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Tip: Make Taskbar Previews Load Faster In Windows 7

May 6, 2010 by bharath

Windows logo

Taskbar thumbnail previews take a bit of time to appear when you hover your mouse cursor over any taskbar icon in Windows 7.This delay if set by default to 400 ms by the OS.However, if you want to change the delay time so that the taskbar thumbnail previews load faster, here’s the tutorial that you need to follow.

1. Go to Start Menu, right-click on Computer and select Properties

my computer properties in windows 7

This will open the System Properties window, click on Advanced system settings.Alternatively you can use Windows + Pause/Break shortcut key to open the same.

2. Now under the System Properties, go to Advanced tab and click Settings under Performance.

Advanced Settings in System Properties

3. This will open up Performance Options windows, now there, uncheck “Animations in the taskbar and Start Menu”.

Performance Options under Visual Effects in Windows7

This option should be deselected since, you may not see much difference after trying out this tutorial if you keep this option checked.

4. Now go to registry editor by typing regedit in the run command (shortcut: Windows + R).Navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Control Panel > Mouse

Find the entry “MouseHoverTime” under it.

Mouse Hover Time in Regedit
5.You will find a default value of 400 against it in the Data filed.Change this value to something like 100 or even less that that.

Edit MouseHoverTime string value

That’s it, now you have decreased the Mouse hover time which in turn will make the taskbar thumbnail previews to appear more faster.

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How To Uninstall All Your Windows 7 Games

May 6, 2010 by bharath

Windows logo

Windows 7 much like the previous versions of Windows (Windows XP, Windows Vista), has some wonderful preloaded games in it.The games include Chess Titans, FreeCell, Hearts, Internet Games, Mahjong Titans, Minesweeper, Purble Place, Solitaire, Spider Solitaire.For some reasons, if you want to disable or unstill any game or all the games that came with your Windows 7, here’s the procedure you need to follow:

1. Go to Start menu and type “Windows Features” in the search, click on the first result under the section Control Panel.You can alternatively go to Control Panel> Programs> Turn Windows Features on or off option.

turn windows features search

Programs and features in Windows 7

2. Under the Windows Features window, click expand button to see all the 11 games that came with your Windows 7.You can uncheck any desired game to uninstall it from your Windows or you can uncheck entire Games section to unstill all your Windows 7 games.

Games in Windows features turn on or off

Click OK to apply the changes, wait for few minutes for the changes to effect.

Applying changes to Windows features

3. You can go to your Games Explorer by typing games in the Windows 7 start menu search and you can see the games that are currently available in your Windows.If you have disabled all the games by unchecking the Games folder in the Windows Features section, you will no longer find any games here.

Synchronize Windows Clock With Internet Time Server

May 4, 2010 by bharath

Windows 7 clock

Windows Clock as you all know is really got a makeover ever since Windows Vista has arrived and is really appealing to many Windows users, who earlier were using other software like Google Gadgets to see a analog clock on their desktop instead of default Windows Clock.

Do you know that you can actually synchronize your Windows clock with several internet time servers if you have an internet connection.

This tutorial is based on Windows 7 and Windows Vista based systems.(Although it’s till valid for Windows XP).

1. Open the Windows clock popup from your taskbar.Click on Change date and time settings.

change date and time settings in windows

2. In the Date and Time settings window, go to “Internet Time” tab.Click on Change Settings.

change windows clock settings

3. Check “Synchronize with an Internet time server”.You can either choose windows time servers or NIST servers.Click Update Now.

Internet time settings windows clock

You have configured your Windows clock to synchronize automatically with the internet time servers.

WSUS Offline Update: Update Your Windows And Office Offline

May 2, 2010 by bharath

Windows Update

It’s very much essential to keep your Windows OS up-to-date when it comes to securing your OS from security threats which may cause damage to your private data.Microsoft knows the importance of the same, hence release Windows update patches more often.You need to be connected to the internet to download these updates from Microsoft.

But what about those innumerable number of people who still can’t manage to get an internet connection for them? Microsoft used to offer AutoPatcher,unfortunately this service was discontinued from 2007.Luckily there are some third party software available on the internet which provide the similar offline update facility, the one which I’m going to talk about is WSUS Offline Update.

WSUS Offline Update:

WSUS Offline Update lets you download the patches and updates for Windows and MS Office without requiring an active internet connection on the target computer.All that you need to do is go to your friend’s computer which is having an internet connection, install this WSUS Offline Update, download the Windows updates on an USB drive (or some other removable media) and transfer them to your machine and install them using WSUS Offline Update.

Features:

1. WSUS Offline Update supports: Windows XP, Windows Vista & Windows 7.

2. Supports MS Office 2003 & 2007 versions.

3.You can create an ISO of the updates.

