Windows

[Tip] Create A Lock Down Computer Shortcut

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Lockdown my PC

We have previously covered how to create desktop shortcuts for shutdown and hibernation here at Techrena. Many readers of our site found them to be useful. We thought like when we could have shortcuts for shutting down and hibernation, why can’t we have shortcut for locking the computer user ? To begin with, if you don’t know yet, there is a much simpler Win + L (press Start key while holding “L” button your keyboard) shortcut already available to do the same and is easier as well.

We are just writing this tip to let you know that you can create shortcut for locking down your computer as well. It’s up to you to use this or the most preferred Win + L short key. Follow the steps below to add the shortcut to your desktop.

1. Right-click on your desktop (on any blank area) and select New > Shortcut.

create new shortcut

2. Type rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation in the “Type the location of the item” filed in the window and click next.

Type shortcut location

3. Give a name to the shortcut (something like Lockdown My PC) and click “Finish” to complete the setup.

Lockdown shortcut name

4. Now the shortcut for locking down your computer appears on desktop. You can even customize it by adding some colourful icon to it.

Lockdown shortcut on desktop

Clicking on it will lockdown the computer. This works well on Windows XP, Windows Vista and even on Windows 7. You need to login back to your computer by providing your credentials if you need to unlock it again. Of course I still prefer to use Win + L shortcut (to which I got used much to) than this, anyway it’s always good to explore and find new things, even if they had alternatives Smile.

[How To] Install WordPress On Your Local Computer

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wordpress logo

Are you a web developer or admin of a network of blogs with WordPress as CMS? Want to test some new features offline before implementing them on your original server online ?

If your answer is “yes” to the above questions, perhaps you have landed on the right page. WordPress is an amazing Content Management System for blogs and it makes everything easy even for not so tech-savvy people. However if you own blogs, you might well be knowing the importance of testing the features like testing some enhancements to your current themes, testing plugins or even testing some third-party scripts on your WordPress blog. At Techrena, which is set to become a network of blogs sooner or later, we understand the importance of this testing. We do a lot of testing on our local computers before finally taking them online. We thought it would be useful if we share how actually we do this kind of testing on our local systems using WordPress. Here we are coming up with a detailed tutorial on installing WordPress on localhost via two methods.

1. Using Xampp Server

2. Using IIS server (on Windows only)

Before we start, while we try to give every detail while posting this please do note that in some cases, we do take things for granted in the sense that we assume that you know some basic things if not more. Let’s get started…

Using Xampp Server:

Requirements: i) PHP latest version (check here) ii) MySQL Database latest version (check here)

Although, PHP 4.3+ version and MySQL 4+ version is sufficient enough to run WordPress, we recommended you to use the latest versions always. One good thing with WordPress is that, it always notifies users when their database version is outdated. So this helps you keeping the updated database version.

Step 1:

Download the XAMPP local server. Run the installer and make sure that the XAMPP server is running on your tray.

Step 2:

Open the XAMPP Control Panel from the system tray, check the first box (Apache) and click on the “Start” button to start the Apache web server on your local machine.

Xampp control panel start Apache

Step 3:

Now that the local server has been installed we are now left with installing WordPress on our server. Download the latest WordPress zip file and extract the “WordPress” folder to the htdocs folder inside the “xampp” server installation folder.

htdocs in xamppWordPress in htdocs

Step 4:

Now you need to create a database table which can be used by WordPress. Go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin/ and create a new database. If you are not able to login to the phpMyAdmin page, go to http://localhost/security/xamppsecurity.php page and edit the MySql SuperUser details and try again.

Enter the new database name (something like “wordpress”) and click “Create” and the new database will be created. Now we need to notify WordPress about this database in the next step.

New database in phpMyAdmin

Step 5:

Go to WordPress folder and open the file called “wp-config-sample.php” in any text editor.

editing wp-config-sample.php file

Make the changes to the file and rename it as “wp-config.php” and close the editor.

Step 6:

Now type http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php (the path of the URL may change depending on what name you chose for site or the name of the folder under “htdocs”)

WordPress install page

Choose your local WordPress blog title and leave your email address in there start page and click “Install WordPress”. You will now be given username and password to login to your new blog.

