Workers' Edge

My previous post described how to add information to and otherwise customize Windows' Welcome screen. But maybe you just want to get your PC going without having to log into an account. You can bypass Windows' log-on screen by changing settings in the Windows Registry, as described in a tutorial on the Computer Performance site, but I find it much simpler to use a free Windows-tweaking utility to do the same thing.

The program I used to customize the Windows Welcome screen—TweakNow PowerPack 2009—is the same tool I used to disable the log-on screen on my Vista laptop. Click Windows Secret in the utility's left pane and choose User Accounts. Click "Enable auto log-on," select the account you want to log into automatically, enter the account's password and domain name (if necessary), and click Save. The next time you start the PC, Windows will start and open that account automatically.

TweakNow PowerPack 2009 works with XP, Vista, and Windows 7, but I tested it only with Vista. I didn't need to download the program to my XP test machine because that system already has Tweak UI, Microsoft's free XP-reconfiguration utility that lacks a Vista version.

To set XP to start a specific account without requiring a log-on, open Tweak UI and click Logon > Autologon in the left pane, check "Log on automatically at system startup" in the right window, enter the account's user name and domain (if necessary), and click the Set Password button.

In the Set Autologon Password dialog box, enter the account's password in each of the two text boxes and click OK.

Why bypassing the Windows log-on is dangerous
Setting Windows to open an administrator account automatically is risky, period. Even starting a standard account without requiring a password is dangerous, though less so. There are many very good reasons why Windows accounts are password-protected, and far fewer good reasons for doing without passwords.

That's why I recommend against allowing automatic log-ons in general. But far be it from me to tell you how to use your PC, so if you want to save a few seconds each time you start your system—and you're not worried about somebody doing serious mischief after gaining easy access to your account—it's okay by me.

Creating a custom Windows log-on screen has never been faster or simpler. Two free utilities let you do more than replace the boring Windows default start background with a picture of your pet hamsters, though you can do that, too.

Add system info to Windows' start-up sequence
In a post earlier this month, I described the beta version of the free TweakNow PowerPack 2009 utility that makes it easy to view system information, maintain Windows, and customize the OS' interface. As that post stated, I encountered a couple of rough edges in the beta version I looked at, but that's to be expected in a beta.

One TweakNow feature I took advantage of right away was the program's ability to add a "legal disclaimer" screen to Windows start-up. One practical application of this feature is to add information about the system to the screen's text box, which can make life a lot easier for you or for whoever has to maintain the machine.

Suppose you need to find out what type of memory your PC uses, what type of processor it runs, its current version of Windows, or even the toll-free support number of its vendor. It's not always easy to find all this information, which resides in various locations on your system. Utilities such as TweakNow can help you collect this type of data, but you'll still find yourself clicking around their various nooks and crannies to unearth what you need.

You could create an image containing this information and make it your Windows Desktop, but adding system information to a screen that appears early in the Windows start-up sequence not only saves you time rummaging around Windows settings, it also lets you get the info off a machine without having to fully load Windows. This is a capability a lot of IT staffers will likely appreciate, but anyone who maintains multiple PCs could find it a time-saver.

The system information I needed was available in various other TweakNow screens, but it was much easier for me to copy the main System Information screen, paste the data into the text box in the TweakNow Legal Notice dialog (click Windows Secret > User Accounts > Miscellaneous), and edit it there. I added the toll-free support number of the PC's vendor, just in case.

Place text in a custom welcome-screen image
If you're one of the many people who simply want Windows to load quickly, you won't be happy having to click through yet another screen before you can start your workday. Stardocks offers two free programs that let you create your own welcome screen, complete with any text you want ready access to.

LogonStudio Vista and LogonStudio XP can replace the default welcome/log-on screen with a more visually exciting image from a free online library, or you can create your own welcome image.

To test the program, I opened an image in Paint, added a text box containing information about the system, and then loaded the image using LogonStudio's Create and Upload options.

Frankly, I was more pleased with the presentation of the information in TweakNow's "Legal Disclaimer" screen than in LogonStudio's custom welcome screen. But if you want to avoid an extra start-up click and don't mind taking the time to create a custom welcome screen, it doesn't get much easier than using LogonStudio.

Sometimes it seems like you need to be a software engineer to understand how to keep Windows running smoothly. That's why I appreciate free utilities that collect various Windows settings and make the OS easier to customize.

