PC-talks :: PC Tips | Tricks | Tweaks

Windows Vista Tips : Adding | Removing Icons in Notification Ares

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:51:00 +0000

The Windows notification area is the most frequently used part of the desktop taskbar. It keeps you up to date with whats going on on your computer by animated icons that occassionally poup with messages for you. A great example is when there are Windows updates ready for your computer or if your laptop battery is running low.

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The notification area also holds the volume control icon, the time, and any other program icons that are enabled to show there. You can change the settings for a program icon to Hide when inactive, Always hide, or Always show. This allows you to remove annoying icons and just keep the important ones.
What are the most common icons that appear in the Windows Vista notification area?

Time
Volume
Windows update icon
Network connections icon
Bluetooth icon
Laptop Power icon
Windows Live Messenger

How to add or remove icons in the notification area in Windows Vista

Go to the start menu icon in the left corner
Right click on it to bring a menu
Choose properties from the menu
Go to the Notification Area Tab
Click on customize to change the settings for each icon that shows up in the notification area

Windows Vista Tips : Blue Screen of Errors

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:30:00 +0000

Important note: The symptoms and solutions described below address only a small subset of the possible causes for blue screen errors, aka BSOD. This information can help address blue screen errors specifically related to Turbo Memory, but may not solve errors related to other issues. Please read through the instructions completely, make sure they apply to your system, and after attempting the solutions please post back with your feedback for the community.

Some users may experience random blue screen errors with ThinkPad systems running Windows Vista with Intel Turbo Memory hardware. These blue screens may occur during normal usage on the system or they may occur when booting into Windows Vista. Blue screens related to the Intel Turbo Memory hardware may reference a stop code of 8086 with memory address locations of {0, 0, 0, 0}.

There are two main steps that you can take to help resolve blue screen issues related to Intel Turbo Memory.

Step 1: Update Intel Turbo Memory Driver

If the driver version is before version 1.0.1.1004-7.0.3.1001, please update to this version.

To determine what version of the Intel Turbo Memory driver is installed:

1. Click Start, then click Control Panel.
2. Click System and Maintenance.
3. Click System.
4. Click Device Manager.
5. Expand the Storage controllers category.
6. Double-click Intel Flash Cache Logic Chip.
7. Click the Driver tab. Then you will see the driver version (for example, 1.0.1.1004).

The new driver and installation instructions can be found here.

Note: The Intel Matrix Storage Driver is updated with this package.

Step 2: BIOS version

If your BIOS version is older than those listed below, please update to the version listed.

How to check your BIOS version:

Turn off the system.
Turn on the system.
While the To interrupt normal startup, press the blue ThinkVantage button message is displayed at the lower-left area of the screen, press the F1 key.
The BIOS Setup Utility menu will be displayed. If you have set a supervisor password, the BIOS Setup Utility menu appears after you enter the password.
Check BIOS Version and Embedded Controller Version.
Turn off the system.

System BIOS versions:

ThinkPad T61/T61p (14.1 inch widescreen with IEEE 1394 model) - BIOS version 1.22 (7LET52WW)

Please remember that these updates do not solve every possible system blue screen, but they do resolve several problems related to the Intel Turbo Memory driver.

Windows Vista Tips : Some Cool Windows Vista Shortcuts

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:11:00 +0000

If you're looking to get the most out of Windows, you should master some of the many keyboard shortcuts that are available. These are all specifically based around the Windows Key, which appears on newer PC keyboards:

Quick Launch shortcuts
Shortcut: WinKey + 1, 2, 3 ... etc.

If you use the Quick Launch taskbar toolbar, you can quickly launch up to the first nine shortcuts you keep there using the Windows Key plus a number. So the first shortcut, from left to right, would be WinKey + 1, the second is WinKey + 2, and so on.

Show desktop
Shortcut: WinKey + D

This one hides everything to get you to the desktop, including Windows Sidebar.

Minimize all windows
Shortcut: WinKey + M

This one is subtly different from "Show Desktop." With Show Desktop, the Sidebar is hidden as well, whereas WinKey + M minimizes all active windows ... but not the Sidebar.