2. Using IIS Server:


Microsoft has made it easier to install WordPress on your Windows based computer just like installing Windows apps, all you need to do is to do a few clicks.

Requirement: You need to enable and run IIS server on your computer.  Read our tutorial on how to activate IIS on your computer.

Step 1:

Download and run Microsoft Web Platform Installer. This is a free software from Microsoft developed to make installing web apps easy for Windows users.

Step 2:

Go to Web Applications > Blogs > click “Most Popular”, select “WordPress” and click Install button. Other tools that are required by  WordPress like PHP and MySQL will automatically be included in the download. You need to accept the licence agreement and then proceed to the download. The total download size should be less than 90 MB in most cases.

Web platform installer for wordpress

Step 3:

Once the download and installation gets over, you will be asked to enter information about your site in a series of steps:

i) Admin Password for MySQL: By default the database administrator username would be “root” and you need to select a password for the administrator, click “Continue” button once you are done.

MySQL dayabase admin password web platform

After you enter this, the download resumes for sometime and you will be then asked for some more information about the site.

ii) Application information: You need to enter the Database admin password (which you have set in the above step) and WordPress database password. You will also be asked to enter passphrases to secure your passwords, but the default option here is to leave them blanks and in any case this is not mandatory. You can however change it if you would like to change it.

WordPress IIS application info

ii) Site information: In this step you just need to enter the WordPress application name. You might not want to change the other details which are set to default already. Click “Continue” button and let the Web Platform installer install the application for you.

Step 4:

This is the last step of the installation. You will be shown the list of product installed on the window.

WordPress_web_platform_install_done

Click “Launch WordPress” to launch your WordPress blog. You can alternatively access it via http://localhost/wordpress/. You can find the WordPress installtion usually inetpub> wwwroot folder.

Still facing any problems during the installation ? Let us know through the comments.

Note:

1. The above two methods have been tested and found to be working well on Windows 7 machines.

2. While the method 2 is relatively simpler and quicker, we have however found that if you delete some sites from your IIS Manager, the WordPress installation getting corrupted. It may not be the same case for all but surely for some. We hence advise you to not to touch anything inside Internet Information Service(IIS) Manager unless you are sure about what you are doing.

[How To] Using Windows 7 Credential Manager

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Windows 7 logo

Credential Manager is a Single Sign-On (SSO) solution that Microsoft has been offering since Windows Server 2003. It was there in Windows XP, Vista and now in Windows 7 too, this with some more extended features.

Credential Manager allows a Windows user to store sensitive credentials like log on information (ex: user IDs and passwords) required for the websites you visit or for connecting with the other computers on a network. These credentials are stored in special folder called vaults. With this stored information, Windows 7 can automatically log on securely to the websites and the computers on your network automatically without requiring you to remember the credentials all the time. Credential Manager is based on a secure client-side credential-caching mechanism. Now let’s see how we can use Credential Manager in Windows 7:

You can open Windows Credential manager via Start > Control Panel > Credential Manager or alternatively go to start and type “cred” (or even “credential manager” ) and open Credential Manager from the results.

Credential manager search

Credential Manager search results

Credential Manager:

Windows Credential Manager
As you can see in the above screenshot, there are basically three types of credentials you store using Credential Manager:

1. Windows Credentials: Lets you store the network addresses, user IDs and passwords that are required while accessing intranet and SharePoint sites.

For example you can add a credentials required to connect to one of a computer in the network or you can even store the password needed to access you printer, storing upon which Windows can automatically log on to it while accessing the printer.

2. Certificate-Based Credentials: Lets you store digitally signed public key certificates like Smart Card Logon certificate or Smart Card user certificate if you are using a certificate that is used with the smart card.

3. Generic Credentials: Lets you store the URLs and the usernames and passwords associated with them.

Adding Credentials To Windows Vault:

If you want to add a new credential, just  select the type of the credential that you want to add and then click “Add a credential” link and enter the details that are needed like username, password and network address etc.

