Improve your internet browsing speed with this simple Windows trick

If you’ve ever felt that your internet connection is slow even though you have a high-speed internet connection? Even if you think you are browsing the internet on high speed you might want to read this article on how to make a simple change to Windows to get a faster and safer internet browsing experience and make this little change to your Windows machine to get amazing speeds when you browse.

I’ve tried this trick and I could really feel the difference. Give it a try and let us know in comments.

How to make a simple change to Windows to get a faster and safer internet browsing experience

Technorati Tags: DNS,Windows,Windows Vista Theme,How To

Clean up dead links on your Internet Explorer or Firefox Bookmarks

Have a long list of bookmarks on your browser and don’t know how to simply cleanup those bookmarks that are not working anymore? Follow this detailed article at DemoGeek.com to learn more on how to simply cleanup dead links on your Internet Explorer or Firefox Bookmarks. This is a definite must read which will come-in handy when you are struggling with your long list of bookmarks.

Read more on how to simply cleanup dead links on your Internet Explorer or Firefox Bookmarks.

Technorati Tags: Internet Explorer,Firefox,Bookmarks Cleaner,Bookmarks,How To,Tips

Enhance your Internet Explorer 7 browsing experience with IE7Pro add-on

DemoGeek.com has another great article on how to enhance your Internet Explorer browsing experience with IE7Pro add-on. IE7Pro is an add-on that you can download and install and it brings an experience that Firefox users enjoy with their extendable browser. Even if not as expandable and as feature rich as Firefox’s extensions are, IE7Pro does bring in some enhancements to the browsing experience with IE7.

Another well-explained article from DemoGeek.com that you should read.

Install multiple versions of Internet Explorer on Windows XP

How do I install multiple versions of Internet Explorer on my Windows XP machine? Look no further than this detailed article on DemoGeek.com on how to install multiple versions of Internet Explorer on Windows XP machine.

Technorati Tags: Internet Explorer,IE,Windows XP,How To,tips and Tricks

Install and use custom themes in Windows Vista – the easy way

If you ever wanted to change the look and feel of Windows Vista you know that it’s not possible to customize Windows Vista’s themes unless you patch Windows Vista to enable custom themes.

DemoGeek.com has an in-depth article on how to patch Windows Vista to allow custom themes. It’s very detailed and has screenshots to explain the steps better.

How to restore Windows Registry

DemoGeek.com has a nice article on how to restore Windows Registry from an earlier backup. Earlier on DemoGeek.com there was an article on how to backup the Windows Registry now they have put out an article on how to restore the backed up registry.

Check out the detailed article on how to restore Windows Registry at DemoGeek.com.

How To Backup Windows Registry

DemoGeek.com has a new article on how to backup the more important Windows Registry. Backing up Windows Registry becomes more important if you install more applications, freewares etc…and also would come in handy if you manually edit entries on Windows Registry.

Check out the detailed article on how to backup Windows Registry at DemoGeek.com.

How to hide icons in Windows System Tray

DemoGeek.com has a great article on how to hide icons on the Windows System Tray. There are detailed explanation of screenshots along with a more detailed explanation with screencasts.

Check out how to hide icons on the Windows System Tray.

Technorati Tags: Windows,DemoGeek,Useful Websites,Computer Websites

How to disable error reporting in Windows XP?

DemoGeek.com has a great article on how to disable the awful error reporting dialog in Windows XP. There are detailed explanation of screenshots along with a more detailed explanation with screencasts.

Check out how to disable error reporting on Windows XP.

Technorati Tags: Windows,How To,DemoGeek,Useful Websites

ExplorerXP – Windows Explorer Alternative

Hate Windows Explorer? Count me on that list too. There were off a lot of features missing in the standard Windows Explorer. I’ve tried quite a few alternatives like Explorer2, Frigate File Manager etc. But nothing made me comfortable until I found this…ExplorerXP. This is a nice little tool that has pretty much of what you miss in the standard Windows Explorer. On top of that it is FREE.

