Windows Tutorials, Howtos, and More!

How to Disable UAC in Vista

2008-07-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

UAC is a new feature implemented in Windows Vista to increase security. While I would highly recommend having it enabled, some people believe it is annoying and want to disable it. Click Read more to find out how to disable it.To disable it, open the start menu and type "User Accounts" and hit enter. A window will appear with a list of choices. Click Turn User Account Control on or off and

FREE Antivirus!

2008-07-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Nowadays you can not get by without antivirus software on your PC. Many people do not know there is a large amount of antivirus software to choose from, and many of them free! Click read more to find out more!My favorite free antivirus software is Avast! Antivirus. They freely give home users the same service that they charge businesses for! Just download the home version from their website,

How to Change the Location of the Documents and other user Folders

2008-07-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

Windows sets the location of the Documents, Music, Pictures, and other similar folders inside of the users directory by default. While this is fine in most cases, some times it is better to move the folder. An example would be if you installed a second hard drive in your computer and wish to put more files in those folders then your original drive could hold. If you simply moved the folder to

Increase The Amount of Recent Programs Shown in the Start Menu

2008-07-27T20:32:00.001-07:00

The Windows Start Menu displays the most recently used programs depending on how often a program is launched. The list by default is very small and may not contain very many of your programs. There is plenty of room on the screen to show more programs. Click read more to find out how to increase the amount of recently used programs shown!To increase the amount of recent programs displayed in

How to hide users in Windows Vista & XP

2007-06-26T23:27:00.000-07:00

Windows XP and Vista will automatically show all user accounts on the welcome screen with no easy option to disable this. You may want to have a hidden one that no one knows about, and using this tutorial, you will learn how to hide a user account from the welcome screen. Click Read More to see how!This tutorial involves use of the registry editor. Do not do this if you are uncomfortable using

Enable Hidden BootScreen in Windows Vista

2007-03-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

The Vista boot screen is very plain and dull but Microsoft has a nicer boot screen hidden in Vista that is not enabled by default. I do not know why this was not put as the boot screen, as it looks much nicer. You can manually enable it very easily. Click Read more to see how!Follow the procedure below to enable the alternate boot screen.1. Press Win+R on your keyboard or open the Start Menu,

How to change the power button in Vista to shut down your PC.

2007-03-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

If you do not like to put your computer to sleep or would just rather have the power button in the Vista Start Menu shut down your computer you can follow this simple guide. Click Read more to see how!1. Open the Start Menu2. In the search box, write "Power Options" and open it.3. Under the selected power plan, click "Change plan settings"4. Click "Change advanced power settings"5. Open "Power

How to keep files across multiple computers in sync!

2007-03-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

Microsoft SyncToy is a PowerToy for Windows XP and Vista that allows you to keep folders in sync! They can be on the same drive, on different drives, or even on different computers!Click "Read more!" to see how!To begin, you must download Microsoft SyncToy and install it. At first run, it displays the following screen.Press the "Create New Folder Pair" button on the bottom. A window will pop

Use Windows Vista Photo Gallery in full resolution!

2007-02-07T14:11:00.000-08:00

As many people have noticed with Vista, if you do not have an experience rating of at least 5 then Windows Photo Gallery will not run slideshows at high resolutions. This can be a problem, especially for LCD owners because it will not run at the native resolution causing the quality of the slideshow to be heavily degraded. Fortunately, there is a simple fix that requires a little bit of

Extend Vista grace period up to 120 days

2007-02-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

Every Vista DVD has the ability to install any version of Vista without a product key. If you install without a product key, you have a 30 day grace period to enter a key and activate. If you need to extend this period, you may do so by using a built in function of Vista. This may be done 3 times, each time resetting the time left to 30 days.Press Read more to see how!To extend the activation

Remove 'My Sharing Folders' from My Computer

2006-08-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

If you have installed Windows Live Messenger you have probably noticed the annoying new shortcut it adds to My Computer! It is a folder that you may put stuff in so that when you log on to WLM people may copy whatever you have in that folder. I find this feature totally useless and a waste of space in My Computer. This guide will demonstrate how to remove 'My Sharing Folders' from My

