PCTips3000 » Windows XP

Windows Updates – All In One!

Codrut Nistor — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:25:51 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I would rather stop eating for three days instead of having to reinstall Windows on my computer (currently, I use Windows XP and Vista Ultimate, but I spend most of my time using the good old XP, as most people I know do). Why am I saying this? Well, if I leave aside all those programs I am currently using and the restarts needed to install drivers… there’s something even more scary – Windows updates!

If you think Windows updates are not scary, just try to update the .NET Framework manually, and you’ll get the idea… after a few hotfixes! If I think well, I can say that updating the .NET framework in Windows XP is even more frustrating than using Windows Vista with User Account Control turned on, and I am not joking at all when I say it, unfortunately…

Now, considering all the above, wouldn’t be great to have an AIO file with those “must have” Windows updates? As long as it gets the job done, I don’t mind if it has a Chinese interface… but, fortunately, All in One Runtimes only seems to come in German. Trust me – you don’t have to know a single German word to use this updates package successfully – all you need is about 500 MB of free space on your Windows drive (or the temporary drive, if you messed with the Windows settings and set some folder on another partition to be used for storing temporary files) and 7-Zip to unpack the downloadable package you have chosen.

To make the last phrase of the previous paragraph clear as Bora Bora’s water, let me tell you there are two All in One Runtimes packages available, one for Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003 x86, and one for Windows x64, including Windows 7.

The thing that makes All in One Runtimes worth downloading is the .NET Framework and all those countless hotfixes I was telling you about earlier, but there’s even more to this AIO package, since you’ll also get the latest DirectX 9.0c, Adobe Flash Player 10, Shockwave Player 11.5.0.596, Java Runtime Environment 6, Visual C++ Runtimes, an even Microsoft Silverlight 3.0! Installing them is as easy as possible; in fact, you can only unpack the executable package, and then do nothing! Go out and have a beer, then get back to your updated Windows OS – how cool’s that?

Finally, I should thank Raymond for discovering this software treasure. I really enjoy discovering things on my own, but this time I must give credits to the man, so… Thank you very much, Raymond!

Check For Duplicate Files, Right Now!

Codrut Nistor — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:00:00 +0000

As storage space available to most PC users grows, so does the need to check for duplicate files, especially when your 1 TB drive seems to be full, and you only keep a few games and a lot of family photos on it. When I say “a lot of family photos,” you have no idea what that really means, at least in my case, believe me! Sure, this leads us to that point where we need the best tool to help us find duplicates, and if it’s a free one, that’s even better!

Obviously, there isn’t only one freeware program that can check for duplicate files, but I have just one here today, and its name is Duplicate File Finder. Coming from Auslogics, an Australian software company, this program is free and will remain this way, also coming without any adware or limitation. Best part of it, especially for those using some 64-bit Windows OS is Duplicate File Finder’s support for them, including Vista and Windows 7!

Once you download the 1.6 MB setup package and install the program, everything works as natural as having a beer (or two-three-four-and-so-on… I hope you’re not one of those against beer, and if you are, just think about anything else that’s natural to you, like breathing)! These being said, let’s go quickly through a duplicate files check session, shall we?

First, you have to select the drives/folders to check for duplicate files. I suggest that you select all your fixed drives, because it only took a few minutes to scan almost 800 GB of data, in my case.

Next, you should choose the program settings for the scan you’ll soon fire up, and my suggestion is to avoid selecting “Match contents(slower),” and the reason should be obvious.

After pressing the Scan button and seeing the results, you can select the duplicates you want to delete and press the Delete button. Ta-taaa! That’s all!

I don’t know what else there can be said about Duplicate File Finder, since this program is extremely straightforward, as you can see in the short walkthrough above. Since even my mother could easily use it, and it comes free from any charge, I think this piece of code will remain installed on my computer for a long time since now… and this is exactly what I suggest to those of you who have same duplicate files problem as I do.

Open Unknown File Types!

Codrut Nistor — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:04:15 +0000

“I have a strange icon on my desktop. How do I open the file I just downloaded?” I am sure you heard something similar to this at least a few times, or maybe you asked yourselves about opening some file with a strange extension. Of course, you can easily use Google to search for details about the tools needed to open .ISO or .7Z files, for example, but why not have a program do that for you, and then some?

Most power users will laugh at this, but no matter how trivial may seem to be, using the OpenWith.org desktop tool can help you save a lot of your precious time, and since this is the most important asset one has, right after health and freedom… I didn’t pick this subject just to post another article here! When you need to open unknown file types, everything gets much easier if the research part is already done, there’s no need to argue about that.