Try it from here.

tags: Tools, Free, Free Software, Free Stuff, Windows Explorer, Explorer XP, Windows Explorer Alternative

Microsoft: Don’t use pirated softwares, if you do, use our’s

Microsoft has finally decided to deal with the devil on it’s own turf. They are now suggesting that you don’t use pirated softwares of theirs but if you do use pirated softwares they want you to use Microsoft’s softwares. The motivation behind this scheme is that even if your current version of the software is pirated you may be tempted to buy a future version of the software when it comes out. Even though it is just a “IF SO” kind of thing they just don’t want to miss out on that customer base.

Source

tags: Microsoft, Piracy, Pirated Softwares

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 is available for free download

If you are into virtualization then you should give a good hard look into the Microsoft’s latest in the virtualization arena, Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. Microsoft just released Virtual PC 2007 and is available as a free download. Of course, you’d need a machine with some spare memory and hard disk space to handle the extra load of the virtual PC.

Here is what you need to install Virtual PC 2007 on these platforms,

Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition

64 MB – Memory

500 MB – Hard Disk Space

Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me)

96 MB

2 GB

Windows 2000 Professional

96 MB

2 GB

Windows XP Home Edition

128 MB

2 GB  

Windows XP Professional

128 MB

2 GB

Windows Vista Enterprise

512 MB

15 GB

Windows Vista Business

512 MB

15 GB

Windows Vista Ultimate

512 MB

15 GB

OS/2 Warp Version 4 Fix Pack 15, OS/2 Warp
Convenience Pack 1, OS/2 Warp Convenience Pack 2

64 MB

500 MB

Download it from here.

Technorati tags: Virtual PC, Virtual PC 2007, Virtualization, Microsoft, Free, Free Download

Microsoft to support Windows XP till ~ 2014

With Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows Vista in the horizon of getting to the user’s hand near soon it is obvious that we tend to think what will happen to it’s second best (claims to be) operating system Windows XP.

Well, Microsoft announced before that they will end any mainstream support of Windows XP by April 2009. Now they have announced that they will provide an extended support program which will add an additional 5 more years of support and that translates to ~ April 2014. And they say they will provide the support for the Home and Media Center editions of Windows XP.

Source: PC Pro

Technorati tags: Windows XP, Windows XP Home, Windows XP Media Center, Windows XP Support Terms

Workrave – Prevent Repetitive Strain Injury

We all know that we spend so much time in front of the PC that it would be for good to have some breaks in between. Being into an interesting piece of work we tend to forget the goodness of taking a little break.

Workrave is a nice little utility that’s dedicated for this and only for this purpose, that  keeps annoying you for a break.

Here is what Workrave has to say about this utility,

Workrave is a program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). The program frequently alerts you to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and restricts you to your daily limit.

Download it from here.

Technorati tags: Utility, Tools, Repetitive Strain Injury

FileMenu – Handy Right Click Menu Customizer

Here is a nice little utility that comes in handy given the limitations of the default Windows menu choices, particularly the right click menu. LopeSoft’s FileMenu utility let’s you customize the choice of menus that you want to appear on the right click menu and also it allows you to add new shortcuts to the menu. It’s a great little utility and it works like a snap.

Give it a try. I’m sure it will be handy and you’ll like it.

Technorati tags: Tools, FileMenu, Utility, System Tool, Windows Menu Tool

Google releases Google Toolbar 3 Beta

Google announced on Tuesday the availability of it’s new Google Toolbar 3 Beta version. The new beta version is packed with handy features that makes downloading Google Toolbar 3 Beta a smart thing to do. Here are the new features at a glance.

• Custom buttons
• Send To
• Google Docs & Spreadsheets
• Bookmarks
• Google Account Sign-in
• Enhanced Search Box
• Google Safe Browsing
• AutoFill
• WordTranslator
• Subscribe to Feed
• Send with Gmail
• Custom Layouts
• AutoLink
• SpellCheck
• PageRank Display
• Highlight Search Terms
• Word Find Buttons
• Auto Update

Here is the full list of the new features.

for Firefox 1.5+ versions.

