Ever since Vista Service Pack 1 was installed the Search box was removed from the Start Menu.  Here’s a way to get it back. Not in the exact place but close.

Lets start by creating a shortcut for Search on the desktop.

1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard along with the F key to open the Windows Search box.

   

2. Left click the magnifying glass and drag it to your desktop.

   

3. Now if you want you can rename the shortcut by right clicking it and choosing rename.

   

4. Now you can leave it right here on your desktop if you like or if you want it back in the Start menu. Left click the icon and drag it over the Start Orb until the Start menu opens then drag it to the left side of the menu and let go. Now Search  is back to the Start menu.

   

   

• Get An Onscreen Keyboard In Vista
• Adding Icons To Your Desktop
• Add or Delete Items from your Send-to Menu
• Using and Customizing the Windows Sidebar
• How To Remove The Shortcut Text From Icons On Your Vista Desktop

The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks computers running Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software—including Conflicker, Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom—and helps remove any infection found. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed.

Microsoft releases a new version of the tool on the second Tuesday of every month, and as needed to respond to security incidents, and will run automatically, But you can run it when ever you want by following the steps below.

1. Right click an empty space on your Desktop and choose New Shortcut.
2. Type MTR in the location field. For Malicious Removal Tool. Click Next.
3. Name your new shortcut. Click Finish
4. Double Click the MRT icon to start the tool. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
5. Click Next or you can view a list of malicious software the tool removes.
6. Choose the type of scan you want, I recommend the full scan. Click Next.
7. Now just wait for the scan to finish. Could take a few minutes to a few hours depending on the speed of your computer and the number of files to scan.
8. After the scan finishes you will see if it found any infections, luckily I’m clean.
9. As you can see above this tool is not a replacement for anti-virus software, but if you don’t have any installed and believe me I see many computers that don’t this tool will help you out.

Thanks for visiting.

• Create A Shortcut To Quickly Lock Your Vista Desktop
• Create a Desktop Shortcut to Switch Users in Vista
• Running The DirectX Diagnostic Tool
• Use 1 Click To Shutdown Restart or Logoff Vista
• The Most Affordable Way To Run Microsoft Software, Vista, Office and More

I was unable to even login to my admin page for the last 7 days, looks like it was 2 non compatible plugins that were causing the login problem. Word to the wise, don’t perform a upgrade on your site then go on vacation.

To everybody who has left a comment or sent an Email with a question please bear with me for a few more days until I get the back-end of VistaRevisited working again.

Thanks,
Kevin.

• A New Look for Vista Revisited
• Site Problems
• Sorry for the lack of posts this week
• VistaRevisited to go on Hiatus
• Add 3D Pinball To Windows Vista

Please check back in a few hours.

Thanks, Kevin.

• Site Problems part 2
• A New Look for Vista Revisited
• VistaRevisited to go on Hiatus
• Adjusting Vista’s Error Reporting Tool
• How to Disable Remote Assistance in Vista

When you created your user account you were asked to choose a password to use to logon to your account, you also were able to skip this step and not use a password for your account but that’s not the best idea.

The problem with not having a password for your account is that anyone that sits down in front computer has access to all your files. If you would like to add one now or change your existing one follow the steps below.

For this tip We’ll assume you know your existing password or you haven’t assigned one yet.

1. Click the Start Orb then click the picture you chose for your account.

2. Click Change your password.

3. Type in your current password if you have one, then type in your new password and then type it in one more time to confirm it. You can also add a password hint if you choose.

4. Click Change password, now the next time you sign in you will be asked for the new password.

At this time it would be a good idea to create a password reset disk in case you forget your new password.

Click the link and I’ll show you how to Create a Password Reset Disk, it will save your bacon BELIEVE ME!!

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• Reset A Lost Vista Login Password
• Create A Vista Password Reset Disk
• How to set up Vista’s Parental Controls
• How to Schedule the Disk Defragmenter in Vista
• Assign a Drive Letter to your USB Device

Windows Vista SP2 Beta is now available for public download from the Microsoft download center. Keep in mind this is a Beta service pack and may cause instabilities in your system. Also you must have SP1 installed first.

If you’re willing to give it a try I would make sure you have a good backup in place first. You will also have to uninstall this beta version when the finished version ships in or around April.
I have been running it for a few weeks now and it seems to be pretty stable so far.

Here are some of the improvements listed.

• Adds support for the 64-bit central processing unit (CPU) from VIA Technologies, which adds the ID and vendor strings for the new VIA 64-bit CPU.
• Integrates the Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless, which contains support for Bluetooth v2.1. Bluetooth v2.1 is the most recent specification for Bluetooth wireless technology and Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration.
• Improves performance for Wi-Fi connection after resuming from sleep mode.
• Adds new capabilities to Direct X Graphic display reliability. The graphics experience has been greatly improved for users, such as gamers, running applications that require a lot of graphics processing.
• Includes updates to the RSS feeds sidebar with improved performance and responsiveness.
• Improves audio and video performance for streaming high definition content.
• Includes ability to record data to Blu-Ray media.
• Windows Search 4.0 builds on Microsoft’s search technology with improved indexing and search relevance. It also helps find and preview documents, e-mail messages, music files, photos, and other items on the computer

• Ready for Vista SP2
• Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing Today
• Download Vista SP1 RC Refreshed
• How to Hack Windows Update To Download Vista SP1 Beta
• What Version of Windows do I Have

Windows Tools, Help & Guides and Windows Forums is running a competition to find the “Best Windows Customization website”.

The applicants have entered their sites and the judges are now deciding their four choices in order. The top eight (8) sites, by points, will be entered into the final rounds.