Last May, I described two utilities that improve Vista's performance: Stardock's $20 Tweak Vista and Iolo Technologies' $40 System Mechanic. A week earlier, I wrote about two other Vista tweaking tools: the free Ultimate Windows Tweaker from Microsoft MVP Anand Khanse and WareSoft Software's $30 Vista Smoker Pro.

All four of these programs have their pluses and minuses, but I clearly preferred the two most expensive options. I'm still looking for a free Windows tweaking tool with the best features of the fee-based apps. I thought I found it in TweakNow PowerPack 2009, but despite some very nice touches, a couple of important features failed when I tested the beta of version 1.6.1.

Dozens of Windows tools at your fingertips
Among TweakNow PowerPack's many tools are disk and Registry cleaners, a memory optimizer, startup manager, uninstaller, and personal-information eraser. The program also makes all your system information easy to find, including your processor model and cache types and sizes, network settings, and Windows configuration.

If you're concerned about security (who isn't?), you'll find plenty of TweakNow options to your liking. For instance, you can set Windows to shut down after a set period and limit users' access to context-menu items, Control Panel applets, and Windows Explorer's Folder Options. You can also reduce the amount of time Windows waits before shutting down an unresponsive service or application, add or remove items from the Start menu and submenus, and insert a legal notice in the Welcome screen.

When you enable TweakNow PowerPack's RAM Optimizer, an icon is added to the taskbar's notification area (near the clock) that shows the percentage of memory currently in use. Hover over the icon to view your system's free RAM and the percentage of CPU cycles in use.

Mixed up UAC tweaker and an uninstaller that doesn't
There are plenty of features to like in TweakNow PowerPack—I haven't even mentioned the program's ability to brand IE's Title Bar—but ultimately the utility failed in two important areas.

First, my repeated attempts to uninstall a virtualization program came up empty. After running the TweakNow uninstaller, the program prompted me to restart to complete the process. The shutdown took several minutes, but when my test machine restarted, the virtualization program was still in place. I eventually uninstalled the program using the free Revo Uninstaller utility I described in a post last week.

The second failure was more disturbing. After I changed TweakNow PowerPack's User Account Control setting from the default Medium to Strong, I wasn't able to revert to the Medium setting. (The Strong setting requires that you enter an administrator password whenever you attempt to perform an administrator-only activity, while the Medium setting needs only a single click to continue the process.)

I was able to change the TweakNow UAC setting to Weak, which removes the UAC prompt for most administrator operations. However, each time I reverted to the Medium option, the Strong setting was selected when I restarted the PC and reopened the program. I was ultimately able to get the Medium setting back via Vista's own Security Center applet.

Even with these glitches, I can see myself coming to rely on TweakNow PowerPack for most of my Windows maintenance chores—the program's Registry Cleaner is particularly handy. After all, you can't really expect any beta to be flawless, and there's a good chance the vendor will address the program's shortcomings in future updates.

I usually apply all the Windows updates that Microsoft labels as "Critical" or "Important." However, since Windows patches sometimes cause problems of their own, I often wait a week or more to install those that I determine I don't need right away.

If you have Automatic Updates set to download and install updates automatically, you won't see any Windows Update alerts in the notification area of the taskbar (the area near the clock) or anywhere else. Likewise, if you've disabled Automatic Updates, you won't be prompted to view or download anything, though you may see an icon warning you that you've deactivated Automatic Updates.

To turn off the warning icon, open the Security Center Control Panel applet in XP or Vista, click Change the way Security Center alerts me, and choose Don't notify me and don't display the icon (not recommended).

The safer course is to use either the second AU option—which downloads updates but alerts you before installing them—or the third option—which alerts you that updates are available for download and installation. These two options will generate the AU alert icon in the system tray.

The most recent Windows update I'm postponing is the .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 for .NET Framework Assistant 1.0. This is the patch that installed a Firefox extension that initially couldn't be uninstalled without jumping through hoops. Microsoft has subsequently updated the update to make it easier to uninstall.

Unfortunately, unchecking the patch's entry in Windows Update doesn't prevent the system-tray icon and pop-up alert from returning the next time your start your system. Clicking the icon opens Windows Update with the "Important" item you just unchecked rechecked.

