Technology

Whenever you come across the famous Task Manager in your Windows, you usually wonder why there are so many processes running that you never started neither can you delete them like a process like svchost.exe. They are not random but totally explainable. Here you will learn that what is svchost.exe and how to remove this process.

The identity question

If you look it up on Microsoft, you will find the explanation: “svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries”. That is totally alien language to most of us, normal users.

For programmers it will be easier to understand that when Microsoft started transferred functionality into .dll files rather than .exe files the scope of reusability was assisted. It was to move the files from internal windows services. But .dll files cannot be directly started from Windows hence running .exe is still needed to load .dll up from. Svchost.exe process plays this function.

One wasn’t enough

Windows need a lot of services for proper functioning; you can check it in Control Panel in the Services section. Running all these under only one svchost.exe will cause the entire Windows to crash if any fatal error occurred in one of the services. That is why you see more than one of svchost.exe processes. One was definitely not enough!

Your Task Manager is not swarming with svchost.exe processes for each of the multitudes of services because they are sorted into groups of related services and then one process serves each group. For instance, one svchost.exe serves all related services of user interface etc.

What can you do?

It is possible to cut the services that are not needed by stopping them. Or you can restart the services that show higher CPU usage on any svchost.exe process.

To target such services, you first need the information: what services are being served by a particular.exe process. It’s simple. Open the Task Manager and check “Show processes from all users” box:

Checking From the Command Line (For Windows Vista or XP Pro)

Command Prompt lets you know what services come under a specific svchost.exe process. Use the tasklist command to see the list:

tasklist /SVC

You will see the list but the problem arises when we don’t understand what the code-like names given, mean.

Checking in Task Manager in Vista

It is plainly simple. Just right-click on the svchost.exe process you wish to check and select “Go to Service”.

This will lead you to the tab labeled ‘Services’, the highlighted or selected ones are those running under that svchost.exe process:

The advantage of checking it this way is you will also find out the exact name of those services in the Description column so. Now that you know them, you can end them if you wish.

Using Process Explorer in Vista or XP

A much shorter way is to use Process Explorer from Microsoft/Sysinternals.  Just bring the cursor over any particular svchost.exe process and small pop up window will show you the list of related services:

Alternatively, you can directly stop any services by double-clicking on a svchost.exe process, going to the Services tab and selecting those services to stop.

Disabling Services

To end services directly, go to Services from Control Panel under the Administrative tools or simply go to Start menu and type services.msc into the search area.

In the list given, double-click on the service or right-click to select Properties.

First disable the Startup Type followed by clicking the Stop button and it will stop immediately.

You can also disable any service from command prompt. For the above image, the part “trkwks” in the command is the Service name which is also found in the tasklist command.

sc config trkwks start= disabled

Windows 8 is the Microsoft's new and a cooperative operating system (OS). It's the first one in this range of product by Microsoft. According to modern UI (formerly metro UI), the previous windows now cannot be upgraded as they are not in a condition for further upgrading. It is a user friendly windows. It not only provides a touch system but also provide with a slightly magical start screen. After watching this windows you may change your mind if you were not thinking about upgrading.

More Faster

The first and the most important thing about the Windows 8 is that it has a fast load rate. The problem we have with older windows is that, they take a long time to get into a useable state. You can judge it from here that I have removed almost everything from the bootable process I can and have to upgrade it to a SSD to make the old version load in acceptable time-frame. One cannot find that easy to do and have other complications too. Windows 8 is the right choice now. It requires less time to load even when it is used in a dual boot.

Refresh & Reset Option

This is a notable feature in Windows 8 that it lets you reset the windows to the start or factory settings. This thing actually helps you in case of malware infection or if you want a new start. In earlier versions this cannot be seen. The refresh option in Windows 8 allows you to keep your data in place as well as wipe the programs you installed. This actually is a less severe step than reset because if you reset the windows, the windows will wipe all the data and get the PC back to the default state.

File History Feature

This is another main and remarkable feature of Windows 8. It basically works on the aspect that it keeps a track of the most common locations, whenever there is any change to a file, this program detects it. This program then makes a backup of the file to your choice of location. You can set how long File History should maintain versions of all the changed files.

Windows Protection Tools

The new upgraded defender is really a refined and corrected version of the Microsoft Security Essentials. It is the company's individual antivirus too. It is like a proper anti-virus protection. It is also quite basic as compared to the other free accessible antivirus alternatives.

Windows account synchronization

 As with technology, Microsoft also provides a Cloud saving technique. Using Windows 8 you can link your Microsoft account to the OS. This will allow all the data and preferences to be saved into the clouds. These can be coordinated anywhere on any other device with windows 8.

