How to Block Executable Applications in Windows Vista and Protect your PC

Your system may be a host of many executable applications. Both the files in your system and the ones you download from the internet. Most of us download these files for useful purposes. But in contrary to that they also can harm the system in a speculative manner. Your system is more prone to risky applications when it is handled by another user. For example when they run certain applications that will delete the data permanently with no chances of recovering them!. If such kind of software's or application exists on your computer, there arises the need to block the risky executable applications in your system.........

1. Windows Vista have a solution to this problem.


2. To block certain applications, Click " Start> Control Panel ".


3. Select " User accounts and family safety ".


4. Go to " Parental Control " and select the account you need.


5. On, " enforce current settings ", select " Allow and Block specific programs “ followed by “ Use only the programs that i allow “.


6. Now select the applications you want to block.


7. And confirm by pressing “ OK “.

Now you can leave you system safely to any one with confidence.

[Solution] Restore Missing DVD/CD drive (" Error code 19 " [ Fix ] )/ Get back the Accidentally Deactivated DVD/CD drives

When you have opened the 'My Computer' or Windows Explorer the DVD/CD drive has got disappeared!. when you peeped into the 'Device Manager' it is seen that there is some serious problem and the entries have been marked with the yellow exclamation mark. When selecting the 'Properties from the context menu of the particular drive and error code is reported saying "Error code 19". Here is the solution to get the DVD or CD drive back.

Just editing the Windows registry a little bit will solve this problem.
Press [Win] + [R] (or select Run from start menu)and type 'regedit'.
Go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.

In the right pane delete the "UpperFilters" and "LowerFilters" values. Just select it and press [Delete] key and confirm. Now restart your system you will get your DVD/CD drive back in My Computer.

Dual Boot Ubuntu and Windows Vista / Do an Error Free installation of Ubuntu on Windows Vista

These days many users like to try the free and open source operating system Ubuntu. But most of them do not know how to install ubuntu on their Windows Vista operating System. So here is how you to install Windows Vista and Ubuntu together. This tutorial will teach you to resize your existing hard drive partition on which Windows Vista is installed , and make up some dual booting options.

What You need :

Latest Bootable Ubuntu installation DVD.

Here are the steps:

1. From Windows Vista Desktop, Right Click on 'My Computer' and select 'Manage'.
2. Now under 'Storage' click the 'Disk Management' option. Right click C: drive from the right pane and select the option called 'Shrink Volume'.
3. Give the size of the partition for your new Ubuntu installation needs to occupy. Make sure that at least 10 GB is free for Windows partition after giving the size of partition for your Ubuntu Installation.
4. Now you can see the volume showing the unallocated space. We are performing the ubuntu installation on this unallocated space created in Windows Vista.
5. Restart your PC now and insert the Ubuntu Installation DVD and boot from it.
6. On the first screen select your desired language and press [Enter]. Next select 'Install Ubuntu' and press [Enter]. There is also and option there to try Ubuntu without installing into your Hard Drive.
7. After you have selected 'Install Ubuntu' option and screen will appear Ubuntu installer detecting your hardware devices.
8. After that a windows will appear asking you to select the desired language for Ubuntu Installation. Select the one you need and click the 'Forward' option.
9. Next it will ask you the place you live in, the keyboard layout you use. Enter it correspondingly according to your needs.
10. The next step in Ubuntu Installation is the most important one. ie. the 'Prepare disk space' Window. If you are a not an experienced user you may proceed by selecting the first option. Ubuntu will get installed in the free space which we created earlier in Windows Vista.
11. After the partitioning process a window saying 'Who are you?' appears. There Enter your Personal (Login) Details Accordingly.
12. In the next window of Ubuntu Installation. You can migrate your Documents and Settings from Windows Vista. Check the option if you need it.
13. After this step the Ubuntu Installation will begin. After some 20 to 30 minutes the installation will be complete and click on the 'Restart now' option.
14. When you restart your computer you will be presented with a boot screen called 'GRUB' where you can select to boot into Ubuntu or Windows Vista. Select Ubuntu for now.
15. If you need to use the internet in Ubuntu right click the networking icon seen at the top right corner and select 'Edit Connections...' and enter the necessary details.

