Vista Tips and Tweaks, Vista/7 Tips, Vista Tutorials, Vista SP1

Yesterday i posted a way to remove those unwanted power plans in Windows 7. And later on i found there were more useful commands in Windows Vista and Windows 7 on MSDN

Many Lenovo Thinkpad users appreciate the power management utility  a lot, which is a powerful tool to customize power plans and monitor the battery usage. So even with Windows 7, someone is still using this app.

From time to time, i can see people asking this question in forums: "When i was trying to get some app installed, there came a system message that “The Windows Installer Service Could Not Be Accessed”'. Actually, this is a Windows Installer Service error and here is how to fix it.

Here are some basic tips to help you while using the Command Prompt or ‘cmd’. 

If you have tried using Windows 7 to work and listening to some music at the same time, you may have found something strange - the music was interrupted now and then. To be more specific, every time there is a new sound, the MSN messenge sound, for example, the volume of the music will be reduced automatically.

In Windows 7,  a few features are not as visible as those well-known ones, such as Aero Peek, Aero Snap  and so on. But as more and more people use it longer and longer, some hidden features surfaces.

Microsoft has implemented product activation scheme named Office Protection Platformm (OPP) that similar with Windows Product Activation (WPA) and Software Protection Platform (SPP) for Windows Vista and Windows Activation Technologies (WAT) Windows 7 in Microsoft Office 2010, where all copy of Office 2010 installed has to be activated, with 30 days activation grace period.

Although Microsoft tweaked UAC a lot in Windows 7, convenience and security have been a kind of contradiction ever. The improved UAC is not strong enough to break the rule. As a result, there are still a great many of people have it disabled after installation.

After installing Windows 7, you may feel a bit strange about the taskbar. Not only because Microsoft introduces Superbar in Windows 7, but also the missing of the familiar Quick Launch bar. And here, if you consider the missing toolbar as useful, here is a simple way to bring it back.

If you are running Windows 7 RTM, with Windows Live Essentials, you may find it is impossible to minimize the Windows Live Messenger to the taskbar with a tray icon. Once you open the Windows Live Messenger, there will be two buttons on the taskbar. If you close both of them, then the WLM will be closed as well.