Windows Tips and Tricks Category

Extracting All Attachments From Email

How to Extract All Attachments from Email Messages; In this simple solution, I cover one way to easily extract all attachments from your Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail messages. For this process, we will be using a Free Email Attachment Extractor called UUDWIN, created by Mark Spankus. This tool might be used to batch extract attachments from email .eml, .pst, and, .msg files.

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Boot and Run DOS from a USB Flash Drive

How to Boot and Run DOS from a USB Flash Drive. In the following simple solution, I show you a simple way to Put DOS on a USB device using a nifty little tool created by Pete Batard, called Rufus. This tool resembles the HP USB Format Tool, includes the same features, and really makes it easy to Create a DOS Bootable USB Key.

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Firefox Status Addon Bar Missing

Firefox Status Bar Missing? According to Mozilla, starting with Firefox 4, The status bar has been positionally replaced by the Firefox Addon Bar, and many of the status bar features such as page loading status, and download status have been moved. However, if you had addons that used to appear in the status bar, you can still find them in the new addons bar, that displaces the old status bar. So if this bar is missing, maybe the real question should be, Where is my Firefox Addon Bar?
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Turn Numlock On or Off on a Laptop

How to turn Numlock on or off on a Laptop: Many Laptops including the HP Envy 17, do not feature a Numlock key. I found this out when my HP Envy 17 Numpad quit working after using an external keyboard. In the following simple solution, I'll show you one very easy way to Turn Num Lock On or Off, on the fly.

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Tweak to Optimize SSD Performance

In the following simple solution, I cover the process I use to Tweak an SSD "Solid State Drive" for Optimal Performance and Longetivity. There are a few tools out there that can manage a lot of the following settings  automatically. However, I feel it's also important to know how to make these changes yourself. Upon completion, you should end up with a slightly faster and longer living better "Optimized SSD".

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Use a Playstation PS3 Controller on a PC

In this simple solution, I cover how to use a Playstation PS3 Controller on your PC. A wireless PS3 Controller can be particularly useful as a mouse or joystick for gaming. I personally use my PS3 controller to play old emulator games occasionally run from my Computer. We will be utilizing the Windows PS3 Controller Drivers created by MotionInJoy in the following tutorial.

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How To Put Windows XP on a USB Flash Drive

In this simple solution I cover one way to Put Windows XP Install Disk on a USB Flash Drive. Installing Windows XP from a USB Flash Drive might be useful for example if you wish to Install Windows XP on a Netbook or Laptop that has no CD Drive. One of the simplest approaches I have found is via the use of a tool called SARDU, created by Davide Costa.

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Open Task Manager on Remote Desktop Connection

In the following simple solution, I cover how to Open the Task Manager on a Remote Desktop Connection. As I am sure you already know, the local  keyboard combination Ctrl + Alt + Del does not work on a remote machine. However, the alternate solution is simplier than one might think.

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? Question Mark on Email Replies

How I fixed the ? inserted at the beginning of email replies. Recently, Windows Live Mail began inserting question marks at the beginning of every email I would reply to. As it turns out the beta version of Internet Explorer 9, installed a few days earlier was the culprit. Once Internet Explorer 9 beta was uninstalled, my email replies started working normally again.

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Partition a USB Flash Drive in Windows XP

One way to Partition a USB Flash Drive from Windows XP and mark it active "bootable". Windows detects Flash Drives as "Removable Disks" and flash drives are typically shipped formatted as a "Super Floppy" (USB-FDD without a partition table) . The Windows built in format utility cannot create a partition table on Removable Disks. Furthermore, the diskpart utility in Windows XP will not allow you to partition Removable Media, although diskpart does work for partitioning a Flash Drive from Windows Vista/7.

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Restore GRUB2 after installing Windows

How I Restored GRUB2 after a Windows 7 Install. GRUB2 (Grand Unified Bootloader)  is a universal bootloader used by Ubuntu and other Linux Distributions. If you have a Linux Distribution installed on a partition, and attempt to  install Windows alongside it, your GRUB bootloader will be overwritten by the Windows bootloader, and your computer will only boot into Windows.

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Erase Empty Space on Hard Drive

In this simple solution, I cover one method to Erase Empty Space on a Hard Drive. By default when you send items to the Recycle Bin, Delete Email, Clear Browsing History, Etc, the information that occupied that space on your Hard Drive can still be recovered until that space is overwritten several times with new data.
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How to Delete a Windows Service

How to Delete a Windows Service: In the following simple solution, I will show you how to remove a no longer active Windows Service. Typically installed by programs that utilize automatic functions, Windows Services essentially run executables in a non-interactive manner. In many cases, the uninstaller that ships with a program does not remove the Windows Service it installed. However, as long as the Service is stopped, removal is relatively simple.

