We all know that Microsoft is upgrading all its services and products to
match with Windows 8 Metro UI. Recently we saw it in
upcoming "Office 2013" Customer Preview
version and now its turn of a new announcement from Microsoft.
Microsoft has introduced a brand new email service Outlook.com.
We all are aware of Microsoft Outlook
and Outlook Express products. Microsoft Outlook is a part of Office suite and
is one of the best and widely used email Desktop client for Windows. Outlook
Express was a part of Windows but it was discontinued by Microsoft in Windows
Vista. Outlook.com is a new email service from Microsoft
which comes with a clean interface inspired by Windows 8 Metro UI. Windows 8
also comes with a built-in Mail app which looks very similar
to Outlook.com UI.
Since its a new service, chances are you'll get your desired username for
your email account.
If you already have a Hotmail or Live email account, you can upgrade it to new
Outlook.com UI using Options menu.
Outlook.com comes with many interesting features such as integration with
your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google and SkyDrive accounts.
You'll not see any annoying ads in this new email service and its UI
has been optimized to provide more reading space for your emails. It uses
Exchange ActiveSync which helps you in accessing your emails, calendar and
people experience on your smartphone, tablet and Outlook 2013.
Following is a preview of Outlook.com UI:
How to apply?
According to Microsoft,
if you're a Hotmail customer and want to upgrade to the Outlook.com
preview, just click "Upgrade" in the options menu of Hotmail. Your email
address, password, contacts, old email, and rules will remain
unchanged, and you can send/receive email from your @hotmail.com or
@msn.com or @live.com address. You'll experience it all in the new
Outlook.com preview user interface. You can also add an @Outlook.com
email address to your account if you want.
If you don't have a Hotmail account and using Gmail, Yahoo, or another email service, you can create a brand new email account by going to following URL: Create New Email Account at Outlook.com
Open a cmd prompt by right clicking and choosing run as administrator and type: netsh int ip reset reset.log press enter netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log press enter netsh winsock reset catalog press enter nbtstat -r press enter nbtstat -RR press enter ipconfig /flushdns press enter and restart pc
Forgetting your password is never any fun, but luckily there’s a
really easy way to reset the password. All you need is a copy of the
Windows installation disk and one simple command line trick.
Resetting Your Forgotten Windows Password
Boot off the Windows disk and select the “Repair your computer” option from the lower left-hand corner.
Follow through until you get to the option to open the Command Prompt, which you’ll want to select.
First you’ll want to type in the following command to backup the original sticky keys file:
copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\
Then you’ll copy the command prompt executable (cmd.exe) over top of the sticky keys executable:
Once you get to the login screen, hit the Shift key 5 times, and you’ll see an administrator mode command prompt.
Now to reset the password—just type the following command, replacing the username and password with the combination you want:
net user geek MyNewPassword
That’s all there is to it. Now you can login.
Of course, you’ll probably want to put the original sethc.exe file
back, which you can do by rebooting into the installation CD, opening
the command prompt, and copying the c:\sethc.exe file back to
c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe.
7 Quick Fix is a small, freeware and
portable tool designed to quickly fix common errors that may occur under
Windows 7 and is able to re-enable certain parts of the system (such as
Task Manager) after a virus attack.
7 Quick Fix can fix 21 common errors including Slow Shutdowns, Slow
Thumbnails, Missing System Tray Icons, Missing DVD Drives and more. For
the Windows XP equivalent, check out XPQuickFix.
Here is the complete list of what it can do:
Enable Task Manager
Enable Command Prompt
Enable Registry Editor
Enable Folder Options
Reboot After Update (stops “You must restart for changes to take effect” after updates)
Update Shutdown (prevents updates hijacking sleep button when there are updates to do)
Show Shutdown
Slow Thumbnail
Restore Aero Function
Disable IPv6
Enable IPv6
No DVD Drive
Installer Crash
Slow Menu
Theme Changes (prevents themes changing cursors and desktop icons, but changes everything else)
System Tray (fixes missing system tray icons after updates)
SafeMSI.exe is a tiny, portable, freeware application designed to let
you uninstall programs in safe mode. When the computer is in safe mode,
the Windows Installer service isn’t started so most programs can’t be
uninstalled. Since technicians do a lot of work in safe mode and being
unable to uninstall is a huge bother. It is also not possible to start
the service manually, an error message will come up saying “Could not start the Windows Installer service on Local Computer. Error 1084: This service cannot be started in Safe Mode”.
