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Quick Windows Productivity Tip

Martin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:19:25 +0000

It happens every now and then that you need to perform an operation on several programs or windows at once, for example to minimize them, close them or display them side by side. Most Windows users perform the same operation for every program or window individually. A far better solution for this is to select multiple programs or windows at once and perform the desired action on all of them at once.

This can be done from within Windows without having to install additional software. To select multiple programs or windows at once press the Ctrl key while selecting the items in the Windows taskbar. You notice that every selected window or program will be shown as selected immediately.

To perform an action a right-click on any of the selected programs or windows is required. This right-click opens a context menu with five options for processing the selected windows.

Available options are cascade, tile horizontally or vertically, minimize or close.Especially the options to tile the windows horizontally or vertically can save lots of time or the need for third party software programs that offer this option.

Tags: microsoft-windows, window-management, windows productivity, windows tip

Microsoft Security Patches September 2009

Martin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:17:42 +0000

Microsoft has released the security patches for September 2009 which fix browser and web based attacks in various Microsoft programs and operating systems. All security patches have a critical or important security rating and are users who work with these software programs or operating systems should update them as soon as possible to protect their system from these attacks.

Microsoft has released two charts that show the severity and exploitable index and the deployment priority. The former interesting for all users while the latter probably only for network administrators.

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-045 – Critical – Vulnerability in JScript Scripting Engine Could Allow Remote Code Execution (971961) – This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the JScript scripting engine that could allow remote code execution if a user opened a specially crafted file or visited a specially crafted Web site and invoked a malformed script. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-046 – Critical – Vulnerability in DHTML Editing Component ActiveX Control Could Allow Remote Code Execution (956844) – This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the DHTML Editing Component ActiveX control. An attacker could exploit the vulnerability by constructing a specially crafted Web page. When a user views the Web page, the vulnerability could allow remote code execution. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-047 – Critical – Vulnerabilities in Windows Media Format Could Allow Remote Code Execution (973812) – This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Windows Media Format. Either vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opened a specially crafted media file. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-048 – Critical – Vulnerabilities in Windows TCP/IP Could Allow Remote Code Execution (967723) – This security update resolves several privately reported vulnerabilities in Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) processing. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if an attacker sent specially crafted TCP/IP packets over the network to a computer with a listening service. Firewall best practices and standard default firewall configurations can help protect networks from attacks that originate outside the enterprise perimeter. Best practices recommend that systems that are connected to the Internet have a minimal number of ports exposed.
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-049 – Critical – Vulnerability in Wireless LAN AutoConfig Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (970710) – This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Wireless LAN AutoConfig Service. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a client or server with a wireless network interface enabled receives specially crafted wireless frames. Systems without a wireless card enabled are not at risk from this vulnerability.

The patches can be download and applied by visiting the pages that are linked above or by using any of the update options that are provided by Microsoft operating systems including Windows Update, Automatic Updates or Microsoft Updates. Additional information can be found at the Microsoft Technet page.

Tags: internet-explorer, microsoft, microsoft patches, microsoft-windows, security patches, windows-update

How To Save Files In Different Formats

Martin — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:48:14 +0000

Users who want to create a bat file usually start by creating a text document in Windows and change the file extension afterwards to bat. The same principle is used when creating other formats like html documents. The following tip is not limited to Windows Explorer or text documents. It works as well in web browsers like Internet Explorer or Firefox, email clients like Mozilla Thunderbird and Microsoft Outlook and practically any program that is offering to save files.

The save as file dialog is usually offering a few file formats a document can be saved in. This limitation can be overridden by putting the name and file extension in quotation marks.

It is therefor possible to save information in different data formats even if they are not supported by the software program. It is even possible to select data formats that are not compatible at all with the data. A text document could be saved as an excel document or zip file. This will obviously throw an error when trying to open the file unless the right viewer is selected.

