No matter which flavour of Windows OS you use, you are bound to get some really unnecessary shortcuts lying in the corner of that desktop. Here we list some of them, and this is a topic open for discussion.

1. Adobe Acrobat Reader

Really, who needs this shortcut. When was the last time you opened up Adobe Acrobat Reader, and then hit Open PDF. This also applies to other PDF readers.

2. Briefcase

So, this is like a Dropbox for the offline world. Totally unnecessary.

3.Show Desktop

You are already there. Why need it?

4.IE6 (or any other version of IE)

Well, ok so this one is from a Mozilla/Chrome fan. So the only time I had to use IE was to download Mozilla/Chrome.

5. AOL

No one uses AOL IM anymore. And even if someone did, with GMail integration, this one is about to be lost in the every deep recesses of technological oblivion.

6.Terrible SW: Real Player/Bonzai Buddy/Quicktime Player

Self explanatory isn’t it. Who uses them anyway?

7.Printer

Similar to the Adobe Acrobat Reader, we just print documents from the document window itself, rather than turning on the Printer from the official HP/Canon printer application.

So, the verdict is: <insert drumroll>

I respect you, Internet Explorer shortcut, and Imma let you finish, but Adobe Reader 9 shortcut is one of the most unneeded shortcuts of all time.

Kindly leave your thoughts, suggestions for additions to this list, and comments below.

So, what has been making rounds in the GMail activity center. These people are in the hub of action and have been rolling out some really cool stuff. First things first- Multiple Inbox. No, it is not what it sounds like.GMail still doesn’t allow associating different GMail IDs to one.  Multiple Inbox enables users to access different tabs of Inbox in the same page. Hence, you would be able to check your Chats, Sent Messages or your favorite Labels all in the same page. Just have a look at the Screen below.

The number of messages that are to be displayed, and even the position of the ‘Inbox’ can be configured in the Settings section for Multiple Inbox. To enable Multiple Inbox, go to the Labs section of GMail and Enable it. Further, to change what is to be displayed in your Inbox, you can do this by changing what is written against Pane 0, Pane 1 etc. For e.g. for my label “Blogosphere” to be displayed, I have written in the text box beside Pane 0 as- is:blogosphere. Further, the position of the Multiple Inboxes to be displayed can be adjusted conveniently to -right of Inbox, above or below the inbox. For peeps not using a Widescreen Monitor, I believe that Above or Below the Inbox is more neat and tidy.  [ via GMailBlog ]

Also announced is the new feature to sync your GMail contacts and calenders in your phone. A new version of Google Sync has been released which enables syncing easier for iPhones and Windows Mobile. For the entire list of instructions please visit the GMail Blog post.

Now this is a very basic tip that involves editing values in the Registry. So, if you are not game enough to play with the Registry, I’d suggest stay out. But if you are willing to have a faster shutdown, read on. Go to Run [ Windows +r, or start Menu ,Run]. And then, type ‘regedit’ ( withouth the quotes) to go to the registry editor.

Now go and expand the explorer folder that reads :HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

Next go to the tree structure to its child elements to SYSTEM, and then CURRENTCONTROLSET and inside it select Control.

[In case you didn't follow that, the entire path is :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CURRENTCONTROLSET/Control]

Now on the right side, you will see a file called WaitToKillServiceTimeOut. By default, the value set for it is 20,000. To accelerate the shutdown speed change it to something smaller than 20,000. May be 1000 or any number dear to you. And voila! Jobs done and you will sure notice the difference.

But yeah, please try it at your own risk, and do know how to undo it, incase the shutdown speed is a bit too fast for your taste.

Yes, you read that right. And that is possible. Any type of file, any extension, any number and any size can be secretly embedded in a JPEG image. We’ll show you how. So, how will it be when it is embedded? The image will still exist and will show the properties of the original image file. As in, you’ll be able to view the image as well as view its thumbnail etc. The only difference is in the shell menu , where you’ll be having an extra option to Extract your JPG file which will extract the hidden files in the JPG. Here’s how to do it.

Now, first have your secret files ready. Whatever you want to hide in that one random picture. Select all of them and zip them using a normal archiving software like Winzip, Winrar etc. Once that is done, let’s say the archive file is Secret.rar, and the JPG file is Normal.JPG in which the files are to be hidden. Keep them in a single folder. Now go to the Run prompt (Windows +R) and type cmd to go to the command prompt. Change the directory to go the folder where you have the archive file and the JPG image. (You know how to do that, right?)

So we are here now. Type the following command. Say we are in a folder “2hide” in the C: drive. So the command would be:

C:\2hide> COPY /B <image name> + <archive> <new filename JPG image>

e.g. here it would be, C:\2hide> COPY /B Normal.jpg + Secret.rar newNormal.jpg

And press enter. We are done with the command prompt so type exit to say goodbye. Now you can go ahead and delete the original files, except for the newly formed Image. Right click on it , and you’ll now get the option of extracting it. Extract the image to get the hidden files. Of course, you can go to higher levels of hiding by walking the extra mile of compressing over and over again with different extensions and then adding it to the image. Or even, deleting the initial bytes from the header in a Hex editor. But do remember to save the deleted line in a notepad and save it in a safe place.

So, how was that?