April 5th, 2009

Five Windows tools to keep your digital life in sync

Posted by Ed Bott @ 10:30 pm

Categories: Image Galleries, Tips

Tags: Folder, Google Inc., Notebook, Mozilla Firefox, Password, PC, Web Browser, File, Feature, Tool

Like many of my readers, I have a desktop PC and a notebook. I do most of my day-to-day work (like composing this post) on the desktop PC in my office. I use the notebook in the living room for casual web surfing, reading feeds, and sometimes writing, when I just want a change of environment or a more comfortable seat.

Keeping files, programs, bookmarks, and passwords in sync across two computers is a tricky task. It gets even tougher when I throw a third or fourth PC into the mix, as when I evaluate a new PC or install a new build of Windows (something I’ve been doing a lot lately). Right now I have two notebooks and two desktops in rotation, switching between different editions of Windows in different locations.

So how do I remain productive? Over the course of the last few years, I’ve built up an assortment of tools and techniques that help me keep track of files, bookmarks, passwords, RSS feeds, and other assorted data (mostly work-related) as I switch between PCs. In this post, I’ll share my favorite software, services, and shortcuts for keeping stuff in sync.

[Don't miss the screenshot gallery I've prepared to give
a closer look at how each of these programs works.]

Before I dive in, though, I want to offer a disclaimer: This is my personal strategy, developed over time because it works for me. I’m certainly not saying that this particular set of tools and techniques is right for everyone. On the contrary, I imagine that many of you have different tools and techniques that you use and prefer. I’m looking forward to reading the Takback section of this post and learning about some alternatives that I might not hear about otherwise.

On that same note, let me say right up front that I’m a Windows guy (just like, you know, about 90 percent of the world), so I don’t really have to worry about cross-platform issues that much. Even so, the majority of the tools I review here are available on platforms other than Windows, a fact I note in the system requirements section for each entry.

This isn’t a complete list, either. One of the key pieces of my data storage strategy is Windows Home Server, for example. But that complex product deserves a more in-depth look, which I’ll provide later. Likewise, I’m steering clear of the e-mail/contacts/calendar options (for the record, I use a hosted Microsoft Exchange account, but that option isn’t for everyone).

With those disclaimers out of the way, I present this list of my top 5 Windows tools for keeping your digital life in sync:

Offline Files The single most useful Windows feature you’ve never heard of, it allows you to work with files on a network share even when you’re disconnected.

Windows Live Mesh Another Microsoft file-sharing technology, this one is ideal for keeping folders in sync on two or more PCs, with online backup as a bonus.

LastPass Create random, unique, impossible-to-guess passwords for websites and store them in a secure online vault that automatically keeps other PCs in sync.

FeedDemon 3.0 If you get your news from RSS feeds, you need this brand-new update to one of my all-time favorite Windows programs.

Xmarks How do you keep bookmarks organized between multiple browsers on multiple PCs? This cross-platform add-in (formerly Foxmarks) is just the ticket.

Next –>

October 12th, 2008

Six money-saving secrets to help stretch your tech budget

Posted by Ed Bott @ 12:28 pm

Categories: Hardware, Tips

Tags: Software, Dell Computer Corp., PC, Microsoft Office, Discount, Product, Price, Tools & Techniques, Desktops, RSS

The recent collapse of worldwide financial markets has everyone on edge. If you’re like most people, the tough times have you looking around at ways to cut back on spending. And your technology budget is an especially easy target.

You might be tempted to impose a freeze on all new purchases of hardware and software, but that draconian strategy only works for so long. Sooner or later, you need to refresh old technology, either because it’s stopped working or is so slow that it’s cramping your productivity.

As part of my research into how the PC market works, I spend a lot of time looking at technology trends and market behavior. One thing I’ve learned over the past few years is that most people pay way too much for hardware and software. In some cases, they pay inflated retail prices and ignore readily available discounts that can shave hundreds of dollars off the bill. Or they buy on the basis of price alone, settling for poorly made, outdated technology when they could do much better for only a few dollars more.

In today’s post, I want to share some of the secrets I’ve learned about how to shop smarter and get great PC hardware and software for a home or small office without breaking the bank.

