Add Items to "Send To" Menu in Windows

Most of the times when we transfer files to a usb pen drive we use the "Send To" feature of windows. This is the most easy way to transfer files instead of copying the file then pasting it in the usb pen drive.

If you often copy files to a particular folder then this trick can be used to copy the files to that folder using the "Send To" menu, similar to the copying to pen drive option.

For this you need to add a item or particularly the folder you copy files to, to the "Send To" menu .

Here is how you do it.

--- You need to see the Hidden files and folders. So if this option is not enabled then go to Tools -->Folder options in explorer. In folder options click on View and look for the show hidden files and folders option and enable it. In Vista hold the Alt key to get the menu bar.

--- Now that you can see the hidden files go to My Computer and then go to C drive (where windows is installed)

--- Now look for Documents and Settings Folder. In that folder double click on your username. In case of Vista you need to take ownership before you can open the folder. Read How to "Take Ownership of folders and Files in Vista". After reading this take ownership of the "Documents and Settings" folder and then the ownership of the "Send To" folder.

--- Now that you can access the "Send To" folder double click on it and then right click in an empty area and select New --> Shortcut.

--- In the windows that comes up click on browse and select the folder you want to add to "Send To" and Click next. In next window, name the folder if you want to or leave it as it is and click Finish.

You created an send to item for that folder. You can check it by right clicking on any files and going to "Send To" menu. Your new folder will be listed there. Just click on it to send the files there.

Similarly you can add Applications to "Send To" menu. Like you can add the Photoshop application for opening image files by right clicking and sending them to Photoshop. This will open the image in photoshop.

Take Ownership of Files and Folders in Vista

In Windows Vista when you try to open certain folders you get "Access Denied" error. Windows gives this error because you don't have the ownership of the file by default instead the system has the ownership. So you are not allowed to open the folders. One such folder is "Documents and Settings" folder.

Now in order to access the contents of these folders you need to take full ownership of them. To take the ownership follow these steps.

--- Right click on the folder you want to take ownership of then go to properties.

--- Now click on the Security tab and then click the Advanced button at the bottom.

--- Now again select the Owner tab in the next windows. There you will see the current owner and also other owners that can be assigned to that folder.

--- Now click on the Edit button. In the next windows that comes up select your username in the 'Change owner to' field. If you see the Replace owner of subcontainers and objects option then tick it.--- Now click Apply and OK on all the dialog boxes that are open. That's it you have taken the ownership of all the contents of the that particular folder.

Sometimes you still get the Access Denied error to some folders within this folder. Just follow the same procedure to take the ownership of that folder also.

Now you can access all your files.

Fix System Files in Vista

Some times when your windows systems starts to give errors the cause may be corrupt windows system files. Many a times when we install third party software they replace some system files which starts the problem. But there is no way to repair these files individually or know which file got corrupted.

Fortunately Microsoft has included an application called System File Checker which does the job of finding these corrupt files and also gives the option to repair them.

There are 2 options that can be used from the SFC.exe application. One option is just to verify if the files are corrupted or not and the other option is to verify and repair those files. Here is what you need to to.

--- Go to Run and type cmd

--- Once cmd is open type sfc /? to see all the options that are provided with it.

--- You can choose the option to verify only by tyoing directly in cmd as follows

sfc /VERIFYONLY

This verifies the files and reports any corrupt files.

--- Other option is sfc /SCANNOW which will verify and then repair the corrupt files.

--- For replacing any file you will be asked to insert the Windows CD/DVD and sfc will continue its work. Progress bar will show the work being done.

That's it your systems files will be restored to original.

This will also work with earlier versions of windows. Like for fixing system files in Windows Xp and more