Vista Tutorials and Tips

You can turn off the Vista Start menu baloon tips one of two ways, use either Gpedit.msc or the reg entry below: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 ; turn off start menu baloon tips [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] "NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:00000091 "NoSMBalloonTip"=dword:00000001

User Account Control, or UAC for short. Yes, I know its a bad word to many, however, it really is your friend and will save your butt at some time or another. Part of the reason for the anger of some over UAC is its name, think about it, User Account Control...."CONTROL!!!! Why is MS wanting to control my computer?" In the beginning of Vista UAC was named User Account Protection (UAP), perhaps they should have left it named that way because the word 'Protection' is much more suitable then 'Control' when in reality the aim of UAC is to protect the user. Anyway, UAC is here for right now. Rumor has it that UAC will quietly go away beginning with SP1 for Vista, I don't know …

The shortcut arrows in Vista are actually overlaid icons. You can get rid of them using a couple of different methods, one of which concerns removing, renaming, or changing the value of the more traditional 'IsShortcut' key (outlined elsewhere in the Vista Tricks and Tips section). However, there is a slight problem with changing the 'IsShortcut' key, since Vista relies heavly on links if you change this key some items that rely on links may fail to start up. So we need another method. Using the reg entery below gets rid of the shortcut arrow overlay. Actually what this reg entry does is substitute the shortcut arrow overlay for a transparent overlay which is exactly wha…

As many of us move forward from Windows XP or prior beta versions of Windows Vista to the final RTM version, I thought this little tip / secret might be in order. You may be aware that Windows Vista includes a number of different ways to upgrade a computer, from a straight in-place upgrade (insert CD, run setup and choose upgrade) to Windows Easy Transfer, which allows you to copy settings, programs and data from an old setup a fresh shiny new OS environment. But I'm the purist type who hates even the thought of leaving any detritus around and insists upon a clean install to a pure, unsullied partition. In doing this, it's not unusual to find some folders that can't be ac…

Credits to the author of this article. So if you run msconfig > boot and enable "no GUI boot" option, you'll see faded aurora instead of lonely green progress bar during boot process. How to substitute this aurora with an image of your own choice is described in the article above. Here's the result of my tricks with ResHacker, imagex, PaintShopProX and mspaint, lol : download link Preview: Just replace windows\system32\en-US\winload.exe.mui and don't forget to save/back-up the original file. My file is taken from RC2 (X86), but i think it'll work on RTM as well, it's only resource file. Don't forget to enable "no GUI boot".

AdminPack.msi installs without error on Vista RTM computers but two DLL's, ADprop.dll and DSadmin.dll fail to register. Use regsvr32 to manually register those DLL's, otherwise Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC / DSA.MSC) fails to load correctly with "MMC could not create the snap-in" Steps to repro 1. Install 2003 SP1 adminpak.msi - there will be no errors or warnings 2. Under Administrative Tools, attempt to load Active Directory Users and Computers, Active Directory Domains and Trusts, etc. 3. You will receive: "MMC could not create the snap-in." 4. Close any of the snap-ins you tried to use. 5. Copy all text in the codebox and save as FIXADMINPACK.CMD 6. Ru…

If you open a folder you can see the list of links on the left side. Don't like what is there? What to change them or add something else? Easy, go to the C:\user\your_username\links folder. Put in any shortcut there you want or change any existing ones. These links are what show up on the left side.

from here http://www.tweakvista.com/ Windows Vista: Customize the User Interface tweaks Disable pop-up balloon tips Enable New Boot screen in Vista Beta 2 Enable New Vista Aero Cursors Enable Vista Glass look on Unsupported Video Cards Fix Windows Vista Fonts Force Vista Glass on Compatible Hardware Kill Security Center Notifications Show Run Command on Start Menu Slow Motion Aero Animations on Demand …

System Related Logging on as Local Administrator If you are having trouble logging on as the built-in Administrator account under 5308, you will need to make some registry modifications to display the Administrator account. Log in using the account you created during the Windows Vista setup process. From the Start menu, click All Programs and then expand Accessories. Right click on "Command Prompt" and click "Run as Administrator". Click on "Allow" from the Windows Security dialog. In the Command Prompt window, type "regedit" (without the quotes) and press Enter. In the Registry Editor, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlog…

The new search box in Internet Explorer 7 is a very useful new feature. However, it is easy to make it even more useful by adding the ability to search almost any website in it that supports searching. For example, you can add TweakVista.com to the search box so you can search TweakVista.com directly for various tweaks. This is possible with the help of a simple registry tweak: Open up Registry Editor (Start button -> regedit -> Hit Enter) Navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Microsoft, Internet Explorer and Search Scopes. Create a new key and call it TweakVista Inside the new TweakVista key, create a new string value and call it DisplayN…

User Account Control is, as I mentioned in secret #4, an important part of the security protection that Windows Vista offers. For any user with administrative credentials, you can always execute a process with full admin rights by right-clicking on the executable or shortcut and choosing "Run as Administrator". For myself, I regularly want to open an admin-level command prompt, and it's a distraction to have to move my hands off the keyboard to go through the elevation contortions. So I was delighted to find a little keyboard shortcut for launching an elevated process. Simply press Ctrl+Shift+Enter from the search bar on the start menu with a selected application, and th…

One question we get asked occasionally is: How do I back up my feed list? Well, it turns out that there is a standard way to save a feed list in a single file for backup or other purposes. It's called OPML, and IE7 supports importing and exporting feed lists via OPML. Here is the step-by-step process for backing up your feed list to an OPML file in IE7: Click on the Add button (the star and plus button next to the Favorites Center button -- Alt-Z is the keyboard shortcut). Click on Import and Export in the menu. In the wizard, select Export Feeds from the list of options and click Next. Select where you'd like the file to be put (by default, it's called feeds.opml, in…

Here you can find a list of some useful registry tweaks in Vista..

