What to do when your Windows XP or Windows Vista system refuses to boot.

How do I prepare an emergency boot disc so I'm ready in case Windows becomes unbootable?

Alas, the days when Windows came with a program for creating a useful emergency boot floppy are long gone. And those old boot floppies wouldn't help with XP or Vista--even if you PC had a floppy drive.

Boot from one of the discs that came with your PC, and examine the menus (don't select anything that might wipe your drive). You're looking for emergency utilities.

You're in real luck if you have a full Windows XP CD or Vista DVD. These come with great tools for diagnosing and repairing an unbootable PC. In fact, if you don't have a real Windows disc, find one you can borrow in an emergency. Don't install Windows from a borrowed disc, but if it has the same version of Windows as your PC, use its repair tools.

Boot from an XP CD, and press R at the 'Welcome to Setup' screen to see the Recovery Console, a DOS-like command-line environment with a number of useful utilities.

If you boot from a Vista DVD, click Repair your computer to open the System Recover program. There you'll find options to automatically fix boot problems, restore your hard drive from an image backup, diagnose memory, or perform a system restore.

If you're ready for a Windows alternative, try Puppy Linux, which you can download as a ready-to-burn .iso file from the Puppy Linux Web site. Boot from the CD, and you'll have a nongeek's version of Linux running on your PC. Puppy Linux is the best tool I've found for one extremely important job: copying important files off an unbootable hard drive. Unlike UBCD4Win, Puppy recognizes USB drives, making it extremely easy to put these files where you can readily access them.

The XP CD's Boot Tool Kit

Enter these commands in Windows XP's Recovery Console to perform CPR on your disks and files.

Command	Action
Attrib	Changes the attributes of a file or directory.
Batch	Executes the commands specified in the text file.
Bootcfg	Boot file (boot.ini) configuration and recovery.
ChDir (Cd)	Displays the name of the current directory or changes the current directory.
Chkdsk	Checks a disk and displays a status report.
Cls	Clears the screen.
Copy	Copies a single file to another location.
Delete (Del)	Deletes one or more files.
Dir	Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.
Disable	Disables a system service or a device driver.
Diskpart	Manages partitions on your hard drives.
Enable	Starts or enables a system service or a device driver.
Exit	Exits the Recovery Console and restarts your computer.
Expand	Extracts a file from a compressed file.
Extract	Extracts files from compressed .cab archives.
Fixboot	Writes a new partition boot sector onto the specified partition.
Fixmbr	Repairs the master boot record of the specified disk.
Format	Formats a disk.
Help	Displays a list of commands you can use in the Recovery Console.
Listsvc	Lists the services and drivers available on the computer.
Logon	Logs on to a Windows installation.
Map	Displays the drive letter mappings.
Mkdir (Md)	Creates a directory.
More	Displays a text file.
Net Use	Connects a network share to a drive letter.
Rename (Ren)	Renames a single file.
Rmdir (Rd)	Deletes a directory.
Set	Displays and sets environment variables.
Systemroot	Sets the current directory to the systemroot directory of the system you are currently logged on to.
Type	Displays a text file.

I hope these will help you :)

Labels: Vista, Windows XP

If you are bored of the old XP and Win2000 fonts, then here comes Windows Vista to the rescue. It has some cool and sexy fonts like Candara, Consolas, Calibri, Cambria, Constantia and Corbel, etc. Now you can install these in Windows XP and Windows 2000 as well.
Just follow the instructions given below:

1. First go here and download the Microsoft Compatibility pack (MCP). The MCP is a free utility that allows you open, edit, and save documents, workbooks, and presentations in the file formats new to Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007.

2. Save to desired location and install it.

3. That’s it now you’ll have these vista fonts in all office applications including the previous fonts.

Please comment if you like this post :)

Labels: Vista, Windows XP

As you would know its a painful process to defragment all hard drives at the same time in Windows XP, as the Disk Defragment utility in Windows XP doesn’t have any option to defrag all the drives at once.

But a simple batch file trick can get over this problem and defragment all of the drives, one after the other.

The disk defrag utility in Windows XP can be called from the command line with the following syntax:

Windows Disk Defragmenter

Copyright (c) 2001 Microsoft Corp. and Executive Software International, Inc.

Usage:

defrag [-a] [-f] [-v] [-?]

volume drive letter or mount point (d: or d:volmountpoint)

-a Analyze only

-f Force defragmentation even if free space is low

-v Verbose output

-? Display this help text

To make Windows defrag all the drive at once we need to create file named defrag.bat [you can have any name, even yours :) ] . Now for each hard drive, assign a line to the batch file. For instance, if we want to defragment drives C: , D: , F: and G: we will add these three lines:

defrag c: -f
defrag d: -f
defrag f: -f
defrag g: -f

Now to defrag at once, just either double-click on the batch file or start it from the command line.

Source - Thinktechno.com

Labels: Performance Tweaks, Windows XP

If you just installed and tried out the new MS Windows Vista on your machine, you just might be planning to get the old MS Windows XP out of your computer because of the new features being offered by Windows Vista satisfies your daily computing needs. The boot loader process bundled with Vista has changed, yes, but the changes are so minor the steps to configure other OS versions installed on your computer are basically similar to that of MS Windows XP.

