Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

I have often ran across computers that I needed to gain access to for data recovery, but I didnt have the administrator password to access the hard drive. Since in many situations, there is just one administrator account I can’t log into another administrator account and change the password so I have to rely on other methods. I could put the hard drive into another computer as a slave and gain access (sometimes) or I could try installing a second copy of the operating system in parallel and gain access but there must be a better way.

That way is to try to reset the administrator password to something you do know and allow you to access to the user profile and the data. In most cases,

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Tags: computer, hardware, vista, windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

If you are using Windows XP or Windows 2003, you must have seen a pop-up message asking whether to send this error report to Microsoft whenever a program stops working abruptly. Microsoft has included Error Reporting so that they can make Windows better and stable but this can be bugging if you tend to have more programs crashing every day. Microsoft also has provided an option to disable this feature and error reporting is an optional report.

To Disable or Enable Error Reporting in Windows, follow these steps:

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Tags: windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Did you know that the Open Dialog Box, and the Save Dialog Box that are common to most Windows programs contain much of the functionality of the Windows Explorer? The window pane that shows the list of files available to open (or to overwrite) is essentially a miniature Explorer, and as with Windows Explorer, there are a myriad of viewing and sorting features available. You can even do things like delete files, rename files, copy files to the clipboard, and more.

The default display is list view, but it can be changed icon views, the detail view, and even the thumbnail view. In the details view, the columns can be sorted. Most of the functions that are available in the context menu of the Windows Explorer are also available here.

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Tags: vista, windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Amid significant customer demand, the computer maker said on Thursday that it has returned to offering the older Windows version as an option on some of its consumer PCs. Like most computer makers, Dell switched nearly entirely to Vista-based systems following Microsoft’s mainstream launch of the operating system in January.

However, the company said its customers have been asking for XP as part of its IdeaStorm project, which asks customers to help the company come up with product ideas. “We heard you loud and clear on bringing the Windows XP option back to our Dell consumer PC offerings,” Dell said on its Ideas in Action page. Users get to vote on various suggestions, and the notion of bringing back XP got 10,000 “points,” making it among the most popular requests but well below top picks such as adding Linux or OpenOffice.org to its PCs.

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Tags: buy, computer, windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

There is an entire library of Windows product keys available online, only a Google search away. And we all can agree that that’s by no means very far. While Microsoft is implementing measures such as the activation process and the Windows Genuine advantage mechanism, Windows users are only too keen to post confidential information on websites and make it free for all.

Some of you will go: “So what? Where’s the news?” And you would be right.

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Tags: vista, windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

The Windows Media Player team put a lot of work into evolving media playback on Windows Vista through the new Media Foundation pipeline, and has also been actively monitoring feedback on WMP and playback in general. While commentary has been mainly positive for Web playback through IE, we’ve noticed that there’s still work to be done to make Firefox users able to enjoy their media content on Windows.

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Tags: software, vista, windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

The new Network and Sharing Center in Windows Vista is great for the average Windows user but can be a huge headache for advanced users. When I need to make a change to my network settings I don’t want to be forced to go through the networking interface for the average non-technical users. I want to go right to the settings screen and make the change.

I am a big fan of the old Windows XP network approach where I could modify all of the network settings and connect to wireless network from the Network Connections screen. In Windows Vista, the Network Connections screen still exists,

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Tags: vista, windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Microsoft Corp. is taking tough measures to find out who leaked a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Windows Home Server to The Hotfix.net blog after the software preview was posted on the site by a user named “Richard” soon after it was released to a small group of testers.

In an e-mail to testers obtained by the IDG News Service, Kevin Beares, the Windows Home Server community lead at Microsoft, wrote to Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) whose name contain “Richard” that they will not have access to the beta until he finds out who leaked the software to The Hotfix.net site.

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Tags: software, vista, windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Although is a simple thing to do, i’ve never used it until today. My computer was killing me with this notification, i donwloaded the entire Dragon Ball Z series because i’m a anime maniac and the partition was full, i had enough. Anyway i though i would share it with you although is everywhere on the net, maiby i will help someone.

So, here we go:

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Tags: vista, windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Throughout the beta process Microsoft received a lot of feedback on how the taskbar and the window border changes to black when you maximize a window. Before the final release they altered the behavior slightly so the window and taskbar would still turn opaque and black, but with a very slight tint of color that matches the color of your glass. This change satisfied some users but left others still in the dark. Many users wanted a maximized window to remain transparent as well as the taskbar. Once the final build of Windows Vista shipped, all hope was gone that we would have transparent maximized windows, until today.

Using a very cool and free utility called VistaGlazz by CodeGazer.com you can easily make your maximized windows and taskbar transparent. Additionally, this utility allows you to easily patch your uxtheme system files so that you can use hacked visual styles with just the click of a button, instead of the multiple step manual procedure

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Tags: software, vista, windows, xp