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Convert Doc to PDF files using PDFCreator

In the following simple solution, I'll show you how to Convert Doc to PDF files using the Open Source PDFCreator. I stumbled upon this PDF Creator tool while I was doing some research for a client who was looking for an offline tool he could use to convert his document files into PDF (Portable Document Format) files. This tool seemed to do the trick and more. PDFCreator includes a PDF print driver which allows the user to print to a file from virtually any Windows application that supports printing. It can be used like a printer in Word, StarCalc or any other Windows program.

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Clear Cache Firefox

In the following Simple Solution, I'll show you an easy way to Clear Cache in Firefox. We will Add a Clear Cache Button to Firefox Web Browser by using an extension or addon called Clear Cache Button and then adding the button to our toolbar. This eliminates any additional steps (I.E. Ctrl + F5) that may be commonly used to Clear Firefox Cache and enables you to perform the task on demand via a single mouse click.

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Repair Windows Update

In the following simple solution, I'll show you how to attempt to Repair Windows Update or Automatic Updates automatically by using an innovative little tool called "Rizone's Internet Recovery Kit" created by Rizone Technologies. This tool can also be used in an attempt to repair SSL/HTTPS/Cryptography if your having troubles connecting to secured websites. I.E. Bank Account logins, PayPal etc.

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Windows Update Error 0X80070005

In the following simple solution, I'll show you how to fix the Windows Update Error 0X80070005 that is ever so often encountered after a Malware attack. The automated fix was created by Rizone Technologies and has worked wonderfully on the select few troubled computers I have had the opportunity to test it on.

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Computer Slow Down Issues And Solutions

If you find yourself getting frustrated and annoyed at your slow computer, you are not alone. Most PC owners are likely to face problems sooner or later. Often within a few months of buying a PC, you may notice that it is not performing like new. Unfortunately, most of the time no action is taken until your PC becomes frustratingly slow and leads to a major loss in productivity.

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Reboot or Shutdown from Remote Desktop Connection

Reboot or Shutdown from Remote Desktop Connection: The following simple solution covers the process of rebooting a machine from a remote location or shutting down a remote computer. The process assumes your using Microsoft’s (RDC) or "Remote Desktop Connection". By default, Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Connection only enables a user to disconnect or log off. This solution will allow you to Shutdown or Reboot that remote PC.

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How To Completely Uninstall Programs From Your PC

How To Completely Uninstall Programs From Your PC: A large number of PC owners have very little idea about what occupies the space on their computer. If you were to look closely, you would find that a large amount of hard disk space and system resources are consumed by programs that are either useless, obsolete or should not have been there in the first place.

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Reset Internet Explorer

In the following simple solution, I'll show you a quick and easy way to Reset Internet Explorer Settings back to the default. Restoring Internet Explorer as if you just performed a fresh installation of the web browser. Resetting Internet Explorer can be used to solve many problems such as errors like: "Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close" slow browsers, crashes and hanging and conflicting settings. The tool we are going to use is called Microsoft Fix it.

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Firefox Inline Spell Checker

Firefox includes a built in spell checker that can check for spelling errors. However, by default the spell checking feature only checks for multiline fields, which does no good if your typing a single line entry into a single line entry box. In the following simple solution, I'll cover the process of tweaking the firefox spelling checker to allow you to detect spelling errors and mistyped words as you type them in single line entry fields.

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The message could not be sent. There is not enough memory

If your encountering the Outlook Express error message stating: "The message could not be sent. There is not enough memory". Just know that your not alone. I recently needed to address this problem for a client who was simply trying to forward an email with attachments and images totaling over 20MB. As it turns out, somehow his Outbox.dbx became corrupted. In the following simple solution, I'll show you how we resolved the message could not be sent email problem.

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Clear Recent Documents

How to Clear Recent Documents in Windows XP. One essential step in removing traces of your personal browsing history on your PC is to Clear the Recent Documents Folder. Much like the Clear Recent Items List in Vista, the My Recent Documents Folder in XP displays your most recently accessed files or programs in an effort to make it easier to quickly access those programs or files from the start menu at a later point in time.

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How to Open a docx file

In the following simple solution, I'll show you how to open .docx files on a Mac, or on a PC that does not have Microsoft Office installed or has an older version of Office. .docx files are typically created by Microsoft Office Word. If you send a .docx file to someone who does not have Word on their computer, they might not have an application installed that can read the .docx file. It's also fairly common for Apple Mac users to have issues viewing .docx file.

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Super Tips To Deal With Annoying PC Errors

New developments in computer technology are helping computer users to accomplish more than ever before. Our operating systems and applications work faster, do new things, and are more user-friendly. However, at the same time, there is one area where issues of common computer users continue to be ignored and this happens to be annoying computer error messages and their indecipherable codes.

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How to install Windows XP on a DV9000 Laptop

Windows XP on DV9000: In the following simple solution, I cover the process of installing Windows XP Pro on an HP DV9000 series Laptop (with Intel processors). We will be using nLite to create a remastered Windows XP Pro installation disk with integrated SATA drivers. You must also have a backup USB flash drive or hard drive handy to store essential system and network drivers that need to be installed to gain access to the internet for the remainder of the driver downloads. I've personally tested this tutorial by successfully installing Windows XP Pro to a HP DV9030US notebook.