First, just boot up and choose MS Windows Vista. Afterwards, format the Windows XP partition. The bootloader process of Vista allows you to make necessary changes on the boot operations of your machine without configuring the boot.ini file of the Windows XP OS version installed on your computer.

Next, insert the Vista CD 1 or the Vista DVD in your drive. Reboot your computer afterwards. Finally, choose the repair console option after the setup process has commenced, choose to have access to a DOS prompt, and key in the following:

• bootrec.exe /fixmbr
• bootrec.exe /fixboot

Key in the first command and execute it by pressing the Enter key. This will remove XP from the Vista bootloader. Then, key in the second command in order to ensure that XP has been unloaded from the boot.ini file of Vista. At this point, Windows XP is history!

Labels: Vista, Windows XP

Tired of waiting while your windows shuts down? Now no more wait, thanks to this cool trick.
The trick is in two parts. Follow both of them for best results.

1. Open the Registry Editor (Start >> Run >> type regedit).
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control
3. Click on the "Control" Folder.
4. Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout".
5. Right click on it, select modify and set it a value lower than 2000 (the lesser the faster, but remember don't set it less than 100 to be on the safer side).

Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown Windows XP when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. To solve this problem you must disable this useless sound. Follow these steps to disable this sound.

1. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices.
2. Click on the Sounds tab, then under program events and windows menu find and select the "Exit Windows" option.
3. Now there will be several sounds to choose from. Choose "(None)" and then click on Apply and then OK.

Yippee!! it's done now. You will see some improvement when shutting down your system. :)

Labels: Performance Tweaks, Windows XP

Guys, as you can guess with this trick you can make your folders invisible without using any sophisticated software. This is a very unusual & easy trick to make your private folders invisible to others. :)

A folder contains two parts; an icon and a name.
So to make the folder invisible you will have to make both the icon & the name invisible.

These are the steps to do that:

1. *For Making The Name Invisible*
Select the folder which you want to make invisible. Press F2 key then type ALT+0160 and hit enter key. You will notice that the name of the folder has become invisible. See the snapshot below.



2. *For Making The Icon Invisible*
Right click on the folder whose name you made invisible. Go to Properties, then go to the Customize tab. Then click on the Change Icon button. Select any blank icon there. Remember there will be many blank icons (see snapshot). Just choose any one.
Click OK.



Viola!! your folder is invisible now (without any software). Now only you know where the folder is located. Enjoy :)

Labels: Weird, Windows XP

If you people have ever encountered an error like this, "Registry Editing Has Been Disabled By Your Administrator" on Windows XP or any other Windows NT Operating system, this may help you!

I have encountered the above error many times while patching the registry. Even manual "regedit" command was not working.

So, here is simple solution:

1. Go to "Start >> Run" or press "Windows Key + R".
2. Type this command exactly as given below (or you can copy-paste it too)

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Cheers!!! Your problem is now solved.

Labels: Registry Tweaks, Windows XP

When you install some softwares, they add their own options to the right click menu. This can slow down the system as it needs to get all the files ready when you right click. Especially, the compression tools like WinRar & WinZip add their options to the right click menu. A lot of options in the right click menu makes it look untidy too. If you don't need some of the options, then you can customize the menu.
One way is through Registry editing. Here is the Registry Setting.

1. Go to Run and type in Regedit.
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
This is the where programs attach to right click menu, This is a universal right click. To make the specific right clicks, you need to go to specific type of file in this section.
3. You simply delete the keys you do not want.
If you don't want to edit the registry, you can use a editing software with which things can be done with much ease and in a detailed manner.

There is also a software named File Menu Tools through which you can edit your right click menu. Through this software you can add more options provided by the software, and you can remove the contents you want. The only thing is that you should know which files to look for and editing which file will make the correct changes.

Try out this software & customize your right click menu according to your own needs.

Note: If you encounter any problems, please ask them in comments :)

Labels: Windows XP

Now, you can lock you desktop when you are away with a simple shortcut to avoid any kind of misuse of your PC. I know this is an old one, but this is meant for those readers who don't know it, so don't flame against this topic. lol :)

There are two ways to lock your desktop when you are away:

1. Press and hold "Windows" key on your keyboard and press "L".

OR (For Those Who Don't Have The Windows Key)

2. Create a shortcut on your desktop with the following path:

rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

3. You will get a screen like this, with your user account (you need to password protect your user account for complete protection).









Bravo!!! You are done.

Labels: Windows XP

Now access the internet via your standard Microsoft Calculator using this trick.
You can do this for fun or when your browser is messed up for some unexplainable reason.

Steps:

1. Open your MS Calculator. This is normally found in Start => All Programs => Accessories => Calculator.

2. Open the help-window by pressing the F1 key.

3. Click the top-left corner icon of the help window once (Standard is a Document with a Questionmark).

4. Select 'Jump to URL'.

5. Type your address into the avaliable field, but remember to type http://, and not just www. (or equivalent).

Have fun !!!

Labels: Internet, Weird, Windows XP