• 10 inch LED backlit WSVGA screen (1024×600)
• Intel ATOM N280 processor 1.66GHz
• 1GB DDR2 memory (expandable to 2GB, which I did)
• 160GB HDD built in plus 10GB Eee Online Storage
• Windows XP Home w/SP3
• Wireless-N
• 1.3 MP webcam
• Supposed 9.5 hour battery (Depends on Configuration)
• 3 USB, 1 SD card slot
• Weighs 3.2 lbs (with battery)

1st test: Battery lifetime

 
I turned off sleep mode and disabled hibernation. I turned the screen brightness to one level above its lowest setting, which is ideal for me because I hate glossy reflecting screens. I set the power options to alert me when the battery hits 5% and charge the battery to 100% while it’s off before I start this test. I removed the 1GB DIMM and installed a 2GB one and start testing at 1 P.M.
 
First I played with some of the basic Windows features like icon spacing and active title bar colors. I set my screensaver to play photos of my kids and then set

Advanced System Care to clean up the system. While it works I surf on over to TBCS and eBay among other places. I do my normal internet usage like updating my website and uploading photos of my Cuda mod to multiple modding forums.

The keyboard isn’t perfect if you’re used to desktops, but I adapt in about an hour. The touchpad is different. You have to use two fingers to scroll up, down and sideways. There’s a tricky movement that lets you use the touchpad to zoom in and out. There are other movements that mean nothing to me.

There are points during the test where I walk away or just watch TV and let the screensaver play for a few minutes. There are other more intense times where I defrag the hard drive or play Peggle Extreme on Steam.

As I type this review I’m at 6% of my battery and the time is 8:26 PM.
 
Things I hate thus far.
 
(1) I hate not knowing when CAPS lock is on or off. There’s no light for it or any type of on screen display. (2) It has bluetooth, which is not something I hate, but I don’t like having a messy desktop especially ones with icons that I cannot get rid of. I don’t use any bluetooth devices so I don’t need a shortcut. The problem came when I tried to delete the icon, because it wouldn’t let me. I had to uninstall the bluetooth software to make the icon go away. (3) After the first week the Eee PC began freezing at boot up. I later discovered that it was unable to load the audio driver for the start up sound and froze trying. I reinstalled teh driver from the Asus website and that fixed it. And lastly, (4) It has Windows XP. Everyone seems to be hanging on to XP even after the boat has begun to sink, but the more I use Vista and have to later use XP I realize how much I hate it. My wireless internet is already configured, but setting it up in XP is not as easy as Vista. Vista’s visual effects are far smoother too. Having to use a 3rd party software firewall is one more thing that has to load, because XP is naked and exposed on the net. Windows defender isn’t great, but it’s an improvement over XP. Having played with Windows 7 makes me salivate at its eventual release. I will probably upgrade this Netbook when it hits shelves.
 
My battery is down to 5% now and the time is 8:32 PM. The Netbook has been on for 7.5 hours and I’m sick of looking at the screen.
 
As the battery gets closer to dead it drains even faster. 3% hits at 8:40 PM. And the Asus claims to have 12 minutes left. I stop typing, save my review and let the screensaver play as the battery nears its end.
 
At 1% of battery it says there’s 2 minutes left so I plug it back in. The time is 8:51 PM. The Netbook has been on for 7 hours and 51 minutes, give or take a couple minutes. This test replicated what I would consider a normal day of computer use. I spend time surfing the web, listening to music, defragging my hard drive, downloading updates, and installing new programs.
 
I’m willing to bet that if I charge it back to 100% and let my screensaver go the entire time I can easily expect 9.5 hours as Asus claims. This battery is amazing!

2nd Test: Benchmarking – Disclaimer: I ran the following tests with 2GB installed and on the battery alone.
 
I kicked off testing with 3DMark2001 SE which took at least 2 minutes to install! After all 17 tests the final score was 2108. Aquamark 3, PCMark04, and 3DMark05 would not run at all. Those programs have a minimum reequired screen resolution that the Eee PC does not support. Obviously this computer is not meant for gaming and I don’t expect it too, but it would’ve been nice if the tests ran. I have played Peggle and I am comfortable with saying that it does outperform the GeForce 6150 which is common on a lot of retail Computers/laptops.
 
