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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

UAC Tweak: A Small Cute Utility to Tweak UAC (User Account Control) in Windows Vista and 7

Microsoft has added a new feature “User Account Control (UAC)” in Windows Vista and Windows 7 which is a good addition. It prevents malicious programs to install in your system as well as it also prevents basic users to accidentally change system critical settings which can be harmful to the system. Although its a good feature but sometimes it becomes annoying to experienced users who know what they are doing with their system. So if you also find UAC prompts annoying, then here is a very small but excellent utility "UAC Tweak" made by my friend "Tom" which can easily turn off UAC or can set the UAC settings to High, Medium, Low so that you get less annoying UAC prompts.
UACTweak.jpg
As you can see in the above screenshots, you can choose any desired option and it'll apply it immediately. Restart your system to take affect.
Download Link

Create Shortcuts to Themes, Desktop Background, Screen Saver, Display Settings and More

In our daily computer tasks, we use Desktop Properties quite often. Sometimes to change Desktop wallpaper, sometimes to change Windows theme and sometimes to change Display settings like screen resolution, monitor settings, etc. For each change, we need to go through various steps: right-click on Desktop and select "Properties / Personalize" and then go to the desired tab and make required changes. Will not it be easier if we could create direct shortcuts to these tabs so that we can launch the desired tab just by double-clicking on the shortcut?
So in this tutorial, I'm going to tell some useful commands to open various Desktop Properties tabs. You can use them to create shortcuts, to create programs or you can directly run them from RUN dialog box or Windows Explorer.
So here are the various commands to launch Desktop Properties tabs directly:
Command to open "Themes" page:

control desk.cpl,,@themes
Command to open "Desktop Background" page:
DesktopBackground.jpg
control desk.cpl,,@desktop
OR
control desk.cpl,,@background
Command to open "Screen Saver" page:
ScreenSaverSettings.jpg
control desk.cpl,,1
OR
control desk.cpl,,@screensaver
Command to open "Appearance" page:
AppearanceSettings.jpg
control desk.cpl,,2
OR
control desk.cpl,,@appearance
Command to open "Display Settings" page:
DisplaySettings.jpg
control desk.cpl,,3
OR
control desk.cpl,,@display
NOTE: You can use any integer from 3-9 in the first shortcut command for creating shortcut for Display Properties.
Command to open "Desktop Icon Settings" page:
DesktopIconSettings.jpg
control desk.cpl,,0
OR
control desk.cpl,,@web
Command to open "DPI Scaling" page:
DPI.jpg
dpiscaling
Command to open "Window Colorization" page:
Colorization.jpg
explorer shell:::{26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}\1\::{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921}\pageColorization
PS: The command for "DPI Scaling" and "Window Colorization" will only work in Windows Vista. Rest commands will work in other Windows versions as well.
You can run these command directly from RUN dialog box or if you want to create shortcuts, then right-click on desktop and select "New -> Shortcut", it'll open a wizard:
CreatingNewShortcut.jpg
Enter the desired shortcut command and click on "Next" button. It'll ask for name of shortcut, provide a meaningful name:
SavingNewShortcut.jpg
And click on "Finish" button. That's it. It'll create the shortcut.
I'm also attaching a ZIP file containing all the above mentioned shortcuts, just download it, extract it and you'll get the ready-made shortcuts:
Download Ready-Made Desktop Properties Tabs Shortcuts

[BUG] New Windows Vista Bug Found in Creating New Shortcut

Here is another irritating Vista bug which I found yesterday while compiling the "Shortcuts to various Desktop Properties tabs" tutorial. Following are the steps with screenshots to re-create the bug:
1. Right-click on the Desktop or in the Explorer and select "New -> Shortcut".
2. It'll open "Create Shortcut Wizard".
3. Now either click on "Cancel" button or press "Esc" key to exit from the wizard and get ready to see the bug.
Again right-click on Desktop and you'll see a new entry "Undo Apply Properties". Properties? What Properties? Which properties? Did I apply any property which I should undo now? Weird.
UndoApplyPropertiesOption.jpg
OK. Not a big issue but try to click on this new entry and you'll be surprised to see an error message:
ItemNotFoundError.jpg
WTH??? Windows can't find the new shortcut which I never created. Keep clicking on "Try Again" button and it'll keep showing the same error message again and again. Now click on "Cancel" button and the "Undo Apply Properties" option will change to "Undo".
Click on "Undo" and it'll change to "Redo".
Keep clicking on both these options and enjoy the endless loop unless you End Task of Explorer or log off/restart your system.
Also read: SP1 Failed to Fix Several Windows Vista Bugs, Do We Need SP2?

