Ten annoying Windows Vista problems: SOLVED

1. “I can’t see or access my DVD drive any more.”

This is a common problem but, fortunately, there are lots of potential fixes.

Click Start, type ‘devmgmt.msc’ in the Search box and press Enter to launch Device Manager, and expand the DVD/CD-ROM drives section. If there’s a problem with the drive or its driver, you’ll see a yellow exclamation mark next to the device. Double-click it to read about the issue, and click Check for solutions to uncover some answers. If there’s no apparent issue, right-click your DVD drive and click Uninstall > OK. Reboot, and let Windows redetect the drive and reinstall its drivers.

If your drive is still misbehaving, launch REGEDIT and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\
{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. Check the Default key to show you’ve got the right class: it should read DVD/CD-ROM drives.

Look in the right-hand pane for entries called UpperFilters or LowerFilters (just that: UpperFilters.bak, say, doesn’t
count), and delete any that you spot (right-click and select Delete > Yes). Reboot your PC and Windows should
now work normally.

Keep in mind that the UpperFilters and LowerFilters entries were added by an application of yours, and could be restored the next time you run that program. If your drive problems return, then the application clearly isn’t fully compatible with your set-up. Check the support section on the author’s web site for possible solutions.

2. “I can’t choose specific files to back up.”

If your hard drive contains a large folder packed with digital photos, but you have them saved to DVD, you don’t
need to back them up regularly. However, if you run the backup tool (Start, type ‘sdclt’, press Enter) and choose the Pictures option, they’ll still be included; as the program saves almost every image on the hard drive, this can
make for a very long backup process. Fortunately, there is a solution: create a folder under \Windows and move all the images there. The Windows backup tool ignores anything in or under the system folders, and so will no longer try to back up gigabytes of pictures, making backup times much shorter. Regular backups are good enough for most, but if you need more you can always upgrade to Windows Vista Business, Enterprise or Ultimate. These
all come with a complete PC Backup tool (Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Backup and Restore Center > Back up Computer) that will create a complete image backup of your hard drive. This takes a while for the first run, but after that only backs up new or changed files, so performance is good.

3. “I want to create a home network with my Windows Vista and Windows XP PCs, but they just won’t communicate.”

Right-click My Computer in Windows XP and select Properties > Computer Name to see the workgroup name. Then do the same in Windows Vista to check it’s using the same name.

Click Start on the Windows Vista PC, right-click on Network and select Properties. If you’re on a Public network, click Customize and change this to Private.

Check the other Network and Sharing Center settings. Network Discovery should be On, and if you want to share files enable File sharing and turn off Password protected sharing.

Firewalls can sometimes block PCs on your local network. Disconnect from the internet for a moment, then turn all your firewalls off and try the network again.

Still no luck? Click Start, right-click Network and select Properties > Diagnose and Repair for possible clues. Then click Help for in-depth details on troubleshooting network problems.

4. “I uninstalled an archiving program thinking I could use the built-in Windows support for ZIP files, but it doesn’t seem to work.”

If you’ve tried an archive program that prefers to delete rather than restore an original .zip file association, it’s actually very easy to restore it. Click Start, type ‘cmd /c assoc .zip=CompressedFolder’ (making sure to enter all the spaces – note the ones between c, assoc and .zip) in the Search box, and press Enter. You should now be able to double-click on the ZIP file to view its contents.

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5. “I need to change a network address in my C:\Windows\system32\Drivers\Etc\hosts file but Notepad won’t let me edit it.”

The standard Windows Vista user account is no longer able to directly edit system files. Sounds annoying, right?
But there’s a good reason for the change. It also applies to any programs you run, which means that if your PC
gets infected by spyware, they can’t edit the files, either.

There’s an easy way for users to bypass this, though: just right-click the shortcut to Notepad and select Run as
administrator. It should then let you open, edit and save this and any other system file. (Be careful though, these are off-limits for a reason, and editing them can seriously mess up your PC).

You can apply the same trick in other areas, too. Trying out a clever command line idea, only to be told that you don’t have the necessary administrative rights? Here’s the fix: right-click on the shortcut to Command Prompt, click Run as administrator again, and it should work perfectly. Unfortunately, there is a downside. Run a command prompt (or anything else) as an Administrator and it gets extra security rights, which makes it
easier for malware to infect your PC. It’s best not to overuse this technique: only apply it when absolutely necessary.