The final rounds will begin with a random slot assignment (1-8.) Two sites will go head to head at a time (think of the world cup finals.) The public will vote for the best site in each “match” and the winner will go on to the next round. Polls will be held here on the main website; you do not need to register to vote.

• Vote for VistaRevisited
• Use Shell Folders in Vista to Quickly Navagate to System Folders
• Get Firefox 3 Today
• Run or remove a blocked Startup Program
• Check the Activation Status of your Vista Install

Screen Resolution is the setting that determines how much information is displayed on the computer screen, measured horizontally and vertically in pixels. At lower screen resolutions, such as 640 x 480, fewer items fit on the screen, but they are larger. At higher resolutions, such as 1600 x 1200, more items fit on the screen but they are smaller. Screen resolutions offered are effected by your monitor size and your video card you have installed.

CRT type displays ( you know those big heavy ones) will display any resolution your video card can handle.

LCD type displays ( new style, very thin and light) These displays have a native resolution provided by the manufacturer ( check the documentation that came with your monitor) LCD monitors can technically support lower resolutions than their native resolution, but the image might be small, centered on the screen, and edged with black or the image will look stretched.

Here’s how to check or adjust your resolution.

1. Right click an empty area on your desktop and choose Personalize.

   

2. Click Display Settings.

   

3. Use the slider to adjust the resolution. The highest setting will normally be the native resolultion for your LCD display, make sure you keep the colors set to 32.bit. As you move the slider you will see the monitor 1 size change. Click ok when you are finished.

   

4. After you click Apply or OK your screen will blank out for a moment then display your new resolution with a dialog box asking if you want to keep the new display settings. If everything looks OK choose yes, if it doesn’t look good or you get no display at all don’t worry your display will return to the original settings after 15 seconds or so.

   
   

5. That all there is to it.

Here are some popular display sizes and the corresponding Resolutions, Screen ratios and Pixel count

For Desktop displays.

And for Laptop displays.

Thanks for visiting.

• Adjust The Text Size On Your Screen
• Change the Look of your Command Prompt in Vista
• Change The Look Of The Command Window
• Speed up Vista By Adjusting Its Visual Effects
• Running The DirectX Diagnostic Tool

1. Right click the wireless network icon in the system tray and choose Network and Sharing center or Click the Start Orb and type Network and choose Network and Sharing Center from the results.

2. Click Manage wireless network.

3. Click your preferred network.

4. Remove the check mark next to Connect to a more preferred network if available.

5. Click ok.

You’re finished.

• Create A Map Of Your Vista Network
• Adjust Your Auto-Play Settings In Vista
• Disable Vista’s Autotuning To Improve Wireless Connectivity
• Create a Desktop Shortcut to Eject your CD/DVD Disk
• How to Disable Remote Assistance in Vista

Here’s how mine looked before:

Ready to clean that mess up.

1. Right click in the task bar and choose Properties.

2. From within the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties page choose the Notification Area then select Customize:

3. Now click on the icon you want to hide and in the drop down box beside it choose Hide. Do this for all the icons you want to hide and click Ok twice and you’re finished.

Here’s how it looks now.

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• Create a Custom Control Panel in Vista
• How To Auto Hide Your Vista Taskbar
• How To Add Your Admin Tools To Vista’s Start Menu
• Adding Icons To Your Desktop
• How to Show or Hide your Desktop Icons in Vista

Thanks.
Kevin

• Changes In VistaRevisited Postings
• Vote for VistaRevisited
• Happy New Year
• VistaRevisited to go on Hiatus
• The Most Affordable Way To Run Microsoft Software, Vista, Office and More

Ready for the next Vista Service Pack. Number 2 is in the wings being beta tested and if you want you can have it too. Keep in mind its in an early pre-beta stage and should only be applied to test systems. If you’re still interested down load this batch file from Mediafire and run it. It will add the necessary registry files to allow you to download it from Windows Update.

After running the batch file reboot your system and check windows update. It may take awhile for the update to show.

Here are some of SP2’s features:

• Support for VIA 64-bit CPUs

• Support for Bluetooth 2.1.

• Support for ICCD/CCID smart cards.

• Support for native Blu-Ray media recording.

• Windows Connect Now (WCN), a new tool to assist in connecting to Wi-Fi networks.

• ex-FAT file system, supporting UTC timestamps to ensure correct file synchronization across time zones.

• Windows Search 4.0 integration.

• Improved support for resuming with active Wi-Fi connections

• How to Disable Remote Assistance in Vista
• Vista Service Pack 2 Beta Now Available for Download
• Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing Today
• Change which programs Windows uses by default
• Disable Autorun in Vista to Protect Against Malware Infections

1. To take a simple screen shot of your whole desktop press the Print Scrn button, open your favorite image editor or MS Paint and use Ctrl + V to paste it in.

2. To take a screen shot of just you active window use Alt + Print Scrn.

3. To get to the file directories on your PC, simply right-click the Start button and choose “Explore”

4. To change the view of a folder’s contents in a directory, click on the View menu and, for example, choose “Details”. This allows you to sort the files by Name, Type, or Size (by clicking on the column heading).

5. To see the details of a specific file, however the cursor over it for a second or so and the details will pop up in a small box.

6. You can change the time period allowed for two mouse clicks to be recognised as a double click. Click the Start Orb and type “mouse” when Mouse appears in the search results press enter. In the Mouse properties move the slider for Double click speed. Click Ok

7. Alt + Backspace - will undo any typing you have just completed from a single letter to a paragraph and on.

8. To print only part of a web page, highlight the part you want and and press Ctrl + P and choose Selection in the print range.

