Tutorials

How to Run a Program as an Administrator in Windows 7 This will show you how to have a program run as administrator with full elevated rights and privileges in Windows 7. A Standard user will still not be able to run a elevated program without getting a UAC prompt and having to enter the administrator's password. If a program that you are trying to run is giving you a Access Denied or No Permission type error, then running it as an administrator can usually give the program the permission it needs to run properly.You should only allow a program that you trust to run as administrator. Once you have applied UAC permission, the program will have full access to your computer. "Run as administrator" using a Keyboard Shortcut NOTE...

How to Delete the Windows.old Folder in Windows 7 If you performed repair install, upgrade install, or a custom install without formatting the drive for a clean install and selected to install Windows 7 on the same partition of the previous Windows installation, then you may have a C:\Windows.old folder left over in your new installation. If you already had a C:\Windows.old folder in the installation that you performed a repair install, upgrade install, or a custom install on, then it would be renamed to say C:\Windows.old.000 (older previous installation) in addition to the C:\Windows.old folder. The most recent previous installation will always be in the C:\Windows.old folder. This will show you how to delete the Windows.old...

How to Backup and Restore Sticky Notes in Windows 7 and Windows 8 Sticky Notes allows you to type and leave a Post-it type note on your desktop until deleted. Sticky Notes is not available in the Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic editions. This tutorial will show you how to backup and restore your Sticky Notes in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 version 1511 and earlier. EXAMPLE: Sticky Notes To Back Up Sticky Notes 1. Open Windows Explorer (Windows 7) or File Explorer (Windows 8), and copy and paste the location below into the address bar, and press Enter. %AppData%\Microsoft\Sticky Notes 2. Save a copy of the StickyNotes.snt file to where you like as a backup of it. (see screenshot below) NOTE: This file is your backup...

How to Change the Windows 7 Taskbar Icon Width Size While Windows 7 offers the nice feature of grouping programs and combining them into a stack, not everyone enjoys this. Some may want just the icons without the stacking feature. In other words, it's like having "Never combine, hide labels" or "Combine when full, hide labels" option. Alternatively you can use this to manually set how big you want the buttons to be. This will show you how to customize how wide you want your pinned taskbar icons. There's a simple registry hack and settings change you can do to do this. Set the options Open Taskbar properties. In the "Taskbar Appearance" group, change the "Taskbar Button" option to your liking. Select "Combine if full" if you...

How to Optimize an SSD / HDD When You're Ready to Reinstall the Operating System This will show how to remove / over-write all existing data from a Solid State Drive (SSD) or a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), it'll work for both, then how to create a partition and then format that partition before install begins so you have a clean drive to start the installation with. Before you start this, in the Windows start menu search box type diskmgmt.msc right click the entry and click "Run as Administrator" if you get a User Account Control (UAC) prompt enter your user credentials and click Yes; make very sure you know the correct drive number of the drive you want to do this to if you have more than one SSD / HDD in the machine, you don't want to...

How to Turn the Windows 7 Disk Defragmenter Schedule On or Off This will show you how to turn the Disk Defragmenter schedule on or off to allow it to run automatically in Windows 7 or not. Disk Defragmenter is set to run on a automatic schedule by default in Windows 7. The Disk Deframenter .exe file is located at C:\Windows\System32\dfrgui.exe.Solid State Drives (SSD) do not need to be defragmented. Doing so may shorten the lifespan of the SSD drive. Disk Defragmenter will show all disks including SSDs. If you have the Disk Defragmenter schedule turned on, then be sure to check that the SSD has been excluded (unchecked). Here's How: 1. Open the Start Menu, and click on All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and Disk...

How to Pin or Unpin a Program to the Windows 7 Taskbar This will show you how to Pin or Unpin a .exe file or shortcut of a installed program to the Windows 7 taskbar as a icon on the taskbar. The pinned taskbar items are located in this hidden system folder: C:\Users\(User-Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar The default icon links on the taskbar is Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and Windows Explorer (opens to Libraries). Each program icon pinned to the taskbar can be opened by pressing the Windows key + 1 to 0 (1-10) keyboard shortcuts. You would use a number for how the program icons are ordered on the taskbar from left to right (for top or bottom) or top to bottom...

