Windows Vista Troubleshooting for why Vista Runs Slow

Windows Vista Slow

2008-10-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

There are number of reason why windows vista slows. Here are the few important point for vista slow working.

1) Vista runs slow because of registry error or other system errors. In most of the cases say 90 % time it is because of registry error windows vista work vary slow. Performance of windows vista depends on registry. As less registry problem you will get more speed. More registry error it means vista runs vary slowly.

2) virus issue. Try some good anti virus(Free Download spyware doctor and Nortran security scan). perform full vista system scan.

Some other Checklist for why windows Vista slow performance :-

1. Machine meets minimum hardware requirements
2. Clean Installation of windows vista instead of upgrade (Avoid upgrade)
3. Latest Drivers for hardware - Try DriverQuery, or check manufacturer site.
4. Sleep and Hibernation

1) system must have minimum hardware configuration
CPU - 1.7 GHz, RAM - 1 GB, Graphics card - 128 MB (256 best) andDisk - 80 GB

2) clean installation instead of upgrade from XP

If It require to upgrade, then first install the Vista Upgrade Advisor and then follow every instruction given by upgrade advisor. Otherwise your upgrade to windows Vista will result in vista slow perfomance.

3) install latest drivers for your hardware
Got to command prompt and check the version of drivers
Type following command:
DriverQuery /?
DriverQuery /v
DriverQuery /v /fo list
DriverQuery /v /fo csv > driverq.txt
Search latest driver from manufacturer's site.

4)Vista Firewall

If you have network connectivity and issue from Vista to the other computer or server.
Instructions to Turn Windows Firewall Off Click on:
Click on Start - setting -Control Panel
• Network Connections
• Network and Sharing Center
• Windows Firewall
• Turn Windows Firewall on or off (Left Panel)
Disabling firewall is a temporary solution.
Sleep and Hibernation
vista work slow when emerged from either sleep or hibernation.

Try some simple check list That tells you why Windows Vista Runs Slowly.
Check the Task Manager (Press Ctrl +Shift +Esc), Processes Tab. Anything suspicious?

If virus checker is active all the time then it may slow down computer.

Vista Runs Slowly

2008-02-28T06:06:00.000-08:00

As in last post I have mentioned few points about vista slow working. And here is more update about why Vista Runs Slowly. Again I can say that most of the time two major issues are registry error and virus issue() for windows vista running slow.

Hear are few more check list for why does vista run slowly.

1) First of all Disable the fancy high graphics Vista Interface and return to the "Classic" windows interface. To do this right click on the desktop and go to "Personalize" you can then click on "Theme" and change it to "Windows Classic".

2) Go to the Control Panel and hit "Classic View" on the left side panel, this will bring easy navigation.
Then click on the "Performance Rating and Tools" button.
This will provide lot of features for select / deselect to improve the windows vista performance. Uncheck the unnecessary features it may solve the vista runs slow problem.

3)Again on the left side click on "Advanced Tools" and go to "Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows" somewhere at the bottom. Under the "Visual Effects" tab click on "Adjust for best performance".

4). In the same window under the "Advanced" tab you can choose the size of your page file or virtual memory size. This will improve the performance of vista but you require some technical skill to make changes to page file size otherwise it may disturb the working of the system. This will help to Speed UP Windows Vista .

5).You can also use performance tools in the Control Panel > Performance Rating and Tools to look for suggestions from Vista as to why windows vista is running slow. Check under the "Performance Issues" area.

Howto Speed Up Windows Vista

2008-02-17T01:23:00.000-08:00

Windows vista is great operating, but heavy when it comes to hardware resource

There are lots of debate about Vista Runs Slowly , windows vista slow and how to speed up windows vista.

Hear are few ways you can speed up windows vista.

Try some good anti virus (Free spyware doctor and Nortran security scan)

1) Add some more RAM and buy better hard disk (which has 8mb to 16mb of cache).

2) Keep your hardware drivers up to date and make sure they are vista compatible.
3) Uninstall some program which is not needed.
4) Open control panel and click on uninstall program to launch vista uninstall or change program windows. On left tasks pan click turn windows features on or off

Check the list of features. Which is shown in the figures uncheck (turn of some windows vista features) the features which are not necessary.

