Clean boot is a boot configuration, when minimal set of services and autorun programs starts with Windows. It’s a good tool for troubleshooting software issues. 

 To load Windows with clean boot configuration, follow those steps:

1)   1) Press “Start” button.

2) Type “msconfig”.

3) Press Enter or left click on “msconfig” link, that has appeared in search results.

4) On “General” tab, uncheck “Load startup items”.

5) On “Services” tab, check “Hide all Microsoft services”.

6) Press “Disable all” button and then “OK”.

7) It will prompt you to restart system - choose “Restart”.

1)      8) Now, system will load with “clean boot” configuration.

Tablet PC is notebook shaped computer that able to accept input directly through the computer’s screen. You can use your finger, stylus, or other device to control Windows 7 without using a keyboard or mouse.

To use all these features in Windows 7 you should turn on Tablet PC Components by following the instructions:

1. Open Start menu and choose Control Panel.

2. Choose Programs and Features.

3. Press Turn Windows Features on or off.

4. Check the Tablet PC Components item.

5. Click Ok button and follow the onscreen directions.

After performing instructions above such features will be turned on:

- Tablet PC Input Panel;

- Windows Journal;

- Math Input Panel;

- Other Hand Writing Recognition Features.

NOTE: Unfortunately Windows 7 doesn’t allow to choose what features of the Tablet PC turn on or off. You can turn on or off only all the features.

Sometimes you may need to take the screenshot of the items that displayed on the display. Screenshot is image taken by operating system to record items that displayed on the display.

You can do the screenshot in 2 ways in the Windows 7.

First – using keys’ combinations of your keyboard.

1. At the beginning you must clarify what keys should be used to take the screenshot.

Usually you should use PrintScreen key on your keyboard (or PrtScr).

But sometimes you can do the screenshot by pressing Fn or Ctrl then pressing another key.

2. If you want take the screenshot of the items that currently showed on the display

press key combination that used for taking the screenshots.

2. Open Paint (or another image editor). To open Paint go to Start menu, choose All Programs, then Accessories and choose Paint.

3. Paste your screenshot to the Paint window using Paste option or Ctrl+V keys combination.

4. Save the image to the destination folder.

NOTE: If you want to take the screenshot of the active window then you should press and hold Alt key on your keyboard and press PrintScreen key on your keyboard or another key combination that used for taking the screenshots.

You will get next result:

Second – using Snipping Tool in Windows 7

1. Open Start menu, choose All Programs, then Accessories and press Snipping Tool.

You will see next window:

2. Select area that you want to take screenshot of.

3. Save the image to destination folder.

We can see the following picture during OS boot after a bad shutdown, power interruption, etc.

That picture means that special program was launched. It’s called chkdsk and it can display the file system integrity status of hard disks, fix logical file system errors or check the disk surface for physical errors and bad sectors.

But it happens that errors are present on the disks, but chkdsk doesn’t launch automatically. In such case you can run it manually using one of the next methods.

First method - using Graphical Interface.

1. Open Start menu and click on the Computer option.

2. Right-click on the disk that you want to check and choose Properties.

3. Navigate to Tools tab and press Check now button.

4. Press Start button in the next window.

NOTE 1: If you want to scan your disk for bad sectors then check second option Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

NOTE 2: If you are attempting to check disk that in use (for example, your system disk) you receive next warning message:

Press Scheduled disk check and close all windows. Your disk will be checked at next computer boot.

Second method – using Command Prompt.

1. Open Start menu, choose All Programs, Accessories and click Run (or just press Windows + R keys on your keyboard simultaneously).

2. Type cmd in the opened string.

3. In the Command Prompt type:

chkdsk volume: /f

– volume: – disk letter (in my case it is c drive);

– /f – parameter that fixes errors on the disk.

NOTE: The disk must be locked. If chkdsk cannot lock the drive, a message appears that asks you if you want to check the drive the next time you restart the computer:

Press Y key on your keyboard. chkdsk command will check your disk for errors and fix them at next computer boot.

You will see window below:

chkdsk command has got other parameters, you can see them by typing

chkdsk /? in the Command Prompt. 

You can use simple administrator user accounts to perform almost part of the actions in Windows 7. But sometimes you might need to use built-in administrator account.

You can easily use that account by following the instructions:

1. Open Command Prompt: click Start button and type cmd in the Start Search string. Find Command Prompt in the search result list and right-click on this item, then choose Run as administrator.

2. Press Yes button if you are prompted for User Account Control permission.

3. At the Command Prompt type:

    net user administrator /active:yes

press Enter button on your keyboard.

4. If you want set the password for this account at the Command Prompt type

    net user administrator <Password>

and then press Enter button on your keyboard.

Note: Replace the your_password with desired password that you want to set to built-in administrator account.

5. Close Command Prompt.

6. Log off the current user account and check the results.

If you want disable built-in administrator account you can perform that by following the instructions:

1. Open Command Prompt: click Start button and type cmd in the Start Search string. Find Command Prompt in the search result list and right-click on this item, then choose Run as administrator.

