Web Talk

If you have a Windows Vista computer but you still wish to stay in touch with Windows Xp because, for example, you have an old  PC with a lot of files, here is a simple procedure to gain access to your XP computer from your brand new Windows Vista  in order to download or see your most precious files. Here is the step-by-step trick:

1. From your XP computer: Download and install this software  Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Responder. If it doesn’t work try this other link.
2. Install the software on your XP machine. When you have finished with the installation, reboot your computer.
3. From your Vista computer: Click Start.
4. Click Network.
5. On the Address bar type your Windows XP IP Address and hit Enter.
6. If you don’t know what  IP your Windows XP machine has got, go to your Windows XP computer and Click Start.
7. Click Run and type CMD.
8. On the Command Prompt, type: ipconfig /all.
9. Your IP address will be displayed as the IP Address.
10. Back on your Windows Vista computer: After typing the IP of your Windows XP machine you should be able to see all the XP folders. To access such folders just doble click on them.
11. Done!

As you know one of the most powerful tool in Windows (all of it versions) is its Task Manager. With it you can observe and check a variety of things such as: computer performance, CPU usage, memory usage, physical memory, kernel memory, number and type of processes which are running on your computer,  number and kind of users connected, network connection, network activity and statistics etc. To activate it, it is just sufficient to press CTRL+ALT+DELETE and choose Task Manager. Anyway, if you are an Administrator you might want to disable it to prevent your users from seeing too many “sensitive” information about your machine and deactivating some important process. Here is the hack to disable the Task Manager:

1. Click Start.
2. Type regedit on the Search Bar and hit Enter.
3. Locate the follwowing key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ System (from current logged user). On local computer for all users locate  this key instead: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ System
4. If the System key doesn’t exist, you can create it by right clicking on Policies, and select New -> Key. After that name the new key System
5. Right click on the System Key and create and new 32-bit DWORD and name it DisableTaskManger.
6. Give the new key the value 1 by double clicking on it.
7. Close the regedit.
8. Without rebooting the computer, now users will not be able to access the Task Manager anymore.
9. To revert the hack, simply delete the DisableTaskManager key.

As you know there are a lot of icons in the Control Panel. But, how many of them do you use while you work or play? Let’s speak frankly, just 3 or 4, right? So, why don’t you get rid of most of them by creating a personalised Control Panel with just the stuff you really need? Here is the trick.

1. Click Start.
2. Click on the Control Panel and switch to Classic View (if you have Vista).
3. Now, wherever you want create a new folder and call it Alternative Control Panel.
4. Open this folder and drag all the icons you use from the real Control Panel into it.
5. Right click on the folder.
6. Select Properties.
7. Select the Customize tab and then click the Change Icon… button.
8. Choose an icon for your Alternative Control Panel and click OK.
9. Click OK again to go to your to your folder.
10. Drag the folder (icon) to your Start Menu button and wait. After a while you should see the Menu itself. Drop the folder wherever you want.
11. Done!

If you are one of those guys who don’t care a lot about the CD burning features in Windows Vista because you use an excellent burning software such as Nero, then you might be interested in disabling it by using a little, simple hack. Here is the short step-by-step procedure:

1. Click Start.
2. Type regedit in the Start Menu Search
3. Find the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer
4. create a new 32-bit DWord and name it NoVistaBurningFeatures
5. Give the new DWord the following value: 1
6. Turn the computer off and on to apply the changes.

If you are one of those guys who like having a bare bone operating system, then you may be interested in this hack letting you disable the system tray, completely. Why have many icons on the bottom right of the screen when instead you can have a very tidy tray with just the time on it? Let’s see how to deactivate it.

1. Click Start.
2. Type regedit on the Start Menu Search and hit Enter.
3. Find the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\Explorer
4. Create a new 32-bit DWord and name it NoTrayItemsDisplay
5. Give the new DWord the following value: 1
6. Turn off the computer and turn it on again to apply the change.
7. To revert it, simply delete the key, turn off and on the computer.

