Take Ownership of Files and Folders in Vista

In Windows Vista when you try to open certain folders you get "Access Denied" error. Windows gives this error because you don't have the ownership of the file by default instead the system has the ownership. So you are not allowed to open the folders. One such folder is "Documents and Settings" folder.

Now in order to access the contents of these folders you need to take full ownership of them. To take the ownership follow these steps.

--- Right click on the folder you want to take ownership of then go to properties.

--- Now click on the Security tab and then click the Advanced button at the bottom.

--- Now again select the Owner tab in the next windows. There you will see the current owner and also other owners that can be assigned to that folder.

--- Now click on the Edit button. In the next windows that comes up select your username in the 'Change owner to' field. If you see the Replace owner of subcontainers and objects option then tick it.--- Now click Apply and OK on all the dialog boxes that are open. That's it you have taken the ownership of all the contents of the that particular folder.

Sometimes you still get the Access Denied error to some folders within this folder. Just follow the same procedure to take the ownership of that folder also.

Now you can access all your files.

Fix System Files in Vista

Some times when your windows systems starts to give errors the cause may be corrupt windows system files. Many a times when we install third party software they replace some system files which starts the problem. But there is no way to repair these files individually or know which file got corrupted.

Fortunately Microsoft has included an application called System File Checker which does the job of finding these corrupt files and also gives the option to repair them.

There are 2 options that can be used from the SFC.exe application. One option is just to verify if the files are corrupted or not and the other option is to verify and repair those files. Here is what you need to to.

--- Go to Run and type cmd

--- Once cmd is open type sfc /? to see all the options that are provided with it.

--- You can choose the option to verify only by tyoing directly in cmd as follows

sfc /VERIFYONLY

This verifies the files and reports any corrupt files.

--- Other option is sfc /SCANNOW which will verify and then repair the corrupt files.

--- For replacing any file you will be asked to insert the Windows CD/DVD and sfc will continue its work. Progress bar will show the work being done.

That's it your systems files will be restored to original.

This will also work with earlier versions of windows. Like for fixing system files in Windows Xp and more

Fix 'BOOTMGR is Missing' During Vista Boot

If your system showed the message "BOOTMGR is Missing" when you boot it, then the problem is with your boot sector and it can be fixed so no need to worry. Only thing you need is your bootable Windows Vista DVD. Now to fix the BOOTMGR file.

--- Insert the Vista DVD in your DVD drive and restart your PC. When asked to boot from the DVD do it.

--- Once you reach the setup screen choose the language you want and click next.

--- On the next screen you will see an option the bottom of the window saying 'Repair your computer' Click on it.

It will check on which partition Vista is installed. Select the one you want to repair and click next.

--- Now select the Startup repair option in the next screen that appears. as shown below.

--- The process will repair your system. After the repairing is finished you will be asked to reboot.

--- You can also use command prompt to repair the boot manager. To do this click the command prompt option in the window shown in the above image.

--- When Command Prompt opens type this command and hit enter

bootrec /fixboot
--- After this reboot your system and get the Vista DVD out from the drive. You will be able to boot into your Windows Vista system again.

Increase Max Connections in IE

If you are using Internet Explorer as your default browser you should know that whenever IE downloads files from a single server it allows only two files at a time. This limit is not imposed by the software but it is because of the web standard.

This can be changed because its only a software setting and it can be increased to 8-10 connections to make the downloads faster.

Just a registry edit is required for this. Do the following.

--- Go to registry editor by typing regedit by Run box.

--- Now in the left pane locate the entry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings

--- Now in the right pane look for the entry MaxConnectionsPerServer. If its not present then create it by right clicking in empty area in right pane and then selecting New--> 32 bit DWORD value and give the name MaxConnectionsPerServer.--- Similarly look for the entry MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server or create it as said above.

