Must Have Firefox Extensions

A while back I wrote an articled called 'Really Useful Firefox Extensions', where I discussed some of my favorite extensions for this browser at that time. Well since I wrote that I article, I have stopped using some of those extensions and discovered news (note: the article is still worth checking out because it contains links to some really useful extensions that you might find worthwhile).

I have to admit I keep a lot of extensions installed in my browser, but most of them are disabled because I don't need them too often. If I need them, I just enable that extension an restart the browser. I also discovered that the more extensions you have enabled the longer it takes Firefox to load and the more memory it uses.

So here is my list of favorite Firefox extensions:

• All-In-One Sidebar: View dialog such as downloads, extensions, and more; view source of web page, or whole websites in the sidebar.
  
• Image Zoom: Gives you complete control of the size of most images displayed inside the browser.
  
• DeskCut: Adds the ability to create desktop shortcuts from the right-context menu.
• CopyURL+: Quickly copies the web site title, and/or selected text, plus the URL to the clipboard.
• Google Toolbar for Firefox: If you use any of Google services (such as: search, Blogger, Gmail, and more), this toolbar makes them quickly available to you. The toolbar even offers a spelling checker feature. (Here is a list of free Google Firefox extensions, some of which have already been incorporated into the new toolbar).
  
• Crash Recovery: Recovers all opened tabs and windows after a crash.
  
• IE Tab: Embedding Internet Explorer in tabs of Mozilla/Firefox.
• Tab Mix Plus: Enhances Firefox's tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager with crash recovery that can save and restore combinations of opened tabs and windows.

Bonus Tip:

• Make Firefox Remember Passwords: This is not extension, but it's a bookmarklet that adds some good functionality.
  

SpamBayes: Bayesian Anti-Spam Filter

A few months ago, I wrote an article about creating a whitelist in Outlook Express to help reduce spam. The biggest problem with whitelists, is that they require a lot of maintenance and they filter out the good with the bad messages. So I am not a big fan of this technology.

The good news is that there is a much better alternative to whitelists, and its called Bayesian filtering. Bayesian filters are one of the best anti-spam technologies I ever used. They work by statistically ranking the contents of e-mail messages.

Generally spam messages will use words and/or word patterns that don't typically appear in most e-mail messages. This makes it easy for the spam filter to detect and remove these e-mails.

SpamBayes is a free open-source Bayesian filter that can be run as an Outlook plug-in under Windows. There also is a POP3 or IMAP proxy version available for Windows, Linux/Unix, and the Mac OS.

When you first install a Bayesian filter, you will need to train it. You need to let it analyze good messages, and bad messages (i.e.: spam). After you train it will constantly be learning what is and what's not spam. While its first learning, it may make some mistakes, but its accuracy should improve.

Bayesian filters are also known for having a low 'false positive' rate. A false positive is a message that is classified as spam when its really not.

Paint.NET - Image and Photo Manipulation (Free)

Paint.NET is one of the better free paint programs that is available for doing basic image and photo manipulation. Let me be clear, Paint.NET is not a Adobe Photoshop replacement. Although, if you have some basic image editing needs that Microsoft Paint doesn't meet, then check out this program.

Some of the Paint.NET's features include: layer support, unlimited undo, special effects, simple tools for drawing shapes, and more. For a more complete list of features, or to see some screen shots.

Additional resources:

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Tutorials
• System Requirements and Mirrors
• Plugins
• Language Packs (available in: Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, Frisian, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Spanish)

Creating a PPPoE Connection

Do you have a DSL or Cable broadband connection that requires you to install special software in order to access the Internet? There's a good chance that you don't need this software. Windows XP comes with the ability to create PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet) connections.

PPPoE is technology used by ISPs to manage customer's accounts and access from your computer to the Internet.

To create a PPPoE connection:

• Open the Control Panel folder from the Start menu.
• Double click the 'Network Connections' folder.
• Click the link in the Network Tasks pane that says 'Create a new connection'.
• In the first page of the 'Network Connection Wizard', press the Next button.
• Click 'Connect to the Internet', and then press the Next button.
• Click 'Set up my connection manually', and then press the Next button.
• Click 'Connect using a broadband connection that requires a user name and password' (if your ISP provided you a user name and password select this option) or 'Connect using a broadband connection that is always on'. You selection depends on your connection type, contact your ISP if you have questions.
• Enter your ISP name into the field, and then press the Next button.
• If required, enter your user name and password provided to you by your ISP, and then press the Next button.
• Optionally you can click 'Add a shortcut to this connection to my desktop'. Press the Finish button when done.

Google SketchUp (Free)

Google recently acquired a company (@Last Software) that creates a 3D modeling software called SketchUp. The software comes in two versions available, free and professional (it sells for $495).

Google SketchUp (Free) is for personal use, and no registration is required. While the professional version is for designers with more powerful features, such as the ability to create interactive presentations, or print to high-resolution devices.

Google SketchUp (Free) is a very powerful and easy-to-learn 3D drawing program. You can draw buildings you may want to build, plan wood making projects, design models, and more... After you create your image, you can upload it to a special site for storing it or you can post it into Google Earth.

Update: If you want to see a video of the software in action, check out this from CNet.

Windows XP, SATA, and eSATA Drives (What you need to know)

Most modern motherboards and hard drives now support the SATA (Serial ATA) standard. SATA is the next generation of the ATA standard that was created back in 1994 for consumer based hard drives.

In 2003 the SATA standard was finalized, and in many ways it is superior to its predecessor. It is faster and has more features, such as hot-swapping and native command queuing.

Recently the SATA standard was expanded to support external SATA (known as eSATA) hard drives. You might be wondering what the benefits of the eSATA vs. other external drive connection standards like USB or Firewire.

Here is a brief list of some of the benefits of eSATA are:

• Up to three times faster then USB or Firewire connections.
• Supports cable lengths up to 2 meters away from the connector
  

Window XP and SATA
I should note that Windows XP doesn't have native support for SATA hard drives. If you're setting up a new computer with XP and a SATA hard drive, and that drive is your primary boot device. You are going to need to have a floppy with an XP version of the SATA drivers for your motherboard or hard drive controller.

If you don't have these drivers, visit your motherboard or drive controller manufacturer web site and download the latest drivers. Make sure that you download the version that can be used by the Windows setup process.

During the initial text-based part of the Windows XP setup process you will need to press the F6 key when instructed to install additional drivers for the SATA controller (watch the bottom line of the screen for this message). If you can't provide these drivers, the Windows XP install will stop, and give an error that it can not locate a hard drive.

Diagnosing the WMI Services

The Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a Windows subsystem that allows you to programatically make calls to the operating system to get information about the hardware, OS, and application. Although, sometimes this subsystem can experience problems and it can be difficult to determine if its running correctly.

To help diagnose if the system is experiencing a problem, Microsoft has created the WMI Diagnosis Utility. It consists of a VB script and some Excel spreadsheets, which is used to check the WMI namespaces from the system being scanned. If some namespaces is found to be missing, then this is an indication that there could be a problem. Also, if a problem is found, an error will be created in the log file and suggested fixes for the problems will be noted if there available.

If you do have a problem with the WMI, check out the following article on repairing it.

Notes:

• The WMI Diagnosis Utility runs on Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, and Vista.
• The WMI Diagnosis Utility must be run on the local computer, and you must have local administrator rights on the computer on which you run the script.