Read the rest of this entry »

September 22nd, 2008

How to set up a new PC in one easy session

Posted by Ed Bott @ 5:15 pm

Categories: Hardware, Tips

Tags: Program, Folder, PC, Client, USB Flash Drive, Jason, Desktops, Hardware, Ed Bott

Fellow ZDNet blogger Jason Perlow helped a friend and colleague buy a new PC and migrate her data and settings from the old machine (Windows XP) to the new one (Windows Vista). He documents the process in The New Adventures of Christine’s Old PC.

I tip my hat to Jason for his dedication to a friend, but as someone who has been doing this for years, I shook my head at the way he turned what should be a straightforward procedure into a weekend-long geekfest, complete with the transformation of the old, slow, obsolete, spyware-ridden computer into a virtual machine on the new one. In my opinion, that’s overkill for everyone involved. (Update: Jason defends his approach in this follow-up post.)

Over the years, I’ve done this process dozens of times for business clients, family members, friends, and neighbors. I’ve got the process down to a series of checklists, all built around some core principles. First, this is a great opportunity to get rid of clutter and get a fresh start. Second, the best way to transfer data from the old machine to the new one is by physically attaching the old hard drive to the new PC. Anything else, as Jason discovered, is likely to bog down. And finally, spending time upfront figuring out what needs to be transferred and what doesn’t can save hours of time and headaches later.

Jason brought along a huge USB hard drive and a thumb drive. I agree that a USB flash drive can be useful for some small tasks, but I prefer to skip those intermediate transfers whenever possible. Trying to do large-scale data transfers with USB flash drives and cables can be problematic, especially on old, slow, problem-plagued machines, as Jason discovered. Why spend hours moving tens or hundreds of gigabytes of data from the old machine to a USB drive only to have to do it again with the new PC? Skip the two-step and do what I do: bring along a SATA/IDE-to-USB converter. Newegg sells Syba’s version of this device for around $20 including shipping. I own a couple and can recommend them without hesitation. An external power supply feeds the DC connector on the drive, and a two-headed adapter lets you connect any SATA or IDE drive directly to a USB port on the new PC. While the contents of the old computer are transferring to a folder on the new PC, you can tackle other tasks.

But before you do any of that, sit down in front of the old PC and talk to the client about what they want to accomplish with the new system. The steps in this phase are designed to make sure you don’t get stumped somewhere along the way with a detail you overlooked.

Read the rest of this entry »

June 17th, 2008

10 top Vista tweaks, part 2

Posted by Ed Bott @ 8:54 am

Categories: Tips, Windows Vista

Tags: Sleep, Desktop, Search, Network, Microsoft Windows XP, Tweak, Window, System Restore, Microsoft Windows Vista, Shortcut

Missed Part 1? Read it here…

Part 2: As I noted in the first installment of this series, some of my favorite productivity-enhancing techniques don’t involve custom code or registry edits. Instead, they involve learning how the basic building blocks of Windows work, and then rearranging those components to cut steps out of the tasks you perform most often.

In today’s installment of this two-part series, I share some of my favorite tweaks for getting maximum mileage out of Windows Search. I also explain the inner workings of volume shadow copies and how you can make better use of these automatic backups with System Restore and the Previous Versions feature. I show how to get quick access to your local and network data files by combining shortcuts in a single, easy-to-reach location, and I explain why hybrid sleep should be the default on every desktop PC.

Just as in last week’s edition, each tweak gets its own page in this post. I’ve also put together a gallery of instructions, each one annotated with step-by-step instructions so you can follow along. The two pieces are a matched set for each entry in the list; if you look only at the text or only at the gallery, you’re missing the complete picture.

Here’s a quick list of what’s in part 2:

6. Save your favorite searches

The Start menu search box works just fine for quick, ad hoc searches. To really tap into the power of Windows Search, though, spend a little time to create searches that bring together the types of files you use most often (Word documents modified this month or last month, e-mail messages from Fred or Rick, and so on). Then save those searches so you can reuse them later or copy them to another computer.

7. Fine-tune your search settings

Speaking of Windows Search, did you know that there are three separate areas where you can tweak settings that control search behavior? Use these tweaks to make Start menu searches more useful, simplify the complicated advanced search syntax, and add IFilters to search inside types of files that aren’t supported by a default Vista installation.

