Category: tech support

  • CityVille Beginner’s Guide

    CityVille Tips & Tricks: Building Houses
    There are tips on how to make the most of your building construction at City Ville. To start with,
    Among the first building types that you may encounter when learning to play CityVille is communal housing. This is important to provide protection to your people, and the type of residential housing that you choose will affect your population and fame ratings. Many more types will become available while you look towards CityVille mastery, empowering you to expand your empire and create a wider and wealthier population. The better and more expansive a house is, the higher the rent repayments and chance to earn more CityVille coins.

    Here are some things to think about:
    1. When building, click on them to be completed. If you won’t, you wouldn’t be able to finish your building, at the same time;

    2. Houses should be aligned, so as to enable you to build roads.

    3. Population must also increase that is why you should increase building houses as well.

    You must build houses in order to increase the population of your city effectively. Every CityVille house will support a specific number of citizens and generates income. In order to build your income quickly, choose the houses that you build according to the time that you expect to be playing the game.

    BUILDING
    POPULATION
    COST
    GRID SIZE
    HARVEST TIME
    (minutes)
    BASE COIN
    Apartment Complex
    90
    4500
    16
    1440
    200
    Atrium Lofts
    170
    750000
    25
    1440
    170
    Colonial Chalet
    120
    10000
    9
    480
    158
    Country Home
    30
    600
    16
    5
    10
    Cozy Cottage
    10
    200
    9
    60
    50
    Family Townhouse
    20
    400
    9
    240
    100
    Glass Condos
    160
    600000
    16
    480
    165
    Hotel Suites
    130
    12500
    18
    2940
    231
    Lake House
    90
    495
    16
    120
    200
    Loft Apartments
    50
    1000
    16
    2940
    220
    Luxury Apartments
    200
    0
    9
    1440
    105
    Modern Chateau
    60
    1500
    16
    1440
    200
    Newlywed House
    100
    0
    9
    5
    12
    Ranch House
    100
    6000
    16
    1080
    189
    Skyscraper Condos
    150
    500000
    16
    240
    105
    Sprawling Mansions
    140
    15000
    18
    1080
    195
    Stylish Contemporary
    80
    3500
    9
    4380
    240
    Suburban House
    40
    800
    16
    1080
    180
    Terraced Brownstone
    70
    2500
    9
    480
    150
    Upscale Condo
    110
    8000
    16
    60
    52

     

      

  • CityVille Beginner’s Guide

    CityVille Guide – Coins and Cash
    In CityVille, you are going to use coins to purchase buildings, seeds or decorations. Without coins the you won’t be able to advance in the game and to develop his city. The CityVille coins can be acquired in many ways starting with collecting the rents paid by citizens and ending with selling the goods to neighbors. Various strategies can be used to increase the number of coins in CityVille. 

     

