Another Way To Install XP from USB

Read the articles from the producers of UltraISO.

http://www.ezbsystems.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=2;t=2440

Cheers!

Install XP to USB

Now, you might need to run XP from a portable hard drive or thumb drive. Follow steps outlined here for guidance.

Note that this is installing to a USB device, not running install from a USB device.

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Install XP from USB

If you have faulty optical drive (CDROM/DVDROM), and you'd need to install XP to your laptop, follow the steps written at this site for guidance.

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Dual booting Vista and XP

There's a site which shows step-by-step install for dual booting XP and Vista, either with Vista installed first or XP installed first.

There are other methods with Linux and Windows installation dual boot, available on the site.

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Download FULL Package of Internet Explorer 6 SP1

When we need to reinstall IE6 Service Pack 1 (for XP), MS site would normally allow download of a small ie6setup.exe file from their site. How can we offline install IE6 with only this small file?

Read this article from this site. It'll show you how to extract the file from the downloaded ie6setup.exe and do a download of all needed files.

The command can be support by using ie6setup.exe /c:"ie6wzd.exe /d /s:""#E".

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Microsoft SteadyState

Check out this software that'll lock down the PC that's open to public use or on a shared access basis.

Surf to MS's site for more info.

This software is similar to Faronics DeepFreeze suite.

Cheers!

Command Prompt and Autocompletion

Command Prompt (cmd.exe) since Win2K has been able to complete a command by just typing in the partial command followed by a Tab on the keyboard.

However, some recent unwanted modification to the registry could cause this lovely feature to be deactivated.

To re-enable this feature, do the following steps:

1. Open the Registry Editor
2. Go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor
3. On the right pane, modify the DWORD value of CompletionChar to 9
4. Exit the Registry Editor to effect the changes

This modification can also be applied to the HKLM hive.

Cheers!

Disallowrun Registry Key

At some point of the service, some too-new virus or malware may not be detected or the removal may not have be written to the latest pattern or update.

The only way to protect the PC from being reinfected is to use the disallowrun registry key. Originally written for Windows 2000 kernel, this setting seems to work on Windows XP and other Microsoft Windows OS (later than Win2K).

Edit the Local Policy (not applicable to WinXP Home)

1. Open the gpedit.msc from the Command Prompt or the Start > Run.
2. Expand User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System
3. In the right-pane, double-click Don't run specified Windows applications
4. Click Enable, then click on the Show button
5. Click the Add button and type in the executable name that you want to block
6. For example, to block ckvo.exe, type in ckvo.exe, not the full path of the file
7. Click OK button 3 times and exit the Group Policy Object Editor
8. Restart your PC to effect the changed policy
   

Block by specific/current user

1. Open the Registry Editor
2. Go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
3. On the right-pane, right-click and create a new DWORD value called DisallowRun
4. Double-click on the newly-created DWORD and give it the value 1
5. Next, create a new subkey called DisallowRun under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
6. For any program you wish to block, create a new String value, and give it a name 1. Subsequent string names, use 2, 3, 4 in a sequential manner
7. Double-click on the 1 string and type in the name of the executable you wish to block
8. Exit Registry Editor and restart the PC to effect the change.

An excerpt from Microsoft is available here.

Cheers!

How to Make Windows Vista Less Annoying

Read the article from here.

Get Vista's Best Features in XP

Read this article from lifehacker.com

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Command Line & Scripting Tips

Stumbled upon this site that provides tips and tricks on Vista and XP scripting.

Cheers!

M$ WPA and AntiWPA

I come across the AntiWPA stuff while doing some surfing today. Currently at v3, AntiWPA will remove the 30 days activation reminder.

Don't know where to get but you can search it from Google.

As always, I don't support cracking software. If you like Windows, buy it!

10 Ways to Speed Up Windows XP

This is the article originally sighted at www.eboostr.com. In case that article is now gone, the copy is available as follows:

10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Your Windows XP

Many people are interested in making the most of their hardware. So here are 10 simple tips on how to make your Windows XP computer run faster without having to purchase additional hardware.

1. Defrag Disk to Speed Up Access to Data

One of the factors that slow the performance of the computer is disk fragmentation. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. To speed up the response time, you should monthly run Disk Defragmenter, a Windows utility that defrags and consolidates fragmented files for quicker computer response.

