Wednesday, December 2, 2009
How to Accommodate More Open Programs on the Taskbar
Space on the Windows Taskbar is very limited. If you open too many programs, Windows forces you to scroll inconveniently to see all the buttons. To switch between applications, you must then click your way through with small arrows to the correct page.
If you know the icons belonging to the program anyway, you can do away with the plain text descriptions and shrink the buttons to a minimum width. For that, open the registry editor in XP with “Start | Run”, “regedit” and a click on “OK”. In Vista, you can instead directly type “regedit” in the search field of the Start menu and hit enter. In the tree structure on the left side of the editor, navigate to the “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Desktop\WindowMetrics” key and create the entry “MinWidth” with “Edit | New | Character string”. Then open it by double clicking and in the “Edit character string” dialog, enter “-270” as the “Value”. Confirm with “OK”. Close the registry editor with “File |Exit”.
The taskbar is now more lucid and offers more space for icons. Contrary to Vista, XP leaves a small remainder of the name visible which cannot be removed. Information such as the name of a Word document is displayed by Windows as soon as place the mouse cursor hovers over the relevant application's button on the taskbar.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
.reg files Open With Notepad?
Sometimes you may double-click any registry file it opens with Notepad instead of automatically being entered into the registry.You might have accidentally associated the ‘.REG’ files to open with Notepad. You have two ways to overcome this issue. One way is import the registry settings into the registry.
To do this:
Click on ‘Start’ and then ‘Run’. Type in ‘regedit’, and then press ‘OK’
In the registry editor, click on ‘File’, and then ‘Import’. Enter the filename or otherwise locate the ‘.REG’ file you want to import, and press ‘OK’ The contents of that ‘.reg’ file will be entered into the registry.
The other way to reassociate the files is: Right click on the ‘.REG’ file in ‘Windows Explorer’ and then click on ‘Open with’. Click on ‘Registry Editor’ if it's in the list, or use the ‘Browse’ button to locate ‘regedit.exe’ (find it in the ‘C:\Windows’folder)
Make sure that ‘Always use the selected program to open this kind of fi le’ is checked. Click ‘OK’
Now all your ‘.REG’ files will open as usual and alert you to insert the same into the registry.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Disable Writing to USB Drives in XP(SP2)
If your system is being used by multiple users, then there is a huge possibility of data being leaked from your system.They can simply plug in a USB device and copy sensitive data.If you are concerned about data security , you can disable writing to USB drives with a simple registry tweak.
To disable the writing of data to USB drives do the following
- Start>Run>type ‘regedit’ in the text box and press enter.
- Browse to the key ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MECHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/StorageDevicePolicies’ registry key.
- Right click anywhere on the right pane and select the ‘DWORD(32bit)Value’ option.
- Double click the newly created key and type ‘00000001’ in the ‘Value data’ field.
- Restart your system for changes to take effect
USB Locker is a small tool,which disable (when needed) writing to external USB flash drives to prevent unauthorized copying of your files from your computer
Download | Windows XP/Vista/7|Freeware
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
How to correct Mixed up Icons in XP
Your OS has been behaving weirdly,with the icons in ‘My Computer’ on the Desktop and the Quick Start bar have been changing of their own free will. There are several reasons why this could happen. This can happen if Windows no longer updates the icon cache properly. To verify this, open a folder with incorrectly displayed icons. Refresh the screen by pressing [F5]. Then close the window, re-open the folder and then restart the computer.
If the problem persists, renew the icon cache ‘IconCache’. Windows recreates the file automatically if you change the color depth of the display. For this, right click on a free area of the desktop and select ‘Properties.
In the ‘Settings’ tab, modify the current color depth from ‘Maximum (32 bit)’ to ‘Medium (16 bit)’. Click on ‘Apply’ and ‘Yes’ one after the other to confirm. Then set the original color depth again If that is still not sufficient, click ‘Start |Run…’, type ‘regedit’ and click ‘OK’ to
open the registry and find the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
In the right-hand pane of the window, create the ‘REG_SZ’ value ‘Max Cached Icons’ with ‘Edit |New | Character string’ and set it to ‘2000’ for example. This number defines the number of intermediately saved icons. Values between 100 and 4096 are possible here.
