Windows Vista Tips and Tricks Category

Freeze your hard drive to recover data: Recovering data from a clicking hard drive can be a touch and go task. In most cases, a clicking hard drive signifies that the drive is stuck in seek mode and is a sign that your drive is failing. In most cases, if the clicking hard drive contains the operating system you boot from, you will lose the ability to boot from this device (it will just sit there clicking away) and the drive will appear to be dead. In which case, many people assume the drive is shot and data cannot be retrieved.

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How to make your Windows Vista administrative account act like an XP admin account: As we all know, with the introduction of Windows Vista has come the inclusion of many new security features. We might even consider some of these features overkill. If you are using good real time protection antivirus software and real time firewall protection, you can, in most cases, turn off the additional security features that have been included with Windows Vista. I personally like to run my Windows boxes on an admin account with full administrative rights. This eliminates any need to give permission or hand over control for specific access rights. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to do the same.

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If you've used Windows Vista for any great amount of time, you have most likely seen UAC (User Account Control). UAC is that annoying, nagging, "Windows Needs your permission to continue" popup window that seems to appear whenever you attempt to run just about any program. The UAC prompt typically occurs when attempting to run any program that requires administrative rights in Windows Vista.

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BitDefender Real-time protection is unavailable problem: BitDefender Total Security 2008 is one of the best antivirus solutions available. However, just like any antivirus software can have it's hiccups. Recently, I have encountered one such hiccup. One day upon logging in to my work PC, I had noticed that my BitDefender antivirus Real-time protection and Firewall was disabled and could not be turned back on. The check box was grayed out and the text next to it displayed "Real-time protection is unavailable". To make matters worse, I could not perform an update nor manually scan any files.

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In the following quick tutorial, I'll show you how to set up Windows Vista to display hidden system files and folders. Setting up Windows Vista to display hidden system files and folders is a bit different than it is with Windows XP. In Vista you can find these options in the Control Panel. Before proceeding, remember that system files are hidden for a reason. Be careful and cautious.

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Downloading SFW Files - In the following tutorial I cover the process of downloading SWF (flash) files directly to your Computer using the built in Page info/Media functionality in Firefox. This enables a user to download any flash swf file that might be embedded in a webpage without using any additional software.

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Microsoft released Service Pack 1 to the public today and it should be available via Windows Update soon for most people as well. However, if your looking to install the stand alone update of Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista 32 or Windows Vista 64, you can find it at the following Official Microsoft links. Hopefully, the service pack addresses the slow performance issues many have complained about in the past.

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The following tutorial explains how to use your USB flash drive as extended system memory when running the Windows Vista operating system. With the release of Windows Vista came the introduction to a new technology called ReadyBoost. This technology allows a Vista user to use their portable USB flash drive, SD card or CF card as an extension of system memory. This is beneficial because it is faster than the old method of extending system memory via the use of a Page file or "virtual memory" which used the hard disk.

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The following tutorial explains how to automatically delete files instead of moving them to the recycle bin in Windows Vista. "Remove files immediately when deleted" bypassing the recycle bin. In addition you can remove the recycle bin icon from the desktop. I personally prefer this method as I don't like to go through a two step process to remove files from my system.

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How to run a program in Windows Vista with administrator rights: Typically when you launch a program that requires administrative rights in Windows Vista, you are prompted for administrator credentials to continue. Sometimes, programs that were designed for older systems such as Windows XP may not even run or could be limited in functionality if they are not launched with administrator rights. In the following tutorial, I'll cover the process of launching a program with administrator credentials. In addition I'll show you how to make it so that programs are automatically launched with administrator rights and how to ensure that they run compatible with Vista if the program was produced for an older version of Windows.

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So your looking to add/remove programs in Windows Vista? In Windows XP, there was an applet named add/remove programs located in the control panel. In Vista, the naming structure has changed a bit. The new applet for adding and removing programs in Vista is simply called "programs" or "programs and features" for those using the classic menu.

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Removing the OEM Branding of Windows Vista: The following tutorial covers how to add, remove, edit, change and modify the factory OEM branding that comes Windows Vista from system manufacturers. OEM's typically include their logo and other system builder information in the System information applet when the install Windows. The goal of this tutorial is to enable a user to customize the OEM "logo" and "manufacturer" information of the users Vista machine.

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Q: Why do I get an Access Denied error when trying to open a folder? A: In Windows Vista, many folders that used to be used by earlier versions of Windows have been moved to a new location or given a new name in Windows Vista. However, the old folders can still be seen if you have enabled Show Hidden Files, and they look like the following:

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Help, I've lost my recycle bin: Within Windows Vista, There is now a New Delete option when right-clicking the Recycle Bin. This option gives the Vista user the option of easily removing the shortcut from the desktop. I've often found that many people accidentally click the delete option and appear puzzled when they can no longer find the recycle bin shortcut on the desktop. Don't be alarmed, the following tutorial explains how to quickly restore it.

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