Microsoft Windows Tips And Tricks Archives • Computer Tips And Tricks, Gadgets, How-To, Life

March 30, 2013

lmhosts.sam / hosts – Run As Administrator in Windows 7 / Vista

Security concerns are good. But when security patches starting interfering with usability, it’s pain in the wrong place for a common man. Google is always around to help, but how many of them have the patience to actually search a solution and implement it ? Most results you get may not be any where near perfection or could be outdated or …..

The lmhosts.sam file in Windows 7 / 8 has restricted access. This is to ensure and prevent any malicious intrusion. Chances are very slim that those of you who are trying to modify files in this directory :

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc or if your system hard drive isn’t C: the path is whatever your system path would be: %systemroot%\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

are layman. However, if you still get stuck while trying to modify files in here, these links will help you out :

How to edit lmhosts file in windows 7 by Jake Ludington :

http://www.jakeludington.com/windows_7/20100924_how_to_edit_windows_7_lmhosts_file.html

and for those who are unable to edit the file due to lack of administrative permission, this article from Microsoft support will help:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923947

December 7, 2011March 7, 2017

Use Microsoft Security Essentials For Your Computer Security

Use Microsoft Security Essentials For Your Computer Security

Using internet frequently without proper security measures can be harmful and you could cause severe problems like Spyware, other malicious and other viruses. These threats will be anywhere in your computer, silently stealing your personal information without letting you know or crash your operating system like Windows and you’ll end up losing all your data.

Therefore, Microsoft has taken an initiative and they have released many free anti-spyware and anti-virus for the safety of Microsoft Windows users. Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is one of latest introduction.

Once you your system have Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), you can be sure of the following points:

Microsoft Security Essentials is very efficient in protecting your comp from core malware that is introduced by Microsoft Enterprise Solutions.

The Anti-Malware Engine introduced by Microsoft Security Essentials is tested regularly by various organizations globally and has been certified by several industries’ independent certification authorities like West Coast Labs, AV-Test, VB100 and International Computer Security Association Labs.

The advanced scanning and improved technologies of removing malware are the main characteristics of the Microsoft Security Essentials. Threats of viruses and malwares are common issues faced by over 600 million computers globally every month, and they are successfully diagnosed and removed by the Microsoft Malware Protection Center.

November 30, 2011

DirectVobSub to Watch Multilingual Movies

Watch And Understand Movies Or TV Programs Of Any Language By Taking Few Steps!!

These days, subtitles are very common in movies, TV shows and films while watching videos and TV programs, which are in other languages. Subtitles is the translation of the dialogs spoken in a movie or TV programs to understand the programs better for the people who are not acquainted with that specific language. These subtitles are also useful in helping those people with some kind of hearing impairment and for those who have problems with accent recognition and find it difficult in understanding the spoken language.

The most commonly used device to watch movies and video clips is the Windows Media Player but the problem in WMP is that it does not work with all versions of Windows even Windows Vista does not provide a built-in filter to load and display the subtitles in movies when videos are played.

Now, the Windows have introduced DirectVobSub, which is a new version of VSFilter or VobSub. DirectVobSub is a product, which is also known as DirectoShow Subtitle Filter. This software is useful to comprehend and perceive outward subtitles in accordance with the digital video playback.

There is an automatic integration of DirectVobSub with any other DirectShow-based media player to playback subtitles automatically and there is a facility of plugin for VirtualDub and AviSynth along with VSFilter.vdf file is re-enthrone from VSFilter.dll. DirectVobSub is known as a segment of Guliverkli2 project.

DirectVobSub is supportive to virtually all the popular formats of subtitle along with the below mentioned formats:

VobSub(.sub, .idx)

Advanced SubStation Alpha or SubStation Alpha (ssa, .ass)

SubRip (.srt)

MicroDVD and SubViewer (.sub)

SAMI (.smi)

PowerDivX (.psb)

Explanatory Name of Universal Format (.usf)

Structured Explanatory Format (.ssf)

The latest released DirectVobSub version 2.39 and DirectVobSub subtitle filter are compatible with DirectShow based player, easily downloadable from sourceforge.net or it is easily downloadable from VSFilter_20090624.zip links.

The administrative DirectVobSub version filter through developer is available only in 32-bit(x64). There is one more 64-bit(x64) DirectVobSub version available, which can be used with the media player of 64-bit.

This is to note that above mentioned downloads do not have setup installer. There will be only one filter file, VSFilter.dll contained into the ZIP package. Refer the below mentioned guide on how to establish the VSFilter.dll and DirectVobSub.filter.

Now, the question will be asked, how to enable and turn subtitles on Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player or DirectShow Player.

Before watching any movies or TV programs establish the DirectVobSub VSFilter. Users have to take some steps to activate subtitles of a movie in Windows Media Player, which are as below:

First of all, change the name of the subtitle file as the name of the video file, but don’t change the extension name of the file (both subtitle file and video file should have same name but extension should not be changed). Mentioned below is the example for correct subtitle file name and video file name.

