Archive for August, 2009

Taskbar Animations in Vista

Posted: August 22, 2009 in Vista
Tags:
0

In Windows Vista when you close an application or window, the buttons on the taskbar gently slide around and resize. This sounds like a great effect, but often on some computers the animation can be choppy and just plain look bad. On my Vista PC, I always disable this option because the animation does not look the best, and the taskbar seems to operate much faster with the animations disabled. I recommend experimenting with this feature to see whether you like the old non-animated taskbar button better.

Follow these steps to disable the sliding taskbar buttons:

  1. Click the Start button, type Performance Information, and press Enter.
  2. When Performance Information and Tools loads, click Adjust visual effects under tasks on the left menu.
  3. The Performance Options window opens. On the Visual Effects tab, scroll through the list and clear Slide taskbar buttons.
  4. Click OK to save your changes.

Your changes are applied immediately. Close the Performance Information and Tools window now, and you will see the difference. Better? I hope you like it.

Disable Pop-up Help in Vista

Posted: August 22, 2009 in Registry, Registry Hacks, Vista
Tags:
0

Ever notice that when you hover your cursor over a program listing in the Start menu a little help box pops up? This help feature is called Balloon Help. If users do not know what a program does, they can hold the cursor over the program for a second or so and a little message will fade in telling users what it is-if the programmer has set up this feature of the program. For programs that do not have this feature set up for their shortcut, the balloon just tells users where the program is located on their computer.

This feature can be useful for a beginning computer user. However, it can be another annoyance for more advanced users. If you don’t need this feature, why not disable it? Follow these steps to get rid of this feature:

  1. Click the Start menu and select Run, and then type regedit in the box and click OK.
  2. After the Registry Editor has been loaded, navigate though HKEY_CURRENT_ USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
  3. Right-click the entry called ShowInfoTip and select Modify.
  4. Set the value to 0 to disable this feature, and click OK.
  5. Close the Registry Editor and log off and back on so that the feature can be removed.

Enable Num Lock by default in Vista

Posted: August 22, 2009 in Tweaking, Vista
Tags:
1

Enabling Num Lock by default

If you have a password that has both numbers and letters and you frequently use the number pad to enter part of your password, this hack is for you. I cannot count the number of times that I started to type my password and was then presented with a logon error telling me that my password was incorrect. I would sit there staring at the screen for a second before I realized that Num Lock on my keyboard was not on.

This is a great hack for every desktop computer with a full-size keyboard with a separate number pad. Turning on Num Lock by default on a laptop is not a good idea because usually most laptops do not have a separate number pad. Enabling this feature on a laptop will result in almost half of your keyboard functioning as the number pad, and you would be much better off using the numbers above the letters. To get started, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Start menu, type regedit, and press Enter.
  2. When the Registry Editor loads, navigate through HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard.
  3. Locate the InitialKeyboardIndicators entry, right-click it, and select Modify. To enable Num Lock, enter 2 into the box. If you want to disable it, enter 0 into the box.
  4. Then click OK to save the changes. That’s it!

If you are on a laptop and you attempted to enable Num Lock even though I told you not to and need to fix your system, repeat the preceding directions but replace the value of InitialKeyboardIndicators with 0 to disable the feature.

Display a Security Message in Vista

Posted: August 22, 2009 in System Modifications, Tricks, Tweaking, Vista
Tags:
0

Would you like to display a message to your users before they can log on? Are any instructions necessary for users of your computers, such as “Do not shut down this computer!” or possibly a security warning informing unauthorized users that they are breaking the law if they try to log on to your laptop? All these are possible with the help of Group Policy. With just a few clicks, you can easily display a message to your visitors.

Using the Local Security Policy editor, you can turn this feature on. Follow these steps to activate it on your PC:

  1. Click the Start button, type secpol.msc, and press Enter.
  2. When the Local Security Policy editor loads, navigate through Local Policies and then Security Options.
  3. Locate the Interactive logon: Message title for users attempting to log on policy. Right-click it and select Properties.
  4. On the Local Security Settings tab, type a title that you would like to use for your message and click OK.
  5. Locate the Interactive logon: Message text for users attempting to log on policy. Right-click it and select Properties.
  6. On the Local Security Settings tab, type your message and click OK.
  7. Close the Local Security Policy editor; you are finished.