When booting Windows XP, the whole process could suddenly stop for no apparent reasons. At this point, the system could display the following error message: “Explorer.exe unable to locate component. This application has failed to start because Browseui.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.” In the majority of cases after this error, Windows hangs with a black background screen. Other times instead it finishes the process but on the desktop most of the icons won’t show up, including the Start menu and Taskbar. To fix this issue try the following trick, provided by Microsoft:

1. Restart the computer in Safe Mode with Command Prompt by pressing the F8 key when the BIOS information is displayed.
2. Insert the Windows XP CD in the CD drive.
3. In the Command Prompt, switch to the following folder: %Windir%\System32 and press Enter by typing this command: cd C:\Windows\System32 Make sure that C: is the name of the partition where your operative system is located.
4. Type ren browseui.dll browseui.old, and then press Enter. Note: If you receive a message that states that the file was not found, ignore the message and continue to the next step.
5. Type the drive letter of the CD drive followed by a colon, and then press Enter. For example, type D:, and then press Enter if your CD drive letter is D.
6. Type cd i386, and then press Enter.
7. Type expand Browseui.dl_ %Windir%\System32\Browseui.dll, and then press Enter. Note: Make sure that there is a character space between “Browseui.dl_” and “%Windir%.”
8. Restart the computer normally.
9. Now open Windows Explorer and Microsoft Internet Explorer and check if the system gives you the following message: Explorer.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close - Iexplorer.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.
10. If you get one of these two messages, click more information in the error message to verify the mod name. If the mod name is Browseui.dll, you must unregister and then reregister the Browseui.dll file. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
2. At the command prompt, switch to the %Windir%\System32 folder.
3. Type regsvr32 browseui.dll /u, and then press Enter.
4. Type regsvr32 browseui.dll, and then press Enter.
5. Restart the computer.

When I spoke of Dell’s decision to continue to install Windows Xp in its computers and laptops despite Microsoft’s decision to stop selling it in June, I could not imagine what a Microsoft senior VP would have stated  a few weeks later. As a matter of fact Bill Veghte said that Microsoft will continue to provide security patches “and other critical updates” for Windows XP until April, 2014. This decision comes from “the result of our recognition (Microsoft) that people keep their Windows-based PCs for many years”… “It’s true that we will stop selling Windows XP as a retail packaged product and stop licensing it directly to major PC manufacturers [after June 30],” wrote Veghte. “But customers who still need Windows XP will be able to get it”. This stunning statement comes from Microsoft’s acknowledgement that Vista has failed to conquer people’s hearts and that a large part of  Microsoft’s customers will continue to use XP and won’t upgrade to Vista for  years to come, at least till Windows 7 will become available three years from now. That’s why I suggest you that if you are planning to buy a new computer, make sure to get a full downgrade to Windows XP. For Example Dell preinstalls XP Professional as a “downgrade” on certain PCs and laptops. These computers available with the XP option will also include the Windows Vista installation DVD in the box, so users will be able to install Windows Vista if they want, and without buying another license. Windows Vista is a “green” operating system with not many issues to tell you the truth, but with a lot of problems as far as drivers and  software compatibility is concerned.

If your Internet connection is sluggish, if your computer takes hours to connect to the WiFi router, maybe it’s about time to apply this little trick which is said to improve your Internet speed up to 40% more in some cases. The trick is quite easy to apply and it also contains the instructions to revert it, just in case something goes wrong or you don’t like it.

1. Click Start.
2. Click All Programs.
3. Click Accessories.
4. Click Command Prompt.
5. On Command prompt type: cd.. (press Enter). Now do it again: cd.. (press Enter).
6. Now type the following commands (for each command dont forget to press Enter):




netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled

netsh interface tcp set global chimney=disabled

netsh interface tcp set global rss=disabled

7. Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.
8. If you want to revert everything type the following commands:




netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=enabled

netsh interface tcp set global chimney=enabled

netsh interface tcp set global rss=enabled

9. As usual reboot your system for the changes to take effect.