MY VISTA
Custom Control Panel for Windows Vista
As you may have noticed, the Control Panel contains a lot of stuff you rarely use, making it harder to find the stuff you do. So why not create a Control Panel that only contains the items you use frequently. Follow the instructions outlined below and you’ll have your own custom Control Panel in no time.
Before we get too far into it - there really is no reason you can’t do this with Windows XP either. It’s just that the exact steps used in this tutorial are for Vista. If you use XP, you’ll be able to follow along and get the gist of it.
1. Open your Control Panel and use the link on the left side to switch to Classic View - so that all of the items in your Control Panel are displayed.
2. Somewhere on your hard drive, it doesn’t really matter where, create a folder called Custom Control Panel (or whatever you’d like your customized control panel to be called).
3. # Now open your “Custom Control Panel” folder and drag the items you frequently use from your actual Control Panel into it. This will create a shortcut to each item.
4. Once you’ve added all of the items you want to include in your custom Control Panel, right-click on its folder and select Properties.
5. Select the Customize tab and then click the Change Icon… button.
6. Choose an icon to use for your new Control Panel, and click OK. Click OK again to exit the Properties window. This should take you back to your Custom Control Panel folder.
7. Now drag that folder on to the Start button (orb) until the menu appears. Drop the folder on the top part of your Start window (see image below). Now you have quick access to your customized Control Panel.
8. You can of course access your actual Control Panel the same way as always, should the need arise.
burn CDs and DVDs
In order to write a CD or DVD you must have an optical disc drive capable of burning such storage media. If you double click on the Computer icon from your desktop, these drives are listed as CD RW Drive or DVD RW Drive. If you have an appropriate drive, then you need blank CDs or DVDs on which to burn your files. If you have those as well, just follow these instructions:
First, take a blank CD or DVD and insert it into your CD RW or DVD RW optical disc drive.
After a few seconds the AutoPlay menu should pop-up. Depending on your configuration, you will have several options available. Click on 'Burn files to disc using Windows'.
If the AutoPlay menu does not show up, you can right click on the drive containing the writable CD or DVD and then select Open AutoPlay.
The 'Burn a Disc' wizard will now start. Type the disc title and click on the 'Show formatting options' arrow.
Now you can choose the format of your disc. If you choose Live File System, you can copy files to the disc at any time, instead of burning them all at once. This option is recommended if you want to burn files that occupy less space than the disc capacity. This way, you can add other files at a later time until you fill all the available space on your CD or DVD.
If you choose Mastered, you won't be able to add files to the disc at a later time, even though there is some free space left. Also, discs created using this format are more likely to be compatible with older computers and operating systems.
Once you have decided on the format click on Next. A new window will appear, asking you to drag files to this folder to add them to the disc.
Open another Computer window or Windows Explorer and go to the location of the files you want to burn. Select them and, with the left mouse button pressed, drag them to the previous window.
After you have dragged all the files you want to burn, click on the Burn to disc button.
Choose the recording speed and check the option that says 'Close the wizard after the files have been written'. If you want to, you can also change the disc title. When finished, click on Next.
The burning process will now start. Wait until the progress bar reaches its end and the CD or DVD is ejected from the optical disc drive unit. Depending on your system and the amount of files burned, the burning process can take from a few seconds up to several minutes.
VISTA WALLPAPER
Vista's wallpapers are stored in the Web folder.
start,computer,local disk drive (c),windows,web,wallpaper
start out by downloading an image from the internet to this folder.
then open the desktop background changer:
start,personalization,desktop background
look and see if the image is in that folder.
yes?
ok,put as many backgrounds as you like in that folder.
delete the old Vista backgrounds you DON'T like.
DISPLAY SETTINGS
START
CONTROL PANEL
EASE OF ACCESS
MAKE THE COMPUTER EASIER TO SEE
FINE TUNE DISPLAY EFFECTS
ADVANCED
FROM THE DROP DOWN MENU [ DISPLAYING DESKTOP AS DEFAULT ] CHOOSE:
ACTIVE TITLE BAR
CHOOSE TEXT SIZE
CHOOSE TEXT STYLE
CLICK OK
CLICK ADVANCED AGAIN
CHOOSE ICON
CHOOSE TEXT SIZE
CHOOSE TEXT STYLE
CLICK OK
CLICK ADVANCED AGAIN
CLICK INACTIVE TITLE BAR
CHOOSE TEXT SIZE
CHOOSE TEXT STYLE
CLICK OK
CLICK ADVANCED ....AGAIN,LOL
CLICK MESSAGE BOX
CHOOSE TEXT SIZE
CHOOSE TEXT STYLE
CLICK OK
LAST TIME,ROFL !