Tags: microsoft-windows, save, save as, save files, windows explorer tip, windows-explorer

Set File Associations Without Writing To The Windows Registry

Martin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:57:33 +0000

File associations are written to the Windows Registry by default. This usually happens during the installation of the operating system and computer software programs. Installing Microsoft Word will make it the default word processor on the computer system with file types like docx or doc opened by it by default. The same is true for many other applications like software music players, video players and basically any other tool that can open files automatically.

Only portable applications are problematic. A portable software is by default one that can be run from a folder without installation. It works out of the box and will not write data to the Windows Registry. But without changing the file associations it means that the user has to use the Open With dialog or drag and drop to open files on the computer system with a portable application.

The creation of PEM, Pure Enigmatic Magic, changes this. It has been created to fill the gap. The software program acts as a proxy that can be configured to associated certain file extensions with programs on the computer system. It could for example be configured to direct requests to open mp3 with AIMP2 instead of the default iTunes or Windows Media Player.

PEM is a tiny portable software program that runs quietly in the system tray upon execution. It uses about 400 Kilobytes of computer memory while doing so and will direct all requests to open the configured file types to applications that have been added by the user.

The user needs to type in a file extension and a relative path to an application that should open that file extension. PEM will then ensure that the file type will be opened by the program configured in its options instead of the default program that has been associated with the file type in the Windows Registry.

The software program is very helpful for users who work with portable software and makes a perfect fit for any USB software collection.

Tags: file associations, microsoft-windows, pem, portable software, pure enigmatic magic, software, windows registry, windows software

Windows Task Manager Replacement DTaskManager

Martin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:43:58 +0000

DTaskManager is a lightweight replacement for the default Windows Task Manager. It can be used side by side with the Windows Task Manager or replace it fully. If the second option is selected it will be launched when the user is opening the task manager the usual way. The program uses a similar layout as the Windows Task Manager but provides access to additional information and functions in its various tabs.

The five default tabs that are available in the Windows Task Manager are offered by DTaskManager plus the two additional Ports and Kernel Modules section. The program displays extensive information in each section of its interface, something that can only be partially achieved in the Windows Task Manager. The processes tab lists for example the path of the process and the cpu time by default.

The Ports section displays all network connections of the local computer system offering massive amounts of information that include the process name, local IP and port, remote IP and port, the protocol, path and socket status.

DTaskManager offers some advanced functions on how to deal with processes. It can for example kill processes the usual way, force the process to be closed and initiate an override to close the process which will bypass permissions as well. Another interesting feature is the ability to suspend tasks. This is a feature known from the Linux operating system which can temporarily halt tasks. That’s a handy feature in situations where all system resources are needed by a process as the user can suspend processes and resume them once the resources are not needed anymore for the priority process.

A few minor options are the ability to display the cpu and memory usage in the system tray. This can be displayed as a bar or as numerical values. DTaskManager is a solid and lightweight Windows Task Manager replacement. It is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Tags: dtaskmanager, microsoft-windows, processes, task-manager, windows software, windows task manager

Windows 7 To Launch October 22

Martin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:56:23 +0000

The guesses about the release of the next Microsoft operating system Windows 7 ranged from a release in early 2009 to a later release in 2010. The last months changed that wide range a bit when Microsoft officially confirmed that they were aiming for a 2009 holiday season release.

Today Ina Fried published an article at Cnet that confirmed October 22 as the launch date for the next Microsoft operating system. The source is Microsoft Senior Vice President Bill Veghte who confirmed the release data in an interview. Veghte also confirmed that the RTM release of Windows 7 should be finished in mid to end July 2009.

Users who are interested into buying a new computer system right now should better wait until June 26 as this is the beginning of the free upgrade period which is said to end in the beginning of 2010. Users who purchase Windows Vista PCs participating in the Upgrade Option Program after June 26, 2009 can upgrade to Windows 7 for free at its release.

Windows 7 will be released in six different editions with the emphasize on the two editions Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional. Both editions are successors of Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Business.

Do you have plans to purchase Windows 7 in the near future?

