Top Computer Virus 2008

Computer Virus threats are neither surprising nor new on the Web. They are stepping towards newer technologies such as VoIP and instant messengers. With advancement in the features available on the Internet, hackers continue to drive malware. This underlines an importance of being aware and secure when traversing the Web. Antivirus Installation is must in each and every computer attached to Internet.

Predictions for top security threats in 2008 are:

• Increase in Password Staling Websites: There will certainly be a rise in the number of attacks seeking to capture a user's ID and password by displaying fake sign-in pages. Online services will primarily be targeted to spread virus and malware. As opposed to this, the attacks on ISPs are likely to decline, while those aimed at the financial sector will move with the same pace.

• Increase in Spamming: Spamming will continue to grow, accounting for 40 per cent of the total spam received as compared to 10 per cent a year ago. There has been a significant rise in the incidence of image spam and others such as pump-and-dump stocks, pharmacy, and degree spam.

• Increase in IM Attacks: Instant messaging client is gaining wide popularity among Internet-savvy. They are always in search of better messengers to communicate on the web. Since instant messengers feature a number of exclusive features such as file transfer & webcam support, the virus attacks on these applications may increase in near future.

• Increase in Online Gaming Attacks: Online gaming is both the source of entertainment and money for several companies which allow their registered members to buy virtual goods to continue the game. The computer virus attackers may try to target these virtual goods to make real money.

• Increase in Windows Vista Attacks: The attackers and hackers generally seek to take advantage of flaws present in the operating systems. Since Windows Vista, the latest version of Microsoft Windows is believed to be affected by critical vulnerabilities, the hackers may try to inject virus into the affected systems.

• Increase in Phishing Attacks: Phishing attacks are expected to be one of the top 10 threats in 2008. With growth in number of incidence of using copies of original websites to trick the users to get their sensitive data, the phishing attacks can increase.

Mark A is a part of the content team for Iyogi. Iyogi provides Antivirus setup, certified technicians to Install Antivirus and scan computer, antivirus installation, latest antivirus updates, computer support, pc repair services, technical support, it support and services, over the phone and via remote access.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_A

how to speed computer

If you're still relying on 'Defrag' to improve system performance, you are behind the times. Defragmenting is the process of reorganizing all files on a hard drive so that each file is arranged into a single uninterrupted or contiguous location on the disk. Many system builders and technicians still believe that defragmenting a hard drive on a regular basis will keep a machine operating at peak performance. That was true with older PCs, but today we have 7200 rotations per minute disk drives with improved seek and latency times; many contain an 8MB cache buffer. For today's machines, defragmentation no longer has a big impact on system performance.

Defragmenting is still an important task. Excess power consumption and over heating can directly relate to a fragmented hard drive. If a file is not contiguous when the computer's operating system requests it, extra seeking on the disk is required. More importantly, if a hard drive crashes, the likelihood of successfully recovering data from the damaged drive improves greatly if the data is contiguous rather than fragmented. Defrag just doesn't cut it anymore when it comes to speeding up a PC.

The following tips will improve system performance on any PC running Windows XP and some will improve system security as well:

(Note - If your computer is on a Local Area Network or LAN at your business or you have a laptop that is at times on a workplace LAN, don't change ANY configuration settings without approval from your Network Administrator).

Before you begin, do a backup of your essential data

For details on performing a proper backup in Windows XP, go to Microsoft.com and enter 'Backup Windows XP' in the search bar.

There are a few basic system attributes that may need to be adjusted so that the system will allow you to make necessary changes:

I. Make sure that you're logged on to your machine as an 'Administrator'

II. Make sure that you can properly navigate 'System Files'-

Open any folder and go to 'Tools' > 'Folder Options...' > 'View'

Under 'Advanced Settings' make sure that the following boxes are checked:

'Display the contents of system folders'

'Show hidden files and folders'

Make sure that the following boxes are NOT checked:

'Hide extensions for known file types'

'Hide protected operating system files'

III. Enable the 'Run' feature in the 'Start' menu

Hit the 'Start' button. If 'Run...' is not visible in the 'Start' menu do the following:

'Right-click' on the 'Task Bar'. Go to 'Properties' > 'Start Menu'

If 'Start menu' is selected, select and utilize 'Classic start menu' instead.

