Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. First Steps
3. Extract the boot image from a Windows XP CD
4. How to slipstream Windows Service Pack 3
5. How To slipstream SATA Drivers Using nLite
6. Burn a bootable CD or DVD Using Nero V 7.8
7. Burn a bootable CD or DVD using nLite
8. Conclusion

Introduction

After a version of Windows is released, over time bugs are found or new enhancements are added by Microsoft. In order to fix these bugs and add these new enhancements, Microsoft will occassionally release a large update called a Windows service pack that contains all of bug fixes, enhancements, and new features created since Windows was released. Unfortunately, CDs that you have for Windows usually do not have these newer Service Packs already installed. This means that if you ever need to reinstall Windows with your CD, you will also have to deal with the timely task of reinstalling the service packs. To make matters worse, some of the fixes in these service packs are security related, and by not having them installed, your computer may be at risk from viruses or vulnerable to hackers. Therefore, not having these service packs installed after you install Windows could open yourself up to big security risks.

In order to resolve these types of issues it is possible to integrate the newer service packs over an an older copy of the Windows installation files. This allows you to install Windows with the service pack already installed so that you do not have to install them after the installation process. This process of integrating the newer service packs with older installation files is called slipstreaming. The goal of this tutorial is to walk you through creating a slipstreamed Windows installation CD or DVD that already contains Windows XP Service Pack 3. That way if you install Windows using this CD/DVD, your installation will already have these large updates installed, your computer will not be in as much danger, and you can just focus on installing the latest updates and the applications that you want on your computer.

First Steps

Before we can start the process of creating Windows install disc, we first need to gather some software. Below is a list of software that you will need to download and install, as well as CDs that you should have on hand in order to continue.

1. An existing copy of Windows XP home, Professional, or Media Center. Unfortunately, for this step you can not use an OEM CD provided by your computer manufacturer (Dell, HP, etc).
   
2. Nero Burning Rom or nLite if you do not have NERO
   
3. ISOBUSTER
   
4. Network installation copy of Windows XP Service pack 3
   
5. A copy of your SATA drivers from your motherboard Web site if you have a SATA HDD that requires special drivers.
   
6. A blank writable CD or DVD and a CD/DVD burner.

Once you have made sure you have all the software or media listed above, you should create a folder that will be used to store the files that will be written to the installation disc. For this tutorial, we suggest you create a folder on your C: drive labeled XPCD. Once the folder is created, please copy the entire contents of your XP CD to this folder.

Extracting the boot image

After you have completed copying your windows XP CD you will need to create a boot image by extracting it from your existing XP CD. To do this, have your XP CD inserted in your computer and start ISOBuster. When the program starts you will see a screen similar to the following. If you do not, change the selected drive so that it is pointing to the drive that contains your Windows XP CD.

In the left hand pane you should select Bootable Disc. Click once on this Bootable Disc option, so it is selected, and you will now see a file called Microsoft Corporation.img in the right hand panel as shown in the image below.

Now right-click on the MICROSOFT CORPORATION.img file and select the extract MICROSOFT CORPORATION.img option as shown in the image below.

When it prompts you for the location where you would like to extract the file, save it to the folder you copied the contents of your XP CD earlier in the guide. If you are following the guide step-by-step, this folder will be C:\XPCD.

How to slipstream Windows Service Pack 3

Now that we have extracted the boot image we need to slipstream the service pack over the Windows files you previously copied into the C:\XPCD folder. Please make sure you have downloaded the network installation version Windows XP Service Pack 3 before continuing as we will need it during this step. When downloading the service pack, please download the files to the root directory of your C: drive.

Once the service pack is downloaded, you can slipstream the service pack using two methods. The first method is to use the command line and the second is to use the nLite program. The command line method will probably be a bit easier if you are comfortable with the Windows command prompt. Otherwise, use the nLite method described below.

Using the Command Line to slipstream the service pack:

Click on the Start Menu and then select Run. Then type command into the Open: field. Finally, click on the OK button. You will now be at a command prompt where you should type the following bolded lines. After each line, press enter on your keyboard as shown in the figure below.

CD\
C:WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe /integrate:C:\XPCD

If you are using an OEM Windows XP CD you will receive the following error. This error means that you cannot use this type of CD to create a slipstreamed installation and will not be able to continue with this tutorial.

Now that you are done slipstreaming the service pack using the command line. You should now skip to the section detailing how to slipstream your SATA hard drive drivers. If you are not using a SATA drive you can skip ahead to learn how to burn the DVD.

Using nLite to slipstream the service pack:

Download nLite and install the program. When the program starts, click on the Next button, and then at the next screen, select the Browse button to see a screen similar to the one below.

Now select your Windows installation folder that we created at C:\XPCD and then click on the OK button. nLite will scan the directory and identify any previously installed Service Packs. When it has finished, click on the Next button. You will now be on a screen asking if there are any presets that you would like to use. Just click on the Next button again to continue.

You will now be on the Task Selection screen. Simply click once on the Service Pack button so that the circle becomes green as shown in the image below.

Now that it is selected, click on the Next button. You will now be prompted for the location of your service pack installation file that you downloaded earlier as shown in the image below.

Browse to the service pack file and select it. Then click on the Open button. file. Once you click on the open button, nLite will automatically slipstream the service pack into your C:\XPCD folder. When it has finished, click on the Next button, and then at the next screen, click on the Finish button to close the program.

You should now continue to the section detailing how to slipstream your SATA hard drive drivers. If you are not using a SATA drive you can skip ahead to learn how to burn the DVD.

How To slipstream SATA Drivers Using nLite

If you have not already installed nLite, you will need to download and install the program first. Next, you will need to download your SATA drivers from your motherboard or computer manufacture's web site. In our example, I will be using VIA raid drivers from Biostar. Once the SATA drivers have been downloaded, you should extract them to a folder on your hard drive. In our example, we have extracted the drivers into the C:\SATA Driver folder.

Now that everything is prepared you should start the nLite program. When the program starts, click on the Next button, and then at the next screen, select the Browse button to see a screen similar to the one below.

Now select your Windows installation folder that we created at C:\XPCD and then click on the OK button. nLite will scan the directory and identify any previously installed service packs. When it has finished, click on the Next button. You will now be on a screen asking if there are any presets that you would like to use. Just click on the Next button again to continue.

You will now be on the Task Selection screen. Simply click once on the Drivers button so that the circle becomes green as shown in the image below.

After selecting Drivers, you should click on the Next button. You will now be at the Drivers screen. You should now click on the Insert button and then select the Multiple driver folder option so you can include all of the drivers for your specific operating system.

You will now be prompted for the folder where your extracted drivers are. You now want to browse to this folder, and when there, locate the correct folder for your Operating system. In our case it is the x86 directory since I am using 32bit Windows XP Pro.

You should now select the folder, and then press the OK button. nLite will now automatically install the drivers contained in both subdirectories. You will now see a screen showing the available drivers found in these folders. You should click the All button to select all drivers for your system and then press the OK button.