As soon as you log off or reboot, the security message settings will be activated.

Customizing the Startup and Boot Screen in Vista

Posted: August 22, 2009 in Hack, Tweaking, Vista
Tags:
0

Windows Vista has a great new look, but after a while, the new look can get old. With the help of some cool tools and tricks, you can customize many components of Windows Vista.

This chapter guides you through customizing two parts of your computer: the boot screen and the Welcome/Logon screen. I show you how to replace the boring boot screen and even how to activate a hidden boot screen.

Then this chapter moves on to a discussion of customizing the second part of your computer startup, the Welcome/Logon screen. This screen can be customized in several ways, such as customizing the user pictures and various settings that will allow you to increase your privacy and change the way the Logon screen behaves. I even show you how to change your Logon screen background.

Customizing the Boot Screen

Every time I turn on my computer, I am forced to stare at the boring Windows boot screen. I must admit that I found the moving bars amusing at first, but after a few months I became bored and wanted something different. Changing the boot screen is not something that Microsoft made easy; however, it is still possible with a few cool hacks.

Activating the hidden boot screen

Over the several years that Windows Vista was in the planning stages and in development, many promises were made about new features and enhancements. One of those promises had to do with high-resolution boot screens. This was going to be a great feature replacing the ancient 256-color boot screen that has been with Windows since Windows 95. Over time, as development of Vista was slipping behind schedule and developers were plagued with hardware compatibility problems with the high-resolution boot screen code, the feature was pulled from the final product.

Although this feature never made it into the released version of Windows Vista, there appears to be some parts of it left in the system. This section shows you a cool trick that will enable a hidden boot screen that looks like it was part of the high-resolution feature. It is nothing super fancy or elegant, but it sure is better than the boring boot screen that Vista shipped with, which looks like it is missing the Vista logo.

Before we proceed, note that some users have problems with using the hidden boot screen-possibly the reason why Microsoft hid it in the first place. If you are one of those users, simply boot into Safe mode and undo the steps for enabling the boot screen. Unfortunately, it is not currently known exactly what hardware has problems with the hidden boot screen. When you are ready, follow these steps to enable this boot screen on your PC:

  1. Click the Start button, type msconfig in the Search box, and then press Enter.
  2. When the System Configuration Utility loads, click the Boot tab.
  3. Locate the No GUI boot box and select it.
  4. Click OK and reboot your computer.

You should see the hidden boot screen after you reboot your PC. As I mentioned earlier, if you have problems with the hidden boot screen, just boot into Safe mode (hold down F8 when you boot up) and remove the check from the No GUI Boot box.

Customizing the boot screen image

The alternative boot screen that you just enabled in the preceding section is a great improvement compared to the boring moving progress bar that shows by default. However, this is still not good enough. With the help of a few cool tricks, you can create your own high-resolution, 24-bit boot screen without hacking any system files.

How is that possible? Thanks to the new language-independent operating system components in Windows Vista, some resources are stored in regional language files rather than the actual system components. This allows Microsoft to easily create a localized version of Windows Vista in any language by just creating new MUI (multilingual user interface) files that contain localized versions of bitmaps and text. Because MUI files are not digitally signed by Microsoft, you can make your own that has your own boot screen image in it, which allows you to customize the alternative boot screen to use any image you desire.

This new feature in Windows Vista provides a great enhancement and alternative to the traditional method of hacking system files as you had to do in previous versions of Windows to do things such as changing the boot screen. In addition, there is a great tool developed by Dan Smith called the Vista Boot Logo Generator that will automatically compile the boot images you select into an MUI file. This makes the overall process simple compared to trying to change boot screens, as you did in the past.