Solution: Windows Vista Explorer Hangs while Copying Files from External Media

I'm getting numerous e-mails asking for solution of this problem. This problem exists in Vista SP1. The problem occurs when you copy a large file or lots of files from an external media like CD/DVD, flash drives and sometimes from network drives. In this problem, the explorer window which is being used by the copy process hangs, also the progress dialog box hangs if you try to move it, click on it or if you click somewhere else and returns to it.
Windows_Explorer_Hangs_While_Copyin.jpg
Although the explorer window and progress dialog box hang, Windows still keeps continue copying the files and when the copy operation finishes, the explorer window and the progress dialog box become available again.
So if you are also facing this problem, use following simple steps and your problem will be solved:
1. Click on “Start button -> All Programs -> Accessories“. Right-click on “Command Prompt” and select “Run As Administrator“. If you are prompted to enter password, enter the password and continue. You can also open Command Prompt in Administrator mode by typing “cmd” in Startmenu Search box and press “Ctrl+Shift+Enter“.
2. Now provide following command:
bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff
3. Restart your system and now you should not face any problem while copying files.

[BUG] New Windows Vista Bug Found in Desktop Icon Settings Window

Here is another bug in Windows Vista which occurs in "Desktop Icon Settings" window while changing "Computer" icon. Following are the steps to re-create the bug: 1. Right-click on Desktop and select "Personalize". It'll open Personalization window. Now click on "Change desktop icons" link in left-side pane. It'll open "Desktop Icon Settings" window. You can also open it directly by using "control desk.cpl,,0" or "control desk.cpl,,@web" commands (without quotes).
DesktopIconSettings.jpg
2. Now select "Computer" icon and click on "Change Icon" button. It'll open another window showing various different icons. Select any icon from the list and click on OK button.
ChangeComputerIcon.jpg
3. It'll show new "Computer" icon in the list, now click on "Apply" button and your changes will be saved and you can see the new Computer icon on Desktop.
ChangedComputerIcon.jpg
4. That's fine. Now click on "Restore Default" button and it'll show the default "Computer" icon in the list but to my wonder "Apply" button will not get activated. It'll be still disabled. Then how can we apply the changes?
RestoreDefaultIcon.jpg
5. You can either click on "OK" button hoping that it'll save your changes OR enable/disable any checkbox given at top to activate the "Apply" button. But Windows will not save your changes and the "Computer" icon will not change. You'll need to open the "Desktop Icon Settings" window again, click on "Restore Default" button again and now Windows will save the changes. Really weird...

Solution: Recycle Bin Icon on Desktop Doesn’t Refresh Automatically in Windows Vista

In this topic I'm going to tell solution of another common problem in Windows Vista. Sometimes Recycle Bin icon on Desktop doesn't refresh automatically, i.e. if its showing "Full Recycle Bin" icon, it'll not change even if you empty the Recycle bin. It'll change to Empty icon, once you Refresh the Desktop. It happens when you try to change Recycle Bin icon using Desktop Properties and then you revert back the icon to default using "Restore Default" button. Windows changes the icon to default but the problem of icon not refreshing automatically starts occurring. Its a bug in Windows Vista, which I described recently in this article.
The solution of this problem is manually change both FULL and EMPTY Recycle Bin icons to default instead of using "Restore Default" button. So following are the steps to fix this problem:
1. Right-click on Desktop and select "Personalize". It'll open Personalization window. Now click on "Change desktop icons" link in left-side pane. It'll open "Desktop Icon Settings" window. You can also open it directly by using "control desk.cpl,,0" or "control desk.cpl,,@web" commands (without quotes).
DesktopIconSettings.jpg
2. Now select "Recycle Bin (full)" icon from the icons list and click on "Change Icon" button:
ChangeFullRecycleBinIcon.jpg
3. It'll open "Change Icon" window. Although it'll automatically select the correct default "Full Recycle Bin" icon, click on it to re-select it and then click on OK button:
SelectingFullRecycleBinIcon.jpg
4. Now do the same for "Recycle Bin (empty)" icon. Select it and click on "Change Icon" button:
ChangeEmptyRecycleBinIcon.jpg
5. Select the default "Empty Recycle Bin" icon in "Change Icon" window and click on OK button:
SelectingEmptyRecycleBinIcon.jpg
6. That's it. Now click on "Apply" button and your problem will be solved.
Thanks to our reader "piellepi" for sharing this solution...