This tool will do a registry tweak so that Windows Installer is made a
safe service and it will launch the Windows Installer service. The tool
is meant to be used after you are already in safe mode, it is a tiny
.exe that just needs to be double-clicked or run and it runs very
quickly.
The website mentions that the tool is compatible with Windows NT, 2000,
XP and Server 2000. Although it doesn’t mention it, it is also
compatible with newer versions including Windows 7.
Screenshots: Downloads: Download from Official Site – 11 KB
Enable Windows Installer in Safe Mode 1.
Click on start>> run and type in cmd then click on ok (In Vista
and Windows 7 click on start and type in cmd in the search window. Right
click the cmd box on top of search window and select “run as
administrator”) 2. Type in the following in cmd window. REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service" 3. Hit Enter key 4. Now, type the following command in Run box net start msiserver 5: Hit Enter key. This will start the Windows Installer Service in safe mode. Enable Windows Installer in Safe Mode with Networking 1.
Click on start>> run and type in cmd then click on ok (In Vista
and Windows 7 click on start and type in cmd in the search window. Right
click the cmd box on top of search window and select “run as
administrator”) 2. Type in the following in cmd window. REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service" 3. Hit Enter key 4. Now, type the following command in Run box net start msiserver 5: Hit Enter key. This will start the Windows Installer Service in Safe Mode with Networking.
Like previous Windows versions, Windows 8 also saves shortcuts to all
the recently used applications, documents, files, images, and folders
in User Profile folder, namely Recent. These shortcuts help
users easily access all the recently used items, but anyone with
malicious intentions can use the shortcuts to get to the folders where
your important files are saved. Although Windows 8, like Windows Vista
and Windows 7, lets you permanently disable save recent documents shortcuts option,
it can come useful in instances where you want to quickly view or open
recently edited documents. Windows 8 MMC snap-in, known as, Local Group
Policy Editor presents a simple, yet better solution for all user
account holders. It allows Windows to automatically delete all the
shortcuts to recently used documents as well as, Jump List items when
user logs off. If this option is enabled, you no longer have to manually
clear the history of recently used documents. Just log off the system,
and Windows will clear shortcuts to documents created during the
session.
Before you begin, make sure that you’re logged in as administrator or
have required administrative privileges to make changes to Local Group
Policy. First off, move to Start Screen and type gpedit.msc, select Apps
from left sidebar and select gpedit from main window.
This will open Local Group Policy Editor. Now, navigate to User Configuration—>Administrative Templates—> Start Menu and Taskbar. In main window, you will find Clear history of recently opened documents on exit policy.
Just double-click this policy, select Enabled option and hit Apply.
This will immediately set Windows to delete shortcuts to recently
used/edited documents at system log off. Additionally, Windows will also
clear start menu and taskbar pinned applications’ jump lists items when
you shutdown, restart and log off the system.
Now, close the local group policy editor and bring up Windows Run console by using Win+R hotkey combination. Enter gpupdate /force
to apply the policy update. Once done, restart the system to check
whether Windows deletes shortcuts to recent documents, and jump lists
items or not.
It’s worth mentioning here that the above mentioned method doesn’t
stop saving the shortcuts to recently edited documents and used programs
in Recent folder, and if you want to disable the store recent documents and applications shortcuts option, you have to manually disable it from Taskbar Properties –> Jump Lists.
Windows Vista Services.msc Registry Files
Are you one of those who have changed the services and can´t remember the default values? So you have been searching the net to restore the default settings?
Here are the default Service.msc configuration files for all versions of Vista.
Default settings:
Windows Vista Home Basic: Download
Windows Vista Home Premium: Download
Windows Vista Business: Download
Windows Vista Ultimate: Download
How to use the downloaded registry file called .reg
Go to Start>Run and type in: regedit
Click OK
When that opens, click on File > Import to find the regfile.reg that you downloaded and click it, then click the Open button and see if it merges it into the registry.
Alternative Method
Simply “double Click” the downloaded file.
One of the best ways to increase your
efficiency is to minimize the time consumed between switching programs.
This can also hold true when you have to locate a file buried deep down
somewhere in your file structure. Not only these steps can slow you
down, they may also cause frustration where you have to remember
everything manually.
We had reviewed two excellent utilities, Launchy and ControlPad, that bring ease to program execution management. Joining the bandwagon is TaTuich, an open-source, free program that allows you to program hotkeys against any application, and basically any .lnk extensions.
