Useful Windows Shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcuts (Microsoft Windows)

1. CTRL+C (Copy)
2. CTRL+X (Cut)
3. CTRL+V (Paste)
4. CTRL+Z (Undo)
5. DELETE (Delete)
6. SHIFT+DELETE (Delete the selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin)
7. CTRL while dragging an item (Copy the selected item)
8. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item (Create a shortcut to the selected item)
9. F2 key (Rename the selected item)
10. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word)
11. CTRL+LEFT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word)
12. CTRL+DOWN ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph)
13. CTRL+UP ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph)
14. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Highlight a block of text)
SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text in a document)
15. CTRL+A (Select all)
16. F3 key (Search for a file or a folder)
17. ALT+ENTER (View the properties for the selected item)
18. ALT+F4 (Close the active item, or quit the active program)
19. ALT+ENTER (Display the properties of the selected object)
20. ALT+SPACEBAR (Open the shortcut menu for the active window)
21. CTRL+F4 (Close the active document in programs that enable you to have multiple documents open simultaneously)
22. ALT+TAB (Switch between the open items)
23. ALT+ESC (Cycle through items in the order that they had been opened)
24. F6 key (Cycle through the screen elements in a window or on the desktop)
25. F4 key (Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer)
26. SHIFT+F10 (Display the shortcut menu for the selected item)
27. ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the System menu for the active window)
28. CTRL+ESC (Display the Start menu)
29. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name (Display the corresponding menu) Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu (Perform the corresponding command)
30. F10 key (Activate the menu bar in the active program)
31. RIGHT ARROW (Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu)
32. LEFT ARROW (Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu)
33. F5 key (Update the active window)
34. BACKSPACE (View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer)
35. ESC (Cancel the current task)
36. SHIFT when you insert a CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive (Prevent the CD-ROM from automatically playing)

Dialog Box - Keyboard Shortcuts

1. CTRL+TAB (Move forward through the tabs)
2. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (Move backward through the tabs)
3. TAB (Move forward through the options)
4. SHIFT+TAB (Move backward through the options)
5. ALT+Underlined letter (Perform the corresponding command or select the corresponding option)
6. ENTER (Perform the command for the active option or button)
7. SPACEBAR (Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box)
8. Arrow keys (Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons)
9. F1 key (Display Help)
10. F4 key (Display the items in the active list)
11. BACKSPACE (Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box)

Microsoft Natural Keyboard Shortcuts

1. Windows Logo (Display or hide the Start menu)
2. Windows Logo+BREAK (Display the System Properties dialog box)
3. Windows Logo+D (Display the desktop)
4. Windows Logo+M (Minimize all of the windows)
5. Windows Logo+SHIFT+M (Restore the minimized windows)
6. Windows Logo+E (Open My Computer)
7. Windows Logo+F (Search for a file or a folder)
8. CTRL+Windows Logo+F (Search for computers)
9. Windows Logo+F1 (Display Windows Help)
10. Windows Logo+ L (Lock the keyboard)
11. Windows Logo+R (Open the Run dialog box)
12. Windows Logo+U (Open Utility Manager)
13. Accessibility Keyboard Shortcuts
14. Right SHIFT for eight seconds (Switch Filter Keys either on or off)
15. Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN (Switch High Contrast either on or off)
16. Left ALT+left SHIFT+NUM LOCK (Switch the MouseKeys either on or off)
17. SHIFT five times (Switch the Sticky Keys either on or off)
18. NUM LOCK for five seconds (Switch the ToggleKeys either on or off)
19. Windows Logo +U (Open Utility Manager)
20. Windows Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts
21. END (Display the bottom of the active window)
22. HOME (Display the top of the active window)
23. NUM LOCK+Asterisk sign (*) (Display all of the subfolders that are under the selected folder)
24. NUM LOCK+Plus sign (+) (Display the contents of the selected folder)
25. NUM LOCK+Minus sign (-) (Collapse the selected folder)
26. LEFT ARROW (Collapse the current selection if it is expanded, or select the parent folder)
27. RIGHT ARROW (Display the current selection if it is collapsed, or select the first subfolder)