Add new Windows Credential Manager

Backing Up Windows Vault:

If you stored some credentials in your Windows vault using Windows Credential Manager, you can safely backup the Windows Vault to other places (preferably on removable media) so that you can access them even in case of any Hard disk failure.

Windows vault backup

Click on the “Back up vault” link under the Windows Credential Manager. Select the location where you want to save the back up file (stored as “Credential Backup Files” with .crd extension)

Stored user names and passwords
Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to continue the backup process on the Secure Desktop. Finish the step and your vault backup would be ready on your computer.

Stored user names and passwords in vault

Then you again restore your Windows vault backup using the “Restore vault’ link below the Windows Vault.

Restore vault

Note:

1. You can not store credentials of websites that you browse through browser for instance Gmail credentials, Twitter credentials or Facebook credentials etc. These credentials can only be accessed by certain Windows applications which need to go through authentication with the resource (or server). Some of the Windows applications that make use of the Windows Credential Manager in Windows 7 include Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft Word, Outlook and Windows Explorer.

2. Please note some of the above features may not work in some editions especially if you are using Windows 7 RTM (Release To Manufacturing) builds.

[How To] Windows Virtual Memory Configuration

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Did you notice an alert anytime saying ”Virtual Memory Low” while running a huge application or a game?  Well all what you need about Windows Virtual Memory and its configuration is explained in detailed here.

First question in your mind will be:

What is Windows Virtual Memory?

Physical memory or you know it as RAM is the vital component of your Windows machine. But Windows is not designed to run on RAM chips alone, no matter how much physical memory you have. In addition to using physical RAM to store programs and data, Windows creates a hidden file on your primary hard disk and uses that file to manage pages of data pulled from scattered sections of the hard disk and used in physical memory when necessary. The page file acts as an extension of main memory which is known as virtual memory.

What is the default Size and File location of Virtual Memory?

Windows creates the page file in the root folder on the same drive that holds the Windows system files. The size of the page file is determined by the amount of RAM in your system. By default, the minimum size on a 32-bit (x86) system is 1.5 times the amount of physical RAM if physical RAM is less than 1 GB, and equal to the amount of physical RAM plus 300 MB if 1 GB or more is installed. The default maximum size is three times the amount of RAM, regardless of how much physical RAM is installed.

Configure Windows Virtual Memory Size and Page file Location

Press Start + R and type systempropertiesadvanced and press Enter. Under the Performance heading, click Settings. In the Performance Window, go to the Advanced tab. Here you will find Virtual Memory Change Option.

change virtual memory

If you click on change, you can find the configuration window where you can change how the virtual memory is managed. Uncheck Automatic manage paging file size to change the virtual memory size.

virtual memory change window

You can have the following options in this window:

  • You can move the page file to a different volume if you have more than one.
  • If you have more than one volume, you can establish more than one page file.
  • For any page file, you can choose between System Managed Size and Custom Size.
  • If you choose Custom Size, you can specify an initial size and a maximum size.
  • You can remove a paging file from a volume by selecting the volume and choosing No Paging File. (You can even get rid of all paging files this way, although doing so is not recommended, even on systems with a lot of RAM.)

An example configuration is given below:

virtual memory custom management

Should you enlarge your page file(Virtual Memory)?

Most users won’t need to do this. But sometimes you might get a pop up warning telling “Low Virtual Memory”. This happens when you have huge applications and less RAM size. If this is the case you might consider increasing the maximum size of your page file.

Security Bulletin MS10-046 (Critical) & Update KB2286198

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Windows Update

Microsoft has released (on August 2, 2010) a new security bulletin MS10-046 (rated critical) addressing the vulnerability in Windows Shell that could allow remote code execution (RCE).

MS10-046 security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability in Windows Shell that could allow RCE through, through display of an icon of a specially crafted shortcut.

The affected operating systems include Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista (SP1 & SP2), Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Windows users can download Microsoft update KB2286198 as part of the Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-046 that fixes the above said issue. United States and Canadian users can also get a free support via telephone by calling 1-866-PCSAFETY or by contacting local Microsoft subsidiary.