After closing the registry, delete the file ‘ShellIconCache’ or ‘IconCache’ under your profile in ‘Documents and Settings\Local Settings\Application Data’ and then restart the computer.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Prevent Irritating System Error Messages and Work Safely.
Some applications with numerous windows are already running and this is what happens when you start another program: Windows refuses to open it,showing an error message which says “Out of memory”. But the Task Manager shows sufficient physical memory and
swap space.
The system intermediate memory, “Desktopheap”, which is too small by default, is probably responsible for this—Windows again tampers with its history here. Windows uses the heap for managing the open applications. There are problems if too many windows are open. The behavior can also be prompted: about fifty instances of Internet Explorer can be shown; all other windows are disfigured or not displayed at all by Windows. The size of the heap is defined in the registry,independent of the main and virtual memory. Increase the value to use more programs at the same time.For this, start the registry editor with“Start | Run”, “regedit” and [Enter] and open the
“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\SubSystems” key.
Double-click the “Windows” entry on the right. A long function call appears as a character string. In this, look for the “SharedSection” parameter. It determines the system and desktop heap in this format: SharedSection-xxxx,yyyy You will see “xxxx” for the maximum size of the heap in the entire system and “yyyy” for the size of the heap per desktop, each in KB. You only need to increase the value for the desktop by 256 or 512 KB to prevent the annoying error messages from showing. Do not forget to restart your system so that the changes have the desired effect.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Glary Utilities 2.16.0.758
Do you have a Windows PC that seems much slower than it once was?Think of all of the things you do when you are online. You may download files, share networks, put more things on your hard drive. Some software files may be huge. Then after time, when we no longer use these applications, we still leave them setting there, taking up space. Unwanted entries are also accumulates in registry.All these leads to the slowing down of PC.
If you are looking for complete computer maintenance software then try Glary Utilities .Glary Utilities is a freeware with registry and disk cleaning, privacy protection, performance accelerator and amazing multifunctional tools. It can fix dogged registry errors, wipe off clutters, optimize internet speed, safeguard confidential files and maintain maximum performance.This powerful application offers extensive utilities to improve your system's performance and protect your privacy.
You can clean common system junk files, invalid registry entries and Internet traces with Glary Utilities. You can also manage and delete browser add-ons, analyze disk space usage and find duplicate files,view and manage installed shell extensions, encrypt your files from unauthorized access and use, split large files into smaller manageable files and then rejoin them. It includes the options to optimize memory, find, fix, or remove broken Windows shortcuts, manage the programs that start at Windows startup and uninstall software. Other features include secure file deletion, an Empty Folder finder and more
- Optimize, clean and boost the speed of your Windows.
- Protect your privacy and security.
- Block spyware, trojans, adware, etc.
- Fix certain application errors.
- Simple, fast and User friendly interface
Monday, September 21, 2009
MSCONFIG Access Denied Error
Many of us have been using msconfig to get rid of unwanted startup programs .It has worked using the startup tab to disable programs until recently . Even though you are logged as a user that has admin privilege ,suddenly when you start the program you may get 'an access denied error was returned while attempting to change a service. You may need to log on using an Administrator account to make the specified changes'
Try the following methods to remove this access denied error.
1.This may be due to a malware infection.You can remove certain restrictions on XP systems often disabled by malware by using RatsCheddar.It is a Policy Controller program written by Rathat
- Download and save RatsCheddar.zip to your desktop.
- Extract the file to the desktop by using WinZip / 7Zip.
- Launch the tool. by Double-click on RatsCheddar.exe.
- Select Enable for everything listed, then click Exit.