After downloading the small setup package of this Windows tool, be sure to pay attention during the installation process, because you’ll also install some registry cleaning tool called PC Mighty Max if you’re just clicking Next without thinking about it too much! Sure, if you want to give it a try, there’s nothing bad in installing it, but I don’t like installers with such things checked by default, that’s all.

Fully compatible with Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP and Vista, the OpenWith.org desktop tool nicely integrates with Windows Explorer, so all you have to do after installing it is to right click the strange files and then choose the brand new option in the contextual menu, namely OpenWith.org – How do I open this?, of course.

The window that pops up, pictured a bit earlier, allows you to get more info about the file you want to open, taking you to the OpenWith.org page about it, but it doesn’t stop here, since you can easily choose which program to use to open the file, or install one of those available online and available in the list.

All this can prove to be pretty useful when multiple programs are associated with a certain file type, and it’s really priceless when you are facing a file type that’s a complete alien to your operating system and the programs already installed…

Other than the above, there’s not much to say about OpenWith.org and the desktop tool provided by it, since I am sure you got the idea already – if we push aside the little problem encountered during the setup procedure, this is another freeware treasure most Windows users who have to open unknown file types shouldn’t miss!

Disable Keys The Smart Way

Codrut Nistor — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:13:05 +0000

Sometimes, a program coming from some guy writing little tools can be more valuable than a shiny piece of code from a notorious company, and as long as this guy isn’t adding some evil code to its creations (spyware and stuff like that, obviously), his programs deserve to become well known to the world. Today, the guy is Günay Say aka Dead’Soul, the programmer behind MysterCrowley.com, and its creation we’re going to talk about is a program that can make some people’s lives a whole lot easier…

… because I am sure you found yourselves with Caps Lock, Scroll Lock or Num Lock on or off at least once, when they should have been in a completely different state. For example, think about having some business talk via YM, and after taking a short break to work on some Excel sheet, you get back to your discussion and type an entire phrase using capital letters. That surely doesn’t look like a trustworthy partner, someone who’s yelling online, right?

Anyway, I am sure we can find a lot of examples about those times when your lockable keys were exactly in the wrong status, and I think this would also be a great subject for you to talk about, so please go ahead and tell us about funny (or not so funny) happenings involving Caps Lock, Scroll Lock or Num Lock, will you?

OK, back to disabling keys now… NumLocker is the name of the program, and the current version is 1.0. I don’t think any update is needed, because this little freebie offers exactly what you need – a quick way to disable/enable those three keys I mentioned earlier and make them remain set the way you want!

After you install the program, you’ll have to load it and right click its systray icon. Once you do that, everything should be pretty straightforward – for each key, you can choose one of the following options: On, Off, Always On, and Always Off. Other than that, you can also choose to load NumLocker with Windows, so you won’t have to bother about setting the program ever again!

Apart from being free to download and use, there’s also worth mentioning the fact that NumLocker works with both XP and Vista, and installing/removing it is as easy as 1-2-3. That’s it, folks, I really hope you’ll enjoy today’s tip and find this proggie to be a worthy addition to your software arsenal…

What Is svchost.exe?

Codrut Nistor — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:28:43 +0000

Since Windows XP came along, one new system process arrived, changing everything in its way. Unfortunately, we’re not only talking about positive changes here, since svchost.exe was used by viruses as a disguise for too many times. Of course there are also positive aspects of this problem, and we’ll get to see them below. I know this may not look like a useful PC tip, but understanding the basics of svchost will help you understand most svchost.exe errors (at least some of the reasons behind them), as well as how and why viruses seem to like this tiny program so much.

According to the official svchost page on Microsoft.com, “Svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries (DLLs).” Now, the things you should always remember about svchost.exe…

- The file is located in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder, while viruses that don’t replace the original usually use the Windows root folder or some other system folder, like %SystemRoot%\system, and sometimes right in the %SystemRoot%\ folder.

- If you notice that svchost.exe is taking up too much processor time, you can try to find the service responsible for it and kill the process; anyway, it would also come handy to search for more info on Google, first of all!

- While using (ex-)Sysinternals Process Explorer is a very good way to find your path around svchost.exe in Windows XP, Vista’s improved Task Manager gives you a lot of power, so be sure to check “Show processes from all users,” and then right click one svchost instance, followed by a left click on Go To Service(s).

- There will always be more instances of svchost.exe running, so don’t worry; the number depends on the services running on your computer.

