You might be tired of having to hit CTRL+ALT+Delete and login with your username and password every time Windows Vista decides to hibernate or go to sleep. You can disable it from prompting you for this information though.

1. Open Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Power Options.

2. Click Change plan settings for the plan that is selected.

3. Click the Change advanced power settings link.

4. Click Change settings that are not currently available.

5. Under the Power Options and Advanced Settings tab, click the plus sign next to Additional settings.

6. Click the plus sign next to Request a password on wakeup.

7. Change the value to No for On battery and/or Plugged in.

8. Click OK.

When you boot up your computer, you get the following error:

The instruction at 0×745f2780 referenced memory at 0×00000000. The memory could not be read.

To try to solve this issue, try the following steps:

1. Hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard and press R.

2. Type regsvr32 wuapi.dll /s and click OK.

3. Repeat step 2, but substitute wuapi.dll with the following filenames instead:

atl.dll
wuaueng.dll
wuaueng1.dll
wucltui.dll
wups.dll
wups2.dll
wuweb.dll

4. Hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard and press R.

5. Type net stop WuAuServ and click OK.

6. Hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard and press R.

7. Type %windir% and click OK.

8. Right-click the folder SoftwareDistribution and select Rename. Rename it to SDold.

9. Hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard and press R.

10. Type net start WuAuServ and click OK.

You’re done! Hopefully this error doesn’t bother you anymore when you start your computer.

In Windows XP or Windows Vista, the My Documents folder is missing from the My Computer view.

To fix this problem try the following steps:

1. Hold down the Windows key and press R.

2. Type regedit and click OK.

3. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then Software
then Microsoft
then Windows
then CurrentVersion
then Explorer

4. Right click on the DocFolderPaths entry and click New > String Value.

5. Give the string value the username you use to login to Windows.

6. Set the Value data to the path to where the My Documents folder belongs. It would be C:\Documents and Settings\Windows username. Click OK.

Disable the annoying message in Windows XP and Windows Vista that says:

This page has an unspecified potential security risk

You can receive this message when you access a file on a network resource.

In order to disable this message, you have to add the UNC path to the server where the files are stored to your trusted sites in Internet Options within Internet Explorer. Here’s how:

1. Open Internet Explorer and click Tools > Internet Options.

2. Click the Security tab.

3. Click Trusted Sites.

4. Click Default Level.

5. Set the Allowed levels for this zone to Low.

6. Click Sites. Read more… »

When installing Windows XP or Windows Vista. You get a blue screen of death error:

STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}

The most likely cause of this is the hard drive is damaged and must be repaired. CHKDSK /R will need to be run to try to repair it. To do so, try the following steps:

1. Boot the computer with your Windows installation disc.

2. When you are prompted to select Repair or Recover, press R.

3. Type the Administrator password when prompted.

4. At the command prompt, type CHKDSK /R, and then press Enter.

5. Read the results, and then take any steps that you must take to complete the process. You may need to run CHKDSK /F instead to fix the problem.

6. Restart the computer, and see if Windows works now.

If this didn’t fix the problem, you may have to replace the hard drive.

How to prevent Windows Update from downloading and installing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 automatically.

1. Hold down the Windows Key and press R.

2. Type regedit and click OK.

3. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then Software
then Policies
then Microsoft
then Windows
then click WindowsUpdate

4. Look for an entry on the right side for DoNotAllowSP. If it doesn’t exist, you will need to create it. To do so, right-click on WindowsUpdate and select New > DWORD Value. Give the value a name of DoNotAllowSP. Press the Enter key when you are done.

5. Right-click the DoNotAllowSP entry and click Modify.

6. Set the Value data to 1 and click OK.

Now Windows Vista Service Packs will not be allowed to install automatically.

How to clear the browser cache on your BlackBerry device.

