Can’t Change Date and Time in Windows 7

I recently ran into a problem on one of my Windows 7 machines where I could not change the date and time. Every time I clicked on the Change Date and Time dialog box shown below, I kept getting an error message.

The message that kept popping up was:

Unable to continue. You do not have permission to perform this task.

I had previously had some problems with this machine and thought it might be related. In the end, I had to try a couple of different solutions before I stopped getting the error message about not having permission. Hopefully, one of the solutions will work for you.

Method 1 – Safe Mode

One thing you can try is to change the date and time in Safe Mode. If you are able to change it here, you then know it’s a problem with either a startup item or a Windows service. You can then perform a clean boot of Windows 7 to narrow down the issue.
You can check out this article from Microsoft that details how to perform a clean boot in Windows 7:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Method 2 – System File Checker

The next thing you can try is to run the system file checker. If you’re having strange permission issues in Windows, it’s probably some type of corruption of system files and settings. You can run SFC by opening a command prompt and typing in the following command:

sfc /scannow

System file checker will verify all system files and will replace any file that is corrupt, modified or damaged.

Method 3 – Command Line

You can also change the date and time in Windows using the command line. Open a command prompt and type in the word date and press enter. You’ll be prompted to enter a new date.

What about the time? Pretty easy too. Just type in the word time and you can change the time too:

Note that the time is in 24-hour format and you can specify it down all the way to milliseconds. You should be able to change the time without having to open an elevated command prompt. If you get an error, however, then try running the command prompt as Administrator.

Method 4 – Local Security Policy

If you get an error message like “A required privilege is not held by the client” when trying to use the command prompt, go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Local Security Policy and then navigate to Local Policy\User Rights Assignment and ensure that Change the system time and Change the time zone privileges are given to Administrators.

Note that if you are in a domain, you may simply be restricted by the group policy set by your company. If you’re not on a domain and Administrators don’t have the two privileges shown above, then adding the group to the security setting should fix the problem.

Method 5 – Windows Time Service

If you’re still having problems changing the date and time in Windows, go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools and click on Services. Scroll down to Windows Time and right-click and choose Properties. Click on the Log On tab and make sure it’s set to This account – Local Service.

The password fields should automatically be filled in, so there is no need to type in any passwords. Go head and restart the computer and see what happens.

Method 6 – Uninstall Third-Party Clock Applications

If you have any third-party clock manager or time programs, go ahead and uninstall them and see if that resolves your issue with changing the Windows date and time. Sometimes a conflict can occur and a third party program might prevent you changing the time.

How to Hide a User Account in XP

You can hide a user account from the Welcome screen in Windows XP, but it requires editing the Windows registry. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do it unless you use a third party application. I’ll explain both ways in this article.
Note that when you hide a user account in Windows XP, it’s better if you are running Windows XP Professional rather than XP Home edition. Why? Well, once you hide an account, it will no longer show up on the main login screen, so how do you access it?

Well in XP Pro, you can press CTRL + ALT + DEL twice to get the old Windows 2000 login box and type in the user name and password to access the hidden user account. But if you have XP Home, this trick does not work and the only way to access your hidden account is to start the computer in Safe Mode, which is major pain if you want to use that account often.
So before doing this, make sure you are running XP Pro otherwise you will not have normal access to your account.

Hide User Account in XP

Step 1: Open the Windows Registry editor by clicking on Start, then Run, and typing in regedit.
Step 2: Navigate the the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\ SpecialAccounts\UserList

Step 3: Now right-click on UserList and create a new DWORD value and name it exactly what the user name you want to hide is. For value, give it a value of 0. 0 Means hide the user account and 1 means show the user account.
As you can see from below, I added “Aseem Kishore” to the UserList as a new DWORD key with a value of 0. Make sure that the name you enter matches exactly with the user name displayed on the Welcome screen. So if you want to hide the Administrator account, type in “Administrator”, etc.

Step 4: Close the registry editor and reboot your computer. Now press CTRL + ALT + DEL twice and you should be able to type in the user name and password to access the hidden account!
You can also download a free program from IntelliAdmin that will do the same thing for you, but make it much easier. Scroll all the way down to the bottom and you’ll see a link for the program.