The program consists of four tabs, two of which are basically of use
to the end-user. Usage is simple, you click Open to select the shortcut
that you want to program, choose the hotkeys in the next box and click
Add. Change would modify existing entries, while Clear and Delete
buttons are self explanatory. The program itself runs in the system tray so that all hotkeys remain functional at any point.
You may configure the program in Options tab, and choose to add it’s
shortcuts to Desktop, Start Menu, Startup, etc. However, TaTuich is
portable and can work without any installation.
The software works with only 32-bit version of Windows OS, and works on all versions of Windows from 2000 through Windows 7. Download TaTuich
Ever found yourself required to make flowcharts, network diagrams, circuit sketches and more at work or for studies? Dia is
a strong and very powerful application meant for all such occasions.
Presentations are a particularly powerful tool to communicate your
ideas, and at times, plain old text is just boring. So, for those of you
who have a tough time creating diagrams in MS Power Point or MS Word,
Dia will make it much easier for you to convey your ideas, with an
elaborate set of preset tools that are custom made for a plethora of
subjects. Packed in a tiny 19mb to 30mb package (varying with the OS),
the application’s interface – as boring and dull as it might seem – is
actually very intuitive, with stuff like copy, cut, paste, delete,
dragging, skewing all coming naturally as they would in most popular
software. Even better, a portable version of the app is also available.
Read on after the break to learn more.
The app starts off with a neatly laid
out interface, with the tools you need to get started located in the
left panel, just like most drawing and editing software. With different
line presets available, you either choose to go with them and manipulate
later to create shapes, or you can simply choose from the presets of
shapes available.
There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to these shapes. Click where it says Flowcharts in
the screenshot above, to open up an extensive list of sheets available.
From circuits to Cisco network diagrams, the list is enough to
accommodate diagrams of most sorts, as can be glimpsed in the screenshot
below.
The properties of the objects inserted can be easily accessed by simply double clicking them, or by the rather-obvious Right click > Properties
method. The screenshot below shows us the properties of the text
inserted; however, doing the same for objects brings up options like line color, width, style, and more importantly, the fill color.
Concluding with saving your project, the application will preserve your work as a .dia file. However, you can save your file with numerous extensions by navigating to File > Export
and selecting the format that you want to save your work in. Common
image export formats include BMP, JPG, TIFF, PNG, and loads more.
Dia is a cross-platform tool with packages available for Windows, Mac
OS X and Linux, and comes in both installable and portable flavors.
Testing was performed on Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit edition. Download Dia for Windows | Linux | Mac
If
your computer does not boot into Windows Properly, there exists an easy
option to fix the problem at your disposal. Using the Windows Advanced Options Menu to boot from the Last Known Good Configuration
Note: Click on any image for a larger view of that particular image.
What is the Last Known Good Configuration and where does it come from?
Answer – Every time you boot successfully, Windows XP records your registry keys and device drivers. The Last Known Good Configuration option in the Windows Advanced Options Menu tells Windows XP to load up the last successful boot registry and device drivers
How do I boot Windows XP so that it uses the Last Known Good Configuration?
Answer – Follow the below procedure
Getting to the Last Known Good Configuration is easy. First, start your computer. As soon as the BIOS has finished loading, begin tapping the F8 key on your keyboard. Continue to do so until the Windows Advanced Options menu appears.
Once the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, select Last Known Good Configuration
If you begin tapping the F8 key too soon, some computers display a "keyboard error" message. To resolve this, restart the computer and try again
Other options (if Last Known Good Configuration does not work).
Try using System Restore To access System Restore, first boot into Safe Mode by tapping the F8 key on your keyboard. Continue to do so until the Windows Advanced Options menu appears. Then selecting Safe Mode
Once Safe Mode has loaded. Go to System Restore (Click Start, then All Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, Then System Restore). Once in System Restore choose a restore point to Restore your computer.
If there are no restore points or the restore fails, then try to repair your boot sector
If that doesn’t work, as a last resort, do a Repair Install of XP.
Gmail offer instructions for configuring some clients not in our
supported client list. If you encounter difficulties, we suggest
contacting your mail client's customer support department -- we're
unable to provide assistance for clients not in our supported POP client list. Standard configuration instructions:
Configure your client to match the settings below:
Incoming Mail (POP3) Server - requires SSL:
pop.gmail.com Use SSL: Yes Port: 995
Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server - requires TLS3 or SSL:
smtp.gmail.com (use authentication) Use Authentication: Yes Port for TLS/STARTTLS: 587 Port for SSL: 465
Account Name:
your full email address (including @gmail.com or @your_domain.com)
Email Address:
your email address (username@gmail.com or username@your_domain.com)
Password:
your Gmail password
Unless you're using recent mode
to download mail to multiple clients, make sure you've opted not to
leave messages on the server. Your POP settings in Gmail settings are
what determines whether or not messages stay on the server, so this
setting in your client won't affect how Gmail handles your mail.
