Tel: 01489 577 073 Mob: 07777 679 541

We are in Locks Heath - Southampton
Laptop Repairs     Help & Support     Security Alerts!!     Knowledge Base     Coming Up in IT     Site Feedback     PCs & Home Support     Site Map      
DCJack Compatibility List     Driver Downloads     Tips&Tricks     Windows 7     Essential Downloads      

Press [CTRL] + F to search this page 

Enable the Notepad Status Bar in Windows 7 & XP

The built-in Notepad editor might be basic, but it’s still extremely useful, and allows you to easily edit all kinds of Windows settings files, as well as plain text documents. When editing a file, the Notepad Status bar (enabled with View > Status Bar) tells you exactly what line and column you are on, meaning you can find your way around the file with ease. Unfortunately, the Status Bar isn’t available if you’ve enabled ‘Word Wrap’ mode, but you can trick Notepad into displaying it with a quick registry hack. Before applying this tweak backup your registry following the steps in article R 11 of your main Windows Advisor manual, or here: http://www.windowsadvisor.co.uk/reg_backup.html

Then:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type REGEDIT and click OK.

  2. Navigate to the registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\​Software\​Microsoft\​Notepad

  3. In the right-hand panel double-click on StatusBar.

  4. Change the Value data field to 1 and click OK.

  5. Exit the Registry Editor.

 

Disable Security Center in Vista

User Account Control (UAC) is one of the most annoying features of Windows Vista. It’s such a problem that many Windows users turn off UAC completely, via the User Accounts control panel. If you do this however, Windows will remind you that UAC is turned off every time you start your PC, which in itself is annoying. Fortunately, you can turn off these Security Center warnings as follows:

  1. Click Start > Control Panel > Security Center.

  2. Click on the link Change the way Security Center alerts me.

  3. Click either Don’t notify me but display the icon or Don’t notify me or display the icon (not recommended) depending on whether you want the red Security Center icon to be shown.


If you’re fed up with the rest of the annoying Windows Vista ‘features’ be sure to read article V 16 – ‘Vista: Configuring Windows for Maximum Comfort’ coming up in update 7 of Windows Advisor. If you’re not currently subscribed to the Windows Advisor, you can sign up here.

 

Quickly check whether Windows has automatically re-booted your PC

Annoyingly Windows will sometimes re-boot your PC automatically, usually to apply automatic updates to the system. If you are sitting at the PC you can postpone this, but if you have to leave your PC running – to download a large file, for example – you may come back to find that the machine appears to be running as normal, but the file didn’t download properly. This usually means that the PC has re-booted while you were away, cancelling the download. There’s a quick way to check whether this is actually the case:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type CMD and click OK.

  2. At the command prompt, type systeminfo and press [Enter].

  3. A number of parameters relating to your system will be displayed (you may need to scroll up the window to see them all). Look for the System Boot Time/Uptime parameter that shows you when your system was last re-booted.

 

Prevent a faulty service from loading at startup

If Windows displays an error message during startup or shutdown, it is often a faulty background service or application that is at fault. If this happens, then you should try disabling the service or program listed in the error message, using the System Configuration Utility. Disabling the faulty program will stop the error message from being displayed, but to fix the problem permanently you should upgrade the faulty program to the latest version if possible.

To load the System Configuration Utility:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type msconfig and press [Enter].

  2. Click on the Startup tab and then the Services tab and find the named service or application and remove the tick next to the relevant entry.

Click OK and restart your PC. You should find that the error message doesn’t re-occur.

 

Fast fix for faulty USB devices

You may find that you have a USB device that is not acknowledged when you plug it in to your PC, or stops working after it has been connected and removed a few times. If this happens, you should try re-installing the driver for your PC’s USB controller, which may be at fault. To do so, proceed as follows:

  1. Unplug all the USB devices from your PC.

  2. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type devmgmt.msc and press [Enter].

  3. In the Device Manager window scroll to the Universal Serial Bus controllers option and click on the + symbol.

  4. Right-click on each entry listed under the controllers heading and then click Uninstall.

  5. Repeat step 4 until all of the devices under the controllers heading are removed.

  6. Restart your PC and the drivers for your USB controllers will be automatically re-installed.

  7. Once your PC has re-booted, re-connect your USB devices and they should all now work.

 

Quickly access Administrative Tools in Windows 7/Vista

The Administrative Tools Control Panel folder contains a lot of important tools that allow you to administer your PC, from formatting and partitioning new disks to checking your Windows Event Logs for errors. It's so useful that you really shouldn't have to navigate your way through the Control Panel to find it – not only does it take longer, but you might forget where the essential tools are when you most need them. Fortunately, you can add a shortcut to Administrative Tools to your Start menu for quick access:

  1. Right-click on the Start button and then click Properties.

  2. Click Customize, then scroll through to System Administrative Tools and select Display on the All Programs Menu and the Start Menu.

  3. Click OK > OK to make the change.

 

Navigate around your Word 2007 document with ease

If you're editing a document of more than a few pages, it can be a bit of a pain to remember where you need to make changes, especially if you're working from a printout, then need to apply the changes in Word. It usually means that you have to do a fair bit of searching to find the right paragraph. However, Word 2007 contains a little-used feature that allows you to apply line numbers to the margins of your document, making it much easier to find your way through a long document when editing. These line numbers can easily be turned off once you've got your document into its finalized state. You can apply line numbers as follows:

  1. Open your document in Word, then click the Page Layout tab on the ribbon.

  2. Click on Line Numbers and then Line Numbering Options… menu item.

  3. At the bottom of the window, click on Line Numbers.

  4. Tick the option Add line numbering.

  5. Click OK > OK.

 

Block third-party cookies to protect your PC’s security

Cookies are tiny little files placed on your PC by websites to store configuration data on your PC. Cookies are typically used by a website to store information such as whether you are logged in or not, and are pretty much required by many websites to allow them to work properly. However, some cookies, called third-party cookies, are placed on your PC by sites other than the one you are visiting. Typically they are used by online advertisers to track your movements. If you’d prefer that your online movements weren’t tracked, you can turn off these third-party cookies without affecting the functionality of the majority of sites as follows:

  1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools > Internet Options.

  2. Click Privacy > Advanced.

  3. Tick Override automatic cookie handling.

  4. Tick Block under Third-party Cookies.

Click OK > OK.

Securely overwrite sensitive folders

You're probably aware that if you delete a file or folder from your hard disk, the data remains intact on the disk, and Windows just removes the reference to the file or folder from its index of directories. This means that the data can usually be easily recovered using specialist software. If you want to delete data permanently, so that your sensitive credit card details cannot be recovered by snoops, for example, you usually need to use a third-party disk erasing tool. However, if your disk is formatted with the NFTS file system (the default on modern Windows versions), there is a built-in tool you can use as follows:

  1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories, then right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator (XP users just click Command Prompt).

  2. At the command prompt type: cipher /W:C:\​path\​to\​folder and press [Enter], where  C:\​path\​to\​folder is the full path to the folder that you want to remove.

The folder will be overwritten with junk data, and the original data will be wiped from your system.

 

Fix a broken icon when relocating the Documents folder

 

If you relocate your Documents (My Documents in XP) folder to another hard disk, you may find that the default Documents icon is no longer displayed, and instead a generic application icon is used. This happens because IconIndex property is not properly specified in your DESKTOP.INI file. To resolve the problem, you need to recreate the DESKTOP.INI file then configure the icon settings manually. To do so:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type: rundll32 mydocs.dll,PerUserInit and click OK.

  2. Open your Document or My Documents folder, then double-click on the DESKTOP.INI file. If this file is not visible, click Tools > Folder Options or Organize > Folder and Search Options. Click View, then select Show hidden files and untick the option Hide protected operating system files. Click OK.

  3. In the DESKTOP.INI file, paste the following text below any existing text:
    [.ShellClassInfo]
    IconFile=%SystemRoot%\​system32\​mydocs.dll
    IconIndex=0

Click File > Save.