    CityVille is a casual video game developed by Zynga Game Network Inc. The title is similar to Frontierville, meaning that players will experience the same mix of elements such as farming and building various structures. In addition to this, in CityVille each action costs energy points, just like in Frontierville. One of the differences between these games is that in CityVille the action takes place in modern-times while inFrontierville the action is set in the past.
    Get Free Coins by Clicking Fast:
    The coins, boxes, energy bolts, collectibles and experience stars that pop out of clickable things go into your inventory even if you don’t click on them, but click them if you can. You get extra coins if the bonus meter fills up. Your bonus goes up every time you level up or get more reputation hearts. Here are the free coin click bonuses it cycles through:
    •         Excellent!
    •         Amazing!
    •         Outstanding!
    •         Holy Smokes!
    •         Extreme!
    •         OMGeezers!
    •         Unstoppable!
    •         Insane!
    •         Masterful!
    Bonus Free Coins:
              Decorations and franchise headquarters are called bonus items because they make your CityVille buildings pay you more free coins! All the buildings within the blue square around each bonus item pay out more coins. The game tells you in blue what percent more coins each building will pay out. Higher blue numbers get you more free coins! Bonuses add together.
    When you are first starting out, place bonus items where their blue squares touch as many of your businesses as possible. Don’t worry if you don’t like where you place them. Unlike some other video games, you can move anything in CityVille. Click on the arrow above the “Build” button and select the “Move” cursor.
    Read more about bonus items and bonus zones that can make your stores pay you 2000 coins and more here. Making stores pay out more coins and even diamonds the most fun part of the game for many players.
    Goals:
    You get experience, energy, coins and even free building icons for completing goals, so don’t just ignore the goal icons when they pop up on the left side of your game screen. Goals are also how you become mayor in CityVille.
    Use Franchise System:
    The franchise system generates free coins for you! It gives you the franchise headquarters bonus items, too. You can have up to 20 of your neighbors’ businesses in your city. Place an empty business lot — next to bonus items and on a road or sidewalk, of course. Click “Okay” and let the game post a franchise request to all your CityVille friends. Be a little picky in what you will accept, because you only get to have 20, and only if you have 60 neighbors or more. Read more about the CityVille franchise system here.
    Buying CityVille Cash:
    You can buy CityVille cash on the “Add coins and cash” tab. It costs a minimum of $2.13 per 15 game dollars. You can get City cash on the “Earn city cash” tab, but there you have to buy things from participating merchants. You can buy coins there, too, but coins are pretty easy to get so don’t waste your money. You can do everything in this video game without City cash. Facebook games are notorious for trying to get you to spend real money. Resist the urge!
    Alternately, you can earn City Cash in CityVille by completing offers. At the moment, there are seven offers that you can complete in order to earn city cash, like completing Amazon Tasks, taking surveys or paying with your Cell Phone. You can find all the offers under the Earn City Cash tab in-game.
    But what about FREE City Cash for you? You can get some Free City Cash in a few ways, but don’t expect to get too rich with that! Here is how to get City Cash for Free in CityVille:
    •      Keep an eye on the offers mentioned above. You might find some that give you free city cash
    •  
    •     Level up! Each time you level up, you get 1 City Cash in return!
    •  
    •     Game Cards. Make sure somebody loves you and tell them you’d like a Zynga game card. If they buy it and send it to you, you can redeem the City Cash from it!
    And these should be the ways to get more CityCash in Zynga’s CityVille.
    Note: However, If you must get ahead quickly, spend real money through Zynga’s links in their Facebook games rather than using cheat scripts. These often contain malware that infects your computer’s resources.
  • CityVille Guide – Experience (XP)

    CityVille Guide – Experience (XP)


    XP, which stands for Experience Points, is earned by completing all the various tasks, quests and activities in the game. As you earn more and more XP, you’ll advance in levels. Besides looking cool, you’ll unlock access to many new buildings and decorations in the game as you reach the higher levels.
    In CityVille you usually gain one or two XP points for each action you do, it does not matter how long it takes to complete this action. Because of this the best thing to do for gaining XP quickly is to focus on tasks that require as little time to do as possible.
    When you do tasks in CityVille you spend energy, so if you want to gain XP as quickly as possible you also need to make sure you get refills of energy frequently enough. If you run out of energy you can’t complete any more tasks until you gain back some energy points. The best way is to get as many CityVille friends as possible, as this will help you a lot with refilling your energy.
    How to Increase XP and jump the levels faster?
    Plant Strawberries

    A great way to get experience points easily in CityVille is planting and harvesting of strawberries. Just build a bunch of farm plots in your city, 20 or more and plant strawberries on all of them. Strawberries grow up in only five minutes, and as soon as you harvest you just plant again. You will get a lot of experience points quickly this way, and you will often get bonus energy as well. This tip will only work if you have extra energy to spare, but energy is easy to get as gifts from your friends anyways.
    Collections

    In addition to getting experience from harvesting the strawberries you will also be building up your strawberries collections. Once you have a complete strawberries collection you can trade this one in and get 3 extra XP points that way.
    Building Country Homes

    A great way to get experience points quickly is to build a lot of country homes in your city. You can collect the income from your country homes every 5 minutes. That is why they are so awesome when it comes to gaining XP. Each time you collect income from your country homes you will get one experience point from each house, this quickly adds up if you have a lot of them. You will sometime also get bonus energy when you’re doing so, which enables you to keep going longer before your energy runs out.
    Visiting Friends