Tags: microsoft, microsoft windows 7, microsoft-windows, operating system, Windows, windows 7, windows 7 release

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Released

Martin — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:18:16 +0000

Microsoft has just released the second service pack for the Windows Vista operating system which can either be downloaded as a standalone package or via Windows Update. The standalone package not only contains the Windows Vista Service Pack 2 but also the second service pack for Windows Server 2008, a combined package so to speak. The size of the 32-bit standalone package is about 302 Megabytes for the five language and 390 Megabytes for the seven language service pack and almost double that amount for the 64-bit standalone package which comes in sizes of 508 and 622 Megabytes.

The size of the Service Pack 2 is considerably smaller when downloaded over Windows Update with all downloads being less than 100 Megabytes in size for all possible editions. Microsoft has created a What’s New article at Technet which details the most notable changes that are introduced in Windows Vista Service Pack 2.

Changes that affect most users are the removal of the halp open outbound TCP connection limit, support for Bluetooth 2.1, improvements to Wi-Fi connections and configurations and the integration of Windows Search 4.0.

The standalone Windows Vista Service Pack 2 can be downloaded from the following pages:

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 5-language (English, French, German, Japanese, or Spanish) standalone pack download

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 5-language DVD ISO download

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 5-language 64-bit download

The all language standalone packages are not available yet, the links are the following for 32-bit and 64-bit

Please follow these links for additional information about the second service pack:

Notable Changes
Release Notes
Hotfixes and Security Update List

via OS News

Tags: microsoft-windows, service pack 2, vista service pack, vista sp2 download, windows vista service pack 2, windows vista sp2, windows vista sp2 download

Add Play With Windows Media Player In Windows Explorer

Martin — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:04:11 +0000

The latest installments of Windows Media Player add two context menu entries to some folders in Windows Explorer. The options that are added are “play with Windows Media Player” and “Add to Windows Media Player List”. Users who regularly work with Windows Media Player might want to add these context menu entries to all of their music folders in Windows Explorer. Here is how this is done. Microsoft Windows displays the context menu entry for folder types that use the music template. All that needs to be done to enable these two new entries in Windows Explorer is to change the folder template to the music template.

Right-click the folder that you want to add the options to and select Properties from the menu. Now switch to the customize tab in the window that is popping up. Select Music (best for audio files and playlists) from the drop down menu on top. You can also check the “also apply this template to all subfolders” if the subfolders should also be turned into music folders. A click on OK will change the folder template in Windows Explorer to music.

A right-click on that folder will from then on display the two Windows Media Player entries. You can revert the changes by simply changing the music template back to the default folder template.

Tags: microsoft-windows, music, Windows, windows media player, windows-explorer, wmp

How To Remove Third Party Services In Windows

Martin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:34:21 +0000

Sometimes things go bad. You try to uninstall a software program that you do not longer need or recover a computer system after a hard drive crash only to find out that some traces of old programs are still in the system. One of these places is Services in the Windows operating system. What are the possibilities if a service is listed there that belongs to a software program that is no longer installed on the computer system? The Services control panel itself is not offering any means to delete services.

Administrators can remove services from Windows operating systems using the following means:

1. Command Line

The basic command to delete a service is sc delete followed by the short name of the service. The short name is not the name that is shown in the Services main menu. Administrators need to right-click the service, select properties and use the ServiceName in the general tab instead.

The command to remove the PC Tools Auxiliary Service would be therefor sc delete sdAuxService.

Windows 7 and Windows Vista users need to run the command from an elevated command prompt.

2. Software

Autoruns by Sysinternals can be used to remove most third party services from the Windows operating system. It does however not necessarily list all services. Users need to fallback to the manual service removal procedure if that is the case. Switching to the Services tab in the application will list the services that are recognized by Autoruns.

Selecting a service in that list and pressing delete will remove it from the Services menu.