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Remove Yahoo Toolbar from Firefox

In the following simple solution, I'll show you how to remove the Yahoo Toolbar from Firefox. The Yahoo Toolbar is often unknowingly installed with other software packages. There is nothing wrong with the Yahoo Toolbar, but if you don't use the tools that are offered, you might consider it to be taking up precous space in your browser.

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Setup cannot copy the file cmnicfg.xml

Setup cannot copy the file cmnicfg.xml: Typically, a user will receive this error during a Windows XP installation. The other day, a friend of mine decided to uninstall Windows Vista from his computer and reinstall Windows XP. He recently used nLite to create an unattended Windows XP Pro installation CD and proceeded to perform the install.

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Error 0x800CCC0B when sending email

The 0x800CCC0B error when trying to send email through outlook express is a common error that is often encountered on an attempt to send your first email from third party email services such as gmail (google mail) using outlook express. The POP account may appear to work fine and you are able to receive email without a problem. This is because the SMTP 0x800CCC0B error will only occur when sending email.

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HP Scanner – NO SCAN OPTIONS – Won't Scan

Are you receiving the No Scan Options error when trying to scan a document with your All in One HP Scanner? In the following simple solution, I'll show you how to resolve this HP scanning problem and get your scanner working once and for all. The No Scan Options error is typically displayed on the printer when trying to scan using the "Scan To" or "Start Scan" buttons.

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Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0: x86 (KB928416) fails to install

If your having problems with Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0: x86 (KB928416) failing to install via Windows Update, you can rest assured that your not alone. It is common to see Error code 0×643 for the KB928416 update problem in your update history. In the following simple solution, I will show you how to overcome this Windows update issue and finally get .NET Framework 3.0 properly installed.

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Auto Login to Windows

Want to automatically logon to Windows instead of having to click a user and enter your Windows login password? The following simple solution will enable you to login to Windows automatically and send you straight to your desktop (bypassing the welcome screen) without user interaction. I highly recommend this tutorial if your the only user who has access to your computer.

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How to Remove Antivirus 2009 Virus

Antivirus 2009 is known to be fake anti-spyware software that is mistakenly installed by visiting a misleading site that tries to convince you that your computer is infected. Upon installation, Antivirus 2009 claims to scan your PC, resulting in a list of fake infections that can only be removed from your computer once you purchase the software. Moreover, once Antivirus 2009 is on your system, it can hijack your browser by installing a browser helper object that displays fake messages via Internet Explorer.

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How to Remove Antivirus Security

Antivirus Security is a (fake) rogue anti-spyware program. Often contracted from popup advertisements on sites pretending to be online anti malware scanners, the visitor may encounter fake security alerts saying your computer is infected and you should download and install Antivirus Security to fix the problem. If the visitor decides to download and install the software, it will scan your computer, summarizing and listing all sorts of security risks that cannot be removed unless you proceed to purchase the program.

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How to Remove AntiMalware 2009

AntiMalware 2009 is known as a rogue (fake) anti spyware program. In most cases, AntiMalware 2009 is advertised via pop up ads that are displayed while visiting certain websites. The pop up ads state that your computer is infected and when you click on either button in the pop up, you are redirected to an anti malware scanner page. This scanner is fake and pretends to scan your computer. Once the scanner has finished, it will state that your computer is infected and suggest downloading AntiMalware 2009 to clean and repair your computer.

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How to remove the Safely Remove Hardware Icon

The following simple solution explains how to remove the Safely Remove Hardware Icon. This tutorial is specifically tailored to those who have installed SATA drives on a board that utilizes the nVidia nForce chipset and SATA drivers. Once the SATA drivers are installed, the icon appears, misleading the user into believing that the internally attached Hard Drives can be safely removed from the system.

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Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter

This is actually a fairly common boot error: "Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk And Press Enter". However, it can scare the heck out of you if your system was previously working fine and then suddenly won't boot. There are many reasons a person might encounter this error. In the following simple solution, I outline some of the basic problems to check for when troubleshooting this Windows boot problem.

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Outlook Express Compacting Error

Outlook Express Compacting Error: The folder is currently in use by outlook or another application. This error may be encountered while proceeding to close Outlook Express after checking your email. It is known to effect systems running Windows XP with Service Pack 3 installed. The email auto compact problem is thought to be a bug. In the following simple solution, I show you how to solve the problem.

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Find Windows Login Password

The following simple solution can be used to retrieve a Lost Windows login password. Helpful for those who have forgot Windows Login password and need to Reveal Windows Login Password. I can recall multiple instances when I have needed to Find Windows Login Password for an administrative account. Over time it's easy to forget what password we have set for the Windows admin account. The good news is that these passwords are easily recoverable by using a tool called Ophcrack.