(Many viruses replace the 'Folder.htt' file utilized by the Windows XP 'Start Menu' with a corrupt VBScript. Once infected, each time you utilize Windows Explorer to view a folder you will execute a virus that will dramatically slow down your machine.)

After selecting 'Classic start menu' hit 'Apply' then go to 'Customize...' and make sure that the 'Display Run' box is checked.

Now, let's crank it up!

Eliminate all spyware

Utilize free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft and SpyBot Search & Destroy by Safer Networking. Once these programs are installed, make sure that there aren't any items listed or checked in the 'Ignore' section. Be sure to check for and download updates before starting a scan.

Run a complete virus scan

Update your anti-virus software and run a complete system virus scan. Many viruses are designed for the sole purpose of draining system resources. Make sure that you only have one anti-virus software package installed. Unlike anti-Spyware programs, mixing anti-virus software is a sure-fire way to spell disaster for system performance and reliability.

Run 'Disk Cleanup'

Open 'My Computer' from the desktop. 'Right-click' on your main hard drive, (usually 'C:'). Select 'Properties' and press 'Disk cleanup'. Allow it to run. Once finished, the 'Files to delete' window will show the file categories on the disk that can be deleted or compressed. Check the boxes by those that you don't need and press 'OK'.

Check each hard drive with 'scandisk'

With time and heavy use, data and physical problems can develop that drastically decrease system performance. Defragmenting the drive can help, but there are other issues such as lost clusters and bad sectors that the defragmentation utility cannot touch. It's a good idea to run XP's built in error checking utility on your drives every 2-3 months. This utility will scan your disks for errors and optionally attempt to correct them.

Open 'My Computer' from the desktop. 'Right-click' on your main hard drive, (usually 'C:'). Select 'properties' then 'tools' and under 'error checking' select 'check now…'. Check both 'Automatically fix file system errors' and 'Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors'. Restart your machine. 'Scandisk' will run during startup and can take a while depending on the size of your drive.

Clean out your 'Temporary Internet Files' and 'Cookies' folder 'Start' > 'Settings' > 'Control Panel' > 'Internet Options'

Select 'Delete Cookies...'. When the confirmation window appears, press 'OK'.

Select 'Delete Files...'. When the confirmation window appears, check 'Delete all offline content' and press 'OK'. (If you checked the 'Temporary Internet Files' box during 'Disk Cleanup' this should only take a second or two.)

Change 'Days to keep pages in history:' to 0. If you visit certain Web sites on a regular basis, add them to your 'Favorites'. Don't utilize 'History' to keep track of frequently visited sites.

Press 'OK'.

Eliminate programs that run during startup

Preventing programs from running at startup can be frustrating because there is no single location from which to stop them all. Some programs run because they're in the 'Startup' folder, others because they're attached to logon scripts. Others run due to Registry settings. With a little determination and persistence, you will be able to prevent unnecessary programs from running during startup.

Clean out your 'Startup' folder

C:Documents and Settings'your username'Start MenuProgramsStartup

Delete 'shortcuts' to unnecessary programs that run during startup. (You can also remove startup 'shortcuts' by going to 'Start' > 'Programs' > 'Startup', then 'right-clicking' on and deleting the 'shortcuts' you want to remove).

(Note - You can prevent all programs in your 'Startup' folder from running by holding down the 'Shift' key during startup. The items will still remain in the 'Startup' folder, however, and they will start the next time you boot).

Clean out your 'Scheduled Tasks' folder

C:WindowsTasks

Delete the 'shortcuts' to programs that you don't want to run automatically on a schedule.

Utilizing the 'System Configuration Utility'

The above steps will prevent most obvious programs from running during startup, but others are hidden. To view these programs, go to 'Start' > 'Run...' type 'msconfig' and press 'OK' or hit 'Enter'. You are now utilizing the 'System Configuration Utility'. Go to the 'Startup' tab and you will see the hidden programs that run during startup.