Tags: autoruns, microsoft-windows, services, Windows, windows services, windows tips

Microsoft Security Updates April 2009

Martin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:25:15 +0000

Microsoft releases security bulletins once a month that outline new security updates and patches for Microsoft products. The security updates for April 2009 list a total of eight vulnerabilities for various Microsoft applications including Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. Six of the eight patches affect various Microsoft operating systems. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 face three critical, two important and one moderate security vulnerability while Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 bring it to two critical, one important and one moderate vulnerability. Below is a list of links that point to all eight Microsoft Security Bulletins. These bulletins contain extensive information about the vulnerabilities including the systems affected.

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Excel Could Cause Remote Code Execution (968557)
Vulnerabilities in WordPad and Office Text Converters Could Allow Remote Code Execution (960477)
Vulnerability in Microsoft DirectShow Could Allow Remote Code Execution (961373)
Vulnerabilities in Windows Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (959454)
Vulnerabilities in Windows HTTP Services Could Allow Remote Code Execution (960803)
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (963027)
Blended Threat Vulnerability in SearchPath Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (959426)
Vulnerabilities in Microsoft ISA Server and Forefront Threat Management Gateway (Medium Business Edition) Could Cause Denial of Service (961759)

The easiest way to update is by visiting Windows Update or Microsoft Update. Please read our Windows Update Fix article if Windows Update is not working properly on your computer system. Alternatives are so called offline updates like Offline Update, Autopatcher or Update Windows Without Microsoft.

It is recommended to update the computer system as soon as possible to close the vulnerabilities.

Tags: microsoft update, microsoft-office, microsoft-windows, office security, office updates, security bulletin, security updates, Windows, windows security, windows-update

Windows Cannot Find Msconfig

Martin — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:22:01 +0000

MSConfig, which stands for Microsoft System Configuration Utility, is a administrative tool that gets distributed with the Windows operating system. It has been designed by Microsoft to provide quick access to several system settings, files and parameters like startup items, Windows services or ini files like boot.ini or system.ini.

MSConfig can be accessed from the run command [Windows R] by typing in [msconfig]. It happens in rare cases that Windows cannot start the application displaying the message that “Windows cannot find MSConfig” which can be the cause of a virus infection or corrupt entries in the Windows Registry or file system.

There are basically two possibilities why Windows is displaying the error message. The first is that the file is no longer in the default directory on the hard drive; The second that the file path in the Registry is linking to a wrong location or not existing at all.

Finding MSConfig.exe

The first task is to locate msconfig.exe on the computer system. The default directory where Microsoft is placing the file is
WINDOWS\pchealth\helpctr\binaries on Windows XP systems and Windows\system32\ on Windows Vista systems.

If the file turns out to be in that directory skip ahead to step 2 which will check the correct file path in the Windows Registry. If the file is not there at all you need to add it back there. The easiest way to do that is by extracting it again from the Windows installation CD or DVD.

To extract it from the Windows CD you need to run a command from the command line. Press [Windows R], enter [cmd] and hit [enter].

Type in the following command if you are running Windows XP: (assuming E is the letter of the drive containing the Windows CD and C:\WINDOWS\ the location of the Windows installation.

EXPAND -R E:\I386\MSCONFIG.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\PCHEALTH\HELPCTR\BINARIES

Windows Vista users run the following command instead: (again assuming E is the DVD drive and C:\Windows the Windows installation directory)

EXPAND -R E:\I386\MSCONFIG.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

Correcting the msconfig path

Windows stores path information about selected applications in the Windows Registry. Start the Windows Registry by typing [Windows R], [regedit], [enter]. Then navigate to the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths

Check if an entry named msconfig.exe exists. If it does check the default value which should be the path information pointing right to the location of msconfig.exe in the Windows directory. You can double-click the default entry to change the path if it is the wrong one.

If the msconfig.exe key does not exist in the Windows Registry do the following:

Right-click the App Paths key and select New > Key from the menu that is appearing.
Name the new key MSCONFIG.EXE.
Double-click the default value in the right window and add the full path to msconfig.exe as the value.

The changes are immediately which means it is possible to try to run msconfig again to see if the changes have fixed the problem.