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Windows Update keeps prompting to install KB936181

HELP! Windows Update keeps prompting to install Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 Service Pack 2 (KB936181). I've already installed the KB936181 update multiple times, but Windows Update keeps listing it as an available high priority update that needs to be installed. Furthermore, update KB936181 keeps reinstalling. What do I need to do to fix the KB936181 update Issue?

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How to dual boot Windows XP and Vista (With XP Preinstalled)

Looking to install Windows Vista on your PC, but don't want to get rid of Windows XP? In the following simple solution, I show you how to install Windows Vista alongside an existing installation of Windows XP. Once you have completed these instructions, you will be able to dual boot Windows XP and Vista. During system startup, you will be able to select to boot from either Windows XP or Windows Vista. In addition, both Windows XP and Windows Vista will be installed on the same hard drive, eliminating the need to install Windows Vista to a second hard drive.

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Blue Screen of Death Screensaver

The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is one of the most feared screens in the Windows world. When encountered, the blue screen is usually a sign of failing system hardware or software incompatibility issues. However, did you know that there is a screensaver prank available directly from Microsoft that will allow you to play a trick on your friends, co-workers or classmates?

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Delete Internet Explorer Browsing History via command line

In the following tutorial, I'll show you how to quickly Delete Internet Explorer Browsing History via a command line. The cool part about deleting your browsing history via a command line, is that you can create simplex batch files to automate the entire process of clearing stored passwords, deleting cookies, deleting history and files stored by the Internet Explorer browser.

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How to Play AVI files in Windows Media Player

Help! I have audio but no video while playing an AVI file in Windows Media Player. In the following tutorial, I'll show you how to playback AVI files with Windows Media Player that were created using the XVID, DX50, DIVX, or mp4v video compression format. By default, Windows Media Player will playback the audio of these AVI files, but will not render the video. To fix this problem, we simply need to install the proper XVID codec and we will be on our way to watching those XVID encoded AVI movies on our PC.

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Freeze a clicking hard drive to recover data

Freeze your hard drive to recover data: Recovering data from a clicking hard drive can be a touch and go task. In most cases, a clicking hard drive signifies that the drive is stuck in seek mode and is a sign that your drive is failing. In most cases, if the clicking hard drive contains the operating system you boot from, you will lose the ability to boot from this device (it will just sit there clicking away) and the drive will appear to be dead. In which case, many people assume the drive is shot and data cannot be retrieved.

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How to totally uninstall Windows Messenger

How to uninstall Windows Messenger: There are four different Messenger applications available from Microsoft. "Windows Messenger", "MSN Messenger", "Windows Live Messenger" and the "Messenger Service". In the following tutorial, I'll show you how to remove any one of the them from your computer. Those who have installed MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger might want to remove the old Windows Messenger so as to keep the two from conflicting, so we will address this one first.

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Microsoft Messenger keeps logging me off

If your having issues with Microsoft Messenger logging you off constantly, your not alone. I have personally encountered this issue on many occasions. Knowing that I have a solid wired internet connection with plenty of bandwidth and my firewall and router were not blocking the Microsoft Messenger service, I knew the problem had to be with Messenger itself. As it turns out, there are some new key features in the upgraded MSN Live Messenger that help to hold a consistent connection.

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How to find the MAC address of a PC or device on the LAN

How to find the MAC address of a PC or device on the LAN: Have you ever needed to find the MAC address of a computer or device connected to your network? Finding the MAC address of a PC or or device on your LAN is easy if you know at least the IP address of the PC or device that is connected. There are many cases in which a user might need to determine the MAC address of a given network communication device.

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Microsoft Windows Updates fail to install

Microsoft Windows Update failure: Are you having problems getting your Microsoft Windows Updates downloaded, are the Updates repeatedly failing to install? Recently after having upgraded to Serice Pack 3 for Windows XP, we had experienced the same issue. It appeared that the updates would continually fail to install on this particular machine. We tried stopping the automatic updates service, deleted all of our temp files, log files etc, but nothing seemed to help. On any attempt to download updates, the process would halt and say it failed to install them. As it turns out, the fix was relatively simple. Here is what we did.

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BitDefender Real-time protection is unavailable

BitDefender Real-time protection is unavailable problem: BitDefender Total Security 2008 is one of the best antivirus solutions available. However, just like any antivirus software can have it's hiccups. Recently, I have encountered one such hiccup. One day upon logging in to my work PC, I had noticed that my BitDefender antivirus Real-time protection and Firewall was disabled and could not be turned back on. The check box was grayed out and the text next to it displayed "Real-time protection is unavailable". To make matters worse, I could not perform an update nor manually scan any files.

