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Last updated: Sunday, 2 August 2015
With such a heavy emphasis being placed on ‘green IT’ system administrators are now being asked to have all the...
Problem: When attempting to open a folder in Windows Explorer, the folder always opens in a new window. Solution: Follow...
Unlike Windows XP, Windows 7 doesn’t provide a standard button to clear the Start Menu ‘Run’ history. Microsoft’s solution is...
The Active Directory Users and Computers tools come as part of the Microsoft Server Tools. Once the Server Tools are...
Compared to Windows XP, the Windows 7 command line tool has changed and operates with a new set of switches....
There have been some changes for how you can customise the default user profile in Windows 7. Microsoft have disabled...
Unlike Windows XP you are unable to delete (or reset) a user profile by simply deleting or renaming the user...
A network place is a shortcut to a website, FTP site or other network location such as a SharePoint document...
The following steps detail how to change your Bitlocker recovery key without decrypting the data on the hard drive. ...
By default in Windows 7 file extensions are not displayed. All files in Windows have a file extension, for example...
By default Windows 7 will only enable BitLocker if you have TPM device built into your computer and it is...
When you pause and play videos in VLC Media Player an icons appear at the top right of the screen...
Occasionally you may receive videos inside a ZIP or RAR file. Something a lot of people don’t realise is that...
Problem After a workstation is added to an Active Directory domain you are unable to set the computer to automatically...
The following autounattended.xml file can be used to full automate the Windows 7 installation. It will: Create a single partition...
Problem: The Preview Pane in Windows Explorer is either not displaying the contents for word documents or is crashing when...
Add Device Drivers to an Offline Windows Image The following process details how to add additional drivers to a Windows...
Windows Photo Viewer (previously known as Windows Picture and Fax Viewer) is a small but extremely useful application that is...
By default Windows 7 will not automatically log on when there are multiple accounts. If you would like to enable...
The following process describes how to configure a scheduled task using the Windows 7 Task Scheduler which will run interactively...
The startup folder is a convenient way to open programs or scripts when a user logs in. Windows provides two...
Problem When using Internet Explorer to open a PDF document you receieve the following error: Adobe Acrobat does not support...
The Recent Items folder (previously called Recent Documents in Windows XP) is used by Windows to record what documents have...
I recently discovered that a brand new USB hard drive promoted as “Apple Mac compatible” was formatted using the NTFS...
When viewing images using Windows XP you used to have a ‘print’ button. This opened the Photo Printing Wizard and...
CAUTION: The steps below will completely wipe the data from the USB drive you select. Make sure you choose the...
To create a ‘Offer remote assistance’ shortcut for Windows 7 you need to use the following path: "%windir%\system32\msra.exe" /offerra
Windows 7 offers many different views when browsing files and folder using Windows Explorer (also known as ‘Computer’ or ‘My...
By default Windows 7 does not provide you the ability to unlock a locked screen. With Windows XP this was...
By default, a standard installation of Windows 7 without any serial number entered will enter into a 30 day grace period....
If you need to change the ‘Created’ or ‘Modified’ dates on a file you have two options: Change the date...
What is a .Pages file? .Pages files (dot pages) are documents which are created on Apple Mac systems using the...
This floppy drive emulator can be used to create a virtual floppy drive and mount images (like you can with...
Are you having troubles connecting to your Outlook email, a website or server? Has this only started since you changed...
The User State Migration Tool can be customised to either include or exclude files or folders being transferred to the...
Windows AIK is a collection of tools and documentation designed to help IT professionals deploy Windows. Whilst WAIK provides the...
The standard configuration in Windows 7 allows your computer to go to sleep after 30 minutes of no activity, this...
The usual method to add another file type to the ‘new’ menu in Windows 7 does not work for Rich...
When running a VBS script by double clicking on the script file, the code does not run as an elevated...
The following commands can be ran from the command prompt (ran as admistrator) to disable the driver sign checks in...
Windows XP had a right-click option called ‘Run as’ which allowed you to run applications are another specific user.Windows 7...
