Computer Tutorials

I suppose Remote Assistance is used a lot by more technical people to help solve issues on customer’s computers but there are other times when this could be useful to you, maybe you want to help someone out or even enable Remote Assistance so that someone can help you.

The tutorial below will show you how to enable Remote Assistance in Windows Vista, if you want to disable Remote Assistance then I’ll show you that too. At this moment in time I’m not going to jump into all the settings or show you how to send a request for remote assistance, this tutorial will just simply show you how to enable/disable remote access.

Lets enable Remote Assistance

• Click on start (Vista Logo, bottom left)
• Select Control Panel
• Double Click System
• Click Remote Settings in the left hand pane

Now you should be in the System Properties window

• To Enable Remote Assistance, Check the box that says Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer.
• To Disable Remote Assistance, Un Check the box that says Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer.

• If you are Disabling Remote Assistance you are done now Click Apply then Click OK

• If you are enabling Remote Assistance Click the Advanced button

• Check the box that says Allow this computer to be controlled remotely

• Click Ok
• Click Apply
• Click Ok

That’s really all there is to it, I’m not going to go into Invitations at the moment I’ll leave that for another tutorial, I just wanted to show you how to enable and disable Remote Assistance. When I add a tutorial on Invitations I’ll add a link at the bottom of this post so people can progress after enabling Remote Assistance.

Adam Nugent

There are a few things that you can easily change about System Restore in Windows Vista and the most important ones that I’m sure most of you would like to change are: The amount of memory system restore uses, the default time between creating a restore point and last but not least when system restore should delete old restore points.

Well there is no need to worry about options such as these, below I will show you how to change all these options to better suit your needs.

We will be editing the registry values if you don’t know what you are doing or have worries please don’t follow these tutorials and even if you do make sure you complete a backup of the registry first to ensure you can fix anything that may accidently go wrong.

Ok First I will show you how to bring up the registry, you will need to follow these steps for each of the tutorials below.

• Click on Start (Vista Logo, Bottom left)
• Type into the search box regedit
• Click on Regedit

I’ll be referring to HKLM in the tutorials below if you are wondering why you can’t see this in your registry it is because it’s the shorter version of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

1. Adjust the Default Time Between Automatic Restore Points

(The default is every 24 hours, if you are using a system and making a number of changes all the time you may want to make this shorter or in some cases you may want to make the gap longer)

• Navigate to:
• HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore
• Double Click RPGGlobalInterval
• Check/Select Decimal

The default value is 86400 which is 24 hours I’ll give you a few options you could enter below but the choice is yours dependent upon your needs.

• 21600 (6 hours)
• 43200 (12 hours)
• 86400 (24 hours)
• 172800 (2 days)
• 259200 (3 days)

• Change the Value to one that you are happy with and Click Ok
• Restart your computer

2. How to Change the amount of Disk Space System Restore can use.

(The Default is 15%, I would like to point out now that editing the registry can cause adverse affects. Only follow these steps if you know what you are doing or have made a good backup, use your own judgement)

• Navigate to:
• HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore\Cfg
• Double Click DiskPercent
• Check/Select Decimal
• Change the vale in the value data box

(The Default is 15 and is measured in a Percentage %, meaning the default is 15%. If you put in 5 it would be 5%, also make sure the percentage you choose is going to give system restore more than 300MB or else system restore will not work. I hope this is clear)

• Once you have changed the Value to a percentage that is more acceptable to you Click Ok
• Now Close Regedit
• It’s always a good idea to restart after making changes to the registry

3. Change the Default Time of Deletion for Old System Restore Files

(The default deletion time for old system restore files is over 130 years! Which means they are only going to be deleted with system restore is using its max aloud memory so it’s able to create a new restore point. This is really not ideal so I’m going to show you how to change this, in Windows XP this time was set to 90 days.)

• Navigate to:
• HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore
• Double Click RPLifeInterval
• Check/Select Decimal

The default value is 4294967295 (136 years) I’ll give you some values to work with below

• 2592000 (30 days)
• 5184000 (60 days)
• 7776000 (90 days) This was the default in Windows XP

• Once you have entered your desired value Click OK
• Restart your computer.