Shortcut Keys for Character Map

After you double-click a character on the grid of characters, you can move through the grid by using the keyboard shortcuts:
1. RIGHT ARROW (Move to the rightor to the beginning of the next line)
2. LEFT ARROW (Move to the left orto the end of the previous line)
3. UP ARROW (Move up one row)
4. DOWN ARROW (Move down one row)
5. PAGE UP (Move up one screen at a time)
6. PAGE DOWN (Move down one screen at a time)
7. HOME (Move to the beginning of the line)
8. END (Move to the end of the line)
9. CTRL+HOME (Move to the first character)
10. CTRL+END (Move to the last character)
11. SPACEBAR (Switch between Enlarged and Normal mode when a character is selected)

Microsoft Management Console (MMC)

Main Window Keyboard Shortcuts
1. CTRL+O (Open a saved console)
2. CTRL+N (Open a new console)
3. CTRL+S (Save the open console)
4. CTRL+M (Add or remove a console item)
5. CTRL+W (Open a new window)
6. F5 key (Update the content of all console windows)
7. ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the MMC window menu)
8. ALT+F4 (Close the console)
9. ALT+A (Display the Action menu)
10. ALT+V (Display the View menu)
11. ALT+F (Display the File menu)
12. ALT+O (Display the Favorites menu)

MMC Console Window Keyboard Shortcuts

1. CTRL+P (Print the current page or active pane)
2. ALT+Minus sign (-) (Display the window menu for the active console window)
3. SHIFT+F10 (Display the Action shortcut menu for the selected item)
4. F1 key (Open the Help topic, if any, for the selected item)
5. F5 key (Update the content of all console windows)
6. CTRL+F10 (Maximize the active console window)
7. CTRL+F5 (Restore the active console window)
8. ALT+ENTER (Display the Properties dialog box, if any, for the selected item)
9. F2 key (Rename the selected item)
10. CTRL+F4 (Close the active console window. When a console has only one console window, this shortcut closes the console)

Remote Desktop Connection Navigation

1. CTRL+ALT+END (Open the Microsoft Windows NT Security dialog box)
2. ALT+PAGE UP (Switch between programs from left to right)
3. ALT+PAGE DOWN (Switch between programs from right to left)
4. ALT+INSERT (Cycle through the programs in most recently used order)
5. ALT+HOME (Display the Start menu)
6. CTRL+ALT+BREAK (Switch the client computer between a window and a full screen)
7. ALT+DELETE (Display the Windows menu)
8. CTRL+ALT+Minus sign (-) (Place a snapshot of the active window in the client on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing PRINT SCREEN on a local computer.)
9. CTRL+ALT+Plus sign (+) (Place asnapshot of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboardand provide the same functionality aspressing ALT+PRINT SCREEN on a local computer.)

Microsoft Internet Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts

1. CTRL+B (Open the Organize Favorites dialog box)
2. CTRL+E (Open the Search bar)
3. CTRL+F (Start the Find utility)
4. CTRL+H (Open the History bar)
5. CTRL+I (Open the Favorites bar)
6. CTRL+L (Open the Open dialog box)
7. CTRL+N (Start another instance of the browser with the same Web address)
8. CTRL+O (Open the Open dialog box,the same as CTRL+L)
9. CTRL+P (Open the Print dialog box)
10. CTRL+R (Update the current Web )

How To Return Remote Desktop View To Full Screen

At times while switching between users or computers, Remote desktop screen tend to set to one user profile desktop resolutions. This might be problem for new users who logged in after that.

To over come this issue and to fit to your screen resolutions, here are the simple steps to do on Windows machine.

1. Just make sure you can see the hidden files on your Windows PC, I guess you know how to do that
2. Close any Remote Desktop connection that is running.
3. Go to your Documents (Start - Documents)
4. Find this file, Default RDP (this file will be hidden format)
5. Delete that file, and then start remote desktop connection now.

Hope this helps for people who will get annoyed with changing remote desktops screen resolutions with multiple user logins!!

How to Enable or Disable Fast User Switching in Windows PC

Fast User Switching is an easy way for another person to log on to the computer without logging you off or closing your programs and files. Follow the steps below to for Fast Switch User.

1. To begin, make sure that you have logged in as Administrator or have required administrative rights to change local group policies.

2. Press the Windows +R button.

3. Run dialog box will pop-up,type gpedit.msc. This will open Local Group Policy Editor. (see pic 1 for reference)

4. Now, go to the following location and look for Local Computer Policy in the left pane.

5. Click on Local Computer Policy/Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/System/Logon. (See Pic 2 for refrence)

6. Just double-click Hide Entry Points for Fast User Switching to bring up a dialog box to change Fast User Switching policy setting.