Final thoughts:
 
This is what I consider a good buy. As I stated, there’s a couple things I wish it could do, but it has no problem doing what it needs to do. It was designed for internet and light office work and it excels at it. I love that it can be upgraded to 2 gigs of RAM and if a 4GB DIMM wasn’t so outrageously expensive, I’d drop it in just to see what happens. Obviously, the real reason I got this Netbook is because of the battery. Asus claims a 9.5 hour battery life under very insane/strict conditions, but we know that’s not realistic. Under what I would consider normal use it did last 7 hours and 50 minutes. That’s easily 4 hours better than a modern laptop.
 
I’d give it an easy 4 1/2 outta 5 stars.

Ken Kirby – PCModHouse.com

Basically The Recycle Bin does not appear on the desktop in Windows Vista or in Windows XP. Therefore, you cannot use the Recycle Bin to do such tasks as restoring a file that was deleted. Hopfully we can help you make the Recycle Bin work again.

Several issues could cause this problem:

• A third-party program was used to hide the Recycle Bin.
• The TweakUI program was used to hide the Recycle Bin.
• The registry information for the Recycle Bin was deleted.
• A Group Policy setting was used to hide the Recycle Bin.

You can automatically fix the problem by downloading this file from Microsoft.

Or if you prefer the manual method -

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace
4. Right-click the registry key that you located in step 3, point to New, and then click Key.
5. Type {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}, and then press ENTER.
6. Click the new {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} key that you created in step 5.
7. In the right pane, double-click the (Default) entry.
8. In the Edit String dialog box, type Recycle Bin in the Value data box, and then click OK.
9. Close Registry Editor.

If you cannot restore the Recycle Bin by using the resolutions that are listed above, you can work around this issue by creating a shortcut to the Recycle Bin:

Note: This doesnt restore full functionality but will restore most

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3. Click the View tab, and then click to clear the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) check box.
4. Click Yes when you receive the warning message, and then click OK to close the Folder Options dialog box.
5. Click Folders on the toolbar.
6. Note If Folders is not visible on the toolbar, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Standard Buttons.
7. In the left navigation pane, under Folders, locate the Recycle Bin folder, and then drag the Recycle Bin folder to the desktop.
8. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
9. Click the View tab, and then click to select the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) check box. Click OK.

Microsoft Windows Search Indexer stopped working and was closed
A problem caused the application to stop working correctly. Windows will notify you if a solution is available.

So I went into services and disabled it (and I had to also disable the automatic retry separately or it kept starting despite being “disabled”). Any attempt to manually start it there gives me:

Windows could not start the Windows Search service on Local Computer.

Error 1067: The process terminated unexpectedly.

The fix is to delete all files related to search indexing, located by default at:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows

and:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Temp

Note that these are both system directories – You can access it without changing your folder options, just type the shortcut to the folders in the address bar of windows explorer. Or if you want to show hidden folders, you go into Control Panel, (make sure you’re in classic view) and you click on the icon labeled Folder Options, at which point you go into the View tab, there is a sub-folder about halfway down entitled Hidden Files and Folders, click the button next to Show Hidden Files and Folders.

Delete all files and folders in these directories.

Then, change the service back to starting automatically. You still can’t start the service until you reboot, at which time Windows will rebuild the index for you.

Anyway this didnt solve it! so I did some more digging and I narrowed it down to a faulty cpl file existing on my system. Heres what I did

1. First create a temp folder on your desktop
2. Goto c:\windows\system32 and browse the folder
3. Then sorted the files by type and scrolled down to the CPL files (Control Panel files – more info on these here)
4. Move the CPL files out to the temp folder you created on your desktop
5. Tada! control panel and network properties should now work again but you have no icons in them!
6. What you need to do is move the CPL files back from your desktop temp directory into your c:\windows\system32 a few at a time and testing control panel and network properties each time until it crashes again  - this is a trial and error process until lyou find the bad cpl file. Good Luck

Once you have found the offending CPL file(s) you should be able to see what was causing the problem usually its 3rd party sound card drivers – maybe try installing a diffrent version to get the functionality back that you lost when you copied out the bad cpl from your system folder. Hope this helps!