For Internet Explorer 6.0+ versions please use this link to download the toolbar.

Technorati tags: Google, Google Toolbar 3, Google Toolbar 3 Beta

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 has officially been released

Microsoft just officially released the .NET Framework 3.0 version.

You can download the .NET Framework 3.0 components here:

• .NET Framework 3.0 Runtime Components
• Windows SDK for Vista and the .NET Framework 3.0
• Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (Windows Workflow Foundation)
• Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP

Note, if you are using Windows Vista the .NET Framework 3.0 Runtime Components are installed by default. For all other operating systems you have to install it manually by clicking on the appropriate links above.

The Readme for the released version of the .NET Framework 3.0 is available here.  If you have a previous .NET Framework 3.0 CTP installed, please be sure to review the uninstall instructions.   If you have questions about installing the .NET Framework 3.0, please post your questions to the .NET Framework Setup Forum.

Technorati tags: Microsoft, .NET, .NET Framework, .NET Framework 3.0

del.icio.us tags: Microsoft, .NET, .NET Framework, .NET Framework 3.0

I like this Royale Noir theme for Windows XP

Here is the theme that I use in my laptop lately. It’s called Royale Noir and is based on the Windows Media Center Royale theme, enhanced. I’ve heard that it was developed at the time when Royale (the blue) was developed. But someone at Microsoft thought this is too powerful for them to release it to the public and have since then abandoned/archived it.

I was using the Royale (the blue) theme all these days. It definitely is an improvement over the default XP Luna theme. I keep my Task Bar in the side (to utilize my widescreen laptop real estate) and Royale seems to be too con-complacent with that. With this new Royale Noir theme, it nicely docks the Task Bar to the side and makes it look better than before.

I particularly like the cool dark color rather the bright blue. Also keep in mind that the world is moving to the black Vista in the near future. You know that. So, this is my baby step to get used to the life the way it is.

Since this skin was never released officially there are a few issues with it: the selected items background color doesn’t seem to match the overall theme and the inactive titlebars are too blackish.

But the good news is that it’s been signed by Microsoft and doesn’t require a custom UxTheme.dll patch in case there are any doubts to its authenticity.

If you already have Royale installed, you’ll need to remove it as both of these skins share the same name. But in my case it wasn’t a problem as I’ve named my Windows/Resources/Themes folder to have a Royale Noir subfolder and that tends to play nice with the Blue Royale theme.

Last, but not least, this skin has not been released to anyone outside Microsoft, until now.

Download Royale Noir Theme from here.

Technorati tags: Windows XP, Windows XP Theme, Royale Theme, New Royale Noir theme

del.icio.us tags: Windows XP, Windows XP Theme, Royale Theme, New Royale Noir theme

Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP is officially released

Microsoft recently released it’s flagship media player, Windows Media Player 11, for Windows XP. I’ve been using the beta version of Window Media Player 11 for a while now and it seems to be pretty well built. I particularly like the new user interface that it comes with. It’s kind of Vista’ish but that looks something different than the blue Windows XP world.

I like the concept that there is no Stop button rather it just has the Pause and Play buttons, which is one less confusion to the user. Also, it has support for URGE, the Microsoft version of iTunes Store and it seems like they both (Windows Media Player 11 and URGE) play well together.

The drawback that I could see is that there is no support for podcasters and that’s a pretty big miss. But if you don’t really care about podcasting then you wouldn’t be disappointed with this new Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP.

Download the Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP from here.

PS: As a Microsoft standard these days for downloading any softwares this download also requires a “Windows Genuine Advantage” check.

Technorati tags: Microsoft, MSFT, Windows, Windows Media, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Player 11, URGE, Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP

del.icio.us tags: Microsoft, MSFT, Windows, Windows Media, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Player 11, URGE, Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP

Internet Explorer 7 Is Available For Public Download – A Hack To Avoiding The Automatic Upgrade

Microsoft just managed to release the full version of Internet Explorer 7 just on time and is ready for public download. You can get the latest Internet Explorer bits in 2 ways.

• One is to go download and install it by yourself.
• And the other is to do a Windows Update.

