How can I get Vista to stop being an overprotective mother?

Vista's "overprotective" behavior is one of the biggest complaints. Just like with an overprotective mom, User Account Control (UAC) really is for your own good - but if you want to take the risks, you can disable the prompts.

This is done through the Local Security Policy settings in Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate editions. At the command prompt or in the Search/Run box on the Start menu, type secpol.msc to open the LSP console. Vista will, of course, ask for your permission to continue (but this could be the last time). In the left pane, expand Local Policies, then click Security Options.

In the right pane, scroll down to User Account Control: Behavior of the Elevation Prompt for Administrators in Admin Approval Mode. Double click it, and on the Local Security Setting tab, click the down arrow in the drop-down box and select Elevate Without Prompting. Now, when you're logged on with an administrative account, you won't get that annoying "are you sure?" dialog box (and you also won't know when programs are elevating privileges). Click OK, and you're done.

Windows Vista no longer starts after you install an earlier version of the Windows operating system in a dual-boot configuration

Have you bought a new computer with Vista preinstalled, but want to install XP don't want to wipe out Vista; you want to be able to dual boot between the two? Unfortunately, installing XP after Vista can cause Vista to be unbootable. KB article 919529 explains why and provides the solution. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529

Can not access a Windows XP-based network computer

Are you having trouble accessing an XP computer on your home or office network? Turns out this is a registry configuration issue that can be easily fixed by a simple registry edit. Thanks to Jeff for the tip. For instructions, see KB article 913628 at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913628

How to delay loading of specific services in XP

Sometimes, especially with older computers, you might need to delay loading of some Windows services in order for the computer to boot properly. You can control how services are loaded by editing the Registry. For instructions on how to do it, see KB article 193888 at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/193888/en-us

Vista Reliability Monitor

Another new feature in Vista is the Reliability Monitor, which has been added to the Performance tool that you may be familiar with from Windows XP. When you try to open the Reliability and Performance Monitor from the Administrative Tools menu, you'll be prompted for elevation of privileges. Then in the console, click Reliability Monitor in the left pane and you'll see the System Stability Chart and System Stability Report in the right pane. Here you can see a history of hardware and application failures, software installations and uninstalls and other reliability-related information. This makes it easy to see if, for example, the installation of a program or driver corresponds with the time you started to experience application failures. You can see a screenshot of the reliability monitor here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-windows-vista-reliability-monitor-to-troubleshoot-crashes/

Cracking passwords: 8 tips in 8 minutes

Have you always wanted some tips on how to crack passwords? Here is a handy document (with links) to help you out.

How to Bypass BIOS Passwords - BIOS passwords can be a liability if a user forgets his password.
Cracking network passwords - Like it or not, passwords are a big part of your security and weak passwords can be a gapping security hole. Weed out these weaknesses by cracking your own network passwords.
How to crack a password - Brien Posey describes two techniques used to crack your Windows passwords and offers several defenses against attack.
Building better password policies - Learn ways to tweak your Windows password policy to make passwords more user-friendly and more secure.
Windows password management myths - Common misconceptions about creating and enforcing strong passwords
Checklist: Key control settings to harden password authentication - In part two of her password hardening series, Roberta Bragg details configuration changes to make in Windows Server 2003, 2000 and legacy systems to harden password authentication.
Create secure passwords you don't have to remember - Most strong passwords are impossible to remember. A new online application generates secure passwords that do not have to be committed to memory.
Password hardening journal - One oft-forgotten element of a secure organization is password security. Check out our Windows security journal to find out how to secure your organization at this level.

Setting up a wireless home network

I posted this link out here because of the numerous requests I get all the time for basic instructions on how to set up wireless in the home. The Getting Started and software on the routers is getting better all the time. Hopefully this does not put me out of business :)

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/wirelesssetup.mspx

Set Up Multiple-Device (Multilink) Dialing in Windows XP

Ever wondered how you poor dial up folks can have more bandwidth? Here is the answer: Install a 2nd modem and aggregate the bandwidth together for almost double the speed (provided your ISP will support it)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307849

Discount Hardware/Software Sites

Here are some of my favorite discount Hardware/Software sites. I will try to update this entry from time to time:

PriceGrabber
XPBargains
PriceWatch
NewEgg
EDealInfo