Make sure there are less program running in the background this will SPEED UP WINDOWS VISTA. Looking at the system tray (next to the clock at bottom right). If you see more icons there that means more program running in the background which make windows Vista Slow.
Disable few program type msconfig at run.

Now you can see many icons at taskbar tray. you can see a volume / speaker icon, battery power icon, Sidebar icon, , QuickTime, network status icons etc Steam occupy parts of the tray. This programs loads every time windows vista start soo this will reduce the speed of windows vista.

Disable the windows vista aero theme which uses lots of memory that reduce the speed of windows vista.

To get rid of Aero entirely, use the Windows Classic, Windows Vista Basic, or Windows Standard theme. Right-click the desktop, clicks Personalize, and click Windows Color and Appearance. Click Open Classic Appearance Properties.. and choose a theme in the Color Scheme list box. Click OK.

Windows Vista tips & Vista troubleshooting

2007-03-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

Vista tips:Windows vista troubleshooting tips

Windows Vista Troubleshooting Tips - Excessive CPU usage

Many people have experienced problems with processes using an excessive amount of CPU after the installation of some programs. While some of these are easy to pinpoint using the Task Manager (accessed by right clicking on the taskbar and selecting Task Manager , others, such as when the process is SVCHOST.EXE can be a bit more difficult. With the customization of views of windows vista in task manager combined with using the Tasklist command from a command prompt, you can easily narrow down the potential causes of this problem.

Windows Vista Troubleshooting Steps

There are a couple of steps to easily troubleshoot these problems – the first involves getting the proper information to figure out what is causing the problem.

In the following example we are going to use a problem encountered with NOD32 antivirus causing an excessive CPU usage with SVCHOST.EXE (which seems to be a common and difficult process to troubleshoot).

First open Task Manager, go the view tab, select the ‘Select Columns’ option, then click on the checkbox that says ‘PID (Process Identifier) – this will help figure out exactly which process is causing the problem when dealing with processes like SVCHOST.EXE which have multiple processes running at any given time.

Then go back to Task Manager and click on the CPU in the top line to order processes by the amount of CPU they are currently using (also make sure there is a checkmark in the box at the bottom that says ‘Show processes from all users’) – you may have to click CPU twice to get the processes that are using the most CPU at the top.

*Note in this example svchost.exe is showing a usage of 50% - this machine has Hyperthreading enabled, on machines without it this would read 100%.

Once you have determined the process and its associated PID you will need to open a command prompt – . type following command: ‘TASKLIST /SVC /FO LIST’ – it is not case sensitive.
This will give you a list of all processes, their PID’s and the services that each one is controlling.

vista troubleshooting contine

windows Vista adiitional clock
Windows Vista, you can add additional clocks to the system tray. Click the clock, and then click Date and Time Settings. Click the Additional Clocks tab. You can add one or two additional clocks to the tray and select their time zones.

Fast shutdown Windows vista

Open Regedit (WINDOWS KEY + R on your keyboard, or by clicking Start and typing on the search bar "regedit" without quotes. Hit Enter

Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control] On the right panel look for the "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" string and change it value to 1000 by right clicking the string and selecting Modify...

Default Value WaitToKillServiceTimeout=20000

Modified value WaitToKillServiceTimeout=5000
Modified value WaitToKillServiceTimeout=1000 (extreme, use it at your own risk)

I found 3000 worked nicely but try the 5000 first. 3000 does sometimes leave some programs lagging which then need a further key click.

Windows Vista need High end graphic card

Why is Vista’s graphics card requirement so high? To be able to run Vista’s new Aero user interface, you need a lot more graphics card power than you do for the standard interface. This is because Aero uses DirectX and this means that the majority of the work is carried out by the GPU on the graphics card as opposed to the CPU. You can choose to run Windows without Aero (business systems need not ever use it), but it's good to have the option to run it if you want.

While it is indeed possible to run Aero when your PC is equipped with a graphics card that has 64MB of RAM, not all cards can do this and the experience is sluggish at best. Microsoft recommends having 128MB of memory on the graphics card, but I think that given the price of cards now, 256MB should be what you aim for.

