Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 45 of 66 Written by Mike Halsey, www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 MSCONFIG If you are having more serious troubles with Windows Vista, type MSConfig into the search box on the Start Menu to run this advanced system service. Here are a series of tools that must be used very carefully but can be very useful. GENERAL On the general tab you can select a limited startup of Windows. If you are having trouble with a drive or piece of software that starts with Windows and that you cannot remove, or maybe you suspect that a Windows component may be malfunctioning you can start Windows into a limited configuration here. BOOT The boot tab presents more advanced limited startup options for your PC. SERVICES AND STARTUP These tabs allow you to disable startup programs and windows services. Beware! That unless you know what you are doing disabling Windows services you can paralyse your operating system. TOOLS Of more use is the tools tab that offers access to a variety of features including getting help online, system restore and the event viewer, a handy utility that keeps a log of crashes and problems with Windows. SYSTEM FILE CHECKER Setting up the System File Checker verifies the integrity of the Operating System files. If it finds any file that’s corrupt or that has been tempered with it’ll replace it from your Vista install DVD. At the Search Box in the Start menu type CMD to search for the command prompt. When it appears in the Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 46 of 66 Written by Mike Halsey, www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 search results, right click on it and select Run as Administrator. In the window that appears type SFC /SCANNOW to check the Operating system and replace any corrupt or damaged files. SFC /VERIFYONLY to just check the Operating System and report on its integrity without repairing anything. I CAN’T ACCESS MY FILES / IE FAVOURITES What can sometimes happen when you move your users folders away from the drive on which your main Windows Vista installation is located (see Moving your files for data security on page 18) is that you can’t write, or sometimes even read, the contents. INTERNET EXPLORER CAN’T SAVE FAVOURITES If you have moved your Users folder to another drive you may have to reset the permissions for IE favourites. Click your name on the Start Menu then right click on favourites, select Properties and Security. Hre you can set Full control permissions for yourself and others. Part of the beefed up security in Windows Vista is file and folder permissions. You can access these by Right clicking on the drive or folder, selecting Properties and then selecting the Security tab. Here you will find a list of permissions for user groups. The two local ones are called Administrators and Users and will be followed by the name of your computer (STUDY in the illustration below). If you are having trouble, try editing the permissions to allow Full control to a user group. You are unlikely to need this for a partition or drive on which you have relocated your user files, but it is common to have to set permissions for Internet Explorer Favourites. This is because IE in Vista runs in a special sandboxed mode which denies it access to the rest of the operating system, your programs or files without express permission. Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 47 of 66 Written by Mike Halsey, www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 WINDOWS CALENDAR HAS STOPPED WORKING If you have subscribed to an internet, friend’s or colleagues calendar in the new Windows Calendar application you could find that every time Vista starts you get a dialogue box on your screen telling you that Windows Calendar has stopped working. This, hopefully soon to be fixed bug, is caused by Windows Calendar trying to update the calendars you have subscribed to and failing to do so. To fix this open the Task Scheduler from the Start Menu by clicking All Programs → Accessories → System Tools where it is located. In the window that appears, open in the left hand pane Task Scheduler Library → Microsoft → Windows → Windows Calendar and delete the calendar updating task that appears in the centre pane. Your subscription calendar(s) will still update whenever you run Windows Calendar but that’s really all you need it to do anyway. This is not guaranteed to fix the problem and hopefully by the time you read this Microsoft will have distributed a fix for the problem. I have discovered however through trial and error that this does work in most cases. INTERNET EXPLORER IS MALFUNCTIONING? With so many plug-ins now available for Internet Explorer you may find that occasionally one of them crashes and takes your internet browser with it. To fix this you have two choices. If you INTERNET EXPLORER PROBLEMS You can run Internet Explorer with all its plug- ins disabled if one is misbehaving. Go to the Start menu → All Programs → Accessories → System Tools which frankly is a stupid place to hide it, you will find Internet Explorer (No Add-ons) can get Internet Explorer working click the Tools button, select Manage Add- ons → Enable or Disable Add -ons where you can disable the offending plug-ins. Alternatively in the Start menu → All Programs → Accessories → System Tools which frankly is a stupid place to hide it, you will find Internet Explorer (No Add-ons) which will run the browser with all the plug-ins disabled. You can then remove the offending plug-in(s) as described previously. GAMING PROBLEMS IN VISTA Many gamers have reported problems running their favourite games in Windows Vista. It’s true that compared to XP, Vista is a memory hog. However there are currently issues with processor performance hitting 100% when it really shouldn’t be too. Many gamers are holding off for Service Pack 1, at which time they say they’ll make the switch. I’ve been resistant to this because of the security and usability improvements that Vista brings to the desktop. However I now have to admit that this prudent course may be the most suitable for PC gamers. Memory management software can help with some issues, but clearly there are performance problems here that Microsoft need to sort out with future hotfixes. Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 48 of 66 Written by Mike Halsey, www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 PART 11 TWEAKING SYSTEM AND SETTINGS TWEAKS As with all previous versions of Windows there are system tweaks that are usually advisable to get the most out of your installation. Go to the Control Panel → System → and click on Advanced System Settings in the green left-hand pane. In the window that pops up (see illustration) there are several options you can tweak to get a bit more out of Windows Vista. Under Performance → Settings you can change some of the appearance options for Windows Vista. VIRTUAL MEMORY Then under the Advanced tab of that Window you should click on the Change button in the Virtual Memory section. Here you should untick the box labelled “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” and instead choose a custom size where the initial and maximum sizes are identical. Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 49 of 66 Written by Mike Halsey, www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 Virtual Memory is a facility whereby Windows uses some of your hard drive space as extra memory when it needs to. If this file can grow and shrink in size then lots of file defragmentation can occur over time. With the virtual memory file kept at a fixed size, unable to grow or shrink, this can’t happen. DUAL-BOOTING SYSTEMS If your computers dual boots into, for example, both Windows XP and Windows Vista, the Settings button in the Startup and Recovery section is where you can control options such as the amount of time the boot menu appears for when Windows starts. SYSTEM PROTECTION AND SYSTEM RESTORE The System Protection tab is where System Restore is controlled from. With previous versions of Windows I have always recommended that System Restore is switched off completely as it was a good place for viruses to hide. This was a pity as it was an otherwise very useful feature, enabling you to revert to previous system settings if anything went wrong with Windows or installed software. With UAC in place however, viruses hiding in System Restore should be a thing of the past. Here you can tweak the settings for this useful feature or turn it off should you wish. This is also the place from which you can create system restore points and recover by reverting to them. REMOTE ASSIST AND REMOTE DESKTOP Under the Remote tab you can switch on or off Remote Assist and Remote Desktop. Remote assist is a useful feature you should leave switched on. This allows IT professionals controlled access to your computer to fix problems with Windows or your installed software. If you are unlikely to want to take remote control of your PC from another computer on your home network however you can safely switch off Remote Desktop should you want to. There is, however, no risk to leaving it switched on. COMPUTER NAME Finally, under the Computer Name tab you can change the name of your Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 50 of 66 Written by Mike Halsey, www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 computer to make it more obvious what it is on your home network. For instance you might want to change it to Study or Living Room. READYBOOST This is a useful new feature that lets you easily add extra memory to Windows Vista simply by plugging in a USB pen drive. Not all pen drives are compatible with ReadyBoost and if you’re buying one it’s worth checking its ReadyBoost compatible first. TWEAKING WITH WINDOWS DEFENDER Let’s say you have a program, a scanner utility or media player that automatically starts up whenever you start Windows. This will slow down the overall start-up time and you neither want or need it starting anyway. How do you stop it from doing so. This is normally a task for advanced tweaking software but surprisingly for anti-spyware software, Microsoft’s own offering Windows