You may want to block a program from accessing the internet in the Windows Firewall. For example, whenever you run a program with digital signatures, Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) accesses the internet to verify the signatures. This can be very annoying. You can block it in the Windows Firewall using the steps shown below.
Read moreOpen a port in Windows 7 Firewall
You may need to open a port for programs that require inbound access, for example, for an HTTP server, for a bit-torrent client like uTorrent etc. If you are using the Windows Firewall, then this task is not so straightforward. You can open a port in the Windows Firewall using the steps shown below.
Read moreSet Internet Explorer to delete browsing history on exit
When you browse the internet using Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer, it collects the history of your browsing like visited sites, temporary internet files, cookies etc. You can clean it from time to time, or you can clear the browsing history at every time you close Windows Internet Explorer.
Read moreRemove zone information from downloaded files
When you download a file from the internet in Windows XP, Vista or 7 (only on NTFS file system), Windows attaches an alternate data stream (ADS) to this file to mark the file as coming from internet. When you try to run them or open them, Windows warns you that they may be unsafe as shown.
Read moreUsing Calculator in Windows 7
The Windows Calculator is a nifty tool designed for doing all kinds of quick calculations. Windows Calculator is not like the calculator in the previous versions of Windows. It has many modes like standard, scientific, programmer and statistics.
Read moreDisable autorun.inf in Windows 7 using policies
When you insert a software CD/DVD or USB stick with autorun commands stored in autorun.inf file, Windows executes the instructions in autorun.inf. This poses a great security risk. There are viruses which make use of this default Windows behavior to infect your computer. You can disable auto-running of the instructions stored in autorun.inf by using a local system policy.
Read moreDisable Windows logo hotkeys in Windows 7
Windows 7 offers a high number of Windows logo hotkeys. For example, you can press Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog. If for some reason you want to disable these hotkeys, you can disable as shown below.
Read moreLock a program using AppLocker in Windows 7
If you do not want a program to run, you can lock it down using the AppLock feature in Windows 7. This is very useful if you have children in your home using your PC and you do not want them to open a browser to surf internet etc.
Read moreDisable taskbar thumbnail preview in Windows 7
Windows 7 (and Vista) show a preview window thumbnail when you hover your mouse over a minimized or hidden window icon in the taskbar. This is useful feature but it can become resource hungry if you open many windows at the same time. You can disable this feature if you do not like it.
Read moreBrowse your favorite sites with Google Reader
If you visit some web sites regularly, hoping to find the newly added content and searching through different sections of the sites, then Google Reader is for you. You can subscribe to your favorite sites RSS (really simple syndication) feed in the Google Reader and Google Reader will show you all the latest content inside it.
Read more