When you click the Windows Explorer shortcut which is Pinned to the Taskbar, or when running explorer.exe directly in Windows 7, the following error message may be displayed with text "explorer.exe" in the title bar.
This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Please install a program or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Programs control panel.
And using the WinKey + E key sequence causes "Unspecified error" (more…)
In response to a script request recently from one of our readers, here is a VBScript that I came up with, that displays last logon date/time details for each local user account in a computer.
[Download lastlogon.vbs] (more…)
If you have a host application that you don’t want to be pinned to the Windows 7 taskbar, you can do so by adding a registry value in the application registration area. By default Windows prevents the following host processes from being pinned to the taskbar.
… and other file names defined in the following registry key in string values HostApps, AddRemoveApps and AddRemoveNames
To remove the Pin to Taskbar (and "Pin this program to taskbar") context menu options for a particular application, use these steps: (more…)
In the Windows 7 Taskbar, you can start a program elevated by holding the CTRL & SHIFT keys and then clicking on a Pinned shortcut. Unfortunately there are no keyboard shortcuts available to start a program elevated via the context menu. To launch a program elevated from the right-click menu, you can add custom entries and launch it using a script or using the NirCmd utility. Earlier we wrote about the new "elevate" command-line argument in NirCmd, which you can implement in the context menu. (more…)
When you generate a System Diagnostics Report using Windows Performance Monitor, it may report that no anti-virus product is installed in the system. Whereas the Windows Security Center or Action Center (in Windows 7) detects the installed anti-virus product and reports its status correctly.
When you insert a DVD media in the drive, right-click on the drive and choose Play from the context menu, the following error may occur.
Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.
However, you may be able to play DVD movies via the AutoPlay dialog, or by starting Windows Media Player and using the Play menu. This happens if the DVD/Play association setting is missing or incorrect, or is of incorrect value type. The DVD Play verb is stored in this registry key: (more…)
The System File Checker (sfc.exe) is an useful tool that lets you scan the integrity of Windows system files, and repair corrupt or missing system files. Numerous cases have been resolved thus far by running Sfc.exe with the "scannow" parameter. However, there are situations where in a corrupt or missing system file prevents Windows from booting normally, and running Sfc.exe from Windows isn’t possible. In such cases, Sfc.exe can be run offline using two additional parameters, via the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. (more…)
I know many folks that use Windows SysInternals Process Explorer to gather information about running processes and their open handles. There is an excellent, but probably unsung tool within Windows 7 called Resource Monitor which can be used to see details of running processes, their associated handles and associated modules (for example, DLL files). Resource Monitor proves to be an useful tool to investigate processes and locked files, and can come in handy especially when you forget to bring your troubleshooting toolkit along when fixing a friend’s PC. (more…)
One of our readers faced a problem where the Windows Event Log failed to start, and as a result, a couple of other services failed as well. Attempting to start the Windows Event Log service manually via the Services MMC resulted in error 4201. The complete error message is provided below:
Windows could not start the Windows Event Log service on Local Computer.
Error 4201: The instance name passed was not recognized as valid by a WMI data provider.
Changing the file type icons in Windows XP and earlier Operating Systems was a breeze, using the File Types tab in the Folder Options dialog. Unfortunately the File Types tab has been discontinued since Windows Vista and there is no alternate GUI provided to change a file type icon or to customize the right-click menu. Earlier we showed you how to change the file type icon manually using registry edits. In this article, we’ll see how to change a file type icon using the excellent Default Programs Editor utility, which we’ve covered before. (more…)
