Faster XP Boot

Sometimes, Windows XP boots very slowly especially on older computers. There are some ways you can make your Windows XP boot faster:

1) Non-GUI boot
2) Clear prefetch
3) Reduce Start-up programs.

1) Non-GUI boot
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When you start your Windows XP computer, you will see a Windows XP logo during the boot up. But, Microsoft decided to remove the logo during the boot up in Windows Vista. The reason is to make the boot faster by reducing the graphic load. You can do so in your Windows XP computer as well.

First, go to Start > Run (or press Win + R). Type "boot.ini" without the quotes.

Append this line to the file "/noguiboot" without the quotes. Then save the file and close it. Next time when you boot your computer, you won't see the Windows XP logo anymore.

2) Clear Prefetch
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When Windows XP boots, it reads the "prefetch" files and loads the applications so that they start faster. But, when the prefetch files become very many, this puts extra load during the booting process. So, you should clear the prefetch folder often but not necessarily daily. To clear the prefetch files, go to Start > Run and type "windowsprefetch" with the quotes as shown in the figure below.

When the window pops up, select all (Ctrl + A) and delete all the files inside. On the next boot right after cleaning the prefetch, your Windows will take a bit longer (it's normal) but on subsequent boots, it will boot faster until you need to clear the prefetch again.

3) Reduce Start-up Programs
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If you have a lot of start-up programs, you will have to wait quite a while until you can really use your computer since you log in to your account. So, start-up programs are also a part of the problems causing slow starting up of your Windows XP. You should stop some of the start-up programs which you do not need immediately and which you can later start yourself when you need them. For example, you should disable "Google Talk" on start-up since it freezes up your computer while it is logging into your account. It is easy to stop the start-up programs.

First, go to Start > Run. Type "msconfig" with the quotes as in the picture below.

When you see the "System Configuration Utility" window, go to Startup tab. There, you can deselect any start-up program that you don't need at the start of your computer. After that, click OK and you can either reboot or exit without rebooting.

Doing the three things above will greatly improve your system booting time!

Until then...

Justin

Vista Transformation Pack 6

Vista Transformation Pack 6 is a utility to transform your Windows XP desktop into something very similar to Vista's Aero interface. In addition, it comes with Visual Tool Tips which simulates the Vista's Live Taskbar Thumbnail.

You can download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?emwtvtyxtxq

Until then...

Justin

Technorati tag => Vista

Visual Task Tips

A new feature in Windows Vista is Live Taskbar Thumbnail which lets you see a live miniature window of the taskbar button which is what you will see if you click on the button.


In Windows XP, it just shows you a tool tip about what the window is. But, there is a small utility that simulate the Taskbar Thumbnail feature of Windows Vista. I didn't include "Live" as it is not, well, live. What it shows is a snapshot of the windows that you will see if you click. Although not live, it is still a useful tool which lets you visualize your taskbar buttons.

You can download it at this link.

Until then...

Justin

Technorati tag => Live Taskbar Thumbnail, Visual Task Tips

Cool Pics: Crystal Balls

Crystal Ball

Until then...

Justin

Technorati tag => Picasa

Cool Pics: Arts on Egg Shells

Egg

Until then...

Justin

Technorati tag => Picasa

Cool Pics: Watermelon Arts

Watermelon

Until then...

Justin

Technorati tag => Picasa

Windows Live WiFi Center

Windows Live WiFi Center is one of the many products of Windows Live. It is currently in Beta and participation is by invitation only. I tested it on my computer and it worked fine. Not only it can handle your wireless connections, but it also can help you find Wireless Hot Spots around you, Free or Paid. That's one good thing I like about it. The HotSpotFinder works not just for US but for Singapore and other countries as well. Download it here and test it yourself.

You need to have .Net Framework 2.0 to install it. After extracting the ZIP file, you need to run the two installers inside the folder before installing the WiFi Center.

Until then...

Justin

Technorati tag => WiFi Center, Windows Live

Cmd Here

CmdHere is just a small powertoy from Microsoft for Windows XP which lets you right click on any folder and start the Command Prompt from that location. By default, when you run "cmd", it starts from your user profile. This is a tool to start Command Prompt from anywhere. Download link here.