I guess there could be said a lot more about svchost.exe, but this isn’t a detailed svchost guide. What I wanted to do is just scratch the surface and help you open your eyes. If you have any questions about svchost.exe, don’t hesitate to drop your comments below and ask them, because it would be a real pleasure to help you find your answers!

Speed Up Windows Explorer’s Network Browsing

Codrut Nistor — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:21:50 +0000

Each time I am asked about ways of speeding up Windows Explorer, I feel like beating up someone. Not necessarily the one asking, of course, because sometimes people simply don’t know some things, so I can’t blame them for not knowing about the plethora of excellent file managers that will make your life a thousand times easier than a Windows Explorer tweaked to the bone. Anyway, some tweaks can improve Windows Explorer AND any file manager you can think of, and today I’m going to show you exactly such a tweak…

… and the best part of it is that, at least for some of you, this will be a two-in-a-shot tweak! How’s this possible? Well, I’ll show you how to remove two cannonballs tied to your computer’s feet, these being about finding scheduled tasks and installed printers on a remote Windows 95/98/Me computer. Not exactly something you find all around, don’t you think?

First of all, be sure that you won’t need to connect to a Windows 95/98/Me computer and find the scheduled tasks and printers installed on it. Anyway, if you still find some computer running those operating systems, let me know! I really have a weakness for completely outdated hardware and software…

Deleting the two registry keys I’ll mention here should speed up browsing any remote computer, including Windows XP ones. Since I don’t have a network to play with at home, I can’t tell you anything about the improvement, but I am sure you will drop a comment below to enlighten us, right?

1. Open the Registry Editor (Start>Run, type regedit, press Enter)
2. Move to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace
3. In the left pane, look for {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} and {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}; deleting the first one disables scheduled task checking, while removing the second one will disable printer checking. Just be sure to backup them before anything else, just in case…
4. Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer to allow the changes to take effect.

One last thing – if any of the keys is missing, don’t worry! Delete the one available, and that’s it. For example, the first one wasn’t available on my computer, and I think I even know why – I used some tweaking tool some time ago, and probably I disabled everything related to the Windows Tasks Scheduler.

That’s it, folks! Please don’t forget to drop your comments below, all right? Some results of network browsing performance tests would really be nice, so thanks in advance!

How To Disable The Windows XP Desktop Icons And Why

Codrut Nistor — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:33:33 +0000

When my friends are asking for my help, they usually want me to do things the way the want. That would be nice, but they would end up asking for my help again in a few weeks, and I don’t want that. I usually enjoy spending some quality time with them, instead of reinstalling Windows XP, and telling them what they shouldn’t do.

If you ever had to setup more than one computer, you probably know already that the inexperienced Windows user never listens to others’ advice, and today we’ll attack a little part of this very large problem…

… and this problem is a very simple one: how to keep things in order. What I always say to the ones asking me about it is that Windows (XP or Vista, it doesn’t matter) without any kind of file manager is like a car without wheels. No, I don’t think Windows Explorer can be called “file manager,” despite the fact that’s what it should do!

Anyway, I am sure you’ve seen a lot of computers with at least a few dozen icons laying on the desktop, and the owners of those computers complaining about the poor performance of the computer, the weather, the crisis, and so on. While I can’t do anything to solve the other problems, here’s what I do to keep things in order and get the best out of my computer – I disable the desktop icons!

If I recall it well, there’s a chance to do that by manually editing the Windows registry, but why bother when I have a script for you that can help you do that? Just download this arhive, unpack the file inside it, double click that file, and choose to continue when asked. Don’t worry, because if you don’t like your new clean desktop, you can easily run it again, and enable desktop icons once again.

I’ve been doing this for years, and I must confess it’s one of the most well hidden Windows secrets, especially because most Windows XP books and guides don’t mention it, for some dark reason.

All that you need to remember is that, if you fight your own old habits and learn how to use Windows XP with a file manager and no desktop icons, you will come back here one day and thank me, because time is the most valuable asset we have, and instead of waiting for Windows XP to refresh its icons cache and reload all those 5436 icons lying on your desktop, you could be enjoying some quality time with the ones you love… or earn some more money!

One last thing – since Windows Vista is more flexible, you can easily remove all icons from its desktop, so there’s no need for this trick on the computers running it. On the other hand, I don’t think it works in Vista. Anyway, Windows XP still has some years ahead, and I still believe it’s the best Windows OS for the average Joe, as well as power users who want to get the job done, and not enjoy some 3D flipping windows and shiny, rounded corners…