Easy File Management

The windows 8 has a special feature that gives a graph showing the transferring speed and a frequently updated conclusion, when any file is moved or copied in windows. This is a main improvement over previous windows.

The New Hyper-V

Hyper-V is a powerful substitution for Windows Virtual PC, which is a great for developers and IT professionals.

Multiple Storage

This window allows you to use multiple storage/ connected disks to create a band of storage. This also allows you to make it as a single location with its own name. In case you are out of space then you can just add another drive to it.

Original Source: http://techmell.com/windows-tips/upgrade-windows-8/

It is a fairly common practice to restore your operating system running Windows 8 to an earlier state. Proves to be life saver if you have installed a wrong software that is corrupting your system files or in case of a virus attack. In such cases you run to reset it to previous settings, the first and most useful option is definitely system restore! To access this option go to Control Panel > System and Security > System. System Restore Windows 8 comes under the system protection feature. If it is not already turned on, then you can alter it by using the Configure option. For system restore configuration, go to Control Panel.

Step 1: Make a restore point

This isn’t absolutely necessary to do since Windows 8 completes this step for you when it runs Updates and maintenance applications. However, you can still create a restore point stepwise. When you reach the System Protection dialog box, type in a name for your restore point and hit “Create”. That restore point will be created.You can also get rid of any restore point by deleting it using the same Configure option.

Step 2: Restore system from a restore point

In case you did some damage to your Windows by installing a certain software or program and now you want to do some mending by taking your system to its earlier undamaged state. When you click the System Restore button you will have two options; either you restore it from there which is recommended by Windows or you can opt for a different restore point from where you can bring back your system.

Before your system is restored, you will be given a scanned affected programs list that shows what programs are going to be deleted or affected in the process.If you have any other way of doing it, let me know in the comments section.

Read More: http://techmell.com/windows-tips/restore-windows-8-previously-saved-state/

It is a fairly common practice to restore your operating system running Windows 8 to an earlier state. Proves to be life saver if you have installed a wrong software that is corrupting your system files or in case of a virus attack. In such cases you run to reset it to previous settings, the first and most useful option is definitely system restore! To access this option go to Control Panel > System and Security > System. System Restore comes under the system protection feature. If it is not already turned on, then you can alter it by using the Configure option. For system restore configuration, go to Control Panel.

Step 1: Make a restore point

This isn’t absolutely necessary to do since Windows 8 completes this step for you when it runs Updates and maintenance applications. However, you can still create a restore point stepwise. When you reach the System Protection dialog box, type in a name for your restore point and hit “Create”. That restore point will be created.You can also get rid of any restore point by deleting it using the same Configure option.

Step 2: Restore system from a restore point

[adsense]

In case you did some damage to your Windows by installing a certain software or program and now you want to do some mending by taking your system to its earlier undamaged state. When you click the System Restore button you will have two options; either you restore it from there which is recommended by Windows or you can opt for a different restore point from where you can bring back your system.Before your system is restored, you will be given a scanned affected programs list that shows what programs are going to be deleted or affected in the process.If you have any other way of doing it, let me know in the comments section.

Original Website: http://techmell.com/windows-tips/restore-windows-8-previously-saved-state/

The metro style UI is the new breakthrough user interface that Microsoft has offered along with its new Windows 8 operating system but sadly it has not come up to everyone’s liking. Removing it will render the new OS unstable and rather unusable. So here I outline some ways to remove this new add on without permanently scarring the system. All the methods outlined below are totally reversible.

It is important to know that the following methods men changing registry values and in doing so you can bring harm to the system if you make a mistake. Windows 8 is still in a preview only mode, not even in the public beta. Primarily this is a version to get the developers familiar with the new environment and give them an idea on what to expect. Follow this guide to disable metro ui in Windows 8.

One who has already used Windows 8 knows that if you exit the new Metro UI, a classical windows 7 interface lurks beneath it. The main difference being that now the start button launches the Metro UI instead of the start menu. Following this tutorial will let you configure the start button to disable the metro UI and to call upon once more the classic windows 7 style start menu. You may revert back any time by reversing the process. Here is how you can get the classic menu:

Steps To Disable Metro UI in Windows 8

1.            First, press the Start + R buttons, to open the Run menu.

2.            In the Run window, type "regedit" and hit Enter.

3.            Now scroll on the top of the list and double click on "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE". This will expand the folder.

