Archive for July, 2012

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How to Show Computer Icon on Windows 8 Desktop

July 31st, 2012 by Admin

When you perform a clean install of Windows 7 or Windows 8, Windows doesn’t show Computer icon on the desktop by default. Users need to manually add the icon to the desktop.

In Windows 7 and previous Windows versions, adding the Computer icon to the desktop is a simple task. Open the Start menu, right-click on Computer, and click Show on desktop option to show Computer icon on the desktop. But how to place the Computer icon on desktop in Windows 8? As you know, Start menu doesn’t exist in Windows 8 and has been replaced with Metro-style Start screen. So, users can’t add Computer icon from the Start menu.

Windows 8 users who would like to see Computer icon on the desktop can follow the given below steps.

Step 1: Right-click on desktop and select Personalize to open Personalization window.

Step 2: In the left-pane of Personalization window, click on Change desktop icons. This will open Desktop Icon Settings.

Step 3: Here, under Desktop icons section, tick Computer checkbox and then click Apply button to show the Computer icon on the desktop. You can also show/hide Recycle Bin, Network, and Control Panel icons on the desktop from here. You are done!

The default icons Computer, Network, Recycle Bin and Control Panel can be replaced with a custom one by selecting the icon and then clicking on Change Icon button.

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How to Reset Windows 2000 Password When You Forgot it

July 30th, 2012 by Admin

I can’t seem to remember my Windows 2000 password. It asked me that my password has expired and it requires a new one. The problem is, my laptop (Toshiba 1500) has been put away for a few months and I cannot find the original password. I need to get to my laptop and retrieve some important files. Can anyone tell me how I can recover or reset this password?

Forgot Windows 2000 password on a computer you haven’t used for a while? You logged off your PC and when you got back on the next day it wouldn’t accept your password? We all have the possibility of forgetting Windows password, so for those when your password completely escapes you, this guide will come to your rescue. Take a look at this tutorial to learn how to reset Windows 2000 password when you forgot it.

Step 1: Create a Windows Password Reset Disk

  1. First we need to find an accessible computer so we can create a Windows password reset disk on it.
  2. Download the ISO image of Reset Windows Password boot CD which is zipped.
  3. Extract the ISO file from the ZIP archive using WinZip.
  4. Burn the ISO file to a CD or USB drive using ISO2Disc. After a few minutes a Windows password reset disk will be created and we’ll used it later to reset forgotten Windows 2000 password.

Step 2: Set Your Locked Computer to Boot from Password Reset Disk

  1. Turn on your locked computer and hold down F2 or whatever the setup key is shown as during the initial boot screen. This should bring up the BIOS.
  2. In the BIOS look for the Boot Device Priority option, set CD/DVD as the 1st boot device if you want to boot from Windows password reset CD. You can either set Removable Device as the 1st boot device if you want to boot off a Windows password reset USB drive.
  3. Next save your changes and reboot the computer.

Step 3: Reset Windows 2000 Password

  1. Once your computer boots from the Windows password reset disk, it will launch the Reset Windows Password utility.
  2. This utility automatically scans your hard drive and find Windows SAM databases for all your Windows installations.
  3. Choose a Windows SAM database. The program will display all Windows user accounts inside it.
  4. Select the Windows user account whose password you forgot, then click Reset Password button to reset/remove the password.

Reboot your computer and eject the Windows password reset disk, the computer will boot normally and you can then log in to Windows 2000 system without entering a password. What’s more, this guide also works with Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP and Windows Server 2008, 2003.

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How to Reset Windows Server 2003 R2 Password

July 28th, 2012 by Admin

Did you just set a new administrator password on Windows Server 2003 R2 and can’t remember it now? You have come to the right place. Although, resetting a forgotten Windows password is a bit tricky, but it is entirely possible. Today I will be covering the easiest way of resetting Windows Server 2003 R2 password if you forgot the local or domain administrator password.

You may be completely locked out of the computer. So we can’t install any software on it to reset the forgotten password. The only option is to create a Windows password reset disk on another accessible computer, and then use it to boot off your locked computer and perform password resetting.

Step 1:  Create a Windows Password Reset Disk

Download the Reset Windows Password utility.  Once the download completes, right-click the .zip file and select Extract All. This will decompress the zip archive which there should an ISO image file (ResetWindowsPwd.iso) inside.

Insert a blank CD or USB drive into the computer. Burn the ISO image to it with the ISO2Disc software. It will take about one or two minutes to create a Windows password reset disk.

Step 2:  Set Boot Device Order in BIOS

Turn on your locked computer and hold down F2 or whatever the setup key is shown as during the initial boot screen.  This should bring up the BIOS. In the BIOS look for the Boot Device Priority option, set CD/DVD as the 1st boot device if you want to boot from Windows password reset CD. You can either set Removable Device as the 1st boot device if you want to boot off a Windows password reset USB drive.