7. At the top, there are Not Configured, Enabled and Disabled options available. Selecting each setting will let you read its affect in Help section. To disable Hide Entry Points for Fast User Switching, just select Enabled from the list and click OK.

If you need to diable this option, you need to select Disabled from the list. Rest all process is same.

8. Once done, you will have to enforce this change made to Fast User Switching policy setting. To do so, close the Local Group Policy Editor and open the Run dialog box (Windows +R button). Enter the command “gpupdate /force“ and click OK. The policy will be updated and applied on all user accounts.

9. To re-enable Fast User Switching, just choose Not Configured in its policy setting dialog and apply the changes via gpupdate /force command.

Hope this helps setting up mutiple users to login on your PC.

Fun with Keyboard Shortcut Keys

1. Ctrl+Alt+Down Arrow. This key command can magically rotate your monitor screens to 180 degrees. It would be very interesting to see someone try to log in to their PC and be surprised by an upside down screen. It would be pretty funny to see someone get dumbfounded by this shortcut. But do keep in mind is that this key only works with computers who have Intel graphics chipsets and may not work on all PCs.
   
2. Left Alt + Left Shift + Print Screen. This amusing shortcut is a great way to both irritate and puzzle your friends; this command turns on the high contrast visibility setting on any computer set.
   
3. Ctrl + F4. You can use this shortcut to sneak-up and wreck havoc on your pals who are working on just about any MS Office program. This shortcut immediately exits the document that is currently running and will most probably upset the victim. So be ready to run away just in case he or she gets violent.
   
4. Windows + M. This command is a bit more advanced than the one above, because aside from shutting your current program, it also closes all your opened programs in a blink of an eye. Again, be ready to run or to defend yourself when executing this prank.
   
5. Windows + D then Alt + F4 then press enter. This command is at the top rung when it comes to instantly closing programs. What does it do? Well, it just closes any version of windows as soon as you enter the shortcut, which makes it a very effective pal irritant.
   
6. Ctrl + H. If you are at your friend’s place and have access to his or her computer, you can use this keyboard shortcut to get easy access to his or her browsing history. Be warned though, that this can reveal way too much information about your friend, so be ready for anything before trying this out.
   
7. Left Alt + Left Shift then enter. This command will make your Num Lock key beep every time it is pressed. It doesn’t do any harm but it can make your friend’s computer seem broken by giving off an odd beep.
   
8. Windows key + “+” then Ctrl + Alt + F. This shortcut makes your screen bigger, which can annoy users who prefer a certain screen size.
   
9. PRT SC, Ctrl+V to make an unclick-able desktop. Press “Print Screen” on your keyboard (PRT SC) to make a screenshot of your desktop. Now go to Paint and Paste using (Ctrl+V). You will now have an image of your desktop which you must then save to your PC (not on your desktop) and save it as BMP. You’ll now have the file like this: C:/Desktop.bmp. Next, right-click on your desktop and select Properties. Select the tab Desktop and click Browse… Navigate to your screenshot and press OK to set it as your background. Right-click your desktop again and navigate to “Arrange icons by” and uncheck “Show desktop icons”. Your icons are now effectively unclickable, and the next user will probably give up in frustration.
   
10. Windows key + “+” then windows key + “-” then Ctrl + Alt + I. This shortcut can turn the colors on your monitor screen upside down; it’s another great prank to make it seem that the computer is busted.

How to Configure Stunnel Windows

stunnel is an open-source multi-platform application used to provide universal TLS/SSL tunneling service. stunnel is used to provide secure encrypted connections for clients or servers that do not speak TLS or SSL natively.

stunnel can be used as TLS proxy, I have used when we have issues with TLS 1.0 with one of API End point.

Server administrators and home users alike feel the pressure to secure their Internet communications, but not every application supports using Transport Layer Security (TLS). Recently all OS and all major stopped TLS 1.0 support. So we used Stunel as an fall back approach to TLS 1.0.

Step 1
Install Stunnel. Download the Windows binary file from Stunnel.org. Double-click on the executable "stunnel-4.34-installer.exe" and accept the default values for installing Stunnel on your computer.

Step 2
Copy a valid SSL public certificate to the directory "C:\Program Files (x86)\stunnel." To make things more trouble-free, combine the public key and private key certificates into one .PEM file.

