Fun Tablet Tricks

Finding more and more interesting things about my Tablet as I explore. Some of these aren’t related directly to the Tablet per se, but are just things I’ve found while dinking around. They should work for anyone using an Nvidia video card, actually.

If you want to use the latest Nvidia drivers on your Tablet (or at least, on the M4), visit LaptopVideo2Go. You can download the latest driver, but don’t forget to download Pieter’s modified INF file. This provides what is usually a desktop video driver with information about the mobile cards (like my 6600 Go). But there’s one more thing you need to do. Open the INF file in Notepad, and find the line that reads …

HKR,, RotateFlag, %REGDWORD%, 4

Change the “4” to “0x40”. Save the file, and when you extract the new driver, replace the INF file with the one you just modified. Then install the driver using this INF. This will give you the most recent drivers, and will maintain the ability to rotate the screen properly.

Now that you’re using the new Nvidia drivers. Right-click the Desktop, Properties, Settings, Advanced. On the GeForce tab, you’ll see a “flyout” menu. Here, you can make changes to your PowerMizer settings, but what we’re after is Desktop Management. Click this listing, then click the “Enable” button. Open up this tree, and you’ll see more options you can play with.

The fun ones are things like the Windows branch, which includes a toggle for preventing windows from opening off-screen (a personal pet peeve), and snapping the edges of your windows to part of the screen. You can also make it so Dialog boxes are automatically repositioned to the center of the screen (or to another location). When you’re using a stylus, your arm can get tired, especially on a big 14” screen. Keeping your hand in one place helps a lot.

The User Interface branch has another neat addition. Under the heading “Title Bar Buttons”, you can turn on the ability to collapse the window into the title bar. Those of you stuck with 1024x768 resolutions might find that handy.

The Effects branch has two handy options: Make windows minimize and maximize faster, and Make windows transparent when dragged. You could make your taskbar transparent too, but I wouldn’t bother, personally.

Finally, the big one. For those of you very, very comfortable with your stylus, you can turn on mouse gestures in the Mouse branch. This will let you assign actions to take place when you shake the stylus back and forth, up and down, or in a circle.