Movie Name: Home alone.avi

Explanatory Title or secondary Title: Home alone.sub

Both the above mentioned files must be placed in one common folder.

After this, run the product (movie or video) with any DirectShow-based product movie player and the explanatory title will be displayed automatically on the video screen. There will be an icon of arrow with green color, which can be seen at the area of notification. This is the indication of successfully loading the subtitles in DirectVobSub.

If the subtitle does not display automatically on the screen, then to activate it, right click on the icon of DirectVobSub and modify the settings of the subtitles.

In the end, we can say that the DirectVobSub-based software has given freedom to those people who are fond of watching all kinds of TV programs and movies of their choice with subtitles and can understand it just like their own language.

November 28, 2011March 7, 2017

Free Windows Live Office Web Apps

Windows Live Office Web Apps – Free Access Word, Excel, PowerPoint & OneNote Online

Office Web Apps are the web-based solutions by companies for word, OneNote, Excel, PowerPoint, which has been launched along with Office Mac 2011 and Office 2010. With the help of these applications user are able to create, view, edit share and collaborate them with the documents, presentation, worksheets, and notes from almost anywhere with the internet accessibility. The best part of these applications is that they are free of charge apps and everybody can get himself or herself registered for these services irrespective of the fact whether they have the license key for office 2010 or not.

These online office web apps are based on cloud technology and they efficiently switch to Offline Live Workshop. These apps have availability in two variants, first is Windows Live, this is free for home users through interaction with the Window Live SkyDrives and Docs.com, on the other hand Enterprises and Corporate can install app on self hosted SharePoint 2010 along with volume licensing agreement.

Office Web Apps offers web based version of Excel, Word, OneNote and PowerPoint presentation, which offers up to 25 GB of data storage on SharePoint 2010 Or Window Live SkyDrives for files with any kind of extension. Office web apps also provide you with option to store the documents on your local computer along with the online data storage. With these apps, you do not have to search for extra viewer such as Visio 2010 or PowerPoint 2010, because the documents are going to be opened in web browser and you do not have to worry regarding compatibility.

Microsoft is regularly making improvements in Office Web Apps. In recent times, numerous attributes has been combined with office web apps such as ability to take print out in addition to view, ability to insert clipart and charts, auto fill option etc.

Apart from the basic editing features in office web apps, it does not have enhanced features, which come with desktop applications. Users can directly and effortlessly open the document in office web application, which has already been opened in desktop application, without the need to transfer the file manually. After the completion of editing, the file will automatically take the backup on the web server without the need for manually saving.

Office web apps full version has been made available for user of many countries including UK, US, Ireland, Canada and more, a few might not be in the local language. You can access the office web apps on office.live.com with the supported browser, which are, for Windows Internet Explorer 7 or above, For Mac OS Safari 4 or above, and for Windows, Mac, and Linux Firefox 3.5

How to Publish and Store Documents on Office Web Apps

Spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentation, Word Documents can be directly saved on Window Live SkyDrives with the help of “Backstage View” of Excel 2010, Word 2010, OneNote 2010 and PowerPoint 2010 just by clicking Share >Save to SkyDrive. Users can make a new folder or save the changes in existing folder on SkyDrives.

Alternate Method, follow one of these procedures for accessing office web apps and upload the file directly using the web browser. You can also upload the file with desktop application “Window Live SkyDrive Explorer”

Accessibility and Usage of Microsoft Office Web Apps

Window Live Office

Window SkyDrives

For Facebook

November 24, 2011March 7, 2017

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007/2010 – Tips and Tricks

Tips for Deleting Or Removing All Presentation Notes In Microsoft PowerPoint 2007/2010

There are times when you have to add some of the notes in the foils, especially while you are preparing for your power point presentation, so that you can refer to them while going through it. However, if you want to send out the foils to the entire audience without anybody reading them, then you need to securely delete them. It is very time consuming to delete each and every note on the presentation, but here is a solution where you could delete all at once. In order to do so, you need to follow the below mentioned steps:

First, go to the “Office” button and then scroll down the mouse cursor to “Prepare” and then click on “Inspect Document” this will look for any concealed data and personal information in the foils.
After that, a new window “Document Inspector” will be open, which will enable users to look and examine for several material. For example remarks and annotations, off-slide contents, invisible online slide contents and custom XML data.
Now check or tick those contents, which you would like to remove from the presentation notes.
After that, click “Inspect” and now open a new window if any presentation notes will be found along with the “Remove All” button.
If you will find any kind, which has to be removed from the presentation, then click “Remove All” button. You should take extra caution while doing this step as it cannot be undone.

