The Sun sets on XP as Microsoft phases it out despite interest

Windows XP has been the iconic operating system since it debuted in October of 2001. By today's standards the computers made back then were little more than large calculators but perhaps I am exaggerating that point. Since that time Windows XP was installed on every single computer sold but now the sun is going to set on the operating system that was known as Windows XP. Microsoft is intent on no longer making OEM versions of Windows XP, this means computer manufacturers will no longer be able to install XP on systems unless they have a very specific agreement with Microsoft or are just good buddies with them like Dell. Dell will introduce systems...

Read more »

Creating a Torrent file using uTorrent

By now, you have surely heard of, and probably used, torrent files. While you may know how to use them for downloading distributed content, did you know that you can use uTorrent to create your own torrent file for sharing your content? 1. Open uTorrent. 2. Go to the menu, click File and select Create New Torrent. 3. Once the new window appears, go to the Select Source section and click either the Add file or Add directory button, depending on what your need is. Browse to the desired file or directory, select it, and click the Open button. 4. If you know your Tracker and Web Seed information, enter them in the Torrent Properties section. 5. Click the Create and save as button and browse to the location that you want the file saved to. Click the Save butto...

Read more »

Change XP Boot Screen

Michael asks, Is there any way to get rid of "branding" on a computer? Where computer manufacture advertise there products when you start you computer. Depending on which computer manufacturer made your computer, you might have a simple splash screen displayed as the BIOS loads or you might be inundated with advertising throughout the entire boot process. These are two separate image locations requiring editing in multiple places and some confidence in your computing skills, as the BIOS option can potentially damage your system if done incorrectly. Changing the Windows Boot Screen I'll start with the Windows boot screen, since that's fairly easy and doesn't necessarily require any direct modification of system files. There are several ways to approach changing the boot screen. One option...

Read more »

Win XP: Restricting Logon Access

If you work in a multiuser computing environment, and you have full (administrator level) access to your computer, you might want to restrict unauthorized access to your "sensitive" files under Windows 95/98. One way is to disable the Cancel button in the Logon dialog box. Just run Regedit and go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Network/Logon Create the "Logon" subkey if it is not present on your machine: highlight the Network key -> right-click in the left hand Regedit pane -> select New -> Key -> name it "Logon" (no quotes) -> press Enter. Then add/modify a DWORD value and call it "MustBeValidated" (don't type the quotes). Double-click it, check the Decimal box and type 1 for value. Now click the Start button -> Shut Down (Log off U ...

Read more »

Win XP: How to make your Desktop Icons Transparent

Go to control Panel > System, > Advanced > Performance area > Settings button Visual Effects tab "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop" ...

Read more »

How to Accelerate Windows XP File Searches

There is one of the most important features of Vista (or Windows 7) that put Windows XP to shame – File Searches. With Vista, you can search your files faster, because Vista indexed your entire computer file and its characteristic into database (it traverse all the directories first while you’re doing other things). But with Windows XP, the file search tool traverse all the directory at the same time when you are looking for a specific file, and it did it each time you searching for the same file and this make the process slow. Fortunately, there are many alternative exist to accelerate Windows XP file searches. Two of my recommendation is to use Copernic Desktop Search or Google Desktop. Both tools has capability to index your e-mail messages, documents, MP3 files, images, and other content...

Read more »

Renaming the Win XP Start Menu Button

Are you bored of having the name “start”? If so now you can rename your start menu button to give the name of your choice. BYPASSING WINDOWS FILE PROTECTION 1.Launch My Computer,click tools,folder options,then view 2.Select show all hidden files and folders option and uncheck the option hide protected operating system files,unckeck hide extension for known file types 3.Open C:\windows\system32\restore,select the file filelist.xml,right click it go to properties and uncheck read-only 4.Open it(filelist.xml) with notepad 5.Add the line %systemroot%\explorer.exe as shown below %systemroot%\explorer.exe %windir%\system.ini %windir%\tasks\desktop.ini %windir%\win.ini *:\AUTOEXEC.BAT...

Read more »

What is svchost.exe And Why Is It Running?

You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering why on earth there are nearly a dozen processes running with the name svchost.exe. You can't kill them, and you don't remember starting them… so what are they? So What Is It? According to Microsoft: "svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries". Could we have that in english please? Some time ago, Microsoft started moving all of the functionality from internal Windows services into .dll files instead of .exe files. From a programming perspective this makes more sense for reusability… but the problem is that you can't launch a .dll file directly from Windows, it has to be loaded up from a running executable (.exe). Thus the svchost.exe process was born. Why Are There So Many svchost.exes...

Read more »

How To Change the Default View Source Editor for Internet Explorer

If you hate using Notepad as the source editor for IE, you can change the default View Source Editor for Internet Explorer by following one of these methods. You have three choices: (A) Download software View Source Editor http://www.iconico.com/viewSourceEditor/ “Are you frustrated at Internet Explorer’s insistence on using Notepad when you click View Source? This little application let’s you use any text editor instead of Notepad. All you need to do it choose the program and you’re set.” (B) Manual Registry Edit Change default View Source editor in IE http://dotnet.org.za/thea/archive/2004/11/25/7933.aspx (C) Create a Registry File 1. Copy below and paste into Notepad. ———-copy inside only———- Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\View...

