Protect your family and computer with Windows SteadyState

If you're having kids who use the computer frequently, then it may happen once in a while that important settings were changed, or malware and other unwanted software was installed.
That's why Windows SteadyState may be the ideal program for you.

Windows SteadyState is mainly Parental Control software, where you can create several different user profiles and for each of the profiles you can set restrictive policies.
Example of Windows Restrictions, Feature restrictions and Block programs:




Also, under the general tab, you can set how long your kid may use the computer and you can lock the user profiles in order to prevent that they are making important changes.


But the feature I love the most is the "Windows Disk Protection".
With this option enabled, you can make all changes back undone - it clears all changes that were made during the last user session and resets it to the condition it was in before. A simple reboot is needed to reset it. You can also modify the settings and set it to retain changes temporarily + adjust the date when it should revert itself to a previous condition.
Or you can select to retain all changes permanently.

This is ideal in cases when the computer gets infected, or important settings were changed, or a program is causing problems after install or update etc etc..
As a matter of fact - anyone could use this feature if you like to test several settings on your computer, install software to betatest or perform any important system change if you're not sure what the outcome may be. Just revert to a previous condition if it didn't work out or retain the changes.

Windows SteadyState is for *FREE
*only for genuine Windows XP / Vista

Dial-a-Fix -- Fix most common Windows issues

One of the tools I have been using a lot of times with success is Dial-a-fix (DAF), developed by DjLizard.
And that's why I wanted to blog about it - this to make people aware that most common Windows issues can actually be fixed with one single tool, instead of creating several different fixes such as registry fixes, batches etc...
Even though this tool is meant for Power users, technicians, it's safe to use without technical experience. However, guidance is still recommended.

Some examples of what it fixes:

* Windows Installer
* Windows Update
* Registration of ActiveX, Control Panel Applets, Explorer/IE/OE/Shell, OLE...
* Reinstall of BITS, Windows Firewall, WMI, Help and Support, defrag... and so many more.

Take a look at the following screenshots to find out what options/fixes it contains:



And the Tools option (Hammer below in the main screen):



Many programs/tools, or malware may change default settings, break applications, so the idea behind Dial-a-fix is to fix problems by resetting everything back to their original Microsoft defaults.
For example, if you have been using Registry Cleaners, System Tweaking tools which I do not recommend, then Dial-a-Fix may be the solution to restore what above tools have broken.

Dial-a-Fix is mainly developed for Windows XP, but it also works under 98, 98SE, ME, 2000 and Server 2003. It doesn't support Vista yet.

Important note.. Before you use Dial-a-fix, make sure you read the WARNINGS section on the Dial-a-fix site first.

And in case you need assistance with Dial-a-fix, or there are problems with Dial-a-fix, post your issues here.