Windows • Archives • Page 8 of 12 Technically Easy

Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Vista and Windows 7

February 10, 2010 by Paul Salmon

I recently purchased a new desktop computer to replace the 8 year old desktop I was previously using. The previous desktop had served me well for those 8 years, and had been running Windows XP without any problems. It had begun to show its age recently, however; so I bought myself a new one.

My new desktop included Windows 7 Professional installed (I didn’t want Vista), which I so far have enjoyed using. I did run into a minor problem recently where some of the icons for specific file types went missing. While this didn’t stop the application from loading, it was a little annoying as it was a bit difficult to tell two shortcuts apart. Luckily, it is easy to delete and rebuild the icon cache.

System Cannot Open the Device of File Specified – Windows Installer Error

October 4, 2011November 25, 2009 by Paul Salmon

I had been having a problem when installing software that consisted of a single MSI file and displayed the error “System cannot open the device of file specified.” Whenever I ran a MSI file I continuously received an error on the screen that prevented the application from being installed. I tried it on several installs, and they all produced the same error.

Realizing it wasn’t the actual individual installations, I began to experiment with a few file settings. I had experienced other Windows Installer issues in the past so I began to debug this issue. After a few tests I determined the problem and was able to easily correct it so I could run installations again.

Why are Some Files Coloured in Windows Explorer?

August 5, 2010November 18, 2009 by Paul Salmon

Someone recently as me a question as to why some files appear in either a blue or green colour when they viewed their files in Window Explorer. They were wondering if there was a problem with those files and what should they do about it.

I assured them that there was no problem with their files, and that it was perfectly normal to see some files in another colour other than black.

Microsoft Vista: How to Disable UAC Warnings

July 13, 2010August 28, 2009 by Paul Salmon

Since I have been using Microsoft Vista I have kept UAC disabled since I was repeatedly bombarded by warnings. These messages were constantly displayed on the screen whenever I wanted to change some system settings, and became annoying very quickly. The quick solution, therefore, was for me to disable UAC.

Everything had been working fine until recently. In the last few months I began to experience a few issues with some of the installed applications. After doing some research, I decided to enable UAC and since then the problems have disappeared. I also decided to find a way to disable the UAC warnings, and after some quick research found out that you can. So now I have UAC enabled and no annoying warnings. This post explains how to disable the UAC messages in Microsoft Vista.

Access is Denied With External Hard Drive

August 14, 2009 by Paul Salmon

Recently I received a phone call from someone I know that had recently purchased a hard drive enclosure. This allowed them to use an internal hard drive as a USB 2.0 external hard drive. He was attempting to connect the hard drive on a new laptop with Microsoft Vista installed.

Every time he connected the external hard drive, he was always greeted with a message on the screen stating: “Access is denied”. He mentioned he was logged in with an administrator account, so I couldn’t see why he wasn’t granted access to the hard drive. That is when I thought about a good reason why he wasn’t given access.

How to Find Disk Space Hogs

May 27, 2009 by Paul Salmon

During my regular computer maintenance I tend to delete unnecessary files to conserve and recover hard disk space. Files such as temporary Internet files, regular temporary files, and old shortcuts are usually files that I like to remove. There have been times in the past when I have removed the unnecessary files but still have little disk space. Unless you go through each directory, it could be difficult to find which files are hogging all the disk space.

A few months ago I stumbled on a small application (less than 2MB) that has helped find files and directories that use up the most disk space. I use this application on all computers that I have used since then and have been easily able to recover disk space by finding other unnecessary files that have been using up a lot of disk space.

Replacing an Application with Another in Windows

May 13, 2009May 13, 2009 by Paul Salmon

I recently received an e-mail form someone asking if it is possible to change the Task Manager in Windows. They had another application that they would like to use, instead of the built-in Task Manager. It is very possible to change the Task Manager, since I use Proces Explorer and have set it so I can use that application instead of Task Manager.

While Process Explorer provides this ability, many applications that provide the same functionality may not allow a user to replace the Task Manager. In this post I will not only show you how you can easily do this, but also how you can do this for almost any application within Windows.

How to Automate Your Computer Maintenance

May 11, 2009May 8, 2009 by Paul Salmon

As you use your computer it can become slower as time goes on. As you create and delete files, your hard drive can become fragmented, and take up valuable space. Uninstalled applications may also leave behind shortcuts or files that are no longer needed which can also use up disk space. If you use the Internet a lot, you may have had the unpleasant experience of battling with viruses, trojans or spyware. These are several reasons why it is important to maintain your computer.

While it may sound complex, performing regular computer maintainence doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, you can automate the whole process so your computer can sort of “self-clean”. All you need to do is install the right tools, and create a schedule that works for you. In this post I’ll explain what I have done to maintain my old Pentium IV 1.7GHz machine so it can run Windows XP without any issues.