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How do I change functionality of the Power button in vista to turn off the computer?
By default, the power button on the Start menu in Vista will put the computer in Standby mode. If you prefer to turn the computer off when the power button is pressed, perform the following:
1. Go into Control Panel / Hardware and Sound / Power Options (or simply
Power Options if you have a classic Control panel).
2. Click on "Change plan settings" for your current power plan.
3. Click "Change advanced power settings"
4. Open "Power buttons and lid"
5. Open "Start menu power button" and select "Shutdown"
6. The power button in the Start menu should now have changed from a yellow tint
to a red tint.
How do I turn off User Access Control in Windows Vista?
1. Go into Control Panel / System and Maintenance / Administrative Tools
2. Double-click on System Configuration & press Continue on the UAC dialog
3. Select the Tools tab
4. Select "Disable UAP" (or "Enable UAP" to restore functionality) and click
Launch
5. Reboot
How do I open an application with Administrative access?
Right clicking on a shortcut and selecting Run As Administrator will give the application full administrative access. This is required, for example, to perform some command line functions, e.g. to use bcdedit.
How do I change the Vista boot options for a Dual Boot system?
Windows Vista incorporates a new bootloader, which can be edited through the bcdedit utiltity. In order to use bcdedit you need to run up a command line with administrative access (see above). bcdedit allows a number of boot options to be changed, e.g. renaming "Earlier version of Windows" to "Windows XP", turning off DEP/NoExecute, turning off the requirement for signed drivers etc.
To get a list of options, run bcdedit /help from the command prompt. Example operations are:
1. bcdedit /set {ntldr} description "Windows XP Pro"
2. bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff
3. bcdedit.exe /set nointegritychecks ON
What Windows Vista specific keyboard shortcuts are there?
Windows key shortcuts (full list here)
| Shortcut | Description |
| Win+Space | Bring sidebar to the front |
| Win+G | Cycle through gadgets |
| Win+U | Open Ease Of Access centre |
| Win+Tab | Cycle through applications with Flip3D |
| Win+Ctrl+Tab | Cycle through applications with Flip3D with cursor keys |
| Win+L | Lock computer / switch users |
| Win+T | Cycle through taskbar icons |
| Win+X | Open Windows Mobility Centre |
What are the Windows Keyboard shortcuts?
General key shortcuts
| Shortcut | Description |
| F1 | Help |
| F10 | Menu mode |
| Shift+F10 | Context menu for selected item |
| Ctrl+Esc | Start Menu |
| Alt+Tab | Switch tasks |
| Shift + Insert CD | Bypass Autorun |
| Ctrl + Shift + Esc | Task Manager (Win2k) |
Windows key shortcuts
| Shortcut | Description |
| Win | Start menu |
| Win+R | Run dialog |
| Win+M | Minimise all |
| Win+Shift+M | Undo Minimise all |
| Win+F1 | Windows Help |
| Win+E | Explorer |
| Win+F | Find Files or Folders |
| Win+Ctrl+F | Find Computers |
| Win+Tab | Cycle through taskbar buttons |
| Win+Break | System Properties |
Explorer key shortcuts
| Shortcut | Description |
| F4 | Display combo box |
| F5 | Refresh |
| F6 | Switch between panes |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo |
| Ctrl+A | Select All |
| Backspace | Previous Folder |
| Shift+Close | Close all parent folders |
| Num * | Expand all |
| Num - | Expand selection |
| Num + / Num Right arrow | Collapse selection |
| Right / Left arrow | Expand selection / Collapse selection (or go to first child / go to parent) |
Explorer key shortcuts for selected object
| Shortcut | Description |
| F2 | Rename |
| F3 | Find |
| Ctrl X,C,V | Cut, Copy Paste |
| Shift+Delete | Delete immediately (bypass Recycle bin) |
| Alt+Enter / Alt+Double click | Properties |
| Ctrl+Right click | Alternative context menu (Open With) |
| Shift+Double click | Explore object (if it has an explore command) |
| Ctrl+Drag | Copy |
| Ctrl+Shift+Drag | Create Shortcut |
Internet Explorer key shortcuts
| Shortcut | Description |
| F11 | Full screen toggle |
| Tab, Shift+Tab | Forwards, Backwards through IE panes |
| Ctrl-Tab, Shift+Ctrl-Tab | Forwards, Backwards through frames |
| Alt+Right/Left arrow | Next, Previous page |
| Esc | Stop downloading a page |
| F5 or Ctrl+R | Refresh page, checking Web timestamps against those from the cache |
| Ctrl+F5 | Refresh page bypassing cache |
| Ctrl+Left Click | Open multiple folders in this History or Favorites bar |
| Ctrl+E | Open Search |
| Ctrl+H | Open History |
| Ctrl+I | Open Favorites |
| Ctrl+O or Ctrl+L | Open new location |
| Ctrl+N | Open new window |
| Ctrl+W | Close Window |
| Ctrl+P | Print page |
| Ctrl+S | Save page |
| Alt+D | Go to Address bar |
| F4 | Display address bar history |
| Alt+D | Go to Address bar |
| Ctrl+S | Save page |
| Ctrl+Enter | Add www. to the beginning and .com at the end of the text in the Address bar |
Can I move the location of My Documents?