Keyboard, Windows Shortcuts

2006-08-05T23:30:00.000-07:00

+ethief from Neowin has compiled a list of Windows and Keyboard Shortcuts. This is very usefull when you need to do things quickly without searchign through a lot of complex menus. Click Read More for the shortcuts.Compiled by +ethief. ethief@gmail.comRun Commands-----------------------------------------------------------compmgmt.msc - Computer managementdevmgmt.msc - Device

Printscreen While Watching a Movie

2006-08-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

If you have tried to use printscreen to get a screenshot of a movie you are currently watching on your computer, it probably didnt work and appeared completely black where the video is supposed to be. This is due to the hardware acceleration of videos in your computer. Because of it, a printscreen will not work. This howto will show how to task a screenshot of a video playing on your computer

Firefox

2006-07-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

Firefox is a very secure and fast web browser. It has the ability to be skinned or "extended" with extensions. It has many features like tabbed browsing that people like it for. If you have not tried firefox yet, press the link to it on the top of the page if you are using Internet Explorer.

Skip Re-Activation When you Reinstall Windows XP

2006-07-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

For many computers, a reinstall of Windows XP (even if its on the same PC) requires re-activation with Microsoft. Some versions of XP require you to actually call Microsoft after a certain number of activations have already been performed to get it activated again. This howto shows how to bypass all this by backing up your activation files.Backup Your Activation FilesYou need to make a copy of

Is 100 MB too much ? Nero 7 Premium Alternatives

2006-07-20T19:26:00.000-07:00

Nero 7 has become quite large for a simple CD burning program and now includes many utilities many people see as useless and bloat. It has Nero Scout which is like the Windows Indexing service and especially useless if you have Media Center Edition. There are some free or cheap alternatives to Nero that take up less space too.CDBurnerXP ProLicense: FreewareRequires: Microsoft .NET Framework -

Stop PDFs from freezing Firefox

2006-07-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

Firefox has the ability to use the Arobat Reader plugin and it is set by default. Whenever you click on a PDF link without realizing, it will freeze your browser for about a minute before it responds correctly. If the plugin crashes, it also crashes your browser. This is really annoying and there is a very simple fix to this.To fix it, in Firefox prss Tools and then press options and select

Video Codecs

2006-07-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

A lot of videos and movies you can download use codecs that do not come included with most computers. This can be very annoying, especially for people who do not know what a codec is or where to get one. Cole2k Media has a solution for this annoying problem. They have a downloadable codec pack with most common codecs that are used, but not included with Windows.To get the codec pack, go to

Xbox Controller on PC

2006-07-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

A lot of people own Xboxs, but most of them do not know that their controller can be used on the computer. All you need to do to make it work is buy an adapter for around $6 shipped from ebay and download some drivers. The drivers support all the buttons, rumble, and even the slots on top for a microphone or something of that sort. A controller for the computer with all the features of an Xbox

Disable Error Reporting

2006-07-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

Windows XP Has a feature called error reporting where it brings up a window after a program crashes asking if you would like to report the error to Microsoft. This is meant to help Microsoft in fixing bugs, but I just find them annoying. Some other people are concerned for their privacy even though it does not send any personal data. Press Read More to see how to disable it!To disable error

Hiding Drives in My Computer

2006-07-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

If you have a computer that you share with people, you may want to be able to hide a hard drive so that people can not see it. This works only if the person(s) you want to hide it from does not know about it. The drive will still be accessible by entering it into the address bar i.e. D:\. This how to will explain how to hide drives in My Computer so that people unaware of them do not use

MediaMan - A great Collection Catalogue

2006-07-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

If you are like me, you have a lot of DVD's, games, and other things people always ask to borrow. It sometimes gets hard to keep track of who has what when a lot of people are borrowing something of yours. I set out to find a solution to my problem and found MediaMan, a great cataloguing software. It can display your collection as a virtual shelf, list, by category, and more.If you lend a

How to Remotely Access Your Computer Using VNC and a Flash Drive or a Web Browser

2006-06-29T23:51:00.000-07:00

There are probably many times you wish you had access to your computer but are not at it. It can be frustrating because it and the computer you are at are both connected to the internet, but you have no way to get your files or bookmarks from your computer.The solution is VNC and a Dynamic DNS service like No-IP. VNC allows you to remotely control your computer but because many people hace

