How to Change the Priority of Network Connections in Windows

How to Change the Priority of Network Connections in Windows

By   07:31   No comments:

Do you ever plug in your wired network card while your wireless card is still enabled? Ever wonder how Windows chooses which one to use? Here’s how to see the default priority—and how to change it if you want.

Note: there’s almost never any reason to change this, as Windows does a good job of choosing the right connection. Still, if you want windows to work differently with it, this is how you would do it.

How to Change the Network Card Priority

To change the priority, head into Network and Sharing Center and click on the Change adapter settings link on the left-hand side—or you can quickly open the network connections list by typing ncpa.cpl into the Start Menu search box.

From here on there are two ways to change this…

Method 1:

• press the ALT key on the keyboard,
• Then click the “Advanced” menu
• Choose “Advanced Settings”.
• In the window that pops up, use the arrows on the right side to move the Local Area Connection above the wireless connections.
• Click OK.

That's It.

Method 2:

Now that we’re in change adapter settings…

Choose the network card that you want to change the priority for, right-click it, and choose Properties from the menu.

Now select the Internet Protocol Version 4 item in the list, and click the Properties button.

Now click the Advanced button at the bottom of this window…. getting tired of clicking yet?

And now, finally, we’re at the place where you can make the change. Uncheck the box for Automatic Metric, and then type a number into the Interface Metric textbox. You can consult the list that we found in the command prompt earlier to know what metric to assign—you’ll probably want to assign it something higher than 1, since that’s used for the loopback adapter.

You may want to go ahead and change the priority for your other card as well, just to be sure that it is assigned the proper priority.

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Steps To Reset All User Permissions To Default

Steps To Reset All User Permissions To Default

By   15:45   No comments:

This article will explain how to change the user permission on Windows (Vista and Windows 7) to its default settings.

Use this method only if you have accidentally changed some user permission on your Windows machine . I can't change the permissions back because it tells me that I do not have access to certain folders.

It is very important that if you have created System Restore points try to restore your system back to previous dates on which your system worked without the above mentioned problem.

To reset system permissions, follow the steps:

• You will need to run ‘Subinacl Tool’ to reset the permission to normal.  Download subinacl.msi from the following link, and save it on the desktop.

(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e8ba3e56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b&displaylang=en#AffinityDownloads)

• On the desktop, double-click subinacl.msi to install the tool.
• Select C:\Windows\System32 as the destination folder.

This step assumes that Windows is installed in C:\Windows. If Windows is installed elsewhere, select the appropriate path to .\System32.

• Open Notepad.
• Copy the following commands and then paste them into the opened Notepad window.

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=system=f

• In Notepad click File, Save As, and then type: reset.cmd
• In Notepad click Save as type, and then select All Files (*.*).

• Save the reset.cmd file to your desktop, and close Notepad.
• Double-click the reset.cmd file to reset the Windows Update permissions. If this gives you any error message, then right click on reset.cmd and choose “Run As Administrator” as shown in the below screen shot. And if you are asked with any question, give Yes to continue.

This step may take several minutes, so please be patient. When the permissions have been reset, you will be prompted with "Finished, press any key to continue."

• Press any key to complete the installation.

Check if you have the right permissions to all the folders for all users.

This works for Windows 7 as well as Vista. How do I restore security settings to the default settings?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313222

For more information you may check the article given below. The article given is for Windows XP updates, but still holds good for Windows Vista as well as Windows 7.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968003

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How To Use Windows Safe Mode

How To Use Windows Safe Mode

By   21:49   No comments:

Safe mode is the best option when someone has called saying that their new PC is not booting properly, as it lets a technician determine roughly whether there's a problem with the hardware or a problem with software that's been installed since the PC left the store.

Unfortunately, in our experience many users have little more than a vague awareness of the existence of 'safe-mode' in Windows, and no idea how to get into it or why they would want to.

Here is something you need to understand Windows Safe mode and when and how to use the Safe Mode.

