Windows 7 Login Screen Wallpaper Changer Utility

This is one of the coolest feature and hacks in Windows 7 that let’s you customize the Logon background image at the Welcome Screen.  The new version of WinBubbles lets you change the wallpaper directly at the Welcome Screen without registry hacks and conversion tool to resize the wallpaper and make the file size less than 256kb.

The great thing is, you don’t need to browse and find the best  wallpaper inside your desktop. WinBubble will automatically convert those built-in free high-resolution backgrounds available and let’s you change them quickly and easily.

The automatic conversion code was tested from 3400-4300 jpeg images in different file sizes. You don’t need to worry about the file size anymore. It was designed for quick and instant conversion tool.

For Geeks, read here on how to change the background manually.

Just launch the application and go to Windows 7 Tab and choose which background do you want to use and click View to see the results.

To launch the application while on the Welcome screen, Click the “Ease of Access Center” option to activate the unique feature. You can press Win+L to test the feature and after that you can launch the application by clicking the lower-left side of the screen.

  

Enjoy using WinBubbles!

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How to Burn ISO Files or Disc Images in Windows 7

Many programs and installation disc now are compiled in .iso format. Making a copy or burning them in Windows 7 is very easy. A built-in Right-Click Menu will launch the Windows Disc Image Burner to burn .iso files directly within Windows without the need of third party tool.

ISO File is a disk image or copy of data of a DVD/CD-ROM.

To verify the disc after burning, click to check the option as shown in the picture above.

It is supported natively in Windows 7 free of charge.

That’s it! Hope this helps!

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Gmail Account Hack! Detecting if opened in another location

Google launch a new feature that detects suspicious activity in your gmail account for free!

It will detect and inform the user for suspicious login in your account. Usually this type of security measures are not given for free and designed for enterprise-level email security only.

If it looks like something unusual is going on with your account, the system also alert you by posting a warning message.

"Warning: We believe your account was last accessed from…" along with geographic region.

Very Cool feature!

By clicking Show details and preferences you’ll see the last account activity and other complete details.

Wow! This is a nice to have security feature that I’ve seen for a very long time.

Here’s my trick using Yahoo mail!

Thanks!

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How to setup strong Passwords to User Account in your Windows 7 Computer

Passwords provide the first line of defense against unauthorized access to your PC. It can be made up of combination of letters, numbers and especial symbols to log on and access programs, files and documents.

Making sure that you have strong passwords for all accounts on your computer are very important.

Open the Command Prompt as administrator

Once the command prompt is open, type net user to view the list of users in the system.

The great thing is, there is a built-in command in windows that provides a strong random password to user account that you can write down.

How to assign random password to user account in Windows

Just use the command net user [username] /random as shown in the picture above.

Using Wintinker Password Generator to provide strong, easily-to-remember and hard-to-guess password in any user account.

Lower Case
facebook 
f@c3800k

Upper Case
regdevelop
r3gd3v3l0p

Alternating Case
yesterday
Y3$73rD@y

command: net use [username] password

e.g. net use ilao f@c3800k

Hope this helps!

Recommended to Read more:

Tips for creating strong passwords on Windows 7 (and Vista)

Hidden Backdoor in Windows 7/Vista Welcome Screen (just incase you forget your password and you want to recover your account)

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How to get and play mp4 Youtube videos in Windows 7

After the new revision of youtube, there are lots of users asking why and how to save these youtube clips for offline viewing and putting them to your music players like ipod and ipod touch.

Some of the famous youtube downloader sites like keepvid and savevid went down for few days because of the changes occur at youtube.

For the Changes

• probably, the users themselves are now directly responsible for archiving of these youtube videos because of the new system

• There is now a clear separation or Youtube.com is now totally not responsible because the youtube links are being generated by the user each time it loads.

Disclaimer Notice
Again, This guide was created for educational purpose only and the author is not responsible for any illegal purposes. If you decide to save any video, use it at your own risk. Do not sell, share the downloaded videos, and create any illegal use of the guide.

Easily Save as MP4 for offline viewing

• For what I’ve learnt, converting or accessing the MP4 format is still possible. Just add &fmt=18 at the end of the url. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlkBIPe3-f4&fmt=18
• Drag this bookmark in Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Right-Click this link > Add to Favorites for Internet Explorer:

Get Youtube Links

• You can now get the MP4 format by clicking the bookmarks or favorite while watching any videos.

One of the best feature in Windows 7 Media Player is the support for playback capabilities of several known formats such as MOV, MP4, 3GP, M4A, DivX and many more, without installing any codecs.

and if you want to play them before you login to Windows. Check out WinBubble, the new version supports the launching the app in the Welcome Screen.

Hope this helps!

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How to Refresh your Icons, Explorer and Update Group Policies settings instantly

 

     

Did you ever encounter emptying your recycle bin but the icon doesn’t refresh or change to its original state even if you press F5 key? Changing some settings in your desktop,  Taskbar, Start Menu and Windows Explorer, and you did not see the effect that you need to restart or logoff-login again.