Windows Flip 3D
Shortcut: WinKey + Tab

Most people are probably familiar with Windows Flip (Alt + Tab) but you can also enable Windows Flip 3D via the keyboard as well.

New Explorer window
Shortcut: WinKey + E

Children's Safety Tips when Using Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:03:00 +0000

Here are some general guidelines:

* Place your computer in an open room with the monitor facing out. This allows you to see and control what is occurring on the Internet.
* Educate your children about the Internet, both the positives and the potential dangers.
* Bookmark child-friendly web sites. This allows your children to easily get to safe sites that they have used before.
* Teach your children that Internet safety means never giving out personal information over the Internet.
* Share your Internet child safety experiences, both good and bad, with others.
* Teach your children to refrain from chat rooms.
* Don't install Peer-to-peer applications. A high percentage of what occurs with children and peer-to-peer applications is related to either illegal or immoral activities.
* Teach children to crash and tell. If they encounter a bad experience, they should feel comfortable in immediately turning off the computer and talking with a parent about the experience.
* Never allow your children to meet with someone from an online session unless the parent approves.
* Know the parents of your children's friends.
* Teach children to never open email from someone they don't know.
* Never respond to an unsubscribe on a pornographic email. If you or your child receives a message that is harassing, of a sexual nature, or threatening, forward a copy of the message to your ISP, and ask for assistance.

Internet Explorer 7.0 Tweaks

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Wed, 13 May 2009 08:23:00 +0000

Market share for Internet Explorer is still up there at around the 45% mark (between IE7 and IE6 combined), against Firefox following very closely neck and neck. If you haven't converted to Firefox 2.x and are not planning to do so anytime soon, there are a few tweaks that you may want to consider doing immediately in IE 7 so that you are getting the most out of it.

Lets look at some tips and tweaks that don't require you to install any free addons first.

Disable Automatic Network Detection
If you are connected directly to the internet and are not going through a proxy server then you should uncheck IE's "Automatically detect settings" option on the Tools > Internet Options > Connections > LAN Settings dialog window.

Move the 'Menu Bar' to the top
Click Start > Run, then type gpedit.msc The config screen will appear, click on User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components >Internet Explorer (there are many other options in there which you cn disable/enable aswell) Right-click on 'Moving the menu bar above the navigation bar' then click 'Properties' Select 'Enabled' then 'OK' Restart your IE 7 browser

Turn OFF Automatically checking for RSS feeds
IE7 performance slows down when you make it do more, specially when the "more" is not even something you need! Turn this off by going to Tools >Internet Options >Content >Feeds >Settings , then uncheck the option that says Automatically check feeds for updates.

Disable use of ClearType with IE7
This funtion has been reported to slow IE7 performance and frankly you wount notice the difference in the looks of the fonts displayed in your browser. Turn this off by going to Tools->Internet Options->Advanced , under settings scroll down to the Multimedia section and uncheck the Always use ClearType for HTML* option

Speeding up your connection
Force IE to download more objects at once, web pages would display more quickly. This is done by Increasing the connection limit from 10-16 connections.

You can do this manually or by using a registry tweak file.
Manual method:
1. Run the Registry Editor by typing regedit at a command line or in the Windows Vista Start Search box.
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Internet Settings.
3. Choose Edit --> New --> DWORD Value.
4. Create a new DWORD value called MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server, and give it a value of 10.
5. Choose Edit --> New --> DWORD Value, create another DWORD value called MaxConnectionsPerServer, and give it a value of 10 to 16
(Note: If you want to experiment with fewer or more than 10 simultaneous connections, change the value in both DWORD values accordingly.)
6. Exit the Registry and close IE. When you restart IE, the new value will be in effect and your Web browsing should speed up.

Windows Vista Tips : How to Enable auto log-on

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:02:00 +0000

As you know, one of the many areas in which there are vast improvements in Windows Vista is security. Even so, if you're the only one who has access to your computer in your home, having to log on each time you turn on the computer, may seem like overkill. Fortunately, you can configure Windows Vista to automatically logon with your account when you turn on your computer.

To do so, click the Start button and type netplwiz in the Start Search text box and then press [Enter]. When you do, you’ll encounter a UAC confirmation dialog box and can click Continue or enter the Administrator credentials.