Windows Vista tips

windows vista Hardware Requirements

2007-03-02T23:16:00.000-08:00

Hardware requirements
According to Microsoft corp, computers capable of running Windows Vista are classified as Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready.[28] A Vista Capable or equivalent PC needs to have at minimum an 800 MHz processor, 512 MB RAM and a DirectX 9 class graphics card. A computer that meets these requirements will be capable of running all editions of Windows Vista although some of the special features and high end graphics options may require additional or more advanced hardware. A Vista Premium Ready PC will take advantage of Vista's "high-end" features but will need at least a 1.0 GHz processor, 1 GB main memory, and an Aero-compatible graphics card with at least 128 MB graphics memory and supporting the new Windows Display Driver Model. The company also offers Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor[29] from its website to determine the ability of a PC to run Vista in its various guises. The utility runs on Windows XP (with Service Pack 2) and Windows Vista.
Microsoft lists some Vista capable hardware on their website. The "Windows Vista Premium Ready" laptops they specify have Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 or above CPUs and 1 GB memory.[30]
Windows Vista's "Basic" and "Classic" interfaces will work with virtually any graphics hardware that supports Windows XP or 2000; accordingly, most discussion around Vista's graphics requirements centers on those for the Windows Aero interface. As of Windows Vista Beta 2, the NVIDIA GeForce FX family and later, the ATI Radeon 9500 and later, Intel's GMA 950 integrated graphics, and a handful of VIA chipsets and S3 Graphics discrete chips are supported.[31] Though some XGI Technology Volari chips were DirectX 9 (including the Volari V3XT which was available in PCI cards), with XGI's exit from the graphics card business it appears none of its chips are supported as of Vista Beta 2. A PCI Express (PCIe) video card is not a requirement for Windows Aero, but Microsoft recommends PCIe video over an AGP device due to the interface's greater bandwidth.[32] There are some PCI cards available that are compatible with Windows Vista as well.
Windows Vista system requirements Vista Capable Vista Premium Ready
Processor 800 MHz 1.0 GHz Memory 512 MB RAM 1 GB RAM Graphics card DirectX 9 capable DirectX 9 capable GPU with Hardware Pixel Shader v2.0 and WDDM driver support Graphics memory N/A 128 MB RAM supports up to 2,756,000 total pixels (e.g. 1920 × 1200) or 512 MB+ for greater resolutions such as 560x1600
HDD capacity 20 GB 40 GB HDD free space 15 GB 15 GB Other drives DVD-ROM DVD-RW

Windows Vista guides

2007-02-22T10:03:00.000-08:00

Speeding Up Internet Searches,Internet Security for Free

2007-02-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

Increase your Internet surfing speed by Google

Google is here to help again,this time with a software that will considerably increase your surfing speed and save you a lot of time.Google Web Accelerator is a FREE application developed by Google that speeds up web browsing by pre-fetching and caching the sites you visit often,which leads to a faster page load for those with high speed connections (DSL or Cable). Dial up speeds are improved only marginally.This tool has a little indicator that keeps you informed on the total web browsing time it has saved you. It does not cache/store any sensitive data that uses the HTTPS protocol - effectively meaning that your internet banking transactions are safe and never stored on a Google server.But there is also a little cach to this.For accelerating internet speed google keeps a check of our browsing habits,that is it keeps a record of the sites we visit often.But they do state that they won’t sell sensitive information.Anyways the google search that we use everyday also tracks our search results(if you didnt know that yes it does).So this is not of much concern.All in all,Google Web Accelerator is really worth it.It can effectively maximize your browsing speed and it works both in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.So give it a try.

