Kevins Crate.com/Blog » XP

How to Run Microsofts Malicious Software Removal Tool at any Time

Kevin — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:19:38 +0000

The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks computers running Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software�including Conflicker, Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom�and helps remove any infection found. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed.

Microsoft releases a new version of the tool on the second Tuesday of every month, and as needed to respond to security incidents. This is by no means meant to be your primary Anti-virus solution, but can be used as a supplement.

Normally this program will run once a month when Microsoft updates Windows on the second Tuesday fo the month, but you can run it whenever you want.

Here’s how.

1. Right click an empty space on your Desktop and choose.

2.Type MRT in the location field for Malicious Removal Tool. Click Next.

3. Name your your shortcut.

4.� Now just double click its icon to start the tool, and click Next

5.� Here’s your chance to choose a type of scan, I recommend the full scan but you can use your own judgement.

6. If you have any infections they will be listed below.

7. You can also click View detailed results of the scan and it will show what files it scanned for.

8. Then just click Finish to exit the program.

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Try Windows Vista Without having to Install it with Vista Test Drive

Kevin — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:15:51 +0000

If you are thinking about upgrading to Windows Vista� here’s a way I found to give it a test drive out without having to install it on your computer, it will run in your browser only.

The test drive requires Internet Explorer 6 or later, a browser plug-in, and a broadband Internet connection.

A minimum 1024 x 768 screen resolution is recommended. There is no product support for the test drive but you are welcome to participate in the Microsoft Windows Vista newsgroup to share your trial experiences with others and ask for advice.

The Windows Vista version hosted in the test drive contains most of the functionality of the regular versions, but browsing the internet is not enabled.

You may notice a slight delay or pause as you experience the product. This is due to the fact that this is a hosted trial and is dependent upon your bandwidth, local machine resources, etc. This does not necessarily represent the actual experience you will have with Windows Vista if it were installed on your PC.

Open Internet Explorer and go to Windows Vista Test Drive you will be asked to install an ActiveX control later on to use the Test Drive.

In the first screen you will need to enter an Email address and your Country, any fake Email addy will do, its not checked.

The next screen wants you to take a survey, click yes or No thanks.

This screen lets you choose a category to check out.

Choose Safer and you will be given the options to Learn more about the exciting features of Vista. Click one of the icons.

Then choose Test Drive.

You will then be sent to the Vista desktop where you can explore.

These are just a few screen shots, you should use the Test Drive to get the full Vista experience.

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Lower your Carbon Footprint with Edison

Kevin — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:41:27 +0000

Get in the green zone and lower your carbon footprint and save some oil. Here’s a program I found that will help you save a few bucks on your power bill by letting you turn off your monitor spin down your hard drives then put your computer in suspend mode. From the folks at Verdiem

It’s kinda hokey and you can manually set all these controls, but it gives you options of working and non- working hours and tells you how much money you can save by using the settings. It works in XP and Vista

It does require you to register with a valid email address, so use a throw-away address and it runs in your system tray consuming a few resources.

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Use the PC Decrapifier to Clean out your new Computer

Kevin — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:57:11 +0000

How many times have you bought a new computer and turned it on only to find the screen full of trial software. I run into this problem every time I setup a new computer for someone, and I?m sure you have too. Here?s a great program I use to clean out the crap. The PC Decrapifier. They offer a free and a paid version.

The PC Decrapifier will uninstall many of the common trialware and annoyances found on many of the PCs from big name OEMs. Here is the current list of software and items that the PC Decrapifier can detect and remove. You get to see the list of items it detects and then choose what will be removed automatically.

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Get a Vista Style Start Menu in XP

Kevin — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:53:39 +0000

Do you like the new Vista start menu and its ability to do instant search but aren’t ready to switch to Vista. Well I found a cool program called ViStart from Lee-Soft that gives you a Vista like start Menu with instant search.

ViStart is a perfect start menu replacement for Windows XP. ViStart will now index all personal files and program files and give *ACTUAL instant results* that’s 4 times faster then the real Vista start menu.

They also offer� ViOrb, a start button replacement for Windows XP. In the same way ViStart is a start menu replacement. It will give the start button a Vista look and feel.

From this.

To this.

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How to Stop Processes from the Command Line

Kevin — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 02:18:41 +0000

When troubleshooting computer problems its helpful to see what processes are running and check their memory usage to see if a program or process is using up all your memory. There are quite a few programs out there that have memory leaks, Firefox 2 had a this issue if you left it open too long. Normally you would open the Task manager highlight the offending process and click end process. ( I believe this only works in XP Pro but I’m not sure give it a try and let me know)

But sometimes the task manager won’t open because of a virus an administrator setting or another problem. Here’s a way to view or stop processes from the command line.

Click Start > Run.
In the Run dialog box type cmd to open a command prompt.
At the command prompt type tasklist and hit enter.

Now you can see all your running processes. Find the offending one and note the PID number in the second column. them type tskill a space and the PID number and hit enter and the process will be stopped.

To see the service name also use the /svc switch. Below are more for you to try.

/m [ ModuleName ] : Specifies to show module information for each process. When a module is specified, all the processes using that module are shown. When a module is not specified, all the processes for all the modules are shown. Cannot be used with the /svc or the /v parameter.

/svc : Lists all the service information for each process without truncation. Valid when the /fo parameter is set to TABLE. Cannot be used with the /m or the /v parameter.

/v : Specifies that verbose task information be displayed in the output. Cannot be used with the /svc or the /m parameter.

/? : Displays help at the command prompt.

/s Computer : Specifies the name or IP address of a remote computer (do not use backslashes). The default is the local computer.

/u Domain User : Runs the command with the account permissions of the user specified by User or DomainUser. The default is the permissions of the current logged on user on the computer issuing the command.

/p Password : Specifies the password of the user account that is specified in the /u parameter.

/fo { TABLE | LIST | CSV } : Specifies the format to use for the output. Valid values are TABLE, LIST, and CSV. The default format for output is TABLE.

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Create a Custom Control Panel in XP

Kevin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:40:20 +0000

Windows XP’s control panel is a very useful tool however there are so many options available its easy to loose track of the ones you use most so why not create a custom Control Panel with just your favorites. Here�s how.

Open an Explorer window ( Start > My Computer) Choose My Documents.
Click make a new folder.
Name it what ever you want. I choose Kevins Control Panel.
Right click your new folder and choose Properties. Click the Customize tab > Change Icon. Pick the Icon of your choice them click Ok.
Open your new folder. (Leave this window open.)
Click the Start then choose Control Panel.
Click switch to Classic view.
Now left click items in the Control Panel you want and drag them to your new folder.
When you�re finished drag your new folder to the Start Button, when the Menu appears drop the folder on the top area of the Menu.
Now when you click the Start button you�re new Control Panel will be at the top of your Start Menu.
And all you�re favorite Control Panel items will be in one easy to find place.

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How to Find out What Version of Windows you’re Using

Kevin — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:19:04 +0000

Ever wonder what version of Windows your using, a few people have asked lately how do I tell what version of Windows do I have, or do I need to install the latest Service Pack. Here is an easy way to find out.

Click the Start button then Run.
Type winver in the dialog box and press Ok

An about Windows popup will display your version information.

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How to Setup your Mouse for Left Handed Users

Kevin — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:19:25 +0000

If you�re left handed mouser or would like to setup your mouse for a left handed user here�s a quick tip to do it.

Click Start > Control Panel.
Click Printers and other Hardware.
Click Mouse.
Under the Buttons tab, put a check mark next to Switch primary and secondary buttons.
Click Ok twice.

Now you or your left handed user will be right at home.

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How to Stop Calendar Spam in its Tracks

Kevin — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:46:32 +0000

Just when you thought you finally started to get the upper hand on spam in your inbox the insidious spammers have come with a new twist. Calendar Spam, unwanted meeting requests that popup in your calendar. If it hasn�t happened to you yet, O-boy it will. Here�s what happens.

Calendar spam arrives like all other spam, as an unwanted e-mail. But the problem is it also shows up as a meeting request in your calendar. That means at the time specified in the spam message, time on your calendar will be blocked off, triggering an annoying reminder at the appointed hour.

Your spam filter may still catch it and move it to the junk mail folders. but ignoring calendar spam doesn’t make it go away. Because of the way Microsoft Outlook and Google calendars work, unanswered calendar spam will usually find its way into your calendar.

To stop Microsoft Outlook from automatically accepting meeting requests follow the steps below.

In Outlook click Tools > options.
Calendar options.
Resource scheduling.
Remove the check mark next to Automatically accept meeting requests and process cancellations.
Click Ok 3 times and your set.

Outlook Express users don�t need to worry because Express doesn�t have a calendar.

To Fix Gmail

In Gmail�s calendar go Settings > General tab.
In the �Automatically add invitations to my calendar�, Put a ? in No, only show invitations to which I have responded
Click save.

As much as my Yahoo mail account is a spam magnet I haven�t had that problem yet.
if anyone has drop me a comment and we�ll try and get it fixed.

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Use Microsofts Baseline Security Advisor to Scan your XP Computer for Vulnerabilities

Kevin — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:03:25 +0000

Microsoft�s Baseline Security Advisor is is free download from Microsoft that will scan your computer for vulnerabilities and identifying common security misconfigurations in your operating system and present you with a detailed report for what if anything it finds and how to fix it. It will also scan computers across your network.

Here are a few of the areas it checks.

Incomplete Updates
Administrators accounts
Windows Firewall
Local Account Password Test
Automatic Updates
File System
Guest Accounts
Restrict Anonymous access
Autologon
Password Expiration

It�s simple to setup and run. After installing just click Scan a computer.

The next screen lets you choose which computer to scan if you have more than 1 on a network and the options you want to include. Using the default is fine.

The scan will take a few minutes then you will be presented with the results. The Red, Orange, Blue and Green shields will give you an idea of the severity of any problems.

Click on the Blue test for more info and how to fix any issues it finds.

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InterfaceLIFT a Great Resource for High-Resolution Desktop Wallpaper

Kevin — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:29:10 +0000

InterfaceLIFT currently offers 1,531 desktop backgrounds in widescreen and standard format for use with all operating systems all for free. Give them a try if your looking for new backgrounds and really who isn’t. InterfaceLIFT

They also offer some great Icons and Themes.

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How to Move an off Screen Window Back into View in Windows XP

Kevin — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:51:08 +0000

This can be very frustrating when using multiple monitors or sometimes just by dragging windows around your screen, you get one to the edge of your display and then can’t seem to grab it in the right place to move it back where you want it. Then after 15 minutes of cussing you give up and reboot.Well here’s a way to prevent you from rebooting to get that sucker back inline.

Right click the applications tab in the Task-bar and select Move, then use your arrow keys to get the window back into view.

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How to Add your Own Custom Logo and Support Info in the System Properties Screen in XP

Kevin — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:45:55 +0000

PC vendors often customize the System Properties screen to show off their logo and to add support info you can readily see,but if you built your own computer or build them for other people you can customize your System Properties screen to show your logo and support information or anything else you want. Here’s how.

To Create the Logo:

Fire up your favorite photo editing program and create a 180 x 114 pixel image.
Customize it however you like, add a graphic, text or whatever.
Name it oemlogo.bmp Make sure you save it as a .bmp and not anything else.
Save it in the C:WindowsSystem32 folder.

To create the Support information:

Create a new Notepad file in the same folder.
Name it oeminfo.ini make sure the extension is .ini and not .txt
Using the below format write anything you want after the = sign.

[General]
Manufacturer=
Model=

[Support Information]
line1=
line2=

If you need to add an extra line just type line3= then your message. (make sure you save the file as an .ini or this won’t work.