When you see the User Accounts dialog box, like the one shown in Figure A, make sure that your account in selected in the User for This Computer list. Then, clear the Users Must Enter A Username And Password To Use This Computer check box and click OK.

Windows Vista Tips : Disabling Automatic Restart

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:56:00 +0000

Windows Vista is setup by default to restart immediately after a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) or other major system problem. This reboot usually happens too fast to see the error message on screen.

Follow these easy steps to disable the automatic restart feature for system failures in Windows Vista.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: Disabling the Automatic Restart option in Windows Vista usually takes less than 10 minutes
Here's How:

1.

Click on Start and then Control Panel.

Tip: In a hurry? Type system in the search box after clicking Start. Choose System from the list of results and then skip to Step 4.
2.

Click on the System and Maintenance link.

Note: If you're viewing the Classic View of Control Panel, you won't see this link. Simply double-click on the System icon and proceed to Step 4.
3.

Click on the System link.
4.

In the task pane on the left, click the Advanced system settings link.
5.

Locate the Startup and Recovery area and click on the Settings button.
6.

In the Startup and Recovery window, locate and uncheck the check box next to Automatically restart.
7.

Click OK in the Startup and Recovery window.
8.

Click OK in the System Properties window.
9.

You can now close the System window.
10.

From now on, when a problem causes a BSOD or another major error that halts the system, the PC will not automatically reboot. Rebooting manually will be necessary.

Windows Vista Tips :: Changing Vista Serial key Without Reinstalling

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:52:00 +0000

Changing the Windows Vista serial key may be necessary if you discover your current key is pirated or illegal but you don't want to reinstall Windows Vista to activate your new legal key.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: Changing the Windows Vista product key usually takes less than 10 minutes
Here's How:

1.

Click on Start and then Control Panel.

Tip: In a hurry? Type system in the search box after clicking Start. Choose System from the list of results and then skip to Step 4.
2.

Click on the System and Maintenance link.

Note: If you're viewing the Classic View of Control Panel, you won't see this link. Simply double-click on the System icon and proceed to Step 4.
3.

Click on the System link.
4.

In the Windows activation area of the View basic information about your computer window, you'll see the status of your Windows Vista activation and your Product ID number.

Note: The product id is not the same as your product key. To display your product key, check out the guide on how to find the Windows Vista product key code.
5.

Next to this information, you should see a Change product key link. Click on this link to start the process of changing your Windows Vista product key.
6.

When the Windows Activation window appears, enter your new product key in the Product Key: text box.

Click Next to continue.
7.

Wait on the Activating Windows... message until the progress bar is complete. Windows Vista is communicating with Microsoft to ensure that your product key is valid and to reactivate your Windows Vista installation.
8.

The Activation was successful message will appear after your product key has been validated and your copy of Windows Vista has been activated.
9.

That's it! Your Windows Vista product key has been changed!

Click Close to close this window. You can now also close the System window.

Windows Vista Tips ::Retrieving Administrator Password in Windows Vista

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:48:00 +0000

An administrator password in Windows Vista is the password to any account that's setup to access administrator level functions in Windows Vista.

There doesn't actually have to be an "Administrator" user account. What you need is the password to any account that can act as an administrator.

There are a few times when you will need this password! You may need an administrator password in Windows Vista if you're trying to run certain types of programs or access certain Windows Vista recovery tools.

Follow the steps below to quickly find an administrator password in Windows Vista!
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: Retrieving the Administrator password may take a few minutes up to hours depending on the situation
Here's How:

1.

Try leaving the password blank. If there is actually an Administrator account, the password may not exist at all! Just press Enter without typing anything when asked for it.
2.

Enter the password to your account. Often times, depending on how Windows Vista was setup on your computer, the primary user account will also be an administrator user account.
3.

Try to remember your administrator password. If you installed Windows Vista on your computer yourself, you probably set the administrator password during the Windows Vista installation process. If that's true, you might be able to make really good guesses at what the password might be.
4.

Have another user enter his or her password. If there are other users that have accounts on your Windows Vista computer, one of them may be setup with administrator access.
5.

Recover the administrator password using a password recovery tool. Password recovery tools are software programs that work by making super-fast guess after super-fast guess until the password is discovered.

