How to disable Notification and Action Center in Windows 10

The new Notification & Action Center in Windows 10 looks great. The Action Center is split into two major sections – Notifications and Quick Actions and lets you take a look at all the notifications from all different apps, and even the system. But if you wish, you can disable Action Center in Windows 10. Let us see how to do it by tweaking the Windows Registry.

Disable Notification & Action Center in Windows 10

First create a system restore point and then right-click on Start button to open the WinX Menu.

Select Run, and in the space provided, type regedit and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.

Having done that, navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

Now, right-click on the empty space in the right pane and select New > DWORD (32-bit).

Name it DisableNotificationCenter.

Now, double-click on it and give it a value of 1.

Click on OK and exit the Registry Editor.

By following these instructions, you will have disabled the Notification and Action Center in Windows 10.

Restart your computer to see the change.

You will find that the Action Center is missing from the taskbar!

To enable Action Center back, simply delete DisableNotificationCenter or change its value to 0 and restart your Windows 10 PC.

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How to disable Windows Backup notification in Windows 7 and 8

By default, in Windows 8, Windows 7 & Windows Vista, Windows Backup notifies end-users to configure Windows Backup. Notifications can appear in the Action Center after seven days without having configured Windows Backup, or when an end-user attaches an external hard drive.

Disable Windows Backup Notification

If you do not intend to enable Windows Backup, and instead provide a third-party backup solution to end users, you may disable the Windows Backup notifications.

Windows Backup notifications are controlled by a registry key. This registry key is not present in default Windows installations. To disable Windows Backup notifications, you must manually add a registry key.

To do so, open regedit and navigate to the following location:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsBackup

Now under WindowsBackup, in the RHS pane, open a new DWORD and name it as DisableMonitoring, and set its value to ‘1‘.

Exit regedit.

If this key is set to 0, or if this key does not exist, then Windows Backup will display notifications to the end user to configure Windows Backup.

If this key is set to 1, and an end-user has not already configured Windows Backup, then notifications to configure Windows Backup will not be displayed to the end user in the Action Center, or when a user attaches an external hard disk.

Sourced from: Technet Libraries.

UPDATE: You can also do the following. Open Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Action Center\Change Action Center.

Check, un-check the options you want, click OK and Exit.

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How to Disable / Enable the Windows Firewall When the Options Are Grayed Out

There are many situations in which a user may need to disable / enable the Windows Firewall application. However, a common problem is the disabling of the ability to turn the firewall off from the graphical application. Users will see that any option available is grayed out, and nothing can be chosen. However, the firewall can be disabled through another route.

Note: Before you start save the registry preferably on a separate media from the computer hard drive. This will be used in the event of an unrecoverable error.
Launch the regedit application. This application can be launched by clicking on the "Start" button in Windows, and typing "regedit" into the "Run" box.
Export the registry. This can be done by clicking on the "File" menu option of regedit, then clicking on the "Export" option. A dialog box will open requesting the location for saving the registry.  

Locate Windows Firewall by following this path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall.

Delete the "WindowsFirewall" branch by right-clicking on the "WindowsFirewall" branch and choosing the option to delete. Answer the confirmation to complete the deletion and Restart Windows.

 

After the reboot open the Windows Firewall application by double-clicking on the icon for Windows Firewall in Control Panel. The options will no longer be grayed out, allowing the firewall to be turned off / on by selecting the appropriate radio button next to the option.

Click "OK" to save the settings.

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How to reduce the size of CBS.log file

The SFC.exe program writes the details of each verification operation and of each repair operation to the CBS.log file. The CBS.persist.log is generated when the CBS gets to be around 50 meg in size. CBS.log is copied to cbs.persist.log and a new cbs.log file is started.

It would be useful only for troubleshooting issues. If you are sure your system is running fine, you can delete this file. SFC.exe will create a new one, next time it is run.
I have used following method to delete:

1. Stop TrustedInstaller.exe (Windows Module Installer) in Taskmanager Services tab. Additionally if you cannot, open the Taskmanager Processes tab and End Task the same process.
2. Delete or move all the .log files in the C:\Windows\Logs\CBS directory, you can delete the .persist and .cab files as well.
3. Start Windows Module Installer service (TrustedInstaller.exe) again.



NOTE: The new created log files should not get bigger than 50MB

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Prevent Windows From Restarting Your PC After Windows Updates

Using the Group Policy editor:

Have you seen that message in Windows 10 that tells you your computer is going to reboot and there is not a thing you can do about it except save your work?

Here’s how to make sure that never happens again. This tip works for Windows 8 and 7 as well.

Press the Win + R keyboard combination to bring up the run dialog then type gpedit.msc and press enter.

When the Local Group Policy Editor opens, navigate to:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update

On the right hand side you will see a setting titled:

No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations

Double click on it.

From here you will need to enable the setting by changing the radio button from “Not Configured” to “Enabled”, then clicking apply.

As always, I recommend you force a Group Policy update so that the changes will reflect immediately.

That’s all there is to it.

