Posted by Mitch on Aug 23, 2010 under Windows Tips |
The Windows Installer Cleanup Utility has saved me many times. Applications sometimes leave behind references even after you’ve ran the uninstaller. These references sometimes cause issues when you try to reinstall the app. That’s where this handy utility comes in to remove those references from the filesystem and registry. The utility still applies many years after it was released and even gets rid of installer references for Microsoft Office 2010. For some unknown reason though, this utility disappeared from Microsoft’s web site. Luckily I salvaged a copy. Enjoy!
Download the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility
Note: If you wish to link to this utility, please link to this page, not the direct file. I appreciate it!
Posted by Donny D. on May 07, 2010 under Windows 7 Tips, Windows Tips |
Windows 7 has built in capabilities for burning CD and DVD ISO images without using any software at all. All you have to do is double click on any ISO file and it will pop up a handy little image burning application. No more need for shareware apps for burning images, unless you really want them.
Posted by Donny D. on May 07, 2010 under Windows 7 Tips, Windows Tips, Windows Vista Tips |
Windows 7 and Vista both have an option for you geeks out there that love your command prompt. If you hold down Shift while right clicking any folder, you will see the Open Command Prompt option. When you do this it will open the command prompt with that folder blinking ready for your commands.
Posted by Donny D. on May 03, 2010 under Windows 7 Tips, Windows Tips |
In Windows 7, defrag is typically setup to run automatically at least once a week. To run a manual defrag, or to change the schedule of disk defragmenter, click Start and type Disk Defragmenter, then hit Enter. From here you can click Configure Schedule to change when the defrag runs, or just click Defragment Disk to run a manual defrag.
Posted by Mitch on May 02, 2010 under Software Tips, Windows Tips |
Every time I install a new version of iTunes, the icon on my Start menu throws an error.
This action is only valid for products that are currently installed.
I started thinking that iTunes just wouldn’t start most of the time. It turns out that it’s only a problem with the icon. To solve the problem, do the following steps.
1. Right-click on the icon and select Delete.
2. Navigate to another icon. You can usually find another one on your desktop or in the folder where the program is located. In this case, I navigated to C:\Program Files\iTunes and right-clicked on the iTunes.exe icon > Send to > Desktop (create shortcut)
Now there was a new shortcut on the Desktop I can use to launch iTunes just fine.
Posted by Donny D. on Apr 27, 2010 under Windows 7 Tips, Windows Tips |
Some people like the new changes in the Windows 7 taskbar, but you can’t please everyone all the time. If you want to change it to look more like the Vista taskbar you’re used to, then do the following:
- Right click on the taskbar and select Properties.
- Check the box labeled Use small icons.
- Under the taskbar buttons section choose Combine when taskbar is full.
Now you should have a taskbar that looks much more like the Vista taskbar. It’s not identical, but it’s very similar.
Posted by Donny D. on Apr 27, 2010 under Windows 7 Tips, Windows Tips |
Windows 7 has some great new features, like docking, and maximizing vertically without maximizing horizontally. Most of these functions have a keyboard shortcut as well.
- Windows Key + Left Arrow: Dock Left
- Windows Key + Right Arrow: Dock Right
- Windows Key + Up Arrow: Maximize
- Windows Key + Down Arrow: Minimize
- Windows Key + Shift + Up Arrow: Maximize vertical size (not horizontal)
- Windows Key + Shift + Left Arrow: Move window to left monitor (dual screen only)
- Windows Key + Shift + Right Arrow: Move window to right monitor (dual screen only)
- Windows Key + Space Bar: Show any gadgets or icons currently on your desktop
- Windows Key + T: Switch focus to the taskbar. Use left/right arrow keys to scroll through open applications, press Enter to select the application you want to bring up.
- Windows Key + Home: All of your windows except your current active window will minimize to the task bar, hit again to bring them all back.
Posted by Mitch on Oct 23, 2009 under Windows Tips |
Today I was trying to map a network drive on my computer. I right-clicked the folder and selected Map Network Drive. After selecting the drive letter I wanted, I clicked OK and got the following error message.
The mapped network drive could not be created because the following error has occurred:
Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again.
Clicking OK yielded another error.
The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password. To connect using a different user name and password, first disconnect any existing mappings to this network share.
Hmm. I didn’t think I had any mapped drives. I checked My Computer. Nope, no mapped drives there. I then went to Start > Run and typed net use. I had a mapping showing there, but it wasn’t assigned a drive letter. I had to delete the resource using the command net use /delete \\servername\foldername
I tried to map the drive, and it worked! Amazing how you still need DOS to figure things out easily sometimes.
See Also: Windows: The Network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password
Posted by Mitch on Aug 24, 2009 under Windows Tips |
I’m tired of getting notifications in Windows that there is a Java update available. I set out on a mission to disable this annoying message.
1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Java icon.
3. Click the Updates tab.
4. Uncheck the box for Check for Updates Automatically.
5. Click Never Check.
6. Click OK.
Posted by Mitch on Aug 22, 2009 under Windows Tips |
When installing applications that rely on MDAC, you may have a need to know the version of MDAC that is currently installed on the PC. There are a couple of ways you can find out.
