Resolve Vista Scan and Fix Error When Plugging in IPOD or other Devices

Vista
is just too smart for its own good. I spoke with a member friday
evening that said after setting up Vista home premium his computer
would give him an error to Scan and Fix his IPOD. However when he would
plug his IPOD into his wife’s Windows XP machine there was no error.

I was able to recreate the error by forcibly ejecting my own ipod
from a Windows XP machine. The reason for the error is that his IPOD
was formatted FAT32 on Windows XP; this can affect thumbdrives,
cameras, smart cards. What happens is the device was not properly
dismounted by Windows XP and there is an archival bit set that Vista
needs to reset before it will stop reporting there is an error.

At this point if you don’t read anything else read this: don’t click the “Scan and Fix” button.

Instead open up a command line prompt by clicking on the windows logo key and then clicking on the command prompt icon:

At the command prompt type the following command.

chkdsk (device drive letter): /f

for instance my ipod was mounted at drive l so I typed

chkdsk l : /f

Once the chkdsk process is completed you should not see the “Scan & Fix” dialog for your ipod or other device again.

Deleting history entries for Remote Desktop

Ever been at an internet cafe with enough rights to remote desktop to a server?
You most definitely do not want to leave your server name/IP to which you connected just in case someone tries to break in.
 
Do delete these entries follow the instructions below:
 
  1. Start –> Run –> Regedit
  2. Navigate down to….
  3. HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftTerminal Server ClientDefault
  4. you’ll see keys that begin with MRU
  5. Delete the entry you don’t want.

And out…

Windows Vista Disable UAC

The purpose of this page is to explain how to disable the UAC, Vista’s nagging ‘Continue’ pop-up dialog box.

For security, whenever you need to configure Vista settings, you need elevated privileges – even if you are logged on as the administrator.  Before you can complete an administrative task, the User Account Control manager pops-up with a ‘Continue’ message.

For computers that have joined a domain, ‘Elevate without prompting’ is the best Local Policy method for disabling the UAC pop-up.  For Vista Home Editions, or any Vista’s not joined to the a domain see below.

Stage 1) Preliminary task:

Our first task is simply to launch the Local Security Policy snap-in.  You have the choice of two methods:

Method A)  Begin by clicking on Vista’s Start button, then type secpol.msc in the Start Search dialog box.  Note: you must include the .msc extension.

Method B)  Display Vista’s Administrative Tools. Right click the Taskbar, select Properties, Start Menu, Customize, Advanced; scroll to the bottom and find System Administration Tools, place the radio button next to ‘Display on the All Programs menu’.

Stage 2) Configure the Security Options

  1. Open the Local Security Policy (See Method A or B above)
  2. Expand the Local Polices Folder  See the screenshot opposite.
  3. Drill down to Security Options folder.
  4. Scroll down, and locate the family of settings beginning with ‘User Account Control’.
  5. Focus on: User Account Control: Behaviour elevation prompt for administrator.  Double click and set to: Elevate without prompting.  Check the screenshot to the right.
  6. Restart your Vista computer.
  7. When the computer restarts, try to configure a tasks that needs UAC.  For example, change the computer’s display name.  Press the Windows Key + Pause / Break.  Select the ‘Change Settings’ shield..
  8. UAC should now be turned off, thus you should not see the ‘Continue’ box.