The Windows Disk Cleanup Wizard will delete your temporary files, but only if they are over a week old. To create a simple batch script that will clean up your temporary directories:

Create the Batch File:

Open Notepad and type:

cd C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local rmdir /S /Q Temp

And save the file as cleantemp.bat

Now double click on the file, you created, to remove your temporary files and free up space on your computer. If this doesn’t work and gives an access error, try replacing %username% with your windows login username.

To automate this process:

1.  Right click on the batch file you created and click create shortcut.

2.  Place the shortcut in your startup folder in the start menu (Customize Your Start Menu.)

3.  Now when you log in to Windows 7, your temporary files will be deleted.

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To set your default geographic location:

1. Click the Start button, type loc, and click on Default Location.

2. From this screen, you can set your default location settings.

3.  When you are done, click Apply.

Now you are ready for maximum utilization as more location-aware programs and services are released.

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If Windows 7 goes wrong, you can attempt a repair, at boot up, to see if the problem can be fixed. To do this, you will need to create a system recovery disc; if you have the original Windows 7 disc, it will act as a recovery disc.

The system recovery disc cannot be used to install Windows, but it can be used to fix common problems that prevent Windows from booting. I recommend you make a system recovery disc before playing with Windows’ settings.

To create a system recovery disc:

1.  Click the Start button.

2.  Type Backup.

3.  Click Backup and Restore.

4.  In the left column, click Create a System repair disc.

5.  Select your DVD drive and click Create disc.

6.  Wait for the disc to burn.

7.  Test the disc by rebooting your PC with the disc in the drive. Boot from the    optical drive           (Boot from a CD or DVD) and ensure the disc works by waiting for the main menu to load; if the menu loads, you should be good to go in the event of a computer problem.

8.  Save the recovery disc in a safe place.

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By default, Mac OS X provides a clock in the upper-right corner of the desktop. You can control the appearance of this display by using the System Preferences utility.

1. Open the System Preferences utility.
2. Click the Date & Time icon.
3. To hide the clock, uncheck the “Show the date and time in the menu bar” check box. The clock will be removed and all the options will be disabled.
4. If you prefer to view an icon of the clock instead of the actual time, choose Icon on the View as pop-up menu. The rest of the options will be disabled because they are not applicable.
5. If you choose to display the clock in the text format, use the check boxes to set the options you want to use. For example, to include seconds in the display, check the “Display the time with seconds” check box. The other options are just as easy to understand. As with other System Preferences Utility tools, changes you make are reflected instantly.
6. Quit the System Preferences utility.

As in previous versions of the OS, you can click the menu bar clock to briefly display the date. The menu on which the date appears also enables you to change the view options and to open the Date & Time pane of the System Preferences Utility.

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• December 30, 2009 -- UNIX: Viewing the Contents of Directories (0)

You will frequently need to move up and down the directory structure to work with specific files or other directories. UNIX has many commands that enable you to do so.

Command: pwd

What it does: Shows you the full path to your current location

Use the pwd command when you aren’t sure about the directory in which you are currently located. When you use the command, you will see the full path in which you are working. This can be helpful as you move around the directories if you become confused about where you are.

Command: cd pathname

What it does: Changes your directory location to the one in the path pathname

When a specific command is listed in a step, you should ignore the period at the end of the command. For example, in the following steps, don’t type the period after the command cd music in Step 1.

1. Type cd Music. The prompt will change to [localhost:~/Music] to indicate that you are in the Music directory in your Home directory.

Remember that the ~ represents your Home directory, so ~/Music means that you are in the Music directory that is within your Home directory. This can help you take some shortcuts when entering paths as you will see in the next step.

Also remember that the forward slash (/) in a path indicates a change in level in the hierarchy. If you are in your Home directory and type cd /Music, you will get a message telling you that no such directory exists. When you enter the forward slash, Unix looks back to the highest level in the structure and there is a directory called Music in that directory. Leaving the / out indicates that Unix should look in the current directory, which is where the directory is actually located.

1. Type cd /Users/shortusername, where shortusername is the short username for your account. This will move you back into your Home directory. You include the /User/ because you are moving above the Music directory and so need to include the full pathname.

In a pathname, the tilde character (~) indicates that you are in your Home directory. In the previous step, you could have just entered cd ~ to move back into your Home directory.

Command: ls

Options: -F differentiates between files and directories; -l shows full information for all the files in the directory

What it does: Lists the contents of a directory in various formats and with various information

Note that while most commands and options are in lowercase, they aren’t always. For example, the -F option is different from the -f option (both are valid for the ls command).

1. Use the cd command to move into the directory of which you want to see the contents.
2. Type ls. You will see a multiple-column view of the directory; files and directories are listed by name.
3. Type ls -F. You will see the same list as before except that now directories are indicated by a / after their names.
4. Type ls -l. You will see the contents of the directory listed along with plenty of information about each file and directory within the current directory. If there are many items, the information will scroll so quickly that you might not be able to see all of it. This is a good opportunity to see an example of piping two commands together.
5. Type ls -l | more. This time, the same list will appear, but the display will stop when the screen is full and you will see the more prompt at the bottom of the window. Press the spacebar to see the next screenful of information. You can also scroll the window using the scrollbars to see all the items in the window.

