If you like the clean desktop look you’re probably wondering how to hide or get rid of those pesky system tray icons next to your clock that just about every program you install wants to add there. So here’s how to do it.

Here’s how mine looked before:

Ready to clean that mess up.

1. Right click in the task bar and choose Properties.

2. From within the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties page choose the Notification Area then select Customize:

3. Now click on the icon you want to hide and in the drop down box beside it choose Hide. Do this for all the icons you want to hide and click Ok twice and you’re finished.

Here’s how it looks now.

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• Create a Custom Control Panel in Vista
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• How to Show or Hide your Desktop Icons in Vista

Hi everyone, Just a short note to let you all know Vistarevisited is still around. Its been a few weeks since I had a chance to update the blog because of my work schedule. We’re trying to complete all our ongoing projects before the end of the year and that means 50 to 60 hr weeks which is a good thing I guess considering the economic down turn this country is in. So far my company hasn’t been effected to bad. So stay tuned and subscribed and I’ll try to add new content as much as I can.

Thanks.
Kevin

• Changes In VistaRevisited Postings
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Ready for the next Vista Service Pack. Number 2 is in the wings being beta tested and if you want you can have it too. Keep in mind its in an early pre-beta stage and should only be applied to test systems. If you’re still interested down load this batch file from Mediafire and run it. It will add the necessary registry files to allow you to download it from Windows Update.

After running the batch file reboot your system and check windows update. It may take awhile for the update to show.

Here are some of SP2’s features:

• Support for VIA 64-bit CPUs

• Support for Bluetooth 2.1.

• Support for ICCD/CCID smart cards.

• Support for native Blu-Ray media recording.

• Windows Connect Now (WCN), a new tool to assist in connecting to Wi-Fi networks.

• ex-FAT file system, supporting UTC timestamps to ensure correct file synchronization across time zones.

• Windows Search 4.0 integration.

• Improved support for resuming with active Wi-Fi connections

• How to Disable Remote Assistance in Vista
• Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing Today
• Change which programs Windows uses by default
• Disable Autorun in Vista to Protect Against Malware Infections
• Reset A Lost Vista Login Password

Here are a few more basic Windows tip’s

1. To take a simple screen shot of your whole desktop press the Print Scrn button, open your favorite image editor or MS Paint and use Ctrl + V to paste it in.

2. To take a screen shot of just you active window use Alt + Print Scrn.

3. To get to the file directories on your PC, simply right-click the Start button and choose “Explore”

4. To change the view of a folder’s contents in a directory, click on the View menu and, for example, choose “Details”. This allows you to sort the files by Name, Type, or Size (by clicking on the column heading).

5. To see the details of a specific file, however the cursor over it for a second or so and the details will pop up in a small box.

6. You can change the time period allowed for two mouse clicks to be recognised as a double click. Click the Start Orb and type “mouse” when Mouse appears in the search results press enter. In the Mouse properties move the slider for Double click speed. Click Ok

7. Alt + Backspace - will undo any typing you have just completed from a single letter to a paragraph and on.

8. To print only part of a web page, highlight the part you want and and press Ctrl + P and choose Selection in the print range.

9. To copy highlighted text press Ctrl + C, to paste text press Ctrl + V.

10. Hit the “Enter ” key after filling out a box such as the google search box, rather than grabbing for the mouse to click “Search”.

• Use Vista’s Snipping Tool to Capture Screen Shots
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• Change What Happens When you Click The Shutdown Button

Here are a few basic tips for Windows users, some you may know others maybe a surprise. Lets dive right in.

.

1. Instead of dragging your mouse across a word to select it you can double click it in any document, Email or web page to highlight it, then you can cut, copy or do a search on it. Triple clicking will highlight the whole paragraph.

2. To enlarge the text on any Web page, press Ctrl and the plus or minus keys. You can also press the Ctrl key and use the scroll wheel on your mouse.

3. You don’t have to type “http://www.” into your web browser. Just type the name, like vistarevisited.com or Google.com for example.

4. You can press the Space bar to scroll down a Web page one screen at a time. And press the Shift key + the Space bar to scroll back up.

5. When using your web browser pressing the F11 key will give you the full screen browsing.

6. To search a website for a certain word or phrase press Ctrl + F to open the find dialog box.

7. You can open the Start menu by pressing the key with the Windows logo on it.

8. To quickly get to your desktop press the Windows key + D

9. To quickly undo mistakes in many Windows programs press the Ctrl key + Z

10. Switch from one open program to the next by pressing Alt+Tab keys.

11. When you’re filling in text boxes on a Web page (like City, State, Zip), press the Tab key to jump from box to box, And press the Shift key + the Tab key to go backwards through the boxes.