- Restart your computer
2.FixPolicies utility from Bill Castner:
- Download FixPolicies by Bill Castner and save to your desktop
- Run the FixPolicies.exe..
- Click on Install. It will create a folder named FixPolicies on your desktop.
- Open the FixPolicies folder.
- Double click on Fix_policies.cmd to run it. Command Prompt will open and close quickly.
3.If you have or share HP printers, especially the HP PSC 2100, 2200, 4100 and 6100 series, you may receive this error.The culprit is a security update for the HP printer software.PML Security Update pmsvptch.exe causes a service "PML Driver HPZ12" to start in services.msc which would interfere with the rights/privileges.
The HP printer software may load a service named PML Driver HPZ12, which is added to the services section of msconfig. This service handles many functions pertaining to the communication between the computer and the printer. However, many of these functions are not related to printing, so you can fix the “Access Denied” error by disabling the service.
1. Srart>Run> regedit
2. Export registry to make a backup (as a precaution)
3. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/PmlDriver HPZ12/Start
4. Right Click and select modify
5. Change value to 3 for manual (or 4 for disabled )
6.Restart computer
As an alternative , try Startup Control Panel , which is a nifty control panel applet that allows you to easily configure which programs run when your computer starts.Download Startup Control Panel 2.8 and you can stop items from starting up.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Close Running Programs Faster When Shutting Down the PC
If Windows cannot end a running task when shutting down, it requests the user to do so. This query is redundant in most cases and is not really required since you want to end the respective task anyway.
A registry edit exclusively suppresses the operating system's query if it cannot end a task while shutting down.For that Go to ‘Start | Run’, type ‘regedit’ and click ‘OK’. Vista users can directly enter the command in the search line of the Start menu and press [Enter]. Navigate to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop’ key. The ‘AutoEndTasks’ value is given towards the right side of the window. If it is not given, create it by selecting ‘Edit | New| Character string’ and name the entry ‘AutoEndTasks’. Open it and enter the ‘Value Data’ as ‘1’. Click on ‘OK’ and restart the system
.
It does not reduce the time for which Windows waits until the task ends and thus does not really accelerate the process of system shutdown. Note: To reactivate the query, enter ‘0’ in the ‘AutoEndTasks’ string in the registry or delete the entry.
For reducing the waiting time to kill tasks go to
‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Control’ key and search for the ‘WaitToKillServiceTimeout’ entry. Enter the desired value here inmilliseconds. So a value of ‘1000’ is equal to 1 second.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Making Better Use of the Taskbar
The width of the buttons of running programs in the taskbar is restricted.You may noticed that even if only one program is open, its complete name is not visible .In such cases,you would like the button in the taskbar to be bigger.When several symbols have to share the space in the taskbar ,Windows automatically reduces the size of the individual objects.With enough space however ,a specific minimum value is used for these icons.With that, you can modify the size of the button in the registry.
For that , click Start>Run>type “Regedit” without quotes ,and click ”OK”.Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Desktop\WindowMetrics
Search for the character string ‘MinWidth’ towards the right of the window.(If the entry does not exist ,create it the with the command ‘Edit| New | Character String’ ).To edit ,double-click on the new entry.In the following dialog ,enter the desired minimum size in pixels.
Don’t worry about the minimum size , because Windows always reduces the actual size to the suitable size of the free space in the taskbar.The set of value is used only if the free space is more than or equal this value.For example enter ‘1000’ and confirm with ‘OK’.
Before
After
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
PC Cleaner & Optimizer - TweakNow PowerPack 2009
TweakNow PowerPack is a fully-integrated suite of utilities that let you fine-tune every aspect of your computer's operating system and Web browser.It provides more than 100 hidden Windows settings in the Windows Secret section.To keep your computer always
This suite also gives you a complete picture of all aspects of your computer's hardware, including detailed information about your motherboard, processor, video card, memory, hard disk and network.
