Archive for the ‘Software Fixes’ Category

How To Reset Your Password on Windows with the Help of a CD/DVD or USB Flash Drive

Many times we face this problem when we forget or lost Windows password or somebody had changed the password of our system. In such a situation either we have to install windows again or find a solution to reset the password so that we can log into Windows easily. In this post, I will show you how you can reset the password on Windows easily with the help of your Flash Drive without reformatting or reinstalling your system.. In this post I will use a Flash Drive of 2 GB. Below are the steps to reset Windows password using bootable USB Flash Drive.

Step1. Download a free demo version of Windows Password Key 8.0

http://www.lostwindowspassword.com/downloads/Windows_Password_Key_Demo.exe

Step2. Run the downloaded file to install Windows Password Key 8.0.

You can install Windows Password Key 8.0 on any PC you have access to.

Step3.Windows Start menu – From your Microsoft Windows Start Programs menu, select Windows Password Key | Windows Password Key 8.0.exe. . Windows Password Key 8.0 will be launched automatically.

Step4. Create a bootable USB Flash Drive

4.1 You can click “Browse” to browse Windows Password Key 8.0 image file. The file is usually located as the default.

(more…)

Undocumented Method for a Clean Install of Windows 7 with Upgrade Media

To perform a clean install of Windows 7 with Upgrade media, you need to install
Windows 7 once using the Upgrade Setup disk, but without entering your product
key during Setup. Then, once you’ve loaded the Windows 7 desktop for the
first time, you can run Setup again from within Windows 7 and choose Upgrade
(even though you’ll be “upgrading” to the exact same version of Windows 7).
Allow Setup to complete a second time, and then you’re good to go: you can
enter your product key after the second Setup routine is completed and activate
Windows 7 successfully.

Here are the complete instructions:

Step 1: Install Windows 7

Boot your PC with the Windows 7 Upgrade DVD. After the preliminary loading
screen, install Windows 7 normally. When you are prompted to enter your product
key, leave the product key field blank, deselect the option titled “Automatically
activate Windows when I’m online,” and then continue.

Setup will install Windows Once Windows 7 is successfully installed and you are logged on, you’ll be presented with your new Windows 7 desktop. Don’t get too comfortable, however, as you’re
about to do it all again.

Step 2: Upgrade from Windows 7…to Windows 7

If you try to activate Windows now, it will fail because you’ve performed a clean
install of Windows 7 and you have only an Upgrade product key. That means you
have 30 days during which you can run this non-activated version of Windows 7.
But why wait 30 days?

According to Microsoft, Upgrade versions of Windows 7 support upgrading
from “a compliant version of Windows, such as Windows 7, Windows Vista, or
Windows XP.” Well, you just installed Windows 7, so why not just upgrade from
that install? That’s right: you’re going to upgrade the non-activated clean install
you just performed, which will provide you with a version of the OS that you
can, in fact, activate. (more…)

Clean Install Windows 7 With Upgrade Media

Clean Install Windows 7 With Upgrade Media and Product Key on Formatted or Empty Blank Hard Drive

Clean Install and Activate Windows 7 with MediaBootInstall Registry Hack

Boot from dvd, install windows 7 without entering serial key.

1. After booting up, ensure that no Windows Updates pending task which requires a system reboot to finish installing.

Tip: Normally, an orange-colored shield icon will be displayed next to Shutdown button in the Start Menu Power Button or at notification tray area if a restart is required.

If reboot is required, restart the computer to allow any pending updates is installed.
2. Run Registry Editor (RegEdit).
3. Navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\OOBE
4. In the right pane, change the value data for MediaBootInstall from 1 to 0.

MediaBootInstall Registry

Alternatively, just download and execute MediaBootInstall.reg to merge the value into registry.
5. Open an elevated command prompt as administrator.
6. Run the command below to reset Windows 7 activation status:

slmgr -rearm

Rearm Windows
7. Reboot the computer.
8. Run the Activate Windows utility (accessible from bottom section of Control Panel -> System and Security -> System, or type Activate Windows into Start Search), type in the upgrade product key and activate Windows.