Yes you can now use both Windows Vista and Ubuntu on your Hard Disk. Now it's your time to Explore the new Options and Windows in the newly installed Ubuntu Operating System.

Windows Movie Maker 2.6 for Windows 7/ Windows Vista Download now!!! / Get the OLD Powerful Windows Movie Maker without Ribbon UI

In the new Windows Live Essentials Pack Microsoft has released a new version of the Windows Movie Maker which is having the ribbon interface as in Microsoft Word. But many of the Advanced Windows Users are more likely used to the previous interface. Microsoft have now released Windows Movie Maker v2.6 which is for Windows Vista.

Luckily Windows Movie Maker v2.6 for Windows Vista can also be used in Windows 7 too.
So the users can now enjoy the previous old Movie Maker without the ribbon interface.
In reality this old version have more features than the new Movie Maker because microsoft have removed features like adding text on videos, time line, audio edits which were the most powerful and needed options. This was done to make the interface more simple. But most users prefer the old Windows Movie Maker with more features. Download and install movie maker from the following link.

Download Microsoft Windows Moviemaker v2.6

Ultimate Windows Tweaker v1.1 Released Download now / Make Windows Super Fast!!! | Get the Best Free Tweaker for Windows

WinVistaClub has finally released one of the best and powerful tweaking utility for Windows (created by Microsoft MVP Ramesh). It can tweak and optimize almost every thing in Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) and certain (most) tweaks work for Windows XP too!. This small and free utility will make your Windows more faster, secure and stable in a few mouse clicks.It will tweak Windows Vista to its Best. This program is made user friendly and is portable. Lets see what all it does.



It has a lot of features.This program has an ability to detect whether you have installed IE7 or IE8 and give the relevant tweaks according to the version installed on you system. Different tweaks have been organized into various sections, they are :
1) Personalization,
2) User Accounts & UAC,
3) System & Performance,
4) Security,
5) Internet Explorer (IE7 / IE8)
6) Network Optimization
7) Additional Options

This program features over 130 tweaks and is portable (380kb) ie. it can be run without installing. Whats more you can safely tweak windows because it has the option to create a System Restore Point too!. The program is currently in the beta stage and the Final version will be out soon. So subscribe and keep updated.

Download ULTIMATE Windows Tweaker

It is mainly made for Windows Vista versions.

Optimize Windows by Removing Junk that the Disk Clean Up Won't / Make a Disk Clean utility and up clean more Files

Everybody don't like junk. There are a lot of junk files created in Windows by default. The Disk Clean up Utility in Windows help us to remove the system Clutter upto certain extend. Disk Cleanup can also remove the outdated or older restore points being created by System Restore which we do not need any more. But there are many temporary files the Disk Clean up utility of Windows wont clean by default. We can configure it to clean up those unnecessary junk there by making more space available.

Here we are not going to do any thing with the Disk Clean up utility but we create a small batch file that does the clean up job as the Disk Clean up utility does.

1. Open the Notepad and type the following in it.
2. del /s /q "C:\Documents and Settings\placeyourusernamehere\Local Settings\Temp\*.*"
3. You need to replace placeyourusernamehere with the User name you have logged into Windows.
4. Now save the files as a bat file. To do this select "Save As" option from notepad and select "All Files" from "Save as type" tab. and give the file name as TempKill.bat.
5. When you want to clean the temporary files you can run this file. If you want this to run this automatically with the Windows just place the file in the start up folder of windows for that go to this location.
6. C:\Documents and Settings\placeyourusernamehere\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
7. Now do step 3.

That's it! From now on the files in the temp folder will be cleaned automatically on Windows Start Up.

How to Get back / Restore Lost or Disabled Right Click Context Menu's

Most Windows users today, experiment with the windows registry most often without creating backups. What will you do while you are playing with the windows registry you have accidentally disabled the right click context menu. You no more get it while you right click on Files.

This is a problem occasionally faced by Windows users. There is a simple solution for that. You can get back the right click context menu by using the Windows registry itself.