Here is an example:

Before:

After:

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Enable the Hibernation Button in the Shut-Down Dialog Box

Kevin — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:33:34 +0000

When you go to shut down your computer you are given the options to Standby, Restart and Turn off. Putting you computer into Standby mode reduces your power consumption. The amount of electricity used by the computer in standby mode is just a trickle, just enough to keep the memory alive so that open programs and documents are stored without data loss. The primary power saving is achieved by turning off the system drives, monitor, and other items.

The Downside is that information that is currently in computer memory is not saved to your hard disk. If you have an interruption in power, information in memory will be lost. Because of this, you may want to Put your computer into Hibernation instead, but your not given that option when you click Start > turn off computer. Here’s a way to add it to your Shutdown Dialog box.

Putting your computer into The hibernate feature has several benefits. When you use the hibernate feature, your programs and open windows do not have to be shut down or closed. The state of your computer is preserved while the computer is in hibernation. Additionally, the startup time to resume from hibernation is typically about 30 percent less than when you start the computer from the shutdown state. After the computer resumes from hibernation, your Windows desktop, data, and programs are restored. You can quickly return to where you left off. Additionally, because all your data is saved to the computer�s hard disk drive when you put the computer in hibernation, you reduce the risk of losing your work in progress.

When you use the hibernate feature, the computer does not use additional power. A desktop computer typically draws a small amount of power when it is shut down or when it is in hibernation. This amount is typically about 3 watts. A portable computer does not draw additional power from the computer’s battery when the computer is in hibernation or when it is shut down. (From Microsoft)

First make sure Hibernation is enabled on your system.

Click Start >Control panel > Performance and Maintenance > Power Options. Click the Hibernate tab and put a check mart in enable Hibernation and click ok.

This tip does require a Registry edit so if your uncomfortable in the Registry, simply pressing the “Shift key” while in the Shutdown Dialog box will give you the option of entering Hibernation, but will remove the Standby option.

If your ready to edit the Registry here’s the steps. First create a restore point to back up the Registry.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows
3. Right-click Windows, point to New, and then click Key.
4. In the New Key #1 box, type System if it’s not already there, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click System, point to New, and then click Key.
6. In the New Key #1 box, type Shutdown, and then press ENTER.
7. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
8. In the New Value # 1 box, type ShowHibernateButton, and then press ENTER.
9. Right-click ShowHibernateButton, and then click Modify.
10. In the Value data box, type 1, leave the default Hexadecimal option selected, and then click Ok.
11. Quit Registry Editor.

Here’s what your Shutdown Dialog will look like after the fix.

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Find Out Useful Info on your XP Computer

Kevin — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:31:20 +0000

Here’s a quick way to find out some useful info on your XP computer. Did you ever wonder how long its been since your last reboot, probably not too long but this little tip will tell you. It will also tell you the date when your operating system was installed, Your bios version and more. Here’s how.

Click Start > Run and type cmd to open a command window.
At the command prompt, type systeminfo and press enter.
Scroll down and have a look see.

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Sync Your XP’s Computer Clock to the Internet Via the Command Prompt

Kevin — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:38:49 +0000

You can synchronize your computer clock with an Internet time server. This means that the clock on your computer is updated to match the clock on the time server, which can help ensure that the clock on your computer is accurate. Your clock is typically updated once a week and needs to be connected to the Internet for the synchronization to occur. but sometimes problems occur and your computer won�t sync, but you can update it manually 1 of 2 ways.

The Quick way.

Click the Start button.
Click Run.
Type cmd in the run box.
Type w32tm /resync dialog box and press enter and your done.

Now the longer way.

Right click your Clock in the system tray.
Choose adjust Time and Date.
Click the Internet Time tab.
Choose the server you want to use.
Click the Update Now button and hope you don’t get a timeout error.
Click Ok to finish.

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Windows XP SP3 Now Available on Windows Update

Kevin — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:13:54 +0000

Yep, Its back. after a short delay to add filtering for (MDR) Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System. Windows update is offering SP3 for you download pleasure. get it while it hot.

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Send a Message to Another User on your Computer

Kevin — Mon, 05 May 2008 09:16:54 +0000

If you have two or more users accounts on your computer you can send send a message to one or more of them the next time they log on. Here’s how.

Right click the TaskBar and choose Task Manager
Highlight the user you want to message to and click Send Message.
Type in the message you want then click Ok
Now when that person logs on your message will popup.

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Easily Recover Deleted Picture from your Media Cards with the PC Inspector

Kevin — Sat, 03 May 2008 12:46:11 +0000

Have you ever deleted pictures off your cameras media card then realized that was your only copy. Or maybe you or your camera reformatted the card by accident, they you need the free PC INSPECTOR� smart recovery program. I had to use this program a few time in the past and it worked like a champ, except for the SD card that went thru the wash, but that another story.

PC INSPECTOR� smart recovery is the new data recovery program from CONVAR for Flash Card�, Smart Media�, SONY Memory Stick�, IBM� Micro Drive, Multimedia Card, Secure Digital Card or any other data carrier for digital cameras.

If you have unintentionally deleted or formatted pictures, videos or sound files on your data carrier or have pulled it out during a write operation, no matter – PC INSPECTOR� smart recovery can easily, quickly and absolutely reliably reconstruct the lost data.

Using the software is child’s play. PC INSPECTOR� smart recovery runs on all Win 9x, ME, NT 4.0, XP and Windows� 2000 systems.

PC INSPECTOR� smart recovery the software with which you can recover your holiday pictures in seconds after unintentional deletion or a system error.

PC INSPECTOR� smart recovery is also available bundled with many high-quality digital cameras – ask your salesperson.

* PC INSPECTOR� smart recovery supports the following picture formats: .jpg, .amr, .tif, .bmp, .gif, Canon .crw , Fuji .raf , RICOH .raw, Olympus .orf (E-XX), Olympus .orf (C5050), Nokia 3gp, Kodak .dcr, Minolta .mrw, Nikon .nef (D1H/D1X), Nikon .nef (D2H/D2X), Nikon .nef (E5000/E5700), Sigma – Foveon .x3f, mp4, QuickTime .mov (Konica Minolta). Video files in .avi, QuickTime .mov format and audio files in .wav, .dss format can also be recovered.

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Windows XP service Pack 3 Delayed ??

Kevin — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:31:48 +0000

According to Chris Keroack [MSFT] moderator on the Microsoft TechNet forms SP3 will be delayed because of a compatibility issue with Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS)

Looks like there’s a bug in the ointment.

In the last few days, we have uncovered a compatibility issue between Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS) and both Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). In order to make sure customers have the best possible experience, we have decided to delay releasing Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to the web.

To help protect customers, we plan to put filtering in place shortly to prevent Windows Update from offering both service packs to systems running Microsoft Dynamics RMS. Once filtering is in place, we expect to release Windows XP SP3 to the web.

We are also testing a fix, and will make it available once that process is complete. Once they have installed the fix, Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers should be able to run both service packs.

Until then, we advise Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers to not install either service pack. Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers running Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1 should contact Microsoft Customer Support Services for additional information.

It is still available as a download to TechNet subscribers though, and here’s a link I found on their update servers, So if you don’t want to wait for it to be pushed to you Get it here.

Home users should be ok to install it. Its only business running RMS systems that will have problems.

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Windows XP Service Pack 3 to be Available 4-29-08

Kevin — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:30:32 +0000

According to reliable sources Windows XP service pack 3 will be available for download starting 4-29-08. There will be a few improvements included, but its mostly just a wrap-up of hot fixed and security updates Read the whole story from C/Net here.

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Scan Your System for Missing Security Updates with Secunia Software Inspector

Kevin — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:44:50 +0000

The Secunia Software Inspector will inspect your operating system and software for insecure versions and missing security updates. A default inspection normally lasts 5-40 seconds, while a thorough inspection may take several minutes. Note: If you have anti-virus software or similar enabled, an inspection may increase significantly in duration.

Feature Overview – The Secunia Software Inspector:
* Detects insecure versions of applications installed
* Verifies that all Microsoft patches are applied
* Assists you in updating your system and applications
* Runs through your browser. No installation or download is required.

How Does it Work:
The Secunia Software Inspector relies on carefully crafted Secunia File Signatures to recognize applications on your system. The detected applications are then matched against our Secunia Advisory Intelligence to determine whether an application is up-to-date or not. The results are then used to advise you on how to update to more secure releases of the insecure applications.

Microsoft Windows Update is used to determine if your system is missing security updates from Microsoft.

The Secunia Software Inspector covers the most common/popular end user applications:
* Internet browsers
* Internet browser plugins
* Instant messaging clients
* Email clients
* Media players
* Operating systems
* View detailed list of applications

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Get a Free Online Virus Scan from ESET

Kevin — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:54:33 +0000

Here’s a chance to check your computer for virus’s for free, from the one of the world’s best anti-virus companies. ESET online scan. Even if you already have an anti-virus program installed, you can run this online test to see if yours is up to snuff.

It does require Internet Explorer to run and it can’t remove any virus’s that it finds but it’s very useful to see if you have an infection. Works in XP and Vista.

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Close All Open Programs with Enditall 2

Kevin — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 12:10:39 +0000

Whenever you install new software one of the first thing they tell you to do is to shut down all open programs, Likewise when you run your disk defragmenter or scandisk you need to close all open programs. Most computers today have a dozen or more open programs and process running all the time. Shutting them down manually is a tedious and time-consuming endeavor. That’s where Enditall 2 comes in to save the day.

EndItAll 2 lists all the programs running on your system, and lets you decide which ones to close down. The processes necessary for basic system operation are protected from termination. From the remaining processes, you can choose which to close, which to kill (close down forcibly), and which to protect. Once you know which files you want to shut down, you can configure EndItAll for automatic action via script or batch file. This is useful for backups and defrags during off-hours. Options let you block power management and the screen saver during operation.

The yellow lock icon means that Enditall can close or kill the process
A red lock icon indicates a protected process that cannot be killed or closed.
A lock icon with the X and the green border indicates processes that can be closed but not killed.
A skull with a red border allows to kill the process but not to close it.

Here’s another scenario:
You want to play a demanding video game or run a processor intensive program like Photoshop or do some video editing or transcoding, the more programs you have open the slower the process will be. Use Enditall to shut-um down first.

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Scan your Systems files for Corruption

Kevin — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:29:23 +0000

If your computer is running a little wonkly lately, or your getting Blue screens of death (BSOD’s) you may have some System files that are corrupted. If so checking your system files may be a good idea.

To open the System File Checker follow the directions below, have your Windows install CD ready, you may be asked for it.

Click the Start button.
Choose Run.
Type sfc /scannow in the Run box.
Sit back and relax for a while, this may take an hour or more.

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How to Change your Desktop Background Picture to One of your Own

Kevin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:44:21 +0000

I know this may seem like an easy tip to some, but a few people have asked how to change their desktop background picture to one of their very own pictures. Here’s how to do it.

Open the folder where the picture you want to use resides, normally its in.
C:\Documents and Settings\your name\Documents\My Pictures\
Your name being your logon name.
Right click the picture you want to use and choose Set as desktop background.
Enjoy…

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How To Create Custom Screensaver With Your Own Pictures

Kevin — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:34:53 +0000

Here’s a way to showoff your precious pictures with your very own screensaver. First decide what picture you want to use, this will be the hardest part. Then copy then to a different folder of your choice. The reason I say copy them to a different folder is so you can display only the picture you want instead all the thousands you have.

So here we go.

Right click an empty space on your desktop and choose Properties.
Click the Screensaver tab.
Use the drop down menu under screensaver’s to choose My Pictures Sideshow.
Click the setting tab and browse to where you copied your picture to. you can also setup the other options.
Click Ok, then back on the display Properties page you can preview your masterpiece and choose your wait time.
Click OK when your finished.

Customize XP By Adding your Name To The TaskBar

Kevin — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:37:59 +0000

Here’s a quick way to customize you computer by adding your name to the TaskBar

Before. After.

