Script Elevation PowerToys for Windows Vista
Among the many features Windows Vista introduced to address security concerns, User Account Control (UAC) is one of the most significant. With User Account Control, even users who are administrators run most applications with standard privilege, but have "elevation potential" for specific administrative tasks and application functions.
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24.5.2007 Watermark Removal Script - Remove Watermark From Windows 7 RC Build 7100
Windows 7 RC WatermarkLike Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 Watermark, Windows 7 RC Build 7100 also has watermark which many users don’t like to have on their desktop.
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16.5.2009 No More Registry from Vista SP1 and XP SP3 to Windows 7?
Windows 7 is the next iteration of the Windows operating system that will succeed Windows Vista. Following the availability of the latest Windows Client, Windows Vienna was the codename for the next version of Windows.
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16.1.2008 Two Vista Registry Hacks
Thanks to rzalonis for this post in our forum. Here are two easy registry hacks for minor performance gains.
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17.4.2007 The Growth of the Windows Registry from 16-bit Windows to XP SP3 and Vista SP1
The Windows registry has been around since the 16-bit editions of Windows, and will continue to be a key component of the operating system even after Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Widows XP Service Pack 3, and even after Windows 7.
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18.1.2008 Disable and Remove Half-Open TCP Connections Limit (to Unlimited) in Windows 7 and Vista SP2 with EnableConnectionRateLimitin Registry Key
Officially, the incomplete half-open outbound TCP connection attempts allowed at any one time is now unlimited by default in Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP2 (Service Pack 2), and Windows 7. Actually, the ability to limit or restrict number of half-open outgoing TCP connections system can create or establish is built into Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7, however it’s disabled by default.
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8.6.2009 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience
You may ask yourselves, why should this article be any different from all those tweaking tutorials around the Internet or, better yet, why should you read this when you can install a program that does it all for you?
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23.10.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience VI
The moment has come once again to pimp your Windows XP with the skills of a power user and the tool that will always be at your disposal, Notepad. This article, along with the previous ones, will allow you to enhance and customize your operating system with advanced IT knowledge.
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29.11.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part II
Allow me to start this article by recommending you read (if you haven’t already) the first part of this “tweaking series,” as it sets the ground rules that must be followed in order to get the job done right.
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24.10.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part III
Welcome back to the registry optimization saga! If you’re just joining us, please start by reading at least our first episode, which describes a few rules that must be followed in order for the optimization process to take place successfully...
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25.10.2008 Symantec tool cleans up Windows XP SP3 registry corruption
Symantec Thursday released a free tool that wipes spurious entries from Windows' registry that had crippled some PCs running the company's security software after they were upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Vista SP1.
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9.6.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part V: Desktop Icons
Once again, it's time to enhance your Windows XP operating system exactly the way you want and without paying a cent on expensive programs that do something so simple that even a kid could handle it.
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26.11.2008 Wise Registry Cleaner 1.9
Wise Registry Cleaner is one of the safest Registry cleaning tools available in the market today.
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8.4.2007 Wise Registry Cleaner 2.9.4
Wise Registry Cleaner is one of the safest Registry cleaning tools available in the market today.
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27.10.2007 Windows Registry Editor, Task Manager and Folder Options Disabled by New Infection
January 2008 comes with a new trend when talking about computer security because lots of worms, Trojan horses, viruses or other pieces of malware attempt to disable important Windows functions in order to hide their files.
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14.1.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part IV: Display Properties
Welcome to yet another episode of our Microsoft Windows XP tweaking saga. If you're not familiar with the procedure, please start by reading the first article in the series, so as to fully understand how exactly you should use the lines below and how to run the tweaks.
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12.11.2008 Auslogics Registry Defrag 4.1.6.75
Auslogics Registry Defrag is an extremely useful program to keep your registry as compact as possible. As a result of keeping the registry defragmented and as small as possible, your computer performance will be much improved.
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18.1.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part VIII: Add or Remove Programs
In part eight of the our tweaking series we’ll go through a few Control Panel optimizations for Windows XP power users that may not interest most people using their operating system for basic tasks.
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26.12.2008 Retrieve CD Key/Product Key From Windows Registry with Product Key Finder
You must keep CD Key/Product key of any software or application at handy place since you may not know when you will need that key again.