It’s called XP User Hide and you can simply check off which user accounts you want to hide and it will modify the registry for you. You can learn more about User Acounts in Windows here

Device Manager empty or blank in Windows

I recently had a problem where I opened my Device Manager and found that is was blank! Nothing there! Just plain empty! It was very strange and it took me a while to figure out what the problem was!
If your Device Manager is completely blank or empty, then there are two possibilities of why the problem is occurring: either you have a critical Windows service disabled or your permissions in the registry for the Device Manager key are corrupt.
Here’s how you can fix this issue by enabling the appropriate Windows service or changing the permissions in the registry.

Method 1 ““ Enable Plug and Play Windows Service

Apparently, the Windows Device Manager needs to have the Plug and Play service Enabled in order to work correctly. You can enable the service by going to Start, Control Panel, opening Administrative Tools and then clicking on Services.

Scroll down and find the Plug and Play service. Double-click on it and make sure the Start up type is set to Automatic and click Start if the service is not running.

Check to see if your Device Manager is still blank or not. If it is, then you can also try to enable more Windows Services by going to Start, Run and typing in MSCONFIG. Click on the Services tab and choose Enable All.

Go ahead and restart your computer and you should now hopefully be able to see all the hardware devices in Device Manager. If not, try Method 2!

Method 2 ““ Edit the registry permissions

The other reason Device Manager may be empty is because there are security issues with the key in the registry. To fix it, click on Start, then Run, and type in REGEDT32. Click on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE window or expand that hive and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum

Now right-click on Enum and choose Permissions. If the Group or user names list box is empty, then you know this is the problem! It should have two names in there, System and Everyone.
Click the Add button and type in Everyone and click OK. Check the Allow box next to Read for Everyone. Now click Add again and type in System. Check the Allow box next to Read and Full Control for System. It should look like this:

Both the check boxes under Allow should be selected when you highlight System. Also be sure to click on the Advanced button after adding both users and selecting Reset permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects.

Click OK and if a warning message comes up, just click OK. Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer. You should now be able to see everything in the Device Manager.

Fix “You need permission to perform this action” error

Microsoft should have just not released Windows Vista rather than making us bear the pain of trying to use a crappy operating system. Or at least very annoying. Problems I never had in Windows XP now show up all over Vista.
One of those annoying problems is the fact that security on Windows Vista is so tight that half the time you are allowed to do normal activities! For example, there are numerous times when I am trying to perform a simple task in Vista like install a program and I end up with the following message:

You need permission to perform this action.

Why do I need permission when I already agreed to it when the other annoying UAC dialog popped up and asked me about it! Strange thing is that even if you are an Administrator, there are certain tasks or actions that Windows locks down.

The best part is that you do not get this error on any kind of consistent basis, it can pop up when you are trying to delete a folder, trying to copy some files, trying to install a program, etc, etc. It all comes down to not having the right security permissions.
Note that UAC (User Account Control) does not usually affect this problem, so don’t go out and automatically disable UAC. If you disable UAC, you can’t do things like share printers, etc, so it’s best to live with it.
There are some things you can do, however, to help out with the “You do not have permission to perform this action” problem though. If it’s a particular file or folder you are trying to delete, you can simply give yourself full control permissions over the file.
But before we go into that, try one other method that might be a bit faster. Go to Start, Programs, Accessories, and right-click on the command prompt and choose Run as Administrator.

Now at the command prompt type the following command:

net user administrator /active:yes

Press Enter and restart your computer. Now try to perform the task again that gave you the “You do not have permission” error. If that does not work, then follow the steps below to change the file permissions.
To change the security permissions for a file, right-click on the file and go to Properties. Then click on the Security tab.

Now click on the Advanced button at the bottom and click on the Owner tab.

Click on the Edit button, click Other users and groups and type in your user account name and click Check Names.

Image Source: Vista4Beginners

Click OK and on the Owner tab make sure to check the “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects” box. Now select your user account from the list on the Security tab and click Edit. Click Allow next to Full Control and click OK.

