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This little, really little hack lets you convert your legitimate Windows XP Home into Windows XP Professional. Honestly speaking it doesn’t really convert it at all, but it just tricks Windows to think that it is a professional edition. As a matter of fact once you have applied the hack you won’t see many of the most common features available in XP Pro such as: Remote Desktop Server, Group Policy Editor etc. So why apply this hack? Honestly speaking I don’t know, but if you are looking for something original to do, here you are served!

1. Click Start.
2. On the Search Bar type: regedit and press Enter.
3. Find this folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet00X/Control/ProductOptions where ControlSet00X is the one with the highest number.
4. Delete the ProductSuite registry key.
5. Create a new key named Brand of type DWORD and set its value to “0″.
6. Reboot the system
7. After BIOS-screen, press F8 and choose Last Known Good Configuration and press Enter.

Sony Mylo Com-2 has got its first update, at last! This update brings lots of improvements to the little devices taking it to the very next level. As a matter of fact, here is a short list of features which will be added to the one already available in Sony Mylo:

• Support for video recording.
• Menu option for easier photo and video uploading.
• Function to format Memory Stick Duo™ media.
• Support for 16GB Memory Stick Duo™ media.
• Flash playback of YouTube® video.
• A security patch for a SLL vulnerability.
• Support for Windows Media® video (WMV) files.
• Support for the SHOUTcast® widget

If you want to know more or you just want to download the update, click here.

Every now and then, while trying to open a folder containing video files, you might encounter an error like this: “COM Surrogate has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available”. The message, apart from being irritating and preventing you from opening any video files, won’t disappear even after having closed the folder. The cause of this error message is due to the fact that you are using a software to watch videos which has not been updated or it is not compatible with Windows Vista. There are a lot of tricks and hacks to solve this issue, some of them will work for you while other won’t. Find out which one is the right solution to solve the problem.

First Method

1. Click Start.
2. In the Search Box type CMD
3. Right click on the Command Prompt icon.
4. Click Run as Administrator.
5. In the Command Prompt black window type: regsvr32 %windir%/System32/vbscript.dll and hit Enter.
6. The system will return with the following message: DLL Register Server in C:\Windows\System32/vbscript.dll has been successful.
7. Now click Start.
8. Click Computer on the right.
9. Click Folder and Search.
10. Click the View tab.
11. Tick Always show icons never thumbnails.

Source: Mydigitallife.info

Second Method

Another easier solution is to upgrade your programs such as: Nero and Divx. Anyway sometimes even after having updated those software the issue could persist. If that’s your case try this trick:

1. Rename C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\DSFilter\NeVideo.ax to NeVideo.ax.bakup.
2. Rename NeVideoHD.ax to NeVideoHD.bakup

Third Method

The ffdshow codec pack has been known as one of the reasons that causes the COM Surrogate error. In this case just try to update it here: http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/

Fourth Method

Update all of your codecs to the latest version here. As a matter of fact it has been reported that the COM issue just disappears after having installed the above download.

Fifth Method

Just upgrade all of your software used to watch videos.

If you to want export and save all of your Firefox passwords here is a nice free add-on quite easy to use. Its name is Password Exporter and does exactly what it says. As a matter of fact, it exports (or import) all the passwords available in Firefox. You can export by using either XML or CSV format. In this way, next time your computer crashes, you will have all of your passwords with you! If instead you want to use something more complete meaning that you want to save your entire Firefox profile including passwords, cookies, bookmarks then MozBackup is the right add-on. In fact, it lets you backup or restore your profiles in a couple of steps. Reading from the website: “It allows you to backup and restore bookmarks, mail, contacts, history, extensions, cache etc. It’s an easy way to do Firefox backup, Thunderbird backup …” If you want to download it for free or you want to know more, click here.

Microsoft has just released an important update for Windows Vista Sp1 named KB952709. This update is intended to solve a series of issues in order to improve performance, stability and reliability. Here is a detailed list of fixes and improvements available in this update:

• Improves the stability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by addressing some crashes that may occur when you try to check e-mail by using a POP3 e-mail client such as Windows Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird. The crashes may occur on a Windows Vista SP1-based computer in the following scenario:
  • Incoming POP3 and outgoing SMTP traffic monitoring is enabled.
  • Both a third-party antivirus application and an antispyware application are installed, such as the following applications:
    • ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
    • SpySweeper by Webroot Software, Inc.
• Improves the reliability of the Windows Vista SP1 based-computers by addressing some problems that occur when you delete user accounts by using the User Accounts item in Control Panel. When this problem occurs, the system may stop responding (hang).
• Improves the reliability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers that experience issues in which large applications cannot run after the computer is turned on for extended periods of time. For example, when you try to start Excel 2007 after the computer is turned on for extended periods of time, a user may receive an error message that resembles the following:EXCEL.EXE is not a valid Win32 application
• Improves the reliability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by reducing the number of crashes that may be caused by the Apple QuickTime thumbnail preview in Windows Live Photo Gallery.
• Improves the performance of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by reducing audio and video (AV) stuttering. Such AV stuttering may occur when the audio or video component is streaming high definition content from a Windows Vista SP1-based computer that has a NVIDIA network adapter nForce driver version 67.5.4.0 that is installed to a Windows Media Center Extender device.

