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Microsoft may not have officially released their latest service pack for Windows XP yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get it.

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If you are creating digital forms with Adobe Acrobat, you probably are including a submit button that returns the form to you via e-mail. By default, when an end-user clicks that button, only the form data is returned as an XML file. This is fine if you are also using Acrobat to collect the forms, […]

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I’ve just finished moving my old Gallery2 (picture management system based on PHP) installation to a new server. For some reason, viewing said gallery using http://www.gallery.ryantadams.com worked, whereas using http://gallery.ryantadams.com (notice no “www.”) would prevent any of my pictures from being displayed. I searched the Gallery2 support forums, but there were only a few related […]

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 Encrypting your torrents will prevent throttling ISP’s from limiting your BitTorrent bandwidth and potential stop packet snooping. The  encryption obfuscates not only the header but all the BitTorrent data. This makes it very hard for your ISP to determine if that data coming to your computer is from BitTorrent. Read on to find out how […]

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Firefox is a popular alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser. The developers claim that end users will get a better, faster, safer web experience by using Firefox over Internet Explorer. Web developers favor Firefox for its adherence to web standards. Firefox is free to use. Download here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

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If one of the following error messages is displayed as Windows is booting up (before you see your desktop, but after the POST screen), you have a corrupt HAL.dll file: “Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll. Please re-install a copy of the above file.” Winnt_root>\System32\Hal.dll missing or […]

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Locate your Windows XP CD and insert it in your primary CD or CD/DVD drive. Turn your PC on or restart your PC if it’s already running. Instead of loading Windows XP, your computer should boot from the Windows XP CD and you should see a message to Press any key to boot from CD, […]

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Every now and then, Windows will prevent you from deleting a specific file or folder. When you try to delete such a file or folder, Windows pops up an error that says “Cannot delete [file name]: It is being used by another person or program.” If you get such an error, check the following:

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MoveOnBoot will let you move, delete, or rename files that are normally is use (and therefore not modifiable). Download: MoveOnBoot

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If you have a mapped network drive (or a shortcut to a network folder), you may notice it takes a long time to access the network folder if you haven’t used it recently. This is because the default behaviour is to disconnect from all mapped drives after fifteen minutes of activity. If this is undesirable, […]

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It happens to all of us. For some reason you need to reinstall or upgrade your Microsoft Windows installation, but you can’t find the installation CD. The good news, you can reinstall Windows without your original CD. The bad news, you’ll need your unique activation code, which is usually written on the lost CD’s case.

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Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder is a small tool that can reveal your registration code from the registry, that you used to register your copy of Windows. It will also display your product keys for Microsoft Office. It works on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Windows Vista, Office 97, Office XP, and […]

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Startup Control Panel is a nifty control panel applet that allows you to easily configure which programs run when your computer starts. It does the same thing as MSCONFIG, but with a much more user friendly interface. You can download a stand-alone version (good for a single use) or the Control Panel version (which creates […]

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This simple program was created by Microsoft, but has been removed from their servers. The program is useful for troubleshooting start up programs, but its must valuable feature is an “optimize boot” function. When run once, this feature can increase Windows boot up times by several seconds. Download the latest released version here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=664

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Belarc Advisor is a system inventory tool. It will report (in HTML format) information about your computer such as hard drives installed, memory configuration, users, and much more. It will also list all software installed and any product keys registered. Download the latest version here: http://www.belarc.com/Programs/advisor.exe

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Ad-Aware scans your computer for Spyware and Adware in addition to a few other security risks. The maker (LavaSoft) offers several pay version in addition to a freeware version. The free version should be sufficient for most uses. Download the free version here: http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-2007/3000-8022_4-10766151.html?tag=lst-2

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7-Zip is a freeware alternative to WinZip or WinRar. It handles most of the same archive types (and a few of its own). A great program to have if you don’t need (and want to pay for) the advanced features of WinZip. Download the latest version from: http://www.7-zip.org/

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CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system. Mainly the CPU and motherboard. I often use this when taking computer inventories, or to check the speed of overclocked computers. Download latest version here: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

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