If your client does not support SMTP4 authentication, you won't be able to send mail through your client using your Gmail address.
If you're having trouble sending mail but you've confirmed that
encryption is active for SMTP in your mail client, try to configure your
SMTP server on a different port (465 or 587).
POP: POP (Post office protocol) is a one-way
download of your messages that allows you to access your mail with a
mail program like Outlook Express or Apple Mail. POP only offers one-way
communication, which means that actions you take in the mail program
(like marking a message as read) won’t be synced to Gmail.
domain: A domain is a name for an IP address and is
more commonly recognized as a website or web address. For example,
Google.com is a domain.
TLS: TLS (Transport Layer Security) is a way of
changing data such as your username and password into code as it travels
across the Internet, so that the data will be secure and private. With
mail delivery, TLS begins with an unsecured connection to the mail
servers, and then upgrades to a secure connection once information is
sent.
SMTP: SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a set
of standard Internet procedures by which two email providers (ex.
Gmail, Yahoo Mail), transfer email messages to one another’s mail
servers.
f you have BT Broadband (this is not necessarily the same as having
broadband on a BT line) you can set up Outlook or Outlook Express or
similar programs to send and receive e-mail. But for this to work, you must
have a BT Yahoo! account. This is normally set up by BT when your
broadband order is processed, and BT should have told you your Yahoo!
username and password. This will be in the form someone@btinternet.com or someone@btopenworld.com and is not the same thing as your ADSL logon password (which may look like someone@btbroadband.com). Nov
7th 2008: I had had recent reports that BT has started using BT Yahoo!
logon details as the ADSL logon, so I suppose it's possible that some
people may have valid ADSL logon details which end in @btinternet.com. Very confusing.
Note that the login name for your broadband line (example: someone@btbroadband.com) is not an e-mail address, and will not work as one. (But see above.)
First log in to BT Yahoo!2
and check that your BT Yahoo! login name and password actually work.
There are lots of help pages there to show you how to set up your e-mail
program. See, for example, this.
To set up a BT Internet account with Outlook 2010, see my page here.
In summary:
The POP3 server (incoming mail) is mail.btinternet.com
The SMTP server (outgoing mail) is also mail.btinternet.com
Both need your BT Yahoo! email address and password;
you will have to tell your e-mail program that the SMTP server requires
authentication.
The SMTP server can use either port 25 or port 587.
The most common
fault is to provide your ADSL username and password when your BT Yahoo!
username and password is what's required.
Follow the guide below to configure
Thunderbird 3 to send and receive your Virgin Media e-mail. Thunderbird 3
is an optional download from the Mozilla site. This guide assumes that
you have already downloaded and installed the software. If you've
already set up your e-mail account in Thunderbird and simply need to
check your existing settings, see 'How do I check my e-mail settings in
Thunderbird 3?'.
Note that Thunderbird 3 is not a supported e-mail
client by our technical support team. While the settings below should
work on our e-mail platform (which is standards based), we suggest that
you search online or try our Help & Support forums if you need any
further assistance.
Launch Thunderbird 3 through the Start > All Programs menu. The icon looks like the one shown below.
If
you have never launched Thunderbird before, you will automatically be
prompted to set up your e-mail account. Otherwise, go to the Tools menu and select Account Settings…, then click Account Actions and finally click Add Mail Account….
A window entitled 'Mail Account Setup' will open.
Now enter the following settings.
Your name
Your
name as you would like it to appear to others when you send them an
e-mail. We recommend entering your real name, although any name can be
used.
Email address
Your Virgin Media e-mail address. Remember that the part after the @ symbol should correspond to your type of account, e.g., richard.branson@virginmedia.com.
Password
Enter
the password for your e-mail account. If you don't know the password
for your account you can reset it using the forgotten password tool in
My Virgin Media.
Now click Continue.
The
setup wizard will now try to work out the correct settings for your
account. To ensure that the correct settings will be used, click the Edit button.
Now enter the following settings.
User name
Use entire e-mail address.
e.g., richard.branson@virginmedia.com
Incoming
pop3.virginmedia.com --- POP --- 995 --- SSL/TLS
Outgoing
smtp.virginmedia.com --- SMTP --- 465 --- SSL/TLS
Remember to use the settings for your type of e-mail address:
Click Re-test Configuration to continue.