Please note: Microsoft no longer host the Outlook Calendar and Outlook Task desktop gadgets on their website. For this reason...
The following steps detail how to configure Firefox to NOT allow the installation of add-ons (plugins and extensions). The restriction...
Problem After installing IrfanView image thumbnails are not displayed in File Explorer (also known as My Computer, Computer or Windows...
Whilst the default background for the Windows 7 logon screen looks nice, it would look better if you had the...
Unfortunately at the moment Windows 7 doesn’t offer a classic logon screen like Windows 2000 or XP did. However, a...
Apple wireless keyboards are bluetooth devices and able to be paired with Windows 7 systems (laptops) which have bluetooth connectivity....
Problem When a user log into a Windows 7 system they receive the following error message You have been logged...
The following DOS command can be used to create a test file of any length. fsutil file createnew <filename> <filesize...
It’s a fact – for whatever reason most computers don’t keep the time perfectly and at times completely forget what...
Before creating the WIM file, it’s recommended that you boot into the Windows PE environment. The following command can be...
The Windows key has been on our keyboards for many years and yet it remains in a cloud of mystery...
When automating the Windows 7 deployment you can specify the timezone using the time zone code and name. A list...
Problem When you select multiple network printers from the ‘Devices and Printers’ window the ‘Remove device’ option is not listed...
Can’t find a background picture you like or just want a plain colour as the background? This process details how...
This guide details how to deploy Windows 7 over the network using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. Software Required: Windows AIK...
Problem: Shortcuts on the desktop are automatically being removed. Applies to: Windows 7All Editions Solution: Windows 7 has a built...
Problem: By default Internet Explorer will have Bing configured as the search provider. Unfortunately, most people would agree that Bing...
Problem After installing Windows Live Essentials, and selecting Movie Maker during the install, Movie Maker does not run. When you...
When you download a program from the Internet and try to run it Windows 7 will prompt that the program...
The DOS script below can be used to take the current month and echo the current month name, e.g. November....
The following steps detail how to create a bootable USB stick which will open ghost and have a network connection...
Something a lot of people don’t realise is that by default Windows 7 will use your wireless network connection even...
In Windows 7 the built in local administrator account is disabled by default. To automatically enable the local Administrator account...
This guide documents how to make a WinPE boot CD for the x86 architecture. The WinPE environment is designed for...
The following steps show how to convert a USB drive that is formatted in the FAT32 format to NTFS. Method...
These steps will show how to change which program will open a PDF when you double-click to open. This is...
The following command shows how to use the PowerShell console to export a list of printers installed on a computer...
BitLocker was first introduced for Windows Vista to give you the ability to encrypt your local hard drives. Windows 7...
The following command lines can be used to hibernate a Windows 7 computer. Hibernate Immediately Shutdown /h /t 1 /c...
Problem When you attempt to use their provided plugin you receive an error message which says ‘This gadget requires Microsoft...
The following list shows how you can use DOS to do basic arithmetic, for example sum, subtraction etc. You can...
Problem When using Windows 7 to access a network drive (or UNC share) shortcut files will sometimes disappear. The shortcut...
With the introducation of Windows 7 the ‘control keymgr.dll’ tool for storing and managing passwords has changed. The replacement tool...
Windows 7 offers you the ability to let a friend or technical support person take remote control of your PC...
Problem When changing the order of a folder (for example, from ‘Name’ to ‘Date’) Windows Explorer takes an excessive amount...
XML Notepad 2007 is a free XML Editor provided by Microsoft. Features include: Tree View synchronized with Node Text View...
Before Windows 7 you needed to use third party tools to resize partition volumes. Fortunately you can now do this...
The following registry entry can be used to add an additional file type to the ‘new’ context menu. To use,...
Windows 7 offers new application control policies with AppLocker, a flexible, easy-to-use mechanism that enables IT professionals to specify exactly...
Problem When attempting to log into a computer the logon fails and you receive the following error message: The Group...