Poor security configuration puts millions of websites at risk

This week saw the release of a new study by security analysis firm Qualys looking at how SSL certificates – used to protect data transmitted to secure websites such as your online bank – are used. Certificates are issued by a few trusted security companies, and are designed to verify that a secure website belongs to the company running it. Unfortunately the new study makes pretty grim reading, with only 3.17% of the 23 million supposedly secure sites that Qualys detected actually using a certificate that matched their website’s domain name.

The matching of a certificate to a website name shows that the certificate was intended to be used by that site, and hasn’t been replaced with a fake certificate by a hacker for example. Indeed, your web browser will warn you if you try to visit a secure site that is using a certificate that doesn’t belong to it, so serious a threat to security is the problem considered. The problem with sites configuring their security incorrectly is just one of the many issues that make life online more dangerous. In the next issue of Windows Advisor, in article S 21 – ‘Security: Essential Steps to Guard Against Identity Theft’ - we’ll take a look at some of the essential steps that you need to take to guard yourself against identity theft. If you’re not currently subscribed to the Windows Advisor, click here.

Resolve a broken web page with a single key press

The World Wide Web is a fantastic thing, but with so much data flying around the planet, it can sometimes seem a bit sluggish. Windows tries to get around some of the problems by caching web data; the first time you visit a webpage, Windows will store a local copy of it on your hard disk. The next time you want to visit the page, Windows will use some or all of the locally saved content to quickly display the page again, without having to resort to your Internet connection and wait for it to deliver the data.

This is a great idea, but unfortunately it is sometimes prone to errors. For example, if there was a problem with the webpage when it was originally downloaded, this problem can persist in your computer’s local copy of the page until Windows actually goes out to the web and fetches a fresh copy. If you are experiencing problems viewing a website, you can force your browser to download a page from the Internet, rather than relying on a locally saved copy, by hitting [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [R]. You should find that the page now loads properly.

Fix a faulty Vista sidebar

The Windows sidebar made an appearance in Vista, but due to many users dislike of it, it hasn’t made it through to Windows 7 (at least not in its original form). However, many Vista users still use the sidebar, as it provides a single place to view images, check your calendar and make notes. If your sidebar goes wrong – it hangs or freezes, for example – you can quickly reset it by following the steps below:

  1. Right-click on the sidebar icon in the System Tray and choose Exit. Click Exit Sidebar.

  2. Press [Windows Key] + [R] type TASKMGR and click OK.

  3. In the Task Manager, click on the Processes tab.

  4. Select any processes called sidebar.exe and click End Process. This will ensure the sidebar is fully closed.

  5. Press [Windows Key] + [R] type %localappdata%\​microsoft\​Windows Sidebar and click OK.

  6. Right-click on the file Settings.ini (This will appear as Settings if you have Hide Extentions for Known File Types enabled) and choose Rename. Rename the file Settings.old. Click Yes if prompted.

  7. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Windows Sidebar. The sidebar should now restart without problems.

Manually Connect to a Problematic Bluetooth Device

The Bluetooth protocol allows you to create a 'personal area network' between your PC and wireless devices nearby. Often, the connection between Windows and the device, called pairing, will happen automatically. Unfortunately, sometimes it is necessary to manually pair a device with your PC, usually when it doesn't have a specific pairing button to initiate the connection. In these cases, you can pair the device with Windows as follows:

  1. Right-click on the Bluetooth icon on the Taskbar.

  2. Click on Add a Bluetooth Device.

  3. If presented, tick the box marked My Device is setup and ready to be found and click Next.

  4. Highlight the Bluetooth device and click on Next.

  5. Follow the wizard steps to connect your device.

Quickly Make a Registry Change on Another PC

Editing your registry gives you complete control over your PC's appearance and behavior. However, making the changes can be quite fiddly, and time consuming if you have more than one PC that you want to apply the change to. The process can be greatly sped-up by making the change on your first PC then exporting it as a file. Double-clicking on the file on your second PC will apply the change directly, without you having to open the Registry Editor. To export a change, follow the steps below:

  1. Click on Start and type regedit into the search box and then press [Enter] (For XP, go to Start, click on Run then type regedit and press [Enter]).

  2. Navigate to and select the subkey that you want to export as a file.

  3. Go to the File menu, and click Export.

  4. In the Save dialogue, select the location where you want to save the backup copy to.

  5. Click Save.

Fix a blank Services console in Windows XP

The Services management console in Windows XP (click Start > Run, type services.msc and click OK) allows you to optimize your system by configuring which background services are run when the system starts up. However, sometimes when you double-click on a service to configure its properties, you may find that it is blank, and that no options are displayed to start and stop the service. If this happens, a DLL file has become broken on your system. You can cure the problem by re-registering the DLL as follows:

  1. Click Start > Run.

  2. At the Run prompt type regsvr32.exe jscript.dll

  3. Click OK. You will see a message telling you that the DLL has been re-registered.

Delete files more quickly in Windows 7/Vista

Every time you choose to delete a file, Windows pops up a dialogue box asking if you’re sure you really want to do it. Since the majority of the time you are sure you want to delete the file, and if you accidentally delete a file you can always recover it from the Recycle Bin, this dialogue box just gets in the way. To speed things up, you should configure Windows to automatically move files to the Recycle Bin without asking for confirmation. You can do so as follows:

  1. Right-click on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and choose Properties.

  2. Untick the option Display delete confirmation dialog.

  3. Click Apply > OK.

Cure Error 100 in Internet Explorer when opening Organize Favorites

The Organize Favorites window (accessed via the drop-down menu on the Favorites panel) in Internet Explorer allows you to reorder and file your Internet bookmarks. Sometimes when you try to open the window, Internet Explorer will display error code 100 with the error message “Invalid Class String” and the window will fail to open. This happens because of a DLL problem on your system. To cure the problem, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories. Right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator. XP users just click Command Prompt.

  2. At the command prompt type: regsvr32 jscript.dll and press [Enter].

  3. Type EXIT followed by [Enter] to close the command prompt.

  4. Log out of Windows and log back in again for the changes to take effect.

Fix IMAP compatibility problems in Outlook

Most ISPs and free email providers allow you to access your email via the IMAP protocol these days. IMAP is better than the older POP system, because it keeps all of your mail stored on the email server, meaning you can access it via a web mail service while on the move, or via Outlook on your desktop machine while at home. Unfortunately, Outlook doesn't integrate very well with IMAP, and prefers to store sent messages on your local hard disk rather than the IMAP server, meaning it can be difficult to track down a message while you are on the move. Fortunately you can get around the problem by setting up a rule to save sent messages to the server as follows:

  1. Click Tools > Rules and Alerts or Rules Wizard.

  2. Choose to create a new, blank rule.

  3. Select Check messages after sending and click Next.

  4. Click Next > Yes.

  5. Choose Move a copy to the specified folder. Click Specified and select the Sent folder on your IMAP server then click Next.

  6. Click Finish to create the rule.


If you want to prevent Outlook from storing an additional copy of the message locally, follow these steps:

  1. Click Tools > Options > Preferences > Email Options

  2. Untick the option Save copies of messages in Sent items folder.

  3. Click OK.

Optimize the 'Open With' menu

Many types of file can be opened by multiple different applications on your computer. While double-clicking on a file will cause it to be opened by the default application, right-clicking and choosing Open With, will pop-up a menu that allows you to select which program to use. This is a very useful feature, but over time the Open With menu for certain file types will grow longer and longer, as more and more appropriate applications are added. You can clean up the list so that only the applications that you really need are displayed in the Open With menu, via a simple registry tweak. First, backup your registry following the steps in article R 11 of your main Windows Advisor manual, or here: http://www.windowsadvisor.co.uk/reg_backup.html

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type REGEDIT and click OK.

  2. Navigate to the registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\​Software\​Microsoft\​Windows\​CurrentVersion\​ Explorer\​FileExts

  3. Select the file type that you would like to edit the Open With menu for, and expand it.

  4. Click on the OpenWithList subkey.

  5. In the left-hand column, right-click on each entry that you want to remove in turn and click Delete > Yes.

  6. Repeat steps 3-5 for each application that you would like to modify.

Cure a faulty Internet Options control panel

The Internet Options control panel can be accessed either through Internet Explorer, or through the Control Panel itself, and gives you a quick way to access all of the settings related to Windows Internet connection. It also allows you to configure your PC’s security and privacy options, which is why it is exceedingly annoying when it doesn’t work properly. One of the most annoying problems is when the Advanced tab of the Internet Options control panel shows up as completely blank, meaning that you can’t tweak the most useful Internet parameters. To resolve the problem follow these steps:

  1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories, right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator. XP users just click Command Prompt.

