Digital Compass

While tweaking registry entries, you accidentally deleted a registry key and now you can't find a way to restore it. It is always advisable to set a restore point or back up your registry before making any changes to it, To back up the registry open 'Run' in the start menu, enter 'regedit' and then click 'Ok' to start the registry editor, In windows vista on the other hand, type 'Regedit' in the start menu search box and press [Enter], In the registry Editor, click 'File Export' and select the 'Export Range' as 'All'. Type a file name and save the registry file.

If you do delete a registry key by mistake while tweaking the entries and you have not taken a backup of that key, don't panic a there is a workaround for this as well, For example, say you deleted the registry entry 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Inkfile' by mistake. This entry is responsible for all the shortcuts on your computer for all the shortcuts on your computer and deleting this well cause all the shortcuts to disappear from the start menu, quick launch as well as the system tray, Even the startup programs wont initiate if this registry key is deleted, To restore this registry key, just obtain the same one from another using PC using the same Windows version as yours and restore it to your PC.

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To export the registry key from another PC, open the registry Editor and navigate to 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Inkfile, right-click on it and select 'Export'. Type an appropriate file name and click 'Save' to save the key, After that, transfer the file to your PC using a pen drive and double-click on the file, Restart your PC after that and the lost key is restored on your computer and all your icons will be back, You can do this for any key deleted from the registry.

Note: This is not applicable to registry entries of installed third party programs or applications installed on your computer, You can only export and use the registry entries related to windows itself, Also make sure that you only use keys from the same version of windows, For example, If you are using windows XP with SP2, you can only use the registry keys from another copy of windows XP with SP2.

The windows Genuine advantage (WGA) check gets on your nerves since it blocks many downloads, You don't want to subject your legal copy of windows to a check for every minor issue and are therefore searching for an uncomplicated workaround,More often then not, it is enough to validate your system once, Windows receives a code in the process, which can be reused for further downloads. This even works on other computers if the conditions of the check are met, However, there is no guarantee as to how often and for how long the WGA code can be used. After some time, you might no longer be able to go without re-verification.

Start any download for which verification is needed in order to generate your own code. Open 'support.microsoft.com/kb/914440/en' for instance and download the tool that is offered under the heading 'Purchase the network diagnostics for windows XP' in the dialog box for the WGA check, click 'Next' and subsequently select 'Alternative method for validity check' below, when you are doing this for the first time, you must click 'Next' to install and run the verification tool. Then note down the code that you receive, enter it, and click 'check'. In the future, just enter the code when starting a download. This simplifies work, for instance if you want to download and install the same tools or hot fixes on many computers.

Windows sometimes forgets the cursor on the welcome screen, so you cannot click to enter the login password, A restart is very annoying. In many cases this problem occurs after a user logs off, However, a restart is not necessory or rather not recommended, since it also logs off other active users and destroys data that might not have been saved and takes an unnecessarily long time to reboot in the process, instead, you can deal with the problem by using the classic logon dialog box,

For that, press the [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del] keyboard shortcut twice in succession, Another login dialog box, probably familiar from earlier versions of Windows, appears, Enter the username as well as passowrd here

Note: This method works only after a user logs off and not for fast switching