4. Supports copying updates directly to USB

Download:

You can visit the Homepage of the WSUS developers or follow this direct link to download the WSUS Offline Update version 6.51

Schedule Shutdown Based On Advanced Options With Shutdown Timer

May 2, 2010May 2, 2010 by bharath

Shutdown Timer For Windows:

Many a times, you may need to keep your computer on, until it completes its task like downloading a movie or ripping an entire DVD for instance, these tasks take a considerable amount of time (and considerable amount of CPU usage in some cases), so much so that you just can’t wait until the task gets completed.This where Shutdown scheduler programs will help you.

Even though there are quite a number of shutdown scheduler programs available on the internet for download, the one which I’m talking about is more than just a scheduler.Shutdown Timer, as the name speaks out, is basically a shutdown scheduler for windows.

But unlike other schedulers which will only offer you to schedule your shutdown to a predefined time, Shutdown timer offers to schedule your computer’s shutdown based on a wide variety of scenarios.Bundled with a neat and clean UI, Shutdown timer allows you scheduler your computer’s shutdown based CPU memory usage limit or CPU temperature threshold or on network traffic basis besides scheduling your shutdown on a pre-defined date and time.The program continuously monitors your CPU usage and once it reaches the thresholds defined (temperature or memory usage), it will trigger the shutdown event.Scroll down to the bottom for the download links.

Shutdown timer by CPU usage and temperature

Shutdown timer by memory

Shutdown timer by network traffic

Download Links:

Shutdown Timer (Windows 32-bit)

Shutdown timer (Windows 64-bit)

Related: Read how to create desktop shutdown shortcut

Backup Your Windows Registry In Simple Steps [How To]

April 30, 2010 by bharath

Windows logo

It is always essential to backup a copy of the windows registry before performing any operation that involves the editing of one or more keys in the regedit.This tutorial aims at making it easier for you to do a complete registry backup in simple steps:

Method-1: Using Windows Registry Editor

1. Open run command by pressing Start button + R.Type regedit and click OK.

regedit run command

2. The Registry Editor will open up.Select the keys or sub keys which you want to export, right-click on it and choose Export.You can also export the make the backup the entire Windows registry by going to File>Export but it’ll only add to the file size.In my case, when I saved the entire registry editor backup, it was around 20 MB.

Export regedit keys export option in regsitry editor

3. Save the registry backup to your local drive.

save regedit backup file

Method 2: Using ERUNT

ERUNT stands for The Emergency Recovery Utility for NT can be used in Windows NT/200-/2003/XP, Windows Vista & Windows 7 to backup the entire registry editor.

Download ERUNT for here and follow the following steps:

1. Run the ERUNT

ERUNT save backup

2. Set the location where you want to save the entire registry backup file and click OK.

ERUNT in action

Click OK on the dialog box which you’ll see when the registry backup operation is completed.

registry backup complete in ERUNT

With this, The registry hives (Config, SAM, Security, Software, System) gets backed up on the path that you have selected.

All the 2 methods mentioned above will work on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

[How To] Configure AutoPlay In Windows 7

April 30, 2010 by bharath

We are here with yet another tutorial.In this tutorial, I’m going to discuss about how to disable AutoPlay in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.[AutoPlay for CDs/DVDs and AutoRun for USB flash drives or for any removable flash drives.]

AutoPlay (and AutoRun) is disabled by default in Windows 7 and Vista.That’s why Windows gives you an option to choose the possible actions that you can take without directly playing the DVD in media player.Start reading the following tutorial to learn how to enable or disable AutoPlay .

Tutorial: How to enable/ disable AutoPlay

Covers: Windows 7/ Vista

User level: Intermediate

Complexity: Easy

1. Go to Control Panel, and choose “Hardware and Sound” options.

Under AutoPlay, click Play CDs or other media automatically.

2. Now AutoPlay options window will open.Under uncheck under “Choose what happens when you insert each type of media or device” to completely disable AutoPlay globally for all types of devices.

choose_autoplay_options

3. If you want to disable AutoPlay for particular devices like DVD movie instance, select the “Take no action” under the DVD Movie options.

disable_autoplay_for_single_type

Likewise you can also configure auto play for USB devices and other plug and play devices.

Using Group Policy Editor [For Business/ Ultimate Editions] :

This methods works only for Business and Ultimate versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

Go to run command by pressing Start button + R.Type gpedit.msc in the text field and click OK.

gpedit run command

From the Group Policy Editor window, navigate to Computer Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Windows Components\ Autoplay Policies\ Turn off Autoplay, you will see the “Turn off Autoplay” window as in the screenshot.