Step 3
Modify the Stunnel configuration file. Open the file "C:\Program Files (x86)\stunnel\stunnel.conf" using a text editor such as Notepad. Modify the file to include the line "cert = C:\Program Files (x86)\stunnel\," where is the name of your certificate file.

Here is the example of my config file

client = yes
[myService1]
accept          = 4010
connect         = www.pld.ups.com:443
sslVersion 	= TLSv1.2

[myService2]
accept          = 4011
connect         = wwwcie.ups.com:443
sslVersion 	= TLSv1.2

Step 4
Configure Stunnel to start automatically. Navigate to the Start menu, "stunnel" folder and click on "Service Install." Stunnel will configure a Windows service called "stunnel" to start automatically when the computer boots.

Hosts File in Windows 10 : Locate, Edit and Manage

Locating the Hosts file in Windows 10, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc to find your Windows 10 hosts file. You can see it in the image given below

Editing the Windows 10 Hosts File

Before you can edit this file, you have a pre-requisites that need to be done, Make sure that your account has Administrator privilege as only administrators can modify this file.

Remote desktop connection authentication error due to “CredSSP encryption oracle remediation” #GDPR

In March, Microsoft released a security update to address vulnerabilities for the Credential Security Support Provider protocol (CredSSP) used by Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connections for Windows clients and Windows Server.

Previously, you were able to connect remotely from the updated machine to machines without the update. However, with the latest update released this May, Microsoft hardened security, and you can no longer connect to machines without the update.These might came in due to #GDPR

You will face the CredSSP encryption oracle remediation error if you have applications or services such as the Remote Desktop Connection that use CredSSP on an updated machine. Authentication will not work and you will get this error message:

Here is error message that is seen after recent windows update

The workable solution I found is to edit client Windows’ local group policy (gpedit.msc):

Under Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Credentials Delegation

Find setting “Encryption Oracle Remediation”. Its default value is “Not configured”. Just change it to “Enabled”, and set “Protection Level” as “Vulnerable”.

Now your remote desktop should be able to connect. Remember to revert the setting after you are done.

Different versions of Windows 10

There will be seven different versions, Microsoft says in a blog post .

Here they are:

• Windows 10 Home, which is the most basic PC version.
• Windows 10 Pro , which has touch features and is meant to work on two-in-one devices like laptop/tablet combinations, as well as some additional features to control how software updates get installed - important in the workplace.
• Windows 10 Enterprise, which will have extra management features.
• Windows 10 Mobile  for smartphones.
• Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise , which is like the one above, but with more business management features.
• Windows 10 Education, which is optimized for schools.
• Windows 10 IoT Core, which is for robots, smart sensors, and - well, if you need it, you'll know it.

How to Copy Files in Command Prompt using xCopy

The Windows Command Prompt can be very powerful once you understand some of the commands. You can get a lot more control with the Command Prompt than you would by copying and pasting in Windows Explorer. Knowing how to make the most out of the copy commands is essential if you're remotely operating a Windows server. It's also great if you want to be more efficient with your own system.

There are different ways to copy files using the Windows Command Prompt. All the commands can copy files from one place to another, but there are several cases where you may want to choose one command over the others.

• XCOPY - The xcopy command allows you to copy files and directory trees. This makes it much more suitable for copying folders. xcopy also has many modifiers which gives advanced users more control over the copying process. xcopy has been deprecated in favor of robocopy, but still works.

Example: C:\>xcopy c:\webshare\AppData\runtime\bin\admin\*.* c:\_backup\backup_20161208\admin /e /i

XCOPY source [destination] [/A | /M] [/D[:date]] [/P] [/S [/E]] [/V] [/W]
                           [/C] [/I] [/Q] [/F] [/L] [/G] [/H] [/R] [/T] [/U]
                           [/K] [/N] [/O] [/X] [/Y] [/-Y] [/Z] [/B] [/J]
                           [/EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...]

