Articles in Category: Windows Components

Windows components include the various and sundry applications that make up Windows itself, as well as many of the design and implementation characteristics of Windows.

Changing Windows Explorer Settings

Windows Explorer is a ubiquitous and under-appreciated component of Windows 7. I’ll look at some settings I recommend changing if you’re a frequent user, and include a bonus tip that can sometimes speed up Windows Explorer’s start-up.

How Do I Access a Tile on a Hard Drive From Another Windows Installation with Restrictive Permissions?

Windows is not Unix. What you need to be is the administrator on the machine
that you have these disks installed on.

Just What Are Windows 7’s “Libraries” and How Do They Work?

Libraries are a feature added to Windows 7 that allow multiple folders to viewed as if they are one. It’s not new, but it can be very confusing.

Why Does Nothing Happen When I Insert a Disc?

Nothing happens when you insert a disc if autoplay is turned off. That’s good for security but bad for convenience. I’ll look at alternatives.

Why should I Turn Windows AutoPlay Off?

Autorun is an increasingly used attack vector for malware. Common techniques to turn it off are incomplete. I’ll show you how to turn it off, and recommend you do so.

Why Can’t I Rely on System Restore for Backups?

There’s much confusion about what System Restore actually is and is not. In a nutshell, it’s safest not to rely on it to restore your system.

How Do I Keep CHKDSK from Running on every Start Up?

There are times when the disk checking utility needs to run before you boot into Windows. Sometimes it seems to get stuck and does so every time.

What Windows Services Can I Turn Off?

People are concerned about how much software is running on their machines, and when they look at the list of services, there’s a long list of things they don’t understand.

Can I Have Too Many Drivers?

This is a classic case of “Theory” versus “Practice”. In theory everything should just work. In practice? Not so much. In fact, it’s one of the causes of something called “software rot”.

How do I find the Windows CD Key from the CD?

We’ll look at where to find your Windows CD Key.

Where is it alright for svchost.exe to be?

Svchost.exe is frequently spoofed by viruses attempting to hide. The official copy should be in your Windows\system32 folder, but there may be others.

Why is there a blank entry in my msconfig startup entries?

There are several places that items can get added to the startup list. This particular situation is most likely a malformed registry entry. MSConfig is a nice enough tool for simple situations, but to diagnose this one, I’d break out a bigger gun. I had to, in fact. I looked, and sure enough … I … Read more

Can I move or delete my I386 directory to free up some space?

The question others are asking is probably “OK, so what’s a C:\I386 directory?” In a nutshell, it’s a copy of Windows, and yes, you can move it, but I don’t recommend deleting it completely. It’s just too darned useful.

I Have No C: Drive, But Some Programs Insist On It. What Can I Do?

Most people don’t realize that using “C:” as the primary drive on your computer is fairly arbitrary. It’s a good practice, if only to avoid the problems you’re running into, but as you’ve seen you don’t need to have it that way. You can build a system that boots from a drive of a different … Read more