ED's COMPUTER TIPS




supered55@hotmail.com




Alter settings and customise your computer in  WINDOWS 95/98/ME/XP/Vista
some changes are not applicable to Win XP and Vista

 

OPENING THE REGISTRY

Click on the START button on the taskbar
Select RUN
Type REGEDIT
Click on OK button


In WinVista

Click on the START globe on the taskbar
Click on ALL PROGRAMS link
Click on ACCESSORIES folder
Click on RUN
Type REGEDIT



INTERNET EXPLORER 7 - SECURITY WARNING IN WIN VISTA

If you alter any default security settings in IE7 in Win Vista, you will see the following page every time you open a web page



To disable this, In the registry, go to;

HKCU \ SOFTWARE \ POLICIES \ MICROSOFT \ INTERNET EXPLORER \ SECURITY

Note: create the Internet Explorer and Security keys if they don't exist


Create these two DWORDs in the SECURITY key and set them as 1

• DisableFixSecuritySettings
• DisableSecuritySettingsCheck

Close and reopen IE



INTERNET EXPLORER 6 - PREVENT THE INFORMATION BAR FROM BEING DISPLAYED

When you visit a site which uses the automatic download prompt, the Information bar appears instead of the download window.

To disable this,

Open Internet Explorer.
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
On the Security tab, click Custom Level.
In the Downloads section of the list, under Automatic prompting for file downloads, click Enable.


To turn off the Information Bar for ActiveX controls,

In the ActiveX controls and plug-ins section of the list, under Automatic prompting for ActiveX controls, click Enable.



CHANGING THE START BUTTON TEXT IN WINDOWS MILLENNIUM

1. Go to C:\WINDOWS
2. Copy EXPLORER.EXE to another folder
3. Open EXPLORER. EXE with a Hex editor
4. Find START, if you go to 33DDE (The number on the left side of the editor) it should be there,
    but make sure the text following START says;

THERE WAS AN INTERNAL ERROR AND ONE OF THE WINDOWS YOU WERE USING HAS BEEN CLOSED.

This is the correct START text.

5. Alter the text save the changes and exit the Hex editor.
6. Enter DOS replace EXPLORER.EXE with the altered version and your text will have changed.



RECYCLE BIN RENAME OPTION

This creates a rename option in the right click menu

In the registry, go to;

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ CLSID \ [645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E] \ ShellFolder

Change the ATTRIBUTES key to   50 01 00 20 - This puts a Rename option in the right click menu
Change the ATTRIBUTES key to   70 01 00 20 - This puts a Rename and Delete option in the right click menu

For WIN XP
Also change the CALL FOR ATTRIBUTES key to 00



STOP WINDOWS CHECKING FLOPPY DRIVE ON STARTUP

Right click on My Computer
Click properties
Click performance
Click file system
Click Floppy Disc Tab
Untick appropriate box



STOP WINDOWS SCANNING HARD DRIVE AFTER BAD SHUTDOWN

Not applicable to WINXP

Click START / RUN
Type   msconfig   in dialogue box
Click OK
Click ADVANCED button
Tick appropriate box



WINDOWS PRODUCT KEY

In the registry go to;

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ MICROSOFT \ WINDOWS \ CURRENT VERSION

The Product Key is in the right hand pane



SYSTEM INFORMATION

Click on   START / RUN   type   msinfo32



HEADPHONES, NO SOUND

If you plug headphones into your CDRW and cannot hear any music, try the following;

Right click on MY COMPUTER
Click on PROPERTIES
Click on DEVICE MANAGER Tab
Click the plus sign next to your CDRW entry
Highlight your CDRW
Click on the PROPERTIES BUTTON
Click on the PROPERTIES tab
Untick the ENABLE DIGITAL CD AUDIO box



USER DATA PERSISTENCE

User Data Persistence was developed to offer the ability to "persist" information which also lets
you retain style and state beyond a single web page.
User Data Persistence appeared in MS IE 5.0 and is not as well known or as easily managed
as cookies but it allows web sites to store information from your system.