The settings you entered will be checked and confirmed by the setup wizard.
Now click Create Account.
If
you're setting up Thunderbird 3 for the first time, choose whether you
would like to use it as your default e-mail program from now on.
Click OK to close the window and return to the main interface.
You
should now be able to use Thunderbird 3 to send and receive messages.
Before you do, it's a good idea to double-check your settings one more
time.
Go to the Tools menu and select Account Settings….
A
window entitled 'Account Settings' will open, and you should be able to
see the new e-mail account configuration on the left-hand side of the
screen. Check that your name and e-mail address are correct.
Underneath the account name, click Server Settings.
A window entitled 'Server Settings' will now appear. Enter the following settings.
Server Name
pop3.virginmedia.com
Port
995
User Name
Use entire e-mail address.
e.g., richard.branson@virginmedia.com
Connection security
SSL/TLS
Use secure authentication
Unticked
Remember to use the settings for your type of e-mail address:
Once you have checked these settings, click Outgoing Server (SMTP) on the left-hand side of the screen.
A window entitled 'Outgoing Server (SMTP) Settings' will now appear.
Select the line that relates to your Virgin Media account, and then click Edit….
A window entitled 'SMTP Server' will now open. Enter the following settings.
Description
Virgin Media
Server Name
smtp.virginmedia.com
Port
465
Use name and password
Ticked
User Name
Use entire e-mail address.
e.g., richard.branson@virginmedia.com
Use secure authentication
Unticked
Connection security
SSL/TLS
Remember to use the settings for your type of e-mail address:
Click OK to exit this window and then click OK again to close the Account Settings window.
You are now ready to start using your e-mail account to send and receive messages.
How to Open Any Program by Typing its Name in RUN Dialog Box in Windows?
One of our reader ".Rain" also created a small utility to do the whole task automatically which was called "RunIt".
The same tutorial again inspired our one of very active reader "Hackerpunk1" and he created a similar tool called "Run Editor".
"Run Editor" is another very small and portable utility which allows you to add any program reference to Windows Registry so that you can launch it by just typing its name in Start menu RUN dialog box. For example, you have installed 3rd party software "Internet Download Manager" and its executable file name is "IDMan.exe".
If you try to launch it by just typing "IDMan" in RUN, it'll give error
that Windows cannot find the exe. But if you add its reference in
Registry using "Run Editor", you can launch it by simply typing its name
in RUN.
How To Use:
1. Either type full path of the program's exe in the text box or click on the yellow folder icon and browse to the EXE file. 2. Once you select the EXE file, either select "Auto set name" to let Windows assign an automatically generated name to your shortcut or select "Manually set name" option to assign your desired name to the shortcut and click on "Create" button. 3. Now provide your desired keyword name and again click on "Create" button. It'll immediately add the reference to Registry. 4. Now you can launch the program by typing its name in RUN dialog box.
1. Problem Steps Recorder
As the local PC guru
you're probably very used to friends and family asking for help with
their computer problems, yet having no idea how to clearly describe
what's going on. It's frustrating, but Microsoft feels your pain, and
Windows 7 will include an excellent new solution in the Problem Steps
Recorder.
When any app starts misbehaving under Windows 7 then all
your friends need do is click Start, type PSR and press Enter, then
click Start Record. If they then work through whatever they're doing
then the Problem Steps Recorder will record every click and keypress,
take screen grabs, and package everything up into a single zipped MHTML
file when they're finished, ready for emailing to you. It's quick, easy
and effective, and will save you hours of troubleshooting time. 2. Burn images
Windows
7 finally introduces a feature that other operating systems have had
for years - the ability to burn ISO images to CDs or DVDs. And it
couldn't be much easier to use. Just double-click the ISO image, choose
the drive with the blank disc, click Burn and watch as your disc is
created. 3. Create and mount VHD files
Microsoft's
Virtual PC creates its virtual machine hard drives in VHD files, and
Windows 7 can now mount these directly so you can access them in the
host system. Click Start, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter, then click
Action > Attach VHD and choose the file you'd like to mount. It will
then appear as a virtual drive in Explorer and can be accessed, copied
or written just like any other drive.