So, you want to BitLocker an existing computer? The other day I decided, probably against better judgement, to turn on BitLocker on my laptop running Windows Vista RC1+. There were several concerns about doing that though: My machine is a Dell Latitude D620, which does not have a TPM chip of any kind. That means that my only option is to use a USB key for BitLocker. When I installed my machine I let the Windows Vista installer partition the drive for me. That means I had one large partition covering the whole drive You mean you are turning on whole hard disk encryption on a beta OS? What are you thinking? Let

Vista has something neat in it called junctions. Junctions are very useful and you can create your own. Open up a command prompt and type 'Mklink /?' and you will be presented with the necessary information for creating your own junctions in Vista. How about a junction that looks like a folder but when you copy files to it they are directed to your web site some where on the internet immediately....drag and drop for the internet without any other client needed (FTP, front page, P2P stuff, etc...) OK, the truth now, junctions are not new as they have been in NTFS based OS's for a while. Vista just calls them symlinks - actually symlinks are new but they are so close to w…

The awesome guys from the Windows Vista Magazine revealed a great Windows Vista secret recently that I wanted to bring to a broader audience. When you're browsing around the file system in Explorer, it's often useful to be able to quickly switch between different folder views. If you're looking at a folder with lots of long filenames, maybe the Details view works best. If you're looking at a folder with lots of photos, maybe a small thumbnail view works well; for a folder with lots of documents, maybe a larger thumbnail view works better. Now you can use the Views button on the toolbar to modify this - click the button to toggle between views or use the down arrow to ge…

Here is how to get rid of the word 'Shortcut' on shortcuts in Vista. make your own with the below or use the .reg file i've attached to this post: ; get rid of the word 'Shortcut' on shortcuts ; this is the original value ; [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer] ; "link"=hex:1e,00,00,00 ; this is the changed value to get rid of word 'Shortcut' [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer] "link"=hex:00,00,00,00 Reboot after you do this. It will not get rid of the word 'Shortcut' on the shortcuts created before this reg entry, it will only not put the word 'Shortcut' on those you create after this reg entry is done. …

You can get rid of the shortcut arrows in vista by using an old reg tweak that still works: Open up regedit and go to: [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile] Then re-name 'IsShortcut' to 'AriochIsShortcut' in the right pane. Close regedit and reboot - shortcut arrows are gone.

Vista doesn't have a 'Copy To' or 'Move To' that works everywhere. This reg tweak will add that capability to the right click context menu. You can make your own by using the text below: ;add 'Copy to Folder' to right click context [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}] ;add 'Move to Folder' to right click context [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}] or...you can use the copy_move_to.reg file I attached to this post. copy_move_to.zip

This excellent guide, recently updated for RC1 of Windows Vista, tells you everything to know about the changes that might break your application, from basic, simple-to-fix things (e.g. GetVersion() reports a major version number of 6) to more esoteric yet complex changes (the GINA extensible logon model has been replaced with a new credential provider model). If you write Windows applications, I'd encourage you to download and read it - it's as simple as that! The Cookbook is a comprehensive guide of Windows Vista changes that can affect XP application Compatibility. This is a MUST read for all application vendors seeking information on upgrading XP applications to Wind…

If you're doing a fresh install of Windows Vista, you'll probably use a bootable DVD so that you're able to reformat the system partition. But sometimes you might find yourself in a situation where you could really use a command prompt as you go through those initial configuration stages (for example, when I installed Windows Vista on my home media center machine I needed to run the diskpart command line utility to convert a dynamic disk back to a basic disk structure). Here's the magic key sequence: simply press Shift+F10, and you'll be presented with a command prompt. This also works after Windows Vista has rebooted for the first time on an upgrade, although be very ca…

If you want to alt tab programs in 3d with keyboard press windows key + tab. Simple thing but just found it.

Saw this posted on one of the internal forums today, and I thought this was something that was worth sharing. If you're a keyboard junkie, you'll love this. Do you have a few applications that you're always firing up? Would you like a system-wide keyboard shortcut to run them? Here's what you do. Simply add shortcuts to the Quick Launch toolbar, as shown in the screenshot below. Now you can simply use Win+1, Win+2, Win+3 and so on to launch each application. For example, on my machine, Win+3 launches Notepad and Win+6 launches the VS command prompt. This works no matter what application has the focus. More coolness coming your way soon, courtesy of Windows Vista! Tim Sn…

You pride yourself in the responsibility of having full and absolute control over your machine environment and anything that comes between that perfect human-machine symbiosis is to be spurned. If only there were a way to turn User Account Control off on a Windows Vista machine, you'd upgrade immediately. Well, dear reader, I'm here to help. Firstly, it's worth a brief digression into the benefits of this feature. Running as admin is a bad thing, as most of us know. Aaron Margosis has blogged extensively on this issue, and I won't rehash it here. But for reasons of compatibility, running as a standard user can still be a somewhat painful proposition. Windows Vista attempt…

Go to: Start > Run = " control userpasswords2 " select administrator account, click reset password (input new pass) / Click Ok Open Registry editor and create this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList Create "DWORD (32bit) Value" Value Name: Administrator Value Data: 1 or -Right Click Computer Icon Select Manage -Expand The Local User And Groups -Rename the administartor account to match the name in the reg file, you can also just leave the name the same for the admin, but the name must match the reg file. This is a easier a way, change the "PLACE_NEW_NAME_OR_ADMINISTARTOR_NAME_HERE" to the name you wa…