  source       Specifies the file(s) to copy.
  destination  Specifies the location and/or name of new files.
  /A           Copies only files with the archive attribute set,
               doesn't change the attribute.
  /M           Copies only files with the archive attribute set,
               turns off the archive attribute.
  /D:m-d-y     Copies files changed on or after the specified date.
               If no date is given, copies only those files whose
               source time is newer than the destination time.
  /EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...
               Specifies a list of files containing strings.  Each string
               should be in a separate line in the files.  When any of the
               strings match any part of the absolute path of the file to be
               copied, that file will be excluded from being copied.  For
               example, specifying a string like \obj\ or .obj will exclude
               all files underneath the directory obj or all files with the
               .obj extension respectively.
  /P           Prompts you before creating each destination file.
  /S           Copies directories and subdirectories except empty ones.
  /E           Copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones.
               Same as /S /E. May be used to modify /T.
  /V           Verifies the size of each new file.
  /W           Prompts you to press a key before copying.
  /C           Continues copying even if errors occur.
  /I           If destination does not exist and copying more than one file,
               assumes that destination must be a directory.
  /Q           Does not display file names while copying.
  /F           Displays full source and destination file names while copying.
  /L           Displays files that would be copied.
  /G           Allows the copying of encrypted files to destination that does
               not support encryption.
  /H           Copies hidden and system files also.
  /R           Overwrites read-only files.
  /T           Creates directory structure, but does not copy files. Does not
               include empty directories or subdirectories. /T /E includes
               empty directories and subdirectories.
  /U           Copies only files that already exist in destination.
  /K           Copies attributes. Normal Xcopy will reset read-only attributes.
  /N           Copies using the generated short names.
  /O           Copies file ownership and ACL information.
  /X           Copies file audit settings (implies /O).
  /Y           Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an
               existing destination file.
  /-Y          Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an
               existing destination file.
  /Z           Copies networked files in restartable mode.
  /B           Copies the Symbolic Link itself versus the target of the link.
  /J           Copies using unbuffered I/O. Recommended for very large files.

The switch /Y may be preset in the COPYCMD environment variable.
This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line.

PHP vs ASP.NET Comparison

Things that need to observe before finalize between PHP and ASP.NET on any project.

ASP.NET code executes a lot faster compared to PHP. In general most of time of pages rendering time dependent on accessing DB and querying database.

In connecting database ASP.NET is a lot better - in asp.net we typically use LINQ which translates our object queries into stored procedures in SQL server database. Also connection to database is persistent, one for one website, there is no need for reconnecting.
PHP, in comparison, can't hold SQL server connection between request, it connect, grab data from DB and destroys, when reconnecting the database is often takes 20-30% of page rendering time.

ASP.NET have two main frameworks designed for it (Web forms and MVC), installed with environment, where in PHP you must get a open-source framework. There is no standard framework in PHP like in ASP.NET.
Since PHP is open source, its popularity differs based on people usage. So every year a new framework will come up for PHP in top list.

Whereas ASP.NET language is so rich, standard library has solutions for very much common problems, for PHP its standard library very open to public and any one can override.

Regarding Costing, PHP, MySQL server, PostgreSQL server, Apache server, and Linux OS are all free and upgrades are also free. 
ASP.NET and IIS are free if you purchase Windows OS. There is a substantial licensing cost for a Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server and future upgrades. For example, Microsoft Server 2008 R2 Standard - 64-bit cost is about approximately $1029 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition For Small Business cost approximately $1038.

For Hosting, Now a days both hosting of PHP and .NET websites are no different. Both a similar or more over same when compared Windows and Linux environments.
PHP requires LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) which is popular among hosting companies. ASP.NET requires Windows hosting.

Until a few years ago, Windows hosting used to be significantly more expensive than Linux web hosting. This is hardly true today; you can easily find Windows hosts for almost the same price as Linux web hosts. When we have PaaS, Platform as a Service all hosting provides are offering Pay as you service. Ex: Azure, Amazon WS etc.,

PHP is platform independent and can run on any platform — Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, Windows.

ASP.net is built to run only on Windows platform.

There has been much debate about this subject and most of the debates have been biased and have been tailored to promote one of the programming languages instead of informing the audience.
Scalability and ease of maintenance have nothing to do with whether you select PHP or ASP.NET platform. Web Application scalability and ease of maintenance primarily depend on:

• Programmers' experience
• Using the best programming practices
• Using a solid programming framework
• Following programming guidelines and standards

In my experience ASP.NET can certainly compete and surpass PHP in terms of raw speed. My personal opinion is that a ASP.NET-MVC compiled web application would run more efficiently/faster than the same project that would be written in PHP.

And this debate goes on and on!!!
 
Thank you

How can you two run two instances of Skype on PC?

I have to separate work contacts and family in skype, so I need two Skype instances on my PC.

