registry

Fix Windows Firewall with Advanced Security Snap-In Error 0x5 in Windows 7

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When you open the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security snap-in in Windows 7, the following error may be displayed and the snap-in loads up blank:

There was an error opening the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security snap-in

You do not have the correct permissions to open the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security console. You must be a member of the Administrators group or the Network Operators group to perform this task. For more information, contact your system administrator. Error code: 0x5.

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Fix: Missing or Incorrect Icons Showing up in the Windows UI (Shell)

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There are several third-party programs available that can customize or change the shell icons, such as folders, Recycle Bin, etc. The default icons are overridden by adding necessary entries to the registry. After installing and uninstalling a theme or third-party program, various icons in the user interface may go missing or show up with incorrect or generic icons.

Some problems (such as missing icons, or icon placeholders showing up) may manifest after the user uninstalls the third-party icon customization program.

Missing Recycle Bin icon in the Delete File confirmation dialog
Folders showing up with “unknown” icons in Open/Save As dialog boxes

This article explains how to fix missing shell icons in various places in the Windows shell, by clearing out the remnant icon override entries in the Windows registry.Read more

Fix Devices and Printers Folder is Completely Blank in Windows 7

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When you open Devices and Printers applet, it may show up as an empty folder although the devices are correctly connected and their drivers are intact. This can be due to several reasons, and the possible causes (with appropriate fixes) are discussed in this post.

We’ve observed that Devices and Printers folder can appear blank if one of these is true:

  • Print Spooler Service is not running
  • Bluetooth Support Service is not running
  • Missing DLL registrations.

Use these steps to resolve the problem.Read more

How to Increase Windows 7 Desktop Slideshow Transition Animation Duration

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The Desktop Slideshow options lets you configure the picture position, picture change interval and turn on or off the shuffle option. Here is another hidden feature in Windows 7 configurable using the Registry Editor, that allows you increase the desktop slideshow transition animation duration. Increase Desktop Slideshow Animation Duration 1. Click Start, type Regedit.exe and … Read more

How to Open Pinned Site Shortcuts Using Your Default Browser (Registry Hacks)

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With the Pinned Sites feature introduced in Internet Explorer 9, you can add your favorite websites to the Taskbar and/or the Start menu. We’ve seen that in article IE9 Lets You Pin Website Shortcuts to the Windows 7 Taskbar. Clicking the Pinned site shortcut opens the website using Internet Explorer, regardless of which browser you’ve … Read more

Fix Windows 7 Backup and Restore Not Launching After Uninstalling Acronis True Image

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Recently one of our readers faced a problem with Windows 7 Backup and Restore after installing and then uninstalling Acronis True Image. Nothing happened except for a brief hourglass when the user double-clicked the Backup and Restore item in the Control Panel. It turned out that the user had enabled the Windows integration feature in … Read more

Using ActiveX Filtering in Internet Explorer 9

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Internet Explorer 8 introduced the Per-Site ActiveX feature which allowed users to run a certain ActiveX control only on white-listed sites. This feature was explained in our earlier article How to Disable Adobe Flash Animations for All but White-Listed Sites in IE8. Internet Explorer 9 introduces another similar feature named ActiveX Filtering. When ActiveX Filtering … Read more

How to Reset Folder View Settings in Windows 10/11 and Earlier

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folder view bags

Folder view settings include column preferences, view mode (icon or thumbnail), grouping, sorting order, window size, etc. Sometimes Windows may forget your folder view settings due to corruption or if the 5000 folders limit has been reached.

For instance, Windows may keep resetting the view back to “List” even though you repeatedly choose the thumbnail view. Another example would be that the system keeps enabling the auto-align setting for your desktop icons into a grid (even when the Align icons to grid is not ticked.

Or, let’s say you had added additional columns in a folder and closed the folder. When you reopen the folder, the changes may not be retained, and it goes back to the default view and sort order settings.

In those situations, you may want to reset the views to clear out corrupt settings and start afresh. This article explains how to completely clear the saved folder views in Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10, and Windows 11.Read more