Author Archive

Microsoft Desktop Player Finds, Plays and Downloads Webcasts Podcasts and White Papers

Microsoft Desktop Player is a Silverlight application that lets you find Webcasts, Podcasts and White Papers from the Microsoft site, matching your search query. And, of course, it can play Webcasts and Podcasts and also download the content locally if you need. You just need to select the appropriate radio button (IT Pro, or Developer), select a topic from the dropdown and click Search. You’ll see the list of resources available for the particular topic area.

Open the Microsoft Desktop Player page at Microsoft site.

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How to Fix Sidebar Crash “Windows Desktop Gadgets Has Stopped Working”

Is your Windows Sidebar (Windows Desktop Gadgets) crashing after adding a third-party gadget, with the error "Windows Desktop Gadgets has stopped working" or "Windows Sidebar has stopped working" (Windows Vista) at every start? You can stop the offending gadget from loading by editing the Windows Sidebar Gadgets settings file. Here are the instructions, which apply to Windows 7 and Windows Vista. (more…)

Install MSI Software Packages With Logging Using the Right-Click Menu

When a software installation which uses Windows Installer Package fails, you enable Windows Installer Logging and re-run setup to capture the output to a log file for troubleshooting. This can be done using three ways: using the Registry Editor, using the Group Policy Editor or by running the msiexec.exe command with required parameters.

The first two methods are documented in article How to Enable Windows Installer Logging. The third method uses the msiexec.exe command-line parameter. Here is an example:

msiexec /l*v d:\mylog.txt /i "C:\Users\Ramesh\Desktop\7z465-x64.msi"

This starts the 7-Zip .msi installation (7z465-x64.msi) and records all the results, including verbose output to a log file named mylog.txt located at D:\

Do you find it difficult to type the entire command-line everytime when you need to log application setups? No problem! You can implement this in the context menu for .msi files so that you can launch the installation with logging in a couple of mouse clicks. (more…)

Fix Hyperlinks in Mail Client and Help Center Open in a Different Application in Windows 7/Vista

When you click on a URL in Windows Mail/Windows Live Mail, or in the Help and Support Center in Windows 7/Vista PC, the hyperlink may open in different application (say, Microsoft Word) rather than your default web browser. For example, clicking on "What’s new in Windows 7" hyperlink in Windows 7 Help Center opens the Web address in Microsoft Word.

This happens due to incorrect association settings for the http protocol. Use these steps to resolve the problem.

Resetting the Default Web Browser Using Default Programs

Click Start, Default Programs

Click Set your default programs

Select your web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer)

Click Set this program as default

Click OK.

Speccy System Information Tool at a Glance

Piriform, the creators of the useful CCleaner tool, have released a light-weight system information utility named Speccy. Ever wondered what type of memory is installed in your computer (size, specification and speed)? The System Information Tool in Windows (msinfo32) doesn’t give you that much details.

Speccy gives details about the Operating System installed, specifications of the Processor, Memory, Motherboard, Audio, Video, Optical Drives etc, installed in your PC. It also shows the CPU and Hard disk temperature. (more…)

How to Run Windows Virtual PC and XP Mode in a PC Without HAV Support?

Windows XP Mode let’s you run applications that are designed for Windows XP, right on your Windows 7 PC. Earlier, Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode could run only on computers whose processors have the Hardware-Assisted Virtualization (HAV) feature enabled. Here are some screenshots from one of my test systems with Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor E4500 (which has no Hardware-assisted Virtualization support) running Windows 7 Ultimate RTM. (more…)

Fix for Windows Search Service Startup Error 1053 in Windows 7

Recently I came across a problem in a Windows 7 PC where the Windows Search service failed to start, and manually starting the service using Services MMC resulted in Error 1053, with the following error message verbatim.

Windows could not start the Windows Search service on Local Computer.

Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

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Microsoft Product Support (MPS) Reports Utility at a Glance

Not so long ago we covered MOSDAL, a data collection and diagnostic utility from Microsoft. There is another data collection utility available and that one is from Microsoft as well. The Microsoft Product Support Reporting Tool (MPS-Reports) facilitates the gathering of critical system and logging information used in troubleshooting support issues. The tool offers the ability to select the particular scenarios for which system configuration data will be collected: General, Internet and Networking, Business Networks, Server Components, Windows Update Services, Exchange Servers and SQL and other Data Stores (MDAC) . (more…)

How to Share a Theme With All Users in a Windows 7 Computer?

A theme is a combination of desktop background pictures, Window colors, sound scheme and a screensaver. Windows 7 introduces a new file format (.themepack) which is basically a .cab file that can contain images, audio files for sound scheme, mouse cursors, icons and the .theme file itself. This file format was introduced so that it’s easier to share themes to other Windows 7 systems. (more…)

Microsoft Fix It Center Fixes Common Windows Problems Quickly

The Microsoft Fix it Center (currently in Beta) finds and fixes many common PC and device problems automatically. It also helps prevent new problems by proactively checking for known issues and installing updates. Is Windows Update not working correctly in your system, or are you facing problems with Windows Search and Indexing? The Microsoft Fix it Center, an innovative idea by Microsoft, fixes these type of problems for you, in a few mouse clicks. (more…)