In this tutorial, you will learn about file streams and how you can put them to good use.

Each file in Windows system comes with a default stream where application can use to store information. A file can also have more than one of streams (also known as alternate streams), but they are seldom used by applications.

How To Hide Text Information On a File

It is a good practice for applications to store data in alternate streams rather than the default stream. However, almost every program we use don’t even care about this. They just use the default stream and forget about the possibilities of a file having more than one stream. Creating an alternate stream is as easy as using the command file:stream in command prompt.

To hide text information on a file, we just have to create an alternate stream and store information into it. In this case, we are going to use a file with the name “program.exe“.

Open a command prompt. To create a new stream, type:

notepad "program.exe:hide"

The next window will appear:

Notepad will create an alternate stream with the name “hide.txt” inside program.exe. Once we click yes we can save whatever text we want:

If you copy the “program.exe” file to another location, it will carry this file along. To access the stream, you will need to use its name, in this case ‘hide.txt’ which makes it even harder for someone  to read it.

How to Check If A File Is From External Sources

Windows use this feature to control the source of files. It is also a good way to improve your security since you can now find out the source of the file. To check if a file came from another computer or the Internet, right click on the file and select Properties.

In the general tab, you will see information about the file:

How to Manage File Streams

While you can easily create a stream, Windows doesn’t come with any tool to view which files have streams. Nor is it able to list out the streams associated with the files. If we want to see this information, you have to use a simple application call “Streams”. This is a old program created by Mark Russinovich, who is currently a Microsoft staff.

Download Streams by Sysinternals

With this program, you can see if a file contains more than one stream. It also show the name of that stream and the size.

From the image below, you can see that many files has a ‘Zone.Identifier:$DATA‘ stream. This is used by Windows to store information about the source of the file. It will only exist if the file is originated from other computers or Internet.

By default, Windows will block downloaded program from Internet. If you are sure about the safety of the file, you can use Streams to delete this data so Windows doesn’t ask you to unblock the program every time you run it.

Alternative means to view streams

If you are using Windows Vista or 7, you can use the dir command with /R switch to view the stream. In the image below, you can see that the streams information appear if we use the /R switch.

You can see that “file.exe” contains two streams. One is unnamed (the default) and the other is “Zone.Identifier:$DATA”. For a file that doesn’t came from another computer or Internet, this stream doesn’t exist.

Do you know of any other ways to hide confidential data within a file?

The post What Is File Streams And How to Make Good Use of Them? [Explanation] appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

There are several advantages to using th command line instead of the visual interface:

• We can check on individual item, and isolate those that are causing the problems.
• Command line tend to have more options so we can test the system deeply.
• We can use scripts to automate the process.

In this article, we will show you how to diagnose and fix network problems using the command line.

To get started, first make sure that you are running the command prompt with Administrator privilege.

How to know if your cable is connected

You can use the ipconfig tool to check if you are experiencing some problem with your cable. Windows will show up a list of the interfaces and if they are connected or not.

How to know if your gateway is working

A gateway is the device, usually a router, that connects your computer to other networks and Internet. If you cannot connect with your device, it is pretty sure you are not going to connect to the Internet. First you need to know the IP address of the device. You can use Ipconfig to give us the information about the default gateway:

Now you can use ping to test if the gateway respond. This tool informs if a device with a given IP is answering. In plain English, with this test, we know that our network adapter, the cable and the router are connected correctly.

How to know if your dns is working

A DNS server is capable of converting a site name, for example www.maketecheasier.com, to its IP address. To connect to a computer in Internet, Windows needs that number. If you cannot connect to your DNS , it is almost impossible that Internet works.

As you can see in this case I have the same router and DNS IP address.

To test the DNS you can use nslookup. This command make a query to that server. In the following image you can see how the server resolve Make Tech Easier address.

How to know if a process is opening too much connections

Every time a program needs to connect to Internet or other machine, it opens a new connection. A router can only handle a limited number of connection. If for any reason, a program opens many connections, you can end up with a block Internet.

We can do this with the command netstat and the parameters “a” and “b”

netstat -a -b

You can see what programs are using these connections. In this case, you can see that I have a program named “Filezilla Server” listening in port 21.

How to check firewall rules

Firewall misconfiguration can lead to Internet malfunctioning. A firewall configuration is no more than a set of rules deciding whether an application can access the Internet or not. By default, these rules appear in abundance and you cannot see all of them in one screen. Instead, we can insert this information on a text file using the following commands:

netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name=all > firewallrules.txt

notepad firewallrules.txt

The first command access the firewall configuration and write it to a text file. The second command open the text file in a new notepad window.

