Here's my final vista experience
Showing posts with label Windows Vista Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Windows Vista Tips. Show all posts
How to put RSS feeds on your Vista desktop
How to put your RSS feeds on your Vista desktop using the sidebar and gadgets.
How to put RSS feeds on your Vista desktop
Skype on Vista
This is rubbish. There is definitely a problem running the current version of Skype under Vista. It is easily reproducible, simply make or respond to a call, wait for it to connect and observe that the application crashes. Vista reports the error but does
Skype on Vista
MS-DOS on Windows 2000-2003-XP-Vista
Windows XP ha segnato, anche per l'utenza comune, la fine degli stretti legami prima di allora presenti tra OS in interfaccia grafica (Windows appunto) e DOS. I motivi sono oramai noti, per cui non mi dilungo in ulteriori spiegazioni. In sintesi, si &egra
The Choice is Windows XP over Windows Vista
I was surfing my RSS feeds the other night using Vienna. I came across a blog post about Vista from back in July, and decided it should be shared with you all, and commented on.
The Choice is Windows XP over Windows Vista
Top 5 Tips on Repairing Your own Computer: PC and Mac
Brandon is a community member who works for Geek Squad. He sees customers come in every day with nearly the same problems, and came up with his top five tips for getting your own machine back up and running, whether you own a PC or a Mac
Top 5 Tips on Repairing Your own Computer: PC and
vista theme for xp
theres the link straight to the download u may wonder i dont use the new transformation pack its because it doesnt work
Burning DVDs in Vista
You may not know it, but burning DVDs with the Windows Vista operating system is extremely easy and a very nice experience! No longer are you required to use third party software, such as Roxio. Nope, Windows Vista has redefined this process and has taken it to a whole new level. Let's check it out, shall we?!
I'm not sure what happened to Vista, but I'll tell you what, I am all for it! Working with read/write DVDs is now a simple joy. To get started, simply stick a blank DVD into your DVD ROM drive and then just sit back and let Vista do all of the hard work. When the AutoPlay message box appears, click on the option that says "Burn files to disc using Windows."
The next window you see will give you a chance to name your blank DVD or CD. It will also give you the option to format it for the Live File System, which is a new feature in Vista that will format your CD or DVD in much less time. Then when it's finished, you will have a recordable CD or DVD you can use as an extra hard drive. Only this time, it will be a lot more portable!
To use your fresh blank DVD or CD, just drag the files you want to put on it into the blank area. The files will immediately be copied. You don't have to click on anything at all. They will already be there for you! When you're finished and ready to eject your DVD, a special pop up will appear, letting you know Vista is closing the session. You will then be able to use it on other computers. Each time you insert the recordable DVD, Vista will "remember" it and allow you to treat it like a portable drive. You can also drag other files to it, as well as, delete files you no longer need on it.
Now, isn't that special? I hope you enjoy this!
~ Ramachandran Kumaraswami
» Windows Vista Fix To Resolve iPod Being Corrupted When Using Safely Remove Hardware Feature
Microsoft has released an update to resolve an issue where an Apple iPod may be vulnerable to corruption when selecting the "Safely Remove Hardware feature on systems running Windows Vista. When attempting to eject the iPod the possibility exist for the iPod to become corrupted, causing data loss. Apple recommended work around was to always eject their iPods within the iTunes software.
The patch can be obtained by running Windows Update or from Microsoft by downloading iPod patch fix for Vista x86-based versions and to fix the iPod eject issue on Vista 64-Bit versions.
Apple has also released a new version of iTunes version 7.1.1 that fixes earlier problems with iPods running on Windows Vista systems. This updates fixes issues with purchased tracks becoming unplayable, and possible iPod corruptions in Windows Vista.
iTunes 7.1.1 can be downloaded from Apple web site.» Automatically Connect To Folder Shares During Logon In Windows
For many Computer users, having a Network in their home is becoming common thanks to the simplicity and low cost of setting up a Wireless Network (no more running CAT 5 cables through your walls and floors…yeaa!!).
