Archive for the ‘Windows 8’ category

How to Gain Admin Access to Windows from Standard User Account

October 25th, 2013 by Admin

Accidentally demoted your administrator account to a standard user and can’t get admin rights on your computer? Forgot the administrator password after setting up Parental Controls for your child’s account? With a standard user you are unable to install any programs. When you try the “net user” command to reset admin password, you’ll get the “access denied” error.

In this article I would like to walk you through using a tool to gain admin access to your Windows system from standard user account. This method works on nearly all versions of Windows, including Windows 8.1.

How to Gain Admin Access to Windows from Standard User Account?

Step 1: First, you need to use another computer to download the zipped ISO image of PCUnlocker. Extract the downloaded file locally and then burn the resulting .iso file to a CD-ROM (or USB flash drive) using ISO2Disc program.

Step 2: Insert the CD into the computer that you’re trying to gain admin access to and boot from it. You may have to change the computer’s boot order in the BIOS in order to boot from the CD.

Step 3: If you boot from the CD successfully, the computer will load the contents of the CD drive, and eventually start the PCUnlocker program. This program automatically detects your Windows installation and displays all Windows user accounts which are stored in the SAM registry hive.

Step 4: Choose your standard user account and click on “Reset Password” button. You will get a confirmation dialog like the one shown below:

Step 5: Click Yes to continue. The program will remove your current password and promote your standard user account to administrator immediately.

Step 6: Now everything finish properly and you have to remove the CD and restart your machine. After logging into your standard user account, you’ll find that your user account has already been joined into the administrators group. Now you’ve successfully gained admin access to your system and you can perform any administrative tasks on your computer.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: gain admin acess get administrator access promote standard user account windows

KeyFinder Plus: Recover License Keys of Installed Software

October 22nd, 2013 by Admin

Lost your license key and can’t find it on a CD case, a manual or an old email somewhere? For those situations when you have to reinstall software on your computer and you don’t have the license keys or serial numbers, KeyFinder Plus is your savior. This small application will find the license, serial and product keys for all the software you had installed on your system prior to reinstalling it.

Simply run the KeyFinder Plus program on your computer, it automatically detects and decrypts the license / serial keys of all the popular softwares from your system, including Windows 8/7/Vista/XP, Office 2013/2010/2007/2003, Adobe CS2 – CS6, SQL Server 2012/2008/2005/2000.

One more thing which makes this small utility more useful is that you can retrieve the license keys from external Windows installations or any external Windows directory as well. Along with Windows you can also locate license keys from external software registry hive as well as remote computers.

Overall KeyFinder Plus is a nice tool that helps you to recover lost license key from any running system. After recovering your lost license keys, print them out or save them to disc and you’ll always have your keys to hand, should disaster strike – much more convenient.

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Posted in Product Key, Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: find license key license key finder lost license key recover license keys retrieve license key

Hide Your Sensitive Data with Protect My Folders

October 14th, 2013 by Admin

All of us have sensitive files that need to be hidden from prying eyes. This can be anything from our documents to pictures of family or friends. If you’re looking for a simple way to help you hide data from prying eyes and don’t want to have to deal with encryption, Protect My Folders might be the ideal choice. It works with Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP.

How to Safeguard Your Data with Protect My Folders?

Download the installer of Protect My Folders. After that, double-click the downloaded file and allow the setup wizard to complete the installation.
Upon first run, you will be asked to create a password for the application. This step is crucial because it will protect the application from allowing others to unhide your hidden folders.
After you create the password, the main window will open for the application. From here, you do all the work. Click the “Add/Lock” button, navigate to the folder you wish to hide and click OK.
Now that the folder is hidden, so it will not appear in Windows Explorer. You cannot even type the path of the folder and have it appear, even from Command Prompt.
To access a folder that you have hidden, all you need to do is run Protect My Folder program again and enter your password. Choose the folder you wish to access and click on Unlock button.

With the folder password protected, the folder cannot be unhidden without entering the password. This adds a second layer of protection for the folder in case the Protect My Folders program is deleted.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: hide folder hide folder in windows protect folder

How to Fix “Your PC is offline” Issue in Windows 8

October 7th, 2013 by Admin

I’ve been using Windows 8 since it came out. I shut my computer down last night and I’ve gone to log in this morning and I get this message: “Your PC is offline. Please sign in with the last password used on this PC.” I’ve tried all of possible passwords and can’t log in to my Microsoft account.

This is a very rare error message you may get when you use Windows 8 with Microsoft account. When you first add a Microsoft account to Windows 8, Internet connection is required and your Microsoft account password will be cached locally. Afterwards you should be able to use it to log in to Windows 8, even when Internet connection is not available. But there are many reasons that can cause the logon error of “Your PC is offline”. Here are the steps you can use to fix the “Your PC is offline” issue in Windows 8.

How to Fix “Your PC is offline” Issue in Windows 8?

