It’s simple logic really. Have you ever seen a stock car or drag race of seemingly normal cars? What they do is get rid of useless weight. They don’t need a passenger and back seat – gone! They don’t need carpet and fancy electronics – gone! They don’t need the spare tire in the trunk and all the excess trim – gone! They’ve stripped that car down to the essentials to do one thing really fast and really well. That’s what we’re going to do. Only, when we’re done, we’ll be able to put all the fancy bits back on with – you guessed it – just one double-click!

Identify the Dead Weight

First things first. Download and install a program that allows you to view all the processes currently running on your windows computer. I’m a big fan of Sysinternals Process Explorer. Once you’ve done that, open it up. You’re likely to see something like this:

Look at the Working Set and Peak Working Set columns. That shows how many kilobytes of your RAM are being used by the program right now, and what the peak amount used at one time was. As you can see, my Firefox is using roughly 245 MB of RAM. That’s about one-quarter of the RAM in my computer.

As I look down further, I see that RoxMediaDB12, iTunesHelper and SnagIt32 are taking up another approximately 43 MB of RAM. Let’s say that I want to use a program that is a real memory hog, like my DivXConnected. It has to compete with all of these other programs that I won’t be using, while I’m using DivXConnected. That’s the program that works with my D-Link Media Device I was raving about lately.

Now order your running services and applications by process, by clicking on the Process column header until you get everything shown to you in a tree, like this:

What this shows us is which excess things are Processes and which are Services. This is important, because what we do next requires us to know the difference. Those things that are under the Services branch are services. Typically the processes will be shown further down.

Let’s write down all the proper names for the services and processes as we’ll need those later. To find the proper names, right-click on a service and then select Properties. Once you are in the Properties window, click on the tab Services. This will give you the correct name of the service you wish to stop. I’ve used the CinemaNowSvc.exe as an example.

To find the Image Name for a process, it should be what you see in the Description Column. For example, the iTunes Helper Process has the description iTunesHelper. If you aren’t sure what the Image Name is, you can right-click on the process, open the Properties window and find it on the Image File tab.

Do that for all the services and processes that you know aren’t necessary for your computer, or the single program you want to go faster, to run. That may take some research, but it’s worth it.

I can do one of two things here. I can shut down all the high-memory usage applications and services that run in the background one by one OR I can write a batch file to do all of that. Batch files are the old-school way to do lots of really cool stuff. Once you learn how to craft them, there are an infinite number of cool, and powerful, things you can do.

Trim the Dead Weight

Let’s use Notepad to write this batch file. Open it up and type:

@ECHO OFF
echo *** Stopping Services ***

NET STOP “Name of the Service You Want to Stop”

echo *** Services Stopped ***

Now I know the proper name I’ll need to use is CinemaNow Service. So the command that I will write looks like:

NET STOP “CinemaNow Service”

You’ll need to write this command for every service that you wish to stop. This could be a dozen lines or so. The line that reads echo *** Services Stopped *** just lets us know when all the services are stopped. Yep, I’m Captain Obvious.

To stop the process, you’ll type a block like:

echo *** Stopping Processes ***

TSKILL  “iTunesHelper”

echo *** Processes Stopped ***

PAUSE

TSKILL kills the task of course.  You don’t need to use the Image Name, you can also use the Process ID as it is shown in Process Manager. As usual, the echo lines let us know when the stopping of the processes begins and ends. The PAUSE command results in a line asking us to hit any key to continue. It’s just a more concrete way of letting you know the batch file is done.

To save this as a batch file that you can run by just double-clicking on it, we need to do a few things. Click on File > Save As in Notepad. Then when the Save As… window opens, name the file whatever you want. I chose StopServicesProcesses.bat. You need the .bat on the end. Now change the Save as type: box to All Files. Click Save.

Now you have a batch file! Double-click on it and enjoy your speed! You should see a command window open that will look something like this:

Feel the speed!

Oh, I did say something about restarting those services and process when you are done using your one intensive program, didn’t I? Well, that’s a story for another time.

Got better tips on how to speed up a computer? Let us know in comments!

Image credit: Davichi

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We will actually be doing a Repair. Once the repair session hits the GUI screen we can launch a command prompt that will let us reset your password, create new accounts or promote another user to be the administrator. Heck we can even make it so the machine logs in as the Administrator automatically! So here’s how you do it.

Grab your CD along with its CD key and boot to your media. Once you boot to your CD, it will say, “Press a key to boot to CD”. Go ahead and press any key.

Let Windows do its thing and start. We will not format or lose any data if you follow my explicit instructions. I was amazed when I got this to work and also sickened by how insecure workstations can be! If you have a third party SCSI, RAID or SATA adapter you will have to point it at the drivers so it can access your hard drive. If this is you then you know what to do already – F6 and point it to the drivers.

Another few minutes will pass by and Windows setup will say that it is starting Windows. Be forewarned – DO NOT HIT THE R KEY ON THE NEXT SCREEN. We will be hitting Enter to start the installation.

On the screen below that says Welcome to Setup make sure you hit the ENTER key and not R. R here will take you to the recovery console – if you do not have the administrators password you will have to start ALL OVER AGAIN! So hit Enter to set up Windows and continue.

The agreement pops up hit the F8 key to continue.

Ah ha! Now on this screen below you will want to highlight your installation of Windows if there is more than one. And hit the R key! Yes, here is where you will hit that key to repair the installation. The process rewrites all the system files and what not.

After you hit that R key the Setup wizard will start to copy the system files from the media to your hard drive/Windows Installation. This took about 4 minutes on my machine.

Windows will now reboot automatically or you can hit ENTER to speed things up a little. When the machine restarts DO NOT BOOT FROM THE CD! DO NOT HIT A KEY TO BOOT FROM YOUR CD! Take the CD out of the drive if you think this is going to be an issue for you.

Once the computer starts back up it will jump into the installer. Here, when you get to about 37 minutes left on the installer it will say Installing Devices on the bottom left hand side of the screen – Hit Shift-F10 at the same time and a command prompt will pop-up! Just like that.

Using some basic command line kung fu we type control userpasswords2 and we can do whatever we want to. You can get at anything from this command prompt you have full root/administrator access!

Once you have the user accounts control panel up, you can add, modify or remove users. Promote a user to administrator status or what have you. Remember only use this for good and not evil.

Log in and you are good to go! Do you have another method to get back into your machine that does not require any media? We would love to hear about it in the comments.

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If you are stuck with XP or Vista and would like to have a piece of Aero Peek and Aero Shake, no need to get disheartened. This is what I am talking about:

Users over at the WinMatrix forums (the source of many such innovations) has created an excellent software that brings such functionality to Windows XP and Vista. The application is called WinShake and is available for download here. Make sure you download the latest version (2.02 at the time of writing). Written using AutoHotKey, Winshake offers quite a functionality as you shall see:

An improved show desktop which can only hide minimizable windows, leaving the gadgets and sidebars intact, or hide everything to show the entire desktop. It also remembers the minimized programs and can restore them to their previous state even if you fire up more any more applications or windows.

A very good Aero Shak-ish feature: In Windows 7, holding a window’s title bar and shaking it a little, minimizes all other windows letting you concentrate fully on the window, that is under the mouse pointer. Winshake does something similar – hold the shift key and middle click on any window to shake it and minimize all other windows.

A Ctrl + Middle Click on the right end of the taskbar activates the peek functionality similar to Windows 7 peek functionality. While this one lacks the eye candy it certainly does let you peek at your desktop. Using Ctrl + Middle Click on the close button in the title bar of any window, makes it translucent and lets you peek through it at the window underneath.

There is a taskbar peek function as well that lets you peek at specific windows using the taskbar, but that is part of a nag and you can only use that for seven days after which you would need to buy a code to keep running this specific function. All other functions will however keep running even if you don’t shell out those bucks.

The application also offers shortcut keys for the above functions, which are easier to use as opposed to the mouse control, however you can easily disable them if you desire. Alt-Win-D shows the Desktop, Shift-Alt-Win-D restores the windows, Alt-Win-S activates Shake, Shift-Alt-Win-S restores the windows. Alt-Win-Space can be used to activate peek functionality.

If you don’t like the mouse activation commands, you can customize those too using the system tray icon. In addition to that the tray icon gives you access to other settings as well. You can customize animation speeds and transparency levels that will be used while performing various actions.

