Remove Past Notification Icons in Windows Vista

A very useful feature in Windows is the ability to automatically hide system tray icons when they are not in use. The problem is that over time, Explorer caches a list of every single icon that it's ever seen, and your list might grow to hundreds of items that Explorer knows about.

The other issue is that Explorer keeps these items in memory somewhere, so it's also causing bloat, but we can completely reset this list with a little tricky registry editing and recycling Explorer. Note that this will remove any settings you had set for the icons.

To get to the dialog we are talking about, right-click on the Taskbar and choose Properties, then choose the Notification Area tab, and click the Customize button.


Just look at all the items in the list… I don't even have some of those applications installed anymore.

Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search box, and then browse down to this registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify


Now you will see two entries in the list: IconStreams and PastIconsStream. Select both of them and delete them. (You may want to make a backup with the export function before you do this)

Now we'll need to recycle Explorer.exe by opening up task manager (You can use Ctrl+Shift+Esc), selecting explorer.exe in the list and choosing End Process.
Now go to the File menu of Task Manager, choose New Task and type explorer.exe into the open box. Hit enter, and explorer should restart itself.

Alternate Close Explorer Method

Open the Start menu and then hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys at the same time. Right-click on an empty area of the menu, and you'll see a new option called "Exit Explorer"

The taskbar should completely disappear, and any open folder windows if you are using default explorer settings.

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How to Make Free Space in Windows Vista and Xp from Hibernation

Free disk space, by deleting Hibernation file in Windows Vista and Xp

Every time you put your Windows Vista loaded computer, into hibernation, it creates a file called ‘hiberfil.sys’. This file uses your entire physical memory and grows its size, every time you hibernate your system. Hence you may want to delete it to free up some hard drive space.

Follow this procedure to delete this file.

1. Click on Start, go to All Programs, then Accessories, choose System Tools, and then click on "Disk Cleanup". 
2. You would be prompted to choose the drive you want to clean up. Then select the drive in which Windows Vista is installed and press OK. 
3. Disk Cleanup will start scanning the hard drive and present you with a list of options. 
4. Check "Hibernation File Cleaner", and then press OK. 
5. When asked "Are you sure you want to permanently delete these files?" click on the Delete Files button. 
You will end up with some more free disk space.

Disable Hibernation in Windows Vista and Xp

If you do not use hibernation mode or your system does not support it, you may want to disable the same. Follow below steps:

Method 1

1. Log on as Administrator.
2. Start the Command Prompt and then type: powercfg -h off
3. Press Enter.

Method 2

1. Click Start > All Programs > and then right click on ‘Command Prompt’. 
2. In the context menu choose ‘Run as administrator’. 
3. If ‘User Account Control(UAC)’ prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue. 
4. Follow Steps 2 and 3 given above.

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Prepare the Hard Disk for the Windows 98 or Upgrade Installation Procedure

The given information applies to preparing an empty hard disk for the installation of Windows 98. If you use the following steps on a hard disk that is not empty, all of the data that is on that hard disk is deleted.

Before you install Windows 98 on an empty hard disk, you must first create a primary partition and then format a file system on that partition. Each allocated space on the hard disk (primary partition or logical drive) is assigned a drive letter. Windows 98 supports the FAT16 and FAT32 file systems. When you run the Fdisk tool on a hard disk that is larger than 512 MB, you are prompted to choose a file system.

The FAT16 file system has a maximum of 2 gigabytes (GB) for each allocated space, or drive letter. For example, if you use the FAT16 file system and you have a 6-GB hard disk, you can have three drive letters (C, D, and E), each with 2 GB of allocated space.

The FAT32 file system supports drives up to 2 terabytes in size and stores files on smaller sections of the hard disk than does the FAT16 file system. This results in more free space on the hard disk. The FAT32 file system does not support drives that are smaller than 512 MB.

There are two ways to install Windows 98 on your hard disk:

> Copy all of the files from the win98 directory on the Windows 98 CD to a directory on your hard disk and install from your hard disk

> Install directly from the CD.

