By default, Windows XP will prompt the user for input if there are one or more applications which have crashed or are not responding and it receives a shut down command. This halts the shutdown process entirely until the user approves the stopping of the non-responsive app.
By altering the registry slightly, Windows XP can be set to close crashed applications automatically. While this does not technically speed up the shut down process, it does streamline it, and ensure that the user will not give the shutdown command then get up and leave, only to find the PC still powered on because Windows never received input on what to do with a hung application.
To allow Windows XP to close non-responsive applications automatically upon shutdown:
Open REGEDIT and navigate to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop’
Highlight the value ‘AutoEndTasks.’
Change the value to ‘1′
XP will now be able to close hung applications without user input during the shutdown process.
Well, that’s it for PCstats latest 99 Tips! We hope you enjoyed using this tips list as much as we enjoyed making it!
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Written by Jason on July 7th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Contributors and Tips and Windows XP and automatically and command and control panel and registry and shut down and shutdown and windows.
Just when you think Google can’t do any more to improve their search results, they continue to fine tune in subtle ways. And that’s a good thing, because when you do spot these improvements, you will wonder what took them so long to implement.
One improvement is adding more information in search results so you can quickly determine if it’s useful or not to click on the link.
For example, how many times have you search for something only to click on a search result that was an old forum post? For the most part, forums can be a great resource for information. But not if it’s old or there are no replies to the post.
Now you can see if the post is current, because Google will display the date of the forum post along with information of the forum thread in the search result.
When Google finds a result, and it’s a forum post, it now categorizes the search result (as a forum post) and provides further information about the thread such as the number of posts and authors in the thread.
Another example is with video searches. Google now displays the duration and the average rating (if it can find one).
No more watching long useless videos. With the time and rating information, you know exactly how long it will take to watch the video and if it’s worth your time.
Sometimes searching for something can bring you to a page that was written in a different language. You know the page must be relevant to what your searching for, but you just can’t read it. Instead of clicking on the link to the page, click on the link ‘Translate this page’ link to the right of the site link.
By clicking on it, Google will automatically translate the page to the default language setting of your browser.
TIP: If you comes across a page in a different language, other than searching for it, copy and paste the URL into Google search box. Google will return the search result with the ‘Translate this page’ link next to the result.
Google offers many specific types of search portals such as images, maps, news, shopping, etc. Instead of going to each portal, the search result menu now includes relevant links based on your search.
Take notice there is also a definition link that takes you to Answers.com for a quick definition of your search word.
Now a days, shopping on the Internet for the best price can be a snap, if you use search engines such as Yahoo Shopping or Shopzilla that compare prices and offers reviews. Google is finally catching up with their product and lets you compare prices.
As of now the compare prices feature seems to be limit to a few catagories (mostly electronics), but look for that to change over time.
Google is well known for some of their obscure search tricks and some of them are most useful when you are in hurry. One of them is checking if your airline flight is on time.
…If only it could tell me how long the Security line is.
Seen any other new improvements from Google not mentioned here? Leave a comment and let us know what you find.
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google,
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Written by Jason on July 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1354 and 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and 544 and Browser and Contributors and Internet and Security and Yahoo and automatically and google and improve and tip.
Windows Product Activation (WPA) is Microsoft’s way of keeping you from installing a copy of Windows Vista on more than one computer. It basically marries the copy of Windows Vista you’ve purchased to the computer’s hardware it’s installed on.
The WPA Process
When you enter the product key three identifiers are generated and collected:
* Hardware ID: A unique identifier that’s generated from information gathered about the computer’s hardware.
* Product ID: A 25-character unique key supplied when you purchase Windows Vista.
* Installation ID: An identifier Windows Vista creates from the hardware ID and product ID.
During the WPA process the product and hardware IDs are sent to Microsoft and the computer is “activated”.
If you make significant hardware changes (like replacing the motherboard and graphics card at the same time) you’ll have to re-activate your copy of Windows Vista.
Note: You don’t have to activate Windows Vista during the first 30 days of use.
If you’re installing Windows Vista I highly suggest not choosing to automatically activate Windows Vista during the installation. You should wait the full 30 days to make sure all of the hardware is properly working before activating.
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Written by Jason on June 12th, 2008 with no comments.
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In order to improve performance and reduce the amount of time spent waiting to view Web pages, Internet Explorer stores many of the Web pages and graphics you have viewed in a folder on your hard drive. Next time you revisit a Web site, Internet Explorer can use the content stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder to display the site content, instead of retrieving them from the Web.
You can manually clear the contents of this folder in Internet Explorer by selecting Internet Options for the Tools menu. From the General tab, simply click the Delete Files button. You can also configure Internet Explorer to empty the contents of this folder when you close your browser. To do so, select the Advanced tab from the Internet Options window. Under the Security section, select the option to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed and click OK.
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Hard drive,
ie,
Internet,
internet explorer,
Performance,
Security,
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Web
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Written by Jason on May 10th, 2008 with no comments.
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If you are one those firefox users who want to clean all the traces of your browsing history, then let me tell you there is very simple way to do it with firefox itself without any extension.
here is how you can automate the cleaning of your browsing history and cookies..
1. Open Firefox
2. go to File Menu >> Tools >> Options , click on privacy tab
3. check the option which says: Always clear my data when I close firefox (as shown in the image below) (more…)
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Written by Jason on March 29th, 2008 with no comments.
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It’s possible to have Vista and chow down on your XP cake, too, if you apply a free — for now — virtual machine.
If you’re stuck with a Vista PC, but you really prefer using XP, I’ll show you how to set up XP as a virtual machine on Vista, plus some tricks you can use to get the most out of this setup.
Why you should give virtual machines a free try
It’s unarguable: Windows XP operates more quickly than Vista (a fact that PC World recently demonstrated even with the new Service Pack 1 installed on Vista). Additionally, no one who’s independent of Microsoft’s payroll suggests that device drivers are just as easily available for Vista as they are for XP, or that Vista supports as many software applications that people own. (more…)
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Written by Jason on March 27th, 2008 with no comments.
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We have been receiving mails from several readers that they are not able to login to Windows. As soon as they login, the windows show applying your settings, saving your settings and logs off automatically without logging in. This situation is really very troublesome and gets onto the nerves of a person who needs his computer badly for some important work.
The main reasons behind this problem is a corruption in the registry key which holds the value of the files which are executed while login to windows. This registry key can get either replaced with some incorrect value or it might get corrupt due to some virus / trojan activity. Lets see how to fix this issue.
We need to remotely access the infected computer from another computer on same network. Then we need to correct the registry key for userinit under winlogon. (more…)
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Written by Jason on March 22nd, 2008 with no comments.
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If you have used vista, you may have seen option to eject the cd drives on the right click menu on the cd drive.
This feature of automatically eject the cd drives is a part of windows vista but not provided with windows XP, but this option can be enabled in windows XP using a simple freeware software called Eject CD, Download it from here.
What is Eject CD?
Eject CD is a useful, free and easy to use software. It helps you easily eject and insert the cd/dvd-rom drivers just by using the keyboard shortcuts or your mouse. (more…)
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Written by Jason on March 5th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on CD and Drivers, and Software and Windows Vista and Windows XP and automatically and cd drive and dvd and dvd r and eject and exe file and freeware and keyboard shortcuts and tip and windows.