Windows Vista

How to See What Web Sites Your Computer Is Secretly Connecting To

Your PC makes lots of Internet connections in a day’s business, and not all of them are necessarily sites you’re aware connections are happening with. While some of these connections are harmless, there is always a chance tha…

Lori Kaufman Nov 9th, 2017

How to Search for Files from a Certain Date Range in Windows Vista and 7

I was browsing our forum earlier today when I noticed a question from a reader asking how to select a date range when searching for files in advanced search. This is something that was extremely easy in XP, but seems to be mu…

Lowell Heddings Feb 25th, 2016

Using Internet Explorer 9 with Windows Vista

Are you one of the many Vista users who want to get in the Internet Explorer 9 Beta fun? Although Microsoft mostly focused on Windows 7 specific features in it’s information, IE 9 still has a lot of great features for Vista…

Matthew Guay Sep 21st, 2010

Put Your Pidgin Buddy List into the Windows Vista Sidebar

Have you ever wondered how to get your Instant Messenger contacts into the Vista Sidebar? Sure, you can use the previously mentioned AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) Gadget for Vista Sidebar, but what if you are a fan of the multi…

Lowell Heddings Jan 6th, 2009

Easily Re-Size Photos in Windows Vista or XP

Now that the presents have been opened, large dinners consumed, and relatives (good or bad) have visited it is time to take all of those digital images and get them organized. Today’s digital cameras take great, detailed phot…

Brian Burgess Dec 29th, 2008

Easily Re-Size Photos in Windows Vista or XP

Brian Burgess Dec 29th, 2008

Using Sticky Notes in Windows Vista or XP

One of the staples of any office job is the traditional yellow sticky note, too often used to stick passwords next to the monitor. Being a geek, I figured I would use a digital solution instead… there are a lot of alternati…

Brian Burgess Sep 29th, 2008

How to Deny Access to Files or Folders in Windows Vista

This is a guest post by Abhishek Bhatnagar from www.technixupdate.com, a blog covering Computer tips and tricks.

Lowell Heddings Jul 10th, 2008

How to Print to a PDF File on Windows Vista

I was printing off receipts from Newegg and other sites where I’ve purchased things from when the thought occurred to me: It would save a lot of paper if I could just print all of them to a PDF file instead, which I could the…

Lowell Heddings Jul 7th, 2008

Restore the "Search…" Item to the Folder Context Menu in Windows Vista SP1

One of the unwelcome changes that Microsoft introduced in Service Pack 1 was the removal of some of the easy ways to get to the Search screen: the start menu button and folder context menu item. Thankfully we can easily add t…

Lowell Heddings Jul 2nd, 2008

Make "Command Prompt Here" Always Display for Folders in Windows Vista

We’ve previously explained how you can open a command prompt by holding down the Shift key and right-clicking on a folder or the desktop… but how do you make that item show up without having to hold down the shift key?…

Lowell Heddings Jun 20th, 2008

Disable Deletion of the Recycle Bin in Windows Vista

One of the changes in Windows Vista was the easy way to remove the Recycle Bin from the desktop (simply right-click and delete)… unfortunately this sparked a new problem where unwitting users started deleting the Recycle Bi…

Lowell Heddings Jun 10th, 2008

Restore That Missing "Up" Button in Windows Vista Explorer

One of the most frustrating changes in Windows Vista is the lack of the “Up” button when browsing the file system. Sure, there’s been a slightly buggy add-on that you can use, but how about a really solid Up button that just …

Lowell Heddings May 12th, 2008

How to Regain Access to Your Administrator Account in Windows Vista using System Restore

This is a guest post by Aseem Kishore, a technology enthusiast and lead blogger for Online-Tech-Tips.

Lowell Heddings May 8th, 2008

How to Patch Windows Vista to Enable Custom Themes (Visual Styles)

Have you ever wondered why Windows Vista allows you to choose themes, but there’s no way to add custom themes without additional software? The reason is because Windows checks the themes with a cryptographic key, so you have …

Lowell Heddings May 7th, 2008

Fix for When Clock, Volume, Power or Network Icons are Missing and Grayed Out in Windows Vista

So you notice you are missing icons in the System Tray, like the clock or volume icons, and then you realize that you simply can’t enable them because the checkboxes are grayed out. So what do you do?

Lowell Heddings May 1st, 2008

Why Does My Windows Vista Explorer Send To Menu Hang or Open Slowly?

Have you ever noticed that the Send To context menu can be ridiculously slow to open sometimes? You right-click a file and choose Send To, and then have to wait for about 30 seconds for explorer to respond again. Annoying! so…

Lowell Heddings Apr 28th, 2008

Make Firefox 3 Use Windows Vista Glass Like Internet Explorer Does

One of the things that has really annoyed me about running Firefox on Vista is that Internet Explorer looks really slick with the Aero Glass extending down onto the entire navigation bar… and Firefox just looks pathetic sit…

Lowell Heddings Apr 21st, 2008

Make Windows Vista Explorer Preview Pane Work for More File Types

Have you ever noticed that many files don’t seem to work in the Preview Pane in Windows Vista’s Explorer? Until recently the only way to work around this was a painful registry hack… but now there’s a utility that will le…

Lowell Heddings Apr 20th, 2008

Dealing With Windows Vista Explorer Screwing Up Auto-Detection of Folder Types

One of the few things about Vista that just drives me crazy is the problems with Windows Explorer. I prefer to use Details mode for certain folders, but it seems like Vista constantly “decides” that the folder should show a d…

Lowell Heddings Apr 8th, 2008

Create a Shortcut to Delete Recent Items in Windows Vista (or XP’s) Start Menu

Have you ever tried going through all of the menus required to delete the Recent Items in the XP Start Menu? It takes forever, especially when you want to hide whatever you shouldn’t have been doing. As usual, there’s a simpl…

Lowell Heddings Apr 2nd, 2008

Make Your Windows XP Logon Screen Look Like Windows Vista

Have you ever wondered how to change the default Windows XP logon screen? Today I got the crazy idea to figure out how to make it look like Windows Vista instead, so I’m writing that up for you.

Lowell Heddings Mar 25th, 2008

Speed Up Network File Copying While Playing Audio in Windows Vista SP1

Windows Vista restricts network traffic to 10 packets per millisecond while playing multimedia to prevent skipping. Unfortunately this causes network speed to be pitiful on a gigabit network, especially during file copies ove…

Lowell Heddings Mar 24th, 2008

What Can You Really Expect from Windows Vista Service Pack 1?

You’ve already heard the news: Microsoft released Windows Vista Service Pack 1 yesterday. So what does that mean for me, and how do I install it again?

Lowell Heddings Mar 19th, 2008

Why Can’t I Turn the Details/Preview Panes On or Off in Windows Vista Explorer?

If you can’t figure out how to turn on the Details or Preview panes in Windows Vista Explorer, you aren’t alone. This question popped up on the forum the other day, so I decided to write up the answer for everybody’s benefit….

Lowell Heddings Mar 1st, 2008

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