PC Help Guide

Disable Writing to a USB Drive

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:53:42 +0000

This is a useful security measure you can set on your computers that will stop all users from writing anything to a USB drive, this could stop people from stealing info from your PC’s.

This tweak requires a pretty simple registry hack;

Open regedit
Navigate here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
Create a new DWORD
Call it WriteProtect
Set the value to 00000001
Reboot your computer
Done

Windows Key Shortcuts

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:53:01 +0000

You will all have seen the windows key on your keyboard, well here are some shortcuts you can use with it;

Windows + F: Search for files
Windows + L: Locks down the desktop
Windows + M: Minimize your windows
Windows + Q: Quick switching of users (Powertoys only)
Windows + Q: You have to hold down your windows key, then tap Q to scroll thru the different users on your pc
Windows: Displays the start menu
Windows + D: Minimize or restore all windows
Windows + E: Display windows explorer
Windows + Pause/ Break: System Properties dialog box
Windows + Shift + M: Undo minimize all windows
Windows + R: Run dialog box
Windows + U: Utility Manager
Windows + Ctrl + F: Search for computer
Windows + F1: Help and Support Center

Get Your Windows Version Information

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:52:25 +0000

Here is a cool tweak that allows you to get all your Windows version information through your registry;

Open regedit
Navigate here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion

In this section it will give you this information;

CSDVersion: Service Pack
CurrentBuildNumber: Build Number
CurrentVersion: Version Number
ProductName: Windows Version Name

Setting for Best Performance

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:51:10 +0000

Here is a quick little tweak you can do to both Windows Vista and XP that will automatically set your PC to run at its best performance.

The trouble with Vista is that it is so full of graphics and animations that it effects the performance of your PC, so if you are someone who doesn’t care about the looks of something but just want performance, then this tweak is for you.

Just follow these pointers and you will have your PC running at its best performance;

Windows Vista

Go to control panel
Click system
Click advanced system settings
Click the advanced tab
Under performance click settings
Check on best performance
Click apply and OK

Windows XP

Right click on my computer
Click properties
Click the advanced tab
Click settings under performance
Check adjust for best performance
Click apply and OK

Adjust Visual Effects for Better PC Performance

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:50:22 +0000

You can increase your computer’s performance by adjusting the visual effects. The visual effects can take up your PC’s CPU and slow it down, often leading to more annoying problems. This tweak should work on all Windows Vista machines.

These options for changing your visual effects are totally optional, you can edit which ones you like and keep the ones you want. But I can assure you that these system settings only change the ‘pretty’ look of your computer and nothing important.

To get started adjusting your visual effects settings just;

Open control panel
Click system and maintenance
Open system
In the left pane click advanced system settings
Open the advanced tab
Under performance click settings
Go to the visual effects tab
Here uncheck all of these options
- Animate controls and elements inside windows
- Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
- Enable desktop composition
- Enable transparent glass
- Fade or slide menus into view
- Fade or slide ToolTips into view
- Fade out menu items after clicking
- Show preview and filters in folder
- Show shadows under menus
- Show shadows under mouse pointer
- Show thumbnails instead of icons
- Show translucent selection rectangle
- Show window contents while dragging
- Slide open combo boxes
- Slide taskbar buttons
- Smooth edges of screen fonts
- Smooth-scroll list boxes
- Use a background image for each folder type
- Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons
Click apply and OK

Repair Disk Errors

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:49:47 +0000

One simple way you can improve the speed of your PC is to scan your hard drive for errors such as bad sectors. These errors will slow down your hard disk performance and make your computer run slower.

To run a scan and repair any problematic sectors in your hard drive just follow these points;

You must close down any files
Click start
Click computer
Right click on the hard disk you want to scan and select properties
Click the tools tab
Click check now
In the check disk box select scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors
Click start

Speed Up Windows XP Shutdown With Paging Files

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:48:25 +0000

The paging files in Windows XP are there to basically store your temporary files and data, and in XP these files are cleared everytime you shut down. So whenever you shutdown XP it takes time first to clear the paging files, and this can take time.

If you have information that is secure or you don’t want anyone else to see then I recommend you keep XP clearing the paging files, but if you don’t really care then you can get faster shutdown speeds by stopping XP from clearing the paging files.

To stop XP from clearing the paging files you need to do this registry edit;

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

Now you need to find this – ClearPageFileAtShutdown
Double click on it
Set the value data to 0
Restart your PC

Disable Notification Balloons in Windows XP

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:47:32 +0000

Notification balloons are those annoying things popping up in a balloon that tells you basic stuff about the OS, so unless you are one of the few that actually enjoys the balloons you may want to get rid of them.

Open regedit
Navigate to this location
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
In the right pane right click and select new DWORD
Set the name as EnableBalloonTips
Keep the value data set at 0
Done
You will need to restart your PC to see it take effect

Read Outlook Express Messages in Plain Text

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:46:41 +0000

You will notice that all of your messages that come through in Outlook Express are in a html format, so it can look ‘pretty’ with colors, borders, fonts etc.

This ‘pretty’ look is great if you always know who the sender is (even then they can forward dodgy stuff), but you can recieve malicious emails through the html code.

The best way I believe (unless you have some awesome security) to safeguard your Outlook Express messages is to just get them in a plain text format, to do this just;

Open Outlook Express
Click tools
Select options
Select the read tab
Check read all messages in plain text
OK, done

Add a URL Address to the Taskbar

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:59:06 +0000

Here is a cool tweak you can do to your PC so that an address bar will open up in your taskbar (the bar at the bottom of your screen), this means you can type a quick URL in your taskbar and the webpage will open.

Some people may find that it just clutters up their taskbar and is useless, while others may prefer to use it rather than using their browser. This tweak can be done in both Windows XP and Vista;

Right click on your taskbar
Click toolbars
Check address
Done
Type in a URL and the page will open up in your default browser