2. In the Command Prompt type:

    net user administrator /active:no

press Enter button on your keyboard.

3. Close Command Prompt.

4. Log off the current user account and check the results.

If you have Windows XP-based computer and going to upgrade to Windows 7 you should have good tool for files and settings migrating. You can use Windows Easy Transfer that created for transferring files, email, pictures, and settings.

To do the migration you need:

- computer with Windows 7;

- computer with Windows XP;

- USB flash drive.

First you should save all important personal data from Windows XP computer. If you don’t have the Windows Easy Transfer tool installed on it you can install it on the flash drive using Windows 7 computer.

Step 1. Install Windows Easy Transfer tool on the flash drive.

On your Windows 7 machine launch Windows Easy Transfer: click Start  button, choose Getting Started and then Transfer your files.

You will see the Windows Easy Transfer welcome screen.

Press Next button to proceed. In the next window choose An external hard disk or USB flash drive. 

Then choose This is my new computer.

In the next window press No.

Then choose I need to install it now.

It is time to plug into computer your flash drive. In the wizard window choose USB flash drive.

And browse for your flash drive. In my case it is Removable Disk (G:).

You will see the process of copying the Windows Easy Transfer tool files on your removable device.

Now you are ready to install Windows Easy Transfer on your old computer.

Unplug your flash drive from new computer (Windows 7).

Step 2. Transfer files from Windows XP computer.

Plug your flash drive in your old computer (Windows XP). You will see the folder WindowsEasyTransfer and icon for Windows Easy Transfer tool.

You can start Windows Easy Transfer process by double-clicking on the program icon. 

In the first window press Next button

then choose This is my old computer.

The program will scan your system drive for users’ data and settings.

You will see the list of the user accounts.

You can copy only certain files. Just press Customize and choose the items that you want to save.

Also you can use Advanced option and choose files in the more detailed mode.

Press Save button and now you are ready for transferring. Press Next button to start that process.

You will be asked to set the password to protect your future .MIG file that will contain all your settings and files, but you can leave these fields blank. Press Save button to proceed.

Choose file destination at the next window, you can use same flash drive where your Windows Easy Transfer tool is located. 

Wait until saving files and settings will be finished.

Review the information in the next window and press Next button.

Read the report and press Next button.

Press Close buton and un-plug your flash drive from old computer (Windows XP).

Press Close button.

Step 3. Transfer your files on the new computer (Windows 7).

Launch Windows Easy Transfer: click Start  button, choose Getting Started and then Transfer your files.

and navigate to the .MIG file location (it is can be your flash drive or external hard drive).

You can transfer all files and settings that are contained in the .MIG file or you can customize what to transfer by choosing Customize or Advanced Options.

Press Transfer button and wait until transferring to new computer will be finished.

After process will be completed you can review what was transferred or what programs were installed on your old computer (Windows XP) but don’t install on a new one (Windows 7).

Good luck!

One thing is for sure with any computer operating system, the older it becomes, the occurrence of broken or "things don't work like they used to"  become more frequent.

Take shortcuts for example. You know…the ones on your desktop or in the start menu.

You click on a shortcut that you have not used in a while, and chances are, it works as expected or you get the dreaded Problem with Shortcut error warning:

So to fix it, you re-point to the new location of the source or delete it. Now you wonder, how many more shortcuts do I have that are broken?

Well you could go one by one and click on each shortcut on your desktop or start menu and fix them. But that would take a be ridiculously long time (who wants to do that anyway).

Instead there is an easier way…

…and that way is to use a utility called ShortcutsMan from nirsoft.net.

ShortcutsMan is a standalone program,that does not require any installation or additional DLLs. To use it, just download it, copy the executable (shman.exe) to any folder you prefer (after it's unzipped) and run it.

A few seconds after running ShortcutsMan utility, a list of all your desktop and Start menu shortcuts will load in the main window.

Now. what's cool about ShortcutsMan, it wall automatically display broken shortcuts in pink. No need to hunt them down, one by one.

To try fixing a broken shortcut,  just check the box next to a broken shortcut (you can select more than one shortcuts at once), and either delete them, resolve them or save the shortcut's details to HTML/Text/XML file.

The first thing I usually do is have ShortcutsMan fix the shortcut by resolving it. This process searches your computer and points it to a valid file name (typically the orignal file name may have been changed or moved to another folder).

To resolve, select the check box next to the broken shortcut (pink color), then right click on it and select Resolve Selected Shortcuts.

If it can not resolve, then I usually delete the shortcut (otherwise if I really used it often…it wouldn't be broken in the first place). You can also edit and fix shortcuts yourself directly in ShortcutsMan by right clicking on a shortcut and select Edit.