8. Make the most of System Restore and shadow copies

Did you know that System Restore in XP and Vista use completely different techniques to save snapshots of data? In this tweak, I explain why you might want to increase the amount of space set aside for volume shadow copies. I also introduce a free utility that lets users of Windows Vista home editions find and restore files from automatically created backups.

9. Bring network files closer

The fastest way to get to files in any network location is via a shortcut. And the best place to save those shortcuts to network locations is in the Computer window. You can add shortcuts to shared folders, FTP sites, or websites where you publish files. Here’s how.

10. Master power management

In XP, you have standby and hibernate. Vista adds a third power state, called hybrid sleep. Here’s what you need to know and how you can tune a desktop system to take advantage of this useful mode.

Tweak #6: Save your favorite searches –>

June 11th, 2008

10 top tweaks for Windows Vista

Posted by Ed Bott @ 12:23 pm

Categories: Image Galleries, Tips, Windows Vista

Tags: Program, Folder, Desktop, Network, Toolbar, Microsoft Windows Vista, Quick Launch, List, Icon, File

[Update 17-June: Part 2 is now available.]
Part 1: In nearly two decades of working with and writing about Windows, one lesson I’ve learned above all others is that the best ways to enhance performance and productivity are usually fairly simple. They don’t require registry edits or custom code; instead, they involve learning how the basic building blocks of Windows work, and then rearranging those components to cut steps out of the tasks you perform most often.

Vista changed some of those building blocks, and many people are struggling because they’re trying to use the new tools with the old techniques.

In that spirit, I’ve put together this list of my 10 favorite tweaks to Windows Vista. It covers a lot of ground, so I’ve split it into two parts, each containing five entries. In today’s installment, I explain how to make the list of installed programs easier to work with, how to tweak the taskbar, the Start menu, the Quick Launch toolbar, and Windows Explorer. And I also cover the most important time-saving technique for any user of any computer: how to create an automatic backup routine that works.

	Image Gallery: These screenshots show these top tweaks for Windows Vista, step by step.

Each tweak gets its own page in this post. I’ve also put together a gallery of instructions, each one annotated with step-by-step instructions so you can follow along. The two pieces are a matched set for each entry in the list; if you look only at the text or only at the gallery, you’re missing the complete picture.

Here’s a quick list of what’s in part 1:

1. Get installed programs organized and up-to-date

The default format for the list of installed programs in Control Panel is a dull, gray list that matches its Windows XP predecessor. But with a few clicks, you can add a wealth of useful information (like current version numbers for every program in the list) and group entries in ways that are more useful.

2. Tweak the taskbar and desktop

The first thing I do with every new Windows system I set up is to make the task bar taller. I also make desktop clutter vanish completely without losing access to files and shortcuts on the desktop. Here’s how.

3. Set up a smart, automated backup system

How often should you have to reinstall Windows? The correct answer is “Never.” Using built-in backup tools that are included with some Vista editions, you can save a system image that can be restored from disk – complete with drivers and your installed programs - in a fraction of the time it would take to reinstall.

4. Get fast access to common tasks

I constantly hear that some tasks in Windows Vista take too long, especially those that have to do with networking. Want one-click access to network settings and other useful tasks, complete with automatic keyboard shortcuts? Follow the step-by-step instructions.

5. Fine-tune Windows Explorer

Vista’s version of Windows Explorer is a radical reworking of the XP-style Explorer you know and probably don’t love. With three tweaks and a slightly adjusted mindset (hint: think of a modern airline’s hub-and-spoke model), you’ll find most file-management tasks significantly easier.

If you have feedback, questions, or suggestions for topics you think I should cover later in this series, please leave them in the TalkBack section below.

Tweak #1: A smart Programs and Features list –>

June 5th, 2008

Fixing Windows Vista, Part 5: Faster, smarter search

Posted by Ed Bott @ 6:25 am

Categories: Tips, Windows Vista

Tags: Microsoft Windows Vista, Index, Microsoft Windows Explorer, Windows Search, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Software, Ed Bott

In previous installments of this series, I discussed the virtues of a clean Vista install, some useful User Account Control workarounds,  top tools for troubleshooting, and the wisdom of shutting off Windows system services. Today’s fifth and final installment is a little different from its predecessors, in that it focuses not so much on fixing what might be broken, but rather on taking advantage of a feature in Windows Vista that has the potential to transform the way you work.