I prefer the first method for installing Windows 98 on my own hard disk drive. I use the second method when installing Windows on a customer's hard disk. The first method installs faster and every time Windows needs new software or driver from the Windows 98 CD, it will first go to the directory on the hard disk from which it was installed and install the software from there instead asking that you insert the CD. This saves me from having fish-out the Windows 98 CD every time I install new software and hardware, which is often. The advantage of the second procedure is that it saves about 120 MBytes of hard disk space, if in the first method; you leave the files on the hard disk after installation. Furthermore, with the first method, you may still need the CD for some drivers not found in the win98 directory.

Ok, let's install Windows 98:

Method 1

Make a c:\windows\options\cabs directory and copy the files from the win98 directory on the CD-ROM to the cabs directory.

a:\> c:

c:>md windows

c:>cd windows (or simply type cd followed by the F3 key)

c:\windows>md options

c:\windows>cd options

c:\windows\options>md cabs

c:\windows\options>cd cabs

c:\windows\options\cabs>copy d:\win98\*.*

Where d: is your CD-ROM drive.

The c:/windows/options/cabs directory was a convention established with the standard installation some of the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) versions of Windows 95. You could copy the win98 directory to any desired directory on your hard disk and install from there, but I continue to use the convention so I can remember where the cab files are located.

Cab or cabinet files are files containing one or more compressed files. Most of the Windows 98 files are in cab files on the CD.

Install Windows 98.

c:\windows\options\cabs>setup /ie

The /ie flag tells Windows 98 not to make a new Startup Floppy during the installation.

Method 2

Change to the win98 directory on the Windows 98 CD and run setup.exe.

a:\> d:

where d: is your CD-ROM drive letter.

d:\> cd win98

d:\win98 > setup /ie

Do not run setup from d:\. There is a setup.exe there, but it won't work with this procedure.

Just follow the Windows 98 installation prompts. If setup asks you for a directory in which to install Windows, make sure you tell it to install it in c:\windows (not d:\windows or c:\windows.001, etc.).

If you have moved Windows 3.x to the new drive or if you have the old drive attached with Windows 3.x or 95 on it, the upgrade should install ok. If not, setup will say it can't find an old version of Windows to verify before installing the upgrade. It will then allow you to browse to a drive/directory where the old version of Windows is located. If you have Windows 3.x or 95 on floppy, remove your Startup Floppy, if it is still in A:, insert floppy 1 of the old version of Windows in the floppy drive and point setup to the floppy drive. If you have the old version on CD, remove the Win 98 CD, insert the old Windows CD, and point setup to d:\, where d: is your CD-ROM drive. I have found that setup won't always find what it is looking for the first time you point it at the drive containing the old version of Windows. Point again; you may have to do it several times, but it should eventually take. When verifying Win 3.x floppies, setup will check several of them.

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How to fix the 10 Internet Explorer issues

Issues viewing Web pages

1. "Page cannot be displayed" errors

2. Red x instead of pictures

3. View, Source doesn't work

To address the issues above, you may need to try one, some, or all of the following three procedures.

Empty the cache

The first thing to do when Internet Explorer is misbehaving is empty your Internet Explorer cache. Often the cache is not corrupt or damaged – it is simply too large.

1.Click Tools, then Internet Options, and then click the Delete Files button.

2.A Delete Files window will appear. Select the option to Delete all offline content, and then click OK.

3.Click Settings and reduce the size of your cache to, say, 50 to 100 MB (more if you routinely download very large files).


This will invariably fix the dreaded red x, View, Source, and sometimes "Page cannot be displayed" errors.

Emptying the cache will not be sufficient to fix things if a hidden file in the cache folders, called index.dat, is corrupt. Our best alternative in such a situation is to delete the cache folders in their entirety, but this cannot be done from within Windows under normal circumstances.

Index.dat is a system file, and any attempt to delete it while Windows is running or while the user is logged on will be blocked. Therefore, we need to reboot into DOS mode or, when running later versions of Windows that support user accounts, we need to log in to Windows using a different Administrator account to that which is affected.

Issues related to default browser settings

4. Error messages when attempting to send a page or link by e-mail

First, reset your default e-mail client from within Internet Explorer. To do this go to Tools, then Internet Options, then Programs, then select your e-mail program of choice.

To re-register your e-mail program:
1.
Click Start, then click Run, and then type the appropriate command based on the following e-mail programs:

Outlook Express:
"C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\Msimn.Exe" /reg

Outlook:
"c:\program files\microsoft office\office\outlook.exe" /checkclient


Make sure the path to msimn.exe or outlook.exe is correct for your machine. Type the command line exactly as it appears, including quote marks and spaces.