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WRT600N wireless dropouts on 5ghz band

Getting WRT600N wireless dropouts on 5ghz band? We recently upgraded from a WRT54GL router to a Linksys WRT600N Linksys Ultra RangePlus Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router to take advantage of the dual band 5ghz and 2.4ghz wireless N frequencies along with the gigabit wired network connection. Initially, we were disappointed to find that while working via the 5ghz band on our wireless workstations, we would get randomly dropped connections. This would typically occur when doing large downloads (receiving large packets). All of our workstations use Intel 4965AGN wireless cards and we never experienced a hiccup on 2.4ghz frequency with the old WRT54GL router.

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FTP Error Copying File or Folder

If you like to use Windows Explorer to perform your FTP file transfers and are having problems with the file transfer timing out during the last second or last few second of the download, just know that your not alone. The File Transfer ability that is built into Windows is primitive and many settings are not adjustable as they would be using more advanced FTP client software. This is especially true when it comes to setting a passive port. In many cases a person may find that larger FTP downloads time out or never finish. In the following, I'll show you a resolution that works for me.

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How to Remove Windows Desktop Search

Windows Desktop Search is a search tool that can be optionally installed on a Windows based system. In most cases it is installed along with a Office 2007 or Outlook 2007 package. Shortly after installation and after trying out it's features, you may be one of the many people who prefer to remove the Windows Desktop Search. In the following simple solution, I'll cover how to remove this WDS desktop search tool.

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How to Download Embedded SWF files using Firefox

Downloading SFW Files – In the following tutorial I cover the process of downloading SWF (flash) files directly to your Computer using the built in Page info/Media functionality in Firefox. This enables a user to download any flash swf file that might be embedded in a webpage without using any additional software.

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How to Emulate Windows Mobile 6

In the following tutorial, I cover the process of Setting up Windows Mobile 6 for Mobile Browser Emulation using the Microsoft Device Emulator. This enables a user to experience Windows Mobile 6 on a PC via Emulation without even owning a Windows Mobile 6 product. It can be a great way to test drive Windows Mobile 6 before purchasing a product with it installed. In our case, it allowed us to Emulate Windows Mobile Browsing so that we could optimize our sites for the Mobile viewing audience. Installation and Emulation is simple and fairly straight forward.

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Windows XP Remote Desktop – Port Forwarding

If your trying to use the "Remote Desktop" Feature that is built into Windows XP and are Hosting your Remote Desktop PC from behind a router, you'll most likely need to open up a port in your router for forwarding. Otherwise you wont be able to remotely access your hosted computer from another PC via the internet. The following tutorial assumes that you already know how to navigate and setup port forwarding in your router and that you simply need to find out which port to forward for Remote Access. Navigating particular router software is outside of the scope of this article.

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How to remove the W32.Spybot.Worm

W32.Spybot.Worm Removal. In the following tutorial, I show you How to remove a W32.Spybot Worm Some Antivirus programs such as the famous Norton Antivirus Solution discover the virus W32.Spybot.Worm but may be unable to clean, repair, delete or even quarantine the file. And following online Antivirus instructions to delete the reg file through the registry in Safe Mode may not work because when you attempt to run regedit it will open and then immediately close. The infected file is typically located at Windows\System32\winsock.exe

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How To Block Ads in Internet Explorer

How To Block Ads in Internet Explorer. In the Following tutorial, I cover the process of blocking Ads from displaying in Internet Explorer. Just like with AdBlock Plus in Firefox there is a similar Ad Blocker for Internet Explorer (Free Ad Blocker for IE). It comes packaged with an addon for Internet Explorer called IE7Pro and is packed with many additional plugins and features. Some key features of IE7Pro include tabbed browsing manager, spell checker, web accelerator, user agent switcher, webpage capturer, AD Blocker, Flash Block and many more user plugins.

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How to install Windows XP on a HP DV6500 series Laptop

Installing Windows XP on a HP DV6500 series Laptop. This tutorial covers the process of installing Windows XP on an HP dv6500 series Laptop. Currently, most HP Laptops are being shipped with Windows Vista, and there is minimal driver support on the HP website site for those who want to downgrade to Windows XP. Hence the necessity for this tutorial. We will be using nLite to create a remastered Windows XP installation disk with integrated SATA drivers, so having a working CD Recorder is essential. I would also recommend having a USB flash drive handy to hold the additional drivers that will be installed after XP installation.

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How to Slipstream Service Pack 3 into Windows XP

Slipstreaming Service Pack 3 into a Windows XP installation CD. As you probably already know, Microsoft has recently released the Service Pack 3 final release for Windows XP to the public. Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all of the previous updates, hotfixes and security updates to date, rolled into one simple package. By Slipstreaming Service Pack 3 into your Windows installation disk, you will have all hotfixes and updates already efficiently integrated. This means that you will have virtually no updates left to do via Windows Update after performing a fresh install of Windows XP.

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How to install Windows XP Service Pack 3

Microsoft has recently released Service Pack 3 FINAL for Windows XP to the public. Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all of the previous updates, hotfixes and security updates to date, rolled into one simple package. It should been noted that Windows XP SP3 does not include Windows Internet Explorer 7. However, SP3 does include updates for both Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7, and it will update whichever version is detected on your computer.