9. To copy highlighted text press Ctrl + C, to paste text press Ctrl + V.

10. Hit the “Enter ” key after filling out a box such as the google search box, rather than grabbing for the mouse to click “Search”.

• Use Vista’s Snipping Tool to Capture Screen Shots
• Change How Your Mouse Pointer Looks
• Some Basic Windows Tips
• Create A Shortcut To Quickly Lock Your Vista Desktop
• Change What Happens When you Click The Shutdown Button

Here are a few basic tips for Windows users, some you may know others maybe a surprise. Lets dive right in.

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1. Instead of dragging your mouse across a word to select it you can double click it in any document, Email or web page to highlight it, then you can cut, copy or do a search on it. Triple clicking will highlight the whole paragraph.

2. To enlarge the text on any Web page, press Ctrl and the plus or minus keys. You can also press the Ctrl key and use the scroll wheel on your mouse.

3. You don’t have to type “http://www.” into your web browser. Just type the name, like vistarevisited.com or Google.com for example.

4. You can press the Space bar to scroll down a Web page one screen at a time. And press the Shift key + the Space bar to scroll back up.

5. When using your web browser pressing the F11 key will give you the full screen browsing.

6. To search a website for a certain word or phrase press Ctrl + F to open the find dialog box.

7. You can open the Start menu by pressing the key with the Windows logo on it.

8. To quickly get to your desktop press the Windows key + D

9. To quickly undo mistakes in many Windows programs press the Ctrl key + Z

10. Switch from one open program to the next by pressing Alt+Tab keys.

11. When you’re filling in text boxes on a Web page (like City, State, Zip), press the Tab key to jump from box to box, And press the Shift key + the Tab key to go backwards through the boxes.

Lets keep it going and add your own in the comments.

• IE 7 Keyboard Shortcuts
• Basic Windows Tips part 2
• Change How Your Mouse Pointer Looks
• Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts
• Use Vista’s Snipping Tool to Capture Screen Shots

Here’s a quick tip to hide that mess untill you get around to clean it up.

Simply right click an empty place on your desktop and choose View, then remove the check mark next to Show Desktop Icons. And like magic no more mess.

Before: Messy

After: Clean

• How to Hide System Tray Icons in Vista
• Adding Icons To Your Desktop
• Create A Custom Desktop Toolbar In Vista
• Increase the Size of Your Quick Launch Icons in Vista
• How to Adjust the size of your Desktop Icons in Vista

When Vista starts up you hear the lovely startup sound, but what if you’re in a situation where you would rather not hear it like a classroom or maybe someone near you is sleeping and you don’t want to bother them. Sure you could just turn down or mute the volume but its easy to forget to do it then you get a smack from your significant other if you wake them up. Here’s how to avoid a black & blue mark.

1. Click the Start Orb > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound.
2. In the Sound field choose Change system sounds.
3. In the Sounds tab Remove the check mark next to Play Windows Startup Sound.

• Adjust Your Auto-Play Settings In Vista
• Create a Custom Control Panel in Vista
• Run or remove a blocked Startup Program
• Using and Customizing the Windows Sidebar
• Turn off Vista’s Unused Features

The first thing we need to do is open a command Prompt.

1. Click the Start Orb and type CMD in the search box.
2. Click cmd.exe at the top of the search results.
3. At the Cmd prompt type wmic and hit enter.
4. You will now see wmic:root\cli>Type product get name,version hit enter.

Now after a few moments all you’re installed programs with their version numbers will be listed.

If you want to export the list to a HTML file, type /output:c:\ProgramList.htm product get name,version
or if you prefer a text file type /output:c:\ProgramList.txt product get name,version

You can also change the name and location of the file by replacing “c” and Programlist.txt to whatever you prefer.

• Disable Vista’s Autotuning To Improve Wireless Connectivity
• Running Vista’s Disk Defragmenter
• Check the Activation Status of your Vista Install
• A Quick Way To Run A Command Prompt As An Administrator In Vista
• Change The Look Of The Command Window

Remember the last time you needed to access one of your system folders, maybe your Music or Pictures or any other system folder. You had to click Computer then navagate through all that mess of folders untill you found the right one.

Well here’s a way to quickly get to any system folder. Just click the Start Orb > Run. In the Run dialog box type shell:foldername with foldername being the folder you want to view. Example shell:My Music click OK.

Below are some common Vista shell folders.

Multimedia:

shell:My Music
Shows the user Music folder.

shell:CommonMusic
Shows the Public Music folder.

shell:My Pictures
Shows the user Pictures folder.

shell:CommonPictures
Shows the Public Pictures folder.

shell:SamplePictures
Shows the Sample Pictures folder.

shell:SamplePlaylists
Shows the Sample Playlists folder.

shell:Original Images
Shows the folder containing the original versions of images modified by Windows Photo Gallery.

shell:PhotoAlbums
Shows the user Pictures\Slide Shows folder.

shell:My Video
Shows the user Video folder.

shell:CommonVideo
Shows the Public Video folder.

Internet Explorer:

shell:Cache
Shows the Temporary Internet Files folder.

shell:Cookies
Shows the Internet Explorer Cookies folder.

shell:Favorites
Shows the Internet Explorer Favorites folder.

shell:InternetFolder
Shows Internet Explorer.