NOTE: If there are drivers for other versions of windows, for example Vista or 64 bit drivers, do not install them as it will cause file load errors. If you do select them, nLite will notify you of the problem.

When done selecting the correct drivers, click on the OK button.

A new screen will appear asking what driver mode you would like to select. At this screen, you should select the Textmode Driver as shown in the image below.

If multiple are listed in the Textmode integration options box, select the appropriate driver for your operating system. The OK button will now become available and you should click on it. Do this same routine for for each and every driver that you are installing.

After selecting Textmode Driver you will be at a page listing all the drivers that will be installed. You should click on the Next button and then click on the OK button when it asks if you want to start the process. Your SATA drivers will now be integrated into your Windows files folder. When the process has finished, click on the Next button and then the Finish button.

You are now ready to burn the Windows files to your a bootable DVD. If you will be using Nero to create this DVD, then you can continue to the next section. Otherwise, you can skip ahead to instructions on how to use the free nLite utility to create your DVD.

Burn a bootable CD or DVD Using Nero

Please note that older versions of NERO may not use the same steps as what are outlined in this guide. These steps were created for use with Nero 7 and above.

If you own Nero, then start the Nero Burning ROM program. Once started, if you do not see an option labeled Make Bootable DVD, as shown in the image below, you will need to enable the advanced user settings.

To start, select the Make Bootable DVD option. On the next screen you will be asked to select a Boot image. You should browse to the folder where you saved the Microsoft Boot image that you extracted using Isobuster in previous steps and select it. Please note, that by default Nero will be looking for a file with a .IMA extension, so you will need to change the file type to All Files (*.*) in order to select the MICROSOFT CORPORATION.img boot image. This is shown in the figure below.

You should now click on the Boot tab and put a checkmark in Enable expert settings. Then change Kind of Emulation to No Emulation. Then change the Number of loaded sectors to 4. When done your screen should look similar to the image below.

Under the ISO tab, you should not have to change any settings. Just click on the tab to make sure it is configured as shown in the image above. If you have an older version of Nero you will not have the option Do not add the ';1' ISO file version extension under the Relax restrictions category.

Now click on the Label tab. We recommend changing the labels on your completed CD or DVD so that they match your Windows CD. To do that Select Manual and then enter the labels into the ISO 9660 and Joilet fields. For Windows XP Pro you should enter WXPCCP_EN. For Windows XP Home you should enter WXHCCP_EN. An example of this is shown in the image below.

Now click on the New button to open the file browser as shown in the image below.

In the right hand pane you will navigate to your slipstreamed location, C:\XPCD, and left-click once on it to select it. Then select all of the files in the right-hand pane and drag them into the left-hand pane. When this is completed, click on the Burn button in the top menu bar. Nero will create the bootable CD for you and you will now have a Slipstreamed Windows XP SP3 CD or DVD!

Burn a bootable CD or DVD using nLite

If you have not already installed nLite, you will need to download and install the program first and then start it.When the program starts, click on the Next button, and then at the next screen, select the Browse button to see a screen similar to the one below.

Now select your Windows installation folder that we created at C:\XPCD and then click on the OK button. nLite will scan the directory and identify any previously installed Service Packs. When it has finished, click on the Next button. You will now be on a screen asking if there are any presets that you would like to use. Just click on the Next button again to continue.

You will now be on the Task Selection screen.

On this screen select the Bootable ISO option as shown in the image above and then click on the Next button.You will now be at the Bootable ISO screen that will look similar to the image below.

If the screen above does not look exactly like what you see on your computer, do not be concerned as we need to make some changes first. First change the Mode option to Direct Burn. Then, for the Label field we recommend using the same label that was on your original Windows CD. For Windows XP Pro you should enter WXPCCP_EN into the Label field. For Windows XP Home you should enter WXHCCP_EN into the label field. Next, make sure your CD/DVD burner is selected in the Device menu. Last, but not least, change the Burn Speed to 8X in order to get a reliable burn.

When you have finished configuring these settings, we need to specify our boot image. To do that, change Boot Sector to custom and a window will open asking you to locate your boot sector. You should browse to the folder where you saved the Microsoft Boot image that you extracted using Isobuster in previous steps and select it. Please note, that by default nLite will be looking for .bin or .dat files, so you will need to change Files of type to All Files. Once you do that you will be able to select the MICROSOFT CORPORATION.img boot image as shown in the image below.

Once you have changed all of your settings and selected your boot image, we are ready to create the Windows installation media. To start this process, click on the Burn button. A confirmation prompt will appear asking if you are sure you want to burn the content to the media. You should click on the Yes button to start the process. nLite will now start preparing the content that will be copied to your media. This may take some time, so please be patient. When it has finished preparing the files, nLite will start writing them to your media as shown in the image below.

Please be patient while the files are written to your media. When it has finished, you will see a message stating the written files were verified successfully. You can then click on the Next button and then click on the Finish button to close nLite.

You now have a Slipstreamed SP3 CD or DVD!

Conclusion

Now that you have learned how to make a bootable Windows installation disc you can make an install or reinstall process much quicker and secure. Using a disk like this you can now install Windows XP and be at a high patch level so that your freshly installed operating system is less vulnerable to malware and hackers. This also enables you to go to locations where there is not a lot of bandwidth and install Windows with all of the latest service packs installed so you do not have to wait for a long time while the service pack downloads. If you have any questions regarding this process, or tutorial, please feel free to ask us in the Windows XP forum.

Windows 7 and Windows Vista allows you to have multiple users sharing the same computer under their own individual accounts. This allows each individual user to have their own location on the computer where they can store their personal documents, pictures, videos, saved games, and other personal data. This also allows the owner of the computer to assign certain accounts the ability to perform administrative tasks like installing software, while limiting other user's abilities.

This tutorial will walk you through creating a new account in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

1. Click on the Start button. This is the small round button () in the lower left corner of your screen that has a Windows flag on it.
   
   
2. Click on the Control Panel menu option.
   
   
3. When the control panel opens you will see a screen similar to Figure 1 below.
   
   
   
   
   Figure 1. Windows 7 Control Panel
   
   
   
4. Click on the Add or remove user accounts control panel option as shown by the red arrow in figure 1.
   
   
5. You will now be in the Manage Accounts control panel as shown in Figure 2 below.
   
   
   
   
   Figure 2. Manage Accounts screen in Windows 7
   
   
   This screen shows all the accounts currently on your computer. To create a new account, click on the Create a new account option as shown by the red arrow above.
   
   
6. You will now be at the Create New Account screen.
   
   
   
   
   Figure 3. Create New Account screen
   
   
   In the New account name field enter the name of the new account that you would like to create. This could be a person's first name, full name, or whatever other designation you would like to give. You then need to decide which of the two types of accounts you would like to create. An Administrator account has full access to the computer and can make all changes, install software, and create and delete accounts. The other type of account is Standard user and has limited privileges as to what settings and changes it can make to the computer. It is suggested that for all users, you set them as a Standard User account and have one administrator account that you can logon to as needed. This will protect your computer from malware and other harmful activities.
   