To remove the entry from the Windows Update list in Vista, right-click it and choose Hide update. In XP, click Custom on the Microsoft Update or Windows Update screen, uncheck the item, and click Don't show this update again.

When you're ready to install the update you just hid, reopen Windows Update or Microsoft Update, and click Restore hidden updates in the left pane. In Vista, check the update you want to unhide and click Restore. If the "Restore hidden updates" option is grayed out in XP, click Custom and then Restore them now under the Important warning. Check the option and choose Restore and Check Again.

A friend of mine named John had good luck using Microsoft's free online troubleshooting service for Vista:

"I am elated with the results of the Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services' Fix it. Have you ever run across this service? After 8+ months without a CD/DVD player—and weekly efforts to remedy the situation—I googled my problem once again and this time came up with a link to MATS.

"After several tries (not compatible with Firefox, open Internet Explorer, won't download, try again later) finally it loaded onto my computer and gave me some options to check off. Within 5 minutes, my CD/DVD was humming again."

Microsoft announced MATS last month. The service requires the PowerShell utility and uses an ActiveX control that it downloads to your system, so as my friend John noted, it works only with Internet Explorer. On the Operations Manager Support Team blog, Microsoft Manageability Knowledge Engineer J.C. Hornbeck outlines the troubleshooting steps MATS takes.

At present, there are only six automatic fixes offered by the service in three categories: "Appearance and personalization," "Hardware and sound," and "Print." You might think that's pretty slim pickings when you consider the range of PC problems, but if your PC's malady has been as thorny as my friend John's balky CD/DVD drive, MATS is worth a try.

Recently, my Vista notebook has been popping up an error message about not finding a Bluetooth driver when it boots. I don't use any Bluetooth devices, so I haven't worried about it. But I thought that was a good enough excuse to take MATS out for a test drive.

It took several minutes for the PowerShell and ActiveX control to download and install, after which I was presented with two options: identify and fix problems automatically, or detect them and let me decide what to fix.

I chose to detect but don't fix because I wasn't convinced there was really a problem. The only thing the scan came up with was the possibility that recent hardware changes hadn't been detected.

The resulting "Troubleshooting is complete" screen was ambiguous in this instance. It indicated that the issue of hardware changes not being detected was "Detected," according to the "Fix status." I assume that means the issue was detected, not the hardware changes themselves, but I'm not sure.

Before the troubleshooter closed, it offered three resources for further research into my problem: search Microsoft Answers communities, search Microsoft Help and Support, or open a Microsoft support request, which would send the test results to a "support professional." I chose to leave well enough alone.

I wouldn't hazard a guess at the odds of your particular Vista problem being addressed by one of MATS' automatic fixes, but running MATS beats a call to a "support professional" by a country mile.

If it were up to me, I'd never defragment my PC's drives. I'm one of those people who prefers to have Windows' maintenance operations done in the background, without my direct intervention.

So it comes as no surprise that I'm a big fan of Vista's automatic-defrag setting. But I also know better than to put all my faith in Microsoft's ability to keep my system healthy. Last year, I started using Auslogics' free Disk Defrag utility, which works with Windows 2000 and up.

If you prefer to use Windows' defragger, you can open it by pressing the Windows key (or Ctrl-Esc), pressing R (in XP), typing defrag in Vista or dfrg.msc in XP, and pressing Enter. The interface of Vista's Disk Defragmenter is nonexistent; the utility is clearly designed for behind-the-scenes operation. Your only options are to set the defrag schedule, select the volumes to defrag, and run the defragger.

XP's version of the Disk Defragmenter isn't much more functional, although it does give you a little more graphical feedback about the state of your drives.

You get more control over your disk defrags by running Windows' defragger utility from a command prompt and entering command switches that modify its actions. Start by opening a command-prompt window. One way is by pressing the Windows key (or Ctrl-Esc), pressing R (in XP), typing cmd, and pressing Enter. Or click Start > All Programs > Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator.

At the command prompt, type defrag ? to see a list of available command switches. In both XP and Vista, you can add -a to the "defrag" command to analyze the drive only, -f to force a defrag with less than 15 percent free space, -b to defrag only boot files, and -v to show a "verbose" report of the defrag.