Read More…

Windows 7 Tweaks

How to modify UAC

Start › user accounts › change user account control settings › adjust slider

How to disable Page File (Warning: Do Not Do this unless you have A LOT of memory)

Start › system › Advanced system settings › Performance › Settings › Advance › Virtual memory › Change › No paging file › Set › OK

How to disable Hibernation

Start › cmd › type: powercfg -h off › Enter

How to disable System Restore

Start › System › System protection › Configure

How to turn off Search Indexing

a) Start › services › windows search › disable

b) Start › computer › right click c drive › properties › untick: Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties

c) Start › Indexing options › modify › show all locations › double click users in summary of selected locations › uncheck users directory › double click start menu in the summary of selected locations › uncheck start menu directory › ok

How to turn off Remote Differential Compression

Start › Control panel › programs › turn windows features on or off › uncheck Remote Differential Compression › ok

This makes file transfers (copy, move) faster by turnig off “Remote Differential Compression” (RDC). Copying a 1.91 GB folder from the main HDD to a folder on an external USB drive resulting in …

With RDC turned on: 3:23 – three minutes and 23 seconds (with a stopwatch).
With RDC turned off: 2:25 – two minutes and 25 seconds. (more…)

How to Migrate your Windows XP machine to Windows 7

Windows 7 is now in RTM stage and general availability will be on October 22. If you are using Windows XP, then there is no upgrade option to Windows 7. Windows 7 does not provide an direct in-place upgrade for Windows XP that will retain user’s applications, programs, settings, customizations, personalization and data while setup performing installation of Windows. If you try to upgrade to Windows 7 from a system which is using Windows XP, you will be shown an error report which informs you that direct upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 is not available.

Microsoft recommends Windows Easy Transfer which can be used to preserve your files and settings from your XP machine, but please note that it will NOT back up and transfer program files and applications. You will need to reinstall all the applications again.

link to more

Four awesome tools to recover your slow PC

When I get a clients pc I usually do these four things to start the software fix:

CCleaner v2.22

CCleaner v2.22.968
- Redesign of Cleaner results panel.
- Added support for Opera 10 Beta.
- Added support for Safari 4.0.
- Added search to Uninstall tool.
- Added search to Cookies screen.
- Improved User assist cleaning in Windows 7.
- Fixed bug in OpenOffice cleaning.
- Fixed IE8 SuggestedSites.dat cleaning support.
- Fixed UI bugs.

download

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware

Have you ever considered what makes an anti-malware application effective? We at Malwarebytes have created an easy-to-use, simple, and effective anti-malware application. Whether you know it or not your computer is always at risk of becoming infected with viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, dialers, spyware, and malware that are constantly evolving and becoming harder to detect and remove. Only the most sophisticated anti-malware techniques can detect and remove these malicious programs from your computer.

download

msconfig

Then I put in the run box msconfig and look for startup items to remove

AVG free

I then check their anti-virus protection, if it is needed, I put on AVG free

download

9 times out of ten these four things get the pc working great again

Microsoft Releases Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Industry partners are finalizing new products in time for the worldwide launch.

REDMOND, Wash. — July 22, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the next versions of its flagship desktop and server operating systems. With the completion of this development phase, industry partners are readying products in time for the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 worldwide general launches. Windows 7 will be generally available to customers around the world on October 22, and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be generally available on or before that date. As always, current customers of the Windows Volume Licensing program, Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers and TechNet subscribers will be among the first to get customer access to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in the coming weeks.

Microsoft will make the announcement on its Windows Team and Windows Server Blogs later today. More information about today’s news is available via the following links:

Windows Team Blog, http://windowsteamblog.com

Windows Server Blog, http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver

Partner Web sites, http://readyset7.com and http://talkingaboutwindows.com/Default.aspx

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 for businesses, http://www.microsoft.com/windows/default.aspx and http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/R2.aspx

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Windows 7 RTM is imminent

The following from Windows Team Blog…

I’d like to offer up a little insight into the “Release to Manufacturing” (RTM) for Windows 7.

Over the past week, there have been many rumors surrounding RTM.

We are close, but have not yet signed off on Windows 7. When we RTM you will most certainly hear it here. As we’ve said all along, we will RTM Windows 7 when it’s ready. As previously stated, we expect Windows 7 to RTM in the 2nd half of July.

Windows 7 will be available in many languages from around the world. For us to consider RTM “done”, it requires that all languages be completely finished. So there is a lot of work that needs to take place for us to finalize all languages of Windows 7. We also need to get to a point of “global readiness” with our partners. Our partners being ready for Windows 7 is extremely important to RTM. As Steven Sinofsky mentions in this blog post in May, RTM isn’t a single point in time. It’s the beginning of the next “process” for Windows 7. At RTM our partners begin their final preparations for Windows 7, including testing and building images for new PCs. RTM is essentially the final “stage” of engineering for Windows 7 before it hits the market at General Availability (GA). As Steven notes, engineering continues on Windows 7 from RTM until GA on October 22nd.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when we do a specific build internally of Windows 7 we have an extensive step-by-step validation process to ensure quality. This process takes time. Just because a single build may have “leaked” it does not signal the completion of a milestone such as RTM. As always, don’t believe everything that you read on the Internet – except this post ;-) . (more…)

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