Method 1
1. Download and install the MDAC Component Checker.
2. Run the application from C:\CompChecker\CC.exe.
Method 2.
1. Hold down the Windows Key and press R.
2. Type regedit and click OK.
3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ DataAccess \ FullInstallVersion
The version will be under FullInstallVer and Version.
Posted by Mitch on Aug 16, 2009 under Windows Tips |
If you have a need to restart another computer on a network in Safe Mode via command line or a batch file, you can use the following:
shutdown -r -f -m \\computername -t 30
computername = the computer name of the computer
30 is the number of seconds before it will restart.
Posted by Mitch on Aug 10, 2009 under Windows Tips |
You can shut down a Windows computer remotely over a network using commands. This comes in handy for me when I don’t have the energy to go all the way downstairs to shut my desktop computer off. So I use my laptop from the upstairs bedroom to send the following command via Start > Run.
shutdown /m \\computername -f -s
You can also add -t 60 to give tell it to shut down in 60 seconds. You can replace the 60 with the amount of seconds you wish. Perfect for when you’re trying to send the message to your child to wrap it up and go to bed.
As a note, you need to be logged into an account that has administrator rights to the computer you are shutting down.
I put a DVD in my drive and only the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folder appeared. It didn’t Autorun the DVD. Sure, I could just go to Start > Programs > Windows Media Player and play it there. But I’m lazy and I want it to Auto Play.
To make a video DVD automatically play when you insert it into the drive, you can perform the following steps:
1. Open My Computer/Computer.
2. Right click on the DVD drive.
3. Select Properites.
4. Click the AutoPlay tab.
5. In the dropdown, select DVD movie.
6. Select the radio button for Select an action to perform.
7. Select Play DVD movie using Windows Media Player.
8. Click OK.
Posted by Mitch on Jun 18, 2009 under Windows Tips |
Using a simple command you can quickly view all of the folders that are shared on your computer over the network. Just go to a command prompt and type:
net share
You will then get a list with the name of the share and where on your hard drive the resource is located.
Posted by Mitch on Jun 16, 2009 under Windows Tips |
A friend contacted me wanting to know how to find out where the login.bat file is in Windows Server 2008. Although I am not all that familiar with Server 2008, I knew the old path used with Windows 2000 and 2003 used to be:
C:\windows\sysvol\sysvol\<domain name>\scripts
You can also find out this information by typing the following command:
net share netlogon
You will then get the path of where your scripts directory is located.
Posted by Mitch on May 30, 2009 under Windows Tips, Windows XP Tips |
You may encounter a problem in Windows XP or Windows 2000 where you canot open Help (HLP) files. When you try, you get an error:
Cannot open the file: mk:@MSITStore:<help file path>
To solve this issue, perform the following steps:
1. Click Start > Run
2. Type regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\hhctrl.ocx itss.dll and click OK.
The files should register sucessfully, and you should be able to open help files.
Posted by Mitch on May 17, 2009 under Windows Tips |
If you have to search for certain registry keys by keyword using REGEDIT, it can take forever. Luckily there are tools available that do it faster.
For the past few years, I have used Registry Crawler. You get a 30 day trial, then you will have to pay for it.
If you have a problem with paying for software, RegAlyzer does a nice job. I don’t like the interface in RegAlyzer as much as with Registry Crawler, but it does the job just the same.
Is the Send To > Mail Recipient missing when you right-click on a JPG image file.
To fix it, some changes in the registry need to be made:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg]
@=”jpegfile”
“PerceivedType”=”image”
“Content Type”=”image/jpeg”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\OpenWithProgids]
“jpegfile”=hex(0):
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\PersistentHandler]
@=”{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\UndoClass]
@=”jpegfile”
To import these settings into your Windows registry, download and open this file.
Posted by Mitch on Apr 21, 2009 under Windows Tips |
Make a shortcut that you can double-click on to send a chat to a GoogleTalk contact.
1. Right-click on the desktop and select New > Shortcut.
2. For Type the location of the item, type:
gtalk:chat?jid=username@gmail.com
3. Click Next, and give the shortcut a name. Click Finish when done.
See also: Google Talk Contact Shortcuts
Posted by Mitch on Apr 04, 2009 under Windows Tips |
A co-worker of mine didn’t know how to take a screenshot of their screen using Windows. Even some techies never learn how. Here are the steps:
1. Position the screen as desired.
2. If you want to capture the entire screen, press the Print Screen button, usually located toward the upper-right corner of the keyboard. If you want to capture just what is in a window or single program, click once on that window, then hold down ALT while pressing Print Screen.
3. Flip over to the application where you would like to use your captured screen. You can go to Edit and Paste the image into a document or email.
If you wish to just save it as an image, open the Paint program or other image editing software. You can then Paste the image there and save the image.
If you wish to get a screen shot of a portion of the screen, there are third party programs that do this like Snagit or Greenshot.
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