November 20, 2011March 7, 2017

Update Windows 7 Device Drivers

Update Manually Windows 7 Device Drivers

Updating the device drivers of your computer might help you to get rid of error code problem of device manager and some hardware. It also enables you to enjoy the updated features of your device. Updating drivers of hardware for windows 7 is just like updating software program drivers in other windows, although there are some minor differences. Therefore, users who have knowledge of updating drivers in the earlier operating system might understand the below mentioned steps.

Download frequently the most recent version of drivers for your hardware components directly from the website of hardware manufacturer. For instance, if you have built in camera in your HP laptop, the right spot for you to download the webcam driver is HP laptop website.

Several device drivers have the ability of automatic installation, which is done by just clicking run button. Occasionally, this is simply not the situation and in case you are in this scenario then you will have to execute manual updates for you hardware. The following are the steps to be followed for this:

Download device driver from the website of hardware manufacturer. Always avoid third party installation like “automatic software detection”
Open the device manager from the control panel window.
Now right click on the hardware you want to update and select properties.
Now look towards properties window, you will find update driver tab, click> update driver.
Now a new window “’How do you want to search for driver software” will open? click > “Browse my computer for the driver software”
After that, click “let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer” accompanied by “Have Disk” button.
Click>Browse
Click>INF button.
Click>New Hardware>Next

November 14, 2011

Tackle Windows 7 Freezing With Ease

What To Do When Windows 7 Freezes Booting?

A lot is anticipated from Windows 7 by many of us. Several people may point out that Microsoft has learnt some lessons from Windows XP and Window Vista launches. We are still facing the old set of issues that we came across in the earlier windows operating system. One major issue we came across from our users is that Window 7 freezes while booting.

This issue is normally because of the USB connection problem, therefore what you need to do is to detach every one of the USB cable connections and reboot the system. As soon as the computer completes reboot process, integrate a USB connection and then leave this for some time to find out if this link creates a problem.

You might also wish to reboot your system to find out if this relationship brings about freezing while rebooting your computer. Subsequently, carry on this procedure by connecting as well as removing every USB device individually until you can recognize the location where the hardware disappointment is arriving through. The problem is generally the effect of a wireless computer keyboard or even computer mouse or dongle. However, it can be the other device as well.

In the event you have observed that the issue is originating from wireless keyboard and mouse then you will have to examine your computer to find out that the “USB keyboard and mouse support” is enabled in BIOS setting. If this option is enabled then disable it to solve this issue.

October 22, 2011March 7, 2017

How Can I Disable Microsoft Word Spell And Grammar Check

Tips To Disable Spelling And Grammar Checking in Microsoft Word 2007/2010

Spelling checking attribute in the Microsoft Word is fantastic for those people who are in a hurry to complete the work. Without manually going through the spelling errors, the integrated attribute of spelling and grammar checking helps to filter and display mistakes for additional correction. On the other hand, not all the users prefer this feature particularly when you are working on programming scripts. You do not have to worry about this anymore, as you have the option to disable such automated spelling checker so that you will not get the words underlined with red lines.

Steps to Disable Microsoft Spell And Grammar Check

If you want to disable the spelling and grammar check then follow the below mentioned procedure

Launch Microsoft office, on the menu bar click office button in word 2007 and file button in word 2010, after that go through the Word options at the bottom of the right corner.
A new window will come up, where you need to click on “Proofing” on the left panel.
Scroll down the cursor to the “Exception for” where you can select the option for all documents or for the current document.
After selecting, go to the check hide spelling and grammar error for current doc only.
To save changes click save

If you are a writer / blogger or if you are learning English, then this grammar tips resource will be very helpful for you.

July 14, 2011March 2, 2015

Change Your Display Name And Screen Name In Windows Live Messenger 2011

There are a lot of updates that have been made in the newly released version of Windows Live Messenger (previously called MSN Messenger). In the past, you were provided with the feature to change display name, nickname or screen name. The display name needn”t necessarily have to be your real name. Now, Windows Live Messenger 2011 displays the details of first name and last name, which the user provides in Windows Live Profile, at the time of account creation

So, to change the personal details and display name, user has to make the changes in their configured and saved profile, which is inside the account profile of Windows Live. The original name is for the purpose of user identification in Windows Live Messenger, Hotmail, SkyDrive, and other parts of Windows Live.

Unfortunately, one more big change the user might face is the error message of “Your Name Contains Characters That Are Not Allowed”, which is if they will try to add emoticons with their display name. The reason for this is, now the use of casino spiele punctuation symbols are prohibited with the first name and last name.

Now, as a Windows Live Messenger 2011 user, you might be wondering if there are any solutions of this problem. The answer is, YES, there is a solution of this problem. Please read on for solutions.

Login to Windows Live Messenger 2011
Edit your name by clicking on the username field, and selecting the drop down menu that appears. It is as simple as that 🙂