Vista adds a couple of other switches: -i defrags even when the PC isn't idle, -c works on all drives, and -w processes chunks of files smaller than 64MB; without this switch, Vista's defragger ignores all file fragments smaller than 64MB.

For example, to defrag all your Vista volumes regardless of fragment size and when there's less than 15 percent free space, enter this line at the command prompt and then press Enter:

defrag -c -w -f

The utility will display a report on the selected volumes prior to beginning the defragmentation.

Unfortunately, defrags run from a command prompt aren't any faster than those conducted via the graphical interface. That's the biggest advantage of specialty defrag programs such as Auslogics' Disk Defrag, which is much speedier than the defragger in Windows.

The fact is, Vista's automated defrags were doing a great job of keeping my disk space nice and compact. I didn't notice much of a performance improvement after I manually defragged my Vista PC, but the defrag did wonders for my ancient XP box, which I admit I had neglected to defrag for many months.

The other day, I was talking to a guy who wanted a PC but didn't want Vista. He asked me how long he would have to wait for new PCs running Windows 7. When I told him that such systems were still several months away, he indicated that he'd buy a machine from a company that let you "downgrade" Vista to XP.

I didn't say anything, but part of me thought he was crazy. I'll take Vista over XP any day of the week. Not having to run a disk-defrag utility is only one of the reasons why. (Yes, I know you can automate disk defrags in XP via Scheduled Tasks, as Microsoft explains in this Knowledge Base article, but doing so is too much hassle for the average Windows user.)

Windows XP users can't get no respect. A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft announced that it would no longer offer free support for XP, apart from critical security patches. XP machines are much more likely than Vista systems to be infected with a virus, according to a recent Microsoft Security Intelligence Report.

And dis of disses, Microsoft delayed patching the AutoRun glitch in XP (and Windows Server 2003) until last February, more than six months after the same hole was plugged in Vista and Server 2008.

But just because Microsoft believes XP has outlived its usefulness doesn't mean you have to find a fresher OS. There's plenty of life left in your XP machines, though keeping XP hale and hearty is now up to users more than ever.

Get help with XP security
Usually, I would direct you to Microsoft's XP Security and Privacy page, but frankly, there's not much there besides ads for Microsoft security products. The company hasn't even bothered to update the page since Service Pack 2.

You'll find a much more comprehensive look at XP security issues at the Secure XP guide provided by Comcast. (Just be sure to skip the ads that appear at the top of the page.) The guide includes links to such useful free utilities as GRC Shields Up!, Autoruns, TCPView, and Process Explorer.

Find answers to XP-related problems
Your first stop when seeking solutions to Windows XP glitches is Kelly's Korner, which features extensive FAQs, performance tweaks, and links to several support sites and forums. I tend to shy away from the site's Registry tweaks and other scripts, but if you're more adventurous than I am, you'll find hundreds of ways to customize your XP configuration. Just remember to back up (there's information on that, too).

The Microsoft Help and Support site provides help diagnosing XP start-up problems. The page includes about a dozen links to other Knowledge Base articles on solving XP problems, including identifying mystery Device Manager entries and curing standby, hibernate, and shutdown woes.

Another great resource for anyone trying to get XP back on track is the CNET Windows XP forum, which you can browse for posts relating to your particular problem. However, considering that there are close to 33,000 separate threads on the forum, you may want to use its search feature instead. Just enter your term in the search box at the top of the screen and choose either All CNET Forums or within this forum in the drop-down menu to the right.

Improve XP's performance
An operating system as old as XP is bound to get a little crotchety in its old age. You can bring back some of the OS' youthful vigor by clearing out the cobwebs. Unfortunately, many so-called XP performance tweaks are more trouble than they're worth. The How-To Geek debunks many of the so-called speedup tips that are anything but.

As you might expect, Microsoft provides advice on enhancing XP's performance on its Help and Support site. The page includes a Guided Help download that promises to automate the tweak process. I prefer the page's manual instructions, myself. There's another nice collection of XP speedup tips on BlackViper.com's Super Tweaks for Windows XP.

One debatable performance tweak for XP and every other operating system is defragmenting your hard disk. Just last week, I received yet another pitch from a disk-defrag vendor promising faster disk accesses. Is the time spent running a disk-defragger utility worth it? That's a subject for a future post.