None of these programs are needed for Windows XP to startup properly. You do, however, want your anti-virus software and certain programs that your machine utilizes such as touchpad, graphics, audio and networking drivers to run during startup. This is where persistence pays off. Many times these programs aren't clearly marked. To identify one of these programs, go to 'Start' > 'Search' > 'For files and folders' > 'All files and folders'. Then select 'More advanced options' and make sure that 'Search system folders', 'Search hidden files and folders' and 'Search subfolders' are all checked. Then type the name of the unidentifiable program, ('SHSTAT', for example), then press 'Search'.

Once the program shows up in the 'Search Results' window, press 'STOP'. Then 'Right-click' on the program and select 'Open Containing Folder'. Now you are in the program's directory and should be able to identify it by reading the address bar. 'SHSTAT' resides in my ' C:Program FilesNetwork AssociatesVirusScan' folder, therefore, I want it to run during startup. 'Msmsgs', on the other hand, resides in my 'C:Program FilesMessenger' folder. I never use the Microsoft Instant Messenger, therefore, I would uncheck it in the 'System Configuration Utility'. Once you have unchecked each program that you don't want to run during startup, press 'Apply' then 'Close' and select 'Restart'. After startup you will receive a 'System Configuration Utility' message stating, "You have used the System Configuration Utility to make changes to the way Windows starts." Simply check 'Don't show this message...' then select 'OK'. I realize that this is a borderline ridiculous process, but until Microsoft comes up with a better way to modify hidden startup programs... oh well.

Eliminate services that run during startup

Constantly running processes that help the operating system run or that provide support to other applications are known as 'services'. Many 'services' launch automatically at startup and constantly run in the background. While you need many of them, some are not required and they can slow down your system.

To view 'services' go to 'Start' > 'Run' and type 'services.msc' then press 'OK' or hit 'Enter'. To stop a 'service' from running during startup, 'Right-click' on the 'service' and select 'Properties'. Change 'Startup type:' to 'Manual' and press 'Apply'. Then press 'Stop'. The following are some of the common services that can be prevented from running during startup:

- Portable Media Serial Number Service

- Removable Storage

- Task Scheduler Service - Schedules unattended tasks to be run. If you don't schedule any unattended tasks, turn it off.

- Uninterruptible Power Supply Service - Manages an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) connected to your PC. If you don't utilize one, turn it off.

- Wireless Zero Configuration Service - only if you don't utilize a wireless internet connection.

- Telnet - (Certain versions of Windows XP Pro only) Unless you're a 'hacker'. Then you probably wouldn't be reading this article. Instead of changing 'Telnet' to 'Manual', go ahead and select 'Disable'.

Disable 'file indexing'

The 'Indexing service' extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index." As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.

The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside of any document or file. Windows XP's built-in search functionality can still perform these searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer.

Open 'My Computer' from the desktop. 'Right-click' on your main hard drive, (usually 'C:'). Select 'Properties'. Uncheck 'Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching'. Then select 'Apply changes to C:, subfolders and files', then select 'OK'. If a warning or error message appears (such as 'Access is denied'), select the 'Ignore All button'.

Empty the Windows 'Prefetch' folder > C:WINDOWSPrefetch

Empty the Windows 'Prefetch' folder every 2-3 months. Windows XP can 'prefetch' portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That's fine. But over time, the prefetch folder will become overloaded with references to files and applications that are no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting a great deal of time and slowing system performance by pre-loading them. It is safe to delete everything in this folder.

Enable 'DMA' for each hard drive

'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'Administrative Tools'>'Computer Management'>'Device Manager'

'Double-click' on the 'IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device' and ensure that 'DMA', (Direct Memory Access), is enabled for each drive connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on 'Primary IDE Channel'. Select the 'Advanced Settings' tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to 'DMA if available' for both Device 0 and Device 1. Repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.

Turn off unnecessary animations

'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'System'>'Advanced'

Windows XP offers many settings related animated icons, fonts, window displays, etc. When enabled these features utilize valuable system resources. under 'Performance' select 'Settings' then select 'Adjust for best performance'.

