In some cases, Windows Aero cannot run properly because it doesn’t have enough memory to run (maybe you have loads of memory intensive applications running?) or perhaps an application is running which is incompatible with Windows Aero. Those who watch videos online and use DivX may experience this. Surely once you close DivX, Windows Aero in all it’s transparent goodness should reappear… but it doesn’t. Here’s the quick fix:

1. Click on  Start then Run (or press the Windows key + R), type in services.msc then press OK.
2. Under the Name column in the right hand pane, scroll down until you find “Desktop Window Manager Session Manager“. This service basically controls Windows Aero, your theme, and all the other windows open on screen.
3. Right click this service, then select Restart.

   The screen may flicker for a few seconds, but this is perfectly normal. If the screen remains off, wait a minute and ensure that the hard drive isn’t spinning (if there’s no clicking from the unit, you’re OK) then restart the computer by simply pulling the plug.

4. Windows Aero should now be working. Simply close the window by clicking the red cross in the top right hand corner.

Once you’ve installed a new program or application, you might find that every time you run that application, it’ll ask you for registration details, even though you’ve already registered. This is because of UAC, and I’ll explain why.

The registry key that contains your registration details isn’t being applied to the actual registry because UAC (User Account Controls) is running the virtual registry, to stop any kind of damage being done. This means that the actual registry doesn’t contain the registration details that the application requires.

The way to resolve this is either disable UAC, or run the application that has the registration problem as an administrator. Most users are “standard users” (to make Windows more secure, and virtualising things which might cause problems, like system files and the registry), but running a program as an administrator removes this protection.

You can usually do this by:

1. Find the application you wish to run as the administrator (thus enabling registry entries for program registration) in the Start menu.
2. Right click the icon, and select Run as administrator.
3. You will most likely be given a username and password field. Type “administrator” as the username (if it’s not already there), and then type in the administrators password.

After this, it’ll run as if the administrator user is running the application, even though a standard user might be logged on.

“There was a lot of controversy of the new Windows Start sound in Windows Vista. Originally, Microsoft was planning on making this a mandatory sound that users would not be able to disable.  This sounds like a great idea from a Marketing perspective since all Windows users world-wide would hear the same notes when their computer starts up.  However from a user perspective this could be a nightmare.  Thankfully Microsoft responded to the vocal Microsoft community and gave users the option to disable this sound.” - Source: TweakVista

To disable the startup sound:

1. Click on  Start and go to Control Panel.
2. Click on Sound.
3. In the Sound dialog box, click on the Sounds tab.
4. Untick the box where it says Play Windows Startup sound.
5. Apply and OK.

You’ll notice this next when you first start up your computer next.

In many of the tweaks around and about VistaBase, you sometimes need to delete or replace a system file. In Windows Vista this is not always as easy as it sounds since the system files are protected better by the file system than in XP. There are two steps that you need to do in order to be able to replace or delete a system file:

1. First you need to take ownership of the file. At the Run command (press Windows key + R), type in:
         takeown /f  “path and file name”     to take ownership from a command prompt.
2. Next, you need to give your account full control permissions on the file. Run from the same command prompt:
         cacls “path and file name” /G <your username>:F     to get full control from a command prompt.

Source: TweakVista

If you live in a house or work in a place where your friends or co-workers are constantly trying to access your files or pictures, or trying to hack into your account - don’t let them! Other than that, it’s a security method to deter people from guessing your password. Using an Account Lockout Policy (as a lot of network administrators do), it locks out people from trying to attempt your password by locking the screen out so they can’t type anything in for a set period of time. Besides all - “brute force attacks” where a hacking tool tries to guess your password through a number of different ways, renders this entirely useless.

To set this up:

1. Click on  Start then Run (or press the Windows key + R) and type in secpol.msc then press OK.
2. In the left hand pane, click the small arrow next to Account Policies, then click on the link to Account Lockout Policy.
3. In the right hand pane, you’ll have the following options - editing these are really easy, just follow my lead.

   

   1.   Account lockout threshold: Double click on this, and change it to how many times an incorrect password
         can be entered before the logon screen locks.
   2.   Account lockout duration: How long the logon screen will lock for (so nobody can enter passwords).
   3.   Reset account lockout counter after: If an account lockout threshold is defined, this reset time must be less
         than or equal to the Account lockout duration.

