Software, Computer Help
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
A recent study of our team on how to better our Windows XP systems comissioned to create an eBook on the subject for the main team at MPortela led us to investigate a countless number of details on how to better your performance and machine.
Some of the working tweaks you can do to your Windows XP can really be a blessing to your system’s speed. So I thought about sharing with you the safe tweaks on how to have a faster Windows XP. As a disclaimer do the following tweaks at your own risk, however they were all tested and are in use by most of our team members and friends.
Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don’t search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:
1. Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Double-click Add/Remove Programs
5. Click the Add/Remove Window Components
6. Uncheck the Indexing services
7. Click Next (more…)
Posted by kglee | Filed under Uncategorized
1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type ’systeminfo’. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type ’systeminfo > info.txt’. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).
2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run… and type ‘gpedit.msc’; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care — some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).
3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter ‘rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation’ in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That’s it — just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that’s not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.
4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can make it show everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word ‘hide’ and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be the software and you can now uninstall it. (more…)
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Outstanding Sites
Tech Support Guy Free help for users of Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP and Linux. This is a volunteer run site with a very active forum area covering a good range of subject areas. You can also search past forum messages, which can be a little slow but may still be the quickest way to get the answer to your problems.
The site layout has been recently revamped and this has greatly improved usability. On the down-side advertising is now more prominent, though not yet intrusive.
When we tested the service, we got the answer to one of our questions immediately by searching the past forum database. Our two remaining questions were posed on the live forums in the appropriate categories and got answers to both, very promptly indeed. Impressive.
5 Star Support
This free site offers a variety of tech support services. First there is an excellent on-line FAQ which provides quick answers to many common problems. Second, they offer some excellent technical guides which cover a wide range of topics from installing a network card to cleaning your mouse. Finally there is an web form where you can pose a specific problem and receive the answer by email.
We got the answer to one of our questions from the FAQ. The other two trickier questions we posed by filling in the web form. We immediately received an email saying that our questions had been sent to all the volunteers and we may receive more an answer from more than one volunteer.
That’s exactly what happened, we got two responses to each question from different individuals. Quickly too, all responses came within 12 hours. The solutions posed were both sound and logical but didn’t solve the problems. We then replied to the emails and asked for other solutions. After a couple of emails the volunteers came up with perfectly acceptable solutions though not necessarily the most technically insightful.
This service is free though donations for successful solutions are suggested. Overall an impressive service particularly for more straightforward problems.
Suggest A Fix This is a free forum where users can post problems in the hope that another forum member can help. The available forums cover operating systems, general computing, the Internet and security with many subdivisions under each category.
The forums are not the busiest we’ve seen but almost all questions attract good quality answers. Our 3 test questions were answered very promptly indeed the solutions provided and were of high quality.
Like many other forums, a few dedicated individuals seem to provide the bulk of the answers so you might find the quality of the answers varying day to day according to who’s available. This reservation notwithstanding, we couldn’t fault the service we received.
Posted by kglee | Filed under Cool Videos
CableTV without a Tuner - FREE HBO, FOX on your PC!
With the beta release of the TVU Player, you can get live Digital cable, streaming over the Internet to your PC, for FREE. Watch HBO, Disney, FOX, ABC, all the big networks and more for no charge! WOW! More…