Note: Some password recovery tools is the list I linked to above also have the ability to transform regular Windows Vista user accounts into administrator accounts. This could be valuable if you know your account's password but it's not an administrator account.
6.

Perform a clean installation of Windows Vista. This is a last resort option. This type of installation will completely remove Windows Vista from your PC and install it again from scratch.

If you're just curious about your administrator password, I wouldn't suggest this extreme solution. However, if you're needing the administrator password to access diagnostic tools and this is your last effort to save your PC, performing a clean install will work. Keep in mind that it is a time consuming process due to the fact that all of your data must be backed up and then later restored.

9 Ways To Increase FireFox Speed

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:25:00 +0000

1. Enable pipelining
Browsers are normally very polite, sending a request to a server then waiting for a response before continuing. Pipelining is a more aggressive technique that lets them send multiple requests before any responses are received, often reducing page download times.

To enable it, type about:config in the address bar, double-click network.http.pipelining and network.http.proxy.pipelining so their values are set to true, then double-click network.http.pipelining.maxrequests and set this to 8.

Keep in mind that some servers don’t support pipelining, though, and if you regularly visit a lot of these then the tweak can actually reduce performance. Set network.http.pipelining and network.http.proxy.pipelining to false again if you have any problems.

2. Render quickly
Large, complex web pages can take a while to download. Firefox doesn’t want to keep you waiting, so by default will display what it’s received so far every 0.12 seconds (the “content notify interval”). While this helps the browser feel snappy, frequent redraws increase the total page load time, so a longer content notify interval will improve performance.

Type about:config and press [Enter], then right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) somewhere in the window and select New > Integer. Type content.notify.interval as your preference name, click OK, enter 500000 (that’s five hundred thousand, not fifty thousand) and click OK again.

Right-click again in the window and select New > Boolean. This time create a value called content.notify.ontimer and set it to True to finish the job.

3. Faster loading
If you haven’t moved your mouse or touched the keyboard for 0.75 seconds (the content switch threshold) then Firefox enters a low frequency interrupt mode, which means its interface becomes less responsive but your page loads more quickly. Reducing the content switch threshold can improve performance, then, and it only takes a moment.

Type about:config and press [Enter], right-click in the window and select New > Integer. Type content.switch.threshold, click OK, enter 250000 (a quarter of a second) and click OK to finish.

4. No interruptions
You can take the last step even further by telling Firefox to ignore user interface events altogether until the current page has been downloaded. This is a little drastic as Firefox could remain unresponsive for quite some time, but try this and see how it works for you.

Type about:config, press [Enter], right-click in the window and select New > Boolean. Type content.interrupt.parsing, click OK, set the value to False and click OK.

5. Block Flash
Intrusive Flash animations are everywhere, popping up over the content you actually want to read and slowing down your browsing. Fortunately there’s a very easy solution. Install the Flashblock extension and it’ll block all Flash applets from loading, so web pages will display much more quickly. And if you discover some Flash content that isn’t entirely useless, just click its placeholder to download and view the applet as normal.

6. Increase the cache size
As you browse the web so Firefox stores site images and scripts in a local memory cache, where they can be speedily retrieved if you revisit the same page. If you have plenty of RAM (2GB or more), leave Firefox running all the time and regularly return to pages then you can improve performance by increasing this cache size. Type about:config and press [Enter], then right-click anywhere in the window and select New > Integer. Type browser.cache.memory.capacity, click OK, enter 65536 and click OK, then restart your browser to get the new, larger cache.

7. Enable TraceMonkey
TraceMonkey is a new Firefox feature that converts slow JavaScript into super-speedy x86 code, and so lets it run some functions anything up to 20 times faster than the current version. It’s still buggy so isn’t available in the regular Firefox download yet, but if you’re willing to risk the odd crash or two then there’s an easy way to try it out.

Install the latest Firefox nightly build, launch it, type about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Type JIT in the filter box, then double-click javascript.options.jit.chrome and javascript.options.jit.content to change their values to true, and that’s it - you’re running the fastest Firefox JavaScript engine ever.