Disable User Data Persistence

Open Internet Explorer
From the Toolbar, click on;

TOOLS / INTERNET OPTIONS, SECURITY tab

Highlight the INTERNET icon (It's the Globe amongst the four icons at the top of the box in WINME)
Click on CUSTOM LEVEL button
Untick USER DATA PERSISTENCE



CHANGE WINDOWS STARTUP SCREEN

Open your paint programme
Click on FILE / OPEN / LOCAL DRIVE(C:)
Open LOGO.SYS (its a bitmap image not a system file)
Change it to what you like, save it
Don't alter the size of the file



REMOVE NETWORK NEIGHBOURHOOD ICON

In the registry, go to;

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ SOFTWARE \ MICROSOFT \ WINDOWS \ CURRENT VERSION \ POLICIES \ EXPLORER

Select NEW from the edit option
Click DWORD to create a new entry
Name it   NoNetHood   set the value to 1 and reboot
To restore the icon change the value to 0



CREATE A BACKUP REGISTRY FILE

Click Start
Click Run
Type in   regedit
Click OK
Highlight   My Computer
Click the Registry menu at the top and select Export Registry File
Name the file   backup   and save it to your Desktop.
Should you encounter problems, locate the "backup" file on your Desktop and double-click it.
Select Yes and your registry will be restored.



METAL BRIEFCASE

This Registry tweak allows you to change the briefcase icon to a metal briefcase,

Start Regedit and go to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ CLSID \ {85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D} \ DefaultIcon

It should show syncui.dll,0 change it to syncui.dll,1

Syncui.dll (located in C:\Windows\System) stores several icons but only 2 of them are briefcases,
Icon 0 represents the brown briefcase (default)
Icon 1 represents the metal (aluminium) briefcase.
Close Regedit and reboot.



WINDOWS PASSWORD

Stop people bypassing WINME password by clicking ok or cancel

Open the registry, go to;

HKEY LOCAL MACHINE \ Network \ Logon

Make Binary Value called   mustbevalidated
Set value to 01



CHANGE DESKTOP ICON SIZE

Open the Registry; go to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ Windows Metrics

Create a new value ( If it doesn't already exist ) named 'Shell Icon Size'
Set the value, or modify the existing value, to equal the size of your icons in pixels.
Smaller values = smaller icons.
The default size=32



REMOVE DESKTOP SHORTCUT ARROWS

Open the registry, go to;

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Piffile and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ lnkfile

Change the text   IsShortcut  to  IsNotShortcut
Reboot the computer



FIND YOUR IP / NETWORK CARD ADDRESS

Every machine on the Internet has a unique identifying number, called an IP(Internet Protocol) Address
A typical IP address looks like this: 216.27.61.137

Most broadband connections have DYNAMIC addresses which means they change each time the computer is rebooted.
STATIC addresses stay the same.


To find your IP address in WIN 9x/ME;

Click START / RUN and type   winipcfg


To find the addresses of any Network Cards on your computer,

Click on START / PROGRAMS / ACCESSORIES / MS DOS PROMPT

Type IPCONFIG and press the ENTER key


To find your IP address in WINXP;

Click   START / RUN   type   command   and then type   ipconfig and press enter



REMOVE ACTIVEX WARNING DIALOGUE BOX

If your security settings in Internet Explorer are set to disable ActiveX controls you will keep getting an
irritating dialogue warning box.
The following instructions will greatly reduce this, you will occasionally get an ActiveX script warning
dialogue box but nothing like as frequently.

On the Internet Explorer toolbar click on;

TOOLS / INTERNET OPTIONS, SECURITY tab
Highlight the Internet Icon (globe icon)
Click the Custom Level Button

Set the following radio buttons;

Download Signed ActiveX Controls - ENABLE
Download Unsigned ActiveX Controls - DISABLE
Initialise and Script ActiveX Controls Not Marked as Safe - DISABLE
Run ActiveX Controls and Plugins - ENABLE
Script ActiveX Controls Marked Safe for Scripting - DISABLE

Enabling the safe ActiveX controls stops the Dialogue Box appearing.
Disabling the SCRIPT ACTIVEX CONTROLS MARKED SAFE FOR SCRIPTING box stops them from being
used and drastically reduces the times the dialogue box appears.