Here is how you can do. Once you install you will get a skype shortcut on your desktop. Now do the following to create another instance of skype.

Step1: Copy skype shortcut and paste again on desktop. This will create another shortcut.

Step2: Rename new shortcut to your choice. I have renamed it to Skype II

Step3: Now go to properties of Skype II short cut that was created recently and update

Step 4: Update Target path like below from

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe"

to

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe" /secondary

Now apply and click Ok.

This should work now. I have tested this on Windows 7, 8 and 10

How to delete a file or folder with a path too long?

I have come across a situation where I am unable to delete a folder? Interesting right. I tired different ways to delete like how we does in Windows like every time we do. But no luck. After I did some research I found a way to delete file or folder which is too long to delete.

Here is the error message you will get when you try to delete these files or folders “Destination Path Too Long:  The file name(s) would be too long for the destination folder.  You can shorten the file name and try again, or try a location that has a shorter path. “

Usually windows cannot delete file path greater than 255 characters.

So here is the simple way to delete these folders by doing Map Drive to that location. Here is how we can do using command prompt.

1. Start a command prompt (no admin privileges needed)
2. Use cd to navigate to the folder you want to go (you can use tab to autocomplete names)
3. Type subst Z:  to create the drive letter association. (instead of the . you can also type the entire path)
   C:\>subst Z:  d:\Java.Works\adt-bundle-windows-x86_64-20140702
4. Now in explorer you have a new letter in your computer. Go to it and do whatever you need to do to like by navigate to the files that have long names. You should now be able to rename/delete/etc them. The reason this works is because the path itself is no longer containing >255 chars
5. Go back to your cmd window and type subst /d Z: to remove the drive like this C:\>subst /d Z:

This worked for me. Hope it works for you as well. Good luck

Create Windows admin user from command line

Here is how we can create windows user from command prompt.
c:\net user /add [username] [password]
The above will creates the user account.

To add the user account to administrators group. Need to do like this below
c:\net localgroup administrators [username] /add

Hope this helps!

How To: Delete/Remove Services In Windows

Users can usually uninstall applications from their computers quite easily, however the same cannot be said for Windows services, of course you can disable a service, but the entry for it may still remain.

If you are looking for a way to completely delete a service from Windows here is how we can do this.

Open a command prompt, by going to Start > Run and type in cmd without the quotes and hit the Enter key.

Once a command prompt has opened up, type the command sc delete service name without the quotes

Once a service has been deleted you should see a message saying [SC] DeleteService SUCCESS, this should mean that the service has been deleted, to ensure that, just click on the refresh button in the services.msc window and confirm that the service has been deleted.

Note: You should always delete services in safe mode, just in case it causes you any problem, you may also want to create system restore points, just in case something goes wrong. But If you are a developer and its your own service then you don’t need to do this since you know about your service how it works. 

Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5 Express

Microsoft has released final version of it’s so called lighter version of IIS 7.5 called as “IIS 7.5 Express” which makes developers to utilize the features of IIS 7.5 in Windows XP and above Operating system environments. IIS 7.5 Express is a simple and self-contained version of IIS 7.5 that is optimized for developers. IIS 7.5 Express enhances your ability to develop and test web applications on Windows by combining the power of IIS 7.5 with the convenience of a lightweight web server like the ASP.NET Development Server (also known as Cassini). IIS 7.5 Express is included with Microsoft Web Matrix, an integrated suite of tools designed to make developing web applications on Windows simple and seamless. IIS 7.5 Express can also be used with Visual Studio 2010 as a powerful alternative to Cassini. The benefits of using IIS 7.5 Express include:

• The same web server that runs on your production server is now available on your development computer.
• Most tasks can be done without the need for administrative privileges.
• IIS 7.5 Express runs on Windows XP and all later versions of Windows.
• Many users can work independently on the same computer.

Download: IIS 7.5 Express Final

Under standing Local Service, Local System and Network Service?

The main difference between these Local Service, Local System and Network Service mainly relay on the security principals. I have website I need to configure remote connections. When we use SQL Server, so when allowing remote connections and you might think which Service account you should use to run SQL Server.

You should use Local non-system or Service account. If this SQL Server service require to access the network resources you can use a ordinary Domain account.