Using the Registry:

If your version of Windows 8 doesn’t ship with the Group Policy editor, you can always use the registry to disable these reboots. Again press the Windows + R keyboard combination to bring up a run box – type regedit then hit enter.

Now navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

Note: If you don’t see the Windows Update or AU keys you may have to create them.

Then create a new 32-bit DWORD called NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers.

Then double click on it and give it a hex value of 1.

Note: Reboot is requered.

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Office 2010 Activation Failure: Unspecified Error 0x80070190

On a new install, when attempting to activate Microsoft Office 2010 receive error: 

"An unspecified error has occurred. Your request cannot be processed at this time.
Please try again later. (0x80070190)"

To activate Office 2010, please use OSPP.VBS.

a. Open an administrative command-prompt
b. Run one of the following command-lines based on your Operating System:

x86
cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\ospp.vbs" /act
x64
cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\ospp.vbs" /act

You should see something similar to the following.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14>cscript ospp.vbs /act
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.8
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

---Processing--------------------------
---------------------------------------
Installed product key detected - attempting to activate the following product:
SKU ID: fdf3ecb9-b56f-43b2-a9b8-1b48b6bae1a7
LICENSE NAME: Office 14, OfficeProPlus-MAK edition
LICENSE DESCRIPTION: Office 14, RETAIL channel
Last 5 characters of installed product key: XXXXX
<Product activation successful>
---------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
---Exiting-----------------------------

DONE.

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Importing the nk2 file in Outlook 2010

In general, you can just move the nk2 file to your new computer but if your new computer is running Outlook 2010, then additional actions are needed as Outlook 2010 no longer uses an nk2 file for caching but stores these addresses in the Suggested Contacts folder in the Outlook mailbox itself.

When you upgrade to Outlook 2010, the nk2-file is automatically imported upon starting Outlook 2010 for the first time. When you create a new Outlook mail profile or when using Outlook on a new computer, you can import an existing nk2-file in the following way.

1. Copy the nk2-file to the following folder:

• Windows Vista and Windows 7
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook
• Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Settings\Microsoft\Outlook

2. Rename the nk2-file to the name of your mail profile.

To find out this name use the Mail applet in Control Panel and click on the Show Profiles… button.
By default, your profile is called “Outlook”. So in that case you would call your file “outlook.nk2”.

3. Start Outlook with the /importnk2 switch:

• Windows Vista and Windows 7
Start-> type: outlook.exe /importnk2
• Windows XP
Start-> Run: outlook.exe /importnk2

4. Outlook will now process the nk2 file and import it into the Suggested Contacts folder. Outlook will automatically append .old to the nk2 file.

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Moving the nk2 file for Outlook 2002, 2003 and 2007

When you are currently using Outlook 2002, 2003 or 2007 and you’ll also be using that on your new computer, then all you have to do is copying the nk2-file to the correct location on the new computer. Sometimes you’ll need to rename the file though so it will match the name of the new mail profile.

1. Copy the nk2-file to the following folder:

• Windows Vista and Windows 7: C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

• Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Settings\Microsoft\Outlook

2. Rename the nk2-file to the name of your mail profile.

To find out this name use the Mail applet in Control Panel and click on the Show Profiles… button.
By default, your profile is called “Outlook”. So in that case you would call your file “outlook.nk2”.

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NTLDR is missing. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart

After switching on your computer or after restarting Windows XP you receive a NTLDR is missing error message and cannot get into Windows. This article describes several possible solutions to solving the NTLDR is missing error and gets your Windows XP up and running again.

Explanation:

The NTLDR is missing error message is usually caused when the following conditions exist although there are other causes of NTLDR errors:

1.    The primary partition is formatted with the FAT32 file system

2.    The computer starts by using INT-13 extensions

3.    The heads value in the FAT32 BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) does not match that of the physical disk drive

Resolutions:

Step 1 – Remove non bootable media

·         Remove any floppy disks, CD’s or USB sticks from your computer and restart.

·         If NTLDR is missing error appears again, proceed to step 2

Step 2 – Copy new system files

1.    Boot the computer using a Windows 95/98/ME startup boot diskette or bootable CD

2.    Backup MSDOS.SYS by issuing the following commands at the command prompt (pressing ENTER after each command):

attrib -h -r -s c:\msdos.sys

rename msdos.sys msdos.old

3.    Now copy new system files across by issuing the following command and pressing ENTER at the command prompt:

sys c:

4.    Rename MSDOS.OLD back to MSDOS.SYS by issuing the following commands and pressing ENTER after each at the command prompt:

attrib -h -r -s c:\msdos.sys

copy msdos.old msdos.sys

5.    Remove the boot disk/CD and insert your Windows XP CD

6.    Restart the computer by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL

7.    Ensure you boot the system from the CD.  The system will then boot into the Windows XP Setup.

8.    At the welcome screen press ‘R’ to enter the Recovery Console

9.    At the recovery console, select your Windows XP installation and enter your Administrator password if requested

10. At the command prompt issue the following commands and press ENTER after each command:

fixboot

fixmbr

11. Remove your Windows XP CD and restart the computer

12. If the NTLDR is missing error appears again after reboot, proceed to Step 3 below.

Step 3 – Windows Repair

1.    After Step 2 above, it is sometimes necessary to run or re-run the Windows XP Setup repair process

2.    If step 2 did not solve you issue re-insert your Windows XP CD and run Windows Setup again

3.    If NTLDR is missing error appears again, proceed to Step 4 below.

Step 4 – Download & Run BCUPDATE2

Occasionally this NTLDR error is caused by too many files in the root folder and an issue with an out of date windows version.