ShortcutsMan is a great utility to have around to help clean up your system of dead shortcuts. If anything, having the capability to display all shortcuts on my desktop or under the Start menu in one interface is a big time saver. Either they get fixed or deleted. Real simple.

You can download ShortcutsMan from nirsift.com.

Autorun is the most likely way to infect your computer. To prevent this we can disable autorun feature in Windows.

Press Start button ->Run.

In window that has appear type gpedit.msc and press OK button.

At the left part of "Group policy" window select "Computer configuration"->"System". Select "Turn off Autoplay" at the left part of screen when "System" is select.

Double click on "Turn off Autoplay". Point to "Autoplay" and in the drop-down list select "All drives".

Press "Apply" and "OK" buttons.

When facing a system crash or startup up problems on Windows Computers, troubleshooting the problem can be difficult to resolve. The first step with recovery is to use Windows Safe Mode option during startup. One Safe Mode option that will help troubleshoot boot problems is to enable Boot Logging which will create a log and help identify the device or driver that is causing the problem during startup.

When Boot Logging is enable, Windows boots normally, until the device or driver that is causing the problem either crashes the system or completes starting up but causes an error message in the Event Log. While booting, Windows creates a log file that lists every step processed that is attempted and completed.

You can then reboot in to Safe Mode and review the log file named ntbootlog.txt. The log is stored in the %SYSTEMROOT% directory (normally C:\Windows or C:\WINNT folder). Below is an example of ntbootlog.txt log file on Windows XP (Vista log is similar):

Service Pack 2 5  4 2007 10:45:44.500
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\ntkrnlpa.exe
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\KDCOM.DLL
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\BOOTVID.dll
Loaded driver ACPI.sys
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\WMILIB.SYS
Loaded driver pci.sys
Loaded driver isapnp.sys
Loaded driver compbatt.sys
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\BATTC.SYS
Loaded driver intelide.sys
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\PCIIDEX.SYS
Loaded driver MountMgr.sys
Loaded driver ftdisk.sys
Loaded driver dmload.sys
Loaded driver dmio.sys
Loaded driver PartMgr.sys
Loaded driver VolSnap.sys
Loaded driver atapi.sys
Loaded driver vmscsi.sys
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\SCSIPORT.SYS
Loaded driver disk.sys
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\CLASSPNP.SYS
Loaded driver fltmgr.sys
Loaded driver sr.sys

To enable Boot Logging on Windows XP and Vista, boot your Computer, and during startup continually press F8 until the menu screen appears:

NOTE: screen shot is from XP. Vista menu will look slightly different than XP.

Press F8 to display the Advanced Menu screen and select Enable Boot Logging

You will be returned to the menu screen and you should see Enable Boot Logging in blue displayed at the bottom of the screen (don't worry if this screen is not displayed and Windows starts to boot):

If the problem does not cause Windows to crash, and after startup has completed, you can review the ntbootlog.txt file. Look for any signs of problems loading device drivers. If you find problems, go into Device Manager and disable the device or uninstall the program, then reboot again. If the problem does not occur then you know it was that device and you should check the vendor website for new drivers or known issues.

If your problem does cause Windows to crash, reboot into Safe mode by selecting Safe Mode from the Advanced Menu screen. When reviewing ntbootlog.txt file, look for events that were attempted to load but not completed. More than likely the problem will be toward the end of the file (since that was the last item logged before crashing). When you identify the problem, either uninstall the application or go in to Device Manager and disable the device. Reboot your Computer and see if the problem still exist. If it boots without crashing, check the vendor website for new drivers or known issues.

If you are still having problems, enable Boot Logging again to see if new events are logged after you have disabled the device or uninstalled the program. If you are unable to fix the problem, you may need to have a Computer shop troubleshoot the problem for you.

Notes on Boot Logging:

• Boot Logging can only be enabled from Safe Mode. Once it is enabled, it only logs during the current boot. It will not log during the next reboot unless you enable it again from Safe Mode.
• If an existing ntbootlog.txt files exist, the next time Boot Logging is enabled, Windows will append to the existing log file.
• It is a good idea to have Windows create a new log when there are no problems or after you have added new devices. This will allow full logging to occur and will let you compare with a log when problems exists.

Microsoft released a free tool called Windows 7 USB/DVD  Tool to help you install Windows 7 on all netbooks in simple steps.

Here are the five simple steps that you need to follow to create a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 7 from USB device:


Note: You need a USB flash drive with a minimum of 4 GB of free space. And also please backup your data from USB first.

1. Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool and install it http://download.cnet.com/Windows-7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool/3000-18513_4-10972600.html


2. Run the program, browse to your Windows 7 ISO image using the Browse button.

3. In this step, you need to select your media type. As we are here to create a bootable USB, simply click on USB device button.

4. Select your USB flash drive from the drop down box and click on Begin copying button.

5. The Windows 7 USB/DVD tool will take a few minutes to complete the procedure.

6. You are done. Reboot you machine and start installing Windows 7