~ A Tip A Day ~ - Page 25

LoneRanger · #**361** 07-29-2008, 12:16 PM

29 July 2008:

Put your name in the Windows XP notification area

I'd like to be able to personalize Windows to some extent can anyone help?

During those times when the urgent need for high-powered technical intelligence wanes a bit—especially on a slow Friday afternoon—try this fun trick and amaze your colleagues. Here’s how to make your “own” time by putting your name in the notification area:
1. Access the Control Panel from the Start menu.
2. Double-click Regional And Language Options.
3. Click the Customize button in the Standards And Formats panel of the Regional Options tab.
4. When the Customize Regional Options dialog box appears, select the Time tab.
5. In the AM Symbol and PM Symbol boxes, you can replace that text with your name or whatever word you want, as long as it's no longer than 12 characters.
6. To complete the operation, click OK twice—once to close the Customize Regional Options dialog box and once to close the Regional And Language Options dialog box.

You’ll instantly see your name appear in the notification area right next to the time.

LoneRanger · #**362** 07-30-2008, 07:10 PM

30 July 2008:

Create your own special characters in Windows XP

I would like to input some special characters in my threads and documents, but MicroSoft makes sure that I am stuck with the same boring fonts it ships windows with. Is it another ploy by them to take over 98% of the world Font Market somewhere in the future

Have you ever wanted to create your own font or maybe just a special character—for example, a character
showing your initials for approving documents with your “signature”? You can easily create your own characters using a hidden Windows XP tool called the Private Character Editor. Here’s how:

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type eudcedit in the Open text box and click OK.
3. When the Private Character Editor launches, you’ll see the Select Code dialog box. Click OK.
4. A user interface that looks and works very much like Paint will appear. Here, you can use standard tools
to create your characters.
5. When you finish, select the Save Character command on the Edit menu.

Once you save your new character, you can access it using the Character Map tool. Here’s how:

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type charmap in the Open text box and click OK.
3. When the Character Map appears, select the Font drop-down list and select All Fonts (Private
Characters).
4. Select your character, click the Select button, and then click the Copy button.
You can now paste your font character into any document that you want.

LoneRanger · #**363** 07-31-2008, 05:50 PM

31 July 2008:

Automatically generate and assign strong passwords in Windows XP

My sibling mentioned above is driving me crazy. Although he has his own Username on the Computer we share he somehow always manages to crack my Password and use my account instead. Is there a way to get a stronger and safer password for my username?

This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional systems in either a stand-alone or
peer-to-peer workgroup configuration.

Computer users consistently use very simplistic logic when creating passwords. For example, many of us choose meaningful words, personal dates, or a word commonly found in the dictionary because it makes the password easy to remember. These common practices cause us to sacrifice the security that passwords are intended to provide.

If you’re really at a loss when it comes to thinking of a strong password, you can let Windows XP create and
assign a random password to your account. To let Windows XP generate your password, follow these steps.

Warning: Before you follow these steps, please be sure that you are paying careful attention and are ready to actually use a password that might not be as memorable as you’re accustomed to! Also, you cannot use this tip on a Windows Server domain.

1. Open a Command Prompt window and type:
net user username /random (username is your login account name)
2. Press Enter. Windows XP will randomly generate a secure password, as well as assign that strong
password to your account. Windows XP will also display the strong password so you can remember it.
At your discretion, you may want to create a Password Reset Disk at this point. This disk will allow you to gain access to your computer in the event you forget your password. Here’s how to create the disk:

1. Open the Control Panel and double-click the User Accounts tool.
2. Click your account icon.
3. Select Prevent A Forgotten Password under Related Tasks.
4. Follow the instructions provided by the wizard.

LoneRanger · #**364** 08-01-2008, 01:09 PM

01 August 2008:

Quickly gather MAC addresses in Windows XP with ARP

This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Professional.

When securing a wireless Windows XP network, in addition to using Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption, you can use Media Access Control (MAC) address filtering.

When you enable MAC address filtering, the wireless access point or wireless router verifies that the network card in the computer requesting access has a MAC address in its filter list before allowing the computer to access the network. This means that you must first obtain the MAC addresses of each client computer. To do so, you might think that you have to manually visit each computer and use the Getmac command.