First of all, if your Microsoft account password includes an upper case character, try to enter the same password all in small case and you should be able to log in. This should be a Microsoft bug where sometimes the last saved password is recorded in the system all in small case irrelevant the original password.

“Your PC is offline” means that your machine is currently not connected to any network. Make sure the network on your tablet or computer is not disabled or not disconnected. Check if the WiFi is on, or physically plugin a network wire to ensure that the machine you are dealing with is connected.

But sometimes the chances are your account has probably disabled due to some unusual activities. If you are using Microsoft Account as your user account, go to Reset Your Microsoft Account Password web page, and follow the steps there to reset your account’s password and to re-enable the account. Once done, you should be able to get into your Windows 8 machine again.

If you already forgot your Microsoft account password, don’t worry! It’s very easy to reset the last saved password that is stored on your PC and regain access to your computer without data loss. PCUnlocker is a powerful yet easy-to-use password recovery utility that enables you to reset the last saved password of your Microsoft account. Just boot your computer from PCUnlocker Live CD or USB drive, select the local account which is linked to your Microsoft account, and click on the “Reset Password” button. Reboot your computer and you can then log back in to your Windows 8 Microsoft account with the new password: Password123.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

Tags: windows 8

How to Bypass the Microsoft Account Password in Windows 8

October 2nd, 2013 by Admin

Forgot your Microsoft account and get locked out of your Windows 8 system? How can you bypass the Microsoft account login? If you are logging in to Windows 8 using a Microsoft account you should always have an additional local account to use in case your Microsoft login doesn’t work for whatever reason. But in most situations we might find that the Microsoft account is the only user account on our computers when we forgot its password. Luckily, there is a quick way to bypass the Microsoft account password in Windows 8.

How to Bypass the Microsoft Account Password in Windows 8?

Download PCUnlocker using an alternate PC which you have full access to. Once it’s finished, double-click the zip file to extract it. You will then need to burn the ISO file to a writable CD using a program like ISO2Disc or ImgBurn.
Insert the CD into the computer that you need to bypass the Microsoft account password on and boot from it. You may have to change the computer’s boot order in the BIOS in order to boot from the CD.
If you boot from the CD successfully, the computer will load the Windows PE operating system from the CD. When the boot process is complete, you’ll see the PCUnlocker program. It shows you a list of local user accounts which are detected from the Windows SAM registry file.
Choose the local account which is linked to your Microsoft account, and then click on “Reset Password” button. The program will change your Microsoft account login to Password123 by default.
Restart your computer and take out the CD from the CD drive. If the password reset was successful then you should be able to log into your Windows 8 Microsoft account with new password.

Note that PCUnlocker also works for Windows 8.1. It should be a unique tool for Windows 8 users to bypass the Microsoft account login easily. Save you the trouble of forgetting Windows password in an easy way!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

Tags: bypass Microsoft account login bypass Microsoft account password Microsoft account password windows 8

How to Reset Windows 8.1 Password When You Forgot It

September 29th, 2013 by Admin

Windows 8.1, previously known as Windows Blue, is a few update for Windows 8. As usual it also lets you to log in your computer using traditional text password and Microsoft account. In many occasion because of your stress there you have a chance to forget the password. Sometimes it may occur due to the security consciousness of the user as they frequently change the password.

Have you ever re-installed Windows just because you forgot your logon password? Well you don’t need to do that again! With PCUnlocker you can reset your forgotten Windows 8.1 password and get into your administrator account or Microsoft account easily!

How to Reset Windows 8.1 Password When You Forgot It?

Simply download the PCUnlocker ZIP file from this link, extract to get an ISO file and then burn the ISO file to a CD/DVD to get a bootable PCUnlocker CD.
Once you have the bootable PCUnlocker CD, insert it into your Windows 8.1 computer. Make sure that the boot sequence has Optical Drive above the Hard Drive. Once PCUnlocker CD has booted, it will automatically look for the SAM file in your computer.
After a while you’ll see the PCUnlocker program. It displays a list of Windows local accounts existing in your SAM file. If you’re using a Microsoft account with your Windows 8.1 system, you should be able to find the local account which is associated with your Microsoft account.
Choose your administrator account or a local account associated with your Microsoft account, then click on “Reset Password” button. It will reset your forgotten Windows 8 password immediately.
Restart your computer and take out the PCUnlocker CD. When the Windows 8.1 login screen comes up, just leave the password empty and hit Enter! You’ll be logged into your Windows account without entering any password!

Note: Now Windows 8/8.1 installed mostly as OEM in the laptop or desktop computers. As they use the UEFI secure boot. To get your computer to boot from PCUnlocker CD, you have to change the BIOS boot settings from UEFI to Legacy.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

Tags: forgot windows 8.1 password reset windows 8.1 password windows 8.1 password

How to Protect Files from Being Deleted Accidentally

September 21st, 2013 by Admin

Is it possible to protect files/folders from being deleted? I have some files that have been encrypted so they cannot be read but wondered if there was an way to protect them from being deleted. I know I could hide the file in the “Properties” menu but I want to stop them from being deleted if possible.

