Vista
Configure your Antivirus Correctly
Antivirus software can frequently be blamed for eating up computing resources and slowing down a computer. Most of the time that is the basis for arguments when we choose or recommend our favorite antivirus software (I recommend Avast.).
The problem of resource-hungry malware protection software is usually a result of the program itself or poor programming, but some of the time it can just be a problem of a poor configuration. That’s why it is always important to review the antivirus configuration if the defaults are not working for you. Microsoft offers a guide for improved configuration for Windows Server 2008, Server 2003, Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, making it relevant information for home users and IT professionals.
A Week of Google Code, Day 4: SymLinker
While looking around for a particular utility, I ended up on Google Code just dredging through all the projects they have online. As I went through, I kept opening tabs to more and more applications that sounded interesting. I found enough applications worth sharing that I decided to post one per day this week and highlight some hidden treasures of Google Code.
Day #4: SymLinker
SymLinker provides a GUI to simplify the use of the MKLINK command and symbolic links, hard links, and directory junctions. The MKLINK command is found in Vista, Server 2008, and assumedly Windows 7. Symbolic links are different from shortcuts and file copies. They also have different uses and serve different purposes. For a great explanation of these terms (what is a symbolic link?) and another utility to assist with these objects check out this Freeware Genius article on Link Shell Extension.
Symbolic Link Creator simply asks what type of link you want to make (symbolic link, hard link, or directory junction). It first asks where you want to store this link, what name you want to give it, and at what the link is supposed to be pointing. Click the Create Link button and you’re all set.
Clean up your Context Menu
The context menu (what pops up when you right-click) is one of the most popular items to clutter; a lot of programs will add their shortcuts or filetypes to the menu when they get installed. It’s also a very under-used, convenient location that you could put your frequently used functions and shortcuts. This post should show you how to tame the context menu and make it work for you.
One of the things that I use the context menu for the most frequently is for creating new folders or new text documents. Unfortunately, a lot of other clutter gets added to the context menu as programs are installed. As the list grows larger, it can sometimes take longer for the context menu or the New sub-menu to appear. In order to speed it up and make it more convenient, we just need to clean it up and get those unused entries out of our way.
Below you can see my context menu when I just right-click on my desktop. The New menu is cluttered with things I will never use and the reason I began investigating this was that the Text Document disappeared from the menu. This post will show how to retrieve the Text Document entry, remove any unwanted entries, and add any other file types.
Improving Vista File Search
Configuration
One of the coolest features of Vista, which is now somewhat available for Windows XP, is the search feature. With background indexing, there’s no denying that Vista’s search functionality is zippy, faster than Windows Search ever was before. Along with the fact that the animated creatures are gone (the dog by default, “Goodbye Clippy 2.0″), Vista’s file search is a lot less annoying all around. That being said, there are still some ways to improve upon it and some things to know.
A Smorgasbord of SysInternals Tools
SysInternals offers a lot of useful tools for Windows computers. These can either add more functionality, work-around different quirks, or gather more information for debugging.
This article is divided into two sections. I tried to separate the utilities into General use and IT use. Those in the General use category might have a larger interested audience and those in the IT category would be of particular interest to those in IT or regular computer maintenance.
Useful for everybody:
Desktops allows you to create up to 3 additional virtual desktops for your computer. This only requires about 5 megabytes of memory for the process and allows you to keep your organizational spaces organized. You could have one desktop where you are browsing, another for working on a document, and etc. As you can see in the screenshot below, you can configure hotkeys to switch easily between desktops and enable the program as a service so it starts up with your computer.
Unfortunately, Firefox has the same issues as having more than one session with Remote Desktop. You can open Firefox on more than one desktop if you use a different profile on each one otherwise you’ll get a message that the profile is in use.
Improving Vista
There are two legitimate complaints that I hear frequently regarding Vista. I say legitimate because I think a lot of people have bought into the herd mentality that Vista is bad without ever:
A) Trying it out for themselves
B) Giving it a shot for a decent length of time
C) Recalling how bad Windows XP was at first (Wireless networking wasn’t even reliable or mainstream usable until Service Pack 2)
There’s a third complaint about Vista that I have, but I seem to be the only one that ever states it: I think the networking components have become overly complex and obscure. It tries to do more than I want it to do in the vein of trying to provide greater network security.
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