How to Customize Default Places Bar in Windows Common File Dialog Box?

When you open, save or browse for a file, Windows opens a "common file dialog box" containing a few shortcuts in left side pane which is called "Places Bar" and the shortcuts are called "Places". DefaultCommonPlaces.jpg
As you can see in the above screenshot, My Recent Documents, Desktop, etc are the default places. Many times we want to customize those shortcuts so that we can add our desired shortcuts there.
In this tutorial, I'll tell you how to customize these default places. So here we start the tutorial without wasting our time:
1. Open regedit and goto:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
2. Now right-click on "Policies" key and select "New -> Key". It'll create a new key, give it name "comdlg32". Now again right-click on this new "comdlg32" key and select "New -> Key" and give the new key name "Placesbar". So the final key path would be:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\comdlg32\Placesbar
3. Now select "Placesbar" key and in right-side pane, create a new String value "Place0" and set its value to your desired path. You can set it to a drive like C:\ (make sure you put a slash "\" at last) or you can set it to a particular folder like D:\Wallpapers. You can also use some predefined values to put system elements in Places Bar:
MyComputer
MyDocuments
MyMusic
MyPictures
MyNetworkPlaces
MyFavorites
CommonDocuments
CommonMusic
CommonPictures
Desktop
Printers
Recent
ProgramFiles
You can set upto 5 places. So to change other default places, create new String values Place1, Place2, Place3 and Place4 and set their value to your desired path.
CustomizingCommonPlacesListUsingReg.jpg
4. That's it. Now you'll see your desired places in common file dialog box:
CustomCommonPlaces.jpg
PS: You can also use "TweakUI" to change the default places. Download it from here and run it. Now navigate to "Common Dialogs -> Places Bar" and in right-side pane, you can change them:
CustomizingCommonPlacesListUsingTwe.jpg
NOTE: This tutorial will work in all Windows versions. Windows Vista uses a new file dialog box which is easy to customize by right-click in the Favorite Links pane and select "Open Favorite Links Folder". It'll open the folder where you can add / remove any shortcut. A few applications still use old common file dialog box in Vista, so this tutorial will work for them.

How to Customize Default Places Bar in Windows Common File Dialog Box?

When you open, save or browse for a file, Windows opens a "common file dialog box" containing a few shortcuts in left side pane which is called "Places Bar" and the shortcuts are called "Places". DefaultCommonPlaces.jpg
As you can see in the above screenshot, My Recent Documents, Desktop, etc are the default places. Many times we want to customize those shortcuts so that we can add our desired shortcuts there.
In this tutorial, I'll tell you how to customize these default places. So here we start the tutorial without wasting our time:
1. Open regedit and goto:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
2. Now right-click on "Policies" key and select "New -> Key". It'll create a new key, give it name "comdlg32". Now again right-click on this new "comdlg32" key and select "New -> Key" and give the new key name "Placesbar". So the final key path would be:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\comdlg32\Placesbar
3. Now select "Placesbar" key and in right-side pane, create a new String value "Place0" and set its value to your desired path. You can set it to a drive like C:\ (make sure you put a slash "\" at last) or you can set it to a particular folder like D:\Wallpapers. You can also use some predefined values to put system elements in Places Bar:
MyComputer
MyDocuments
MyMusic
MyPictures
MyNetworkPlaces
MyFavorites
CommonDocuments
CommonMusic
CommonPictures
Desktop
Printers
Recent
ProgramFiles
You can set upto 5 places. So to change other default places, create new String values Place1, Place2, Place3 and Place4 and set their value to your desired path.
CustomizingCommonPlacesListUsingReg.jpg
4. That's it. Now you'll see your desired places in common file dialog box:
CustomCommonPlaces.jpg
PS: You can also use "TweakUI" to change the default places. Download it from here and run it. Now navigate to "Common Dialogs -> Places Bar" and in right-side pane, you can change them:
CustomizingCommonPlacesListUsingTwe.jpg
NOTE: This tutorial will work in all Windows versions. Windows Vista uses a new file dialog box which is easy to customize by right-click in the Favorite Links pane and select "Open Favorite Links Folder". It'll open the folder where you can add / remove any shortcut. A few applications still use old common file dialog box in Vista, so this tutorial will work for them.