4. Reboot your machine, and these new settings will come into effect next time you logon.

Internet Explorer 7 only allows you to download two files from the same server at a time.  This is not a software limit but rather a limit imposed based on the web standard. Since this is simply a software setting, it can be modified and you can increase the limit to something much high such as 10.  Follow the steps below to increase your maximum downloads from the same server:

1. Click on  Start and click Run (or press the Windows key + R) and type in regedit then press OK.
2. When Registry Editor loads navigate through
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion and Internet Settings.
3. Right click on MaxConnectionsPerServer and select Modify. Set the decimal value to something greater than 2.
4. Right click on MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server and select Modify. Set the decimal value to something greater than 2.
5. Reboot the machine and next time you want to download more than 1 item, you can download more than the number you set in the Registry entry.

Source: TweakVista

Do you have a SATA disk drive in your computer? If so, you can squeeze a little more performance out of your hard disk.  This speeds up the performance of your hard disk by enhancing write caching. However, if your computer is not connected to a battery backup and you loose power you have a increased risk for data loss or corruption. If you have a laptop, your chances are data loss or corruption are dramatically less since your laptop battery will kick on if your power source is lost. Let’s get started:

1. Click on  Start and type in in “Device Manager” in the Search bar and hit Enter.
2. Expand Disk Drives.
3. Right click on your hard drive and select Properties.
4. On the Policies tab, check Enable advanced performance.
5. Hit OK and close Device Manager.

Source: TweakVista

Sick of having a computer which is 2.0 or 2.5? Well I’ve got a high-spec computer and it only runs at 2.2 which is to my dismay. However, you can easily change that… either get better hardware, or just hack the Windows Experience Index!

1. Go to your desktop, and double click Computer.
2. Navigate to C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore.
3. Open up the most recent file in that folder. Make sure that your account has write access to that file. If not change the file permissions (right click - Properties - Security tab - Edit)
4. Search through the file looking for the WinSPR entry. These are the items you want to edit.  The maximum value you can use is 9.9.

   

5. Save the file and you just turned your 2.1 system into a supercomputer.  

There is a brilliant, innovative new program out there, completely free of charge, which animates the preview picture in the Start menu. Whether you hover over Search, the Control Panel, or nothing and you’re looking at your display picture, you can see it turn 3D and sway inwards and outwards.

It uses a small file to hook itself onto explorer.exe (which is what makes files and folders and actual windows pop up to browse through), so no actual program sits in the system tray.

All you need is Windows Aero to work, and you should be well on your way.
Download from Ave’s Vista Stuff.

Once upon a time, Windows didn’t come in different versions or flavors. You bought Windows and it was Windows from A to Z, or technically W to S. Some might call it better times, but times change and so have market demands. Since now we have 5 versions of Windows for the consumer market - although some insist to round-up to a bazillion, it only seems fair to be able to upgrade between versions when it is required, thus Windows Anytime Upgrade was born.

Up until May, Anytime Upgrade was only accessible through a proprietary online ordering system provided by Microsoft, limiting the availability and accessibility of those who either don’t have a credit card or simply aren’t comfortable with purchasing online. From May till now, Microsoft has been quietly offering these Upgrade Packs, an off-the-shelve product for Anytime Upgrade. Not much has been said about these packs, and it’s not even mention on Microsoft’s own website which made me wonder what Microsoft intends to do with these.

A Microsoft spokesperson had this to say,

When did Windows Anytime Upgrade become available through these Upgrade Packs?

The initial version of Windows Anytime Upgrade was available at consumer launch in North America and EMEA on January 30th in the form of a card with a product key. Since then, we’ve redesigned the SKU to also offer a pack with a DVD and a product key inside. The English version of this pack was made available in the North America, EMEA and APAC markets in May, with localized SKUs made available in June. In the US market, the Windows Anytime Upgrade Pack is available as a service upgrade at retailers and can be purchased on Amazon or at Circuit City and Best Buy. In EMEA and APAC customers can purchase the pack through several different software distributors and retailers.

How does that work – is a reseller still involved in some way? Or are the bits available directly from MS on CD/DVD (with a new product key)?

Upgrade Packs are available through direct retail in response to requests from our retail partners. Direct retail offers customers the choice of another way to acquire WAU, coexisting with the online WAU model. When customers purchase the upgrade at windowsanytimeupgrade.com, they receive a digital certificate download and product key. With the upgrade pack, customers insert the DVD, enter the product key and proceed with the upgrade. The bits are also available on a WAU DVD that they can purchase at the same time.