    Like in Farmville, visiting friends daily grants you a whopping 3 Energy for nothing among other rewards like XP coins and Reputation points like same before we got Fuel, Mystery Gifts etc in Farmville, . The more friends you help, the more oomph you’ll have to do things back Home. Not to mention you’ll look good around your friends, who might come around and help you out some in return. (This is my favorite option Helping Friends around and in return we climb the ladder soon)
    No of XP required for each level:
    Level 1 – 0 XP – Dot on a Map
    Level 2 – 4 XP – Crossroads
    Level 3 – 16 XP – One-Horse Town
    Level 4 – 31 XP – Two-Horse Town
    Level 5 – 78 XP – SmallishVille
    Level 6 – 125 XP – Teeny Town
    Level 7 – 172 XP – Tween Town
    Level 8 – 219 XP – Young Town
    Level 9 – 276 XP – LargerVille
    Level 10 – 343 XP – Coup de Ville
    Level 11 – 420 XP – Traffic Town
    Level 12 – 507 XP – Big Town
    Level 13 – 604 XP – Terrific Town
    Level 14 – 711 XP – Boom Town
    Level 15 – 828 XP – Wee Lil’ City
    Level 16 – 955 XP – Small City
    Level 17 – 1092 XP – Pretty City
    Level 18 – 1239 XP – Citifield City
    Level 19 – 1396 XP – Happy Hood
    Level 20 – 1563 XP – Synchronicity
    Level 21 – 1740 XP – Silver City
    Level 22 – 1927 XP – Backwater Burgh
    Level 23 – 2124 XP – Windy City
    Level 24 – 2331 XP – Vast Village
    Level 25 – 2548 XP – Happy Hamlet
    Level 26 – 2775 XP – Shining Shire
    Level 27 – 3003 XP – City Scape
    Level 28 – 3232 XP – Funkadelphia
    Level 29 – 3462 XP – Modest Municipality
    Level 30 – 3693 XP – Booming Burgh
    Level 31 – 3925 XP – Witty City
    Level 32 – 4158 XP – Urban Expanse
    Level 33 – 4392 XP – Slick Suburb
    Level 34 – 4627 XP – Perfect Principality
    Level 35 – 4863 XP – Surging City
    Level 36 – 5100 XP – City Without Pity
    Level 37 – 5338 XP – Pot-holed Pit Stop
    Level 38 – 5577 XP – Stop Light Suburb
    Level 39 – 5817 XP – Swell City
    Level 40 – 6058 XP – Port of Progress
    Level 41 – 6300 XP – Slick City
    Level 42 – 6543 XP – Capitol City
    Level 43 – 6787 XP – Peppy Populous
    Level 44 – 7032 XP – Bustling Borough
    Level 45 – 7278 XP – Capital Of Cool
    Level 46 – 7525 XP – Virtuous Village
    Level 47 – 7773 XP – Quaint Escape
    Level 48 – 8022 XP – Concrete Jungle
    Level 49 – 8272 XP – Popular Province
    Level 50 – 8523 XP – Rural Retreat
    Level 51 – 8874 XP – Metropolis
    Level 52 – 9325 XP – Hoppin Hood
    Level 53 – 9876 XP – Emerald City
    Level 54 – 10527 XP – Neighborly Neighborhood
    Level 55 – 11278 XP – Breezy City
    Level 56 – 12129 XP – Peppy Podville
    Level 57 – 13080 XP – Diamond Den
    Level 58 – 14131 XP – Punctual Prefect
    Level 59 – 15282 XP – Quant Quahog
    Level 60 – 16533 XP – Golden Goodsville
    Level 61 – 17884 XP – Great Gotham
    Level 62 – 19335 XP – Expansive Expo
    Level 63 – 20886 XP – Country County
    Level 64 – 22537 XP – County Capitol
    Level 65 – 24288 XP – Viva Las City
    Level 66 – 26139 XP – M.C. Master City
    Level 67 – 28090 XP – City-o-rama
    Level 68 – 30141 XP – Citinator
    Level 69 – 32292 XP – Double Duchy
    Level 70 – 34543 XP – Crafty Commonwealth
    Level 71 – 36894 XP – Poppin Province
    Level 72 – 39345 XP – Laundable Land
    Level 73 – 41896 XP – Radical Region
    Level 74 – 44547 XP – Fantastic Bailwick
    Level 75 – 47298 XP – Super Metropolis
    Level 76 – 50149 XP – Captivating Canton
    Level 77 – 53100 XP – City Shipper
    Level 78 – 56151 XP – City o’ Lights
    Level 79 – 59302 XP – Happy Valley
    Level 80 – 62553 XP – Groove Town
    Level 81 – UNK XP – Rock Town
    Level 82 – UNK XP – Magic City
    Level 83 – UNK XP – Queen City
    Level 84 – UNK XP – Atomic City
    Level 85 – UNK XP – Final Frontier
    Level 86 – UNK XP – Creative Capitol
    Level 87 – UNK XP – Sweetistan
    Level 88 – UNK XP – Jam Packed Jubilee
    Level 89 – UNK XP – Monolithic Metro
    Level 90 – UNK XP – Star City
    Level 91 – UNK XP – Monkey Jungle
    Level 92 – UNK XP – Fubarb Rhubarb
    Level 93 – UNK XP – Steel City
    Level 94 – UNK XP – Steel Sturgentown
    Level 95 – UNK XP – Captivating Capitol
    Level 96 – UNK XP – Computron Town
    Level 97 – UNK XP – Urban Playground
    Level 98 – UNK XP – Funkitrony
    Level 99 – UNK XP – City of Cities
    Level 100 – UNK XP – Center of the Known CityVerse
  • Energy Resources in Cityville