Defender, offers tweaking and start-up modification tools. Found in the Start-menu, Run Windows Defender then click on Tools and then Software Explorer. This will allow you t see what’s currently running (useful if you suspect a virus infection) and what’s set to run when you Start Windows. It gives you handy options to disable these programs. MSCONFIG If modifying the start-up programs in Windows Defender doesn’t work, or ifyou run an anti-virus package like Microsoft OneCare that unhelpfully switches Defender off, there’s the more powerful MSConfig. This is quite common for many types of software from printer / scanner utilities to media playback packages. Typing MSConfig (Microsoft Configuration) into the Start Menu search box will let you launch this handy little utility, the Startup tab in which will allow you to disable these programs. The utility will prom pt you when you reboot to let you know it’s been run, you can tell it this point not to prompt you again. Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 51 of 66 Written by Mike Halsey, www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 AUTOPLAY OPTIONS If you get annoyed about files and windows popping up and starting whenever you put a CD or memory card into your computer or some software you have installed is starting instead of the software you want to start then there’s a solution. The options to change these settings have been made much easier in Windows Vista. Simply select the AutoPlay option from the Control Panel and a handy selection of drop down lists will appear for different media types. Here you can select the program you want to run, or nothing if you so wish, when certain types of media are inserted into your PC. POWER MANAGEMENT We all want to do our bit to help save the planet. Tweaking the power management settings in Windows Vista can help a bit. In the Control Panel you’ll find Power Options. Here you can tweak the general settings within Vista, such as when to switch off the monitor. In addition to this if you click Choose when the computer sleeps → Change Advanced Power Settings a window will appear with a whole array of advanced power management options you can tweak. TUNE YOUR START-UP Windows start-up a bit slow? In Windows Defender go to Tools → Software Explorer to see a list of programs set to run when you start Windows. Here you can disable things you don’t need like printer utilities or media players. CHANGE YOUR POWER BUTTON You can change the Start Menu power button from ‘Sleep’ which is a low- power state to ‘Shut Down’ to save power. Go to Control Panel → Power Options → Choose when the computer sleeps → Change Advanced Power Settings CHANGING THE START MENU POWER BUTTON By default the power button on the Vista Start Menu is ‘sleep’ which will put your PC into a low power state but not actually switch it off. You can change this power button to ‘Shut Down’ easily by going to the Control Panel → Power Options → Choose when the computer sleeps → Change Advanced Power Settings and scroll down the list in the windows that appears until you find Power Buttons and lid in which you can change the default action of the Start Menu Power Button. GREEN COMPUTING If you are interested in more ways to have an environmentally friendly computing experience and would like to read more about the topic, I can highly recommend PC Pro magazine’s “Complete Guide to Green Computing” which you can read online. www.pcpro.co.uk/features/101749/co mplete-guide-to-green- computing.html The article covers a wide variety of topics from buying a green PC to managing consumables and advanced power management. It also gives handy tips about disposing of your old hardware in a responsible way, all the time dispelling many myths about the perils of green computing. I can also recommend the intelliplug from www.oneclickpower.co.uk. A special plug adapter that will save on your electricity bill by switching off Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 52 of 66 Written by Mike Halsey, www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 peripherals such as your monitor, printer and speakers when you switch off your PC. VISTA POWERTOYS Microsoft have confirmed they are releasing PowerToys for Windows Vista. The PowerToys for Windows XP were an extremely useful collection of utilities and tweaks that greatly improved the XP experience. When these toys are released this document will be updated to include a link. It’s well worth keeping one eye out for the PowerToys in the mean time however. THIRD PARTY TWEAKS There is a good selection of tweaking and other useful utilities out for Windows Vista and more will be released all the time. Some of the best I have encountered are www.TweakVista.com – A useful collection of tweaks, tips and utilities for Windows Vista www.VistaBootPro.org – A tool for modifying, backing up and, in the event of a disaster, restoring the new boot menu system in Windows Vista www.vLite.net – By default, Windows Vista installs every component of Vista Ultimate on your hard drive, this is so that if you decide to choose Windows