1. Instant search

The Instant Search box is at the bottom of the Start menu.

Enter the name of a file or program in here and the white column of the Start menu will display results instantly as you type. It’s the quickest and easiest way to find anything on your PC.

2. Vista gadgets

Gadgets are completely new to Windows Vista. These little utilities can provide instant access from your desktop to useful things like a clock or calculator as well as fun stuff like a mini-slideshow of your photos. Click on Windows Sidebar in your taskbar to access gadgets.

3. Check security status

Windows Vista features an all-new Security Center that monitors your computer’s safety.

To find out your computer’s current level of security, go to Start > Control Panel and click on the link that says ‘Check this computer’s security status’ under the ‘Security’ heading.

4. Using the Security Center

The Security Center window is divided up into two main sections.

The sidebar on the left lists the different security programs that are running on your computer and in the main window you’ll find a list of Security essentials, with status reports for each one.

The status reports work like traffic lights, so green is good, amber shows something that might need attention and red denotes a danger that needs to be rectified immediately.

Click on the down arrows next to the traffic lights to see more details and more options.

5. Scan for spyware

For specific security tasks, go to Start > Control Panel > Security.

Here you can also run a check for any spyware or other malicious software. To do this, click Scan for spyware and other unwanted software. Windows Defender will search your PC for malware.

Once the scan has finished, Defender will present you with its results. If it has found any suspicious software, Defender will ask you what you’d like to do with it. The safest option is to click Remove.

6. Configure user accounts

With Vista’s parental controls you can make sure that all the valuable files and settings on our PC are kept safe. To use the parental control features, you’ll need to set up separate accounts for everyone who uses your PC. The default user account in Vista is ‘Administrator’, which allows you to alter settings, as such it’s only really suitable for adult users.

Go to Start > Control Panel and under the ‘User Accounts and Family Safety’ heading, click on Add or Remove User Accounts. A warning screen may appear at this point. Click Continue. In the Manage Accounts screen, click on the Create new account link. Type the name of the person into the box, ensure Standard user is selected and click on Create account.

7. Parental controls

With all the requisite user accounts created, go to Start Control Panel and under the ‘User Accounts and Family Safety’ heading, click on Set up parental controls for any user. If a warning screen appears, click Continue.

From the list of users that appears next, click on the name of the person you require.

The next screen contains all the different parental control features that you can switch on for that user. First, put a check next to where it says ‘On, enforce current settings’.

Your computer can keep a record of the user’s activity so that you can find out things like how long the person used the computer for, which programs they used, which websites they visited, which blocked sites they tried to access and so on.

To switch this feature on, put a check next to ‘On, collect information about computer usage’ under the Activity. Reporting heading. Under Windows Settings, you’ll also find a number of other parental control options. Use these to filter unsuitable websites and set usage time limits or block access to programs and unsuitable games. When you have finished, click on OK to confirm your selections.

8. Change your desktop

To change the appearance of Vista right click on your computer desktop and click Personalize.

Click Desktop then Browse and browse to the picture you want to set as your desktop image, double click on the picture.

Now select how the picture should appear, then click OK.

9. Magnify Windows

To make it easier to use Windows click Start > Control Panel > Personalization.

Click Ease of Access on the left hand side of the resulting window.

From here you can launch a Magnifier tool.

This will magnify the area of the screen that your cursor is pointing at and display it in a window at the top of the screen.

10. Adjust mouse settings

To change the appearance of your mouse click Start > Control Panel > Personalization.

Click Ease of Access on the left hand side of the resulting window.

Click the blue link that says Make mouse easier to use.

Tick to select how you’d like your cursor to appear onscreen ‘Extra large black‘, for example.

