Microsoft may not have officially released their latest service pack for Windows XP yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get it.
Entries from December 2007
Install Microsoft XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Early
December 30th, 2007 · Comments Off on Install Microsoft XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Early
Posted in: Guides
How Do I Get Adobe Forms to Return the Whole PDF to Me, Not Just the Data?
December 30th, 2007 · Comments Off on How Do I Get Adobe Forms to Return the Whole PDF to Me, Not Just the Data?
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, […]
Posted in: Guides
My Gallery2 Website Doesn’t Work When “www.” is Prefixed to My Domain
December 17th, 2007 · 2 Comments
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 […]
Posted in: Guides
How to Encrypt BitTorrent Traffic
December 13th, 2007 · Comments Off on How to Encrypt BitTorrent Traffic
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 […]
Posted in: Guides
Firefox Web Browser
December 13th, 2007 · Comments Off on Firefox Web Browser
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/
Posted in: Downloads
How to Resolve the Missing Or Corrupt Hal.dll Error in Windows XP
December 13th, 2007 · 3 Comments
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 […]
Posted in: Guides
How to Enter the Windows XP Recovery Console
December 13th, 2007 · Comments Off on How to Enter the Windows XP Recovery Console
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, […]
Posted in: Guides
Why Do I Get an Error When I Try to Delete a File/folder?
December 13th, 2007 · Comments Off on Why Do I Get an Error When I Try to Delete a File/folder?
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:
Posted in: Guides
MoveOnBoot
December 13th, 2007 · Comments Off on MoveOnBoot
MoveOnBoot will let you move, delete, or rename files that are normally is use (and therefore not modifiable). Download: MoveOnBoot
Posted in: Downloads
Keep Share Connections (Mapped Network Drives) Alive
December 13th, 2007 · 1 Comment
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, […]
Posted in: Guides
How Do I Reinstall Windows If I’ve Lost the CD?
December 13th, 2007 · Comments Off on How Do I Reinstall Windows If I’ve Lost the CD?
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.
Posted in: Guides
Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder
December 13th, 2007 · Comments Off on Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder
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 […]
Posted in: Downloads
Startup Control Panel
December 10th, 2007 · Comments Off on Startup Control Panel
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 […]
Posted in: Downloads
Bootvis
December 10th, 2007 · 1 Comment
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
Posted in: Downloads
Belarc Advisor
December 10th, 2007 · Comments Off on Belarc Advisor
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
Posted in: Downloads
Ad-Aware
December 10th, 2007 · 1 Comment
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
Posted in: Downloads
7-Zip
December 10th, 2007 · Comments Off on 7-Zip
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/
Posted in: Downloads
CPU-Z
December 10th, 2007 · Comments Off on CPU-Z
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
Posted in: Downloads