Applications:

shell:Administrative Tools
Shows shortcuts to the applets in your Control Panel\Administrative Tools folder.

shell:Common Administrative Tools
Shows shortcuts to the Public applets in your Control Panel\Administrative Tools folder.

shell:AddNewProgramsFolder
Shows the Control Panel “Install a program from the network” applet.

shell:ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder
shows the Control Panel “Uninstall or change a program” applet.

shell:ConnectionsFolder
Shows the list of Network Connections.

shell:ControlPanelFolder
Shows Control Panel.

shell:SearchHomeFolder
Shows the Windows Vista Search tool.

System Folders:

shell:AppUpdatesFolder
Shows installed Windows Updates.

shell:Common AppData
Shows the Public Application Data folder.

shell:Common Desktop
Shows the Public Desktop.

shell:Common Documents
Shows the Public Documents folder.

shell:CommonDownloads
Shows the Public Downloads folder.

shell:Common Programs
Shows the Public Start Menu Programs folder.

shell:Common Start Menu
Shows the Public Start Menu folder.

shell:Common Startup
Shows the Public Startup folder.

shell:Common Templates
Shows the Public Templates folder.

shell:Default Gadgets
Shows the default Sidebar Gadgets folder.

shell:Fonts
Shows the Fonts folder.

shell:Games
Shows the Games folder.

shell:MyComputerFolder
Shows the Computer folder.

shell:OEM Links
Shows links provided by your PC manufacturer.

shell:NetworkPlacesFolder
Shows the Network Places folder.

shell:PrintersFolder
Shows the Printers folder.

shell:ProgramFiles
Shows the Program Files folder.

shell:ProgramFilesCommon
Shows the Program Files\Common Files folder

shell:Public
Showss the Public folder.

shell:PublicGameTasks
Shows the Public Game Explorer folder.

shell:ResourceDir
Shows the Windows Resources folder. (where your themes are stored)

shell:RecycleBinFolder
Shows the Recycle Bin.

shell:System
Shows the Windows System folder.

shell:UserProfiles
Shows the folder holding all user profiles.

shell:Windows
Shows the Windows installation folder.

User Folders:

shell:AppData
Shows the user Application Data folder.

shell:CD Burning
Showsthe folder where files are stored before being burned to disc.

shell:Contacts
Shows the user Windows Contacts folder.

shell:CredentialManager
Shows the user Credentials folder.

shell:Cryptokeys
Shows the user encryption keys folder.

shell:Desktop
Shows the user desktop folder.

shell:Downloads
Shows the user downloads folder.

shell:Gadgets
Shows the user folder of downloaded Sidebar Gadgets.

shell:GameTasks
Shows the user Game Explorer folder.

shell:History
Shows the user History folder.

shell:Links
Shows the user Links folder.

shell:Local AppData
Shows the user Application Data folder.

shell:Local AppDataLow
Shows the user Application Data (Low Integrity) folder.

shell:NetHood
Shows the user Network Places folder.

shell:Personal
Shows the user Documents folder.

shell:Playlists
Shows the user \Music\Playlists folder.

shell:PrintHood
Shows the user printer shortcuts folder.

shell:Profile
Shows the user profile folder.

shell:Programs
Shows the user Start Menu Programs folder.

shell:Quick Launch
Shows the Quick Launch folder.

shell:Recent
Shows the user’s Recent Documents folder.

shell:SavedGames
Shows the Saved Games folder.

shell:Searches
Shows the saved searches folder.

shell:SendTo
Shows the user Send To folder.

shell:Start Menu
Shows the user Start Menu folder.

shell:Startup
Shows the user Startup folder.

shell:SystemCertificates
Shows the user certificates folder.

shell:Templates
Shows the user Templates folder.

Congratulations if you made it to the bottom of this long list. At last count there are 90 Shell folders on my computer. to see the complete list open Regedit and navigate to the following key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FolderDescriptions

After you have the shell folder open you can also add a shortcut of it to your desktop by right clicking the icon in the navigation bar and dragging it to your desktop and choosing create a shortcut.

• Viewing the Status Bar in Windows Explorer
• How To Change your Default Folders In Vista For, Music,Documents,Pictures
• Create a Custom Control Panel in Vista
• A Quick List Of All My Posts So Far
• Unhide Operating System Files In Vista

Here’s a quick and easy way to see how you’re logged in.

1. Right click the Start Orb.
2. look near the bottom of the dialog box and you will see Open or Open All Users.
3. If you see Open All Users, that means you’re logged in under the Administrator account.
4. If you just see Open, you’re signed in under your limited account.

• Keep Vista’s UAC from Blanking out your Monitor
• Run Any Program As An Administrator
• Enable Automatic Logon in Vista
• How To Disable User Account Control “UAC”
• Change which programs Windows uses by default

To bulk rename a group of files:

1. Open My Computer or an Explorer window and navigate to the folder of choice and open it.
2. Hold down the CTRL key and click the individual files you want or hold down the SHIFT key to select a group of files.
3. Once you have all the files selected, right click the first one and choose Rename and the file names will be highlighted, add a descriptive name a press enter.

   

4. So instead of a bunch of pictures named IM1234 you can have them named whatever you want.

If you want each picture to have a different name and still quickly rename them, use the TAB key.

1. Select the first file in a group, right click it an choose Rename.
2. Rename the file to what you want then press the TAB key, the next file in the group will then be highlighted and you can change the name without right clicking and choosing rename.

Thats all there is to it.

• How To Change What Program Opens A File
• Easily Rename Multiple Files Using The TAB Key
• How To Change your Default Folders In Vista For, Music,Documents,Pictures
• Use a Checkbox to Select Multiple files in Windows Explorer
• Speed Up Access To Your Files And Folders

Follow the steps below. At the end of the article I’ll explain what Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop is.