Click Start > Control Panel.
Click Date Time Language and Regional Options.
Click Region and Language Options.
Click Customize.
Click the Time tab.
Enter what ever you want in the AM symbol and the PM symbol. You have up to 12 letters.
Click Ok a few times and check next to your clock for your Name or whatever else you typed in.

Hide Your Recent Documents From Showing Up In Your Start Menu

Kevin — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:23:36 +0000

If you have several people accessing your computer you may want to prevent your recently opened documents from showing up in the start menu. Here’s how.

Right click the Start button.
Choose properties.
In the Start menu tab choose Customize.
In the Advanced tab uncheck List my most recently opened documents. then click Ok twice.

Before: After:

Crack Windows XP Passwords with Offline NT Password Editor

Kevin — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:01:39 +0000

After trying numerous Password cracking programs I came across the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor. And I gotta tell you this is the easiest program to use to crack your password and it works on all versions of Windows. Check it out here.

Scroll down to the Download section to get the CD or floppy version. Burn a CD or Floppy, Set your computer to boot from the CD and follow his directions Here and within 5 minutes you will have cleared your password.

This post is a copy from my Vista site, A few readers have asked about it so I’ll repost it here also.

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Get A Free Virus Scan From PC Pitstop

Kevin — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:16:26 +0000

Here’s a free online anti-virus scanner that you can use to scan your computer for viruses. They use Panda Software’s award-winning technology and virus list. Check it out Here.

They also offer many other free services, Like a Driver scan, Spyware scan and a Performance scan. Check out PC Pitstop Dashboard. You do need to sign up for an account but that’s also Free

This scan only works with Internet Explorer, and requires an ActiveX install, so if you use Firefox switch over for the duration of the scan.

Electronic Piano 2.5 Software For The Budding Musician

Kevin — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 00:48:26 +0000

Here’s a free Download that will let you play the Piano + 128 other instruments from your Keyboard. Get it here.

Electronic Piano 2.5 is a Freeware program that allows the user to play Musical Notes, Chords and Drums using the computer keyboard.

Although this is not a software for professional purposes, Electronic Piano 2.5 doesn’t require knowledge of the MIDI technology, it takes up little disk space and it is very simple to install and use.

How To Disable The Desktop Cleanup Wizard

Kevin — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 00:45:58 +0000

Are you as tired as I am with the Desktop Cleanup wizard popping up every 60 days asking if I want to remove unused Desktop Icons. Hey if I want them removed I’ll do it myself I used to say.

Here’s how to get rid if it for good.

Click a empty space on your desktop and choose Properties.
Click the Desktop tab.
Choose Customize Desktop.
Remove the check mark next to Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days.

That’s all there is to it.

Add An Onscreen Keyboard to Win XP

Kevin — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:11:25 +0000

Windows XP comes with a virtual onscreen keyboard that you can use in an emergency if your regular one fails, but only if you have a shortcut to it that you can click with your mouse. This has saved my bacon once already so I thought I�d pass it along. Now I�m not saying its a pleasure to use but in an emergency it will do. To check it out do the following:

Click the Start button > Run
Type OSK into the Run dialog box.

To make a shortcut icon on your desktop to the on�screen keyboard:

Right�click the desktop.
Point to New, and then click Shortcut.
Type osk, click Next.
Type a name for the shortcut, and then click Finish.

That’s it! When you need it, the shortcut to the on�screen keyboard utility is right on your desktop. Now if your keyboard goes kaput you can just click the Keyboard icon and finish what you were working on.

How To Remove Orphaned Entries In The Add and Remove Programs List

Kevin — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:18:48 +0000

It happens to almost everyone, you use Add and Remove programs to uninstall a program and next time you go back the deleted program is still listed. The most likely cause is a incomplete uninstall or a badly written uninstaller. Here’s a way to get rid of that entry for good. All you need to do is a quick Registry edit.

Always create a System Restore Point before editing the Registry, as a save guard.

Click the Start Button and choose Run.
In the Run Dialog type in Regedit and click Ok.
In the Registry editor Navigate to the following key.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Uninstall
In the uninstall folder is all the programs that are listed in the Add and Remove programs utility. Click each entry and look in the right hand pane for the Display Name and under Data value will be the name of the program.
Search for the offending program and and right click its folder and choose delete.
Close the Registry editor and your done.

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

SCREEN SHOTS:

Click the Start Button and choose Run.
In the Run Dialog type in Regedit and click Ok.
In the Registry editor Navigate to the following key.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Uninstall
In the uninstall folder is all the programs that are listed in the Add and Remove programs utility. Click each entry and look in the right hand pane for the Display Name and under Data value will be the name of the program.
Search for the offending program and and right click its folder and choose delete.
Close the Registry editor and your done.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate Available For Download

Kevin — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:51:01 +0000

Service pack 3 is now available for download form Microsoft, get it here if you dare, is it a craps shoot, probably, I don’t think I’d install it on a production machine but that’s up to you. its about a 340 mb download. I have it installed on one of my test machines and haven’t found any problems associated with the install yet. Some people are reporting a 10 to 15% boost in performance,but jury is still out on that one, more testing is required.

If you have problems and want to uninstall it just use the Add and Remove Programs utility from the Control panel. Happy computing.

Change The BSOD or Blue Screen Of Death To A Different Color

Kevin — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:59:57 +0000

Everyone’s seen them before the dreaded BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) Hopefully they don’t happen too often. But did you know that you can change the background color and the text color, so if you wanted you could have RSOD (Red Screen Of Death) or a GSOD (Green Screen Of Death) or many other colors.

Here’s how: First create a System Restore Point
Then.

Open My computer and navigate to the folder where you have Windows installed (Normally C: Windows)
Scroll down to you find system.ini
Right click system.ini and choose open with > notepad.
Look in the [386enh] section for the following text.MessageBackColor=
MessageTextColor=

If there not in there go ahead and add them.
Here are the color codes to use after the = sign

0 = black
1 = blue
2 = green
3 = cyan
4 = red
5 = magenta
6 = yellow/brown
7 = white
8 = gray
9 = bright blue
A = bright green
B = bright cyan
C = bright red
D = bright magenta

EXAMPLES:MessageBackColor=C Background color will be bright red.
MessageTextColor=2 Text color will be green.
Save the system.ini file to the same location as you opened it from.
Restart your computer, and wait for the next crash.

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Use Testdisk To Make Your Non-Booting Disks Bootable Again

Kevin — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 12:29:36 +0000

TestDisk is a powerful free data recovery software! It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally deleting a Partition Table). Partition table recovery using TestDisk is really easy. Get it for free right here be sure to choose the correct version for your operating system.

TestDisk can

* Fix partition table, recover deleted partition
* Recover FAT32 boot sector from its backup
* Rebuild FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 boot sector
* Fix FAT tables
* Rebuild NTFS boot sector
* Recover NTFS boot sector from its backup
* Fix MFT using MFT mirror
* Locate ext2/ext3 Backup SuperBlock

TestDisk has features for both novices and experts. For those who know little or nothing about data recovery techniques, TestDisk can be used to collect detailed information about a non-booting drive which can then be sent to a tech for further analysis. Those more familiar with such procedures should find TestDisk a handy tool in performing onsite recovery.

TestDisk is OpenSource software and is licensed under the terms of the GNU Public License (GPL).

How To Pin A Folder To Your Start Menu In Win XP

Kevin — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:21:38 +0000

Windows XP let you Pin a Program to your Start Menu for quick access. Just right click the program and choose Pin to Start Menu. But you can’t Pin a folder to the Start Menu unless you edit the Registry. If your ready here’s how.

First backup your Registry before you make any changes. Creating a System Restore Point will work.
Click the Start button then Run, and type regedit.exe
Navigate to the following location.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Folder \ shellex \ ContextMenuHandlers
Right click ContextMenuHandlers and choose New > Key
Right click the New Key and choose rename.
Rename the key {a2a9545d-a0c2-42b4-9708-a0b2badd77c8} Be sure to leave the Data vale to Not Set.
Close the Registry editor.

Now when you want to Pin a Folder to the Start Menu, press and hold the SHIFT key down, and then right-click a folder and choose Pin to Start Menu.

Sync Toy From Microsoft Updated To v2.0

Kevin — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:54:42 +0000

The easy to use, customizable application that helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers, has been updated to version 2.0.

Pick it up for free here

There are files from all kinds of sources that we want to store and manage. Files are created by our digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store, manage, retrieve and view files. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still largely a manual operation. In some cases it is necessary to regularly get copies of files from another location to add to primary location; in other cases there is a need to keep two storage locations exactly in sync. Some users manage files manually, dragging and dropping from one place to another and keeping track of whether the locations are synchronized in their heads. Other users may use two or more applications to provide this functionality.

Now there is an easier way. SyncToy, a free PowerToy for Microsoft Windows, is an easy to use, highly customizable program that helps users to do the heavy lifting involved with the copying, moving, and synchronization of different directories. Most common operations can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional customization is available without additional complexity. SyncToy can manage multiple sets of folders at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another case. Unlike other applications, SyncToy actually keeps track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized folder.(from Microsoft)

The following features were added to this release of SyncToy:

Dynamic Drive Letter Assignment: Drive letter reassignment will now be detected and updated in the folder pair definition.

True Folder Sync: Folder creates, renames and deletes are now synchronized for all SyncToy actions.

Exclusion Filtering Based on Name: File exclusion based on name with exact or fuzzy matching.

Filtering Based on File Attributes: The ability to exclude files based on one or more file attributes (Read-Only, System, Hidden).

Unattended Folder Pair Execution: Addressed issues related to running scheduled folder pairs while logged off.

Folder Pairs With Shared Endpoints: Ability for folder pairs associated with the same or different instances of SyncToy to share end-points.

Command line enhancements: Added the ability to manage folder pairs via the command line interface.

The SyncToy engine has been rearchitected to provide scalability and the ability to add significant enhancements in future releases.

Sync engine is also more robust insomuch that many single, file level errors are skipped without affecting the entire sync operation.

Sync Encrypted Files: Sync of Encrypted files works when local folder and files are encrypted, which addresses the common scenario involving sync between local, encrypted laptop PC folder and remote, unencrypted desktop PC folder.

64-Bit compatibility

Folder pair rename

Sub-folder Exclusion Enhancements: Descendents creates under excluded sub-folders are automatically excluded.

Folder Pair Metadata Moved: Folder pair metadata removed from MyDocuments to resolve any issues with server-based folder pair re-direction setup.

Removed combine and subscribe actions.

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Vista; Windows XP

Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0
1GHz Intel P3 processor or equivalent
256MB RAM, 512MB RAM recommended
20MB free disk space

(from Microsoft)

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Error Reporting In Windows XP And The Microsoft Online Crash Analysis Web site

Kevin — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:00:37 +0000

Isn’t it bad enough when your computer programs crash, freeze or just becomes unstable requiring you to restart them. Then a new window pops up asking you to send an error report to Microsoft. Now I don’t know useful this is because I’ve been sending them for years and never got any feedback until recently when I found out about the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis (MOCA) Web site here you can track the reports you sent in. You will need a Windows Live ID or a Microsoft Passport to use this site. It may be worth it to give this a try.

How to track your error report

Depending on the source of the error, Windows XP might display the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis (MOCA) Web site after you submit an error report. In most cases, MOCA will show you a detailed description of the type of error that you experienced. Depending on the specific error, it might even suggest a way to prevent it from happening in the future. For example, if you experience an error while using Microsoft Office XP and choose to send the error report, MOCA will analyze it. If MOCA determines that the error was caused by a problem that was resolved with Office XP Service Pack 2, MOCA will provide a link to the Office Update Web site.

How it works

If you experience a blue screen crash event, or Stop error, while using Microsoft Windows XP, you can upload the error report to our site for analysis.