Looking for a way to protect your important files from being deleted by mistake in Windows 8, 7, Vista or XP? Sometimes you need to ensure that your valuable photos or videos cannot be deleted accidentally by yourself or other family members. In this situation, Protect My Folders will really come in handy.

How to Protect Files from Being Deleted Accidentally?

Download and install Protect My Folders program on your computer. After installing, double-click the shortcut on your Desktop to start the program.
The first time you start the program, it will require you to set a new password for Protect My Folders. Don’t forgot this program as you need it to open and use the program next time.
When you see the main interface of Protect My Folders, click on Settings button. Check the “Read Only” option under the Lock Options section. If you don’t want to hide your private files, you can uncheck the “Hide” option. Close the Settings dialog.
Click on Add/Lock button to add your desired folders or files. It allows you to add one or multiple folders or files at a time. Afterwards, you can exit this program.
Open the Windows Explorer and try to delete your protected folders or files, you’ll keep getting the “Access Denied” error message. The protected files will remain there even if you try to delete the top-level folder.

This is how can you protect your files from being deleted in Windows 8/7/Vista/XP. If you need a better security protection for your private data, you can hide and block any access to your files with Protect My Folders.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: prevent file from being deleted protect file from being deleted protect file from deletion

How to Password Protect Any Windows Application

September 18th, 2013 by Admin

Need to lock your application so that other can’t open it? Or don’t want an unauthorized people to look at your e-mail or calendar while you’re away from your computer? Protect My Folders is what you need. It is a small application that lets you password protect any executable file in Windows 8/7/Vista/XP, without altering the program itself.

How to Password Protect Any Windows Application?

Protect My Folders is a simple tool to use. In order to use it to password protect your Windows application, first download the installer from this link and then install it.

Once installed, run Protect My Folders. During the first startup, you will be asked to create a new password. Put your desired password in that filed and then confirm the password. Once done, click OK. Remember that you are going to need that password each time you start the application.

Now the main window of Protect My Folders will be show. Click on the “Add/Lock” button, a file explorer will open and select the executable file of your application from there to protect. Now others can’t run or open your application without the password you used.

Conclusion

To sum up with, Protect My Folders is a robust small application which lets you protect your Windows application with a password so that others can’t open or use it. In case you forget the password there is no way to access your protected Windows application since it will remain permanently locked. Try it if you remain concerned with privacy of your Windows application.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: lock windows application password protect the executable file password protect windows application password protect windows program

How to Securely Hide A Folder or File in Windows 8/7/Vista/XP

September 18th, 2013 by Admin

These days, hiding a folder or file is probably something you will need if you use a computer shared with others. By default, you can change the file attribute and make your private files hidden. The problem is that just as many people know you can show files and folders that have the “hidden” attribute by simply changing a radio button under the folder view options.

In this tutorial we’ll show you a secure method to hide a folder or file in Windows 8/7/Vista/XP. Make your private folders or files invisible from Windows Explorer and Command Prompt, even computer geeks can’t find out your hidden secrets. This can be achieved by a computer security program – Protect My Folders.

How to Securely Hide A Folder or File in Windows 8/7/Vista/XP?

Download the setup package of Protect My Folders and save it on your computer. Once you’ve downloaded it, double-click the setup file to install it on your computer.

Start the Protect My Folders program. The first time you start the program, it will prompt you to set a new password for Protect My Folders. This password is designed to prevent others from unlocking your protected folders or files, or uninstalling this program.

After logging into the program, you’ll see the main interface of Protect My Folders. Simply click the “Add/Lock” button and you can add a folder or file to the protected list. After that, your folder or file will be protected and disappear from Windows Explorer and other applications.

Exit the program. Your protected folders or files will keeping invisible until you unlock your folders / files with Protect My Folders program. It’s that easy!

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: hide file in windows hide folder in windows hide my folders

Can’t Open CHM Files in Windows 8 64-bit System

September 15th, 2013 by Admin

Can’t open your chm files in Windows 8 64-bit operating system? CHM is a popular format for e-books and help documents and it’s natively supported on Windows. But when you double-click a .chm file in Windows 8, you may be prompted with selecting a program to open it and Windows 8 can’t automatically locate a program associated with .chm files. In this article we’ll show you a quick trick to fix this problem easily.

Can’t Open CHM Files in Windows 8 64-bit System? How to Fix It?

Press the WINDOWS and R keys together to bring up the Power User menu, and then click on Command Prompt (Admin). This will open an elevated command prompt.
Run the following commands:
regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx
regsvr32 itss.dll
regsvr32 itircl.dll
You’ll get a success dialog after each one. That’s all there is to it! No reboot required and everything was magically working as it should.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

Tags: can't open chm file windows 8