Eliminate unnecessary 'fonts'

C:WINDOWSFonts

The more fonts you have installed, the slower your system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than previous versions of Windows, too many fonts, anything over 500, will noticeably tax your system.

Speedup Windows Explorer

Every time you open a folder there is a delay before the folder's content appears. Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers every time you open Windows Explorer. To correct this and to significantly increase browsing speed open 'My Computer' from the desktop. Select 'Tools' then 'Folder Options'. Select 'View' and uncheck 'Automatically search for network folders and printers'. Select 'Apply' then 'OK' and restart your machine.

Turn off 'System Restore'

'System Restore' can be useful if your computer is having problems, however, storing all the restore points can literally take up Gigabytes of space on your hard drive. To turn off 'System Restore' go to 'Start' > 'Settings' > 'Control Panel' > 'System' > 'System Restore' and check 'Turn off System Restore on all drives'. Then select 'Apply' and 'OK'.

Optimize Your 'Pagefile'

If you assign a 'fixed' file size to your 'pagefile' the operating system no longer needs to resize it to fulfill memory needs.

Windows XP sizes the 'pagefile' to about 1.5x the amount of actual physical memory by default. This is fine for systems with smaller amounts of memory, (under 512MB). If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the 'pagefile' at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the 'pagefile' size ratio to 1:1.

'Right-click' on 'My Computer' from the desktop and select 'Properties' > 'Advanced'. Under 'Performance' choose 'Settings' > 'Advanced' > 'Virtual Memory' > 'Change'. Highlight the drive containing your page file, (usually 'C:'), and make the 'Initial size' of the file the same as the 'Maximum size' of the file. Then select 'Set' > 'OK' > 'OK' > 'OK'. Restart your machine.

Editing the 'registry'

Microsoft Windows stores its configuration information in a database called the 'registry'. The 'registry' is the central storage for all computer configuration data. The Windows system configuration, the computer hardware configuration, information about installed programs, the types of documents that each program can create or use and user preferences are all stored in the 'registry'. Windows continually references this information during its operation. The 'registry' stores the data in a structured hierarchy of 'keys', 'subkeys', and 'named values'. Incorrectly editing the 'registry' may severely damage your system. Microsoft recommends that you backup the 'registry' before you edit it.

The only 'Key' that we will edit is 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE' or 'HKLM'. To backup the 'HKLM' key select 'Start' > 'Run...' and type 'regedit', then select 'OK' or hit 'Enter'. You are now utilizing the Windows 'Registry Editor'. On the left under 'My Computer' you will see the 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE' key. To backup the key, 'Right-click' on on the key and select 'Export'. In the 'File name:' block type 'HKLM_Backup'. Select the directory that you want to save the backup in with the 'Save in:' drop down menu at the top of the window and select 'Save'. Now you have backed up the 'HKLM' key.

The following edits are fairly simple and they don't require the alteration of any critical keys, so you shouldn't need to restore the backup. When editing the 'registry', however, you can never assume anything. Should you need to restore the backup, simply open 'regedit' again, 'highlight' the 'HKLM' key and select 'File' > 'Import...'. Browse to the 'HKLM_Backup.reg' file and select it. Select 'Open' then 'OK'. Restart your machine.

Force Windows to unload DLLs

Dynamic Link Libraries, or DLLs, are files that contain data or functions that Windows programs can call when needed by linking to them. Every piece of windows software will include instructions to the operating system as to which DLLs it will need to access, and XP will cache these particular files into memory for faster access.

Unfortunately, Windows XP keeps these DLLs cached after the related program has closed, wasting memory. While DLLs are generally small files, enough of them can make a big dent. This 'registry tweak' will force Windows XP to unload DLLs used by a program once that program is closed.

Select 'Start' > 'Run...' and type 'regedit', then select 'OK' or hit 'Enter'. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorer

Highlight the 'Explorer' folder. Then in the window to the right, 'Right-click' anywhere in the white space. Select 'New' > 'DWORD Value' and name it 'AlwaysUnloadDLL'. After creating the key, 'Right-click' on it and select 'Modify' and under 'Value data:' type '1'. Select 'OK' and close 'regedit'. Restart your machine.