This update will take Windows SP1 to  version 6001.18063.080425-1930 (from 6001.18000.080118-1840) . If you want to download this update here are the links: 32-bit package and 64-bit package. Of course to download them you will have to overcome the genuine Windows validation. Anyway if you want to skip tthe validation, here are the direct downloads: 32-bit KB952709: Windows6.0-KB952709-x86.msu , 64-bit KB952709: Windows6.0-KB952709-x64.msu Remember, you are entitled to download this update just if you have installed the SP1 on your computer.

A few months ago I posted an article where I spoke about a hack which let you watch YouTube videos with a higher resolution. A few weeks ago YouTube has started offering high resolution videos as default. To take advantage of this new feature it is sufficient to follow this simple trick:

1. Go to your YouTube account (if you don’t have one, you have to create it!).
2. Under Account , click the Video Playback Quality link.
3. Select the radio button I have a fast connection. Always play higher-quality video when it’s available to play video in higher quality by default.
4. Click Save Settings.
5. Next time you watch a YouTube video, you could see a link teasing you to watch it in high quality.
   

If you want to hack the Windows Vista Boot Configuration Data namely you wish to edit the BCD file in Windows Vista, you may want to read this other article of mine. Another solution is to download this excellent freeware software called VistaBootPRO. This free software lets you edit the BDC file in Windows Vista. But why should anyone modify such a file? The reply is quite easy. If you want to install a second operating system in your PC then you need this software for sure! As a matter of fact, by using it and editing the BCD file you will be able to get a dual boot mode. VistaBootPro works in Windows XP (Home, PRO, x64, MCE 2005), 2003 Server, Vista, or Longhorn Server. All systems must have .NET 2.0 Framework (but once you have installed the software you will be prompted to download Framework, so don’t worry). If you want to download it, or if you want to have more info, click here.
If you want to have two operating systems on the same machine here is a quick guide. Note: if you are not self-confident about what to do, or if you are a novice, please don’t try this procedure, since you could delete important files or cause major damages to your computer. Continue reading »

There are a lot of ways to hack YouTube videos nowadays. In fact, you can download a video without using any software or you can even watch videos with a higher resolution than the one offered by YouTube itself. Today I want to speak of another hack which lets you embed high resolution videos in your blog (MP4 -H264 with AAC audio encoded at 480×360). This hack is completely different in comparison to the one offered by following the link above because the famous strings &fmt=6 and &fmt=18 won’t work in this case. In fact you will have to use another string namely &ap=%2526fmt%3D18 at the end of the video clip’s URL. Once done, you will have to put the modified URL into a special code and paste it into your website. But let’s see an example.

Let’s say that you want to embed this high resolution video in your blog:

1. Click on the right bottom icon in the YouTube video, copy and past the code you want to embed in your blog:

<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/DFYfbHLkaRQ”></param><param name=”wmode” value=”transparent”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/DFYfbHLkaRQ” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=”transparent” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>

2. Now add the string &ap=%2526fmt%3D18 as shown here:

<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/DFYfbHLkaRQ&ap=%2526fmt%3D18“>
</param><param name=”wmode” value=”transparent”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/DFYfbHLkaRQ&ap=%2526fmt%3D18” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=”transparent” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>

Hp has recently made official the forthcoming launch of its new thin TouchSmart 2 desktop computer which will be distinguished by its touch screen and, as its name suggests, its thin design which promises you to get rid of all those annoying cables and wires giving you a lot of room on your desktop. But let’s see together its most interesting features:

• 22-inch diagonal, high-definition.
• 500GB hard disk.
• 256MB of NVIDIA GeForce 9300 M HS HD graphics.
• 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo T5850 processor.
• 802.11n WiFi.
• Prices for the base model HP TouchSmart IQ504 PC and the TV-tuner equipped IQ506 PC start at $1,299 and $1499, respectively.
• The launch will be next month in 17 countries next month including the UK, Japan, and the US.

If you want more info, read the press release directly from HP website.

Source: Engadget.com

If you own a trial Windows Vista or a Windows Vista RTM, or if you just downloaded and installed Windows Vista SP1 RTM, after a couple of reboots you will notice the dreaded watermark on the bottom right corner of your screen saying that your Vista is an “evaluation copy”. If you want to get rid of it, here you can find a little hack which lets you say goodbye to the hunting mark. This hack is quite useful above all if you have a laptop used to show your works during a conference of if you just don’t want to let other people know that “your Vista is not really yours but still belong to Microsoft somewhat”.

1. Download this free patched file from one of these two locations, here and here.
2. Go to: C:\Windows\System32\xy-XY and look for user32.dll.mui (this file makes the hated watermark appears on the screen). By the way, xy-XY is the folder which corresponds to your language such as: en-US for English, fr-FR for French etc.
3. Right-click user32.dll.mui and select Properties. Click Advanced button. Go to Owner and click the Edit button. Select Administrator and click Apply. You should now have ownership of the file.
4. Rename user32.dll.mui into user32.dll.mui.bakup so that you will have a backup just in case something goes wrong.
5. Copy the patched user32.dll.mui file (point 1) to the same directory as the original file.
6. Reboot and at this point you should have got rid of the watermark.

Source: keznews.com