Lets keep it going and add your own in the comments.

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• Use Vista’s Snipping Tool to Capture Screen Shots

If you’re anything like me ocassionaly your desktop will fill up with shortcuts icons and folders and let’s face it sometimes we don’t have the time to sort through them all to to get that clean look.

Here’s a quick tip to hide that mess untill you get around to clean it up.

Simply right click an empty place on your desktop and choose View, then remove the check mark next to Show Desktop Icons. And like magic no more mess.

Before: Messy

After: Clean

• How to Hide System Tray Icons in Vista
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• How to Adjust the size of your Desktop Icons in Vista

When Vista starts up you hear the lovely startup sound, but what if you’re in a situation where you would rather not hear it like a classroom or maybe someone near you is sleeping and you don’t want to bother them. Sure you could just turn down or mute the volume but its easy to forget to do it then you get a smack from your significant other if you wake them up. Here’s how to avoid a black & blue mark.

1. Click the Start Orb > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound.
2. In the Sound field choose Change system sounds.
3. In the Sounds tab Remove the check mark next to Play Windows Startup Sound.

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Here’s a quick way to list all the programs installed on your computer using the command line interface. You can also export the list to an HTML or text file for printing.

The first thing we need to do is open a command Prompt.

1. Click the Start Orb and type CMD in the search box.
2. Click cmd.exe at the top of the search results.
3. At the Cmd prompt type wmic and hit enter.
4. You will now see wmic:root\cli>Type product get name,version hit enter.

Now after a few moments all you’re installed programs with their version numbers will be listed.

If you want to export the list to a HTML file, type /output:c:\ProgramList.htm product get name,version
or if you prefer a text file type /output:c:\ProgramList.txt product get name,version

You can also change the name and location of the file by replacing “c” and Programlist.txt to whatever you prefer.

• Disable Vista’s Autotuning To Improve Wireless Connectivity
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• Change The Look Of The Command Window

Remember the last time you needed to access one of your system folders, maybe your Music or Pictures or any other system folder. You had to click Computer then navagate through all that mess of folders untill you found the right one.

Well here’s a way to quickly get to any system folder. Just click the Start Orb > Run. In the Run dialog box type shell:foldername with foldername being the folder you want to view. Example shell:My Music click OK.

Below are some common Vista shell folders.

Multimedia:

shell:My Music
Shows the user Music folder.

shell:CommonMusic
Shows the Public Music folder.

shell:My Pictures
Shows the user Pictures folder.

shell:CommonPictures
Shows the Public Pictures folder.

shell:SamplePictures
Shows the Sample Pictures folder.

shell:SamplePlaylists
Shows the Sample Playlists folder.

shell:Original Images
Shows the folder containing the original versions of images modified by Windows Photo Gallery.

shell:PhotoAlbums
Shows the user Pictures\Slide Shows folder.

shell:My Video
Shows the user Video folder.

shell:CommonVideo
Shows the Public Video folder.

Internet Explorer:

shell:Cache
Shows the Temporary Internet Files folder.

shell:Cookies
Shows the Internet Explorer Cookies folder.

shell:Favorites
Shows the Internet Explorer Favorites folder.

shell:InternetFolder
Shows Internet Explorer.

Applications:

shell:Administrative Tools
Shows shortcuts to the applets in your Control Panel\Administrative Tools folder.

shell:Common Administrative Tools
Shows shortcuts to the Public applets in your Control Panel\Administrative Tools folder.

shell:AddNewProgramsFolder
Shows the Control Panel “Install a program from the network” applet.

shell:ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder
shows the Control Panel “Uninstall or change a program” applet.

shell:ConnectionsFolder
Shows the list of Network Connections.

shell:ControlPanelFolder
Shows Control Panel.

shell:SearchHomeFolder
Shows the Windows Vista Search tool.