What to expect

Microsoft actively analyzes all error reports and prioritizes them based on the number of customers affected by the Stop error covered in the error report. We will try to determine the cause of the Stop error you submit, categorize it according to the type of issue encountered, and send you relevant information when such information is identified. You can check the status of your error report for 180 days after the date it was originally reported. However, because error reports do not always contain enough information to positively identify the source of the issue, we might need to collect a number of similar error reports from other customers before a pattern is discovered, or follow up with you further to gather additional information. Furthermore, some error reports might require additional resources (such as a hardware debugger or a live debugger session) before a solution can be found. Although we might not be able to provide a solution for your particular Stop error, all information submitted is used to further improve the quality and reliability of Windows.

Requirements

To view analysis information or to track your error report, you must be running Internet Explorer 5 or greater, Netscape version 6 or greater, Opera version 7 or greater or Mozilla version 1.3 or greater. To download the latest version of Internet Explorer, visit the Microsoft Web site. To get a Passport, visit the Microsoft Passport Web site.

The Microsoft Online Crash Analysis Web service requires that both JavaScript and cookies are enabled in your browser in order to retain and display your customer data while navigating through the site. JavaScript is used to create dynamic content on the Web pages. All cookies used by the MOCA service are memory cookies and expire when you navigate away from the MOCA site or close your browser. This information is used by our service to retain your preferences while using the site. No personal information is written to your hard drive or shared outside of our service.

Microsoft Passport or a Windows Live ID also requires JavaScript support and cookies. To find out more about the Microsoft Passport service and requirements, visit the Microsoft Passport Web site.

(From the MS website)

How To Hide All Your Desktop Icons

Kevin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:27:51 +0000

Do you like the minimalists look on your desktop or maybe you want to play a joke on someone here’s a way to remove all your icons from your desktop.

Right click an empty area on your desktop and choose Arrange Icons by, then remove the check mark next to Show Desktop icons.

Before.

After.

Use Microsoft’s New Network Diagnostics Tool For Win XP To Trouble Problems

Kevin — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:32:52 +0000

The Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool can help troubleshoot some of the most common connection problems that you may encounter in a home networking environment.

The Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool analyzes information about your network connectivity to help you troubleshoot network-related problems with your computer.
To diagnose network connectivity status, the Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool analyzes the following tests:

IP configuration test.
Default gateway test.
Winsock test.
DNS test.
Firewall test.
Internet connectivity validation test.

How to obtain the Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
Network Diagnostic Tool (KB914440):

How to run the Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool
You can use the Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool to test network connectivity and to determine whether your network-related programs and services are working correctly. To start the tool, use one of the following methods:

In Microsoft Internet Explorer, click Diagnose Connection Problems on the Tools menu.
Click Start, click Run, type %windir%\network diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe, and then click OK.
Run Guided Help for Microsoft Knowledge Base article 326155. For more information about how to download Guided Help for Microsoft Knowledge Base article 326155, click the proceeding article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

(Source Microsoft.com)

Change My Computer’s Default View To Folder List

Kevin — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 14:35:24 +0000

When you click My Computer on your desktop you can see your drives on the right side and some options and details on the left side.

But you can also view it in a folder view that makes it easier to move or copy files around between different drives or folders, all you need to do is click the Folders tab in the toolbar to change the view.

If you like the Folder view and would like to set it as the default do the following.

Click My Computer to open it. Then click Tools > Folder Options
Click the File Types tab. Then in the list of file types, highlight (NONE) Folders and click the Advanced button.
In the Actions box, highlight “Explore” Then click Set Default. Click Ok twice. Now the next time you open My Computer it will open in the Folder view. To change it back follow the same steps and choose open then click Set Default.

Disable Or Enable Automatic Updates in Firefox

Kevin — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 10:18:00 +0000

If you are using Firefox as your browser you know automatic updates are turned on by default and sometimes when a new version comes out it breaks some of your extensions, so I normally wait to install an update until my extensions will all work with the latest version. Unless a major security issue is present. So here’s how you can disable auto updates.

In Firefox click Tools > Options.
Click the Advanced tab > Update, Then I usually choose Ask me what I want to do When updates to Firefox are found.

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Get A Vista Drive Icon for Your XP System

Kevin — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:55:48 +0000

Windows Vista new Hard Drive icons show a little bar under the icon showing how much disk space is left. Now Vista Drive Icon, changes the drive icons shown in Windows XP “My Computer”, to a nearly Vista drive icon, showing the drive’s free space with a smooth colored horizontal bar.

The progress bars are blue until the drive gets nearly full, and when your hard drive starts getting full, the bar turns red.

Vista Drive Icons is a free program and works under Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, and XP.

Before.

After.

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Enable Or Disable Fast User Switching

Kevin — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:21:49 +0000

Fast user switching allows multiple user accounts to log on to a computer simultaneously and quickly switch between them with out restarting the computer.

Enable or Disable Fast User Switching.

Log on to the computer as an administrator.
Click Start, click Control Panel.
Click User Accounts.
Click Change the way users log on or off.
If it is not already selected, click to select the Use the Welcome screen check box. (NOTE: The Use Fast User Switching check box is unavailable until you click to select the Use the Welcome screen check box.)
Click to select the Use Fast User Switching check box, and then click Apply Options. Quit the User Accounts tool.
To disable Fast user switching just remove the check mark next to Fast user switching and click apply.

To Switch Users with Fast user switching enabled.

Click Start then Log Off.
Click Switch User then choose the account you want to switch to. (If you choose Switch User as apposed to log Off, when you return to the previous user everything will be like you left it.)

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

1. Log on to the computer as an administrator. 2. Click Start, click Control Panel.

3. Click User Accounts.

4. Click Change the way users log on or off.

5. If it is not already selected, click to select the Use the Welcome screen check box. (NOTE: The Use Fast User Switching check box is unavailable until you click to select the Use the Welcome screen check box.)

6. Click to select the Use Fast User Switching check box, and then click Apply Options. Quit the User Accounts tool.

7. To disable Fast user switching just remove the check mark next to Fast user switching and click Apply Options.

To Switch Users with Fast user switching enabled.

1. Click Start then Log Off.

2. Click Switch User then choose the account you want to switch to. (If you choose Switch User as apposed to log Off, when you return to the previous user everything will be like you left it.)

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A Few Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

Kevin — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 01:47:42 +0000

Here are a few Windows shortcut I use to make my computing life easier.

Alt-Tab switches to a different active application
Alt-Shift-Tab moves backward through the active applications
Alt-Space opens the active window’s Control menu
Ctrl-Esc opens the Start menu
Ctrl-Shift-Esc opens Task Manager
Windows-M minimizes all windows and gives you immediate access to the desktop
Windows-Shift-M undoes the minimize
Windows-Tab cycles through the taskbar buttons

How To Change The Look Of The Command Prompt

Kevin — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:59:03 +0000

If you do a lot of work with the command line wouldn’t it be nice to customize it the way you want. change the size, the color and the fonts with ease.

First lets open the Command Processor window.

Click Start > Run.
Type CMD into the Run dialog box.

Now that the Command Processor window is open right click the title bar. To change the settings for all command prompt windows, click Defaults. To change the settings for the current command prompt window only, click Properties.

Click the Options tab. Here you can adjust the cursor size, Display and edit options along with the Command history.

Click the Font tab. In the Font box, click a font.
If you click a TrueType font, the Size menu displays a list of point sizes to choose from, or you can enter a size by typing the number in the Size box. To use bold with TrueType fonts, select the Bold Fonts check box.
If you click Raster Fonts, the sizes that are listed in the Size box are the window size choices.
The Window Preview box displays how the current window’s size will change based on the font and font size you selected.
The Selected Font box shows how characters will appear with the specified font settings. Bold is not available with Raster fonts.

Click the Layout tab.
Under Screen Buffer Size, specify settings for the width and height of the screen, based on the number of characters that are entered in the buffer.
Under Window Size, specify settings for the width and height of the window.
Under Window Position, specify settings for the initial left and top position of the window.(NOTE: you can resize the window up to the maximum size listed on the Layout tab. It is a good idea to select a size from one-fourth to no more than half the desktop size for reading and usability.)

Click the Colors tab. choose colors for the screen text, screen background, pop-up text, or pop-up background by clicking the element you want to change.
Click the color you want. The Selected Screen Colors box shows how the text and background colors you selected will appear on the screen. The Selected Popup Colors box shows how the text and background colors you selected will appear in a pop-up window.

Click Ok and restart the Command Processor window.

Create A Desktop Icon To Lock You Computer With One Click

Kevin — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 01:01:05 +0000

When you leave your computer to do something else but don’t want others to see or have access to your desktop you can create a shortcut icon to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screensaver. Here’s how.

Right-click the desktop.
Click New, and then click Shortcut.
The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following:
rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
Click Next.
Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it “Lock Computer” or choose any name you like.
Click Finish.

Now we need to change that plain icon to something snazzier.

Right click the Lock Computer Icon and choose Properties. Then click Change Icon.
In the browse box type in %SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll
Select the icon you want from the selection and click Ok twice.

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

1. Right-click the desktop.

2. Click New, and then click Shortcut.

3. The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following:
rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

4. Click Next.

5. Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it “Lock Computer” or choose any name you like.

6. Click Finish.

Now we need to change that plain icon to something snazzier.

1. Right click the Lock Computer Icon and choose Properties. Then click Change Icon.

2. In the browse box type in %SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll

3. Select the icon you want from the selection and click Ok twice.

Now when you click the lock icon you will be sent to the logon screen.

Donate Your Spare CPU Cycles To Folding@Home

Kevin — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 03:09:26 +0000

Folding@Home (also known as FAH or F@H) is a distributed computing project designed to perform computationally intensive simulations of protein folding and other molecular dynamics. It was launched on October 1, 2000, and is currently managed by the Pande Group, within Stanford University’s chemistry department, under the supervision of Professor Vijay Pande. Folding@home is the most powerful distributed computing cluster in the world, according to Guinness, and one of the world’s largest distributed computing projects.The goal of the project is “to understand protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases.” Check it out. Start donating today

How it works.

Folding@Home does not rely on powerful supercomputers for its data processing; instead, the primary contributors to the Folding@home project are many hundreds of thousands of personal computer users who have installed a small client program. The client will, at the user’s choice, run in the background, utilizing otherwise unused CPU power, or run as a screensaver only while the user is away. In most modern personal computers, the CPU is rarely used to its full capacity at all times; the Folding@Home client takes advantage of this unused processing power.

The Folding@Home client periodically connects to a server to retrieve “work units,” which are packets of data upon which to perform calculations. Each completed work unit is then sent back to the server. As data integrity is a major concern for all distributed computing projects, all work units are validated through the use of a 2048 bit digital signature.

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Get Rid Of Windows XP’s Low Disk Space Nag

Kevin — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:30:58 +0000

Almost everybody runs into this situation at some time or another, your happily computing away and all of a sudden up pops a warning that one of your hard drives is running out of space and offers to run disk cleanup. That all well and fine you run disk cleanup and free up some space, but its never enough and up pops the low disk space nag again. Here’s away to turn it off ether for good or until you can get another hard drive installed. (This tip requires a Registry change so be sure to create a Restore Point first)

Open the Registry Editor. Click Start > Run Then type Regedit in the run dialog box.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer.
Right click Explorer and choose create a DWORD value and call it NoLowDiskSpaceChecks.
Double-click on NoLowDiskSpaceChecks, and enter the value 1, and press OK.
Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer.

Delete Your Hibernation File To Regain Disk Space

Kevin — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 11:45:49 +0000

If you don’t use the Hibernation option in Windows XP you can turn it off and free up some disk space. ( Up to your amount of ram)

Here’s how.