   When you have finished selecting a name and the type of account you wish to setup, you should click on the Create Account button.
   
   
7. Your new account will have been created and you will see it listed in the Manage Accounts screen.
   
   
   
   
   Figure 4. New user has been created
   
   
   As you can see our new user, named Test Account, has been created.

Now when you start Windows 7 or Vista, you will see the additional account listed in the logon screen. That user can then select their login name and login into their profile so they can access their private data.

If you have any questions about this tutorial please feel free to post them in our Windows 7 forums.

1. Introduction
2. Prerequisites and Assumptions
3. Preparing your computer to use the GParted Live CD
4. Using the GParted Live CD to resize your partitions
5. Creating a new partition with GParted
6. Conclusion

Prerequisites and Warnings

This tutorial focuses on using GParted, or Gnome Partition Editor, a free and open source partition editor. To use GParted, you must first download the CD Image file (.iso file) of GParted Live for this program. Instructions on where to find and how to burn the GParted ISO file are covered in the Preparation step. In this tutorial we will be using Microsoft Windows XP for certain steps. If you use a different version of Windows, some of these steps and screens may be a bit different.

This tutorial outlines the process of changing the volume structure of your hard drives and therefore has the potential of damaging the data stored on them. With this said, the actions and methods described in this tutorial can be potentially dangerous. While this tutorial endeavors to instruct you on how to safely resize your partitions with no data loss, it is important to read and follow all instructions carefully.

This tutorial also assumes that you, the reader, have a basic understanding of computers and are comfortable with using system management tools. Also, a basic understanding of the terminology is required. For those who need a primer on this material, an introduction to Hard Disk Partitions can be found in the Understanding Hard Disk Partitions tutorial.

Introduction

When you purchase a computer it is not uncommon for the computer's partitions to be setup in a way that you have a small C: drive and a large D: drive. Over time you will quickly find that you do not have any free space on your C: drive, but your D: drive has plenty of space available. As most programs, by default, are installed in the C drive and because you need space on your C: drive for certain Windows functions, like printing, you find that your lack of space has become a problem. What is frustrating is that you have all of this space on your other partition, but can't use it.

Thankfully, this is not true. In fact, it is possible to resize partitions so that you can take space away from one partition that has a lot of free space and add it to another that does not. This tutorial will walk you through resizing your computer's partitions using the GParted program. GParted, or Gnome Partition Editor, is an open source partition editor that allows you to manipulate a computer's partition tables, including resizing them, and can be used on almost all partitions created by Windows or Linux. In this tutorial we will use the GParted Live CD, which allows you to create a bootable CD that contains the GParted programs. As already stated, this tutorial should only be used by advanced users who understand the technology behind volumes, partitions, file systems, and bootable CDs. If you feel comfortable with this material, please continue.

Preparing your computer to use the GParted Live CD

The first step is to download the latest version of GParted Live. GParted is distributed as a CD image, or ISO, file that needs to be burned onto a CD. For information about ISO files and how to write them to a CD please read the How to write a CD/DVD image or ISO tutorial. The latest version of GParted as of this writing is 0.4.1-2 and can be downloaded from the following link:

GParted Live Download Link

Once the file is downloaded please burn the image to a CD and then store the CD in a safe place. We first need to perform some basic maintenance on the hard drive before we use GParted. These steps will make the entire process safer, smoother, and faster.

The first maintenance task is to run chkdsk or fsck to repair any errors that may currently be present in the file system. Even under ordinary use your average file system gets errors. Normally, operating systems such as Windows or Linux are able to either correct these errors silently, or ignore them altogether. When this is not the case, though, chkdsk for Windows or or fsck for Linux will be forced to run at boot time in order to attempt to repair these errors. Another important reasons to do a disk check before we run GParted is that GParted will usually refuse to do anything to a partition whose file system has errors or is damaged.

To perform a full disk check in Windows 2000/XP do the following:

1. Open My Computer
   
   
2. Right-click on the drive you want to perform the check on.
   
   
3. Select Properties from the menu
   
   
4. In the Drive Properties window, click on the the Tools tab
   
   
5. On the Tools tab, click on the Check Now button.
   
   
6. In the window that pops up, put a checkmark in both of the checkboxes and the click on the Start button.
   
   
7. You should get a message that the check could not be done because the disk is in use. It will then ask if you wish to perform a boot-time check. You should allow this to happen.
   
   
8. Repeat steps 2 through 7 for each drive you would like to perform a check on.
   
   
9. When you have performed these steps on each of the drive letters, restart your computer to initiate the check. Depending on the size of you disk, this can take a while. Go get a cup of tea and relax until it completes.

Figure 1. Setting Up The Disk Check

Figure 2: Windows XP performing Check Disk on the C: Drive

When the operating system finishes perform the disk check it will continue booting like normal. Therefore, when you are at your desktop or login prompt, you know the disk check has been completed. If you would like to know what was found during the CHKDSK, you can open the Event Viewer to see a log of the activity. To access the event viewer, open your Control Panel, and then double-click on the Administrative Tools folder. In this folder you will find the Event Viewer program. Double-click on that program to start it, and when it opens, click on the Applications category. In the panel on the right click on the latest entry that has a source of Winlogon. This will open up the log for the latest Chkdsk scan.

The next step is to defragment the partitions that we will be resizing. Defragmenting will reduce the time required to resize significantly. For more information on defragmenting and why you should do it, you can read The Importance of Disk Defragmentation tutorial.

To start the Defragmenter utility in Windows 2000/XP, do the following:

1. Open My Computer
   
   
2. Right-click on the drive you want to defragment.
   
   
3. Select Properties from the menu
   
   
4. In the Drive Properties window, click the Tools tab.
   
   
5. On the Tools tab, click on the Defragment Now button
   
   
6. The Disk Defragmenter utility will launch. Click the Defragment button to initiate the degragmentation process.
   
   

Figure3: Defragmenting Under Windows XP

When it has finished you can close the Disk Defragmenter program and continue with the rest of the tutorial.

Using the GParted Live CD to resize your partitions

By now you should have defragmented and run checkdisk on the hard drives you want to resize. You should now insert the GParted Live CD you created in the previous steps into your CD/DVD drive and restart your computer.

Note: You may need to change the boot sequence in you BIOS to boot from the CD drive.

Once you boot from the CD, you'll see the GParted boot menu, as shown in the Figure below.

Figure 4: GParted Boot Menu

For most computers, you can simply press the Enter key here to accept the defaults.

From here GParted gets to work on creating a mini-Linux setup that runs entirely in memory and from the CD itself. You'll be asked about two things during this period: your keymap and language.

The default settings for these are a standard QWERTY keyboard and US English respectively. To use these, simple press Enter when asked (see Figures 5 and 6.)

Figure 5. Selecting the keymap

Next, it will ask you for your language.

Figure 6: Select Language

After selecting your keymap and language preferences, wait for GParted to finish booting. When it's finished, you should see a screen similar to Figure 7 below.