• First go to start and select RUN or press [WIN] + [R].
• Now type 'regedit'. This will open up the Windows Registry Editor.
• Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer and check for the 'NoViewContextMenu' DWORD value is seen on the right pane.
• If you see it just delete it by right clicking it and selecting Delete.
• Now you will get the right click context menu back.
• Also you may check for this option under the main branch of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

Enabling Thumbnail Preview for more file formats like TIF, PCX, PSD, PSP/ Extend the functionality of Thumbnail Preview Feature of Windows

The thumbnail Preview Feature in Windows XP is very useful for identifying the Image files Quickly especially when you have a lot of image files in a directory. But the Thumbnail Preview is very limited for files like TIF, PCX, PSD etc. it shows only the icons of the files. Here is a software that can increase the functionality of the Windows Thumbnail Feature.

' ThumbView Lite ' a free shell extension for windows can support 19 more graphics formats so you will be able to preview almost all the image file formats. This program will automatically integrate into Windows and there is no need for a separate program to be launched. This tool will also enable windows Explorer to display main properties of the respective file types. Scarily used file types like EPS and CDR will be displayed as icons.

Download ThumbView Lite

Get Dream Scene Feature back in Windows 7/Enable Windows Dream Scene Feature in Vista Home Premium, Home Basic , Business, Enterprise

Hi friends almost every body know whats the Windows Dream Scene Feature is. It will enable us to set moving pictures or videos as our Desktop Background. But This is a feature confined only to the Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. But the current beta versions of Windows7 has excluded this cool feature. But here is a solution to get the Dream Scene Feature not only in the non ultimate Editions of Windows such as Windows Vista Home Premium, Home basic, Enterprise but also in Windows 7 too!.

First you need a good video card for this feature to run smoothly. To get the Dream scene feature back you just need to follow a small step.

First download a small .exe file (link below). Now all you have to do is to run the file as Administrator.

Now i will tell how the file works . The program first copies the DreamScene.dll file to your %WinDir%\System 32 folder. Then it will copy DreamScene.dll.mui to the folder %WinDir%\System32\en-US and will add the needed registry values and will restart Windows for the changes to take effect.
You will also notice a folder created in %WinDir%\Web\ directory. Only in Windows Vista versions placing any video file in the folder will allow you to set that particular video as you desktop background.
In Windows 7 you cant see the video in the Desktop Background Personalization Page since it has bee cut off from Windows 7.But you can set it as the Desktop Background. To set a video file as Background right click on .WMV or .MPG file and select "Set as Desktop Background" from the right click context Menu.

Download Windows7-DreamScene.exe

Power up/Speed up the Foreground process and get more control over Windows

How about Getting more Features when you right click on a window or on when it is on the taskbar. Many features such as Hide Others, Hide All, UnHide All, Unhide, Minimize to system tray, Transparency are there. You can use this wonderful utility and get full control over the windows. I say this is a must have utility for all the Windows Users.



You can make a process run faster by giving it a high priority and there by making your work faster than before. You can hide an opened window so that even by pressing Alt + Tab wont find it. Best of all this program is Free. Instead of wasting your taskbar area you can Minimize the windows to the system tray as small icons and more.This wonderful utility was created by one of my friend and software engineer Arif Ali.

Download Process Manager

Restart Crashed Programs Automatically and make your work Faster

Most frequently used programs such as e-mail clients, file sharing tools etc should run continuously. Some times these programs get crashed or get closed by mistake. So again we need to start them from the beginning. Instead of this if the programs start automatically by itself our work will get done more faster. You can automate this task of continuously checking whether the programs are active or not.

A tool called Monitor will do this task for you. So you don't have to bother again about those programs again. The program will automatically check whether the software's are active or not and will restart them accordingly.

Download the program from the link given below. When the program starts, click the "Add" tab and give a name in the "Name" and click the tab next OT "Path" to select the program file which needs to be monitored from the file dialog. You can even specify the parameters in the "Arguments" Section. Do not change the checking interval and create an entry for monitoring by clicking on "Create". Now all you need is to activate the check box seen in front of the respective task to start the automatic process.