Click the Start button.
Choose Control Panel.
Click Performance and Maintenance.
Choose Power Options.
Click the Hibernate tab.
Remove the check mark next to enable hibernation, click OK when finished.

Windows should automatically delete the file called hiperfil.sys

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

1. Click the Start button.

2. Choose Control Panel.

3. Click Performance and Maintenance.

4. Choose Power Options.

5. Click the Hibernate tab.

6. Remove the check mark next to enable hibernation, click Ok when finished.

Close All Your Open Programs At One Time

Kevin — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:37:10 +0000

Here’s a quick tip that will show you how to close all your open programs at one time.

Hold down the CTRL key and click all the open programs in the task bar. (Notice they all stay selected) now right click any of the tabs and choose Close Group. Now all the programs you selected will close.

Alphabetize The Programs In Your Start All Programs Menu

Kevin — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 11:48:35 +0000

When you click Start > All Programs to view all your installed programs you will see that as you add new programs they get added to the bottom of the list and they get harder and harder to find, but its easy to sort them Alphabetically. Here’s how.

Click the Start button.
Choose All Programs.
Right click anywhere in the programs list and choose Sort By Name.

Now all your Programs will be Alphabetized

Find Missing Album Artwork for iTunes With iTunes Art Importer

Kevin — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 13:36:32 +0000

Very rarely does a great program comes around that makes a difficult task manageable. If you use iTunes you most likely have many Albums with missing art work. iTunes Art Importer works and works good, Here’s a download link Give it a try and get your Coverflow working like it should. It is without a doubt the easiest way to to find and import your missing Art work.

Update 1-14-08 I updated the links to this site and included a link to the direct download.

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How To Keep Your Programs Menu From Stretching Off Your Screen

Kevin — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 23:47:03 +0000

If you’ve been using XP for a long time and have a but load of programs installed sometimes your programs menu will extend past the edge of your screen. To solve this problem all you have to do is enable scrolling for your Start > Programs folder, here’s how

Right-click Start, select Properties.
Select the Start Menu tab, and then click Customize.
Click on the the Advanced tab.
Look under Start menu items, scroll down to the Scroll Programs listing and place check in the box. Click Ok then apply

Now when you click Start > Programs. you will be able to scroll through all your Programs.

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

1. Right-click Start, select Properties.

2. Select the Start Menu tab, and then click Customize.

3. Click on the the Advanced tab.

4. Look under Start menu items, scroll down to the Scroll Programs listing and place check in the box. Click Ok then apply

Now when you click Start > Programs. you will be able to scroll through all your Programs.

Get More Info From Windows Explorer

Kevin — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:23:32 +0000

When navigating through your files with windows explorer you normally see Name, Size, Type and Date modified as your column headings. As shown below for my C drive.

But you can easily add more columns of info, just right click in any column heading for more options.

Put a check in the one you want and the change is instant.

Its great for Music or Video files.

Quickly View Your System Information

Kevin — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 13:45:36 +0000

Are you looking for a quick way to view your computers system information in one handy place. Check out what you’ll get with this handy tip.

Host Name	System Up Time	Time Zone
OS Name	System Manufacturer	Total Physical Memory
OS Version	System Model	Available Physical Memory
OS Manufacturer	System Type	Virtual Memory: Max Size
OS configuration	Processors	Virtual Memory: Available
OS Build Type	Bios Version	Virtual Memory: In Use
Registered Owner	Windows Directory	Page File Location
Registered Organization	System Directory	Domain
Product ID	Boot Device	Logon On Server
Original Install Date	System Locale	Hotfixs and Network Cards

1. Select Start > Run
2. In the Open: box type cmd and click OK
3. At the command prompt type systeminfo and press Enter

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

1. Select Start > Run

2. In the Open: box type cmd and click OK

3. At the command prompt type systeminfo and press Enter.

How To Avoid Reactivating XP After A Reinstall

Kevin — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 12:07:30 +0000

We’ve all had to do it at least once, I routinely do it every 6 months. What am I talking about. Reformatting and reinstalling Windows XP. Whether you’re having problems with crashes, errors, spyware or viruses or just need to clean out the junk that accumulates over time. After you reinstall you will need to reactivate your copy of XP, but you can skip that step by following the instructions below. You will need to backup 2 files to a floppy disk, CD or external drive.

Open My Computer or an Explorer window.
Navigate to your “C” drive > windows > system32.
Scroll down to you get to WPA.DBL and WPA.BAK
Right click WPA.DBL and choose “send to” then pick where you want to copy it to.
Do the same for WPA.BAK

Now you can perform your format and reinstall of XP. When you get to the Activation screen, decline to activate it and let the install finish. ( don’t forget to backup your data before reformatting)

Now restart Windows in “Safe Mode” (keep hitting F8 at start-up then when the Advanced Boot Options menu appears choose Safe Mode) your computer will boot into safe mode and it will look very different from what your used to.

Now you will need to navigate back to where you stored the WPA.DBL and WPA.BAK

In My Computer or an Explorer window navigate to where you stored the WPA.DBL and WPA.BAK.
Right click WPA.DBL and drag it to your “C” drive > windows > system32 folder and choose copy here. You will replace the existing file.
Do the same for WPA.BAK and restart your computer.
Now all you need to do is reinstall all your programs and backed up files.

Adjust Your AutoPlay Settings In XP

Kevin — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 14:42:41 +0000

Windows XP makes it easy to adjust what happens when you want to transfer media file to your computer or just play or view them, be it Music, Pictures, Video or DVD’s. The secret is in the AutoPlay settings. Lets take a look at how to adjust them. First

Open My Computer or an Explorer window.
Right click your CD or DVD drive and choose Properties.
Click the AutoPlay tab.
Use the drop down box to choose what you want to control.
Make sure the Select an option to perform is checked.
In the Options section Choose what you want to happen when you insert media into your computer.
If you want to be prompted each time choose Prompt me each time to choose an action.
If you make a mistake you can always click the Restore Defaults button.
Click Apply and your all set.

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

1. Open My Computer or an Explorer window.

2. Right click your CD or DVD drive and choose Properties.

3. Click the AutoPlay tab.

4. Use the drop down box to choose what you want to control.

5. Make sure the Select an option to perform is checked.

6. In the Options section Choose what you want to happen when you insert media into your computer.

7. If you want to be prompted each time choose Prompt me each time to choose an action.

8. If you make a mistake you can always click the Restore Defaults button.

9. Click Apply and your all set.

___________________________________________________________

Create An Invisible Folder To Hide Your Secret Files

Kevin — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 23:26:44 +0000

Here’s a trick I’ve been using for quite awhile to hide folders and files from the casual snooper. (Caution before you do this remember where you put the folder if you create it on your desktop, it will be hard to find.

Create a new folder, whether on your Desktop or in an existing folder.
Right click the new folder and choose rename.
Hold down the Alt key and on your number pad press 255. It will only work if you use the number pad. So its Alt255 and the Icon name will disappear.
Now we need to make the folder disappear also. Right click the folder and choose Properties.
Click the Customize tab then the Change icon button.
Click the slider to the right till you come to one of the blank icons and click it. (It will just be a blank space between the other icons) then click Ok twice.
Now you just created an Invisible folder.

You can only create 1 Invisible folder per directory cause you can only have 1 folder named Alt255. Now you can store whatever you want in it. Just don’t forget where you put it. To find it again if you have it on your desktop when you hover your mouse over it your curser will change or press Ctrl+A to highlight everything on your desktop and you’ll see it as a small vertical line.

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

1. Create a new folder, whether on your Desktop or in an existing folder.

2. Right click the new folder and choose rename.

3. Hold down the Alt key and on your number pad press 255. It will only work if you use the number pad. So its Alt255 and the Icon name will disappear.

4. Now we need to make the folder disappear also. Right click the folder and choose Properties.

5. Click the Customize tab then the Change icon button.

6. Click the slider to the right till you come to one of the blank icons and click it. (It will just be a blank space between the other icons) then click Ok twice.

7. Now you just created an Invisible folder. Just don’t forget where you put it.

___________________________________________________________

PrintFolder A Easy Way To Print A List Of Files Or Folders

Kevin — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:39:37 +0000

Here’s a handy utility I found that lets you print or save a list of files located in any folder. Just right-click any folder in Windows Explorer and select “PrintFolder” in the popup menu and PrintFolder prepares a printable list of all your files or folders. Fantastic, I wish I had found this program years ago. This is a free program from No Nonsense Software They also offer a paid version with more functionality.

____________________________________________________________

Unhide Operating System files And File Extensions in XP

Kevin — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:05:22 +0000

Many people may not realize that the operating system files and extensions are hidden in XP by default, but many people like to see all the files on their computer. Also I’ll show you how to unhide your file extensions. Its always good to know what the file extension is for unknown downloaded files before clicking on them as many malware or virus files have a double extension, (Example clickonme.txt.exe clickonme.txt is a text file while clickonme.txt.exe is an executable program that may infect your computer.)

Open My Computer or an Explorer window.
In Windows Explorer, select Tools.
Click Folder Options.
Click the View tab.
Scroll down to Hidden Files and Folder, click the option button to show hidden files and folders.
Uncheck the option button for hide extensions for known file types.
Uncheck the option for Hide protected operating system files.
Click Ok when your finished.
A warning dialog box will popup, just click Ok.
Now you’re finished. You’ll be able to see your System files and file extensions.

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

1. Open My Computer or an Explorer window.

2. In Windows Explorer, select Tools.

3. Click Folder Options.

4. Click the View tab.

5. Scroll down to Hidden Files and Folder, click the option button to show hidden files and folders.

6. Uncheck the option button for hide extensions for known file types.

7. Uncheck the option for Hide protected operating system files.

8. Click Ok when your finished.

9. A warning dialog box will popup, just click Ok.

10. Now you’re finished. You’ll be able to see your System files and file extensions.

Microsoft Photo Info, Makes It Easy To Add Metadata To Your Photos

Kevin — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:36:53 +0000

Microsoft Photo Info allows photographers to add, change and delete common “metadata” properties for digital photographs from inside Windows Explorer. Get it Here for Free.

When installed, a new “Photo Info” item appears on the context menu for files selected in Windows Explorer. To use, simply select one or more image files, right-click and choose “Photo Info” to open the Photo Info properties editor. You can edit metadata for files individually, or all together as a batch. Photo Info reads and writes metadata in IPTC and XMP formats (depending on file type). It also provides enhanced “hover tips” and additional sort properties for digital photographs in Windows Explorer.

Right click 1 picture or a group of pictures and choose Photo Info.

Now you can add your Metadata.

Microsoft Photo Info provides the following features:

View or edit photo metadata from inside Windows Explorer. View or modify advanced image properties from within Windows.

Edit images individually, or as a collection. Photo Info has two edit modes: individual and collection, making it easy to update many images at the same time.

Quick recall of recent entries. For some properties, Photo Info remembers the most recent entries you have typed. To recall a recent entry, click on the drop down arrow and select it from the list.

Generate copyright notice automatically. Photo Info can generate a standard copyright notice automatically from the Author and date Created information, if present.

Quick recall of location details. To help save time when entering location information, Photo Info can save location details under a name you provide. Recall these details by selecting the location name from the drop-down menu.

Correct EXIF capture date / time information. Photo Info can optionally update the EXIF date/time information as recorded in the image file by your camera. You can use this feature to correct the file capture date if your camera�s clock was set incorrectly (for example, to the wrong time zone).

View EXIF properties. Click on the Details tab to view common EXIF properties. Click on More properties for additional details.

Preview the image. To see a larger preview of the image, double-click on the thumbnail.

Enhanced hover tips. Hover tips have been enhanced for JPEG, TIFF and other supported file types in Windows Explorer.

Custom column properties. In Windows Explorer when viewing a folder in Details view, additional sort properties are available for supported image types.