  2. At the command prompt, type: regsvr32 /n /i inetcpl.cpl and press [Enter].

  3. Type EXIT followed by [Enter] to close the command prompt.

Easily find the folders taking up the most space on your hard drive

If you find your hard drive quickly filling up, it can be difficult to pin-point exactly where all the data is that is taking up the space. Often your drive will get bloated with files and programs that you have downloaded from the Internet, which you no longer need but have forgotten to delete. Usually the only option is to slowly work your way through your hard drive looking for surplus files and deleting them.

Fortunately, Microsoft provide an extension to Windows to help. Diruse, which is part of the Windows Resource Kit from Microsoft, will show you how much space each folder is taking up on your hard drive – invaluable when you are looking for places to save space. First download and install Diruse by clicking here.

Next:

  1. Windows 7/Vista users click Start > All Programs > Accessories, right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator. Windows XP users Press [Windows Key] + [R], type CMD and click OK.

  2. At the command prompt type: CD "\​Program Files\​Resource Kit" and press [Enter].

  3. Next, type: DIRUSE /M /* c:\​ and press [Enter]. This will show you the size of each folder in the root of your C drive. You can replace the c:\​ part of the command with the name of a folder, e.g. “c:\​my folder” to find the size of directories in that folder. Repeat these steps to identify the largest folders on your Windows system, then delete them via Windows Explorer as you would any other file.

Google doing evil?

Google’s company philosophy may be “You Can Make Money Without Doing Evil” but it seems that they haven’t been living up to this lofty ambition. You’ve probably heard of their Street View project, where they’ve driven around many different countries with specially equipped cars, taking photographs of practically every street, which they’ve then incorporated into their maps application. It seems pretty nifty – when you look at a map on their site, you will often be able to see a street level view of the area. That alone has caused some security concerns, with many people thinking that it gives detailed knowledge on home security mechanisms to burglars. Well it seems that while Google were driving around they were also scanning for open wireless networks, and unbelievably actually capturing data sent across those networks.

Quite why they did this is not clear, but they have now apologized for doing so and disabled the data collection features on their fleet of cars. Google’s activities only came to light when the German government demanded to see the company’s audit data collected by the Street View cars. Really this should act as a wakeup call to anyone with a home network. It is essential that you use the strongest security features your wireless router has to offer, to ensure that no one is able to capture your data. You can find out everything you need to know about securing your wireless network in Windows Advisor article W 12 – ‘Wirelss Networking: Your Top 10 Security Tips’. If you aren’t currently signed up to the Windows Advisor, click here. WiFi security has never been more important!

Disable the annoying Open With prompt when accessing an unknown file type

Usually when you try to open a type of file that Windows doesn’t recognize, you will see a dialogue box asking whether you want to use an online web service to find an appropriate application. Often this will be a waste of time, as the service will not turn up anything useful, and a quicker solution is just to cancel the dialogue, and then use the next screen that pops up to choose the application you would like to use from the list of programs installed on your machine (for example, Notepad can be used to open 100s of file types as well as .TXT).

To speed-up the process, you can disable the web service dialogue all together, and just display a list of the installed applications to choose from the next time you double-click on an unknown file type. To apply this tweak, first backup your registry following the steps in article R 11 of your main Windows Advisor manual, or here: http://www.windowsadvisor.co.uk/reg_backup.html

Next:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type REGEDIT and click OK.

  2. Navigate to the registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\​Software\​Microsoft\​Windows\​CurrentVersion\​Explorer

  3. In the right-hand panel double-click on InternetOpenWith. If InternetOpenWith doesn’t exist, you can create it by right-clicking on a blank area of the right-hand panel and choosing New > DWORD Value.

  4. Change the Value data field to 0 and click OK.

  5. Close the Registry Editor and re-boot your PC for the changes to take effect.

Fix an incorrect PC keyboard layout

Usually, Windows should detect your PC’s keyboard properly, meaning that each key produces the character printed on it when you hit it. However, if you have a non-standard keyboard, you may find some of the keys produce the wrong character – the technical term is that the keyboard is incorrectly mapped. Usually, this leaves the “ and @ keys swapped over, but it can mean that other keys are incorrectly mapped depending on your type of keyboard. To fix the problem, you need to change the Keyboard Layout from the default setting to one that matches your actual keyboard. Here’s how:

Windows 7/Vista:

  1. Click Start, type intl.cpl in the Start Search box, and then press [Enter].

  2. On the Keyboards and Language tab, click Change keyboards.

  3. Click Add.

  4. Find your current keyboard settings (probably English (United Kingdom)) and click Show More under the keyboard list.

  5. Select the keyboard layout that you would like to use and then click Preview to see the layout of the chosen keyboard.

  6. Click OK > OK to select.

  7. On the General tab, use the dropdown list to select the default keyboard.

  8. Click OK > OK to finish.


Windows XP:

  1. Click Start > Run, type intl.cpl, and then press [Enter].

  2. On the Languages tab, click Details.

  3. Under Installed services, click Add.

  4. Select your default language (e.g. English (United Kingdom)) from the Input language list.

  5. Select the keyboard layout to use from the second drop-down list.

  6. Click OK > OK > OK to use the new keyboard settings.

Protect yourself from Flash based attacks in Internet Explorer with this hidden tweak

More and more websites these days are choosing to use the Flash plug-in from Adobe to provide a rich browsing experience, such as web based video playback, and interactive sites. Unfortunately, Flash can also be a security risk, allowing a hacker to use a maliciously crafted Flash application to run code that gives him access to your PC. Turning off Flash completely would mean that you can no longer access many popular websites such as YouTube, but a little-known feature of Internet Explorer means that you can ensure that Flash is only enabled for trusted websites, keeping you safe online. You can apply the tweak as follows:

  1. In Internet Explorer click Tools > Manage Add-ons.

  2. Select All add-ons from the dropdown box.

  3. Double-click the Shockwave Flash Object.

  4. Click the Remove all sites button, then click Close > Close.


Flash animations will now be disabled for all sites. When you visit a site that you trust that uses Flash (e.g. YouTube), you’ll see the yellow information bar requiring your permission to run the control. Click the information bar and choose Run Add-on. Click Run on the pop-up dialogue and Flash will be enabled for that particular site.

Cure error code 0x8007232b when you try to activate Windows 7 or Vista

When you try to activate Windows 7 or Vista, you may see an error message with code 0x8007232b telling you that Windows cannot be activated. This presents a problem, as Windows will cease to work properly if it is not activated within 30 days of installation. This error message happens when you are using a Windows volume licence, but Windows cannot connect to a Key Management Server (KMS) on your local network. To solve the problem, you have to register the licence as a Multiple Activation Key (MAK), which will contact a central Microsoft server to perform the authentication. You can do so as follows:

  1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories, and then right-click Command Prompt.

  2. Click Run as administrator. If prompted, enter your Administrator password.

  3. At the command prompt type: slmgr -ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx followed by [Enter], where xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx is your licence key.

  4. Type EXIT followed by [Enter] to close the command prompt.

With the key re-registered, try activating Windows again.

Prevent Windows XP from displaying a program in the frequently used program list

By default, Windows XP will display a list of the most frequently used applications on the Start menu. However, as a user you get no choice as to which applications are displayed in the list, and you may find that applications that get opened frequently, but which you don’t require quick access to are listed at the expense of applications that you really do need quick access to. To get around this problem, you can add programs that you don’t want to be displayed on the Start menu to a registry key. Before doing so, backup your registry following the steps in article R 11 of your main Windows Advisor manual, or here: http://www.windowsadvisor.co.uk/reg_backup.html

Next:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type REGEDIT and click OK.

  2. Navigate to the registry key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\​Applications

  3. In the left-hand column, click on the name of the program that you want to block from being displayed in the start menu.

  4. In the right-hand panel, right-click on a blank area of the screen and choose New > String Value. Name the new string value NoStartPage.