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How to hide a drive letter in Windows XP

In the following tutorial, I explain how to hide a drive or drive letter from being displayed in My Computer. This is useful if you don't want just any average user to be able to easily detect, access and navigate a hard disk that is attached to your system. Note that the drive can still be accessed from explorer by typing in the drive letter. Because we are going to be editing the system registry to hide the drive letter you should proceed with caution, as it is possible to do irreversible damage to your system if you make a mistake.

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Component MSCOMCTL.OCX or one of its dependencies not correctly registered

MSCOMCTL.OCX is a Microsoft Library Windows Common Controls file. Occasionally when a Windows user is installing or uninstalling a bunch of software, certain Microsoft Libraries can become unregistered . One such file that can become corrupt or lost is the MSCOMCTL.OCX file. Then, when the user runs a program or application that requires or is dependent on this file, they may be presented with the following error:

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How to install Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP SP2

Windows Internet Explorer 8 is the next generation browser from Microsoft. The IE8 Web Browser is commonly used by those running Microsoft's Windows Vista Operating Systems. However, Windows XP users can enjoy the benefits of using Internet Explorer Beta 1 as well. The version of Windows Internet Explorer 8 outlined below will run on a Windows XP or XP Pro system with Service Pack 2 installed.

Some featured highlights of this new version include the ability to prevent phishing and deceptive websites from appearing without user permission. Top Level domain highlighting, so the user can confirm the domain they are visiting. Activities and Webslice features allow the user a much more interactive experience while enabling Website Publishers to increase their reach. The user can also select to navigate using the emulate IE7 feature.

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How to Fix STOP 0x0000007E error in aec.sys

The 0x7E stop error often occurs because of a timing issue in Windows XP and Windows XP Pro. Tjis error can occur during initial system startup or even once up and running after your Computer has been sitting idle for a while unattended. The result is typically a blue screen displaying a STOP 0x0000007E error in aec.sys. Complete error message might display something like the following: STOP 0x0000007e (0xC0000005, 0×00000000, 0xF8954080, 0xF8954384) aec.sys.

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How to install Windows XP on HP DV9500 series Laptop

In the following tutorial, I outline the process of installing Windows XP on an HP dv9500 series Laptop. Most Hewlett Packard (HP) Laptops are currently being shipped with Windows Vista, and there is minimal driver support on the HP website site for those who wish to downgrade to Windows XP. Hence the necessity for this tutorial. We will be using nLite to create a remastered Windows XP installation disk with integrated SATA drivers, so having a working CD Recorder is essential. I would also recommend having a USB flash drive handy to hold additional drivers that will be used after installation. I've personally tested this process by downgrading an HP dv9548us notebook to Windows XP and had great success. Should work on downgrades to Windows XP on other dv9500 and dv2500 series HP laptops as well.

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How to Fix a STOP: 0x0000007B: Error

In Windows XP, The STOP: 0x0000007B: error often occurs if you move a hard drive that contains Windows XP to another computer or if you have just installed a new motherboard or drive controller. This error occurs in these cases because your registry does not contain driver entries for the current motherboards drive controller. So in effect, the device driver that Windows XP is loading from the registry will not work with the new drive controller.

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Missing Message Header of Outlook Express Messages

The following tutorial will explain how to correct the missing message header when printing Outlook Express 6 messages. When the user tries to print emails from outlook express, the email might print fine, but with the To: From: message header printed as (To:xxx@xxx.com, From:xxx@xxx.com, etc). In other cases, emails might not print the header at all. In both cases, the message content is still printed just fine. Those who have installed internet Explorer 7 on a Windows XP system might experience this problem.

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How to remove SpyDawn

SpyDawn is rogue antispyware. It is typically installed on a computer without the users permission via a Trojan or other malware. SpyDawn is usually inadvertently installed on a PC when the user thinks they are installing audio or video codec. Once installed, SpyDawn claims to be a Spyware Cleaner, but in reality provides the user with fake results of Spyware found on their computer. These results are used to scare the user into purchasing the SpyDawn Software. In the following tutorial, I'll show you how to remove SpyDawn for good.

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How to automatically logon to Windows XP

The following tutorial covers the process of turning on the Auto Logon function in Windows XP, eliminating the need to sign in during system bootup. Automatic logon to Windows XP is accomplished by storing the login information into the system registry. Sever damage can result from improperly modifying registry. Please only proceed with this tutorial if you understand the risks involved and are comfortable with Registry modification. Autologon to Windows XP becomes more convenient. However, keep in mind that using this feature can pose a security risk by allowing any user to start your PC.

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Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close

If your getting the error message: "Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close" while visiting various Websites or Webpages your not alone. There is a good chance that something cached in your temporary internet files may be causing the problem. A deeper concern is that it's possible your Windows computer may be infected with a Virus or Spyware of some sort. Here are some steps I would take to circumvent or attempt to repair this problem.

