EasyTweaks.com » Windows Vista

Optimize and protect Vista with SpyBot Run Analyzer

Gili — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:27:21 +0000

We all know that there are trillions of Service and Task monitoring utilities for Windows in the market. So why should we bother to look into Run Analyzer?

Well, Run Analyzer is a nifty autostart & configuration manager that allows you to view and edit all the spots where Windows looks for programs or services to start. Moreover, it’s an advanced tool that allows you to locate and remove hijackers, spyware and other malware from your Windows system.

Once you download and install it, Run Analyzer will identify all registry values invoked by startup programs,as well as running services and processes. Analyzer will automatically analyze your system and highlight spyware, hijackers and viruses it found.

Run Analyzer is not trivial to use, and thus it’s recommended for power users and system administrators. Documentation is mediocre to say the least, but good support can be found at the Run Analyzer forum.

Analyzer runs on both XP and Vista and is a freeware, although a donation is appreciated.

How to bypass the Login Page in Vista ?

Gili — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:32:36 +0000

People often complain about the need to enter their login name and password when logging to Windows Vista. Here’s a simple trick that allows help you to bypass the Vista login page and log in automatically with your Windows user account. You will need to have administrator privileges on your PC in order to implement this tip.

Important Note: The implementation of this tip decreases your PC security. Use this tip only in case you don’t share your PC with others.

Click the Start button, then type netplwiz.
The user accounts utility will open up.
Uncheck Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
Click Apply.
Enter the login and password (if required) that should be used in order to login to your Windows Vista PC. Note that all users accessing the PC will be logged in with the user account you specified.
Click OK

Starting from the next restart, your login page will be gone.

[tags] Windows Vista, Login Page, Windows Tips, Microsoft Vista [/tags]

Speed Up Windows menu

Gili — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:25:43 +0000

Here’s a nice trick that can help you to enhance your navigation in both Windows XP and Windows Vista menus. By default, there is almost a half of a second of delay between the time you move your mouse over a menu item and the time the menu item is opened. This setting seem not too convenient to many users I met, who that asked how they can either speed up or slow down the menu responsiveness.

Here’s the trick. Note that its implementation requires a modification of your system registry.

Remember! If you use the registry editor incorrectly, you might cause serious problems that might require you to reinstall your operating system. Use the registry editor at your own risk.

Backup the registry file. Use instructions provided in section 2 here.
Click Start , In the Start Search type Regedit to open your Registry Editor.
Browse to My Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.
Right Click MenuShowDelayValue and click Modify.
Set an appropriate value in milliseconds for the delay between the time you highlight the menu and the time it opens up. The default is 400 milliseconds. If you want to slow down the menu responsiveness, set the value to approximately 1200.
Click OK
Close the Registry editor
Logoff and login again.

How to speed up a slow computer ?

Gili — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:31:02 +0000

Here’s an advanced tweak that you can implement in order to speed up a slow computer. It assumes the computer has 512 MB of Read Only memory (RAM). The idea is to prevent Windows from paging processes to the disk, and use the RAM instead. This way, we actually leverage the RAM in order to run some of the operating system components and eventually considerably speed up Windows.

The implementation of this tweak requires a modification in your operating system registry.

Remember! If you use the registry editor incorrectly, you might cause serious problems that might require you to reinstall your operating system. Use the registry editor at your own risk.

Backup the registry file. Use instructions provided in section 2 here.
Click Start , In the Start Search type Regedit to open your Registry Editor.
Browse to My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Session Manager/Memory Management
Right click DisablePagingExecutive
Click Modify
In the Value Data field type 1
Close the Registry Editor
Reboot your PC

You might want to look into the following post that outline some good tips you can use in order to speed up your PC: How to speed your PC for free

How to change your default pictures folder in Vista ?

Gili — Sun, 20 May 2007 15:58:35 +0000

Keeping all your pictures organized in one central location is a very good practice, as it allows for easy backups and searches. Most users use the default Pictures folder (C:\Users\\Pictures) to store their stuff, but this is certainly not a must, as the default pictures folder location can be easily changed.

Here’s how to do it:

Create a new folder that will be used to store your pictures (skip this step if you would like to use an existing folder).
Navigate to your default Pictures folder .
Open the Pictures folder and copy its content to the new Pictures directory you just created.
Right Click the Pictures folder and click Properties.
Navigate to the Shortcut tab.
In the Target filed, specify the location of your new pictures folder.

Click OK.

[tags] Windows Vista, Vista, Windows tips, Windows Tricks, Windows XP, Pictures [/tags]