--- Now to edit their values double click on them one at a time and select decimal as the Base and add a value of greater thatn 2 like 8. This is shown in the image below.--- Now close the registry. Restart your system. You will experience better speed in Internet Explorer.

Tabs & "UP" button For Windows Vista Explorer

If are used to the Up button in Windows XP and want to get that button in Windows Vista there is no option in Vista to get it. You need to install a third party software. The software is called QTTabBar. Download QTTabBar from the link. After downloading follow the steps below to get the "UP" as in XP as well as tabs in windows explorer like Firefox if you want.

--- Right click on the QTTabBar.exe file and select Run as Administartor. Then Install the software as usual by clicking next.

--- Now log off or kill explorer and restart it from Task Manager --> New Task by typing explorer in the new task box and hitting enter.

--- Now open My Computer and press the Alt key or Click on Organise --> Layout --> Menu Bar to make the Menu Bar visible.

--- Now from the menu bar select View --> Toolbars and then select QT Tab Bar and QT Tab Standard Buttons.

--- Now both of them are active and you will see something like this.

--- Now right click on double arrow as shown in the above image and Click customize

--- Select the Up one level option from the left pane and press the add button on the right to add it to your menu bar. As shown below. Remove any options you don't want from right side.

--- Don't forget to untick the option Lock toolbar so that you can move the toolbar anywhere you want on the menu bar.

--- This is how it will look

--- To open folder in tabs just middle click on the folder you want to open in a new tab.

--- Don't forget to check the Options of QTTabBar by right clicking in the Tab area and selecting Options.

Problems:

Q: After uninstalling QTTabBar, the menu toolabar doesn't go away and no option works for it.

A: Before you uninstall QTTabBar right click on the menu bar and deselct both QT Tab Bar and QT Tab Standard Buttons. Then uninstall the application.

OR
(This option is given on QTTabBar Forums)

You have to Edit the registry. Go to registry editor by typing regedit in start menu search box and hit enter. Then find this key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\ShellBrowser

In the right pane look for the entry ITBar7Layout and delete it. Don't worry it will be recreated by windows. Log Off or restart windows.

Increase Performance by Modifying Indexing Options

Windows Vista uses the Indexing service to make the searches faster. These search boxes are present all over the Vista interface. Indexing all the locations of your hard disk makes the searches faster but at the same time consumes lot of resources of your system. All the user profile folders, start menu and some other offline files will be indexed by windows vista by default. This will put load on your PC but you get better searches. But I would recommend to disable the Indexing service as it will boost your performance and keep the indexing on for only start menu. This will reduce the load on windows but it will also slow down your searches. This is a small compensation for getting better performance out of your system. Now to edit the Indexing Options..

--- Go to Start Menu and type Indexing Options in the search box. And press Enter.

--- A dialog box with the Indexing Options like below will open up.


--- Now click on the Modify button.

--- Next select or deselect the locations you want to add or remove from the Indexing. To do this select the location in bottom pane and you will get the option of selecting the folders in that specific location in the upper pane. Like this

--- Once finished Click OK. You can also use the Show all locations button shown in above image to select or deselect the folders.

--- Close the Indexing Options.

That's it.

Disable Low Disk Space Check in Windows Vista

Note: This method also works for Windows XP

When your hard disk runs out of free space windows Vista will start to give you a warning about low disk space. In the beginning its useful to know that you have run out of space. But Windows continues to give warning until you free up some space. This gets irritating and you don't have any setting to stop this.

Vista constantly checks the drives for the low disk space which uses resources and slows down the system.

Follow these easy steps to disable this annoying warning message

--- Go to registry by typing regedit in run box. OR Type regedit in start menu search box and hit Enter.

---Then locate this key in the left pane
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies

--- Under policies look for the sub key named Explorer if its not present you have to create the key. To create the key right click on Policies and select New Key. A new key named New Key #1 will be created below Policies. Name that key as Explorer.