  5. Close the Registry Editor and restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

The floppy disk is dead. Long live USB

We brought you news last week on the latest version of USB currently being worked on be hardware manufacturers, USB 4. Now we see one of the casualties of the unstoppable rise of USB: the humble floppy disk. While the end of the floppy disk has been predicted for some time, it seems now it has finally come to pass. Sony, who actually invented the 3.5” floppy, have announced that they will cease manufacturing the disks next year. Their relatively small capacity, and tendency to get wiped if put too near to a magnet, meant that the floppy couldn’t really compete with much more convenient USB flash drives, which can store the same data as thousands of floppies on a tiny fob, connected to your key ring. Indeed it has been quite a few years since most PC manufacturers shipped floppy drives as standard on their machines.

To anyone who can remember the days before hard drives were commonplace, when loading an application required swapping between a stack of floppy disks, the demise of the floppy will probably seem like no great loss. However, USB drives might be more convenient, but they are not without their faults, and with so much data stored on a tiny, easy to lose drive, when things do go wrong it can often be more serious than losing a single floppy. If you’re having problems with a USB memory stick, take a look at Windows Advisor article U 5 - 'USB: Troubleshooting Common Faults'. If you are not currently subscribed to the Windows Advisor, click here.

Fix a Windows screen that won’t lock

The [Windows Key] + [L] key combination will lock the screen on Windows 7, Vista and XP systems – essential if you are leaving your PC for a few minutes, and would rather no one else could use it. When you get back, simply enter your password to unlock and get right back to your desktop, just as it was when you left it. If you find that this key combination has no effect on your system, it is probably because a registry setting has been applied that disables the screen lock feature. Fortunately it is easy to re-enable. First backup your registry following the steps in article R 11 of your main Windows Advisor manual, or here: http://www.windowsadvisor.co.uk/reg_backup.html

Next:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type REGEDIT and click OK.

  2. Navigate to the registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\​Software\​Microsoft\​Windows\​CurrentVersion\​Policies\​System

  3. In the right-hand panel, double-click on DisableLockWorkstation

  4. Change the Value data field from 1 to 0 and click OK.

  5. Close the Registry Editor.

Always run an application as an Administrator on Windows 7 and Vista

If you find that older software refuses to work properly on your Windows 7 or Vista system, the problem could be simply that the application requires access to resources that Windows isn’t allowing it to access. This is usually due to changes in the way the user accounts system works in Windows 7 and Vista, which restricts what Windows components software can access without explicit permission. To rectify the problem, you need to run the program as the Administrator, which you can do by right-clicking on its icon on the Start menu and choosing Run as administrator. To fix the problem permanently, you can set the software to always run as administrator as follows:

  1. Click Start > All Programs, navigate to and right-click on the program that you want to run as administrator and choose Properties.

  2. Click Advanced.

  3. Tick the option Run as administrator, then click OK > OK.

Essential Upgrade Time: End of the road for the original Vista

Even though it was only released just over 3 years ago, Microsoft have just ended support for the original version of Windows Vista. This means that if you are still using the original version of Vista and have not upgraded to Vista Service Pack 1 or 2, your Windows system will no longer qualify for support from Microsoft, including hotfixes to patch bugs and security problems. This means that if you use Vista you will need to upgrade to at least Service Pack 1 (although we’d recommend Service Pack 2) in order to keep your Vista system secure.

The 13th of July will also see the end of support for XP systems running Service Pack 2, meaning that if you are still using XP, you will need to upgrade to Service Pack 3 in order to keep receiving security fixes and updates. If you aren’t sure which version of XP or Vista you have, you can quickly check as follows:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R].

  2. Type WINVER and click OK.

  3. The service pack version installed on your system will be displayed. Click OK to close the window.


It is essential that you keep your system updated with the latest service pack in order to continue to receive security and bug fixes from Microsoft. For details of how to update your XP or Vista system click here.

Save valuable disk space by deleting the hibernation file

Windows hibernation allows you to save the state of Windows when you turn your PC off, meaning that when you switch back on you’ll have all of the same applications and documents open as when you closed down. Windows does this by saving the contents of your system RAM to your hard disk, which can take up several gigabytes of disk space. This space is reserved even if you never use hibernation, which means that a large chunk of valuable hard disk space is being wasted. If you don’t use hibernation, you can safely recover this wasted space as follows:

Windows 7/Vista

  1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories, right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.

  2. At the command prompt type: powercfg -h off and press [Enter].

  3. The hibernation file will be deleted, and the hibernation option will be removed from the Shutdown menu. To get the option back, repeat the above steps with the command: powercfg –h on


Windows XP

  1. Click Start > Control Panel > Power Options.

  2. Click the Hibernate tab, then untick Enable hibernation.

  3. Click OK.

  4. Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to the C drive.

  5. Click on hiberfil.sys and then hold down the [Shift] key and press [Delete].

Quickly fix Firefox scrolling problems

If you use the Firefox web browser, you may find that the up and down arrow keys suddenly stop working, meaning that you can’t scroll up and down a web page. This is often the fastest way to navigate through a web page, so it can be extremely annoying when it stops working. Instead, you’ll notice that the arrow keys scroll the mouse pointer up and down the screen. This happens because the Caret browsing feature has been accidentally turned on. To turn this feature off and restore the arrow key functionality, follow these steps:

  1. Open Firefox and type about:config in the Address box, followed by [Enter].

  2. Double-click on accessibility.browsewithcaret to change the Value field to false.

  3. The arrow keys will now scroll the page again.

Free download of the week: Use Universal Viewer to open any file

When you receive a file from someone via email, it can often lead to you needing to locate and install new software just to simply view the file. With the 1000s of different available file types, the odds are that you won’t have an appropriate application installed on your system to view every type of file you receive. Fortunately help is at hand in the form of Universal Viewer, which allows you to open over 200 different types of files in a single application.

With this great tool installed on your system you can quickly view many different types of files with a simple click, including all of the formats supported by Internet Explorer and many different types of image and multimedia. Using Universal Viewer means that you won’t end up missing out on important information because you can’t open your email attachments.

Get this great free download here: http://www.uvviewsoft.com/download.htm 

Set your default email and calendar programs in XP

You usually need to install several different calendar and email programs to find out which you prefer, and with so many available, making a choice can be difficult. Depending on your XP version, you could use Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Pegasus Mail or any one of a 100 other tools. Once you’ve decided on the one you’d like to use, you need to make it the default application. This will ensure that XP opens that application when you click on an email link in Internet Explorer. To set the default, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start > Control Panel > Internet Options.

  2. Click on the Programs tab.

  3. Use the E-mail and Calendar drop-down lists to select the program you would like to use as default.

  4. Click OK.

Fix problems removing USB drives from your system

When you want to remove a USB drive from your system, it is important that you do so safely, using the icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Not doing so and simply unplugging the drive can lead to data loss. However, sometimes you might find that a drive won’t safely remove and you see an error message like: “The device 'Generic volume' cannot be stopped right now”. This annoying error means that you can’t remove the drive from your system. The first step to cure the problem is to ensure that all open applications have been closed, as it is likely that an application is holding on to a file on the drive. If that doesn’t work, then you need to install a small Windows Explorer extension called Unlocker, which you can download from the link below. With Unlocker installed, right-click on the problem drive, choose Unlocker, then click Unlock All. You will now be able to remove the drive safely.

http://download.cnet.com/Unlocker/3000-2248_4-10493998.html

Broadband tax cancelled

With the general election campaign only 4 days old, there has already been a piece of good news for most PC users. The government’s planned tax of 50p per month on every telephone line in the country has been dropped, since there is no longer enough parliamentary time for the measure to pass in to law. The controversial tax was intended to be used to fund the roll out of fibre optic lines to rural areas, in order to improve broadband speed outside of urban areas. The Conservative party, who opposed the move, have suggested that surplus BBC licence fees could be used to fund the deployment of fast Internet connections.

However, it looks like the government will be getting through the Digital Economies bill, which is intended to curb software and media piracy on the Internet, by sending out warnings to persistent file sharers, and allowing the government to block access to websites that facilitate file sharing. If persistent file sharers don’t mend their ways after a written warning, they may have their Internet connection throttled to slow down performance, or even be temporarily disconnected. So where does this leave the average PC user? As long as you don’t illegally share files or live in a rural area, it means that your phone bill will not be rising too much in the near future.