    Energy Resources in Cityville

     
    As we promised we have put together the guide of  Energy for Cityville .Energy is the most essential and indispensable part of the game to build houses, to collect rent or to harvest crops. Without energy points, the player will be able only to seed plots or to dispatch goods to the business buildings.
    Energy can be restored when the player levels up or if he uses the energy batteries, however these batteries will cost in-game cash. To restore the energy points in CityVille, the player can use various strategies and tricks.

    We can increase energy in cityville by Proper management in building your city in CityVille, this is the key to dominate the game, but proper allocation of resource will also maximize our energy in City ville, how efficiently you will use your resources in this game that much energy you will save and this will help to increase energy too, the low energy you will spent will be able to recover energy quickly.But then the energy refill every five minutes that was a little problem in playing this game so you better check this guide:

    The major energies source of Cityville include
    1. Waiting
    2. Batteries
    3. Visiting Friends:
    4. Collection
    5. Gifiting
    6. Daily Bonus
    Waiting

    The first logical option you will see to increase energy in city ville is waiting, The energy will be refill after every 5 minutes, as long as we wait that much our energy will refill 1 point at a time, which can be very annoying for some of us but for the people who don’t mind go ahead by all means
    Batteries

    Batteries are the main source of energy in the Cityville, which we can get from friends, as many friends you have you will be able to get more energy here. Batteries can also be purchased with Cityville cash, just go to city menu and use city cash. Just click “Build” and then the lightning bolt icon to access the Energy shop where you can buy Batteries that give either 3, 7 or 12 Energy for 3, 6 and 9 City Cash, respectively.
    Visitng Friends

     
    Like in Farmville,visiting friends daily grants you a whopping 3 Energy for nothing among other rewards like XP coins and Reputation points like same before we got Fuel, Mystrey Gifts etc in farmville, . The more friends you help, the more oomph you’ll have to do things back Home. Not to mention you’ll look good around your friends, who might come around and help you out some in return. (This is my favorite option Helping Friends around and in return our energy level will quickly increase)
    Gifitng
    It is a feature which is almost included in every Zynga Poker Game, here as i mentioned earlier gifts from friends may include batteries and other accessories, as much as you send gifts to other, you will also be entitled to get energy batteries too, or may your friends also send the gift in return to you. this will also help us to increase energy quickly, with the latter two locked until you reach certain levels.
    Collections
    As much as collections of gifts we had, we can sell out these gifts for energy battries. Play game normally and collecting from properties like the Toy Shop and Coffee House, but there’s a neat little feature called the Wishlist that might help. Here in this game go to collection menu you’ll see that every item in each Collection contains a small button that looks like the RSS symbol (bottom left of the Collection item menu).Make your Wishlist here by clicking on this button and then Click Share , this will broadcast your wish list and friends will help you to complete your wishlist
    Daily Bonus
  • CityVille Beginner’s Guide