11. Customise the Taskbar

The taskbar is the greyed out area at the bottom of your screen where you’ll see notifications about programs that need updating as well as information about your network status or your battery life (if you’re using a laptop).

To customize the taskbar click Start > Control Panel > Taskbar and Start menu.

From here you can change the appearance of the taskbar by choosing to hide or unhide it, keep the taskbar on top of other windows and whether you want to group similar buttons together.

12. Customise the Start Bar

To customize the Vista Start bar, click Start > Control Panel > Taskbar and Start menu. Click on the Start Menu tab. From here you can choose to revert to the Classic view of Windows or use the new-look Vista Start menu.

Click Customize to further change the appearance of the Start menu. Alter how pictures look in Vista You can change the colour and appearance of windows within Vista. To do this, click Start > Control Panel > Personalization. Here you can choose whether to make windows transparent or to change the colour of windows.

13. Install Windows updates

It’s essential for the security and performance of your computer that you download all Vista’s updates as soon as they’re released. Make sure that automatic updates are switched on by clicking Start > Control Panel > Windows Update. 

Click the button labelled Install Updates to download any available updates. Click change settings on the left-hand side of the window and then ensure that the button marked ‘Install updates automatically (recommended)’ is ticked.

14. View system information

To see information on the version of Vista you’re using, click Start > Control Panel > System. 

Here you’ll see information about the version of Vista you’re using. You can also press Windows key + break

15. Add your Home Folder to Desktop

In XP, it is possible to display the My Documents folder on the desktop.  While the technique described below is also available in XP, however, in Vista ‘Show On Desktop’ is more spectacular.

Click Start
Right Click Username
Select ‘Show on Desktop‘
Return to the desktop and admire the new icon; it looks like a diary or an organizer and it contains a dozen folders, not just the Documents.

16. Resize Desktop Icons

Before I tackle the shortcut keys, here is a trick with mouse.  Hold down the ‘Ctrl‘ key and scroll the mouse wheel.  See how the Vista Desktop Icons resize.  You can also try this Ctrl +Scroll wheel trick in Windows Explorer.

The Ctrl key and the mouse wheel also resize fonts and pictures in Internet Explorer (IE7).

17. Disable User Account Control (UAC)

Contrary to popular belief, User Account Control (UAC) is actually quite a good thing because it increases the security of the computer and makes it harder for viruses, spyware and adware to get into the system, and we all want more of that. However, it can also be a source of irritation if you frequently change Windows settings because it pops up a warning message on the screen every time you try to do something. It can also cause problems when running software that was designed for Windows XP in Vista. If you have tried running a program in Vista and it won’t work properly you should try it without UAC enabled and you may find it’s OK.

To turn off UAC click Start, Control Panel and switch to Classic View. Double click User Accounts and then click Turn User Account Control on or off. Clear the tickbox and click OK. You will need to restart Windows in order for the change to take effect.

18. Show me the menu
If you open an Explorer window in XP you will see a menu at the top that enables you to access various functions, such as cut, copy, paste, list view, details view, and many more. If you open an Explorer window in Vista though, click Start, Computer, for example, you won’t see a menu at the top of the window.

Most of the time you don’t need a menu because you can access the functions in other ways. For example, you can right click files or folders and access cut, copy, and paste functions and so on.

However, you do need the menu if you want to change Explorer’s settings because the menu option isn’t available elsewhere (actually it’s in the Control Panel, but it’s a hassle going there).

To display the menu bar in an Explorer window, just tap the Alt key on the keyboard. The menu will appear so you can select a menu option and then it will disappear from view afterwards.

19. Show hidden files and folders
You can view the files and folders on the hard disk drive using Explorer. Just click Start, Computer and then double click the disk you want to view. Not all the files on a disk are visible though and some are hidden from view. These are usually ones that Windows thinks you don’t need to access, but sometimes you do, especially when you want to configure certain options and perform certain other advanced tasks.

It is easy to show these hidden files though. Open an Explorer window and tap the Alt key to show the menu. Then select Folder Options on the Tools menu (it’s the same Folder Options that you can access from the Control Panel), and click the View tab. Select Show hidden files and folders, and then clear the tick against Hide protected operating system files. Click OK and previously hidden files will be shown in the Explorer window.