• Follow Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
• Click the drives you want to defrag and click Analyze
• Click Defragment

2. Detect and Repair Disk Errors

Over time, your hard disk develops bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing difficult or even impossible. To detect and repair disk errors, Windows has a built-in tool called the Error Checking utility. It’ll search the hard disk for bad sectors and system errors and repair them for faster performance.

• Follow Start > My Computer
• In My Computer right-click the hard disk you want to scan and click Properties
• Click the Tools tab
• Click Check Now
• Select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box
• Click Start

3. Disable Indexing Services

Indexing Services is a little application that uses a lot of CPU. By indexing and updating lists of all the files on the computer, it helps you to do a search for something faster as it scans the index list. But if you know where your files are, you can disable this system service. It won’t do any harm to you machine, whether you search often or not very often.

• Go to Start
• Click Settings
• Click Control Panel
• Double-click Add/Remove Programs
• Click the Add/Remove Window Components
• Uncheck the Indexing services
• Click Next

4. Optimize Display Settings

Windows XP is a looker. But it costs you system resources that are used to display all the visual items and effects. Windows looks fine if you disable most of the settings and leave the following:

• Show shadows under menus
• Show shadows under mouse pointer
• Show translucent selection rectangle
• Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
• Use visual styles on windows and buttons

5. Speedup Folder Browsing

You may have noticed that everytime you open My Computer to browse folders that there is a little delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing speed, you can disable the “Automatically search for network folders and printers” option.

6. Disable Performance Counters

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several areas of your PC’s performance. These utilities take up system resources so disabling is a good idea.

• Download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List
• Then select each counter in turn in the ‘Extensible performance counters’ window and clear the ‘performance counters enabled’ checkbox at the bottom button below

7. Optimize Your Pagefile

You can optimize your pagefile. Setting a fixed size to your pagefile saves the operating system from the need to resize the pagefile.

• Right click on My Computer and select Properties
• Select the Advanced tab
• Under Performance choose the Settings button
• Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
• Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.

8. Remove Fonts for Speed

Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.

• Open Control Panel
• Open Fonts folder
• Move fonts you don’t need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.

9. Use a Flash Memory to Boost Performance

To improve performance, you need to install additional RAM memory. It’ll let you boot your OS much quicker and run many applications and access data quicker. There is no easiest and more technically elegant way to do it than use eBoostr.

eBoostr is a little program that lets you improve a performance of any computer, powered by Windows XP in much the same way as Vista’s ReadyBoost. With eBoostr, if you have a flash drive, such as a USB flash thumb drive or an SD card, you can use it to make your computer run better. Simply plug in a flash drive through a USB socket and Windows XP will use eBoostr to utilize the flash memory to improve performance.

The product shows the best results for frequently used applications and data, which becomes a great feature for people who are using office programs, graphics applications or developer tools. It’ll surely attract a special attention of laptop owners as laptop upgrade is usually more complicated and laptop hard drives are by definition slower than those of desktops.

10. Perform a Boot Defragment

There’s a simple way to speed up XP startup: make your system do a boot defragment, which will put all the boot files next to one another on your hard disk. When boot files are in close proximity to one another, your system will start faster.

On most systems, boot defragment should be enabled by default, but it might not be on yours, or it might have been changed inadvertently. To make sure that boot defragment is enabled:

• Run the Registry Editor
• Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction
• Set the Enable string value to Y if it is not already set to Y.
• Exit the Registry
• Reboot

Hope you find these 10 tips useful. Have a nice day!

Tracking.log & Antivirus Scanner

I noticed that the tracking.log file in System Volume Information directory can cause some antivirus software to either stall or cause system shutdown.

My personal experience with Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition cause the Dell notebook to shutdown after giving a short beep. Other AV programs also reported similar case.

The tracking.log file is created by M$ Distributed Link Tracking Client service. You can turn that service off if your PC is not part of a domain. Read more about the service from here and here (MS).

To delete tracking.log, you'd need to disable the Distributed Link Tracking Client service first (from the Administrative Tools > Services). Then, reboot into Safe Mode. Navigate to System Volume Information directory (you may need to change the access rights), and change the System and Hidden flags of the file. Then delete the file. The file will not be recreated if the above-mentioned service is not started.