Figure 7: GParted is ready

This is the main screen of GParted. Note the green-edged box. This represents the Primary Master hard drive (hda) and all the partitions currently on it. At this point, there is only one partition on our example drive. Your drive may have more.

Note: If you are going to be working on a disk other than the Primary Master, you should select the appropriate drive from the drop-down menu on the upper right as shown designated by the red arrow. On a standard system with two drives connected to the Primary IDE channel, the drives should be labeled hda (master) and hdb (slave). For more information on determining which drive is which, see here.

Now that you have selected the drive you want to work on, it's time to get to work.

Unless your hard drive is brand new, your hard drive likely already has one or more partitions on it. In order to add a partition, or enlarge an existing one, you must first shrink one to create some free space. Right-click on the partition you want to shrink, as shown in figure 8 below, and select Resize/Move.

Figure 8: Right-click menu

This will open a smaller window with another box which represents your hard drive as seen in the figure below.

Figure 9: GParted's Representation of Your Hard Drive

At this screen there are two ways in which you can change the size of the existing partition. The first is by by clicking and dragging either of the black arrows to make the partition smaller or larger, or by manually entering the new size of the partition. in the New Size (MiB) field. These methods are shown in Figure 10 below.

Figure 10: Resizing

When you have finished adjusting the size, click the Resize/Move button. This will close the Resizing window and bring you back to the main window. At this point, no changes have been made. In order to make these changes effective you must first click on the Apply button. Notice, in the example above we are shrinking the existing partition from 4,793 MB to 3,614 MB. When it has completed, this will give us an additional 1,179 MB to use as we see fit.

Figure 11: last chance!

Once you click the Apply button, GParted will start resizing your partition as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12: GParted doing its thing.

The resize process can take a while depending on how big your drive is and how much the partition's size was changed. So, you may want to go and get a nice cup of tea and relax.

Now that there is some free space on the drive we can either make another partition larger, or we can add a new partition to it.

Using the GParted Live CD to resize your partitions

In this tutorial we are going to take the free space we just created and allocate it towards a new partition.

To do this, right-click on the Unallocated part of the drive and click New as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13: Creating a New Partition in the Unallocated Space

This will open the Create new Partition window as shown in Figure 14 below.

Figure 14: The New Partition Window

Using the black arrows, or by entering a number in the New Size (MiB) box, you can adjust the size of the new partition. By default, the new partition will use all available contiguous space. Once you are happy with the size of your new partition, you need to select the file system it will use. GParted supports many different file systems, as shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15: Selecting a File System

After selecting your file system, click the Add button. As before, nothing is done until you click the Apply button as shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16: Ready to go

Creating the new partition should go much faster than resizing the original one, so no time for tea I'm afraid.

Figure 17: All Done!

You now have two partitions where once was one. Simply click the Exit button to reboot your computer.

Conclusion

Now that you see how easy it is to resize your computer's partitions, you should never have to worry about have not enough space in one partition and too much in another. Using the GParted Live CD allows you to easily resize, create, move, and delete partitions on your computer. If you need help with resizing tutorials, please post your question in the forums.

Windows 7 hides certain files so that they are not able to be seen when you exploring the files on your computer. The files it hides are typically Windows 7 System files that if tampered with could cause problems with the proper operation of the computer. It is possible, though, for a user or piece of software to set make a file hidden by enabling the hidden attribute in a particular file or folder's properties. Due to this it can be beneficial at times to be able to see any hidden files that may be on your computer. This tutorial will explain how to show all hidden files in Windows 7.

To enable the viewing of hidden and protected system files in Windows 7 please follow these steps:

1. Close all programs so that you are at your desktop.
   
   
2. Click on the Start button. This is the small round button () in the lower left corner of your screen that has a Windows flag on it.
   
   
3. Click on the Control Panel menu option.
   
   
4. When the control panel opens you will see a screen similar to Figure 1 below.
   
   
   
   
   Figure 1. Windows 7 Control Panel
   
   
   
   
5. Click on the Appearance and Personalization link.
   
   
6. You will now be in the Appearance and Personalization control panel as shown in Figure 2 below.
   
   
   
   
   Figure 2. Windows 7 Appearance and Personalization screen
   
   
   Now click on the Show hidden files and folders option as shown by the red arrow in Figure 2 above.
   
   
7. Under the Hidden files and folders section select the radio button labeled Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
   
   
8. Remove the checkmark from the checkbox labeled Hide extensions for known file types.
   
   
9. Remove the checkmark from the checkbox labeled Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).
   
   Once this is done, your Folder Options screen should look similar to the following image.
   
   
   
   Figure 3. Folder Options screen
   
   
   
10. Press the Apply button and then the OK button.
    

You will now be at your desktop and Windows 7 will be configured to show all hidden files.

If you have any questions about this tutorial please feel free to post them in our Windows 7 forums.

When you install Windows 7 you will find that your desktop has only the Recycle Bin icon and any other icons enabled by your computer manufacturer. If you wish to add other icons such as the Computer, Network, Control Panel, and your User's Files icon you will need to perform a few easy steps. Before we continue, I will describe what the purpose of each of the Windows desktop icons are so that you can decide whether or not you want them to appear on your desktop.

The descriptions of each of these icons are as follows:

• The Computer desktop icon provides access to all of your computer's hard drive partitions, floppy drives, CD or DVD drives, and removable media drives. When you open this desktop icon you will be shown all of the available drive letters, which you can then access as needed. On the left-hand menu you will also see quick shortcuts to various Windows 7 locations such as your Desktop, Favorites, and Libraries. Personally, I think this is a good icon to have on your desktop.
  
  
• The Network icon will show you a list of computers on your network as well as provide easy access to any Homegroups, Workgroups, or Domains you may be part of. Unless you have a home network and need to regularly access the resources on your network, this icon is not necessary to have on your desktop.
  
  
• The Recycle Bin is a special folder that is used to hold files and folders that you deleted. This folder allows you to restore any files or folders that were deleted and that you need to access again. I suggest that you always have this icon on your desktop.
  
  
• The Control Panel icon will open up a Window containing a variety of applets that allows you to view and change various Windows 7 system settings. It is not necessary to have this icon on your desktop and can be accessed via your Start menu.
  
  
• The User's Files icon provides quick access to your personal data such as your Personal Documents, Personal Downloads, Personal Music, Personal Pictures, and Personal Videos. I suggest that you have this icon on your desktop for quick and easy access to your personal data.

To change what icons appear on your desktop simply right-click on an empty portion of your desktop to bring up a menu similar to Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Personalize Menu

You should now click on the Personalize menu option. Once you click on that option the Personalization window will appear as shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2. Windows 7 Personalization Screen

Now you should click on the Change desktop icons menu option as shown by the red arrow in Figure 2 above. This will bring you to the Desktop Icon Settings screen as shown in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3. Windows 7 Desktop Icon Settings screen

At this screen you can select the icons that you want to appear on your desktop. In order to make it so a certain icon appears on your desktop, simply put a checkmark next to each icon that you want. You may have also noticed a checkbox labeled Allow themes to change desktop icons. If you select this option, when you install a new Windows 7 theme, the theme is allowed to change the icon used to represent the various desktop icons. When you are done selecting the icons you want, click on the Apply button and then click on the OK button. You will now be back at your Windows desktop and you will see the various desktop icons that you have chosen.