Yes, it is easy! Right click on My Documents, go to Properties, click on 'Browse' or 'Move' (depending on OS) and select your new store folder.
Sort the Programs or Favorites menu in Alphabetical order
Installing applications or hand-modifying the Programs or Favorites menu can break their sort order. If you have IE5 installed, right click on any item on the menu and select 'Sort by Name'. For IE4 you will need to delete the registry value 'Order' from the key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu\Menu] or [[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Favorites\Menu] respectively for the Programs menu or Favorites menu.
Application buttons only appear on the first line of a multi-line Task bar
Remove any 'Quick launch' toolbars present on the task bar by right clicking the task bar and unchecking all items in the Toolbars menu. Resize the task bar before adding back your toolbars.
Changing the Registered owner and organisation of a Windows installation
For Windows 9x browse to the registry key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion]. For Windows NT go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion]. The values RegisteredOwner and RegisteredOrganisation are located in this key.
Bypass Windows Update registration
Create the registry key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Welcome] if it does not exist. Create or modify the String value 'RegDone' to '1' within this key.
My modem takes a long time to connect to my ISP and I get 'Verifying user name and password...' twice!
Your dial-up networking connection is not set up correctly for dialing up to an ISP. Bring up the properties of the connection and uncheck 'Log on to network'. This setting tries to log you onto the remote network using your Windows username and password before trying the username and password specified in the dial-up connection.
How do I clear the items in my Run list?
To delete the list of items in the drop down box which appears when you go Start / Run, you need to delete the items from the following registry key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU]
How do I delete the items in my Internet Explorer Address list?
To delete items from the drop down box of Internet Explorers Address Bar, you need to delete the appropriate items from the following registry key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedURLs]
Alternatively you can delete Internet Explorer AutoComplete and History from the Internet Options dialog. Go to Tools/Internet Options from IE or open Internet Options from the Control Panel. Clear History on the General tab will remove the items from your History bar and all AutoComplete web address URLs. AutoComplete passwords and Forms can be deleted from the AutoComplete button on the Content tab.
How do I remove Windows Messenger from XP?
To remove Microsoft's Wndows Messenger from Windows XP, execute the following:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
How do I automatically log on as a specific user in Windows XP?
Modify, or add, the following registry settings under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\:
DefaultUserName <user name to log on as>
DefaultPassword <password for user, or empty if no password>
AutoAdminLogon <1>
All three registry keys should be defined as text values.
I cannot access my attachments in Outlook Express after I have installed IE6 SP1 / Windows XP SP1
Microsoft have, by default, disabled access to attachments with certain file extensions. Luckily it is quite easy to disable - just go Tools/Options/Security and uncheck 'Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus'.
I cannot access my attachments in Outlook 2000 / Outlook 2002
Outlook 2002 (XP) and Outlook 2000 SP3 (but not earlier Outlook 2000 versions, or previous releases of Outlook) allow the user access to blocked attachments by changing a registry key.
Outlook 2002:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security]
Outlook 2000 SP3:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security]
Add a new String value:
Level1Remove
Add a semicolon-delimited list of file extensions under this value, e.g.:
exe;mdb;url
