Archive for the 'How To' Category
Following on from the tutorial how to disable system system restore I will now show you how to disable offline files.
Disabling Offline Files
- Click Start (Windows Orb)
- Click Control Panel > Network and Internet > Offline Files
- Click the Disable Offline Files button
- If prompted by the UAC, Click Continue
- You will then be prompted to restart your computer. Click Yes.
When your computer has restarted Offline Files will be disabled.
This will make searching slower but it will reduce disk thrashing whenever the index is being updated (at every boot).
How To Disable Search Indexing
- Click Start (Windows Orb)
- Click Computer
- Right click the hard drive and then click Properties
- Uncheck Index this drive for faster searching
- Click OK
- Select Apply changes to drive C:\, subfolders and files
- Click OK
If prompted by the UAC (User Account Control) click Continue or follow the steps on how to disable UAC.
In this tutorial I will show you how to boost hard drive performance on Microsoft Windows Vista.
Firstly you’ll need to go to Device Manger. Finding Device Manager on Microsoft Windows Vista is a little trickier than in earlier versions of Windows.
How to find Device Manager on Microsoft Windows Vista
- Click Start > Control Panel > System and Maintenance > System
- On the left side pane click Device Manager
How to Enable Advanced Disk Performance on Microsoft Windows Vista
- In Device Manager, navigate down to Disk drives
- Double click Disk drives
- Right click the hard drive and then click Properties
- Click the Policies tab
- Select Enable advanced performance
- Click OK
Take note of the warnings before enabling this feature and as always back up your data first.
Instead of using a home or mobile phone to call a friend or family member use Windows Live Messenger. Saving money in the process.
All you need is a microphone and speakers or for privacy a headset with a microphone attached.
How To Make Free PC to PC Voice Calls Using Windows Live Messenger
- On Windows Live Messenger click the phone Icon
- Once the recipient accepts the call start talking
*Note: If the computer you are calling from is behind a firewall TCP/UDP port 6901 will need to be opened. For PC to Phone UDP Ports 6801, 6901, 2001-2120.
System Restore is a useful backup utility but it has a tendency to use large amounts of disk space. Therefore some users may want to disable this feature.
How To Disable System Restore on Windows Vista
- Click Start > Control Panel
- Click System and Maintenance > System
- On the left side pane click Advanced system settings
- On the System Properties box click the System Protection tab
- Deselect the drives from the list
This will disable System Restore on Microsoft Windows Vista. Freeing valuable disk space in the process.
There’s a big chance that you’re not using IPv6 and probably have no need for QoS on your network.
How To Disable IPv6 and QoS on Microsoft Windows Vista
- Click Start > Control Panel
- Click Network and Internet > Networking and Sharing Center
- On the left side pane click Manage network connections
- Right click on your NIC and then select Properties
- De-select IPv6 and QoS and then click Ok
Restart your computer for the new settings to take effect.
The Windows Vista Disk Cleanup utility can usually be accessed by clicking Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup and then selecting the appropriate drive. There is however a way to access a more extensive set of disk cleanup options.
Extensive Disk Cleanup
- Click Start (Windows Orb)
- In the Instant Search Box type “cmd.exe” and then press the Enter key
- Type cleanmgr /sageset:1 and then press the Enter key
The Disk Cleanup dialog box will now appear with a wider range of options. Select the files that you want removed and then click Ok.
Following on from the Extending the Windows Vista Evaluation to 120 days tutorial, I will now show you how to legally extend the evaluation period for up to one year.
Extending the Windows Vista Evaluation Period
- Click Start (Windows Orb)
- In the Instant Search box type “regedit” and then press the Enter Key
- Navigate to the path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ SL
- Right Click the registry key SkipRearm and then click Edit
- The default is a Dword with the hex value of 00000000. Change the value to any positive integer, such as 00000001. Save the change and close the Registry Editor.
Now start a command prompt with Administrative rights.
- Click Start (Windows Orb)
- In the Instant Search box type “cmd” and then press the Ctrl+Shift+Enter Keys.
Type one of the following commands and then press the Enter Key.
- slmgr -rearm
- rundll32 slc.dll,SLReArmWindows
Reboot the computer. Once you’ve logged back in, open a command prompt and run the following command slmgr -xpr. This will show the Windows Vista’s new expiration date and time.
Repeat the above steps to extend the Windows Vista Evaluation Period.
I was recently asked to install backup software on our support staff’s computer. The software not only had to be able to backup the contents of the My Documents folder but also synchronize with the backup file server and vice versa.
My first thought was to use XXCOPY and run a scheduled task every evening. However, I recently read about SyncToy, an easy to use application developed by Microsoft that allows you to backup and synchronize with just a click of a button.
SyncToy can backup files in the following way:
- Sync Copies new and updated files in both directions. If you rename or delete a file in one folder, that action is replicated in the other.
- Echo Copies new and updated files, and performs deletes and renames only from the left folder to the right.
- Subscribe Copies updated files from right to left, and only if the file already exists on the left. Changes made on the left will not be replicated to the right.
- Contribute Copies new and updated files on the left to the right, while ignoring deletions.
- Combine Keeps multiple machines in lockstep by copying files that exist on one side but not the other. Files that are deleted or renamed on either side are not affected or replicated.
The software also understands UNC file naming (e.g. \\MyServer\Joe_Blogs\My Documents Backup\) as well as local drive mappings and paths (E:\MyDocs_Backup).
The only issue that I came accross was that SyncToy needs the .NET Framework installed before it can run.
Once installed I configured SyncToy to backup the My Documents folder to the server. The backup took only a couple of minutes, which was impressive considering that it had to transfer a couple of gigabytes of data across the network. Next time the backup is run it will only need to change the files that have recently been updated, so that should only take a couple of seconds.
Download: SyncToy
Download: .NET Framework
I bet you didn’t know that Microsoft Windows Vista includes a two-way firewall.
Unfortunately, the outbound filtering has been disabled. I’m not quite sure why Microsoft made this decision but from a security point of view it would have made perfect sense to have it enabled by default. I suspect it’s due to Microsoft not wanting to frustrate customers when their internet dependent applications suddenly stopped working.
Windows Vista Firewall: How To Turn On Outbound Filtering
- Click the Start Button (Windows Orb)
- In the search bar type “wf.msc” and press the Enter key
- Click the Windows Firewall Properties link
- Change Outbound connections from Allow (default) to Block
From the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security properties you can also configure additional rules for incoming as well as outbound connections.