    CityVille Beginner’s Guide


    CityVille is comparatively newest game from Zynga, the makers of the very popular FarmVille and FrontierVille games on Facebook. In CityVille, you move out of the quiet countryside settings of those two games to construct your own successful city from its simple beginnings into a metro city. The game features a lot of challenging dynamics which is fun, but can also be confusing. So here’s a CityVille Beginner’s Guide, featuring CityVille cheats, strategies, tips and tricks to get up and running quickly.
    CityVille Beginner’s Guide
    Your tiny little habitat will become a booming metropolis quickly in CityVille.
    CityVille Basics
    If you’ve played any games recently on Facebook, especially any of the city building themed games, then the basics of CityVille will already be familiar. You’ll try to level up by accumulating XP, earn coins, utilize cash and manage your energy.
    Energy
    Energy is one of the more precious resources in the game. FrontierVille players are already familiar with the concept, but old-school FarmVille players may not have seen it before. Basically, you use up energy on each of the tasks you perform in the game. Energy recharges automatically over time (Very slowly), and there are several different ways to speed it up.  All you need to know as a beginner, however, is that you’ll want to maximize your energy use early in the game.
    Experience(XP)
    XP, which stants for Experience Points, is earned by completing all the various tasks, quests and activities in the game. As you earn more and more XP, you’ll advance in levels. Besides looking cool, you’ll unlock access to many new buildings and decorations in the game as you reach the higher levels.
    Coins and Cash

    Coins and cash are familiar concepts. for those who are not familiar, Coins are the lifeblood of your city. You’ll spend them to build just about everything. You can also spend coins on goods for your businesses. You earn coins by operating businesses in your city, which consume goods. Cash is the paid currency in CityVille. You start out with some free cash and earn a little bit as you level up. But for the most part, cash must be purchased from Zynga. Cash unlocks certain special exclusive items in the game and also can be used to accelerate the building of some items, particularly community buildings.
    Houses
    All of your city dwellers need a place to live, and there are a lot of housing choices in the game. You earn rent from all the houses, so they are an important source of coins, especially early on in the game. Each type of house holds a different number of people and larger houses cost more to build. You’re also limited by a population cap, which is the maximum number of residents you can have in your city. To raise that cap, you must construct community buildings.
    Community Buildings
    Community Buildings is a new and confusing concept in CityVille. In order to grow your population cap, you’ll need to build community buildings. In addition to costing coins and energy to construct, community buildings need to be staffed by employees. You can either recruit your friends to join your staff for each building or pay cash to fill the positions. The first community building you’ll construct will be City Hall. After that, you’ll want to build a post office and police station and so on.
    Businesses
    Businesses are another core component of your city. They provide a place for your residents to spend money, earning coins for your city. The first business you’ll build in the game is a bakery, and you’ll be able to create several different businesses as you gain levels. A very important concept in CityVille is the use of goods. Businesses need to be supplied with goods, which you can produce at your farm and later on through trade with neighbors.
    CityVille Businesses
    People need to shop and businesses in CityVille are a big part of your growth.
    Franchises
    Another new concept in CityVille is franchises. Once you’ve build a Franchise Headquarters, you can place franchises of your businesses in your neighbor’s cities. You then supply your franchises with goods and collect coins from those businesses as well. Franchises require a little more management and require a solid supply of goods, but can be a very lucrative way to earn lots of coins in the game.
    Farming
    So finally when you thought that now you’ve moved to the big city you wouldn’t have to worry about farming anymore? Not so easy! Farming is a critical part of the game. Crops can be planted and tended to create goods, which supply your businesses and franchises in the game. The crops work very similarly to how they did in FarmVille and FrontierVille. Each type of crop produces a different amount of goods and has a different harvest time, ranging from 5 minutes to a day or two. Crops left untended will wither and die, resulting in a loss of the coins used to plant them.
    CityVille Farm
    Farming is still a big part of city life. An added complexity is storage. Because your goods aren’t consumed all at once, you’ll need to store them. You start out with a single barn, but will quickly want to create silos and other storage buildings to contain all the goods you produce at the farm.
    CityVille Shipping
     
    Shipping can be done two ways: by train or by, well, ship. You’ll only have access to shipping via train until a later mission comes along that involves building a pier and whatnot. Luckily, the train station is raring to go as soon as you arrive. However, we don’t recommend you jump into shipping until you’re well into the swing of things
    Quests
    Your early experience with CityVille will be filled with several goals and quests that you receive. In addition to teaching you some of the core concepts of the game, the goals provide you with important early rewards that will help you grow quickly. In fact, you can pretty much stick to following goals through the first several levels of the game. In some cases, you might want to hold off on doing certain tasks (like building storage silos) until you get a goal that requires you to build them.
    Friends and Neighbors

    Friends and Neighbors have always been a big part of games on Facebook, but they become critical in CityVille. You can visit all of your friends cities and help them tend to houses, businesses, and farms. In return, your friends will be able to do the same in your city. And friends become especially important when it comes to expansion. You’ll need your friends to help you out when it comes to staffing your community buildings so that you can grow your small little town into a thriving city. Visiting and helping friends is also a great way to quickly replenish your diminishing energy supply.