Using Microsoft Photo Info

After running Setup, a new �Photo Info� item appears in the file context menu in Windows Explorer. (Microsoft Photo Info can only be accessed from within Windows Explorer; it does not appear separately in the Windows Start Menu.)

To use the tool, select one or more supported image files in Windows Explorer, right-click and choose Photo Info. The Photo Info properties dialog appears. This dialog permits you to view and edit properties for selected images individually or as a batch, and you can switch between these two editing modes at any time. Navigate between selected images by clicking on the Next or Previous buttons or by pressing the Page Up or Page Down keys on your keyboard.

Properties are arranged in several tabs: Description, Keywords, Origin, Advanced, and Details. Click on the tab containing the information you wish to view or edit. To see tips or get help with a particular property or control, hover over it with your mouse, or, click the �question mark� icon in the title bar, then click the control for which you wish to see additional information.

When you are finished, click OK or Apply to save your changes, or Cancel to exit the tool without saving changes. You can also undo changes by clicking on Revert. Only changes that have not yet been saved can be reverted.

Microsoft Photo Info does not modify the image pixel data in any way when saving changes; only valid �metadata� properties are updated or added to the image file.

Calculator Plus From Microsoft

Kevin — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 12:42:46 +0000

When the Windows operating system is installed on your computer, a simple calculator program that you can use to perform standard mathematical functions also gets installed. However, your legal copy of Windows also entitles you to download a fancier calculator program. It is called Microsoft Calculator Plus. Get it here for free

The standard calculator.

Calculator Plus.

Calculator Plus does everything the standard Microsoft Calculator does but also enables you to convert one type of units to another, a useful feature for businesses with international relationships. You can calculate conversions for:

Area
Currency
Fuel consumption (engines)
Energy
Lengths
Power
Pressure
Temperature
Volume
Velocity
Weight

For currency calculations, you can add currencies to the default list that is installed. The calculator also includes a tool that will automatically update the exchange rate for the Euro by downloading it from the European Central Bank (ECB).

Speed Up Your Start Menu

Kevin — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:26:27 +0000

Here’s a tip you can use if your Start Menu seems a little slow when you click it. This tip involves editing the Registry so its a good idea to create a System Restore point first. Ok here it go’s.

Click the Start Button.
Click Run.
In the Run box type regedit and click Ok.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \.
Scroll down to MenuShowDelay, right click it and select Modify.
Change the Value data (0 is fastest, 400 is default. I recommend setting it around 200. (The time is expressed in milliseconds).
When you’re finished click Ok, then Restart your computer for the settings to take effect.

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

Click the Start Button.
Click Run.

3. In the Run box type regedit and click Ok.

4. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \.

5. Scroll down to MenuShowDelay, right click it and select Modify.

6. Change the Value data (0 is fastest, 400 is default. I recommend setting it around 200. (The time is expressed in milliseconds).

7. When you’re finished click Ok, then Restart your computer for the settings to take effect. You should notice a marked improvement in your Start Menu speed.

Launchy: The Fastest Way To Open Programs And Files

Kevin — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 01:08:55 +0000

Launchy is free open-source windows utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager.

Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes! It’s like Vista’s new search box for XP. Give it a try and you’ll be hooked too. Get Launchy Here.

Once Launchy has been started, it hides in the background. You bring it forward by holding the alt key and tapping the space key. You then type in a few keys of the program you are searching for and hit enter once it has been found. You can also make Launchy dissappear again by hitting escape or alt+space. The more you use it the smarter it gets.

Take Control Of Your Start Menu

Kevin — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 02:34:21 +0000

When you click the Start button you can see many useful items that appear in the Start Menu to make your computing easier and faster.

This tip will show you how to add or remove items from your Start Menu.

Right click the Start button.
Choose Properties.
Click the Start menu tab.
Click Customize.
Click the Advanced tab.
Scroll thru the Start menu items.

Now you can scroll thru the Start menu items and check the items you want to add to your Start menu, then you choose how they will appear, As a link, As a menu or not at all. When your finished click Ok twice and your all set.

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

Right click the Start button.
Choose Properties.
Click the Start menu tab.
Click Customize.

5. Click the Advanced tab.

6. Scroll thru the Start menu items.

Adjust How Icons Are displayed In Your System Tray

Kevin — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 13:17:10 +0000

The System tray is the area next to your clock where Windows displays icons of programs that startup when you boot into Windows.

Sometimes this area can stretch half way across your monitor and display every icon in it, or other times it only displays a few items. This tip will show you how to control what icons get displayed and for how long.

Click Start and choose Properties.
Select the Taskbar tab.
Choose Customize in the Notification area.
Select the Item you want to change and use the drop down box to change the way its displayed. ” Hide when inactive, always hide or Always show.
After making your adjusting click Ok.

Now you’re System tray will behave the way you want.

To see Screen shots for the process, Click the Read the rest of this entry link.

Click Start and choose Properties.

2. Select the Taskbar tab.

3.Choose Customize in the Notification area.

4. Select the Item you want to change and use the drop down box to change the way its displayed. ” Hide when inactive, always hide or Always show.

5. After making your adjusting click Ok.

Get Started On Your Journal With iDailyDiary

Kevin — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 22:06:12 +0000

iDailyDiary provides a simple interface that immediately gets you started taking daily notes, creating a journal, putting your thoughts into writing and much more. Get it FREE Here

iDailyDiary has been designed around a simple page-for-a-day diary. Your diary can contain a mixture of pictures and formatted text. Image files of various types are supported, including bitmaps, JPEGs, icons, and even animated GIFs. Add new page tabs and rename them whatever you wish to help get your life organized. In addition to the calendar on the top toolbar, you have a month-view calendar bar at the bottom of your diary.

This calendar bar not only allows you to view and select any day of the current month but also highlights which days of the month you have made entries in your diary. Features include the ability to create and open as many diaries as you wish; diary files that are fully encrypted and password-protected; the ability to search the entire diary for matching entries; the ability to insert clickable hotlinks, URLs, and links to other diary pages; and the ability to save diary pages to HTML to publish to Web. Version 3.41 include unspecified updates.

Speed Up Your Computer When Right Clicking A File

Kevin — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 12:04:12 +0000

Did you ever notice when you right click a file in Windows Explorer your computer slows down to a crawl for a few seconds, If so there’s an easy fix.

Right click an open area of your desktop and choose Properties. Then choose the Appearance tab and click Effects.

Now uncheck ” Use the following transition effect for menus and tooltips check box” Then click Ok twice, and the next time you right click a file you won’t see a slow down.

Change The Size Of Your Scrollbars

Kevin — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:02:39 +0000

If you’re like me, getting a little older, eyes not as good as they used to be, sometimes trying to grab that little scrollbar gets difficult. Well here’s a way to make it bigger.

Right click an empty place on your desktop and choose “Properties” then click the Appearance Tab > and Advanced.

Click inside the Item box, and scroll down and click “Scrollbar”

In the Size box, change the size and watch the Scrollbar get bigger or smaller. Click Ok. Then Apply in the next screen and your finished.

Note: you will need to close and reopen any window for the changes to take effect.

Before:

After:

While your in the Advanced Appearance screen look around there are many things you can adjust.

Improve The Readability Of Text On LCD’s With Clear Type Tuner

Kevin — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 12:17:56 +0000

This PowerToy lets you use ClearType technology to make it easier to read text on your screen, and installs in the Control Panel for easy access. Get it here This program is only for Win XP

What is ClearType technology you ask?

ClearType is a software technology developed by Microsoft that improves the readability of text on existing LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays), such as laptop screens, Pocket PC screens and flat panel monitors. With ClearType font technology, the words on your computer screen look almost as sharp and clear as those printed on a piece of paper.

ClearType works by accessing the individual vertical color stripe elements in every pixel of an LCD screen. Before ClearType, the smallest level of detail that a computer could display was a single pixel, but with ClearType running on an LCD monitor, we can now display features of text as small as a fraction of a pixel in width. The extra resolution increases the sharpness of the tiny details in text display, making it much easier to read over long durations. (from Microsoft)

After you install it you can access it from the Control Panel > Appearance & Themes > Clear Type Tuning. Put a check mark in Turn on Clear Type. Then click start Wizard

Click on the text that looks best to you, then click next.

Again choose the one that looks best, then click next.

If you like how the text looks click finish, or click back to make any changes.

Google Earth’s Flight Simulator

Kevin — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 03:31:41 +0000

Last week Google updated Google Earth to include the Sky above you and it looks like they also included a unpublished Flight Simulator, you can take off and fly around the world. You need version # 4.2.0180 you can get it here http://earth.google.com/sky/index.html

It work on Windows Mac and Linux. To get the Flight Sim working for the first time Open Google Earth the press Ctrl+Alt+A for windows for Mac Command+Option+A

They only include 2 aircraft now a F-16 and a SR-22 and only a few airports to take off from but its a cool start. Here’s a look at the takeoff screen.

After you run the Flight Simulator for the first time you can restart it by starting Google Earth then go to Tools > Enter Flight Simulator

Here are the keyboard shortcuts

Google keyboard shortcuts

And another screen shot.

Update 9-3-07 Here’s a video from the Google Earth Blog

Update 9-1-07 Here’s a video of it in action by Eric S. over at http://www.insidedesign.info/blog/

Virtual Desktop Manager For Win XP

Kevin — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:43:17 +0000

This is another program in the free Microsoft PowerToys library. It allows you to run up to 4 individual desktops at once, each with different programs running, different wallpapers and easily switch between them. You can download it from Microsoft here.

After you download and install it here’s how to get it setup. Right click an empty space on your toolbar and choose > Toolbar > Desktop Manager.

Now you will see the MSVDM tab (Microsoft Virtual Desktop Manager)

Right click anywhere inside the MSVDM tab to access the configuration screens.

Choose > Configure Desktop Images, and you can setup different Wallpapers for each Desktop.

Click the Shortcut tab if you want to assign a keyboard shortcut to launch each Desktop. When your finished click Ok.

To see all the Desktops at once click the Green checkerboard icon, or if you know which one you want click the number and your Desktops will switch.

Create Icons To Shutdown,Logoff Or Reboot Your Computer With 1 Click

Kevin — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 23:57:27 +0000

Do you want a quick way to Shutdown, Logoff or Reboot your XP computer using Icons on your desktop. Imagine only 1 click to shut it down instead of 3. Here’s how.

Right click an empty area of your desktop. Choose > New > shortcut.

The Create a Shortcut Wizard will appear. Type “shutdown -s -t 00″ without the quotes in the location box. This will create the Shutdown Icon. Click next

Now type in whatever you want to name it. Most likely Shutdown. Click Finish.

Now you have your Shutdown Icon on your desktop.

To create an icon for Restart Type follow the same instructions but type “shutdown -r -t 00″ in the Create shortcut wizard and then name the icon Restart.

To create an icon for Logoff Type follow the same instructions but type “shutdown -l -t 00″ in the Create shortcut wizard and then name the icon Logoff.

Now we need to change those plain icons to something snazzier.

Right click the Shutdown Icon and choose Properties. Then click Change Icon.

Then choose the one you like and click OK.

Now do the same for the other 2 and your finished. Now just 1 click will set you free. Here are the codes one more time.

shutdown -s -t 00 (for shutdown)
shutdown -r -t 00 (for restart)
shutdown -l -t 00 (for logoff)

To add the same icons in Windows Vista visit my other blog at VistaRevisited.

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Related Posts:

Alt-Tab Replacement

Kevin — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:51:30 +0000

This is another great addition to the PowerToys that Microsoft provides for Free. In case you don’t know what happens when you press Alt-Tab, It gives you a list of all your open applications that you can quickly tab thru. Give it a try. Hold down the Alt key then repeatedly press the Tab key. (See the images after the jump)

When you install the Alt-Tab Replacement in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open.

