Re-Enable the missing IE7 icon on your Vista desktop

One freaking thing which I really don't understand is that the IE7 Icon is defaulty disabled on the Vista desktop. Ok we can understand that MS wants us to start with a very clean system, so no desktop icons except for the recycle bin which you probably don't need for another week or two
Well what's more concerning is that you can't also set the Vista IE7 icon to appear on the desktop because MS removed it from the desktop icons settings. Really strange, but it possible to enable it quite simple...

For users with Longhorn start menu view:

1) Go to the registry editor and browse to the following reg key:[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]

2) Add a DWORD 32 bit String value named
{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D} with a value of 0 (dword:00000000)

After a refresh on the desktop (F5) you should see your long awaited Vista IE7 Icon back

For users with classic start menu view:

1) Go to the registry editor and browse to the following reg key:[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu]

2) Add a DWORD 32 bit String value named
{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D} with a value of 0 (dword:00000000)

After a refresh on the desktop (F5) you should see your long awaited Vista IE7 Icon back

Note:
String value named {871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D} maybe already exists on target locations.
In this case you only need to change value from 1 to 0.

L2 Cache memory registry setting for Windows Vista

This tweak will set the Vista registry to use your L2 cache memory which is embedded in your CPU.
Every CPU nowerday's has Level 1 cache memory and Level 2 cache memory which enables the core of the cpu to take pieces from the main DDR system memory and calculate with it, then store it back and so on, the size of your L2 cache can be set in the registry of Vista and for some reason it seems that Vista isn't doing this by default.

The registry key where Vista stores the size of your L2 cache is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

In here you will probably see a key called SecondLevelDataCache with a value of 0 which means that windows Vista didn't set the memory size of the L2 cache by itself.

You can set the amount of your CPU L2 Cache here for Vista to use.

Windows Defender, 0x80240029 Solution

- Go to Windows update.
- Click on change settings (on the left).
- Check "never check for updates."
- Remove any other checks (Recommended update and any other).
Then go back to Defender and run the Updates again.

Change the volume of each individual application from your system tray

This is another one of those obvious Vista features that are extremely useful.

You can control the volume of each application individually right from your system tray.

All you have to do is click the volume icon in your system tray, and then click on Mixer at the bottom.

Check Windows Vista Activation Status

Are you a user of Windows Vista Enterprise or Business edition and would like to know the status of activation of a specific computer? Want to make sure that the computer connected properly to the Key Management Server (KMS) or used your Multiple Activation Key (MAK) properly? Or are you a home user and just want to make sure your computer is fully activated?

Included in Windows Vista is very useful utility that will help you check the status of activation of your computer:

1. Click on the Start Button and key in CMD and hit Enter to start up Command Prompt.
2. At the prompt, type in "slmgr.vbs -dli" (Without quotes)
3. After a few seconds you will be presented with a pop-up message with your activation status.

Speed-Up Windows Vista's Start Menu Search

When you perform a search using the search box in the start panel, Windows Vista automatically searches the file index as well. The file index can be quite large because it includes all the files on your hard drive. One way to speed-up searching in your Start Menu applications is to narrow the scope of the search so that it does not include files on the hard drive:

Method 1: Registry Hack
1. Open registry editor using regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer and select Advanced.
3. Find and right-click on Start_SearchFiles and select Modify.
4. Set the Value to 0.
5. Restart the Explorer.exe process or reboot the computer.

Method 2: Start Button
1. Right-click on the Start Button and select Properties.
2. Click on the Customize button.
3. Uncheck Search Communications.
4. Set Search Files to Don't Search for files.
5. Click OK.

Smarter searches in Vista

When you enter a snippet of text in the Search box at the bottom of the Start menu, the results come from just about everywhere: programs, e-mail, files, even your browser history.

You can control which categories appear in Start menu searches using these settings in the Customize Start Menu dialog box (available from a link on the Appearance and Personalization group in Control Panel).

.