Click Action > Create VHD
and you can now create a new virtual drive of your own (right-click it,
select Initialise Disk, and after it's set up right-click the
unallocated space and select New Simple Volume to set this up). Again,
you'll be left with a virtual drive that behaves just like any other,
where you can drag and drop files, install programs, test partitioning
software or do whatever you like. But it's actually just this VHD file
on your real hard drive which you can easily back up or share with
others. Right-click the disk (that's the left-hand label that says "Disk
2" or whatever) and select Detach VHD to remove it.
The command
line DISKPART utility has also been upgraded with tools to detach a VHD
file, and an EXPAND command to increase a virtual disk's maximum size.
Don't play around with this unless you know what you're doing, though -
it's all too easy to trash your system. 4. Troubleshoot problems
If
some part of Windows 7 is behaving strangely, and you don't know why,
then click Control Panel > Find and fix problems (or
'Troubleshooting') to access the new troubleshooting packs. These are
simple wizards that will resolve common problems, check your settings,
clean up your system and more. 5. Startup repair
If
you've downloaded Windows 7 (and even if you haven't) it's a good idea
to create a system repair disc straight away in case you run into
problems booting the OS later on. Click Start > Maintenance >
Create a System Repair Disc, and let Windows 7 build a bootable
emergency disc. If the worst does happen then it could be the only way
to get your PC running again. 6. Take control
Tired
of the kids installing dubious software or running applications you'd
rather they left alone? AppLocker is a new Windows 7 feature that
ensures users can only run the programs you specify. Don't worry, that's
easier to set up than it sounds: you can create a rule to allow
everything signed by a particular publisher, so choose Microsoft, say,
and that one rule will let you run all signed Microsoft applications.
Launch GPEDIT.MSC and go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings
> Security Settings > Application Control Policies > AppLocker
to get a feel for how this works. 7. Calculate more
At
first glance the Windows 7 calculator looks just like Vista's version,
but explore the Mode menu and you'll see powerful new Statistics and
Programmer views. And if you're clueless about bitwise manipulation,
then try the Options menu instead. This offers many different unit
conversions (length, weight, volume and more), date calculations (how
many days between two dates?), and spreadsheet-type templates to help
you calculate vehicle mileage, mortgage rates and more.
Don't
take any Windows 7 applet at face value, then - there are some very
powerful new features hidden in the background. Be sure to explore every
option in all Windows applets to ensure you don't miss anything
important.
CALCULATE MORE:The new Calculator is packed with useful features and functionality 8. Switch to a projector
Windows
7 now provides a standard way to switch your display from one monitor
to another, or a projector - just press Win+P or run DisplaySwitch.exe
and choose your preferred display. (This will have no effect if you've
only one display connected.) 9. Get a power efficiency report
If
you have a laptop, you can use the efficiency calculator to get Windows
7 to generate loads of useful information about its power consumption.
Used in the right way, this can help you make huge gains in terms of
battery life and performance. To do this you must open a command prompt
as an administrator by typing 'cmd' in Start Search, and when the cmd
icon appears, right-click it and choose Run as administrator.
Then
at the command line, just type in 'powercfg -energy' (without quotes)
and hit Return, and Windows 7 will scan your system looking for ways to
improve power efficiency. It will then publish the results in an HTML
file, usually in the System32 folder. Just follow the path it gives you
to find your report. 10. Understanding System Restore
Using
System Restore in previous versions of Windows has been something of a
gamble. There's no way of telling which applications or drivers it might
affect - you just have to try it and see.
Windows 7 is different.
Right-click Computer, select Properties > System Protection >
System Restore > Next, and choose the restore point you'd like to
use. Click the new button to 'Scan for affected programs' and Windows
will tell you which (if any) programs and drivers will be deleted or
recovered by selecting this restore point. (Read our full Windows 7 System Restore tutorial.) 11. Set the time zone
System
administrators will appreciate the new command line tzutil.exe utility,
which lets you set a PC's time zone from scripts. If you wanted to set a
PC to Greenwich Mean Time, for instance, you'd use the command
tzutil /s "gmt standard time"
The
command "tzutil /g" displays the current time zone, "tzutil /l" lists
all possible time zones, and "tzutil /?" displays details on how the
command works. 12. Calibrate your screen
The
colours you see on your screen will vary depending on your monitor,
graphics cards settings, lighting and more, yet most people use the same
default Windows colour profile. And that means a digital photo you
think looks perfect might appear very poor to everybody else.
Fortunately Windows 7 now provides a Display Colour Calibration Wizard
that helps you properly set up your brightness, contrast and colour
settings, and a ClearType tuner to ensure text is crisp and sharp. Click
Start, type DCCW and press Enter to give it a try. 13. Clean up Live Essentials
Installing
Windows Live Essentials will get you the new versions of Mail, Movie
Maker, Photo Gallery and others - great. Unfortunately it also includes
other components that may be unnecessary, but if you like to keep a
clean system then these can be quickly removed.
