If you have an .xlsx file attachment in your email inbox but the computer has no Office 2007 to open that extension, what are the available options?

The xlsx files is the default extension for spreadsheets written in Microsoft Office Excel 2007. You can’t open the files in Excel previous versions. However, you can easily convert .xlsx spreadsheet to the traditional .xls format using the Microsoft Office compatibility Pack available here. This will help you open, edit, and save .xlsx files in Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003. More details on Office 2007 FAQ.

Alternatively, you can convert .xlsx to .xls or other text formats online using the Zamzar.com. Unlike the Microsoft compatibility pack, the Zamzar .xlsx to .xls conversion services will not require a copy of Microsoft Office on your computer.

And if you have OpenOffice, Zamzar can also convert the XLSX file to OpenDocument spreadsheet format.

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This tip is absolutely and completely useless, and will even make applications that depend on timestamps have issues. It’s mostly just to be used as a cool trick you can show off to your friends, so we’re going to show you how it works.

The way this trick works is by modifying the regional settings for the time format. Instead of using just AM or PM, you can put up to 12 characters of text in that field.

Start by opening Regional and Language Options from the start menu search box or the control panel.

On the Formats tab you’ll see the “Customize this format” button, which you’ll need to choose.

Select the Time tab, and then here’s where we can make whatever settings we want.

I chose to set mine to “AM – Geek” so I could still see AM or PM, but you can choose any 12 characters for either field. Keep in mind that the PM symbol is only going to display during the “PM” hours.

This does change more than just the displayed clock, so I’d advise not using this on a computer you do actual work on. Using the F5 key in notepad shows the “Geek” text as well:

It’s one of those things that’s interesting to know… just not very useful. It does work in XP as well

If you are annoyed with Windows popping up a balloon notification telling you things you already know every time you turn on your machine, here is a quick tip on completely disabling them.  (Note this requires a registry modification so be sure to back up your registry before making any changes.)

You should note that this will disable all balloon notifications, so proceed with caution.

Click on Start \ Run and type in regedit

Now we will navigate to this path in your registry.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

On the right pane right click on an open area and choose New \ DWORD Value

You will see New Value #1.  Change this to EnableBalloonTips.

Next double click the new registry entry you created.  In the Value Data field set it to 0 (zero).  Make sure Hexadecimal is selected under Base.  Click OK.

Finally restart your system and enjoy the clean boot up with no balloons popping up at you.

To remove this registry hack, just delete the registry key that you created.

Has it ever bothered you that there isn’t an obvious way to remove the previous items in the Run box in Windows? It’s often very useful, of course… but if you are just a little bit paranoid you might want to clean out that list on occasion.

Of course there are many cleaner applications that will do this for you, but we’ll explain how to do it manually.

Clear Recent Run Dialog Entries Through Regedit

Open up regedit.exe through the start menu run box, and then navigate down to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU

You’ll see all your recent commands on the right, and you can delete any of the keys that contain your commands. You’ll have to logoff and then back on, but the list should be clean.

Note that this will also work for Windows Vista’s Run dialog, although most people have switched to using the search box instead.

Completely Clear Recent Run Dialog Entries The Easier Way

Reader Ayush pointed out a much more easy solution that this registry hack-happy geek overlooked.

Right-click on the taskbar and choose Properties, then choose Start Menu.

Select the “Classic Start menu” option, and choose the Customize button. (Don’t worry, we’ll cancel out of the dialogs so you can keep the XP menu style)

Now just click the Clear button to remove all of the recent documents and applications from the start menu.

Once you’ve done that, hit Cancel and then Cancel again to make sure you don’t switch to the Classic Start menu.

Note that this method will clear out everything… so if you just want to remove a single entry you need to use the registry hack method.