I thought that these registry edits would be the most useful to you and the most commonly asked for edits, I hope they have helped you take some control back over your computer.

Adam Nugent

System Restore has changed somewhat since Windows XP, I’m going to explain some of the changes and some of the things you can do to control system restore so you know what to expect. I’ll also show you below how to create a restore point at any time you wish and how to change the amount of memory taken up by system restore.

One thing that has not changed since previous versions of System Restore is that it will take periodic snapshots of your system and configuration files to allow you to undo changes that have adversely affected your computer.

However System Restore in Windows Vista will now also take snapshot of your data files most notably files to do with Office software such as Word files, making it easy for you to undo edits or unwanted changes accidental deletes, this alone could be a life saver to some people.

System Restore in Windows Vista will automatically put aside up to 15% of your hard drives space for restore points, the minimum required by System Restore is 300MB. Up to 15% of your hard drive can be a lot of space to suddenly disappear and I can understand why most people would want to lower this to a more fitting amount like 5% 10%, I’ll explain below how you can change this manually. It might be useful for you to also know that you cannot use system restore on a drive smaller then 1GB.

The most important thing you should know about System Restore in Windows Vista is to do with Dual booting with an older operating system such as XP. Any restore points that Vista has taken of your system will be lost the moment you boot into XP, with that in mind if you depend upon your restore points or think you are going to be needing them I wouldn’t boot up your XP. This could cause very big problems if your system needs to be reverted and you have no points to go back to, just keep this problem in mind.

Ok I think I’ve explained some of the changes or issues with System Restore in Vista now I’m going to show you how to do Four things below

1. How to Create a manual restore point
2. How to turn on/off system restore
3. How to find out how much memory system restore is currently using
4. How to Modify what percentage system restore uses

( I will add more tutorials on this at a later date, as tutorials such as how to perform a system restore really require their own post).

1. How to Create a Manual System Restore Point, Anytime!

• Click Start (Vista Logo, bottom left)
• Select Control Panel
• Click System
• Click System Protection (left hand side)
• You are no in the System Properties window.
• Under Available Disks, Check the drive you wish to make a restore of.
(You may have more than one, if you are unsure its usually going to be C:)

• Click Create
• Type in a descriptive name such as the Date or Event taken place.
• Click Create
• You will now see a window called System Protection, in that window it will display a progress bar and the words Creating a restore point.

• It may take a while to complete
• Once the window closes you will be told that the restore point was created successfully, Click Ok
That’s all there is to it

2. How To Enable and Disable System Restore

• Click Start (Vista Logo, Bottom left)
• Select Control Panel
• Click System
• Click System Protection (on the left)
• Under where it says Available Disks to:
• To Enable System Restore on a drive, Check the box
• To Disable System Restore on a drive, Un Check the box
• When you go to uncheck a box you will be displayed with:
(Are you sure you want to turn System Restore off?, All existing restore points on the disk will be deleted and no new ones will be created.)

• If you are sure you want to turn it off then Click Turn System Restore Off, otherwise Click Cancel
• Once you are done Click Apply and then Ok

3. How to Find out How much Memory System Restore is Currently Using

• Hold down the Windows Key and press R
• Type in CMD
• Press Enter or Click Ok
• Type the following line into the Command Window
• Vssadmin list shadowstorage
• Press Enter
• You will then be told how much Memory is currently in use, How much is set aside and the maximum that it may use. In that order.
• Close the Window when you are done.

4. How to Change the amount of Memory System Restore can use.

(The Default is 15%, I would like to point out now that editing the registry can cause adverse affects. Only follow these steps if you know what you are doing or have made a good backup, use your own judgement)

• Click on Start (Vista Logo, Bottom left)
• Type into the search box regedit
• Click on Regedit
• Navigate to:
• HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore\Cfg
• Double Click DiskPercent
• Under Base ensure Decimal is checked NOT Hexadecimal
• Change the vale in the value data box
(The Default is 15 and is measured in a Percentage %, meaning the default is 15%. If you put in 5 it would be 5%, also make sure the percentage you choose is going to give system restore more than 300MB or else system restore will not work. I hope this is clear)

• Once you have changed the Value to a percentage that is more acceptable to you Click Ok
• Now Close Regedit
• It’s always a good idea to restart after making changes to the registry

Well that is it for now on System Restore I hope you have learnt a lot from this.

