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How to see hidden files in Windows Vista
Windows Vista has made it a little harder to find the Folder Options settings than it had in previous versions. The easiest way is to use the Folder Options control panel to modify how folders, and the files in them, are displayed. You can still show the Folder Options menu item while browsing a folder, but you will need to hold the ALT key for a few seconds and then let go to see this menu.
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How to determine what services are running under a SVCHOST.EXE process
A very common question we see here at Bleeping Computer involves people concerned that there are too many SVCHOST.EXE processes running on their computer. The confusion typically stems from a lack of knowledge about SVCHOST.EXE, its purpose, and Windows services in general. This tutorial will clear up this confusion and provide information as to what these processes are and how to find out more information about them. Before we continue learning about SVCHOST, lets get a small primer on Windows services
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Windows XP System Restore Guide
With new programs being installed, viruses infecting, and spyware lurking in your browsers it is not uncommon for your computer to suddenly stop behaving correctly. In fact, it is almost guaranteed that at some point your computer will just not do what you expect it to. This is not because your a lousy computer user or even a bad person, this is just the life as we know it when working with computers. Luckily for us, Microsoft bundles an application called System Restore into it's operating system to help alleviate this problem. This article will cover what System Restore is, how it works, and how you can use it to protect your computer.
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How to uninstall a program in Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
There are two ways to uninstall a program in Vista; the wrong way and the right way. Unfortunately, though, too many people uninstall a program using the wrong ways, which can lead to poor performance and problems on the computer. These wrong ways are delete the program's folder or just deleting the icons. When you attempt to remove a program in this way, there will be a large amount of configuration information left in the Windows Registry as well as files that may be installed in locations other than the program's folder. These orphan files and Registry data have the chance of causing conflicts on your computer thus leading to problems.
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Windows Program Automatic Startup Locations
Many programs that you install are automatically run when you start your computer and load Windows. For the majority of cases, this type of behavior is fine. Unfortunately, there are programs that are not legitimate, such as spyware, hijackers, Trojans, worms, viruses, that load in this manner as well. It is therefore important that you check regularly your startup registry keys regularly. Windows does offer a program that will list programs that are automatically started from SOME of these locations. This program, Msconfig.exe, unfortunately, though, only lists programs from a limited amount of startup keys.
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How to automatically repair Windows 8 using Automatic Repair
Windows 8 includes a recovery feature called Automatic Repair that attempts to automatically diagnose and fix common issues that may cause Windows 8 to not start properly. Automatic Repair will start automatically when Windows is unable to start properly. Once started, it will scan various settings, configuration options, and system files for corrupt files and settings. If it detects anything, it will automatically attempt to fix them for you.
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How to install and use the Windows XP Recovery Console
The Recovery Console is a special boot up method that can be used to help fix problems that are preventing your Windows installation from properly booting up into Windows. This method allows you to access the files, format drives, disable and enable services, and other tasks from a console prompt while the operating system is not loaded. It is suggested that the Recovery Console is to only be used only after Safe mode and the other standard startup options do not work. I feel that the Recovery Console is also useful in other situations such as removing malware files that start in both Safe mode and Standard Mode and thus not allowing you to delete the infection.
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How to create a new user account in Windows 7 and Windows Vista
Windows 7 allows you to have multiple users sharing the same computer under their own individual accounts. This allows each individual user to have their own location on the computer where they can store their personal documents, pictures, videos, saved games, and other personal data. This also allows the owner of the computer to assign certain accounts the ability to perform administrative tasks like installing software, while limiting other user's abilities.
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Windows Vista System Restore Guide
System Restore is a system recovery feature of Windows that creates snapshots, or restore points, of the state of your computer at various intervals or before you perform a certain task. These restore points can then be used to restore your computer back to the state it was in when they were taken. When these restore points are created, and restored, the only files affected are the Windows Registry, programs, and system files. Your data such as spreadsheets, documents, images, and music remain untouched between restores.
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The Hosts File and what it can do for you
When using the Internet most people connect to web sites, ftp servers or other Internet servers by connecting to a domain name, as in www.bleepingcomputer.com. Internet applications, though, do not communicate via domain names, but rather using IP addresses, such as 192.168.1.1. Therefore when you type a domain name in your program that you wish to connect to, your application must first convert it to an IP address that it will use to connect to.
