Driver Tip: How to Disable Digital Driver Signing

Have you ever tried to install some device drivers on 
Windows 7 and received a warning message that those drivers should be digitally signed? You can disable this driver signing warning message in Windows 7 with a simple procedure.

Go to the Start menu and type cmd.exe in the Search Bar. Right click on cmd.exe and choose Run as Administrator. 

If you have the UAC turned on, choose Yes to proceed. Otherwise, you should see the command windows opened already. In the shell window, copy and paste the following and hit Enter. 

But why do you need to go through this confusion when you can simply have a program like DriverAgent. This program will automatically search for updated Legacy audio drivers. It will locate the driver for you. You don't have to skim through a very confusing list. You don't have to log on the manufacturer's website. Just run DriverAgent and the driver will be found for you. 

bcdedit.exe -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
bcdedit.exe -set TESTSIGNING ON 

You'll get a confirmation that the operation completed successfully. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect. You've just disabled digital driver signing in Windows 7. 

» Perform a driver scan now!

7 Hidden Tricks about your Operating System

Few tips for Windows 7 and OSX Lion that can save time and make you more productive

WINDOWS 7   
CREATE A WIRELESS HOTSPOT 

With some free software, you can convert your Windows 7 laptop (or desktop with a Wi-Fi card) into a wireless router to share internet with others. Just get Connectify (www. connectify.me) or Virtual Router (http://virtualrouter.codeplex.com) to enable this feature. Connectify and Virtual Router will not work on older editions of Windows.

VIRTUAL WINDOWS XP 
There are several reasons why you would want to run Windows XP virtually within Windows 7. Maybe you have programs that only work in XP or maybe you're
nostalgic. Whatever your reasons, you can download the necessary files from Here.

WINDOWS MEDIA CENTER 

Windows Media Center (built into Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions) offers more than just multimedia. It offers a 10 foot interface so that you can connect your PC to a TV and enjoy your content on a larger screen. Plus, it displays album art nicely and can stream all sorts of free content.

PLAY NICE WITH XBOX 360 

If you have a Xbox 360 connected to the same network as your Windows 7 PC, you can use Windows Media Center (WMC) to stream photos, music and videos. On the Xbox, note down the 8-digit key from the WMC section in Apps. In WMC, click Tasks > Add Extender and enter the 8-digit key. Now you can access content on the Xbox.

LAUNCH APPS QUICKLY 

Users of older editions of Windows probably don't know that with Windows 7, you can launch programs by just typing their name. Just click the Start button, start typing the name of the program you want to launch and the results will appear real time as you type. Just highlight the correct one and hit the enter button.

PLAY GOD FOR YOUR PC

There are various settings available for Windows 7, sometimes in various places (like control panel, personalisation, network settings menu and so on. With God Mode, you can have all settings in one place. Create a folder & name it GodMode. {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. More info at Active God mode.

THE PROBLEM STEPS RECORDER 

Sometimes when something goes wrong with your PC, you could spend all day trying to figure out the problem. Instead, use the Problem Steps Recorder to record what's going wrong and send it to someone more knowledgeable for a quick diagnosis. Click the start button and type PSR to bring up the Problem Steps Recorder (psr.exe) — click on 'Start Record' and run through the problem again.

MAC OS X LION 
GET THE DICTIONARY MEANING 

If you want to get the dictionary meaning for a particular word, simply take the cursor over the word and double tap the trackpad using three fingers. The text will get highlighted in yellow and a pop up box will show you the dictionary definition and synonyms from the built in thesaurus.

SEARCH SPECIFIC FILE TYPES ONLY 

While searching using the search box in Finder, type 'kind:' followed by the first alphabet of the file type you are searching for (example, type P for PDF or D for DOC). A drop down menu will show you a list of various file types to choose from. Select the file type you are looking for and then type in the name of the file to search.

REMOTELY WIPE DATA 

If you have setup an iCloud account on OSX Lion, just by logging in to your account from another system, you can send a remote wipe command. This is useful to remotely wipe all the data from the hard drive in case of theft. Note that FileVault encryption service should be activated for this to work.

PREVIEW YOUR SEARCH RESULTS

When you search for anything in OS X Lion using the desktop Spotlight search icon in the top bar, you can get a preview of the search results. Simply move the pointer over one of the search results and it will show you a quick look panel with a preview of the particular file's contents. Note that this works with documents and images only.