If you don’t install it by yourself then by the time the next Windows Update happens (if you have it configured to update automatically) you’ll get the new Internet Explorer.

I agree that it looks like its been forced upon you. I can see that. But, don’t worry, there is a hack available to stop the automatic Windows Update from upgrading your Internet Explorer.

Here is how,

• Copy this command (except the quotes) to a .BAT or .CMD file “REG ADD “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Setup\7.0″ /v DoNotAllowIE70 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f“
• Run the file, by calling it in the command prompt or by double-clicking it.

Note: When you are ready to allow Windows Update to upgrade your browser then change the above switch from 1 to 0 for the REG_DWORD. Here is the script for allowing automatic update to do its job. “REG ADD “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Setup\7.0″ /v DoNotAllowIE70 /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f“

Okay, so by now you must have gotten the latest Internet Explorer 7 bits and must have (mostly) installed it already. Then, what’s next? Wait there is more on the line. You can extend your Internet Explorer experience by installing some of these add-ons (that’s a new thing to IE of what Extensions are for Firefox).

There are a bunch of add-ons available, like for example,

• Pop-Up Blockers
• Parental Controls
• Download Managers
• Developer Tools
• Offline Browsers
• Music and Audio Players
• Video Players etc.

Keep in mind that there are a whole bunch of add-ons available under each category and so please pay attention before choosing one. But some of the add-ons are really useful and I hope that the add-on community will unleash more as now IE7 is available for the mainstream public.

Hope there won’t be an SP1 right away!!!

Until then, enjoy your new Internet Explorer 7.

Technorati tags: Internet Explorer 7, IE7, Browser, Windows Auotmatic Update, Stop Upgrading To IE7 Automatically, IE7 Add-Ons

Windows Vista RC2 is available for public download (Download link provided)

Microsoft has just released the Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 (RC2) version for public download. Initially it was suspected that Microsoft will release this only to their beta testers, MSDN and Technet subscribers and to the Customer Preview Program (CPP) members. But then, things must have changed that made them to make this version available to the public, but only for a limited time.

Anyways, as always, go grab ‘em before its gone. Microsoft has explicitly said this time that it will be available only “for a limited time” and “may not have the same level of support” as RC1 (whatever that means). So you you should go grab ‘em as soon as you can if you wanted to get the feel the new Vista version and to realize the 1400+ bugs it still has.

Here is what you should have to do to get RC2.

• Navigate to this link.
• Select the version of Vista you want to run, either 32-bit or 64 bit, your choice.
• This will launch a new window where it tries to use the Akamai Download Manager (which comes in handy) to download this massive 2.49 GB file.
• Accept the security dialog boxes so that the system can allow the Akamai Download Manager ActiveX control to work.  

Now, you might need tons of patience for this monster to get downloaded. Once downloaded you have to burn the ISO image to a DVD before installing it on to your (test/spare) machine.

There is no explicit product key provided for this RC2 as the expectation was to use the product key from RC1. I haven’t tried this though but it looks like that’s what the plan is. 

How do you get the product key for RC1? Read my previous post on how to get the product key for Windows Vista RC1.

Enjoy Windows Vista (without any cost).

Latest Update: It seems like the build 5744 (which was later renamed as RC2) had some issues that Microsoft pulled it off from the public download space and have said that it will be made available for public download again once they fix the issue. So hang-in there. It will be back with may be fewer than 1400+ bugs. Keep watching this blog and I’ll update it as soon as RC2 is made available again.

Technorati tags: Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows Vista Release Candidate 2, Windows Vista RC2, Windows Vista Release Candidate 1, Windows Vista RC1, Windows Vista For Free, Windows Vista Download Link

Transform your Windows XP to Windows Vista Look

The above are some screenshots of my desktop and my Windows Explorer. Do you think I’m running Windows Vista Beta or RC1? Guess what? You were wrong.

I run Windows XP Media Center Edition on my home desktop and the new look and feel of Windows Vista was the wonder works of this “Windows Vista Transformation Pack“. It’s a comprehensive transformation package that even transforms the startup screen and all the icons and sounds and almost everything that was Windows XP’ish. I’ve been running this for a while now and it seems to be perform pretty decent.