SysInternals Process Explorer

SysInternals Process Explorer is one of those must have system diagnostics utilities, its like the Task Manager on steroids. I primarily use this utility to diagnose systems that are running slow or to see how well a process is running. It shows you all the EXEs and DLLs loaded by the system, and the processes that are using them.

Below is a brief list of features available in the current version (v.10)

• Run as Limited User menu entry in the File menu to run a process without administrative privileges and group membership
• Process menu includes Restart item to kill and then restart a selected process
• Can suspend individual threads on Threads page of Process Properties dialog
• The Find Window target moves Process Explorer's main window to the back to get it out of the way
• Heuristics to detect more image packers
• User name of account in which Process Explorer is running is shown in the title bar
• As a parallel to the CPU Usage History column there's now a Private Bytes Usage History column
• New delta private-bytes column to show changes in private virtual memory usage.
• and more...
  

Yahoo's free software turns PC into DVR (Article)

CNET News.com reports: "The software, Yahoo Go for TV, is free to download. After the software is installed, people plug their computer into their television's video and audio input connections. The computer can then record and play back shows on the TV just like with a standalone DVR. Consumers can also play DVDs, music, photos or other downloaded content."

Follow the link to directly access Yahoo!Go software. To see a list of features and some screenshots, click here.

Moving the CD Recording Temporary Files Location

If you burn CDs using Windows XP's built-in functionality, you might not know that copies of the files that you're going to write to the CD are temporarily stored on your hard drive. If your drive is short on space, or you prefer to store these files at an alternate location.

Follow the instructions below to move the temporary file location for CD recording:

• Put a blank CD into your CD-RW drive.
• In the Windows Explorer, open the CD-RW drive (if there are existing files waiting to be written, delete them if you don't need them).
• Right-click the CD-RW drive, and select Properties.
• Click on the Recording tab
• Make sure the 'Enable CD recording on this drive' checkbox is checked.
• There is a dropdown menu showing the available drives on your system. If your system has multiple drives installed, they will be listed here. Select the drive where you want to store the temporary files.
• Press the OK button when done.
  

Notes:

• About a gigabyte of storage is required for storing the temporary files.
• The default location for these temporary files is: "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CD Burning\"
  

Installing Microsoft Management Console 3.0 (Advanced)

Notes:

• This is an advanced user tip because it involves modifying the Windows registry. Modifying the registry can be risky, so be sure to have a good backup of your system before making any changes to it. This tip like all tips are use at your own risk.
• This software requires that you have Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 installed on it, and .NET v2.0.

Microsoft recently released a new version of the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). The MMC application provides a flexible framework that software vendors can write modules (called 'snap-ins') for managing applications and hardware on local or remote servers.

The new MMC v3.0 was originally developed for Window Vista, but Microsoft is also making it available for Windows XP. Some of the new features of the MMC include a new interface design and a better method of managing the snap-ins.

In v2.0 of the MMC, it was very cumbersome to manage the snap-ins, but the new version includes a 'Add or Remove Snap-ins' interface. Instead of dealing with two separate dialog boxes to create custom consoles, v3.0 provides a single dialog box that makes the process much easier.

To install the MMC v3.0, follow the instructions below:

• Download the MMC v3.0 from the Microsoft Download Center.
• Find the executable you downloaded and run it, this will start the installation wizard. Just follow the instructions.
  

To enable the new user interface, you have to modify the registry:

• Launch the Registry Editor (from the Run... command type "regedit.exe" and press Enter key).
• Find the following key in the left pane: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC.
• Right-click the MMC subkey and select New > Key.
• Type UseNewUI and press the Enter key.
• Close the Registry Editor.

To launch the new MMC, from the Run... command under the Start menu type: "mmc.exe" and press the Enter key. From here you can utilize the new 'Add or Remove Snap-ins' dialog.

Internet Explorer Add-on Manager

When Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, it included several new security technologies. One of these technologies was the Internet Explorer (IE) Add-on Manager. The way this feature works is by allowing you to easily manage ActiveX controls that IE uses.

To manage add-ons in IE, follow the steps below:

• Launch the Internet Explorer
• From the Tools menu, select Internet Options...
• Click the Programs tab.
• Press the Manage Add-ons button

From here you should see the Add-On Manager dialog containing a list of ActiveX controls, Browser Helper Objects, and Browser Extensions. Go through each of them and disable any of them that you don't use or need.

Note: By disabling any of the ActiveX controls, you could also be disabling certain web site functionality that you may need. For example, don't disable the Flash control unless you seriously want to disable a lot of features that are used by several different web sites.

The Different Types of Internet Threats (Part 5)

In the previous parts of this article (see parts 1, 2, 3, and 4), we have covered the basics of what you need to know to protect your computer on the Internet. But to quote a Microsoft security researcher, "Security is a Journey, not a Destination." Meaning that it requires that you stay up-to-date and know what the latest threats are to protect yourself.

To finish up this article below are some topics that I want to quickly cover:

Staying Up To Date
With new attacks being created all the time, its important to stay informed about the latest security threats. Check out Microsoft Security Newsletter for Home Users. This newsletter includes: how-to articles and security tips, security bulletins and critical updates, answers to frequently asked questions on security topics, and more.

Testing Your Defenses
In the past I have already posted a few articles called 'Testing Your Defenses' (see parts: 1, 2 and 3), that discusses how to make sure your that you're computer security software (i.e. firewall, anti-virus, etc.) are working properly.

Disinfecting Your Computer
If your computer has already been infected by some type of malware (i.e.: viruses, spyware, etc.), there are some resources that you can use to remove this type of software:

• Free Online Anti-Virus Scanners
• Best FREE Windows Malicious Software Removal Tools

The Different Types of Internet Threats (Part 4)

There are two things that you need to do when roaming around the Internet to keep your computer's OS and its data safe. One, make sure your computer is properly protected, we addressed this subject in the first three parts of this article. Two, you need to follow some common sense guidelines of what not to do.

Below is my list of top 10 Internet don'ts:

1. E-mail is insecure, never send sensitive information that is not encrypted. Its very easy for someone to intercept it and its generally sent in plain text so its easy to read. Check out the following article for more information.
   
2. Don't open e-mail attachments or SPAM messages. Attachments can contain malware, spam messages can contain web beacons, which tell spammers which e-mail addresses are valid.
   
3. Don't post your e-mail address on the Web or give it out to any site that requests its, unless you want to be spam.
4. Avoid downloading applications from sites that you don't trust. This is one way to get malware installed on your system.
5. When visiting a web site and all of a sudden a pop-up displays asking you to install an ActiveX control, just say 'No'. This is another way malware gets installed on your system.
   
6. Avoid clicking links in email, they can't be trusted. Often they can lead to phishing sites.
7. Before ever sending personal or private data over the Internet to any web site you trust (Amazon, eBay, etc...), make sure that the communication is encrypted. Look for the HTTPS:// in the address bar, and a closed lock in your browser's status bar.
8. Just because a web site asks for personal or private information, don't give it up unless you're comfortable sending this information over the Internet or giving it to that site.
9. Use a credit card (i.e.: Visa, Master Card, American Express, etc...) when making purchases over the Internet. Credit cards give you the most protection on Internet purchases. Other methods such as debit cards, 'electronic checks' (i.e.: your checking account information), or etc.. are not recommended because they don't have the anti-fraud protections.
   
