Web Talk

How to connect to a Windows XP computer from a Windows Vista computer

Web Talk — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:48:18 +0000

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:

From your XP computer: Download and install this software Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Responder. If it doesn’t work try this other link.
Install the software on your XP machine. When you have finished with the installation, reboot your computer.
From your Vista computer: Click Start.
Click Network.
On the Address bar type your Windows XP IP Address and hit Enter.
If you don’t know what IP your Windows XP machine has got, go to your Windows XP computer and Click Start.
Click Run and type CMD.
On the Command Prompt, type: ipconfig /all.
Your IP address will be displayed as the IP Address.
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.
Done!

How to disable Task Manager in Vista, XP and Windows Server 2003-2008

Web Talk — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:14:23 +0000

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:

Click Start.
Type regedit on the Search Bar and hit Enter.
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
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
Right click on the System Key and create and new 32-bit DWORD and name it DisableTaskManger.
Give the new key the value 1 by double clicking on it.
Close the regedit.
Without rebooting the computer, now users will not be able to access the Task Manager anymore.
To revert the hack, simply delete the DisableTaskManager key.

How to create a custom Control Panel in Windows Vista and XP

Web Talk — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:19:21 +0000

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.

Click Start.
Click on the Control Panel and switch to Classic View (if you have Vista).
Now, wherever you want create a new folder and call it Alternative Control Panel.
Open this folder and drag all the icons you use from the real Control Panel into it.
Right click on the folder.
Select Properties.
Select the Customize tab and then click the Change Icon… button.
Choose an icon for your Alternative Control Panel and click OK.
Click OK again to go to your to your folder.
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.
Done!

N810/N800 OS 2008 get updated

Web Talk — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:48:13 +0000

If you own one of the gorgeous N800 or N810 internet tablet well, it is about to reflash! As a matter of fact the guys at Maemo have just released the new update for the little Nokia device’s operating system namely OS 2008 (Maemo 4.1). This second update (read more about the first update here) is rich of features, but before speaking about them I want to point out the fact that future releases will be available over-the-air. This means that you won’t have to reflash the tablet anymore and lose all of your data! That’s a big piece of news indeed! “Further OS updates will be made available over-the-air, without needing to reflash. Now users will get automatic notifications in the home screen about the availability of OS updates or single applications, including those installed from third parties. This works only over WLAN connections. It is still possible to check for updates manually from the Application manager.” The most important additions to the operating system this update provides are an open source email application based on Modest and the tinymail framework, simplified account setup and the introduction of Chinese character rendering support in email, browser and RSS feeds. If you want to know more about the innovations introduced by this update, click here and here if you want to download it, click here.

PS3 (Playstation 3) new firmware update version 2.4

Web Talk — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:55:27 +0000

After the recent PSP update, Sony has just taken the new PS3 firmware to version 2.4 thanks to a brand new update. Gamers can download it through PlayStation Network directly or the system software updates from the Official PlayStation website.

Here is a comprehensive list of improvements and new features available in the new PS3 system software v2.4:

Settings Changes

You can now set the PlayStation 3 system to turn off automatically after updating the system software.
[Reassign Controllers] and [Controller Vibration Function] have been added as options under [Accessory Settings].

Game changes

You can now access the (XrossMediaBar) screen while playing PlayStation 3 format software.
- Only some of the XMB functions can be used during gameplay.
- If you press the PS button for more than two seconds, the screen showing options to quit the game, turn off the system and other settings will be displayed.
- The XMB screen is not displayed when you are playing PlayStation 2 or PlayStation format software.
- The XMB screen cannot be displayed when you are playing certain PlayStation 3 format software titles.
The procedure for quitting PlayStation 3 format software has been changed.
You can now collect trophies in games that support the trophy feature.

System changes

A new “view mode” has been added to the Playstation Store
[Search] has been added as an option in the browse mode menu of the Internet Browser.
The [Information] screen has been redesigned and renamed as [Profile].
You can now perform an Internet search directly from the XMB screen.
You can now see the system clock on the XMB screen. The date and time that were set under [Settings] > [Date and Time] are displayed.
When using a keyboard, you can now clear the entire text entry field at once.
An icon is now displayed when you press the PS button for an operation that cannot be performed.
You can now turn off the PlayStation 3 system from the XMB screen using the [Turn Off System] option.
The number of Friends who can be added to a Friends list has been increased from 50 to 100.