With this convenience, comes many advantages such as sharing files and folders between Computers. But browsing or manually connecting to all those shares can be a hassle, especially if they are password protected.
Instead, you can easily setup connecting to shares automatically when logging on to your Windows computer.
To have Windows automatically connect to shares on your Network, we'll need to create a drive mapping (or several if you connect to more than one share).
Drive mappings are great for shares that are password protected since you can setup them up to authenticate automatically.
Start by double clicking on My Computer (XP), or Computer (Vista). Then click on Tools from the menu and select Map Network Drive…
NOTE: Screen shots are from XP and will look similar with Vista.
If you know the Computer and Share name, just enter it in the Folder: field using the following format:
\\computername\sharename
Or you can browse for the Computer by clicking on the Browse… button.
To automatically connect during logon, check the box next to Reconnect at logon.
If you want to use a specific letter to map the drive (other than the one selected by default), click on the arrow next to the Drive: field and make your selection.
NOTE: any existing drive mappings in use, will not appear in the drop down list.
For shares that are protected with a password, click on the link in the phrase Connect using a different name.
In the Connect As… dialog box, enter the username and password of the remote computer. Make sure you append the Computer name before the username as shown in the screen shot below.
Click OK when finished.
When you have completed all the steps, click Finish. to connect and map the drive.
Next time you boot your Computer or logon, the share will automatically connect and create the drive mapping. No need to keep authenticating
To view the share, open My Computer (XP) or Computer (Vista).
TIP: You can also create a shortcut to the drive mapping on your Desktop. When the Create shortcut wizard runs, select the Browse button and expand Computer then select the drive letter.
If you no longer need to map the drive, just right click on the drive letter and select Disconnect.
Using drive mappings is not restricted to just Windows Computers, you can create mappings to any Linux Computer (running Samba) also.
For shares that are not password protected, it's not necessary to create a drive mapping, since you can just create a shortcut to the share on your desktop. But it can be useful if you run scripts or have programs and applications that need to access the share. Also you won't need to browse the Network anymore if you don't use shortcuts.» Browse Folders From The Run Command In Windows
Creating shortcuts to folders is a fast and easy way to access files or folders on your Computer when running any version of Windows. But how many shortcuts do you really want cluttering up your desktop? I usually create folder shortcuts to my most accessed folders, which helps keeps my desktop organized. But sometimes, you still end of with a bunch of shortcuts. Instead, you can browse and open folders using the run command.
Start by clicking on Start \ Run… to bring up the run dialog box. Next type c:\ (or whatever drive letter of the folder you are looking for).
NOTE: screen shots are from Windows XP, but will be similar in Vista.
As soon as you start typing, Windows will display the folders of the path you have typed in the run field. To navigate, either use the scroll bar or the Up / Down arrow keys.
You can also type the first few letters of a folder your are looking for, or just type one letter to display all folders that begin with that letter. For example, after browsing to c:\program files then typing the letter i , all folders starting with i will be displayed.
When you find the folder you are looking for, scroll down or use the Up \ Down arrow keys, highlight it, and press enter to open a new window. Or, type a backslash \ to continue browsing into the folder.
You are not limited to just browsing and opening folders, you can also browse to files and open them using the same steps as above, or you can access and browse network shares from the run command.
» Create Customize Shortcut For Running Windows Disk Cleanup
Windows Disk Cleanup utility is a great tool for cleaning up multiple locations on your Vista or XP Computers. The one drawback to the utility is that you need to configure it every time you want to cleanup your disk drives.
Instead, you can easily pre-configure specific tasks for Disk Cleanup to use and create a shortcut on the Desktop to run it at any time.
In order to create a customize configuration for Disk Cleanup, we need to run the utility using the sageset option. This option allows you to configure the Cleanup utility, and save it, so we can run it later with the custom configuration.
