Tricks for Windows Vista

Tricks for Windows Vista « Nayanscorpio’s Weblog

Physical Memory Limits: Windows Vista

Physical Memory Limits: Windows VistaThe following table specifies the limits on physical memory for Windows Vista.

Version	Limit in 32-bit Windows	Limit in 64-bit Windows
Windows Vista Ultimate	4 GB	128 GB
Windows Vista Enterprise	4 GB	128 GB
Windows Vista Business	4 GB	128 GB
Windows Vista Home Premium	4 GB	16 GB
Windows Vista Home Basic	4 GB	8 GB
Windows Vista Starter	1 GB	Not applicable

Increase your performance with Vista

Mapped Drive gets disconnected while copying large files in Vista

Windows Vista’s Auto tuning network feature causes this problem. So if you are more into copying large files from one computer to another best is to run it off..The auto tuning network feature changes the receive window on the fly off. This even sometimes turns the network off. It happened with one of my friend. Trying to search around , the recommended solution was to turn it off permanently.

To turn this auto tuning network off:

• Run the command prompt in administrative mode
• pressing ctrl + shift + enter or right click and run as administrator OR right click on command prompt and selecting run as administrator
• To turn auto tuning off type “netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel = disabled”

Now you can copy large files such as movies or windows Xp installation files. This should solve your problem.This auto tuning network is new feature in Vista and was not present in XP or before version.

Windows Vista tips to increase your productivity

#1 Share Folders like you did in XP

You can share any folder by just right click and then click on Share feature. This starts a wizard. However this wizard does not allow you to give your desired share name. So if you have a folder called as iphone it might be shared as \\computer\users\username\phonedata. So if you want to share like you used to do in XP. Don’t use the share wizard. Instead

• Right click on the folder and click Properties
• Then click Sharing > Advanced Sharing
• Share this folder and gives your desired name
• You can set the permission also

#2 How to add multiple clocks or time zones in Vista

If you want to keep track of time of different places or multiple time zones, Vista Clock has this kind of feature.

• Just double click on the clock and the time window will open.
• Click on the Additional Clocks tab and you can select another time zone with your desired name.
• Now when you hover your mouse over clock all of them will be displayed together.

#3 Enable Checkboxes to Select Folders and Files

Till now we had been using CTRL or SHIFT keys to select multiple files. But the major problem is if you do a small mistake all of them gets un selected. Now even Nokia phones have feature like Mark / Unmark which allows you to select and scroll through. Vista gives you this feature and its the best for selecting large number of files.

• Click on Organize Menu on Left hand bar and then choose Folders and Search Options.
• You will see lot of options, just scroll down and look for “Use Checkboxes to Select an Item“
• Select and close. Now you will see checkbox on left top of every file.

#4 Add Encrypt / Decrypt to Right Click Menu

Vista comes with inbuilt feature of encrypting and decrypting files. If you can add it on right click menu ( I.e it appears whenever you select a folder and right click on it ) will be much handy. Here is the way

• Open Run Dialog box , type regedit and hit enter
• Now navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
• In right pane, right click and create a new 32 Bit DWORD with Value “EncryptionContextMenu” ( without quotes)
• Now whenever you right click on a folder you will see “Encrypt” option
• When you do the same on encrypted folder you will “Decrypt” option instead.

PS: Sorry I forgot to take a snapshot here and My friend left.

#5 Resize your partition : Shrink or Expand Drives

Vista comes with an inbuilt Disk Management feature which allows you to resize your hard disk partitions ( increase or decrease) and that without loss of data. So now instead of using third party tool like Partition Manager use this.

• Go to control panel and look for administrative features.
• You should be able to find Disk Management or Type partition in control panel and enter
• Disk Management will show list of all drives. Select a drive which you want to expand or shrink
• Go to Action > All Tasks and You will see options shrink and expand.
• This feature is safe but still use it with caution.

#6 How to speed up SATA hard drives in Vista

Windows Vista by default does not enable advanced write caching feature of SATA hard drives. Here are the steps you can do by enabling it.

