Windows Update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer.

This error is shown even when the Windows update is actually running on the system.The solution to this problem could be solved by deleting all recently downloaded updates and then retrying. It may be that update might have got corrupted which might have triggered Windows to think that service is not running.

Steps

1. Stop the Windows Update service on your Windows 7.

a) Go to Start. Type services.msc in search box.Press Enter.

b) Windows Service dialog will appear. Scroll to Windows Update service and right click to select the Stop option.

2. Go to folder with path C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\ . Delete all the files and folder within this folder.

3. Once you have deleted the contents, go back to services dialog and similar to step 1, start the Windows Update service. All the files and folders will be recreated.

Hopefully this should solve your problem. In case, it does not then you might have to remove and reinstall all Windows updates. If any of you has any other solution, we would love to hear that.

1. Click Starts->Run.

2. Type msinfo32.exe and then press enter.

3. In System Information, check the value of System Type.

For 32-bit version of Windows, the value of System Type would be x86-based PC

For 64-bit version of Windows, the value of System Type would be x64-based PC

It is that easy to check your edition of Windows

Best part about the service is that it’s totally free to use.

Homepage

http://ninite.com/

System optimization is a critical activity that not many users implement. The reason to optimize your system is because Windows gets bloated up as time goes by and it’s a good idea to clean and optimize your system for better performance and to have some free space. Clearing or cleaning temporary file is one such step that could make your system perform better by speeding it up.

Windows comes with some native applications to clean up temporary files. However, there is a small utility called as CleanMe that can make this job easier by cleaning system’s temporary files such as recycle bin, temporary system files, temporary internet files, temporary application data, application logs, system logs, history, cookies, recently opened, office temporary files and downloads.

CleanMe comes both as an installable application and as portable file depending on the needs of the user.

CleanMe can clean:

- Recycle Bin
- Temporary System Files
- Temporary Internet Files
- Temporary Application Data
- Application Logs
- System Logs
- History
- Cookies
- Recently Opened
- Office Temporary Files
- Downloads

Download CleanMe

• CleanMe
• CleanMe (Portable Version)

Toastify adds some missing functionality to the Spotify client(Windows only). It shows a popup, toast style, dialog on track change and it allows you to use global hot keys for Play/Pause, Next, Previous etc. Toastify is developed using C# and WPF.

How to use

• Start Spotify
• Important! If you are upgrading from the previous version please delete the existing Toastify.xml file to get a new with additional settings.
• Start Toastify
• Thats it!

Default keyboard shortcuts

• Ctrl Alt Up = Play/Pause
• Ctrl Alt Down = Stop
• Ctrl Alt Right = Next track
• Ctrl Alt Left = Previous track
• Ctrl Alt M = Mute on/off
• Ctrl Alt Page Up = Volume up (expirimental support)
• Ctrl Alt Page Down = Volume down (expirimental support)
• Ctrl Alt Space = Show toast
• Ctrl Alt S = Show Spotify
• Ctrl Alt C = Copy track information to clipboard New!

Download Toastify

Windows 7, by default, disables a network device to save power but the device is not automatically enabled when the system resumes from sleep. Many times people using wifi networks have this problem that after resuming from sleep the system is not connected to the network and has to be reconnected again.The problem here is not with the device , it is just a service of Windows which can be modified.

Usually once your network adapter is disabled you will need to head over to the troubleshooting option, to restore it and renew the IP which is too time consuming But the solution given below saves a lot of time and you do not have to perform it again and again, you need to do it just once. The solution is essentially to inform Windows that you do not need this service of Windows.

Procedure :

1. Go to Device Manager, right-click the network adapter(that keeps getting turned off), and select Properties.

2. Click on Power Management tab. Uncheck the option saying “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”. Click ok.

That should make it work. Now the adapter won’t get disabled whenever you put your system in sleep mode.

Once the notification tool has once checked your copy as being genuine there doesn’t seem to be any point in checking again and again on every boot. RemoveWGA lets you remove this tool. Also Microsoft in past has used deceptive ways to install this tool on the people’s system , one of which being encapsulating as a security update which is essential for users.

This Notification tool of Windows is different from Windows Genuine Advantage Validation. RemoveWGA removes only the notification tool and not the validation tool from the system.

Some of the features of the software are :

• Tell you if the WGA notification tool is active on your system
• Allows you to remove the WGA notification tool from your system
• Accept the “-silent” command line parameter to silently check if the WGA notification tool is active on your system, and popup only if it is found (useful for checking automatically at startup for instance)
• Set all files to be deleted at next reboot instead of just the system32 ones

Note: Some antivirus may show RemoveWGA as a security threat but it is actually not a security threat at all.

The software is freely available on many free download sites all over the net.

Windows by default hides your WEP and WPA keys stored on your PC to connect to various WiFi networks when you save the networks on the PC. Thus it in a way limits you to use the network only from your system and not from any other system is you do not remember the key. WirelessKeyView is a small, easy to use software which helps you in getting back those keys.

Run the WirelessKeyView software to see all the WiFi networks you ever accessed and saved on your system. The software decodes all the WiFi keys you stored on your system using its default WiFi Zero configuration mechanism. (This utility doesn’t reveal keys stored by third-party network connection software.)

WirelessKeyView doesn’t require any installation process or additional DLL files. Just copy the executable file (WirelessKeyView.exe) to any folder you like, and run it.
After you run it, the main window should displayed all WEP/WPA keys stored in your computer by Windows ‘Wireless Zero Configuration’ service. For WEP keys, the key is also displayed in Ascii form. Be aware that this utility can only reveal the network keys stored by Windows operating system. It cannot recover network keys stored by any other third-party software.

You may delete old keys of networks which you do not use and you can copy all the keys of networks you use and save them for future references.

Download WirelessKeyView : download

Homepage : http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wireless_key.html

You can switch between the tiled view of windows that is so common with mac users.

You can also move over to ‘Dock’ view which as shown below displays the current Window in larger tile and using the tab key one can switch between the window tiles.

If you wish to alter certain parameters in the features , there is a customisation feature in in standard as well as advanced customisation options.

You may choose any default key for starting up the program but the default key is Win +Tab but this will replace the pre designed feature of Flip 3D present in the Windows. But you can define separate shortcut for using Flip 3D using Switcher.

Stickies is a simple application designed to serve a purpose, it doesn’t support animation not would you find eye catching graphics with it. Its simply a rectangular window on the screen on which you can place text notes. Once created the text notes will stay with you till the time you take them of. Thus whenever you log on to the machine you would be reminded of the pending work

Installation is pretty simple and would not take more than a minute or so.

After the installation you can start adding your own to do things or the thhings you need to remember on the stickies. It would look like the sample screen shot shown below.

The next image shows the various options  that are provided with this application. These include changing the color, the opacity of the notes and many other options. The most useful one according to me is the ability to set an alarm reminding you for a particular task or job that needs to be done.

I admit this application is not flashy or something out of this world. But it certainly has a lot of functional usage. So feel free to try this small and simple application.

Click Here to download Stickies