To get started, open the Run window by clicking on Start \ Run… and type:
cleanmgr.exe /d c: /sageset:1
Where:
cleannmgr.exe = executable for Disk Cleanup utility.
/d c: = is the drive letter we want to use, and since it contains the Windows installation, will have all available options. (NOTE: see more information below about multiple drives)
/sageset:1 = used to create the registry key for storing the configuration.
NOTE: Following screen shots are from Vista Disk Cleanup Utility. XP cleanup will look similar but with less options.
Now make any selections by checking each item you want to cleanup. When finished, click OK.
Next, go to your Desktop, right click and select New \ Shortcut. Then enter the following command in the "Type the location of the item:"
cleanmgr /sagerun:1
Click next and give the shortcut a name, such as "Quick Clean Up" (do not use quotes). Now when you want to run the customized configuration for Disk Cleanup, you can just double click on the shortcut.
If you are wondering, the /sagerun:1 option tells Disk Cleanup which configuration to use. So that means you can create different configurations (such as cleanup the trash, or cleanup temp and setup log files) by specifying the number with the /sagerun variable.
But I Have Multiple Drives?
Unfortunantly, when Disk Cleanup runs, all drives are cleaned (regardless of the number of drives you have) with each run. While you cannot choose which drive to clean, specifing the drive letter when creating a configuration allows you to choose only the options that are available on that drive.
For example, if you have an E:\ drive, use:
cleanmgr.exe /d E: /sageset:2
and configure the tasks for Disk Cleanup to use on the E:\ drive. Options that only pertain to that drive should only be available.
Even though the custom configuration will also clean the same selections on the C:\ drive, you can tailor the configuration to only what is available on the E:\ without just selecting everything.
When finished, you can either create another shortcut on your Desktop using the following command:
cleanmgr /sagerun:2
Or create one shortcut to run both cleanup tasks which will basically combine the selections into one automatic cleanup.
cleanmgr /sagerun:1 /sagerun:2
Now you can cleanup your Computer with custom configurations set to your preferences automatically.
» Create Shortcuts For Restart Shut Down Or Logoff On Windows XP and Vista
A few ways exist to restart, shutdown, or log off your Windows XP and Vista computer. The most popular methods used are the Start Menu or the famous Ctrl-Alt-Del. Sometimes you may want to quickly click on a shortcut or create a keyboard shortcut that will accomplish the task. If so, here's a quick way to create those shortcuts to execute either restart, shutdown or hibernate.
Windows XP and Vista, include the built-in command shutdown.exe that will restart, shutdown and log off (Vista shutdown command includes the option to hibernate) your Computer. The shutdown command is also available for Windows 2000 and 2003 servers.
The basic options for shutdown.exe for both XP and Vista are:
- -l Log off
- -s Shutdown the computer
- -r Shutdown and restart the computer
- -t xx Set timeout for shutdown to xx seconds
On Vista (only) the hibernate option is
- /h Hibernate the local computer.
To create a shortcut to shutdown your Computer, right click on the Desktop (or where you want to create a shortcut), and select New \ Shortcut. In the Type the location of the item text field enter:
%SystemRoot%\System32\shutdown.exe /s
NOTE: following screen shots are from Vista. Windows XP Create Shortcuts wizard will look a little different but the steps are the same. The %SystemRoot% is a System variable for C:\Windows folder.
Then click next to continue and give the shortcut a name and click Finish.
If you want to delay the time for restart, shutdown, log off, or hibernate (Vista only), you can use the -t switch to set a timeout delay for the command to execute. In the example above, adding timeout to the command for 10 seconds would look like this:
%SystemRoot%\System32\shutdown.exe -t 10 /s
If you prefer to use the the keyboard, you can easily add a keyboard shortcut to the new shortcut by following the steps outlined in the article Create Keyboard Shortcuts on Windows.» How To Change Autoplay Default Setting Or Option In Windows Vista
Recently, I connected a device to my windows Vista computer, and without paying much attention to the autoplay prompt, I just selected any setting so I could get moving on not realizing what I selected. Now every time I plug the device into my computer, nothing happens. How can I change the autoplay setting or option from no action to play when I connect the device to my computer?