Download Jockersoft Application Monitor

How to DELETE a File that is currently being used/ Deleting files Blocked by a Program

Some times Windows refuses to delete some files when we try to delete a file that is supposedly in use. But you know very well that you have not opened that file or the files is not currently being used by any software. This is really a irritating situation. Here is a solution to delete those blocked files.

A small software called ' Process Explorer ' can relieve you from this situation.It will help you to end the corresponding program that is using a particular file without much worry!.

Using the program is easy. Open the ' Find | Find Handle or DLL' to find the application you want to close. You may enter the file name displayed in the windows error message and do a search. The program which is using that file will appear in the process column. Now things are more easy just right click the corresponding program and select 'Kill process'. This will terminate the program that is currently using the file and now you will be able to delete the file without any problem.

Process Explorer has many more features it can be used as a replacement to the default Windows Task Manager and its free too.!


Download Process Explorer

Get the AERO Peek Effect of Windows 7 in Vista and XP

Aero Peek is a cool and unique feature on Windows 7. Let me tell about it shortly. This is found as a small rectangle present last on the Windows 7 taskbar.

When you hover your mouse cursor over it you can see through all the maximized widows ie. all the maximized windows becomes transparent and only their outline will be showed.

A small application created by GeeQ can bring this effect in Windows XP and Windows Vista too. So from now on all the XP and Vista users also can enjoy this unique Windows 7 feature.

Download Aero Peek Utility now

To use it click on the icon in the system tray and Desktop preview will be activated to disable double click it.

Install Windows 7/ Vista on your Hard disc Without using any DVD/CD or Pendrive (USB drive)

How about installing Windows 7 or Windows Vista without using any DVD or Pendrive / USB drive? Yes this is possible. Users who don't want to burn the Windows 7/ Vista ISO image to a DVD or those who don't have a windows startup disc can now install Windows 7 on their PC. Installing Windows from the Hard Drive is much faster than installing from DVD/CD.This tutorial is made on the assumption that the new Windows 7 or Windows Vista is going to be installed and replace the current one. The instructions can be slightly modified if you want a dual boot system.

1. On your existing Operating System install a virtual DVD/CD drive first. Magic Disc virtual DVD/CD rom can do this and is free.
2. Now mount the ISO image of Windows 7 or Windows Vista.
3. Then copy all the files from this Virtual drive you mounted now to a drive in which you don't want to install Windows. for example if you want to install Windows on C drive copy them to E:\Windows7 or so.
   
4. Now copy the bootfolders and bootmgr seen inside the copied folder (here E:\windows7) to your main booting drive probably C:\.
5. Vista users must follow this step ie. you need to copy the bootmgr folder from (E:\windows7) to C:\ root directory. Copy E:\Windows7\boot\boot.sdi and bootsect.exe from E:\Windows7\boot\ folder to C:\boot folder and C:\ drive respectively.
6. The boot folder is hidden by default check the option to show hidden files and folder and also show protected system files from "Folder Options".
7. Now under C:\ root folder create a new folder named sources.
8. Copy the boot.wim file from E:\Windows7\sources to the sources folder created in the above step (7).
9. Now right click the Command Prompt in the start menu and select "Run as Administrator".
10. Type the following command C:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 C: for vista users who did the step 5 should type the command as C:\bootsect.exe /nt60 C: .
11. Now change the name of the boot system partion to any name you prefer (in command prompt use label command). for eg. type C:\ label mycdrive. Remember the name you have given.
    
12. Now restart the System.
13. After that Windows will automatically run the setup process. On continuing with the installation steps when you see the option to Install Windows do not click it instead click the option to Repair my Computer (seen at the bottom left).
14. Now in the WinRE System Recovery Options window open the Command Prompt.
15. Now type the following command format c: /q .
    
16. /q switch is used to do a quick format option it is optional.
17. If you want to convert the drive to NTFS system type the command as c: /q /fs:ntfs.
18. Just before the formatting begins you may be asked to enter the name of the partition as mycdrive enter it accordingly.
19. After the formatting completes Start the Windows setup from the copied folder ie E:\Windows7\sources\setup.exe.
20. Now continue with the process as usual.

Access frequently used system files instantaneously / Faster

Experienced windows users will often visit the 'Program Files', 'System32' , 'Windows Folder' etc. But it is very irritating to navigate to these places using Windows Explorer directory structure. How about navigating to these places at an instant?.

