May 16, 2012

Change User Folder and System Folder Locations

Change User Folder and System Folder Locations

With this tip, you can change the location of the user folders such as "My Documents", "Cookies", "Desktop", "Favorites", "History", etc.

Location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Values: Multiple, see graphic

Normally whatever you download by default it will save in downloads folder. If you want to save your downloads in the different folders you need to change the locations of the driver.

Step 1:

Please follow the steps to set the location of your default download folder.

1)      Click on Start, then click on Computer

2)      Click on C:\ drive, and then click on User’s folder.

3)      Under user’s folder click on your user name, then click on Downloads, right click on downloads select Properties

4)      Click on the Location Tab.

5)      Under location tab Change the location to the require drive.

6)      Click on Apply, finally click OK.

If this doesn’t helps, then I would suggest you to follow step 2:

Note: before changing any registry setting, I would suggest you to back up and restore the registry please refer to the below link: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Back-up-the-registry

Step 2:

Try changing the location of the Download folder from the Registry:
 
1. Click "Start" – "Run".

2. Start the registry editor by typing "regedit" and press ENTER.

3. Scroll down to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer.

4. In the right pane, double-click "Download Directory".

5. When the "Edit String" dialog appears, enter your new download directory. Make sure to type this EXACTLY correct – there is no option to browse for directories! When done, click "OK".

6. Close the Registry Editor. Close all open Internet Explorer windows. You may also need to reboot your computer or logoff and login for this change to occur.

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Windows 7 does not save network login credentials (username and password)

This is a note to self while I am elsewhere:

I just signed up so I could post the simplest solution:

  1. Go to: Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > Manage Windows Credentials
  2. Expand each device listed by clicking the down arrow
  3. Delete all the credentials by selecting "Remove from vault"(to make things simple)
  4. Create new credentials for each network by entering the IP address of the device you're trying to connect to. For example, most internal IP addresses start with 192.168.1.xx. The last two digits vary with each device. It could be 192.168.1.1, 192.168.1.16, etc. Enter this address in the "Internet or network address" field.
  5. Enter your username and password (don't have to enter computer name, slashes, etc)
  6. Try to connect to the network. It will now work.
  7. To double check, restart your computer. The credential will still be remembered.

I tried to write down the simplest instructions. Obviously, there is more depth to this and alternative solutions, but this one works. The issue is 1.You either did not enter your credential in the correct format or 2.You have corrupted/duplicate credentials. There is no sequence required. We usually think that if something works, the sequence must have mattered.

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May 8, 2012

TuneUp Utilities 2012 Review

TuneUp Utilities 2012 is the latest version of one of the most popular Windows system optimization and tweaking program. Every year it is getting perfected with new unique features added to the program. TuneUp Utilities 2012 features all the functions that were present in the earlier version, viz, TuneUp Utilities 2011 (which we have reviewed earlier). Along with all those features, two notable features added to the latest version are TuneUp Economy Mode and TuneUp Program Deactivator.

TuneUp Economy Mode will extend the battery life of notebook, netbook and tablet computers by shutting off processes and hardware components that aren’t required or in use. TuneUp Economy Mode is the new introduced feature of 2012 while TuneUp Program Deactivator, introduced in 2011 version, has gone through major overhauling in 2012 edition. Both TuneUp Economy Mode and TuneUp Program Deactivator, when used in combination can boost the energy efficiency of Windows 7 systems by up to 30 percent, when compared with the Windows 7 built-in energy savings mode.

With today’s increasing computing power, multi-core processors and gigabytes of RAM, many users will argue if they need a system optimization program? But, many users will agree with us that even with so much of computation power in hand, Windows tends to become sluggish after usage. Microsoft promises to change this scenario with its upcoming Windows 8 operating system but until than we are left with trusted system optimization utilities like TuneUp Utilities.

Since we have already reviewed TuneUp Utilities 2011 and most of the tools, although improved, have remained same in TuneUp Utilities 2012, in this review we will concentrate only on the most notable two features (discussed above). You can go through the thorough review of TuneUp Utilities 2011 here to know in-depth about what it offers.

At the end of this review (after break), you will find a giveaway contest, through which you can win a free license of TuneUp Utilities 2012 worth $49.95. 5 licenses are up for the giveaway, so the total licenses worth approx $250 (exactly $249.75). More on that later. :)

A quick walk-through…

TuneUp Utilities 2012 User Interface

The installation was very straight forward, after which, TuneUp Utilities immediately launched its 1-Click Maintenance tool. The tool quickly checks for Windows Registry errors, broken shortcuts, temporary files (but Recycle Bin), Windows startup and shutdown problems, disk fragmentation and so on. A report of everything found, is provided after the analysis and you can then fix the issues with a single click.

As we have seen earlier with 2011, the tools are divided into five tabs:

  • Status & recommendations: shows you an overview of the current condition of your system and gives you recommendations on how you can improve the system’s health.
  • Optimize system: disable or uninstall unwanted programs and clean up your system and your data.
  • Gain disk space: you can delete unnecessary data systematically from your system.
  • Fix problems: you will find simple solutions for any problems that might occur.
  • Customize Windows: you can configure how your Windows should look and function, thereby personalizing your computer.

For advance users or for quickly finding a tool, you can click on “Overview of all functions” option. This option gives you a list of all functions that TuneUp Utilities offers. If you click on the wrench icon next to a tool, it opens the settings for that tool.

TuneUp Program Deactivator

Many Windows programs like Microsoft Office adds services, startup programs and other tasks which slows down the system and hampers performance, even though we don’t need those services or programs to start with Windows. If uninstalling the program is not an option than the revamped version of Program Deactivator might be able to help you.

Simply launch Program Deactivator and a list of installed programs is displayed along with its performance impact on your PC. We have already seen earlier in TuneUp Utilities 2011, that it really works and improves performance of the system.

What’s new in TuneUp Utilities 2012 edition of Program Deactivator is the TuneUp Programs-on-Demand Technology, in layman terms the “Automatic” function. Simply keep the function on, and if you launch a “deactivated” program then TuneUp Utilities 2012 will automatically disable this again once you’ve closed it down. Thus it keeps your system in top performance always.

Even though your mileage may vary when using this tool. But if your system is packed up with programs (like ours), TuneUp Program Deactivator will surely help you gain performance.

TuneUp Economy Mode

Windows 7 is optimized to conserve power but it is still not fully optimized. As the number of background process, service or scheduled task increases, the impact on the power can also be felt. This prevents devices from entering low-power (or idle) modes. TuneUp Economy Mode prevents PC hardware components from delivering too much power when it’s not really needed. Once TuneUp Economy Mode is active, all non-essential background processes and services are disabled to reduce power usage. The settings are very easy to configure. In our tests, we have seen an increase in battery life.

Conclusion

In our tests on a laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) on Core i5, 4GB RAM, 640GB HDD, boot time fell by around 10 percent, RAM usage fell from 40 percent to 35 percent. Overall, system performance was improved and we actually found our applications launching faster.

You can test TuneUp Utilities 2012 for yourself and see the system performance improvements yourself. The software is available for Windows XP, Vista and 7 (32-bit and 64-bit editions) and can be downloaded from TuneUp Utilities official website for free.

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