If you have any questions please feel free to post them in our Windows 7 forums.

Using Ad-Aware 6 SE to remove Spyware & Hijackers from Your Computer

Introduction

If you suspect that you have spyware installed on your computer, then an excellent tool to remove them is Ad-Aware SE. Follow the instructions below to learn how to use Ad-Aware SE to remove these programs from your computer. Word of warning, though, Spyware can sometimes be integrated tightly into software that you use, and if you remove the spyware, that software may not function correctly. So be careful as to what you remove.

If you would like to learn more about Spyware and Browser Hijackers you can click here:

Understanding Spyware and Browser Hijackers

How to use Ad-Aware SE

Step 1: Download Ad-Aware SE

The first step for Spyware/Hijacker removal is to download and install Ad-Aware SE from the link below. After it is installed, continue with the following steps.

Note: There may at times be programs listed above in the Google ads that seem similar to the programs we recommend. These are usually not the same program. Bleeping Computer has no real say as to what appears there and can not vouch for any of those programs. Please use only the programs directed to you by us in the forums or via these tutorials.

Please download Ad-Aware SE from Lavasoft at the following link: Download Link for Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE

Download this program to a location on your hard drive that you will be able to find later. When the download is finished navigate to that location using Windows Explorer or My Computer, and double click on the file name. The file name generally starts with aawse.exe. For example for the current version of Ad-Aware SE Personal, the filename is aawsepersonal.exe. Follow the defaults settings when presented with options and after the program finishes installing you will be presented with a screen similar to the one below:

Figure 1: Options after finished installed

Uncheck all options as we will have you manually do each of these steps in the next section. Then press the Finish button.

Step 2: Start Ad-aware SE

On your desktop, double click on the icon for Ad-Aware SE.

The program will open and it will appear as in Figure 2 below.

Step 3. Updating Ad-aware

The first step you should do is update Ad-Aware SE so it is using the latest Spyware/Hijacker definitions. This will enable the software to recognize as much of these types of programs that it can. You should click on the WebUpdate button highlighted, in the previous image, in yellow to start the update process. When you start the process you should see an image similar to Figure 3 below.

Figure 3. Starting WebUpdate

Now press on the connect button, designated by the red box in Figure 3, and it will check for any new updates. If no new updates are to be found you will see something like Figure 4 below. You should press OK and proceed to Step 4.

Figure 4. No Update Found

If an update is found you will see something like in Figure 5 below:

Figure 6. Updating has Finished

You can now click on the Finish button. When you do that you will be presented with the Status/Startup screen as shown in Figure 2.

Step 4: Set the scan options we want to use

Now that Ad-Aware SE is updated with the latest definitions, you are now ready to configure Ad-Aware SE to use optimal settings. First click on the Configuration button at the top of the window, designated by the blue box in Figure 1 that looks like a gear. You will now be presented with a new screen with various options to set. Please follow these instructions to configure Ad-Aware SE:

1. Click on the General button on the left hand side.
   
   
   
   1. Make sure the following items under the Safety category have a green check in them. If they do not, click once on the circle next to them to put a checkmark in it.
      
      
      
      1. Automatically save logfile
      2. Automatically quarantine objects prior to removal
      3. Safe Mode (always request confirmation)
         
         
2. Next click on the Advanced button on the left hand side.
   
   
   
   1. Make sure the following items under the Logfile Detail Level category have a green check in them. If they do not, click once on the circle next to them to put a checkmark in it.
      
      
      
      1. Include additional object information
      2. Include negligible objects information
      3. Include environment information
      4. Include Alternate data stream details in log file
         
         
3. Next click on the Tweak button on the left hand side.
   
   
   
   1. Then click on the + (plus) sign next to the Log Files section. This will expand the section. Make sure the following items under the Logfile Detail Level category have a green check in them. If they do not, click once on the circle next to them to put a checkmark in it.
      
      
      
      1. Include basic Ad-Aware settings in logfile
      2. Include additional Ad-Aware settings in logfile
         
         
   2. Then click on the + (plus) sign next to the Scanning Engine section. This will expand the section. Make sure the following items under the Logfile Detail Level category have a green check in them. If they do not, click once on the circle next to them to put a checkmark in it.
      
      
      
      1. Unload recognized processes & modules during scan
      2. Scan registry for all users instead of current user only
         
         
   3. Then click on the + (plus) sign next to the Cleaning Engine section. This will expand the section. Make sure the following items under the Logfile Detail Level category have a green check in them. If they do not, click once on the circle next to them to put a checkmark in it.
      
      
      1. Always try to unload modules before deletion
      2. During removal, unload Explorer and IE if necessary
      3. Let Windows remove files in use at next reboot
      4. Delete quarantined objects after restoring
      
      

Once these settings have been completed, you should click on the Proceed button. This will bring you to the preparation screen as show in Figure 7 below.

Figure 7. System Scan Preparation

Make sure you change the scan mode, designated by the red box in the figure above, to Perform full system scan. Then uncheck the Search for negligible risk entries.

Step 5: Start the Actual Scan

Now click on the Next button to have Ad-Aware SE start scanning your system. Ad-Aware SE will start scanning your system for Spyware and Hijackers. This could take a while, so you may want to do something else and come back and check on it occasionally. The screen will look similar to Figure 8 below.

Figure 8: Scanning your computer

Ad-Aware SE will scan various portions of your computer's configuration, file system, and memory for traces of known malware. As it finds infections, it will update the status of the scan with the amount of items it has found and what it is currently scanning. When it is finished scanning you will be presented with a screen similar to Figure 9 below.

Figure 9. Finished with the Scan

This computer has relatively few infections as you can by the fact that it found only 4 items. If you want to copy the contents of the scan log, you can click on the Show Logfile button, designated by the blue box in the figure above, to open the log file and copy and paste it into another program. To finish the clean up you should now click on the Next button designated by the red box in Figure 9. You will then be presented with a screen that shows all the objects found that are flagged as Spyware or Hijackers as shown in Figure 10 below.

Figure 10: Scan Results

At this point you should either right click on the screen and choose the Select All Objects option or individually put a checkmark in each objects checkbox, designated by the area surrounded by the red box in Figure 10, that you would like quarantined. When all the objects that you would like quarantined are checked, you should click on the Next button. Ad-Aware SE will now present you with a confirmation box as to whether or not you would like to remove the objects you have just selected. If you would like to do so, press the OK button, otherwise press the Cancel button to go back to the selection screen shown in Figure 10. If you press the OK button, Ad-Aware SE will move all the selected items into the quarantine.

When it is done putting all the checked items into quarantine, you will be presented with the Startup/Status Screen again as shown in Figure 11.