The application definitely lacks the eye candy you would get if you use similar functionality on Windows 7. That said, it does a pretty decent job of emulating the functionality and if a very good alternative if you are wanting such functionality on Windows XP or Vista.

Also check out Tina’s article on how to make Windows XP to look like Windows 7. She mentions AeroSnap among other things which brings the Windows Seven’s Aero Snap feature to Windows XP as well.

Give Winshake a spin and pour in your thoughts about it. Know some other applications that emulate Windows 7 features? We would love to hear about them as well.

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Did I forget to mention that the ebook folder was really filled with a lot of titles? It must have had almost 120 ebooks. I almost started manually typing the names when I figured that there must be a less laborious way to print out the directory contents.

Printing directory contents seems so mundane an activity that we forget it has very useful applications in our day to day usage. Especially in a professional setting where you might be told to send over a list of so and so files about such and such subject. In a jiffy. If it’s a small bunch of files then manually writing it down is not a problem. But what if it numbers a few dozen?

Instead of searching for a poor flunky to lend a hand, you can just tap a few keys and get it for yourself. All in double quick time with a few methods.

So let’s work on not one but five ways to print folder and directory contents and get that file list.

Command DOS

This is one command line that’s easy to remember and easy to do.

1. Start the command prompt from Run – cmd. Type cd and the directory path of the folder you want to list.
2. Type dir > print.txt
3. Press Enter and exit from the DOS window.
4. Open the folder you wanted the listed file content for and you should see a print.txt file. This is a simple Notepad file that can be copied or printed easily.

Setting A Contextual Menu

A print directory feature can be added to the right-click context menu for a folder. This sends the folder content list directly to the printer. For Windows XP follow these steps:

1. Create a batch file in Notepad by pasting the following text
   

   @echo off
   dir %1 /-p /o:gn > “%temp%\Listing”
   start /w notepad /p “%temp%\Listing”
   del “%temp%\Listing”
   exit

2. Save the file as %windir%\Printdir.bat
   
3. Open Control Panel – Folder Options. Click on the File Types tab. Under the registered file types select the entry for Folder. Click on Advanced.
4. In the Edit File Type box, click on New. In the Action box, type Print Directory Listing. In the Application used to perform action box, type printdir.bat.
5. Click on OK and close all boxes.
6. Right-click on any folder and use the Print Directory Listing command to send the list to the printer.

The above instructions and those for Windows Vista can also be found on the Microsoft Help and Support page.

Software solutions introduce a lot of ease and flexibility to the above process. Here are three freeware apps for the listing job:

Karen’s Power Tool

Karen’s Directory Printer brings with it a GUI and rich features that let you print the name of files on your computer with the file’s size, extension, date and time of last modification, and attributes. Also, the list of files can be sorted by name, size, date created, date last modified, or date of last access. Files can also be selectively listed using a filter. Some limited formatting options and selective highlighting for executable files and macros are available.

Karen’s Directory Printer can be included in the right-click context menu. It also works for networked computers. The file list can be sent to the printer or saved as a text file.

Karen’s Directory Printer (v 5.3.1) is a 1.25MB download compatible with Windows XP and Vista.

Display it with Directory List & Print

Directory List & Print is a simpler and smaller solution to the earlier one. The generated lists can be copied to the clipboard and incorporated in other programs. It can be directly inserted into Word and Excel with a click as the data is separated by tabs allowing error free pasting directly into a program like Excel as a table. Along with the file attributes, the program can control the display of file names with or without file extensions. Sorting of the list and integration into the context menus make this a nice alternative to use.

Directory List & Print (v 1.9) does not need an installation which makes this 603KB software a portable solution. The freeware is compatible with Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista.

More Options with JR Directory Printer

This freeware comes in as an even smaller download of 173KB. Select the folder or directory to list, check the display options and click on start to get the list as a text file. The freeware supports lowercase/DOS style filename, file size in KB/bytes, attributes and custom file length. Though the freeware lacks the data control options of the previous applications, it’s a simple utility for a simple task. The download can be unzipped and used without an installation.

JR Directory Printer (v1.2) is compatible with Windows 95/98/2000/NT/ME/XP.

Windows may not have given us the ability to print out folder contents in a user friendly way. But thanks to the workarounds and the freeware, it’s actually a snap. Do you know any other utility to print the contents of a folder? Let us know your way if it differs from any of the above.

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So I’m taking this opportunity to share the wisdom that I’ve gained from that experience so that, possibly, I can save the next poor soul the trouble and heartache that I had to suffer through.

Am I being over-dramatic? Maybe. But what you have to understand is that at the very center of my livelihood is the Internet. I earn income, learn and unwind all on the Internet. When I lose that connection to the virtual world – I’m not a happy camper.

Rewind several months to the day when I purchased a new, shiny Sony Vaio laptop. I brought it home, excitedly opened up the box and turned it on, expecting the brand new laptop with a build-in wireless ethernet card to instantly sense my home network and connect almost completely automatically. Unfortunately, it sensed nothing. Many hours later, after an unmentionable amount of coffee consumed, I finally had my new Vista laptop on the Internet and screaming.

To save MUO readers out there who find themselves in this situation countless hours of aggravation, I’d like to offer the most important lessons I learned about Vista during this ordeal. Earlier, Aseem offered applications you can install that will improve your PC performance. However, I’d like to present the top five ways you can tweak Vista itself to get your Internet connection working, and increase your overall Internet speed.

The Most Important Vista Internet Speed Tweaks – Once You Can Connect

New technology is fabulous when it works, but I was quite disgusted to learn that Microsoft implemented IPv6 on Vista and upon install it is set as the default. The silly part is that it simply doesn’t work well with devices that still utilize the IPv4 protocol – and to assume that most home networks are fully upgraded to the IPv6 protocol is a faulty approach to setting defaults.

Many people upgrade their PCs and laptops long before they consider replacing that old outdated router that’s been sitting in the basement for five years and still works perfectly. So, when they bring home that shiny new laptop with Vista installed, guess what – the laptop and the router simply refuse to talk.

So, if you’re unlucky enough to find yourself in this situation – the very first thing you should do before we can even get started speeding up the Internet, is to disable IPv6 so that you can at least get on the Internet in the first place. Here’s how it works.

First, go to Start -> Network -> Network and Sharing Center, and then click on “Manage Network Connections.”

In this screen, you’ll likely have a wireless connection displaying that it can’t connect to any network. Right-click on that icon and select “Properties.”

You’ll discover both IPv6 and IPv4 enabled. Go ahead and uncheck the box for IPv6 and click “OK.” You’ll need to reboot your computer, but afterwards if the protocol incompatibility was your problem (and it very likely was), you’ll find that your computer can now communicate fine with the router. Maybe. There is one other complication Microsoft introduced into Vista just to encourage you that much more to upgrade your router – it’s something called “autotuning,” and it’s also the next Vista tweak.

Vista Connection Tweak #2 – Autotuning

This is another case where the cutting edge technological advances being enabled on Microsoft’s operating system by default is a recipe for disaster for users who have older networks and older network devices (specifically older routers). Vista comes installed and enabled with something called “Receive Window Auto-Tuning.”

On advanced networks, it’s actually a pretty cool technology where the transfer of data is monitored and Vista automatically “tunes” the TCP window field to optimize packet transfer. Older routers simply do not “play nice” when it comes to that kind of window resizing. This spells trouble for home users who don’t know the difference between a packet of data and a packet of sugar. What was Microsoft thinking?

Luckily – there’s a way for you, the home user, to turn this default feature off as well. First, click on “Start” and type “cmd” and right-click on the command icon. You’ll see the following window.

Click on “Run as Administrator.”  Then, in the command box, type “netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled” which will disable autotuning.

Now that you’ve got your new Vista finally communicating with your router (hopefully), you’re ready to tweak Vista even more in order to dramatically boost the Internet speed.

Vista Tweak #3 To Increase Internet Speed – Take Back Your Bandwidth

Another unnecessary default setting that Vista (and actually XP as well) comes with is a 20% “reserve” of your available bandwidth in order to accommodate certain applications like Windows Update. This tweak is a pretty common one most old-school users of XP already know – it’s not at all detrimental and you can immediately gain 20% of your bandwidth back, increasing Internet performance significantly.

This is called the QoS Reserve Bandwidth Limit, and to reduce this on any version of Vista you need to edit the registry.