When connecting devices, such as USB drives or inserting a CD or DVD into Window Vista, Autoplay will display and prompt you to select a default action or setting. Like many people, including myself, we usually do not pay attention to the selection, and become stuck with that action. Fortunately, you can bail yourself out of the selection and change the autoplay option.
Click on the Start button and in the start menu search box, type auto and press enter, or if search does not find Autoplay, click on Start \ Control Panel \ Default Programs \ Change Autoplay settings
Listed are all the possible media and devices along with their default or changed autoplay settings. With each media or device, is a pull down (arrow) that allows you to modify the autoplay action. For example, if you wanted Media Player to start for all Video files, click on the arrow next Video files, select Windows Media Player then click on Save:
Browsing around, you will notice different options exist for other devices and media. Some of the common settings to choose from are Take no action, Ask me every time, and Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer. After making changes, make sure you you click Save to save the new setting.
If you want to disable Vista's Autoplay completely, uncheck the Use AutoPlay for all media and devices located at the top of the Autoplay window:
To disable autoplay for one device or media, locate it from the list, and select Take no action from the pull down list.
Unlike Windows XP, pressing the SHIFT key when inserting media or connecting a device does not by-pass Vista's Autoplay, but instead, opens AutoPlay regardless of the default setting.
If Autoplay does not start after inserting media or when you plug in a device, but does work for other media and devices, follow the below steps as a possible solution:
- Click the Start button \ All Programs \ Accessories, and then right-click Command Prompt.
- Click Run as administrator.
- At the command prompt, type net start shellhwdetection, and then press ENTER.
- Restart your computer
» Free Up Disk Space In Windows By Compressing Folders or Drives
While new Computers come with hard drives that now have a boat load of disk space in the hundreds of Giga Bytes, many people out there may have older Computers where disk space is becoming short on available free space. One option is to upgrade your hard drive to get more disk space, but this process can be a hassle and comes with an expense if you are not tech savvy.
To help hold you off just a little bit longer, another option available in Windows, is to use the built in Compression utility which will compress folders and volumes that sometimes can end up returning a decent amount of free disk space.
Before you can compress any folders or drives in Windows, the drive must be formatted as NTFS. If you have drives that are not NTFS, you can convert FAT or FAT32 drives to NTFS by following the instructions in this Microsoft article (NOTE: using the convert command will not erase data on your drive).
To compress a folder or drive, open Windows Explorer and highlight the folder or drive,
Right click and select properties, then click on the Advanced button at the bottom.
NOTE: screen shots are from Windows Vista and will be similar in XP)
In the Advanced Attributes window, check the box next to Compress contents to save disk space and click OK twice.
At the Confirm Attribute Changes window, select which option you want to apply. I usually select the default - Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files option. Click OK to start the compression.
The length of time to complete compression will depend on the amount of data in the folder or drive. When completed, you will notice the folder or drive will now appear in Windows Explorer as blue, which is an indication of compressed drives.
To view how much space has been saved, right click the folder or drive and select properties.
The Size on disk: parameter displays the compressed sized on disk, while the Size: parameter displays the non-compressed value. In the example above, approximately 4MB were reclaimed. While this is not a large amount of free space, compressing full drives will yield a greater return. If you do have very large folders, then compressing individual folders will be a benefit.
When using compression, if you move or copy a file into a compressed folder, it is compressed automatically. If you move a file from a different NTFS drive into a compressed folder, it is also compressed. If you move a file from the same NTFS drive into a compressed folder, the file retains its original state, either compressed or uncompressed.
Using compression will result in a small performance decrease when accessing the folder or drive. For general use, you will not notice the decrease, but do not use it with applications that require constant access to the drive (for home users you will not have this problem, the only exception is with running Anti-virus or Spyware scans).