Get the latest updates for Microsoft Security Essentials in the event of Internet problems

If you have installed Microsoft’s latest security tool – called Security Essentials – you will find that the tool downloads the latest updates automatically from the Web. However, if there is a problem with your PC’s Internet connection (potentially caused by a virus infection) then you will need to download the spyware definitions manually on another PC, and then install them on your system. You can do so as follows:

  1. On your Internet connected PC, download the latest Security Essentials update file from the appropriate link:

  1. Save the downloaded file to a USB memory stick or removable drive.

  2. Connect the drive containing the update file to the PC that has Internet connection problems. Right-click on the file in Windows Explorer and choose Run as administrator (Windows 7/Vista) or Open (Windows XP).

  3. A file extraction dialogue box will open showing the update installation progress.

  4. Once the update process is complete, you can check that the update was applied correctly by opening Microsoft Security Essentials, clicking Update and then checking the virus and spyware definitions status.

Create a shortcut to your network shared folders in Windows XP

One of the most useful features of a home network is the ability to access files and folders stored on other computers on your network. However, it can be a bit tricky finding the folder or file that you need on the network, as you have to navigate to the computer it is stored on, then search through the directory tree. Fortunately Windows XP allows you to quickly create a shortcut to any folder shared on your network via the Network Sharing Center, so that you can access it as quickly as a normal folder. Here’s how:

  1. Click Start > Control Panel (if you are in the Control Panel Classic View, click Switch to Category View).

  2. Click Network and Internet Connections.

  3. Under See Also, click My Network Places.

  4. Click Add a network place. The Add Network Place Wizard will start.

  5. Click Next.

  6. Click Choose another network location followed by Next.

  7. Click Browse, then select the network folder that you want to create a shortcut to and click Open.

  8. Click Next.

  9. Enter a name for the share in the Type a name for this network place box then click Next.

  10. Click Finish.

Quickly repair Internet Explorer problems

If you find that Internet Explorer 7 or 8 crashes frequently, or throws up error messages while you are browsing the Web, it could mean that one or more of the system files used by IE has become corrupt. Fortunately, IE7 & 8 have a quick repair feature which allows you to reset the browser to its original settings. You can reset the system as follows:

  1. Open Internet Explorer and click Tools > Internet Options.

  2. Click on the Advanced tab, then click Reset.

  3. In the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialogue box, click Reset again to confirm the process.

Recall an email message in Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook has a feature not found in many other email clients – the ability to recall a message sent in error. There is nothing worse than the realization that you have accidentally emailed something to the wrong person, and if you are not using Microsoft Outlook there is nothing else for it but to send a second message explaining your mistake. However, if you use Microsoft Outlook for email, and both you and the message recipient are using an Exchange email server, you can recall an erroneous message as follows:

  1. In Outlook, in the Navigation Pane, click Sent Items.

  2. Open the message you want to recall.

  3. Click Actions > Recall This Message.

  4. Click Delete unread copies of this message.


As the menu option suggests, this will only work if the message hasn’t been read by the recipient.

Remove the Windows.old folder after a custom Vista installation

If you perform a custom installation of Windows Vista on a system that already has Windows XP installed, your old Windows installation will be moved to a folder called Windows.old. Once you have confirmed that your Windows Vista installation is working ok, you can get rid of the Windows.old folder, as it is just taking up hard disk space unnecessarily. To remove the folder, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup.

  2. In the Disk Cleanup Options dialogue box, click Files from all users on this computer.

  3. In the Drive Selection box, select the hard disk that you want to clean up, and then click OK. The system scan can take some time for large hard disks.

  4. Click the Disk Cleanup tab, and then tick the Previous Windows installations option.

  5. Click OK.

  6. When you are prompted click Delete Files.

  7. When the removal process is finished, the Windows.old folder will be deleted.

 

Recover old Internet Explorer Favorites when you perform a custom Windows Vista installation

If you choose the custom option when you install Windows Vista, you’ll find that many of the settings from your previous Windows installation, such as your Internet Explorer favorites, are not copied over to the new Windows installation. Fortunately, your old Windows settings are stored in a folder called Windows.old. You can restore your Internet Explorer favorites to your new Vista installation by following these steps:

  1. Start Internet Explorer on your Vista system.

  2. Press [Alt] + [C] to open the Favorites Center, click Favorites, and then click the left arrow icon to keep the Favorites Center open.

  3. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type C:\​Windows.old and then press [Enter].

  4. Open Documents and Settings/<user name>/Favorites where <user name> is the username set on your old Windows installation.

  5. Press [Ctrl] + [A] to select all of the favorites, then drag all of the favorites to the Favorites Center opened in step 2.

  6. When the favorites have been copied, click the red cross in the top corner of the Favorites Center to close the window.

 

Quickly check which Windows service pack you have installed

With Microsoft using the Windows Update system to upgrade systems with the latest service packs, it can be hard to keep track of which service pack your Windows system has installed. You may think you’ve installed the latest service pack on your system, but if the installation process failed you could be stuck with an older Windows version without realizing. It’s often necessary to know which service pack you have installed when checking whether software is compatible with your system. You can check quickly as follows:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R].

  2. In the Run box type: WINVER.EXE and click OK.

  3. A pop-up box will display the Windows version and service pack. Click OK to close.

Quickly cure runtime error 429 when using Microsoft Outlook

If you experience runtime error 429 while using Microsoft Outlook, it is caused by a faulty Outlook automation script conflicting with a third party add-on. To cure the problem, you need to disable the third-party add-ons in Outlook that are at fault. You can do so as follows:

  1. Click on the Tools menu, then click Options.

  2. Click on the Other tab, then click Advanced Options.

  3. In the Advanced Options dialogue box, click on Add-In Manager.

  4. Untick all of the third-party add-ons listed.

  5. Close the dialogue box and restart Outlook.

Stop Windows 7/Vista from asking if a program installed ok

If you’ve tried installing older software on a Windows 7 or Vista system, you’ve probably seen the warning message from the program Compatibility Wizard asking if your program installed ok. 90% of the time it will have installed just fine, but Windows won’t have picked up on this due to the older application installer, and will pop up this annoying warning box. Fortunately you can turn off the warning box by applying a simple tweak. If you find that a particular application doesn’t install, then simply run the Compatibility Wizard manually by right-clicking on the SETUP.EXE. To apply the tweak:

  1. Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

  2. Double-click on the service named Program Compatibility Assistant Service.

  3. Click Stop and set the Startup type to Disabled.

  4. Click OK.

Essential: check your PC for faulty RAM in Windows Vista


If your Vista system is experiencing lots of STOP errors and random crashes, a faulty memory module could be the problem. Fortunately, Vista provides a built-in memory checking tool to test your PC’s RAM for faults. To run the tool, follow these steps:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], at the Run box type: MDSCHED.EXE and click OK.

  2. Click Restart now and check for problem.

  3. Your PC will be restarted and the memory checker will run. Once the tests have finished, Windows will restart and present you with a report, indicating any errors found.

If you do find any memory errors, you should replace the faulty module. For full details on how to replace a memory module in your system, see article R 15 in The Windows Advisor. If you are not currently subscribed, you can sign up for a 6-week free trial of The Windows Advisor here.

http://www.windowsadvisor1.co.uk/lp/v1108/index.html?sid=371604

 

Backup your digital music and video licences in Windows XP

If you’ve purchased copy protected digital music or video files for use with Windows Media Player, you may not be aware that the music or video file has an extra licence key, stored in Media Player, which prevents you from listening to the track, or watching the video, on any PC other than the one you purchased it on. This feature is of course designed to help protect copyright by preventing people from sharing the media files that they have bought. But it can present a real problem if you have to re-install Windows for example, since you will lose the licences, and therefore not be able to playback files that you have legitimately purchased. Fortunately, you can backup the media licences as follows:

  1. In Media Player, click Tools > Manage Licenses (License Management in Media Player versions 9-7).

  2. Click Change, then select the location that you would like to store the backup to – a removable USB memory stick would be a good location.