Go to Start and type “regedit“. You may have to deal with the UAC, unless you’ve read Sharninder’s advice on how to speed up your Vista by turning it off! In Regedit, navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows”

Right-click on Windows and create a new key called “Psched“, then right click on the right and create a new “DWORD” entry. Name it “NonBestEffortLimit” and set the value to zero to disable reserve bandwidth.

Vista Tweak #4 – Modify Your Browser For Optimum Speed

Believe it or not, not only is your Vista operating system not configured by default to blaze the Internet as fast as possible, but neither is your Internet browser! These instructions include how to increase your browsing speed on Firefox and IE.

First, in Firefox type, “about:config” into the address bar (and ignore any warnings).  In the filter field, type “network” and scroll down to “network.http.pipelining” and set it to TRUE, and set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” from 4 to anything from 8 to 12.

I use Firefox almost exclusively, and this one change increased my page-load time by what felt like a factor of 50%. Of course, there’s a similar tweak for Internet Explorer as well, but you have to edit the registry. As before, go to Start and type “regedit.”

Navigate to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Internet Settings” and find “MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server” and “MaxConnectionsPerServer.” Set these to at least 10, or a little higher if you would like. You should also see an increase in performance for IE after making this change as well.

Vista Tweak #5 – Increase DNS Cache

This tweak is one that anyone should do anyway, as it can significantly save time while surfing the web, especially if you tend to visit the same sites often. What the DNS cache does is store information retrieved from the nameservers (IP information) so that the next time you visit the same site, your browser doesn’t have to waste time retrieving the same information from the DNS servers.

You can optimize this by increasing the size of your DNS cache.  This is another registry edit – so go back in there (Start and type “regedit“) and navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters” and then right click on the white space at the right and add four DWORD values: CacheHashTableBucketSize, CacheHashTableSize, MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit and MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit.

After checking a list of sites for the optimum setting for these values, the consensus seems to be decimal settings of CacheHashTableBucketSize to 1, CacheHashTableSize to 384, MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit to 64000 and MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit to 301.Of course, instead of using those old DNS servers, why not use OpenDNS?  When you’re done making all of the changes above, restart your computer and when it boots back up you’ll find yourself with a Vista PC that screams on the Internet.

Did these Vista tweaks increase your Internet speed? Do you know any other cool tweaks for Vista that work even better? Share your insight in the comments section below.

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Have you ever wondered how those EXE files are created ?

Well, there are a lot of software that can help you create install packages to distribute your software, and today we’ll walk you through using one that has been been there on your Windows system all along. This unassuming utility is called iExpress and is (probably) the easiest utility you’ll ever find to make an EXE file for your software.

So, if you’ve ever wondered how those installation programs are created, how the “magic” happens during the installation wizard and how a simple single executable spits out hundreds of real useable program files, we’ll answer that question for you today.

Since Microsoft doesn’t create an icon for iExpress in the Programs menu, we’ll have to run it manually. If you’re using Windows XP, go to the Start menu and click the Run button. In the dialogue box that pops up, type iexpress.exe and press Enter. If, like me, you use Windows Vista, just click the Start menu and start typing iexpress and you’ll see the icon popup in the search results.

iExpress runs as a simple wizard and will ask you a couple of questions and based on your choices will generate the installer for you. The first question that you have to answer is if you want to create a new Installer or open an existing one. Since, this is (presumably) your first time using iexpress, we’ll select the first option and click Next.

The next screen will ask you the type of package you want it to create.

iExpress can create a package that runs a command after it unpacks all files to a temporary location, or only extract the files to a location that the user specifies. The first option is useful if you want to, for example, run a script to make changes to the registry before the user runs your program for the first time.

There is a third option to create compressed files only but that is only applicable if you’re distributing Active-X controls. iExpress displays a handy description below each option so you can read that if you’re still not sure which about which option to select.

The next step is to give a name to the package that you’ll create. Enter the name in the text box and move to the next screen.

This step will let you display a confirmation message to the user installing the application. If you want to display a message to your user asking for confirmation if he/she wants to go ahead with the installation, then type in a message in the text box provided and when you’re done click Next.

Now, you will be able to select a license agreement which the installer will ask the user to adhere to. If you have a license agreement for your application, then type it in a text file and provide that here or else select the “Do not display a license” option and move on.

This is where you actually select the files that will be installed by the installer that you’re creating. You can select as many files as you want here. Add files to the list by clicking on the Add button.

Now, you can safely move forward a few steps and keep clicking on the next button till you come across the Package name and options screen. This is where you select a name for the actual EXE file that gets generated and decide whether you want to hide the extraction process from your users or let them see all the gory details. You can also generate a log files for the installation process.

In the next step you can choose to create what iExpress calls a Self Extraction Directive file. This is needed if you want to later change some of the options that you chose and create another modified installer. Since, we don’t want that right now, we’ll choose not to create an SED file.

That’s it.  iExpress will now go ahead and create an EXE file for you. Wasn’t that easy?

What other tools do you prefer to make exe files?

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Managing waste may be a bore chore. But in the real world too, it’s where a lot of action is taking place. Think eco-consciousness and you will get the importance of recycling waste. In the world of computers too, managing the Recycle Bin is an essential chore of improving system performance.

Can we guess the importance from this – The Recycle Bin is the only icon shown by default on the Windows XP desktop.

We all have had some run-ins with Recycle Bin problems. From wanting to change its icon to hunting for a way to get back its default icon. Or probably the most frequent – rummaging within it to find the accidentally deleted file. I know I have had my share. So over the years, my search for solutions and quick fixes has resulted in a nice collection of tricks and tips. Gradually, I have come to realize that like the real world our system’s garbage can needs constant management too. Thankfully there exists lots of free ways to customize the Recycle Bin to our liking.

Caution: Some of the tweaks involve editing the registry. If you do not know your way around the registry please bypass the steps. Always backup your registry before any changes.

So now, let’s do some dumpster diving with these 10 ways to deal with the Recycle Bin.

Change the size of the Recycle Bin

By default the size allocated to the Recycle Bin is 10% of the drive size. If you delete any file that’s larger than that, Windows will prompt you with a message. So you can increase the size.

On the other side, a 20GB drive will have a bin size of 2GB. If you consider this to be a waste of space then you can decrease the size.

• Right click on the desktop Recycle Bin icon and choose Properties.
• Using the Global tab, you can set a uniform size for all the drives by selecting Use one setting for all drive. Or configure each drive independently by selecting Configure drives independently.
• Move the slider according to the size you want to set. For all drives, use the Global tab. For independent sizes, use the tab for the drives. Click on OK and dump as much as you want.

Change the name

If the ‘Recycle Bin’ is too mechanical for you, it’s easy to rename the bin to something like Nuked! Here’s how with a registry edit. (It’s the REGISTRY – be careful!)

• Click Start – Run – type in regedit to open the registry editor.
• Drill down to the following key – HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\MUICache
• On the right hand pane, double click on this value string – @C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHELL32.dll,-8964
• Change the Value data to what you want to name the bin. Click OK and exit the registry editor.
• Refresh the desktop to see the name change.

Change the Recycle Bin icon

The Recycle Bin icon can be changed easily from the Desktop Properties applet.

• Right click on an empty area of the desktop. Select Properties.
• In Display Properties, select the Desktop tab.
• Click on the Customize Desktop button – the Desktop Items box opens on the General tab.
• Select the Recycle Bin icon – click on Change Icon. The choice of icons by default is provided by the Shell32.dll file. You can opt for one or browse to your favorite icon for the Recycle Bin. Click on OK to set it.

Hide the Recycle Bin

There are many reasons you may wish to hide the Recycle Bin from the desktop (e.g. if you want to use Docks or a Mac-like theme). The free, non-registry way is to use the Group Policy Editor.

• Click Start – Run – type GPEDIT.MSC and enter.
• Expand User Configuration – Administrative Templates and click on Desktop.
• On the right pane, double click on Remove Recycle Bin Icon from Desktop – In the Properties window click on Enabled.
• Press OK to exit. To show it again, just select Not Configured.

Note: The Group Policy Editor is not available in Windows XP Home edition.

Restore the Recycle Bin icon

It’s easy to hide the recycle bin icon. But what if some system error has deleted the icon forever? Then we have to head into the registry for the repair job.

