Customize Vista Icons | Icon Customizing tricks

You may have noticed that only the icons of Windows Vista can be resized to the maximum size, while other older application’s icons remain unchanged even when enlarged. Now, make your own resizable icons with pictures of your choice, using the software Icon Cool Studio. Download the 30 day trial pack version 5.28 from it's site www.iconcool.com, install and run it. And now, follow the simple steps shown below.

Step 1: Click ‘File | Import’ and choose an image fle from its location. You can select fle types such as BMP, DIB, EMF, GIF, ICB, ICO, ICL, JPG, JPEG, PBM, PCD, PCX, PGM, PNG, PPM, PSD, PSP, RLESGI, TGA, TIF, TIFF, VDA, VST, WBMP
and WMF. Choose a color depth and the resolution size of the icon that you would like to create and click on ‘Import.

Step 2: Once imported, play around with the icon styles, and add effects and flters of your choice. It takes a little time to learn all the features of the program to get a proper icon. You could choose to skip this step if you just require a basic icon without any image editing done.

Step 3: Click ‘File | Save as’, name and save the icon to a location of your choice. Your icon is ready for use with Windows Vista. Create multiple icons for different uses while the 30-day trial period last. For example, create photo icons for personal folders, comic or video icons for entertainment folders, and so on.

Step 4: Select the folder or shortcut you want to use this icon with, by right clicking the folder or shortcut and click ‘Properties’ for the shortcut, select ‘Change Icon’ but for folders, select ‘Customize’ and click ‘Change Icon’. Now your icons can be resized like other vista icons. There are other software that can be used to
create resizable icons for Windows Vista. Some are free while others are trial ware. Alternatively, use Axialis IconWorkshop.www.axialis.com/iconworkshop

Get News on Desktop | Desktop RSS Feed

Get the latest News from the Internet on your Desktop at all times.

You can integrate any website onto the desktop if you have Windows XP. For this, open Internet Explorer and load the website you want to integrate. This could also be an RSS feed—if this is the case then, click the arrow beside “Display feeds from this website” and select the desired entry in the toolbar. Select the address of the site in the address bar, right-click the selection and copy this onto the clipboard with the “Copy” context command.Close Internet Explorer and right-click on a free space in the desktop. Click on “Properties” in the context menu and then click the “Customize Desktop” in the “Desktop” tab. Select the “Web” tab in the “Desktop Items” window and then click on “New”.In the following window “New Desktop Item”, right-click in the “Location” field and click on “Paste” to copy the internet address from the clipboard to the field. Confirm with “OK”. Likewise, acknowledge the following note with
“OK”. Make sure that the check box next to the entry which has been added is checked in the “Desktop Items” window and click “OK”.You will now see an area on the desktop with the specified website. You can move it around the desktop by hovering over the box and so that the frame appears and you can drag and place this box by holding left-click on the frame. You can also scale the area as a window at its borders with the mouse.To remove a website integrated in the desktop, open the “Desktop Items” window. Unchecked the box for the corresponding entry and confirm with “OK”. However the address does not get deleted and so this enables quicker activation of this website at a later date. To remove it completely from the list, select the entry and click on “Delete”.

Deactivating Hibernation Feature in xp|vista | Hibernation Tips and Tricks

If you do not require the hibernation mode, you can save your system resources, particularly hard drive space. You only need to deactivate the hibernation function. However, the procedure is very different between Windows XP and Vista. The two are similar in only one respect—they both require administrator rights.WInDoWS XP: Log in with an administrator account and right click anywhere on the desktop. Select ‘Properties’ from the menu. Open ‘Power options’ under the ‘Screen Saver’ tab. In the next dialog box deactivate the ‘Enable Hibernation’ option under the ‘Hibernate’ tab. Confrm this with ‘OK’. The operating system deletes the ‘hiberfl.sys’ fle automatically. WInDoWS VISta: Log in with an administrator account and go to ‘Start | All programs | Accessories | Command Prompt’. Enter the command ‘powercfg. exe -h off’ at the prompt and hit [Enter]. This is one way to deactivate hibernation. Alternatively, you can also tweak the function of the power button in the Start menu. To do this, open ’Start | Control Panel | System and maintenance | Power options‘ and then click on ’Change power saving mode‘ as well as on ’Change advanced power settings‘ to the left. Now select the ‘Shut down’ entry under the ’Power buttons and Lid | Start menu power button' option and press ‘OK’. If you want to use hibernation in the future, log in with an administrator account, open a command prompt, enter the command ‘powercfg.exe -h on’ at the prompt and hit the [Enter] key. Under Windows XP,simply follow the steps described earlier and activate the ’Enable Hibernation‘ option again.

Browsing a website without a webbrowser

Start any Windows Accessory program such as Paint or Calculator and open the program's Help dialog by pressing [F1] or the menu item ‘Help | Help Topics’. Right click on the title bar in the help window and select the context command ‘Jump to URL’. Enter the complete Web address in the subsequent dialog as ‘http://www.website.com’ and click ‘OK’. This should bring up the desired website in the right window pane. You can now navigate through it using the context
commands, accessible by right clicking on the website pane.

Point To Remember##
Calling up websites via the Windows Explorer uses Internet Explorer in the background and is thus not a way to access restricted websites.

REPAIR WINDOWS XP | VISTA

Microsoft windows XP and Vista is the most preferred user friendly full featured Operating System, used both in desktop level as well as networking level. Both the operating system has different advantages. XP delivers incredible flexibility and fast performance. It accupies less space as well as system requirements as compare to Windows Vista. Windows Vista offers high graphical appearance and more secure deskop level operating by Microsoft Ever before.

Windows XP | Vista is a great operating system and offers many features, shotcuts, tricks and troubleshootings but it is not possible that everybody is familier with each and every tweaks of Windows. But this blog reveals all the information related to XP and Vista makes you understand your operating system and increase your work speed and troubleshooting skills.