To turn off Remote Assistance:

1. Click the Start Orb and type System in the search box at the bottom.
2. Click System in the search results under Programs.
3. Click Remote settings.

   

4. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.

   

5. Now in the Systems Properties dialog box, Remove the check mark next to allow Remote Assistance connection to this computer. Then you can put a check mark in Don’t allow connections to this computer. Under the Remote Desktop field.

   

6. Then click Apply and OK.
7. If you ever want to use these services just reverse the steps.

What is Windows Remote Assistance?
Sometimes the best way to fix a problem is to have someone show you how. Windows Remote Assistance is a convenient way for someone you trust, such as a friend or technical support person, to connect to your computer over the internet and walk you through a solution—even if that person isn’t nearby. To help ensure that only people you invite can connect to your computer using Windows Remote Assistance, all sessions are encrypted and password-protected.

A Remote Assistance connection between two computers:
By following a few steps, you can use an instant message or e mail to invite someone to connect to your computer. After he or she is connected, that person can view your computer screen and chat with you about what you both see. With your permission, your helper can even use his or her mouse and keyboard to control your computer and show you how to fix a problem. You can also help someone else the same way.

What is Remote Desktop Connection?
Remote Desktop Connection is a technology that allows you to sit at a computer (sometimes called the client computer) and connect to a remote computer (sometimes called the host computer) in a different location. For example, you can connect to your work computer from your home computer and have access to all of your programs, files, and network resources as though you were in front of your computer at work. You can leave programs running at work and then, when you get home, you can see your work computer’s desktop displayed on your home computer, with the same programs running.

You cannot use Remote Desktop Connection to connect to remote (host) computers running the following editions of Windows Vista:

Windows Vista Starter

Windows Vista Home Basic

Windows Vista Home Basic N

Windows Vista Home Premium

However, any edition of Windows Vista can be running on your computer (the one you want to connect from).

Kevin..

• Remote Differential Compression And Your Vista Network
• Create a Desktop Shortcut to Switch Users in Vista
• How to set up Vista’s Parental Controls Part 2
• Remote Differential Compression And Your Vista Network Part 2
• Running Vista’s Compatibility Mode

What are software vulnerabilities?
A software vulnerability is basically a programming error/flaw in a software application, that can be used by a hacker to perform actions, which have a security impact on your computer. These actions range from disclosure of sensitive information stored on your computer (like credit card numbers and account information) to automatic installation of viruses, trojans, keyloggers, or other code.

First download the free Secunia PSI program them install it and let it do a scan of your system. When it’s finished you will be presented with the results page.

The first tab is the Overview :
It will give you your score and state of your porgrams.

The next tab is the Insecure tab.
This page displays programs that the Secunia PSI has detected on your computer for which there are known security updates available. They recommend, that you update or uninstall all programs listed here. Click any entry on this page to view further details. It will give you the programs version number and a link to its website so you can get the update.

End-of-Life Programs:

This page displays programs that the Secunia PSI has detected on your computer, which the vendor no longer supports. The vendor will not issue patches or alerts regarding security issues that could expose your computer to security threats. We recommend, that you update or uninstall all programs listed here. Click any entry on this page to view further details.

Patched Programs:

This page displays programs that the Secunia PSI has detected on your computer for which there are no known security updates available. Programs listed here does as such not require further attention from you.

Scan Your Computer:

During the scan, the Secunia PSI will detect programs installed on your computer and determine whether any of them are missing any security related updates (Insecure), or whether the vendor has stopped supporting the product (End-of-Life).

PSI Settings:

Change the behaviour of the Secunia PSI using the PSI Settings. Manage your Ignore Rules for programs you don’t wish to see in your PSI interface.

Secunia Profile:

Change and update your Secunia Profile. Having a Secunia Profile allows you to participate in upcoming events, manage your Secunia mailing list subscriptions, participate in forum discussions, access more help, assist other PSI users, and get notified about new features from Secunia.

Send Feedback:

Send them your thoughts! Let them know what you think about the Secunia PSI, what they can improve.

Upgrade to the Secunia NSI 2.0 - Scan and Manage Your Network:

This version is about $30.US for each computer and lets you scan all the computers on your network.

The Secunia Network Software Inspector (NSI) 2.0 is capable of producing the same quality results as this free Secunia Personal Software Inspector that you already have installed on your computer. Although with one huge difference; The Secunia NSI 2.0 is capable of conducting the scans over your local network and aggregating the results from one, five, or thousands of hosts in an easy to overview and manage interface, providing you with an overview of all hosts that you manage.

What is the difference between the Secunia PSI vs. the Secunia NSI 2.0
The Secunia NSI 2.0 is the commercial, network aware, version of the Secunia PSI designed for computer networks. Whereas the Secunia PSI is solely available for standalone private computers (Home PCs).

All told this is a must use free program.

• Scan your Vista Computer with Microsofts Baseline Security Advisor to Check for Vulnerabilities
• Run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool anytime in Vista
• Windows Vista’s Reliability and Performance Monitor Part 2
• The Most Affordable Way To Run Microsoft Software, Vista, Office and More
• Keep Vista from Switching Wireless Networks

Here’s a quick little hack of 3D Pinball that will allow you to get the high score every time. If you don’t have 3D Pinball installed in Vista yet check out my post on how to add it. Now that you have it installed here’s what you need to do to get those really high scores.

With 3D pinball running click on the playing field,

For an extra ball, type 1max and press enter.

To get unlimited balls, type bmax and press enter.

To activate the Gravity Well, type gmax and press enter.

To control the ball with the your mouse, type hidden test and press enter.