• Click Start – Run – type in regedit to open the registry editor.
• Drill down to the following key – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace
• Create a new key by right-clicking on it – New – Key
• Enter the value {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}. Click Enter.
• On the right hand pane, right click on the default value…click on Modify. Enter any name for the recycle bin in the Value Data field of the Edit string box.
• Click on OK and exit from the registry editor. The recycle bin gets restored.

Skip the Confirm Delete Box and the Recycle Bin

Deleting a file makes a Confirm Folder Delete box pop-up. Though, changing this safety net action is not recommended…it is easy to do so.

• Right click on the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop. Click on Properties.
• Uncheck the Display delete confirmation dialog. Click on Apply and OK.
• Also if you don’t want to bypass the Recycle Bin completely, in the same window, select the Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted check box. Alternatively, you can hold Shift when doing a delete.

Empty the Recycle Bin with a right click on the context menu

There are several registry fixes which are available as downloadable .reg files. But to understand the entries they change, I think it’s better to go with the manual option.

• Click on Start – Run – type in regedit. Hit OK.
• Drill down to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
• Right-click it, and create a new key – Recycle Bin
• Select the new key, and right click the default value to modify it on the right pane.
• Enter the value {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}.
• Click OK and close the Registry Editor to bring an Empty Recycle Bin command into the context menu.

Move the Recycle Bin to the system tray

If you want to recover one icon’s worth of screen real estate and also don’t want to remove the Recycle Bin completely, then a small tool called MiniBin could be the solution. As the developer site says, this little 43KB download can come handy if you want to hide the recycle bin from the desktop. The software does not need an installation. To make it start with Windows, you can include it in your startup folder.

Change how the Recycle Bin sounds

If you like to have your own sound play when the recycle bin is emptied,

• Go to Control Panel – Sounds and Audio Devices.
• Click on the Sounds tab. Under Program events go down to Windows Explorer – Empty Recycle Bin.
• Select any other sound from the defaults under the Sounds dropdown or browse to the location of your own wav file. Test it with a click of the little black arrow.

Bring Recycle Bin into focus when it’s hidden

This cool trick only works if the recycle bin remains at its default bottom right location on the desktop. You can bring the recycle bin back into focus if it’s obscured by a lot of open windows. Simply drag the files you want to delete into an empty area of the taskbar. All open windows minimize automatically and you can simply drop the files into the bin.

If you notice, deleting a file is probably the most long drawn Windows process. From selecting a file to deleting it, clicking on the confirmation, emptying the recycle bin and again confirming the action. Even then the file can be recovered using recovery tools as Windows does not immediately write over it. So in short, Windows gives us a lot of time to go over our decision to delete a file.

The Recycle bin has been called a safety net. That’s why it deserves our attention and all the tips and tricks we can muster. Do you know of any other?

Image Credit: London Permaculture

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• How To Speed Up The Shutdown Of Your Windows (14)
• Windows Registry Tweaks (Part 2) (8)
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• Some non-Registry Windows tweaks (7)
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Perhaps he was an early advocate of simplicity. The world has leapfrogged ahead since he made this observation and so has computer technology. If we dissect the razzmatazz of technology, life has been rendered simpler in some ways. Launches of new apps and software suites continue to push the agenda for productivity. Where would Windows tips and tricks or say, Firefox add-ons be without this central idea?

And we continue to search for productive ways to do the same old things. Even a simple thing like opening a file or saving it in default locations can be tweaked to shave a few seconds here and there.

Windows tips and tricks abound. We only have to pick and adapt what we want for ourselves. A computer user’s default behavior (apart from switching on a computer first) centers a lot on opening and saving files. The Common Dialog Box is where most of the action takes place. The Common Dialog open box crops up when we need to open a file, or save one from any application. The five options on the left bar – My Recent Documents, Desktop, My Documents, My Computer and My Network Places come as defaults.

The five normally should serve as quick access clicks to the most common areas of the computer. But every user has an individual idea of his commonly used folders and locations.

With some simple tweaking it is possible to change the default locations in the Common Places bar to a more customized set. A few posts back Karl talked about the Places Utility from Simpli Software. Here are four more for the customization job.

Hacking the Registry

Okay, that sounds scary. Novices shouldn’t dive into the registry without a sense of what they are doing. And as with all engineering related to the registry, backup your registry before a tweak.

To open the registry editor: Run – Type regedit – click OK.

To back up the entire registry: in the registry editor – Click File – Export Registry File. Save to a preferred location.

That done, drill down to the following entry – HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\.  Here, we have to create a Place bar sub-key at this location as it is not present by default. Sub-keys can be created with a right click on an empty area.

With Policies selected, right click on an empty area and select New – Key. Type in comdlg32. Then, select comdlg32 and create similarly the key Placesbar.

The entire key looks like this – HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft  \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ comdlg32 \ Placesbar

Five Key values will point to the five custom folders we can create for the common dialog box. With Placesbar selected, right click on the empty box and create five string values (Place0, Place1…Place4). Right click on each and enter the full path to the folder of choice. As shown in the following screenshot…

This is the finished look…

A few key points to consider -

• You can only create a maximum of five values; anymore will be ignored by the system.
• The change in the common dialog is reflected throughout the system except in MS Office.
• If you want to go back to the old look then simply right click and delete Placesbar.

Using the Group Policy Editor

GPE can be used to as a user interface to make some convenient changes to the default settings of Windows. These settings are called policies and using the GPE we can tweak these to our convenience (remember the posts on blocking auto-updates of Google where we had used GPE?)

GPE is a ‘hidden’ administrative tool. So we access it from Run – gpedit.msc.

Click through to the following common dialog open location – User Configuration – Administrative Templates – Windows Components – Windows Explorer – Common Open File Dialog.

Double click on the Common Open File Dialog folder icon to access the settings given for common dialog open.

Access the Properties tab for Items displayed in Places bar by either right clicking on it or by clicking the Properties link given in the description.

The properties box has two tabs – Settings and Explain. Enable the setting and enter the full paths to your choice folders (Also, explained in the Explain tab).

Click on Apply and OK to have your custom Common Dialog Places Bar.

Note:  The Group Policy Editor is not a standard feature of Windows XP Home Edition. Though, workarounds are available on the net.

Tweaking with Third Party Tools

TweakUI is probably the most well known of Windows modifying tools. Though Microsoft ‘officially’ does not support it, it is considered to be a Microsoft PowerToy. TweakUI (ver2.10) can be used by your dog to do the stuff we sweated over in the earlier two sections.

Navigate to the Common Dialog settings and use the dropdowns on the right to select any of the predefined locations or just type in your own. You can also go back to the default look or hide the Places bar altogether.

PlacesBar Editor is a neat open source utility that’s right on the button for customizing the Common Dialog Box buttons. PlacesBar Editor allows you to set five custom folders of your choice. There’s a second tab for changing the defaults for Microsoft Office too. If you goof up, there’s the Default button to reset everything back.

The only irritant is that this program, though free, is donationware. A Paypal window pops up once or twice requesting some openhandedness from you.  PlacesBar Editor goes with Windows 2000/XP/ME/Vista.

All Done!

For the sake of simplicity, you now have too many tools for the job. That’s a bit of a clutter isn’t it? But the choices are for us to pick. If you don’t like installing programs, then there’s the registry hack and the GPE. If you do, then there are the three applications we have covered over the two posts. Which one is your tool of choice?

Image Credit: fatbwoy

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• Windows System Tools at your Fingertips with FastKake (13)
• Use the Places Utility to Customize Locations in Open File Dialogue Box [Windows] (19)
• Three Quick Registry Tweaks to Customize Windows Like a Pro (12)
• The Essential Keyboard Shortcuts to whip your Windows (18)
• Openup Right Click Menu Options with Open++ (Windows) (0)

There are plenty of ways to disable usb ports and you don’t need any special software.

Disable USB Ports By Disabling Autorun

Most of the malware that spreads through USB devices spreads because of the Autorun feature which automatically executes a said file mentioned in the autorun.inf file located at the root of the USB device folder tree. Something as unsuspicious as “Open folder to view files” to the untrained eye can be easily made to run any desired file on the drive and can thus infect your computer. So disabling autorun is always one of the better options. To do so:

• First, the key combination Win + R and type Gpedit.msc
• Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components, then click Autoplay Policies. (XP users should try Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System
• In the Details pane, double-click Turn off Autoplay.
• Click Enabled, select All drives in the Turn off Autoplay box to disable Autorun on all drives.