To me this sounds like the ideal alternative for Anytime Upgrades. From a user’s point-of-view, purchasing software online is a scary thing. The question everyone asks is, what happens if you lose the electronic key or digital license? Even with all the fanciness and wrapping of “Digital Locker“, it is still a tough choice over something you can hold on to and gather dust on your bookshelf.

If anyone’s interested in upgrading their version of Windows Vista to Ultimate for any other reason than to enjoy the luxuries of Windows Ultimate Extras - because they don’t exist, then check out these Upgrade Packs.

Source: Long Zheng

Hello,

Sorry there haven’t been many updates recently - I’ve been bombing back and forth from London over the last 2 weeks or so and I’ve been really busy - thankfully had a quick holiday to celebrate one of my best friends’ birthday.

Having said that, VistaBase has partnered with the Windows Vista Magazine so there will be loads more articles coming very soon. Please don’t lose faith - this is one of the best sites out there for Vista news with almost absolutely no adverts (except occasionally for RSS readers).

Thanks for sticking around

Zack
zackwhittaker@live.com

Some of you might have heard about a “wonderpill” equivalent in form of a few updates from Microsoft for Vista which were leaked last week from the beta testing community. Microsoft has now made these updates public and are available for all versions of Windows Vista, and for x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) machines.

 We at VistaBase recommend highly that you update your system with these hotfixes. Although they may not make your computer more secure, you should notice a great deal in performance after the patches are installed - even if you have a super fast computer.

 Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB938979)
This is a performance update. Install this update to improve the performance of Windows Vista in certain scenarios.

 Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB938194)
This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the reliability of Windows Vista in certain scenarios.

 Update for Windows Vista (KB938194) 
This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the reliability of Windows Vista in certain scenarios.
  
 Update for Windows Vista (KB938979)
This is a performance update. Install this update to improve the performance of Windows Vista in certain scenarios.

This update resolves the following issues:

• The screen may go blank when you try to upgrade the video driver. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base 932539. The screen may go blank when you try to upgrade the video driver on a Windows Vista-based computer 
• The computer stops responding, and you receive a “Display driver stopped responding and has recovered” error message. You can restart the computer only by pressing the computer’s power button.
• The computer stops responding or restarts unexpectedly when you play video games or perform desktop operations.
• The Diagnostic Policy Service (DPS) stops responding when the computer is under heavy load or when very little memory is available. This problem prevents diagnostics from working.
• The screen goes blank after an external display device that is connected to the computer is turned off. For example, this problem may occur when a projector is turned off during a presentation.
• A computer that has NVIDIA G80 series graphic drivers installed stops responding.
• Visual appearance issues occur when you play graphics-intensive games.
• You experience poor playback quality when you play HD DVD disks or Blu-ray disks on a large monitor.
• Applications that load the Netcfgx.dll component exit unexpectedly.
• Windows Calendar exits unexpectedly after you create a new appointment, create a new task, and then restart the computer.
• Internet Connection Sharing stops responding after you upgrade a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP to Windows Vista and then restart the computer.
• The Printer Spooler service stops unexpectedly.
• You receive a “Stop 0×0000009F” error when you put the computer to sleep while a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) connection is active. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 931671 - Error message when you put a Windows Vista-based computer to sleep while a PPP connection is active: “STOP 0×0000009F”.

For more information regarding these hotfixes, please visit the Knowledge Base article relating to these downloads.

Thanks to Bink for the posting.

Techy’s out there rejoice - everyone knows that virtualisation is brilliant for running basic servers, because performance isn’t necessarily what you’re looking for and the network speeds are just as good as if it was a real desktop. Well some bright sparks have set up a brilliant company which does exactly this, so if you’re looking for virtual servers (running pretty much any operating system you want) or dedicated virtual server plans, then head off over here. They support disaster recovery, you can easily manage virtual servers, create and manage clustered environments and all this costs from $29.95 (around £15) every month.

It’s very easy for you to run applications and create documents on your Windows Vista PC, but when other people need to get involved, life becomes more difficult. If your group wants to work together on a particular program, for example, they’ll normally have to crowd around your PC, fighting over the keyboard and mouse whenever they want to take control. And having several people work on one document becomes even more of a nightmare when they all try editing the same information at the same time. Fortunately, Windows Vista has the ideal solution, and it’s much easier to use than you might think.