Through the years, I’ve tried just about every third-party desktop search utility for Windows. But I threw them all away after a few weeks of using Vista’s built-in Windows Search capability. In this post, I’ll explain how Windows Search works, how to monitor the SearchIndexer service to avoid potential performance problems, and how to speed up indexing operations on the fly.

First, an overview of how Windows Search works. By default, the Windows Search service runs on every Vista installation, maintaining an index of data files, music and pictures, e-mail messages and contact information (for supported programs), shortcuts to installed programs, and Internet favorites and your web-browsing history. The index is limited to the contents of specific folders and subfolders (you can customize this list), and the extent of indexing is controlled by file types. Virtually all files have their file properties (name, date, size, and so on) indexed; in addition, specific file types that have matching iFilters installed have their full contents included in the index.

You can use the index from just about anywhere:

Read the rest of this entry »

May 28th, 2008

Free Sysinternals Windows utilities now available online, 24/7

Posted by Ed Bott @ 3:00 pm

Categories: Microsoft, Tips

Tags: Window, Sysinternals, Tool, Productivity, Ed Bott

If you troubleshoot Windows PCs for fun or profit, then chances are you’ve used one or more tools from Sysinternals. Microsoft bought the company and its amazing library of diagnostic, troubleshooting, and management utilities in 2006, and the collection has been continually updated ever since. It’s also still completely free.

A few weeks ago, I ran into Sysinternals co-founder Mark Russinovich at a technical conference, where he told me about a new Sysinternals service that was in private beta testing. Today, I can finally break the news that Sysinternals Live is now open to the public.

The new service enables you to execute the most recent version of any Sysinternals tool directly from an Internet-connected PC, without having to hunt for the executable file and manually download it first. To access the complete library of tools, use either of these methods from a Windows-based PC:

• Go to the Sysinternals Live directory (http://live.sysinternals.com) and click the name of the tool you want to run. Because the directory listing is a bare-bones HTML file, it can be used in any browser.
• If you know the name of the executable file for the tool you want to use, enter it directly, using the syntax \\live.sysinternals.com\tools\<toolname>, where <toolname> is the name of the executable file. (Note the UNC syntax uses backslashes, not slashes, as in a URL. Start with a pair of backslashes to indicate that live.sysinternals.com is the remote server, and don’t include the angle brackets with the tool name.)

If you’ve never used Sysinternals tools before, you’d do well to start at the Sysinternals home page, which includes descriptions of each tool, along with download links and installation instructions. But if you are already familiar with one or more tools in the library, you can create direct shortcuts to those tools on your desktop or on the USB flash drive you keep with your emergency toolkit.

Here are three shortcuts to get you started, all of which have been updated in 2008:

Process Explorer (\\live.sysinternals.com\tools\procexp.exe) - This Task Manager replacement occupies the number-one slot on my top 10 list of all-time favorite Windows programs. As I noted in that writeup, “It provides system information, a hierarchical view of all running processes (including services), and an overwhelming number of technical details about how each process uses CPU and memory. It all runs in real time, making it an ideal troubleshooting tool.”

AutoRuns (\\live.sysinternals.com\tools\autoruns.exe) - Are you still using Msconfig to see which processes are automatically running when you start a Windows PC? Then you literally don’t know what you’re missing. There are dozens of nooks and crannies in the Windows file system and registry where auto-starting programs can park themselves. This tool finds them all. More importantly, it allows you to disable or remove any entry you find.

Process Monitor (\\live.sysinternals.com\tools\procmon.exe) - If you’re trying to figure out exactly what a program or process is doing (especially if you’re actively on the hunt for malware), this tool is your best friend. It combines the features of the now-retired Filemon and Regmon utilities to trace (and capture in an optional log file) the impact of a process as it starts, runs, and exits.

The “live” tools should work equally well in x86 and x64 versions of Windows Vista and Server 2008; I ran into a bug with Process Explorer and Handle.exe in my x64 testing, but corrected versions of both utilities were scheduled to go online today before Sysinternals Live opened to the public. Also, in Windows Vista and Server 2008 you can use “live” versions of command-line tools, but most require that you enter the command name in UNC syntax from an elevated prompt (click Start, type cmd in the Search box, select Cmd.exe from the results list, and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter).  The command-line tools I tested worked perfectly exactly as expected.