If you left the
default "Set your search provider" option selected during installation,
for instance, Windows Live will install Choice Guard, a tool to set your
browser home page and search engine, and prevent other programs from
changing them. If this causes problems later, or you just decide you
don't need it, then Choice Guard may be removed by clicking Start,
typing msiexec /x {F0E12BBA-AD66-4022-A453-A1C8A0C4D570} and pressing
[Enter].
Windows Live Essentials also adds an ActiveX Control to
help upload your files to Windows Live SkyDrive, as well as the Windows
Live Sign-in Assistant, which makes it easier to manage and switch
between multiple Windows Live accounts. If you're sure you'll never need
either then remove them with the Control Panel "Uninstall a Program"
applet. 14. Add network support
By default
Windows Live MovieMaker won't let you import files over a network, but a
quick Registry tweak will change this. Run REGEDIT, browse to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live\Movie Maker, add a
DWORD value called AllowNetworkFiles and set it to 1 to add network
support. 15. Activate XP mode
If you've old but important software that no longer runs under Windows 7, then you could try using XP Mode,
a virtual copy of XP that runs in a window on your Windows 7 desktop.
But there's a big potential problem, as XP Mode only works with systems
that have hardware virtualisation (AMD-V or Intel VT) built-in and
turned on. If you've a compatible CPU then this may just be a matter of
enabling the option in your BIOS set-up program, however some high
profile brands, including Sony Vaio, disable the setting for "security
reasons". And that blocks XP Mode from working, too.
One solution
has emerged, but it's a little risky, as essentially you'll have to
alter a byte in your laptop firmware and hope this doesn't have any
unexpected side-effects. Gulp. If you're feeling brave then take a look
at the Feature Enable Blog for the details, but don't blame us if it goes wrong.
A safer approach might be to use VirtualBox,
a virtualisation tool that doesn't insist on hardware support, but then
you will need to find a licensed copy of XP (or whatever other Windows
version your software requires) for its virtual machine. 16. Enable virtual Wi-Fi
Windows
7 includes a little-known new feature called Virtual Wi-Fi, which
effectively turns your PC or laptop into a software-based router. Any
other Wi-Fi-enabled devices within range - a desktop, laptop, an iPod
perhaps - will "see" you as a new network and, once logged on,
immediately be able to share your internet connection.
This will
only work if your wireless adapter driver supports it, though, and not
all do. Check with your adapter manufacturer and make sure you've
installed the very latest drivers to give you the best chance.
Once you have driver support then the easiest approach is to get a network tool that can set up virtual Wi-Fi for you. Virtual Router (below) is free, easy to use and should have you sharing your internet connection very quickly. If
you don't mind working with the command line, though, maybe setting up
some batch files or scripts, then it's not that difficult to set this up
manually. See Turn your Windows 7 laptop into a wireless hotspot for more. 17. Recover locked-up apps
If
an application locks up under a previous version of Windows then there
was nothing you could do about it. A new Windows 7 option, however, can
not only explain the problem, but may get your program working again
without any loss of data.
When the lockup occurs, click Start, type RESMON and click the RESMON.EXE link to launch the Resource Monitor.
Find your frozen process in the CPU pane (it should be highlighted in red), right-click it and select Analyze Wait Chain.
If
you see at least two processes in the list, then the lowest, at the end
of the tree, is the one holding up your program. If it's not a vital
Windows component, or anything else critical, then save any work in
other open applications, check the box next to this process, click End
Process, and your locked-up program will often spring back to life. 18. Fault-Tolerant Help
Windows
7 includes a new feature called the Fault Tolerant Help (FTH), a clever
technology that looks out for unstable processes, detects those that
may be crashing due to memory issues, and applies several real-time
fixes to try and help. If these work, that's fine - if not, the fixes
will be undone and they won't be applied to that process again.
While
this is very good in theory, it can leave you confused as some
applications crash, then start working (sometimes) for no apparent
reason. So if you'd like to check if the FTH is running on your PC,
launch REGEDIT, and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\FTH -
any program currently being protected by the FTH will be listed in the
State key.
Experienced users may also try tweaking the FTH
settings to catch more problems, and perhaps improve system stability. A
post on Microsoft's Ask The Performance Team blog (bit.ly/d1JStu)
explains what the various FTH Registry keys mean. 19. Automatically switch your default printer
Windows
7's location-aware printing allows the operating system to
automatically switch your default printer as you move from one network
to another.