Find the KB2286198 update download links for your Windows operating system below:

KB2286198 Download Links:

Windows 7 x86 (4.4 MB) x64 (6.7 MB)
Windows Vista x86 (4.3 MB) x64 (6.7 MB)
Windows XP x86 (2.9 MB) x64 (11.8 MB)

[How To] Remove Virtualapp/didlogical Credentials In Windows 7

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Virtualapp Didlogical user credentials

Have you noticed a suspicious entry under Credential Manager in Windows 7 ? Wondering how it could enter it without your permission ? Want to know what it’s all about and how to get rid of it? Read on..

Virtualapp/didlogical user is created in Generic credentials, when you install any particular program that requires authentication to start. Please do note that these Generic credentials are different from that of Windows credentials. These generic credential programs (or websites) would need a username and password to initialize. The user values stored in the Generic credential manager are meant for long-term use and prevent user from needing to enter these credentials too often.

However there could suspicious or unknown unknown entries at times (ex: virtualapp/didlogical) users being created under this. It is strongly advised unless you are sure about the application or software to which that user belongs, you would better off delete it from the list.

Many users who have noticed this Virtualapp/didlogical user entry under Generic credentials are not sure as how it could get into that list. Some believe that it might come up due to Windows Live applications, it is however not confirmed. Perform a thorough scan of your computer to see if you could find any suspcious/spyware/keylogging or malware programs so as to be on the safer side.

virtualapp didlogical credentials

Solution:

Option 1: The straightforward solution is to go for the kill.Delete the suspicious entry from the list by clicking “Remove from vault” the button. While this worked for some users, but for some others who had deleted this from the list were surprised to find it reappear again.

Option 2: Uninstall all the Windows Live apps from your system and this would most probably be deleted from the list as confirmed by many Windows users.

These are the two possible solutions available as of now. If you know anything better than this, do notify us through the comments below.

[Tip] All You Need To Know About Windows 7 Calculator

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Windows 7 Calculator

Windows has always been coming with a default calculator for performing simple math calculations. However the users have always preferred to use other third party software for performing their day-to-day calculations as Windows calculator had limited functionalities or rather I’d say many of us weren’t aware of the full functionalities of it. The scene has changed now, Windows 7 now has the most powerful calculator with a some good new features embedded into it. Let’s look at those new features one by one:

1. Calculations History:

The Windows 7 promising new calculator gives for the users to view the history of calculations performed on it. Either press CTRL+H or pick “History” option from the “View” menu in the calculator.

Calculator history in Windows 7calculator_previous_calculations

Shortcut: Ctrl+H

Use Ctrl+Shift+D to cleat the calculation history or F2 to edit the calculation history.

2. Programmer mode:

This would be the feature that you would appeal to all those IT professionals around the globe who need to often perform basic programming conversions for the programs that they are developing (For instance converting a value from Decimal to its equivalent Hex code etc.), this is where the new “Programmer Mode” option in Windows 7’s calculator could help. Go to View> select Programmer to work on this mode.

Shortcut: Alt+3

Windows 7 Calculator programmer mode

3. Statistics mode:

Windows 7 Calculator statistics mode

Statistics mode helps you in your day-to-day statistics calculations like finding the average of your monthly expenses, finding standard deviation, standard deviation of population etc. Use add button to first add the numbers from your data, then click on the corresponding button to let the calculations done.

Shortcut: Alt + 4

Additional Functionalities:

Apart from the above main features, there have been some enhanced functionalities built into the Windows calculator:

Date calculation:

You have two basic options to perform under this: they are

1. You can calculate the difference between two dates

2. Add or subtract days to a specified date

Shortcut: Ctrl+E

Windows 7 Calculator Date Calculation

Worksheets:

You can perform Mortgage, vehicle lease, fuel economy calculations using Worksheets option.

Windows 7 Calculator worksheets menu
Windows 7 Calculator fuel economy

Unit Conversion:

Windows 7 Calculator unit conversion

Unit conversion lets you perform various conversions from one unit to another..the available units include: Angle, Area, Energy, Length, Power, Pressure, Temperature, Time, Velocity, Volume and Weight.

Shortcut: Ctrl + U

Windows 7 Calculator Keyboard Shortcuts:

Click here for a full list of keyboard shortcut keys that you can use with Windows 7 calculator.