  3. Click Back Up Now to generate the backup. Several different files will be copied to your backup location. You can use the Restore Now button to restore the backup should you need to. 

Note: Microsoft have removed the media licence backup facility from Media Player 11, so users of this system are not given the option of backing up their licences.

Rootkit Could be to Blame for Windows Update Error

If your XP system has started crashing with a blue screen error message after installing the latest batch of updates and patches released by Microsoft (on 2nd February) it could indicate that you have a Rootkit infecting your PC. A Rootkit is a malicious piece of software that hides itself on your PC and is often used to conceal a virus or spyware application designed to steal data from your machine. The hidden nature of the Rootkit means that it will often go undetected by your anti-virus software.

The patch that causes the problem - MS10-015 – is designed to fix a problem in the Windows kernel. The theory is that the Rootkit causing the problem was exploiting this flaw without being detected. If you find that your PC is crashing after installing this update, try reverting your system to the last known good configuration:

  1. Switch on your PC and hold down the [F8] key.

  2. When the Advanced Options menu is displayed, select Last Known Good Configuration using the [Up Arrow] and [Down Arrow] keys, then press [Enter] to select.

  3. Your PC will restart with the last known working configurations settings, undoing the changes that made your PC unstable.

For the full low down on how to deal with the Rootkit threat, see article S20. If you’re not currently subscribed to Windows Advisor, you can get a 6-week free trial here.
http://www.windowsadvisor1.co.uk/lp/v1108/index.html?sid=371604

Microsoft finally provide a tool to allow you to choose your default browser

You’ll remember some weeks ago that I told you about how Microsoft have agreed with the EU to provide a tool in Windows 7, Vista and XP to allow users to choose which web browser they would like to use by default, and have the tool install the browser of their choice automatically. This is all down to the years of legal wranglings between Microsoft and the EU, over Microsoft’s supposed abuse of its position as developer of the world’s most widely used operating system to force everyone to use Internet Explorer. You can of course install any browser you choose manually, but the EU felt that most people didn’t bother looking in to what was available, and just used the default supplied with Windows.

Starting from the 1st of March, Windows users will have the browser choosing tool pushed out to their PC via the Windows Update service. If you have Internet Explorer set to be your default browser, after the update installs you will see a screen asking you whether you’d like to change browser, and a shortcut to the tool will be placed on your desktop. To change browser, proceed as follows:

  1. When the screen is displayed telling you that you need to make a choice about your browser, ensure that you are connected to the Internet then click OK.

  2. You will be presented with a list of available browsers. You can choose from Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer 8 and Opera. Click the Install button under the browser you’d like to use. If you don’t want to change browser, click Select Later. Note: If you want to carry on using Internet Explorer, but currently have IE6 or IE7, then you should use the tool to upgrade to IE8.

  3. The wizard will download the selected browser, install it and set it as default.

Set the default folder view in Windows XP

In Windows XP, by default files are displayed in Explorer using the icon view. However, it can often be more convenient to use one of the other views, such as Details view. This will show you a list of the files contained in a folder, along with information such as the size of the file and the date. You can easily switch to Detail view via the View menu, but doing so will only apply to the current folder. To use Details view with all folders, you can set it to be the default as follows:

  1. In Windows Explorer, click View > Details. This will switch to the Details view for the current folder.

  2. Next, click Tools > Folder Options. Click on the View tab.

  3. Click Apply to All Folders > Yes. This will set all folders to use the Details view.

  4. Click OK to close.

Cure ActiveX errors that pop-up while browsing the web

Windows uses ActiveX to install software over the Internet, to make websites much more interactive and fun to use. If Internet Explorer throws up an ActiveX error while you are browsing the web, the problem is likely due to a faulty setting in your Internet options, possibly caused by old, out of date security software. Disabling the problematic control will cure the error, while leaving the rest of your system working normally. To disable a faulty ActiveX control, follow these steps:

  1. In Internet Explorer click Tools > Manage Addons (click Enable or Disable Addons in IE7).

  2. Select the problematic ActiveX control (it’s name will be given in the error message), then click Disable.

  3. Click Close.

 Turn Off Data Execution Prevention in Windows Vista to Cure Application Errors

Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a Windows security feature designed to prevent viruses and other malicious code from exploiting faults in applications and Windows components in order to hijack your PC. Most of the time it should just function in the background protecting you, but occasionally you might find an older application that is incompatible with DEP and refuses to run, or crashes randomly. If you find this happening, then try disabling DEP for the problem application (while leaving it turned on for the rest of your Windows system). You can do so as follows:

  1. Right-click on Computer, then click Properties.

  2. Click Advanced System Settings, then the Settings button under the Performance header.

  3. Click on the Data Execution Prevention tab.

  4. Click Add. Navigate to and select the .EXE file of the program you are having trouble with.

  5. Click Open, followed by OK > OK.

Hint: If you don’t already have DEP turned on, you can make your PC more secure by clicking Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select at step 4, then clicking OK > OK.

Safer Internet Day could lead to more secure Internet Explorer

You probably missed it, but last Tuesday was apparently ‘Safer Internet Day’, a worldwide day of education trying to get web users to be more secure while online. This year’s focus, aimed particularly at children and young people, was on trying to get people to give more consideration to the sensitive data they share online. As a Windows Advisor reader you're probably very aware of the kinds of information you shouldn't share online, especially when it comes to sensitive financial details such as bank account log-in details.

While phishing sites designed to look like banking websites try to trick unwary users into giving away their sensitive details, even legitimate social networking websites can pose a major security threat. Sites like Facebook encourage users to share intimate details of their lives with friends, but, with all the information online, it can also often be picked up by hackers, cyber criminals or even worse. If you have children or grandchildren you are probably very concerned about the types of data they share online with friends, and which could be accessed by all kinds of people it wasn’t intended for. Now the UK’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) is teaming up with Microsoft to release a special version of Internet Explorer that gives users the ability to quickly access CEOP’s online safety features. While no release date has been set yet, it sounds like this version of IE will be a necessary upgrade for anyone who shares their PC with youngsters.

You can find out more about the customized version of IE below:
http://www.ceop.police.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/2010/ceop_09022010.asp

Until it becomes available I suggest you configure a child content filter by following the steps given in article V11. If you’re not currently subscribed to Windows Advisor you can sign up for a 6-week free trial here:
http://www.windowsadvisor1.co.uk/lp/v1108/index.html?sid=371604

Time to upgrade your Windows 7 Release Candidate

If you were one of the thousands of people who installed the free Release Candidate (RC) version of Windows 7, it’s time to start thinking about upgrading to the full version. That’s because Microsoft are planning on having the RC editions of Windows 7 display warning messages advising users to upgrade to the full commercial version from the 15th February. From the 1st March, things will get worse, and the Windows 7 RC edition will shut itself down every 2 hours, making it very difficult to use. From the 1st June, the Windows wallpaper will change and display a message, telling you that your Windows installation is not legitimate.

It was, of course, always what Microsoft planned to do. It would be too good to be true that you could have a completely free, lasting version of Windows 7. If Windows 7 RC is your main version of Windows, you need to backup your data now, as the automatic shutdowns could cause you to lose data. The only way to get around the Windows 7 RC limitation is to upgrade to a paid-for copy of Windows 7, or re-install an older version of Windows on your PC.

For the full lowdown on how to troubleshoot problems installing Windows 7, see Windows Advisor article W71. If you are not currently a subscriber, you can sign up for a 6-week free trial of the Windows Advisor here.

http://www.windowsadvisor1.co.uk/lp/v1108/index.html?sid=371604

Show the menu bar in Internet Explorer 7 and 8

Internet Explorer 7 and 8 both offer significant security improvements over older versions, but they have one thing missing. The main menu bar is no longer shown by default, making it tricky to access lots of the functionality contained in those menus. Fortunately there is a way to get the menu bar back, by applying this trick:

  1. Right-click on a blank area of the toolbar at the top of the Internet Explorer window.

  2. Choose Menu Bar from the pop-up menu.

  3. The menu bar will now permanently display at the top of the Internet Explorer window.

Hint: if you don’t want to permanently display the menu bar, just press the [Alt] key to temporarily display it.

