COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING 35

Preview Windows before Switching using Alt+Tab keys

Today tips will really impress you to provide the detail preview of application window icons using the Microsoft PowerToy. Sometimes you are confused about all that files which you have opened different time and you want to preview all windows before switching to them.
Here I will tell you how you can preview windows applications before switching to them.
First press the Alt+ Tab keys to preview the icons of running windows applications. When you have done this step then window will display a box which contain all that programs and windows you have opened. You have to hold down the Alt keys to switch them. You keep tabbing when you are doing this until you have highlighted one of them.
You are flying blind when you are using Alt+Tab keys. You can’t see a window before switching to it. This will create problem for you when you have opened many windows in a program and you don’t know about that file which you will be switching to.
Here I have solution for this problem. Here is an Alt+ Tab Replacement tweak which is named as Microsoft PowerToy. Jest visit the following link to download it from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx
After you have downloaded this tweak then first run the setup to install it. After installing, when you will use the Alt+ Tab keys you will get a preview of that window which you are going to switching.

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING 34

Adding your favorite image to a folder

Dear friends here I have a very useful and interesting tip for you. Sometimes you have to face some problem to distinguish the folders because in standard configuration of window explorer each folder seems closely the similar to others.
If you want to explore your folder in windows explorer's thumbnail view and make these folders are prominent then it is easier to distinguish using text name, for example you're download audio files or digital photos. But if you want to add image to a folder to distinguish with others then you should choose that folder which you want to decorate.
First open Window Explorer and right click on the folder to display the folder menu. Now choose Properties option from the menu, here a new dialog windows will appear with title "Program Properties".
Select Customize tab and click on "Choose Picture" button to add favorite image./p>
The image which you want to use navigates to that image and then clicks "Open" to view a sample of the picture inside the folder icon. Click on Ok button, if you are satisfied from that image .If you are not satisfied then choose another image.
Now at the end, go to View menu to display the folder in Explorer's thumbnail with image.

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING 33

Speed up your internet by 20%

Microsoft reserves 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes like Windows Updates and interrogating your PC etc
You can get it back:
Click Start then Run and type "gpedit.msc" without quotes.This opens the group policy editor. Then go to:
Local Computer Policy
then Computer Configuration
then Administrative Templates then Network then QOS Packet Scheduler and then to Limit Reservable Bandwidth.
Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab i.e."By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default."
So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.It works on Win 2000 as well.

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING 32

Disable the Send an error report to Microsoft

In Windows XP and Windows server 2003, when any computer application crashes, you may receive a message “send error report to Microsoft”. This windows feature may be useful if you are using windows registered version or you have installed Microsoft recommended software’s on your computer, otherwise a simple error message disturbing you, nothing else. This error message close the document; you were working on when the application crashed. You can disable or enable this feature in windows XP.

To disable the Error reporting feature, follow the giving steps:
First Right click on My Computer and select Properties option then go to advanced tab.
Here at bottom click on the button name “Error Reporting”.
Select the item name "Disable error reporting". But it is good think to leave a tick in the check box "But notify me when critical errors occur". Click "OK" to exit the "Error Reporting" window and then click "OK" again to exit System Properties.

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING 31

Get Your Computer Details
Want to figure out all your computer specs? Stuff like CPU speed, RAM, Hard Drive space, screen resolution, etc? It's actually not as easy as it should be. Maybe I'm missing something, but as far as I can tell, you have to go to separate areas in Windows to figure this it out.

RAM & Windows Version -
Right-click My Computer and select Properties . The screen that pops up will give you info on what version of Windows you're running and how much RAM is currently installed in the machine.

Hard Drive Space -
Open My Computer , right-click the C: drive, and select Properties from the resulting menu. You'll get a handy little Pie chart that gives you used and available HD space.

Screen Resolution -
Right-click the Windows Desktop and select Properties . Hit the Settings tab on the resulting screen. You'll see your resolution and color depth listed there.

CPU Speed -
Windows XP will actually give you this if you right-click My Computer, Properties . However, older versions of Windows won't give you the slightest hint as to the CPU speed.

So, what can you do?

First place to look is towards the top of the screen when the computer first starts up. Some machines will display the type of processor and speed. If you have some sort of splash screen come up when you first turn on the computer, try hitting the Escape key. Sometimes that will remove the splash screen and let you see the "real" screen behind it.

If that doesn't work, you may need to find a third party software utility to check CPU speed.

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING 30

Clear all windows history files with a single click



this tip will help you to manage the all types of user history in windows operating system. This is a built-in feature of all windows keeps track the user's history, for example the websites you have visited, the documents you have opened and the keywords or files for which you've searched. However this tip is very useful for you, if you are sharing your computer with others or you do not want that the other persons know about your last visited documents history. You can clear these kinds of user's history with a single click on desktop icon named Cleanmru.reg. There is no need to clear each history file one by one. This trick will work in nearly all of the windows versions like windows 2000, XP and 2003.
Follow the given steps for configuration to clear recently opened documents automatically:
To edit the computer registry, first you should log onto your computer with administrative rights.
Here copy the following 6 lines and paste in notepad then save with the name Cleanmru.reg on your desktop.


REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedURLs]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecentDocs]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\

LastVisitedMRU]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru]