Archive for the ‘Windows 8’ category

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How to Disable Autorun in Windows 8/7/Vista/XP

August 22nd, 2012 by Admin

Autorun is a feature in Windows that is meant as a convenience. A lot of times it is, but more often than not it become a hassle, as users do not always want to launch a CD or thumbdrive just because they put it in the computer. Aside from that, it is a fast way for viruses to spread. If a thumbdrive contains a virus, all it needs to launch itself is for autorun to initiate.

Keep in mind that just because autorun is disabled you can still get to your CD or USB drive by going to My Computer and launching the CD ROM or USB drive.

How to Disable Autorun in Windows 8/7/Vista/XP:

  1. Launch the Run dialogue box by pressing Win + R, then type Gpedit.msc and press Enter.
  2. The Group Policy window should open. In the left pane, double-click Administrative Templates.
  3. In the right pane, double-click System.
  4. Scroll down and double-click Turn Off Autoplay.
  5. In the Turn Off Autoplay Properties window, select Enabled. Then from the dropdown next to Turn Off Autoplay on, select All drives and then click OK.
  6. Exit Group Policy by selecting File, then choosing Exit from the menu.

So disable the autorun option in Windows to help keep your computer safe from USB transmitted viruses.

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

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How to Reset Forgotten Windows Password with Ease

August 10th, 2012 by Admin

There may be times when you may have forgotten your Windows passwords and are unable to login to your PC, this can cause huge frustrations, if you do not have any other users on the PC, or do not have access to the administration account.

The most dire consequences of forgetting your password could be reformatting and reinstalling your OS, however there is a way in which you can reset lost Windows passwords for your computer. In this article, I’ll walk you through the steps of using a password reset CD to reset forgotten Windows password with ease.

How to reset forgotten Windows password? The procedure can be divided into 3 steps:

Step 1: Create a Windows Password Reset CD

  1. To prepare for the password-resetting procedure, you need another computer to connect to the Internet, download the Reset Windows Password utility.
  2. Unzip the download file which contains an ISO image file: ResetWindowsPwd.iso.
  3. Next, burn the ISO image to a CD/DVD with any CD burning software such as BurnCDCC. A Windows password reset disk will be ready in one or two minutes.

Step 2: Boot Your Locked PC from the Password Reset CD

  1. Now that you’ve prepared the Windows password reset CD, go to the computer for which you have forgotten the password.
  2. Insert the Windows password reset CD and turn on the computer.
  3. 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.
  4. Change its BIOS settings to make it try to boot from the CD first.

Step 3: Reset Forgotten Windows Password

  1. Once you have configured the BIOS correctly, your computer will boot from the Windows password reset CD.
  2. After a while, the boot CD will launch the Reset Windows Password program.
  3. Choose the SAM registry hive from the list, the program will display a list of Windows user accounts on the computer.
  4. Select the user account whose password you forgot, then click Reset Password button.
  5. It will reset your forgotten Windows password in no time.

You’ve done! Eject the password reset CD and restart your computer, you can then log in to Windows system without entering a password. With the password reset CD you can reset forgotten Windows password on Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP and Windows Server 2008, 2003 and 2000. It also supports 64-bit operating system.

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

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How to Enable or Disable Fast Startup in Windows 8

August 8th, 2012 by Admin

Here is complete step-by-step tutorial about how to enable or disable Fast Startup in Windows 8. One of the most attractive features that Microsoft has provided in its newly built Windows 8 OS is the speed at which it starts and shuts the system down. Yup…in a single blink of eyes, you will find that the system has been restarted. The reason behind this is the fact that Windows 8 does not shut down completely. In fact, it saves the current state of your system to disk so that it can resume quickly, the next time you start your Windows 8 PC.

However, there are people who prefer to start their system completely fresh on restarting or rebooting, then this tutorial is definitely for them. The tutorial will let you learn how to disable “Fast Startup” in Windows 8. Well, let me clear it out, you can then enable it, in case you do not like the Windows 8 restarting like the prior versions of Windows. Now, let’s get started with the step-by-step tutorial on how to enable or disable “Fast Startup” in Windows 8 below:

How To Enable Or Disable Fast Startup In Windows 8:

  1. Right click on Desktop and select Personalize.

  2. Click on Display in the right pane.
  3. Then click on Adjust brightness in Display window.
  4. Then click on Choose what the power buttons do.
  5. Now in the System Settings window, click Change settings that are currently unavailable.

  6. Finally look for Turn on fast start up, it should be checked by default. Uncheck if you do not want Windows to have fast start up. That’s it.

You’re done! To perform the above operation, you need to log on your computer as administrator.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

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How to Recover Wireless Password on Windows 8, 7

August 6th, 2012 by Admin

I have a home wireless network and forgot my wireless password. My computer will still connect to the network, but I want to set up additional computers. Using the computer that is already set up and connected, can I somehow figure out what the wireless password is? Some detailed instruction would be helpful.