1. While in the browser, press the Menu key.

2. Click Options.

3. Click Cache Operations.

4. Next to a cache type, click Clear.

If any of the System Icons such as the Speaker, Network, or Power icons are missing from the Taskbar Notification Area (Systray) in Windows Vista or Windows XP, try the following steps to try to bring them back.

1. Open Regedit by holding down the Windows Key and press the R key. Type regedit in the box and click OK.

2. Click My Computer on the top left side.

3. Click Edit > Find.

4. Type iconstreams and click Find.

5. If Regedit finds an entry named iconstreams, press the Delete button on your keyboard to delete it.

6. Press the F3 key on your keyboard to continue searching the registry. If Regedit finds any additional entries, delete those as well.

7. Repeat steps 2 through 6, only this time instead of searching for iconstreams, search for PastIconStreams instead, and delete any of those entries.

8. Close the registry editor and restart the computer. See if your System icons have reappeared in the Taskbar Notification Area (Systray).

See also: Systray icons missing

How to enable or disable the Network icon in the Notification Area or Systray in Windows Vista.

1. Right-click on a blank area of the Taskbar.

2. Click Properties.

3. Click the Notification Area tab.

4. Under System Icons, put a check in the box for Network to enable the network icon in the Systray or uncheck it to disable it.

5. Click OK.

How to enable or disable the power icon in the Notification Area or Systray in Windows Vista.

1. Right-click on a blank area of the Taskbar.

2. Click Properties.

3. Click the Notification Area tab.

4. Under System Icons, put a check in the box for Power to enable the power icon in the Systray or uncheck it to disable it.

5. Click OK.

How to enable or disable the clock in the Notification Area or Systray in Windows Vista.

1. Right-click on a blank area of the Taskbar.

2. Click Properties.

3. Click the Notification Area tab.

4. Under System Icons, put a check in the box for Clock to enable the speaker icon in the Systray or uncheck it to disable it.

5. Click OK.

If the Clock is missing from the Notification Area or Systray in Windows Vista, a registry entry may be the problem. First ensure that you have tried to, enable the clock. If that doesn’t work, try the following fix:

1. Hold down the Windows key and press R.

2. Type regedit and click OK.

3. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then Software
then Microsoft
then Windows
then CurrentVersion
then Policies
then click Explorer

4. Look for an entry on the right side for HideClock. Right-click the entry and Delete it.

Read more… »

If the Power icon is missing from the Notification Area or Systray in Windows Vista, a registry change could fix the issue. First make sure you’ve tried to change the setting to enable or disable the Power Icon. If that doesn’t work, try the following fix:

1. Hold down the Windows key and press R.

2. Type regedit and click OK.

3. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then Software
then Microsoft
then Windows
then CurrentVersion
then Policies
then click Explorer

4. Look for an entry on the right side for HideSCAPower. Right-click the entry and Delete it.

Read more… »

To connect to a nonbroadcasting wireless network, follow these steps:

1. Click on the network icon [] in the task bar.

2. Select Connect or disconnect…

3. Select Setup a connection or network.

4. Select Manually connect to a wireless network.

5. Enter Network name > select Security type > Encryption type > Security Key/Passphrase.

6. Be sure to leave Start this connection automatically unchecked!

7. Check Connect even if the network is not broadcasting.

Some Windows Vista users have experienced a problem viewing Gadgets. They sometimes appear as a blank black or white box. For some users, going to Java.com and downloading then reinstalling Java seems to work. If that doesn’t work, try the following steps.

1. Click Start > Run and type cmd.

2. Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter. (elevates rights)

3. Press Alt + C to close the User Account Control dialog.

4. Type cd c:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar

5. Type the following and press enter after each line.

regsvr32 -u sbdrop.dll
regsvr32 -u wlsrvc.dll
regsvr32 atl.dll
regsvr32 sbdrop.dll
regsvr32 wlsrvc.dll

See also:
Run a Command as Administrator from the Windows Vista Run box

Vista sidebar gadgets won’t view