    We will publish detailed and advanced tips and tricks from next Week onwards so keep watching this space

  • Windows 7 Tips

    How To Disable Search In Windows 7

    The new search feature in Windows 7 has been greatly improved, however, some users may not want to use it and are using a third party utility instead. If that is the case, you might want to completely get rid of the search feature and we’ll show you how.

    Windows 7 Search
    Some users might not be happy with the Search feature in Windows 7 and would rather use a third party utility like Everything instead. If so, you may want to get rid of the search feature to free up some real estate in Explorer and the Start Menu.

    Disable Windows Search


    If you want to disable Windows Search, click on Start and select Control Panel.

    In Control Panel switch to Large Icons View and click on Programs and Features.

    Next in the left panel click on the Turn Windows features on or off hyperlink.

    Scroll down the list and uncheck the box next to Windows Search.

    Click yes to the message asking if you’re sure you want to continue.

    Now click OK in the Windows Features window.

    A progress message comes up while the changes take place.


    Then a restart is required to complete the changes.

    When you get back from the reboot you’ll no longer see the Search box in the Start Menu.


    The search box in Windows Explorer will also no longer show.

    If you want to turn it back on again, go back into the Turn Windows Features on or off section and re-enable Windows Search.
  • Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

    Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

    In Windows 7, we’ve uncovered several new sets of essential time-saving shortcuts that will make your mouse jealous with neglect.
    Alt + P

    In Windows Explorer, activate an additional file preview pane to the right side of the window with this new shortcut. This panel is great for previewing images in your photos directory.

    Windows + + (plus key)
    Windows + – (minus key)
    Pressing the Windows and plus or minus keys activates the Magnifier, which lets you zoom in on the entire desktop or open a rectangular magnifying lens to zoom in and out of parts of your screen. You can customize the Magnifier options to follow your mouse pointer or keyboard cursor. Keep in mind that so far, the Magnifier only works when Aero desktop is enabled.
    Windows + Up
    Windows + Down
     If a window is not maximized, pressing Windows + Up will fill it to your screen. Windows + Down will minimize that active window. Unfortunately, pressing Windows + up again while a window is minimized won’t return it to its former state.
    Windows + Shift + Up
    Similar to the shortcut above, hitting these three keys while a window is active will stretch it vertically to the maximum desktop height. The width of the window will however stay the same. Pressing Windows + Down will restore it to its previous size.
    Windows + Left
    Windows + Right
      One of the new features of Windows 7 is the ability to automatically make a window fill up half of your screen by dragging to the left or right. This pair of shortcuts performs the same function without your mouse. Once a window is fixed to one side of the screen, you can repeat the shortcut to flip it to the other side. This is useful if you’re extending a desktop across multiple monitors, which prevents you from executing this trick with a mouse.
    Windows + Home
    This shortcut performs a similar function to hovering over a window’s peek menu thumbnail in the Taskbar. The active window will stay on your desktop while every other open application is minimized. Pressing this shortcut again will restore all the other windows.
    Windows + E
     Automatically opens up a new Explorer window to show your Libraries folder.
    Windows + P
    Manage your multiple-monitor more efficiently with this handy shortcut. Windows + P opens up a small overlay that lets you configure a second display or projector. You can switch from a single monitor to dual-display in either mirror or extend desktop mode.
    Windows + Shift + Left
    Windows + Shift + Right
    If you are using two or more displays (and who isn’t, these days?), memorize this shortcut to easily move a window from one screen to the other. The window retains its size and relative position on the new screen, which his useful when working with multiple documents. Utilize that real estate!
    Windows + [Number]
    Programs (and new instances) pinned to your Taskbar can be launched by hitting Windows and the number corresponding to its placement on the Taskbar. Windows + 1, for example, launches the first application, while Windows + 4 will launch the fourth. We realize that this is actually one key-press more than just clicking the icon with your mouse, but it saves your hand the trouble of leaving the comfort of the keyboard.
    Windows + T
    Like Alt + Tab (still our all time favorite Windows specific shortcut), Windows + T cycles through your open programs via the Taskbar’s peek menu.
    Windows + Space