An easier way to gather MAC addresses is to take advantage of the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
command. Here’s how:

1. From one computer, use the Ping command to ping each of the other client computers that will connect to the wireless access point or wireless router.
2. Type the ARP command along with the -a parameter: Arp -a

When used with the -a parameter, the ARP command displays the ARP cache, which stores the IP and MAC addresses of the computers that most recently accessed the system—or in this case, those computers that responded to the Ping command.

LoneRanger · #**365** 08-02-2008, 12:27 PM

02 August 2008:

Create an old-time monochrome command prompt in Windows XP

This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional.

In what some may call the olden days, before there were fancy graphical user interfaces and RGB monitors, early computer monitors were monochrome, meaning that they displayed only one color on a black background.

Monochrome monitors were available in three colors: green, amber, and white.

When you open up a Command prompt in its default configuration, it comes up in a white monochrome
configuration with white text on a black background. If you’re like most command line users, you’ve changed the color scheme from the Color tab on the Command Prompt Properties dialog box to make the screen more appealing.

However, if you’re ever feeling nostalgic when working from a Command Prompt, you can change the settings on the Color tab to emulate the old green monochrome or amber monochrome monitors. Here’s how:

1. Open a Command Prompt window.
2. Right the title bar and select the Properties command.
3. Select the Colors tab.
4. Select the Screen Background button and select the black box in the color palette.
5. Select the Screen Text button.
6. To emulate an old green monochrome monitor, select the green box in the color palette, and then in the Selected Color Values panel use the spin button for the Green setting to move the number up to 255.
Make sure that the settings for the Red and Blue remain at 0.
7. To emulate an old amber monochrome monitor, select the green box in the color palette, and then in the Selected Color Values panel use the spin button for the Red setting to move the number up to 185. Make sure that the settings for the Green remains at 128 and Blue remains at 0.

LoneRanger · #**366** 08-03-2008, 02:38 PM

03 August 2008:

Taking a fresh look at the Windows XP Task pane

This tip applies to Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional.

If you’re like most Windows XP aficionados, chances are good that you prefer the Folders pane in Windows
Explorer to the Task pane that displays by default in My Computer. As a result, you probably avoid My Computer or simply click the Folders button on the toolbar each time you open My Computer. If this is the case, you’ve probably never spent much time looking at the commands on the Task pane and may be missing many handy command shortcuts.

For example, how many times have you dug into the Control Panel to access Add/Remove Programs? If you use the Task pane in My Computer, you can simply click Add Or Remove Programs in the System Tasks section. And if you open a drive from My Computer, you will find another command that you frequently use in the Files And Folders section of the Task pane: the Make A New folder command.

When you select a folder, you can copy and move folders anywhere on your hard disk easily by selecting the
Copy This Folder or Move This Folder command. When you do, a Browse dialog box will appear. This essentially serves as an alternate version of the Folders pane in Windows Explorer.

When you select a file, you can choose either the Copy This File or Move This File command and get the same Browse dialog box with a Folders pane.

LoneRanger · #**367** 08-04-2008, 01:17 PM

04 August 2008:

Removing unused device drivers from Windows XP machines

When you install a device driver on a Windows XP machine, the operating system loads that driver each time the computer boots regardless of whether the device is present—unless you specifically uninstall the driver. This means that drivers from devices that you have long since removed from your system may be wasting valuable system resources.

Follow these steps to view and remove these unnecessary device drivers:

1. Press Windows + Break to bring up the System Properties dialog box.
2. Select the Advanced tab and click the Environment Variables button.
3. Click the New button below the System Variables panel.
4. In the New System Variable dialog box, type devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices in the Variable Name
text box and 1 in the Variable Value text box.
5. Click OK to return to the System Properties dialog box and then click OK again.
6. Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
7. In Device Manager, go to View | Show Hidden Devices.
8. Expand the various branches in the device tree and look for the washed out icons, which indicate unused device drivers.
9. To remove an unused device driver, right-click the icon and select Uninstall.

LoneRanger · #**368** 08-05-2008, 03:34 PM

05 August 2008:

Using the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility

Not able to remove or uninstall an application in Windows XP using either the Uninstall option or the Add/Remove Programs tool? Try using the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility. As long as you installed the application using the Windows Installer, this utility will remove all the folders, files, registry keys, and entries from your system and allow you to start over with a clean slate.

Here's how:

1. Download the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility from the Microsoft Download Center.
2. Locate and run msicuu2.exe to install the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility.
3. Locate and launch the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility on the Start menu.
4. From the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility window, locate the application in the list and click the Remove button.
5. Once the application has been removed, click the Exit button to close the utility. You can now reinstall the application.