When to Use Safe Mode in Windows:

Windows hangs, restarts by itself, or crashes with a blue screen error, or your video display is garbled and you cannot get control of the display resolution.

 

The Solution For The Above, and How To Use Windows Safe Mode:

• Restart your PC and press the F8 key at the end of the BIOS to access Windows' start menu.
• Select the Safe Mode option and let Windows start up.
• Log onto Windows if prompted.
• Click OK or Yes to acknowledge the "running in safe mode" dialog.
• Use Safe Mode to reset any recent configuration changes, uninstall recently installed hardware, or run System Restore to return the system to a working state.

If you don't know what you are doing, and if you are in doubt, call your hardware vendor for support.

Safe Mode uses only basic files and drivers (mouse, except serial mice; monitor; keyboard; mass storage; base video; default minimal system services; and no network connections).

In Safe Mode, your desktop display is limited to 640 480 resolution, allowing you to select another resolution to be used after restart—helpful if you have video driver or resolution selection problems. Many 32-bit device drivers are not loaded, limiting the number and types of programs you can use—for instance a Pinnacle PCTV tuner card cannot be used in Safe Mode.

As well, entries in Windows Registry Run and Run Once keys are bypassed in Safe Mode, an essential feature for removing spyware and unwanted programs that will not go away in Normal Mode. If your computer does not start successfully using safe mode, you might need to use the Recovery Console feature to repair your system.

Additional Safe Mode options exist—Safe Mode with Networking and Safe Mode with Command Prompt. Safe Mode with Networking adds basic networking components to the Spartan mix of few device drivers and features so you can access LAN and web-based resources as needed. Safe Mode with Command Prompt presents the command-line interface instead of the Windows GUI, most useful if you are having trouble with and need to repair displaying Windows' graphics.

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Solving Error Code: 0x80070646, Error Code: 646, Error Code: 1606 When Using Windows Update or Microsoft Update

Solving Error Code: 0x80070646, Error Code: 646, Error Code: 1606 When Using Windows Update or Microsoft Update

By   22:36   No comments:

When you try to install updates for Microsoft Office applications using Windows Update or Microsoft Update, you may receive one of the following error codes.

Error Code: 0x80070646 Or Error Code: 646 Or “Error 1606 Could not access network location %APPDATA%”

This update problem occurs when Windows Installer encounters an error. Error code 0x80070646 and error code 646 are generated by Windows Installer. These generic errors indicate that Windows Installer encountered a problem. When you encounter the errors that are described in the "Symptoms" section, the problem may be caused by an incorrect value in the registry.

Solution:

To automatically update the affected registry keys, click the button in the "Fix it for me" section. If you would rather verify and update these keys yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

To resolve this issue, verify the value of the AppData key in the registry. To do this, follow the steps in the procedure that applies to your operating system:

For Windows 7 and Windows Vista users:

• Click Start, and then in the Start Search box, type regedit.
• In the Programs list, right-click Regedit.exe, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
• Locate and then click the following registry sub key:

  HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

• In the details pane of Registry Editor, locate AppData. The value of this key should be %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming.
• If the value is not set to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming, right-click AppData in the details pane, and then click Modify.
• Enter %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming into the Value data box, and then click OK.
• Close Registry Editor.
• Try to install the update again. If the problem persists, repeat these steps but use the following registry sub keys instead of the sub key that is specified in step 3:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

For Windows XP users:

• Click Start, and then click Run.
• In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
• In the Programs list, click Regedit.exe. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
• Locate and then click the following registry sub key:

  HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

• In the details pane of Registry Editor, locate AppData. The value of this key should be %USERPROFILE%\Application Data.
• If the value is not set to %USERPROFILE%\Application Data, right-click AppData in details pane, and then click Modify
• In the Value data box, enter %USERPROFILE%\Application Data, and then click OK.
• Close Registry Editor.
• Try to install the update again. If the problem persists, repeat these steps but use the following registry sub keys instead of the sub key that is specified in step 4:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

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Why Windows Vista Takes So Long to Copy Files

Why Windows Vista Takes So Long to Copy Files

By   10:11   No comments:

Most people first realize that something is wrong with Vista when they try to copy or move files, and they see the little green progress window shown in Figure below. It’d be understandable to see this window on screen for a minute or two if you’re copying a lot of data, but should it really take three full minutes to move one small file, or eight minutes to delete another?