To enable the AutoPlay, just change the value of “Turn off Autoplay” to Disabled.

autoplay gpedit enable settings

If you want to completely disable the AutoPlay for all types of devices for default, change select the value Enabled under Turn off Autoplay.

disable autoplay gpedit settings

[How To] Enable Automatic Updates In Windows 7

April 30, 2010April 30, 2010 by bharath

Windows logo

This is a small tutorial dealing on how to enable or disable automatic updates in Windows 7 or Windows Vista.This is basically intended for beginners who have just installed Windows 7 or Windows Vista in their systems and looking for assistance.

User level: Beginner

Complexity Level: Easy

1. Go to Start menu and type windows update in the search box.Click the Windows Update program in the search result.

windows update start menu search

2. Now the Windows Update window will be opened.On the left pane, find “Change Settings” and click on it to open the Windows Update Settings page.

3. In the Windows Update Settings window, as you can see there are basically 4 options to choose from.

#1 Install updates automatically (recommended)
#2 Download updates but let me choose whether to install them
#3 Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them
#4 Never check for updates (not recommended)

It is always recommended that you choose the option #1 “Install updates automatically” to install updates that address various vulnerabilities and keep your Windows up-to-date.

Option #2 is also OK, given that it makes your Windows to download the updates automatically as and when they are available but will install them without your permission.

Options #3 and #4 are recommended only if you are using an interconnection with limited data usage (like using mobile phone to connect to internet).If these options are chosen, your Windows will not automatically download or install the updates.

Find The Last ShutDown Time Of Any Windows PC

April 29, 2010 by bharath

At times may be you allow somebody, take for instance your kid to use your computer but strictly warned him or her to shut it down by midnight.But you don’t really know till what time they had used your PC as you can’t figure it out easily by just looking at your desktop Smile .

Luckily you need not worry much, if your system runs Windows.If you want to know how to do that in your PC, follow the steps briefed below:

1. Open Event Viewer in your computer:

Windows 7 ot Vists users: Go to start menu and type “Event Viewer” in the search box and open the Event Viewer.

Windows XP users: Go to run command from Start> Run or by pressing Windows+R and type eventvwr.msc in the field and hit enter.

event viewer from start menu

2. In the Event Viewer, On the left side pane click on “Windows Logs” and in the right pane, click on the item “System” [See the screenshot below].

3. Now on the right pane, you will find all the system logs information basically divided into 3 tabs: Information,

Date and Time,

Source,

Event ID

Find the column corresponding to the Event ID 6006, the date and time displayed in this column is when your computer was last shuttedDown.

In the above screenshot, the time shown is 29-04-2010 12:42:00 AM, so this is the last shutdown time of the PC used here.

[How to] Pin or Unpin The Contents Of a Folder in Windows 7 Taskbar

April 29, 2010 by dennis

Have you ever thought of adding a shortcut of your favorite folder in the taskbar. Well you can do it in Windows 7. Here we will show how to pin a folder in the Windows 7 taskbar.

Any folder can be pinned to the task bar as a New Toolbar in the Task bar of Windows 7 with a small or large icon and with or without text of the folder name.

Point to be noted:

When we pin a folder, we can see only the only the contents of the folder in the task bar. It is like the folder is already opened and displayed in the taskbar. So it is not that the folder’s shortcut is pinned to the task bar, but its just that the shortcut of the contents of the folder is created in the taskbar.

Now just follow the simple steps below to pin the contents of a folder to the task bar.

Pin a folder to the taskbar.

Add a new toolbar in the task bar:

Right Click on the taskbar, go to Toolbars and select New toolbar.

It will ask to select the folder. Select the parent folder which you want to add so that the contents of the folder is shown in the taskbar.

Now you can see the folder name in the taskbar with its content.

Unlock the Taskbar to modify the positions and settings if its locked

Right Click on the taskbar and select lock taskbar to uncheck it.

Changing the settings of the toolbar:

If you don’t want to name of the folder to be displayed but only the contents, then right click on the folder name in the taskbar and uncheck Show Title.

If you want to move the toolbar to the left side, yo have to drag the divider to extreme left to the Start menu.

If you want to move it back, drag it back to right.

Now, if you want to show bigger icons of the content in the toolbar, Right click on the toolbar, go to view and select Large Icons.

Now after doing all the changes you can lock the taskbar again if you wan to.

Unpin the folder from taskbar:

Now to unpin the folder, right click on the taskbar and go to Toolbars and unselect the folder name. You can also right click on the toolbar and select close Toolbar.

Now you have successfully learnt how to pin and unpin a folder to the taskbar in Windows 7.