Tutorials

How to Turn Compressed Folders On or Off in Vista By default, Vista handles ZIP files like folders. This will show you how to turn on or off the ability for Windows Explorer to treat Compressed Folders like a normal folder and open and view it the same way (on), or like a file (off). For example, ZIP files show up under the folder tree (like folders) in Windows Explorer. Vista will look inside of the ZIP files when doing searches, causing it to take longer to finish the search sometimes. If you have another 3rd party ZIP program (WinZip, 7-Zip, etc.), then this can be an annoyance to you and you may want to turn this feature off.Compressed Folders is turned on by default on Vista.If you are not using a 3rd party ZIP program, that may...

How to Change the Mouse Pointer in Vista This will show you how to change how the mouse pointer looks in Vista. Here's How: YouTube Video: YouTube - Change mouse pointer-I made this tutorial Step One: Right-click on the desktop, then click on personalization. Step Two: Click on mouse pointers Step Three: Click on the drop downlist Step Five: Select your design Step Six: Click on OK You're done How to Turn Mouse ClickLock On or Off in Vista How to Set the Mouse Pointer to Automatically Move to the Default Button in Vista How to Activate a Window by Hovering Over it with the Mouse Pointer in Vista How to Open a Item with a Single Click How to Switch the Functions of the Left and Right Mouse Buttons How to...

How to Fix Windows Defender when it Fails to Turn On Here's How: 1. Right-click Command Prompt and Run as Administrator. Type the following command: winmgmt /verifyrepository 2. If the system returns "WMI repository is not consistent", run this command: NOTE: The first time you run this it will fail. (It will issue stop commands to the services causing it to fail. It might take a couple minutes for the services to shut down). Run the command again. You actually may have to run it 3 times before it finally runs and completes on its own. winmgmt /salvagerepository 3. Reboot your system. 4. If the above steps does not work please try the steps below : A) Right-click Command Prompt and Run as Administrator. Type the following...

How to Backup Specific Files in Vista Like NT Backup in XP In Vista we can only backup file types in the built-in backup files feature. That will use more space from your drive. This tutorial will help you to create a backup of specific files instead of file types. Here's How: 1. From a XP computer, copy these files in the C:\Windows\System32 folder, or click on the Download button below to download them in a ZIP file. ntbackup.exe size 1.14 mb ntmsapi.dll size 40 kb vssapi.dll size 420 kb https://www.vistax64.com/attachments/ntbackup-zip.11149/ 2. Extract these files above to the desktop. 3. Next, move these three files into a safe location like C:\Windows\nt backup or C:\Program Files\nt backup . 4. Create a shortcut of...

How to Enable or Disable Defrag of Boot Files at Startup in Vista This will show you how to enable or disable the defragging of the boot files automatically during the startup or restart of Vista. This is enabled by default in Vista.When enabled, this can help improve the performance of the computer by consolidating the fragmented boot files to get a faster startup time.If you would like to create a Defragment Boot Files shortcut so you can manually defrag the boot files when you want to without having to restart the computer, then see: How to Create a Defragment Boot Files Shortcut in Vista Using a REG File Download 1. To Disable Defrag of Boot Files at Startup A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below...

Troubleshooting Specific Stop Errors This out of the Vista Inside out book. I thought it may be helpful for some people that have this happen on their system to know.General Advice for Dealing with Stop Errors If you experience a Stop error, don’t panic. Instead, run through the following troubleshooting checklist to isolate the problem and find a solution: l Look for a driver name in the error details If the error message identifies a specific file name and you can trace that file to a driver for a specific hardware device, you may be able to solve the problem by disabling, removing, or rolling back that driver to an earlier version. The most likely offenders are network interface cards, video adapters, and disk controllers. STOP...

How to Change the Default Sounds in Windows Live Messenger This will show you how to change the Windows Live Messenger sound events to what you want them to be instead of the default sounds. You will also see how to backup the old sound events in case you want to restore them later.Make sure Windows Live Messenger is turned off before during this. For Windows Live Messenger 8.5 This is for the WLM version 8.5 and older 1. Open Windows Live Messenger. 2. Click on the menu icon and click on Tools and Options. (See screenshot below) 3. In the left pane, click on Alerts and Sounds. (See screenshot below step 7) 4. To Enable or Disable an Alert A) Under the Alerts section (top right pane), check or uncheck the Alerts you want or do...