Stop A Forced Reboot After A Windows Update

Kevin — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 01:11:22 +0000

If you’re like me and leave your computer all the time and have Windows updates set to auto download and install. I’m sure you saw this message before. “Windows recently downloaded and installed an important security update to help protect your computer. This update required an automatic restart.” Hopefully you saved any important things you were working on, If not your S.O.L. Or if your in front of your computer after an install you get the nag message pop-up window with a countdown that wants to reboot your computer in 15 seconds. Now you can stop that with a quick Registry edit. ( Always backup your Registry before making any changes.)

Step 1. Click Start, then Run. Then type regedit and press Enter.

Step 2. With the Registry Editor opened, click and expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies and finally Microsoft\Windows.

Right-click on Windows and select New\Key with your left mouse.

Type WindowsUpdate and press Enter. This will create a new folder. Now right-click on that folder and create another new key, this one named AU, and press Enter. AU stands for Auto Update.

Turn to the right-hand pane, where the entry reads (Default); right-click in the empty space and select New DWORD Value. Enter the string NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers, and press Enter.

Now double-click that entry and change the Value Data to a 1, with the Base button of Hexadecimal selected.

Click on File > Exit, after which the Registry autosaves. Now reboot, and you won’t need to worry about your computer auto rebooting after installing an update.

Microsoft Photo Info 1.0

Kevin — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 13:33:22 +0000

This free program is part of Microsoft’s PowerToys and provides digital photography Information at your fingertips Get it here

Microsoft Photo Info allows photographers to add, change and delete common “metadata” properties for digital photographs from inside Windows Explorer via the right click menu.

Microsoft Photo Info runs on 32-bit versions of Windows XP (with Service Pack 2 or later) and the Windows Vista operating systems.

The Programs Features Include:
View or edit photo metadata from inside Windows Explorer. Now, advanced image properties are at your fingertips from within Windows.

Edit images individually, or as a collection. Photo Info has two edit modes: individual and collection, making it easy to update many images at the same time.

Quick recall of recent entries. For some properties, Photo Info remembers the most recent entries you have typed. To recall a recent entry, click on the drop down arrow and select it from the list.

Generate copyright notice automatically. Photo Info can generate a standard copyright notice automatically from the Author and date Created information, if present.

Quick recall of location details. To help save time when entering location information, Photo Info can save location details under a name you provide. Recall these details by selecting the location name from the drop-down menu.

Correct EXIF capture date / time information. Photo Info can optionally update the EXIF date/time information as recorded in the image file by your camera. You can use this feature to correct the file capture date if your camera’s clock was set incorrectly (for example, to the wrong time zone).

View EXIF properties. Click on the Details tab to view common EXIF properties. Click on More properties for additional details.

Preview the image. To see a larger preview of the image, double-click on the thumbnail.

Enhanced hover tips. Hover tips have been enhanced for JPEG, TIFF and other supported file types in Windows Explorer.

Custom column properties. In Windows Explorer when viewing a folder in Details view, additional sort properties are available for supported image types.

For pictures of the program running click read the rest of the entry.

Right click on any photo or group of photos.

Here you can add descriptions

Add keywords for easier searching.

Here you can add where you took the picture.

This screen allows you to add more details.

And the last tab will give you details of the camera that took the picture.

IE 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

Kevin — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:59:43 +0000

This tip is very popular on my Windows Vista site so I thought I’d share it with you guys.

Turn Full Screen Mode on or off F11
Find a word or phrase on a page CTRL+F
Open the current webpage in a new window CTRL+N
Print the page CTRL+P
Select all items on the page CTRL+A
Zoom in CTRL+PLUS
Zoom out CTRL+MINUS
Zoom to 100% CTRL+0

Navigation shortcuts
Go to home page ALT+HOME
Go backward ALT+LEFT
Go forward ALT+RIGHT
Refresh page F5
Refresh page and the cache CTRL+F5
Stop downloading page ESC

Favorites Center shortcuts
Open Favorites CTRL+I
Open Favorites in pinned mode CTRL+SHIFT+I
Organize Favorites CTRL+B
Add current page to Favorites CTRL+D
Open Feeds CTRL+J
Open Feeds in pinned mode CTRL+SHIFT+J
Open History CTRL+H
Open History in pinned mode CTRL+SHIFT+H

ab shortcuts
Open link in new background tab Middle mouse button or CTRL+left mouse button
Open link in new foreground tab CTRL+SHIFT+left mouse button or CTRL+SHIFT+middle mouse button
Close tab (closes window if only one tab is open) Middle mouse button on the tab or CTRL+W
Open Quick Tab view CTRL+Q
Open new tab CTRL+T
View list of open tabs CTRL+SHIFT+Q
Switch to next tab CTRL+TAB
Switch to previous tab CTRL+SHIFT+TAB

Address Bar shortcuts
Select the Address Bar ALT+D
Add “http://www.” to the beginning and “.com” to the end of text in Address Bar CTRL+ENTER
Add “http://www.” to the beginning and the website address suffix you have specified to the end of text in the Address Bar* CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER
Open the website address that is typed in the Address Bar in new tab ALT+ENTER
View list of previously typed addresses F4

Instant Search Box
Select the Instant Search Box CTRL+E
View list of search providers CTRL+DOWN
Open search results in new tab ALT+ENTER

Tweak UI A Powerful Way to Customize Your System

Kevin — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 11:04:23 +0000

Microsoft Tweak UI is a must-have tool for anyone customizing Microsoft Windows XP. It prevents users from opening the registry and customizing settings that aren’t available in the operating system’s user interface. Tweak UI started as a grassroots utility built by a handful of rebellious programmers and ended up one of the most popular downloads on the Internet. Microsoft has released versions of this tool for every version of Windows since Microsoft Windows 95. The company even included it on the Microsoft Windows 98 CD. And now, it’s available for Windows XP, and it includes even more customizations.

You can download Tweak UI from Microsoft (Microsoft split the original Microsoft Power Toys programs apart) The file you download is called TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe. Run this program to install Tweak UI on your computer. To run Tweak UI, click Start, All Programs, Powertoys for Windows XP, and Tweak UI for Windows XP. In the left pane, click a category, and then in the right pane, edit the settings you want to change. The program is mostly self-explanatory; you see a description of each setting at the bottom of the window. Pay attention to the bottom part of the windows. It tells you whether the settings in that category are per-user or per-machine. Per-user settings sometimes require you to log off and back on to Windows XP in order for them to take affect. Per-machine settings affect every user who logs on to the computer. Source: Microsoft

This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more. Plus you won’t have to mess around in the Registry to make these changes.

Using A Win XP Password Reset Disk

Kevin — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 00:12:38 +0000

So, now that you created the disk, how do you use it when you forget your password.

1. On the Windows XP logon screen, click the user name that you want to use. The Type your password box appears. Press ENTER or click the right-arrow button. You receive the following error message:

Did you forget your password?
You can click the “?” button to see your password hint.
Or you can use your password reset disk.
Please type your password again.
Be sure to use the correct uppercase and lowercase letters.

2. Click use your password reset disk. The Password Reset Wizard starts. The Password Reset Wizard permits you to create a new password for your user account.

3. Click Next.

4. Insert the password reset disk into drive A, or insert your USB thumb drive and choose the option in the drop down box, and then click Next.

5. Type a new password in the Type a new password box.

6. Type the same password in the Type the password again to confirm box.

7. In the Type a new password hint box, type a hint to remind you of your password if you forget the new password.

8. Click Next, and then click Finish. The Password Reset Wizard quits, and you return to the Windows XP logon screen.

Note The password reset disk is automatically updated with the new password information. You do not have to create a new password reset disk.

Create a Win XP Password Reset Disk

Kevin — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 01:23:51 +0000

Windows XP will let you create a password reset disk in case you forget your login password you can just pop in the disk and reset it no fuss no muss. Here’s how

Click Start > Control Panel and double click User Accounts.

Click the account name under which you’re logged on.

Under Related Tasks in the top box on the left, click Prevent a forgotten password.

On the first page of the wizard, click Next.

On the next page, choose the drive letter of the disk on which you want to create the reset disk (typically a:). or if you don’t have a floppy drive anymore just plug in a USB thumb drive like I did.

Enter your current password.

Click Next.

Click Finish.
This places an encrypted copy of your password on the disk. Now if you forget the password, you can use your reset disk to start the Password Reset Wizard and create a new password.

Tune in tomorrow for how to use your newly created reset disk.

Speed Up XP By Turning Off Disk Indexing

Kevin — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:45:30 +0000

Windows XP by default indexes all your files so when you do a windows search the results appear faster but this service is a major resource hog. If you don’t use the search function alot you can disable this service and speed up your computer. Here’s how.

Step 1. This will delete your index file.

Click “My Computer.”
Right-click on your hard drive (usually “C:”) and choose “Properties.

Uncheck the box at the bottom that reads “Allow Indexing Service to Index this disk to allow for fast file searching. Then click Ok. This may take a few minutes to complete.

Step 2.

Click “Start” then choose “Run.”

Type “services.msc” and press Enter.

Scroll-down to “Indexing Service” and double-click it.

If the service status is “Running”, then stop it by pressing the “Stop” button.

To make sure this service doesn’t run again, under “Startup Type”, choose “Disabled.”

Turning Off the New Programs Installed Message

Kevin — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 13:21:27 +0000

Are you getting tired of the “New Programs Installed” message, every time you install a program.Here’s how to get rid if it for good. Right click the Start menu and select Properties. Click the Start Menu tab. Click the Customize button, then click the Advanced tab. Now just uncheck the box that says Highlight newly installed programs, and you’re done.

Disable the Desktop Cleanup Wizard

Kevin — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:55:24 +0000

If you dislike the annoying Desktop Cleanup Wizard as much as I do here’s how to turn it off. I mean if I didn’t want an icon on the desk I’d delete it myself right.

1.Right click a blank space on the desktop and select Properties.
2.Click the Desktop tab.

3.Click the Customize Desktop button.

4.Clear the check box labeled Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard Every 60 Days.
5.Click OK and then OK again to close the dialog boxes.

You can still run the wizard manually by clicking the Clean Desktop Now button after steps 1 and 2.

How to Get Your "Show Desktop" Icon Back

Kevin — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:28:08 +0000

The “Show Desktop” icon is a big help if you have many programs or windows open and want to quickly get to your desktop. It should show up as the first icon in your quick launch toolbar next to the Start Button.

Sometimes after a crash or many other reasons the “Show Desktop” icon goes missing. First make sure the Quick Launch toolbar is on . Right click in an empty area of the Taskbar and choose Toolbar – Quick Launch

If the Quick Launch tool bar is on lets move to the next step.

What you’ll need to do is create a file in Notepad and save it to where Show Desktop should be.

Go to Start – Run and type in “notepad” (without the quotes)

Click Ok to open Notepad then type in or copy and paste.

[shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Next, save the file with the name “Show Desktop.scf” in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\ Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ Quick Launch. Your actual user account name goes where it says “username”.

The Show Desktop icon should reappear next to your Start button and you can close out Notepad.

Supercharge your FireFox Tabs with Tab Mix Plus

Kevin — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:50:49 +0000

As I was searching for new extensions I found this gem, it�s called Tab Mix Plus and immediately installed it. Some of its highlights are the ability to add a second and third row of tabs instead of having to scroll left or right, and the expanded right click options to undo a deleted tab and see a list of recently closed tabs you can restore.

Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox’s tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus the ability to ad a second or third row of tabs. It also includes a full-featured session manager with crash recovery that can save and restore combinations of opened tabs and windows. Get Tab Mix Plus extension here.

SequoiaView a Better Way to Visualize your Files

Kevin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:34:24 +0000

Is your hard drive space rapidly shrinking and you don’t know where it�s all going. Then you need to try SequoiaView.

