Priyam Vaidya's Blog

When you shutdown or restart your computer, you may want to keep track of the reason for it. Today we look at enabling Shutdown Event Tracker which will allow you to document why the system is being shutdown or rebooted. Shutdown Event Tracker Note: This process uses Local Group Policy Editor which is not available in Home versions of Windows. We also show how to enable Shutdown Event Tracker with a Registry hack below . To enable this feature, click on Start and type in gpedit.msc and hit Enter . In Local Group Policy Editor navigate to Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ System then on the left hand side under Setting, scroll down to Display Shutdown Event Tracker under setting . Click Enabled and under Options make sure it is set to Always, then Apply and Ok and close out of the remaining screens. Now when you go to restart of shutdown your system, Shutdown Event Tracker is displayed where you can leave a comment on why you’re shutting down th

If you share a computer and don’t want other users accessing certain applications, there is a new feature in Windows 7 that allows you to block them. Today we take a quick look at restricting what programs other users can access using AppLocker. Note: AppLocker is only available in Ultimate and Enterprise versions of Windows 7. Using AppLocker To access Group Policy Editor and create rules in AppLocker you’ll need to be logged in as Administrator. Click on Start and type gpedit.msc into the search box and hit Enter. Under Local Computer Policy go to Computer Configuration \ Windows Settings \ Security Settings \ Application Control Policies \ AppLocker. Now you will see the overall controls for the applications. Under Configure Rule Enforcement click on the Configure rule enforcement link. Now under AppLocker Properties check the boxes next to Configured under Executable rules then click Ok. Blocking Apps from Running In this scenario, Jack wastes time playin

ave you ever accidently deleted a file, or removed a crucial part of a document only to realize it no longer makes sense?  Windows 7 is smart enough to protect you from yourself, and here we’ll see how you can restore files in any edition of Windows 7. How does this work? The Previous Versions features is a part of the volume shadow copy service, which creates restore points to help roll back changes to your computer in the event of a problem.  It is also the backend for the surprisingly good image based backup in Windows 7.  By default, shadow copy will save a copy of your files once a day, or when activated explicitly such as when installing an update or new program. The Previous Versions feature was actually a new feature in Windows Vista, but was not directly available in the Home editions of Vista.  However, the volume shadow copy service was still present, allowing even users of Home editions of Vista to access previous versions of their files.  The default metho

One of the neatest new features in Windows 7 Professional and above is XP Mode, but not all machines are capable of running it. Today we show you how to use VMware to run XP Mode on machines without Hardware Virtualization. How does this work? Even if your computer doesn’t have hardware virtualization, you can still install XP Mode but just cannot run it as you can’t run Virtual PC.  Enter VMware Player.  This free program lets you create and run virtual machines, whether or not you have hardware virtualization.  And, it can directly import XP Mode so you can use that copy of XP for free.  A couple features are different, but it’s still a great replacement since you otherwise couldn’t use it at all. Note: XP Mode does not work on Home Versions of Windows 7 and you’ll need VMware Player 3.0 Getting Started First, download and install XP Mode (link below).   There is no need to download Virtual PC if your computer cannot run it, so just download the XP Mode from the li