Speeding Up Internet Searches

When you go to a web site, the first thing that happens is that a query goes out to the DNS server for IP address of the web site.In order to eliminate this query, you can simply add the IP address and web name into the HOSTS file in the Windows directory.To find the IP address, just PING the web name (ping www.blogger.com)
Showing Your Actual Modem's Connection Speed
Normally when you open up the modem icon in the system try, it shows the port connect speed.So
see your actual modem speed:
Go Control Panel Open up the Modems icon Click Properties Click on the Connection tab Click the Advanced button In the Extr Settings, put ATW2L0 (the last character is a zero) Increasing Modem Performance

To increase modem performance when connecting to the Internet:

Disable compression on your modem In SYSTEM.INI under 386enh section put in: COMxBUFFER=1024 (x is your modem port number ) Add AT%C0 (that's a zero),to the extra settings line of your modem's properties. Switch errror correction off

Backing Up Your ISP Settings
If you want to save your ISP settings (name, phone, login id etc.) for future installations:
Start Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ RemoteAccess Select Registry / Export Registry Make sure Selected branch is checked For the name, enter any name that will help you remember the purpose of the .reg file Now if you need to restore your ISP settings after a new installation of Windows, you just need to import this file Forcing Alpha-Numeric Passwords
In order to force passwords that just use alpha-numeric characters
Start Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Network Create a DWORD entry called AlphanumPwds Give it a value of 1

Using More Than One Modem at a Time

(Win98, WinME and Win2000) If you have two phone lines in your home and want to use them both to dial out,you can use MultiLink, which will effectively double your connection speed.
Create a dial-up connection like your normally would.
Right click on the icon and select Properties
Click on the Multilink tab
Click on Use additional devices
Click on the Add
Click on the other modem you would like to use
If your ISP allows, you can use the same phone number, otherwise enter an additional phone number to dial.
You should now connect with both modems.
You can confirm this by opening up your dial up connection in the System Tray after you connect.

Backing Up Your ISP Settings

If you want to save your ISP settings (name, phone, login id etc.) for future installations:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ RemoteAccess
Select Registry / Export Registry
Make sure Selected branch is checked
For the name, enter any name that will help you remember the purpose of the .reg file
Now if you need to restore your ISP settings after a new installation of Windows, you just need to import this file

Test your Computer and Internet Security for Free!!!!!!

Internet is a swarm of malicious code and pesky hackers ready at all times to peek into your personal data and information. One should never forget that there are many people trying to get access to your machine without you knowing it.
The first thing you must do is to get an Anti spyware software,Firewall and an Anti virus software. These three are the bare essentials that one must have.
But the problem is not solved by just installing and using these softwares.
Due to new worms,trojans and spyware being created everyday it is very important to continuously monitor the efficiency of these softwares.
HERE ARE TWO SOURCES WHERE YOU CAN TEST YOUR INTERNET SECURITY FOR FREE !!!!!
1. GRC.com :This will check all the open ports on your computer and will basically check the integrity of your firewall.It will warn you of almost all the vulnerabilities your computer might be at risk with.So a MUST CHECK OUT

2.Symantec Security check :This test is by Symantec,the creator of Norton Anti virus....as everyone would know.This scan will check your computer for possible virus and trojan threats and vulnerability of your Pc to hackers.
It is strongly advised to run these tests and test how powerful and efficient your computer security is ?
Also check out the Best Antispyware softwares on the net .

Windows Vista Troubleshooting Tips

MS ACESS GUIDE,Manage your personal contacts with MS Access

2007-02-14T23:49:00.000-08:00

If you had to store the contact details of your friends and relatives, you would most probably write them in the traditional phone diary.

Now imagine preparing invitations for all your friends and relatives, who live in say, New Delhi. It would be a daunting task to go through the complete phone book to bring out a list of relatives from Delhi.

If you had maintained your contact details in a database, you would have got the complete list in a matter of seconds, no matter how big the size of records in your database is, and that too, just by typing a couple of words. Welcome to the wonderful word of databases. And welcome to the magic of MS Access.

What is a database?

Word, Excel and Powerpoint -- we may have used or tried using all of these. Access, the fourth important application in the MS Office suite has long been looked upon as a highly intimidating database software. However in reality, MS Access is extremely easy to use. And extremely useful too. You can do things that you have never imagined, with MS Access.

Before learning how to use Access, let us understand what are databases. To do that, we need to think about data. A database is a collection of data related to each other. All the data about your friends and relatives in your diary are related data.

