RyanTAdams.com

Technology Advice by Ryan Taylor Adams

Entries posted in 'Guides'

Windows 98 Pseudo Repair Install

January 6th, 2008 · 1 Comment

If you are familiar with the Windows XP Repair install option, you probably know that you can often restore a damaged Windows XP installation to a working state without losing data. Windows 98 has a similar, but fairly undocumented/unrecognized feature. To restore the critical Windows files, but leave your data intact, do the following:

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Posted in: Guides

Internet Explorer Only Prints Source Code

January 6th, 2008 · 5 Comments

It seems that after uninstalling AOL, many people experience an issue with Internet Explorer (version 6 and 7) that causes source code to be printed instead of the normal page view. If you are trying to print from Internet Explorer and are only getting cryptic code, instead of the page view you expect, try the […]

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Posted in: Guides

Troubleshooting a Stop 0x0000000A Error in Windows XP

January 4th, 2008 · Comments Off on Troubleshooting a Stop 0x0000000A Error in Windows XP

If you are receiving a STOP error message with the code 0x0000000A during the installation of Windows XP, take a look at this Microsoft article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314063

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Posted in: Guides

Microsoft Windows XP Screen Flashes Blue, Then Restarts…

January 3rd, 2008 · Comments Off on Microsoft Windows XP Screen Flashes Blue, Then Restarts…

Windows XP has an option to automatically reboot the computer when a STOP error occurs. This convenient because it ensures your computer doesn’t stay “frozen.” However, this feature also means you won’t be able to read any of the information present on the STOP error screen. If you are trying to troubleshoot a STOP error, […]

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Install Microsoft XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Early

December 30th, 2007 · Comments Off on Install Microsoft XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Early

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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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, […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Posted in: Guides

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 […]

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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, […]

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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:

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Posted in: Guides

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, […]

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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.

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Posted in: Guides