10. People and information on the Internet are not reliable. Always make sure to consider the source of the information. For example if its from the Washington Post I would trust it a lot more then what I read in a forum post on a web site somewhere. Also, like information people may not be who they say they are on the Internet.

The Different Types of Internet Threats (Part 3)

After you have all your defenses setup and in place, you need to make sure you keep the OS and applications up-to-date with the latest service packs, updates, and hot fixes. If you neglect this part of your security regiment, then you will leave yourself open to all sorts of application attacks.

Some of these attacks will come at you via e-mail or web pages. They can also come at you via applications and other types of files that you download from the Internet.

New vulnerabilities are being found in different applications all the time, so protect your computer by following the advice below:

• Rule 1: Windows Update is your friend, so use it. This site keeps your OS and Microsoft applications up-to-date. This site requires Internet Explorer 6.0 and higher. (For more information see the following article.)
  
• Rule 2: Make sure the Windows Automatic Update feature is enabled. This will make sure that you automatically receive and get installed the latest updates from Microsoft. (for more information see the following article.)
• Rule 3: As I said in the second part of this article, you need to keep your security software and signatures up-to-date. This also means that you need to keep the applications that you use everyday updated, like Adobe Acrobat Reader, Macromedia Flash Player, Sun Java, etc. (Check out the Google Pack of software it may help you keep some of these applications up-to-date, see the following article for more information)
• Rule 4: Use an email service that has a spam filter (most free mail services offer spam filtering), or just install one on your email client.
  
• Rule 5: Install an anti-Phishing toolbar in your browser, such as the Google Toolbar. This will help protect you against some of the phishing attacks that are out there. Note: These attacks are becoming more sophisticated all the time, and may become too difficult for this software to protect.
  

The Different Types of Internet Threats (Part 2)

Generally the first line of your computer's defenses is going to be its firewall. This will prevent other computers, and malware from trying to attack it and invading your computer from over the Internet.

Windows comes with its own firewall, which will protect you from most types of attacks. If you have Windows XP SP2 (for more information about it) installed on your computer, then the firewall is enabled automatically. If not you will have to enable it manually.

The one thing that I have to note is the Windows Firewall only protects you against attacks from outside your computer. If you're computer is infected with some type of malware, the Windows firewall can't protect you.

There are 'two-way firewalls', which allows you to monitor and control traffic leaving your computer. These types of firewalls are great for finding which applications are trying to communicate with the Internet.

Also, if you have a high-speed connection (such as cable, DSL, etc.), and are using broadband router then you might have an additional layer of defense on your side. Most broadband routers include some type of hardware based firewall.

After you have your firewall setup, you need to consider your anti-virus and anti-spyware software you have installed on your computer. Anti-virus software is not enough these days to protect your computer, you also need anti-spyware software. Then after you have it installed you have to make sure you keep the application and signatures up-to-date.

Windows Internet Security Suites
Below is a list of some Windows Internet security suites that I will recommend. These software packages are designed to protect you against most types of Internet attacks (virus, worms, Trojans, etc.), plus all the tools are generally designed to be integrated together. Which unifies the user experience, and makes keeping them up-to-date easier:

• ZoneAlarm Internet Security SuiteMicrosoft
• Windows Live OneCare

The Different Types of Internet Threats (Part 1)

No matter where you live or what you do, there different perils that we have to face everyday. For example, there is crime, accidents, sickness, our health, etc... This is just what we call a fact of life, we either deal with it or stop living.

We also have different ways to protect ourselves by taking certain precautions. Like, not putting ourselves in dangerous situations, driving more carefully, taking care of our bodies, etc...

Using the Internet has just as many perils as life itself, and like in life we have to take certain precautions. For example, we have to deal with viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, spam, etc.. Then there are fairly new types of attacks such as phishing, and botnets.

Phishing is pretty much spam taken to its next logical level. Most phishing attacks rely on a fake email that tries to get you to go to a phony web site to reveal your personal information (such as your user name and password).

Botnets are just malware (i.e.: viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, etc.) taken to its next logical level. Botnets, basically use your computer and bandwidth to send spam, attack a remote web site, etc.

Imagine your computer, and hundreds or thousands like it, waiting for commands from a central server on what to do next. All of this generally done without you even knowing its happening.

(Tomorrow I will discuss how to protect your computer in Part 2 of this article)

Installing the Windows Server 2003 Administration Pack

Are you an IT systems administrator that supports Windows 2003 servers? Maybe you have your own Windows 2003 servers in your office or home? Whatever the case maybe, if you're using Windows XP Professional as your main workstation for your everyday tasks you may want to consider installing the Windows Server 2003 Administration Pack on it.

The Administration Pack is designed for managing Windows 2003 servers. They allow you to remotely troubleshoot, or configure to the operating system without having to be physically at the server or using remote desktop.

To install the Administration Pack, you have one of two options. One, you can download the installer from the Microsoft site. Two, if you have THE Windows Server 2003 CD-ROM, in the \I386 folder there is an installer file called ADMINPAK.MSI.

Additional Download:

• Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 Administration Tools Pack Windows
• Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools
  

Google Calendar is Now Available

If you track events in your life or, in the lives of other then you know the importance of a calendar and especially a calendar that supports collaboration. Well, after several months of speculation, the Google Calendar is now available for you to use.

I made sure to sign-up for my calendar, just in case the service got overloaded like others in the past. When you first login, you will notice that the interface is very clean. Its still rough around the edges, but its a good first attempt.

Below is a list of some of the features:
Calendar Sharing: Set up a calendar where your family, friends, and associates can view each others schedules.
Invitations: Send out invitations to your friends, and track their responses.
Quick Add: Just click anywhere on your calendar where you want to add an event belongs (or just click the Quick Add link), and start typing.
Gmail Integration: Gmail now recognizes events mentioned in emails, and allows you to add them to your calendar without leaving your inbox.
Search: Find the date for particular event in your calendar, or just search public calendars.
Mobile Access: Receive event reminders and notifications on your mobile phone.

Windows XP PowerToys Wallpaper Changer

There is a little known Windows XP PowerToy called the 'Wallpaper Changer'. This PowerToy changes the background wallpaper of your computer's desktop automatically from images you select at predetermined intervals (based on: minutes, hours, or days).

After the program is installed, it loads when you log into your computer, and sits in the notification area. To change its settings, all you have to do is right-click the icon.

Google Releases the Google Toolbar v2.0 for Firefox

I am a big fan of Firefox and Google, which also makes me a big fan of its Toolbar. Recently they released the Google Toolbar v2.0 for Firefox. It's available in 16 languages for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

This updated toolbar includes several new features:

• Enhanced Search Box: search using the toolbar's search box, it will offer you suggestions based on what you type.
• Google Safe Browsing: The Google Safe Browsing extension is now integrated into Google Toolbar, this feature alerts you if you visit a web page that could be a spoof or phishing web site.
• Subscribe to Feed: Allows you quickly and easily add RSS feeds to Google personal home page.
• Send with Gmail: Uses Gmail as your default mail client when you click on a hyperlink that contains a MAILTO: link.
• and more... (see the following page for a complete list of features)

Freeze your hard drive to recover data: Myth or reality? (Data Recovery)

There is an interesting hard drive data recovery technique that you might never have heard about, it involves freezing the damaged drive to get the data off it. It doesn't sound like it should work, but several people claim it does.