Tags: microsoft-windows, msconfig, msconfig.exe, registry tips, Windows, windows tips

Windows 7 Leaks Again

Martin — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:45:48 +0000

Another Windows 7 leak hit the dark side of the Internet a few hours ago. Windows 7 Build 7057 is already downloaded on various Bittorrent portals by thousands of users. The leak does include the 32-bit edition of the upcoming Microsoft operating system. The Windows 7 News website has posted information and screenshots of this new release. The build has been compiled by Microsoft on March 6 which means it is one of the most recent builds of Windows 7 yet.

One of the more interesting factors is the expiry date of that version of Windows 7. It has been set to March 2, 2010 which is roughly a year from today and about 7 months after the Windows 7 beta expiration date. This could help determine the time period in which Windows 7 will most likely be released officially. Latest opinions on the matter suggest a release in the first quarter of 2010 which would be backed up by the March 2010 expiration date. The expiration date of this Windows 7 build could mean that it is the release candidate build or a build close to that.

There are not many drastic changes in comparison to Windows 7 build 7048 which has been leaked before. Microsoft has made changes to the User Account Control, the Superbar and several layout and design changes like new user icons or wallpapers.

The screenshots and information about the latest leak seem to be legit. You can get the latest information about Windows 7 in the Windows 7 Forum.

Tags: microsoft-windows, Windows, windows 7, windows 7 forum, windows 7 leak, windows 7 rc, windows release

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 RC Download

Martin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:09:21 +0000

Microsoft has initially distributed the release candidates of both Windows Vista Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 to MSDN and Technet subscribers. Today they announced that both service pack releases are available for the general public. Everyone interested can download and install the service packs for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. End users should keep in mind that those or not final versions but release candidate versions. It is generally not recommended to update a productive system with betas or release candidates.

Users who are interested in download Windows Vista SP2 RC or Windows Server 2008 SP2 RC can do so either at the Customer Preview Program site or by using the Windows Update Experience Kit. The difference is that users can download an iso containing the service packs if they access the Customer Preview Program while they download the service packs from Windows Update if they install the Windows Update Experience Kit.

The release candidate builds are available for all supported languages of both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 and available for both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the operating systems. Users who are interested in the release notes can take a look at the most notable changes here.

Tags: microsoft, microsoft-windows, Windows, windows server 2008, windows server 2008 sp2, windows server 2008 sp2 download, windows vista sp2, windows vista sp2 download, windows-vista

Windows 7 Like Taskbar In Windows XP

Martin — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:44:25 +0000

You might have heard about the Windows 7 Taskbar which will change the interface and functionality of the Windows Taskbar quite a bit. One of the changes is the iconized taskbar which no longer displays the names of the folders and programs by default. It looks similar to the Quick Launch bar. The advantage of this interface change is that it is possible to squeeze additional icons on the taskbar.

Windows 7 Taskbar Iconizer is a implementation of that feature for Windows XP. It basically changes the way the folders and programs are displayed in the Windows Taskbar from their default view to a view where only icons are displayed. The program does that only on vertical taskbars. If you have customized the position of the Windows Taskbar to be on the left or right side of the desktop then you will not see a difference.

The only real gain is that additional folders and programs fit into the taskbar. Items are automatically grouped which adds even more space to the Taskbar.

The software program is portable and a restart is required after making the changes. The same program has to be used to revert the changes again.

Tags: microsoft-windows, portable software, windows 7, windows 7 news, windows 7 taskbar, windows software, windows taskbar

Windows 7 Tidbits

Martin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:46:12 +0000

The last days have been filled with news posts about Windows 7. Everyone posted news about the upcoming operating system and it was quite hard to keep an overview of the things that came to light during the PDC 08 convention. That convention is over now and it is time to lean back and take a look at some of the news that came to light.

One of the main announcements was the new Windows 7 taskbar – superbar as some called it – which added a new level of interactivity to the operating system. Users will have to get used to it because of the combination of static and dynamic items that can now be placed in it. Check out the article at Windows 7 News for a complete Windows 7 Taskbar rundown. One aspect that Microsoft left unchanged is the position of the Start button which still cannot be changed.