4.            Do the same for "SOFTWARE ".

5.            In the list, search for "Microsoft" and open it.

6.            Now using the same procedure, navigate to Windows->CurrentVersion->Explorer and some registry entries will appear in the right side of the screen.

7.            Click on the one called "RPenabled" and change its value from "1" to "0".

This will cause the metro UI to be replaced with a familiar looking Windows 7 start menu. To revert this all you need to do it to change the value of RPenabled back to 1.

If this seems too hard one can always download a program called start menu selector available from DeviantArt that is a portable utility to switch between these two menus with the click of a button. This software basically just does the same steps detailed above.

Simply download the program from the website, extracts the folders contents and click the executable. This also adds a quicker option for switching between menus when you right click anywhere on the desktop. To ensure that it gets the job done make sure that you use it with admin privelages.

Originally Found At: http://techmell.com/how-to/disable-metro-ui-windows-8/

Follow the guide if you want Windows 8 without disturbing your current operating system.Complete guide to Install Windows 8 on USB Flash Drive or a Pen Drive, use windows 8 in a USB by following this guide to Install Windows 8 on USB Flash Drive.

Guide To Install Windows 8 on USB Flash Drive:

PC World is set into motion again with the introduction of the brand new definitely improved edition of Windows 8 to Microsoft’s OS. All the loyal Windows users must be desperately waiting to get their hands on new Windows 8 Preview. It can be quite a job to install Windows 8 when you already have other versions like Windows 7 or XP are already operating on your PC. All the lined up tasks of creating back up for your data, making space for required OS, reinstallation etc. can occupy the major part of your time. To top it off, there is always the unnerving task of transferring the ISO file to a USB pen drive or a DVD for the installation process. You can skip all these steps and experience the new Windows 8 by getting it in half the time it usually takes.

Without interfering with your currently installed system, this guide will get you to install the new Windows 8 on a USB device instead and run it directly from this USB. No need to carry out all the processes the installer asks you to when you are installing it on PC. Just download some stuff like 16GB or more USB storage drive, the Windows 8 ISO file, WinRAR archiver and ready your PC. Using USB storage might create speed issues. It’s better to use an external USB drive.

You can start the process if you already have Windows 7 and WinRAR installed on your computer. The first thing to do would be to go to Windows 8 ISO file and extract ‘install.wim’ file. It will be found in a folder labeled ‘Sources’. Since it has a Windows 8 set-up file, its size will be 2GB. Extract this file to your desktop. After this download a small service file of 500 KB named ‘GimageX’. You can get it from the link ‘http://tinyurl.com/gimagexv2’ and once you download it extract it into a folder to your desktop. You will have both the 32-bit and 64-bit files and must select that is appropriate for your system. Next step is to use the USB drive but before proceeding back up the data in the drive because you will need to clear the drive for the process.

Plug your USB drive in the port and wait till the system detects to install it. After driver installation, open the Windows Command Prompt. In the specified sequence, give the commands one by one:

• Diskpart (This will prompt repartition and ultimately format the USB drive, save any files in USB you had beforehand)
• List disk (All drives from your system will be listed. Locate your USB drive number and note it down)
• Select disk # (Instead of # type the USB drive number you noted down earlier)
• Clean (The partition table will be swiped clean from the USB drive)
• Create partition primary (For the creation of a primary partition)
• Select partition 1 (For all the next processes  primary partition will be selected process)
• Format fs=ntfs quick (From the NTFS file format the primary partition will be formatted)
• Assign (The new partition will be given a drive letter for Windows to recognize it and work further process on it This)
• Active (The new partition will be activated to allow booting)
• Exit (DISKPART service will be closed)

Your drive is now fully prepared for the operating system to be installed hence go to GimageX utility and select ‘apply’. You will see the source field; indicate the earlier extracted Windows ISO file named ‘INSTALL.WIM’.  For the destination field you will pick the USB drive letter. All other settings will ramin as are, just click ‘Apply’ button. Your system files from Install.wim won’t be extracted by GimageX on your USB drive. The speed of this entire process will be according to your USB drive whereas by default it should take only a few minutes.

For any regular pendrive the time consumed should be similar to an external 2.5-inch USB storage drive. When GimageX indicates process is completion, exit the utility and open Command Prompt. For the Windows 8 to run, you need your USB drive to be bootable. This can be achieved by merely giving the following command in the command prompt.

F: is the storage drive in which all your Windows 8 files are extracted by GimageX. Don’t forget to change the previous drive letter. Within some seconds the booting files will be transferred. Once done, exit the command prompt.