System Folders:

shell:AppUpdatesFolder
Shows installed Windows Updates.

shell:Common AppData
Shows the Public Application Data folder.

shell:Common Desktop
Shows the Public Desktop.

shell:Common Documents
Shows the Public Documents folder.

shell:CommonDownloads
Shows the Public Downloads folder.

shell:Common Programs
Shows the Public Start Menu Programs folder.

shell:Common Start Menu
Shows the Public Start Menu folder.

shell:Common Startup
Shows the Public Startup folder.

shell:Common Templates
Shows the Public Templates folder.

shell:Default Gadgets
Shows the default Sidebar Gadgets folder.

shell:Fonts
Shows the Fonts folder.

shell:Games
Shows the Games folder.

shell:MyComputerFolder
Shows the Computer folder.

shell:OEM Links
Shows links provided by your PC manufacturer.

shell:NetworkPlacesFolder
Shows the Network Places folder.

shell:PrintersFolder
Shows the Printers folder.

shell:ProgramFiles
Shows the Program Files folder.

shell:ProgramFilesCommon
Shows the Program Files\Common Files folder

shell:Public
Showss the Public folder.

shell:PublicGameTasks
Shows the Public Game Explorer folder.

shell:ResourceDir
Shows the Windows Resources folder. (where your themes are stored)

shell:RecycleBinFolder
Shows the Recycle Bin.

shell:System
Shows the Windows System folder.

shell:UserProfiles
Shows the folder holding all user profiles.

shell:Windows
Shows the Windows installation folder.

User Folders:

shell:AppData
Shows the user Application Data folder.

shell:CD Burning
Showsthe folder where files are stored before being burned to disc.

shell:Contacts
Shows the user Windows Contacts folder.

shell:CredentialManager
Shows the user Credentials folder.

shell:Cryptokeys
Shows the user encryption keys folder.

shell:Desktop
Shows the user desktop folder.

shell:Downloads
Shows the user downloads folder.

shell:Gadgets
Shows the user folder of downloaded Sidebar Gadgets.

shell:GameTasks
Shows the user Game Explorer folder.

shell:History
Shows the user History folder.

shell:Links
Shows the user Links folder.

shell:Local AppData
Shows the user Application Data folder.

shell:Local AppDataLow
Shows the user Application Data (Low Integrity) folder.

shell:NetHood
Shows the user Network Places folder.

shell:Personal
Shows the user Documents folder.

shell:Playlists
Shows the user \Music\Playlists folder.

shell:PrintHood
Shows the user printer shortcuts folder.

shell:Profile
Shows the user profile folder.

shell:Programs
Shows the user Start Menu Programs folder.

shell:Quick Launch
Shows the Quick Launch folder.

shell:Recent
Shows the user’s Recent Documents folder.

shell:SavedGames
Shows the Saved Games folder.

shell:Searches
Shows the saved searches folder.

shell:SendTo
Shows the user Send To folder.

shell:Start Menu
Shows the user Start Menu folder.

shell:Startup
Shows the user Startup folder.

shell:SystemCertificates
Shows the user certificates folder.

shell:Templates
Shows the user Templates folder.

Congratulations if you made it to the bottom of this long list. At last count there are 90 Shell folders on my computer. to see the complete list open Regedit and navigate to the following key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FolderDescriptions

After you have the shell folder open you can also add a shortcut of it to your desktop by right clicking the icon in the navigation bar and dragging it to your desktop and choosing create a shortcut.

• Viewing the Status Bar in Windows Explorer
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With Vista making it a lot easier to run as a limited user, more people are choosing that option for its increase security. Now a few people have been asking if there is a quick way to tell if they are logged in as an Administrator or a limited user.

Here’s a quick and easy way to see how you’re logged in.

1. Right click the Start Orb.
2. look near the bottom of the dialog box and you will see Open or Open All Users.
3. If you see Open All Users, that means you’re logged in under the Administrator account.
4. If you just see Open, you’re signed in under your limited account.

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When you have many files to rename it can be a pain in the butt to right click each one and choose rename, this happens mostly with your digital pictures you download from your camera. You end up with a folder of pictures all named something like IMG_0001, IMG_0002 or DSC_0001 depending on your camera, Here’s a way to quickly rename those files to something more descriptive.

To bulk rename a group of files:

1. Open My Computer or an Explorer window and navigate to the folder of choice and open it.
2. Hold down the CTRL key and click the individual files you want or hold down the SHIFT key to select a group of files.
3. Once you have all the files selected, right click the first one and choose Rename and the file names will be highlighted, add a descriptive name a press enter.

   

4. So instead of a bunch of pictures named IM1234 you can have them named whatever you want.

If you want each picture to have a different name and still quickly rename them, use the TAB key.

1. Select the first file in a group, right click it an choose Rename.
2. Rename the file to what you want then press the TAB key, the next file in the group will then be highlighted and you can change the name without right clicking and choosing rename.

Thats all there is to it.