This is one of those tricks that you use out of a shear act of desperation, when nothing else has worked. I plan to use this if I ever need to help someone recover data from a failed hard drive, and all other methods of data recovery have been exhausted.

I have to admit I have not tested it or am I recommending that you use it. If you want so more useful information about this technique make sure to read the comments on the following web page, there is a lot of good feedback there.

As I said earlier, you should only use this trick when nothing else works and you're desperate to recover the data from the drive. Also, as I have said in the past in other posts, use this information at your own risk.

Re-surfacing CDs so they work again.

Do you have scratched up CDs or DVDs that contain your favorite software, music, or movie and you can't read it anymore. Generally as long as the label (or top) side is not damaged, and the bottom only contains some surface scratches then you might be able to recover the information using this technique. (Note: Make sure to read the comments, it contains some additional suggestions and information.)

This is one of those tricks that is going to be a 'use at your own risk'. Your results will vary. Also note that I have not validated this method, but if your desperate to recover the information off the media I would suggest giving this trick a shot. Finally, If you're able to recover the data off the media, I would transfer it to another disk as soon as possible. Then I would avoid using that disk again.

Finding and Removing Installed Updates

Do you want to find out what hot fixes have been installed on your computer during the automatic updates that generally happen once a month? There's an easy way to check out which updates have been installed, and if necessary remove them.

• Open the Control Panel folder, and then double-click the 'Add or Remove Programs' applet.
• In the 'Add or Remove Programs' dialog, click the checkbox 'Show updates' at the top (which is not checked by default).
• Scroll down in the list, until you see 'Windows XP - Software Updates'. From here you will see an installed list of updates.
  

If you need to uninstall one of these updates because its causing a problem, all you have to do is press the Remove button next to the update.

Fiber Optic Internet Service

Do you remember the day that you switched from your slower analog dial-up Internet service which peaked out 56.6Kbps (which it could never reach) to your newer digital 'high-speed' Internet access (which can reach speeds between 1-3Mbps and sometimes higher). Then after you switched, you may have wondered how you ever could have lived without it.

You may need to get ready again to ask yourself 'how you ever lived without it'. Verizon recently started offering a new high speed Internet service called FiOS (Fiber Optic Service) for a little while now. Verizon's FiOS offers connection speeds from 15Mbps for about $45 a month and 30Mbps for $199. For a complete list of prices and speeds check out the following web page.

Help My Computer is Making Strange Noises

Is your computer making strange high pitch whirling sounds, or clicking noises? Generally this is an indication that part of your computer is about to fail or has already failed.

Warning: Opening your computer can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Make sure to unplug your system, and ground yourself before touching anything inside of it. If you don't feel comfortable making these repairs yourself, then hire a professional.

Below are possible sources of noises from your computer:

• Hard Drive: If you start your computer, and right away you start to hear some strange sounds (such as high-pitch whirling or clicking, listen to the examples on this page) from your hard drive. This is generally an indication that it has failed or is about to fail. If you can access the data on your drive, I would back it up to another location (such as an external hard drive) as soon as possible.
  
• Power Supply, System, or CPU fans: If you start to hear strange noises from your system fans, this could be an indication that your fan is dirty or has bad ball bearings. If this happens turn off your system and clean the the fans or replace them as necessary. If you want to see what happens when your CPU loses cooling, check out the following video. If the fan that is giving you problems is in your power supply, do not try to replace it. Just replace the whole power supply.
  

Starting/Stopping Windows Services (Part 2)

Sometimes there is a need to start, stop or disable specific Windows services. Although you have to be careful what you stop, some services are dependent on others, so if you stop one you will disable or stop another. Also some services are critical for the system to be able to run properly. Now you have been warned, so consider carefully what you stop.

When managing services on your local computer you may notice that some are started, while others are stopped. You may also notice that some are set to Manual (they have to be manually started), Automatic (they start automatically when the computer boots), and Disabled (they can't be started at all, unless you change their state).

Below are the instructions for managing these services:

• From the Start menu select All Programs | Administrative Tools, and then select Services.
• Scroll through the list of services till you find the service you want to stop.
  
• Right-click the service you want to manage and select Properties.
• In the General tab, under the 'Startup Type' dropdown box you can select the service start state (Automatic, Manual, or Disable). You can also start, stop, pause, or resume the service process from this dialog.
• Press the OK button when done.

Starting/Stopping Windows Services (Part 1)

Did you know that there are applications that are constantly running in the background of your computer whether your logged in or not? These programs are called Windows Services, these programs proform a variety of different tasks, from indexing documents on your computer, to providing network services, and many more.

Below is a List of Windows XP SP2 services that are installed on your computer. Note this list doesn't include 3rd party services, and some services are only available on Windows XP Professional and not Home.

• Alerter
• Application Layer Gateway Service
• Application Management
• Automatic Updates
• Background Intelligent Transfer Service
• Clipbook
• COM+ Event System
• COM+ System Application
• Computer Browser
• Cryptographic Services
• DCOM Server Process Launcher
• DHCP Client
• Distributed Link Tracking Client
• Distributed Transaction Coordinator
• DNS Client
• Error Reporting Service
• Event Log
• Fast User Switching Compatibility
• Fax
• Help and Support
• HTTP SSL
• Human Interface Device Access
• IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service
• Indexing Service
• IPSEC Policy Agent
• Logical Disk Manager
• Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service
• Messenger
• MS Software Shadow Copy Provider
• Net Logon
• NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
• Network Connections
• Network DDE
• Network DDE DSDM
• Network Location Awareness (NLA)
• Network Provisioning Service
• NT LM Security Support Provider
• Performance Logs and Alerts
• Plug and Play
• Portable Media Serial Number Service
• Print Spooler
• Protected Storage
• QoS RSVP
• Remote Access Auto Connection Manager
• Remote Access Connection Manager
• Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator
• Remote Registry Service
• Removable Storage
• Routing and Remote Access
• Secondary Logon
• Security Accounts Manager
• Security Center
• Server
• Shell Hardware Detection
• Smart Card
• SSDP Discovery Service
• System Event Notification
• System Restore Service
• Task Scheduler
• TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
• Telephony
• Terminal Services
• Themes
• Uninterruptible Power Supply
• Universal Plug and Play Device Host
• Volume Shadow Copy
• WebClient
• Windows Audio
• Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
• Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
• Windows Installer
• Windows Management Instrumentation
• Windows Time
• Wireless Zero Configuration
• WMI Performance Adapter
• Workstation

Free Online Storage (Streamload)

Do you need a place to store your files online, so you can access them from another location (such as work)? Maybe you want to share large files (such as: personal photos, audio, or video) with your friends or family.

Streamload is offering 25GB of free online storage. If you need more storage, then you can pay for what you want. Then you can securely access the files through your browser.

You can also use a service like this to backup your personal files off your local computer just in case you lose your hard drive or another catastrophe.

The Port Reporter Tool (Advanced)

Note: The log information produced by this tool can be difficult to understand if you don't have a good knowledge of the TCP/IP network protocols and how the Windows OS functions. To see an example of the log files, check out the following page.

