Discover Your Pc

Why Google Chrome Can Open Web So Fast ?

2010-04-20T03:42:00.001-07:00

Description

The first time you use new versions of Google Chrome you notice an improve in your internet speed.

For me happens that for certain pages it seems like appears instantly.

How Chrome does that ?

Once you enter on a webpage, the browser has to convert the URL you are using to an IP. This is done using a server, so for every link you click, you need an extra call to the DNS server. If this server doesn’t know how to solve the IP, it has to ask to a superior server.

Of course this operation can consume a lot of time. So what Chrome does is asking for the resolution, before the links are clicked, when the user is reading the page.

Firefox uses a similar technique but I prefer Chrome implementation.

There are reports, you can find them on Google, of related problems with this feature, but this may seem related to advanced users, so in this solution you will find how to enable/disable the feature.

Solution

If you want to know your preferences type about:dns:

To enable/disable:

1. Go to Options:

2. Go to Under The Hood Tab, you can then configure if you want to use the pre-fetching technique.

How To Stop Windows Asking For Desktop Cleaning

2010-04-16T04:26:00.001-07:00

Description

Windows sometimes thinks that we don’t have nothing better to do that answer stupid questions.

Ok that might sound a little strong but I want to have my desktop as I want no matter what Microsoft thinks.

The question that appear is there are unused icons on your desktop:

and it ask you if opens a wizard.

If you want to stop this message from appear follow this solution.

Solution

1. Right click over the desktop, and select properties:

2. Go to the desktop Tab.

3. Customize desktop.

4. Deselect run desktop cleanup wizard every 60 days.

Icons Have A Color Background In Windows XP Even With “Use Drop Shadows For Icon labels On The Desktop” Check

2010-04-15T02:32:00.001-07:00

Description

You are seeing Icons on the desktop this way:

even when you have unselect the use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop.

Solution.

To understand what has actually happens I am going to reproduce the error. Beginning with a Windows XP operating correctly.

Right click over the desktop and select properties:

Go to the desktop tab and select customize desktop, go to the web tab, press new and add web. Once you have done you will see the web in your desktop.

Pass the mouse over the window and close it:

We now don’t see the color background in the icon fonts. But if we do the following:

Right click over desktop Arrange Icons By, Lock Web Items On Desktop the icons will show that aspect again.

So to solve this you only have to:

1. Right clic over desktop, Arrange Icons By, Lock Web Items.

1. Right click properties, Web Tab, deselect any web in the list.

Improving Windows Explorer Stability In Windows XP and Windows 7

2010-04-14T02:04:00.001-07:00

Description

Windows explorer is the most used application on your computer for sure, but what happens when this program have problems with some folders. For example it has a known problem in Windows XP with video codec, you can find the solution in this post:

Explorer Hangs Showing A Folder

If you copy a lot of files you may faced a lot of problems with Windows Explorer.

Solution

Windows let us configure Explorer so it opens folders in separate processes. This in theory could make your system a little bit slower but more robust. I can assure you that you are not going to notice this impact in the performance.

If one process have a problem it doesn’t affect the rest of explorer windows so the entire operating system works better. This is something for example that Chrome does with every tab driving it to a more stable system.

Windows XP

1. Press Windows Key + E to open a new explorer window.

2. Select Tools, Folder Options.

3. Go to The View Tab.

4. Select launch folder windows in a separate process.

Windows 7.

1. Press Windows Key + R, type control and press enter.

2. If you are seeing the control panel as categories select appearance and personalization.

3. Folder Options, View Tab.

4. Select launch folder windows in separate process.

Troubleshooting 2 Gb File Problems Using Outlook Express

2010-04-13T02:48:00.001-07:00

Description

Email clients are very useful applications but has several drawbacks.

Usually they only use a file to store every folder of your email so if something occurs with it you can lost a lot of useful information.

Outlook express, that comes for free in some versions of Windows have another problem, it cannot handle dbx files, those who have the information, with more than 2Gb, so if you reach that level you will face a lot of problems.

Of course you can compact that folders every time you delete an email but if you have important information the best is to try this solution.

