TweakVista.com - Latest Tweaks & News

Enable Legacy Windows Help File Support (.hlp file)

11/9/2009 7:00:34 AM

Microsoft removed the legacy Windows Help .hlp file viewer, winhlp32.exe, from Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2. Dating back to Windows 3.1, Microsoft says the Windows Help components have not been updated in years and no longer meets internal standards. If you have an older application that still uses .hlp files and must be able to view .hlp files...

Convert Physical Machines to Virtual with Disk2vhd

10/19/2009 12:00:31 PM

The Windows Sysinternals group at Microsoft has released Disk2vhd that is a free physical to virtual converter. Disk2vhd allows you to create VHD (virtual hard dive) files from physical drives on your computer while your system is online. The VHD files generated can be used in Microsoft Virtual PC or on Hyper-V server and you will have an instant clone of your machine running virtually. ...

How To Properly Disable IPv6

10/5/2009 7:00:36 AM

Starting in Windows Vista and Server 2008, Microsoft includes native support for IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) and is enabled by default. IPv6 is the new computer address protocol that will eventually replace IPv4 which is currently the most popular standard. Unless you network has a specific requirement for IPv6, very few do, you can safely disable IPv6. Unlike other protocols, you...

Free Microsoft Security Essentials

9/29/2009 9:53:01 AM

Microsoft's free anti-virus and malware protection software called Microsoft Security Essentials is now available for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. Microsoft Security Essentials is designed to run quietly in the background alerting users only when there is an action for them to take. It also limits CPU and memory usage, resulting in less impact on the tasks consumers perform every...

Share Your Screen with SharedView

7/27/2009 2:15:20 PM

Microsoft SharedView is a free utility that allows you to share your desktop, applications and documents with up to 15 people online at a time. It is perfect to hold a small meeting or to show a family member how to do something. Best of all it works well through firewalls and routers so you don’t have to worry about connection issues. Getting Microsoft SharedView up and...

Service Pack 2 Download Links for Vista and Server 2008

5/26/2009 4:30:11 PM

Overnight Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 to the Microsoft download center for public download. Previously Service Pack 2 was only available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. In other news anti-Windows fanboys international issued a press release requesting all members trade in "Windows 7 is Vista SP2" t-shirts for updated Vista SP3...

Kill Processes from Command Prompt

5/16/2009 5:00:48 PM

I'm sure you are familiar with the traditional way to kill or end a process in Windows using Task Manager. This method is effective but not nearly as fun as killing a process in Command Prompt. Additionally, killing processes in Command Prompt provides much more control and the ability to end multiple processes at once. All of this is possible with the TaskKill...

What is svchost.exe?

4/23/2009 3:00:09 PM

One of the most common questions about system processes is what is svchost.exe and why are there so many processes running? First appearing in Windows XP, svchost.exe hosts multiple services within one process. This allows the operating system to save memory by reducing process overhead by cutting down on the number of processes that need to be running. Every system service such as...

Fix Broken and Slow Tab Issues in Internet Explorer 8

3/30/2009 12:00:41 PM

Some users that upgraded to Internet Explorer 8 experience issues with tabs not working properly or taking a very long time to load. It seems for most users the issue can be attributed to a problem with actxprxy.dll not installing properly during the upgrade. If you have a similar problem with IE8, fixing the issue is as simple as a running one command. Just open up an...

Remove text on taskbar icons like Windows 7

3/26/2009 9:20:10 PM

An easy way to give your Windows Vista box a clean look is to remove the application labels on the taskbar. With a registry hack you can make your Windows Vista taskbar look similar to the Windows 7 icon only taskbar. Click on the start button and type in regedit and hit Enter. Navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Desktop\WindowMetrics. Create a new...

Make Windows Vista look like Windows 7

3/27/2009 12:00:20 PM

Want to bring the look of the Windows 7 taskbar and interface to Windows Vista? Thanks to the hard work of a dedicated Vista user, everyone can download a special visual style for Windows Vista that will transform your pc. Before you can install the new visual style the visual style engine must be patched to allow non-Microsoft visual styles. Check...

Window Snapping for Windows Vista and XP

2/4/2009 8:50:16 AM

Windows 7 includes the new Aero Snap feature that allows you to easily work with multiple windows at once by neatly sizing both windows automatically. For Windows Vista and XP users a cool utility called FreeSnap will provide much of the same functionality with a exhaustive list of keyboard shortcuts. To get started, download the latest version of FreeSnap. Once you have...

Disable iPhone AutoPlay Pop-up

1/4/2009 9:39:39 AM

Every time I connect the iPhone to my PC Windows shows an AutoPlay dialog with four useless options. I want Windows to do nothing because iTunes automatically starts to charge and sync my device. Unfortunately, there is not a “do nothing” option on this screen like other AutoPlay dialogs. In order to stop the AutoPlay window I will have to change the...

Easily Customize Windows Screensavers

12/30/2008 3:45:08 PM

About a year about I posted a detailed article about customizing the new screensavers in Windows Vista that are also included in Windows 7. Since then a Windows developer known as Onmicoder has taken the tweaks a step further and built a GUI around the registry values. Now users that don’t want to modify the registry manually can customize screensavers with just a few clicks. ...

Announcing Windows Vista SP2 Beta

12/2/2008 12:00:01 AM

Today Microsoft is releasing the Windows Vista SP2 Beta for Technet and MSDN Subscribers to download. Service Pack 2 includes dozens of improvements that will help security and performance. Among the improvements the most notable are Bluetooth 2.1 feature pack, Windows Connect Now wireless configuration, Windows Search 4 and increased reliability. Detailed List of Changes: ...