LAUNCHPAD WALLPAPER STYLE 

By default, LaunchPad displays the installed applications over a blurred image of your desktop wallpaper. If you don't like that look, then simply press 'Control + Option + Command + B' to switch between various background effect styles.

ADD DIGITAL SIGNATURES TO A PDF 

Open a pdf file in the Preview application instead of Adobe Reader and press Shift + Command + A to bring up the annotations toolbar. Click on Signatures and select 'Create signature from iSight'. Now, sign on a blank piece of paper and hold it up in front of the webcam — it will save your signature digitally. Whenever you want to include your signature in a PDF, just select it from the toolbar and insert it on the page.

SECURE EMPTY TRASH 

Hold the Command button on the keyboard and then alternate (right) click on the Trash icon on the icon dock. The pop up menu will display 'Secure Empty Trash' instead of just 'Empty trash'. The benefit of Secure Empty Trash is that the deleted files cannot be recovered by anyone using basic data recovery tools. Note that using the Secure Empty Trash feature takes more time to empty the trash than normal.

How to Activate GodMode in Windows 7

Want to activate GodMode in Windows 7? Here's how!

Windows 7 users are all abuzz about the OS and its GodMode. If you haven't heard of it, GodMode is a feature that was revealed by CNet's Microsoft Correspondent, Ina Fried. GodMode is a folder that brings together a long list of customization settings allowing you to change all your settings from one place. Neat huh? It's very easy to enable and damn useful if you tweak things around a lot.

I've broken it down into five-step process to avoid confusion:

Step 1: Right click.

Step 2: Click create folder.

Step 3: Name your sparkly, new folder this, "GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}" and press enter.

Step 4: Blink as the folder changes form to look like the control panel.

Step 5: Open the folder and bask in all your godly, control panel-y power.

Upgrade from Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller to Windows Server 2008

Introduction

I have been using Windows Server 2003 for years and I believe its time to shift and try using Windows Server 2008, I have downloaded RC0 and decided to Upgrade my Domain Controller, which is also a DNS & DHCP Server to Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition RC0. In this article, I will show you step by step how to perform an in-place upgrade for a Domain Controller from Windows Server 2003 To Windows Server 2008 RC0

Note: This article was written when Windows Server 2008 was still RC0. Changes might occur later once the product is RTM'd Upgrade Steps

1. On you Windows Server 2003 DC, insert the Windows Server 2008 DVD, and then open command prompt and run the following commands, make sure first to browse to the adprep directory inside the Windows 008 DVD , in my case case, the F drive is the DVD Drive letter, so to browse to the adprep directory I would write the following inside cmd:cd f:\sources\adprerp
   
   
   adprep/ forestprep

• 
  adprep/ domainprep
• adprep/ rodcprep (Optional, if you plan to add a Read Only Domain Controller Later)
  
  
  
  

2. If the Install Windows page did not auto run before the previous step, double click on your DVD drive where you have inserted the Windows Server 2008 DVD, then Click on Install now
   
3. A please wait screen will be followed, then a page to decide what to do, either to go online and get the latest updates for installation or to skip going online by clicking on the Do not get the latest updates for installation option
   
   
   
   
   I will perform the updates later, so for the purpose of this article, I will click on Do not get the latest updates for installation
   
   
4. Enter the product key, click Next
   
   
5. Accept the license terms and click on Next
   
   
6. What we need to do is to upgrade our server, so click on the Upgrade option
   
   
7. The compatibility report will be displayed telling you what hardware might not function once upgrade is completed , also to check with software vendors to check if their software are compatible with Windows Server 2008. click Next
   
   
8. Upgrade is now in process
   
   
9. The Server will be restarted automatically several times, the Upgrade process will continue with the remaining operations:
   • Expanding Files
   • Installing Features and updates
   • Completing Upgrade


After multiple restarts, the Upgrade process will be completed and you will be able to start using your Windows Server 2008.

Summary

In this article, I showed you how to do an in-place upgrade for Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller to Windows Server 2008. The steps are easy and straightforward, just make sure while reading the compatibility report, if any of the hardware/software installed on your Server are compatible with Windows Server 2008.