How to Turn File Sharing On or Off in Vista This will show you how to turn file sharing on or off for all people on your network to be able to access the files and printers that you have set to Share on your computer.Check the Network Location Type settings. If your network location type is set to Private (Home or Work), then file sharing is turned on by default. If your network location type is set to Public, then file sharing is turned off by default. Network Connection Properties NOTE: This is your connection properties for your network adapter device. 1. Open the Control Panel (Classic View). 2. Click on the Networking and Sharing Center icon. 3. Click on Manage network connections in the upper left corner. 4. Right click on...

How Add or Remove the IE7 and IE8 Search Box This will show you how to add or remove the Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) or Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) Search box for all user accounts on the computer.This can be helpful if you installed a toolbar (EX: Yahoo's or Google's) that has a search bar with it and you no longer want or need the default IE search box.To change the settings for the IE Search box, see: How to Change the Internet Explorer Search Box Settings in Vista EXAMPLE: IE Default Search Box EXAMPLE: IE Default Search Box Removed Using a REG File Download 1. To Add the Internet Explorer Search Box Back A) Click on the download button below to download the file below. ShowSearch.reg...

How to Add or Remove Lock and Switch User from the Start Menu in Vista This will show you how to add or remove Lock and Switch User from the Start Menu for all user accounts on the computer.If you only wanted to add or remove Switch User, then see: How to Add or Remove Switch User from the Start Menu in Vista EXAMPLE: Before (Add) and After (Remove) Switch User and Lock Using a REG File Download 1. To Remove Lock and Switch User A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below. Remove_Lock_Start_Menu.reg https://www.vistax64.com/attachments/remove_lock_start_menu-reg.8132/ B) Go to step 3. 2. To Add Lock and Switch User A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below. Add_Lock_Start_Menu.reg...

How to Fix the Vista Disk Cleanup Windows Error Reporting Bug This will show you how to fix the bug in Disk Cleanup when the listed items below have huge GB file sizes. Per user archived Windows Error Reporting Files Per user queued Windows Error Reporting Files System archived Windows Error Reporting Files System queued Windows Error Reporting Files This is thought to be caused by some registry cleaning program that was allowed to delete or delete part of these registry entries located at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches Cleaning these listed items in Disk Cleanup without fixing this bug first will cause you to have to reinstall Vista. EXAMPLE: Disk Cleanup with and with this...

How to Generate a System Health Report in Vista and Windows 7 The System Health Report helps track down any errors that may occur within your software or hardware and generates a report that tells you exactly what the problems are. When the report is generated, you will see a list of: the status of any critical components on the computer, whether or not the problem has been detected, and any possible solutions you can try. This can be a very useful tool for troubleshooting problems and for a great source of information on your system.The System Health Report seems to not always properly detect, recognise, or report on anti-spy, anti-virus, anti-malware software that is installed on your system.You will need to do this from within an...

How to Create a 32-bit Windows Explorer Shortcut in Vista 64-bit This easy to create shortcut will open the Computer Windows Explorer window with the 32 bit shell to enable use of 32 bit shell extensions in Vista 64 bit. From inside this shortcut, any folder you navigate to will be running as 32 bit. Try out the shell extensions of some of your 32 bit programs to verify it if you like. Here's How: 1. Right click on the desktop and select New and Shortcut. 2. Where it says "type the location of this item" paste the string in bold below. NOTE: It should be all on one line. (The long alphanumeric inside the braces is a code that corresponds to the "Computer" special folder. There are others for Documents etc..)...

How to Allow or Prevent the Vista Recycle Bin Icon to Display This will show you how to allow or prevent the Vista Recycle Bin icon to display from the desktop, Windows Explorer, programs that use Windows Explorer, and the File - Open menu bar window for all users on the computer. By default, the Recycle Bin icon is allowed to be displayed in all user accounts.If set to prevent, then this will only remove the Recycle Bin icon and not prevent a user from using other methods to gain access to the contents of the hidden protected operating system C:\$Recycle.Bin folder though.EXAMPLE: Desktop Icon Settings window NOTE: When set to prevent, the Recycle Bin option will be grayed out. EXAMPLE: Recycle Bin icon Allowed and Prevented in...

