Fix Windows Vista Errors

Recently we have had some users complaining about their default printer changing in Windows Vista. They would set their default printer, then everything would be fine for a while, but once in a while the default printer would change, or there would be no default printer set anymore.

There was no apparent reason for this to be happening and we couldn’t really identify why the default printer was changing, but we now have a solution.

It seems this particular problem was being caused by the remote desktop connection. If a user connects remotely to their Vista PC and has the local printers option set (under the Local Devices and Resources tab), this causes the default printer on the Vista PC to change. See the screenshot below.

To view your remote desktop settings:

• Click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Remote Desktop Connection
• Click on the Options button
• Click the Local Resources tab
• Uncheck printers

So if your default Vista printer has been changing and you use remote desktop, try the above and the problem should go away. However, don’t do this if you actually do want to use local printers in your remote session.

———————————
Speed Up Windows Vista - Free Download

Normally to change between windows you would have to click your mouse, but there is a feature in Vista that lets you set your mouse so it will change windows just by hovering over it.  To set this up just follow these points;

• Open control panel
• Click ease of access
• Click ease of access center
• Open Make the mouse easier to use
• Select the box Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse
• Save this
• Done

Do you use Windows Media Center on Windows Vista and get awfully annoyed at the noises it makes when you navigate around, well there is an easy way to stop those sounds.

• Open your Windows Media Center
• Select tasks
• Click settings
• Click general
• Click visual and sound effects
• Uncheck play sounds when navigating Windows Media Center
• Done

This option is for people who may be having trouble finding their mouse cursor on the desktop (or those who just think it looks cool). Basically it is a setting that leaves a trail at the back of your mouse whenever it moves, comet style.

You can select whether you want a long or short trail, depending on your need. To setup a pointer trail on your mouse just do the following;

• Open control panel
• Go to mouse settings (hardware and sound > mouse)
• Click on the pointer options tab
• Check on the box display pointer trails
• Select the length of your trail
• Click apply and ok

You will notice on your start menu that it shows a list of programs you have recently used or opened. This can be handy if you regularly use that program (ie word), but some people on public computers would rather not let everyone know what programs they have been using.

You can easily remove this list of recently used programs from your start menu;

• Right click your taskbar
• Click properties
• Select the start menu tab
• Uncheck “store and display a list of recently opened programs”
• Apply and OK
• Done

Personally I don’t use the sidebar on Vista (except for a nice clock), but I do know of people that have gone through hundreds of those stupid little gadgets that do anything from play music to show you different currencies.

One question I recieved from someone with a massive list of gadgets was how to remove the unwanted ones, well it is easy;

• Right click on your sidebar
• Click add gadgets
• Find the gadget you want to uninstall
• Right click and select uninstall
• Click uninstall
• Done

You may have noticed in Windows Vista underneath icons and mouse pointers there is a slight shadow, to most people they have no care about this slight graphic but some may find it annoying.

You can easily disable this effect in Vista by doing this;

• Open control panel
• Click system (system and maintenance - system)
• Click advanced system settings
• Click the advanced tab
• Under performance open settings
• Scroll down to show shadows under menus/mouse pointers
• Uncheck these
• Click apply and ok

Note: You can also play with other visual effects settings in this area.

Here is a quick registry edit you can perform that will enable you to lock your taskbar that will prevent any user from moving or resizing it.

• Go to this location
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
• Add this new DWORD
  • LockTaskbar
• Set the value to 1
• Done

Remember to always backup your registry before attempting any major edit, and if you need to repair your registry then run this scan - free registry scan.

One of the things I personally find very annoying and apparently so do our users is the tapping that happens on notebook touchpads. On these touchpads, you can imitate a mouse click by tapping the pad with your finger. However, the problem with this is that quite often when just trying to move the mouse pointer a tap is initiated. This is annoying when using the internet because you can accidentally click links.

I have many times clicked logout links by accident or some other link and lost work online due to this. So anyway, lets look at how you can disable the tapping feature on notebooks with Vista.

To turn off tapping:

• Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Mouse
• Click the Device Settings tab -> Tapping
• Uncheck the checkbox “Enable Tapping”
• Note: this may look slightly different depending on your touchpad

———————————-
Speed Up Vista by 300% - Free Download

You can easily set or unset a password so the user has to type a password when they enter Vista, but you may find that anyone running on a network has to (no matter what) type in a password to enter.

There is a quick tweak you can perform that you will let anyone on a network enter Vista without a password, just follow these steps;

• Open run (start - run)
• Type in gpedit.msc
• You need to navigate to this location
  • Computer Configuration
  • Windows Settings
  • Security Settings
  • Local Policies
  • Security Options
• Double click on this policy;
  • Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console login only
• Select disable
• Click apply and OK
• Done