Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Windows XP user profile
This article is for non-techies, and for user’s still using Windows XP who just want to copy their existing Windows XP settings to a new computer which is also running XP, or for users who want to replace their existing desktop profile with a new profile.
(Yes, this article is actually several years late as it’s for Windows XP only, but here it is anyway as a bit of a historical archive before Windows XP disappears into desktop operating system oblivion.)
For info regarding Migrating from Winxp to Win 7 read here
These are the steps I use to copy over existing Windows XP user’s desktop profile settings from their old Windows XP computers to a new (or second) Windows XP computer; or to recreate a user’s profile on an existing Windows XP computer if the existing profile is currupt and needs to be replaced. These steps should not be used if copying from Windows XP to Windows 7. I’ll probably add more info about this later, but not five years from now =)
1) Reboot the computer then login as the local Administrator or as another user who has Administrative privileges.
Use step 2 below if you are replacing an existing corrupt user profile:
2) Cut and paste the user’s old user profile( C:\Documents and Settings\)
to a tempsave folder (a folder you will ‘NOT’ delete by accident).
3) Have the user login now creating a new user folder.
4) Reboot the computer again, and login as the local Administrator or Administrator equivalent account again.
5) Copy these folders from the old user profile folder on the old hard drive, or from the tempsave folder you created in step 2 above:
C:\Documents and Settings\\Desktop
C:\Documents and Settings\\Favorites
C:\Documents and Settings\\My Documents
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Here are some tweaks and general help guides that may be of some use.
How to modify UAC
Start › user accounts › change user account control settings › adjust slider
How to disable Page File (Warning: Do Not Do this unless you have A LOT of memory)
Start › system › Advanced system settings › Performance › Settings › Advance › Virtual memory › Change › No paging file › Set › OK
How to disable Hibernation
Start › cmd › type: powercfg -h off › Enter
How to disable System Restore
Start › System › System protection › Configure
How to turn off Search Indexing
a) Start › services › windows search › disable
b) Start › computer › right click c drive › properties › untick: Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties
c) Start › Indexing options › modify › show all locations › double click users in summary of selected locations › uncheck users directory › double click start menu in the summary of selected locations › uncheck start menu directory › ok
How to turn off Remote Differential Compression
Start › Control panel › programs › turn windows features on or off › uncheck Remote Differential Compression › ok
This makes file transfers (copy, move) faster by turnig off “Remote Differential Compression” (RDC). Copying a 1.91 GB folder from the main HDD to a folder on an external USB drive resulting in …
With RDC turned on: 3:23 – three minutes and 23 seconds (with a stopwatch).
With RDC turned off: 2:25 – two minutes and 25 seconds.
How to turn off unneeded Windows features
Start › programs & features › turn Windows features on or off › uncheck
How to remove the recycle bin
Right click desktop › Personalize › change desktop icons › untick recycle bin
How to disable defragmentation & Superfetch
Start › Computer Management or Services › Disk Defragmentation › disable / Superfetch › disable
How to change title text of Internet Explorer
Start › regedit › HKEY_CURRENT_USER › Software › Microsoft › Internet Explorer › Main
(more…)
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
It’s really easy to hack the login password of Windows XP. This trick can be useful if you forgot what your login password is and want to change it so you can login again. I actually had this experience when I was trying to use my laptop which was deserted for almost a year. Forgot password = Can’t login. But there’s always a solution.
How To Hack
1. Restart your computer and keep pressing F8.
2. From the menu, select boot in safe mode with command prompt.
3. once you’re at the command prompt, type “net users” (without quotes)
4. You will see a list of usernames. Pick the username that you are using and type
“net users username *” (without quotes, replace username with a real username from that username list)
5. You will be asked to enter a new password and a second reconfirmation.
6. Press enter and you will be told that your username password has been changed successfully.
Easy, wasn’t it?
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Put an End to Common EXE Errors
It is often said that everything comes at a price, and it is also true in the case of computers. With all the ease and speed they have to offer, one particular aspect that always distresses computer users are various errors and performance issues cropping up from time to time. While you can’t get rid of them permanently, you can definitely do something to help prevent them from occurring so often.
Contrary to what most people would have you believe, it is fairly easy to deal with common EXE errors like the ccapp.exe, sprtcmd.exe, and iexplorer.exe errors, entirely on your own. We provide certain easy-to-follow steps below:
Such a mammoth index is, of course, hard to maintain and over time, the registry develops some inconsistencies that result in poor system performance. But it need not be that way. It is good to invest in a good registry optimizer that will repair and improve all broken indexes, helping in improving the performance of your computer. This will also help in resolving various PC errors including, EXE, DLL and runtime errors.
It is therefore important that you select a good scanner tool to identify and remove all rootkits found on your computer. This is all very easy to do, and requires nothing more than a few mouse clicks.
To stay away from such problems, invest in a trusted anti-spyware program that will easily search for and destroy all the spyware found on your system.
It is very easy to take care of common EXE errors in Windows computers, as the steps mentioned above must have shown. You don’t need to be a computer expert to follow these steps, and with a little time and patience your computer can be free of EXE errors.
