The administrative options appear scattered in the Control Panel of windows 7 but when in the secret mode, the same options appear well organized under a single window.

To be precise, the so called God Mode brings in all aspects of Windows Vista/Windows 7 control in a single place. It collects all of the Control Panel functions, interface customization or other accessibility options under a single window.

The mode is also known as “All Tasks” and you can get more information about it from Windows Registry. Simply type regedit in RUN or Start Menu Searchbox and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor. Go to to following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Alternatively, you can press “Ctrl+F” in Registry Editor and search for {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} string. It’ll open the same key for you.

Registry key

Here is a simple hack that can enable you to place ALL the Tasks Control Panel and System Settings in ONE place!

Enabling Master Control Panel/God Mode in Windows

Create a new folder on your Windows desktop.

Name the folder as :

The icon will change !

Now open the folder and see the magic of Windows Registry!

You will see that the folder contains all the shortcuts to the Tasks Control Panel and System Settings.

Move the folder to the C drive, and create its shortcut there.

Cut paste this shortcut in folder C:\Users\Owner\Start Menu\Programs.

This will display the shortcut in the Start Menu for easy access.

This works quite well on my 32bit Vista Ultimate. But if you find that this hack makes your explorer.exe unstable or makes it crash, I suggest you use the cmd to delete this folder, as follows:

Run cmd and copy paste this command and hit enter :

rd “Master Control.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}”

or alternatively, if it doesnt help

rd “c:\users\%username%\desktop\Master Control.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}”

PS : This tweak is incompatible with 64-bit version of Windows Vista.

This registry hack is available in windows 7 too.

Authored By : Ramesh Kumar, MVP.

That said, with Madotate my search came to an end. Madotate is a free English language version of a Japanese developed tool that is capable of interacting with any version of Windows (98 / Me / 2000 / XP / VISTA) in 3D environment.

The tool adds a new button to the left of the minimize button of each open window, allowing you to flip a window up with its lower half receding into the distance.

The app was originally designed for Windows 2000/WP, but also seems to run fine in Vista and Windows 7. It is a wonderful freeware utility for adding the 3rd dimension to your screen. It gives you the ability to move, flip, zoom your open windows, any how you like.

Madotate Free Download

Download Madodate and extract it in a folder.

To run the utility, simply click on ‘madodate’ and you will have the utility running. You don’t have to add the registry entries which are enclosed. But if you wish, you can safely add the registry keys to your Vista. I tried it with no issues. They enable some additional features.

Madotate will add an extra button near the other 3 buttons on the top RHS of your Explorer. Clicking this will make it zoom into 3D mode.

You can now, also move the windows around keeping the left mouse button pressed. Keeping the right one pressed, allows you change the angle of the window.

Hinge it to your desktops edge, if you wish ! The mouse scroll button allows you to move the window closer or away from you. There’s a lot more you can do with this utility. Do go into its Settings and play around.

Download Madodate from HERE. Please be sure to uncheck the options for installing unwanted plugins during the installation process!

To uninstall Madodate, if you haven’t added the registry keys, simply delete the program folder. But if you have added the registry keys, then go into its Settings and select the Misc tab. There you will see a button to uninstall the utility.

So what are your choices, given that you failed to stop this never-ending cycle. Well, you can at least do a reading here as your last resort.

If when you try to install Vista SP1, you get one the following error message/s:

Service Pack did not install. Reverting changes
Installation was not successful
An internal error occurred while installing the service pack

Here are a few steps you may try:

Check and Ensure that your Windows Modules Installer Service (trustedinstaller.exe) is not disabled and stopped; but set to manual and started. This WMI Service enables installation, modification, and removal of WindowsUpdates.

Restart your computer and check Windows Update again.

Ensure that the following three updates are installed and do not show as failed: KB935509, KB938371, KB937287.

Check your hard disk for errors. Please also see this Checklist.

Disable your anti virus, firewall, anti-spyware and restart. Make sure these 3 are disabled on restart.

Run the System File Checker Tool. Open cmd and type sfc /scannowand then press ENTER.

Run the Windows Vista Memory Diagnostic Tool. Open Memory Diagnostics Tool. Click Restart Now and Check Problems. Your computer will restart and the diagnostic program will start. Note any reported errors. For more help, click KB947366.