And you are good as done. Shut down your computer, go to BIOS. From there enable the boot from USB drive and restart the computer again. This will make your computer boot into Windows 8 straight from the USB drive. One last tiny thing is to give the serial key and type in username and password specifics. Your Windows 8 is ready to be used. All the drivers, software and applications you install will directly be installed on the USB drive except if you have given some other path before. Explore as you wish!

If you are linking Microsoft Live account with this installation, be sure the internet is connected. You now have the portable Windows 8 system in your pendrive. To return back to your older system just shut down your PC and plug the drive out. Also, you can plug it in any other computer and Windows 8 will run on that PC.

You also have the advantage of using this procedure to install it on an internal hard drive instead and skip the DVD ROM process for entire installation.

Whenever you come across the famous Task Manager in your Windows, you usually wonder why there are so many processes running that you never started neither can you delete them like a process like svchost.exe. They are not random but totally explainable.

The identity question

If you look it up on Microsoft, you will find the explanation: “svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries”. That is totally alien language to most of us, normal users.

For programmers it will be easier to understand that when Microsoft started transferred functionality into .dll files rather than .exe files the scope of reusability was assisted. It was to move the files from internal windows services. But .dll files cannot be directly started from Windows hence running .exe is still needed to load .dll up from. Svchost.exe process plays this function.

One wasn’t enough

Windows need a lot of services for proper functioning; you can check it in Control Panel in the Services section. Running all these under only one svchost.exe will cause the entire Windows to crash if any fatal error occurred in one of the services. That is why you see more than one of svchost.exe processes. One was definitely not enough!

Your Task Manager is not swarming with svchost.exe processes for each of the multitudes of services because they are sorted into groups of related services and then one process serves each group. For instance, one svchost.exe serves all related services of user interface etc.

What can you do?

It is possible to cut the services that are not needed by stopping them. Or you can restart the services that show higher CPU usage on any svchost.exe process.

To target such services, you first need the information: what services are being served by a particular.exe process. It’s simple. Open the Task Manager and check “Show processes from all users” box:

Checking From the Command Line (For Windows Vista or XP Pro)

Command Prompt lets you know what services come under a specific svchost.exe process. Use the tasklist command to see the list:

tasklist /SVC

You will see the list but the problem arises when we don’t understand what the code-like names given, mean.

Checking in Task Manager in Vista

It is plainly simple. Just right-click on the svchost.exe process you wish to check and select “Go to Service”.

This will lead you to the tab labeled ‘Services’, the highlighted or selected ones are those running under that svchost.exe process:

The advantage of checking it this way is you will also find out the exact name of those services in the Description column so. Now that you know them, you can end them if you wish.

Using Process Explorer in Vista or XP

A much shorter way is to use Process Explorer from Microsoft/Sysinternals.  Just bring the cursor over any particular svchost.exe process and small pop up window will show you the list of related services:

Alternatively, you can directly stop any services by double-clicking on a svchost.exe process, going to the Services tab and selecting those services to stop.

Disabling Services

To end services directly, go to Services from Control Panel under the Administrative tools or simply go to Start menu and type services.msc into the search area.

In the list given, double-click on the service or right-click to select Properties.

First disable the Startup Type followed by clicking the Stop button and it will stop immediately.

You can also disable any service from command prompt. For the above image, the part “trkwks” in the command is the Service name which is also found in the tasklist command.

sc config trkwks start= disabled

Original Source: How To View Hidden Files in Windows 7

Beginners, specifically, will find this helpful. Certain system files are hidden from you by default by Windows 7 or Vista. This is to prevent the users from removing or modifying such files as it may harm your system. But you can still view these files by changing a setting.

Open any folder and click “Organize” option. From the menu select “Folder and Search Options”.

A Folder Options window will appear. Click on the “View” tab and from the list select “Show hidden files and folders”.  Click OK and the changes will be saved.

If you want to access Windows directories then also unselect “Hide protected operating system files”.

Note: In case this option doesn’t exist in the first place then follow this guide to restore it.

Original Source:  How To Print Screen in Windows

A screenshot can be taken in different simple ways on a Windows PC, depending on what tools you want to use and what sort of the screenshot you want to take. Here are some steps you can use:

StepsTo Capture the Entire Screen

On your keyboard there is a key you can press that will directly capture the whole screen. This key is usually labeled “Prnt Scrn”, “Print Scrn” or such and it is usually found on the upper part near F12 key. On some laptops, you have to press “Fn”/”Function” key to reach the “Print Screen” option.

To capture only one Window

You can take a screenshot just one window instead of the entire screen. Make that window active i.e. it should be in the front. Then, if you press Alt+Print Screen you will get the image of that window captured.