BCUPDATE2 is an official Microsoft fix for the NTLDR problem but is difficult to find and cannot be downloaded directly from Microsoft without first contacting support.

This can be solved by downloading and running BCUPDATE2.EXE as follows:

1.    Download BCUPDATE2.EXE from here: http://www.proposedsolution.com/downloads/download-bcupdate2/

2.    Copy BCUPDATE2.EXE into the root folder of a Windows 95/98/ME boot diskette or CD

3.    Boot the computer using the boot diskette or bootable CD

4.    At the command prompt issue the following command and press ENTER: bcupdate2.exe C: /F

5.    When prompted to update the volume press Y

6.  After you receive a confirmation message, remove your bootable diskette or CD and restart your computer.

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Windows XP: Desktop icons have blue highlight box around the text

In Windows XP your desktop icons text labels used to be transparent but now the icons seem to have a blue background on the text label.
This usually happens to the Windows XP icons for one of three reasons:

·         you have the desktop items locked

·         you have the background set as a web page

·         you have the drop shadow setting enabled

Reason 1: Uncheck “Lock Web Items on Desktop”

1.    Right click on your Windows Desktop

2.    In the context menu, click Arrange Icons By | Uncheck Lock Web Items on Desktop

3.    Click OK

4.    Check your desktop icons

Reason 2: Desktop Home Page Problem

1.    Right click on your Windows Desktop

2.    In the context menu, click Properties

3.    Display Properties should appear. Click the Desktop tab

4.    Now click the Customize Desktop… button

5.    The Desktop Items properties page should appear. Click the Web tab

6.    In the top pane where it says ‘My Current Home Page’, delete all entries from that pane except ‘My Current Home Page’

7.    Uncheck My Current Home Page

8.    Uncheck Lock desktop items

9.    Click OK and OK again

10. Check your desktop icons

Reason 3: Disable Drop Shadow

1.    Right click on the ‘My Computer’ icon

2.    In the context menu, click Properties

3.    Click Advanced tab | Settings (In the Performance section)

4.    Look down the list and clear the Drop Shadows option

5.    Click OK | OK

6.    Check your desktop icons

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Windows 7: Open A Port in Windows Firewall

If you need to open some ports in Windows 7 such as a Remote Desktop Connection, FTP or some other ports such as a ESET NOD32 (2221-2224) ports, than please follow the instructions:

1.    Click Start | Control Panel
2.    Click System and Security
3.    On the right, click Windows Firewall
4.    On the left, click Advanced Settings as show below

5.    In the left pane, right click on Inbound Rules | click New Rule as show below

6.    The New Inbound Rule Wizard will appear.
7.    Select Port for the type of rule as shown below | click Next.

8.    The Protocol and Ports screen will appear.
9.    Select the protocol that you need for the particular service you are using.  For this example, I will select TCP as shown below.

10. Now select the Specific local ports radio button and enter the port number you need to open as shown above.  For this example, I will enter 21.  This is the standard port for FTP service if you want to make your PC into an FTP server.
11. Click Next | The Action screen should appear.
12. Select the Allow the connection radio button as shown below | click Next

13. The Profiles screen will appear.  Select which profiles you’d like this open port to apply to.  I’m going to accept defaults and click Next.
14. The Name screen will appear.  Enter a meaningful name for your open port rule and click Finish.

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Mozilla Firefox: Ask Where to Save Downloaded Files

SUMMARY: Stop saving all files downloaded by Mozilla Firefox in the same folder.

When you download files from the Internet by default they will automatically be placed in a "Downloads" folder. You might find it more convenient if Firefox ask where to save each downloaded file so you can place different files in different folder.

1. Open Firefox and access Firefox's options.

-      Click on the "Firefox" button at the top left of the Firefox window and select "Options" from the pop-up menu, and then "Options" from the secondary menu.

-      If this button is not present in Firefox, click on "Tools" in the menu bar, selecting "Options".

-      If the menu bar is not present, simply press ALT + T + O.

2. When the "Options" dialog box appears, select "General" tab.
3. Under "Downloads", click the "Always ask me where to save files" radio button.

4. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.

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How to delete Hiberfil.sys file

To delete this file, you have to use the command prompt to manually turn off hibernation. If you turn off hibernation via Control Panel | Power Options, it will not delete the actual file itself.

Open a command prompt in Windows 7 by typing command in the search box. Right click Command Prompt and choose Run as Administrator.

To turn off or disable hibernation, type the following command at the prompt:

powercfg –h off

This will disable hibernation and will remove the hiberfil.sys file from your system.

You’ll have to restart your computer before it will take effect.

To turn on the hibernation again, type the following command at the prompt:

powercfg –h on

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