Step 5: Cleaning up the Quarantine

With the moving of the select objects to the quarantine now completed you will be presented with a screen like Figure 11 below. As was said before, when you fix items with Ad-Aware SE it does not automatically delete them, but adds them to a quarantine file that takes up hard drive space. Therefore it is not a bad idea to get rid of them. Before you do so, though, it is good to use your computer for some time to make sure any of the items you have quarantined did not break functionality of any programs that you need to use. If you find that it has caused no problems, then you should continue.

Figure 11. Status Screen

As you can see you now have all of the items you checked off in your quarantine. To access this quarantine you should click on the link that says "Open Quarantine List". This will present you with an image like Figure 12 below.

Figure 12. Quarantine Management

At this point you should select the quarantine file that you would like to delete and press the delete key. The quarantine file is now deleted off your hard drive. When you are done deleting your quarantine files, you can exit the program.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to use Ad-Aware SE you now have another tool at your disposal to combat the growing threat of Spyware and Hijackers.

As always if you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to ask in the computer help forums.

Table of Contents

• Overview of the Windows Vista Repair options
• How to perform an automatic repair of Windows Vista using Startup Repair
• Advanced Tools overview
• Conclusion

Overview of the Windows Vista Repair options

Windows Vista comes with a rich feature set of diagnostic and repair tools that you can use in the event that your computer is not operating correctly. These tools allow you to diagnose problems and repair them without having to boot into Windows. This provides much greater flexibility when it comes to fixing problems that you are not able to resolve normally. This guide focuses on using the Startup Repair utility to automatically fix problems starting Windows Vista. The tutorial will also provide a brief description of the advanced repair tools with links to tutorials on how to use them.

How to perform and automatic repair of Windows Vista using Startup Repair

If you are having problems starting Windows Vista, then your first step is to use the automated repair tool called Startup Repair. Startup Repair is a diagnostic tool that can be accessed via the Windows Recovery Environment. In order to start the Windows Recovery Environment you must boot your computer off of the Windows Vista DVD that you purchased or that came with your computer. To start this process, insert the Vista DVD into your DVD drive and turn your computer on. Your computer will start and you should see your BIOS listing your hardware and other information. When that information is cleared, your computer will see that a bootable DVD is inserted and present a prompt similar to Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Boot the computer from the CD or DVD

As you want to boot the computer from the Windows Vista DVD you need to press a key, and any key will do, on your keyboard when you see the above prompt. After you press the key, you should hear your DVD reader spinning up and then you will see a black screen with a white status bar at the bottom stating Windows is loading files.... After a while, the status bar will turn completely white and you will see a screen stating that Windows is loading. The Windows Setup environment will continue to load and when finished you will be presented with a screen similar to Figure 2 below.

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Figure 2. Configure language and location options in Vista Setup

At this screen you should configure the Language to install, Time and currency format, and Keyboard or input method options so that they are set correctly. When done, press the Next button. You will now be at the main Windows Vista setup screen where you would normally install Vista on to a computer.

Figure 3. Windows Vista Setup options

As we want to repair the computer, you should click on the Repair your computer option. This will bring you to a new screen where the repair process will look for all Windows Vista installations on your computer. When done you will be presented with the System Recovery Options dialog box as shown in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4. System Recovery Options

Select the Vista installation you would like to repair and if there are drivers you need to load in order for Vista to access any of your drives or other components , then you should click on the Load Drivers button to load them. When ready, press the Next button to continue.

If the repair process does not detect any problems starting Vista, it will display a list of recovery tools. These recovery tools are discussed further in the Advanced Tools Overview section below. As we want to perform an automated repair, we would click on the Startup Repair option under this list of tools. It should also be noted that if the repair process detected that you previously had problems starting Vista, instead of displaying the list of recovery tools, it would have automatically started the Startup Repair tool for you. When the Startup Repair tool starts, it will scan your Vista installation for any problems. If problems are found it will attempt to fix these problems automatically. This automatic repair process can be seen in Figure 5 below.

Figure 5. Startup Repair window

The automatic repair process can take quite a while. So please be patient as Vista attempts to find and repair any problems on your computer. During this process your computer may reboot multiple times, which is normal and nothing to be worried about. During this process you may also be presented with a dialog box asking if you would like to restore your computer using System Restore.

Figure 6. Restore using System Restore

You should click on the Cancel button at this prompt because there is a better System Restore option that can be used from the advanced tools list which we will cover later. For now, just click on the Cancel button and continue with the Startup Repair process. The repair process will now continue to scan your installation for errors to fix. Once the repair process has completed, if it could not find any problems, you will be given an option to send your information to Microsoft.

Figure 7. Could not repair automatically

When sending this information, it is important to note that you will not receive a response back from Microsoft with a solution. Instead they use this information to determine if this is a bug that a lot of people are having and that they need to rectify or if they need to create a support article on how to fix it. If you wish to send the information, then click on the Send information about this problem (recommended) option. Otherwise, click on the Don't send option. You will now be at a summary screen.

Figure 8. End of automatic repair

You can now click on the Finish button to reboot your computer to exit the repair process or if you would like to try some more advanced options then click on the View advanced options for system recovery and support. We recommend that you try the advanced tools if the Startup Repair tool could not fix your problems. You can also reach the advanced tools at any time during a Startup Repair scan by clicking on the Cancel button. An overview of the advanced tools can be found with links to their individual tutorials.

Advanced Tools Overview

Vista provides advanced repair tools that you can use to fix problems with your Windows Vista installation. To reach this list of tools you would start your computer using the above process and either press Cancel during the Startup Repair process, or if no problems were detected, the list will automatically be shown. The repair process will now display the System Recovery Options screen.

Figure 9. Vista System Recovery Options screen

This screen provides access to five tools that can help you repair your Vista installation. These tools are:

Startup Repair

Startup Repair is an automated repair process that scans your Vista installation for problems and attempts to automatically fix them. When you select to repair Vista from the Vista setup screen, and Vista detects problems, this process will be started automatically. You can cancel this process at any time to access the other repair tools described below. The Startup Repair process has already been introduced above when we discussed performing an automated repair.

System Restore

System Restore allows you to restore your computer's configuration, driver information, and programs to a previous state while leaving your existing data intact. Using this option can typically fix a installation's problem if it is not associated with faulty hardware. In order to use this option, you must have had System Restore enabled in Vista so that there are restore points available to restore to. To learn how to use this feature you should read this tutorial: Using System Restore from the Vista Windows Recovery Environment.

Windows Complete PC Restore

Complete PC Restore is a feature that allows you to restore your entire computing environment from a backup image that you created previously. The ability to create backup images for Complete PC Restore is only available in Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise. If you have tried all possible steps to repair your computer, and have a Complete PC Restore backup image available from when your computer was operating properly, then you can use this repair option to restore that image. To learn how to use this feature you should read this tutorial: Using Windows Complete PC Restore to restore your computer.

Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool

Windows Vista comes with a diagnostic tool that allows you to check the memory installed in your computer for errors. This will allow you to determine if the actual memory (RAM) hardware installed in your computer is creating errors. To learn how to use this feature you should read this tutorial: How to use the Vista Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool.