    This combo performs the same function as moving your mouse to the bottom right of the Taskbar. It makes every active window transparent so you can view your desktop. The windows only remain transparent as long as you’re holding down the Windows key.
    Ctrl + Shift + Click
    Hold down Ctrl and Shift while launching an application from the Taskbar or start menu to launch it with full administrative rights.
    Ctrl + Click
    Hold down Ctrl while repeatedly clicking a program icon in the Taskbar will toggle between the instances of that application, like multiple Firefox windows
  • Turn Off Hard Disk when Idle or Never

    How to Turn Off Hard Disk when Idle or Never
    Information
    This article will show you how to get your hard disks to either turn off after certain minutes you set of being idle, or to never be turned off in Windows 7 and Vista.

    This setting will only affect internal HDD’s and not SSD’s (solid state drives).
    When set to turn off hard disks after idle, you will notice a brief delay of a few seconds when you try to access a turned off hard disk as it spins back up and is turned back on automatically as needed. Having your hard disks to be turned off after being idle can help save energy and extend a laptop’s battery life.
    Note
    If you have the hard disks set to be turned off after X amount of minutes of being inactive, then this behavior can be caused if any disk activity occurs, whether it is caused by user input or system tasks. Disk activity of any type resets the hard disk idle timer, and this can increase the amount of time it takes for your hard disk to turn off.
    Windows is designed to automatically perform maintenance tasks to improve performance and reliability. When your computer is on AC power and is idle, system maintenance tasks may be able to run for a few minutes. These system maintenance tasks include disk-layout optimization to improve performance and preparing automatic system restoration points to increase reliability. Typically, these tasks occur the first time you leave your computer idle after you start it. These tasks ensure that the system maintains its performance and reliability even after long use. Because these tasks involve reading and writing to the hard disk, the hard disk idle time is reset regularly during this maintenance period.
    There are other items that can reset the hard disk idle timer. These items can include:
    ·         Paging operations.
    ·         Windows Update checking the system state.
    ·         Event logging.
    ·         Network detection such as DHCP or Autonet.
    ·         Third-party services such as quota software or an antivirus program.
    ·         Scheduled tasks.
    ·         The loading of services or drivers.
    When these items either read from or write to the hard disk, the hard disk idle timer is reset.
    Here’s How:
    1. Open the advanced power settings for you selected power plan. (see screenshot below)
    2. To Turn Off Hard Disks After Idle
    A) Expand Hard disk and Turn off hard disk after, set how many minutes you want the hard disks to be idle for before being turned off, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)
    NOTE:
    The default setting is with 20 minutes.
    B) Go to step 4.
    3. To Never Turn Off Hard Disks
    A) Expand Hard disk and Turn off hard disk after, set it to Never, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)
    4. Close the Edit Plan Settings window. (see screenshot below step 1)
  • Add or Remove Ease of Access Center

    How to Add or Remove Ease of Access Center from Windows 7 Log On Screen
    Information
    On the log in screen at the bottom left there is a button called the Ease of Access button, if you do not want this button just follow this tutorial.