Next save your changes and reboot the computer.

Step 3: Reset Windows Server 2003 R2 Password

Insert the Windows password reset CD/USB into your locked computer. If you set up the BIOS correctly your computer should automatically boot from the password reset disk.

It will launch the Reset Windows Password utility after a few minutes. The program automatically scans your hard drive for partitions that may have Windows installed. In the example below it found the Windows SAM registry hive for Windows Server 2003 R2. To reset Windows domain password you need to switch to the Reset Active Directory Password mode.

Choose a user account whose password you want to reset, then click Reset Password button. You’ll see a short message appear that says password is reset successfully!

Now remove the Windows password reset CD/USB and restart your computer. You will then log on Windows Server 2003 R2 without entering a password.

Conclusion

The password resetting procedure is clear and easy that nearly every computer user with basic computer skills can get it to work. Apart from resetting Windows Server 2003 R2 password, you can also follow this guide to reset forgotten Windows password on almost all Windows operating systems, such as Windows 8/7/Vista/XP and Windows Server 2008/2000.

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Delete Your Confidential Files Permanently with Secure Wipe

July 28th, 2012 by Admin

Once you decide to discard your hard drive or resell your PC, it is mandatory to remove all personal information, passwords, and other details that you saved on it. Just deleting the data or formatting the hard drive is not sufficient, because there are powerful tools to recover all deleted data. Therefore, you need to permanently wipe all data from the hard drive.

Secure Wipe is a small, free utility that allow you to completely delete sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. So, no one can recover your personal or important data from it.

How to use Secure Wipe?

After installation, run the tool. From the setting menu, select the deletion algorithm that you prefer (e.g. Gutmann 35). Then from the Eraser tab select a folder or file that contains your personal details. Then click Erase button to erase the data permanently.

Secure Wipe can be downloaded (917Kb) free at this link.

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Transfer Files and Settings from Windows 7 to Windows 8

July 27th, 2012 by Admin

Whether you plan to upgrade your Windows 7 machine to Windows 8 or buy a new PC with Windows 8 pre-installed, you can use Windows Easy Transfer to copy all your files and settings from your old machine or old version of Windows to your new machine running Windows 8. In this article, I’ll walk you through the steps of using Windows Easy Transfer and an external USB drive to easily complete the task.

Before we get started, let me clarify exactly what you can transfer using Windows Easy Transfer:

  • User accounts
  • Documents
  • Music
  • Pictures
  • E-mail (including contacts and e-mail settings)
  • Internet Favorites
  • Videos
  • And more

Part 1: Save Windows 7 Files and Settings to USB Drive

  1. To get started, you need to open Windows Easy Transfer on your old PC. In Windows 7, just search for Easy Transfer and you’ll see it show up:
  2. Click on Windows Easy Transfer from the list of programs.
  3. You’ll be presented with the Welcome to Windows Easy Transfer screen, which gives you an overview of what items you can transfer. Click Next to start.
  4. Select An external hard disk or USB flash drive.
  5. Now, select This is my old computer option to transfer files and setting from current PC.
  6. In this step, it shows currently logged-in User Profile and Shared Items options. You can customize the default folder and file section by hitting Customize. The Customize link present in User Profile section lets you pick Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Program Settings and Windows Settings, whereas the Shared Items section’s Customize link will open a Shared Items menu, allowing you to choose the shared items that are to be moved.
  7. Once you’ve selected the files, it will ask you to enter the password to secure the transfer process. Clicking Save will prompt you to specify the USB drive where your files and settings are to be copied.
  8. When the destination folder is selected, it will start copying the settings and selected folders. The time it takes to complete the copying process depends upon the volume of selected data.
  9. Window 7 Easy Transfer wizard saves all the settings, user folders, and files from Windows 7 in a MIG file. Now, eject the USB drive, and move to PC running Windows 8.

Part 2: Restore Files and Settings from USB Drive to Windows 8

  1. To get started, open Windows Search from Windows 8 Start hover menu, enter easy transfer in search bar, and then click Apps. Now, launch Windows Easy Transfer utility from main window.
  2. In Windows Easy Transfer wizard, select An external hard disk or USB flash drive option to restore data and settings saved in MIG file.
  3. In next step, choose This is my new computer option.
  4. It will now ask you to plug-in the USB drive where the MIG file is saved. Plug-in the USB drive and select Yes to specify the Windows Easy Transfer file.
  5. On selecting the MIG file, it will ask you to specify the password. Enter the password to restore the data, and click Next.
  6. Once access is granted, it will ask you to choose what to transfer from old PC. At this point, you can select the files and settings that are to be transferred to your new PC. Click Customize under User Profile and Shared Items sections to select the folders.
  7. Once you’ve selected the settings and folders, hit Transfer to begin the settings and data migration process.
  8. After this has finished you will get a message telling you the transfer is complete. You can also see a list of what files and programs were transferred, or choose close to exit the wizard. Now you have the best of both worlds – all your important old files saved onto your new computer.