20. How to open the command prompt from anywhere in Windows Explorer
You can open up the command prompt from any location using Windows Explorer. On the menu located on the left-hand side of the Windows Explorer window hold down Shift and right-click on the folder you want the command prompt to open up at. Select Open Command Window Here and the command prompt will open.

21. Generate a system health report to quickly identify problems with your PCIf you want to make sure that your PC is working correctly, you can use the tools included with Windows Vista to give you an easy to understand overview of your computer’s ‘health’ – and any problems, such as lack of space on your hard drive or out-of-date drivers, will be helpfully highlighted.

To create a report open up the Start menu and go to Control Panel > System & Maintenance > Performance Information and Tools. Click on Advanced tools on the left-hand side of the window and select Generate a system health report.

22. Stop the UAC from blacking out your desktop

In the Business, Ultimate and Enterprise versions of Windows Vista open the Start menu and type in gpedit.msc into the search box, and press Enter.

On the left-hand menu click to expand Computer Configuration and navigate to Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options. In the policies window on the right scroll down to the User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation policy and double-click it. Change the option to Disabled and then click OK.

23. Increase SATA drive performance.

This tip “enhances” drive performance by allowing the drive in question to perform more write caching to system memory. The danger is if your system loses power and you do not have a backup power source (UPS), whatever data is cached to system memory will be lost. If you’re the adventurous type and want a bit more responsiveness out of your system, click Start, type Device Manager in the Search box, click the Device Manager, open up the Disk drives tree, right-click a drive, and select Properties. Go to the Policies tab and check “Enable Advanced Performance.” Click OK. 

24. More widescreen Vista wallpapers.

When Microsoft went shopping for panoramic, widescreen wallpapers for Vista, it tapped Hamad Darwish to shoot some photos. Some of his photos made it into the initial shipping version of Vista, but many did not. Now Darwish is offering all of them for download, absolutely free – click here.

25. Speed up Flip3D

This tip will be useful for notebook owners or anyone whose PC is packing less than stellar graphics processing power. The Flip3D animation can bog down weaker graphics cards if it has to flip a lot of windows, so this is a tweak that lets you set the number of windows that will be rendered in 3D at one time.

• Click on the Start Button, type regedit in the Search bar, and press Enter.

• Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Microsoft, Windows, and DWM.

• Create a new DWORD and call it Max3DWindows.

• Set the value of this to something between four and nine (“4” and “9”) depending on the performance of your card (a higher number requires more video card power). You should then feel free to experiment to find the best value for your computer. Restart your PC to finalize the change.

26. Discover what applications are linked to certain processes.

The Processes tab of the Windows XP Task Manager was a confusing, barren wasteland of cryptically-named processes. If you wanted to find out which application was responsible for a certain process, all you could do was to copy down the name of the executable, and then search for it in Windows to locate it or Google it. This was an annoying process. Thankfully, Microsoft has fixed this in Vista by adding an “open file location” option when you right-click any process. Doing so opens the folder the process is running from, which can help you figure out if a certain process can be turned off or not.

You can also click “View” at the top of the Task Manager and click Select Columns to select which columns to display.

27. Stretch your wallpaper across two displays.

We love our dual displays, but we don’t like staring at two instances of the same image all day. Thankfully, Vista lets us stretch our wallpaper across both displays quite easily. This was also possible in XP, but it was not an intuitive process. Keep in mind, however, that stretching an image across two displays obviously requires a picture that is large enough to stretch all the way across both displays, so you’ll need to add up the resolution of both displays and find an image that is of those dimensions.

Right-click the desktop, select Personalize, and then Desktop Background. Select your image, and then select the middle option for “tile” to stretch it across both displays.  

28. Turn off unneeded Windows features.

This one is self-explanatory. Do you need Tablet PC components installed? Probably not, unless you are using a Tablet PC. So turn off whatever you don’t need in the name of keeping your Windows install as lean as possible.

