even know why he is doing it. Refreshing the desktop is perhaps the biggest computer myth among all Windows users.

Every single person I have met does this or at least used to do it. It's not known who first discovered this remarkably useless trick and what he achieved from it, but it just spread. Most new users learn this trick from other new users without caring to know what it does. Some do it devotedly just because others do it, while some others have various weird explanations for it. A few of them assumes that it refreshes the RAM, while some others believe that doing it will somehow keep their PCs running smooth and easy. I have seen some users obsessed with refreshing the desktop, doing it every 30 seconds or so. They have even learnt the keyboard shortcut - F5 (just to mention, these are the people who never use keyboard shortcuts). They would press the key and wouldn't release it for a long time, sending the desktop into a frenzy of refreshes.

What does a desktop refresh actually do? Refreshing the desktop simply redraws the icons on the desktop. That's it! It doesn't refreshes the RAM. It doesn't clean your PC. It doesn't refreshes your computer the way it does to you when you wake up from a nap. Refreshing the desktop has absolutely no effect on the working or performance of the computer. So why is the tool there? As I said, refresh is used to re-display or redraw the icons on the desktop. Sometimes when you bring some changes to the desktop icons, the change doesn't get reflected instantly. In such cases, refreshing the desktop becomes necessary to bring the change to effect. Say, you have the desktop icons set to arrange themselves alphabetically on your desktop. When you add a new item to the desktop, this item wouldn't get arranged alphabetically, instead it would appear at the bottom of icon list on the desktop, irrespective of it's name. Now if you refresh the desktop, all the icons would be once more arranged alphabetically and the newly added item would go to it's appropriate position. This is what refresh is for. It is to re-display the desktop. Refresh has the same function when done in explorer.

So, if you are in the habit of refreshing the desktop, stop it. You are just wasting your time and effort. And the next time you see a person doing it, don't forget to explain to him the futility of this action.

Original Article: http://www.instantfundas.com/2008/02/myth-of-refreshing-desktop.html

Sunday, December 21, 2008 | posted in F5 key, refresh desktop, the myth | 1 comments [ More ]

A remote control for my PC

Inspired by the XP MCE, I decided to have a remote for my PC so that I can skip thru the channels easily and my mouse would be happy J

Googling, I got many matches for my idea. One has a usb interface with the ATtiny13 Microcontroller chip. Its hardware part was simple but programming a chip was not so easy for me as in our lab. I noticed the backend software used in it – LIRC [http://www.lirc.org] . It is a IR transceiver compiled for Linux developed for the same purpose. From the lirc homepage I got the windows version of it - WinLIRC. It demands only a simple receiver section with RS232 interface [http://cmail.info.kuzbass.net/%7Enav/WinLIRC.htm].

IC1 – 78L05 voltage regulator

IC2 – TSOP1738 IR receiver

C1 – 4.7uF

R1 – 4.7K

D1 – IN4148

And a Serial plug

The circuit part is over and for software I used the WinLIRC server and used VB6 for my customized software.

To use WinLIRC from VB, I used the code from Martin Kubik jim@jtan.com

Include the Microsoft Winsock Control 5.0 Components an Create an Object like Winsock1. Open connection to the WinLIRC Server like in the Form_Load() Procedure. Since now, the open was O.K, you can receive messages with the Winsock1_DataArrival() Procedure. Every time WinLIRC recognizes a remote key it will be send to all connected (max. 6) programs. In this case the Winsock1_DataArrival() will be called if data is received from WinLIRC.

Private Sub Form_Load()

    Dim strLocalIP As String

    strLocalIP = Winsock1.LocalIP

    Winsock1.Protocol = sckTCPProtocol

    Winsock1.RemoteHost = strLocalIP

    Winsock1.RemotePort = 8765

    Winsock1.Connect

End Sub

Private Sub Winsock1_DataArrival(ByVal bytesTotal As Long)

    Dim strData As String

    Dim strRemoteHex, strRemoteName, strRemoteKey As String

    Dim intRemoteIdx, intSeperatorOne, intSeperatorTwo As Integer

    Winsock1.GetData strData, vbString

    Text1.Text = strData    'Messagestring from WinLirc

    strRemoteHex = Left(strData, 16)

    intRemoteIdx = Val(Mid$(strData, 18, 2))

    intSeperatorOne = InStr(21, strData, " ", vbBinaryCompare)

    strRemoteKey = Mid$(strData, 21, intSeperatorOne - 21) 'Code of the Key from Remote Control

    intSeperatorTwo = InStr(intSeperatorOne, strData, Chr(10), vbBinaryCompare)

    strRemoteName = Mid$(strData, intSeperatorOne + 1, (intSeperatorTwo - intSeperatorOne) - 1) 'Name of the Key - defined in WinLircServer

    Text2.Text = "KEY:" & strRemoteKey & " Control:" & strRemoteName

End Sub

Sending commands should be as simple as:

    Dim sendstr As String

    Dim password, remotename, buttonname As String

    sendstr = (password & " " & remotename & " " & buttonname & " " & times_to_repeat & vbLf)

    Winsock1.SendData (sendstr)

times_to_repeat is an optional parameter the default value is "0"

I didn't find the remote configuration file for my Thomson ColorTrack TV Remote from that long list on their site. So I had to introduce every button of the remote to the WinLIRC and it made the config file.

I can now even shut down my computer from my bed! Its all simple trix of the technology.

Friday, January 18, 2008 | posted in | 0 comments [ More ]