If you want to un-compress, just return to the Advanced Attributes window of the folder or drive and uncheck the box next to Compress contents to save disk space.
For the command line Techies, you can compress folders or drives using the compact.exe command:
COMPACT [/C | /U] [/S[:dir]] [/A] [/I] [/F] [/Q] [filename […]]
/C Compresses the specified files. Directories will be marked so that files added afterward will be compressed.
/U Uncompresses the specified files. Directories will be marked so that files added afterward will not be compressed.
/S Performs the specified operation on files in the given directory and all subdirectories. Default "dir" is the current directory.
/A Displays files with the hidden or system attributes. These files are omitted by default.
/I Continues performing the specified operation even after errors have occurred. By default, COMPACT stops when an error is encountered.
/F Forces the compress operation on all specified files, even those which are already compressed. Already-compressed files
are skipped by default.
/Q Reports only the most essential information.
filename Specifies a pattern, file, or directory.
When using compact.exe without parameters, compact will display the compression state of the current directory and files it contains. You will notice a "C" (with out quotes) next to folders that are compressed.
» How To Check Which Version Of DotNet Is Installed In Windows
With multiple versions of Microsoft DotNet available, finding which version is installed, can be confusing for users to identify. And to make it more difficult, installing applications that require a specific version of DotNet, sometimes don't provide a method of checking and reporting if DotNet is installed on your Computer.
Fortunately, there are two easy ways to check which version is installed or if DotNet is installed in the first place.
Both of these methods apply to either Windows XP or Vista. All screen shots shown in this guide are from XP, but will be similar in Vista.
Using the manual method to determine which version(s) of the .NET Framework is installed on your Computer:
- Open My Computer and navigate to C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework folder (If the folder cannot be found, you do not have any version of DotNet installed)
- If you have more than one version of DotNet installed you will see multiple directories similar to the below screenshot.
- Open any of the folders under Framework, then locate the Mscorlib.dll file.
- Right click on the file and select Properties.
- Click the Version tab, and then note the file version.
You can cross reference the service pack versions using the below chart::
NOTE: not shown in the above list is DotNet version 3, which is installed by default on Vista.
Multiple versions of DotNet can be installed and should not be un-installed. Any application that requires DotNet, will be able to determine if the needed version is installed on your Computer. Un-installing any version of DotNet, will cause applications to not run anymore.
While it is important that you understand where and how to check if DotNet is installed on your Computer, if you do not want the hassle of checking the version manually, a free tool is available for download from TMG Development LTD called DotNet Version Checker.
After downloading the DotNet Version Checker tool, unzip the file versioncheck.zip. Then click on VersionCheck.exe to run the tool and display the version(s) of DotNet on your Computer.
As you can see, the tool reports the same version that we found using the manual method. With this information, you can use the above chart to cross reference the DotNet service pack version installed on your Computer.
The tool will also display the version of Internet Explorer at the bottom of the display.
» How To Find The Version Of DirectX Installed In Windows
My son wants to install an older version of Sims Town on his new Windows PC and the setup program is asking me if I want to install DirectX or abort the install if I already have DirectX installed. I don't even know what DirectX is let alone WHERE to find the version information. How can I find what version is installed on my PC?
Fortunately for you and your son, DirectX is installed and there is an easy way to check the version.
- Click Start
- On XP Click Run and type dxdiag.exe
- On Vista type dxdiag.exe in the search box and click on dcdiag.exe in the search results
NOTE: If Windows cannot find the dxdiag program, an earlier version of DirectX may be installed and should be upgraded to the latest version.
- On the System tab, note the version of DirectX displayed on the DirectX Version line.
What is DirectX?
In a nutshell, DirectX is a Windows technology that enables higher performance in graphics and sound when you're playing games or watching video on your Windows Computer.
