Incursor

If you are an administrator, and there are other users that are too *untrustworthy* to enter some files, you can easily change the permission settings for users.

Here are the steps to change the permissions:

1. Select the folder or file
2. Right Click
3. Choose “Properties”
4. Under the security tab, you may edit the user permissions to modify, read/execute, write, and more.

Vista Rewired has an interesting tutorial on letting any computer have the video wallpaper effect. If you would like to try this, check it out!

One of Vista’s features is the sidebar.

This will allow you to put gadgets onto your desktop.

Gadgets can range from sticky notes to many other things.

The purpose of this quick tutorial is to show you how to use this cool feature.

First thing you need to know is how to open the sidebar properties. This will help in the other tutorials.

1. Open Windows Sidebar properties by clicking the Start button clicking , clicking Control Panel, Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Windows Sidebar Properties.

1. Open Sidebar-
Open Windows Sidebar by clicking the Start button , clicking All Programs, clicking Accessories, and then clicking Windows Sidebar.

2. In the sidebar properties, the are many options you can use to customize your sidebar experience.

If you want to make sure no other windows cover the sidebar, check the box saying “Sidebar is always on top of other windows”

And if you want it to activate sidebar during startup, check the box “Start Sidebar when Vista starts”

Anyone with at least 5 IQ should be able to figure the other stuff on the properties page.

Now for some specific tricks you can do with Sidebar

1. Keep your gadgets but close the sidebar-

Okay, to do this, just drag all of your gadgets out onto the desktop. Now, right click the sidebar and click “Close the Sidebar”

2. Install Gadgets-

Right click the Sidebar icon on the taskbar. Select Add gadgets to sidebar and get your gadgets.

3. Convert widgets to gadgets-

Do you have that really useful widget from Google, PicGames, SpringWidgets, Grazr, or You Tube that you want in Vista?

Use Amnesty Generator and be happy with your new gadgets! (Go here for more info on Amnesty)

Hopefully, after having experience using sidebar, you will discover even cooler things you can do with Vista Sidebar.

Did you know you can change your color scheme in Vista?

So if light blue isn’t your color, then you can set it to something different.

1. Go to Control Panel
2. Under Appearance and Personalization, click Personalization
3. Go to Window Color and Appearance
4. Here you can change the color and intensity of your windows

(You can also use the color mixer for custom colors)

There you have it!

If you have Home Premium, you may have noticed that even pressing the start button is slower than in XP.

To speed it up a little, just follow these steps.

Right click the Desktop.

Go to Personalize

Click Theme

Change it to Home Basic or lower and your computer should be a little faster!

How to blank the Administrator password on almost any Windows operating system. (Windows NT and up)*

1. Download and burn the ISO file on to a CD or USB flash drive
2. Boot from the CD or USB flash drive
3. Hit Enter at the boot: prompt
4. Select the boot partition (usually 1)
5. Enter the PATH to the registry hive files (hit Enter for the default WINDOWS\System32\config)
6. Hit Enter (1) for password reset
7. Hit Enter (1) to edit user data and passwords
8. Hit Enter to change password for the Administrator account
9. Enter * to blank the password
10. Enter y to blank the password
11. Enter ! to quit the password editor
12. Enter q to exit the change NT password utility
13. Enter y to save the changes to the Windows SAM database
14. Enter n to exit the program
15. Remove the CD or USB flash drive and reboot the computer

* Please note that this method should only be done by an IT professional. You can easily ruin your computer by using system manipulation tools. We are not responsible for any damages caused by following this tutorial. Please do not attempt this on someone else’s property, only your own.

The User Accounts applet in Control Panel features the Create a password reset disk wizard.

Using this wizard, a floppy disk or USB flash drive can be created that allows the password of a specific user account on a specific Windows Vista computer to be reset by the user.

Possession of the reset disk is considered to be authorization to reset the account’s password.

The reset disk can also be reused to reset the account’s password multiple times. However, you need to know the password of the account you want to create the reset disk for, and you must create the reset disk before you forget the account’s password.

To use the Vista password reset disk:

1. Insert the floppy or USB reset disk in the computer
2. Click the Reset password… item on the Vista logon screen to start the Password Reset Wizard
3. Click the Next button
4. Enter a new password
5. Reenter the new password
6. If prompted, enter a password hint
7. Click the Next and Finished buttons
8. Enter your new password to logon to the user account

Are you tired of having ads and other things pop up when you surf? Most of these problems come from tracking cookies that make an ad appear after your visit their website. Already have firefox delete your cookies after you close it? Don’t always be so sure. Sometimes, the cookies are not deleted, so take these steps to make sure they are gone.

(Note: You must be able to see hidden files and folders. We have a tutorial here at Tech CX)

1. Go to the C drive. (C:)
2. Click users
3. Go to your profile
4. Click Appdata
5. Go to Roaming
6. Enter the Mozilla folder
7. Go in the Firefox folder
8. You should see something like 3j54znpp.default . Enter it.
9. There, you should see the cookies.txt file.
10. Change it so it only says:
# HTTP Cookie File
# http://www.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html
# This is a generated file! Do not edit.
# To delete cookies, use the Cookie Manager.

If you don’t know what you are doing, don’t do it!

Yes, there is a way to use an iso without burning it.

You can just download Daemon, a program that allows you to mount images as a virtual cd/dvd.

You simply need to install it, then mount the image (.iso) and you are free to go!

In Vista, the icons seem HUGE! If you liked the old size of the XP icons, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on a unused area of the desktop
2. Pick View
3. Select Classic Icons

Also, if you want a custom size, hold control and scroll up and down.