• Domain User Account
  If the service must interact with network services, access domain resources like file shares or if it uses linked server connections to other computers running SQL Server, you might use a minimally-privileged domain account. Many server-to-server activities can be performed only with a domain user account. This account should be pre-created by domain administration in your environment.
• Local User Account
  If the computer is not part of a domain, a local user account without Windows administrator permissions is recommended.

Following are NOT advised as it grant more privileges than required for running SQL Server Services

• Local System is a very high-privileged built-in account. It has extensive privileges on the local system and acts as the computer on the network. The actual name of the account is "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM".
• The Local Service account is a built-in account that has the same level of access to resources and objects as members of the Users group. This limited access helps safeguard the system if individual services or processes are compromised. Services that run as the Local Service account access network resources as a null session without credentials. Be aware that the Local Service account is not supported for the SQL Server or SQL Server Agent services. The actual name of the account is "NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE".
• The Network Service account is a built-in account that has more access to resources and objects than members of the Users group. Services that run as the Network Service account access network resources by using the credentials of the computer account. The actual name of the account is "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE"

Please consider the below recommendations:

• Always run SQL Server services by using the lowest possible user rights.
• Use a specific low-privilege user account or domain account instead of a shared account for SQL Server services.
• Use separate accounts for different SQL Server services.
• Do not grant additional permissions to the SQL Server service account or the service groups

How to solve Internet Explorer 9 installation problems?

Problems having installing IE9 on Vista, Windows7 or Windows 2008. Here is a beautiful summary of troubleshooting these issues from Microsoft. This URL have all the necessary information about Pre requisites and resolutions.

Click this URL for more information.

What is Thumbs.db?

The default behavior for many folders in Windows Operating System is to display thumbnail images of the files in the folder. This is primarily true of folders created from digital cameras or filed under the My Videos and My Pictures folders. Thumbs.db is Microsoft's way of caching thumbnail images of any image or movie file in a folder. The idea behind creating a thumbnail cache is to improve the speed of displaying thumbnails the next time you open the folder by caching a set of thumbnails for the image and video files in the folder. If you hadn't seen this file in your folders previously it's likely you didn't have Show hidden files and folders enabled. Deleting the Thumbs.db file simply deletes that cache, which is regenerated the next time you view the folder contents. It is possible to configure Windows to never cache thumbnails.

To turn off thumbnail caching, open Tools > Options in Windows Explorer and click on the View tab. Check the box next to Do not cache thumbnails and click OK.

How to: Avoid Last Known Good Configuration problems

Usually we developers won’t restart our developer machines or laptops regularly. Recently We had a problem with a server which ended up requiring a reboot. Unfortunately the server failed to restart properly and the only option left was to choose last known good configuration. It was reboot long time ago since then there are lots up updates installed which required reboots also. So we won’t restart regularly as possible you may end up loosing lot of changes.

So my sincere advice would be to reboot as regularly as possible, so that if you do ever have to choose last known good configuration then you don't wipe out too many changes.

Check this if I didn't really know what last known good configuration actually meant.

Keystroke Function

WIN - Opens the Start Menu

WIN + E - Opens My Computer in Windows Explorer

WIN + Pause/Break - Opens the System Properties dialog box

WIN + U - Opens the Utility Manager

WIN + R - Opens the Run box

WIN + F - Opens the Search for Files and Folder window

WIN + M - Minimizes all Windows

WIN + L - Lock Computer

WIN + B - Selects the first item in the System.Use arrow keys to navigate.

Alt + Tab - Switch between open programs.

Alt + Enter - Opens the Properties page of a selected item

Shift + Delete - Permanently deletes and item
Ctrl + Shift + Esc - Opens the Windows Task Manager

PrntScn - Takes a screenshot of the entire screen, saves it on the clipboard

Alt + PrntScn - Takes a screenshot of the active  windows

F1 - Opens the Windows XP

F2 - Help = Rename selected item

F3 - Search

F5 - Refresh Internet Explorer page

Ctrl + A - Select All

Ctrl + C - Copy

Ctrl + X - Cut

Ctrl + V - Paste

Ctrl + P - Print

Ctrl + O - Open

Ctrl + Backspace - Deletes the entire word to the left

Ctrl + Delete - Deletes the entire word to the right

Ctrl + Right arrow - Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word

Ctrl + Left arrow - Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word

Ctrl + Down arrow - Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph

Ctrl + Up arrow - Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph

Click Shift 5 times - Turns StickyKeys on or off