Windows Easy Transfer provides 3 options to transfer your files and settings: An Easy Transfer cable, A network and A external hard disk or USB flash drive. The first two options require connecting your new PC to old PC in order to send the files and settings. However, if you’re planning to upgrade your PC to Windows 8, select the third option that moves your system settings along with files to external hard drive.

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Protect Website Passwords Saved in Your Browser

July 25th, 2012 by Admin

One of the most convenient tools browsers offer is the ability to save and automatically prefill your website login details and passwords. Because so many sites require accounts and it is well known (or should be at least) that using a shared password is a big no-no, a password manager is almost essential and also a handy feature. But what happens if someone is wandering by and decides to start poking around with your browser and vulnerable internet sites?

To protect your website passwords saved in your browser, it’s essential to learn more about the security features built into Firefox, Internet Explorer and Chrome.

It doesn’t matter how secure your passwords are if you’ve allowed a browser to store them with no protection. You’re left doubly unprotected by having no Windows password, as an unattended PC will force the user to log back in but without a password, an intruder is straight in.

Firefox offers good protection in that it can store an encrypted password file on your hard drive, if you ask it nicely. This protects all the log-in user names and passwords with a master password. So if someone happens to be on your computer and fires up the browser, they’ll have to enter your master password before the browser starts to automatically fill in all of your bank details without you.

For Internet Explorer there’s no such direct replacement. There is a Content Advisor that’s designed to block inappropriate content rather than block access to the browser and stored passwords. If you open Internet Options > Content and under Content Advisor click Enable, you’ll be prompted to enter a password and hint.

Initially this is massively annoying as it’ll prompt you for every website. We suggest you set a homepage, so when the browser is first opened the password will be required and you can allow all the other sites. The alternative is to set up blocks just on sites that require passwords.

When it comes to Chrome, security is even more lax: there isn’t any way to password protect access to the browser within Chrome itself. There is an extension called Secure Profile that goes some way to address this. It forces a password to be entered before access to the browser is allowed. However, as it’s an extension it can be disabled by knowledgeable people and due to limits on Java it displays the password being entered. But it does block access and is better than nothing.

Note: If you already forgot website passwords saved in your browser and want to recover them, Password Recovery Bundle is the software that can help you easily recover website logins and passwords stored in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. But if your website passwords are protected with a master password, it’s unrecoverable unless you know the master password.

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How To Install Windows 8 from USB Flash Drive

July 24th, 2012 by Admin

Some times you may prefer to install windows 8 from USB, there may be wide variety of reasons like, you don’t have a DVD drive or you wanted to install windows 8 in you netbook etc. No matter what the reason is, there is an easy way to do this. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to create a bootable Windows 8 installation USB drive and then use it to do a clean install of Windows 8.

Step 1: Create a Bootable Windows 8 Installation USB Drive

  1. First of all, insert your pen/USB drive and back up any data inside it.
  2. Now download Windows 7 USB/DVD tool and open it.
  3. Browse to your windows 7 ISO image using the “Browse” button.
  4. As we are going to create a bootable USB drive, select “USB device” option.
  5. Now select the USB drive letter and click “Begin copying”.

Step 2: Configure the BIOS of Your Computer

  1. Turn on your computer. When it is powered on, check the boot-screen for setup key (i.e. DELETE key, F8 key, F2 key) to enter BIOS Setup Utility.
  2. Use the arrow keys to select the BOOT tab, then change the Boot Device Priority: Set 1st Boot Device to Removable Device so you can boot from a USB flash drive and perform Windows installation.
  3. Press F10 to save your changes.

Step 3: Install Windows 8 from USB Flash Drive

Assuming that you properly configured your BIOS, insert the Windows 8 Installation USB Drive into the USB port on your computer. Turn on the computer. Windows 8 setup program should now load, you can now continue to finish setting up Windows 8  from USB drive. Depending on the speed of your USB device, this may take a while.

Conclusion

This guide is quite easy to follow and anyone who has basic computer skill will able to create a bootable Windows 8 installation USB drive and install Windows 8 with any hassle. Many computers ship without Windows installation discs. So it’s necessary to create a Windows installation disk in case you need to do a fresh install of Windows on your own. Enjoy!

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