8. Compress data
If you’ve a slow internet connection then it may feel like you’ll never get Firefox to perform properly, but that’s not necessarily true. Install toonel.net and this clever Java applet will re-route your web traffic through its own server, compressing it at the same time, so there’s much less to download. And it can even compress JPEGs by allowing you to reduce their quality. This all helps to cut your data transfer, useful if you’re on a limited 1GB-per-month account, and can at best double your browsing performance.

9. Reduce RAM usage when Firefox is minimized
Go to about:config, right-click anywhere and select New-> Boolean. Name it “config.trim_on_minimize” and set it to TRUE.

Thirteen optimization tips for Vista on UMPCs.

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Sun, 10 May 2009 09:27:00 +0000

I’m convinced, as are most Vista UMPC owners, that a standard install of Vista on a UMPC is not optimal. I’ve seen it and so have many others. Its torture. Especially if you’re used to a relatively spritely windows XP installation so here’s my top 13 tips for optimizing Vista on UMPCs. Most of these I have tried myself. Others came as tips from third parties. If you have more tips, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

1. Disable Windows sidebar. Well known to take processing power.
2. Disable on-screen mouse. Learn how to use the mouse without the on-screen version. Saves memory and processing power.
3. Disable indexing. This tends to keep the disk working overtime. Highly recommended.
4. Reduce screen candy. Go to Performance Settings and change the setting to “Adjust for best performance” and then re-enable visual styles.
5. Disable Windows Defender. Its a security hit but personally, I think its worth it.

6. Get all current Windows updates and then turn off auto update download (switch to notification only.)
7. Disable anti-phising filter in IE7. This is a killer.
8. Switch to 16-bit screen. I always use 16 bit if I remember. It saves a lot of screen memory and if you’re browsing, you rarely notice it.
9. Optimize your power settings. If you need performance, make sure your CPU is free to run up to full speed. Max battery settings tend to lock the CPU down to lower speeds. (600Mhz on a Pentium-M, 400Mhz on a Via C7-M)
10. Pre-fetch/Super-fetch hacks. This is a tip from Origamiproject forums.
11. Test out readyboost. Its not one I can recommend personally as I’ve never tried it and I’ve also seen reports of people trying it out and seeing no benefit. You need to test it out.
12. Consider disabling handwriting learning. Its a service that takes memory and processing power.
13. Remove background tasks. As you install software you’ll always get a build up of unwanted services and processes. Real, Logitech, Adobe and all anti virus packages put software in the background that at the minimum take memory but in the worst case take CPU and Internet bandwidth. If you’re on a limited 3G plan, the last thing you want is Firefox downloading 2MB of program file in the background. There are tools around to clean these processes up so its advised to use them.
14. [added 29th Oct 2007] Disable the touch input panel on-screen tab (left or right of the screen) as this can interfere with Video performance.
15. [added 02 December 2007] Install this Microsoft patch. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941649 which was proved to save almost 10% battery life on the HTC Shift. Note that this may be rolled up into updates or service packs so its possible that this could already be installed on your system. Thanks to The Niles for this tip.

Windows Vista Trick : Make Vista’s UAC Less Annoying

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:35:00 +0000

Vista’s User Access Control is annoying albeit it helps to protect your PC. But now, there is a simple way of getting rid UAC prompts without stopping it altogether or leaving your computer at risk. This involves a registry edit, so make sure to back up your registry first. Then click Start, type regedit, and press Enter.

In the left pane, select HKEY-LOCAL-MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current-Version\Policies\System. In the right pane, double click ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin and change the value to 0. Now you will be rid of annoying UAC prompts without putting your computer at risk from malicious threats.

Create New Folder Keyboard Shortcut

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:14:00 +0000

One of the most glaring oversights of Windows Explorer is that there is no keyboard shortcut to create a new folder. Here is a tool that lets you just hit F12 to create a new folder. Alternatively, you can find a few solutions in this blog. Here is a brief explanation of my current solution:

1. Make a file called something like createfolder.vbs and put this in it

Set WSHShell=WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WScript.Sleep 500
WSHShell.SendKeys "%(FWF)"

2. Put the file somewhere out of the way. Now, make a desktop shortcut of said file (right click, Send to Desktop.)

3. Right click that desktop shortcut > Properties > Shortcut Key, and give it a key shortcut of your choice. Unfortunately Windows seems to limit you to the F keys or ctrl+alt+something (try Z.)