Command Prompt

The Command Prompt repair tool allows you to open a command prompt that you can use to access the files and registry information on your computer. This is an invaluable tool for removing security threats such as worms, rootkits, and other malware from your computer and to be able to access files when Vista fails to boot up.To learn how to use this feature you should read this tutorial: How to use the Command Prompt in the Vista Windows Recovery Environment.

Conclusion

With the knowledge that these tools exist and how to use them, you now have the capability to repair your Windows Vista installation in the event that problems occur. No longer should you feel held captive to your computer, but rather in control of how it operates. If you have any questions on how to use the automated repair or the advanced repair tools, please ask us in the Windows Vista Help Forum.

The Windows Recovery Environment Command Prompt is a text-based console that allows that allows you to perform many tasks on your computer by typing in the commands that you would like to execute. These commands allow you to perform a range of tasks from managing the files on your hard drives, formatting and repartitioning hard drives, configuring how Windows boots, deleting and copying files, scanning your computer for malware, as well as many other tasks. In past versions of the Windows, the Command Prompt would typically not allow you to run any of your Windows programs that require a graphical user interface. The Command Prompt in the Windows Recovery Environment, though, does allow you to launch certain Windows programs. This is a huge advantage as you now have a much larger variety of tools at your disposal to repair your computer.

To access the Windows Recovery Environment Command Prompt you need to boot your computer off of the Windows Vista DVD by inserting it into the DVD reader on your computer and turning your computer on. Your computer will start and you should see the BIOS listing the hardware on your computer as well as other information. When that information has been cleared, your computer will see that a bootable DVD is inserted and present a prompt similar to Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Boot the computer from the CD or DVD

As you want to boot the computer from the Windows Vista DVD, you need to press a key on your keyboard, and any key will do, when you see the above prompt. It is possible that the DVD that came with your computer does not allow you to boot off from it. If this is the case, then your computer manufacturer most likely installed the Windows Recovery Environment directly on to a small partition on your hard drive. To access this partition, you would slowly tap the F8 key on your keyboard after the BIOS information clears from your screen until you see the Windows startup menu. From this menu use your arrow keys to select the option for the Windows Recovery Environment and press the enter key on your keyboard. You should now see a black screen with a white status bar at the bottom stating Windows is loading files.... After a while, the status bar will turn completely white and you will see a screen stating that Windows is loading. The Windows Setup environment will continue to load and when finished you will be presented with a screen similar to Figure 2.

Figure 2. Configure language and location options in Vista Setup

At this screen you should configure the Language to install, Time and currency format, and Keyboard or input method options so that they are set correctly for your location. When done, press the Next button. You will now be at the main Windows Vista setup screen where you would normally install Vista on to a computer.

Figure 3. Windows Vista Setup options

You should now click on the Repair your computer option, which will bring you to a new screen where the repair process will look for all Windows Vista installations on your computer. When done you will be presented with the System Recovery Options dialog box as shown in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4. System Recovery Options

Select the Vista installation you would like to repair, and if there are drivers you need to load in order for Vista to access any of your drives or other components, then you should click on the Load Drivers button to load them. When ready, press the Next button to continue. If the repair process does not detect any problems starting Vista, it will display a list of available recovery tools. If it does detect a problem it will attempt to perform a Startup Repair to automatically fix these problems. If you would like to allow this process to continue, then you can read more about it here. Otherwise click on the Cancel button and select the View advanced options for system recovery and support option to see the list of recovery tools.

Figure 5. System Recovery Options

At this screen you would then click on the Command Prompt option. Once you click on that option, the Command Prompt will open as shown in Figure 6 below.

Figure 6. Command Prompt in the Windows Recovery Environment

If you are unfamiliar with the Windows Command Prompt, the first thing you may notice is that there is no graphical user interface to and instead you need to type in all of your commands. Though this may be daunting, once you learn the commands and programs that you can use in the command prompt, you will find it a very powerful repair tool for removing stubborn malware, fixing boot issues, tweaking the Windows Boot Manager when you cannot load Windows, and accessing your files. A basic introduction to the Windows command prompt can be found here: Introduction to the Windows Command Prompt.

Using the command prompt is simple. When you want to perform a task you simply type them in with your keyboard, and when done typing the command, press the enter key. If the command was entered correctly, it will execute and display the information you requested. A powerful feature of the Recovery Console Command Prompt is that you can not only run console programs, but you can also run certain Windows programs such as Notepad or an antivirus program. Unfortunately, not all Windows programs will be able to run in this environment, so you will need to test them out one at a time.

To help get you started with using the Command Prompt I have listed a series of console commands that work in this environment. To get the help information for each of these programs you can type the program name followed by /h and press the enter key. For example, to see the help information for the copy command you would type copy /h and then press the enter key. As more programs and commands are found they will be added to the lists below. Each of the console commands must be typed into the console in order to execute them.

When you are finished using the Command Prompt you can exit it by typing exit and then pressing the enter key on your keyboard. The command prompt will close and you will now be back at the list of available repair tools.

The Windows Recovery Environment Command Prompt is such a powerful tool because you can perform actions on your files and data without having to be in Windows. This means that if you are infected with malware you can use the recovery environment to clean your computer without fear of the malware hindering your efforts. If you find other Windows programs that work within the recovery environment, please let us know about them in the forums.

If you are still having problems after using this tool, then you can try the other advanced repair tools. Tutorials on how to use these tools can be found below:

• How to automatically repair Windows Vista using Startup Repair
• How to use the Vista Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool
• Using Windows Complete PC Restore to restore your computer
• Using System Restore from the Vista Windows Recovery Environment

The Vista Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool is a program that you can use to run various tests on the physical memory installed on your computer. When memory in a computer starts to fail, your computer can act in unpredictable ways such as rebooting on its own, freezing, and crashing programs. This utility performs a series of tests on the physical memory and lists any errors that are found. In this way you can determine if the problems you are encountering when using your computer may be related to the RAM going bad or some other problem.

There are a couple of ways that you can start the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tools; from within Windows Vista., from the Windows Recovery Environment, and from the Windows Boot Manager. The first method while in Vista is to click on the Start Button, type memory in the search field, and then click on the Memory Diagnostics Tool icon when it appears. Another way is when Vista finds problems that may be associated with faulty memory. When this happens, Windows Vista will prompt you to diagnose the problem by testing your RAM. Both of these methods will require you to boot your computer, which will automatically start the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool.

To access the utility within the Windows Recovery Environment you need to insert your Vista DVD into the DVD drive on your computer and turn your computer on. Your computer will start and you should see the BIOS listing the hardware on your computer and other information. When that information has been cleared, your computer will see that a bootable DVD is inserted and present a prompt similar to Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Boot the computer from the CD or DVD

As you want to boot the computer from the Windows Vista DVD, you need to press a key, any key will do, on your keyboard when you see this prompt. It is possible that the DVD that came with your computer does not allow you to boot off of it. If this is the case, then your computer manufacturer most likely installed the Windows Recovery Environment directly to a small partition on your hard drive. To access this partition, you would slowly tap the F8 key on your keyboard after the BIOS information clears from your screen until you see the Windows startup menu. From this menu use your arrow keys to select the option for the Windows Recovery Environment and press the enter key on your keyboard. You should now see a black screen with a white status bar at the bottom stating Windows is loading files.... After a while, the status bar will turn completely white and you will see a screen stating that Windows is loading. The Windows Setup environment will continue to load and when finished you will be presented with a screen similar to Figure 2 that prompts you for information about your location and language

.
Figure 2. Configure language and location options in Vista Setup

At this screen you should configure the Language to install, Time and currency format, and Keyboard or input method options so that they are set correctly. When done, press the Next button. You will now be at the main Windows Vista setup screen where you would normally install Vista on to a computer.