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9.7.2009 Windows XP SP3 Twice as Fast as Windows Vista – Leaves Vista SP1 in the Dust
Forget about Windows Vista. And forget about Windows Vista SP1. Microsoft's latest Windows client has been quite sluggish to begin with. This in both consumer adoption and in terms of the performance it delivers.
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27.11.2007 Windows Vista Wow! Forget about Vista SP1, XP SP3 and Windows 7!
That's it, forget about Windows XP Service Pack 3, about Windows 7, the next iteration of Windows and even about Windows Vista Service Pack 1.
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1.2.2008 Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2
Feb 26th, 2008. Principled Technologies has released two Microsoft commissioned reports on Windows Vista SP1 performance. In these tests, Principled Technologies measured responsiveness of Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2 when performing a set of common business and home tasks.
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28.2.2008 Vista SP1 RC1 Flies Past Vista RTM and Windows XP SP2
Despite the fact that Microsoft has expressed its official position regarding testing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 ahead of its finalization, there is simply too much of a hunger for the service pack.
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27.12.2007 Vista SP1 Won't Resolve the 4 GB RAM Limitation of 32-bit Windows Vista
32-bit Windows operating systems, and Windows Vista makes no exception whatsoever to this rule, are limited in terms of the amount of system memory that can be addressed to no more than 4 GB.
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4.1.2008 Vista Loader 2.1.3 - Windows Vista Activator 2008 Support SP1 with No Boot String
Vista Loader is one of the most successful Vista activation crack available to date, second only to physical modify (hardmod) the BIOS to include SLIC table to make BIOS Vista activation-compliant.
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15.5.2008 Microsoft to Kill the Grace Timer and OEM BIOS Windows Vista Cracks with Vista SP1
With the advent of Windows Vista, cracks also became available being designed to bypass the activation process of the operating system.
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4.12.2007 Windows Vista on Super Nintendo, As Real As Vista on PSP
We're puzzled and confused... How can a console that's at least ten times less powerful than the acclaimed PSP cope with Windows Vista's requirements?
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15.8.2007 Vista SP1 Features the Same Sins as Windows Vista
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 comes with the same sins as Windows Vista. The service pack is not even out the door, and is already putting users at risk.
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16.1.2008 Will Vista SP1 Go Where Vista Never Went? Even with XP SP3 and Windows 7?
Throughout 2007, it became painfully clear to Microsoft that the main competitor for Windows Vista was not Apple's Mac OS X or even the open source Linux operating system but Windows XP, and, in fact, specifically XP SP2.
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1.3.2008 Microsoft Makes Its Own: 32-bit Windows Vista vs. 64-bit Windows Vista
With Windows Vista, Microsoft delivered both the 32-bit and 64-bit flavors concomitantly, a first for the company, whose Windows XP x64 Professional (April, 2005) was launched one year after Windows XP SP2 (August 2005) and four after the initial 32-bit Windows XP (2001).
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8.1.2008Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC2 via Windows Update (Public Availability Program)
Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 is available to the public. Specific registry settings will allow you to be offered SP3 via Windows
Update.
Download the script and run it on a machine currently running Windows XP Service Pack 2. The script sets a registry key
on your system. The registry key is required for Windows Update to recognize your machine as a valid target for Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC2.
Versions of Windows XP Service Pack 3 prior to Release Candidate 2 should be removed before attempting to use the registry key.
Windows Update will not offer Release Candidate 2 to machines with previous versions of the Windows XP Service Pack 3 beta.
It is
recommended that you apply the resulting update package to an activated, genuine copy of Windows XP, in a test environment. As with any pre-release
software, it is also recommended that you back up files and settings on your machine before applying this update package.
winbeta.org -
20.02.2008Shipping Seven: The Registry
Could the registry be replaced? Sure, in software, pretty much any change is possible.
In practice though...If you were to
replace the registry, you would end up with something that pretty much looks exactly like the registry.
