Tiplet expert tips & tech support

March 2, 2009

Preserving Your Vista Desktop

Filed under: applications,computer performance,Vista — Tags: , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Ross M. Greenberg

I’ll be the first to admit it: Vista is not perfect. There. I said it. As much as I admire the product, it has some warts that really bug me. Programmers who worked for me would have been fired if they ever let a product ship with these kinds or this quantity of bugs. Things have certainly gotten better of late but still…

For example when installing a new product — perhaps a flaky one — there is a good chance that my desktop will be screwed up. Some of those carefully placed icons magically shift or disappear or randomly transpose. What should be a quick and easy no-brainer turns into a frustrating humbling and painful experience, annoying to recover from.
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February 23, 2009

February 9, 2009

Notes on Vista Compatibility – and Incompatibility

Filed under: Vista — Tags: , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Ross M. Greenberg 

I’ve been a Vista user since it was in early beta.  When the question wasn’t whether an application program would run properly under Vista but rather what would cause Vista to crash taking your machine, your hard disk and all the data thereon with it likely trashing your backup along the way. I also had to walk to school 3 miles. Uphill both ways.

A tool I have found incredibly useful is provided by Microsoft itself: their compatibility guide can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/default.aspx. In the drop-down box, choose “software” and then enter a software title whose compatibility you’re not sure about. It seems the list is continually updated. 
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January 26, 2009

Using the Vista Sidebar and Gadgets

Filed under: Vista — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

“Gadgets” are small programs that do useful things like tell you the weather at a glance; remind you of appointments or tasks to do; or quickly add up a few numbers like a pocket calculator. The cool thing about gadgets is that you don’t have to remember where they are or take time to open them. They are right there at your fingertips all the time, in the Windows Vista Sidebar.

The Sidebar is a pane at the side of the Vista screen where gadgets are kept and organized. The Sidebar makes great use of wide-screen monitors and also looks good on standard monitors. You can easily customize the Sidebar’s location and whether it is “always on top” of other applications or hides beneath a maximized application.
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January 24, 2009

How to View and Convert .docx Files Online

Filed under: online computing,Vista,Windows — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Docx is the new file format used by Microsoft Word 2007 by default. It cannot be opened by previous versions of Word. If you do not want to install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats, there is an alternative way to convert docx files to previous versions’ doc format.
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January 12, 2009

Disable Windows Balloon Tips

Filed under: Vista,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Whoever at Microsoft thought I wanted animated comic book pages on my desktop was nuts. I’m talking about those annoying balloon tips that pop up every time something happens in Windows XP or Vista, even something trivial like “LiveUpdate is up to date.” Fortunately, balloon tips can be disabled everywhere in a single operation under XP or Vista. Both techniques are covered here.
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January 8, 2009

Repartitioning a Drive With Vista

Filed under: computer performance,Vista — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

Sometimes it is desirable to change the size of a drive partition. Perhaps you underestimated the amount of space that a partition needed, or you want to shrink a partition to make room for another one.

Windows XP lets you create new partitions using any unallocated space on a drive. But changing the size of existing partitions is a pain. You have to back up all your data and programs; boot from a DOS CD (or floppy, if you still have one of those); use the FDISK utility to change existing partitions; reformat the partitions; and reinstall all that data. There has to be a better way!
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January 7, 2009

Create a Bootable Customized Vista Install DVD

Filed under: Vista — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

The Windows Vista installation DVD comes with many enabled features and components that most users don’t need. Depending on how old your installation DVD is, it lacks important updates and service packs that you will have to download and install if you re-install Vista. Of course, it does not contain the latest third-party device drivers. You will have to download and re-install those, too.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have an installation DVD that installs Vista exactly the way you want it? Here is how to make one.
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January 5, 2009

Top 10 Vista Speed Tweaks

Filed under: computer performance,Vista — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by David Hakala

1. Turn off Search Indexing. It constantly consumes significant resources just to make occasional searches a little faster.

Click Start, then Computer
Right-click on C: drive
On General tab, uncheck “Index this drive for faster searching”
On the resulting dialog box, check “Include subfolders and files”

2. Turn off Remote Differential Compression. It constantly monitors changes in files across a network to minimize bandwidth use by transferring only changed parts of a file instead of the whole thing. The constant monitoring slows system performance.

Open Control Panel
Switch to Classic View
Select Program Features
Choose Turn Windows Features On and Off
Scroll down and uncheck Remote Differential Compression

3. Turn off Automatic Windows Defender Operation. It is weak protection against malware; use a third-party defender.

Open Control Panel
Select Windows Defender
Choose Tools from the menu bar
Select Options
Uncheck Autostart
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