A basic use of the netsh utility can inform us if there is one or more blocking rules to that use the command:

netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name | find "Block"

Unfortunately it doesn’t show what is the program blocked by that rule.

What other tricks do you use to test your internet connections?

The post How To Fix Network Problems Using Command Line Tools In Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to limit the disk space usage of your users in Windows 7.

Limiting the user’s profile size

In Windows 7, the user profile is usually stored in “c:\users\username” (replace username with the name of the user). This profile includes all the data related to an user. You will be able to find “Desktop”, “Documents”, “Music”, “Videos”, “File settings”, etc within this profile folder.

Note: This tutorial can only be used in Ultimate, Professional and Enterprise editions. Other versions of Windows 7, such as the Home Premium or Basic, doesn’t include the group policy editor.

We are going to use an inbuilt utility so there is no need to download or use third party applications. Our first step is to open the group policy editor.

Click the Start button and type “gpedit.msc” (without quotes) in the search field.

Once the Local Group Policy Editor window appears, go to “Local Computer Policy -> User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> User Profiles”.

On the right pane, you should be able to see a list with multiples entries. Scroll down the list to find an entry “Limit profile size”. It should show “Not Configured” under the State column.

Double click the “Limit profile size” entry. This will open up a configuration window. At the top, select the “Enabled” button.

At the bottom, you can set the maximum profile size for each user profile and the custom message to show when the size is exceeded.

Optionally, you can select the option “Notify user when profile storage space is exceeded” so that your system will notify the users when the limit is reached.

For Windows earlier than Vista, when the profile size is exceeded, the system won’t let the user log off until the profile size size is reduced to within the limit. For Windows Vista and above, the user can still log off, but they won’t be able to sync their profile with the roaming profile server.

Note: Windows, in this case only control profile size. It will not control direct sub folders of the C drive or other drivers different that the one containing the system.

Do you have ever use an application to limit the file usage by an user?

The post How To Limit Disk Space Usage By Users In Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

We have previously covered how to use the Resource Monitor to track your application. In this article, we are going to show you a more powerful tool – Process Monitor, to get the job done.

Process Monitor is a very sophisticated application. It records every access to files, registry and it is a must-have tool if you are experiencing a system problem. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or you are an advanced user, working with this application is much easier than you think.

In this tutorial I have used a free benchmark program, NovaBench, for creating the scenario. I have selected this utility because is free and I want some system activity. Of course you can use Process Monitor with other programs as well.

1. Download Process Monitor

Download the latest version of Process Monitor (The latest version as of this post is 2.94)

2. Execute the program

There is no installation required, but you need to run it as Administrator. Right click on the file and select “Run as administrator”

2. Stop Capture Events.

By default, the utility starts capturing events the moment you run it. As we have to change some options before using the program, we need to stop it. Go to the File menu and uncheck “Capture Events“.

3. Press Clear.

Click “Clear” to remove all the irrelevant entries in the window.

4. Configure Profiling Events.

Go to the Options menu and select “Profiling Events…“. This will instruct the utility to capture the execution log of each process or program.

5. Set Thread Profiling Options

Check “Generate thread profiling events“, and select “Every 100 milliseconds“:

6. Select Capture Events

Now the program is ready to do its work. Go to the file menu and select “Capture Events” to start the process.

7. Stop Capture Events.

When you are done with your test, go to the File menu again and uncheck “Capture Events“.

8. Show An Activity Summary

Go to the Tools menu and select “Process Activity Summary“. This will display a summary of all the recorded log.

9. Order by CPU usage.

A new window pops up. The program allows you to order by different measures. In this case, we are going to select CPU usage.

From here, we can see that the Microsoft Security Essential is using the most CPU resources. It also shows the total user CPU and kernel CPU usage.

10. Order by RAM usage.

Alternatively, you can also sort the processes by its memory usage. This will allow you to see the application that is taking up the most memory instead of CPU resources.

What other tools do you use to monitor your computer?

The post How To Monitor What Application Is Eating Up Your Resources In Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Some of the common problems seen in IE8 include:

• You have more toolbars that you desire. Some of them are uninstallable.
• The browser does not go to the website you want it to go. You type a web name, press Enter. It brings you to another site that is full of ads.
• Your searches doesn’t look normal. You are being redirected to another search provider.
• The home page changes without our knowledge.

If you are experiencing one of the above, don’t be alarmed. Here are the ways to fix them.