Microsoft has released a great tool for monitoring and diagnosing problems with your network communication. The tool is called, the 'Port Reporter tool'. This tool runs as a service on Windows 2000, XP and 2003, and it logs the TCP and UDP port activity on your local computer.

Below is a brief list of some of the information the tool logs:

• The ports/protocols that are being used
• Which processes are using specific ports
• If a specific process is related to a service
• The user account that the process is running under.
• The modules (i.e. DLL files) that are being used by the process.

Testing TCP/IP Connectivity (Advanced)

Note: The log information produced by this tool can be difficult to understand if you don't have a good knowledge of the TCP/IP network protocols.

Microsoft has released a program called PORTQRY.EXE, which is a tool designed to check TCP/IP network connectivity and port status (both TCP and UDP) on local or remote computers . If you're any type of system administrator (such as: e-mail, database, web, etc.), then you will need a utility like this in your diagnostic tools arsenal.

This program was originally included as part of the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Support Tools. Since then Microsoft has released a new version of it (called PORTQRYV2.EXE) that includes new features and functionality not available in the earlier version.

PORTQRYV2.EXE is a command-line utility, so to get the syntax to run it or to see examples of the output go to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article (MSKB).

LogMeIn Free Remote Access

Do you need access to your home computer while you're on the road or at work. LogMeIn offers a free service for securely accessing your computer from a remote location.

All you have to do is setup an account and install the software on your home computer. Now you can securely access your remote computer from any Internet connected computer.

You can upgrade to the Pro version to transfer, synchronize files remotely and more. See the following page for more information.

Internet Explorer Security Zones

Setting Internet Explorer security settings properly is a tricky process. The default settings keep you pretty safe, but you can always tighten them up to make your computer more secure. The trick is finding the optimal security settings, where web sites still display properly and your computer is still secure.

Internet Explorer uses different security zones to enable or disable different browser functionality and security features to display certain types of web content safely. For example, if you're browsing your company's Intranet, IE will pass your Windows Security credentials. Although, if you're browsing an Internet web site IE will not pass this information.

IE supports four security zones: Internet, Local Intranet, Trusted Sites, and Restricted Sites. Each security zones allows you to set separate security settings and specify which sites fall into which zones. You can set individual permission for each zone by moving a slider up and down, or by setting individual security permissions.

Local Intranet zone: Less restrictive security permissions. Designed to be used for web sites that exist on your companies local Intranet.
Internet zone: The most restrictive security permissions. These settings will apply to most if not all web sites you visit.
Restricted zone: This is a list of sites that you don't trust. Certain potentially insecure web content will be blocked, such as ActiveX controls.
Trusted Sites zone: This is a list of sites that you trust implicitly. Even if certain web content is blocked by the other security zone permissions, web sites listed here will be allowed to display potentially insecure web content.

To access these settings, do the following:

• While in Internet Explorer, from the Tools menu select 'Internet Options'.
• Select the Security tab.
  
• Make the appropriate changes, then press the OK button when done.
  

Desktop Earth - Wallpaper Generator

Desktop Earth is a wallpaper generator for Windows. It runs whenever you log into your computer and updates your desktop's background with an image that accurately represents the Earth as it would be seen from space at that precise moment in time.

Images are rendered from high-resolution textures (2560 x 1280) for any size monitor. There is an image for every month to accurately depict snow and foliage changes. The imagery is based on NASA's Blue Marble Next and Earth's City Lights.

Can't see graphics in email after installing SP2

There are new security features that are added into Outlook Express (OE) when you install Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). By default, SP2 blocks OE's ability to display graphics and other external content in HTML e-mail messages.

This security feature is designed to prevent spammers from using a technology called 'Web Beacons' which lets spammers know that they have a legitimate e-mail address. The way Web Beacons work is when the e-mail client requests an embedded graphic, it has a unique identifier attached to it. The unique identifier tells the spammer which email addresses are legitimate.

To turn off this feature and enable graphics, follow the instructions below

• From the Start menu | All Programs | Outlook Express.
• From the Tools menu and select Options...
• Click the Security tab.
• Uncheck the 'Block images and other external content in HTML e-mail' checkbox
  
• Press the OK button.

FolderShare for Windows

FolderShare is a free application/service that allows you to share your files from across two or more computers at different locations (such as home and work). The way this service works, it that it setups a private peer-2-peer network between to or more computers, and then synchronizes the files between all the computers in the network.

FolderShare consists of two components, 'My FolderShare' and 'FolderShare Satellite'. My FolderShare allows you to manage the file sharing between the two computers. FolderShare Satellite is the software that you run on your computer that allows you to synchronize and share files.

FolderShare Satellite runs in the background on your computer when you're online. Then as you update your files they will be automatically sync with the other devices.

From here you can download FolderShare for Windows or the Macintosh.

Best Free Games on the Web (Article)

1UP.com has a great article about a 101 free games that you can download and play on your computer. Here is an excerpt from the article: "You don't care how you get your fix. You just want to play a new game right now and you don't want to pay a lot for the privilege. Thank God for the Internet, where everything (and its mom) is available for free. So, taking a break from downloading patches and porn, we set upon a journey to gaming-freebie Mecca."

Google Web Accelerator

The Google Web Accelerator is now available for download again. When this service first debuted late last year they had to take it offline soon after releasing it because of capacity problems (too many people were using it). Well, its now back online.

This service is designed for broadband users, and allows you to use Google's network to download web pages more quickly. For more information on how it work see the following FAQ item.

System Requirements:

• Operating System: Window 2000 SP3+, or XP
• Browser: IE 5.5+ or Firefox 1.0+
• Availability: Users in North America and Europe (during beta testing phase)

Microsoft New Ultra-Mobile PC

Microsoft is introducing a new portable computer category called the Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPCs). The UMPC is an extremely portable Windows based computer that you can use on the go, or in a meeting. You can check your e-mail, watch video, manage a budget in Excel, play games, and more.

The UMPCs includes a full copy of Windows XP and the ability to touch, write, or type, on the screen. Since it runs a full version of XP, you can run your favorite Windows-based applications on it. To see the UMPCs interface in action, check out the following demo.

Below is the minimum hardware specifications for these devices:

• Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 OS
• Approximately 7"” diagonal display (or smaller)
• Minimum 800 x 480 resolution
• Approximately 2 pounds
• Integrated touch panel
• WiFi- and Bluetooth-enabled

Free Google Firefox Extensions

Did you know that Google offers free extensions for the Firefox browser that you can download and install? If you don't know what extensions are, they are small applications that can be installed in the browser that adds new functionality.

Below is a list of the extensions that are currently available from Google:

• Google Safe Browsing: Warns you if a site is fake, which can be used to steal your personal information.
• Blogger Web Comments: See what bloggers are saying about the web page you're visiting.
• Google Toolbar: Quickly access Google features and services.
  
• Google Send to Phone: Send text messages to a mobile phone (U.S. numbers only).
• Google Suggest: Enhances Firefox's Search bar with an Auto-complete feature.

Hacking your Linksys WRT54GL Wireless Router (Article)

ExtremeTech has a great article on hacking your Linksys WRT54GL wireless router. If you own one of these devices, then this article is worth checking out. By making an upgrade to the router's firmware, you can add some amazing new features, such as:

• Traffic shaping (a way of optimizing network performance).
• Boasting your router's power output (increases the router range).
• Bridging multiple routers together (increases the router range).
  