LoneRanger · #**369** 08-06-2008, 01:01 PM

06 August 2008:

What Really Happens When a Computer Starts

So you want to know what really goes on when you turn on your computer.

Your computer follows a boot process that loads Windows XP, called the boot or startup sequence. This process loads all of the operating system files so you can actually use Windows XP. Here’s what happens:
1. When you first turn on your computer, a power-on self test (POST) process occurs. Your computer checks its hardware and memory and then begins to load your operating system.
2. Windows XP has a database of information called the Registry where information about your computer is kept. The Registry is loaded first so it can be read in order to boot Windows XP.
3. Next, Windows loads a file called System.ini. The System.ini file is used to load older system configuration information.
4. Next, Kernel32.dll is loaded. Kernel32.dll is the main operating system code used by Windows XP.
5. After Kernel32.dll is loaded, Gdi.exe and Gdi32.exe are loaded. These files give you the graphical Windows user interface.
6. Next, User.exe and User32.exe are loaded. These files provide code necessary to manage the user interface, including your windows.
7. Resources and Fonts load next.
8. Then, Win.ini is loaded, which provides older system programs and user support.
9. Next, the Windows shell loads, which is your basic graphical interface settings, and policies for your computer are loaded as well.
10. The desktop components are loaded next.
11. Next, a logon dialog box appears. Once you provide a valid username and password, the logon process begins. If you are connected to a network, any appropriate network policies are loaded.
12. Finally, all of the final information from any policies are loaded, and you see your desktop. The boot process is fast and efficient, and is more stable than ever before in Windows XP.

LoneRanger · #**370** 08-07-2008, 03:23 PM

07 August 2008:

Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer

If you've ever asked for help with your Windows computer that won't boot anymore, you've probably been told to "Backup all your data and then reinstall"… but if you can't boot, how can you get to your data? That's the question we'll be answering today.

One of the easiest methods to access your data is to simply boot off an Ubuntu Live CD… and it's completely free (except for the cost of a blank cd).

Burn an Ubuntu Live CD

If you have another computer, you can download and burn the Ubuntu Live CD using a very simple application called ImgBurn. Otherwise, you can bug one of your friends to help you burn a copy.

Just open up ImgBurn, and click the icon to "Write image file to disc"

Then click on the icon next to "Source", pick the downloaded ISO file, stick a recordable CD into the drive, and click burn.

Now that you have the boot cd (which you should keep in a safe place, as it's very useful), just stick it in the drive of the computer and boot from it. You should see an option to "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer".

Once the system has started up, the first thing you want to do is choose Places \ Computer from the menu.

This should show you all the drives available in the system, including your Windows drive. In my case, that is the 52.4 GB volume.

You can try and double-click on the drive to open it… and if it immediately works then lucky you! Most of the time it's going to give you an error saying "Unable to mount the volume", because Windows didn't shut it down cleanly.

Click the Details link so that you can see the full message, and leave this window open. You'll see a "Choice 2″ in the message, which includes the commands to force Ubuntu to use that drive even though there's something wrong.

What you'll want to do is open a new Terminal from Applications \ Accessories \ Terminal on the top menu. Once you've done that, then you'll want to type in a bunch of commands, which I'll walk you through.

First, we'll want to switch to "administrator" mode, which in Linux terms is known as "root". The simplest way to do it is with this command:

sudo /bin/bash

Now we'll need to create a directory that we'll mount the drive on. The full explanation of mounting drives is a little complex, so just run this command:

mkdir /media/disk

Now comes the tricky part. You'll need to type out a command very similar to this one, but you'll need to replace /dev/sda1 with what you see in that message box we showed you above. This command tells Ubuntu to use the ntfs-3g driver, and force mount even if there is a problem.

mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/disk -o force

If your drive is FAT32 instead of NTFS, then you can use the following command instead:

mount -t vfat -o umask=000 /dev/sda1 /media/disk

If you are having problems figuring out whether you have NTFS or FAT32, and you can't figure out which /dev/whatever to use, then type in the following command at your prompt (make sure you already ran the command to run things as root)

fdisk -l

In the output you should see a lot more information about the available drives… you can see in this example that the filesystem type is NTFS and the device name is /dev/sda1.

At this point, you should be able to access your hard drive through the icon in Computer.