--- Now select the Explorer key and in the right pane right click and select New --> DWORD(32-bit) Value and name it NoLowDiskSpaceChecks--- Now to edit its value double click on it and enter value '1' instead of '0' in the value data field. Click OK.--- This is how it should look

--- Close the registry.

No more annoying warning messages for Low disk Space.

To Re-enable the warning messages replace '1' with '0' or delete the DWORD value created.

Note: In XP these entries might be present already you just need to edit the value to from '0' to '1'

Change Amount of Space Used for System Restore in Vista

If you have system restore enabled in Windows Vista, after a few weeks the amount of space used by Vista for system restore will be growing in GB's. You don't have any option in Vista that allows you to limit the amount of space used by Vista for System Restore. In Windows XP you had the option to set the amount of hard disk space used for system restore by just adjusting a slider provided but no such luck in vista.

Fortunately there is a option which we can use to set the disk space for system restore in Vista. You have to edit this option from command line. Here is how you do it.

--- Go to start menu and type cmd in the search box. When it shows up in top box right click on it and select Run as Administrator.
--- Windows has a service called Volume Shadow Copy which holds the settings for the storage space used. You can see the options that can be used by typing vssadmin /? in the command prompt. This is how it looks.--- Now to see the amount of space used by system restore and Maximum allowed space type this command. vssadmin list shadowstorage. You will see something like this.
--- Now the option that we are going to use to change the space used for system restore is Resize ShadowStorage. To see what options it gives type this command. vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage.

You will be shown a screen where you can see what option you can use. Here you will be told that MaxSize should be atleast 300MB. You can use suffixes KB (kilobytes), MB (megabytes) and so on like GB, TB, PB and EB. If nothing is specified then the default suffix will be bytes.

--- Now to change the amount of space used by Windows Vista for system restore we have to use this command

vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=ForVolumeSpec /On=OnVolumeSpec /MaxSize=MaxSizeSpec

So how to use this command?

Say you want to set the maximum amount of storage of 2GB that system restore uses for system restore points created for C drive and you want to store them in C drive only. You use the command like this

vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=2GB

This will allow only 2GB of space to system restore in C drive.

--- You will get a confirmation of the operation being successfully completed.The amount of space allocated for system restore in your Windows Vista has been resized to your liking.

Using Vista System Restore Point

If you don't know how to create a system restore point then click on the link to see how it works. Now that you know how to create the restore we can move on to restoring your system using the created restore point.

Suppose you install a new driver or a trial application for testing and your system becomes unstable. The first thing you should do is uninstall that driver or the application. But sometimes this option doesn't give the expected results and your system will still be unstable. Your next step should be to restore your system to a state before installation of the driver or application. Windows might have created a system restore point before starting the actual installation process. Or if you have created a restore point manually before installing then here is how to use it.

--- Right click on My Computer and select properties. You will be taken to system information screen.
--- Now in the left pane click on System protection. You will see this screen. --- Now click on the System Restore button shown in the above image. You will get Restore system files and setting dialog box. Click next on that screen.
OR Directly you can go to Start Menu --> All Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools And select System restore.
OR you can search for system restore in start menu search box and click on system restore.
--- In the next screen you will asked to select the restore point. Select the required restore point and click next. --- In next screen confirm your selection and click on Finish button. You will be shown a warning message saying you cannot interrupt the process. click yes to confirm the operation.
--- You will be logged off and system restore operation will start. After the operation completes. You will shown a confirmation of successful operation. Click OK. and Start using your restored PC.

Create System Restore Point in Windows Vista

In previous post you read how to create system restore points in Windows XP and how to restore your system a previous state using the created restore point. Today we will see how to create a restore point and restore your system using System Restore in Windows Vista.

Windows Vista creates these system restore points automatically while installing new software or updating drivers as a precaution. So that you can have a working system if something goes wrong. You can create a system restore point manually in Vista.