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
If you’ve worked with windows for 2 minutes you’ve probably been exposed to the Blue Screen of Death or BsD. Usually Blue Screens are rather harmless and go away after a reboot. But when they don’t, when they stick around and keep reoccurring after every reboot, then you have problems. The first thing you should do is try to boot into safe mode. You can do this by pressing F8 after you hear your computer beep while it is booting up. If it boots into safe mode all is well and good and you just have a start-up program gumming up your computer. (See my Spyware Removal Guide for information on how to manage start-up entries.) If safe mode generates the same blue screen you have more work ahead of you.
If you can’t boot into Windows XP, not even into safe mode, and you’re getting a message like, “unmountable boot volume” on the blue screen they a simple chkdsk might fix the problem. The tricky part is booting your computer so you can run chkdsk. The easiest way to do that is to use a windows installation CD. To do boot off of a CD you first need to configure your BIOS to look for an Operating System on the CD before it tries the hard drive. Usually this is done by pressing ‘del’, ‘F2′, or some other key to enter setup and adjusting the boot priority so that the CDROM is first. When Windows setup finally loads (it takes several minutes) all you have to do is press ‘r’ to enter the recovery console.
Sometimes it will prompt you for the administrator’s password. Most people I encounter don’t know this or think they don’t have one. See the Password Recovery Guide to find out how you can reset your administrator password.
Once you are in the recovery console you will be greeted with a friendly command prompt. The first thing you are going to want to try is chkdsk. Simply typing “chkdsk” should scan your hard drive and fix any problems it finds. Sometimes it is necessary to use “chkdsk /p” and if you want to be really thorough and have several hours to burn you can use “chkdsk /r” that causes it to do a surface scan of the disk. If chkdsk get’s hung up for more than an hour, as in the percent complete doesn’t change for a long time, there is most likely something physically wrong with your hard drive it will have to be replaced. Once chkdsk complete restart the computer by typing “exit” and see if windows will boot now.
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
With Jumplist Extender, you can:
Add your own Program Tasks
You can add any action you want on your jumplist, provided it has a keyboard shortcut to your program. Make easy-to-access jumplist items for your everyday tasks! (Works with command line switches, too!)
Pin Any Type of File
Add ANY file and ANY folder to your jumplist — and even rename them on the list! Windows only allows you to add files assigned to (or “openable by”) the program — Extender bypasses that limitation.
Create Extensions to your Programs
Use AutoHotKey scripting to extend and add functionality to your programs, easily accessible from your own jumplist! Add a “Save to Desktop Notes” function to Notepad, or add “Snip and upload to ImageShack” to Snipping Tool!
Share your Jumplists with Others
Export and import your jumplists into “Jumplist Packs”! Upload your Jumplist Pack to the web, and enable others to download and enjoy your work!
Download
JumplistExtender_v0.1-C.exe (1.19MB)
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
SARDU (Shardana Antivirus Rescue Disk Utility) is a small freeware utility designed to combine all of your bootable ISOs and turn them into a single ISO with a boot menu. You can either burn this ISO to a single CD/DVD, or you can get SARDU to create it for a bootable USB drive. Basically, this aims to eliminate the need to carry around heaps of different bootable CDs.
Despite having “Antivirus Rescue Disk utility” in its name, it is not limited to just running Antivirus boot CDs. You can also include other tools like GParted, Ophcrack, UBCD4Win and various Linux live CDs.
The creator of this application is also a member of the Technibble community so if you have any feedback or suggestions, he is likely to read it.
To use it, there are 4 tabs. Antivirus, Utility, Linux and PE.
Click on the tool you want to use and SARDU will take you to the download page of that tool. Once you have downloaded that ISO, you need to copy it to the “ISO” folder beneath the SARDU program folder. To make use of any of the PE enviroments (ie UBCD4Win), you will need to run the separate setup file for that utility which requires your Windows CD so it can generate an ISO. Once this ISO has been built you can then put it in SARDU’s ISO folder.
Once you have done that, press either the “Make ISO” or “Make bootable USB” button and it will check to see which ISO’s you have placed in that directory, then create a single ISO.
If you chose “Make ISO”, it will place the single ISO in a folder called “ISO created” below the application folder. If you chose “Make bootable USB”, it will ask which drive letter the USB drive is and place the files there.
Note: Due to the hacking nature of some of the rescue CDs you might download, they might set off your antivirus software. This is most likely a “false positive”.
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Windows 7 has got a super administrator account which, by default, is disabled. Such account is automatically created when Windows 7 boots up for the first time but, for security reasons, is hidden from view. Let’s see how to turn it on thanks to a simple query in the Command Prompt.
1. Click Start.
2. In the Search field, type CMD.
3. On the list of available programs, right click the Command Prompt icon and click Run as Administrator.
4. In the black window, type: net user administrator /active:yes
5. Press Enter.
6. The system should return you with the following message: The command completed successfully.
7. Now, exit the Command Prompt and click the Start icon.
8. Log off from the current account and in the Account window you should now see the Administrator account.
9. Done!
10. If you want to turn off the Admin account, type: net users administrator /active:no