XP or Vista tricks

[Agita]

No ones mentioned vista tweaks so far But then again i could have easily missed huge bold letters that said NO VISTA or something even reading it twice.

I thought it would be interesting to trade tips or tricks, secrets ... whatever.

Anything form configuring a hard drive for better sata performance. cash, indexing ect
To - Registry entries for disabling the language bar or anything else like the runonce in a fresh install of IE7

Editing half open connections or blocking IPs using the HOST file.

anything new, and if it is something I've heard before I will appreciate that too. Its always good to recap or see things from a different angle.

Thanks in advance. -Agita

[Michael_Knight]

Show Super hidden files:

Even if you turn on show hidden files in Windows Explorer some files will remain hidden. These files are super hidden.

Set the registry value below to 1.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced] "SuperHidden" = 1

Then reboot.

Delete a System or Locked File

1. First you need to take ownership of the file. Run takeown /f "path and file name" to take ownership from a command prompt.
2. Next, you need to give your account full control permissions on the file. Run cacls "path and file name" /G <your username>:F to get full control from a command prompt.

Find out what processes are being used the most

1. Click on the Start Button and type Reliability. Click on the Reliability and Performance Monitor shortcut.
2. On the main screen click on the Disk section down arrow to see a list of all processes and the files they are writing or reading from your drives.
3. Click on the Read or Write headings to sort all disk operations to identify which process and file is currently using the disk the most.

Will post more later.

[Agita]

WOW thanks. I didn't think anyone would reply

I haven't heard of super hidden files in a long time. Do they still work in vista? ( Also what are they used for?.....I guess I could google it )

The Ownership and permissions form command line is great info. Thanks for the tip, I'll probably need to use it in about 10 minutes. lol.(seriously)
I use the rightclick and take ownership function a lot
---add

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

--add

I use that a lot but I always prefer to know the command for the function. By the way What is the correct way to post code or commands?

The most used processes is pretty cool Ill check that out

THANKs man ----AGITA

[Michael_Knight]

Post code using the Code option on the advanced edit looks like #

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

Glad you found the post useful, will post some more later for you.

[Agita]

Thanks for the info!

Do you know how in vista to take full permission of an entire HDD? I am an IT, I reload 5 to 10 systems a day, from different customers. That means taking ownership and effective permissions of each account that has a password. It kind of gets anoying when all five kids have passwords and each account is marked private. All I have to do is save their data and reload their system. Normaly in XP I would use the System Privilege Escalation which gave me instantly all power to get to their stuff and get out. Now that everything has switched to vista It takes me longer to get in and out. (And no i don't want to dual-boot,..lol)

Any Ideas?

And

cacls "path and file name" /G <your username>:F to get full control from a command prompt.

I get "NOTE: Cacls is now deprecated, please use Icacls."

Would you elaborate on this? Please.

Thanks ----AGITA

[Michael_Knight]

Yes, you almost always get that error in Vista, So you use the Icals instead.

To change an owner using Icals is as follows:

[B]C:\>icacls c:\test /setowner knight[/B]
processed file: c:\test
Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files

You could also then use the same command to do the entire HDD:

C:\>icacls c:\ /setowner knight

Though I would be really careful with ownership and permissions.

Permissions can be a huge nightmare, if your not careful, you will deny access to the original owner, causing loads if issues. I would use Vista's Audit/XP's own permissions and give yourself full access to the files.

You can also use a group policy to do this too, but that's a different tutorial.

I can explain all about Icals if you want.

[Michael_Knight]

This may help with Icals:

http://sandbox.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=36#post36

[Agita]

Icacls looks to be a good tool, but I will test it before I use on a customers computer.

To explain myself a little better I co-own a computer business. We do a lot of server maintenance and networking, as well we have a storefront. If a customer comes with a computer that won't boot or bluescreens, finger-fumbled ..ect. We , to save time and effort, save their data wipe the system and reload their OS. After a reload we re set-up their accounts and add their data back to its respective places. So the place that slows me down the most is saving their data because of "access denied".

Xp was a breeze but vista slows me down and now even our bench computer runs vista. I'm just looking for a way to speed up our downtime.