Microsoft Help and Support has more details and methods

Option 1. Disable users from connecting USB devices

You can prevent selected user accounts from connecting USB devices to your computer. So if you share your laptop/computer with a friend, you should create a separate user account and deny his/her account the ability to connect USB devices. Microsoft Help and Support provides steps to obtain such fine grain control.

Or you can simply navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor and set the value of Start to 4. To enable access again change the value back to 3

Although the site mentions that this applies to Windows XP, 2000 and 2003 it worked just fine on Windows Vista and Windows 7 as well.

Option 2. Change BIOS, disable USB ports, password protect BIOS

Enter your system’s BIOS, just when you press the Power On button. Look for anything that allows you to disable USB ports, disable them and make sure you add a BIOS password.

Option 3. User Device Manager to disable USB

• Go to Device Manager (Right click My Computer, choose Manage, choose Device Manager in left pane)
• Now look for USB Devices in the right pane, right click on the device and choose disable.

Of course you would like to make it a little easier to enable/disable the USB ports. For that you need to create a reg file that modifies the appropriate registry key. Here is an example (make sure to spell everything correctly):

Now double clicking on this file will enable access, similarly you can change 00000003 to 00000004 to create a reg file for disabling access.

None of these are fool proof, there is always someone smart enough to find a way around. If you really want to go all the way you can fill the ports with some epoxy or a similar substance! This is of course not a recommended solution for your personal computer but might come in handy for large organizations trying to prevent employees from using USB devices.

All in all the options are good enough to stop accidental, non intentional spread of malware/compromise of your computer as mostly happens when a USB device is plugged into different computers. However don’t bet your life on these if some one is really determined to use a USB device on your computer for whatever reason.

How do you protect your computer from malware spread via USB drives?

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Some tweaks available on the web (like opening Explorer at My Computer or using PC Safeguard) are now obsolete because of the updates from Beta to RC. All the tips here work with Windows 7 RC (Build 7100), and most, if not all, will work with the final release.

1. Add Search Providers to Windows 7

Windows 7 allows you to search remote website databases from your desktop, using open standards like Open Search and RSS. Here are some of the popular and useful search providers you can add to Windows 7:

• Bing (via Chakkaradeep)
• Flickr (via Long Zheng)
• Twitter (via Chakkaradeep)
• YouTube
• eBay
• Google News
• Digg
• Deviant Art

You can install these and additional connectors from Windows 7 forums, or get a pack with multiple search providers here.

These search connectors work even within Windows Common Dialogs, such as the Insert Picture dialog from PowerPoint or any other application. You can even drag and drop Flickr images from Explorer search results to copy them to your desktop, without opening any web browser.

2. Single Click Screen Lock

You can lock your computer using the Win+L keyboard shortcut. Here’s another way to do it with a single mouse click. Right-click on your desktop, select New, Shortcut. In Type the location of the item, enter rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation. Click Next, name the shortcut ‘Quick Lock’, and Finish.

If you wish, you can make it look pretty by giving it a lock or keys icon: Right-click, select Properties, click Change Icon, enter shell32.dll, and select any icon you wish. Drag this shortcut and pin it to the taskbar, after which you can delete the desktop shortcut.

3. Customize Sticky Notes

You can format your Sticky Notes, by selecting text and using different keyboard shortcuts as shown in this screen capture:

4. Use New Accessories

Don’t forget to use the revamped accessories in Windows 7. With WordPad, you can open and save Office 2007 .docx and Open Document .odt documents.

The improved Calculator can convert units, and calculate dates, fuel economy, mortgage and lease payments.

Paint has new brush strokes, shapes, and grid support. Paint and WordPad have Print Preview and the Ribbon UI, which brings customizability and live formatting previews.

5. Use Check Boxes in Windows Explorer

You can select non-adjacent files in Explorer using Ctrl-click, but there is an easier way using check boxes. In Explorer, click Organize, then select Folder and search options.

On the View tab, under Advanced Settings, scroll down to select Use check boxes to select items. Now you can easily select multiple items using only the mouse.

6. Shortcut to Run Program as Administrator

You can Ctrl+Shift+Click on a taskbar icon to run the application as an Administrator with full rights (provided your account has permissions). Simply Shift+Right-Click on any program shortcut to run it as a different user, if for example you need higher privileges when logged in with your child’s account.

7. Boost performance with ReadyBoost

ReadyBoost improves your system performance by using faster USB Flash Drives instead of slower hard disks for system operations. It works best using flash drives with at least 1 GB of storage. Simply insert your flash drive, and if it meets certain performance benchmarks, Windows 7 will ask you if you want to use it for ReadyBoost and recommend the size to reserve.

8. Tweak Windows Search/Defender Services

By default, Windows indexes all files appearing under all your libraries, email, and offline files. You can reduce the time and resources spent in indexing by tweaking this to your actual needs.

Go to Control Panel, then Indexing Options. Windows 7 shows a list of locations currently being indexed. Click on Modify to choose only those locations where you perform frequent searches.

You can also disable Windows Search and Windows Defender services, which can take up system resources. If you do not search for files, images, documents, etc. using Windows Explorer, or use another search/indexing program, then you should disable Windows Search service. If, and only if, you use a third-party anti-virus program that is also anti-malware (the best ones are), you can also disable the Windows Defender service.

Go to Start, enter and run msconfig. From the Services tab, uncheck the box for the service you wish to disable, and reboot for the changes to take effect.

9. Secure USB Drives with BitLocker

Secure your USB flash drives using BitLocker encryption. Right-click on your USB drive in My Computer, select Turn on BitLocker and follow the instructions to protect sensitive data on your thumb drives.

The next time you use your USB drive on another computer, it will prompt you for the password before allowing you read-only access to your flash drive. You can even use the drive on older computers running Windows XP/Vista.

10. Create a System Recovery Disc

A system recovery disc helps you in situations where Windows cannot start successfully. Your Windows 7 installation disc also serves as a recovery disc. When Windows 7 comes pre-installed on computers, you will need to create a system recovery disc.

Click Start, enter and run recdisc.exe. Insert a blank CD/DVD in your burner, and click Create Disc.

**Caution**

Follow the next two tips only if you’re knowledgeable enough to edit the Windows registry. Before making any changes, make sure you back up your registry as described earlier on MakeUseOf.

11. Faster Thumbnail Previews

The taskbar shows thumbnail previews of opened windows when you hover the mouse over the program icon. By default, it takes a little time for the preview to appear. Make the previews appear faster with this registry tweak:

Go to Start, enter and run regedit. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse. On the right, open the MouseHoverTime key and reduce its value from the default 400 to around 150.

Be careful, as decreasing it further may cause problems.

12. Faster Shutdown

Start regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control. Find the WaitToKillServiceTimeout key on the right, double-click to edit and change it from the default 12000 (12 seconds) to 2000 (2 seconds) or above.

This setting tells Windows how long to wait before prompting you that a service is not responding to the shut down request. This may help speed up your shutdown if you have any such services running.

These are some of the best Windows 7 tips we found. Did we miss any of your favorites? Share with us in the comments!

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• How To Get Aero Shake, Aero Peek & Aero Snap Features In Vista & XP (12)
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But now you want more. You want the cool tips and tricks that make Windows 7 fun!

So here are the best ones to help you get the most out of your new OS. In this article, we will focus on the Windows 7 interface to get you started on the road to becoming a Windows 7 Power User. In Part 2, we will be looking at advanced tips for usability, performance, and security.

1. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Using the mouse, you can drag-‘n-dock windows to either side of the screen, or drag it to the top to maximize it. These keyboard shortcuts are even faster:

• Win+Left Arrow and Win+Right Arrow dock the window to the left and right side of the screen
• Win+Up Arrow and Win+Down Arrow maximize and restore/minimize
• Win+M minimizes everything
• Alt+Up, Alt+Left Arrow, Alt+Right Arrow navigate to parent folder, or browse Back and Forward through folders in Explorer
• Win+Home minimizes/restores all open windows except the active window
• Alt+Win+# accesses the Jump List of program number ‘#’ on the taskbar

2.Rearrange System Tray Icons

You can rearrange icons on the taskbar as you wish and start new (or switch to running) instances of the first ten taskbar programs using Win+1, Win+2, and so on. The cool thing is you can also rearrange system tray icons. Reorder them on the tray or move them outside or back in the tray. Take control of what you want to always keep an eye on, and from which apps you’ll require notifications.