REMOVE SURPLUS DRIVERS

Boot into safe mode


How to boot into Safe Mode

Start your computer
Press F8 when STARTING WINDOWS dialogue appears or Manufacturers Logo appears.
A menu will appear, select SAFE MODE
If this doesn't work consult your computer handbook.
If you can't do this, click on;

START / RUN  type  msconfig (Win98/ME only)
On the GENERAL tab, click on the ADVANCED button
Tick the box  ENABLE STARTUP MENU
Reboot computer

Your computer will boot to the startup menu until the box is unchecked-
---------------------------------------

When you are in Safe Mode;

On the desktop right click on MY COMPUTER click on PROPERTIES select DEVICE MANAGER tab.(Win95/98/ME)
Click on START / CONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM / HARDWARE (WinXP)
Click on the plus sign next to each device and remove the drivers for any Device which is not installed on your computer.

This will help your computer to boot faster.



REDUCE INTERNET DIAL- UP CONNECTION TIME

For Dial Up connections
You may be able to reduce the time it takes to connect to your Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Go to the Dial-Up Networking Connection that you use (look in the control panel),
Right click and select Properties.
Then on the Server Types tab, untick the Log On to Network option.
You should then verify that you can still connect.

Most ISP's don't use this setting and it can take up to 60 seconds to time out.



BIOS CREATION DATE

To find the date your BIOS (Basic Input Output System) was created

Open the registry and go to;

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ ENUM \ ROOT \ PNP0C01 \ 0000



CHANGE TOOLBAR COLOUR

With Internet Explorer 4 or higher installed you can define a bitmap to be displayed behind your toolbars in
explorer and internet explorer:

Open the registry, go to;

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Internet Explorer \ Toolbar

Highlight TOOLBAR and in the right hand panel right click and add a new string value called   BackBitmap
Right click on it and choose MODIFY
Specify the path to your bitmap (for example; C:\WINDOWS\newcolour.bmp) and close.



COMPUTER KEEPS ASKING ME TO DIAL UP

After setting up a Broadband connection some PC's may still ask to dial up to the Internet when Outlook Express
or Internet Explorer are open.
To stop this happening follow the steps below:


Outlook Express

Open Outlook Express (cancel any error messages or dialogue boxes that appear)
Click on TOOLS / ACCOUNTS
Select the MAIL tab in the box that appears.
Highlight your Internet Service Provider (ISP) account name and click on PROPERTIES
Click on the CONNECTION tab
Remove the tick from the   ALWAYS CONNECT TO THIS ACCOUNT USING  box
Click on APPLY and OK buttons
Repeat this step for all e-mail accounts set up on the PC


Internet Explorer

Open Internet Explorer (cancel any error message or dialogues boxes that appear)
Click on TOOLS / INTERNET OPTIONS
Select the CONNECTION tab
Ensure the NEVER DIAL A CONNECTION radio Button is checked
Click on the APPLY and OK buttons



BROWSING PROBLEMS - BROADBAND CONNECTION

Try this option if you are having connection problems

Open Internet Explorer
Click on TOOLS / INTERNET OPTIONS
On the GENERAL tab click on the DELETE FILES BUTTON (XP Users click on DELETE COOKIES) tick the box and click OK
On the CONNECTION tab click on the LAN Settings button
Ensure there is a tick in the AUTOMATICALLY DETECT SETTINGS box
Remove ticks from any other options currently selected
Click on APPLY and OK


Slow Connection Speeds

USB v Network (ethernet) card

A network (ethernet) cards only function is to allow computers to connect to the internet and connect them
together (network) and share files / printers.
USB on the other hand has many functions. If you are using USB to connect your computer to the modem you will require
a minimum of 80% system resources to be able to achieve optimum browsing and download speeds.

System resource availability is dependent upon the number of tasks the computer is being asked to perform at any one time.
Certain non-essential programs load as soon as the PC starts and will consume resources without your knowledge. You can
help this by closing down all unnecessary applications.

Using USB you can expect a greater fluctuation in speed than someone with the same machine using a network card which
is rarely affected by these problems being far less reliant on the system resources previously mentioned.


Error 403 Forbidden Message

Error 403 Forbidden Message relates to what is known as a proxy being set by another Internet provider.

