Tag: hard disk

Vista SP2 and XP SP3 Get Windows 7’s AutoRun

August 26, 2009 by Jason

Even before the release of Windows 7 Release Candidate Build 7100 Microsoft announced that it would take extreme measures in order to increase end user protection and amputate the AutoPlay/AutoRun feature of the operating system. Over a months after Windows 7 has been released to manufacturing, Microsoft is applying the same security strategy to previous Windows releases. The Redmond company is making sure that the amputated AutoPlay/AutoRun in Windows 7 will make its way to Windows XP (including SP3), Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista (including SP2), and Windows Server 2008, for security reasons.

In this regard, Microsoft has already made available an update designed to limit the AutoPlay/AutoRun functionality in Windows 7’s precursors. Essentially, following the implementation of the refresh, the AutoPlay/AutoRun will no longer display the “Install or run program” option for USB drives.

“In Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2003, AutoRun entries were populated for all devices that had mass storage and had a validly formatted AutoRun.inf file in the root directory. This included CDs, DVDs, USB thumb drives, external hard disks, and any volume that exposed itself as mass storage. This update disables AutoRun entries in AutoPlay, and displays only entries that are populated from CD and DVD drives. Read More»

Fix Ubuntu Bootloader

July 19, 2009 by Jason

Have you installed Windows and Ubuntu in dual boot? If yes, you might have installed Windows First and the Ubuntu, which is a good way of doing it.

In case you have already Installed Windows on your computer, then you have another good options to install Ubuntu inside windows without formatting hard disk using Wubi Installer.

But the problem is when you have Ubuntu installed already and then you install Windows on it. On installing Windows on top of Ubuntu, Windows removes the ubuntu boot-loader called grub and replaces it with windows boot loader. In this case, you will not be able to boot into Ubuntu.

To fix this issue, we will tell you how to install the ubuntu boot-loader called grub on top of windows boot-loader so that you can boot into windows or ubuntu whenever you like.

Fix:

For this you will need a Ubuntu live CD. Download the ubuntu live CD image from here and burn the CD. You can also order the ubuntu CDs by mail for free, but it will take a few weeks. Read More»

Microsoft Software Inventory Analyzer 5.1

June 30, 2009 by Jason

An integral part of the Software Assessment Management efforts from Microsoft, the Microsoft Software Inventory Analyzer 5.1 is available for download accompanied by a range of resources designed to streamline usage. MSIA is a tool designed to permit customers to scan either a local machine or computers connected to a network in order to identify and produce a report containing a list of core Microsoft software products installed. In addition to MSIA, the company is also offering for download documentation containing a User Guide and a FAQ. According to the Redmond giant, MSIA is capable of putting together software inventories only for networks with a maximum of 250 computers.

“MSIA reports the results of the scan in three possible formats, based on the user’s selection: HTML, Excel, and Text. These reports contain details such as the names of all the installed Microsoft products, links to the list of computers scanned, links to the error log, and so on. In addition, the summary report enables users to enter corresponding license purchase information for all software detected in the scan,” Microsoft revealed. Read More»

Downgrade Vista to XP

March 12, 2009 by Jason

If you long for the good old days of XP and still have your install CD, this step-by-step guide will help you revert to Vista’s predecessor.

These days, you have to work to find a new computer that comes with XP installed. Many PC users who upgraded their XP systems to Vista are disappointed with the newer OS’s performance and other problems. In either case, as long as you have an XP installation CD, you can kiss Vista good-bye.

“Downgrading” from Vista to XP is not as difficult as you may think, but it does entail some time-consuming operations. Many online sources claim to offer techniques for reinstalling XP without having to reformat your hard disk. Based on my research, however, deleting the Vista partition and installing XP in its place is arguably the easiest approach. Moreover, this method ensures a clean install that is uncontaminated by Vista leftovers.

Note: In certain cases, you may be able to undo an XP-to-Vista upgrade, even without an XP installation CD, by following the instructions in Microsoft article 933168. The article takes a command-line approach to the XP restoration, and also requires that you have a windows.old folder on your root drive. Read More»

Extend the life of your laptop battery!

March 03, 2009 by Jason

Defrag your Hard Disk

A big part of computer users regularly combine HDD does. Regular intervals with the computer slows down and the system’s HDD may reduce performance. To prevent this, especially laptop users do not create periodically combined with the hard disk is. And it will be more tired when you try HDDniz So your battery will be reflected in a positive way.

