PCTips Box

Windows 7, the successor of Windows Vista, is set to bring to the table an overhauled graphical user interface. As far as Windows 7 Milestone 1 (M1) Ultimate Edition Build 6.1.6519.1 is concerned, Windows Aero has survived without any major redesign, for the time being. There is, however, a certain amount of specific nip and tuck touch-ups across the Windows Aero in Windows 7, for build 6.1.6519.1, but nothing definitive, and certainly nothing that provides a clue as to the final visual style of the next Windows iterations. But as an integer part of the Aero UI, the Start Menu is bound to take a heavy hit in terms of revamping in the user interface redesign that will be synonymous with the evolution from Windows Vista to Windows 7. (more…)

Managing PC memory isn’t as big an issue as it used to be, but freeing up memory can still provide benefits. Rather than spending a lot of time closing old processes, installing Instant Memory Cleaner is a quick solution.

Once installed, this tiny app (and it really is tiny at 1.8MB) sits in your system tray and if you hover your mouse, it will tell you how much memory is available. To free up memory all you have to do is right click on the icon and select ‘Clean Memory’. Within seconds your PC will have more memory available, which will make all those resource hungry apps you run, move along that little bit faster. (more…)

Internet Explorer has some quirks as we all know. However, if there is any chance that you may uninstall Internet Explorer, there could be some problems. In fact, you may not even be able to start Windows with a full functioning desktop.

Apparently, Internet Explorer version 6 and 7 are not getting along. If you upgrade IE, uninstall, reinstall, or download a version from Yahoo, Google, or Adobe, then you may lose your Windows functions after you shut down your computer. When Windows starts up again, it boots to only a blank desktop screen. A popup window will give an error code of “iertutil.dll is missing or corrupt.” There is not a way to use Windows or see your taskbar. However, we can solve this quickly with the help of another computer and we can prevent this type of situation from happening again with all Windows programs. (more…)

The Windows Vista Disk Defragmenter has been improved over the Windows XP version, but you can’t see or use all the best features unless you run it from the command line. By default the defrag tool only defragments files smaller than 64 MB, because according to Microsoft’s benchmarks, fragments of this size, which already consist of at least 16000 contiguous clusters, have a negligible impact on performance. If you still want to defrag files larger than 64 MB too, you need to use the -w switch mentioned below to defragment files of all size.

Disk Defragmenter does not defragment files in the Recycle Bin, or files which are in use. Disk Defragmenter will not degragment Bootsect dos, Safeboot fs, Safeboot csv, Safeboot rsv, Hiberfil sys, Memory dmp, or the Windows page file. Using the -b parameter will optimize these boot files. (more…)

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 might very well deliver users from the Reduced Functionality Mode black screen of death kill switch, but the prerequisite updates for the service pack are doing a wonderful job at cutting access to the operating system. Following Microsoft’s monthly patch cycle non-security updates released on February 12, 2007, containing two of the remaining prerequisite updates for Vista SP1, Vista users began complaining about installation failures. Some Vista machines, after the implementation of updates via Automatic Updates are thrown in an infinite reboot loop, while stuck on displaying the following message: “Configuring Updates Stage 3 of 3 0% complete. Do not turn off Computer.” (more…)

There are lots of process in windows which keeps on running in the background using some share of windows resources all the time.

These process are most of the time are not use full to all of us, one of those process is wmpnscfg.exe

What is wmpnscfg.exe?

wmpnscfg.exe is used to alert users when a new media device is found on the network. When wmpnscfg is notified that a new media device is available on the network, it displays a popup in the system tray that informs the user about the availability of the new device. (more…)

It’s been almost 7 years since major airlines in Europe and the USA first mentioned in-flight Internet access but if you’ve flown recently you will know that apart from a tiny handful of carriers it just hasn’t happened. It proved to be a lot more difficult and expensive than everyone expected. Part of it is to do with the rigorous certification and safety testing required for any piece of airborne electronics, before it’s allowed aloft. There have also been problems, developing systems that will be useable in all types of narrow and wide-bodied aircraft but the other, more fundamental difficulty is the lack of standardisation in the various systems being trialled. (more…)

If you run a windows computer you’ll know like many others than after a while your system will in doubt start running slow. Most people will restart their computer to remove and idle processes. But if there’s a simpler way, why restart every time windows decides it doesn’t like you today?

1. Right click on an empty spot on your desktop and select New - Shortcut. (more…)

System Restore is one of the most useful tools available in Windows XP, which can help you restore the computer to an earlier state, when a problem occurs in your computer. There are situations where you are required to reinstall System Restore in order to restore its functionality. This article explains how to reinstall System Restore using the INF file.

The following procedure will remove all the existing System Restore points, and resets the System Restore drive monitoring options to defaults (monitors all drives by default.) (more…)

The more stuff that Windows has to start up during boot, the longer it will take to complete.

So, with that in mind, the first thing you need to do is start unloading programs which are set to start automatically when you boot Windows. There are two places, primarily, that you want to look at:

1. Look in the “Startup” folder in your Start Menu. Anything in that folder is set to start automatically. To remove a program from this folder, simply navigate to the “Startup” folder in your Start Menu, right-click on the item you want to remove, and choose “Delete” from the menu. This will not delete the program…only the shortcut to it. (more…)