Quick Setup
Launch Windows Meeting Space from Start then All Programs, and you’ll be asked if you’re ready to set up the program. Click Yes, continue setting up Windows Meeting Space and Windows will turn on the necessary networking features for you.

Name Change
By default Windows Vista assumes you want to be known by your user account name during the meeting. Alternatively, you can type in anything you want as a display name here. Leave the other default settings as they are for now, and click OK.

Create a Meeting
If someone else has started a meeting near you, Windows Vista will detect and display it. Otherwise, click Start a new meeting, enter a password (anyone you invite will have to use this) and click the arrow button to move to the next step.

Get to Work
Anyone nearby can now start their copy of Meeting Space and join you, or you can invite others. Click Share to share programs, Add a handout to share files, double-click someone’s name to send them a text note, and enjoy quick, easy meetings.

Thanks to Windows Vista Magazine.

In 2002, Microsoft Chief Software Architect Bill Gates issued a now famous e-mail entitled ‘Trustworthy Computing’ which was sent to every single Microsoft employee at the company. Within it, he expressed his desire to create a platform ‘that is as available, reliable and secure as electricity, water services and telephony.’ Come 2007 and Trustworthy Computing was only further emphasised by the inclusion and introduction of the TPM. A TPM (Trusted Platform Module) ensures that all data is encrypted securely and that the data has not been edited in any way during boot; this is used in conjunction with an encryption key which has to be made available to the system during boot to ensure data integrity. If anything untoward is detected, or the TPM suspects data integrity may have been comprimised, it blocks startup of your PC and prompts for a ‘Recovery Password’ which will be set during this guide.

The TPM was originally to be included on Motherboards as an installable module but has now been fully integrated into brands available today, but, unlike Microsoft may have you believe, you can use Windows BitLocker without installing a TPM Module. Follow the guide below to discover how you can enable and use enhanced EFS Encryption with a USB Flash Disk and a few hours of your time.

Please note: Only users of Vista Ultimate and Vista Enterprise can use Windows BitLocker. If you are using any other version of Windows Vista, you cannot use the following feature.

Requirements: The following requirements must be met to achieve this guide aim:

• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate or Enterprise editions.
• USB Flash Disk
• Microsoft Windows BitLocker Driver Preparation Tool (Available via Windows Ultimate Extras in Windows Update)
• A backup of your system and files
• At keast 1.5GB of free hard drive space (Please defragment your hard disk before beginning this guide)
• Windows BitLocker Encryption is only usable on a ‘Simple’ setup. You cannot use Windows Vista’s software RAID features with Windows BitLocker but you can use it with a hardware RAID as this is not viewable within the Operating System.

Step 1 - Beginning The Encryption ProcessTo begin the encryption process, navigate to ‘Control Panel - Security‘ within the Control Panel and select ‘Protect your computer by encrypting data on your disk.‘ This will require that you either select continue when prompted by UAC or enter your Administrator password if set.

You will recieve the following messages:

“The drive configuration is unsuitable for BitLocker Drive Encryption. To use BitLocker, please re-partition your hard drive according to the BitLocker requirements.”

“A TPM was not found. A TPM is required to turn on BitLocker. If your computer has a TPM, contact that computer manufacturer for BitLocker-compatible BIOS.”

As previously stated, you do not require a TPM to enable and use Windows BitLocker. The requirement is simply a setting within Windows’ Group Policy, which in turn is stored within the Windows Registry. To remove the TPM requirement, we require to edit a Group Policy setting; Step Two explains the process below.

Step 2 - Editing Window’s Group PolicyTo edit Window’s Group Policy settings, we require to load the MMC module. To do this, type ‘gpedit.msc‘ into Start Search. Click the relevant icon and wait for the Group Policy Editor to load. Now we will edit the Windows BitLocker Driver Encryption component of Group Policy to remove the ‘requirement’ of TPM. Navigate the following path within the Group Policy Editor: Local Computer Policy - Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows Components - BitLocker Drive Encryption.

Select the BitLocker Drive Encryption folder. The right-hand panel should display an entry entitled ‘Control Panel Setup: Enable Advanced Startup Options’. Double-click this entry and you will be presented with a dialogue box. Select the ‘Enabled‘ option from the triad of options at the top of the dialogue box and ensure that the option ‘Allow BitLocker without a compatible TPM.‘ is selected. Select ‘OK‘ and exit the Group Policy Editor.