Solution

We are going to use a program that can work with dbx files of 2Gb and extract it to multiple files. This can be done even with a dbx that is working without any problem so it is a good way to back up your email messages.

It can restore deleted emails even in Windows reinstalled machines.

1. Download Mail Cure

http://www.derescue.com/software/mailcure.exe

2. Press Data.

If you select a drive it will look even for deleted dbx files.

As we are talking about a damaged dbx for a malfunction Mail Cure cannot always restore it.

3. Press Open a File.

4. Select the dbx you want to, it is usually stored in a folder inside this:

%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities

Once it finish it will create an eml file for each email you have in your folder.

Restore Folder Windows At Logon In Windows XP or Windows 7

2010-04-12T01:57:00.001-07:00

Description

Imaging you want to work with the same folders after you reboot your system.

Solution

Windows XP

1. Open a new explorer window pressing Windows Key + E.

2. Go to Tools, Folder Options.

3. Press the View Tab.

4. Select Restore previous folder Windows at logon.

Windows 7.

1. Open the control panel, press Windows Key + R, type control and press enter.

2. If you are seeing as categories, select appearance and personalisation.

3. Folder Options.

4. Go to the view Tab.

5. Select restore previous folder windows at logon.

How To Know What File Drivers You Have ?

2010-04-09T01:44:00.001-07:00

Description

If you need to know what files drivers is using your computer just follow the next solution.

Solution

1. Press Windows Key + R, type msinfo32.exe and press enter.

You will see something like this

2. Go to components section and you will find a lot of useful information.

a) Multimedia, a list of what audio and video codec there are installed on the computer.

b) CDROM

c) Sound device

d) Display

And you can find the same information for the keyboard, mouse and more.

How To Enable/Disable Chkdsk From Running At Boot-Time

2010-04-07T00:15:00.001-07:00

Description

As you should know when Windows find a problem in a computer, many times it runs a chkdsk at boot-time.

This solution explains how to exclude certain drives to produce this behaviour.

Solution

In this example we will exclude the c drive from the default boot-time check.

1. Press Windows Ket + R, type cmd and press enter.

2. Type

chkntfs c: /X

and press enter.

You are done. If you want to restore it to the default behaviour just type:

chkntfs /D

If you need to know if windows will do a chkdsk in the next boot for a drive just type:

chkntfs drive:

where drive is the drive letter you need to use.

How To Open A File Without Knowing His Extension

2010-04-05T00:44:00.001-07:00

Description

Opens a file that you don’t know what kind is can be a very hard work. This might happens for example if the extension has changed.

Solution

TridNet is utility that load the file and tries to identify what kind is.

1. Go to Marco Pontello’s TridNet Page:

http://mark0.net/soft-tridnet-e.html

2. Download the executable.

http://mark0.net/download/trid_net.zip

3. You have to extract it to a folder. For example c:\trid.

4. Download the definitions:

http://mark0.net/download/triddefs_xml.rar

5. And extract to the same folder.

6. Execute the tridnet.exe utility.

7. Press rescan defs to load every definitions that is on the folder.

8. Now press browse and select the file you want to know the extension.

Manage Your Passwords Using Credential Manager In Windows 7

2010-03-30T00:22:00.001-07:00

Description

If you have to access multiple computers in your LAN could be a nightmare remember and writing the passwords every time you have to access to each one.

Solution

1. Press Windows Key + R, type control and press enter.

2. Click User Accounts and Family Safe.

3. Click on Credential Manager.

4. Press Add a Windows Credential.

5. There you can type the username and the password you uses to access that server.

Cannot Click On "Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book" In Outlook 2000 Contact Folder Properties Using Microsoft Exchange In Windows XP

2010-03-25T05:03:00.001-07:00

Description

Even as this is explained in a page from Microsoft it doesn’t work at least for me.

Solution

1. Close Outlook

2. Press Windows Key + R, type control and press enter.

3. Click Mail

4. Add…

5. Select Personal Address Book.

6. Press Ok and then you can reopen Outlook.

How To Use Performance Monitor To Lock For Memory Usage Problems In Windows 7

2010-03-24T01:33:00.001-07:00

Description

If you want to know the memory one process is using you have multiple options in Windows 7.