Click Start, Control Panel, then under Programs at the bottom click “Uninstall a Program.” In the left-hand pane you’ll see “Turn Windows Features on or off.” Uncheck whatever you don’t need. 

29. Enable Aero mouse pointers.

Microsoft made new Aero-based mouse pointers for Vista, but the default mouse pointer is the old 3D white scheme. To enable the new mouse pointers and animations, right-click the desktop, select Personalize, then Mouse Pointers. Click on the drop-down box under the word Scheme, and select Windows Aero (system scheme). Click OK. 

30. Make XP computers show up in your network map.

Vista uses a new protocol named Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) to display a network “map” of all computers in a network, but the protocol is only in Vista, so XP computers do not show up in this map.

Microsoft has generously released the software for XP, and it must be installed on an XP machine for it to show up in the Vista map. Click here to download the software for Windows XP SP2. 

31. Start applications on specific CPU and priority

There is a great little utility that has been around for ages in Windows called the start command. This dos command allows you to start any process with advanced settings.  In Windows Vista it is perfect if you want to start an application and tell windows to only run it on one CPU and at a high priority level.  For example, let’s say that you want to start Microsoft Paint and have it run on your second CPU core at Above Normal priority. The command below will accomplish this:

start /affinity 2 /abovenormal mspaint.exe

You can customize the command above and replace the 2 with the processor number (in hex) that you want the processor to run on. You can also adjust the priority level by using one of the flags below:

    * /Low
    * /Normal
    * /High
    * /Realtime
    * /Abovenormal
    * /Belownormal

32. Increase max IE7 downloads

Internet Explorer 7 only allows you to download two files from the same server at a time.  This is not a software limit but rather a limit imposed based on the web standard. Since this is simply a software setting, it can be modified and you can increase the limit to something much high such as 10.  Follow the steps below to increase your max downloads from the same server:

1. Click on the Start Button and type in Regedit.
2. When Registry Editor loads navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion and Internet Settings.
3. Right click on MaxConnectionsPerServer and select Modify. Set the decimal value to something greater than 2.
4. Right click on MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server and select Modify. Set the decimal value to something greater than 2.
5. Reboot.

33. Instantly copy a path to the Clipboard

Have you ever wanted to obtain a copy of the path of a file nested deep down in your hard drive’s organization structure? If so, you know the drill, launch Windows Explorer, traverse the directory to the file, select the contents of the address bar, copy the path, paste it in Notepad, and then type the filename itself.

Fortunately, with Windows Vista, you no longer have to perform such acrobatics just to get the path to a file. All you have to do is hold down the [Shift] key, right-click on the file or folder, and select the new command titled Copy as Path, as shown in Figure G. When you do, the path to the file or folder is copied to the Clipboard and you can simply paste it anywhere you want.

Creating a shortcut to switch the active user is as easy as creating a shortcut to c:windowssystem32tsdiscon.exe

1. Right click where you want the shortcut to be created and select New and then Shortcut.
2. Copy and paste “c:windowssystem32tsdiscon.exe” into the location box and hit Next.
3. Give it a name and hit Finish.

live.sysinternals.comtoolstoolname.exe

For example if you want to run Autoruns (a great program to see what starts up automatically) type live.sysinternals.comtoolsautoruns.exe and hit Enter.

Every Sysinternals utility is available for “live” use.

Windows and 1 opens the shortcut next to the button (usually Show Desktop), Windows and 2 opens the second shortcut (usually Flip 3D) and so on. To add or rearrange shortcuts, just click and drag them.

43. Disable unwanted services

Click start and type services.msc in the search field

Then use the following website as a guide http://www.speedyvista.com/services5min.php

44. System File Checker

Something messed up in your Windows install? Vista has a system checker that will check your files against the install media.