Creating the Restore Point

--- Go to Control Panel --> System and Maintenance --> Backup and Restore Center OR you can search for backup in Vista start menu OR you can right click on My Computer and select properties .

--- If you are in the Backup and restore screen then in the left side pane click on Create a restore point or change setting. And if you used right click on My Computer then in the left pane select System Protection. You will see this screen.

--- Now click on the create button. A new dialog box Create restore point will appear.

Give a appropriate description and Click Create.

--- The system will create the restore point and you will get a confirmation about the successful creation of the restore point.

Next time we will see how to restore your system to a previous working state using the created System restore point.

Faster Vista Shutdown

When you shutdown your computer, Windows Vista shuts down all the services. As with all the Windows operating systems Vista also has a predefined time for which it will wait before shutting down everything. If you shutdown your computer and wait to turn off the power then you will be waiting for a long time. Windows Vista waits for arond 20 seconds for all the services to shut down. But you can change this time so that it shuts down quickly.

The default value is set to 20 seconds by Microsoft for normal users so that it works for all the type of systems. But if you are not the normal type of user then you are at the right place.

For this operation of faster Vista shutdown you need to edit the registry. If you modify the setting incorrectly you may prevent your system from booting. So be careful and backup the registry.

Okay now on to the actual editing. There will be only one setting that needs to be changed.

--- Go to registry editor by typing regedit in the start menu search box and hit enter. If UAC is enabled you will be asked to allow this operation.

--- Once in the registry editor look for his key in the left pane and click on it

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

--- Now in the right pane look for the entry named WaitToKillServiceTimeout.


--- You will see that default value is set to 20000 which is equivalent to 20 seconds. You need to edit this value.

--- To edit this value double click on that entry and enter a value that you want. Remember for 3 seconds you have to enter the value as 3000. But read below before you set it.

Now what is a good value to enter in this setting. I searched for this on many sites and found that a value of 3 to 5 seconds that is 3000 to 5000 works out to be a good one. But if you change it to very low like say 1 second then you may not be able to boot in to your system the next time you boot. Never use a value that low and don't ever enter '0' Zero. This will prevent Windows to shutdown the services properly some of which are very important which save settings at shutdown. So keep this in mind.

A restart will be necessary for this change to take effect. Now enjoy the faster shutdown times. Look for faster shutdown options for windows XP in the next post.

Copy a Path to Clipboard Instantly

When you are having a folder or file that is do far into a folder tree and you want its path without you having to type it, you know what to do. You go to the folder you want the path to then you copy the path from the address bar. Then you have to type the file name you want to include. Because the entire path with file name will not be available in explorer address bar. But if you are using Vista then you don't have to do it anymore. All that needs to be done is hold the Shift key while you right click on the folder or file. And select the new command called Copy as Path. As shown below When you click on it the path will be copied to the clipboard. Now you can paste it anywhere you want.

Launch Applications Using Run Command

Windows allows you to open applications using the Run command. You need to just type the name of the application in the Run dialog box to open it. But all the applications you install cannot be started this way. But using the run command to open applications is helpful or you can say less time consuming then to go to that program to start it.

There is way to start any application you want using the run command. You just need add some entries to windows registry to get this working. But first backup you registry before changing anything.

Now to get the application you want to open using the run windows follow the instructions below.

--- Open the registry by typing regedit in the Run command box.

--- Then find the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths

--- You will see many entries under the App paths key. These are the programs you can launch using the run command. Like you will see a entry called IEXPLORE.EXE, this is the entry which lets you open Internet Explorer by typing iexplore in the run box.

--- Now you want to create a entry for your software or application the same way then follow the steps.

--- Right click on the App path key found at the above given location and Create a new key


--- Now name the key anything you want. Remember this is the name you will be typing in the Run box to open your application. So use a name that is similar to the application you are going to use. For example I want to use it to create a entry for my Foobar player then I will name it something like Foo or Foobar. Don't forget to add the .exe extension to the name, otherwise it will not work. It should look something like this.