CLICK ADVANCED
CLICK MENU
CHOOSE TEXT SIZE
CHOOSE TEXT STYLE
CLICK OK ...ONE LAST TIME,LOL!
SPEED UP PUTER
There are MANY reasons for computer slow downs:
a] not enough memory
b] too many programs starting up with windows at boot up time
c] spyware
d] too many junk files
e] too many restore points
here are some ways to get that bad puppy back up to speed.
VERY 1st thing will be to open System Restore [ see Vista System Restore footnotes ]:
System Restore takes up 13% of your hard drive!
open System Restore from the accessories,system tools,system restore link in All Programs
settings
drive (c)
check OFF
while there,click--hold--drag slider to 3% and recover 10% hard drive space !
close this window and repeat the process but this time UN CHECK the OFF box
what you've just done is wiped the old restore points from your hard drive AND recovered 10% memory space on your hard drive WITHOUT adding memory!
right click Recycle bin
select properties
all drives
click--hold--drag slider to 3% and recover ANOTHER 10% of your hard drive space!
these 2 operations allow you to INCREASE YOUR MEMORY ALLOCATION BY 20% !
without paying a DIME !!
the following is for DIAL UP ONLY !
start,control panel,phone & modem options
modems,properties,advanced
initialization box
enter
at&fx
google for initialization strings to get more such initialization codes and try those
once a month do a disk defrag
weekly do a disk clean
install Ccleaner and run daily
every 6 months or so [ XP ]:
sfc/scannow:
start,my computer,drive (c),properties
tools,check both boxes
click start
repair bios:
press F1 at start up
wait 5 sec.'s
press f5 to restore default
wait 5 sec.'s to save & exit
Internet Options:
next,off to Internet Options:
start,control panel,general
history:
click clear history & set days to keep to 0
Temp files:
click clear temp files
cookies:
click clear cookies
close window
Vista Footnotes:
System Restore:
start--All Programs,Accessories,System Tools,System Restore:
How do I turn System Restore on or off?
System Protection, the feature that creates restore points, is on by default. We recommend that you keep System Protection turned on for all hard disks that contain important files so that you can use System Restore if you need to.
To turn System Restore on or off
Click to open System.
In the left pane, click System Protection. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
To turn on System Protection for a hard disk, select the check box next to the disk, and then click OK.
– or –
To turn off System Protection for a hard disk, clear the check box next to the disk, and then click OK.
Create Restore Point:
start,Accessories,System Tools,System Restore:
click open system protection
check (c) drive
click create
here are several programs I use for clean up and virus/trojan/worm removal
Avast anti virus
Spybot anti spyware
Spyware Blaster anti spyware
Registry Seeker registry cleaner
Ccleaner crap cleaner
the last 2 have an application [ program/software ] removal section to help with future problems
if you install Ccleaner,uncheck both Recycle bin & Cookies text boxes or you'll clean out both when you don't want to
open options,settings,cookies:
move cookies you want to keep from left box to [ keep ] right box
click brush,click run
the update button is right bottom
manage start up programs:
click tools,start up and there will be the programs that are starting up with windows at boot up time.
remove as many as you don't need to start up.
this DOES NOT remove a program from your computer,only stops it from starting up with windows making the boot time quicker
FASTER VISTA
FASTER MENU
1. These tweaks require that you venture into your registry, please backup your registry.
2. Go to Start > Run when the Run box opens type in regedit
3. Your registry should have opened [Just checking...have you backed up your registry?]
Navigate to the following keys; HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Control Panel >Desktop
4. On the pane to the right double-click on
MenuShowDelay
it should open up a dialog box with a set value (it should be 400), change that value to 50.
5. Click OK, you're done
Ditching Aero
Aero eats up a lot of system resources -- and takes a toll on performance as a result.
Microsoft makes turning off Aero pretty easy.
First, right-click on any bla