Easily open any file with Notepad in Windows 7 or Vista

There are hundreds of text based files other than the ones that end txt. Plain text files are often used to configure software and hardware, or store logs which contain valuable troubleshooting information. The problem is that the file extensions used are often not registered as being text files with Windows, meaning that they don’t open with Wordpad or Notepad by default, making them difficult to read. However, this problem is easily solved, by adding an ‘Open with Notepad’ option to the pop-up menu that appears when you right-click on any file. Before adding this option, you need to backup your registry settings by following the steps in article R11 of your main Windows Advisor manual, or here: http://www.windowsadvisor.co.uk/reg_backup.html

To apply the tweak:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R] type REGEDIT and click OK.

  2. Navigate to the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\​*

  3. Right-click on shell and choose New > Key. Name the new key Open with Notepad

  4. Right-click on Open with Notepad and choose New > Key. Name the new key command

  5. Click on command and then double-click on (Default) in the right-hand panel.

  6. Type notepad.exe %1 into the Value data field. Click OK.

  7. Close the registry editor and reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.

Quickly switch to your Temp directory in any Windows version

The Windows temporary directory is used by Windows components to store data that will only be needed for a short time. But did you know that you can use it too, to store data that you only need for a short time, such as documents downloaded from the Internet which you don’t need to keep. The advantage of using the temporary directory is that its contents are automatically cleared by the Windows Disk Cleanup tool, meaning that you don’t waste unnecessary hard disk space with files that you have downloaded and forgotten about. However, locating the temporary directory can be tricky, as its location has changed on every Windows version. Thankfully, there is a quick way to locate the temporary directory, regardless of your Windows version:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R].

  2. Type %TEMP% and press [Enter].

  3. The temporary directory will open in Windows Explorer.

Completely disable the Windows system tray to save valuable screen space

The system tray in the bottom right hand corner of the Windows task bar contains the icons of many of the programs that Windows loads in the background at startup. If you never use any of these icons, you can apply a registry tweak to turn off the system tray and save a bit of space at the corner of the screen for the main task bar icons – extremely useful if you have lots of open windows. Before doing this, backup your registry by following the steps in article R11 of your main Windows Advisor manual, or here: http://www.windowsadvisor.co.uk/reg_backup.html

Then:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R] type REGEDIT and click OK.

  2. Navigate to the registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\​Software\​Microsoft\​Windows\​CurrentVersion\​Policies\​Explorer. If the Explorer key doesn’t exist, create it by right-clicking on Policies and choosing New > Key.

  3. Right-click in a blank area of the right-hand panel and choose New > DWORD Value. Name the new value NoTrayItemsDisplay

  4. Double-click on NoTrayItemsDisplay and change the Value data field to 1 then click OK.

  5. Close the registry editor and reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.

Easily switch between displays in Windows 7

If you’ve ever tried to connect an unfamiliar Windows laptop to a projector, to give a PowerPoint presentation for example, you may have struggled to find the right key combination to send the laptop’s video signal to the projector. This can even be a problem on desktop PCs that are connected to multiple monitors; you usually press a function key plus one of the [F] keys. Microsoft have recognized that the lack of consistency between PC manufacturers is a problem, so Windows 7 features a quick shortcut that allows you to switch between displays in a standard way:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R].

  2. At the command prompt type: DisplaySwitch and press [Enter].

  3. Use the display switcher tool to choose the display configuration that you want and click OK.

Alternatively, the key combination [Windows Key] + [P] will open the display switcher on any Windows 7 machine.

Note: You will need to have the Aero interface enabled to be able to use this feature.

Repair a Missing 'Show Desktop' Button in Windows XP

The Show Desktop button is extremely useful if you have lots of open windows and need to get to the desktop quickly. Instead of minimizing each open window in turn, you simply need to click the Show Desktop button in the Quick Launch bar, and all open windows will be automatically minimized at once. Unfortunately sometimes a problem can occur which causes the Show Desktop button to disappear. If this happens the Show Desktop button can be recreated with a simple command:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R].

  2. In the Run box, type regsvr32 /n /i:U shell32.dll

  3. Click OK.

  4. Reboot your PC.

 

Quickly Configure the Read-only Permissions of Multiple Files in 1 Go

You probably know that you can change the read and write permissions of a single file via its Properties panel. However, this can be a time consuming task when you need to change several folders full of files to make them all read-only, so that they can’t be accidentally overwritten, for example. Fortunately, Windows provides a solution in the form of a command line command which can change the permissions for batches of files and even whole directory trees. To use the command, follow the steps below:

  1. In Windows 7/Vista, click Start and type CMD in the search box, right-click on CMD.EXE in the search results and click Run as administrator. In Windows XP, click Start > Run, type CMD and click OK.

  2. Use the CD command to change to the root folder containing the files and folders which you’d like to change the permissions for. For example, to change to the directory C:\​Folder 1\​Folder 2 you would type CD “C:\​Folder 1\​Folder 2” followed by [Enter].

  3. To make all of the files in the directory and all subdirectories read-only, type ATTRIB +R * /S /D followed by [Enter].

  4. Type EXIT followed by [Enter] to close the command prompt.

 

Save Hard Drive Space with File Compression

If your hard drive is starting to fill up you can avoid the need to upgrade or delete large amounts of data by using Windows to compress the data on your drive so that it takes up less space. Windows allows you to choose whether to compress a whole drive or an individual folder.

To activate compression follow the steps below:

  1. Click Start > Computer (Start > My Computer in Windows XP).

  2. Navigate to the drive or folder that you want to compress. Right-click on the drive or folder and choose Properties.

  3. In the case of a drive tick the option Compress drive to save space and click OK. In the case of a folder click Advanced and tick the option Compress to save disk space and click OK > OK.

  4. Select the option Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files.

  5. Click OK.


Once compressed you can still use the compressed folder or drive as normal, but you should find that more space becomes available on your hard drive.

A more secure login for Windows XP

The Windows XP Welcome Screen displays a list of the user accounts on a machine – you have to click on your user account icon and enter your password. However, this makes things a bit easy for anyone trying to gain unauthorized access to your PC – the unauthorized user simply has to guess the password for one of the user accounts listed. To make things more difficult for someone trying to gain access to your PC, you can turn off the Welcome Screen, and switch back to the classic Windows login screen – the one where you have to enter both your username and password. This means that anyone trying to gain unauthorized access needs to guess both a valid username and the correct password – a difficult proposition. To enable this change:

  1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

  2. Double-click User Accounts.

  3. Click Change the way users log on or off.

  4. Untick Use the Welcome screen check box.

  5. Click Apply Options.

Cure a faulty sound recording device in Windows Vista

If you have multiple sound recording devices in Windows Vista, for example a sound card and a TV capture card, you may find you are unable to record sound from microphones and other sound sources plugged in to the recording devices. This happens if two or more recording devices have been given the same name. You can fix the problem as follows:

  1. Click Start, type Sound in the Search box, and then click Sound.

  2. Click the Recording tab, click the name of one of your recording devices, and then click Properties.

Change the name of the recording device, and then click OK

 

Locate open windows more easily in Windows XP

The Windows XP taskbar groups together windows from the same application where the application has more than 3 open windows (e.g. 3 open Word documents). This means that you have to click on a single icon on the taskbar for that application, and then select the window that you want from a pop-up menu, which can be quite annoying as the pop-up menu often doesn’t allow you to see which window is which. However by applying a simple registry tweak you can customize how many windows a program can have open before they are grouped in to a single taskbar icon. First of all, backup your registry following the steps in article R11 of your main Windows Advisor manual, or here: http://www.windowsadvisor.co.uk/reg_backup.html. Next:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type REGEDIT and click OK.

  2. Navigate to the registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\​Software\​Microsoft\​Windows\​CurrentVersion\​Explorer\​Advanced

  3. Right-click in a blank area of the right-hand panel and choose New > DWORD Value. Name the new value TaskbarGroupSize.

  4. Double-click on TaskbarGroupSize and in the Value data field enter the number of Windows that should be open before they are grouped together (e.g. 5). Click OK.