As you know you can see it on the Task Manager but you cannot have a record of what exactly is being used with the Resource Monitor we encounter the same problem.

Performance Monitor is the tool you need, but as many system programs, it has so many options you can be lost on it, so we are going to see a simple example to know how to use it.

Solution

1. Enter on Performance Monitor.

a) Press Windows Key + R.

b) Type perfmon and press enter.

2. In this first post about Performance Monitor, something is telling me I am going to write more,we are going to create a new Data Collector Set.

a) Select Data Collector Sets, User Defined.

b) We select new data collector doing a right-click on the blank pane:

c) Insert a name, I have used Memory and choose create manually.

d) We select create data logs, performance counters as you can see on the next image:

e) Press next so you can configure the counters and the sample interval.

f) Press Add…

g) Look for process and select Working Set – Private, now you can chose what process you want to track and add it.

h) Select page faults per second, press ok and finish.

3. Now we only need to initiate the counter. Right click on the created record set and press start:

When it finishes select stop and then you can see it on the report section.

One of the key questions is why we select page faults per second. Windows, i you don’t know, uses your hard disk to have more memory for processes. If for example you are using Excel and it starts eating up your RAM memory Windows offers more using the drives you have installed on the computer.

Maybe it can sound like a good idea sometimes drives to a slow PC because hard disk is thousand times slower than RAM. When Windows need to use the hard disk it counts like a page fault so if page faults per second starts to grow the performance of the entire system can be affected.

Killing A Process Using The Command Line

2010-03-22T03:16:00.001-07:00

Description

As you probably know you can end a process using the Task Manager but what happens if you prefer doing this in a command line.

Solution

Taskkill comes with Windows so you can use it without any problem.

Here is a explanation of the switches you can use for your local computer or to work with it remotely.

Example:

taskkill /S server /U administrador /P parrot /IM iexplore.exe /F /T

Close the application internet explorer in a remote computer with name server, administrator is the user and parrot the password for that user. The F switches force that termination, T specifies that any process started by iexplore.exe should be terminated.

If we want to stop any process that is not responding:

taskkill /F /FI “STATUS eq NOT RESPONDING”

It can be either use RUNNING, NOT RESPONDING OR UNKNOWN.

Laboratory: How To Back Up a Sun Virtual Box Virtual Machine

2010-03-19T01:49:00.001-07:00

Description

As we saw in a preview post about creating a new sun virtual box virtual machine you can install a new operating system using this utility. But, what happens if you want to make a copy of this machine, continue the reading to know it.

Solution

1. Open a command window and go to the Sun Virtual Box program folder.

a) Press Windows Key + R, type cmd and press enter.

b) Type:

cd %ProgramFiles%/Sun/VirtualBox

and press enter.

2. Now we are going to use the vboxmanage clonevdi command,

Type:

vboxmanage clonevdi "%userprofile%/.VirtualBox/harddisks/YourMachineName.vdi" "%userprofile%/.VirtualBox/harddisks/Other YourMachineName.vdi"

You have to change yourmachinename.

3. We have created a copy of the hard disk now we need to put this new created device into a new virtual machine.

a) Open Sun VirtualBox.

b) Press New

c) Write a name and select your operating system.

d) Configure the Virtual Machine.

e) Now we have to select our new virtual hard disk. Press Use existing hard disk and open the virtual media manager. Press the following icon:

f) Select your virtual machine and click open.

Now you have other Virtual Machine to play with.

Open CSV Files With Excel 2003 In Windows 7

2010-03-17T02:42:00.001-07:00

Description

CSV files are associated to Excel by default but, as incredible as could seem, the program show these files like not as expected.

Let my explain this by an example, imagine you have a file with the following data

Name, Address, Telephone number
Mark, Myhouse, 6956859457
John, Nomatherwhathouse, 83487437

It is delimited by commas but Excel seems to not care about and shows:

Solution

The problem is relate on how excel select the delimiters. As the title says this solution has been proven in Excel 2003 in Windows 7 but I think it should work for other configurations.