You can open the desired folder in Windows Explorer by using some shortcuts. For this just go to the 'Start Menu' and select 'RUN' (For XP users) and 'Start> All Programs> Accessories> RUN ' (For Vista). The same can be done by just pressing [WIN] + [R]. This will directly bring up the run dialog box. Type ' shell:' in the input field and confirm by pressing the 'OK' button. This will be more faster than typing the directory path in the address bar.

For example the command 'shell:system' will open up the windows folder. Here 'system' is the place which is some thing like 'C:\Windows\system32'. Here is a table which will tell you which name specify which folder. The Windows Environment work just like these names.A list of such details can be obtained by giving the command 'set' in the 'command prompt'.

Selecting Multiple Elements in Explorer with Mouse alone(Without using Keyboard) in Windows Vista

Want to select multiple files distributed in one directory? So easy, pressing Ctrl key and selecting the files one by one. But what do you do if your keyboard is trouble some or only you one hand is free at that time ? The solution for it is there in Vista.

Selecting multiple files in Windows vista is possible with the help of small check boxes in all versions of Vista with Tablet PC functionality(Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate Editions). With the [Win] + [E] shortcut you can open Windows Explorer.

Now click on 'Organize' and select 'Folder and Search Options' in the following menu. Then under the 'Folder Options' tab got to the 'View' tab. Now Under the 'Advanced Settings' check the option 'Use Checkboxes to Select Elements' and confirm by pressing the 'OK' button.

Now after when you move your cursor over the icon of a file or a folder, a check box appears in the top left corner of the icon or just before it. The size of it will depend on the selected view. Simply check the corresponding box to select the file.

Minimize all windows to your desktop like Thumbnails instead of minimizing to the Taskbar

What about minimizing all windows as thumbnails on your desktop?. It will be very easy to identify the required windows and your work will also speed up. Yes this is possible.A small utility called miniMIZE can do this job for you. Currently this software works both on Windows Xp and Windows Vista.This software has option to start automatically with windows, so you don't have to start it every time on each boot.Option for changing the thumbnail size, adjusting thumbnails position on desktop, changing opacity etc. are also there. More over this wonder utility is Free!.

Download MiniMIZE now

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Increase the Performance\Speed of SATA Hard Disk's in Windows Vista

By default Vista does not make use of the full potential of the new SATA hard disk's. We do not get the actual power of the Hard disk that we use. In order to get it we just need to make a small change.

1. Call up the Start menu and type Device Manager in the search box.
2. Expand the Disk Drives section by clicking on the plus sign near it.
3. Now Look for the internal SerialATA (SATA) drives under it.
4. Right Click the disk and select properties.
5. Go to the "Strategies" TAB.
6. Now check the option "Enable Advanced Performance ".
7. Select OK and Close the Device manager.
8. Restart your system.
9. Done!

You will now be able to get the full power of your SATA Hard Drives from now on!!!.

Boot From USB and CD even if Bios or Motherboard Don't support it

I had written a post on how to make pendrives bootable earlier.But if you are in a situation that you Bios don't support booting from USB or from a CD. There is a boot manager called PLoP which can solve this problem very easily.This program can do the job even without installing it on the hard disk.
This PLoP boot manager can be launched from almost any where fro mfloppy drives, networks or from any other boot manager, even from DOS and windows boot menu.

To use this software Download it from here and visit the distributors website from here and follow the instructions given there.

When the program is launched you can boot from USB or a CD even when your motherboard / BIOS don't support it.

Get the Tabbed Browsing in Windows Explorer for Windows XP/Windows Vista

How about browsing the windows explorer as we do in Internet explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Well, QTTabBar is a small utility that helps to get the tabbed browsing feature in both Windows XP and Windows vista. Here is a small tutorial about how to use the tool.




You can get the program from qttabbar.wikidot.com. You need to have Microsoft.NETFramework 2.0 installed to operate this program properly you can get it from microsoft.com .

If you are using windows vista make sure you run the installation by rightclicking the installation file and selecting the 'Run as Administrator' option.