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For security reasons you may want to disable Remote Assistance in Windows Vista. When you do, you will be unable to send requests for remote assistance to other users. You can also disable Remote Desktop if you don’t need it while you are at it.

Follow the steps below. At the end of the article I’ll explain what Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop is.

To turn off Remote Assistance:

1. Click the Start Orb and type System in the search box at the bottom.
2. Click System in the search results under Programs.
3. Click Remote settings.

   

4. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.

   

5. Now in the Systems Properties dialog box, Remove the check mark next to allow Remote Assistance connection to this computer. Then you can put a check mark in Don’t allow connections to this computer. Under the Remote Desktop field.

   

6. Then click Apply and OK.
7. If you ever want to use these services just reverse the steps.

What is Windows Remote Assistance?
Sometimes the best way to fix a problem is to have someone show you how. Windows Remote Assistance is a convenient way for someone you trust, such as a friend or technical support person, to connect to your computer over the internet and walk you through a solution—even if that person isn’t nearby. To help ensure that only people you invite can connect to your computer using Windows Remote Assistance, all sessions are encrypted and password-protected.

A Remote Assistance connection between two computers:
By following a few steps, you can use an instant message or e mail to invite someone to connect to your computer. After he or she is connected, that person can view your computer screen and chat with you about what you both see. With your permission, your helper can even use his or her mouse and keyboard to control your computer and show you how to fix a problem. You can also help someone else the same way.

What is Remote Desktop Connection?
Remote Desktop Connection is a technology that allows you to sit at a computer (sometimes called the client computer) and connect to a remote computer (sometimes called the host computer) in a different location. For example, you can connect to your work computer from your home computer and have access to all of your programs, files, and network resources as though you were in front of your computer at work. You can leave programs running at work and then, when you get home, you can see your work computer’s desktop displayed on your home computer, with the same programs running.

You cannot use Remote Desktop Connection to connect to remote (host) computers running the following editions of Windows Vista:

Windows Vista Starter

Windows Vista Home Basic

Windows Vista Home Basic N

Windows Vista Home Premium

However, any edition of Windows Vista can be running on your computer (the one you want to connect from).

Kevin..

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The Secunia PSI is the FREE security tool that is designed with the sole purpose of helping you secure your computer from software vulnerabilities, and it works great. Software vulnerabilities affect all applications installed on your computer, from the Operating System down to your email client, office application, instant messaging, and so on.

What are software vulnerabilities?
A software vulnerability is basically a programming error/flaw in a software application, that can be used by a hacker to perform actions, which have a security impact on your computer. These actions range from disclosure of sensitive information stored on your computer (like credit card numbers and account information) to automatic installation of viruses, trojans, keyloggers, or other code.

First download the free Secunia PSI program them install it and let it do a scan of your system. When it’s finished you will be presented with the results page.

The first tab is the Overview :
It will give you your score and state of your porgrams.

The next tab is the Insecure tab.
This page displays programs that the Secunia PSI has detected on your computer for which there are known security updates available. They recommend, that you update or uninstall all programs listed here. Click any entry on this page to view further details. It will give you the programs version number and a link to its website so you can get the update.

End-of-Life Programs:

This page displays programs that the Secunia PSI has detected on your computer, which the vendor no longer supports. The vendor will not issue patches or alerts regarding security issues that could expose your computer to security threats. We recommend, that you update or uninstall all programs listed here. Click any entry on this page to view further details.

Patched Programs:

This page displays programs that the Secunia PSI has detected on your computer for which there are no known security updates available. Programs listed here does as such not require further attention from you.

Scan Your Computer:

During the scan, the Secunia PSI will detect programs installed on your computer and determine whether any of them are missing any security related updates (Insecure), or whether the vendor has stopped supporting the product (End-of-Life).

PSI Settings:

Change the behaviour of the Secunia PSI using the PSI Settings. Manage your Ignore Rules for programs you don’t wish to see in your PSI interface.

Secunia Profile:

Change and update your Secunia Profile. Having a Secunia Profile allows you to participate in upcoming events, manage your Secunia mailing list subscriptions, participate in forum discussions, access more help, assist other PSI users, and get notified about new features from Secunia.

Send Feedback:

Send them your thoughts! Let them know what you think about the Secunia PSI, what they can improve.

Upgrade to the Secunia NSI 2.0 - Scan and Manage Your Network:

This version is about $30.US for each computer and lets you scan all the computers on your network.