1. Remove Uninstallable Toolbars

Occasionally, when you install a new program and you didn’t read the fine print, it will automatically install toolbar(s) in your IE. These toolbars are often annoying, disruptive and take up valuable screen estate. In most cases, you can uninstall them via the Add/Remove Program panel, but there are times when they are very persistent and refuse to disappear from your browser.

In this example, we are going to uninstall the Alexa toolbar (this is only for illustration purpose. in no way did I mean that Alexa toolbar is not useful). The tool we are going to use is Autoruns.

Autoruns is a tool designed by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell, you can download the program using this link: Autoruns for Windows

This tool can configure what programs run during startup. It can also be used to find out what plugins are installed in Internet Explorer.

To use the utility, run the application as Administrator:

Autoruns classify the objects, basically dynamic link libraries and programs, using different tabs. Just go to “Internet Explorer” tab:

In the screenshot above, we can see that the tab is split into three groups.

• First group contains the browser helper objects. They are plugins designed to provide a new functionality.
• Second group is a list of the toolbar in the browser
• Third group are extensions.

In this case, we are going to remove the Alexa toolbar. Highlight the entry, right click and select “Delete”.

Done. You have just removed an uninstallable toolbar.

2. Remove Search Providers

If you see an unwanted search provider (as shown in the image below),

Click on the button and select “Manage Search Providers“.

Internet Explorer doesn’t allow you to remove the default provider, so before you can remove it, you have to set another search provider as the default.

Now you can remove “Alexa Web Search“.

3. Reset Internet Explorer Settings

If all the tricks don’t work, the ultimatum is to reset your Internet Explorer to its default settings.

Using the search function in Windows 7, search for “internet options“. Alternatively, you can also access the Internet Options from the browser File menu.

Now go to the “Advanced Tab” and select “Reset“:

You need to quit all browser windows before using this function. You will see a popup window explaining the stuff that are going to be reseted:

This should restore your IE back to its original state.

Do you use any other ways to solve Internet Explorer 8 issues?

The post How To Fix The Common Problems In Internet Explorer 8 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to protect your system from an untrusted software.

1. Use your Antivirus

This may sound pretty obvious, but it is surprising that many people are not fully utilizing it. Some malware are known to prevent antivirus from running properly, so before you install anything, it is best to scan the file before running it.

This check is not going to take more than 1 minute and it is definitely worth your effort. If you don’t have any antivirus suite yet, Microsoft Security Essential is a good choice.

2. Check Digital Signatures

Some files include a signature to provide information about the developers who created the file. Virus and malware programs don’t usually include this information. We can easily check a file for its signature and discard those suspicious software that don’t come with one.

Right click on any file. Select “Properties”:

If the program include signatures information, you will see a new tab:

In this case we see that is signed by “RealVnc Limited“.

Note: Not all valid programs are signed, but at least you can eliminate the probability of a virus if the program include digital signature information.

3. Create A Restore Point

Every time you are going to make something risky with your computer, make sure you create a restore point. This applies to installing of a new antivirus suite or a new driver as well. Having a restore point allows you to restore the system back to an earlier time before the changes are made. Here is the way to create a restore point:

Using the search function in windows 7 type “create restore point” and select the program:

Go to the “Create” button:

Now the system will ask for a name for that restore point and create it. Select a descriptive name so you can find it easily.

4. Create A Standard User

Windows 7 creates its first user with administration rights. This user has the permission to do almost everything in your computer. It is a really good practice to never use your admin account for normal use of the computer. The best way is to create a standard user for your everyday use.

Go the search function type “user accounts” and press Enter:

Select “Create a new account“:

Type a name for the user, remember to check “Standard user” and click over “Create account“:

5. Restrict Access To Internet

Many viruses use Internet to look for updates. Other kind of malware, such as keyloggers, send every key you type to Internet. So if you don’t trust a program, you should block its access to the web.

Search for “windows firewall advanced“.

Goto “Outbound Rules” and select “New Rule…“:

In this case we are going to block a normal program, so select this option and press next:

Select “Block the connection” and press next:

Now you are done.

Note: If you are testing out a software, you can also use Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 or a virtual machine using Virtual Box to prevent any changes to your system.

Do you use any other security tips in your computer?

The post 5 Important Measures To Gear Up Your Windows 7 Security appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

For the example, we are going to use a folder with the name “Important Files“. Right click the folder and select “Properties“:

Click “Advanced“:

Select “Encrypts contents to secure data” and select OK:

You can either just apply the attribute to a folder or apply it to all subfolders and files as well. In this case, I will apply the encryption to any children object, as files or subfolders:

That’s it. As you can see, it is very easy to encrypt a file/folder.

Now, most of you will start asking “where is the encryption key and how do I back it up?”