If you get the paid WindowBlinds program then you can even get the Vista glass effect. But without that it even looks good and very much functional. Awesome work by WindowsX.

Get the latest Vista Transformation Pack from here.

Download takes a while as the file is bigger in size. But once downloaded the installer guides you thru the process pretty much and the one thing you should be careful about is to cancel out the Windows warning dialog for some system files replacement. Don’t worry it won’t sabotage your system. I’ve done that thrice and it’s okay to do it.

May be setting a restore point before you do this might not be a bad idea. So, how do you set the manual system restore point? Simple. Just navigate thru Start >> Programs >> Accessories >> System Tools and launch ”System Restore” tool. Click “Create a restore point” option and hit the “Next” button and on the second page just give it a name (like for example, “Prior to Vista Transformation Pack”) and hit the “Create” button. That’s it. Now you are pretty much worry free to try this out. On my experience the whole process was pretty smooth.

PS: The Yahoo Widget that you see on the top right corner of the screen doesn’t come with the pack. That’s something I run separate on my machine.

Technorati tags: Windows XP To Windows Vista Transformation Pack, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Transform XP to Vista look

Automatic Restart After Windows Update – Solution

On one of my early postings titled Automatic Update After Windows Update I’ve talked about this annoying and sometimes detrimental effect of Windows automatically restarting after updating itself and the way the dialog box has been designed to accidentally accept the “Restart Now” button.

Colin Angus Mackay has found a solution for this to postpone the prompting dialog from popping up every 10 minutes. Here is the solution at a glimpse.

• Click “Start” button
• Click the “Run“ menu
• Type “gpedit.msc” (without quotes) and hit ENTER
• Your Group Policy console will launch with ”Local Computer Policy” node expanded
• Expand the “Computer Configuration” node 
• Expand the “Administrative Templates” node
• Expand the “Windows Components” node
• Select the “Windows Update” node 
• On the right side of the pane double click the “Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations” and make it enabled with the number of minutes you want the prompting to be suppressed.
• It requires a restart of your machine to take into effect.

Pretty neat. Read the full article here.

Tags: Windows Update, Automatic Restart

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Identify The Windows XP Processes That Are Suspicious

Uniblue has compiled a list of processes that could be a security risk to your computer or that could be slowing down your machine.

They have a comprehensive list of the processes and when you click on the hyperlink it takes you to an explanation page where it details about the processes. Even though it’s laborious, it’s a pretty handy tool to figure out what’s going on with your machine.

You can navigate to the list by clicking here.

For those of you whom are not so computer savvy…so, how do you find out about the running processes on your machine? Pretty simple.

• Right click on your Windows XP Task Bar and select “Task Manager” from the menu options. Once into the Task Manager window choose the “Processes” tab.
• Press “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” (of course, without the + key) keys at the same time and click on the “Task Manager” button. Once into the Task Manager window choose the “Processes” tab.

Tags: Windows XP, Processes, Suspicious Processes, Mysterious Processes, Windows XP Running Slow

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Windows Vista RC1 – Product Key and Download Link

Before they run out, go grab the latest Windows Vista RC1 (Release Candidate 1) product key and the download link.

All you have to do is,

• Navigate to this link.
• Sign in with your Passport.
• Answer few basic questions.
• Then you’ll be presented with the product key page along with the links to the download page. You might need to install the download manager as it would help downloading this massive 2.5 GB file.

(Hint: Refresh the product key page again to get another product key. It seems like a bug on the page that it allows you to grab 2 keys before it realizes)

You have to burn the ISO image to a DVD before installing it on to your (test/spare) machine.

Grab ‘em before they are gone.

Good Luck and Enjoy Vista (without any cost!!!).

Link: Windows Vista RC1

Latest Update: Alternatively you can download RC1 from this location as well.

Windows Vista Get ready site has also opened up the RC1 download. Grab it before it goes.

Tags: Windows, Vista, RC1, Product Key

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