Windows 7 boot time was another hot topic. Steven Sinofsky mentioned changes to Windows Services in a Q&A session which reduced the Windows 7 boot time. Services could be set to automatic, manual or disabled in previous versions of Windows. Windows 7 services can also be event related. If x starts run service y. This made it possible to delay the start of several services so that they are not started during boot time.

The User Account Control gets more options. It can be configured using a slider. By default administrators will see less UAC prompts. Standard actions like changing settings in the Control Panel will not display an UAC prompt anymore. It basically can be said that Microsoft optimized UAC quite a bit to make it less annoying to the user.

The Windows 7 Desktop will make use of DirectX 10.1 if the video card supports it. This cuts down memory usage in the graphics system of the Windows 7 Desktop Windows Manager by 50%.

Did you see anything that impressed you? Share your thoughts.

Tags: microsoft-windows, steven sinofsky, Windows, windows 7, windows 7 news

Quick Launch Icon Size

Martin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:17:05 +0000

My new computer monitor arrived yesterday. It is an hp computer monitor with 24″ for maximum screen space. Pretty much feels like working with two 19″ monitors only that you got everything on one screen now. One thing that I noticed after connecting the new computer monitor to my computer system was that the quick launch bar was missing from the Windows Taskbar.

Not sure why that happened but it was not there anymore. A right-click on the Windows Taskbar and the selection of properties displayed the menu where I could enable the Quick Launch feature again in the taskbar.

This time however the icons where large so that only two icons fitted next to each other in one row. Back with the 19″ there were four icons in one row and that’s the way I wanted it again with the new computer monitor as well.

The large icons look much to grainy and unprofessional. After unsuccessfully searching for a way to enable small icons again I remembered that you had to unlock the toolbar first to access that setting. Another great usability idea of Microsoft.

A right-click on the Windows Taskbar and the selection of Lock The Toolbar did unlock the toolbar. Another right-click on free space in the Quick Launch area revealed the new View context menu entry that made it possible to switch between large and small icons for the Quick Launch toolbar.

Tags: microsoft-windows, quick launch bar, quick launch toolbar, quick launch. quicklaunch, quicklaunch toolbar, windows task bar, windows taskbar, windows tips

Computer Memory Optimizer

Martin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:48:59 +0000

It is common knowledge among computer experts that computer memory optimizers do not work. This has a lot to do with the computer memory tools that have been released back in the days of Windows 95 and Windows 98 which used a simple trick to move computer memory data into the virtual memory thus fooling users into believing that they freed up computer memory. For those who do not know, virtual memory is hard drive space that has been assigned as virtual memory. It’s commonly known as the pagefile in Windows.

What if there was a tool that would optimize the computer memory without using the virtual memory trick? A tool that would use the Windows API to reduce the computer memory use of any running process without interfering with system performance or stability?

Cleanmem (via Easily Reduce Memory Usage on All Running Processes in Windows) is that software program. The software developer provides a portable and a installation version of his computer memory optimizer on his website. Both versions work fine on 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

If the user installes Cleanmem it will automatically add itself to the Task Scheduler in Windows running in 30 minute intervals. The portable version would have to be executed manually which is also possible for the installer version. Simply entering cleanmem in the command line will do the job. The file will be stored in the system32 directory during installation.

The first screenshot below is a snapshot of the Windows Task Manager. The second a snapshot of the same Task Manager after executing Cleanmem.

A process that needs more memory than it has after memory optimization will simply allocate additional memory. It is not uncommon to see the computer memory of some applications rise to about the level that they have been before. Many however will keep a reduces computer memory size, especially those that are currently not in focus of the user. It basically frees up the memory of applications that are currently running but not in use.

The software developer provides an ignore list with the software program that can be used to exclude applications from the computer memory optimization.

