Windows Tools, Help & Guides

In previous guides, I showed you how to encrypt your files in Windows (XP) (Vista/7) In this guide, I’ll show you how to decrypt these files. You may need to decrypt your files in the following circumstances:

• Moving files to a new computer
• Reformatting your current machine and using your encrypted files on the new installation of Windows

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I previously showed you how to block ads when browsing; however, InPrivate browsing in IE8 takes some time to learn which content needs blocking. Windows Forums moderator rsvr85 has written a guide, which shows you how to update InPrivate’s block list with AdBlock’s list, which will cut out ~80% of ads instantly.

AdBlocking in IE8

Many people willing to pay for file encryption programs but did you know Windows XP, Vista, and Seven have built in file encryption capabilities? File encryption is more and more important as our data is the coming more mobile by the day. If you were to Lucia laptop, a password may protect your information but if the person who finds your laptop takes out your hard drive and put it into a now the computer all install is a different operating system on your hard drive, they may still have access to your files. In this guide, you will learn how to encrypt your files in Windows Vista. See this guide for XP.

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If you’re making changes to your system and using programs such as CCleaner or Advanced SystemCare, you should always make a restore point before. There is the argument that by creating a restore point you take up almost all the space you are freeing up of these programs. This is true; however, cleaning your system can improve performance significantly and is good practice when using your PC.

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Windows Guides reader littlelooloo asked the following:

I had a question about this worm that is supposed to wreak havoc on computers tomorrow… the news said most security programs have it taken care of.  I just wanted to get your opinion/confirmation if that’s really the case or should I download a patch from Microsoft?

If you are concerned about the Conficker (a.k.a. downandup) worm, possibly scheduled to wreak havoc tomorrow, April 1, 2009, you can download a cleanup tool from ESET. You can also apply a patch from Microsoft

From the Sophos blog:

It’s quite possible that Conficker will not do anything significant on April 1st. Certainly it won’t be “deadly” and your computers won’t melt. :-)

The fact of the matter is that Conficker is not set to activate a specific payload on that date. Rather, on April 1st Conficker will begin to attempt to contact the 50,000-a-day potential call-home web servers from which it may receive updates.

But it’s just as likely that Conficker will receive instructions to do something on March 28th, or April 2nd, or April 14th as it will on April 1st. The emphasis by some media outlets on April 1st is really unfortunate.

What we can say with certainty is that people should keep their protection up-to-date, ensure that they have firewalls and security patches in place, have a proper policy in place regarding USB usage and passwords. In addition it wouldn’t do any harm – if you suspect you may be infected by Conficker – to run a Conficker removal tool such as the free one from Sophos.

Download the ESET Cleanup Tool

Download the Patch from Microsoft

Some programs on your computer need to be run in administrator mode to function correctly. If you’re like me, I don’t like doing the same thing twice, if I can avoid it. In this guide, you’ll learn how to always run a program as an administrator, by default, in Windows Vista.

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Windows Forums member, Ajay Singh, writes some really helpful guides on the forums. This guide will help you Create a Windows Vista Password Reset Disk

Windows Defender is enabled by default in Windows Vista and I personally use it all the time as I feel it does a good job. Some people don’t like Windows Defender and use other anti-spyware programs. In this guide I’ll show you how to disable Windows Defender in Windows Vista

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Do you find when you’re modifying system files in Windows 7, Vista, or XP that you have to change permissions a lot?

I’ve been using this for a while now and I can’t tell you how useful it is.

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You may not want other users of your computer having access to certain data on your machine. In this guide you’ll learn about permissions and how to apply them to drives, files, and folders in Windows 7 and Vista.

One of the readers of Windows Guides asked me how to protect an entire drive from access by other users, which is something you too may want to do. The procedure for this is very simple and very effective.

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