Note: If you have more than one drive in the computer, or more than one partition, they should show up separately in Computer. You should perform the same steps as above to open those drives up as well.

Backing Up to External USB

The absolute simplest thing to do at this point is to plug in an external USB drive, which should place an icon on the Ubuntu desktop, and most likely immediately pop up a nautilus window showing the contents of the drive.

Note: I plugged in a USB Flash drive for illustration… it would be better to plug in a full external USB drive so you'll have more space for backups.

What Should I Backup?

If you aren't extremely technical, you might be wondering what on earth you should be backing up… and that's a very good question.

1) Best Method

If you have loads of empty space on your external drive or network share, you should simply backup the entire contents of the drive, and sort through it later. It'll take a little longer, but at least that way you can be sure everything has been backed up.

2) Still Good

You should try and backup your entire user folder… on XP you'll go to "Documents and Settings", and on Vista you'll go to "Users", and you should see your username in the list:

You can simply copy this entire folder to your backup drive, which should contain your music, documents, bookmarks, and most of your important files.

Important Note: This will not backup your application files, and you should look around your drive and see if you've saved anything important somewhere else. This is especially true if you have more than one drive. Again, your best bet is to simply backup everything.

Backing Up to Network Share

If you would rather backup your drive to a network share on another computer, you can use the Places \ Connect to Server item on the menu.

Change the Service type menu to "Windows share"…

And then enter in the details for your network drive, with these being the required fields:
Server: Computer Name
Share: Shared Folder Name
User Name: your username

Once you click the Connect button, you'll be prompted to enter in your password. Typically you can leave Domain set to the default, but if you have a custom workgroup name you should enter that instead. I also chose the "Remember password until you logout" button just so I won't have to enter the password again.

Once you click the Connect button you should have an icon on the desktop for your network share.

Now you can open up the network share, and if everything is setup correctly on the shared folder side of things, you can copy all of your files across the network using the instructions above on which files to choose.

At this point you should have a backup of your data. If you backed up to an external hard drive, you might want to consider also copying those files to another computer just in case, and if you copied across the network you could consider backing that up elsewhere as well.

Now you can proceed with reinstalling or whatever else you'd like to do.

marshal_ramdev · #**371** 08-08-2008, 11:34 AM

nice info

LoneRanger · #**372** 08-08-2008, 02:12 PM

08 august 2008:

Add Copy To / Move To to the Windows Explorer Right Click Menu

A hidden functionality in Windows allows you to right click on a file, select Copy To Folder or Move To Folder, and the move to box will pop up and let you choose a location to either copy or move the file or folder to.

Here's the quick registry hack to get this working. As usual, back up your registry just in case. You will want to browse down to this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\Con textMenuHandlers

Once you are at that key, right click and choose the New Key option:

Now you will double-click on the (Default) value and enter the following:

{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

Click OK and continue.

If you want to enable Move To, you will repeat the same steps, except creating a new key named Move To, and using this value:

{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

Now when you right click on a file or folder, you should see the following options:

Let's click Copy To Folder just to see what happens….

And that's it. Useful!

Install

Scared Of Messing with the Registry on your own. Let me help

Just download, unzip, and double-click on the registry files. You can choose to use the copy to, move to, or both.

Quote:

copyto_moveto.zip

LoneRanger · #**373** 08-09-2008, 03:42 PM

09 August 2008:

Add the Command Prompt to the Windows Explorer Right-Click Menu

A hidden functionality in Windows allows you to right click on a directory, and select "Command Prompt Here" from the menu.

Here's the registry hack to get this working. Make sure you back up your registry just in case. I'll show you the step-by-step method, but you can skip down to the bottom for the alternate reg file.

Step-By-Step Method:

Type regedit.exe into the Start\Run dialog, and then navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell

Once you are at that key, right click and choose the New Key option:

Name the key "CommandPrompt" without the quotes and then double-click on the default value. Change the text to "Command Prompt Here" as seen here:

Right click on the new Command key and select New key, as you did before. Name the new key Command as well, and then double-click the default value of that key. Set the text of that key to this:

cmd.exe /k cd %1

You can see what it should look like here:

Now when you right click on the folder, you should see this dialog:

That will open up a prompt like this:

Alternate method:

You can create a text file named anything.reg, and insert this text into it:

Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\CommandPrompt]
@="Command Prompt:"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Direct