--- Now click on the entry you just created. In the right pane you will see a string value named default. Double click on the default value and enter the location of the application file in the value data field i.e. the exe file used to start the application. For example in my case for foobar it is
C:\Program Files\foobar2000\foobar2000.exe

--- Now in the right pane create a new string value by right clicking in a empty space and selecting New --> String Value. Name it as Path.

--- Double click on the path string just created and in the value data field give the location of the program folder where that program is residing. i.e. the folder where the program is installed.
In my case it is C:\Program Files\foobar2000
It looks like this.

--- Now the work is done. Close the registry.

--- Type in the name you just used in the Run box and hit enter and the application will start.


If it doesn't you went wrong somewhere. Follow the steps again carefully.

Show Run in Vista Start Menu

Although you don't need run command option in Windows Vista because the start menu search does all the work that your Run dialog box does, but still if you want to get that run command to show in the start menu as in Windows XP. Then there is just a simple option to show the Run command in Vista's start menu. Here is how

--- Right click on the Taskbar or anywhere in the blank space in start menu and click properties.

--- Then select the Start Menu tab at the top.

--- Click on the customize button. A window will popup with many options.

--- Scroll down till you see the Run Command. Check mark the box in front of it. Click OK.

--- Then click Apply and OK to exit the properties dialog box.

Alternately you can use the keyboard shortcut Windows+R to open the Run dialog box directly.

Reset Save/Open Option in Internet Explorer

When you are using Internet explorer to download something you get the option to open the file or save the file. You can select what you want to do. If you choose to save the file you will be asked to select a location for it and if you choose to open, the file will be in the temporary folder and it will be opened when its completely downloaded. But while doing this you will see a option on the File Download dialog box that says 'Always ask before opening this type of file'
like this

If you uncheck this box then internet explorer will use the option you select after that as a default action whenever you downloaded that type of file. Means if you are downloading a zip file and you uncheck the box and click the save action and save the file somewhere. Then after that when you want to download any zip file, internet explorer will save that file directly to the location you selected earlier without asking you, if you want to open the file or save it. If you want to get this option back then you need to edit the registry. Backup the registry before you do this.

--- Now go to registry by typing regedit in the run box.

--- Then look for the key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\AttachmentExecute\{0002DF01-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

--- Now in the right hand pane look for the entry you want to delete the setting for in our case its the zip file.

--- Delete that entry and exit the registry.

--- If you want to get the option to save or open the file while downloading any files then you have to delete all the entries present there.

Or you can download the registry file given below and double click on it. Download this file Reset save/open option in IE double click on it and add it to your registry.

That's it you will have the option to save or to open the file you want while downloading.

Disable Control Panel

You have a PC which is used by many people and your friends know a thing or two about windows and keep changing options using the control panel. And you get uncomfortable with those changes. You can fix this issue. What you need is a registry hack and you can disable the control panel altogether. So no more lost setting for you.

--- To disable control panel, type regedit in Run box and hit enter.

--- Now look for the key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

--- In the right pane create a new key by right clicking in the empty space and selecting 32 bit DWORD value.

--- Name this key as NoControlPanel. Now double click this key and enter a value of 1 in the value data field.

--- Click okay and exit the registry.

--- You can check the change in setting by going to Start menu and clicking on Control Panel. You will see this message


Now you know this was a success and your settings and programs are safe.

Restore Show Desktop Icon

Once i accidentally deleted the show desktop icon from the Quick launch bar but didn't know how to get it back. I searched every folder in Windows to look for the file but it was gone. So I had to restore it by creating it again. Here is how you do it.

--- Open Notepad .

--- Paste this text as it is.

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

--- Now go to File menu in notepad then save as. Set the save as type to all files or a .txt extension will be added to the file created.

--- Now name the file as Show Desktop.scf and save it where you want it.

