Instead of showing the default logon, logoff and shutdown status messages you can enable detailed messages that will tell you exactly what is going on. Wondering what is taking your logon so long? With detailed messages turned on you will see messages like Processing group policy and other specific tasks Windows Vista is executing.
Read MoreHere are a few tips that will help you become a Command Prompt Pro:
Read MoreFor power users, Command Prompt is where you go to get work done quickly and efficiently. If you spend a lot of time using Command Prompt, why not customize the appearance and operation to your preferences? There are a few Command Prompt customizations that will make it more useful and good-looking.
Read MoreEver since Apple switched over to Intel processor, the same processors that are used in some PCs, it has been possible to run Windows on the Apple hardware. Why would you want to do this? While OS X is a pretty OS, Windows applications will not run on it. The only way to run Windows applications on a Mac is to run Windows in a VM. With the Intel based Macs that changed. It is now possible to dual... Read More
As I mentioned in Vista Service Guide Part 1 and 2, Windows Vista has several new services and features that we do not all need. I have gone through the list of services that are running in Windows Vista and compiled a list of services that you can safely disable. Before I get started, it is necessary to understand how to disable services in Windows Vista. Similar to other version of Windows, you... Read More
Application compatibility remains one of the most annoying issues for Windows Vista users. The ability to upgrade the software to a new Vista compatible version is not always an option. The company that developed the application may no longer be around or the cost to upgrade is too high. In my case, I have a lot of classic PC games that will not run at all under Windows Vista no matter how I... Read More
Every once in a while you notice that your hard drive is working extra hard for what seems like no reason. A background process has taken your hard drive hostage, forcing it to thrash loudly as it struggles to keep up with the high rate of reads and writes. Your computer responds slowly as the process overloads the physical limitations of your drive. What are you to do?
The solution is simple, identify...
Read MoreWindows Vista operates external hard drives that are connected with USB differently than internal drives. Write caching is disabled so that you can safely remove the drive at almost any time. This is a great feature for USB thumb drives that are frequently inserted and removed from your computer. But if you have a large hard drive that is in an external enclosure that you never disconnect from... Read More
In Windows Vista the networking components were designed to be much more intelligent and automatically adjust the network settings to optimize the connection speed. This is a great new feature. Your network components basically tweak themselves for optimal performance. In most situations, these components automatically adjust perfectly for best performance. However, with wireless WAN cards the... Read More
In early builds of Windows Vista, testers were shown a new 3D interface powered by the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) that was filled with animations of all sorts. This interface was very cool looking. However, because of delays, Microsoft had to cut the use of WPF in the UI and most of the “WOW” was removed.
Thankfully, there are some very talented developers out there that have made utilities...
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