If you type the command ls –la, you will also see the invisible files in a directory.

The permissions string you see at the start of each item in the full listing indicates how the item can be accessed. The first character indicates whether the item is a file (-) or a directory (d). The next three characters indicate what the owner of the file can do; r is for read, w is for write, and x is for execute. If any of these characters is the hyphen (-), that action can’t be taken. The next three characters indicate the permission that the group has to the file. For example, if these characters are r-x, that would mean that other members of the group can read, not write, and execute the file. The last three characters indicate what everyone else can do.

The execute permission applies to a directory. In order to access a directory, you must have both read and execute permission. If you also have w permission, you can change the contents of the directory as well.

Command: file filename

What it does: Indicates what kind of file filename is

Type file, followed by the filename you would like information about, and press Return. Information about the file will be displayed.

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If you want to enable Automatic Login mode, create a non-Administrator account to use. That way, even if someone does get access to your Mac, they won’t be able to use the Administrator account. Of course, you might have to log out and then log back in as the Administrator, but this strategy provides a good compromise between security and convenience.

To configure the Automatic Login mode, use the following steps:

1. Open the System Preferences utility.

2. Click the Accounts icon to open the Accounts pane of the System Preferences window.

3. Click the Set Auto Login button. The login account sheet will appear. By default, the username of the currently logged in account will be entered. If you want to have the current account logged in automatically, skip to Step 5.

   If you aren’t logged in as the Administrator, you will have to authenticate yourself before you can make these changes (click the Lock icon, enter an Administrator User Name and Password, and press Return).

4. Enter the username for the account into which you want to be logged in automatically in the User Name field.

5. Enter the password for the account that you want to be automatically logged in when the Mac starts up.

6. When you have entered the user account information, click OK to enable automatic login. When you return to the Accounts pane, you will see the “Log in automatically as username” check box where username is the account you selected in Step 4.

The next time you start or restart your Mac, the account you specified will be automatically logged in and you will move directly to the desktop for that account.

This setting affects only the start or restart sequence. When you log out instead of shutting down or restarting, you will still see the Login window again and will have to log in to resume using the Mac.

To disable automatic login again, uncheck the “Log in automatically as username” check box on the Accounts pane.

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With Parental Controls, you can manage the rules for your children’s computer use. You can set time limits for use and also manage their access to the Web and to computer games.

Set up Parental Controls:

1. Choose Control Panel from the Start menu, and in the User Accounts and Family Safety section, click Set Up Parental Controls.
2. Click the account you want to apply the controls, or if the user does not have one, click Create a New User Account.
3. In the User Controls Window, select the On, Enforce Current Settings option.
4. Specify whether you want Windows Vista to keep a record of computer activity.
5. Click Windows Vista Web Filter to display the Web Restrictions window.

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Upgrading is the easiest option. However, upgrading can take a long time. To upgrade to Windows 7 from Windows Vista.

1. Insert the Windows 7 DVD into your DVD-ROM drive.

2. Click Run setup.exe from the Autoplay menu.

3. Click Install now on the Install Windows screen.

4. Setup will begin by copying files to your computer.

5. You also get Windows updates online before upgrading Windows. This will ensure greater security and compatibility.

6. Accept the license terms and click Next

7. Now click Upgrade and follow the instructions. You may get a compatibility report, which will help you determine what may not work properly after the upgrade.

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Few things can hurt a business more than systems crashing and losing valuable business and customer data. With Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore, you not only can back up your personal documents and files, but also you can back up all of your operating system files and programs—everything on your hard disk drive. In the event of a catastrophic hardware failure, you can use Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore to get your entire computer back to normal in one easy step.

Back up your computer:

1. Select Complete PC Backup and Restore from the Maintenance file under All Programs on the Start menu.
2. Click Back up computer.
3. Select a back-up device (DVDs, external hard disk, etc.).
4. Click Next, and follow the prompts.

Restore your computer:

1. Boot from the Windows Vista Ultimate DVD.
2. Select your language.
3. Select the Repair your computer option.
4. When you get to the Windows Recovery Environment screen, you will select the Complete PC and Restore option and follow the prompts to restore your system.

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According to latest E-Threats Landscape Report , AutoRun feature ranks among the Top 10 Malware Dissemination Methods, being accountable for 5.22% of the total amount of infections worldwide. Part of the current Downadup or Conficker worm pandemic was actually carried away via intermediary variants that exploited this specific feature.

To protect your system and data and to prevent malware infections, there are several ways to
disable the AutoRun/AutoPlay feature.

Disabling AutoRun/AutoPlay using Control Panel
1. Choose Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > AutoPlay.  The AutoPlay window opens.
2. Uncheck Use AutoPlay for all media and devices option.
OR
From the media content drop-down lists, choose Take no action.

3. Click Save.

Disabling AutoRun/AutoPlay using Policy Editor

1. Click Start.
2. In the Search programs and files box, type gpedit.msc.

3.In the left pane hierarchy, browse to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > AutoPlay Policies.
4. In the AutoPlay Policies right window, from the Settings list choose Turn off Autoplay.

5. Click Edit policy setting. The Turn off Autoplay window opens.
6. From the upper-left list, choose Enabled.

7. From the lower-left drop-down list of Options choose All drives.
8. Click Apply.
9. Click OK.

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