Adam Nugent

When you Install Windows Vista on a computer there can be many issues with Software Compatibility more so if you are upgrading from an earlier version of Windows such as XP, because a lot of the software that you use on a day to day basis is designed for that version of Windows.

Now for some programs you may not have any issues at all but for the most part you will have to download a new version of the program that you are using to make it run correctly on Windows Vista.

Some types of programs that are more often than not going to cause issues when moving to Vista are:

• Disk Partitioning Utilities .
• Software Firewalls.
• Antivirus programs and other security related software.
• CD/DVD burning software.

Most people think that hardware is the main issue with Windows Vista, I suppose both are equally volatile when it comes to Vista really. As time goes by more and more things just work with Vista as Microsoft are releasing updates all the time, Software and Hardware companies are making sure that there products are compatible with Vista.

So when you are thinking about moving to Windows Vista, you’ve check that your computer can handle it Hardware wise. You need to next check all the software that you use can be used with Vista, usually this is a very simple process you just go on over to the website of the product and check to see that there are Vista downloads.

You might possibly be using a program that you’ve used for years that’s not being supported anymore there for the creators are not going to be making the changes so it will work with Vista and the worst time that you could find out something like that is when you have installed Windows Vista and need to use it!

I wrote another article on Vista compatibility a few days ago that was more focused on the Hardware of your computer but the program used to inform you of issues is still very useful for this too.

Download Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Here!: A program provided by Microsoft (Free) to help you when moving on to Vista, tells you of any compatibility issues you might face based on the Hardware and Software you are running currently. More important when you are upgrading but very useful in every case when you just want to check everything will work with Vista.

You might also want to be aware that while Windows Vista is installing any Firewall programs that you have will most likely be disabled and the Windows Vista Firewall will be enabled, this is something you should know if you prefer to use your own software firewall rather than the Vista firewall. Make sure you check all your antivirus and security software once you have installed Vista.

Adam Nugent

Anyone that’s used Windows Vista from a new installation will know when I’m talking about when I mention the Welcome Center. This little annoying window will give you instant access to a things such as Windows Anytime Upgrade, Add New Users, Whats New in Windows Vista and much more.

However this is still a very annoying window that you will have to close every time you boot up Windows Vista, It’s something that’s very easy to stop and I’ll explain below, I’ll also explain how to find it again after you have stopped it.

First of all lets banish the Welcome Center:
When you start up Windows Vista you are presented with the Welcome Center Window, Well in that very window if you look in the bottom left corner you will see a check box that says Run at startup. All you have to do is un tick this box and then close Welcome Center.

Secondly (for you crazy little critters) how to get back to the Welcome Center:
Click on Start (Bottom left Vista Logo) and type Welcome into the search bar then click on Welcome Center when you see it in the list.

If you for what ever reason what it to show again on every start up then check the box that says Run at startup.

You will also see near that check box (Welcome Center can be found in Control Panel, System and Maintenance) So if you are having problems with the search function or would just like to find out where it is go take a look.

Adam Nugent

This is a little problem that I noticed today and managed to resolve quite quickly and I thought that I would share it with you should you encounter the same issue. I you are using Office 2007 and AVG and encounter any of the issues/errors below then it would be that AVG is causing them.

Bare in mind however this is not a usual with AVG and I only came over these problems because an update on AVG went wrong and made a mess.