Forgot the password to your house wireless network? I have covered how to recover lost Wireless network key with WirelessKeyView in my previous post. Now I am going to show you how to recover Wireless password without using any software. In Windows 7/8, it becomes much more easier to recover a lost Wireless password. Let’s go through the steps below and see how can you recover Wireless password easily.

How to Recover Wireless Password on Windows 8, 7:

  1. To recover your wireless password we need to get to the settings for your network adapter, so press the Win + R keyboard combination and type ncpa.cpl in the run box, then hit the enter key.

  2. You will now see all the network adapters in your machine, right-click on the wireless one and select Status from the context menu.
  3. When the Wi-Fi Status dialog loads up, click on the Wireless Propertiesbutton.

  4. Then you will need to switch over to the Security tab. Finally, check the Show characterscheckbox to reveal your password.

  5. That’s all there is to it.

 Note: This trick will only work if you are the local administrator on your machine, otherwise you will be prompted by UAC for administrative credentials.  If you forgot the administrator password, you can use the Reset Windows Password utility to help you reset lost or forgotten Windows password with ease.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8

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How to Restore Windows Password with Ease

August 2nd, 2012 by Admin

Forgot Windows password and can’t log in to your computer? You can restore Windows to a recent restore point during which you were able to successfully log on to the system.  The System Restore feature will make sure that you don’t lose any documents. However, programs that have been installed since the corresponding restore point have to be installed again. So is there a better way to fix this issue without reinstalling anything?

The best and easiest way is to restore your forgotten Windows password. To begin, you need to create a Windows password reset CD on another accessible computer, then boot your locked computer from the CD so you can restore Windows password easily.

How to Restore Windows Password with Ease:

  1. Download the Reset Windows Password utility from this link: http://www.top-password.com/reset-windows-password.html. Unzip the download file. After you unzip it, there is an ISO image file: ResetWindowsPwd.iso, which is what you need to burn.
  2. Burn the ISO image file to a blank CD or USB drive using the ISO2Disc utility. Here we’re going to use CD to create a password reset disk.
  3. Now we need to set your locked computer to boot from CD. Turn on the computer. Normally, the BIOS screen tells you the keyboard key you need to press to enter into BIOS Setup Utility. On most computers is Del, F2, F9 or F12 but yours might be different, so watch out for that on the boot-up menu.
  4. After entering into BIOS, set CD/DVD as the 1st boot device so you can boot off the CD; or set Removable Device as the 1st boot device if you want to boot from USB drive.
  5. Once your computer boots from the CD, it will load the Windows PE operating system on your CD.
  6. After one or two minutes, it will launch the Reset Windows Password program.
  7. Select the Windows SAM registry file for your desired Windows installation if there is more than one. The program will list all your Windows user accounts.
  8. Choose a user account and then click Reset Password button. It will restore your forgotten Windows password and you can then log in to your system with a blank password.

After password restoring, you can regain access to all your data and files on your computer. No need to reinstall the operating system or any program installed on your computer.  With this guide you can restore Windows password on Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP and Windows Server 2008, 2003 and 2000.

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

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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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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

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

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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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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

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How to Refresh or Reset Your Windows 8 Computer

July 20th, 2012 by Admin

Microsoft has added lots of new features and stuff on Windows 8 and it is also noteworthy that they have introduced better recovery options in Windows 8. Windows 8 gives us two types of Windows recovery options: Refresh and Reset. Both are very important recovery options because they help to get Windows back in healthy mode. If your system is not running well and has some issues then you can use the Refresh option. It will refresh your PC without causing any loss of your personal information. On the other hand, the Reset option will completely erase all of your personal information such as photos, music and others documents and install a new Windows 8 version on your PC. The Reset feature will restore the whole Windows 8 into default factory settings.

How to Refresh or Reset Your Windows 8 Computer:

Firstly, insert the Windows 8 DVD in your system. It is important to insert the DVD because the system needs to have the setup file again to complete the Refresh and Reset option and to complete this task the Windows files are necessary that is available on the DVD.

Once you insert the Windows 8 DVD in the DVD drive, go to Control Panel and search for Recovery in the search area of the control panel. Once you find Recovery option, click on it to start the Recovery window.

Now a new window will be popped up. To refresh your installed Windows 8 system and restore the PC settings to the factory defaults, please click on Get Stared button under the Refresh option.

Once you click on the Get Started button, Windows 8 will be starting the process of refreshing your PC and would keep your photos, music, videos and other files safe and intact.

As shown in the above image, Windows 8 would start the process of refreshing the PC and would intimate you about what is happening during the refresh process. Click on the Next button to proceed and wait for some time for the process to complete. While Refresh option is on, the computer will restart automatically and would show refreshment process on the main screen.

Conclusion

The Refresh and Reset options in Windows 8 will certainly make life much easier for the general consumer. I recommend that if anyone’s having issues with Windows 8 that they should first Refresh their PC and if fails then resort to Resetting your PC.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

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