Technorati tag => Cmd Here

dirLock

I have had some friends who have been looking for a way to lock individual folders with a password because they share the computer with others. dirLock is a small tool that does this job. It allows you to set password for individual folders and encrypt them as well. If you are looking for a similar solution, download it now. Before you can install it, you need to have .Net Framework 1.1.

A similar solution to keep files private is to use Microsoft's PrivateFolder. Although it was discontinued just after its release (due to some security problems), as a home user, you can still count on it to keep your files from wondering eyes. Download it here.

Until then...

Justin

Technorati tag => Private Folder, dirLock, Encrypt

Cool Pics: Finger Art

Finger Arts

Until then...

Justin

Technorati tag => Picasa

Octopus

I hate this creature.

Octopus Escapes Through 1inch Hole - video powered by Metacafe


Until then...

Justin

Technorati tag => Octopus

Nokia Phone Codes

A couple of codes that can be used on Nokia cell phones. They are very handy when you want to check whether your phone has been repaired prior to your purchase.

Nokie Phone Code And Secrets--Cool Trick - video powered by Metacafe


Until then...

Justin

Technorati tag => Nokia, Cell phone

Unlisted Picasa Album

I use Picasa Web to share some nice photos here at Blogger. But what if you have both Public and Unlisted albums in your Picasa Web account?

Your album at Picasa is not unaccessible to outsiders just because you made it unlisted. It just says "Unlisted", not "Unaccessible". So, there is always a way to view your unlisted albums (if one is determined to do so).

Google uses two check points to make sure that the unlisted albums are almost impossible for users to access by chance alone and even intentionally. In fact, there is also a third check point which is the Google account name, but since it is publicly available to everyone, this check is not useful if you have made one album public or have other people know your email address (which is used for Picasa as well).

The two check points that are effective are: 1) album name and 2) 11-letter authentication key. While it is possible to view a public album by typing the address as:

http://picasaweb.google.com/[userName]/[albumName],
if you want to view an unlisted album, you need the additional "authKey" in the form:
http://picasaweb.google.com/[userName]/[albumName]?authKey=[authKey].
Only then can you view an unlisted album from other person. In fact, you are using this form of access to your friend's private album if he/she has chosen to share that private album with you; in essence, "sharing a private album" over Picasa simply means "sharing the Album name and Authentication key".

We don't really have to worry much just because there's a potential that other privy people can "break into" your private albums. Google uses [a-zA-Z0-9-] regular expression for each letter in the authentication key. So, the possible combination for the authentication key can be as many as 63^11 which is roughly 6E19 (cutting away the low complexity keys). So, the authentication key alone is making your albums virtually impossible to access without your consent. If you want even extra security, you can name your albums in such a way that outsiders can't simply guess, or you can add some random characters (like the authentication key) at the end of the album name as in "My Album (12345)"; that "12345" can be as long as you want (can be even longer than the authentication key itself, adding another authentication key yourself) and can be any random character.

Below are some screen shots taken when I attempted to access my own unlisted album from another browser where my account is not logged in:





Until then...

Justin

Technorati tag => Picasa, Google, Unlisted album

Report Bug in Gmail

Like most others, I have more than one Gmail accounts which I use for different purposes.

I was checking all my Gmail accounts and unexpectedly, I found a new "feature" called "Report Bug" on the top right corner of my Gmail screen in only one account. I was thinking at first that Report Bug appeared because something had broken down when I last attempted to log into my an account. But, after I signed out of that account and logged in with another account, the Report Bug disappeared again. I tried with different account in random orders and it came to my surprise that Report Bug only appeared with a particular account but not with others.

So, from what happened above, I guess that Google is testing out a new Report Bug feature to better serve their customers, much like the way Microsoft prompts users to report errors in Windows when something crashes (although to disable Error Reporting is one of the first things I do whenever I reinstall Windows).

Below are the Report Bug button in Gmail (address cut off for privacy) and the bug report form:




Until then...

Justin

PS: Or, was I just hallucinating after going through all the final exams?

Technorati tag => Gmail, Google, Report Bug