While in the hidden test mode press the following keys for more options

Y Changes the title of the game displayed at the top of the
window from “3D Pinball for Windows-Space Cadet” to “pinball”

H Gives you a high score of 1,000,000,000, but always puts the
score below the top highest legitimate score.

M Opens a box of the amount of memory currently used by the game.

R Promotes you to the next rank up.

Now you’re the Pinball Wizard.

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• Disable Vista’s Hibernation
• Add 3D Pinball To Windows Vista
• What Version of Windows do I Have
• Some Basic Windows Tips
• Enabling the Aurora boot screen

The Quick launch area is a place you can add your favorite apps so there easily accsessible, By default they are displayed in a small size so here’s a quick tip to increase there size to make them easier to see. If you don’t have the Quick launch area turned on lets do that first.

Right click an empty area in your task bar and choose Toolbars > Quick Launch. Now next to the Start Orb you will see the Quick Launch area.

To increase their size, right click an empty area in the Quick Launch area and choose View > Large Icons.

Now your Quick Launch icons will be easier to see.

Now its time to prepare for the next round of storms headed to Florida.

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved. Related Posts:

• Rearranging your taskbar
• Adding Icons To Your Desktop
• How to Show or Hide your Desktop Icons in Vista
• How to Adjust the size of your Desktop Icons in Vista
• Increase the Size of your Blinking Cursor in Vista

Thanks for your support.

Kevin

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved.

• Vote Now! “Best Windows Customization Website” Quarter Finals
• VistaRevisited to go on Hiatus
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• Top 20 Visited Posts for the Month of January 2008
• A Message from Kevin

When the User Access Control is invoked your monitor momentarily blanks out, this used to annoy the heck out of me. Microsoft calls it “Secure Desktop” and it is a security feature in Vista that prevents virus and malware from sending a “click” message to the secure prompt dialog, which basically means they can do the honor of clicking OK for you. That being said if you are comfortable giving up some security here’s how to disable it.

In Vista Home and Home Premium.

1. Click on the start Orb and type regedit in the start menu search box and press enter.
2. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
3. Navigate to the following registry key:
4. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem]
5. Double click PromptOnSecureDesktop.
6. Change the Value data to 0 and click Ok.

That’s all there is to it.

In Vista Business and Ultimate.

1. Click on the start Orb and type security in the start menu search box and click on Local Security Policy.
2. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
3. Now in the Local Security Policy window, expand Local Policies > then Security Options.
   In the right hand pane scroll down near the bottom and and go to User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation.
   
4. Double click the item and choose Disable. Then click Ok.

Now you won’t be bothered with the screen blanking out anymore.

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• Create A Logon Message In Vista
• Setup The Number Of Logon Attempts In Vista For More Security
• Pin Folders To Your Start Menu In Vista
• How To Take Ownership Of A File Or Folder In Vista
• How to Disable Remote Assistance in Vista

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Are you tired of resizing and dragging windows around so you can see them both at the same time, well here’s a quick tip that will quickly resize and display your windows side by side.

Hold down the control key and select two or more windows on the task bar, depending on how big your monitor is. Right click and select “Show Windows Side by Side“. You’ll now have the two windows perfectly sized sitting next to each other.

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved.

• Increase the Size of Your Quick Launch Icons in Vista
• Quickly Disable Or Enable Vista’s Aero Effect
• How to Move an off Screen Window Back into View in Vista
• How To Get Your Show Desktop Icon Back in Vista
• Windows Vista’s Reliability and Performance Monitor Part 1

If you have 2 or more user accounts setup on your computer here’s a quick way to create a shortcut on you desktop to switch users with 1 click of your mouse. This tip applies to Vista Ultimate only. For Vista Basic and Home premium scroll to the end for a work around.

Here’s how.

1. Click an empty spot on your desktop and choose New > Shortcut.
2. In the next dialog box type in C:WindowsSystem32tsdiscon.exe and click next.
3. Give your new shortcut a name. I used Switch User. Then click finish.
4. Now if you want you can change the default icon to something else.
5. Right click your new icon and choose Properties, under the shortcut tab choose Change Icon.
6. Choose the Icon you like bet and click Ok twice.

Now when you want to switch users just click you’re new shortcut and you’ll be sent to the Logon screen.

For Vista Basic and Home Premium Users:

I added the file you need to  Drop.io

Download the file to your C:\Windows\System32 folder.

1. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\tsdiscon.exe in a Windows Explorer window.

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• Create A Shortcut To Quickly Lock Your Vista Desktop
• Adding Icons To Your Desktop
• Create a Desktop Shortcut to Eject your CD/DVD Disk
• Changing Windows Explorer’s Default Opening Folder
• Use 1 Click To Shutdown Restart or Logoff Vista

If your comfortable working in the windows registry wouldn’t it be nice to have multiple editors open at the same time, you could one open to make your changes and another to see how it was configured before you changed everything or for whatever reason you want.

Well If you ever tried to open more that one at a time you know windows just won’t let you, until now. Here’s the secret.

Open Regedit the way you normally do then click the Start Orb > Run, then type  regedit /m in the run dialog box  then Ok, approve the UAC if prompted and another instance if registry editor will open, do it again and you’ll have another and another.

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved.

• Pin Folders To Your Start Menu In Vista
• Disable Autorun in Vista to Protect Against Malware Infections
• How To Remove The Shortcut Text From Icons On Your Vista Desktop
• How To Show Vista’s Super Hidden Files
• How To Slow Down Vista’s Animated Windows

Vista’s control panel is a very useful tool however there are so many options available its easy to loose track of the ones you use most so why not create a custom Control Panel with just your favorites. Here’s how.