Disable 'Last Access Update'

When you access a directory Windows XP wastes a lot of time updating the time stamp showing the most recent access time for that directory and for all of it's sub-directories. As the number of files and folders increases on your hard drive, system performance decreases.

Select 'Start' > 'Run...' and type 'regedit', then select 'OK' or hit 'Enter'. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlFileSystem

Highlight the 'FileSystem' folder. Then in the window to the right, 'Right-click' anywhere in the white space. Select 'New' > 'DWORD Value' and name it 'NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate'. After creating the key, 'Right-click' on it and select 'Modify' and under 'Value data:' type '1'. Select 'OK' and close 'regedit'. Restart your machine.

Improve Boot Speed

A great feature in Windows XP is the ability to perform a 'boot defragment'. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk and allows for faster booting. By default this option is usually turned on during installation but on occasion it is not.

Select 'Start' > 'Run...' and type 'regedit', then select 'OK' or hit 'Enter'. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftDfrgBootOptimizeFunction

Highlight the 'BootOptimizeFunction' folder. Then in the window to the right, view the 'Enable' key. If a 'Y' is present under 'Data', simply close 'regedit'. The feature is already enabled. If not, 'Right-click' on the key and select 'Modify' and under 'Value data:' type 'Y'. Select 'OK' and close 'regedit'. Restart your machine.

Speed up shutdown times

Having a fast machine during startup won't make you very happy if it takes forever to shutdown. You can disable the 'Clear Page File At Shutdown' feature to significantly decrease shutdown times.

Select 'Start' > 'Run...' and type 'regedit', then select 'OK' or hit 'Enter'. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSessionManagerMemory Management

Highlight the 'MemoryManagement' folder. Then in the window to the right, 'right-click' on the 'ClearPageFileAtShutdown' key. Select 'Modify' and under 'Value data:' type '0'. Select 'OK' and close 'regedit'. Restart your machine.

J.C. Hurst is the IT/Internet Marketing Director for The Ziegler Corporations located in Atlanta, Georgia

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Hurst

repair computer

It's late in the evening and you're at home, using your computer to update a document you need for work the next day. You make your final changes, save the document, and submit it to print. You turn to the printer, only to find nothing there. You print the document again, and again get nothing. Thinking that maybe there's something wrong with the printer connection, you decide to reboot your computer. But you're getting error messages that you've never seen before. After clicking on two or three dozen "Okay" buttons, your computer finally starts booting up again, and you sigh in relief. Until you start getting error messages stating that certain files are out of date or can't be located. Eventually your computer comes back up, but it seems that everything has gone wonky. Programs load with errors, or don't load at all. Utilities that worked fine last night lock up when you try to launch them, including your virus-scanning software. In short, something's very, very wrong.

Ordinarily this would mean taking your computer into a repair site and have a tech look at it to determine the problem. The fix could be as simple as running a few utilities on the computer, or as complex as rebuilding the hard drive from scratch. Even the simpler solution can be expensive. But if you are running Windows XP as your operating system, you may not need to go into a blind panic. A utility included with Windows XP called System Restore allows you to recover your hard drive from a previous point in time. In effect, you're turning back the clock to a point in the past where your computer was working properly.

Give Me a Reason

Why would you restore your computer to, say, yesterday afternoon's settings? There are plenty of reasons why you might want, or need, to do so. The incident described above could be caused by a virus that got through your computer's firewall and installed itself on your computer. Remember the new game you installed on your computer late last night? It could have overwritten system files in the operating system, replacing them with older files, or deleting required files altogether. Maybe somebody got a little trigger-happy with the mouse when selecting files to erase from the system, deleting required system files. Then there's always the possibility of an "act of God", like a power outage or power surge, which may have corrupted system data on the computer.

Convinced? Good. So how does System Restore work? Let's take a look.