To save the print screened image

1. Go to Microsoft Paint through Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > Paint.
2. Next, paste the screenshot you have taken by clicking the Select tool somewhere along the top ribbon. Select “rectangular Select” and right click on the canvas. Finally select ‘Paste’. You can save yourself this hassle by using any of the following steps:

• Paste the screenshot straight into the Word document or an email by right-clicking the page and choosing ‘Paste’.
• Ctrl+V is another combination you would want to keep in mind. It will paste the screenshot directly on the page or Paint you are using.
• For Windows XP and any previous version of Windows, select Paste from the Edit menu.

1. To save the screenshot, click File (for Windows Vista and previous versions) or the Menu button (for Windows 7 or later versions) near Home and select “Save As…” Five the file a name and you can also select what type you want your file to be saved as. You can read further information on file types under “tips” later in this article.

Snipping Tool

It is compatible with all the Windows Vista versions other than Starter and Home Basic as well as with Windows 7 Ultimate, Home Premium and Professional. For the rest, the method explained above is sufficient.  How to Take a Screenshot with the Snipping Tool in Vista gives further details on using this tool.

1. Open the Snipping tool from Start Menu. Go to Programs, then Accessories and look for Snipping Tool. Or simply type in “Snipping tool” in the search box in Start Menu.
2. In the Snipping tool window, click New and choose from the dropdown menu what kind of screenshot you would like to snip.

• Free-form Snip allows you to cut area of any shape
• Rectangular Snip will select a rectangular area of the size you select.
• Window Snip will allow you to select a window snip.
• Full-screen Snip like print screening the entire screen, selects the whole of it as it is except the Snipping tool window.

1. Choose what you want to take a screenshot of.  For instance if you select “Window Snip”, you must go to the Window you want to snip but if your selected “Full-screen Snip” then you will go to the next step instead. 
2. Next step is obviously to save that screenshot you snipped. On the window that will appear, click the icon that looks like floppy disk. Type in the name and select the type for the screenshot. Now you can use it for the purposes you needed it for.

Tips

You can download Jing if you want to take screenshots and videos. They will be immediately there to upload and share on the web.

No matter what type your keyboard is, it must have a Print Screen key.

At times, Print Screen key on laptop is associated with another Function key (Fn) that you can find on the lowermost row of keys.

You might want to take the size of the file you print screened into consideration so that it doesn’t exceed the size limit.

If your work makes you take a lot of screenshots then there are programs available that you can download to fasten the procedure.

When you hit Save As…, it allows you to save your file in various types:

• BMP saves the file as it is i.e.in an uncompressed format but since it creates large files, it is not recommended. It is a default format in Windows XP that means if you don’t select a type; your file will be saved as bmp.
• PNG default format for Windows 7 and it saves high-quality screenshots compressing it to small sizes. It is a recommended format.
• JPG/JPEG format compresses the screenshot but changes it a bit in the process. It might interfere with the pixels and the color gets a bit off. It is default for Windows Vista but suggested for photographs not screenshots.
• GIF does not reproduce good color photographs and only works for graphics that have solid color areas since the edges between these areas become sharp in this format.

Warnings

• If you save your files in types like bitmap then it might be saved as a very big file. It is better if you use PNG format.
• Sending a large attachment gets annoying for both the sender and the receiver. To tackle this, you can crop and convert the file.

Original Source: How To Restore Windows 8

It is a fairly common practice to restore your operating system running Windows 8 to an earlier state. Proves to be life saver if you have installed a wrong software that is corrupting your system files or in case of a virus attack. In such cases you run to reset it to previous settings, the first and most useful option is definitely system restore! To access this option go to Control Panel > System and Security > System. System Restore comes under the system protection feature. If it is not already turned on, then you can alter it by using the Configure option. For system restore configuration, go to Control Panel.

Step 1: Make a restore point

This isn’t absolutely necessary to do since Windows 8 completes this step for you when it runs Updates and maintenance applications. However, you can still create a restore point stepwise. When you reach the System Protection dialog box, type in a name for your restore point and hit “Create”. That restore point will be created.You can also get rid of any restore point by deleting it using the same Configure option.

Step 2: Restore system from a restore point

[adsense]

In case you did some damage to your Windows by installing a certain software or program and now you want to do some mending by taking your system to its earlier undamaged state. When you click the System Restore button you will have two options; either you restore it from there which is recommended by Windows or you can opt for a different restore point from where you can bring back your system.Before your system is restored, you will be given a scanned affected programs list that shows what programs are going to be deleted or affected in the process.If you have any other way of doing it, let me know in the comments section.