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My screen goes blank after Windows logo displays

Question: Help! My Windows XP system displays the Windows boot logo and then the screen goes black and nothing else displays. I've tried another monitor thinking that this might be the problem and still have the same results. I have not performed any hardware or software upgrades but did perform a System Restore due to other issues. My PC boots fine into safe mode. How can I fix this problem?

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Lost Windows XP Administrator Password

The other day a buddy of mine had lost access to his Windows XP Administrator Account because he forgot his password. He turned to me for help and as usual I was willing to lend a hand. The following tutorial covers the process of resetting your administrator password on Windows XP or NT Operating Systems. Windows stores its user information, including encrypted versions of the passwords, in a file called sam. This file is commonly found in \winnt\system32\config. This file is also a part of the registry, in a binary format and not easily accessible. We will be using a utility called Offline NT Password and Registry Editor to preform the recovery.

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How to Remove XP Antivirus Protection

XP Antivirus Protection Also Known as: XPAntivirus is fake antivirus software. This program is typically known to infect a computer just after performing an install of specific video codec. The corrupted video codec is usually distributed with a Trojan, Malware and Virus. It is crucial to remove all the components of XP Antivirus and all malware and trojans such as zlob.trojan, trojan.vundo and trojan.downloader that may have been installed along with it. The following tutorial explains how to remove this XP Antivirus Protection.

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How To Change Office 2007 Product Key

Are you looking to change a Microsoft Office 2007 product license key, serial number or CD key? One common method used to change the product key for 2007 Microsoft Office programs or suites is to uninstall or remove Microsoft Office and then reinstall the program. Another approach is to edit your registry, reset and change the product serial key without uninstalling and reinstalling 2007 Office system suites.

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Permanently Remove Obtrusive Software

With rates of broadband Internet connection going down by the hour, today we have computers that are connected to the Internet 24 x 7. Even though this breakthrough may have made our lives easier, it has also given rise to several problems. Being connected to the Internet all the time, opens up your computer to several threats, such as malware infections. For example, malicious spyware programs, such as the Mirar toolbar may install on your computer without your consent and start tracking your computer activity and stealing your personal and confidential data. These programs may also install several other malacious software on your computer that may not only feed on your system’s resources and slow it down, but may also generate several computer errors.

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DLL Error Basics

What are DLL files?

Dynamic Link Library (DLL) files are dynamic code libraries that are used by Windows operating systems, device drivers, and various Windows-based applications to perform specific tasks on the computer. The popularity of DLL files is governed by the fact that it reduces the need to include the same code again and again in different applications. With DLLs, you just need to write the code once as a DLL, and then program your application to call on this DLL file whenever it needs to perform the specific task.

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Windows XP restarts when attempting to shut down

Windows Computer restarts when attempting to shut down. When you shut down your Windows XP computer, does your computer restart instead of shutting down? Or does a Stop error may appear before the computer restarts? These problems are most likely caused by incompatible Roxio Easy CD Creator 5.0 or Direct CD 5.0 software or software drivers installed on your computer. In the following tutorial I'll cover the process of fixing the Windows XP reboot problem.

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How to fix a Stop 0x0000000A error in Windows XP

A Stop 0x0000000A error in Windows XP is an annoying error that can occur during or after the installation of Windows XP and XP professional. In some cases it can occur after installing new hardware, drivers or in the process of upgrading to Windows XP. These stop messages, are text code error messages also known as blue screens of death (BSoD). They almost always contain information that can help you diagnose and resolve the problem.

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How to password protect a shared folder

If your looking to password protect a shared folder on your network, you've probably noticed that Windows XP doesn't have any built in features allowing you to lock access to a folder via a password like previous Windows releases did. This means that anyone using the same workgroup or domain can access the files within your shared folder.

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Error cannot delete file: cannot read from source file or disk

Help, I cant delete a file: If you've ever encountered one of the following Windows XP Error message when trying to delete a file.: Cannot delete file: Cannot read from source file. I can assure you, your not alone. This is a fairly common occurence and NO it doesn't mean you have a virus so you need not worry about that. There is a FREE and very easy to use application available called unlocker that will help you remove or delete the file.

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How to remove a Net or MSN passport account from Windows

How do I remove a .Net account from Windows XP and Windows MSN Messenger? The answer is relatively simple. You can edit or delete your .Net or MSN passport via the user accounts administration panel applet located in your computers control panel. The following How To outlines how to delete an MSN passport from your computer.

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How to clear the Browser Cache

In order to display any changes on a Web page, a user might click the Refresh button on the browser toolbar or press the F5 key on the keyboard. While this sometimes works, refreshing a page simply reloads the page without clearing the browser's cache. Here are some additional techniques used by specific browsers to help clear the browser's cache so you see the changes when a page is reloaded.

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How to create trademark and copyright symbols

How to create trademark and copyright symbols: The following short tutorial explains how to create those neat circled C copyright, circled R registered trademark and TM trademark symbols. These symbols are often considered more visually appealing and generally produce less clutter than standard text.