Once again navigate to ‘Control Panel - Security’ and once again select ‘Protect your computer by encrypting data on your hard disk.’ The TPM warning will not be displayed as you have allowed the use of a non-TPM device to be used. In my guide, it is a USB Flash Disk.

Step 3 - Using The Windows BitLocker Drive Preparation ToolUsing Start Search once again, type ‘BitLocker‘ into the field and select the ‘BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool’ from the listed results. This will launch the Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption Wizard. The Wizard resizes your Operating System partition and prepares a new partition. Depending on the fragmentation status of your hard disk, this may be a long process.

Your PC will be restarted during this process and you can login as normal. Navigate one final time to ‘Control Panel - Security’ and select ‘Protect your computer by encrypting data on your hard disk.’ Select ‘Turn On BitLocker’. You will then be asked to save your Startup Key to a location; a USB Flash Disk. Insert and select the device. Click ‘Save’.

Next you will be prompted to save a ‘Recovery Password’. This is used to unblock your PC’s boot process if anything untoward is detected and the Operating System believes that data may have been edited maliciously. It is recommended that you save the password in at least one location and keep the password very safe. If you cannot locate the password when needed, you cannot recover it. You can save the Recovery Password on the USB Flash Disk also, alongside the Startup Key, but I recommend you also print a copy of the password for future reference if required.

Step 4 - Running Windows BitLocker System CheckOnce you have backed up your passwords to safe locations, click ‘Next’ and you will be presented with the final page of the process. Ensure that the ‘Run BitLocker System Check’ checkbox is selected, and if not, select it to ensure that the computer can retrieve and decryt your encryption key correctly. Once it has been verified that the data can be retrieved successfully, the encryption process will begin annd your PC will be restarted.

Please ensure that the USB Flash Disk remains inserted when your PC restarts so that it can be read to begin the encryption of your hard disk. Windows BitLocker Driver Encryption has been successfully enabled and configured and you can rest assured that your data will be better secured against theft.

Thanks to Windows Vista Magazine.

This problem is stemmed from a “mapfile1: access is denied” message each time he started Internet Explorer or Windows Mail. Mapfi le1 is linked to software for ATI graphics cards, and the error is found on PCs that have been upgraded to Windows Vista from an earlier version of Windows.

The best solution is to locate new drivers and software from your graphics card manufacturer. Make sure it’s compatible with Windows Vista. If none is available, download the latest drivers from ATI instead, uninstall your existing graphics card software from the Add or Remove Programs control panel and then install this in its place.

Thanks to Windows Vista Magazine.

The Reliability and Performance Monitor is a little tool embedded within the Performance Information and Tools section of the Control Panel. It scans your system over 60-seconds to see what’s going on inside your computer. It then produces a diagnostic report that flags performance bottlenecks and trouble-spots and hopefully shows you how to resolve them. As ever with this kind of tool, your mileage may vary: “The device driver for <unknown> has not been installed” is not exactly helpful. There is a lot to get your teeth into but this is fairly advanced territory.

Once you see this screen, you’re well on your way. After the screen changes and you no longer see the green bar, this is the report that it’s been generating. There are plenty of sub-tabs which you can click on and expand but this contains a lot of advanced information and isn’t easy to read unless you know what you’re looking at. However, the parts that are already open are fairly easy to understand and should help you along your way to computer-recovery.

To access the Reliability and Performance Monitor:

1. Go to Start, select Control Panel then click on Performance Information and Tools.
2. In the left hand pane, select Advanced tools.
3. Second option down should be the option to Open Reliability and Performance Monitor.
4. The monitor will begin automatically - sit back and wait for a report to be generated.

Thanks to Windows Vista Magazine.

The Performance Information and Tools section of the Control Panel is a nice handy way you can check how Windows is doing compared to your hardware. Here you can:

• manage startup programs - see what’s running when you first turn on your computer and the ability to turn programs off if you don’t need them, thus saving on memory.
• adjust visual effects - turn off the Glass effects or transparency if you don’t feel like you need or want them.
• adjust indexing options - uncheck the places you don’t need to search and supress the indexer if you don’t use it.
• adjust power settings - enabling you to turn off your monitor and other hardware when you’re not using it.
• Disk Cleanup - get rid of all those temporary Internet files and those files and folders which aren’t quite deleted.
• and other advanced tools such as the Disk Defragmenter.

As most people have seen, the Performance Information and Tools is where you have the numbers telling you the Windows Experience Index score, but with the tools in the left hand pane of the window, you can adjust those tweaks simply and comfortably.