  5. Close the registry editor and restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

Quick fix for Microsoft Word crashes

There’s nothing more annoying than having Word crash when you are working on an important document which you haven’t saved for a while. Often problems in Word are due to corruptions in the main Word template file, called Normal.dot (or Normal.dotm in Word 2007). If you find that Word crashes frequently, you can often cure the problem by resetting these files as follows:

  1. Close all open Microsoft Office applications and press [F3] to open the Search box.

  2. Type Normal.dot (Normal.dotm if you are using Word 2007) in to the search field, then click More Advanced Options (Advanced Search in Windows 7/Vista).

  3. Tick the option to search hidden files and folders if available. Windows 7/Vista users should also set the Location option to Everywhere.

  4. Click Search to locate the Normal.dot files. When the search is complete, right-click on each of the Normal.dot (Normal.dotm in Word 2007) files found in turn, select Rename, and change the name to old.Normal.dot. (Note: If you have configured Windows not to show file extensions you will see the file named just Normal).

  5. Restart Word and the problems should be solved

Quickly discover your IP address from the command line

Your IP address is the numerical address assigned to your PC which allows it to communicate on the Internet. If you have a home network, your broadband router will most likely assign all the computers on your network a private IP address, while it is assigned a public IP address by your Internet Service Provider which allows it to communicate with the outside world. If you are having problems with your Internet connection, one of the first troubleshooting steps you should take is to ensure that your PC has been assigned an IP address. You can do this as follows:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type CMD and click OK.

  2. At the command prompt type IPCONFIG followed by [Enter]. Information about your IP address will be displayed. Make a note of the address you have been assigned (which should start with the numbers 192.168) and the gateway address.

  3. If you don’t have an IP address set, or you are having problems with your connection, you can reset the address by typing IPCONFIG /RENEW followed by [Enter].

  4. To check that you are connected to your router, type PING followed by the gateway address you noted in step 2 and then press [Enter]. If the command displays a message saying ‘Host Unreachable’ then re-boot your router and check any cabling connected to the router.

Reset the Windows Media Player cache to improve playback performance in XP

By default, Windows Media Player will cache data about the video and audio files that it plays to improve performance the next time it has to play the file. However, if the file changes in some way, due to you editing it for example or moving a file to a different location, Windows will use the old cache information for the playback, which can impact on performance. To avoid this problem, you should delete the cache file used by Media Player – don’t worry, it will be recreated the next time Media Player is started, but you may lose any playlists that you have created. To delete the cache, follow these steps:

  1. Close Media Player if it is open.

  2. Open Windows Explorer and go to Tools > Folder Options > View. Tick the option Show Hidden Files And Folders, then click OK.

  3. Navigate to: C :\​Documents and Settings\​All Users\​Application Data\​Microsoft\​Media Index

  4. Locate and delete the file wmplibrary_X.db where the X is replaced by the version number of Windows Media Player that you are using.

  5. Open Media Player to recreate the file.

Disable the shutdown option on the log-in screen

By default Windows will display an option to shut down your PC on the login screen. However, you may not want any passer by without a user account to be able to shut down the machine, especially if you access it remotely or use it to share folders and files across a network. To prevent them from doing so, apply the following tweak:

 

Tune up the performance of your web browser

When you request a web page in your web browser, Windows performs a complicated series of interactions with several Internet servers. This is because before Windows is able to retrieve a page, it needs to convert the name of the site that you typed (its URL) into a numerical IP address to locate it on the Internet. It does this by using the Domain Name System (DNS) server provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). To speed-up the operation, Windows stores local copies of the IP addresses for sites that have been recently accessed in the DNS cache, to prevent them from being looked up again if you want to access another page on the same web server. However, you can speed-up browser performance still further by increasing the size of the DNS cache, via a registry tweak. First backup your registry following the steps in article R11 of your main Windows Advisor manual, or here: http://www.windowsadvisor.co.uk/reg_backup.html then:

  1. Press [Windows Key] + [R], type REGEDIT and click OK.

  2. Navigate to the registry key:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\​SYSTEM\​CurrentControlSet\​Services\​Dnscache\​Parameters

  3. Right-click in the right-hand panel and choose New > DWORD Value. Name the new value CacheHashTableBucketSize

  4. Double-click on CacheHashTableBucketSize and set the Value data field to 1 then click OK.

  5. Right-click in the right-hand panel and choose New > DWORD Value. Name the new value CacheHashTableSize

  6. Double-click on CacheHashTableSize and set the Value data field to 180 then click OK.

  7. Right-click in the right-hand panel and choose New > DWORD Value. Name the new value MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit

  8. Double-click on MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit and set the Value data field to 0000fa00 then click OK.

  9. Right-click in the right-hand panel and choose New > DWORD Value. Name the new value MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit

  10. . Double-click on MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit and set the Value data field to 0000012d then click OK.

  11. . Close the registry editor and restart your PC.

Cure the “Windows host process Rundll32 has stopped working” error in Vista

If you use Windows Vista, you may have come across an error message stating that “Rundll32 has stopped working”. This can cause many problems as Rundll32 is integral to Windows operation. The problem is caused by a conflict with the Nero CD and DVD burning software, when it is installed on a Vista machine. To resolve the error, follow the steps below:

  1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder: C:\​Program Files\​Common Files\​Ahead\​DSFilter

  2. Rename each of the following files, adding .old to the end of the filename: NeVideo.ax, NeroVideoProc.ax and lmpgspl.ax, so that they become: NeVideo.ax.old, NeroVideoProc.ax.old and lmpgspl.ax.old

This will cure the error message, but it may prevent Nero from displaying thumbnail images for some types of video files.

Little-known tip: Copy data from a command prompt box

Sometimes the only way to fix a problem is to resort to the Windows command prompt. It is often useful to save the output of troubleshooting commands that you type at the command prompt, but if you try to copy text you will find that normal keyboard shortcuts, such as [Ctrl] + [C] to copy, don’t work since the shortcuts have a different meaning in the command prompt to the rest of Windows. However, you can still copy output from the command prompt quite simply:

  1. Right-click on the title bar of the command prompt window and chose Edit > Mark.

  2. Drag the mouse to select the text that you want to copy, then press [Enter].

  3. Paste the text into your regular Windows application with the [Ctrl] + [V] shortcut, or back into the command prompt box by right-clicking on the title bar and choosing Edit > Paste.

Avoid ever having to re-activate Windows XP again

The Windows activation feature introduced with Windows XP was designed by Microsoft to prevent people from installing illegal copies of Windows, but it can cause many problems for legitimate Windows users too. If you significantly change the hardware configuration of your PC, Windows will ‘think’ it has been installed on a different machine and prompt you to re-activate. Similarly, if you have to re-install Windows to cure a serious system problem, Windows will prompt you to re-activate. If the activation process doesn’t go smoothly online, you will have to call Microsoft and have them re-activate your system. However, Windows XP users can avoid having to constantly re-activate their systems by backing up the file created by the activation process:

  1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\​WINDOWS\​system32

  2. Locate the file wpa.dbl and copy it to a floppy disk or USB memory stick.

  3. If you need to re-activate Windows due to a re-installation, simply copy the wpa.dbl file back to the C:\​WINDOWS\​system32 folder.

What’s coming up in the world of IT: Google has to obey the law like everyone else

The Internet has made it much easier to violate copyright laws leading to the major film and music publishers to declare war on illegal file sharers. However, one of the biggest violators of copyright on the web is perhaps not one of the names you’d expect to see, such as The Pirate Bay, but in fact Google. Their efforts to digitize practically every book ever written and make them available and searchable via the web has fallen foul of French copyright laws. The French publishing company Herve de La Martiniere have won their case against Google, with Google being fined €300,000 by a court for copyright infringement, plus €10,000 per day until the copyright material is removed from their website. So does this mean the end of Google’s ambitious project to control all the world’s knowledge? It certainly looks like it might curtail their plans, with several other French and American publishers also bringing lawsuits against them, not to mention opposition from the European Union.

We suggest you have a look at the available digitized books while you still can:

http://books.google.com/books

 

If you are new to Windows Advisor you can apply for a 6-week free trial here.
There are hundreds more Tips & Tricks as well as other important Windows information available to members.


Stefan Johnson,
Managing Editor, Windows Advisor.