3. Access Jump Lists with the Left Mouse Button

Jump Lists usually show up when you right-click on a taskbar icon. However, they can also be accessed by holding the left mouse button and dragging upwards. If you’re using a laptop touchpad or a touch screen, this is convenient because you do not have to click any button to access a context menu.

4. Add Any Folder to Favorites

You can add any library or folder to the Favorites section in Windows Explorer. To add a folder, navigate to it in Explorer, right-click Favorites in the left navigation pane, and select Add current location to Favorites. Now you get quick access to your favorite folders in all File->Save As dialogs!

5. Pin Frequently Used Folders to the Taskbar

Right-click, drag, and pin your favorite folders to Windows Explorer on the taskbar. They will now show up in the Jump List when you right click on Explorer giving you quick access to your favorite folders.

6. Pin Control Panel to the Taskbar

You cannot pin the Control Panel to the taskbar via the Start Menu or by drag and drop. Open the Control Panel and right-click its taskbar icon to pin it to the taskbar. An advantage of this is that Control Panel’s Jump List allows quick access to recently used functions.

7. Create Keyboard Shortcuts for Programs

You can create keyboard shortcuts for any program in Windows 7. Right-click the program icon and select Properties. Select the Shortcut tab, click in Shortcut key, to set the keyboard shortcut for that program.

8. Open Command Prompt in Any Folder

Like the command prompt? Miss the ‘Open Command Window Here’ Windows XP power toy? Press ‘Shift’ when right-clicking on a folder to get that option in the context menu. This also works on the desktop. No power toy required!

9. View Expanded ‘Send To’ Menu

Press Shift when right-clicking on a folder to get an expanded Send To menu.

10. Adjust Screen Text with Clear Type

Use Clear Type Tuner for the best look on your LCD monitor or laptop screen. Run ‘cttune.exe’ from the Start Menu search box, or go to the Control Panel Display applet, and select Adjust ClearType Text from the left.

11. Get Exact Colors On Your Screen

If you are an artist or you work with colors, use the Calibrate Color option in the Control Panel Display applet or run dccw.exe from the Start Menu search box. You can adjust gamma, brightness, contrast, and color balance, ensuring that colors are displayed correctly on your screen.

12. Customize the Power Button

If you restart your computer more often than you shut it down, change the default Shutdown power button to Restart. Right-click on Start, select Properties, and choose the Power button action that you use the most.

13. Customize Number of Items in Jump Lists & Start Menu

Right-click Start, select Properties, click Customize and choose the number of recent programs to be shown in the Start Menu and the number of items displayed in Jump Lists from the Start Menu Size section below.

14. Search Internet from the Start Menu

Enable Internet search from the Start Menu using your default browser. Run GPEDIT.MSC from the Start Menu search box to start the Group Policy Editor. In the left pane, go to User Configuration->Administrative Templates->Start Menu and Taskbar. In the right pane, right-click to Edit and Enable Add Search Internet link to Start Menu.

15. Add Videos to Start Menu

Windows 7 does not place a link to your videos on the Start Menu by default. To add a link to your videos on the Start Menu, right-click Start, select Properties, click on Customize. In the Videos section at the bottom, choose Display as a link.

Did you like these tips? Tell us or share your tricks with us in the comments! Don’t forget to watch out for Part 2!

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• How To Get Aero Shake, Aero Peek & Aero Snap Features In Vista & XP (12)
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Today I am going to show how I use Outlook rules to restart my computer remotely or to shut down my system if need be.

In all actuality I have created many rules over the years and would like to show them to you – who knows maybe they will be as helpful to you as they are to me.

First let’s look at creating a rule in Outlook:

Here you can see the rules window. You can get there by hitting Tools – Rules and Alerts.

If you already have any rules created they will be here. A rule is simply a law on your computer that states when a message arrives with a specific subject, comes from a specific account or any of the other rules, a specific action will be taken. People use these to setup auto-forwards or automated responses. I use these to take actions on my computer.

My first rule shuts down my system and the second one restarts the system. After you start creating the rule hit the Start from a blank rule radio box. This gives us the most flexibility.

Next select Check messages when they arrive. This will scan only incoming messages for your rules. Obviously if you want to be slick you can have things happen when other people send messages on your machine. You can really achieve automation with these rules!

To be on the safe side – ie: not have someone else send me a keyword and have my Outlook jump through hoops for them as well – we want to make sure that the rules are only processed if they come from my account that I have specified for this.

Next up I hit the specific keywords link and I specify my keyword(s). In this case I used the key word – SecretKeyWord. This is case sensitive and the email’s subject would have to have SecretKeyWord in the subject just like that. Then that will trigger our Action which you will see shortly.

Our action is going to run a batch file so we choose start an application. You will need to create a batch file for each action. For example to shutdown the computer your batch file (a text file saved with the .bat extension) would have this line and only this line in it:

shutdown –s –t 00

and to create the same rule that restarts the computer just use this command:

shutdown –r –t 00

When an email arrives with SecretKeyWord in the subject the batch file will be launched and the machine will be restarted – blamo just like that!

You can create any batch file or even start an application on your machine with parameters. The possibilities are endless! Let us know how you use rules in the comments!

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The Recovery Console is a special command-line interface for Windows XP which allows an administrator to identify and locate drivers and files which are problematic, as well as troubleshoot system settings. It’s recommended by Microsoft only for advanced users (in other words, that nerdy kid down the block), and only when Safe Mode (pressing the F8 key at boot-up) is not working.

To install the Recovery Console, you will need your Windows XP CD. The version of Windows XP on the CD must match or surpass the version installed on your PC, thus a Service Pack 3 disk is recommended. If you don’t have one, try to borrow one from a friend or co-worker. If you can’t find one, you can download setup disks or disk images from Microsoft.

For demonstrative purposes, we’ll assume that you have a Windows SP3 CD loaded into your CD drive at drive-letter D:

To install the Recovery Console, follow these steps (lifted from this Knowledge Base article):

1. Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons  where d is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive.

   

4. A Windows Setup Dialog Box appears. The Windows Setup Dialog Box describes the Recovery Console option. To confirm the installation, click Yes.

   

5. Restart the computer. The next time that you start your computer, “Microsoft Windows Recovery Console” appears on the startup menu.

The black screen with white text can be intimidating, but if you’ve ever played with the command line, you should feel right at home here. If you need help, just type “help”, and optionally, the name of the command you’re curious about, like “help fixmbr”.

I’ll run down the highlights of what commands you’ll most likely use:

“Bootcfg” recovers the Boot.ini file.

“Chkdsk /r” looks for bad disk sectors and attempts to recover any information which can be read from them.

“Copy” copies a file to a target location.

“Delete” deletes one file.

“Disable” disables a Windows system service or driver.

“Enable” restarts a disabled service or driver.

“Diskpart” manages hard disk partitions. Be very careful using this!

“Expand” decompresses a compressed file. This is good for getting files off the installation CD if needed.

“Fixmbr” repairs the boot code on a hard-disk. If your operating system “cannot be found” you’ll likely use this command, along with little brother “Fixboot”.

The Recovery Console is scary but helpful, and you’ll be glad that you’ve installed it on your hard disk before Windows gives you any trouble. If you have any system recovery tips, please leave comments below.

Image credit: Paul Boxley

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I’m sure you’ve had to deal with this; It pops up every ten minutes after a major system update. Fortunately, it can be turned off. I’m going to help you to create a shortcut that will turn this nag off when double-clicked.

So, how to stop automatic updates from restarting your PC

Step 1

Your first step is to open Notepad. (Start > Run > “Notepad” > OK)

In Notepad, just type the command “net stop wuauserv” (no quotes, as in above). Then close the window, and select “Yes” to save changes.

Step 2

What we’re doing is creating an executable batch file which will run a command when double-clicked, to stop the Windows Automatic Updates Service. Make sure that your “Save as type” is set to “All Files” so that you don’t accidently create a text file. Save your file with an extension of “.bat”

Step 3

This cute little batch file is what you’re left with.

When Windows starts nagging you to restart, just double click this to run it and stop the service. You won’t be bothered again. The service will restart when you reboot, which is needed to install the updates in the first place.

