Command Prompt Scan

For Windows 7 machines - type the following at an elevated command prompt, (omitting the square brackets) in order to scan for errors.


sfc /scannow /offbootdir=[DRIVELETTER]:\ /offwindir=[DRIVELETTER]:\windows


(sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offiwndir=c:\windows)




MaximumPC
Sevenforums

How to make Windows Vista SP2 Permanent

... and therefore clean up unnecessary files.

Open an elevated command prompt, and run:

compcln.exe

How to make Windows 7 SP1 permanent

... and therefore, clear up unneeded files.

Windows update:

dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

Manual update

dism.exe /Image:C:\test\offline /Cleanup-Image /spsuperseded /hidesp

Lightweight apps

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/small_powerful_30_useful_apps_under_2mb

How to secure your digital life

An article from MaximumPC.com on digital security, offering a good list of things to consider and watch out for to avoid becoming a victim.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/protect_and_defend_32_ways_secure_your_digital_life

A clean install of Windows 7 using upgrade media

Open regedit.exe

Mossy on over to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

Change MediaBootInstall from "1" to "0".

Close RegEdit.

Start up cmd.exe with administrator settings.

Enter the following: slmgr /rearm

Hit enter, wait for the confirmation, exit.

Restart computer.

Activate windows!

Disable proxy server in Chrome

Open the properties for the Chrome shortcut you're using, and add the following to the end of the target " --no-proxy-server=". There should be a space between .exe and --no.

Final result should look like this:

...Chrome\Application\chrome.exe --no-proxy-server=

Save.

Chrome fires up faster without having to detect proxy settings.

BSOD viewer

BlueScreenView scans all your minidump files created during 'blue screen of death' crashes, and displays the information about all crashes in one table. For each crash, BlueScreenView displays the minidump filename, the date/time of the crash, the basic crash information displayed in the blue screen (Bug Check Code and 4 parameters), and the details of the driver or module that possibly caused the crash (filename, product name, file description, and file version).

For each crash displayed in the upper pane, you can view the details of the device drivers loaded during the crash in the lower pane. BlueScreenView also mark the drivers that their addresses found in the crash stack, so you can easily locate the suspected drivers that possibly caused the crash.

Disabling Hibernate in Windows 7

A default installation of Windows 7 will create a hidden hiberfil.sys file, which takes up several GBs of space. Sure, hard drives are larger than ever, but if you don't use hibernate (and I don't), then that file is a considerably waste of space.

Hit the Start button, type in cmd, right click it, and select Run as administrator.

Type in powercfg -h off, and hit Enter.
Alternatively, type in powercfg.exe /hibernate off, and hit Enter.

That is all. All related power options disappear, as does the sizable file.

Happy to be alive

I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.

- Agatha Christie