If you’re a Sysinternals fan, you’ll love Sysinternals Live.

Update 30-May-2008: For instructions on how to create a Windows Explorer shortcut in the Computer folder that displays the contents of the Sysinternals Live Tools folder, see Working with Sysinternals Live.

May 19th, 2008

Fixing Windows Vista, Part 4: Get smart about services

Posted by Ed Bott @ 4:59 am

Categories: Tips, Windows Vista

Tags: Microsoft Windows Vista, Service, Superfetch, Trade-off, Windows Search, Windows Defender, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Software

In the three previous installments of this series, I discussed ways to improve the performance of Windows Vista by changing some settings (especially those installed by an OEM PC maker). If you need to catch up, go read Part 1 (the pros and cons of a clean install), Part 2 (UAC tips and tweaks), and Part 3 (troubleshooting tools and techniques).

Today’s installment in this series is a little different. Mostly, it’s about not wasting your time following bad advice. Dozens of websites purport to offer tips on how to speed up Vista. In most cases, I’ve found the advice to be fairly obvious, but I’ve also seen plenty of popular tips that are just plain bogus.

The single most common bogus tip I read is the one that advises Vista users to disable “unnecessary” services. This tip starts with the reasonable argument that Windows Vista just has too damn many services running, and each service you shut down will free up memory and CPU cycles and put the zip, zing, and zoom back in your desktop. One popular website even lists several levels of recommended service configurations. (It doesn’t have one entitled “OK, punk, do you feel lucky?”)

	Image Gallery: I’ve created a gallery that shows how to measure the impact of services on system performance and decide which services are worth disabling.

The one thing I have found every time I run across this tip is the complete absence of any evidence to establish what it’s supposed to do for you. Instead, this tip is usually delivered as a vague recommendation that reads something like this snippet, taken from a very large, popular publication that shall remain nameless to spare them embarrassment:

But be careful! Click the Services tab, and uncheck only the services you’re certain you don’t need. To be safe, [open Msconfig and] uncheck one, reboot, and see if everything still works fine before moving on to another. Do your homework via online help or a web search before experimenting!

That is breathtakingly bad advice. It is as if the automotive columnist in your local newspaper told you to open the hood of your car and start disconnecting wires and hoses one at a time to see which ones made your car run faster or quieter or smoother. It might be hours or days or even weeks before you run a program that requires the service you disabled, at which point you might have no clue that the disabled service is the cause of the nonfunctional program.

Here’s the reality: On an otherwise healthy PC running Windows Vista, disabling most built-in Windows services is extremely unlikely to have any noticeable effect on memory usage, startup or shutdown time, or system performance. On the contrary, you are more likely to create problems by disabling services. Not to mention the amount of time you will surely waste and the productivity you will lose with all that starting and stopping and rebooting and web searching.

I’ve identified four specific situations in which tweaking services might make a difference in the performance of an individual Vista system. In he following pages and in the screenshot gallery that accompanies this installment, I’ll provide some background on how services work and then discuss these situations in detail. I’ll also show you how to decide which (if any) of these services you want to modify. (Hint: For most people, the correct answer is “none.”)

Page 2: What do you have to gain (or lose) by messing with services?

Page 3: The only Vista services that matter, performance-wise

Continue reading: What you need to know about services –>

May 6th, 2008

Fixing Windows Vista, Part 3: Top Troubleshooting Tools

Posted by Ed Bott @ 11:19 pm

Categories: Tips, Windows Vista

Tags: Performance, PC, Driver, Microsoft Windows Vista, CPU, Tool, Dialog Box, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Performance Management, Microsoft Windows

Do you think Windows Vista is slow, crash-prone, or unreliable? Join the crowd.

Over the past year, reviews of Windows Vista by mainstream media outlets, the technical press, bloggers, and ordinary users have been, for the most part, scathing. And many of those bad reviews were absolutely accurate. My co-authors and I just completed an extensive post-Service Pack 1 revision of our book Windows Vista Inside Out. Over the past year, we installed, upgraded, and used Windows Vista on a broad cross-section of hardware designs from nearly a dozen manufacturers. During that time, we experienced some of those same performance, reliability, and compatibility issues ourselves. What we found was simple: With a clean install on well-supported hardware, everything worked just fine. But toss in an incompatible application or a flaky video, storage, or network driver, and performance could suffer. Badly.