Start at the Beginning

When Windows XP is installed on a computer system, the System Restore utility is turned on by default, so you don't have to do anything to start the process. System Restore also automatically creates "restore points", points in time you can select for restoring your computer. They're usually created when a new program is installed, or updates to the existing system are implemented (generally through the Internet). Good news. Unfortunately Windows XP isn't consistent about the frequency of creating these restore points. You might go two or three days before an incident occurs where the operating system feels it's necessary to create a restore point. Not-so-good news. However, you can go in yourself and manually create a restore point any time you want, say, just before you install a new program. If you'll do this on a regular basis, even once a day, you'll have a good number of points from which to restore if you ever need to.

A Good Recovery Place

You may want to create a restore point of your own, or need to find a restore point to recover your system. In either case, you start the same way. In the menu bar at the bottom of the desktop, click on Start, then Help and Support (the blue question mark icon). Under "Pick a Task" in the right column of the window that appears on your screen, select the option marked Undo changes to your computer with System Restore. This launches the System Restore utility, bringing it up in a new window.

If you want to create a new restore point, select the second option in the menu and click Next. You can enter an appropriate description for this restore point, and then click on Create. Windows XP automatically attaches your description and the date and time from your computer system to the restore point and adds it to the calendar list. Click on Close and that's it - you've created a restore point. You can go on with your work (or play) now.

When You Need Some Restoration

If you need to restore your system to an earlier date and time, in the System Restore menu select the first option in the menu and click Next. You can use the calendar on the left side of the window and the restore points described on the right side of the window to pick the particular restore point you wish to use. Once you've selected the desired restore point, click on Next, and then Next again to start the restore process. Don't power down your computer during this process, as you could end up with some serious issues if the restore process doesn't complete properly. (Helpful hint: Don't do a restore if there's a possibility you might have a power outage, such as during a thunderstorm!) Once the restore is done, the computer reboots, you log in, and there you are - your system is the way it was at the date and time of the selected restore point.

Helpful Hints

You'll avoid a lot of grief if you follow a few guidelines when using System Restore.

Regularly create manual restore points. It only takes a few minutes to create a restore point. Even if you only do this once or twice a week, it gives you that many more options to choose from when you need to select a restore point.

ALWAYS create a restore point before adding anything new to your computer! Whether you're adding a new printer, installing a second hard drive, or upgrading your favorite software program, create a restore point before starting the process. If anything happens and problems develop, you can restore your computer to the way it was before the installation started.

Save important data before starting a restore. Remember that anything that has changed on your computer between the time of the restore point and the time you begin the restore will be reset to the way it was at the time of the restore point. If your restore point is from ten days ago, every program and data file you have added to your computer in that ten-day period will be gone. Files that were on the computer at the time of the restore point and that you have deleted since then will be back on the computer after the restore. So if you have files on the computer that you want to keep, copy them to diskette or RAM stick, or burn to a CD, before you start the restore process.

Not Bad for a Freebie

There are commercial programs available, such as Norton's Go-Back, that perform this function much more smoothly and have many more features. But if you don't want to pay the $50 price tag for Go-Back, or don't expect to have to recover your computer on a regular basis, then XP's System Restore utility will work just fine for you - and may end up saving you both time and money in computer repair costs!

Check this out:

Peter Rosenblum has been in Information Technology for 25 years. He has worked on everything from COBOL programming early in his career to Computer repair as of late. His website gives tips and tricks for repairing computer, http://www.computer-repair-online.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_T._Rosenblum

Windows vista Tricks

1. Power button default action

The default action for the Power button on the start menu in Windows Vista is Sleep, which isn’t necessarily useful for everybody. You can configure this setting easily by using the advanced power settings panel, which is a little tricky to get to normally, but we’ll take the shortcut. Open a command prompt (type cmd into the start menu search bar), and then type in the following: powercfg.cpl,1. You could also take the long route (Control Panel Power Options Change Plan Settings Change Advanced Power Settings) Once you get to this dialog, browse down as shown to “Power buttons and lid”

From here, you can change the options:

• Power button action - Changes the hardware power button action
• Start menu power button - Changes the power button on the Start Menu

You can change the power button to either Sleep, Hibernate or Shut Down, or even nothing for the hardware power button.