    Warning
    If you do not follow this tutorial exactly you will most likely have to do a system restore!!!
    OPTION ONE
    Remove Ease of Access button
    1. Take ownership of the file c:/windows/system32/authui.dll
    2. Open the file c:/windows/system32/authui.dll in Resource Hacker.
    3. In Resource Hacker go to the location: UIFILE/12400/1033:
    4. Copy all of the code from UIFILE/12400/1033 into a blank text file:
    5. Find the following line in your code:
    6. Delete it and everything after it until:
    NOTE: Make sure not to leave a blank line where you deleted the code.
    7. Copy the code from the text document back to Resource Hacker and make sure there is a blank line of code at the very bottom of the code. Then select Compile Script.
    8. Repea the steps 5-8 for location UIFILE/12401/1033 and UIFILE/12402/1033.
    Warning
    DO NOT JUST COPY AND PASTE THE SAME CODE INTO ALL THREE!!
    9. Save the file as authui – new.dll onto your desktop.
    10. Copy the file authui – new.dll to c:/windows/system32
    11. Start the program Task Manager, and Notepad
    12. Using Task Manager end the process explorer.exe:
    13. Using notepad go to file/open:
    14. Browse to c:/windows/system32/ make sure to have All Files selected:
    15. Rename the file authui.dll to authui – backup.dll
    16. Rename the file authui – new.dll to authui.dll
    17. Push the keys: Ctrl+Alt+Del
    18. Select Log off
    19. Select Log on
    20. Done
    OPTION TWO
    Restore Ease of Access button
    1. Start the program Task Manager, and Notepad
    2. Using Task Manager end the process explorer.exe:
    3. Using notepad go to file/open:
    4. Browse to c:/windows/system32/ make sure to have All Files selected:
    5. Rename the file authui.dll to authui – new.dll
    6. Rename the file authui – backup.dll to authui.dll
    7. Push the keys: Ctrl+Alt+Del
    8. Select Log off
    9. Select Log on
    10. Done
  • Extract Windows 7 System Image Files

    How to Extract Windows 7 System Image Files Using Disk Management
    Information
    When you create a system image, Windows 7 creates a Virtual Hard Disk VHD file that contains all of your files. This will show you how to attach (mount) this VHD file using Disk Management to manually extract and restore specific files of your choice from the system image instead of doing the default full system image recovery.

    Note
    System images are saved in this format:
    (selected backup location’s drive letter)\WindowsImageBackup\(your computer name)\Backup (year-month-day) (time)
    For example, if your computer name is Windows7-PC, your backup image location is on hard disk or partition (network or local) D: , and you backed up on September 14th 2008 at 4:39:45 AM (it uses 24 hour time), then that system image VHD file will be located in the D:\WindowsImageBackup\Windows7-PC\Backup 2009-09-14 043945 folder.
    OPTION ONE
    To Attach the VHD to Extract Files from System Image
    1. Open the Control Panel (All Items View).
    A) Click on the Administrative Tools icon, and click on Computer Management.
    B) Go to step 3.
    OR
    2. Open the Start Menu.
    A) In the Search box, type compmgmt.msc and press Enter.
    3. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.
    4. In the left pane, right click on Disk Management, and click on Attach VHD.  
    NOTE: You can also click on Disk Management, Action on the menu bar, and Attach VHD.
    5. Click on the Browse button.  
    6. Navigate to the drive or partition that you selected to save the created system image to, then select a listed VHD file for the disk that you want to extract files from.  
    NOTE: See the NOTE box at the top of the tutorial to see where to find your system image VHD file at.
    Note
    There will be a VHD file for each hard disk that was included in the system image backup when it was created.
    You will not be able to open the VHD for the 100 MB System Reserved partition if you had one created during the installation of your Windows 7.
    7. Click on OK.  
    NOTE:
    Be sure to leave the Read only box unchecked.
    8. You will now notice that the VHD file has been attached (mounted) as a separate virtual disk with it’s own drive letter (ex: F: ) in Disk Management. Close Disk Management.
    9. You may also get a AutoPlay pop-up window. Double click on the Open folder to view files option.  
    NOTE: If you did not get a AutoPlay pop-up, then you can open the new attached VHD virtual disk (ex: F) from the Computer window like any other hard drive or partition.
    10. You can now copy any files that you want from the attached system image VHD disk (ex: F: ) to restore back to your Windows 7 C: drive.  
    OPTION TWO
    To Detach the VHD in Disk Management
    NOTE: This will show you to detach the VHD file in Disk Management from OPTION ONE above without affecting the system image.
    1. Open the Control Panel (All Items View).
    A) Click on the Administrative Tools icon, and click on Computer Management.
    B) Go to step 3.
    OR
    2. Open the Start Menu.
    A) In the Search box, type compmgmt.msc and press Enter.
    3. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.
    4. In the middle pane, right click on the Disk # of the attached VHD (ex: F: ), and click on Detach VHD.  
    5. Click on OK.  
    WARNING:
    DO NOT CHECK the Delete the virtual hard disk file after removing the disk box. If you do, you will destroy the created system image. Leaving this box unchecked will leave your created system image intact an unharmed so you can still be able to use it to do a full system image recovery.
    6. You will now notice that the VHD (ex: F: ) has been detached in Disk Management.  
    7. Close Disk Management.