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Windows Error Codes and what they mean

What do those Windows Error Codes Mean?: Inevitably, every Windows user is bound to encounter at least a few error codes during their experience with the Windows Operating environment. Wouldn't it be helpful to have a little more information as to why these errors occurred and what they mean? Luckily there is a free program available created by Gregory Braun that can do just that.

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How to setup multiple users in Outlook Express

Share Outlook Express with multiple users: The following tutorial explains how to share Outlook Express with other users in your household while password protecting your e-mail via the use of identities. If the people in your household share the same computer and you don't want to use a separate Windows login for every user, this tutorial is for you.

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How to Remove Ads from Windows Live Messenger

How to Remove Advertisements from Windows Live Messenger: Removing Windows Live Messenger Ads: Windows Live Messenger is considered the latest replacement or upgrade for MSN Messenger. It contains some great new features and improvements over the previous MSN Messenger that shipped with Windows XP and is viewed by many as an essential tool.

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Disabling Windows XP Error Reporting

By default, when a Windows XP computer encounters an error, the user is prompted with a pop up asking them if they would like to send the pertaining error information to Microsoft. The following tutorial explains how to eliminate this pop up prompt when your computer encounters an error.

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Run commands for Windows XP

The following is a run command shortcut list for Windows XP. Run commands allow a user to quickly access a variety or Windows XP tools and applications directly via the Start -> Run interface. For quick reference, the application name is on the left and the command you would type in the run window is shown to the right in bold.

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How to Control Windows XP Cookies

Want to take full control of your Windows XP Cookies? The Documents and Settings folder found within Windows XP holds user specific information including all Cookies stored from an internet browsing session. You can take control and tell your computer exactly how to processes and handles these Cookies via the settings found in the Internet Explorer-Internet Options menu.

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Installing and Partitioning a New Hard Drive

Ok, so you have purchased a new hard drive and would like to add it to your Windows XP computer. New drives do not ship pre-formatted, so you'll need to create a new partition(s) and format them. Using the graphical disk management tool in Windows XP, it's simple to create a new partition.

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Disabling Windows XP System Restore feature

There are times when one might want to disable Windows XP System Restore. Maybe you would like to free up some drive space and system resources? Maybe your system contains a virus that cannot be removed because it has migrated into system restore? In any event disabling system restore is an easy task.

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Adjusting Windows XP Prefetcher settings

The Windows XP Prefetcher reduces the amount of time it takes Windows to boot and can speed up the launch of applications. It does this by monitoring which programs initialize when the Operating System is booted, then in the future, fetches them quickly via trace files. Although prefetcher is enabled by default, we can easily improve on its performance by adjusting or tweaking it's value to make Windows boot faster.

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Adjusting Windows XP Menu Show Delay

By default, Windows XP places a delay on menus before they are displayed. Some users feel this menu delay is a bit long and may prefer to reduce or eliminate the delay all together. The good news is that this is easily accomplished via the adjustment of a simple registry setting.

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Reducing the time it takes for Windows to shutdown

In some cases, it might seem like it takes forever for Windows to shutdown. By altering a simple registry setting, you may be able to dramatically decrease the amount of time it takes for Windows XP to shutdown. This tutorial shows you how to adjust your shutdown speed by reducing the time Windows allows before it proceeds to kill running applications.

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Slipstream Windows XP with service pack 2

This article covers the process of Slipstreaming service pack 2 into Windows XP and creating a new Slipstreamed Boot CD to be used for later installs. Slipstreaming eliminates the need to install service pack 2 after Windows installation because the updates are installed from the CD during installation.

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Remove the Recycle Bin Icon from your Desktop

In the following tutorial, I cover how to remove the Recycle Bin Icon from your Windows XP Desktop. One reason you may want to get rid of the Recycle Bin Icon that is sitting on your desktop is that you have bypassed the recycle bin and automatically delete files from your computer. Or maybe you just don't want to have any icons on your desktop. Recycle Bin removal requires that you modify a registry setting. To simplify this process, I have provided a registry file.

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Permanently delete files from your computer

Personally I do not like to use the Recycle Bin feature that is built into Windows XP. I would rather have deleted files automatically removed from my PC when I select the option to delete them. Knowing that I am probably not the only one who feels this way, I have devised the following tutorial. This simple tutorial explains how a user can permanently remove or delete files on their Windows XP computer without moving them to the Recycle Bin.

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Automating Windows XP System Tasks

The Scheduled Task Wizard is a helpful feature built into Windows XP that allows a user to schedule programs and applications to be run automatically. Think of it as a Windows version of an alarm clock for your programs. This feature is particularly useful for launching routine maintenance tasks such as Disk Cleanup and Defrag. The idea is to schedule these tasks to run while the computer is not in use allowing your computer to take care of and maintain itself while your off doing other things.

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