Backing up your encryption certificate

Windows store all the encryption detail in a certificate. This certificate acts like a key to your safe. If you lose your certificate (the key to safe), you won’t be able to access your files anymore. That’s why you need a backup file.

Go to the Start menu. Using the search function, type “manage encryption” (without quotes). Select “Manage file encryption certificates“:

A window appears. It shows information about what you can do with the utility. Press Next:

Select the certificate you want to backup. In this case, there is only one:

Select the location to backup your certificate and enter a password to protect the file. It is very important that you copy this file to other device, and of course that you remember the password:

Now, the program allows you to associate this certificate to previously encrypted files. In this case, as we are creating a backup copy, just press Next:

The utility will show a message with information, just press Close. Done!

For those who are looking to encrypt your USB drive, check out the Bitlocker to Go

Have you ever use Encryption File System before? Do you think is a handy feature or do you prefer something like Bit Locker?

The post How To Protect Your Sensitive Documents In Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Note: The following tricks will modify your registry. It is best to backup your registry before you proceed. This hack only works in Windows 7 or Vista. It will not work under Windows XP.

The Registry Hack

We are going to change some entries, so when you use the context menu, you will see this menu:

Download the Firewall registry file here

The text in this file is:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
 
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell]
 
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\Add To Firewall]
 
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\Add To Firewall\command]
@="netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=\"%1\" dir=out action=block program=\"%1\""
 
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\Delete From Firewall]
 
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\Delete From Firewall\command]
@="netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name=\"%1\""

Double click the file.

Click Yes to the User Account Control message:

Next, go to the search tool in the Start menu and type “uac” (without quotes)

Drag the slider now to “Never notify” and click Ok.

Restart your computer.

Note: You only need to set the UAC to “Never notify” when you want to add or delete a program from the firewall. Once you have blocked the programs, restore the UAC settings to the defaults.

An Example

To illustrate, we are going to add the Internet Explorer to the Firewall and prevent it from accessing the Internet.

1. Use the Find utility in the Start menu, type “Internet Explorer”.

2. Right click on the “Internet Explorer” entry and select “Add To Firewall“.

If you go to the Firewall settings, you will see that Internet Explorer has been added to the Outbound Rules.

Selecting the “Delete From Firewall” will remove the app from the list.

Uninstalling

In case you don’t want this feature, download the file UninstallFirewall.reg

The text of this file is:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
 
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\Add To Firewall]
 
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\Delete From Firewall]

First, unblock all the applications that you have previously blocked.

Secondly, double click the uninstall file. When prompted, press OK. The Firewall options will disappear from the context menu.

Note: Always remember to restore the User Account Control to the default settings.

The post How To Block An Application Access to Internet From The Context Menu [Windows 7] appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

There is no need to have more than one administration account in a machine. In this example the account we are going to block is a normal user. If you are thinking about controlling the usage of some applications by an user, the first step is not granting more than the necessary rights, so check what kind of account is.

1. Login into the system

The first thing we have to do is login to the administrator account. By default, Windows creates the first user as administrator, so you just have to login to the first account that you have created. We are going to use file system permissions to block Excel 2003 for an user named “User“. This technique can also be used in Windows Vista and XP.

2. Looking for the file

Microsoft Excel 2003 files are located at “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11“:

1. Go into Computer.
2. Go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11.
3. Right click on the Excel launcher and select “Properties”.

3. Security Tab

Go to the “Security Tab” and select the “Edit” button:

We need to change the permission for a specific user. Since its name is not in the list, we will have to add it in. Click the “Add” button.

Now type “User” (without quotes) and press OK:

Highlight the newly added “User” entry. At the bottom pane, check the permissions that you allow/deny to the user. What we are going to do here is to deny the user from opening it, so we check the box “Read & execute” under the Deny column. Once that is done, press OK.

You will see a Windows Security prompt. It informs you that if a user belongs to two groups, one with “allow” permission and another with “deny” permission, the deny permission will take precedence and prevent the user from using the app. Click Yes to continue.

That’s it. When logged in to this “User” account, the following message will appear when you attempt to open the Excel application.

If you want to restore the permissions, just go to the Security tab of the file and follow these steps:

1. Select User.
2. Select Remove.
3. Press OK.

Do you know any other method to control software usage for Windows 7 Home or Starter?

The post How to Block Programs In Windows 7 Without Using AppLocker appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

To reset login password in Windows 7, we are going to use the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor by Pogostick. This program can also be used to edit your registry from a boot CD. This can be very useful if you are dealing with a faulty driver.