We have to deal with language and region configuration.

1. Press Windows Key + R, type control.

2. Under Clock, Language and Regions select Change keyboards or others input methods.

3. Go to Formats Tab and press the Additional Settings button.

4. You have to check that the decimal symbol is not the same that the list separator and the last one should be “,”.

It should look like this:

5. Click Ok on any open window. Try to open the file and see what happens:

6. Return to Language and Regions and reset to the defaults.

Windows 7 BSOD After Installed Windows Update KB 977165

2010-03-16T02:16:00.001-07:00

Description

Microsoft is investigating the problem associated with KB 977165. Many people reported that after installing this update they get a BSOD.

It seems that this happens if your computer is infected by Alureon Rootkit. Microsoft has even change the update so it can detect if your computer has been infected, as we can read here you can see the following error codes:

0x8007F0F4 (For Windows XP, Windows Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003)
0XFFFFFFFF (For Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7)

They release a program that can test if you you are infected in some way.

Solution

If something of the above happens to you what you must have to do in the first place is get rid of that virus.

1. You need Microsoft Security Essentials, download it from this location:

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

2. If you have Alureon maybe you have more malware so download an antispyware program:

http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html

3. Install both, remember you need a genuine Windows to install Security Essentials. If you have a valid key but your windows is not validated read this:

Change Or Update Windows XP, Vista Or 7 Product Key

4. You have to update the antivirus, this is the most important part of this solution. As you can see in this page Microsoft Antivirus can scan it since October,2009. The program try to update itself when installs but you can do it manually.

Go to the Update tab and select update. If you encounter problems maybe you can solve it using this solution:

0x80248014 Error Code Updating Microsoft Security Essentials

5. You have to update SuperAntispyware. As Microsoft Security Essentials it updates when it installs.

6. Now you have your tools ready to fight the virus, but this kind of virus install it on memory and are invisible so you need to enter on Safe Mode. Follow the following solution if you don’t know how:

How To Enter In Safe Mode Without Using F8

7. Scan the computer using SuperAntispyware and Microsoft Security Essentials. You have to do it several times so at the end they don’t find anything at all.

8. Go to Windows Update and update your computer.

Troubleshoot Keyboard Problems

2010-03-15T05:36:00.001-07:00

Description

Keyboard is our natural partner when we talk with our computers but sometimes it doesn't work the way it has to. This solution deal with different problems you may face it:

a) The operating system has configured a different language.

b) Problems using a specific key or with a character.

Solution

If you press a key but other character appear try this:

Windows XP.

1. Press Windows Key + R, type control and press enter.

2. Regional and Language Options.

3. Check if you have your language configured properly. For example if you are in the United States:

4. Select Languages tab, and in Settings check that your keyboard language is selected.

5. Press Ok on any open window.

Windows 7.

1. Press Window Key + R, type control and press enter.

2. Press Change keyboards or other input methods.

3. Press Change keyboards, check if your language is select.

No matter what Windows version.

If you are experiencing problems trying to use a specific character you can use Alt key + a number to specify the ascii number. For every key you have one number as you can see on this web page.

For example if you press Alt + 58, you have to press numbers 5 and 8 using at the same time the Alt key.

This is what you get when you use code 58 :

For code 126 you get ~.

Install Adobe Reader 9 In Silent Mode

2010-03-15T02:37:00.001-07:00

Description

This solution lets you install Adobe Reader 9 without seeing any prompt window. This will use command line modifiers to work.

Solution

1. Download the Adobe Reader 9:

http://get.adobe.com/reader

you can save it to the folder you want. For example ‘c:\utils’.

3. Press Windows Key + R, type for example for adobe reader 930 english version:

c:\utils\AdbRdr930_en_Us.exe /sAll /rs

and press enter.

The rs is for not have to reboot after the installation

Change Or Update Windows XP, Vista Or 7 Product Key

2010-03-12T03:26:00.001-08:00

Description

Having genuine software is the best way to get rid of virus, flaws and other nightmares. You need a licensed copy for example to install Microsoft Security Essentials.