• Open Run Dialog Box [Win + R] and type devmgmt.msc ( Device Management)
• Now open the disk drives section of the tree
• Right Click on your SATA hard drive and go to Properties
• Now go to policies tab, and Check the box next to enable advanced performance.

#7 Copy File Paths directly

Its annoying every time you want to use the path of a file or folder, you have to manually type it and append with path.

• Just right click on the file while pressing SHIFT key
• You will see a new option “Copy as path” .
• Click and path will be copied in memory. Use CTRL + V to paste.

#8 How to trim thick borders in Vista

All windows Vista themes have make the window borders thick and if you are not using aero ( which gives transparency affects and other ) it can be very irritating. You can trim down the borders with these simple steps

• Open the Classic Appearance settings dialog by right clicking on desktop and choose Personalize
• Now Click on “Windows Color and Appearance“
• If Aero is enabled you will need to click on “Open Classic appearances“
• Click the advance button and select Border Padding in drop down
• Set the size to 1 or 0 ( Check the image )

#9 Use Hot Keys for Quick launch

The quick launch icons which are right next to your START , Can be invoked using WIN + 1 , WIN + 2 and so on. These keys are assigned in order they are present in quick launch

# 10 How to change the Deep Sleep to Shutdown

Power Down key is by default set to put your computer in sleep mode which is not desired. If you want to change it.

• Open the run dialog box by hitting WIN + R
• Now type powercfg.cpl , 1 ( Keep space between , and 1)
• Now if you press power key it will shutdown instead of going to standby.
• To revert it , type powercfg.cpl , 0

#11 Take Snapshot with Snipping Tool.

Vista comes with an inbuilt program called as Snipping tool which is used to take picture of active window , or are which you select.

• Click on All programs > Accessories
• Then look for snipping tool.

Rest is simple. Just take snaps of whatever you want. However with this tool you wont be able to take pictures along with menu. Like right click menu. It disappears as soon as you click it. I find print screen still useful.

#12 Resize icons in a folder

You can quickly resize the icons in folder by Holding CTRL key and scroll the mouse wheel back and forth.

Make your Vista’s admin account acts like in XP, Always in full control

Remember that cute “Administrator” account you see when you login to safe mode in XP? That’s the built-in administrator account that’s installed by default, and disabled by default too, after a little digging-in I made this tutorial that’ll let you enable and use this account in normal mode, and with a little other tweak, enjoying an XP-like administrator experience, while UAC is left ON (or off, it doesn’t matter), but with no prompts or right clicks.

For Windows Vista Ultimate/Business/Enterprise:1- Click Start, and type “secpol.msc” in the search area and click Enter. (You may receive a prompt from UAC, approve/login and proceed)
2- In the left list, choose “Local Policies“, then “Security Options“
3- Set “Accounts: Administrator account status” to Enabled.
4- Set “User Account Control: Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator account” to Disabled.

For Windows Vista Home Basic/Home Premium:1- Click Start, and type “cmd” in the search area, right click on “Command Prompt” and select ‘Run as Administrator“.

2- In the command prompt type “net users Administrator /active:yes” (Note the capital “A” in Administrator) and press Enter, you will get a confirmation as “The command completed successfully”.

3- Click Start, and type “regedit” in the search area and click Enter, navigate to: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
Double click on “FilterAdministratorToken” and set it to “0“*************************************

Now log-off, and you’ll see new account named “Administrator” is available, click on it to login.

Now you are the master of your domain! I recommend if you’re going to use this method is to apply it as soon as you do a fresh install of Windows, so you can simply delete whatever administrator you’ve created in the setup process, and make this one the “real” administrator for your PC, also you can rename this new admin account or change its password like any other account from “User Accounts” in the Control Panel.

A last note/disclaimer:

Please note that disabling UAC and using the built in Adminstrator account will also disable IE7 “Protected Mode”, fore more information and a work around please see this post.

Please apply this procedures only if you know what you’re doing. Disabling security features in the operating system is not something recommended to the average Joe, and for sure I won’t be held accountable for any damaging happens to your system or files resulting from running a full administrator account all the time.

Enjoy!