Here you are! This tip will help you refresh your desktop instantly.

Using the newest version of WinBubble, you can easily update the settings in just few clicks!

It’s not a 100%-perfect to refresh the Group Policies in the Registry but most of the time, It works!

It depends on how you’ll setup the utility.

Open Admin Tools

"[Folder Location of WinBubble]\Tools\AdminTools.exe"

e.g. C:\Program Files\WinBubble\WinBubble 2

Create a shortcut and add hotkeys for the tool with the parameter

-refresh

Command Line Options to refresh your Desktop, Taskbar, Explorer and Group Policy Settings

"[Folder Location of WinBubble]\Tools\AdminTools.exe" –refresh

That’s it! Hope this helps!

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Easily Change the Default Download Directory in Windows 7

Usually in IE7 and IE8, you need to change the settings in the registry to Modify the default setting of download directory. Using WinBubbles in Windows 7, applying those settings in Internet Explorer is very simple.

Heres how to modify the options using the most popular Internet Browsers in Windows 7.

Internet Explorer

Using WinBubble, you can do many useful things in your Windows Machine.

Go to IE Tab > At the Miscellaneous Group, simply change the default download directory as shown below or Press the Browse option to find and set the Directory.

Finally, Press the Apply to see the results.

Google Chrome

To change the Download location, you need to go to the icon located as shown in the picture below.

Using the Options Menu Item, click the Browse Button to change the Download Location.

TIP: If you want to open the Save As File Dialog Window before downloading any file, click the option "Ask where to save each file before downloading".

Firefox

Click the Options Item at the Tools Menu, Main Icon and at the Downloads Group, click the Browse option to find and set the Default Download Directory.

If you want the application to to Ask and open the File Download Window before you start Downloading any Files, choose the Second option "Always ask me where to save files".

Opera

Open the Preference Window as shown in the picture below, go to Advance Tab and Download options.

Change the Download directory by clicking the Choose option.

Safari

Accessing Safari settings is almost the same with Google Chrome.  Just choose “other….” option to browse and select the download directory.

Hope This Helps!

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How To Check if your computer has TPM Security Hardware

The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) security is built to newer computers that uses microchip, enables your computer to take advantage of advanced security features such as BitLocker To Go and Drive Encryption.

Read here for more details about TPM.

BitLocker and TPM

To use the Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption features designed to work with compatible Trusted Platform Module (TPM) security hardware, your computer must have a compatible BIOS.

Note: If BitLocker and the TPM Management console do not appear to work with your TPM security hardware and BIOS contact your hardware manufacturer for specific configuration and troubleshooting information.

How to Find out if your computer is TPM Capable

To verify if your computer has TPM chip, restart your computer and open the BIOS and check the details to find if the TPM is built into the motherboard.

Also, if the TPM driver is installed then it will show up in the Device Manager.

It is also accessible from the Control Panel under System Devices in Windows XP and Security Devices in Windows 7 and Vista.

Hope this helps!

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Turn on the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Security Hardware

The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) security hardware is a microchip that enables your computer to take advantage of advanced security features such as BitLocker To Go and Drive Encryption. It is built into some newer computers.

According to MS-Help article, A computer with the TPM can create encryption keys that can only be decrypted by the TPM. The TPM "wraps" encryption keys with its own storage root key, which is stored within the TPM.

Therefore, saving the storage root key in the TPM chip rather than your hard disk offers *better* protection against attacks designed to expose your encryption keys.

So, It is advisable to check the information that came with your computer to see if your computer is equipped with the TPM.

When you start the computer, the TPM checks the operating system for conditions that could indicate a security risk. These conditions could include disk errors, changes to the basic input/output system (BIOS) or other startup components, or an indication that the hard disk has been removed from one computer and is being started in a different computer.

If TPM detects one of these security risks, BitLocker keeps the system partition locked until you enter a BitLocker recovery password to unlock it.

How to Turn On TPM

Open the program WinBubble and go to Windows Utilities Tab or Windows 7 Tab. Click the Maintenance and Advance tools and look for “TPM Initialization Wizard”.

Once your computer restarts, you’ll received this message:

“A request to change the configuration of this computer’s TPM (Trusted Platform Module) is pending.”

WARNING: Modifying the TPM configuration could prevent security applications that rely on the TPM from functioning as expected.

“If you  did not expect this message, use the arrow keys to select IGNORE and the TPM configuration will not be changed. Otherwise select MODIFY to allow this change.”

After that, your computer will restart again and press F2 to open the BIOS, select the TPM options and activate the settings.

Manually Turn On the options

Here’s the location of the tool, "%windir%\System32\tpminit.exe".

For more Hidden Windows tools, check out WinBubble.

Hope this helps!

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