Note: If you are using EFS encrypted files you cannot recover it using this method.

Download The ISO File

Go to Pogostick.net and click the BootDisk button.

Download the latest Bootable CD Image.

Unzip the downloaded file and open the folder. Right click the ISO file and select “Open”.

On the window that pops up, check the box beside “Verify disc after burning” and click “Burn”. Make sure you have a blank CD-R in your disc drive.

Execute The Utility

Restart your computer and boot from the CD. When it starts the following screen appears:

In case you have problems, for example the application don’t continue with the process, you can use one of the options on the screen. It’s very unlikely you need this so just press “Enter”.

The program need some information before it can clear the password. In this first step it will scan your computer for the Windows partition. In a default installation of Windows, it will create 2 partitions, one for boot and another for the whole system. You should see this information in the screen.

The first, the one that CD named as sda1, is used for booting purposes. In this example, you have to select the second one (the entry that contains your Windows system). Just type “2″ (without the quotes) and press Enter.

The program will start to scan for the location of the registry files. It’s very uncommon that the registry is not inside the default folders, so it shouldn’t have any problem locating it. When the process is finished, it will display the path. Press “Enter” to continue.

The program will list the registry content. Press space-bar to go to the end of the list registry. Select “Password Reset” by typing 1 (follow by ENTER).

Now we are going to select “Edit user data and passwords”. Type “1″ (without the quotes) and press Enter:

It will show a list of the users that have been found on the system. In this case I will use the administrator. Of course you can change other users as well.

Select “1″ (without the quotes) to clear the user password:

A message informing about password cleared will appear. Do the following steps to make it permanent:

• Type “!” and press Enter if you don’t want to clear more password accounts.
• Type “q” and press Enter, the program will ask you if there is something to save.
• Type “y” and press Enter. In case you select “n”, it will revert any changes you have made.

The utility then ask if you want to run it again. Select no, and press “Ctrl + Alt+ Supr” to finish the process. Now you can use that user account again. Don’t forget to quit the CD before starting your computer again.

The post How to Reset Login Password in Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

This handy utility can even restore data after an installation of your new Operating System or a format of your computer. For me, this is a must-have tool.

Norm has previously covered how to use Recuva to recover long lost files. In this tutorial, we will cover the Recuva portable, a portable app that you can bring along in your USB.

Some of the useful features in Recuva include:

• Recover from damaged or formatted disks. It is worth to try a recover program even if the drive is not working properly. The best option in this case is using other computer to scan for lost files.
• Recover deleted emails. Recuva, as other programs of this kind, look for the header of a file trying to identify the content. It can even used to restore lost emails.
• Restore Unsaved Word documents. When you are working with Word or other Office programs, it stores temporal backups even without your knowledge. Recuva can identify them and restore your work.
• Delete files you want to erase forever. It is easy to find files even as they have been deleted. The program helps you to erase a file so cannot be recover using other programs.

The utility can be used to recover any sort of documents, pictures, music or video.

1. Download Recuva Portable

2. Unzip the downloaded file. This is what you are going to get:

Recuva can work in both 32 bits and 64 bits system. Depending on your system architecture, double click the icon most suitable for your system.

The Recuva Wizard will appear and ask you for the kind of files you want to recover. The more specific you are the faster you will find a file. Here you can see the kind of document the utility can recover. For example it can find emails only created by Thunderbird, Outlook Express and Windows Mail, so if you are using other email client, don’t use this option.

Select File Location. If you are dealing with a complex situation, a hard drive that has being formatted or you are not sure where the files are located, the best way to go is using the first option:

Recuva will ask if you want to enable “Deep Scan”. In this case it will take more time to find files, but you will also be more likely to locate the files that you are looking for.

Recuva starts to work:

Finally it will show you the files:

You just have to select the entries and click the Recover button. That’s it.

What other programs do you use to restore your lost files?

The post How To Restore Deleted Files Using Recuva Portable In Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

In this post we will show you how you can diagnose and solve your hard disk problems with the default tools in WIndows 7.

Note: The order is not random. Follow these steps, according to their orders, to see if the issues get solved.

1. Using Windows 7 Error Checking Tools

Sometimes when we found a problem, we tend to install third party applications and forget about the basic tools that come bundled with Windows. Unknown to many, many complex issues can be easily fixed using programs that are part of Windows operating system since its first release. A simple interface doesn’t mean it is a useless utilty.

First, double click “My Computer”.

Now select the drive you want to inspect and right click:

Go to tools tab, and click “Check now…”:

Now, check that you select automatically fix and scan for bad sectors:

If Windows cannot perform the checking because the disk is in use, it will ask to schedule the next time you start your computer.