4. Optionally, create a similar file but without the 3rd line and place that in your startup group - this may make the shortcut quicker to use.

How-to Know if-You Have Spyware | Ad-ware | Viruses

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:08:00 +0000

Usually, the easiest way to tell you have spyware is because your PC is running at a reduced speed. The other way to check is to hit CTRL+ALT+DELETE and hit task manager (if you have windows service pack 2. If you have before SP2, then this should automatically bring up the task manager).

Once the task manager is open, check your running processes under the “Processes” tab. If you see a lot of strange processes running you don’t recognize, you likely are infected with spyware, ad-ware or viruses.

An example of strange processes would be a fgkosk.exe or copies of the same process running twice. Some “smart” spyware can actually disguise itself as other windows processes - you can tell this if you have copies of processes running. Don’t end task anything you’re not sure of - besides, most of these files are actually able to resume themselves after you close them as they’re in your windows registry.

You could also download a program that checks for these infected files, such as Avast, Ad-Aware, etc. Check my other article on “what to do once you have spyware” for a list of good programs to use.

The best way to get rid of spyware, ad-ware, or viruses once you have them is either to use a program made for doing exactly that. Failing that, you could format your PC. Sometimes, an infestation becomes so bad you may have troubles downloading, installing, or running a program that can help. For more information, refer to my article on “What to do once you have spyware, ad-ware, or viruses.”

Make Internet Explorer Open in the Window Size You Want

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:48:00 +0000

Periodically, Internet Explorer (IE) forgets the settings for its window size and decides to open in an annoying small window. If you close all other IE windows that might be open, resize the small window (do not maximize) and then close it, IE is supposed to remember that it was resized when you next open it. But sometimes it goes right ahead and opens in a small window again. In that case, there are several methods to try.

* Resize (with only one window open) and then close by clicking the X in the upper right corner while holding down the Shift key. Often this works but it may not.
* If the above does not work, your next step is to try the two-window method.
1. Open a single IE window (which is presumably still too small)
2. Now open a secondary IE window by either right-clicking or shift-clicking
on any convenient link in the open IE window
3. Resize this second window to the desired dimensions
4. Close this resized window by clicking the X in the upper right corner while holding down the Shift key
5. Resize the still open original window as desired
6. Close this window by clicking the X in the upper right corner while holding down the Shift key

If you do not mind always having maximized IE windows, another approach is to edit the IE shortcut. Right-click on the shortcut that you use for IE and choose properties in the context menu. In the drop-down menu for "Run" select "Maximized". (Secondary IE windows will not inherit this setting).

Windows XP : Change Start Menu picture

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:44:00 +0000

You probably have a chess piece for your picture on your Start Menu. Yuk (if you don't play chess)
Change it:
Go to the Start Menu and click right ON that picture.
Now..pick a new one. You're not limited to those, you can click on Browse for more pictures and pick one of your OWN pictures if you want. XP will size it according to it's needs...so no need to find a tiny picture.
Once you do, you'll see a new dialog box. If you don't like the picture you just chose, click on Change My Picture and try again.

Windows XP : Stop Error Reporting

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:42:00 +0000

Ok....you've had enough of the error reporting stuff. You know...every time a program shuts down and XP wants to send the error report to Microsoft.
Here's how you stop it from coming back over and over again.
Go to Control Panel, System, click on the Advanced tab, then click on the Error Reporting button at the bottom
Put the circle in for Disable Error Reporting. If you still want to be notified that a program will be shutting down from an error, the you can put the Check IN the box for 'But notify me when critical errors occur'

Messenger Stopped from trying-to run-or sign-on

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:39:00 +0000

I don't use Messenger, but when I got WinXP...it always wanted to start.
If you don't want/use it either and it still keeps trying to start (or it's leaving the icon on your systray (down by the time), Get rid of it.

In Outlook Express click on Tools, Options, REMOVE the check for Automatically Log On To Windows Messenger

Click on Start, Run, then type:
msconfig
then press the enter key
Click on the Start Up tab
If you see Messenger in the list, and there's a check in the box...click in the box to remove it.
Click on OK, then reset the computer
When you restart, you'll get a message regarding the changes you made...just cick on Don't Remind me...then click on OK
Restart the computer again.