Solution

If you want to change or update your windows product keys don’t use complicated methods, go to Microsoft and use the utilities they have for this.

It works on Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 7.

1. Go to this web page:

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/PkuInstructions.aspx?displaylang=en

select your operating system and follow the instructions.

0x80248014 Error Code Updating Microsoft Security Essentials

2010-03-11T01:43:00.001-08:00

Description

Microsoft Security Essentials cannot update definitions and you see a window informing about the error code 0x80248014.

Solution

As many related problems you will see on windows when you are trying to update this can be solved deleting the SoftwareDistribution folder, here you will find how to do that.

1. First of all you need to stop the Windows Update service.

a) Press Windows Key + R, type services.msc and press enter.

b) Right click over Windows Update and select Stop.

2. Now we are going to de delete the SoftwareDistribution folder.

a) Press Windows Key + R, type %windir% and press enter. An explorer showing the Windows folder will appear.

b) Right click over SoftwareDistribution and select delete.

3. Now you can either start again the windows update service or restart your computer.

Disable Shutdown For Normal Users

2010-03-09T01:05:00.001-08:00

Description

Windows controls the kind of users that can shutdown a computer. It’s not the same if we are using a workstation or a server, in the following list you will see the users allows by default:

Workstations: Administrators, Backup Operators, Users.

Servers: Administrators, Backup Operators.

Domain Controllers: Administrators, Backup Operators, Server Operators, Print Operators.

So, in this solution you will see how to not allow normal users to shutdown a workstation.

Solution

1. Press Windows Key + R, type gpedit.msc and press enter.

2. Go to Local Computer Policy, Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Security Settings, User Rights Assignment.

3. On the right pane, double click over shut down the system. Here you will find a list with Administrators, Backup Operators and Users.

4. Select Users and click remove. Press Ok.

What It Is My Currently Java Version ?

2010-03-08T05:00:00.001-08:00

Description

Here you will find a procedure you can use to know what is your actual Java version.

Solution

1. Press Windows Key + R, type control and press enter.

2. Select Programs.

3. Click on Java.

4. Go to Java Tab.

5. Press View and you will see a list of the Java Machines Installed in your computer.

Here you can even configure a different virtual machine for you and for your system.

”Your computer was not assigned an address from the network (by the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address XXX. The following error occurred: 0x79. Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.” Message Appears On Windows 7.

2010-03-05T01:52:00.001-08:00

Description

As title says the following message appears:

“ Your computer was not assigned an address from the network (by the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address XXX. The following error occurred: 0x79. Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server. ”

Solution

It seems that some DHCP servers are having problems with IPv6 implementation on Windows 7 so the solution is to disable it.

1. Press Windows Key + R, type control and press enter.

2. Click on Network and Internet.

3. Click on Network and Sharing Center

4. Change Adapter Settings.

5. Right mouse click on the network adapter and select properties.

6. Uncheck 'Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)' and press Ok.

Restart your computer if you don’t want to use ipconfig on a command window. Once you get the IP you can enable the IPv6 protocol but if you are not going to use it, what is the usual leave it this way.

Download Gmail Messages Using Thunderbird

2010-03-04T02:20:00.001-08:00

Description

In this solution you will see how to set up an email client to use it to download Gmail messages.

I will use thunderbird because is free and I like it but you can use whatever email client you want.

Solution

1. Download and install Thunderbird:

http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/all.html

2. Go to your Gmail account.

3. Press Settings.

4. Select Forwarding Pop/Imap.

5. Enable POP for all messages even those who you just been received.

We just made the changes in the Gmail account so we only have to configure Thunderbird.

6. One you have installed thunderbird it will ask some information:

7. It will do all the job.

How A Web Page Looks In The Past?

2010-03-03T00:03:00.001-08:00

Description

Internet and web pages design have changed over the years a lot so don’t you ever wonder how for example facebook looks 3 years ago. Here you will find a web page that show you that.

Solution

1. Go to

http://web.archive.org/web/*/facebook.com

change Facebook.com for the web page you want to see. WaybackMachine, this is is the name of the webpage, has archives since 1996 so you can play a lot with it.