Over the past year or so, we have also observed steady and occasionally dramatic improvements in the Windows ecosystem. Most of the large issues in Windows Vista were effectively resolved by a series of updates delivered via Windows Update, including more than 500 fixes that were rolled up into Service Pack 1. Third-party hardware makers, many of whom were slow to get working Vista drivers out the door, have since released updates that can make a huge difference in the Vista experience.

Today’s conventional wisdom, based on more than a year’s worth of relentless negative publicity, says Vista is hopelessly broken. In fact, my experience says the exact opposite is true. I proved the point in the first installment of this series, where I restored a sluggish $2500 Sony Vaio notebook to peak performance in a few hours. And I think anyone with a modicum of PC smarts can do the same. Read the rest of this entry »

April 29th, 2008

Fixing Windows Vista, Part 2: Taming UAC

Posted by Ed Bott @ 10:41 pm

Categories: Security, Tips, Windows Vista

Tags: Program, Account, Microsoft Windows Vista, OK, UAC, Dialog Box, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Software

The User Account Control feature in Windows Vista has been known to drive normally level-headed people over the edge with frustration. If you find it annoying, you might be tempted to turn it off. According to Microsoft research, somewhere between 12 and 16 percent of all Windows Vista users do exactly that. But before you take such a radical step, it helps to understand what UAC is actually doing on your behalf and how you can tone down its hard edges without sacrificing its protection.

The biggest misconception I hear about UAC is that it’s just another silly “Are you sure?” dialog box that users will quickly learn to ignore. That’s only one small part of the overall UAC system. The point of UAC is to allow you to run as a standard user, something that is nearly impossible in Windows XP and earlier Windows versions. In fact, with UAC enabled (the default setting) every user account in Windows Vista runs as a standard user. When you try to do something that requires administrative privileges, you see a UAC consent dialog box. If you’re an administrator, you simply have to click Continue when prompted. If you’re running as a standard user, you have to provide the user name and password of a member of the Administrators group.

	Image Gallery: I’ve created a walkthrough gallery that shows how to tone down the hard edges of UAC without sacrificing its protection.

UAC has four major benefits:

1. On a shared computer, you can set up standard user accounts for users who don’t have the experience or training to make smart decisions about installing software or making system changes. As a result, they won’t be able to do any damage if a malicious website fools them into trying to install a piece of spyware or a Trojan.
2. As an administrator, you get a warning before a piece of software attempts to make a change that can adversely affect the system. In Windows XP, clicking OK to a single malicious installer program could install a dozen programs in the background, with no warning to you. In Vista with UAC, you’ll have to give consent to each installation (and presumably will say No, early and often.)
3. Badly written programs sometimes try to write user data to system areas, such as the Windows or Program Files folder or a registry key that affects all users. In Windows XP, running this type of program as a standard user would probably cause the program to fail. With Vista, those operations are intercepted and written to a virtualized location in your user profile. The program thinks it wrote a file to the Windows folder, but the actual file appears in your profile.
4. Internet Explorer 7 runs in Protected Mode when UAC is on. That causes processes in a browser window to run at a low integrity level, where they’re blocked from interacting with processes that have a higher integrity level. The net effect is to stop entire classes of web-based attacks in their tracks.

Microsoft product unit manager David Cross made some remarks several weeks ago that have been widely misinterpreted. He was quoted as saying that the reason Microsoft added UAC to Windows Vista was “to annoy users.” The reality is that UAC shouldn’t be annoying, and consent dialog boxes shouldn’t be common. If you’re being pestered with UAC prompts all day long, you should be annoyed at the software developer that wrote the crappy program that’s responsible for those prompts, and you should in turn annoy them until they fix it.

But if you do find UAC annoying in day-to-day use, I recommend that you try one or more of the alternatives described in this post before resorting to the “nuclear alternative” of completely disabling it. The three techniques I outline here (with illustrations in the accompanying screenshot gallery) can help cut the annoyance factor dramatically

Page 2: Stop annoying UAC “fade to black” slowdowns

Page 3: Create an Administrator account that’s free of UAC prompts

Page 4: Use shortcuts to start programs in admin mode without UAC prompts

Next –>