Ok these are the errors you might receive:

Outlook 2007

The Addin “AVG Exchange Extension” cannot be loaded

Failed to initialize

Outlook may also not respond and give you the usual “Outlook has encountered an error and needs to close”

Word 2007

The file “File Name” is not available (File Name will be replaced with the name of the file you are trying to open)

Word may also not respond and give you the usual “Word has encountered an error and needs to close”

You might notice that Word is displaying Running Virus Scan in the bottom left of the window where the word count usually is, which is part of the problem. If AVG cant scan a file then its in a way treated as a bad file and you are unable to open again or even use the programs that AVG is linked into.

Don’t worry to much, because this is very easily solved by Uninstalling and Reinstalling AVG. When you Uninstall AVG you will need to reboot (Restart) your computer, then once you are back up again you can download and reinstall the application. I’m under the impression that you know how to do this since you all ready had AVG on your system, if you are unsure on this leave a comment and I’ll explain how and were to get AVG.

So If AVG spits its dummy out and makes your Office pack malfunction you know what to do

Adam Nugent

As we all know when it comes to new operating systems there are always going to be issues with some software programs and hardware devices. With Windows Vista the problems have been much larger then before and to ensure that all your current hardware and software will work under Windows Vista there is a program provided by Microsoft called Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor.

Since the release of Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista and all the updates that have been released Vista is not as problematic as it first was and is now more than ready for the average home user to start using. There is always something missing however which is why before you even think about installing Windows Vista you should run the Upgrade Advisor.

The following tutorial is going to show you where to get Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor then how to install and use it to ensure that you will have minimal issues if any at all.

Download Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Here!

Now I will walk you through installing this small (But important) piece of software:

1. Locate the file you have just downloaded which should be named WindowsVistaUpgradeAdvisor, Double Click the file to start the install wizard.

2. You may be presented with a security warning at this point asking you to Run or Cancel, Click Run.

3. There should now be a Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor window on display, Click Next

4. License Agreement, Select I Agree and then Next (if you agree of course!)

5. You will now be asked where you would like to install the program, the default location should be C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor\ Assuming you have your operating system installed on C: drive if you are happy with this Click Next.

6. Select Create Desktop Shortcut and Click Next.

7. Click Close, Installation is no complete.

I will now show you how to run the program and find out if you would be faced with issues when upgrading to Windows Vista:

• On your Desktop there should not be a shortcut icon to run Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, Double Click this to start the program.

• Once the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor window is displaying Click Start Scan

• While the Scan is taking place (Which may take a while) you can read through the Tabs at the bottom explaining in more detail what you will get in what versions of Windows Vista.

• Once the Scan has completed Click See Details.

• First of all you should select the Version of Windows Vista that you wish to install on the left hand side.

• Now if you scroll down you are displayed with Three important points
1. System Requirements
2. Devices
3. Programs

• Click See Details on each of these in turn to find out if there will be any issues with upgrading to Windows Vista.

• If you do have any issues that require action I would HIGHLY suggest that before you even consider installing Vista you resolve these issues, most software now have versions for Vista but there are some that still do not. Check there websites for details.

• If anything does require attention it’s likely that the Upgrade Advisor will point you in the right direction.

• For any reason if there is something that you don’t understand in the list there is a Print Task List in the top right of the See Details pages, print off a copy and take it to your local PC shop for advice. They should be able to explain anything that you don’t quite understand.

That’s all there is to it really, if the Upgrade Advisor says that you will have issues resolve them before upgrading. If everything is good then go for the install (please make sure you backup any important information first, as with computers anything can and more than often does happen!) and the last thing you want is to lose all those priceless photos and important documents.

Another point to note, when installing Windows Vista if you are asked if you would like to download updates from the internet as part of the installation, if you have an internet connection I would suggest that you say yes to this. It will save you a great deal of time later and also give you all the latest updates meaning that the problems that you could face will be much less.

Adam Nugent

Setting up send and receive groups in Outlook 2007 can be useful for a number of reasons, the main one that comes to mind is download limits and connection speed. For example if you are using a dial up connection and only want to skim your emails you can only download headers or emails that do not exceed a specific size. If you feel that this could help you then follow the steps below and I’ll show you what to do.