6. “Sometimes it takes a very long time to shut down or start up Windows Vista.”

When I notice any kind of Windows Vista performance problem, I take a look at the Event Viewer for potential clues (click Start, type ‘eventvwr’ and press Enter). Double-clicking Applications and Logs > Microsoft >
Windows Diagnostic-Performance > Operational usually reveals all kinds of details about an application that might be holding up everything else.

Some events don’t mean very much. You might get a report to say that the Event Log caused a slow shutdown, for instance. Well, maybe it had a lot of items to record; as long as it doesn’t happen all the time it’s not a big deal. Other events are more useful. What if the Web Client service is regularly delaying PC shutdown by four or five seconds, for instance? Is Web Client really essential? Black Viper (www.blackviper.com) doesn’t think so. Disable the service and you’ll enjoy improved performance. However, again you should be careful: disable some services and your PC won’t even boot. Consult www.blackviper.com before you try anything, and if in doubt, leave it alone.

If you don’t have any major system problems, though, the Event Viewer probably won’t tell you very much. Take
a look at our ’10 ways to speed up your Windows Vista PC’ article in Issue 11 (December 2007) for more advice.

7. “After installing some new hard drives Windows Vista thinks it needs activating again, but when I try it says
‘product key already in use’.”

Most copies of Windows Vista are licensed to run on one PC only. If you change your hardware drastically then
Windows thinks it might now be on a different system, and asks to be activated again. That’s enough of a hassle, but to be refused is just annoying. So it’s as well there’s a simple solution.

Try the Activation option again and, this time, choose to activate by telephone. Call the number provided for
an automated service that will walk you through the first part of the process. The bad news is that this will probably fail again. But don’t hang up! You may have to repeat the process a number of times, but eventually you’ll be put through to a real, live human being (depending when you call, anyway) who will be able to assist. Don’t get angry; just stay calm, explain the problem, and they’ll help you out.

8. “Windows Vista is broken; my troubleshooting hasn’t helped, and even System Restore doesn’t work.”

When things get really bad it’s tempting to try reinstalling Windows, but of course this can mess up your settings and affect other programs. And it may not be necessary, either, as there are a couple of less drastic options to try first. If your PC refuses to start, for instance, you could try booting from the Windows Vista DVD instead. After choosing the language and clicking Next > Repair your computer, select the operating system, click Next and select the new Startup Repair option. Then there’s nothing to do but sit back and watch, as the tool tries to diagnose and fixx the problem all on its own.

If your PC starts properly, but then misbehaves, this could be due to missing or corrupt system files. The
System File Checker (sfc.exe) can help fix this. Click Start, type ‘CMD’ in the Search box, and press Enter. Right-click on the cmd program, and select Run as administrator. Type ‘sfc /scannow’ then press Enter. The System File Checker will now check your core operating system files, restoring any that have been damaged or modified, and hopefully getting your PC up and running again.

9. “I customised all my folder views, but now it’s forgotten everything.”

Click Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Folder Options > View, then scroll down and check the ‘Remember each folder’s view settings’ option. Windows Explorer won’t even try to save your folder settings until this is checked.

Sometimes folder settings get corrupted. Use REGEDIT to view HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell, click on Bags and select Edit > Delete > Yes. Delete the BagMRU key as well, and restart.

Increase your folder view cache to avoid problems. Still in REGEDIT, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
Microsoft\Windows\Shell, double-click on BagMRU Size, select Decimal and set it to 10000. This uses more RAM, but should prevent future memory loss.

10. “I can’t update my Windows Experience Index score, because the Performance Information and Tools page is blank.”

If you click Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Check your computer’s Windows
Experience Index, and can’t see any score, or any way of updating or restoring it, never fear, there is a way of fixing it…

Click Start, type ‘GPEDIT.MSC’ then Enter. Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Performance Control Panel and set Turn off access to the performance center core section to ‘Not Configured’.

If your edition of Windows Vista doesn’t have GPEDIT.MSC, run REGEDIT instead. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Performance Control Panel, click
PerfcplEnabled if it’s there, and select Edit > Delete.

Delete the PercplEnabled key at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Performance Control Panel, too, if you see it. You’ve now got rid of the Performance policy, which means
Windows Vista should be back to normal.

And sure enough, clicking Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Check your computer’s Windows Experience Index displays the scores. Wrongly-set policies like this often cause confusion, so always
check GPEDIT or the Registry for possible solutions.

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