The Virtual Desktop module allow you run four custom-designed desktop configurations simultaneously.An AutoShutdown utility that lets you suspend, hibernate, or shut down your computer after a specified period of time.In addition to saving resources, this program keeps your system more secure by making it unavailable to unauthorized people.By using all of these modules , you can easily customize your Windows like geeks do.
OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP| Freeware | 5.45MB | 
Sunday, June 28, 2009
A Handy Tool to Clean Your Computer-YourCleaner
Your Cleaner is a free system optimization and cleaning tool. It removes space-wasting temporary files and other unnecessary disk cluttering files from your computer .Bu using Your Cleaner Windows to work faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space.It contains a registry cleaner that will fix all your register problems. The program has the convenient and clear interface and has additional functions which does its usage simply and easily.It also includes free duplicate file finder and autorun manager.
It performs detailed cleaning of traces of your online activities -
- Internet Cache
- Cookies
- Internet History
- Download History
- Autocomplete Form
- Saved Passwords
- Typed URLs of all most popular browsers :
IE,
Chrome,
Opera,
Firefox,
Netscape ,
Safari.
OS:Windows Vista, Windows XP|Freeware|586KB|
Access Denied to gpedit.msc(Group Policy Editor)
Sometimes you wanted to open the Group Policy editor for some work, you may getting an Access is Denied Error.Other commands like services.msc, devmgmt.msc, compmgmt.msc,lusrmgr.msc etc may also not work.
1.Download and install Microsoft Management Console from Microsoft
2.Registry Editing
Start> Run>Type ‘regedit’ .Navigate to to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.msc and delete the registry entry on the right side.
In Run box type ‘gpedit.msc’.It will open an”openwith’ dialog.Browse and select mmc.exe file from C:\Windows\system32
Check ’Always use the selected program to open this kind of file ‘
Now all .msc extensions will now open.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Manipulating Thumbs.db Files
Windows Explorer shows thumbnails for graphic files. In order to view them quickly, Windows saves the previews in the “Thumbs.db” file. These occupy quite a few megabytes of memory,which you can put to a better use.
Restrict the amount of space required by the "Thumbs.db” files by modifying the quality and size of the thumbnails in the registry. For this, start the registry editor with “Start | Run”,“regedit.exe” and “OK”, and there, navigate to the key
“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/ SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer”.
Create the “ThumbnailQuality” entry with“New | DWORD value”; you can use this to determine the quality of the thumbnail.Open it by double-clicking, and activate the “Decimal” option under “Basis” in the “Edit DWORD value” dialog.
You can then specify the desired quality as a number between “50” and “100” under “Value”. Higher values stand for better quality and a correspondingly higher memory requirement. The standard is “90”. Confirm with “OK”.Now create the “ThumbnailSize” entry in the same key—this determines the size of the thumbnail. In “Thumbnail Size”, you can assign values ranging between “32” for very small and "255” for very large images.
Delete the “Thumbs.db” files in the respective folders so that the operating system recreates the image database according to the changes made in the registry. It is also possible to completely prevent images from getting saved. For this, open “Extras | Folder options” in the Windows Explorer and check the “Do not save thumbnail views” option in the“View” tab.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
How to Remove 'Groove Folder Synchronization‘ From Context Menu
Those who are using Office 2007 , will notice an extremely annoying option on the right click context menu of everything - “Groove Folder Synchronization”
You can remove the Groove Folder Synchronization from the context menu .For that Start>Run>Type “regedit” without the “quote” marks.Locate the following Registry keys and delete them to remove the Groove Folder Synchronization entries:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XXX Groove GFS Context Menu Handler XXX
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XXX Groove GFS Context Menu Handler XXX
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XXX Groove GFS Context Menu Handler XXX
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XXX Groove GFS Context Menu Handler XXX
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XXX Groove GFS Context Menu Handler XXX
Monday, April 13, 2009
Free Registration Key For PCTools Registry Mechanic
With Registry Mechanic you can safely clean, repair and optimize the Windows® registry with a few simple mouse clicks! Problems with the Windows® registry are a common cause of Windows® crashes, slow performance and error messages. By using a registry cleaner regularly and fixing registry errors your system should not only be more stable but it will also help improve your system performance without expensive hardware upgrades.