Internet Explorer 7.0 Beta 2

Microsoft is making available for download, the Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview. This is the latest version of I.E. 7, and its for Windows XP SP2 only. If you're running an earlier version of the OS, you're out of luck.

Before you download this software, realize its Beta which means that its not the released version. This means use it at your own risk, Microsoft makes no guaranteess, that you will not have compatibility problems.

This Beta is primarily meant for I.T. professionals and web developers to test their web site and applications against the new browser. Although, if you want to check it out for yourself I don't believe there are any restrictions against it.

Some of the new improvements in the browser include: security protection, redesigned user interface, and development platform. Below is a high level list of some of the major new features:

• Phishing Filter (reports if a web site is not who it really is)
• RSS Reader (allows you to read RSS feeds in the browser)
• Tabbed browsing (open multiple web pages in a single window)
• Toolbar search box (quickly search from the toolbar)
• Advanced printing (optimized web page printing)
• Security Status Bar (displays different colors in the status bar to notify you how safe the web site might be)
• Privacy Cleaner (quickly deletes your browser cache, cookies, and other data that might contain personal information)
• And much more...

For a quick tour of IE7, check out the following demo.

Hard Drive Diagnostics with HD Tune

HD Tune helps you monitor your hard drive's performance and health (such as errors and heat). This program uses SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) to check the status of your hard drive. It can also scan the surface of your hard drive for errors.

System Requirements:

• Windows 2000, XP (all versions), 2003 Server (requires administrator access).
• 10MB of free disk space
• SCSI, SATA or IDE hard disk.

Windows Defender

Microsoft recently released a new version of its free anti-spyware program called Windows Defender (Beta 2). This program was originally release last year under a different name (Windows Anti-Spyware).

The program features real-time monitoring that can help protect your computer from many different types of threats caused by spyware. It also features a new streamlined interface.

For more information:

• What is spyware?
• Spyware video
• Quiz: Test your spyware knowledge
• Microsoft's spyware strategy

Windows OneCare Live

Microsoft recently released a new security subscription service called 'Windows OneCare Live'. This new security service is currently in its beta testing phase.

Some of the new features of the service are: an improved software firewall, anti-virus, data backup and cleanup tools for your computer.

Microsoft also announced the pricing of the new service will be: $49.95 per year to protect three PCs. Currently now while its in beta, its free to try until April 30th.

Exploring the Earth (and other planets) From Your Computer

Personally I am a big fan of NASA World Wind and Google Earth, recently I came across a new application called WW2D that offers similar functionality. WW2D is a cross-platform, free and open-source application that allows you to explore Earth using satellite imagery, topographic maps and images from other data sources (such as: Blue Marble Next Generation, Landsat7, USGS Topo Maps, etc.).

The program can dynamically download data from the Internet, or you can download the information to your local computer for faster offline access. You can also explore other worlds such as the Moon and Mars.

Scheduling a Task

Do you have a need to run an application (such as disk defragmenter, virus or malware scan, etc. ) at a predefined time (such as midnight). Windows has a built-in task scheduler that allows you to run an application or script at a specific time.

To schedule a task follow the instructions below:

• Under the Start menu, open the 'Control Panel' folder (or select 'All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Scheduled Tasks')
  
• Double-click the 'Scheduled Tasks' folder.
• Double-click the 'Add Scheduled Task' icon.
• Follow the instructions in the wizard to schedule your task.
• Press the Next button.
• From the list select the application that you want to schedule to run at a predefined intervals, and then press the Next button.
• Select Daily (to run the task daily), Weekly (to run the task one day during the week), etc. Then press the Next button to continue.
• Select the time you want to run the job, and then press the Next button.
• Enter a username and password to run the account under, and then press the Next button.
• Optional: You can check the 'Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish' checkbox to configure the advanced options.
• Press the Finish button when done.

Finding the MAC Address of Remote Computer (Advanced)

Every device on a TCP/IP network has a unique number assigned to it called the MAC (Media Access Control) address. The MAC address is used by the network hardware such as routers, switches, etc. to send traffic from one device to another device on your network.

Your computer uses a service called ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) to resolve and track the TCP/IP and MAC address of the remote devices that you're communicating with. This information is handy for doing semi-low level network troubleshooting. It can also be used for granting or denying permissions to a network segment or device on that network.

To determine the MAC address of a remote device:

• Open the MS-DOS prompt (From the Run... command, type "CMD" and press Enter).
• Ping a remote device that you want to find the MAC address (for example: PING 192.168.0.1).
• Type "ARP -A", and press Enter.

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\WINDOWS>arp -a

Interface: 192.168.1.100 --- 0x10004
Internet Address Physical Address Type
192.168.1.1 aa-fb-c8-34-da-7a dynamic

Hide Desktop Icons

Here is a neat trick, want to hide the icons on your desktop? Follow the instructions below:

• Right-click an empty area on the desktop, and select 'Arrange Icons By.'
• Uncheck the 'Show Desktop Icons' option.

This will hide the icons on your desktop. To unhide the icons just re-check the option.

Starting Windows XP in Safe Mode (Part 1)

If for some reason your copy of Windows XP is not starting properly, or you're having problems with a device driver, you can start Windows in 'Safe Mode'. This mode is also useful for removing malicious software that automatically loads into memory when your computer starts, such as viruses and spyware. In Safe Mode, only a minimal version of the OS will be loaded into memory, all non-essential drivers, services, and startup applications will not be loaded.

The easiest way to enter into Safe Mode is by pressing the F8 key during your computer's startup process. You need to start pressing this key quickly after your comptuer's BIOS screen disappears. If Windows starts loading, you missed your opportunity to enter into Safe Mode.

After you press the F8 key you will enter into the Start up screen, from here you can select Safe Mode or one of the other startup menu options (such as: command prompt, command prompt with networking, or normal with logging). These other start-up modes are useful for debugging problems with your computer's booting.

Wiping Data From Old PCs

If you're selling or giving away an older computer or laptop, you want to make sure that you securely wipe all the data off its hard drive. Simply formatting the hard drive is not enough these days. To really protect yourself you need to use a special program that can securely erase all the data off the drive.

When you format any type of media, the OS will only erase the media's Master File Table (MFT). The MFT tells the OS where all the parts of a file are stored across the disk. Since the data is not erased, it's possible to recover it from the hard drive.

To really protect your personal and financial information you need to use a disk wiping program that can securely erase every bit of data off a drive by writing random information over it several times. There are a few free programs that can perform this type of operation for you.

Secure Disk Eraser: Darik's Boot and Nuke (Erases the whole hard drive)
Secure File Eraser: WipeFree (Erases individual files)

Build It: A Homemade Media Center PC (Article)

Want to build your Media Center PC? PC Magazine has a great article on how to accomplish this. They will explain everything you will need to know, from how to choose the parts for completing this project to how to put it whole thing together.

Controlling the Windows Firewall from the Command Line

Are you a command line guru? Did you know you can configure the Windows firewall from the MS-DOS console without using the GUI interface. This tip requires that Windows XP SP2 be installed on your computer.

To control the firewall, you need to use the NETSH command. For example, from the MS-DOS console (from the Run... command type "cmd" and press the Enter key) type "netsh firewall /?" and press the Enter key. This will displays online help.