2. Using Windows 7 Recovery CD

Other way to check your hard disk is using the Windows 7 Recovery CD. These tools can be found in the Windows 7 CD or with a System Repair CD.  You can learn how to do it here:

How To Create A System Repair Disc in Windows 7

You can use this CD to look for problems in your hard disk. You have to boot your computer with this CD. Once you have selected your language, you will see a window asking what tool you want to start. In this case we are going to use the command prompt:

Once you do that type “chkdsk c: /R” and press Enter to launch the application:

The verification process has 5 stages. CHKDSK verify files, indexes, security descriptors, USN Journal, file data and free space.

3. Using System File Checker

Not all files in your computer are essentials for your operating system. System File Checker will check those files and solve any integrity problem.

Use the find utility in the start menu. Type “cmd”, rigth click and select “Run as administrator”.

Now in the command window, type "sfc /scannow" and press Enter.

The result will inform you if there is any integrity violations.

What other ways do you use to check the health of your hard disk?

The post 3 Easy Ways To Check The Health Of Your Hard Disk In Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

In MSE, one of the useful feature is the ability to schedule scan at ghost hour so it can keep your computer safe, yet not interfering with your work. However, in some situations, the scheduled scan might not work as intended.

In this post, we will show you how to properly setup a task in your computer. This task will wake your computer at night, carry out the routine scan and shutdown the system after it has finished its work.

Configure MSE

First, open the Start menu and type Security Essentials:

Go to the Setting tab. Activate the “Schedule Scan” option and determine the time that you want it to run.

It’s important to configure this way so Microsoft Security Essentials will create the scheduled task and we can change it to work the way we want.

Modifing the scheduled task

Open the Task Scheduler:

Go toTask Scheduler ->Task Scheduler Library ->Microsoft Antimalware:

Rigth click the created task and select “Properties”.

Go to the Conditions tab, uncheck the option to start the task only if the computer is idle and check the option to wake the computer to run this task.

Note: For the system to wake your computer, your BIOS has to support Advanced Power Management (APM) version 1.2 or later for this to work.

Shutdown the computer after task completion

After configuring the computer to wake at ghost hour to do the scanning, you will find that there is no way to configure it to shut down. Fret noe, we have created a script that will do the job for us.

1. Open the Notepad.

2. Copy and paste the script below to the notepad:

@echo off
:start
tasklist | find "mpcmdrun.exe" /I
if %errorlevel%==0 (goto wait) else (goto start)
:wait
tasklist | find "mpcmdrun.exe" /I
if %errorlevel%==1 shutdown -s -t 60
goto wait

You should see something like this:

Save it as “%userprofile%/shutdownaftermse.bat”.

Now go again to the task, right click and select “Properties”. Go to “Actions” tab and add this script.

Select the file:

Press OK.

That’s it. Your computer will now wake to do the system scanning and shutdown after it has completed its job. What other ways do you use to schedule your scans?

The post How To Schedule Microsoft Security Essential To Work At Night appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Since the first version of Windows, utilities for resource control has evolved. Now Windows 7 comes with 3 programs that can track/control resource usage: Task Manager, Performance Monitor and Resource Monitor. While there are other more advanced application, for example Process Monitor by Sysinternals, it will be worthwhile to first use the pre-built application as it uses less resources and storage space.

In this post I will show you how to use the Resource Monitor to track the resource usage of an application in Windows 7.

Starting the Resource Monitor

You can start Windows applications in several ways. In this case we are going to use the “find” function in the Start menu, type resmon and click over the program:

The program will show up.

As an example, I will illustrate using the Excel program.

Control CPU and associated files and libraries

First we select the Excel process:

Now we go to the CPU tab and expand associated handles and modules:

You can also find out what services are associated with the process. In this case, Excel is not using anyone, so I haven’t show that portion of the window.

In the associated handles, you can see the files, event and other kind of objects open by this Excel. You can use the search handle to know if excel is using a file. The number of handles the system is capable of working with is limited, so a program that uses a big number can stop your system.

In the associated modules you can see the libraries that is using the program.

Control Memory

With Resource Monitor, it is easy to know how much memory the application is using. Click on the memory tab.

At the bottom of the window you can see a graph with information about the memory of the system. We can see that the system is not having problems offering memories to the programs.

The information showed for each process is:

Hard page fault per second in the last minute – This show how many times these processes has used the virtual memory in the last minute. An intensive use of virtual memory means that programs has to wait. So if you start seeing large numbers, maybe it is time to buy more RAM.

Commit Memory – Virtual memory reserved to this process.