Three years ago, I attempted to condense PC security into 10 steps you could finish in about an hour. After a recent false-positive on a virus scan, I returned to that advice and realized that those tips are sorely out of date.

I'll re-examine the first three tips here and will cover the rest in posts later this week.

Step one: Set Windows to download and install updates automatically.

I don't do that anymore. Windows updates often cause problems, so I set Windows to download but not install updates. Then I wait a couple of days before actually applying the patches to see whether there are any reports of problems related to the fix. If all is quiet on the update front, I install the patches. I don't have to worry about forgetting because Windows will keep a little update icon in my system tray.

To change your Automatic Update settings in XP, click Start > Control Panel > Security Settings (in Category view) > Automatic Updates. Select "Download updates for me, but let me decide when to install them" and click OK. You'll find more about XP's automatic-update settings on Microsoft's Help site.

To access Vista's update controls, press the Windows key, type windows update, and press Enter. Click "Change settings" in the left pane, choose "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them," and click OK.

Step two: Visit the Windows Update site (or Microsoft Update, as the case may be) to download updates manually if the PC has been off for a long while.

Perhaps a better destination for your first stop after an extended period offline is Secunia's Online Software Inspector or free Personal Software Inspector.

Both the online scan and downloaded program will check Windows and many applications on your PC to ensure that you're using the latest versions available. The client-based scan recognizes more programs than the Web-based service.

Step three: Enable Windows' built-in firewall.

This tip is way out-of-date. On the good side, the defenses built into Windows XP and Vista have improved considerably over the last three years. Unfortunately, they haven't improved enough to trust the safety of your system and private information to Windows alone. In my opinion, you simply have to use a security suite.

In the absence of a commercial security suite, you should activate the firewall and other security features in Windows Defender. But that's just not good enough. There are plenty of free antivirus programs, bidirectional firewalls, and anti-spyware programs. You'll also find a lot of security add-ons for the Firefox browser.

The problem is in managing several different security programs, any of which could conflict with some other app on your PC or with Windows itself. That's one of the principal advantages of a security suite: you can be pretty sure the various components will work well together, and you're dealing with only one vendor, for better or worse.

You can compare the virus-detecting ability of various security programs by perusing AVTest's most recent results, which include tests of the 2009 editions of most big-name security apps.

Next up are steps four, five, and six, which include keeping your browser safe. That will be the subject of my next post.

The other day, I counted up the windows that were open on my PC: two browsers, an HTML editor, an image editor, two folder windows, nine received e-mails, and one outgoing message. I was lost on my own desktop.

That's when I remembered my favorite window managers for XP and Vista: Alt-Tab Thingy and Switcher, respectively. Both programs put Windows' built-in window manager to shame.

In XP, you can right-click the taskbar to cascade your open windows or tile them horizontally or vertically. Pressing Alt-Tab opens another window showing icons representing your active windows. (Vista replaces the icons with small images of the windows themselves.) Keep pressing Tab to cycle through them and select the one you want to open.

Vista adds a neat new trick: Flip 3D, which lets you scroll through 3D versions of your open windows by using your mouse's scroll wheel or by pressing the Windows key and Tab. Press the Ctrl key in addition to the Windows key and Tab to keep the 3D versions on screen as you Tab through them. Hold the Shift key with the Windows key and Tab to move through the windows in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, when you're cycling through nine e-mails with similar subjects and contents, you need help distinguishing them. You can duplicate Vista's Alt-Tab previews by downloading and installing Alt-Tab Replacement, one of Microsoft's free PowerToys for Windows XP.

A free alternative to Alt-Tab Replacement is Alt-Tab Thingy, which adds the ability to customize the Alt-Tab window itself, among many other features. There's a version of Alt-Tab Thingy for Vista, but on that OS I prefer Bao Nguyen's Switcher.

This free program lets you assign the keyboard shortcut of your choice to view your open windows in one of three layouts. Press the number superimposed on the window to select it. Switcher provides fine-grain control over the appearance and behavior of the previews it shows of your open windows. However, my favorite Switcher feature is the ability to start typing text to open a search box automatically and switch to the window containing the term. Now that's fast.

Switcher also lets you choose to see the desktop as an open window, in the background, or not at all. You can even adjust the duration of selections and transitions. And because you can assign Switcher a different keyboard shortcut, you can have your Alt-Tab view and Switcher, too.