Media Changes

You can now sort items that are grouped in a folder by month or year using the [Film Date] option.
You can now print images from a playlist that was created under (Photo).
You can now use a mini-size control panel while playing music.
You can now play music content encoded in MP3 Surround format.
- MP3 Surround can only be played in Linear PCM output.
You can now use the [Frame Noise Reduction] and [Block Noise Reduction] settings for video content that is saved on the hard disk or storage media.
You can now play upscaled video content that is saved on the hard disk or storage media. When the video content is played, it is upscaled automatically to fit the screen size.
Upscaling of Blu-ray Disc (BDAV) video content is now supported
For DTS playback on DVD-Video and Blu-ray Disc media, DTS-ES and DTS 96/24 for DVD-Video and DTS-ES Matrix for Blu-ray Discs are now supported.

If you want to download the new Playstation 3 update version 2.4 visit the official Playstation update page here.

Disable Windows Vista’s Built-inCD/DVD burning features

Web Talk — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:50:27 +0000

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:

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

Disable the system tray on Windows Vista in Windows XP

Web Talk — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:39:35 +0000

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.

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

Fix “Browseui.dll was not found” issue in Windows XP

Web Talk — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:22:48 +0000

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:

Restart the computer in Safe Mode with Command Prompt by pressing the F8 key when the BIOS information is displayed.
Insert the Windows XP CD in the CD drive.
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.
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.
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.
Type cd i386, and then press Enter.
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%.”
Restart the computer normally.
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.
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:

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

Encode your email address with Enkoder

Web Talk — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:59:24 +0000

If you are a webmaster you know only too well how dangerous to put your email address on your website is. In fact, if you don’t use any protection to trick spam bots, in a matter of a few hours or even less, your inbox could be pestered with hundreds of emails having the most different and dreadful topics. So, what solution do we have to prevent all this? A nice trick is to create an image of your email address so that malevolent bots won’t be able to read it. Another solution is to protect your email by converting it into an encrypted JavaScript code in order to hide it from spam bots, but at the same time make it fully readable to human beings. The Enkoder Form does exactly this: hide your email address to email harvester aka spam. Once you have typed your email address in its form you will get a code which you will have to copy-and-past directly on your website without other worries such as: understand how it works, modify it etc. It doesn’t matter how tricky the code is, just put it wherever you want and you are done. Guaranteed!

Microsoft will continue to support Windows XP till 2014

Web Talk — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:01:05 +0000

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.

Guide visitors to your best content with Feedjit.com

Web Talk — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:24:08 +0000

As you know I am always looking for nice widgets to add to my website which don’t require a lot of work to set them up. Yes I know, I am a bit lazy, but that’s the way I like things. Some days ago I started looking for a widget which could tell my visitors the best articles for the current day. After browsing for a while I found an excellent website offering freeware widgets easy to install. The website is called feedjit.com and with a simple copy-and-past procedure lets you add your website a full set of interesting infos. Here is a list of its widgets:

Life Traffic Feed: this widget shows how many people are visiting your website, where they come from (thanks to a nice flag of the visitor’s country), which website they arrived from, if any, which page they visited on your website and which external link they clicked to leave your site, if any.
Live Traffic Map: this widget reminds me of another good one which can be seen on this article of mine. It shows you the last 100 people who visited your website on a small map. If you move your mouse’s pointer on any red point on the map, you will be able to see where your visitors come from (country and city).
Live Raccomending Reading: this widget suggests other pages on your website your readers may be interested in.
Live Page Popularity: this widget shows you the most popular pages (usually the first 10 pages of the current day) on your website by analysing your recent traffic.

All widgets are fully customisable. In fact you can decide: text color, background color, border color, heading color and widget’s width.

I strongly recommend this website to those people who want and need simple but effective stat widgets but, at the same time, don’t want to spend too much time to tweak them or understand how they work. In fact with Feedjit.com, all you need to do is to copy a code and past it in your website or blog.

How to speed Vista Internet connection

Web Talk — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:02:26 +0000

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.

Click Start.
Click All Programs.
Click Accessories.
Click Command Prompt.
On Command prompt type: cd.. (press Enter). Now do it again: cd.. (press Enter).
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

Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.
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

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