Using MS Access, you cannot only make databases, but you can also create and print custom reports, query and sort data according to your preference.

Creating the database

We begin by showing you how to create small applications using the built-in wizard, which allows you to create applications like contact management, inventory management, ledgers etc.

To start Access, click Start->Programs->Microsoft Office->Microsoft Access. Access starts with only a task pane and an empty window. Now let's start creating the first database using the Access wizard.

Click on Create a New file link in the task pane on the right-hand side of the screen. On the next screen, under Templates heading, click on My Computer and in the dialog box that appears, click on Databases. Then choose the database type that most closely matches your need. These steps are for Access 2003.

For earlier versions of MS Access, open MS Access, click File-> New and select the option General Templates, go to the Databases tab, from this window you can select the database type that most closely matches your need. Here, we will go ahead with Contact Management database, as we want to organise the contact details of the people we know, and click OK.

Now provide a name for the database, select the location where you would like to store this database and click Create. Once the database is created, you will see a wizard that will ask you specific questions about creating your database and will also help you customise the database.

Customising the database

For the example used, MS Access will show you all the tables it will create in the database and what information these tables will contain. All the mandatory fields in the tables will be checked beforehand and the optional fields will be unchecked. You can check the optional fields that you require and proceed further.

The next few steps let choose the Graphical User Interface for your application. In other words, they would help you define how the application being created by you will look and feel.

These steps ask you about the style for screen display (the place where you will add/edit/delete/view data); they will also help you decide the look and feel of the reports you will print.

Once you have finalised the database, you will be presented with a simple screen that will list all the elements in the database in the form of buttons. This screen is called the 'switchboard' and in most likelihood, the main switchboard will have a sub-switchboard.

You can use the various predefined reports and query the database for any specific data that you may require. You may query the database for all the contacts where 'city = Delhi', this query will yield you details of all the contacts who reside in Delhi.

Now using this switchboard, you can add data, view data, generate reports, etc. You can create many useful applications like Asset tracking, Expenses Management, Inventory control, Ledgers and accounts, Billing, etc.

This powerful application lets you create more easy-to-use and powerful applications in a matter of minutes. Now go ahead and automate your day-to-day work and manage data in a more convenient way.

Databases for specific needs

The wizards let you create databases, which are predefined in MS Access. Now, to create a database/application to suit your specific need, you need to follow different steps.

Say, you wish to create a database to manage your digital photographs. To create an application of this sort, you do not have a predefined database in Access. To do so, you need to know databases in a bit more detail, or else you can search the Internet for templates for the task you need to do. You may visit the following link and view the MS Access templates listed or you may search internet for the template that you would need.

Windows Vista Troubleshooting Tips

the basics of MS Word,Dummies' guide for MS Word,

2007-02-10T04:10:00.000-08:00

MS Word, the most widely used application of the MS Office suite.

Now, I explore some of the more advanced features that are commonly used.
Tables
There are quite a few scenarios that are better understood in tabular format than in long paragraphs. MS Word allows you to draw tables.

Before you decide to leave the tables to Microsoft Excel, think about a situation where you need to put in tables along with text -- like, for instance, a table showing your score in all semesters of your Bachelor's degree in your resume. This is where tables help you in MS Word. Adding tables to a word document isn't that tough.

To create tables click: Table -> Insert -> Tables. Specify the number of rows and columns you require, click 'OK' and the table gets displayed on the document.
Each rectangular area in the table is called a cell (if you have a table with three columns and six rows, you will have a total of 18 cells). You can enter data in each of these cells by clicking on the empty area inside them.

Similar to formatting text, the table and the data in the table can be formatted. To do so, click: Table -> Table Autoformat.
The window that opens up gives you a host of predefined formats or styles. These changes can be applied to the complete table or to a few specific components of the table by playing with the options section on the AutoFormat window (Heading Row, Last Row, First Column, Last Column). Moreover, you can also see the preview before you apply the changes to the table.
While working with tables, you might realise that the number of columns and rows you had initially specified is less or in excess. No need to worry. With a few clicks you can delete and add rows and columns.