Figure 3. Windows Vista Setup options

As we want to repair the computer, you should click on the Repair your computer option. This will bring you to a new screen where the repair process will look for all Windows Vista installations on your computer. When done you will be presented with the System Recovery Options dialog box as shown in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4. System Recovery Options

Select the Vista installation you would like to repair and if there are drivers you need to load in order for Vista to access any of your drives or other components, then you should click on the Load Drivers button to load them. When ready, press the Next button to continue. If the repair process does not detect any problems starting Vista, it will display a list of available recovery tools. If it does detect a problem it will attempt to perform a Startup Repair to automatically fix these problems. If you would like to allow this process to continue, then you can read more about it here. Otherwise click on the Cancel button and select the View advanced options for system recovery and support option to see the list of recovery tools.

Figure 5. System Recovery Options

At this screen you would then click on the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool option. This will present you with a screen asking if you want to restart and run the tool now or on the next restart of the computer.

Figure 6. When to run the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tools

If you want to try other recovery tools while you are in the Windows Recovery Environment, then select the Check for problems the next time I start my computer option so that you can continue using the other tools. On the other hand, if you want to immediately run memory tests on your computer then you should click on the Restart now and check for problems (recommended).

By far the easiest and quickest way to start the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool is to do so from the Windows Boot Manager when you reboot your computer. To do this remove all bootable CDs and DVDs and start your computer. After the BIOS information is shown on the screen, and as there is pause with a black screen before Windows normally starts, you would press your spacebar key. This would put you into the Windows Boot Manager as shown below.

Figure 7. Windows Vista Boot Manager

At the Windows Boot Manager screen, press the TAB button on your keyboard to select the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool and then press the enter key to start it. Regardless of how you entered the Memory Diagnostics Tool you will now be at the diagnostic tool's main screen and the tool will automatically start to test your memory. These tests can take quite a while, so please be patient while they run.

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Figure 8. Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool

If you would like to make changes to the tests as they are conducted you can click on the F1 key on your keyboard. This will present a new screen where you can change the options on how the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool will operate.

Figure 9. Windows Memory Diagnostics Options

To change any options you can use the TAB key on your keyboard to switch between option categories and then the arrow keys to select the particular option. When done making your changes you would then click on the F10 key to save them. By default the tool uses the Standard tests to check your memory. If you want a more exhaustive test set, then you should change your tests to the Extended one. If you use the Extended tests, the tests will take a long time to complete so it is advised that you let the tests run overnight so that you can see the results the next day.

The other two options are Cache and Pass Count. The Cache option allows you to specify whether you want the tests to use the CPU's built-in cache. When you run the test without the cache enabled, the test will perform slower, but be more thorough. If you select the Default option, the tests will use the cache depending on how it is setup in the specific tests. The defaults for the Basic and Standard tests are for the cache to be enabled and to be disabled in Extended tests. The other two options, On and Off, override the default settings found in the test type. The other option, Pass Count, allows you to specify how many times the tool will perform each test. By default the tool will run the entire test 2 times.

As the tests run, if any errors are found they will be displayed in the main diagnostic screen. If the first test pass, running the Standard tests, is completed without any errors being found it is likely that your memory is operating properly and it is uncommon for errors to be found on further passes using the same tests. If no errors are found, and you wish to try a more exhaustive test, then it is advised you use the Extended tests overnight. When the tests are complete, the tool will automatically reboot your computer and the next time you log back into Vista the results of the test will be displayed as seen in Figure 10 below.

Figure 10. Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool Results

When testing your memory, if errors are found, the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool will attempt to determine which particular memory module in your computer is causing these errors. If that information is available, it will be stated in the results. If bad memory is found then you will need to remove that memory and replace it with a functioning replacement. For information on how to remove and install memory it is advised that you read this tutorial: Understanding, Identifying and Upgrading the RAM in your PC.

If you are still having problems after using this tool, then you can try the other advanced repair tools. Tutorials on how to use these tools can be found below:

• How to automatically repair Windows Vista using Startup Repair
• How to use the Command Prompt in the Vista Windows Recovery Environment
• Using Windows Complete PC Restore to restore your computer
• Using System Restore from the Vista Windows Recovery Environment

As always if you have any comments, questions or suggestions about this tutorial please do not hesitate to tell us in the Windows Vista Help Forums.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. How to backup your computer to a Complete PC Backup and Restore image
3. How to restore your computer from a Complete PC Backup and Restore Image
4. Conclusion

Introduction

This Vista disaster recovery option works by creating an image of the selected hard drives and saving this image to either multiple DVDs or to another hard drive. In the event that your computer is no longer able to boot into Windows Vista, you can then restore these snapshots using the Windows Recovery Environment.

1. Click on the Start button to open your Start Menu. The Start button looks like this:
   
   
2. Click on the All Programs menu option.
   
   
3. Click on the Maintenance folder.
   
   
4. Click on the Backup and Restore Center icon.

When you click on that icon, the Backup and Restore Center will open as shown in Figure 1 below.

To start the backup you should now click on the Start Backup button. When you press this button, Vista will start the backup and create an image on the media or hard drive that you specified. The status of the backup creation will be shown in a window similar to Figure 5 below.

Figure 5. Creating backup image

When the backup is finished being created you will see a message stating so as shown in Figure 6 below.

How to restore your computer from a Complete PC Backup and Restore Image

Once you have made a Complete PC Backup you can restore that backup at any time. When restoring a Complete PC Backup it is important to know that the restore process will erase all of hard disks and all of the user data and programs will be erased and replaced with the data and programs from the backup. If you understand this warning, and feel that you need to restore a backup, then continue reading. If you have any doubts at all about how this process works, please ask us in the Windows Vista help forums. It is better to be safe than sorry when there is a chance you may lose all of your data.

If you still want to perform the restore, then you need to start the restore process from the System Recovery Options menu in the Windows Recovery Environment. Instructions and information on how to access the Windows Recovery Environment and the System Recovery Options menu can be found in the following tutorial: Using Windows Complete PC Restore to restore your computer.

Conclusion

Now that you understand how Complete PC Backup and Restore works, it is advised that you create your first Complete PC Backup and store it somewhere safe. This provides peace of mind because you know that if there is a problem in the future you have a perfect installation that you can easily restore. As always, if you need help with or want to talk about Complete PC Backup and Restore, then feel free to ask us in our Windows Vista Help Forums.