Is there anything that Windows does that annoys you? Maybe we can find a fix for it. Are yu awrae of any easier way to stop automatic updates from restarting your Windows. Please give us some ideas in the comments.

Think it’s time to update your PC? Varun will teach you 5 Ways To Update Your Windows Operating System.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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• 7 Ways to keep on top of your Software Updates (10)
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I had been using launchy as my preferred program launcher for quite some time, until I found FARR. FARR stands for “Find and Run Robot”, a program-launcher in simple english. However, it has some neat tricks and a truck-load of options up its sleeve. Let’s take a look.

You can install and download FARR from donationcoder. The program is absolutely free for use, however the developers want you to visit the site so they give away a free license key that you might want to enter by clicking on About from the system tray menu.

You can summon FARR via the Pause/Break key or with the Ctrl+Space combination. Start typing the first few characters of program/file you want to launch and it displays a list of top matches.

The first difference you would notice (compared to other program launchers) is that the results are numbered. Pressing any number would launch that particular result. The next time you summon FARR, the previous results that you launched would appear automatically so that you can quickly launch them if you need. Let’s say you launched Firefox — next time you can simply press Ctrl+1 to launch Firefox (reminiscent of Win + # shortcuts in Windows 7).

FARR allows you to extend its functionality by means of plugins. There are some excellent plugins available on the FARR Plugins page. There are plugins for integrating Remember the Milk, Google Tasks, Everything search, Twitter and many more. You can find plugins for file information to screenshots to language translators.

There are plenty of options to keep the tweakers busy. You can customize the memory usage, hotkeys and skins. Specify how FARR gains focus, remains on top or not. You can specify your own font settings and play with transparency settings. On a more functional note, you can customize how FARR should treat missing files, duplicate links to the same file, control the history list, or exact match as the stopping condition and so on.

You can of course, customize the locations that are searched by FARR. However, if you really want to dig in deep, you can even control the order in which the results would appear. FARR uses a scoring system to determine which result would appear at the top. You can customize the scoring criteria to alter which results appear on the top.

So, if you would like to make PDF files rank higher than DOC files if they have the same name and are at the same location, you could add an entry for PDF files and assign it a higher score.

FARR also allows you to create aliases, which allows you to associate specific terms with a file or group of files. If you would like to launch Dreamweaver, Firefox and Vim for development, you can associate “development” with these three shortcuts and then typing in “development” and choosing the alias, all 3 apps will launch.

There are plenty of options and functionality offered by FARR to satisfy all. If you are a diligent tweaker, you have loads of options to play with and customize according to your taste. If you are an average user, use the default options and you are good to go. The large plugin list and an involved community provide the icing on the FARR Cake!

Do you use launcher applications? Which one is your favorite? Let us know

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There is a hack available to allow allow multiple remote desktop connections on Vista machine, and it will also enable Remote Desktop Connections in Vista Home Premium.

Disclaimer: Use this hack at your own risk. Modifying Windows system files can cause unexpected results. You should only try this hack if you know what you are doing or if you are willing to break your configuration. If you mess up your Windows configuration, MakeUseOf will not accept any legal liability whatsoever. It is highly recommended that you backup your files before proceeding.

The hack involves replacing the default Remote Desktop Connection program (termsrv.dll) with a hacked one. First, you need to download the hacked file here. Extract the contents of the file somewhere on your PC. There are several batch files (.bat) that will install it, depending on which version of Vista you are running: Business.bat, premium.bat, or Ultimate.bat.

Run the correct batch file, according to what version of Vista you have. You can try using the premium.bat version on Home Basic, but I haven’t verified that it works on basic. Once again, use at your own risk! If you have any problems running the batch file, boot into safe mode to run it.

Firewall Configuration for Vista Home Premium

Although the batch file is supposed to configure the firewall if you are installing it on Home Premium, it does not work properly. Here is how to configure your firewall to allow Remote Desktop connections:

• Open the Control Panel
• If you are in the regular control panel view, click on Allow a program through Windows Firewall under the Security section



• If you are in classic view, click on Windows Firewall and then click on Allow a program through Windows Firewall



• Click the Add Port button



• For the new port enter Remote Desktop Connection for the Name and 3389 for the Port number and click OK
• Click OK again to save the firewall settings.

You should now be all set to run Remote Desktop with concurrent connections.  If you are already using Remote Desktop Connections with Business or Ultimate, then you are probably familiar with using the Remote Desktop client.

Using the Remote Desktop Client

If you’re not familiar with Remote Desktop or you are on one of the Home editions and you’ve never used Remote Desktop before:

• Start up Windows on another computer.
• Navigate to Start > Programs > Accessories > Remote Desktop Connection



• Enter the name of the Vista computer and then click Connect.
• Enter your login credentials when prompted for the username and password of the Vista computer.
• You should now be remotely logged into your computer!

If you have any problems getting this to work, there are instructions available on how to install remote desktop concurrent sessions manually. It is also possible to set up concurrent Remote Desktop connections on Windows XP. The process is very much the same for XP, in that you should download a patched termsrv.dll and install it to the system.

Although we do not endorse modification of Windows system files, if you come across any issues installing this hack, let us know and we will do what we can to help. Are you aware of any other ways to allow multiple remote desktop connections? Let us know in comments.

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Even with the ability to store and retrieve your security, it does no good if the operating system is inaccessible. Ignoring your PC for a few years, removing a computer from a domain, or simply needing administrative rights on a PC are just a few reasons that the admin password may need to be reset. With Microsoft’s improved security over the last few years, it became more difficult to resent Windows administrator password. However, there are still several ways to get around it and I am bringing you three of the easiest ways to reset forgotten windows password for XP, Vista and Server 2003.

1. Reset Windows Admin Password with Ubuntu

Ubuntu has become, far and away, the most popular distribution of Linux in the world. Its ease of installation and use makes it the ‘go to’ operating system for an open source alternative. In this case you don’t even have to install the OS. You simply use the Live CD that is included with the burned ISO of Ubuntu.

Here are the instructions for resetting the Windows administrator password using Ubuntu Linux.

(Internet Connection Required)

1. Go to Ubuntu and download the latest ISO of the operating system.

2. Use one of the free ISO burning applications to create a bootable Ubuntu CD. Of course you’ll need another PC in order to do this.

3. Use the Live Ubuntu CD to boot into the live version of the OS.

4. Go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager.

5. Then Settings>Repositories

6. Once the ‘Software Sources’ window appears, make sure you select ‘Software restricted by copyright or legal issues’, then click close.

7. Click reload on synaptic package manager.

8. Click Search, and type in ‘chntpw’.

9. Once the ‘chntpw’ app is found, right-click on it and ‘mark for installation’.

10. Click “Apply on Summary Window” and also to confirm changes.

**Remember an internet connection is required for the above steps. If there is no availability for a connection, a USB flash drive will be required.**

12. Next, we must mount the Windows drive. In Ubuntu, go to Places> Select the appropriate drive.

13. The final step of the process is actually resetting the password via the Linux terminal.

14. In Ubuntu go to Applications>Accessories>Terminal.

15. Type ‘cd /media/disk/WINDOWS/system32/config/’ in the terminal window.

16. Type ’sudo chntpw SAM’

17. This by default will change the Administrator password. If you would prefer to change a particular user. Type ’sudo chntpw -u username SAM’.

18. Afterwards, you’ll see a long display of information, most of which can be ignored.

19. The next step is to actually reset the windows password. It is recommended to make the password blank with an asterisk * .

20. You’ll then have to confirm the change with a Y, and reboot.

2. With Barts PreInstalled Environment

Bart’s PreInstalled Environment has been a popular method on offline troubleshooting for Windows System Administrators for some time now whether it be for disk recovery, malware removal or in this instance, password removal. It’s a bootable operating system, just like the Ubuntu Live CD, but with more of a Windows-like feel.

Below are the instructions for using a small EXE file called Password Renew within the PE environment.

(XP CD Required – If your Windows drive is SATA, you may need to follow additional instructions on the PEBuilder site)

1. Go Bart’s website and download the ISO for the PreInstalled Environment.

2. Download Password Renew.

3. Open PEBuilder and for the Windows directory, select the location of the i386 directory on your XP disk. Under the custom directory, select the directory that holds the PasswordRenew.exe file. Select a title for your CD and finally create a name for your ISO file. I’d recommend creating an ISO over burning directly to the CD, because of problems that may arise.