Working Set – Physical memory used by this process.

Shareable – Physical memory that can be shared by other programs.

Private – Physical memory that cannot be shared by other processes.

Analyze Wait Chain

Resource Monitor can analyze if a process is waiting for other program. If a process need to use a resource that is being used by another process, it has to stop until that resource become available. To analyze a process just right click and select Analyze Wait Chain…

And then we will see the information about what process is stopping our application:

Excel is waiting for OSPPSVC.EXE program before it can continue.

The above mentioned will be all you need to monitor your application and control the resource usage of the application. It is a handy task, but not used by many people. What other programs do you to use to track resource usage?

The post How To Track Applications Resource Usage In Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

• Restrict apps to inexperience users: How many times have you lost an entire day because your children have clicked on the wrong button?
• Limit your own usage of an application: Sometimes you need to stay focus and do your work, so why not block out the unnecessary noises?
• In a corporate environment this can be your best friend to control the usage of programs.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to block the usage of Microsoft Excel 2010 by an user. You can use the same trick for any other apps. Applocker can accomplish more complicated tasks, but we are not going into every single details.

Note: Applocker will only work in Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise.

First you need to find this feature. Open the Start menu and type gpedit.msc in the search field.

Go to Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Application Control Policies an select Executable Rules:

On the right pane, right click and select Create Default Rules:

You will see three fields all with the “Allowed” permission. This will allow every user to run every program.

Right click your mouse and select Create New Rule:

A wizard will appear. Select Skip this page by default. Press Next.

In this case we want to deny the access to an application for an user, so select “Deny”.

Type the user you want to restrict, you can also select everyone. In this case I restrict a user named “user“.

After that press Next:

Now we are only going to block an executable. As you can see there are several possibilities. Select “File hash” in this case.

Now you browse for Microsoft Excel:

Go to c:\program files\microsoft office\office14:

Press Next:

Select Create:

It might take some time for Applocker to work. The best way is to reboot your system.

Now, everytime you try to launch Excel, you will see the following image:

What other ways do you use to block your apps from external access?

The post How To Block Specific Programs In Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

If you are an advanced user, for sure you know about VirtualBox, which has been covered plenty of times in Make Tech Easier. The most important difference between VirtualBox and Windows XP mode is that you don’t need a Windows XP CD. You can download all files from Microsoft.

If you are having problems porting your programs to Windows 7, this feature is an option you need to review. Following is the step by step guide to install and execute Windows XP mode in your Windows 7 machine.

Note: For this mode to work you will need a Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate version of Windows 7.

First, download the Download Windows XP Mode with Virtual PC

Insert your edition of Windows 7 and your language:

Once you do that  the step 3 will appear. Now as you can see in the image above, you have to download and install Windows XP Mode, Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode Update in this order.

Before downloading, Windows will check if your Operating version is valid. Press Continue:

You should now have these three files:

Installing Windows XP Mode

Double click the Windows XP Mode installer. Press Next:

It will ask for the folder of the installation, just press Next:

The program start the installation:

Installing Windows Virtual PC

Double click Windows6.1-KB958559.msu. you will see the following image, press Yes:

In the following image you will see the license agreement, press I Accept:

Once it finished it will ask for a reboot of your computer:

Installing Windows XP Mode Update

Double click Windows6.1-KB9777206-x86.msu, you will see the following image:

Starting Windows XP Mode

In the Start Menu, look for Windows XP.

Now you can click over Windows XP Mode. The first time you have to setup the aplication:

Now the program will ask you for an installation folder and the credentials for Windows XP Mode. Be sure to remember that password.

Turn on Automatic Updates and press Next.

Click on “Start Setup“:

Windows XP Mode will start to prepare itself:

Once it is done, you will see Windows XP on the screen:

Now you can install any program you want. Personally, I prefer VirtualBox, but that will require you to have the Windows XP installer CD. Windows XP Mode is a very good choice if you are experiencing problems with Windows 7 compatibility.

The post Step by Step Guide To Install Windows XP Mode In Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

You can be sure that eventually you are going to suffer from one of the following issues:

• An electrical failure
• A virus infection
• A fault in your operating system
• A faulty driver

Any of these can change a system file or setting, which could make your system’s behaviour unstable. For this reason, we need to create backup and repair tools. Backup tools create copies of your system while repair utilities try to fix your system.

Since you won’t be backing up every minutes of the time, there might be some changes that are not captured by the last backup, thus it is always important to first attempt to repair the computer. Only when it fails, then you proceed to restore your backup (and lose some of the unsaved changes).