Some of things that you can do from the command line are: view, change and delete firewall configurations. For example, to show the state of your firewall, at the MS-DOS console type: "netsh firewall show state" and press the Enter key. You can use the online help for figuring out the rest of the commands.

Security Updates on CD from Microsoft

Microsoft is making it easier for you to download and install security and critical updates. They're being made available as CD image files that can be downloaded and burned to a disc.

These CD images are intended for corporate system administrators who need to update a lot of different computers. There also useful for people who have to repair/setup other people's computers.

Windows XP File Association Fixes

When you double-click on a file, Windows uses a file's extension to know which application to launch. This process is known as file association.

Sometimes certain programs will try to steal other application's file associations and assign them to themselves. For example, older versions of RealPlayer and QuickTime would steal the file associations from the Windows Media Player.

Sometimes it can be challenging to restore the original file associations back to the original application without having to reinstall it. Doug Knox has created some .REG files that you can use to restore some of these file associations back to their original state.

Stream Your Media Anywhere for Free

Orb is free software that allows you to stream your digital media (photos, audio, movies, etc.) over your network or the Internet to another network device (such as a computer or PDA). The great thing about this software is that it doesn't require a web-enabled device (such as the Slingbox) to deliver the media. You can also enhance the software, by using the add-ons.

Hard Drive Healers

I don't do this too often in this blog, but PC Magazine did a great article about a company called Ontrack that specializes in recovering data from damaged hard drives. When I say damaged hard drives, I mean ones that have been burned, shot, dropped in lakes, etc.

This is not a cheap service, but if you need to recover your data this is one solution. Although if you regularly backed up your data you would not have to use this service.

Repairing the WMI (Advanced)

The Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), is an API for performing certain system actions or getting information on how well your system is performing. Sometimes the WMI can get corrupted, and you will get an error like 'Windows Management Instrumentation might be corrupted.'

To find out if the the WMI is broken, from the Run... command type "wmimgmt.msc" press the OK button. This will launch the WMI console, if you get an error message when doing this, there is a good chance that your WMI is broken.

There are two ways to repair this problem, perform in an place upgrade by reinstalling Windows from the Installation disk. You can also try to force the WINMGMT service to re-register itself:

• Open the command console, type "net stop winmgmt". When you get the warning that other services need to be stopped type 'Y' and continue.
• Open 'My Computer' and then go to the folder '%SystemRoot%\System32\WBEM\Repository' and delete that folder.
• Reboot your system.
• After you login, open the command console, and type the following commands in order:
• winmgmt /clearadap
• winmgmt /kill
• winmgmt /unregserver
• winmgmt /regserver
• winmgmt /resyncperf

Note: If this doesn't fix the problem, you need to reinstall Windows

Outlook Express: Creating a Whitelist

One of the more primitive, but most effective form of SPAM filtering is called 'whitelisting.' The way whitelisting works is it only allows you to receive messages in your inbox from a specific set of people.

Below is a set of instructions for setting up a whitelist in Outlook Express using the message rules function.

• Launch Outlook Express
• From the Tools menu select 'Message Rules', and then Mail.
• Press the New button.
• In the 'Select the conditions for your rules: ', check 'Where the From line contains people' checkbox.
  
• Under 'Rule Description', click the link 'contains people'.
• Press the 'Address Book' button. Select people from your address book that you want to permit to send you mail, then press OK when done.
• Press the Options button. Under 'Apply rule if,' select 'Message does not contain the people below," press the OK button.
• In the 'Select the actions for this rule:' check either 'Delete it' or 'Move it to the specified folder' (note: if you're going to use this rule, before specifying it you need to create a folder to quarantine these messages).
• Press the OK buttons when done.

Using the Web Publishing Wizard

Are you looking for an easy way to publish your digital photos to the Web? Microsoft has created the 'Web Publishing Wizard' to make it easy to publish files to the Internet.

To access this wizard:

• Open My Computer from under the Start menu.
• Select a file or folder that you want to publish to the Web.
• In the Windows Explorer sidebar, there is a 'File and Folder Tasks' pane. In this pane click the link that says 'Publish the selected items to the Web'.

This will launch the Web Publishing Wizard. This wizard will walk you through rest of the publishing process. After you validate the files you want to publish, you will be asked to select a service provider to transfer the files too (by default 'MSN Groups' is there). From here you will be asked to log in to the service provider.

Note: You might have to search the web for more service providers if you don't want to use MSN Groups.

Restore the 'Show Desktop' icon

Has the 'Show Desktop' icon been removed from your Quick Launch bar? If you have never used this feature before, it was designed to allow you to quickly minimize all applications to the taskbar just by clicking a button.

Not to worry, you can quickly recreate this feature by performing the following steps below:

• Open Notepad (from the Start Menu, select Run..., type "notepad.exe", then press Enter).
• Copy and paste the following contents into Notepad:
  
  [Shell]
  Command=2
  IconFile=explorer.exe,3
  [Taskbar]
  Command=ToggleDesktop
  

• Save the file as "showdesktop.scf" to your desktop.
  
• Drag the file to the Quick Launch area of the taskbar.
  

Windows Installer CleanUp Utility

Are you unable to remove a particular application from your Windows XP system using the 'Add/Remove Programs' control panel? Microsoft has created a utility called the 'Windows Installer CleanUp Utility' that is designed to remove these troublesome programs. Althought there is a catch, they had to have been installed using the Windows Installer. This utility will remove the installer information, files, folders, another related objects that are use by this program.

To install and use this utility:

• Download the utility from the Microsoft Download Center.
• Run the installer (msicuu2.exe), and answer the questions in the install wizard.
• From the Start menu, under All Programs launch the 'Windows Installer CleanUp Utility'.
• Select the application from the list that you want to uninstall and press the Remove button.

For more information, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article (290301)

The Windows Task Manager

The Windows Task Manager is a great diagnostic utility for diagnosing performance problems with your computer. This is one of the first tools I use to begin to troubleshooting these type of problems.

The Windows XP Task Manager, has five tabs (Applications, Processes, Performance, Networking, and Users). Below is a breakdown of what each tab does:

• Applications: Displays a list of all of the active applications and their status.
  
• From here you can stop applications that are not responding or that are consuming too much of the CPU resources.
  
• Processes: Displays a list of active processes (foreground and background), plus the amount of memory and CPU time each process is using.
• From here you can stop processes that are not working properly.
  
• Performance: Displays how much free/used memory, and processing load on each CPU.
  
• Networking: Displays the utilization of your network connection.
  
• Users: Shows the users connected to your computer.
• From here you can log off users that are no longer logged on your system.
  

Using the XP Recovery Console (Advanced)

In a previous article I talked about how to install the Recovery Console on to your local computer. In this article I will talk about how to access this feature in more depth.

You can access the Recovery Console using one of two different methods:

• Insert the Windows XP installation CD into your CD-ROM drive, after it starts up, press "R" when prompted to perform a repair or recovery.
• If you already install the Recovery Console on your computer, when your computer is first booting if you press F8 quick enough while it is starting, you can select the 'Recovery Console' from the startup options menu.

Note: Windows XP Professional users, you will need the administrator password you created the computer with to access the Recovery Console.

After you have started the Recovery Console you will see the following message:

Microsoft Windows Recovery Console

The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality.
Type Exit to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.