--- Once you have created this file, go where it is saved and then drag it to the quick launch bar.

That's it your Show Desktop icon is back in the quick launch bar.

Change "My Documents" Location

The most important folder on every computer is the My Documents folder. Your every important file or personal file is saved in this folder. But unfortunately its located in the your Windows drive and it will be overflowing with all those files. Your drive performance may be reduced due to the fragmented files. Also there might not be enough space left in your windows drive.

In any of these cases you may want to change the default location of My Documents folder. Fortunately its very is to do that nothing special is required.

--- Go to the folder where your My Documents folder is located. The default location is C:\Documents and Settings\UserName

Where C is the drive where windows is installed and Username is the login name of your account.

Or you can just use the Start menu where a link to the My documents folder is available.

--- Now once you reach the folder containing My Documents folder or use the Start menu, just right click on it and then click properties.

--- In the properties dialog box go to the Location tab in case of Windows Vista and In case of Windows XP go to the Target tab. Now click on move button.

--- Now a select destination box will appear select your desired location where you want Your Documents folder to be. You can create a new folder like My Docs if you don't have one already. Just use that folder and click select folder button.
Or
You can create a folder from Explorer and enter the location of that folder in the field given and press find target to make sure its the correct folder.

--- Now click apply and OK to use your new location for My Documents.

To restore the default location go to the same location as earlier but instaed of move button click on Restore Default button and Click Apply and OK to restore the My documents folder to its default location.

Defragmenting Drive with a Click

All the time we copy/cut & paste files and folders in from different locations to organize them as we like. The folder system looks organized but in the background all the parts of the files are scattered on the hard disk. This is called fragmentation. And this is where defragmentation comes in.

Fragmentation lowers your performance as the system needs to time to search through all the scattered files. Fortunately Windows has a defragmentation software inbuilt. You can access this by going to Start Menu --> Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools and then selecting Disk Defragmenter.

Another way is to right click on the drive you want to defragment and then select properties and select the tools tab. There you will find the option to defragment the drive.

Here I am going to show you how to add the degragment option to the right click menu or the context menu when you right click on any drive. You have to edit the registry to get this option, so be careful.

Now to do this

--- Go to registry editor by typing regedit in start menu --> run and hit enter.

--- Then in the left pane find this key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell

--- Now right click on the key Shell and create a new key and name it Defrag.

--- Now create a sub-key under defrag by right clicking on it ans selecting new key and name it Command.

--- Now select command and in the right pane double click on the default valued entry.

---Enter defrag.exe %1 in the value data field for Windows XP and enter dfrgui.exe %1 for Windows Vista.

--- Click OK and close the registry editor.

You can check by right clicking on any of your hard disk drives. You will see this option.


Now you can easily defragment your drives by just right clicking on them.

Add Copy To & Move To in Windows Vista & XP

I don't remember in which OS the feature of copy to and move to was present, I think it was Windows 2000 but I am not sure. But we didn't see this feature in the latest windows editions like Windows XP and Windows Vista. This feature was a boon to copy or move files. I used to open 2-3 windows to do this copy/pasting task. But with this feature integrated in the right click menu it was easy to carry out those operations from a single location.

This function can be easily used in Windows XP as well as Windows Vista and is just a registry trick away. So you want to get these features then read on.

--- Go to the registry editor bu typing regedit in the run menu or the start menu search box and hit enter.

--- Find the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

--- Then right click on it to create a new key as shown here

--- Name it as Copy To.

--- In the right pane double click on the default value and enter this number {C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

--- Click OK.

Now to get the move to option

--- Follow the same procedure of creating a key then name the key as Move To.

--- Double click the default value in the right pane and enter this value
{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

--- Again click OK and exit the registry.

--- Now when you right click on any file or folder you will get this option.

--- Click on those option to copy or move the selected file to a different location.

You have your own custom context menu.

If you have any trouble just ask.