Archive for Windows
Changing the default "Program Files" folder
With most install programs I can change to the install directory during the installation process to be the one on the selected partition but with others there isn't that option.
This was the case when trying to install SQL Server 2008 and I so I decided to set the partition as the default folder instead.
To do that I had to change the registry and so the first step is to save the registry before making any changes.
So here are the steps:
Go to Start -> Run or Windows key + R then type regedit
Navigate to the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion
Change ProgramFilesDir from the default C:\ProgramFiles to the new path in the partition
Whilst still there you can also change the CommonFilesDir from the default one on C to the same partition you would have chosen for ProgramFilesDir.
Reboot the machine for the changes to take effect.
delicious
digg
First problem with Vista
The Vista splash screen would appear as normal and after that a blank screen would appear and just hang there.
After a few reboots I realised that the problem was not as simple as I had thought initially and so I decided to boot from the Vista install DVD and then go to the repair screen.
I tried to restore to an earlier restore point but I got a message that the system needed repair and upon clicking OK to repair the system the process just hung for hours.
My next approach was to go to the command line and try chkdsk and this did not work because the system just hang as well. I tried all the various switches that go with chkdsk and it was the same end result.
When I tried sfc /scannow I got the message that 'Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested
operation' and so obviously the command line was not going to work.
The next step was to try and do a repair and this just hang overnight. The last step was to try and re-install and this also failed. I just got a screen that said 'Please wait' and waited
for more many hours and nothing happened and finally I decided to just reformat the Vista partition and do a fresh install.
To reformat the drive I just used the XP install CD and after that finished I installed Vista and this time there were no problems.
I am still not sure what caused the problem in the first place but it looks like the Vista partition had some problems and I still think had chkdsk not hung the problems would have been solved.
At least now everything is back to normal.
Getting all application settings
To do that in Windows XP you go to Documents and Settings and select your username. There is a folder called Application Data and in that there is a folder called Mozilla.
Under the Mozilla folder there is a folder for Firefox and all you have to do is copy that whole folder and replace the one in the new setup. That way you will have all your Firefox settings including stored passwords, feeds, extensions and of course bookmarks.
To only get bookmarks, all you do is go to the Bookmarks menu and select Manage Bookmarks and from the resultant dialog export the bookmarks to a file.
Checking whats running
This tool has a familiar interface similar to Windows Explorer and you can check processes, services, modules, IP-connections and also drivers.
Its also possible to use the tool to control your system by starting and stopping services and processes and also easy to configure startup programs.
The feature I like most is taking a snapshot of the system and saving it for later comparison especially when something is not working properly. So you can compare a snapshot when everything is working fine to a snapshot when there is a problem and that comparison may shed some light on what the problem is.
The only other tool that I know of that comes close to this is Process
Explorer which I wrote about sometime last year.
Vista and the hardware demands
I am one of those who will need to either upgrade their PCs or buy/build another one because of the Vista hardware demands but I think I will opt for the latter - build up one myself.
I think its a good idea to have the PC Vista Premium Ready which calls for a minimum system memory of 1 GB and graphics memory at least 128 MB. The Vista Capable PC would on the other hand need a system memory of 512 MB but my experience tells me that working with minimum requirements for Microsoft operating systems is not necessarily a good idea.
I will need at least a minimum of 2 GB of system memory because I plan to run Vista in a virtual environment
launched from Ubuntu using VMWare Server. I think at least 2 GB should be enough for both Ubuntu and Vista.
Launching Applications on Windows startup
In that case the simple solution is to locate the Startup folder like this:
C:\Documents and Settings\userlogin\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
where userlogin is the user login and you can replace C with your particular drive.
In the Startup folder, you just paste the shortcut to the application you want launched and
the easiest would be to get the shortcut from the desktop if you have the shortcut there.
Needing more than task managing
It shows all the processes running on a machine just like you can also see in Task Manager but what I find very useful with this tool is that it shows the company name as well as the user name plus other options that you can add on depending on what you are trying to investigate. When I look in Task Manager I can see the process names but more often than not I cannot tell much from some of the names and this is where I like the Process Explorer. It shows the company name for example and if the name doesn't sound familiar then its probably a trojan and then you can then try to find out more info about that process.
You can also select between handle and DLL mode if you would like to see for example processes that certain handles or DLLs have opened or you can utilise the search facility.
Information about CPU usage and memory can be found through the System Information window and again you get more information than you would get through Task Manager's Performance tab.
Recovering from a Windows XP crash
The error message went something like this:
We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows
did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this. If
your computer stopped responding...
There had not been any hardware or software changes or power failure in the days prior. So I knew this was a totally new problem that I had never experienced before.
I managed to get XP working again by following the excellent instructions on the website
Windows XP
Crashed? Here's Help.
Sorting out Bookmarks
With the AM-DeadLink I managed to root out all the duplicate bookmarks and also removed some bookmarks that referred to sites that no longer existed for one reason or another.
One little feature that I just like is the one that downloads and updates the favicon. For those sites with favicons, when the favicons appear on the bookmark it makes it easier to identify the site especially in a folder where there are a number of bookmarks.
I quickly managed to sort out the bookmarks on Firefox, Mozilla and Opera and if I used IE
the program would have sorted out the favourites for me as well.
Giving up on USB Broadband connection
However, over the last fortnight it has become increasingly difficult to connect to the Internet using USB and I have been getting "Page Not Found" errors and then ipconfig would return null value for Connection-specific DNS Suffix and Default Gateway and after several ipconfig /renew and rebooting I would then get the connection. At one time I thought it was a problem with accurately resolving web sites and so I installed the Treewalk DNS utility but this didn't solve the problem.
So last night I gave up on USB broadband connection and installed an Ethernet PCI Adapter card instead and its
now better than ever. I no longer have any connection problems at all. Its quite fast even without increasing
the TCP receive window and just using the default setting.
Solving Personal Firewall dilemma
Previously I have tried ZoneAlarm but somehow it didn't quite work with my PHP sessions on the localhost and that's when I decided to go for Kerio. Kerio has been quite good I should say but the "kpf4gui.exe DLL Initialization Failed" dialog on shutdown is a bit annoying to say the least and also the 30 days evaluation period has expired anyway and so I was left with the basic version.
Unlike other free personal firewalls, With Comodo you don't get a watered down version of the full version
because what you get is the full version. After downloading the firewall Comodo send me an activation code to
give a free lifetime licence. The review on PC
Mag was also helpful in helping me make a decision to go with Comodo. I will see how the comodo firewall
goes over the next few weeks before going for the other products on the Comodo stable like anti virus software.
Burning ISO Images
After installing ISO recorder, all you have to do is right-click on the downloaded ISO image file and then select "Copy Image to CD". After that its a two stage process and its all done.
I normally check if the burn was successful by exploring the CD and I shouldn't see the ISO file but the files that constitute it. If I do then it means it wasn't a successful burn.
File comparison made easy
After trying out a few tools (that became an exercise in itself) I found that WinMerge from SourceForge did a very good job. With WinMerge you get a visual map outline of the files being compared with the differences clearly marked out. As you edit the files the map outline also changes to reflect the new status.
To move text from one file to the other all you need to do is right click
at the border of the files then select
the direction of text movement. You can also easily merge entire files if
thats what your situation requires.
Registry Clean Up time
Although CCleaner can do a lot more cleaning than just resolve registry issues
like delete cookies and empty recycle bin for now I will perform all
those other functions manually.
