PC Tutorials Online

If you access or search Wikipedia frequently and if you want to add an option to Search Wikipedia to your Windows Vista Start Menu Instant Search Box, here is what you need to do.

First, click on the Start button and type in the search box GPEDIT.MSC and press Enter. This will open the Local Group Policy Editor. Now you need to navigate to the following policy setting:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Instant Search > Custom Instant Search Internet Search Provider

Double click on the policy setting in the right side pane and set it to Enabled. Now you need to simple type the settings in the two boxes provided. For “The string or DLL resource from which to load…” option, type in “Search Wikipedia” and for “The URL to use..” type in the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%w

So it should look something like this for your group policy setting:

Pretty simple yeah? Now you would just click OK and restart your computer and you should see the option to search Wikipedia in your Instant Search box.

You can also add other search providers to the Instant Search menu, such as Google or Yahoo. For Google, use the following URL:

For Yahoo search, use the following URL instead:

The only issue you might have is if you’re running Windows Vista Home Basic or Home Premium as they do not have the option to edit the group policy settings in Vista. I believe you have to be using Vista Business or higher.

[Via WinVistaClub]

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After having a browse through Youtube, I came across a really interesting video. Blaise Aguera y Arcas is an architect at Microsoft Live Labs and has co-created a software called Photo Synth. It’s a little bit tricky to explain in text, but it’s a monumental piece of software capable of assembling static photos into a synergy of zoomable, navigatable spaces. What that means is that the software collects photos from all around the world from end-users that share their photos online and create a 3D navigatable area based on the photos provided on your computer.

Still not making sense? Watch the video, it is truly a masterpiece

Want to try it out? The software is ready to go at Photosynth.net. The speed at which it renders the pictures is amazing.

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Unlike normal downloads, torrents use multiple PC’s (peers) to re-create a file. So previewing a torrent is somewhat more difficult. However, thanks to Vertor, it’s possible to preview torrents.Using it’s advanced algorithm, it’s able to pull together enough files to create a short preview, thus making sure you don’t end up with a dud file. It’s defiantly one to bookmark.

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Auslogics has released a new edition to their lineup – a registry cleaner. What’s a registry cleaner? Well, something that cleans the windows registry .

The Windows Registry is one of the most vital and the most vulnerable to errors part of a computer. Programs access the Registry thousands of times per second and new registry entries are created whenever new software or hardware is installed.

Most programs delete their entries when they are uninstalled, but some applications leave a lot of their registry keys behind. That’s how invalid entries mount up and the Registry becomes cluttered with unused and corrupted keys and references. As a result the system needs more time to access the Registry and find the entries it needs, which causes dramatic computer slow-downs.

Auslogics Registry Cleaner is designed for fast and safe Registry clean-up and optimization. First the program offers to choose categories to scan, then scans for registry errors, and then provides the list of errors to fix. Each problem comes with a detailed description and can be solved with a click of a button.

So if your PC has become sluggish or just needs a clean out, there is no excuse no to do it. Since Auslogics Registry Cleaner is free, you can get started straight away

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