As I recently wrote, propecia dosing color=”#003399″>Dell and HP are selling select, business computers loaded with Windows XP Professional. Customers can have Windows XP preinstalled and get a DVD to upgrade to Vista when they are ready.

Dell and HP’s decision to continue selling a nearly seven-year-old operating system, got me thinking about which Windows version TechRepublic members most often support.

Answer the following poll and let us know which Windows version is the most prevalent among your end users.

Which of the following Windows versions is the most prevalent among your end users?

I don't know about you, but one thing I cannot stand is when my computer does something without my permission! Have you ever been working on your computer propecia baby when a little screen pops up telling you an update has been installed? It usually tells you your computer needs to be restarted and if you don't click “Restart Later,” your computer will automatically restart after one minute.

I tell you what, that little window has caused me so much trouble! There have been times when I have walked away from something I was working on, only to come back and find out my system has restarted on its own and all of my work is gone. How frustrating!

Well, today, I'm happy to let you know that I have found a way to get rid of that pesky annoyance for good! This week's free download is called Auto Reboot Setter and it makes that pop up window go away for good. Just install the program and your computer will no longer shut down without your permission. Yes!

You can download Auto Reboot Setter for yourself right here. Just click on Run and choose Disable Auto Reboot. Enjoy!

Q:
You've gone over how to create a shutdown shortcut for both Windows XP and Vista, but what about a restart shortcut? Is it possible to make one of those too?

A:
Oooh, great question! First of all, you're absolutely right. In recent newsletters, we here at WorldStart have told you how to create a shortcut to shut propecia and shedding down your Windows XP or Windows Vista computer. If you happened to miss out on those two tips, you can read here for XP and here for Vista. Both have similar instructions, but it's very important to follow along with the directions for the operating system you use. Otherwise, who knows what you might create!

Now, since you now know how to quickly shut your computer down, wouldn't it be nice to be able to restart it just as fast? You know, maybe your computer froze up on you and you need a speedy escape route. Or, perhaps you're just trying to restart your computer after a program install. Either way, there is, in fact, an easy way to create a restart shortcut for your computer as well. I'll go over the directions for XP first and then move on to Vista.

In Windows XP, right click on your desktop and go to New, Shortcut. In the wizard box for "Type the location of the item," enter this in: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -r. (It may be best to copy and paste that into the box to make sure you have it correct). Click Next when you're done and then Finish to complete the process.

In Windows Vista, right click on your desktop and go to New, Shortcut. You will then see the New Shortcut wizard pop up on your screen. The first box will ask you for the location of your shortcut. In the box, type "shutdown.exe -r -t 01" (without the quotations). Then just simply hit the Next button to finish out the process.

No matter which operating system you use, you will now see a new icon on your desktop and you can test it out by double clicking on it. Once you do, your computer will restart for you, just like it would if you went to Start, Restart. You can also rename your shortcut by right clicking on it and choosing Rename. You can name it whatever you'd like. I went the simple route and named mine "Restart," but I'm sure you can come up with something a little more clever!

Either way, you now have a restart shortcut for your computer, just like you wanted. I bet your computer has the fastest shutdown and restart times in town and I don't know about you, but I don't think it gets any better than that!

Q:
You recently told us how to create a shutdown shortcut for Windows Vista and you mentioned one for XP, but I can't seem to find it on your Web site. Can you please share the instructions again? Thanks!

A:
I sure can! You're absolutely right, last week, I told you how to make a shutdown shortcut for Windows Vista (if you happened to miss it, you can read that tip here). I wrote an article for propecia and bodybuilding doing the same thing in Windows XP awhile back, but from the looks of all the e-mails I've received lately, a lot of you either missed that tip or you forgot all about it. So, per your request, here are the directions for creating a shutdown shortcut in Windows XP!

So, tell me, do you ever get tired of the repetitive process of shutting down your computer? You know, you have to go to your Start menu and then select Turn Off or Shut Down, whichever your computer has. Then you have to wait for it to actually shut down just to make sure it turned off properly. Well, how would you like to bypass all of that and make the process a little easier?

Well, you can do that by creating a shutdown shortcut for your computer. The shortcut will just be like another icon either on your desktop or in your Quick Launch area. To create one, right click anywhere on your desktop and go to New, Shortcut. A wizard will then pop up and walk you through the steps. In the "Type the location of the item:" box, enter this code: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s.

Now, the s stands for shutdown. If you use that option, your computer will give you a brief waiting time before it actually shuts down. You can also choose to force running applications to stop ( f ) or choose to have no wait time before your PC turns completely off ( t xx ). So, if you would like to have both of those along with your command, enter this code instead: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s -f -t 00. Your computer will then shut down instantly.

Once you have the one you want, click Next. You can then pick a name for your shortcut. I just named mine "Shut Down," but you can use whatever you want. When you're done, click Finish and the new icon will appear on your desktop. You can add it to your Quick Launch area now as well if you want. When you're ready to shut down your computer, double click on the new icon and your computer will turn off. Cool, huh?! And the best part is, it's all done with one quick step. You should now be all set with quick shutdowns forever!

Q:
Is there a fix yet for the ZoneAlarm problem you talked about in Friday's newsletter? If so, please tell us what we can do. Thanks for all your help!

A:
I knew this question would be popping up all over the place throughout the weekend and I was right! My e-mail Inbox is just filled with queries about the ZoneAlarm issue. First, just to get everyone up to speed, if you missed the article in Friday's newsletter (July 11, 2008), you can read it here. Basically, there was a complication between the July 2008 Windows Updates and the ZoneAlarm firewall program. After many users installed the Updates, they were left without an Internet connection, because ZoneAlarm was unable to recognize the changes. You can read all about it in the tip above, but for now, let's get down to business!

ZoneAlarm has released a few fixes for the Windows Updates problem. There are three different things you can do to get your computer back to normal. I'll go over all three of them and you can then decide which one will work the best for you. They're all legit and fairly easy to do, so just pick the one you think will benefit your computer the most. Okay, here we go!

1.) You can download and install all of the latest versions of ZoneAlarm, including ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, ZoneAlarm Pro, ZoneAlarm Antivirus, ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware and ZoneAlarm Basic Firewall. You can click on those links to download each separate program. With all of those utilities working together, you will be able to get your Internet connection back and your computer will run the same as it did before. If you don't want to install all of those programs (which is understandable), you can try one of the other methods below.

2.) The second option is moving your ZoneAlarm Internet Zone slider to the Medium setting. To do that, propecia allergy go to the ZoneAlarm Firewall window and click on the Firewall tab. From there, simply move the Internet Zone slider to Medium. Yours is probably set on High, so you just need to take it down a couple notches.

3.) The third option is actually uninstalling the Windows Updates hotfix that caused the trouble in the first place. To do that, go to Start, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs. At the top of the Add/Remove Programs window, you should see a Show Updates checkbox. Check that box and then scroll down until you see an entry that says "Security update for Windows (KB951748)." (It should be one of the last items in your list). Once you've found it, click on the Remove button and the hotfix will uninstall.

Again, any of those three methods will reinstate your Internet access and you'll be able to do everything as usual again. You should also know that this issue only affects Windows 2000 and XP computers. Windows Vista is not affected. One more thing: if you're still having trouble after you go through this tip, you can contact ZoneAlarm's technical support here. After today, I hope you're all back up and running like you should be!