Tags: clean computer memory, cleanmem, computer memory, computer ram, memory optimizer, microsoft-windows, windows software

Windows 7 M3 Screenshots

Martin — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 07:42:56 +0000

Microsoft is still using the Windows 7 codename for their upcoming operating system. They recently released the M3 build of Windows 7 to selected partners and first screenshots of changes in that build have hit the web. The Windows 7 News website posted more than 20 Windows 7 screenshots on their website showing the changes, features and new looks of the new Windows operating system.

Most experts do agree that Windows 7 will be available sooner than they had expected. Microsoft was always speaking of a 3 years since Windows Vista release date which could be any date in 2009 and 2010. As of now most seem to suggest that Windows 7 might hit the streets no later than June 2009 which would be very early considering that Microsoft is putting lots of efforts on Windows Vista promotion currently.

Back to the screenshots. They show the changes to the Microsoft Paint and Wordpad modules which got an overhaul just like the Windows Calculator which broke news earlier this year. The screenshots seem to suggest that part of the Control Panel is also getting an overhaul. The Display Properties for one are looking completely different compared to previous versions of Windows. While those changes might make sense Microsoft should also consider that many users might feel a little bit lost in Windows 7.

Windows Media Player light sounds like a nice idea if the client is loading faster and more responsive. Anything that you want to add?

Tags: microsoft windows 7, microsoft-windows, Windows, windows 7, windows 7 screenshots

Create A List Of All Installed Windows Hotfixes

Martin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:51:32 +0000

Windows hotfixes usually solve errors and problems after installing them. It happened in the past however that they did produce additional errors that could bring a computer system to a standstill. It is therefor handy to produce a list of all installed Windows Hotfixes in the way that they have been installed on a computer system.

This can be achieved with a small batch file that will create a list of all installed Windows hotfixes and the date and time that they have been installed on the system. The information is taken directly from the KBxxxxxx.log files that are created for each individual hotfix that is installed in Windows.

Those log files are located in the Windows directory and it would take some time to check them manually to build the list. Here is a screenshot of the output which is saved in a text document in the root directory of the main hard drive.

The code which has to be added in one line is the following:

dir %windir%\*.log /o:d | findstr /i /r /c:q......\.log /c:kb......\.log /c:q......uninst\.log /c:kb......uninst\.log > %systemdrive%\hotfixes.log

Some of you might prefer a direct download, just download the knowledgebase file and unpack it to the computer system. It contains the same code that is shown above.

Tags: batch command, knowledgebase, microsoft-windows, windows hotfixes, windows patches, windows tips, windows updates

Are you sure you want to delete … ?

Martin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:27:11 +0000

Confirmation messages seem to be pretty unique to computers. Have you ever used a coffee machine that did ask you if you really wanted to start making coffee, an iPod if you really wanted to play music ? Computers asks those stupid things all the time. If you ever played a game you noticed that every game, and I really mean every single commercial game that plays in full screen is asking the user if he really wants to leave it after pressing the Exit button.

The same can be said if you want to delete a file in Windows. You mark it, you press Delete and what happens ? You are asked if you really, really want to delete that file or if you made a mistake. Not only that but by default the file goes to the trashbin where you could recover it and even if it would not go there you would still be able to recover it with file recovery tools.

So what’s up with these confirmation messages and computers ? I recently installed a new operating system for a friend and the first thing that I noticed after booting into it was those dreaded are you sure you want to delete the files that you have selected. That message can be deactivated, I suppose most of you do now that already but for those who do not here is the way.

Right-click your Recycle Bin on the desktop and select Properties from the menu. This is also a great way of selecting a proper maximum size for the Recycle Bin. I think Windows reserves 10% for the Recycle Bin by default, might be wrong on that but the number is definitely huge. When the Recycle Bin properties pop up you see a tiny option at the bottom that says "Display Delete Confirmation Dialog".


If you uncheck that you will not be asked if you surely want to delete the files that you have selected. It's a great time saver in my opinion and since it is possible to recover files it should not be a problem for most users.

	Tags: delete confirmation, microsoft-windows, recycle bin, Windows, windows tips


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