The Secunia Network Software Inspector (NSI) 2.0 is capable of producing the same quality results as this free Secunia Personal Software Inspector that you already have installed on your computer. Although with one huge difference; The Secunia NSI 2.0 is capable of conducting the scans over your local network and aggregating the results from one, five, or thousands of hosts in an easy to overview and manage interface, providing you with an overview of all hosts that you manage.

What is the difference between the Secunia PSI vs. the Secunia NSI 2.0
The Secunia NSI 2.0 is the commercial, network aware, version of the Secunia PSI designed for computer networks. Whereas the Secunia PSI is solely available for standalone private computers (Home PCs).

All told this is a must use free program.

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Here’s a quick little hack of 3D Pinball that will allow you to get the high score every time. If you don’t have 3D Pinball installed in Vista yet check out my post on how to add it. Now that you have it installed here’s what you need to do to get those really high scores.

With 3D pinball running click on the playing field,

For an extra ball, type 1max and press enter.

To get unlimited balls, type bmax and press enter.

To activate the Gravity Well, type gmax and press enter.

To control the ball with the your mouse, type hidden test and press enter.

While in the hidden test mode press the following keys for more options

Y Changes the title of the game displayed at the top of the
window from “3D Pinball for Windows-Space Cadet” to “pinball”

H Gives you a high score of 1,000,000,000, but always puts the
score below the top highest legitimate score.

M Opens a box of the amount of memory currently used by the game.

R Promotes you to the next rank up.

Now you’re the Pinball Wizard.

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved.

• Disable Vista’s Hibernation
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The Quick launch area is a place you can add your favorite apps so there easily accsessible, By default they are displayed in a small size so here’s a quick tip to increase there size to make them easier to see. If you don’t have the Quick launch area turned on lets do that first.

Right click an empty area in your task bar and choose Toolbars > Quick Launch. Now next to the Start Orb you will see the Quick Launch area.

To increase their size, right click an empty area in the Quick Launch area and choose View > Large Icons.

Now your Quick Launch icons will be easier to see.

Now its time to prepare for the next round of storms headed to Florida.

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved. Related Posts:

• Rearranging your taskbar
• Adding Icons To Your Desktop
• How to Show or Hide your Desktop Icons in Vista
• How to Adjust the size of your Desktop Icons in Vista
• Increase the Size of your Blinking Cursor in Vista

Last week I submitted my site to the WinVistaClub Forums for The Best Windows Vista Blog or Website contest, I didn’t think I had a very good chance of winning but the judges spoke and i’m one of the top 10 finalists. Now its up to you. If you like my site give me a vote and maybe I can win.

Thanks for your support.

Kevin

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved.

• VistaRevisited to go on Hiatus
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When the User Access Control is invoked your monitor momentarily blanks out, this used to annoy the heck out of me. Microsoft calls it “Secure Desktop” and it is a security feature in Vista that prevents virus and malware from sending a “click” message to the secure prompt dialog, which basically means they can do the honor of clicking OK for you. That being said if you are comfortable giving up some security here’s how to disable it.

In Vista Home and Home Premium.

1. Click on the start Orb and type regedit in the start menu search box and press enter.
2. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
3. Navigate to the following registry key:
4. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem]
5. Double click PromptOnSecureDesktop.
6. Change the Value data to 0 and click Ok.

That’s all there is to it.

In Vista Business and Ultimate.

1. Click on the start Orb and type security in the start menu search box and click on Local Security Policy.
2. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
3. Now in the Local Security Policy window, expand Local Policies > then Security Options.
   In the right hand pane scroll down near the bottom and and go to User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation.
   
4. Double click the item and choose Disable. Then click Ok.

Now you won’t be bothered with the screen blanking out anymore.

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved.

• Create A Logon Message In Vista
• Setup The Number Of Logon Attempts In Vista For More Security
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• How to Disable Remote Assistance in Vista

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Are you tired of resizing and dragging windows around so you can see them both at the same time, well here’s a quick tip that will quickly resize and display your windows side by side.

Hold down the control key and select two or more windows on the task bar, depending on how big your monitor is. Right click and select “Show Windows Side by Side“. You’ll now have the two windows perfectly sized sitting next to each other.

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved.

• Increase the Size of Your Quick Launch Icons in Vista
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If you have 2 or more user accounts setup on your computer here’s a quick way to create a shortcut on you desktop to switch users with 1 click of your mouse.

Here’s how.