This scenario is tested on XP systems only.

Change File/Folder Ownership in XP Home

An article from Microsoft said that if you want to change file or folder ownership in WinXP Home, you would need to restart your PC in Safe Mode.

However, I came upon this nice utility by doing some search. Best of all, this utility is a freeware. If you missed the page, go to Google and search for FaJo XP File Security Extension.

Cheers!

Change Mainboard Without Reinstalling Windows XP

Often times, when moving the hard drive containing an existing Windows XP to a new mainboard, we need to reinstall afresh all the OS files. The typical mainboard-replace-no-reinstall-Windows scenario in the good ol' days of Win9x has gone.

This is due the much better control of the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) in Windows XP or Windows 2000.

However, the following steps will try to cheat the HAL and let us keep all the Windows stuff without the painful step-by-step reinstall.

This will only work with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows 2000 only (as of this writing).

This to get ready before migrating the old hard drive to the new mainboard.

1. Download the essential files from www.hkpeace.com. The files are zipped into win2khw.zip.
2. Unzip the files. Copy the 4 SYS files (ATAPI, INTELIDE, PCIIDE, PCIIDEX) to %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS, where %WINDIR% is normally C:\WINDOWS.
3. Copy the MERGEIDE.REG file to the C:\.

In the event that the original mainboard is dead or malfunction, remove the hard drive to another working system as a secondary hard drive or use a boot CD such as Knoppix or BartPE CD and put those vital files into the hard drive. However, you'd need to determine (wild guess) the %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS directory if you are not familiar with the original Windows installation directory.

The next step is to move the hard drive to the new mainboard. Make sure the keyboard is working. You can check this out by plugging the keyboard into the mainboard without the hard drive. Then try going into the BIOS setting to see if the keyboard responds.

1. Boot up the PC.
2. Press F8 continuously to make sure you can see the Windows Advanced Options Menu screen. This is very serious because if you fail to get into the Safe Mode, your original Windows installation is done for if it boot normally into Windows and ends up in BSOD. It would not help even if you should put the hard drive back to the old mainboard, once the BSOD occurs.
3. Select Safe Mode and boot into Windows.
4. Once inside, double-click the MERGEIDE.REG file located in C:\.
5. If new hardware detection starts, let it finish. Make sure all detections are completed. Do not boot even if you are asked to reboot.
6. If no more new hardware is detected, manually restart the PC in normal mode.
   
7. Once again, if the new hardware detection is going on, let it be.
8. Install the drivers for the new mainboard.
   

Mouse cannot drag-n-drop

Somehow, some funny problem cropped up in one of my clients' PC. The mouse refuse to drag and drop a file from one window to another window. All single (left) click and double click works fine. Even the Windows ClickLock failed to function.

After Google for solutions, I came upon the posting at www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?pid=779&fid=5242 and this is the registry fix you can run to fix the problem.

----- cut here -----
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{0000010e-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="IDataObject"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{0000010e-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\NumMethods]
@="12"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{0000010e-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\ProxyStubClsid32]
@="{00000320-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00000320-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="oleprx32_PSFactoryBuffer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00000320-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\InprocServer32]
@="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\ole32.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Both"
----- cut here -----

Kaspersky Manual Bases Update Info

The latest info on the zipped updates is available at www.kaspersky.com/avupdates/zip.

Alternate list of servers and the varieties of downloads can be found at www.kaspersky-labs.com/html/index_eng.html.

To obtain procedure on which file to explode into the update folder, read the article here.

On how to set up your copy to read update from the manual update folder (maybe located somewhere in the network), read the article here.

Cheers!

Creating Dell Utility Partition

I recently placed an order for Dell Inspiron 1420 that comes with FreeDOS. No OS was installed. The FreeDOS was packed inside a CD. Only a noticable 2GB FAT32 partition with the label OS was created.

So, I did some Google search and I came across this piece of guide written by Dan Goodell.

You can read the step-by-step guide on creating the Utility partition here.

Cheers!

Internet 7 now available ... to pirates!

Now you can download IE7 without any WGA validation. Read the news from Betanews.

The Internet Explorer can be downloaded here.