2. Hide Desktop Icon Text on Windows Vista

Some icons are just obvious enough that nobody should need text below them to tell them what the icon is for. A good example of this is the icon for Internet Explorer. We’re all really used to it by now, and the text just makes it ugly. Just right-click on the shortcut, and choose Rename. Now hold down the Alt key and type in 255 on the keypad to the right of the keyboard. You can’t use the number keys right above the keyboard, they won’t work. If you have a laptop, you can turn on numlock and then use the little number keys next to the regular letters. (You know you always wondered what they were for)

For the first shortcut on the desktop, a simple Alt+255 will do. For the next shortcut, you’ll have to enter the combination twice (Alt+255, Alt+255). For the third, 3 times… you get the idea. The way this works is that the Alt+255 character is blank, so the shortcut filename is actually just named with a character that is completely blank. Since you can’t have two shortcuts or files named the exact same thing, the second shortcut will have to be named with two blank characters.

Now we have a sweet looking icon on the desktop, with no bothersome text beneath it. If you use this tip to rename a folder, you will not be able to rename the folder back using the right-click rename. I’m not sure why this is. What you’ll have to do is open a command prompt and change directory into the containing folder (For instance, the desktop folder), and run this command: ren “Alt+255” “NewFolderName” You will need to actually type the Alt+255 characters where illustrated in the command. It will appear as a space. Note that the Recycle Bin icon won’t work this way.

3. Enable Hidden BootScreen in Windows Vista

The Windows Vista BootScreen is pointless, but Microsoft decided to hide a more visually appealing boot screen that can easily be enabled with very little trouble. I’m not sure why they didn’t make the boot screen better.

1) Press Win+R, type msconfig and press Enter.

2) If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.

3) In the "System Configuration" window, click on the Boot tab.

4) Select your Windows Vista installation and under "Boot options", check "No GUI boot". Press OK.

5) In the dialog that appears, check "Don’t show this message again", and then click on Restart.

6) Your computer will now reboot, and you will see the Aurora boot screen with text that says "Starting Windows Vista".

Note: You may get a Windows Defender error on the next startup. You can enable the system config utility using the tray icon and this error will go away.

4. Fix for COM Surrogate Has Stopped Working Error in Vista

If you’ve been getting the error COM Surrogate has stopped working whenever you browse folders containing Divx avi files, it looks like the latest Divx update to codec version 6.5 fixes the issue, but it also seems to remove the thumbnails. If you want to upgrade, just use the divx update checker to grab the new version. Looks like it’s finally fixed, at least the error message is now gone, although I really wish they would have just gotten the thumbnails working instead.

• If you are using Nero, you will need to update to version 7.7.5.1 to fix the problem. I think this is the source of the error for most people.
• If you’ve upgraded Nero and Divx and still have the problem, you can try renaming the file C:Program FilesCommon FilesAheadDSFilterNeVideo.ax to NeVideo.ax.bak This will break Nero Showtime, however.

5. Stop an Application from Running at Startup in Windows Vista

Back in the old days, there were a lot of places an application could hook itself to run at startup. You had to check the registry in more than one place, as well as your start menu. With Windows Vista, there’s a built-in panel that handles all that for you. To quickly get to this panel, you can open Control Panel, and then type “startup” into the search box. The link for “Stop a program from running at startup” shows up immediately. You could have also opened Windows Defender and fooled around with the menus until you find the right spot, but this seems quicker to me. Now you can see the Windows Defender screen that lets you manage the startup programs. You can choose to Remove or just Disable any startup item using this panel, as well as lots of other useful information so that you can see what each item is.

6. Emptying Windows Vista Temp Files Directory

Windows Vista Disk Cleanup wizard is really not all that bad, but I did find a small problem with it… It doesn’t fully empty your temp folder. It only allows you to delete temporary files that haven’t been modified in a week. If you’ve recently done a lot of editing or something that generates large temporary files, you may want to manually clean up. Just type in %TEMP% into the start menu search box, and hit enter. You’ll immediate be taken to the temporary files folder, where you can delete whatever you feel like.