If you’ve ever wondered if you need to safety eject a USB drive before removing it, the short answer is no...
Notepad++ is a free PHP script editor for Windows computers. (It also supports various other non-binary script files, like java...
This guide details how to upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7 using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (Lite-Touch). By using this...
The following steps detail how to test a connection to a specific port over a network. This could be useful...
To automatically set the time zone during a Windows 7 installation you will need to add the following component to...
The Offline Files feature of Windows 7 allows you to cache copies of files on your computer so you can...
By default the “Administrator” account is disabled in Windows 7. It can be enabled and used however some caution should...
If you’ve used Windows Live Messenger with Windows 7 you may have noticed that it doesn’t have an icon in...
The following steps detail how to clear the saved passwords remembered in Internet Explorer. Open Internet Explorer Select the ‘Tools’...
The following steps show how to show hidden files and folders in Windows 7. Open File Explorer (Windows key +...
This tutorial will show you how to install Japanese typing and display ability for ALL programs running on all versions...
Unfortunately Windows 7 does not have the built in ability to mount ISO files, you can burn them to media...
System Restore is a feature in Windows 7 which allows you to restore your system if there are any issues....
The following process describes how to enable auto logon for a Windows 7 computer which IS NOT a member of...
What is a TPM and what does it do? TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module and it is a microchip...
Windows 7 includes a tool to help calibrate the colours on your display. Calibrating your display ensures that the colours...
Unlike previous versions of Windows, by default Windows 7 does not have a ‘Recent Items’ (previously known as ‘Recent Documents’...
The following steps detail how to uninstall Internet Explorer 8 from Windows 7. Please note, it is suggested that you...
The following steps detail how to disable the Use Access Control (UAC) prompts when logged on as an Administrator. Click...
The User Access Control (UAC) system has been added to Windows 7 (and Windows Vista) to increase security. It makes...
The following steps allow you to restrict applications in Windows 7. This process uses Local Group Policy which is available...
The following steps detail how to check which version of Windows 7 you have installed. It will show you have...
Managing Windows [Win+M] – Minimize all open windows [Win+Shift+M] – Undo all window minimization [Win+D] :- Toggle showing the desktop...
By default remote desktop is disabled in Windows 7. The following steps detail how to enable it. Please note, this...
Windows 7 has a feature called System Restore which automatically backs up registry and system files whenever you install new...
When copying and pasting text using Windows 7 or Window 8 you’re not only copying the text, but also any...
The Aero Snap feature where you drag a window to one side of the screen so Windows can automatically snap...
By default in Windows 7 the Windows Explorer shortcut on the taskbar will open the ‘Libraries’ directory. To change this...
This search term can be used to search for files with no extension, for example filename when it should be...
The following steps can be used to transfer your Windows 7 installation DVD to a USB drive. This can make...
By default the menu bar in Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 is hidden. You can temporarily make is...
The desktop icon in Windows 7 are much larger than previous versions of Windows. Many people ask how to make...
Problem If you run a WPAD (web Proxy Autodiscovery) or PAC (Proxy auto-config) file on your network to provide proxy...
Windows 7 has a feature called System Restore which automatically backs up registry and system files whenever you install new...
To automatically customise Internet Explorer 8 you will need to add the following component to the Autounattend.xml or the sysprep...
The Windows 7 and Windows 8 search feature isn’t quite what everyone expects – it is a little clunky. Most...
Problem By default, Windows 7 uses the “Windows Picture and Fax Viewer” application for opening images and “File Explorer” for...
With the introduction of Windows 7 the normal ‘classic’ style of the taskbar has been changed. The following steps detail...
Create an account for the limited access user: The first step is to create an account for the child /...
The file system in Windows 7 assigns a file name and extension to each file, for example document-name.docx The file...
In Windows 10, when a new device is plugged in the ‘AutoPlay’ window will appear – giving you several options...
The instructions below detail how to clear your temporary internet files without loosing the history of websites visited, cookies and...
If you’re looking to record your screen and save as an animated GIF look no further than Screen to Gif....