How to Change the Locations of Program Files and Documents and Settings During Windows XP Installation

2006-06-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

If you would like to change the location of Documents and Settings and Program Files during the windows setup, there is a very simple way to do this. You will have to put a file into the I386 directory of the CD which will tell the installer options that are not available through the GUI. This howto will cover copying to the hard drive and modifying the Windows CD and preparing it to be burned

Improving Windows XP's Speed, Boot Time

2006-06-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a collection of many different guides to improve Windows XP's speed, boot time, performance, and more. They contain many different tweaks, files to delete, services to disable, etc. After doing many of them I must say my computer is a bit faster and nicer to use. I though I would like to share all these guides with everyone so that they may improve their computing experience.Improving

Free Web Hosts

2006-06-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

I have compiled a list of free web hosts. They all are pretty good and offer a decent amount of space.Host Ultra - http://www.hostultra.com/No image galleries allowed.Unlimited space with unlimited bandwidth. Filesize limit 1Mb. Exit Pop-up ads on each page.FTP and browser uploads.PHP supported.Domain hosting available.URL: 'http://www.hostultra.com/~yoursite/'.Atgig -

Remote Desktop Connection - Windows XP Professional

2006-06-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

Enabling Remote Desktop ConnectionIf you have ever needed to access your XP Professional computer remotely you should use the included Remote Desktop Connection software. This howto will show how to enable remote desktop connection and how to change it to allow an unlimited number of connections. To enable this, right click my computer, press properties, switch to the Remote tab and check the

Shortcut Keys

2006-06-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

A little know feature in windows for some reason is the Shortcut Keys. Many people do not know how to use them, yet they are simple and helpful. To set a shortcut key for something, open your start menu and navigate to it then right click it and press properties. A new window will pop up. Press in the Shortcut key box and do any combination of ctrl, alt, shift and anything else and press OK.

Batch Convert and Resize Images with Photosop

2006-06-25T23:50:00.000-07:00

If you have a large amount of pictures that need to be resized or converted all at once and have Photoshop, there is a quick and very simple way to do it! Photoshop comes with scripts that allow it to preform repetitive tasks quickly and easily. This how to will cover using the Photoshop CS2 Image Processor (older versions have it too, but I am not sure it is in the same place or works the same).

How to Reinstall Windows XP Easily

2006-06-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

This howto will demonstrate how to keep all of your data while reinstalling Windows without copying it off of your hard drive. This will only work if you have a Windows XP CD or a real source to install it from, NOT a manufactures "Restore CD" which reloads all the junk it came with.I have seen people on the internet dread reinstalling Windows because it takes so long to backup gigabytes of data

Always On Top, Minimize To Tray, Task Priority and Window Transparency with PowerMenu

2006-06-22T07:28:00.001-07:00

I found a small program (49KB download) a long time ago that adds 4 new options to any window menu. It allows you to a windows process higher priority, set always on top, set transparency, and minimize it to tray easily, quickly, and the minimal RAM usage.It is a very simple program, just right click a window and your options are there.To install the program, create a new folder in program files

Batch Rename Files with Lupas Rename

2006-06-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

A great program called Lupas Rename allows you to rename multiple files, be it photos, documents, or anything else easily and very quickly. This howto will show how to use it and what it can do.To use it navigate to the directory where you want to rename your files.Select the files you want to rename and take a look at the options. You can change the name, the extension, and you can autonumber

How to change the default save format for Office 2007

2006-06-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

Everyone who has tried Office 2007 out has seen the new format it saves in. The problem is many people who you want to send your documents to do not have Office 2007 and therefore will not be able to see your document. It is a hassle to have to press save as and change it to the right format every time you make a new document. An easy fix to the problem is to change the default format until

The multiple uses of TweakUI

2006-06-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

Many people do not know about the Windows XP Powertoys Microsoft released. They can help with speeding repetitive tasks up or help further customize Windows. This blog will be about TweakUI. You may download it here.I will be covering the more common uses but you may go explore the other parts I dont cover.Windows does not normally let you change things on the logon screen like the mouse