PCTips Box

Keeping a close eye on Microsoft is not exactly an easy task, moreover since the company has entered a new era of translucency over transparency. But at the same time there are a variety of sources orbiting Microsoft and providing enough crumbs from the Redmond feast. The problem in this context is the centralization of information. In this regard, the Microsoft EvNet Dev Team has made available a collection of no less than five gadgets designed to integrate seamlessly with the Windows Vista Sidebar and deliver content from the main videocontent websites focused on the Redmond company.

“Check out this set of Windows Vista Sidebar Gadgets for keeping up to date with the latest content on Channel 8, Channel 9, Channel 10, TechNet Edge, and Mix Online. Features: automatic rotation of latest articles on the site allows you to quickly see what’s new and keep up to date without opening a browser, read articles and view videos right on your desktop or navigate directly to the post and the gadgets work with both Silverlight 1.0 as well as the SL 2 beta,” revealed Ronan Geraghty, a member of the Developer and Platform Group in Microsoft Ireland. (more…)

We have been receiving many mails from our readers these days with a problem that when ever they start up windows they see the error messages like as follows:

* Windows cannot find ‘C:\windows\svchost.exe.’
* Could not load or run ‘C:\windows\svchost.exe.’ specified in the registry
* Windows cannot find ‘C:\Windows\System32\amvo.exe’
* “Windows cannot find ‘copy.exe’

These type of messages appear at windows startup, when windows tries to load the virus files like amvo.exe, copy.exe etc. These error messages appear, because these files were removed by your anti-virus programs but still the registry entries for them exist.

Different types of viruses create some files which got executed at the windows startup so that they can come in action as windows load itself. In order to run the primary virus files required, they create run entries in windows registry. (more…)

One of the aspects correlated with the ubiquity of the Windows operating system is the fact that the platform is tailored to specific markets around the world. In this context, Windows Vista features no less than 36 different languages, designed to produce an intimate experience for end users. All the editions of Vista can be set to a specific language, with the Ultimate SKU being able to switch between linguistic configurations. But in addition to the resources integrated by default in the latest Windows client as well as those served through Windows Update, Microsoft is now making available the Windows Vista Language Interface Pack for the English version of the operating system.

“Windows Vista Language Interface Pack (LIP) [integrates with the] English versions of Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, Business and Enterprise. Many Vista LIP languages are also available for Windows Vista Starter,” Microsoft informed. (more…)

One thing you got to hate with how Microsoft marketed Vista is that most of them came in bundled with new PCs that they didn’t even come with an installation disc. Since this is Vista (a Microsoft product), it goes without telling when the damn system would decided to f*ck you up big time. And since the only recovery option you have is with that installation disc, you know you’re in for something really messed up.

I have had such an incident when Windows was just messed up (desktop not showing up). Fortunately for me, my lappie came with Windows Vista Basic installation discs (a set of six CDs which I later then merged to one DVD) that contained the recovery center. It’s quite useful, I just wonder why them damned manufacturers wouldn’t spare a DVD for a lot of folks. (more…)

My friend and I were discussing Vista SP1’s performance since we both run Vista for our rigs. We’re on both ends of the spectrum though, with me running on Home Basic, and he, running on Ultimate. Not the same specs though since his rigs a juiced up gaming box and mine’s a workhorse lappie. One thing we’ve noticed is the memory consumption of physical memory. It’s taking up 1+ GB on a fresh boot. So we’re still running tests on whether this is just normal behavior or a classic Microsoft up.

Anyway, this post is about cleaning up after Vista SP1 has finished installing in your PC. The thing with service pack installations ever since XP SP1 and SP2 is that they don’t really mop up after changing all of your files. In XP, you can see do the clean up via Disk Cleanup and Add/Remove Programs but with XP, there’s no obvious process. (more…)

User Account Control can be annoying, but it’s an extra layer of protection that protects your computer from viruses, hackers, and poorly written software.

UAC lets you know when someone or something is trying to change a setting or install/uninstall software on your computer. It also removes administrative rights from software making it harmless to critical system files and services.

Before UAC, settings could be changed and software could be installed/uninstalled without you knowing. Software running under an account with admin rights also had full admin rights which gave it full access to critical system files and services. (more…)

Shidewin is a simple program that allows you to reclaim all of your wayward windows, applications or otherwise.

Tell us if this has happened to you before: In a dual display setup, you need to unplug the second monitor for some reason, only to find that the programs that were displaying on the second monitor decided not to move back over to the primary one. Where are they?

Why, on the second monitor, of course. You know, the one that’s now unplugged.

To rectify this situation in the past, you would have to plug in the second monitor again, then drag your programs back over to the primary monitor. (more…)

Microsoft has yet to finish with the delivery process of Windows Vista SP1, and the company is already hammering away at the service pack plugging security holes. According to the Redmond company, Vista SP1 is affected by multiple vulnerabilities that will be addressed with April’s security bulletin releases, scheduled to be issued on April 8, 2008. Out of the total of eight security bulletins planned of the coming week, no less than six impact various editions of the Windows operating system, and Vista SP1 did not manage to escape unscathed.

“As part of our regularly scheduled bulletin release, we’re currently planning to release five Microsoft Security Bulletins rated Critical and three that are rated as Important. These updates may require a restart and will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. As we do each month, the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool will be updated. (more…)

Following the availability of Windows Vista SP1, Microsoft is now offering additional resources tailored on the service pack. Case in point: Windows Performance Tools Kit, version 4.1.1. The Windows Performance Tools Kit is a set of performance analysis tools designed to integrate seamlessly with both Vista SP1 as well as Windows Server 2008 SP1/RTM. On April 1, 2008, Microsoft updated Windows Performance Tools Kit to version 4.1.1, permitting system and application performance analysis for the latest versions of Microsoft’s server and client operating systems. According to Microsoft, the tools are aimed at a select group of users from driver and application developers to hardware manufacturers and systems builders interested in testing the performance of Vista SP1 and Windows Sever 2008. (more…)

Windows Vista SP1 stand-alone packages do not contain the updated Windows Vista SP1 Help files.The updated Windows Vista Help file packages are named “Update for Help Files.”

These files are packaged separately for each language. The updated Help files have been excluded from the stand-alone SP1 packages to reduce the size of the packages. However, the updated Windows Vista Help files are contained in the retail and OEM versions of Windows Vista that include SP1. Therefore, if you perform a clean installation of a version of Windows Vista that includes SP1, you do not have to add an updated Help file. (more…)