How to pin shortcut or a batch file to Windows 7 Taskbar?

I installed (in this case just extracted files to some folder) great Windows console replacement caled Cmder. When you want to run it you click on Cmder.bat file. I added it to my PATH system variable but I also wanted to pin it on my taskbar. I was quite surprised when I kept dragging the icon to my taskbar and Windows 7 didn’t offer me “Pin to taskbar” option! What gives?

Apparently you can’t pin shortcuts or a batch file to the new Windows 7 Taskbar.

So here is a quick workaround. Let say you extracted it to the folder C:\cmder\Cmder.bat

  1. Open the folder, right click on Cmder.bat file and select “Create shortcut”.
  2. Right click on newly created shortcut and select properties.
  3. Target: input box will contain this text: C:\cmder\Cmder.bat. Replace it with C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C "C:\cmder\Cmder.bat". Don’t forget the quotes.

Save it and now you can drag it to your taskbar 🙂

Again, my Cmder is in C:\cmder\Cmder.bat folder. If you put yours in different folder you have to use your folder in step 3.

Create a WiFi hotspot in Windows 7 and share Internet connection

If you don’t have WiFi router you can still share your internet connection via your PC. I was using connectify.me software and it did the job but it felt bulky,it disconnected at random times (free version) and my laptop fan was on full speed all the time,which was slowing down my PC. I was very surprised when I learned how easy it is to do it by yourself (on windows 7 at least). All you need to do is enter few commands and enable ICS and that’s it! What is great is that you can use this connection with your Nexus 7 or any other smartphone.

1. Click Start and type cmd, then right click cmd.exe and select “run as Administrator”:
cmd run as administrator

2. Run this command (I used “My net” as SSID and “elcoderino” as pass so replace it with your values)

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow "ssid=My net" "key=elcoderino" keyUsage=persistent

This will create “Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport adapter” and will also set up your hostednetwork. Now you need to enable Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) or Network Bridging for this new adapter (don’t worry, it is just few clicks. I enabled ICS connection but you can also bridge networks)

3. Now you simply start or stop new hosted network with these commands (please keep in mind that cmd.exe needs to be “run as administrator” – check step 1)

// to start hostednetwork type
netsh wlan start hostednetwork
// to stop hostednetwork type
netsh wlan stop hostednetwork 

and that’s it! You should now have a working WiFi hotspot! Try connecting with your smartphone or tablet. Why install or even pay for the software when you can have it with few simple steps?

Small font of command window (cmd) on Windows 7

Every now and then when I start the command prompt on Windows 7 (Click on Start and type cmd) it opens in a very  small window. The font and command prompt (cmd.exe) are so small that it is unreadable. To fix this follow these simple steps:

1. Right click anywhere in the  top bar (or left click on that small thumbnail in top left) of the small command prompt window and select  “Properties”.

Command prompt properties

2. Click the Font tab and simply select the font size you like and click OK . I use 7 x 12 font size and Raster Fonts.

font properties command prompt