If you get any one of these errors while trying to install Vista SP1, you might want to see Troubleshooting Windows Updates Page.

0×80070002 ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND
0x8007000D ERROR_INVALID_DATA
0x800F081F CBS_E_SOURCE_MISSING
0×80073712 ERROR_SXS_COMPONENT_STORE_CORRUPT
0x800736CC ERROR_SXS_FILE_HASH_MISMATCH
0x800705B9 ERROR_XML_PARSE_ERROR
0×80070246 ERROR_ILLEGAL_CHARACTER
0x8007370D ERROR_SXS_IDENTITY_PARSE_ERROR
0x8007370B ERROR_SXS_INVALID_IDENTITY_ATTRIBUTE_NAME
0x8007370A ERROR_SXS_INVALID_IDENTITY_ATTRIBUTE_VALUE
0×80070057 ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER
0x800B0100 TRUST_E_NOSIGNATURE
0×80092003 CRYPT_E_FILE_ERROR
0x800B0101 CERT_E_EXPIRED
0x8007371B ERROR_SXS_TRANSACTION_CLOSURE_INCOMPLETE

You can also get Free Microsoft Support regarding Vista SP1 installation problems. Microsoft is providing ‘No Charge’ support for Windows Vista Service Pack 1. This also includes Email, Chat and Phone support. If you are facing any problem while installing SP1, or after its installation, you can seek help at this Microsoft Vista SP1 Help Site. Unlimited installation and compatibility support, on Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (All Languages) is available at no charge until March 18, 2009.

It might be so, the program is better suited for a legacy version of Windows! The Program Compatibility Wizard lets you to test your program in different modes (environments) and with various settings. It lets you emulate earlier versions of Windows so that a program thinks it’s running on the operating system it requires.

Now, if you need to run the Program Compatibility Wizard frequently, you may want to create its shortcut on your Desktop.

Creating Program Compatibility Wizard shortcut in Windows

To do so, right click on an empty area on your desktop.

Select New > Shortcut.

In the first box of the Create Shortcut Wizard, copy-paste the following in the box:

%windir%\system32\mshta.exe res://%windir%\system32\acprgwiz.dll/compatmode.hta

Click Next. Name the shortcut : Program Compatibility Wizard , and click Finish.

Then select an appropriate icon for it.

Also See Make program run in Windows 7 in compatibility mode.

Windows SteadyState 2.5 supporting Windows Vista is now available. Where you manage computers in a school computer lab or an Internet cafe, a library, or even in your home, Windows SteadyState helps make it easy for you to keep your computers running the way you want them to.

Windows SteadyState includes the following features to help you manage your shared computers:

• Getting Started – Provides the initial steps to help you during your first time use of Windows SteadyState.
• Windows Disk Protection – Help protect the Windows partition, which contains the Windows operating system and other programs, from being modified without administrator approval.
  User Restrictions and Settings – The user restrictions and settings can help to enhance and simplify the user experience. Restrict user access to programs, settings, Start menu items, and options in Windows.
  User Account Manager – Create and delete user accounts.
  Computer Restrictions – Control security settings, privacy settings, and more, such as preventing users from creating and storing folders in drive C and from opening Microsoft Office documents from Internet Explorer.
• Schedule Software Updates– Update the shared computer with the latest software and security updates when it is convenient for you and the shared users.

It allows end-users to schedule a scan or manually run a quick, full or custom scan. At times, a user may experience issues enabling Windows Defender application in Windows Vista/Windows7. This article explains you the troubleshooting procedure to resolve the same.

Troubleshooting Windows Defender Enabling Issue in Windows 7 | Vista

Windows Security Center may prompt you to “Check Settings” for the Malware Protection, and when you click the “Turn on now” button, it may show an error that says “There are no new definitions available to download for Windows Defender”

It’s apparent that the issue has been caused due to an inconsistent WMI repository. Restarting the WMI repository should thus resolve the issue.

Click Start > Type CMD in search > Hit enter. From the results, rt-click Command Prompt and select ‘Run as Administrator’. Type the following command:

winmgmt /verifyrepository

If you get a message “WMI repository is not consistent” , run the following command:

winmgmt /salvagerepository

This will perform a consistency check on the WMI repository and resolve the issue.
Restart your machine.

Try enabling Windows Defender now.