--possible you would know........mmm

In xp I could schedule a task to run interactively via

at (time) /interactive "whatever"

But in vista the application says action will be scheduled but not interactively due to security threat.
In this manner I would have access to all their data with no comprimise to their system or lack of time in mine. Do you know of any way to get around it or allow interactive tasks to be created using "at" ?

-AGITA

[Agita]

Kill vista sidebar, I'm not sure how to do thru menus but you should be able to kill it through the registry. REMEMBER! even though you might kill it in HKCU or HKLM there are still 4 more processes that run. They are in the USERS key. Under random locations.

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-19 and HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20 normaly

But it varies from system to system. there will be on in the key (HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2743702872-4047397652-2850579867-1000) or whatever the first long name key is.
The autostart will be in the same respective place as in HKCU or HKLM

KILL USER ACCOUNT CONTROL:

Control Panel
System and Maintenance
Administrative Tools
System Configuration
Press Continue button
Tools Tab
Select "Disable UAC"
Launch
OK and Restart

KILL SYSTEM RESTORE :

Control Panel
System and Maintenance
Select Backup and Restore Center
Select Create a restore point or change settings (on the left side)
Select the Continue button (if UAC is active)
Select System Protection Tab (should be there already)
Uncheck your hard drives listed under "Automatic restore points"
Turn System Restore Off button
Ok button to apply the settings

KILL INDEXING :

Control Panel
Select System and Maintenance
Indexing Options
Modify button
Select the Show all locations button
Double click "Users" in the "Summary of selected locations"
Uncheck Users directory
Double click "Start Menu " in the "Summary of selected locations"
Uncheck Start Menu directory
Select the Ok button to close the panel

Just a few I thought of (aka found an old list).
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MORE LATER, Hope it helps someone -AGITA

[UrbanKhoja]

Hello!

Looking at the posts you guys will proberbly know this lol

I recently wanted to do a clean re-install of vista on my laptop, but it's an upgrade version and won't allow it. My quick solution to that was to carry on as an upgrade making sure I have enough space, after making sure I had backed up any work I removed Windows.old - cleared about 20GB of rubbish off my system and works fine!

Second, the boot screen; Vista is renowned for having a boring boot screen but by opeing msconfig then boot - then 'no gui boot' it'll change to a more fancy looking screen!

One problem though; I have a few files that when I try to delete or open them I get a message saying I don't have authority to do that - but it's my own laptop, I'm the sole user & my account is set up as an administrator, tried turning uac off but still does it? lol

[Agita]

If you have an upgrade key then you must have at one time had xp or below. When you put the upgrade disk in it should ask for proof that you have had another copy of windows before vista. put in an old install disk that you own and it should let you continue the install.
Butt.... if you fixed the problem oh-well...

For the boot screen, I have not found any way to do it manualy. sorry... but you can dip down to the level of using software......

try----VistaBootLogoGenerator--- "http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Vista-Boot-Logo-Generator-Download-62480.html"

It will let you create a new boot screen.

for your problem of NOT deleting lol. try these two things.....

If you add

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

to the registry. You can right click the file and you will have a new option to "take ownership"

rightclick the file you want to delete and say take ownership and then retry the delete. that should do it. If not you could use the "icacls" command to take permissions of the file. As so wonderfully demonstrated by michael at "http://www.hyper-cube.co.uk/sandbox/forum/showthread.php?t=36"

[eladkarako]

You can Take Ownership By a Click of a mouse.
Use the registry file I've attached to this msg.

those add a context menu to right clicking files && folders

the one with the -enable suffix, activate it
and the other file with the -disable suffix, deactivate it

I've upload a copy to rapidshare- http://rapidshare.com/files/113142199/Vista_TakeOwnership_RegKey.rar

Works on XP && Vista (All Tested)

[jbennet]

If you have an upgrade key then you must have at one time had xp or below. When you put the upgrade disk in it should ask for proof that you have had another copy of windows before vista. put in an old install disk that you own and it should let you continue the install.

you can only do that for XP, not for vista. Vista upgrade must be installed by excuting an installer from an activated xp system.

For vista / XP sp3 it allows you to enter a blank product key - which will install a 30 day trial copy. Simply change the key to your one using one of the many tools out there.