If using a non-Microsoft e-mail program:

A program must be Internet Explorer aware to automatically list itself as a default program option. If the program does not appear, there are a couple of things you can do. First, you can right-click the executable file for the program, and see if Register appears as an option, (which should cause the program to be listed on the drop box on the Program Tab)

Otherwise, there's a manual method, but it involves editing the registry and adding the program under:

HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\Software\Clients\mail
-or-
HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\Software\Clients\news

You will need to contact your program's vendor for the appropriate syntax.

5. Hyperlinks not working

Hyperlinks will not work if a computer system does not know which Web browser is set as the default, which happens if the settings that control this choice are damaged or incorrect. The easiest way to fix the problem is to allow your preferred Web browser to rewrite the appropriate settings by resetting your default browser. Rather than walk through the steps required to achieve this in this column, I refer you to my previous column about how to set up your browser as the default.

6. "Open in new Window" doesn't work

Sometimes resetting our default browser is not enough to get hyperlinks to work again, especially if they trigger a new window. Open in new window is dependent upon several system files, therefore you should ensure they are correctly registered.

Click on Start, then Run, then run the following commands. After you run each command, a small window should appear stating that the command was successful.

regsvr32 Shdocvw.dll (if that doesn't work, try shdoc401.dll)
regsvr32 Oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 Actxprxy.dll
regsvr32 Mshtml.dll
regsvr32 Urlmon.dll

Some programs that control pop-up windows and advertisements can stop hyperlinks from working. Also, some third-party add-ins are known to cause a problem and must be uninstalled when misbehaving in this way. Disable all third-party Internet related programs (not your firewall) and test.

7. Internet Explorer freezes, shuts down without warning, or the computer reboots.

This problem is often caused by out-of-date video drivers. Go to the Web site run by the manufacturer of your video card and download, then install, the latest (non-beta) drivers for your video card.

Alternatively, you can try the following:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Display (in classic view of Windows XP), click the Settings tab, and then click Advanced.

3. Click the Performance or Troubleshooting tab (depending on your operating system), and then reduce hardware acceleration a notch at a time until your system stabilizes.

8. Internet Explorer opens off screen, or tiny, or minimized, or the window will not move

If your taskbar is set to Autohide, turn the setting off and then maximize the problem window. While the window is maximized, increase the height of your taskbar from one row to two. The maximized window will automatically resize itself to fit into the smaller area available with a taller taskbar. Then, return the taskbar to its normal single row and allow the maximized window to resize once more. This will make Windows re-calculate window size and boundaries, overwriting registry keys that may be damaged.

If the affected window is partially off screen, so that the Minimize, Maximize, Restore, and Close buttons are hidden, you can access the same options by clicking on the Internet Explorer icon on the far left edge of the Internet Explorer title bar, or by right-clicking on the Internet Explorer button on the taskbar.

If resizing your Taskbar does not work, run Regedit and remove the following registry key values which are most likely corrupt. Do not delete the entire key, just the last word which will appear in the right hand pane.

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\window_placement

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\OldWorkAreas\OldWorkAreaRects

Then reboot.

9. The computer keeps disconnecting from the Internet

This one can raise suspicions of malware. But, before you reformat your computer, do the following.

1. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Connections tab.

2. Under Dial-up or Virtual Private Network settings, click the Settings button.

3. Under Dial-up settings, click the Advanced button and make sure that Disconnect when connection may no longer be required check box is cleared, and that the Disconnect if idle check box is cleared as well.

1. In Outlook Express, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Connection tab.

2. Turn off the option to Hang up after sending and receiving, and then close the Options window

3. On the Tools menu, click Accounts, and then click the Mail tab.

4. Make sure that each connection is set to use Any Available. If not, highlight the account then click on Properties.

5. Click the Connection tab and ensure that the option "Always connect to this account using" is turned off.

10. "A runtime error has occurred. Do you wish to debug?"

This is another symptom that tends to raise suspicions of Malware or Spyware.

1. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Advanced tab.

2. Make sure that Disable Script Debugging (Internet Explorer) and Disable Script Debugging (Other) are both enabled.

3. Make sure that Disable a Notification about ever script error is disabled.

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