7. Disable User Account Control(UAC) For Administrators Only

If you can’t stand the User Account Control prompts, but you’d still like to retain a little bit of security, you can disable it for Administrator accounts only. What we’ll be doing is actually changing Windows Vista to automatically elevate the privilege level for administrators without prompting. The nice thing about doing it this way is that regular users as well as Internet Explorer still run as regular users, and would still use the normal security mechanisms. To configure this setting on Windows Vista Business and Ultimate, you can use the Local Security Policy configuration.

• Just type in secpol.msc into the Start menu search box and hit enter.
• Now browse down to Local Policies Security Options
• Find the following in the list: “User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode” and double-click on it.
• Change the setting to “Elevate without prompting”. You should be all done.

This is an easier method that you can use to do the same thing from the GUI interface.

• Open up Control Panel, and type in user account into the search box.
• You’ll see the link for “Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or off”. Click it.
• Uncheck the box, and reboot your computer. You should be done with obnoxious prompts!

8. Using Windows Vista System Restore

Windows Vista has a feature called System Restore that automatically backs up registry and system files whenever you install new software or drivers. This feature is useful when you install evil software that makes your computer run really slow. But don’t worry, System Restore won’t remove Windows Vista.

Using System Restore in Windows Vista

There are two places that you can use the system restore feature from. From within Windows, you can just type restore into the Start menu search box, and you’ll immediately see System Restore at the top of the start menu, or you can type rstrui into the search box and hit enter. Your choice. You will immediate see a screen where you can choose to roll back the system to the last restore point. You can select “Recommended restore”, and just click next, or you can choose a different restore point. If you do choose a different restore point, you will see a list of restore points that you can choose from. Click one of them, and you will have to confirm and then restart your computer to roll the system back. If your system won’t boot If you can’t even get into windows, you can boot off the installation dvd, and choose the “Repair your computer” option on the lower left hand side. Click next on the next screen. Now choose System Restore from the System Recovery dialog. It will take a few seconds to come up, and you will see the same screen that you would see in Windows. Click next, and on the next screen select the drive that your copy of Windows Vista is installed on. Click Finish, and Vista will roll back to the previous restore point. Really pretty simple stuff. I absolutely recommend keeping the system restore feature on in Vista !

9. Verify the Integrity of Windows Vista System Files Windows Vista includes a utility that will scan your system for corrupt, changed or missing system files. Running this from the command prompt is much easier than booting off the dvd into repair mode. To run this utility, you will need to open a command prompt in administrator mode. You can do that by right clicking the Command Prompt in the list and choose "Run as Administrator" Once you have an administrator command prompt open, you can run the utility by using the following syntax: SFC [/SCANNOW] [/VERIFYONLY] [/SCANFILE=] [/VERIFYFILE=] [/OFFWINDIR= /OFFBOOTDIR=] The most useful command is just to scan immediately, which will scan and attempt to repair any files that are changed or corrupted. You can run that command with this command: sfc /scannow

10. Disable Hibernation & delete the Hibernation file

Windows places a file on your hard drive that it uses when your computer goes into hibernation mode. If you do not use hibernation mode, or your computer does not properly support it, you may want to disable hibernation and clear the file off your hard drive to free up some space (the file will use as much space as you have in physical memory, so if you have 1GB of RAM, it’s going to use 1GB of your hard drive space).

Disable Hibernation:
1. Click Start, All Programs, and then right click on "Command Prompt".
2. From the context menu click on "Run as administrator".
3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.
4. In the command prompt window, type "powercfg –h off" (without the quotes).
5. Close the Command Prompt window.

Delete the Hibernation File:
1. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click "Disk Cleanup".
2. If prompted to choose a drive, select the drive in which Windows Vista is installed on to and press OK.
3. Disk Cleanup will scan the hard drive and present you with a list of options.
4. Check "Hibernation File Cleaner", and then click OK.
5. When asked "Are you sure you want to permanently delete these files?" click on the Delete Files button .

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Zoran_Petrovic