Fix Windows Vista Errors

Memory problems on your PC just like many other problems can create errors on your computer and will lead to the loss of memory or even shutdown. Vista has a tool you can use that will check for any memory issues and inform you of them, to run the Windows memory diagnostic tool just do this;

• Click start
• Type memory in the search box
• You now have 2 options to run the scan
  • Restart your PC immediately and run the scan
  • Run the scan the next time you start your PC
• Done

This is a very useful tool you can use in Windows Vista that lets you run a quick scan of your computer and checks its overall health. The scan checks the operating system, all hardware and security settings within your PC and offers solutions to any problems found.

The results are shown in an easy to read format with solutions beside each problem, these include;

• Errors
• Informational
• Basic system checks
• Resource overview
• Software configuration
• Hardware configuration
• CPU
• Network
• Disk Memory, and
• Report statistics

These results can essentially solve many problems you have with your PC, the report also takes the guess work and trial and error out of identifying problems. eg: Maybe you think RAM is a problem, but it could just be your CPU consumed by a background process. Run this report before trying any drastic tweaks.

To run a system health report just follow these steps;

• Open control panel
• Click system and maintenance
• Click performance information and tools
• Click advanced tools

• Click generate a system health report
• It will take a moment to scan and then give you the results

I found this cool Vista tool over the weekend that allows you to make screenshots much easier than the old ways. This application is called the Snipping Tool and it is only available on Windows Vista.

To access the Snipping Tools follow these points;

• Click Start
• All Programs
• Accessories
• Now click Snipping Tools

When you get in a box like this will pop up;

From here all you need to do is to drag the cursor (red line) around the area you want to capture. When you have done that it will bring up the Snipping Tool editor with your screenshot on it.

From this editor you can now save your screenshot in various formats (jpg, gif etc), saved as a HTML page or emailed out.

Here is a quick little tweak you can do that will take off or add the file extension from any folder you open. That is, you can make the file extension visable/hidden so you can see (or not) what extention the file has (eg. jpg, zip, wmv). Just follow these points and you will be able to do it easy;

• Open a folder up to whatever one you want
• Click tools (you may need to press alt first)
• Open folder options
• Go to the view tab
• Either check or uncheck ‘hide extensions for known file types’
• Click apply and OK
• You will now either see the extension shown or hidden

There is a cool little feature in Windows Vista that allows you to send an email based on a certain event. This can be handy for monitoring certain things and if you need notification. Also receiving an email is easier than checking log files etc.

To do this, open up the Event Viewer.

• Right click on “Computer”, select “Manage”
• Click on “System Tools” -> “Event Viewer”
• Under “log summary” click on “Application”
• Click “view events in this log”
• You can now select an event, and in the right you can “Attach Task to This Event”
• Click “Next” and in the “Action” step you can set the “Send an email” option
• You will now receive emails for this action

To turn it off, just follow the same process.

In a recent conference Steve Ballmer said its ok to wait for Windows 7 and skip Vista altogether.

Many businesses and general users are thinking of skipping straight from Windows XP to Windows 7, which is due to be released sometime next year. In fact, up to 61% of respondents were thinking of skipping Vista.

While Ballmer did say its ok to skip, he still recommends the rollout of Vista if possible. Windows 7 will be a better version of Vista and it will be fully compatible with Vista, so rolling out to Vista is still not a bad thing.

While there have been many critics of Vista, the adoption rate of Vista has been two times faster than XP at two years in.

We personally think Vista is a solid OS and would recommend anyone to make the change. We have also seen Windows 7 and it is definitely an improvement, but by using Vista you will be readied for Windows 7. With Vista and a few tweaks its a great OS.

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Speed Up Vista - Free Download

Do you run the Windows Aero desktop and you wanted a quick tweak that will slow down the animations by just using your shift key? Well here is the registry tweak that will let you do it;

1st - Backup Your Registry

• Navigate to this location
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
• Create a new DWORD
• Call it AnimationsShiftKey
• Give it a value of 1
• Close your regedit
• You may need to logoff and logon for the change to work
• You will find now that you can slow down the animations when you press your shift key

Contrary to popular opinion easter eggs are not the chocolaty goodness you get around march, they are little ‘extras’ that have been added to all Windows operating systems. In previous OS’s you may remember the hiddens gems, like the flight simulator and the pinball game, well Vista has some eggs as well.

The Aurora Boot Screen

• Open up msconfig
• Click the boot tab
• Check no GUI boot
• Click apply and OK
• When you re-boot next you will see a different boot screen

Hidden Faces

I have bad eyesight so there is no way if I could tell if this is true or not, but supposedly on the cd cover of Windows Vista some programmers have added tiny little pics of themselves. Here is an image of them;

Ribbons Screensavers

Here are a few new screensavers you can see, although I have to warn you this seems more buggy than just a screensaver.

• Open command prompt
• Navigate to windows\system32
• Type in one of these;
  • ribbons.scr /p65552
  • aurora.scr /p65552
  • bubbles.scr /p65552
• You will see a new screensaver
• You may need a good video card to view them proper

Thats all the eggs I have found so far, if you know of any more Vista easter eggs then leave a comment!

I was having a read through a bunch of old post on this blog today and realised I havn’t done some post on some of the most basic Vista features, including turing on/off the Aero desktop. If you want to either turn on or turn off you Aero desktop then follow these points, remember you need decent video cards etc to run the Aero desktop.

Turn Off Aero

• Right click your desktop
• Click personalize
• Click windows color and appearance
• If the appearance setting box shows up you are probably not running Aero
• If you see the windows color and appearance box then click the open classic appearance link
• In the color scheme drop down click windows vista basic
• Click apply
• Now click OK and you are done

Turn On Aero

• Right click on your desktop and click personalize
• Open windows color and appearance
• Under color scheme select Windows Aero
• Click apply an OK
• Done

You can tweak around with the Aero desktop or speed it up by reading some of my older posts;

• Change the Aero Borders and Styling
• Speed Up Windows Vista Aero Desktop

For whatever reason you have, you may want to remove the notification area from your taskbar. That is the area (you hardly notice) that is located at the bottom right of your desktop and may include time, volume control, security issues or other programs.

If you really want to remove your taskbar notification area then you have to do this simple registry hack;

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

• Create a new DWORD
• Name it NoTrayItemsDisplay
• Set the value to 1 (you can get it back by setting this value back to 0)
• Done
• Your taskbar notification area should now be gone

Fix Windows Vista Registry Errors - Free Download