Windows XP : Toggle Viewing Folder List for a Particular Folder

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:33:00 +0000

When viewing a folder in Windows XP Explorer, you can toggle an Explorer 'Folders' view that can appear in the left pane of the folder. This lets you see where the currently open folder is in relation to other folders on your system. Plus, you can easily navigate the folder tree, move folders around, copy or move files in the current folder to other folders, etc.

To toggle this view for a particular folder, check or uncheck "View" - "Explorer Bar" - "Folders" as desired.

Note that this tip only works for the currently-open folder.

How-to Backup Windows XP

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:05:00 +0000

Learn how to backup your Windows XP computer quickly. This is a down and dirty full system backup. This will allow you to restore everything on your system if you had a system crash.
Steps

1. Click Start -> Run -> type in, with out the quotes, "ntbackup.exe" .
2. Click on Backup Wizard and then "Next".

3. Select the radio button "Backup everything on this computer" and click "Next".
4. Choose a location where you will save your backup.
5. Type in a name of your backup that you will recognize and click "Next".
6. Click "Finish" and your backup will begin.
7. It will complete and provide you a report of the backup.
8. Click "Close" and your backup is complete.

Tips

* Make sure the location you are backing up to has enough storage space to backup your entire computer.
* You will have to be certain you won't have to turn off your computer during the backup.
* Full System backups can take extended amounts of time depending on how much data

How-to Resize Your Wallpaper

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:41:00 +0000

If you just switched to a wide-screen monitor, your desktop wallpaper image may no
longer look right, or maybe you just want to make a small adjustment to it.
For more-granular control of your wallpaper's placement, highlight the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\desktop

Double-click the WallpaperOriginX icon in the right pane.
(If you don't see this icon, right-click in this pane, choose New, String Value, type WallpaperOriginX to name the value, and press .) Type a number (in pixels) for the starting horizontal position of your wallpaper's left edge, and press . Now double-click the
WallpaperOriginY icon (create it if necessary as explained above) and enter a number
for the starting vertical position of the image's top edge. If your wallpaper image is
larger than the screen, type a negative number (for example, -200) to push the
picture's top or left edge off the screen.

To test the effect, first minimize the Registry Editor (and any other open window),
right-click the desktop, choose Properties, and click OK or Apply to refresh the
wallpaper placement. Repeat these steps as needed until the wallpaper is positioned
correctly.The settings work whether you've set your wallpaper to be centered, tiled, or stretched.

Solving Router Problems

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:38:00 +0000

The simple act of turning a router off for a few seconds and then turning it back again might be enough to get it working properly. You can also try ‘pinging’ the router to check the connectivity.

Go to Start, Run and type cmd into the box. Type ‘ping’ (without the quotes) and the router’s internal IP address (this should be listed in the manual). The common addresses are: 192.168.0.1 (Netgear and D-Link models), 192.168.1.1 (Linksys and 3Com) and 192.168.2.1 (USRobotics). If you get a reply, then the connection to the router is working.

How to prevent | delete | remove virus | spyware | trojan from USB Pendrive

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:57:00 +0000

If you are one of those people who always use your USB pendrive outside (Cybercafe, school, workplace) Then most probably your USB pendrive may have been infected by virus, spyware or trojan. Here are some tips on how to remove those sneaky virus, spyware or trojan from USB pendrive.

In command prompt type attrib -r -a -s -h *.* and press enter. This will remove the Read Only, Archive, System and hidden file attribute from all the files. Now just delete the files using the command del filename (e.g. : del Example.exe) Delete all suspicious files

Note : If you still worry of whether they are any malwares in the USB pendrive, just format it for safety reason.

What if I want to prevent such things from happening?

Well, you can do the two things below :
1. Restart the pc BEFORE you plug in your USB pendrive.
2. Install anti virus , spyware or trojan program. You can find a list of the software for free at www.download.com.
3. Always update your anti malware programs to the latest version.
4. Scan the pendrive before you plug it into your pc

Hope you guys can benefit from the tips provided above.