1. Open an Explorer window ( Start Orb > Computer) Under favorite links choose Documents, Right click in the Documents area and choose New > Folder. Name it what ever you want. I choose Kevins Control Panel.
2. Right click your new folder and choose Properties. Click the Customize tab > Change Icon. Pick the Icon of your choice them click Ok twice.
3. Open your new folder. (Leave this window open.)
4. Click the Start Orb then choose Control Panel..
5. In the left hand pane click Classic View so you can see all of the items that are available to choose from.
6. Now left click items in the Control Panel you want and drag them to your new folder.
7. When you’re finished drag your new folder to the start Orb, when the Menu appears drop the folder on the top area of the Menu.
8. Now when you click the Start Orb you’re new Control Panel will be at the top of your Start Menu.

And all you’re favorite Control Panel items will be in one easy to find place.

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved.

• Add Items To Your SendTo Menu In Vista
• Viewing the Status Bar in Windows Explorer
• Changing The Control Panels Look
• Add or Delete Items from your Send-to Menu
• Get Search back to the Start Menu in Vista

Ever wonder what version of Windows your using, A few people have asked lately how do I tell what version of Windows do I have, or do I need to install the latest Service Pack. Here is an easy way to find out.

1. Click the Start Orb.
2. Type Run in the search box and press enter.
3. In the Run dialog box type winver and press OK.

An About Windows popup will display your version information.

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• Download Vista SP1 RC Refreshed
• Another Quick Way To Shutdown Vista
• How to Hack 3D Pinball in Vista
• Check the Activation Status of your Vista Install
• Disable Vista’s Autotuning To Improve Wireless Connectivity

When you first install Vista you are given 30 days to evaluate it without entering your Product code. If you’ve not entered your code yet here’s a way to find out how much time you have left on your evaluation.

1. Open a Command Prompt By clicking the Start Orb and typing cmd into the search box.
2. Click cmd.exe in the results at the top of the page.
3. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
4. Once in the command window type slmgr -xpr and press enter.
5. In a few minutes you will get a dialog box saying how much time you have left in you evaluation.

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• Sync Your Computers Clock to the Internet Via the Command Prompt
• Disable Vista’s Autotuning To Improve Wireless Connectivity
• Keep Vista From Asking For A Password After Resuming From Sleep Mode
• Keep Vista’s UAC from Blanking out your Monitor
• A Quick Way To Run A Command Prompt As An Administrator In Vista

In text fields the blinking cursor indicates where to start typing, but by default the cursor is so small sometimes its hard to find. Wouldn’t be nice to make it easier to spot well here’s how.

1. Click the Start Orb.
2. Click Control panel.
3. Under Ease of Access choose Optimize visual display.
4. Scroll down to Make thing on the screen easier to see.
5. Use the drop down box for Set thickness of the blinking cursor to increase its size.
6. Click save, now you can’t miss it.

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• Adjust Your Blinking Cursor In Vista
• Increase the Size of Your Quick Launch Icons in Vista
• How to Adjust the size of your Desktop Icons in Vista
• Adjust The Text Size On Your Screen
• Create A Custom Vista Screensaver With Your Own Pictures

Wouldn’t it be nice to click an icon on your desktop to open you CD/DVD tray instead or reaching all the way to the eject button on your computer. Well here’s a way to do just that.

1. Download the NirCmd utility from Nirsoft.
2. Extract nircmd.exe to a folder of your choice, I choose my user folder.
3. Right click an empty spot on your desktop and choose New > Shortcut.
4. In the location bar type in the path to NirCmd then add the command cdrom open to the end and add the drive letter to your CD/DVD drive. like below.“C:userKevinnircmd.exe” cdrom open F:
   
5. Click Next.
6. Type in a name for your shortcut. Like Eject DVD and click finish.
7. If you get a warning about the publisher could not be verified you will need to remove the check mark next to Always ask before opening this file. Its one of those Vista things.

To close your CDDVD tray follow the same steps but instead of cdrom open use cdrom close

If you want to change the look of the icon, right click it and choose Properties then Change icon. choose your favorite then click Ok twice.

The Nircmd command will do many thing beside opening and closing your CDDVD tray checkout their website for more commands.

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• Create a Desktop Shortcut to Switch Users in Vista
• Create A Shortcut To Quickly Lock Your Vista Desktop
• Use 1 Click To Shutdown Restart or Logoff Vista
• Adding Icons To Your Desktop
• How To Change What Program Opens A File

Have you ever been selecting a group of files to copy in Windows Explorer by holding down the Ctrl key then all of a sudden you find a bunch of duplicate files sitting in your folder. What happened you ask. Well this happens because you moved your mouse when you clicked on a file and Windows assumed you dragged the files and wanted to copy them. Now after you delete all those duplicates here’s a way to prevent it from happening again.

This tip will require a registry edit so it’s best to create a system restore point first to back it up.

1. Click the Start Orb and type Regedit in the search box.
2. Click Regedit.exe at the top of the search results under programs.
3. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
4. Navigate to the following key.
5. HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop
6. When you click Desktop you will see many entries in the right pane, the ones you will edit are DragHeight and DragWidth.
7. Double click DragHeight and set the value to 15 then do the same for DragWidth.
8. You may need to experiment with these settings to suit style.
9. Close the Regedit and your all set. Happy copying.

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• Pin Folders To Your Start Menu In Vista
• How To Remove The Shortcut Text From Icons On Your Vista Desktop
• How To Show Vista’s Super Hidden Files
• How To Slow Down Vista’s Animated Windows
• Create A Logon Message In Vista

Download Firefox 3 today and help Mozilla set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours.