• Open an Admin Command Prompt (right click on cmd, and select run as Administrator)
• type ’sfc /scannow’
• insert vista DVD
• checks against Vista DVD

General keyboard shortcuts

• F1 – Display Help
• CTRL+C – Copy the selected item
• CTRL+X – Cut the selected item
• CTRL+V – Paste the selected item
• CTRL+Z – Undo an action
• CTRL+Y – Redo an action
• DELETE – Delete the selected item and move it to the Recycle Bin
• SHIFT+DELETE – Delete the selected item without moving it to the Recycle Bin first
• F2 – Rename the selected item
• CTRL+RIGHT ARROW – Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word
• CTRL+LEFT ARROW – Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word
• CTRL+DOWN ARROW – Move the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph
• CTRL+UP ARROW – Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph
• CTRL+SHIFT with an arrow key – Select a block of text
• SHIFT with any arrow key – Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document
• CTRL with any arrow key+SPACEBAR – Select multiple individual items in a window or on the desktop
• CTRL+A – Select all items in a document or window
• F3- Search for a file or folder
• ALT+ENTER – Display properties for the selected item
• ALT+F4 – Close the active item, or exit the active program
• ALT+SPACEBAR – Open the shortcut menu for the active window
• CTRL+F4 – Close the active document (in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously)
• ALT+TAB – Switch between open items
• CTRL+ALT+TAB – Use the arrow keys to switch between open items
• CTRL+Mouse scroll wheel – Change the size of icons on the desktop
• Windows logo key + TAB – Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Windows Flip 3-D
• CTRL+Windows logo key + TAB – Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Windows Flip 3-D
• ALT+ESC – Cycle through items in the order in which they were opened
• F6 – Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop
• F4 – Display the Address bar list in Windows Explorer
• SHIFT+F10 – Display the shortcut menu for the selected item
• CTRL+ESC – Open the Start menu
• F10 – Activate the menu bar in the active program
• RIGHT ARROW – Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu
• LEFT ARROW – Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu
• F5 – Refresh the active window
• ALT+UP ARROW – View the folder one level up in Windows Explorer
• ESC – Cancel the current task
• CTRL+SHIFT+ESC – Open Task Manager
• SHIFT when you insert a CD – Prevent the CD from automatically playing

Dialog box keyboard shortcuts

• CTRL+TAB – Move forward through tabs
• CTRL+SHIFT+TAB – Move back through tabs
• TAB – Move forward through options
• SHIFT+TAB – Move back through options
• ALT+underlined letter – Perform the command (or select the option) that goes with that letter
• ENTER – Replaces clicking the mouse for many selected commands
• SPACEBAR – Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box
• Arrow keys – Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons
• F1 – Display Help
• F4 – Display the items in the active list
• BACKSPACE – Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box

Windows Sidebar keyboard shortcuts

• Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key + SPACEBAR – Bring all gadgets to the front and select Sidebar
• Windows logo key Picture of Windows logo key +G – Cycle through Sidebar gadgets
• TAB – Cycle through Sidebar controls

Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts

• CTRL+N – Open a new window
• END – Display the bottom of the active window
• HOME – Display the top of the active window
• F11 – Maximize or minimize the active window
• LEFT ARROW – Collapse the current selection (if it is expanded), or select the parent folder
• ALT+LEFT ARROW – View the previous folder
• RIGHT ARROW – Display the current selection (if it is collapsed), or select the first subfolder
• ALT+RIGHT ARROW – View the next folder
• CTRL+Mouse scroll wheel – Change the size and appearance of file and folder icons
• ALT+D – Select the Address bar

Windows Help viewer keyboard shortcuts

• ALT+C – Display the Table of Contents
• ALT+N – Display the Connection Settings menu
• F10 – Display the Options menu
• ALT+LEFT ARROW – Move back to the previously viewed topic
• ALT+RIGHT ARROW – Move forward to the next (previously viewed) topic
• ALT+A – Display the customer support page
• ALT+HOME – Display the Help and Support home page
• HOME – Move the to beginning of a topic
• END – Move to the end of a topic
• CTRL+F – Search the current topic
• CTRL+P – Print a topic
• F3- Move to the Search box

Press Start, right click on Computer, and select Properties, then In the left-hand pane, select Advanced System Settings. 

Click the Advanced tab and under Performance, select Settings. Uncheck ―Automatically Manage Paging File Size for All Drives. 