SequoiaView will show you what is taking up the most space on your drives in a most unusual way. instead of seeing your files in hierarchical folders this program gives you a graphical representation and lets you visualizing all your files at once as squares of different size, according to the size of the file. This way it is easy to spot files that take up the most disk space, even if they’re hidden deep in the directory tree. It also tells you the file and directory size.

Get it here. SequoiaView

Files and directories can be selected, inspected and opened, but can not be modified directly. Users can define different color schemes to facilitate identification of certain file types or load a ready-made color scheme from disk. Files can be filtered on name, size as well as creation, modification or last access date or any combination of these.

It is a small download of only 515kb and supports Windows 95 / 98 / ME / NT4 / 2000 / XP

Stop Startup Programs from Launching

Kevin — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:09:03 +0000

It seems like every program you install these days wants to run when you start your computer, is your system tray overflowing with icons. This can lead to system instability, low resources and generally sluggish computing experience. But all is not lost you can easily disable the unneeded ones with the System Configuration Utility or msconfig

To get to Msconfig

Click Start- Run the type msconfig in the Run dialog box.

2. Click the Startup tab

Here you can see what processes are starting with your computer, some need to running but many can be safely disabled. You want your Anti-virus to start but do you really need iTunesHelper or QuickTime, hell no, all you have to do is remove the check mark next to the item you want to disable, if your not sure of a process just Google the name.

Then click apply and close then restart the computer. Nothing you disable in this section will prevent your computer from restarting and you can always enable it if you find something not working.

When your computer restarts you will see this screen. Put a check mark in the box and click Ok. Your computer will most likely startup much faster now.

Use Alt-Tab to Quickly Switch Between Applications

Kevin — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:47:09 +0000

You can quickly switch between applications that you have opened by holding down the the Alt key and repeatedly pressing the Tab key.

Belkins Easy Transfer Cable for Windows Vista

Kevin — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 10:28:50 +0000

Have you purchases a new computer lately and want to transfer your old data to the new computer, This little wonder is worth its price in gold. There available everywhere for around $30. If your buying a new Dell its offered on their site.

Moving files and settings between computers is scary enough, but moving them between operating systems? That’s REALLY scary! Luckily, for the advent of the new Windows Vista PCs, Belkin has the answer. The Easy Transfer Cable for Windows Vista gives you an efficient, simple way of moving your files and settings from your old Windows XP PC to your new Windows Vista PC.

Connect each end of the generous 8-foot cable to the USB ports on both computers. The Windows Easy Transfer Wizard automatically appears and lets you select some or all items to copy. With a couple of clicks, your photos, music, settings and more transfer easily and cleanly without complications, CD-burning, and having to build a network connection. This is also the ideal mobile solution for copying files to and from your notebook for moving between home and work PCs.

Belkin includes FREE file-synchronization software. With “One-Click,” PCsync software automatically synchronizes files, folders, music, photos, video�and much more�between your PCs.

The Windows Easy Transfer Wizard automatically appears and lets you select some�or all�items to copy.

With a couple of clicks, your photos, music, settings, and more transfer, without requiring time-consuming CD-burning or a network.

* Transfers files in three quick and easy steps:

1. Install – 2. Connect – 3. Transfer

* Automatically transfers your photos, music, files, email, user accounts, Windows settings�and more

* Eliminates need to set up a complex network, or spend hours burning CDs to copy data

* Transfers 30GB of data in just 1 hour… or, just 1 hour to transfer 7,500 songs to your new PC

* Offers ideal mobile solution for copying files to and from your notebook, and home and work PCs

* Faster and easier to transfer data than a network, or copying files to a hard drive or burning CDs

* Belkin includes FREE file-synchronization software. With “One-Click,” PCsync software automatically synchronizes files, folders, music, photos, video�and much more�between your PCs.

Belkin is a long-time innovator in PC accessories and connectivity solutions; this revolutionary little cable makes synchronizing and saving system data a snap!

Chkdsk and checking your hard drive for problems

Kevin — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 21:22:48 +0000

If you’re like me you’ve come across this screen before. It mostly happens when your computer has been shut down improperly, maybe a power failure, a Blue screen of Death or the most likely cause, a stray Cosmic Particle slamming into your hard drive. What ever the cause Windows wants to check your hard drive for errors. That�s Chkdsk�s sole job. Let it run its course.

I run this program monthly with my other utilities, and should be one of the first steps in troubleshooting a failing hard drive. Let�s face it drives fail everyday and if your computer is more than a few years old� well better have a good backup in place.

Here�s how to run Chkdsk from inside Windows.

Open My computer
Right click the C drive or any drive you want to check
Choose Properties
Click the tools tab
Choose Check Now in the Error checking section
In the box that pops-up put a check mark in both boxes
Click Start Now

A message will pop up saying Error Checking will run after you restart the computer, you can do it now or wait till its bed time then reboot, a better choice because it will take awhile. Let it work while you sleep. If it encounters problems it will try to fix them.

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CCleaner Removes Your Unneeded Digital Gunk

Kevin — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 13:10:32 +0000

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it’s fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!

Yoy can pick it up here. http://www.ccleaner.com/

Cleans the following Windows components:

* Internet Explorer
- Temporary File Cache.
- URL History.
- Cookies.
- Hidden Index.dat files.
- Last download file location.
* Firefox
- Temporary File Cache.
- URL History.
- Cookies.
- Download manager.
* Recycle Bin
* Clipboard
* Windows Temporary files
* Windows Log files.
* Recent Documents (on the Start Menu).
* Run history (on the Start Menu).
* Windows XP Search Assistant history.
* Windows XP old Prefetch data.
* Windows memory dumps after crashes.
* Chkdsk file fragments.

Advanced Options allow cleaning of:

* Menu Order cache
* Tray Notifications Cache
* Window Size and Location Cache
* User Assist history
* IIS Log Files
* Custom Folders

Application Cleaning:
As well as cleaning up old files and settings left by standard Windows components, CCleaner also cleans temporary files and recent file lists for many applications. Including:

* Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and more…

Registry Issue Cleaning:
CCleaner uses an advanced Registry to check for problems and inconsistencies in your registry. It can check the following:

* File Extensions
* ActiveX Controls
* ClassIDs
* ProgIDs
* Uninstallers
* Shared DLLs
* Fonts
* Help File references
* Application Paths
* Icons
* Invalid Shortcuts and more…

Safety:
CCleaner was designed from the ground to be safe and secure to use. It has multiple levels of checks in place to ensure that it cannot delete any useful information or documents you may still need. We also certify that it contains no Spyware or Adware.
High Security:
For the super cautious users we also offer secure file erasing. By overwriting the files before deleting them, making it impossible to recover the data.
Multiple Languages:
Thanks to the translators, CCleaner is available in 31 different languages:

English, Albanian, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese (Simp), Chinese (Trad), Czech/Slovak, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Serbian Cyrillic, Serbian Latin, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

Remote Computer Access Made Easy

Kevin — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:22:47 +0000

LogMeIn is a great program for accessing remote computers over the internet or your local network.
I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and love it. like their webpage says you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. And its 100% Free and works in XP and Vista

All you have to do is install LogMeIn on the computers you want to access, and then you can beam into that PC from anywhere using just a web browser. Internet Explorer users need to install an Active X control on the local machine.

Whatever you can do when you’re physically at the PC, you can now do remotely over the web.

� Open remote files � Access from any browser
� Check your email � Access from wireless Pocket PC
� Run programs � Easy-to-use interface
� Support remote users � 100% FREE to use!
Its a easy 3 step process to get running

1 Sign up
Enter your email address and choose a password. The automated set up wizard guides you quickly through the process.

2. Connect
Log into www.logmein.com, click the computer you want to access, and you’re in!

3. Work
Control your PC as if you were sitting in front of it. Send email, run programs, open files.

I’ve been using it to trouble shoot problems with distant families and friends computers, and to access my home computer when I’m on the road or at work. I like it so much I’m going to upgrade to the pro version.

Advantages of LogMeIn Pro

Remote access Powerful remote control – from anywhere
File Transfer Move files quickly between PCs
Remote Printing Automatically print remote files locally
File Share Easily share large files, without uploads
Guest Invite Share your desktop for remote collaboration
File Sync Synchronize files & folders in seconds
Security 256-bit SSL encryption anchors powerful security

Ready to Change You’re Anti-Virus

Kevin — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:52:02 +0000

Is your Norton Anti-virus subscription expired, McAfee not doing the job, are you tired of these programs hogging your system resources, ready for a change. Check out AV-Comparatives at http://www.av-comparatives.org/.
AV-Comparatives tests many different Anti-Virus programs and charts the results to help you make an informed decision on which to buy.

Uninstalling Vista From A Dual Boot Machine

Kevin — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 13:29:27 +0000

Uninstalling Vista from a dual boot machine is relatively straightforward – most of the time. Nonetheless, I recommend that you back up everything before you start. Then follow these steps:

1. Put your Windows XP installation CD in the CD-ROM drive and reboot the computer (be sure the BIOS is set to boot from CD).

2. Start the Recovery Console from the CD (see “How to Start the Recovery Console in XP” above).

3. Run Fixboot from the Recovery Console.

4. Run Fixmbr to reset the master boot record.

5. Exit the Recovery Console and reboot the computer.

6. Edit the boot.ini file to remove the Vista entry.

7. Format the partition on which Vista was installed.

I�d like to announce the launch of my new site Vista Revisited at http://www.vistarevisited.com Stop by and have a look. I�ve copied all the Vista content from here to my new site and from now on I will only post Vista content to Vista Revisited. Thanks for visiting and be sure to check out my new site.

Dual Booting Windows XP and Vista, An Install Guide

Kevin — Sun, 27 May 2007 16:06:42 +0000

Are you like me itching to try out Windows Vista but not ready to take the plunge 100%?

Dual booting is an option and it�s not that hard to do, so put on your geek hat and let�s get started.

Step 1 Use or buy a second hard drive, A 40 gig drive from Newegg is only $35 to $40 dollars. Yes you could partition your existing drive by reformatting and using the XP disk to add partitions or buying a partitioning tool like Partition Magic, but if your XP install is working fine why mess with it.

Step 2 Set the jumper on the new drive to Slave or cable select depending on your setup. Install the new drive and boot the computer.

Step 3 Formatting the new drive. From the desktop right click �my computer� and choose manage, under storage choose �Disk Management�. Here you will see all the hard drives installed. Notice disk 0 is your XP installation. Disk 1 is your new drive. We need to format this drive.

Right click in the unallocated space of Disk 1 and choose New Partition

Click next.

Choose Primary partition.

Specify a partition size. I recommend using the maximum size
Click next.

Assign a drive letter. Just use the one offered if you�d like.

Formatting the drive.

Choose.
File System: NTFS
Allocation size: Default
Volume label: Here I would label it Vista. It will help avoid confusion later

Click next. Then finish (Depending on the drive size it might take a few minutes.)

The drive is now ready for the Vista install.

Installing Windows Vista.

Step 4

Insert the Vista DVD into the computer and reboot the system.

Once the computer restarts and boots from the DVD, Windows Vista�s setup will begin and show the screen below.

In the next screen fill in the info requested.

On this screen you will begin the install process.

On this screen you will type in your product key

On this screen you have to accept the license terms.

On this screen you choose which type of installation you want to do
You want �Custom� (Advanced) if you choose upgrade you will install over XP and we don�t want that for this guide.

This screen is where you choose where to install Vista.
You will see both your drives. (It will differ from this picture a little)
You will want to choose your Vista Drive it should be Disk 1

After you select the disk you want – click next and complete the installation.
When the installation is complete the Boot Manager will appear for
30 seconds and you can choose which version of Windows to start.
The earlier version is XP and the default is Vista.

Congratulations now you�re ready to install all your programs.