To get started, you need two images, one 800 × 600 and one 1024 × 768 image, both saved as 24-bit bitmap images. When you have those images picked out, resized, and saved, you are ready to follow these steps:

  1. Visit http://www.computa.co.uk/staff/dan/?p=18 and download the latest copy of the Vista Boot Logo Generator and install it.
  2. Click the Start button, type vista boot logo, and press Enter.
  3. After the boot logo is downloaded, click the Browse for Images button in the 800 × 600 section and select your 800 × 600 24-bit bitmap image. Do the same for the 1024 × 768 section.
  4. After you have both images selected, click File and select Save Boot Screen file as to save your MUI file. Save it to your desktop.
  5. Next you need to replace the winload.exe.mui file located in c:\windows\system32\en-us with the file you just created. However, it is not as easy as a simple copy and paste because the Windows system files are protected. First, I recommend making a backup of the existing winload.exe.mui file so that you can copy it back if you have problems later. To get around the file protections, you need to take ownership of all the files in the en-us folder. Right-click the en-us folder and select Properties.
  6. Select the Security tab and then click the Advanced button at the bottom of the window.
  7. Select the Owner tab, and then click the Edit button.
  8. Select your account from the Account list and check Replace owner on subcontainers and objects. Click OK to apply your changes.
  9. Click OK to exit all the open Properties windows. You need to go back into the folder properties to change the file permissions. This time you will have more rights because you are now the folder owner. Right-click en-us and select Properties again.

10.  Click the Security tab, and this time click Edit.

11.  Click the Add button. Type in your username and click OK. Your account name should now appear on the Permissions list.

12.  Select your account, and then select the Allow column for Full control.

13.  Click OK to save your changes and OK once more to close the Properties screen. You will now be able to copy the winload.exe.mui file you made and saved to your desktop to c:\windows\system32\en-us. After you copy the file and reboot, you should see your new boot screen.

If you do not see your new boot screen and instead see the progress bar, make sure that you turned on the alternative boot screen as shown in the previous section. If you have any problems with your new boot screen MUI file, you can always boot using your Windows Vista install CD into a command prompt and can copy back the old winload.exe.mui file.

Kill Processes from Command Prompt

Posted: August 22, 2009 in System Tricks, Tweaking, Vista, Windows XP
Tags:
0


I’m sure you are familiar with the traditional way to kill or end a process in Windowsusing 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 command. First, let’s cover the basics.  You can kill a process by the process ID (PID) or by image name (EXE filename).

Open up an Administrative level Command Prompt and run tasklist to see all of the running processes:

C:\>tasklist

Image Name                     PID Session Name        Mem Usage
========================= ======== ================ ============
firefox.exe                  26356 Console             139,352 K
regedit.exe                  24244 Console               9,768 K
cmd.exe                      18664 Console               2,380 K
conhost.exe                   2528 Console               7,852 K
notepad.exe                  17364 Console               7,892 K
notepad.exe                  24696 Console              22,028 K
notepad.exe                  25304 Console               5,852 K
explorer.exe                  2864 Console              72,232 K

In the example above you can see the image name and the PID for each process. If you want to kill the firefox process run:

C:\>Taskkill /IM firefox.exe /F

or

C:\>Taskkill /PID 26356 /F

The /f flag is kills the process forcefully.  Failure to use the /F flag will result in nothing happening in some cases.  One example is whenever I want to kill the explorer.exe process I have to use the /F flag or else the process just does not terminate.

If you have multiple instances of an image open such as multiple firefox.exe processes, running the taskkill /IM firefox.exe command will kill all instances. When you specify the PID only the specific instane of firefox will be terminated.

The real power of taskkill are the filtering options that allow you to use the following variables and operators.

Variables:

  • STATUS
  • IMAGENAME
  • PID
  • SESSION
  • CPUTIME
  • MEMUSAGE
  • USERNAME
  • MODULES
  • SERVICES
  • WINDOWTITLE

Operators:

  • eq (equals)
  • ne (not equal)
  • gt (greater than)
  • lt (less than)
  • ge (greater than or equal)
  • le (less than or equal)

“*” is the wildcard.