Fix Compatibility Tab and System Restore Problem in Windows Vista and 7

We get frequent mails about this common problem in Windows Vista and 7. Sometimes Windows users face a strange problem, when:
  • The "Compatibility" tab is missing in Properties window:
  • System Restore doesn't open and shows following error message:
  • Windows shows frequent Error Reporting messages.
  • You face Performance Monitor, Inkball and Winamp related problems.
All these problems occur when 2 system files "wer.dll" and "Faultrep.dll" are missing from "%windir%\System32" folder. Either the files were deleted by mistake or were not installed by Windows because of removing some Windows components from the setup.
The solution of this problem is very simple. Just download following ZIP file, extract it and you'll get both system files. Now copy the files to "%windir%\System32" folder. If you get overwrite prompt message, select NO.
Download Files
Once you copy the files to "System32" folder, your problem will be solved and you'll be able to get "Compatibility" tab back:
CompatibilityTabinVista.jpg
Also System Restore will work without any problem:
SystemrestoreWindow.jpg

Download “Vista Seven” Theme for Windows Vista

Here is another theme for Windows Vista:
This theme is not very special. It has been made to fulfill a few requests which I have received from lots of people.
Actually not all people like those fancy Vista themes having lots of transparency, stylish buttons, shell style, start menu, etc. Many people are satisfied with default Aero theme but they want to have a few features which are missing in default theme and which have been included in this theme:
  • New Taskbar similar to Windows Seven.
  • Transparent titlebar in Maximized windows. Note that the titlebar has glass reflection in maximized windows.
  • New Shellstyle in Control Panel similar to Windows Seven.
So its a theme which is similar to default Vista theme but having a few features taken from Windows Seven.
Download Link
Alternate Download Link
How to Install & Use?
Transform Windows Vista into 7

How to Customize AM and PM Symbols in System Tray in Windows?

In almost all Windows versions the time is displayed in system tray. The hour and minutes are displayed along with the AM and PM symbols. DefaultAMandPMSymbolsinSystemTray.jpg
This tutorial will teach you how to customize these AM and PM symbols. You can replace them with any desired text, e.g. your name, anything you want.
To change it:
1. Type intl.cpl in Run or startmenu searchbox and press Enter. It'll open Regional Settings window. You can also open it from Control Panel.
RegionalSettings.jpg
2. Now click on "Customize" or "Customize this format" button. It'll open another window. Go to "Time" tab:
CustomizingAMandPMSymbols.jpg
3. Now you can change the text for AM and PM symbols to your desired string. You can also completely remove the AM, PM symbols by removing "tt" from "Time format" text box. Even you can interchange between 12 hour and 24 hour time format by using "h" and "H" respectively.
Click on "Apply" button to apply the changes, then again click on "Apply" button to close the main Regional Settings window. Now the system tray will show your desired text instead of default AM and PM symbols:
CustomizedAMandPMSymbolsinSystemTra.jpg
4. There is a limitation in this method. You can only type 12 characters in the AM and PM symbol text boxes. What if you want to set longer string? Then you'll need to edit Registry.
5. Open regedit and go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International
Now look for "s1159" and "s2359" string values. Both represent AM and PM symbols respectively.
AMandPMSymbolsinRegistry.jpg
6. Double-click on each string value and change its value to your desired text. Now you can use longer string without any problem:
CustomizingAMandPMSymbolsusingRegis.jpg
7. Exit registry editor. Your changes will be saved immediately. If you don't see the new text in system tray, then you might need to log off or restart your system.
CustomizedAMandPMSymbolsusingregist.jpg

[BUG] Welcome Center Doesn’t Remember User Settings in Windows Vista

Here is another bug in Windows Vista which has not been fixed in SP1. This bug is found in "Welcome Center" which is shown at Windows startup by default. You can also open it from Control Panel or "All Programs" menu. Following are the steps to recreate the bug:
1. Open Welcome Center.
2. The default "View" of window would be set to "Tiles" and icons would be grouped by "Category". Now try to change the view settings. Right-click in empty area and change the view to "Medium Icons", "List", "Details" or any other you want. Also change the "Group By" setting to "Name", "Description" or "(None)". You can also collapse the complete group using arrow.
3. When you have done, close Welcome Center and re-open it and you'll be surprised that all your customized settings will be vanished and it'll use the default settings.
4. So its definitely a bug. It should remember users settings otherwise what's the benefit of these options?
This bug was found by Ramesh Kumar at MeraWindows forums...

