Creating quick notes with WordPad scraps in Windows XP

Do you often use Notepad to create quick notes to yourself and then save the file on your desktop? While the process is quite simple, there is an alternative that you might want to investigate. This alternative takes advantage of the fact that WordPad can generate and the Desktop can host special OLE objects called scraps.

The benefit is that creating scraps is as easy as a quick drag-and-drop operation--and there's no need for all the steps involved in naming and saving the file.

Here's how to create quick notes with WordPad scraps:

1. Launch WordPad.
2. Create your note.
3. Select/highlight the text.
4. Drag the selection and drop it on your desktop.
5. Close WordPad and click No when prompted to save changes.

Once you drop the selection on your desktop, Windows XP recognizes the selection as an OLE object from WordPad and creates a scrap, complete with a special icon with a default title name of Scrap. To make it easier to recognize, you can rename the scrap. When you want to view your note, just double-click it and WordPad will open the scrap.

Quickly create multiple folders from the command prompt in Windows XP

It's a snap to create a new folder in Windows Explorer--especially if you use the Make A New Folder command in the File And Folder Tasks section of the Explorer Bar. However, if you need to create multiple folders at one time, such as when you're setting up home directories for new users, this procedure can quickly become very tedious.

Fortunately, the Make Directory command line tool has an undocumented feature that will allow you to create multiple folders in one fell swoop. For example, suppose that you need to create folders called One, Two, and Three. To do so with the Make Directory command line tool, open a Command Prompt in the folder in which you need to create these folders and type the command:

MD One Two Three