Go take a look at all the
programs on your hard disk that use the registry APIs in
in advapi32.dll...
winbeta.org - 16.01.2008
Windows registry forensics guide: Investigating hacker activities
When analysing a compromised Windows system, investigators and system administrators can glean enormously useful information about attackers' actions
by looking through the Windows registry, a hierarchical database storing tens of thousands of settings on a modern Windows box. Whether an outside
attacker compromised the box, an inside employee engaged in nefarious activities, or malware inexplicably infected the machine, the Windows registry
contains wonderful gems of information for investigators. In this tip, we'll look at what information investigators can gather about user activity
via the registry. Next month, we'll focus on how investigators can pull useful registry information associated with the overall operating system.
winbeta.org - 06.06.2008
Windows XP Service Pack 3 SP3 RC2 Refresh
Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new
functionalities, which do not significantly change customers experience with the operating system.
jcxp.net - 26.03.2008
IE8 Script Debugger - Under the Hood
Sheetal Kamat: IE8 Beta1 (download available here) now
includes a Script debugger that is part of IE8 Developer Tools. This Script debugger was built by the JScript team and I hope you have been using it
to fix all script errors when building your web applications.
In this post I will be discuss the design of the script
debugger.
winbeta.org - 18.03.2008
Rumors: Microsoft to buy
Softricity
There are persistant rumors
all over the web since
yesterday, which say that
Microsoft would fear VMWare's
June products releases. To
compete with them, according
to those rumors, Microsoft is
in talks with Softricity, a
virtualization specialized
company, about buying
possibilities.
A source close to Microsoft
gave its comments about the
story: "It's coming down to
the final stretches,", but
also notes that it's not a
done deal yet, and that things
could still change.
If the rumor says
right, the deal would be
accomplished before the end of
the WinHEC 2006 (Windows
Hardware Engineers Conference)
event, which kicks in next
week.
The point
of buying Softricity is pretty
clear: Giving its Windows
Virtual Server products an
advantage over competing
companies' virtualization
products, along with adding
yet another feature to its
next flagship Operating System
Windows Vista, this feature
would allow application
developers to create a virtual
registry unique to their
application instead of using
the main system registry, and
to avoid DLL conflicts. These
new features in Windows Vista
would be another move in order
to get away from the
getting-old system registry
concept, a tendency that began
with the release of the
Microsoft .NET development
platform...
jcxp.net - 20.05.2006
Windows Vista Demo Readiness Toolkit
With a comprehensive demo script, sample content, and a preconfigured installation including user accounts and applications, you have everything you
need to demo with Windows Vista with virtually no effort.
NOTE: Installing the Demo Readiness Toolkit will completely erase all
data on your hard drive and create a Windows Vista Demonstration PC. Be sure to use a machine that can be re-formatted. Do you demonstrate Windows
Vista features? Or maybe you demo 3rd party applications, services, solutions and/or hardware with Windows Vista? With the Demo Readiness Toolkit,
your workload just got a whole lot lighter! With a comprehensive demo script, sample content, and a preconfigured installation including user accounts
and applications, you have everything you need to demo with Windows Vista with virtually no effort. No more searching for the right software, creating
user accounts, tweaking settings, or writing product/feature messaging - now you can focus on your pitch, NOT on building a demo environment.
winbeta.org - 29.05.2008
Windows XP SP3 Release Candidate 2 via Windows Update
Microsoft yesterday made Service Pack 3 RC2 available to both testers and the general public. They have provided a small script to run on your XP SP2
machine that will allow for SP3 to be available through Windows Update.
The build, now at v3311, cannot be installed over previous SP3
betas. Versions of Windows XP Service Pack 3 prior to Release Candidate 2 should be removed before attempting to use the registry key. Windows Update
will not offer Release Candidate 2 to machines with previous versions of the Windows XP Service Pack 3 beta.
neowin.net - 20.02.2008
Microsoft Deployment New Feature: Windows Update
One of the new tasks and scripts in the Microsoft Deployment Lite Touch Task sequence is called Windows Update. This task is disabled in the default
task sequence for the Client Template. The task runs a script called ztiwindowsupdate.wsf. One item to note is that the current version of this
script requires client access to the Internet and also does not support proxy authentication. However if you meet those requirements, there are some
really nice advantages of using this action. Here is a brief description of what actions this script performs.