Hopefully, this fixes one very annoying problem with Windows Vista. I did notice that upgrading to SP1 helped to reduce the occurrence of this error, so if you do not have SP1 installed yet, make sure to go to Windows Update

How to Fix Tooltips That Show Behind Taskbar in XP

One really annoying problem that I have come across often, but never bother to fix, is the fact that sometimes the system tray tooltips (when you hover your mouse over an icon in the taskbar) do not show up in Windows XP!
Actually, they show up, but the tooltips show up behind the taskbar instead of in front. Here is a screenshot of the annoying issue:

Yes I have a crap load of icons in my taskbar, which makes the whole “tooltips behind the taskbar” issue a big problem for me. I’m always checking the status of something, whether it my a bittorrent download, number of remote connections, or the status of my online backups.
Anyway, there are a couple of strange solutions to the missing tooltips on the taskbar issue. Here is what I have tried that has worked. Unfortunately, it keeps coming back.
Method 1: The easiest thing to do is to switch users if you are not in a domain environment. Switching users somehow resets the taskbar to it’s normal state and the tooltips no longer show up behind the taskbar.
Method 2: Simple log off and log back on to your computer. I used to do this, but it’s a royal pain because you have to close all your programs and then reload everything. Also, it can sometimes takes a few minutes to do that.
Method 3: Right-click on the taskbar and choose Properties. Now uncheck the box for Keep the taskbar on top of other windows and click OK.

Now right-click on the taskbar again and re-check the box. Usually this makes the problem go away!
Method 4: Download a free program that does nothing else other than monitor your computer and fix the tooltip bug when it happens.
The program is called ToolTipFixer and it’s from Neosmart. I have not used this myself, but from the looks of it, it seems like it does the job of keeping those pesky tooltips in the front very well.
Method 5: Another way that I’ve had success with is by simply going to Start, All Programs, and right-clicking on any of the menu items. After you right-click and the context menu appears, just press ALT or ESC and click somewhere outside the Start Menu.

That’s about all the ways I could find to fix this problem! It’s way better than what I used to do, which was simply deal with it or restart the entire computer. Now you can get your tooltips showing again properly in the system tray with these solutions! Enjoy!

How to Remove the Background from Desktop Icons

Every time I reinstall Windows XP on my home computer, I always forget how to change the icons so that they have a transparent background. The default dark blue background with white text is just not very nice looking.
It really sucks if you have a cool looking wallpaper as a background, but all your icons have large dark blue borders. Instead, if the text looks like it’s written right onto the wallpaper, the effect is much nicer.
So how can you make the background transparent for your desktop icons in Windows XP? Follow these steps.
Step 1: First open the Control Panel and click on System.

Step 2: Now click on the Advanced tab and click on the Settings button under the Performance section.

 

Step 3: Finally, scroll down and check the Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop box. 

That’s it! Now all of your desktop icons will have the blue backgrounds removed and will appear transparent.

Now doesn’t that look much better! Sure does to me! By default in Windows Vista and Windows 7, all the icons already are set to have transparent backgrounds, so you don’t have that problem in those operating systems. Enjoy!

What is the Difference Between Primary and Logical Partition

I am often asked the question about the difference between a primary and a logical partition.  In this post I will do my best to explain the difference between the two.
If you open Disk Manager in Windows you will see your drive volumes and their corresponding partition type under the “Status” column:
Most partitions are primary partitions. If you have more than one partition, the first usable partition (one that can hold data) is almost always a primary. Primary partitions are marked with a dark-blue stripe by default.

The old-school approach is to have only one primary partition, followed by an extended partition. This is no longer needed for NTFS volumes; in fact, if you’re setting up a dual-boot system, each OS must have its own primary partition.

The extended partition is a holdover from earlier days, and was used when a drive had two or more partitions. It doesn’t actually hold data, it merely serves as a container for one or more logical drives.
Extended partitions and logical drives are more or less obsolete today (Vista’s Disk Management tool can’t even create them), but you may see them on older partitioned drives.
The extended partition is, by default, shown as a dark-green outline surrounding any logical drives. If you have a drive with an extended partition, each volume inside is called a logical drive. By default, logical drives are identified in light blue.

How to Use Diskpart Utility in Windows

DiskPart is essentially the command-line equivalent to the Disk Management tool, and can be useful in certain situations (such as when Windows won’t start). Be warned though, Diskpart is a powerful tool and unlike the Disk Management tool, it enables explicit control of partitions and volumes.
You’ll need to run DiskPart in administrator mode; one way to do this is to open your Start menu, type diskpart in the Search box, and then when diskpart.exe appears in the search results, right-click it and select Run as administrator.

Once it’s running, type help at any time to see a list of commands. To get started, here’s how to extend a volume using DiskPart.