For more tips and updates on Windows 7, you can subscribe to our RSS feeds via email.

[Download] Microsoft Security Essentials V2 Beta

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Microsoft connect

Microsoft has released a new beta version of Microsoft Security Versions 2.0. If you are running your PC on Windows OS and couldn’t afford to buy an anti-virus software, it is strongly recommended that you download and use this free security tool from the Microsoft folks.

According to a blog post by Brandon LeBlanc, the new version of MSE (build 2.0.0375.0) is coming with the following new features:

1. Windows Firewall Integration

Windows firewall in MSE

2. Protection for web-based threats

3. New protection engine

4. Network inspection and protection system for Windows Vista and Windows 7

Microsoft Security Essentials 2 Beta

Microsoft Security Essentials v2 beta is now available as free download via Microsoft Connect for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows. MSE will protect your Windows PC against viruses, spyware, root kits, and Trojans. Security Essentials was launched in September 2009 replacing Windows Live OneCare.

Download:

Register yourself for Microsoft Connect to proceed to the download. There are some download issues if you go for a direct download. It is recommended that you use Microsoft File Transfer Manager (FTM) to download the file mseinstall_en_usx86.exe(7.78 MB for 32-bit) or mseinstall-en-us-amd64.exe (9.82 MB for 64-bit). This beta version is currently available in English (U.S.), Israel, and Brazilian Portuguese .

Security Essentials download

[How To] Configure Windows 7 Action Centre Warning Messages

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Windows 7 Action Center messages

Action Center in Windows 7 offers warning messages relating to your computer. You can find these messages in your notification area in the form of a flag. They include important security messages, virus protection alerts, Windows Update, Internet security settings, Spyware and related protection, User account control, troubleshooting, windows backup etc.

It is highly recommended that you keep these messages enabled as they include some important security issues as well. However you might not want to see Windows Backup warning messages when you are using an external third-party backup software. And you do check for updates according to your convenience. In such cases you might not want to get annoyed by warning messages about these simple things. This tutorial explains how you can configure the settings for these messages or even to completely turn off (not recommended) these action center messages in Windows 7.

Steps:

1. Click on the flag icon in your notification area or type “action center” in the start menu search box and open the Action center.

Action Center Windows 7 home

2. Under the “Action Center Settings”, you can choose for which categories Windows Action center needs to check for problems. Uncheck all to completely turn off the entire Action Center alerts which is obviously not recommended.

Windows 7 action center settings

Click OK and close the window. You will no longer receive warning messages from the categories you have unchecked in the previous step. The white flag icon however stays there without any warning messages.

[How To] Block A Website Using Content Advisor In Internet Explorer

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site blocked

Blocking certain websites that may not suit the audience mainly in the case of children or workers has always been one such compulsory feature. In case you haven’t spotted yet, there’s one such option in Internet Explorer too. Here are the steps to block any website in Internet Explorer using IE’s content advisor.

Steps:

1. Go to Tools > Internet Options in the Internet Explorer.

2. Go to “Content” tab under the Internet Options. Find “Content Advisor” under this tab. By default it would be set default. Click “Enable” option opposite to it.

Content advisor in Internet Options

3. Go to “Approved sites” tab in the Content Advisor window. Type the URL of the website that you want to block in the text box and clock “Never” button. See the screenshot below:

Approved sites in Content advisor

4. Click “Apply” once you are done and then go to “General” tab. Here you can choose whether to password protect the blocked sites that you added. Once configured, click “OK’ to close the window.

Content advisor General options

You will now be asked to enter the supervisor password for the content advisor settings.

5. Create a supervisor password and add a hint (recommended) which is helpful in case you forget the password in future. Close the window once you have done that.

Supervisor password for content advisor

Content Advisor settings done

6. Now try to open any website that you have added in the block list. You will see the following prompt window, asking for you to enter the supervisor. User can view the website only if he knows the supervisor password.

Content advisor prompt window

7. You can disable the content advisor any time by clicking the “Disable” button under the “Content Advisor”. You will however need to authorized to do that by validating through the supervisor password.

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