Basically it's what makes us go WOW when playing games» How To Find What Program Has Locked A File When Attempting to Delete Copy Or Move
How many times have you seen these Windows error messages when trying to delete, copy or move a file?
"Cannot delete file: Access is denied"
"There has been a sharing violation"
"The source or destination file may be in use"
"The file is in use by another program or user"
"Error Deleting File or Folder"
For many, probably when your least expected it or in a rush. Sometimes the fix is as easy as closing a program or Windows Explorer, while other times it's not as simple.
In all cases, the error is caused by the file handle being held open by program, process or another user. The challenge is finding what has it open, and the freeware utility Unlocker makes it easy to identify.
Unlocker (written by Cedrick Collomb) is an Windows Explorer extension that allows you to right click on a file and quickly unlock, when any of the above error messages appear while deleting, copy or moving a file. It can also unlock folders, DLL's, and delete the index.dat file without the need to reboot your Computer.
To install, download Unlocker and double click on the executable. Unlocker runs on Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista (not supported on Windows XP 64 or Vista 64).
1 - Select a Language and click OK
2 - Click Next at the Welcome screen
3 - Accept or select the Install Location and click Next
4 - Choose which Components you want to install. IMPORTANT:
- eBay shortcuts component is a promotional feature and should be uncheck if you do not want it installed.
- Assistant component will reside in the System Tray and automatically launches Unlocker when it detects a file is locked during copy/move/delete (this eliminates the need to right click).
5 - Click Finish to exit
To use Unlocker with the right click functionality, when a file or folder is locked and you try to delete, copy, or move, you will see an error message. In my case, when trying to delete an MS Word document, the following error message appeared.
Just right click on the file and select Unlocker…
…which will open Unlocker
Here, I selected Delete from the pull down menu (arrow) and clicked on Unlock All button. The file is now deleted.
Even though I could have just closed MS Word and deleted the file, Unlocker can be very useful when it's not obvious as to what program has a lock on a file or folder.
If you installed the Assistant, after you click OK on the error message, Unlocker will open automatically allowing you select an action.
For those who like to use Windows command prompt often, Unlocker can also be run from the command prompt. Just type Unlocker -H for command line options.
Unlocker is definitely a handy utility to have around and easy to use during those unexpectant times when one of those annoying error messages appear.
For more info check out Unlocker FAQ (http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/#faq)
» How To Hide Your Computer From Windows Network Neighborhood
If you share Windows folders, you probably noticed that when you browse Network Neighborhood ("My Network" in XP or "Network" in Vista), Windows broadcast your PC name to anyone browsing on the same subnet.
While this is no big deal, you may want to hide you Computer from being discovered, but still be able to connect to your shared folders.
To hide your computer from being browsed in Network Neighborhood, open a command prompt by clicking on Start \ Run… and typing the following:
net config server /HIDDEN:YES
If the command was executed successfully, you should see "The command completed successfully." or you can verify with the following command :
net config server
and check that the "Server hidden" status is Yes:
Server Name \\WTN1
Server Comment
Software version Windows 2002
Server is active on
NetbiosSmb (000000000000)
NetBT_Tcpip_{F08BC22F-B129-43DF-886A-850FA5A9EF7F} (000c29f61483)
Server hidden Yes
Maximum Logged On Users 10
Maximum open files per session 16384
Idle session time (min) 15
The command completed successfully.
Now reboot your Computer and when Windows has restarted, you will no longer be able to see it when browsing the network. When you want to connect to a shared folder, you can map the drive using the following syntax from Windows Explorer (Tools \ Map Network Drive…)
\\computername\sharename
So if I wanted to connect to the shared folder called media on my computer named wtn1, I would map it as:
\\wtn1\media
If you want to unhide your Computer, type the following at a command prompt and reboot:
net config server /HIDDEN:NO
Remember, hiding your Computer from the Network is by no means secure or a substitute for security. You should always secure your shares when necessary with proper permissions.
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