I guess you might have seen the below (screen shot) window a lot lately? This tiny “Green Ribbon of Death” is one of the signs that not all is right in the world of Vista.

This is one of two “Green Ribbons of Death” in Windows Vista, the other being the larger progress bar—the one dissected in my other post that appears at the top of the Windows Explorer window in the address bar/path box. So, what’s going on?

It turns out that several things can cause Windows Explorer to take a long time copying, moving, or deleting files, and some of them are actually legitimate. First, Windows Explorer takes time to examine the files and folders you’re copying, moving, etc., and checks—ahead of time—to see whether there are any conflicts, such as existing files in the destination folder or security issues that need your attention. That’s why you’ll see Vista’s nifty confirmation window (Figure) just once for many conflicts, rather than (many)  individual confirmations you’d have to endure in earlier versions of Windows.

Figure: This handy new confirmation window lets you deal with all the conflicts at once, rather than having to click through a bunch of windows, but it ends up causing other problems (Please notice "do this for all conflicts")

The confirmation window in the above figure is actually quite nice because of all the choices you get. If you’re copying media files (e.g., photos, videos, PDF documents), you’ll see thumbnail previews to aid your decision; you can even right click the thumbnails directly in this window if you want to work with the files without interrupting the file operation. What’s more, you can choose to copy or move the file without replacing the original, renaming it instead to avoid the conflict.

The downside is that Explorer must delay your file operation while it prepares the confirmation window; depending on what it encounters along the way, this can take forever. One of the main reasons for the delay is a side effect of User Account Control, the same security “feature” that turns the screen black for an moment before asking your permission to make a change to your system.

Naturally, Vista has to examine each file you’re copying to make sure you have permission to copy it, and then examine the destination to make sure you have permission to put the file there. See “Control User Account Control,”  for some ways to ease up the restrictions. Likewise, if you’re copying files over a network, Windows has to do some security reconnaissance, and depending on the speed of your network connection, this can take even longer.

But security checks alone aren’t responsible for Vista’s abysmal performance in this area; there’s also the matter of thumbnails. As described in “Green Ribbon of Death” , there are a few common problems that can cause Windows Explorer to hang or even crash, and if one of these things hobbles the instance of Explorer you’re using, the progress dialog (shown in First Figure) can just sit there for what seems like an eternity.

Once you’ve fixed the problems outlined in Green Ribbon of Death, the copying, moving, or deleting should go much faster.

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Prevent Accidental Printing Copying Or Forwarding Confidential Documents

Prevent Accidental Printing Copying Or Forwarding Confidential Documents

By   19:33   No comments:

Often, users need to share confidential documents to collaborate efficiently. For example, a user might e-mail a document to another user for review. However, when the document is copied from your protected shared folder or intranet, you lose control of the document. Users might accidentally copy, forward, or print the document, where it can be found by a user who shouldn’t have access.

There’s no perfect solution to protect electronic documents from copying. However, the Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) client, built into Windows Vista and Windows 7, enables computers to open RMS-encrypted documents and enforce the restrictions applied to the document. With an RMS infrastructure and an application that supports RMS, such as Microsoft Office, you can:

• Allow a user to view a document but not save a copy of it, print it, or forward it.
• Restrict users from copying and pasting text within a document.
• Make it very difficult to open the document using a client that does not enforce RMS protection.

Windows 7 provides built-in support for using RMS to protect XML Paper Specification (XPS) documents. To use RMS, you need an RMS infrastructure and supported applications in addition to Windows Vista or Windows 7.

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