cyberjosh
Member
There are many nifty tools that you can use in Windows to help you manage and even customize your computer to the max.
(Some of these assume an XP operating system)
Event Viewer - Found under 'Administrative Tools' in the Control Panel this is a very handy program that notifies you of what goes on when an application opens, closes, and (most importantly) crashes. When you get a random, unknown, or not very detailed error you can look in event viewer and you should see among hundereds of other messages an error icon that is recent and when you click on it it tells you the source of the error (usually by divulging location & name of the file at fault). Very nifty.
Regedit - (Accessed by typing 'regedit' in run box) A very scary yet very cool application. And very dangerous to someone who doesn't know what they are doing. Seriously, you can permanantly wipe your computer out with this utility. It allows you to view the Operating Systems Registry (a database of configuration settings for all software and hardware on your system) in a 'Windows-Explorer-like' expand and collapse tree/branch hierarchy window. Some of the most amazing hacks you've ever seen can be pulled of from the Registry Editor (Regedit). For more detailed information look up this utility on the internet. For previously tested Registry Hacks you can also Google 'registry hacks' (though nothing is 100% guaranteed to work).
Snap-in Utility - (Accessed by typing in 'MMC' in the run box) An interesting shortcut utility that allows you to place shortcuts to your most used tools and/or applications in something called a 'snap-in' which opens up a GUI console with the icons of the customized selection of tools that you configured. You save the snap-in as a file somewhere on your computer (preferebly your desktop for quick acces) where all you have to do then is click on it and it will open your customized shortcut console. I am not entirely familiar with this utility as of yet and have only used it once. But it offers promising possibilities.
TweakUI - A tool usually found on your Windows system disk which does NOT automatically install (you have to go fetch it off the disk) which gives you quick and easy tweaks for a wide variety of configuration options on the computer, some are merely easier (shortcut) ways to access these configuration options, and others special tools you won't find anywhere else. It has everything from mouse options to an icon repair/rebuild feature. Its much cooler than I can explain. Look it up online but this tool is a must! Note: For some reason the windows 98 version of this tool has more options than the XP version does. That kinda sucks, but now you can say that you've been warned. If you can't find this utility on the disk you can just download it.
Well, that's all I can think of for now. I hope this was helpful & informative. If you know of anymore interesting Windows configuration tools that might be helpful please feel free to share information about it.
~Josh
(Some of these assume an XP operating system)
Event Viewer - Found under 'Administrative Tools' in the Control Panel this is a very handy program that notifies you of what goes on when an application opens, closes, and (most importantly) crashes. When you get a random, unknown, or not very detailed error you can look in event viewer and you should see among hundereds of other messages an error icon that is recent and when you click on it it tells you the source of the error (usually by divulging location & name of the file at fault). Very nifty.
Regedit - (Accessed by typing 'regedit' in run box) A very scary yet very cool application. And very dangerous to someone who doesn't know what they are doing. Seriously, you can permanantly wipe your computer out with this utility. It allows you to view the Operating Systems Registry (a database of configuration settings for all software and hardware on your system) in a 'Windows-Explorer-like' expand and collapse tree/branch hierarchy window. Some of the most amazing hacks you've ever seen can be pulled of from the Registry Editor (Regedit). For more detailed information look up this utility on the internet. For previously tested Registry Hacks you can also Google 'registry hacks' (though nothing is 100% guaranteed to work).
Snap-in Utility - (Accessed by typing in 'MMC' in the run box) An interesting shortcut utility that allows you to place shortcuts to your most used tools and/or applications in something called a 'snap-in' which opens up a GUI console with the icons of the customized selection of tools that you configured. You save the snap-in as a file somewhere on your computer (preferebly your desktop for quick acces) where all you have to do then is click on it and it will open your customized shortcut console. I am not entirely familiar with this utility as of yet and have only used it once. But it offers promising possibilities.
TweakUI - A tool usually found on your Windows system disk which does NOT automatically install (you have to go fetch it off the disk) which gives you quick and easy tweaks for a wide variety of configuration options on the computer, some are merely easier (shortcut) ways to access these configuration options, and others special tools you won't find anywhere else. It has everything from mouse options to an icon repair/rebuild feature. Its much cooler than I can explain. Look it up online but this tool is a must! Note: For some reason the windows 98 version of this tool has more options than the XP version does. That kinda sucks, but now you can say that you've been warned. If you can't find this utility on the disk you can just download it.
Well, that's all I can think of for now. I hope this was helpful & informative. If you know of anymore interesting Windows configuration tools that might be helpful please feel free to share information about it.
~Josh