Resources unnecessary applications that use the last

Reduce the performance of the computer system one of the most important factors are background applications running. Some may be required, although some users of the application running in the background that has no benefits. Use of system resources is much lower not only the system performance, but also the serious laptoplarda at a rate which reduces battery life. Therefore, a vital importance for you to close applications that are not favorable to your battery life will reflect. Read More»

Booting Windows XP with USB Flash Drive

January 02, 2009 by Jason

Almost everyone who has worked with computers for any length of time at all has run into at least one situation in which a problem left a PC unbootable. What if you could return the machine to a bootable state just by inserting a USB flash drive though? Believe it or not, it is actually possible to install a bootable copy of Windows XP onto a flash drive and then boot a PC off of the flash drive. From there, you can use applications that you have installed on the flash drive (anti virus, anti spyware, disk repair, etc.) to fix the PC’s problem. In this article, I will show you how.

What’s the catch?

As with most cool new techniques, there are a few catches. For starters, not every PC is capable of booting from a USB flash drive. For the most part, computers manufactured within the last two years are generally able to boot from a flash drive. Older systems may require a BIOS update, or might not be able to boot from a flash drive at all.

Another catch is that not every flash drive will get the job done. The primary factors that limit your use of a particular flash drive are capacity and speed. Technically, speed isn’t really a limiting factor, but booting Windows will be painfully slow unless you use a flash drive that supports USB 2.0. Read More»

Hide Drives In Windows XP and Vista

December 07, 2008 by Jason

Recently I received a comment from one of the reader asking how can he hide some specific drives on his computer hard disk so that no one can access that drive or partition.

It means like you want to hide specific partitions on your hard disk like C, D or E etc. This trick of hiding your drive is really useful when you have some private files on a particular drive which you don’t want others to see.

You can hide any of your drive in three different ways including you can easily hide your drives by using a free software called TweakUI, applying a registry hack to to hide drives and with simple commands through command prompt.

Let’s discuss all these three above mentioned methods to hide drives in windows.

Method 1: ( Easy Way ) Read More»

How to Make a Bootable USB Flash Disk Windows Vista Installer

November 20, 2008 by Jason

Mr Dave Glover of Blogs.MSDN.com wrote a guide on how to create a USB Thumb Drive Vista Installer. The article is interesting because recently a friend of mine wishes to install Windows Vista onto a laptop in which DVD drive is not working anymore (it’s already dead).

BTW, this is really useful for all DVD less laptops. So, I wrote a Complete Step-by-Step Beginner’s Style Guide on how to do it easily, Not Just For the Geeks But For All.

1. Format the USB Stick as NTFS: Open Windows Explorer and Right-Click the Drive > Choose the Format Option

2. In the File System Combo box, Choose NTFS and Click the Start Button to begin.

3. Afterwards, Open the Command Prompt as Administrator: In Start Search type, cmd > Press CTRL + Shift + Enter

or you will get… “Access is denied” Message after launching diskpart command. Read More»

How do I install Windows XP on a computer with Windows Vista pre-installed?

October 06, 2008 by Jason

If you wish to install Windows XP on a computer that comes with Windows Vista already installed then you will have to create a separate partition on your hard drive to install Windows XP onto. This effectively splits the hard drive into two, and keeps the different versions of Windows separate. To do this you need to open up the Computer Management screen by going to the Start menu and then right-clicking on Computer and selecting Manage.

From the Computer Management screen select Disk Management, right-click on your main hard disk where Windows Vista is installed and then select Shrink Volume. This opens up a window where you can choose how large you want the new drive partition for Windows XP to be. You need to select the size of the new partition carefully, as you will need enough space to be able to install Windows XP successfully (around 10 gigabytes) whilst leaving enough space for Windows Vista. After you have selected the appropriate amount of space click on the Shrink button to begin the process, and once that has completed you should be able to right-click on the new partition (which should be labelled “Unallocated free space”) and select New Simple Volume. Read More»

Get maximum performance from Windows Vista

August 24, 2008 by Jason

Windows Vista includes a number of tools that you can use to pinpoint performance bottlenecks. Some of these, such as the System Health Report, the Windows Experience Index, and the Reliability Monitor, provide static snapshots showing the resources available to your system and where those resources might not be adequate to your needs. Others, such as the venerable Windows Task Manager, the new Resource Overview, and Performance Monitor (an improved version of the tool known in Windows XP as System Monitor), let you track a variety of performance metrics in real time.

In addition to these snapshot and monitoring utilities, Windows Vista incorporates the following forms of performance-enhancing technology: SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, ReadyDrive

All three of these are designed to reduce the amount of time your system spends engaged in performance degrading disk IO. SuperFetch is a memory management technology that observes your computer usage patterns over extended stretches of time (noting the programs you run and the days and times you typically run them) and adjusts caching behavior to accommodate your own particularities. ReadyBoost uses external memory devices (such as USB 2.0 flash disks) to cache disk content of all kinds, reducing the need for time consuming hard disk access. And ReadyDrive is technology that supports the use of hybrid hard disk drives drives that incorporate nonvolatile flash memory (NVRAM) as well as conventional rotating disk media. Hybrid drives are particularly useful for extending battery life on portable computers, because they reduce the need for drive spin. Read More»