1. Open Outlook 2007.

2. Click Tools

3. Select Send/Receive

4. Select Send/Receive Settings

5. Click Define Send/Receive Groups

6. In the Send/Receive Groups window you are now displayed with Click New…

7. Give the group we are going to create a meaningful name (Such as “Headers Only” ) this is really dependent upon what you plan to do with the group. I’m going to explain your options below.

8. Now you are displayed with the Send/Receive Settings – (Chosen Name) window.

9. On the left hand side you will see all your mail accounts including RSS accounts.

Now I’m going to explain your options:

• To add an account to the group: Select the account on the left, and check the box at the top entitled Include the selected account in this group. If you wish to remove the account from the group uncheck this box.

• You can edit the Account properties if you wish, by clicking Account properties… in the top left the only reason you might want to edit these settings is to leave a copy of the email on your server. Account properties -> Advanced Tab -> Check the box that says Leave a copy of the message on the server.

• Under Folder Options you will see two check boxes where you can choose to either Send Mail Items or Receive mail items, check the box as appropriate (for example you might just wish to send an email you have saved but don’t have the time or even want to download any new messages of the server).

• Under Account Options on the lower half of the screen you will see 4 options displayed

1. Download Headers Only: (this is ideal if you don’t have a lot of bandwidth or a slow connection speed)

2. Download Complete Item Including Attachments: (if you want to download everything)

3. Download only headers for items larger than: (This could be useful if you have a slow connection, you want all your emails but don’t want to spend hours waiting for a huge attachment to download)

4. This is where you will select the max size in KB of emails that you will accept for download (anything above the size will not be downloaded)

Now that you have selected the accounts you wish to add into this group and have selected the options that you require Click Ok.

Now you are back in the Send/Receive Groups window and have a few more options that you may wish you change (you will need to highlight the account you wish to change while selecting the options) I’ll cover them below :

• Include this group in Send/Receive (F9): If you wish to action this group every time F9 is pressed then keep it selected however if you wish to only Send/Receive at specific times then uncheck the box.

• Schedule an automatic send/receive every (X Minutes): You can change the number of minutes that Outlook waits before automatically Sending and Receiving again useful if you want to check your emails every 30 minutes/ hour.

• Perform an automatic Send/Receive when exiting: Very useful if you have wrote an email and forgot to send it out and close the program (can save you so much stress if the email was important).

These Next two only apply when Outlook 2007 is Working Offline:
• Include this group in Send/Receive (F9): See above
• Schedule an automatic Send/Receive every (X Minutes): See above

Once you have configured all the settings for your new group Click Close.

There is one more step I would like to point out before I finish this tutorial, if you wish to manually Send/Receive this group Click Tools -> Send/Receive -> Click the group you want to action.

I hope this has been easy to understand, if you feel that I have missed anything out or are confused please leave a comment below. Happy E-Mailing

Adam Nugent

As we all know junk mail (spam) these days is a very serious and annoying problem for every person that uses and email account of any kind. We are getting better all the time in creating software that can detect such mails and block them, however there is always going to be some that get though and this is where your Junk Mail Filter comes in. You can help configure your Junk Mail Filter to keep out that annoying spam.

Open Outlook 2007

Click Tools

Click Options…

You are now displayed with the Options window, in the Preferences tab (where you should be by default) Click Junk E-mail…

Now I’m going to take you though each tab on the Junk E-mail Options window starting with the Options tab.

Options Tab
On the top half of this tab you will have four levels of protection for Junk Mail they are displayed below:

1. No Automatic Filtering: This is the least protection that you can set on Outlook 2007, This means that all emails received will be classes as safe and sent to your inbox (unless you have otherwise told Outlook to send specific emails to the junk mail folder).

2. Low: This is not much better than the above as only the most blatant junk emails will be sent to your junk folder. (Again if you have an email on the blocked senders list, they will be sent to your junk mail folder either way).

3. High: This will catch most junk mail that comes in but can also class emails that are not junk as spam and send them to your Junk Mail folder, therefore if you do use this setting I suggest you check your Junk Mail folder from time to time to be on the safe side. ( if there is a legitimate email in your junk, just right click the email Select Junk E-mail and then Add Sender to Safe Senders List.)