Select the different physical drive that you want your paging file to now be stored on (e.g. D) and select System managed size and press Set (make sure this is the first partition on the second drive). Select the drive that contains your paging file (usually C), select the Custom Size option, set the original and maximum size, and press Set, Your page file will now need to rebuild on the new drive – this may temporarily slow performance. Note: The reason for keeping around 1GB on the OS drive is because Windows Vista needs still some pagefile space there.

2. Rebuild the Page File

Windows Vista creates a pagefile, which essentially acts as RAM on your hard drive. This page file speeds up access to commonly used programs and becomes fragmented over time. Rebuilding the pagefile eliminates fragmentation; learn how to rebuild the pagefile in this guide.

Press Start, right click on Computer and select Properties. In the left-hand pane, select Advanced System Settings, then Click the Advanced tab and under Performance, select Settings.

Click the Advanced tab and under Virtual Memory, select Change. Uncheck Automatically Manage Paging File Size for All Drives Select the drive that contains your paging file(usually C) and select the Custom size option. Edit the minimum and maximum page file size to 0 and press set

Now restart your computer, once the computer has restarted follow the above steps again but this time set the page file to System managed size and press Set

Press OK to save and after a brief period of sluggishness, while the computer rebuilds the page file, you should notice improved speeds.

3. Move Search Index to a Different Physical Drive

If you have more than one physical drive in your computer, this guide is for you. The search index can take a considerable toll on your system drive; by moving the index to a separate drive, you can increase overall performance. To move your search index, do the following:

Press Start, type index in the search bar and press Enter. Press the Advanced button, Press Select new at the bottom and select a new location on a different physical hard drive

Press OK Your search index will now need to rebuild, which may temporarily slow performance.

4. Disable Superfetch to Save Memory

Windows Vista Superfetch learns your typical activities with files and application access. By learning, it predicts your computer use actions and puts your most commonly used applications in memory. This is great if you have a lot of RAM, but if you have less than 2GB, I suggest you disable this feature — saving you from sluggish computer use. 

Please Note: Even with less than 2GB of ram, you may find this doesn’t help. If you notice no difference after a day or two, then you can probably re-enable Superfetch.

To disable Superfetch, do the following:

1. Press Start, type services in the search bar and press Enter

2. Locate Superfetch in the list of services, right click it, and select properties

3. Change the Startup Type dropdown box to disabled and click the stop button

4. Now click OK Please remember, this will only help if you have less than 2GB of RAM.

5. Disable “Last Accessed” File Attribute

Every time you access a file on your computer, a Last Accessed file attribute is updated. You will likely not need this, so you can remove some overhead by following this guide.

1. Press Start, type regedit in the search bar and press Enter (or press Winkey+R)

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem

3. Update the value of NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate to 1

4. To undo this change, simply change the value back to 0 

In order for this to take effect, you may need to restart your system.

6. Make Windows Shut Down Faster

Decrease the time it takes for Windows to shut down by doing the following:

1. Click the start button and type regedit in the search bar

2. Hit the enter key

3. You will see a screen like the one below. Find your way to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control in the left menu

4. In the right window you will see a key called WaitToKillServiceTimeout, with a default value of 20000 (20 seconds.)

5. Right click on the key and select Modify

6. Change the value from 20000 to 5000

This can potentially reduce your shut down time by 15 seconds.

Please note: Its not advised to set this value to less than five seconds.

Here is a step by step guide to get it running.

1) Download DOSBox from here

2) Run the DOSBox installer

3) Now your at the DOSBox prompt you need to do a couple of commands before your up and running3a) My Settlers 2 folder is in my D:\games\settlers ( I dont think DOSBox likes really deep directories so keep them under 255 chars long) a location like above is perfect

3b) So I first have to type “mount d d:\” press enter without the quotes

3c) Then I type “d:” without the quotes press enter

3d) Then I type “cd games” without the quotes press enter

3e) Then I type “cd se” without the quotes HIT the Tab key to tab complete the directory name and press enter

3f) You are now in the settlers directory – type “s2″ without the quotes press enter

And your done! Enjoy!