This script will
install and download updates from Windows Update and Microsoft Update over the Internet using the Windows Update Agent API. By default this feature is disabled in
each Task Sequence, it must be manually enabled to run, and each computer must have a connection via proxy to the Internet. This script was designed
to run on Windows XP, 2003, Vista, and should be compatible with Windows Server 2008 when released.
winbeta.org - 14.11.2007
The ultimate tweaker's guide to Windows
But just because the operating system doesn't look and work the way you want doesn't mean that you're stuck with it as is. Windows is extremely
tweakable; if you dig a little, you'll find that you can customize it in almost any way you want.
To help you out, we've put
together this guide to tweaking Windows. It covers both XP and Vista and lets you do all kinds of things you might have thought were impossible --
replacing your boot screen, hacking the Control Panel, speeding up Windows Flip 3D and more. Look for the XP logo and Vista logo icons to see which
tips work in which OS.
The hacks vary in the expertise you'll need. In some cases you'll get down and dirty with the Registry,
so if you're not certain you know how to make a DWORD value, for example, read our story "The tweaker's guide to the
Windows Registry" first. (Be sure to read the instructions for backing up the
Registry before you attempt any Registry edits whatsoever.)
In other cases, you'll just have to dig into hidden corners of
menus and folders. But in all cases, you'll tell Windows exactly how you want it to behave ... and it will bow down to you, the master.
winbeta.org - 18.10.2007
Windows Vista "NoDriveTypeAutoRun" Security Issue
CERT/CC has reported a security issue in Windows Vista, which can be exploited
by malicious people to bypass certain security settings.
AutoPlay is a feature designed to immediately begin reading from a drive
(e.g. run a setup file) when a media is inserted. According to Microsoft, this feature can be disabled for all drives by setting the value of the
"HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorerNoDriveTypeAutoRun" registry key to "0xFF". However, as Windows Vista
fails to properly handle the mentioned registry key, this may still result in programs being executed automatically when a media is inserted even with
the registry key value set to "0xFF".
Successful exploitation may result in execution of arbitrary code, but requires physical
access to a vulnerable system or that a user is tricked into inserting a malicious media (e.g. USB device).
winbeta.org - 22.03.2008
What's In Your Registry?
One frequent TV commercial asks, "What's in your wallet?" I ask: What's in your computer that could expose sensitive data? Last week, I searched
my Windows Vista registry and turned up some disturbing stuff.
I found some surprising personal information there, such as name,
address and phone number; online account user names; software registration codes; and information identifying some online accounts. I wasn't looking
for any of this information. My search had initially been for something else. But the discovery of this information greatly disturbed me.
To be absolutely clear, none of this information was put there by Windows Vista. Third-party software or services were the culprits.
Andrew Jaquith, Yankee Group program manager for Security Research, said that the Windows registry makes "application developers' lives
easier. It provides a centralized API for reading and writing configuration settings. Instead of worrying about lots of
parsing and modifying .INI files scattered all over the hard disk, all you'd need to do is make a few Win32 API calls, and Windows takes care of
managing all of that information for you."
winbeta.org - 12.09.2007
Update Vista and Office offline
For the first time, version 4.0 of the heise Security Offline
Update script archive supports updates for Windows
Vista and Office.
Offline Update provides a simple mechanism for users to install security updates from a CD, DVD or USB stick.
Once the generator
script is launched, all the user needs to do is
select the Microsoft product and the language version of the Microsoft
script they would
like to download. As soon as all the patches are
downloaded onto the disk, the script packs them into burn-ready ISO
images for CDs or
DVDs. The user can then launch an installation script
from the media that quickly installs the updates on the target PC.
Offline Update is supported by a lively discussion forum.
It is currently the only solution available that provides owners of Windows PCs on a slow internet connection with the latest updates. Until recently,
many users were able to download "update packs" that bundled the Microsoft updates in installation packets from a website operating under the name
of Autopatcher, but the download site was taken down after Microsoft issued a warning to
the project developers. The zip archive provided by Offline Update, however, does not contain any Microsoft code.
winbeta.org - 15.10.2007
Symantec tool cleans up Windows XP SP3 registry corruption
Symantec Thursday released a free tool that wipes spurious entries from Windows' registry that had crippled some PCs running the company's
security software after they were upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Vista SP1. The tool, SymRegFix, had been promised by Symantec two
weeks ago when users reported that upgrading to XP SP3 emptied Windows' Device Manager, deleted network connections and packed the registry with
thousands of bogus entries.
