PCTips Box

If you’ve been following our site you’re probably already familiar with how the about:config works in Firefox, but since several of these tips utilize the about:config screen I figured it wouldn’t hurt to provide a crash course. So before we dive into the tweaks glance through to make sure you know how to make the adjustments, or just reference this section when you need it.

1. Start Firefox.

2. Type about:config into the address bar and press Enter. When you’re presented with the warning screen click the I’ll be careful, I promise button.

3.You should see a long list of hidden settings that look meaningless and confusingly complicated. (more…)

Registry Cleaning and PC maintenance software has got a bad name with so many ‘scareware’ products popping up on websites, telling you that your computer needs attention and offering to put it right. Woe betide anyone who takes up the offer and more often than not you’ll end up with a infected PC, or a bill for a piece of useless software. The other problems is that maintenance software often makes little or no difference, and don’t be misled into thinking they will somehow restore the performance on a terminally sluggish or cluttered machine, that just doesn’t happen in the real world. On the other hand, running a decent cleaner every so often can help to avoid problems later down the line, by removing redundant files and Registry entries, and one freeware utility I have been trialling recently seems to do a pretty good job. (more…)

Although it was released to manufacturing on April 21, 2008, the third and last service pack for Windows XP has yet to make it to end users. Despite this, Microsoft has already made available the first update tailored on XP SP3. Update for Windows XP (KB942763) is designed to integrate with both Windows XP SP2 and SP3, and to tweak the Daylight Saving Time settings on the operating systems. Microsoft released KB942763 on the same day it RTM’d XP SP3, in an effort to correlate automatically the computer clock with the correct date in 2008, following the changes introduced via Daylight Saving Time laws in markets around the world.

“The update changes the time zone data to accommodate daylight saving time (DST) changes in several countries. This update also includes other DST-related changes, time zone-related changes, and settings-related changes. This is a cumulative update rollup that includes all the changes that were previously released in Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) articles 928388, 929120, and 933360,” Microsoft revealed. (more…)

This guide shows you how to increase Internet Explorer 7’s connection limit from 2 to 16 which increases the speed of many web pages.

What Are Connections?

When you connect to a website your computer establishes connections with the web server(s). One connection might be a graphics server, another connection may be an ad server and so on. Once the connection has received what it asked for it is disconnected and used for something else.

By default IE7 is set to only be able to open 2 or 4 connections at a time. If you have broadband and you use tabs in IE7 or you visit sites that use lots of connections this tweak will increase the speed of IE7 a little. (more…)

Sometimes making your PC ‘run’ faster is just about changing the way programs run e.g disabling splash screens. This tip will make your machine feel faster, by increasing the speed with which menus load, by removing the delay between clicking on a menu and that menu being displayed, which is enforced by XP.

To enable this tweak do the following:

1. Go to the Start Menu and then click on ‘Run’

2. Type in ‘Regedit’ then click on ‘Ok’ (more…)

Microsoft has increased both the power and complexity of its popular Windows operating system with the release of Windows Vista. The TweakVista™ tweaking utility helps you configure Windows Vista to meet your personal needs by improving performance and customizing system settings.

Unlike other power tools for Windows, TweakVista™ automatically prompts enhancement recommendations, offering easy “one click” updates to otherwise complex configuration changes. TweakVista™ is also safe to use. By utilizing Microsoft’s system-restore technology any changes you make can easily be rolled back. You can freely experiment with different settings without disabling your computer. (more…)

The Automated System Recovery (ASR) is one of the aspects in Windows Vista that has been evolved with the introduction of Vista Service Pack 1. A Windows application programming interface, ASR is designed to keep track of and record the configuration of disks and volumes on a system. In the end, ASR comes into play in cases of bare metal recovery scenarios. Ahead of restoring the operating system as well as the associated content including programs and data, ASR will take the disks and volumes to their original state. The Automated System Recovery will manage disks in accordance with Critical and non-Critical labels, depending on whether they do or do not contain system state or operating system components.

“ASR in Vista and Server 2008 is tightly integrated with the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and presents a writer interface, which is a significant change from Server 2003 and XP. During a backup the ASR writer reports metadata describing all the disks and volumes on the system. (more…)

Some times when surfing the web I have to shut down the pc, or I want to restart Firefox because of a memory leak, but yet I can’t do that because there are many open tabs with sites that I have to check. I know this sounds like a silly problem but if you face it, it can be a pain in the ***.

Anyway if you are annoyed by this situation as I am, here is a fast solution :

1. Open the task manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del) and go to the processes tab. (more…)

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is not scheduled until the second half of 2007, and Microsoft’s first shot at its successor, Windows Vista, may not be due out before “early 2007.” Meantime, many system builders (and their clients) will be keeping today’s WinXP SP2 systems running for some time.

That makes now the perfect time for revisiting your deployed XP boxes and making sure your clients are getting the best possible performance from their systems. Your clients will be happy with a faster-running OS; some may even be amazed. This is also a golden opportunity for system builders to check in with clients and pick up a little extra income from performing just such tune-ups. (more…)

Vista4Experts is kind of a treat for computer experts who don’t want security center notifications, User Account Control dialogs, automatic Windows Defender scannings, automatic update installations (which cause you to reboot your system if you don’t react quickly enough). People who want MSDN (or google) set as default search engine in the Internet Explorer search bar, who want the start menu power button to shut down the system instead of hibernating it, etc. These and many more fixes are included in Vista4Experts. All of these changes can be discarded, enabled or reversed. Vista4Experts is the first expert utility of its kind and works on every platform. (more…)