We won’t go into the detail of backing up your system since Tanmay has covered how to create a backup system image in Windows 7 in great detail. What we will do is to go through the steps you need to do to create a system repair disc that you can use to repair your system.

Creating A System Repair Disc

Note: The System Repair utility is included in the Windows 7 installer DVD. This tutorial is useful for those who don’t own the installer DVD (the OS is pre-installed in your system) and want to create a separate system repair CD.

Before you proceed, insert a blank CD/DVD into your CDROM in order for the system to create a system repair disk.

Go to the Start menu and type “repair” (without the quotes) in the search field. Select “Create a System Repair Disk”

You will see the following image. Select Create Disc.

Windows 7 will start to prepare the necessary files.

And proceed to create the disc.

Windows will show you a window asking you to label the disc. Press Close.

How To Use A System Repair CD

To use the system repair CD, you have to boot your system from it. You will have to make sure that your BIOS is configured to boot from the CD.

To start your BIOS, use the F2 key or Insert or Del (some motherboards might come with different BIOS hotkey). Once you are in the BIOS menu select the Boot Tab:

These screenshots are from an old BIOS but you should see something similar. Select CD/DVD Drives as first boot device:

Then the CD will start, select Windows Setup and press Enter.

Windows will ask for your keyboard language, press Next when you are done.

In the next step, it will search for Windows Installations:

Windows 7 will then show the findings:

Finally you will find a list of tools:

• Startup Repair: This is the first thing to do if your computer won’t start up. Windows 7 will do several check and fixes that can solve the problems. This is done automatically without your interaction.
• System Restore: If you have installed some new hardware or an application and your computer is not capable of start you can revert your system to a previous state.
• System Image Recovery If you have done a system image you can revert those files.
• Windows Memory Diagnostic. This will restart your computer and look for memory problems. More common than you think.
• Command Prompt: Designed for people that want to do advanced recovery. This will let you do a check of your disk for example, the famous Windows XP command chkdsk.

What other ways do you use to repair your system?

The post How To Create A System Repair Disc in Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.

Fortunately, Microsoft seems to know that their users will face nasty problems, that’s why they have also included several diagnostic tools in the OS to help you troubleshoot your problems when they arise.

Here’s are three tools that you will find handy when you need to troubleshoot your computer.

Note: The order is not arbitrary and it’s a very good approach to use these utilities in order.

1. Action Center Troubleshooting

The Action Center is a useful resource center for finding out the problem you are solving, and sometimes, the solution to the problem.

In your WIndows 7 system tray, click on the flag in the bottom right.

Windows will open a window with a link to open “Action Center“.

Action Center merges messages from different sources, including security and maintenance issues. Any message that appears in Action Center gives you a way to solve the problem.

If your problem is not related in that list, select “Troubleshooting“.

Here you can find solution for compatibility issues, hardware related, network, Aero and System and Security.

Note: Whenever Microsoft finds a problem that can be solved automatically, it will create new packages to automate the process. Thus, it’s very important that you check the box “Get the most up-to-date troubleshooters from Windows Online Troubleshooting service” to use the most up-to-date troubleshooters.

Select the wizard related with your problem, in my case, I have a performance issue so I click on that,

and it starts to troubleshoot the problem.

Click on the “Start System Configuration”

Once the program ends, you can check for more detailed information:

When it is done, it will generate a report with the issues that were checked.

2. Reliability Monitor

The Reliability Monitor provides a system stability overview and details about events that impact reliability. It calculates the Stability Index shown in the System Stability Chart over the lifetime of the system.

To start the Reliability Monitor, go to the Start menu and type “permon /rel” in the search field.

The program will show you a report with the history. In the image below, you can easily see that Window was not properly shut down.

You can also view all problem reports.

With this utility, you can easily find out the source of your problems.

You can also click on the “check for solutions to all problems…” link to get Windows to solve the issue for you.

3. Problem Step Recorder

If automatic fixes don’t work for your system, maybe it is time to get a friend to help. The problem with having to describe an issue to other person is that it is very hard to explain exactly what it’s happening with your computer. So, why not take screenshots of your problem and show it to your friend?

The Problem Step Recorder is one such tool that you can use.

We have previously covered Problem Step Recorder in great detail, feel free to check it out for the usage instruction.

Conclusions

It is great to see Microsoft includes such troubleshooting tools in the OS. Even though they don’t reduce the number of problems that might arise, it can definitely be useful when one need a quick solution to get things working again.

How do you fix your Windows when problems arise?

The post 3 Native Tools to Help You Troubleshoot Your Problems In Windows 7 appeared first on Make Tech Easier.