Symantec initially blamed Microsoft for the snafu, but later accepted some responsibility. Last week, the
company said the combination of a Microsoft process and the SymProtect feature of its Norton-branded consumer security software had added the errant
registry entries, and it told users to turn off that feature before upgrading. Symantec's SymRegFix clean-up tool can be downloaded from the company's site.
neowin.net - 09.06.2008
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in the Wild
By now many of you may have seen reports of Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in the wild. For a while, it was merely speculation (and several
good hints) towards Release Candidate Refresh 2 (RCR2) being the Release to Manufacturer (RTM) build. There has been a 'registry hack' going
around for a few days now to enable the option to download SP1 via Windows Update. This 'hack' is actually straight from Microsoft, which was
given to beta testers on Connect January 23rd.
According to Geeks Anatomy, Jeff DaVos (a Windows Vista SP1 beta program leader) has said
on the Connect news group that this is indeed the same release being used for RTM, and that “What you got is what we’re all running our
Vista machines here internally - we definitely RTM’d”.
Note: As I am sure Microsoft will say, using anything except for
files downloaded from Microsoft directly is a risk. If you plan to install SP1 via the registry changes, you are accepting this risk.
neowin.net - 08.02.2008
VeriSign Raises .com, .net Registry Fees
VeriSign said late Thursday
that it would raise the
registry fees on both .com and
.net domains October 15 by as
much as 10 percent. The
increase is the first in eight
years, the company says...
betanews.com - 06.04.2007
What is the WINSXS directory in Windows 2008 and Windows Vista and why is it so large?
Joseph Conway: A commonly asked question among people looking at a Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 installation is śwhy is the WinSxS folder so
big?!ť To answer that question I need to first describe componentization, and how components are managed in Windows Vista.
One
of the largest changes between previous versions of Windows and Windows Vista was a move from an INF described OS to componentization. A component in
Windows is one or more binaries, a catalog file, and an XML file that describes everything about how the files should be installed. From associated
registry keys and services to what kind security permissions the files should have. Components are grouped into logical units, and these units are
used to build the different Windows editions...
winbeta.org - 17.09.2008
Adobe Acknowledges Flaw in PDF for Windows, Urges Registry Hacks
Confirming a statement made by Petko D. Petkov on his GNUcitizen.org blog over two weeks ago, Adobe has released a security advisory warning of a
potential exploitable flaw in its Acrobat and Adobe Reader software. Adobe's suggested system registry fix suggests a maliciously crafted PDF can be
made to send e-mail undetected...
betanews.com - 09.10.2007
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner 1.25 Final
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
is a free registry repair
software that allows you to
safely clean and repair
registry problems with a few
simple mouse clicks. Problems
with the Windows Registry are
a common cause of Windows
crashes and error messages.
Registry problems can occur
for many reasons, including
references left behind after
uninstall; incorrect removal
of software; missing or
corrupt hardware drivers; or
orphaned start-up programs.
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
will scans your Windows
registry for invalid or
obsolete information and
provide a list of the errors
found. After fixing the
invalid entries, your system
will be more stable and run
faster. For maximum safety,
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
will make a backup of the
repaired entries. You will be
able to restore any changes
made using the software by
choosing Restore registry
backup. It is strongly
recommended to back up your
data before using
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
!
Changelog:
* Add checking for
update.
* Show the
problem count after scanning
every item.
* Change
donation agent.
neowin.net - 25.12.2006
New WMV PowerToy & registry key documentation
The birth of the VC-1 Encoder SDKs will reduce the need for these over the next few months, but Alex has updated his WMV PowerToy and also revised our
documentation about the registry key options.
Here's the new PowerToy. It mainly removes a few options that we determined weren't in the Format SDK 11 implementation, particularly
adaptive chroma search and default adaptive deadzone.
And here's the new, hopefully final registry key documentation,
reflecting the above and other useful tidbits we've learned.
winbeta.org - 09.09.2007