4. Browse to the A43 File Management Utility.

5. Once there, you should browse your CD drive and find your custom directory created in step three.

6. Open Password Renew.

7. This program is very straight forward. Simply press ‘Select Target’ and browse to your Windows directory.

8. Once there, you can will see options to reset a password, create a new administrator or convert a current user to an administrator.

9. You will then have the option to install there after.

10. Reboot, and changes will be applied.

3. With Offline NT Password Disk (Google Cache)

Offline NT Password Disk is a very simple and very fast command line Linux tool to reset your forgotten Windows administrator password. At the time of this writing the site was down, hence the Google Cache link.

1. Download the bootable CD image.

2. Burn the ISO to a CD with one of the ISO burning applications, as we stated before.

3. Boot up your PC with the bootable CD.

4. Drivers for both SATA and IDE drivers typically load automatically.

5. Select the location of your Windows Operating System.

6. Select windows/system32/config as your directory.

7. Select “Password Reset” as your option.

8. I would recommend to reset as a ‘blank password’. This works best.

9. Once blanked, press ‘q’ to quit and write the values to the registry.

As you can see, the dread of forgetting your Windows administrator password can typically be put behind you. These are just a few of the options to reset that hard to remember nemesis, but they are a few of the simplest.

Give us some of your best options for resetting your Windows passwords.

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• Recover Your Windows XP Administrator Password With The Installation Disk (15)
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(There have been previous articles – in the WinHack column – on how to Speed Up Windows twice, here and here.)

WARNING : BEFORE making any changes to the Windows registry, it is highly recommended to make a backup in case anything goes wrong. To backup your Windows registry, tap your Windows key on the keyboard and “R”. When the Run box comes up, type regedit. When the Registry box comes up, go to ‘File’ then ‘Export’. Save the resulting file to your hard drive.

Ready for some more tweaking? Let’s go!

Auto-Kill All Programs at Shutdown

This tweak can speed up the process a lot by killing tasks quickly and not requiring user input for closing them, e.g. the repetitive Firefox pop-up asking if you really want to quit. Here it is:

Step 1: Go to “Start,” “Run,” and type regedit.

Step 2: Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Step 3: Find the Registry Key called AutoEndTasks and right-click then select Modify. Change the value to 1.

Change Application Hang Time

There are a few Registry Keys that are, by default, set to a ridiculous setting. There are three of them that we are going to cover today called WaitToKillApp, HangAppTime, and WaitToKillServiceTimeout.

WaitToKillApp sets the time for Windows to wait before killing the application you are attempting to close, while HangAppTime sets the hang time for the app before closing, and WaitToKillServiceTimeout sets the time for Windows to wait before killing Microsoft Services.

By shortening these you will, obviously, have a faster application response.

Ready? Let’s do it!

Step 1: Go to “Start,” “Run,” and type regedit.

Step 2: Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Step 3: Find the Registry Key labeled WaitToKillApp, HangAppTime, and WaitToKillServiceTimeout and right-click them, then select Modify. Change the value to 1000.

Disable Clearing of Paging File

We previously talked about the paging article in another article on speeding up Windows, but today we are talking about how to speed up the use of the Paging File even more.

On shutdown, Windows automatically removes the contents of the Paging File for security, because it may run as a temporary file, holding information such as unencrypted passwords, etc. (If you believe the security of your system will be too far out of control due to the absence of removal of such information, then it is not necessary that you use this hack.)

Let’s do it!

Step 1: Go to “Start,” “Run,” and type regedit.

Step 2: Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management.

Step 3: Find the Registry Key labeled ClearPageFileOnShutdown and right-click it, then select Modify. Change the value to 0.

Hope this helps you get into your tweaking mood! Have fun hacking tweaking! More next time on WinHack!

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• WinHack – Speed Up Your Windows Computer (Part 2) (14)
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Of course, it is possible to remove and add options to the right-click menu. Both of which can be quite productive and fun. (There was a previous article Customize Your ‘Send To’ Right-Click Windows Menu written by Jimmy on how to add more options to the “Send To” field. Some other article related to Windows right lick menu can be found here.)

Ready? Let’s do it!

Adding Entries for Certain File Types in Right-Click Menu

Sometimes you may have a certain file type, e.g. .doc (Word document) that you would like to do something special with, e.g. open .doc as an email attachment. Today we will be looking at how to do just that. In other words, show you how to add additional options to right click menu when used on certain files. So let’s get started!

Step 1: Go to “My Computer.” Click “Tools” and then click “Folder Options.”

Step 2: Click on the tab labeled “File Types.”

Step 3: Find a file type and select it. Then click “Advanced.”

Step 4: Click “New.” In the Action field type the name that you would like to appear.

Step 5: In the Application used to perform action textbox enter the path of the application you would like the file to load in (with quotes). E.g. “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”.

Step 6: Click “OK” and you have your own customized right-click menu!

Removing Entries from Right-Click Menu

Sometimes, instead of adding entries, maybe your right-click menu has become too big. Eventually right-click menu’s (like mine) can take forever to load. If you would like to, you can definitely remove some of those useless options. Ready for a faster right-click menu? Let’s do it!

Step 1: Go to “Start,” “Run,” and type regedit.

Step 2: Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellexe\ContextMenuHandlers

Step 3: Find the folder that indicates the entry in the start menu and right-click. Select “Remove.”

Remove Entries for Certain File Types

Maybe your right-click menu has become way too long, and takes forever to load (like mine). If you would like to only remove entries for certain file types, simply go to the Folder Options menu like we did before and you may do the following:

Step 1: Go to “My Computer.” Click “Tools” and then click “Folder Options.”

Step 2: Click on the tab labeled “File Types.”

Step 3: Find a file type and select it.

Step 4: Find one of the entries and select “Remove.”

Now go out there and tweak!

More tweaks next time in WinHacks!

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• Windows Registry Tweaks (Part 2) (8)
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Well, ready to get started? Let’s do it.

Messing around with the actual login can be quite fun as well. Actually, if that does not pump you up enough, what if I told you it was easy? Yes, well, it is! Here are a few cool things you can do with the registry to make your login screen a little more personal:

Add A Login Text Reminder

This little reminder will pop-up everytime you start the computer, right before the login screen boots. You can edit it to say whatever you like.

1. Go to “Start,” “Run,” and type regedit.ext.

2. When the Registry Editor loads, navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ Current Version \ Winlogon

3. You should now see a multitude of registry keys that are essential for the logon. To do what we are trying to do, add a text reminder, find the registry key LegalNoticeCaption and right-click, and select Modify.

4. Now, type whatever you like in the box to set a caption/title for the window.

5. For the actual text you would like to display, find the Registry Key right under it titled LegalNoticeText and again right-click it, then select Modify. Type whatever you like in the box.

Set Default Logon Identity

Also conveniently placed in the Winlogon directory is the Registry Key titled AutoAdminLogin, DefaultDomainName, and DefaultUserName. These keys set the default login credentials for the system when the login is loaded. If you simply want to save time by automatically setting the correct username and password everytime, and this computer is not used by a bunch of people then it is fine.

If the computer you are tweaking happens to be used by many people then I would not recommend using this tweak, unless, of course, you are intending on everyone using the same account. Anyway here it is:

1. Go to “Start,” “Run,” and type regedit.exe.

2. When the Registry Editor loads, navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ Current Version \ Winlogon

3. The AutoAdminLogin key should be set to 0 currently if your system does not automatically log you on. If the system does, though, automatically log you on, then this should be set to 1.

4. The DefaultDomainName key is the default user directory the username is selected to do. Usually, this will not need to be changed, unless you are logging onto a server.

5. The DefaultUserName key, obviously, sets the default username. You can change this to whatever you wish to accompany your username.

Change the Logon Screensaver

Changing the logon screensaver may be the best part. The ability to show your friends your ultra-cool hacking tweaking skills and superior computer modding. Anyway, here is an easy way using some cool software. (Note: The installation is quite easy and shouldn’t need much explanation.)

1. Download BootSkin.

2. Find and download new or used current “BootSkins” provided after installation to change your boot screen. (To download and access new “BootSkins” you can go to WinCustomize.)

Hope these small tweaks help you get a little closer to the perfect computer. Have fun tweaking!

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