1. At the DISKPART> prompt, type: list disk to display all the drives on your computer. Each drive will have a disk number, starting with 0 (zero).

The result above tells us that I have two physical disks installed.
2. Unless you have only one drive, you’ll have to tell DiskPart which drive to use, like this: select disk n where n represents the number of the disk to modify.

3. Next, at the DISKPART> prompt, type: list volume to display all the volumes on the selected disk. Likewise, each volume has a volume number, starting with 0 (zero).

4. Regardless of the number of volumes on the drive, you’ll have to tell DiskPart which one to use, like this: select volume 3

5. Now that you’ve selected the partition to expand, go ahead and issue this command: extend to extend the volume. The extend command takes no options and displays no warning message or confirmation. The process begins immediately after you press the Enter key, and should take only a few seconds. The extend command will cause the  current in-focus volume to be extended into contiguous unallocated space.

6. When it’s done, type exit to quit the DiskPart utility.
DiskPart is a great command line utility for administrators and techies.  You can format, resize, extend and manage your drives and volumes using this powerful tool.

Fix Missing or Corrupted Hidden Files and Folders Option in Windows

By default, Windows Explorer does not display files with the Hidden attribute. However, there is an easy way of showing hidden files and folders in Windows. Hidden files and folders will appear dimmed to indicate they are not typical items and they are usually program or system files that should not be deleted or changed.
NOTE: In addition to the Hidden files and folders option discussed in this post, hidden files and folders can be viewed when using search, or using the “dir /a” (without the quotes) command in the command prompt window.
To access the Hidden files and folders options, open My Computer in Windows XP, or Computer in Windows 7, and select Folder Options from the Tools menu.

When you click the View tab on the Folder Options dialog box, you may encounter a situation where both radio buttons under Hidden files and folders are checked, as pictured below.

Both radio buttons can be checked at once if your system has been infected by malware, which modifies some keys in the registry. To view the registry keys affected, select Run from the Start menu.

On the Run dialog box, enter “regedit” (without the quotes) in the Open edit box, and click OK.

If your Hidden Files and Folders options are corrupt, the CheckedValue registry value of the following registry keys may have been modified.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced \ Folder \ Hidden \ NOHIDDEN

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced \ Folder \ Hidden \ SHOWALL

NOTE: Many viruses disable or corrupt the Hidden Files and Folders options so their hidden malicious executable or script will not be displayed in Explorer. Some viruses may even remove the Hidden Files and Folders options completely from the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box.

To close the Registry Editor, select Exit from the File menu.

To fix the corrupted Hidden files and folders options, right-click on the following link and select Save link as (in Firefox) or Save Target as (in Internet Explorer) to save the foldersettings.reg file.
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/foldersettings.reg
NOTE: When you save the foldersettings.reg file, Windows may add a .txt extension to the file, because it is essentially a text file. Edit the filename and remove the .txt extension.
In Windows Explorer, navigate to where you saved the foldersettings.reg file, right-click on the file and select Merge from the popup menu. The fix in this registry entry file can be applied in Windows XP as well as in Windows 7/Vista.

NOTE: When you try to merge the foldersettings.reg file, you may encounter a problem opening the file, and see the following Security Warning dialog box. We have scanned this file for viruses and then used it to fix this problem, and the file does not seem to be infected or corrupted in any way. Click Run to close it.

Or, you may see an error dialog box like the following. If you encounter this dialog box instead, click OK to close it.

To be able to merge the foldersettings.reg file, right-click on the file and select Properties from the popup menu.

The Properties dialog box for the foldersettings.reg file displays. Make sure the General tab is active. Click the Unblock button.

Click OK to close the Properties dialog box.

A confirmation dialog box displays to make sure you really want to add the information in the .reg file to the registry. Click Yes.

A dialog box then displays saying the information has been successfully added to the registry. Click OK.

The options are fixed and the Show hidden files and folders option is selected. You can now change the selected option as desired.

NOTE: Even if you choose the Show hidden files and folders option, there are some protected operating system files you will still not be able to see. These protected files are not intended to be visible to you as they’re not intended to be modified by a normal user of Windows.
However, if needed, you can view these files by unchecking the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) check box on the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box.

Make sure you keep your anti-virus software up-to-date and to run a full system scan on a regular schedule. It’s also a good idea to install an anti-malware program, such as Spybot, and periodically scan for malware.