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Many folks use Process Explorer from Windows Sysinternals to gather information about running processes and their open handles. In addition, there is an excellent but less familiar utility in-built with Windows 7 and higher (including Windows 10/11).
The built-in utility is Resource Monitor, which provides complete details of running processes, their associated handles, and associated modules (for example, DLL files).Read more
Did the Currency, Stock, or the Weather Gadget got stuck and stopped updating in your Windows 7/Vista computer all of a sudden? Clearing the Sidebar Gadgets cache using the following steps might help. Clear the Windows Sidebar Cache Folder Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to bring up the Task Manager. Exit Sidebar.exe process via Task Manager. Instructions for … Read 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.
When you open Windows Explorer on your Windows 7 computer, the Libraries folder may be completely empty. Also, nothing may happen when you right-click the “Libraries” link in the navigation pane, and choose Restore default libraries. This can happen if the library files are hidden inadvertently by the user. To restore/unhide the libraries, you need … Read more
We’d like to share with you an interesting registry hack that adds a Microsoft Security Essentials AutoPlay handler so that you can thoroughly scan a CD/DVD media or USB flash drive for viruses, via the AutoPlay dialog. See article Scan Your Thumb Drive for Viruses from the AutoPlay Dialog at the How-To Geek website. Thanks … Read more
Have you ever wondered how some of your mp3 files show up with the album art icon instead of the standard mp3 icon when browsing through the mp3 collection on the hard disk? Also, does the cover image appear in the background when playing an mp3 file using Windows Media Player or any other music player?
Thumbnail image of the mp3 files as seen in Windows Explorer.
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.Read more
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:
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.Read more
Recently I came across a problem where the Windows Search service failed to auto-start, and manually starting the service using Services MMC resulted in Error 1053, with the following error message verbatim.Read more
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 … Read more