CLSID Key (GUID) Shortcuts List for Windows 7 A CLSID is a globally unique identifier that identifies a COM class object. For more information about a CLSID key and the function of it's subkeys in the registry, then see CLSID Key (COM). This is a list of GUIDs from the CLSID key in the registry that can be used to create shortcuts to open items with in Windows 7. If you know of a GUID that is not in the list, then please feel free to share and post it as a reply. For example, you could use either command below to create a shortcut with the CLSID key (GUID) for what it opens. You would right click on the desktop and click on New, Shortcut, use the full command you want below for the location, then type in a name for the shortcut...

How to Turn Aero Peek On or Off in Windows 7 This will show you how to turn Windows 7 Aero Peek, also known as Desktop Preview, On or Off to temporarily make all open windows on the desktop transparent when you place the mouse pointer on the button at the far right end of the taskbar. When turned on, Desktop Preview will only work if you have more than one window opened. You will need to have a Aero Theme selected and not one of the Basic and High Contrast Themes for Desktop Preview to work. Aero Requirements to be Enabled in Windows 7 NOTE: If Aero is not enabled, then Aero Peek will not work even when turned on. Aero is not included in Windows 7 Home Basic or Windows 7 Starter editions. 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor...

How to Stress Test your Hardware for Stability and Heat Problems with Prime95 Be sure to keep an eye on your temperatures when running these tests, especially the Large FFTs. I recommend the free utility Speedfan. 1. Download the appropriate 32-bit or 64-bit Windows version of Prime95 from this link: Free Software - GIMPS You can skip down to step 2 on that page; it is not necessary to register, if all you want to do is torture test. 2. Run the Prime95.exe file. If the UAC warning appears, click "Yes" to allow it. 3. Select "Just Stress Testing" in the first window that appears. 4. Select "Small FFTs", or whatever tests someone asks you to run. Prime95 will automatically select the maximum number of threads reported by...

How to Reset and Clear All Pinned Items on the Taskbar in Windows 7 This will show you how to reset and remove all of your currently pinned items on the taskbar (program icons) in Windows 7. This can be helpful if you cannot "Unpin this program from the taskbar", or you just wish to quickly clear all pinned items from the taskbar. This only includes resetting and removing all of your pinned programs and shortcuts on the taskbar. This does not include taskbar toolbars or Jump Lists. By default, your pinned taskbar programs/shortcuts are saved in both locations below. This is what this tutorial will be deleting to reset and remove all pinned program icons on the taskbar for you using a BAT file. In the registry...

How to Stress Test a Video Card with Furmark 1. Download Furmark from the link below. FurMark: VGA Stress Test, Graphics Card and GPU Stability Test, Burn-in Test, OpenGL Benchmark and GPU Temperature | oZone3D.Net 2. Run the .exe file, and follow the installer choosing the default values. When done, start Furmark. 3. Select your resolution from the drop-down menu, and enable the following: Burn-in Xtreme burn-in Post FX 4. Click "Settings", and select "Log GPU temperature". Press OK when done. 5. Press "BURN-IN test", and the test will start. 6. Watch for artifacts on the screen, and keep an eye on the temperature log. If you see artifacts, or the temperature levels out, stop the test. How to...

How to Enable or Disable System Restore in Windows 7 and Windows 8 This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable System Restore for all users in Windows 7 and Windows 8. System Restore is enabled by default in Windows. If this is disabled, System Restore is turned off, and the System Restore Wizard cannot be accessed. The option to configure System Restore or create a restore point through System Protection is also disabled and grayed out. You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do this tutorial. EXAMPLE: System Restore Enabled and Disabled Using a REG File Download 1. To Enable System Restore A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 3 below. NOTE: This...