Anytime Upgrade (available in the Start Menu) DISABLE THE START- UP SOUND To disable the Windows start-up sound in the Control Panel select Sound then in the window that appears select the Sounds tab and untick Play Windows start-up sound. should you be running a different version of Windows, you can upgrade to ultimate without having to put your DVD back in your PC. With vLite however you can create a custom install DVD for Windows Vista that doesn’t include (or install) features you may not want, e.g. Tablet PC functionality. REMOVE SHORTCUT ARROWS A little tweak this one but always popular. When creating a shortcut to a program or file you end up with a great big arrow on it that many people find distracting. This handy little utility will enable you to remove this. You can download it here. www.frameworkx.com/frameworkx/c ontentblogdetail.aspx?blog=57&id=53 1 Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 53 of 66 Written by Mike Halsey, www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 IE7 ADD-ONS There are a whole host of add-ons for Internet Explorer 7 (and above) available from www.ieaddons.com some of which you have to pay for but many of which are free. The best of these include IESPELL A free spell-checker that uses the spell-checking engine in Microsoft Office. You can download it from www.iespell.com. IE7PRO Another free add on that gives Internet Explorer users many features commonly found in other browsers such as Mozilla Firefox. These include Advert blocking and session restore should the browser crash. ADD YOUR OWN WALLPAPERS Selecting Personalization from the control panel allows you to select your desktop wallpaper. But you can plug your own photos and wallpapers into this should you wish. This is as easy as copying the pictures to the Windows / Web / Wallpaper folder on the drive on which Vista is installed. If you also add a tag to your photos first (you cannot add tags to photos when they are in this folder) such as your name, will group the pictures in the select wallpapers dialog window appropriately. Of course you can still use a picture anywhere on your PC as a wallpaper so this is a bit of a gimmick. However if you’re a keen photographer, like I am, it’s a good way to share your work with friends and family. PREVIEWING PDF FILES IN EXPLORER The new preview pane in Explorer windows is a welcome addition to Windows (See Part 3 – Exploring) but unfortunately doesn’t support many file types. You can download a third- party plug-in to support Adobe’s popular Portable Document Format (PDF) files from ryangregg.com/PermaLink,guid,a 29ee2d7-6863-4b70-9fcb- b7db392f9a74.aspx. CREATING ICONS WITHOUT TEXT I found this useful link at vistarewired.com/2007/03/03/how -to-create-icons-without-text. This simple guide will tell you how to have desktop icons without text. Let’s face it it’s obvious to us all what the recycle bin and Internet Explorer icons are, and we don’t need the names underneath. [...]... Derives 2.0 License This means there are “Some Rights Reserved” This document may be freely distributed and copied, but not modified and not used for commercial purposes Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 55 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 ... version of Windows at all! WINDOWS 7, THE MOVE TO X64 Due for the Christmas holidays 2009, Windows 7 (alternatively known as Vienna) is the codename for the next version of Microsoft’s operating system It promises to be evolutionary, rather than the revolutionary change that Vista is However it will include some very interesting and useful features that were dropped during Windows Vista s development programme... Both Windows XP and Windows Vista are available in 64 bit (also called x64) variants and Windows 7 or whatever it ends up being called will very likely ONLY be available for 64 bit processors The upshot of this is that if you are buying a new computer any time from now on, check that it has a 64 bit processor before you part with your cash, or you could find out that it won’t run the next version of Windows. .. to move Windows exclusively to 64 bit architecture What does this mean? 64 bit processors (chips capable of processing 64 bits of binary data at a time compared to the 32 bit chips we’re used to) have been around for a while but offer significant performance and security benefits THANK YOU Please feel free to print this document for your reference and forward it to friends and family This guide is . Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 45 of 66 Written by Mike Halsey, www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 MSCONFIG If you are having more serious troubles with Windows Vista, . here. www.frameworkx.com/frameworkx/c ontentblogdetail.aspx?blog =57 &id =53 1 Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 53 of 66 Written by Mike Halsey, www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright. intelliplug from www.oneclickpower.co.uk. A special plug adapter that will save on your electricity bill by switching off Windows Vista – Power users guide Page 52 of 66 Written by Mike