To insert a new row at the top/ middle/ end of the table, you just need to place the cursor at the left of the table until you see an arrow. Now click the left button of the mouse and the whole row would be selected.

Click: Table -> Insert -> Row Below / Row Above as per your need.
To add columns, place the cursor at the top of the column until it becomes an arrow pointing downwards.
Now click the left button of the mouse to select the entire column, click: Table -> Insert -> columns to right/ columns to left option.
Similarly you can delete rows and columns by selecting: Table -> Delete -> Row/ Column/ Table.

Now, we look at some more MS Word features.
Autocorrect
While typing, you are bound to make typographical errors (including typing incorrect spellings, punctuation, etc). The Autocorrect feature in Word tries to correct simple errors. Words that cannot correct themselves are underlined to attract your attention.

To set the rules for the AutoCorrect feature, click: Tools -> AutoCorrect
This pop-up has several tabs with different properties that you can play with. Check out all the features under these tabs. Most of these are self-explanatory and easy to use. Spending a few minutes in understanding and customising these properties would definitely help you work smarter with Word.

Spelling and Grammar check

After completing your Word document, you will see some red and green coloured wavy lines under some words. These lines indicate an error in those particular words/ phrases.
Green lines specify grammatical errors while the red lines are for spelling errors. To correct these, you can right click (on your mouse) individually on all the occurrences of these coloured strokes and select the correct option from the list of possible solutions provided.
You can also press the 'F7' button on your keyboard to guide you through the grammar and spell check options -- this gives you the choice to apply the changes suggested by word, to make your own changes, to keep it as it is or add the word to the dictionary (this means Word will recognise the word the next time you use it). There may be a few grammar rules and spellings or slang that Word may not be aware of; hence, these will show up as errors.

Find

In case you need to find a specific word in a big document, it might take you hours to go through the whole document. You might also need to replace a word/ phrase occurring n number of times in the whole document with some other word/ phrase. Word can complete the whole job in a matter of seconds.
To make word perform this boring job, simply click, Edit -> Find.
Toggle between the 'More' and 'Less' buttons to get more search options like searching for words in the 'same case' and a few other options.
The 'Replace' tab on the same page gives you an option to specify two different words/ phrases.
This feature can be used to replace an existing phrase in the document with a new one.
Create document without typing
Ever imagined creating a big document without touching your keyboard? Seems to be a fairy tale. Not anymore.
You can use your microphone to dictate words to your computer and Microsoft Word will automatically translate the speech into text. To do so, click Tools -> speech (only available for Word 2003 and later versions). For the first time you would need to follow the wizard to create a training profile.
Once you have completed this, you can use the speech to text feature to create a 100-page document without typing a single word. For good results, you need to speak clearly and slowly.
With this, we come to the end of the tutorial for Microsoft word. Most Microsoft products have a good inbuilt help feature, which can be invoked by 'F1'. I hope you had a good learning experience.

1. A list of shortcut keys

There are loads of predefined shortcuts for MS Word. Remembering all the shortcuts can be difficult but this is how you can do it.
To generate the list, Click Tools -> Macro -> Macro. Select 'Word Commands' from the 'Macros in' list. Now, from the list of the macros available, select 'List Commands'. Click 'Run'. From the 'List Commands' dialog box, click 'Current menu and keyboard settings'. Click 'OK'. The Marco will run and generate a table with all the shortcuts.

2. Secure your Word documents by password-protecting them

Just click: 'File -> Save As' and click the 'Tools' button. Now select 'General Options'. You can add two kinds of passwords; the first password to open the document and the second, to allow modification of the document.

3. Streamline the toolbar

If there are too many toolbars (they are horizontal row of icons just below the menu bar, which provide easy access to functions performed through Menu bar) on the screen you can close a few of them by clicking 'view ->Toolbars -> click any of the toolbar which has a check next to it and is not required. The unchecked toolbar will disappear from your screen.
Next, create a toolbar for features you use frequently.
Click 'View -> Toolbars -> customize'. Click on the 'Toolbars' tab and click on the 'New' button. Give the toolbar a name.
To add icons to the toolbar click on the 'commands' tab in this window and select the category of the Icon you ant to add to the toolbar. Example, if you want to add the icon for adding table on this tool bar, select the 'Category' as 'Table' and select 'Insert Table' from 'commands' column. Now, while pressing the left mouse button, drag the 'Insert Table' option to the new toolbar.
Select 'Normal/ Microsoft Word' to make it available whenever you work on MS Word.

