Windows Vista

How can I quickly open Command Prompt (cmd) with elevated credentials in Windows Vista? As you’ve learned so far, Windows Vista has the built-in ability to automatically reduce the potential of security breeches in the system. It does that by automatically lower the administrative rights of users that are part of the local administrators group,…

Windows Vista has a Visual Basic script built-in that will allow you to extend the trial period of Windows Vista by 30 days. You can use this script a total of three times which will extend your trial period up to 120 days. This process is known as “rearming” and it utilizes the “slmgr.vbs” script…

In Windows XP Microsoft introduced a new method of keeping a working copy of your system files called System Restore, and now we can also use it on Windows Vista. System Restore helps you restore your computer’s system files to an earlier point in time. It’s a way to undo system changes to your computer…

If you’re running Windows Vista, this tool can verify whether your existing Internet router supports advanced features, such as improved download speeds. The tool is intended to be run from a home network behind a home Internet (NAT) router. Running this tool from behind a corporate firewall or on operating systems other than those specified…

How can I quickly open a Command Prompt on a folder in Windows Vista? Although most of the Windows operating system tasks can be performed through the graphical user interface (or GUI) you can still find many important tasks and operations that require a Command Prompt window. Running CMD.exe from the run command is quick,…

The Event Viewer is an application that enables you to browse and manage event logs. Event logs are special files that record significant events on your computer, such as when a user logs on to the computer or when a program encounters an error. In Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, Event Viewer has been…

With the new Aero Theme Microsoft introduced 3D look to windows, something that Mac OS X users have had for quite a while. With Aero, the user can view the 3rd dimension of a window by flipping the window by pressing the Windows Logo key + TAB. The overall appearance of the Windows Vista desktop…

Keyboard shortcuts in Windows Vista In Windows Vista, as in other Windows Operating Systems (also see Keyboard Shortcuts), you can use many shortcut keys as an alternative to the mouse. You can open, close, and navigate the Start menu, desktop, menus, dialog boxes, and Web pages using keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts may also make it…

Windows Vista has some great additions. One of them is the new and re-designed Performance Monitor. You can open the Performance snap-in from the Computer Management tool (see below), or as a separate snap-in. Inside the Performance tool you will find a Monitoring Tools folder, and in it you will find the Reliability Monitor. The…

Knowing how much time your system has been running is a piece of information useful for administrators. Sometimes you might need it in order to know when the machine has recovered from a possible power failure or any other issue it might have had. While there are plenty of 3rd-party tools that allow one to…

The Command Prompt is a native Windows program that lets you execute commands without using a GUI. You can accomplish pretty much every task in the Command Prompt as you can with the GUI and a mouse. The Command Prompt gets its roots (arguably) from a combination of UNIX and MS-DOS. Consider it “Windows without…

After a long delay, this is a part 4 of my MCSE and System Administrator job interview sample questions. See previous parts at: Part 1 – Networking Part 2 – Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Part 3 – Exchange Server 2003 This article set is targeted at both the interviewer (who needs a pool of…