Features of the latest version of Registry Mechanic :
- Up to 4 times faster scanning engine: Registry Mechanic's scanning engine has been significantly redesigned, providing both speedier (up to 4 times faster) and more comprehensive scans of the Windows® Registry.
- Scanning of all User Profiles: Registry Mechanic is now capable of scanning all User Account sections of the Windows® Registry. This will ensure that any user who logs onto the PC has an error free user profile.
- Enhanced useability:
- Registry Mechanic's GUI is now more intuitive and consistent with other PC Tools products.
- New results screen that classifies registry errors into high, med or low for easy & quick identification of critical items. This classification method is in-line with PC Tools' industry leading product Spyware Doctor.
- New tweaks have been added to the "Optimize Your System" feature to further improve system performance and ensure smooth running of the Windows® Operating System. Furthermore, the compacting now supports basics along with dynamic drives.
- Smart updates: Registry Mechanic has access to smart updates which allow users to download product updates regularly.
- Support: Unlimited free upgrades and e-mail technical support for one year
- Compatibility: Windows® XP, Me, 98, 95, NT and 2000
Registration instructions for free version:
- Visit the promo Registration page here.Complete the form and submit.Please check the email account specified for your free license.
- Open Registry Mechanic and click on Register (or Register Free).
- Enter your free license
- Click on the Register button
- Download Registry Mechanic
Sunday, April 5, 2009
How to set Multiple Download Sessions in Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer does not allow more than two simultaneous download sessions. This is to comply with certain Internet standards that prohibit multiple file downloads at a time. This can however be changed by making changes in the registry.Make sure that you follow these steps closely and only in a manner as described below since certain changes to the registry can be risky. Do make sure that you read the footnote at the end of this tip.
Click “Edit | New|DWORD
Value” and name it as “MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server”
NOTE: This tip violates Internet standards if used outside a closed network. Microsoft does not recommend this change in an open network since it conflicts certain standard procedures. The above tip will increase the number of simultaneous downloads to 10.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
FREE 1year PC Tools Registry Mechanic License
Registry problems can occur for many reasons, including references left behind after uninstallation; incorrect removal of software; missing or corrupt hardware drivers; or orphaned start-up programs.
Registry Mechanic is an advanced registry cleaner for Windows that allows you to safely scan, clean, and repair registry problems with a few simple mouse clicks. Problems with the Windows Registry are a common cause of Windows crashes and error messages. By using PC tune-up utilities such as registry cleaners regularly, your system will be more stable, your software will run quicker, and your operating system will boot faster
With a few easy steps, Registry Mechanic will scan your entire registry for any invalid entries and provide a list of the errors found. You then can choose to clean each item or automatically repair them all after making a backup without the need for a registry editor such as Regedit.
Features
- World's most popular registry cleaner with over 60 million downloads.
- Recommended by experts and editors as the world's best registry cleaner.
- Clean the registry to fix Windows errors and crashes.
- Registry defrag to optimize your PC for better performance.
- FREE customer support for all users.
- Easy to use. Designed for both expert and novice users.
Steps to get free PC Tools Registry Mechanic License :
- Visit this Page Registry mechanic free(click here),
- Now Fill the form by entering your Name,email address(make sure your email is valid ),country and Click Request free License Button as shown in the above image.
- Now check the Email with subject “PC Tools” and note down the User Name and Serial Number enclosed in the email.
- Now Download Registry Mechanic from,here don’t download from Pc tools website because License sent to your email doen’t work with that software.
- Now Install and scan your system,after scanning click Register Button (in the place of smart update) and enter your license,then it will say thank you and replaces Register button with smart update button