How to Elevate All Administrator Accounts UAC Privilege Level This will show you how to change all administrator account's UAC Privilege Level to keep UAC on and not prompt an admnistrator, have UAC ask administrator for password, or the default of asking an Administrator to Continue for permission. UAC will still be on and work as usual for the Standard and Guests account types. For more information, see: Windows Help and How-To: What is User Account Control? Microsoft TechNet: Security: Inside Windows Vista User Account Control Microsoft TechNet: Understanding and Configuring User Account Control in Windows Vista Microsoft TechNet: The Long-Term Impact of User Account Control This will still leave Protected Mode: ON in Internet...

How to Enable or Disable Aero Glass Transparency in Vista Glass Transparency is part of the Windows Aero color scheme that makes your window borders look like transparent glass. This will show you how to enable or disable the Windows Aero Transparency feature.Glass Transparency can be a resource hog on your video device. This can cause your computer to slow down on systems that are not very powerful. Using Windows Aero without Transparency does not use much resources though.You must have the Windows Aero color scheme turned on for the Glass Transparency, Taskbar Thumbnail Previews, and Flip 3D features. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS FOR: WINDOWS AERO See: Windows Help and Support: Troubleshoot problems with Windows Aero NOTE: The Windows...

How to Create a Task in Vista Task Scheduler Task Scheduler helps you schedule automated tasks that perform actions at a specific time or when a certain event occurs. It maintains a library of all scheduled tasks, providing an organized view of the tasks and a convenient point of access for managing them. From within the library, you can run, disable, modify, create, and delete tasks. This will show you how to create a task of your own in Task Scheduler. For a description of all of the default tasks in Vista, see: Microsoft Help and Support: KB939039The two key concepts involved in scheduling a task are triggers and actions. A trigger causes a task to run and an action is the work that is performed when the task is run. The actions a...

How to Reopen the Last Browsing Session in Vista Internet Explorer This will show you how to reopen the last browsing session in Vista for Internet Explorer 7, 8, and 9 to when Internet Explorer was last closed. In IE7 NOTE: This will set IE7 to save the current browsing session (opened tabs) when you close IE7 to have IE7 open them again automatically the next time you open IE7. 1. When you have more than one tab open, close Internet Explorer 7. 2. Click on Show Options for the Do you want to close all tabs? notice. (See screenshot below) 3. Check the Open these the next time I use Internet Explorer box. (See screenshot below step 4) NOTE: If you checked the Do not show me this dialog again, you can get it back by checking Warn...

How to Turn Taskbar Auto-hide On or Off in Vista This will show you how to turn on or off having the taskbar auto-hide until you move the mouse pointer over the location of the hidden taskbar to temporarily unhide it. By default auto-hide it turned off for the taskbar.EXAMPLE: Taskbar Auto-hide Turned On NOTE: When turned on, the taskbar will be hidden until you move the mouse pointer over it. When turned off, the taskbar will be displayed and not hidden. Here's How: 1. Right click on a empty area on the taskbar and click on Properties. 2. To Turn On Taskbar Auto-hide A) Check the Auto-hide the taskbar box. (See screenshot below step 4) B) Go to step 4. 3. To Turn Off Taskbar Auto-hide A) Uncheck the Auto-hide the taskbar box...

How to Change a Folder Preview Picture in Vista and Windows 7 By default a folder in Vista and Windows 7 will show a thumbnail preview picture of the folder contents in the folder icon. This will allow you to change that thumbnail preview picture in the folder icon to any image you would like instead. This will not work with a folder in a external device like a USB key or DVD. External devices do not retain their Windows Explorer folder view settings in Vista. This will not work on folder shortcuts, only on the main folder itself. EXAMPLE: Before and After Preview Picture Change Here's How: 1. Right click on the folder and click on Properties. 2. Click the Customize tab. (See screenshot below step 4) 3. To Customize the...