To resolve this,

Open Internet Explorer, click on TOOLS / INTERNET OPTIONS, CONNECTIONS tab
Click the LAN settings button and take the tick out of USE PROXY SERVER box
Also, tick the AUTOMATICALLY DETECT SETTINGS box

Netscape users should click on;

EDIT / PREFERENCES / ADVANCED / PROXIES

Ensure that you have selected a Direct connection to the Internet



CHECK ACTIVE INTERNET CONNECTIONS

To see what connections your computer has to the internet, click on;

START / PROGRAMS / ACCESSORIES / MS DOS PROMPT

Type  netstat  at the prompt, press ENTER key



CLEAR THE BROWSER CACHE

If you find changes to web pages you've uploaded are taking a long time to show or you want to be
sure you are seeing the latest version of a web page

Hold CTRL + F5 (for Internet Explorer)   SHIFT + F5 (for Mozilla) to force the latest page to be shown.



BLANK PAGES WITH Internet Explorer 6

I had a problem with IE6 showing a blank page when I tried to view some stats on a secure webpage.
Enabling META REFRESH cured this problem.

Open Internet Explorer
Click on TOOLS / INTERNET OPTIONS
Click on the SECURITY tab
Highlight the INTERNET icon (globe icon)
Click on CUSTOM LEVEL button
Scroll down to META REFRESH and click on the ENABLE radio button



DESKTOP ICONS KEEP REDRAWING

Increase the size of the Icon cache

Open the registry and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer

On the toolbar Click on:

EDIT / NEW / STRING VALUE

Call the string:
Max Cached Icons

Give it a value of 2000 or higher if you like
Exit the registry



DVD PLAYER - NO CONTROL PANEL ICON

WIN XP ONLY

PROBLEM
Your DVD player has a yellow mark next to it in device manager and In the properties is the following message:

Windows successfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device (code 41)

Also the DVD icon doesn't appear in Control Panel


ANSWER
Open the registry and go to

HKLM \ SYSTEM \ CURRENTCONTROLSET \ CONTROL \ CLASS \ {4D36E 965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Locate the UpperFilters, note its value, and then delete it
Locate the LowerFilters, note its value, and then delete it
NOTE: Only one of the above values may exist
Exit regedit

The following may not be necessary (check Contriol Panel for DVD icon)
Go to Device Manager
Right click on the optical drive(s) displaying the error and select Uninstall
After Device Manager has refreshed, select   Action - scan for hardware changes
Reboot computer



MSN MESSENGER SIGNS ME OUT WHEN I OPEN MY HOTMAIL INBOX

If you open your Hotmail inbox and a message pops up saying that you have
signed in on another computer, do the following:

Open your Hotmail inbox
Above the toolbar it says Messenger (see picture below)
Click on small black arrow next to messenger



Click on Messenger options in the drop down menu

Untick the following box:

If I am not already signed into MSN Messenger, automatically sign me into Web Messenger when I sign in to Hotmail

Click OK




ADOBE SHOCKWAVE DOESN'T WORK

If Adobe Shockwave doesn't work (you get a black screen)
or nothing happens when you try to download Shockwave, do the following:

Open the registry and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility

and check if the following Registry file is listed - {166B1BCA-3F9C-11CF-8075-444553540000}

If this file is listed then delete it as this is stopping Shockwave from working.




INTERNET EXPLORER WON'T DISPLAY MULTIPLE WEB PAGES

for example:
You have a web page open and click on a shortcut and Internet Explorer closes your open
web page and opens the shortcut page,
do the following:

On the Internet Explorer tool bar click on TOOLS / INTERNET OPTIONS
Click on the ADVANCED tab
Under the BROWSING heading untick the following box:

Reuse windows for launching shortcuts

Click the APPLY and OK buttons




MISSING SYSTEM TRAY ICONS - WIN XP

If some Icons are missing from the System Tray(next to the desktop clock), try this;

Open   CONTROL PANEL
Click on   ADD / REMOVE PROGRAMMES
On the left side click on   ADD / REMOVE WINDOWS COMPONENTS
Highlight   NETWORKING SERVICES
Click on the   DETAILS   button
Untick the box   UPnP USER INTERFACE
Click on   OK.


For your info this is a list of the items in my Windows Components

Accessories and Utilities - Tick Box
Fax Services - Untick Box
Indexing Service - Tick Box
Internet Explorer - Tick Box
Management and Monitoring Tools - Untick Box
MSN Explorer - Tick Box
Networking Services - Tick Box
Other Network File and Print Services - Untick
Outlook Express - Tick
Update Root Certificates - Tick Box
Windows Media Player - Tick Box Windows Messenger - Tick Box




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Last updated - August 22nd 2008