With more than 15,000 improvements, Firefox 3 is faster, safer and smarter than before.

New Features:

Firefox 3 sets the innovation bar very high with exciting new features, including one-click bookmarking, the smart location bar and lightning fast performance.

Security:

Keeping you and your personal information safe is our top priority. Firefox 3 includes phishing and malware protection, plus our new instant site ID info.

Productivity:

With features like built-in spell checking, session restore and full zoom, Firefox 3 makes it possible to work faster and more efficiently on the Web.

Customization:

Your taste and needs set you apart from the rest. With Firefox 3 you can choose from over 5,000 add-ons that help you customize your browsing experience.

Copyright© VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved.

• System Restore FAQ
• Working With System Restore
• Restore Backed up Windows Files
• Add your Own Custom Logo and Support Info into Vista
• Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing Today

With all the USB hard drives and Thumb drives now on the market I’m sure you have a few that you are connecting to your computer, and each time you connect them they may get a different drive letter depending on the order in which you connect them. Now if you are using any Automated software for your Backups and a drive letter changes, well your going to have a problem.

The best way to handle this is to assign a drive letter to each drive manually then every time you connect the device it will have the same drive letter. Here’s how.

1. Right click the Computer Icon on your Desktop and choose Manage.
2. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
3. In the Computer Management Console under Storage click Disk Management.
   
4. Plug in your SUB drives and they will show up in the console.
5. Right click the drive you want to change and choose change drive letter and path.
   
6. Click change.
   
7. Use the drop down box to choose another letter and click Ok
   
8. Confirm any warnings and you’re all set.
   

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• How to Change or Add a User Password in Vista
• How to Schedule the Disk Defragmenter in Vista
• Dual Booting Windows XP and Vista, An Install Guide
• Sync Your Computers Clock to the Internet Via the Command Prompt
• Reset A Lost Vista Login Password

If you do a lot of work in the command line wouldn’t it be nice to customize it the way you want. change the size, the color and the fonts to something more readable or colorful. Well here’s how.

First lets open the Command Processor window.

Click the Start Orb and type CMD in the search field and press enter

Now that the Command Processor window is open right click the title bar. To change the settings for all command prompt windows, click Defaults. To change the settings for the current command prompt window only, click Properties.

Click the Options tab. Here you can adjust the cursor size, Display and edit options along with the Command history.

Click the Font tab. In the Font box, click a font.
If you click Lucida Console font, the Size menu displays a list of point sizes to choose from, or you can enter a size by typing the number in the Size box. To use bold with TrueType fonts, select the Bold Fonts check box.
If you click Raster Fonts, the sizes that are listed in the Size box are the window size choices.
The Window Preview box displays how the current window’s size will change based on the font and font size you selected.
The Selected Font box shows how characters will appear with the specified font settings. Bold is not available with Raster fonts.

Click the Layout tab.
Under Screen Buffer Size, specify settings for the width and height of the screen, based on the number of characters that are entered in the buffer.
Under Window Size, specify settings for the width and height of the window.
Under Window Position, specify settings for the initial left and top position of the window.(NOTE: you can resize the window up to the maximum size listed on the Layout tab. It is a good idea to select a size from one-fourth to no more than half the desktop size for reading and usability.)

Click the Colors tab. choose colors for the screen text, screen background, pop-up text, or pop-up background by clicking the element you want to change.
Click the color you want. The Selected Screen Colors box shows how the text and background colors you selected will appear on the screen. The Selected Popup Colors box shows how the text and background colors you selected will appear in a pop-up window.

Click Ok and restart the Command Processor window.

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• Change The Look Of The Command Window
• Adjust The Text Size On Your Screen
• Adjust your Monitor’s Screen Resolution in Vista
• Change What Happens When you Click The Shutdown Button
• Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts

Here’s a way to shut down your computer without using your mouse. It’s a cool little keyboard shortcut.

1. Press the Windows key, (you know the one with the little flag)
2. Press the right arrow key 3 times
3. Press enter.

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com.

• Another Quick Way To Shutdown Vista
• Create a Desktop Shortcut to Switch Users in Vista
• How to Hack 3D Pinball in Vista
• What Version of Windows do I Have
• Get An Onscreen Keyboard In Vista

Microsoft’s Baseline Security Advisor is is free download from Microsoft that will scan your computer for vulnerabilities and identifying common security misconfigurations in your operating system and present you with a detailed report for what if anything it finds and how to fix it. It will also scan computers across your network. This tip is very popular on my other site so I thought I’d share it here with my Vista users.

Here are a few of the areas it checks.

• Incomplete Updates
• Administrators accounts
• Windows Firewall
• Local Account Password Test
• Automatic Updates
• File System
• Guest Accounts
• Restrict Anonymous access
• Autologon
• Password Expiration

It’s simple to setup and run. After installing just click Scan a computer.

The next screen lets you choose which computer to scan if you have more than 1 on a network and the options you want to include. Using the default is fine.

The scan will take a few minutes then you will be presented with the results. The Red, Orange, Blue and Green shields will give you an idea of the severity of any problems.

Click on the Blue text for more info and how to fix any issues it finds.

As you can see above I have a couple issues to resolve in my accounts section.

This is a great little program to add to your arsenal to keep Windows clean and happy.

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• Scan Your Vista Computer for Software Vulnerabilities with Secunia PSI
• Setup Vista To Email You Problems It Encounters
• How to Disable Remote Assistance in Vista
• Speed Up Game Performance By Clean Booting Your Computer
• Windows Vista’s Reliability and Performance Monitor Part 2

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