Read more »

Windows XP: Hide 'User Accounts' from users

Go to Start/Run, and type: GPEDIT.MSC Open the path: User Config > Admin Templates > Control Panel double click "Hide specified Control Panel applets" put a dot in 'enabled', then click 'Show" click Add button, type "nusrmgt.cpl" into the add box ...

Read more »

Windows XP: How to Rename the Recycle Bin

To change the name of the Recycle Bin desktop icon, open Regedit and go to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/CLSID/{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} and change the name "Recycle Bin" to whatever you want (don't type any quotes). ...

Read more »

Windows 7: Can My Computer Run XP Mode?

XP Mode is a Virtual PC based environment that can be installed and run on a compatible Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate machine. The feature provides users with a safety net for compatibility to run there applications, just in case the apps do not run on Windows 7. In order for XP Mode to run on a computer, the PC must meet a set of requirements. Here are the requirements for XP Mode: Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise, or Ultimate2GB of RAM (the more, the better)Intel Virtualization technology (Intel VT) or AMD virtualization (AMD-V) While the first two criteria are relatively simple to check, you may be wondering if your processor meets the virtualization requirement. There are two tools available for download that will easily answer that question: If you have an Intel processor,...

Read more »

Password Protect Folders in Windows XP

Do you share a computer with other users and want some extra security on your folders? There are two ways to password protect a folder built into Windows XP (for other Windows flavors, there are some freeware/shareware programs out there). #1 If you have a log in password for your account, this can be used to protect folders from other users. Your hard drive must be formatted using NTFS (which it probably is unless you're dual booting with another operating system). Here's what to do... Right-click the folder that you want to make private and choose "Properties" (or Alt+Double-click). Go to the "Sharing" tab and check the "Make this folder...

Read more »

Using xp-AntiSpy

xp-AntiSpy is a neat little utility to automatically apply different settings to the operating system, which could also be done by hand, but at a higher expense of time. It’s latest version 3.95 can be downloaded from here xp-AntiSpy runs on the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows XP Home/Professional Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional It displays various settings most of which are hidden in Windows. Now, select Profiles>Suggested and the program will highlight all the important settings, then click ‘Apply Settings’ and restart Windows for the settings to take effect. Well that part is over. The next option is ‘Connection Limit’. This option can be used to increase the default connection limit in Windows which is 10. The following was extracted from the xp-AntiSpy help...

Read more »

How to increase download speeds of uTorrent

uTorrent was very slow for me until recently I applied a few tweaks. Here’s what I did. Note: Some of the settings mentioned below are optimized for 256k connection. If you want to calculate the optimal settings for your connection, check at the end of this tutorial. But I suggest you to read the entire tutorial for guidance on other settings. First go to Options>Preferences>NetworkUnder ‘Port used for incomming connections’, enter any port number. It is best to use a port number above 10000. I use 45682. Randomize port each time uTorrent starts: UNCHECKED. I leave this unchecked because I have a router. If you do not have a router...

Read more »

Windows 7: Customize How the Date is Displayed in the System Tray

By default the Windows 7 task bar uses large icons, which makes for a bigger task bar. This easily allows not only the time to show in the system tray, but the date as well. You can customize how the date is displayed and what information it will show.1. Go to the Control Panel. 2. Select Clock, Language, and Region. 3. Select Region and Language. 4. Click the Additional settings button. 5. Select the Date tab. 6. Go to the Date formats section. Use the Short date drop down to select the desired display. Click the Apply button to view the results. If you don’t see what you want, you can add your own by placing your cursor on the drop down...

Read more »

Disable Avira Notifier

I recently downloaded Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus as my primary antivirus program. I had been using version 8.2. Avira has one drawback - A nagging notifier to upgrade to the premium version pops up every time you update the Avira database. To disable this pesky notifier, simply follow these directions: For XP and Vista Users: 1. Start-> Control Panel2. Administrative tools-> Local security policy3. Click on Software Restriction Policy-> Action (at the top)-> create new restriction policies4. Right-click additional rules (on the right side)-> new path rule5. Click Browse and navigate to C:\Program Files\(Avira)\AntiVir Desktop\ and double-click avnotify.exe6. Set the security level to Disallowed-> apply-> OKIf you had Avira previously installed and have already...

Read more »

How to Enable, Adjust or Disable Transparency in Windows 7

You must have noticed that the borders of windows in Windows 7 are transparent or translucent so that you can see what’s behind the window. You can enable or disable or adjust transparency according to your convenience.WARNING You will not have the Transparency option if you have a Basic and High Contrast Theme instead of a Aero Theme. Aero Requirements to be Enabled in Windows 7: NOTE: If Aero is not enabled, then Transparency will not work even when enabled. 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor 1 GB of system memory A graphics card with support for Direct X 9 graphics with at least 128 MB of memory. The graphics card must support...

Read more »