Vista Tips n Tricks [image: Vista Tips n Tricks] Want to know how long Windows has been running? Make Windows Explorer a lot more responsive to your commands and disable Internet Explorer warnings.
*Know your Windows Uptime* If you leave your computer on forever, you may be interested to know how long it's been up. In previous Windows you'd probably need a separate software to tell you that but not in Vista. 1. Open up Task Manager, by hitting *Ctrl + Shift + Esc* keys simultaneously. 2. Click on the *Performance* tab. 3. Look below where it reads *Up Time*. Your Windows Uptime is displayed in hours, minutes and seconds. *Faster browsing in Windows Explorer* One thing good about Vista is the explorer that is now updated. It's got quite a few smarts that I've come to love. However, this also means that it doesn't always load as quickly as Windows XP explorer would. Here's how to speed up Windows explorer. Note: Many of these tweaks can make Vista explorer quite a plain Jane, however, not all may need to be turned off/on all the time as performance improvements only depends on what you are doing in the Vista Explorer at a particular time. To access Folder Options... 1. Open a folder, click on *Organize* and then click *Folder and Search Options*. 2. Now click on the *View* tab. 3. Apply any or all tweaks below to speed up browsing in Windows explorer by click on/off the check mark associated with the tweak. 4. Click *OK* when done. *Always show icons, never thumbnails * It's pretty easy to understand what this does. Vista Explorer will not spend time trying to render thumbnails of photos or videos; it will simply generate them as icons. This will substantially decrease the folder load time taken to show icons on screen. Again you'll only notice the difference when opening such folders. *Display file icon on thumbnails* This will not matter if you've turned off thumbnails. Nevertheless, the tweak can minimally help loading thumbnails faster as Vista does not have to spend time looking for what icon is associated with the file type. Personally I prefer this on. *Display file size information in folder tips* This can be applied in Windows XP as well. The setting tells explorer to calculate and show how file size of the object selected. You can shave a few processor cycles off if this is turned off, but seriously with dual-core processors and quad-core processors available today, I doubt it really matters. *Hide extensions of known file types* Turning off this setting can speed up explorer browsing, especially if you've several files of different extensions in one folder. What vista tries to do is apply a mask on the extensions that are known by Windows; the ones which are not are left as it is. I keep this setting off in Vista explorer, as not only for a little speed boost but also because I like to know what file type I'm opening as well as Vista's new capability to rename files without touching the extensions. *Remember each folder's view settings* Windows remembers each folder's view settings which includes all the little nuances that you may have set such as order type, icon positions, etc. However, to load this template can take a bit of a time depending on the folder, contents, etc. This can be speeded up by turning off the view settings and keeping only one view setting for all folders. *Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items* This pop-up description is not the same as showing file size information, but rather any textual (meta) information that may've been inputted. Again turning this off will prompt Windows not to bother looking for this type of info. *Show preview handlers in preview pane* This can have a noticeable impact especially in folders where loads of photos and videos are stored. Previews of videos impact the system considerably more than still photos. *Disable Security Warning Messages in Internet Explorer* I don't use Internet Explorer, but whenever I do, I get a lot of security warning messages which after a point get quite a bit annoying. I couldn't find a single switch to turn off these security messages within Internet Explorer itself. Not to be turned off by this minor setback, I dug deep and found a nice solution, here it is. *Note: This trick is applicable to Windows XP too! * 1. Hit *Win key + R* to launch Run console. 2. Type in *gpedit.msc*. 3. In vista, if you haven't turned off UAC, you'll get a security prompt, just click Allow. 4. Local Computer Policy will open up, click on * Computer Configuration >Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer*. Just click on arrow next to text or double-click on it. 5. Now on the right pane, look for *Turn off the Security Settings Check feature * 6. Double-click on it and set it to *Enabled*. -- * http://lifexperiments.blogspot.com/ േസ്നഹേത്താെട ജഗ്ഗു :) With Love JaGGu :)* --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MTA0406" group. To post to this group, send email to mta0406@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.in/group/mta0406?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