You can use the variables and operators with the /FI filtering flag.  For example, let’s say you want to end all processes that have a window title that starts with “Internet”:

C:\>taskkill /FI “WINDOWTITLE eq Internet*” /F

How about killing all processes running under the Steve account:

C:\>taskkill /FI “USERNAME eq Ignited” /F

It is also possible to kill a process running on a remote computer with taskkill.  Just run the following to kill notepad.exe on a remote computer called IgnitedDesktop:

C:\>taskkill /S IgnitedDesktop /U RemoteAccountName /P RemoteAccountPassword /IM notepad.exe /F

To learn more about taskkill run it with the /? command just like any other Windows command.

everything about svchost.exe

Posted: August 22, 2009 in System Information, Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP
Tags:
0


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 Windows Update, Event Log, Terminal Services, Audio Service, etc. runs within svchost.exe.  Depending on the access the services need, they are grouped together and are run in a number of processes which explains why you see so many in Task Manager running under different accounts such as System, Local Service and Network Service.

Identifying what services are running is different depending on the version of Windows you have.

Windows XP

In Windows XP at a command prompt run:

tasklist /svc

The tasklist utility will show you what processes are running under each svchost.exe process.

Windows Vista and Windows 7

Task manager in Windows Vista and Windows 7 has been enhanced so you can easily see what services are running inside a host process such as svchost.exe.

Click on the Start Button, type in taskmgr and hit Enter. When task manager loads, click on the Processes tab and click Show processes from all users to see all of the svchost.exe processes. Then, right click on a svchost.exe process and select Go to Service(s). You will be taken to the Services tab with all services running in that process highlighted.

All Versions of Windows

Microsoft Sysinternals has a great free utility called Process Explorer that is like a task manager on steroids.  It works on all versions of Windows and allows you to easily see services running inside of svchost.exe.  Download Process Explorer here.  Once you have it running right click on any process and select Properties. Then click on the Services tab and you will see all processes running inside the host process.

How to Disable User Account Control in Vista

Posted: August 21, 2009 in Vista
Tags:
0


You can disable User Account Control across the board for all users of a given PC by

navigating to the User Controls section of the Control Panel (in Control Panel➪User

Accounts and Family Settings➪User Accounts) and selecting the option titled Change

security settings. This will load the Change Security Settings window. To disable User

Account Control, simply uncheck the option titled Use User

Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer and then click the OK button.

Note that you will have to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.

If you want to disable User Account Control for just a single user, you simply need to

select a single check box in the User Accounts Control Panel. The quickest way is to

open the Start menu and click the picture that’s associated with your user account.

Then, in the User Accounts window that appears, click Turn User Account Control on

or off. You’ll see the required check box in the next window.

Is Administrator Accnt in Vista annoying U?

Posted: August 21, 2009 in Vista
Tags:
0

By default, administrators using Windows Vista are running in a new execution mode

called Admin Approval Mode. This is the reason you see consent dialog boxes appear

from time to time. You can actually disable this mode, making administrator accounts

work more like they did in XP, without any annoying dialog boxes popping. However,

you should realize that disabling Admin Approval Mode could open up your system

to attack. If you’re still interested in disabling this feature, or disabling User Account

Control, we will discuss ways to do so at the end of this section.

Conversely, administrators who would like Windows Vista to be even more secure

can also configure the system to prompt with a User Account Control credentials dialog

box—which requires a complete password—every time they attempt an administrative

task.

How to get best security in Vista?

Posted: August 21, 2009 in Security, Vista
Tags:
0

To get the absolute best security with Windows Vista, run one of the x64 versions of

the operating system.That’s because the x64 versions of

Windows Vista include a few unique security features that are not available or as

effective in the 32-bit versions of the operating system. These include:

• A new feature called Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) that randomly

loads key system files in memory, making them harder to attack remotely.

• A hardware-backed version of Data Execution Protection (DEP) that helps prevent

buffer overflow-based attacks.

• x64 drivers must be digitally signed, which suggests (but doesn’t ensure) that

x64 drivers will be more stable and secure than 32-bit drivers, which are often

the cause of instability issues in Windows.

Of course, x64 versions of Windows Vista have their own compatibility issues, both

with software and hardware. The tradeoff is yours to make: Better security and reliability

or compatibility.

Older Entries
Newer Entries