IE 8 InPrivate Mode
InPrivate Browsing prevents Internet Explorer from storing data about your browsing session. This includes cookies, temporary Internet files, history, and other data. Toolbars and extensions are disabled by default. To turn on InPrivate browsing click the InPrivate Browsing option from IE 8 Safety menu. When InPrivate Browsing is turned on, you will see the following indicator:
Categories: Security, Utilities Tags: browsing, filtering, IE, IE 8, InPrivate, InPrivate filtering, inprivate mode
IE 8 Security Settings
IE 8 allows you to group web sites into different categories where each category corresponds to a security zone. Then, each zone has its own security parameters which you can adjust according to your needs. To open Security settings, click Tools from IE 8, then click Internet options and finally click on the Security tab. The different security zones are as follows:
Local Intranet: Internal web sites that are accessed only by the internal users, such as, an organizational Intranet. By default, IE detects intranet sites automatically. However, you can add web sites to this zone by clicking the Advanced button of the Local Intranet sites dialog box. The default security level of this zone is Medium-Low but can be modify through the slider.
Categories: Security Tags: IE 8, IE Secuirty Settings, Internet Explorer, Local Intranet, Trusted Sites
Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility view
IE 8 Compatibility view allows web sites designed for previous versions of Internet Explorer to display correctly in IE 8 as well. The fastest way to enable it for a single page is by clicking the broken page icon at the end of the address bar. To access all settings, click Compatibility View settings on the Tools menu of IE 8. You can add specific web sites, by typing the web site URL in the Add this website: text box and click the Add button.
Categories: Troubleshooting, Utilities Tags: add this website, Compatibility view, Group Policies, IE, IE 8
IE 8 Pop-Up Blocker
Internet Explorer 8 allows you to customize Pop-up behavior as per your liking. Although, in general you would block all pop-up and pop-under windows from appearing automatically when browsing but there might be occasions where you may need a pop-up window to appear from a particular web site. For example, I am subscribed to some useful tech sites that from time to time run surveys and most of them use pop-ups to invite you to a survey! To open the Pop-up blocker settings, click Tools from IE 8, and then click Pop-up Blocker and finally Pop-up Blocker Settings. You can enable/disable Pop-up Blocker from the same location, that is, Tools/Pop-up Blocker/Turn On or Off Pop-up Blocker.
Managing Services in Windows 7
Services are applications that run in the background. They can start up on boot or when required and can run independently of the logged on users. The main tools that you can use when managing services are the Services Console (Services.msc), the Task Manager, the Sc.exe command line utility, and Group Policies. To troubleshoot services during startup use the msconfig utility.
The services console lists all services and provides information about each service such as, logon details, state, etc. To start the Service consoles type services in the Start search text box and click the Services link under programs.
Categories: Troubleshooting, Utilities Tags: dependencies, Group Policies, logon, process, recovery, sc.exe, service, services, Services Console, Services.msc, Task Manager
Troubleshooting lengthy startups
Windows event logs are a very important tool for monitoring the health of systems and troubleshooting issues when they arise. Since Windows Vista, Microsoft added additional logs known as Application and Service logs, so that applications and services installed on the computer will have individual logs. This category of logs includes four subtypes for which the application or service can provide events, which are Admin, Operational, Analytic, and Debug logs. Details about the category of logs will be explained in a separate article, however, a brief explanation of the Operational events is needed as to help us troubleshoot startup problems!
I have created a small application called Boot Time that helps you monitor Boot times. The Boot Time utility requires administrative privileges to run successfully, hence if you are logged as a normal user without admin rights, start the application by right-clicking BootTime.exe and then click Run as administrator. For further details read below 