To set this up, first click Start, type Devices, and click the Devices and Printers link.
Select
a printer and click Manage Default Printers (this is only visible on a
mobile device, like a laptop - you won't see it on a PC).
Choose
the "Change my default printer when I change networks" option, select a
network, the default printer you'd like to use, and click Add.
Repeat the process for other networks available, and pick a default printer for each one.
And
now, as you connect to a new network, Windows 7 will check this list
and set the default printer to the one that you've defined.
13. DVD audio issues
Windows
7 runs well even on old notebooks, say reviewers, and in general
they're right. But we have seen reports of problems, for example with
DVD audio, where movie sound is either completely unintelligible or
doesn't appear at all.
Should anything similar happen to you then
head off to Control Panel, click Hardware and Sound > Sound,
right-click your current default playback device (it'll have a green
tick displayed) and select Properties.
Then click Advanced, clear
any settings in the Exclusive Mode box and click OK. You've now ensured
that older or badly-behaved drivers can't take complete control of the
speakers any more, and this alone will often be enough to get your
system working again. (But if it doesn't, installing new audio drivers
is your next best option.) 14. Windows Live MovieMaker
For
some bizarre reason Windows Live MovieMaker won't let you import
network files by default. Okay, so they'll be large and may monopolise
network traffic for a while, but shouldn't that be your choice?
Anyway,
a quick Registry tweak will solve this annoying problem. Simply run
REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows
Live\Movie Maker, add a DWORD value called AllowNetworkFiles and set it
to 1: job done.
IMPORT NETWORK FILES:Network access is only a Registry tweak away 15. XP Mode doesn't work
If
you've ancient software that won't work under Windows 7 then in theory
you can use XP Mode, a virtual machine with an installation of Windows
XP that should be more successful. In practice, however, it doesn't
always work out that way.
Problem 1 is XP Mode requires hardware support from the CPU. The Microsoft Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool can check your system to see if it's compatible.
Problem 2 is the feature must be enabled in the BIOS. Microsoft has some instructions,
but essentially you just need to browse your BIOS setup program looking
for an AMD-V, Intel VT or VIA VT virtualisation setting and ensure it's
turned on.
Unfortunately problem number 3 is that some laptop
manufacturers have previously disabled this setting for "security"
reasons. Sony Vaios had the feature turned off for a while, for
instance, prompting some to recommend ways in which you can edit their firmware to restore the setting,
although Sony seems to have restored it recently. If hardware
virtualisation is turned off on your system then check with the
manufacturer - a BIOS upgrade may fix the problem.
And if all else fails, just use a package like VirtualBox
that doesn't insist on hardware support. You will need to provide a
licenced copy of XP (or whatever other version you want to use) to
install on it, though.
WINDOWS 7 XP MODE:Good news - this CPU is up to the task of running XP Mode 16. Add Windows Media Center to AutoPlay options
Windows
7 includes Media Center, but for some strange reason you can't choose
it as an AutoPlay handler. The only standard program that can be
launched to play DVD-Video discs, say, is Media Player, which seems an
odd limitation.
Fortunately there's no fundamental change that's
preventing this from working, it's just that Windows 7 doesn't contain
the required Registry entries. If you've a Windows Vista PC to hand then
you could export these yourself: just go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers
and save all the keys and values beginning with EHome.
Windows
expert Ramesh Srinivasan has done the hard work already, though, so it's
probably easier to download the .REG file from him. Take a look at
Srinivasan's Winhelponline to find out more. 17. Missing crash dump files
Impressive
though Windows 7 is, it'll crash sometimes, and if you've installed
diagnostic software like the Windows debugging tools then you'll want
the crash dump file to hand for further investigations. And yet in some
situations you'll find the memory.dmp file never appears. So what's
going on?
First, click Start, right-click Computer and select
Properties > Advanced System Settings > Startup and Recovery
Settings. Make sure that "Write debugging information" is set to
something other than "none", and that "Dump file" is the default
"%SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP".
If that's all correct then check your
free hard drive space. If your system isn't on a domain, and has less
than 25GB free, then Windows 7 will no longer keep a crash dump file. If
you'd like to change that, launch REGEDIT, browse to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl, create
a new DWORD value called AlwaysKeepMemoryDump, set it to 1, and in
future the crash dump file will always be preserved.
![image[2]](http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image2_thumb.png "image[2]")