If you get the following message instead:

winmgmt /salvagerepository is failed.

Ignore this message, and again run “winmgmt /salvagerepository” .

Incidentally, if you find that Windows Defender is taking a long time to perform a full scan, you should try and remove the Temporary Internet Files and other applog files. If you wish to Report Spyware information to Microsoft, you can do so here.

Thanks Raghu Boddu, Microsoft MVP, for your inputs.

MSASCui.exe – Unable To Locate Component.  This application has failed to start because MpRtMon.DLL was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.

There is also no way you can really uninstall Defender without facing other issues. Moreover, if you try to install Defender over your earlier installation, you will probably get a message that you don’t need to install the program because it already comes with Vista. There will also be no option to continue the installation. The installation would just stop!

Nevertheless, you can try this trick if your Windows Defender throws up this error on your Windows Vista every now and then.

Workaround for Windows Defender Error: MSASCui.exe – Unable To Locate Component

First ‘Run’ System File Checker.

To do this first type cmd in the Search Bar but DONT hit enter. Rt-Click on cmd and choose Run as Administrator.

The copy-paste the following command and hit enter.

sfc /scannow

All your system files will be scanned and if all your files are in order, you will see a message “Windows
Resource Protection did not find any Integrity violations”. However, if something is amiss, it will attempt to replace the corrupt system files. Best to have the Vista DVD handy!

MSASCui.exe is the Defender’s User Interface application situated in C:\Program Files\Windows Defender folder.
MpRtMon.dll is Defender’s ‘Realtime Monitor’ dll, situated in C:\Program files\Windows Defender folder.

However its copies can also be found in the following folder/s :

C:\windows\winsxs\x86_security-malware-windows-defender_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6000.16386_none_5585eece5b4407f1

C:\windows\winsxs\x86_security-malware-windows-defender_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6000.16420_none_55c0ce805b18c568

C:\windows\winsxs\x86_security-malware-windows-defender_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6000.20516_none_565b3cf37428e14b

You will have to ‘unhide hidden files’ and ‘show system files’ from the Folder Options, to be able to see them.

The last numerals may differ, but essentially these are the folders. The /winsxs/ folder is the native assembly cache. Libraries which are shared by multiple programs are stored there. You may also find different versions of the same dll files in these folders. Login as Administrator and try to replace the dll in the /Windows Defender/ folder with one of these dll’s. Reboot and see if it helps.

The Searches folder finds good use when:

• You don’t know where a file or folder is located.
• You want the search results to include files from more than one folder, such as Pictures and Music.
• You want to search by using more than a single file name or file property.

The Searches folder is used to save your Windows Explorer searches. The folder can be found  C:\Users\(UserName)\Searches. When it is of no use, the user account specific searches folder can be deleted. However, deleting the contents of the searches folder will delete any saved search on the computer.

That said, you may accidentally delete your Searches Folder in Windows 7 or Vista, in your User Account, and would like to restore it back along with the shortcut searches it had. For such a case, you can refer this short tutorial.

How to Restore accidentally deleted Searches Folder in Windows 7 or Vista?

Configure another search in the Advanced Search Options and then save the search.

You may be thus able to re-create this folder.

Do note that the folders in the Search Folder are Virtual, and as such do not take up any space on the hard drive.

Rt clicking on them show the size of the actual file and the path to that file.

That’s it!

…But not in Windows Vista’s Explorer…

But you can if you wish, show such title’s in Windows Explorer too. Download and use AeroBar. Its a small utility which does the job. Just make sure that your Aero is ‘on’.

To install it and have it startup with your Vista, place the file AeroBar.exe in your StartUp folder and reboot.

To uninstall it, just remove this file AeroBar.exe from your StartUp folder and reboot.

msiexec /uninstall windowsdefender.msi /quiet /log uninstall.log

Must add that I do not advise trying to uninstall Windows Defender, as uninstalling / deleting Windows Defender in Vista is known to cause other irritants later on, since it is well integrated with the OS.

A better option would be to Disable Windows Defender instead.

Open Windows Defender > Tools > Options > Uncheck Use Real Time Protection check box and also Use Windows Defender under Administrative Options checkbox. Click on Save.

Also type services in start menu search bar and hit Enter to open Services. Change the startup type of the Windows Defender Service from Automatic to Disabled.

Reboot.