4. Safe Lists Only: This is the most intensive protection level of them all, only emails from people you have added to your Safe Senders List will be received in your Inbox everybody else will automatically be sent straight to your Junk Mail (Consider Carefully before choosing this option).

Now Below the four Levels of protection you have four Check boxes:

1. Permanently delete suspected Junk e-mail instead of moving it to the Junk E-mail folder: This is not something I would recommend you using EVER, because computers simply make mistakes and you could delete a very important email.

2. Disable Links and other functionality in phishing messages: As it says below this in the window Recommended, I will completely agree with this.

3. Warn me about suspicious domain names in email addresses: This is also good practice to keep active.

4. When sending email, postmark the message to help email clients distinguish regular email from junk email: As long as you are not sending out Bulk emails to a great number of recipients then I would leave this option checked, it’s another tool to help fight the war on spam.

Safe Senders Tab
This is just as it sounds, a list of email addresses that you refer to as SAFE. Any emails in this list will be sent to your inbox because Outlook will consider them safe.

To Add an email to the safe list:

Click Add…

Type in the Email address and click OK.

To Edit or Remove an email in the list First highlight the email you wish to remove/edit and Click either Edit… or Remove on the right.

You can also Import From File… or Export to File (A list of email Addresses you consider safe) to a File or from a file. To do this simply click either Import/Export and find the file containing the list if you are importing or choose a name for the file you are exporting.

The two Check boxes are the bottom of the Safe Senders Tab.

1. Also Trust E-mail from my contacts: If this option is check then anyone you have in your contacts even though they may not be on the list will also be considered safe and come straight though to your inbox.

2. Automatically add people I E-mail to the Safe Senders List: This is an option you need to decide for yourself depending on who you email.

Safe Recipients Tab
Similar to Safe Senders only difference is: E-Mail sent to addresses or domain Names on your Safe Recipients List will never be treated as junk e-mail

Blocked Senders Tab
Again much the same to Safe Senders (used in the same way) only this time to block email addresses. Any address that you add in here will automatically be sent to your Junk Mail folder.

International Tab
This gives you two options the first being Blocked Top-Level Domain lists… Which will block emails from specific countries/regions based on the top level domain. Basically if you wish to block emails from United Kingdom (just for example) you will check the box that says GB (United Kingdom) then click Ok.

The Second Option is Block Encodings List... This will block encodings from being sent to your Inbox, be careful which you check here, as with the above option I would only play about with these if you have reasons to do so.

That covers Junk E-mail options in Outlook 2007, I hope after reading this tutorial (Advice Article) you will configure your Outlook to receive much less spam in your inbox than before.

Adam Nugent

For the purpose of this tutorial I’m going to say that you are using All Ways On mode because this is what I use on my Laptop for a few reasons, you should be able to decide what you need for yourself while following the steps in the tutorial below.

Click on Start (Windows Vista Logo) Bottom left

Click on Control Panel

Click Power Options

Now I’m going to explain a few things here and the rest of this tutorial is optional only, as you will want to select different options depending on how you use your computer. As I said above we are going to do this in High performance mode (Always On) but you can change the options as you see fit from here on in.

Check High Performance, and then click on Change plan settings below.

All the four drop down boxes on here if you always need your computer to be active (many for network reasons) Change them all to Never.

Click Save Changes

One more thing that you will want to change if you are using a laptop is what happens when the lid of the laptop is closed.

On the left of the Power Options window click Choose what closing the lid does.
No you will want to change the Drop down box on when I close the lid to Do Nothing.

Click Save changes

There we go your laptop will now, you have not set up the power options on your computer so that the hard drive/ monitor never turn off and are always active, be aware though that if you are using a laptop your screen will still enter the screen saver if you have on set and will also turn the screen off when you close the lid.

(The main reason I wrote this tutorial is because someone asked me if they can keep a network active while the computer is asleep, the answer to this is no. And these are the steps to stop your computer sleeping.)

Adam Nugent