[BUG] Welcome Center Doesn’t Remember User Settings in Windows Vista

Here is another bug in Windows Vista which has not been fixed in SP1. This bug is found in "Welcome Center" which is shown at Windows startup by default. You can also open it from Control Panel or "All Programs" menu. Following are the steps to recreate the bug:
1. Open Welcome Center.
2. The default "View" of window would be set to "Tiles" and icons would be grouped by "Category". Now try to change the view settings. Right-click in empty area and change the view to "Medium Icons", "List", "Details" or any other you want. Also change the "Group By" setting to "Name", "Description" or "(None)". You can also collapse the complete group using arrow.
3. When you have done, close Welcome Center and re-open it and you'll be surprised that all your customized settings will be vanished and it'll use the default settings.
4. So its definitely a bug. It should remember users settings otherwise what's the benefit of these options?
This bug was found by Ramesh Kumar at MeraWindows forums...

StExBar: A Must Have Add-on for Windows Explorer

"StExBar" is a freeware tool for Windows 32 and 64-bit versions. It adds a new toolbar to Windows Explorer containing lots of useful buttons like Rename, New Folder, Console, Show system files, etc. StExBar.jpg
If its not enabled, you can enable it from "View" menu.
You can add/remove buttons, re-arrange buttons using its Options:
StExBarSettings.jpg
Just click on "Add" button and you can add new buttons:
AddingNewItemsinStExBar.jpg
Its a must have add-on for Windows Explorer.
Download Link

PlacesBar Editor: Customize Default Places Bar in Common File Dialog Box in Windows and Office

Recently I blogged about how to customize default places bar in common file dialog box in Windows as well as Microsoft Office applications manually: CustomCommonPlaces.jpg
How to Customize Default Places Bar in Windows Common File Dialog Box?
How to Customize the Places Bar in Common File Dialog Box in Microsoft Office?
How to Customize the Places Bar in Common File Dialog Box in Microsoft Office Using Registry?
Now I'm sharing a small and very useful tool "PlacesBar Editor" which can do the whole job quickly and easily.
PlacesBar Editor is a software program that fills a need Microsoft left behind. Windows 2000/ME/XP/Vista and Office dialogs have 5 buttons on the left hand Outlook-style bar known as the PlacesBar. This utility allows you to change them to be any folder you want.
Just download it from following link:
Download PlacesBar Editor
Install it and run it. The interface is very simple and easy to use. It has 2 tabs: Windows and Office which helps in customizing the default places.
CustomizingWindowsPlacesbarusingPla.jpg
CustomizingOfficePlacesbarusingPlac.jpg
Just change their values according to your requirement and click on "Save" button in toolbar. You can even test the customization by clicking on "Test" button in toolbar.
If you want to restore default places, click on "Defaults" button in the toolbar.
Download Link
Homepage

RSS Email Twitter FB In Google How to Change Registered Owner and Organization Name in Windows?


When Windows is installed in a system, some information is asked to be entered during installation time. One such thing is Registered Owner and Organization name. You can enter any desired owner name and organization name at installation time. This information is shown in "System Properties", "Windows Version" and is also used while installing many 3rd party software.
Sometimes we might want to change this information because we entered some incorrect name at the installation time or may be because we got Windows already installed in our computers with some unwanted owner and organization names.
So here I'm posting a very small tutorial which can be used to change the Registered Owner and Organization name in Windows:
1. Following is a screenshot of "System Properties" which shows the Registered Owner as "Vishal" and Organization name as "Gupta":
DefaultOwnerandOrganizationInfo.jpg
2. To change this information, type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. It'll open Registry editor. Now go to following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
3. In right-side pane, change the value of "RegisteredOwner" and "RegisteredOrganization" to any desired string:
ChangingOwnerandOrganizationInfo.jpg
4. Close Registry editor and open System properties again. Now it'll show the new Registered Owner and Organization names:
ChangedOwnerandOrganizationInfo.jpg
PS: You can also change Registered Owner and Organization names using various tweaking software. Almost all tweaking software provide options to change them.

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