How-to remove Bar311.exe PC shuts down virus

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:49:00 +0000

Last weekend i just finished formatting my laptop for having a very serious problem regarding these various types of viruses and keeps my day paranoid… One of them is this bar311.exe that keeps blocking my cmd (command prompt) thing… so ill just shared this method on how to solve this problem…

This is the symptom of a computer having bar311.exe virus A.K.A. winzip123. The virus comprises bar311.exe, password_viewer.exe, photos.zip.exe and pc-off.bat.

When you boot your Windows XP in Safe Mode the message appears: Thank You!!!
Password:Winzip123

The pc-off.bat contains the syntax like this"C:/path/shutdown -s -f -t 2 -c" which automatically shutdown your computer when you run the cmd.exe. So heres the solution to this problem… just follow these simple steps that im goin to discuss….

Manual removal:

1. upon start up…. after os loading… go to task manager by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL then kill (end process) password_viewer.exe or bar311.exe or photos.zip.exe…

2. EDIT the following registry entries thru regedit at start/run

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"Userinit"="userinit.exe,bar311.exe" —> remove ", bar311.exe" only… leave userinit.exe because this is used by Windows when you log-in…

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"Hidden"=dword:00000001
"HideFileExt"=dword:00000000
"ShowSuperHidden"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor]
"autorun"="c:\Windows\pc-off.bat" –> remove "c:\Windows\pc-off.bat" or delete the autorun key.

3. go to your thumb drive, please use the folders view in the explorer and use the navigation panel on the left side when accessing the drives to avoid triggering the autorun… then delete autorun.inf and password_viewer.exe or bar311.exe

4. open notepad then type what is shown below as is…

@echo off
del /a /f c:\Windows\bar311.exe
del /a /f c:\Windows\password_viewer.exe
del /a /f c:\Windows\photos.zip.exe
del /a /f c:\Windows\pc-off.bat
pause

then save this as remove.bat then click to run…. it will remove this annoying types of PC shut-off thing of virus… ;)

Try it.. it works peepz…

Saving Memory and Increasing Speed

noreply@blogger.com (Denz) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:55:00 +0000

1 In Windows 9x/Me, the system cache setting is not always optimised. A software called Cacheman will do this for you. In Windows 2000/XP, try changing the I/O lock page size. To do this, you can use Xteq Systems X-Setup. Choose the appropriate setting under System » Memory.

2 Clear the startup programs: Startup programs get loaded along with Windows. This causes a delay before the desktop becomes active. Most of these programs do nothing but hog precious memory. See if you can use the programs' settings to prevent them loading with Windows. If that is not possible, use Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel to do that. After you install this program, you can access it from the Control Panel.

3 RAM: A PC might start running faster simply by adding an extra module of RAM. See if this works for you. If you think you have more than adequate ram but the PC seems sluggish, then use RamBooster to proactively free up unused RAM at regular intervals.
4 Task Manager: Task Manager (taskmgr.exe) in Windows 2000/XP will list of programs in memory. For detailed information, use TaskInfo. These programs are useful if you are trying to weed out unwanted programs that get loaded on to the memory.

5 Increasing the Performance of Individual Programs: You can increase the speed of a program, by setting the process priority of the program to either High or Realtime in Task Manager. Do not go overboard on this or your system will become unresponsive.

6 Active Desktop: Unless you run stock market price tickers on your desktop, deactivate Active Desktop to save memory. If you have enabled Active Desktop just to enable a GIF or JPEG file as the background, then convert the file to a BMP file and set that as the wallpaper without Active Desktop.

7 . Plain Desktop: Remove the desktop background image and set it None. This will save some memory.

8. Screen Resolution: Set your screen resolution to 15 bit or 16 bit for both speed and saving memory. Set a higher level only when playing games and other such special programs that require higher resolutions.

9. Clean the Desktop: Remove all unwanted icons from the desktop and shortcuts from the desktop and the quick launch bar. If you have shortcuts for CD drives, windows will check for their contents every time it loads up and cause a delay before the Desktop becomes active.

10. Remove sound events: If you remove the desktop theme sounds, your operations will get faster. To do so, go to Control Panel » Sounds and Multimedia » Schemes and then choose No Sounds.