How to Create and Delete Sticky Notes in Windows 7 and Windows 8 Sticky Notes allows you to type and leave a Post-it type note on your desktop until deleted. This tutorial will show you how to create and delete Sticky Notes in Windows 7 and Windows 8. Sticky Notes is not available in the Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic editions. To Create a Sticky Note 1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type stikynot, and press Enter. 2. Type in your message, and move the Sticky Note to where you like it to be displayed on the desktop. (See screenshot below) NOTE: It will remain there until you delete it. 3. To Resize the Sticky Note A) Click/tap and hold on the arrow tab at the bottom right corner, or move the mouse...

How to Reset Internet Explorer to Default This tutorial will show you how to reset Internet Explorer settings to back their default state when Windows was first installed on your computer. This is useful for troubleshooting problems that might be caused by settings that were changed after installation. When you delete personal settings, some webpages that rely on previously stored cookies, form data, passwords, or previously installed browser add-ons might not work correctly. Resetting Internet Explorer's settings is not reversible. After a reset, all previous settings are lost and cannot be recovered. Resetting Internet Explorer to its default settings does not delete your favorites, feeds, Web Slices, and a few other...

How to Enable or Disable "F12 Developer Tools" in Internet Explorer This will show you how to enable or disable F12 Developer Tools in IE8, IE9, IE10, and IE11 for all users in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. For more information about "F12 Developer Tools" in IE8, IE9 and IE10, see: Introduction to F12 Developer Tools (Windows) Testing sites with Browser Mode vs. Doc Mode - IEBlog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs For more information about "F12 Developer Tools" in IE11, see: NOTE: IE11 is only available in Windows 7 and Windows 8. Announcing new F12 dev tools features in August update - IEBlog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs Using the F12 developer tools (Windows) What's new in F12 Tools (Windows) (New) What's new in F12 with Windows 8.1...

Introduction This tutorial is to guide you, the user, in changing your DNS address to (hopefully) a better alternative. OpenDNS, one of said alternatives, will be used as our main example but there are many others out there. Now while OpenDNS is great, it isn't for everyone: The best way to find the best one for you is to consult the link in the tutorial for a list of alternatives and choose the best (testing one yourself first hand here is key). OpenDNS is a free, powerful, and easy to use DNS alternative best suited for people in the US and London areas. Here is a direct quote from their site: Now the question that you may ask is how this may benefit you? Well the default DNS server provided by ISPs tend to be slower than OpenDNS...

How to Fix All Capital Letters in Ribbon Tabs in Office 2013 Development team of Office 2013 have decided to leave tabs in capital letters in Office 2013 ribbon as a part of the design. This tutorial will show you a solution on how to turn CAPITAL LETTERS (UPPER CASE, MAJUSCULE) in ribbon titles in Office 2013 into lower case (minuscule) letters. This tutorial will work on all Office 2013 tabs, except FILE menu. FILE menu tab will stay in capital letters. Here's How: Open your Office 2013 application, click on the FILE menu. Go all the way down, and click on the OPTIONS tab. In Options window, go to the Customize Ribbon tab. In the top right coner you will be able to select whether you want to customize Main tabs, All tabs...

Windows Update Error 80246008 in Windows 7 - Fix Reasons This error is caused by issues with Background Inteligence Transfer Service or with COM+ Event System Troubleshooting 1.Go to Start>>Search>>Services.msc and check below services exist, have correct settings and are working COM+ Event System :Automatic (started) Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS):Manual or Automatic(Delayed Start) If you have another settings you have to correct it.If COM+ Event System is not started then please run it manually,next run manually BITS service. Please save order with running services.BITS service dependce from COM+ Event System -if this service is not working BITS service will not work too. If you have only...

How to Pin or Unpin a Folder to Taskbar in Windows 7 and Windows 8 This will show you how to pin a folder to the taskbar directly or as a toolbar with a small or large custom icon, and with or without a text name in Windows 7 and Windows 8. The pinned taskbar items are located in this hidden systen folder: C:\Users\(User-Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar You can use this tutorial to pin either one of these hidden folders below to simulate the Classic Start Menu. NOTE: Leave the arrows to expand the folder by. Start Menu Used By Current User Account Only: C:\Users\User-Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs Start Menu Used By All User Accounts...