4. Language

If you are using more than one language (English + another language) in the document and want spell check to skip checking the second language, then:
~ Select the block of text you want the Speller to skip.
~ Choose 'Language' from the 'Tools' menu, then choose 'Set Language'. ~ Check the 'Do not check spelling and grammar' check box.
~ Click 'OK'. When the Speller is finished, you'll see the message: 'The spelling and grammar check is complete.
Text marked with "Do not check spelling and grammar" would have been skipped.

5. Synonyms for words

Type the word on a document. Right click on the word and select 'Synonym' from the menu and you will get a list of all possible synonyms. Unfortunately, some types of formatting disable this feature. For example, if the word is in a bullet or numbered list item, the synonym option does not appear when you right-click.

6. Word documents

The document created in higher version of MS Word might not open in any lower version of MS Word. Even if it opens, you might lose some formatting that you had done.
For example, the document created in MS Word 2003 might not open correctly in MS Office 2000 or earlier. In case you want to create a document that will work fine in earlier versions, you can save the file in a format supported by the earlier versions of MS Word. To do so follow the below steps:
Click File -> Save As
In the 'Save as type' box, select the file type you want to use. In the list of options you will see the options such as 'Word 5.0', 'Word 6.0', 'Word 97-2000' etc. Select the version you wish to save your word file in and click 'Save As'.
If you're not sure what file type will work (such as when you are sending a document to someone else), choose Rich Text Format (*.rtf) or WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS (*.doc).

7. Manage big Word documents with ease.

When working with a long document, if you wish to revisit a particular page again to make changes, you can use hidden 'bookmarks' to quickly go to the particular area. To add a bookmark, click where you want to place the bookmark. Now click, Insert -> Bookmark. Assign a name to your bookmark and click 'Add'.
When you wish to access this part of the text, simply press 'F5' to open the 'Find and Replace' dialog box. Click the 'Go To' tab and type the bookmark name in the 'Enter Page Number' field and click 'Go To' button to move directly to the text you have book marked.

8. Using tables

You can create tables in Microsoft Word by simply typing out a string of PLUS SIGNS (+) and MINUS SIGNS (-).
Start the row with a plus sign (+) and then type minus sign (-) until you have the column width you want. To add a new column type plus sign (+) again. When you're done type a final plus sign (+) and press 'ENTER'. Word turns your text into a table. To add more rows to your table, move to the last cell in the table and press 'TAB'.
Note: If this tip doesn't work for you, you need to turn on the 'AutoFormat' feature in Word. To do this, on the 'Tools' menu, click 'AutoCorrect'. Then, click the 'AutoFormat As You Type' tab and select the 'Tables' check box.

9) Change the default 'open' and 'save' folder

Whenever you click the 'open' / 'save' file dialog box, the default directory it refers to it as 'My Document'. By setting the default folder, whenever you access the 'Save' file and 'Open' file window, you do not have to specify the location where you need to save the file or open the file from.
To do so click Tools -> Options. Click on the 'File Locations' tab. Click 'Documents' under the 'File Types' and then click 'Modify'. Now locate the 'folder' which you want to set as the default folder for the Open File / Save File window. Click 'OK' to select the location and again click 'OK'.

10) Modify the custom dictionary

You can add, delete and edit the words in a custom dictionary. Click Tools -> Options and click the 'Spelling and Grammar' tab. Click 'Custom Dictionaries / Dictionaries' Check the checkbox corresponding to the dictionary you want to edit. Click 'Modify' and perform any of the following actions:
~ To add a word, type the word in the 'Word' box and click 'Add'.
~ To delete a word, select it in the 'Dictionary' box and click 'Delete'.
~ To edit a word, select it in the 'Dictionary' box, modify it and then click 'Add' and delete the previous version

Windows Vista Troubleshooting Tips