1. Click an empty spot on your desktop and choose New > Shortcut.
2. In the next dialog box type in C:WindowsSystem32tsdiscon.exe and click next.
3. Give your new shortcut a name. I used Switch User. Then click finish.
4. Now if you want you can change the default icon to something else.
5. Right click your new icon and choose Properties, under the shortcut tab choose Change Icon.
6. Choose the Icon you like bet and click Ok twice.

Now when you want to switch users just click you’re new shortcut and you’ll be sent to the Logon screen.

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved.

• Create A Shortcut To Quickly Lock Your Vista Desktop
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If your comfortable working in the windows registry wouldn’t it be nice to have multiple editors open at the same time, you could one open to make your changes and another to see how it was configured before you changed everything or for whatever reason you want.

Well If you ever tried to open more that one at a time you know windows just won’t let you, until now. Here’s the secret.

Open Regedit the way you normally do then click the Start Orb > Run, then type  regedit /m in the run dialog box  then Ok, approve the UAC if prompted and another instance if registry editor will open, do it again and you’ll have another and another.

Copyright © VistaRevisited.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Vista’s control panel is a very useful tool however there are so many options available its easy to loose track of the ones you use most so why not create a custom Control Panel with just your favorites. Here’s how.

1. Open an Explorer window ( Start Orb > Computer) Under favorite links choose Documents, Right click in the Documents area and choose New > Folder. Name it what ever you want. I choose Kevins Control Panel.
2. Right click your new folder and choose Properties. Click the Customize tab > Change Icon. Pick the Icon of your choice them click Ok twice.
3. Open your new folder. (Leave this window open.)
4. Click the Start Orb then choose Control Panel..
5. In the left hand pane click Classic View so you can see all of the items that are available to choose from.
6. Now left click items in the Control Panel you want and drag them to your new folder.
7. When you’re finished drag your new folder to the start Orb, when the Menu appears drop the folder on the top area of the Menu.
8. Now when you click the Start Orb you’re new Control Panel will be at the top of your Start Menu.

And all you’re favorite Control Panel items will be in one easy to find place.

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• Add Items To Your SendTo Menu In Vista
• Viewing the Status Bar in Windows Explorer
• Changing The Control Panels Look
• Add or Delete Items from your Send-to Menu
• Pin items to the start menu

Ever wonder what version of Windows your using, A few people have asked lately how do I tell what version of Windows do I have, or do I need to install the latest Service Pack. Here is an easy way to find out.

1. Click the Start Orb.
2. Type Run in the search box and press enter.
3. In the Run dialog box type winver and press OK.

An About Windows popup will display your version information.

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• Download Vista SP1 RC Refreshed
• Another Quick Way To Shutdown Vista
• How to Hack 3D Pinball in Vista
• Check the Activation Status of your Vista Install
• Disable Vista’s Autotuning To Improve Wireless Connectivity

When you first install Vista you are given 30 days to evaluate it without entering your Product code. If you’ve not entered your code yet here’s a way to find out how much time you have left on your evaluation.

1. Open a Command Prompt By clicking the Start Orb and typing cmd into the search box.
2. Click cmd.exe in the results at the top of the page.
3. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
4. Once in the command window type slmgr -xpr and press enter.
5. In a few minutes you will get a dialog box saying how much time you have left in you evaluation.

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• Sync Your Computers Clock to the Internet Via the Command Prompt
• Disable Vista’s Autotuning To Improve Wireless Connectivity
• Keep Vista From Asking For A Password After Resuming From Sleep Mode
• Keep Vista’s UAC from Blanking out your Monitor
• A Quick Way To Run A Command Prompt As An Administrator In Vista

In text fields the blinking cursor indicates where to start typing, but by default the cursor is so small sometimes its hard to find. Wouldn’t be nice to make it easier to spot well here’s how.

1. Click the Start Orb.
2. Click Control panel.
3. Under Ease of Access choose Optimize visual display.
4. Scroll down to Make thing on the screen easier to see.
5. Use the drop down box for Set thickness of the blinking cursor to increase its size.
6. Click save, now you can’t miss it.

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• Adjust Your Blinking Cursor In Vista
• Increase the Size of Your Quick Launch Icons in Vista
• How to Adjust the size of your Desktop Icons in Vista
• Adjust The Text Size On Your Screen
• Create A Custom Vista Screensaver With Your Own Pictures

Wouldn’t it be nice to click an icon on your desktop to open you CD/DVD tray instead or reaching all the way to the eject button on your computer. Well here’s a way to do just that.

1. Download the NirCmd utility from Nirsoft.
2. Extract nircmd.exe to a folder of your choice, I