1:C:\WINDOWS

Which Windows installation would you like to log on to (To cancel, press ENTER)?

If you have multiple operating systems installed on your computer (i.e.: Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, etc.), you must select one at this time. When you select the OS, you may be prompted to enter the Administrator password for the OS you select. To exit the Recovery Console, type "exit" at the command prompt and then press the Enter key, this will restart the computer.

For more information on the Recovery Console, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article (314058).

Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool (Advanced)

This is an advanced tip, before you continue you will need the knowledge and software required to burn an ISO file to a CD. You will also need a blank CD or Floppy to use this tip.

Not all system failure (such as the Blue Screen of Death [BSoD]) are related software problems. These failure can also be caused by problems with your hardware, such as RAM going bad. This failure doesn't happen often, but one of the signs its happening is your system becomes unstable. For example, if your system randomly shuts down for no reason on a fairly frequent basis. This could be an indication of your RAM failing.

Microsoft provides a free tool (called 'Windows Memory Diagnostic') that can test your RAM to see if its failing. I had a problem with a computer recently where I was having problems stabilizing the computer so it wouldn't shutdown randomly. So I decided to test out this tool, and sure enough there was a problem with the system's RAM.

To run the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, follow the instructions below:

• Download the application.
  
• Run the application, then read and accept the licensing agreement.
• If you have a floppy drive, press the 'Create Startup Disk...' and follow the directions. If you have a CD-Burner drive, press the 'Save CD Image to Disk...' and follow the directions. From here you will have to burn the ISO to a blank CD.
  
• Leave the boot CD or Floppy you just created in the drive, and restart your computer. (Note: you may have to push a key to boot from the CD, or you may need to enable this feature in your BIOS)

After your computer reboots, Windows Memory Diagnostic will load and begin testing your RAM by reading and writing test patterns to it. I would recommend that you leave this running over night, if you return in the morning and no problems were found there is a good chance that there is no problem with your system's RAM.

Using the System File Checker (SFC)

Sometimes when installing third party software, it may overwrite important operating system files. This can cause Windows or its applications to become unstable or fail altogether.

Windows includes a utility that can scan for problems, and replace the operating system files that may have been overwritten. This tool is called the 'System File Checker' (SFC), to access this tool follow the instructions below:

• From the Start menu, select the Run... command
  
• In the Run dialog box, type: "sfc /scannow" and press the Enter key.

The SFC will start scanning all protected Windows files and verify that they're the correct version. If they're not, the incorrect or missing files will be replaced. You may be prompted to insert your Windows XP installation CD if a problem is detected.

Putting Your Computer into Hibernation Mode Easily

As you may know there are three states that you can place your computer into when you're not using it: sleep, hibernation, and shutdown. Each of these states has its advantages:

• Sleep: puts the computer into a low power state to conserve power or battery life. Use this state if you're only going to be away from your computer for a short time.
  
• Hibernation: saves the computer's memory to the hard drive then turns the computer off. This mode allows you to resume work where you left off when you turn the computer back on. No power is required to keep the computer in this state.
  
• Shutdown: closes all the applications, dumps the memory then turns the computer off. Use this state if you're done using your computer, and are going to shut it down for an extended amount of time.
  

To put your computer into any of these states you can do this from the Shutdown command in the Start menu. although, if you want to quickly put your computer into a sleep state, you can create a shortcut to perform this action for you.

• First make sure the hibernation feature is enabled on your computer.
• Open the Control Panel folder
• Double-click the 'Power Options' applet.
• Click the Hibernate tab
• Make sure the 'Enable hibernation' checkbox is checked.
• Press the OK button
  
• Right-click on an empty area of the desktop, and 'New > Shortcut'.
• When the wizard displays, in the empty field type: "%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState", and then press the Next button.
• Give the new shortcut a name like "Hibernate", and then press the Finish button.

Now all you have to do is double-click the new shortcut, and your computer will go into a hibernation mode.

Free Online Anti-Virus Scanners

Generally there are two types of computer users, those that run up-to-date anti-virus software on their computer, and those that don't. For those that don't run anti-virus software, and want to check if their system is infected (or for someone who wants a second opinion if your computer is really free of viruses). Below is a list of free online anti-virus scanners that can detect and remove viruses on your system.

Note: All the sites listed below require Internet Explorer v6.0 or higher in order to use them:

• Trend Micro Housecall
  
• Symantec Security Check
  
• Panda ActiveScan
• eTrust Antivirus Web Scanner
• McAfee Free Scan

File Virus Scanning
If you receive a file that you think may contain malicious code, you can upload or send it to one of the sites below to have it scanned. Some of these sites will scan the file with multiple anti-virus scanning engines.

• Kaspersky File Scanner
• Jotti's Malware Scanner
  
• Attach a file to an e-mail message and send it to scan@virustotal.com with the word SCAN as the subject line.

Other Resources:

• Best FREE Windows Malicious Software Removal Tools
  

Re-register the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer

The Microsoft Windows Picture and Fax Viewer allows you to preview digital photos, images, and faxes in the Windows Explorer or on the desktop. Sometimes, the file associations (for .JPG, .GIF, .TIF, etc.) that is required to support this application becomes damage or another application re-points it to itself.

If you want to restore the original functionality of the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer then follow the steps below:

• From the Start menu select Run...
• In the Run box, type: "regsvr32 shimgvw.dll" (If that doesn't work, try typing: "regsvr32 /i shimgvw.dll"

Free Personal E-mail Certificates

Did you know the protocols that e-mail clients use to communicate with e-mail servers, and e-mail servers use to communicate with other servers are very insecure. This is why it has been so easy for e-mail viruses, and spam to spread. Plus its very easy to forge a message, to make it look like it came from anyone you want it to. To overcome these limitations more people are securing their e-mail communications, or be able to prove that an email was really sent from them?

In order to do this, it requires a digital certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) that can authenticate who you are. Let me elaborate on the CA part, CAs are a trusted third party (such as: Verisign, and Thwate to name a few) that authenticate your identity. When a CA issues you a digital certificate, they require that you prove who you are (this process varies from CA to CA).

More and more e-mail clients are now supporting digital certificates that allow you to encrypt the contents of your, authenticate the identity of the person who sent the email, and even tell you if the data in the email has been tamper with. These certificates are generally not free, but Thawte has been giving them away for a while for personal use.

When you receive a message that has been digitally signed, it will have an icon that looks like a ribbon on it. If you double-click the ribbon , you can find out information about the sender of the message. Also if the message has been modified, the digital signature will be invalidated.

If you receive a message that is encrypted, it has a lock icon on it. You will be required to authenticate to decrypt the mail. If someone wants to send you an encrypted e-mail they have to have you're public key so that the message can be encrypted before its sent. If you're going to send someone else encrypted e-mail you're going to have to have their public key.

The biggest problem with this technology is Interoperability between e-mail clients. If you're using Outlook Express to communicate with another Outlook or Outlook Express client, you should not experience any problems. But if you're going from an Outlook Express client to another e-mail client that doesn't support SMIME, then you will have issues.

Installing the XP Recovery Console (Advanced)

What do you do if Windows fails to boot after you just installed the latest video driver for your graphics card or some cool new application. These are just a few examples of what can happen when Windows fails to boot. There are other events that can cause this type of failure as well, such as a corrupt boot record, a critical file was deleted, the file system got corrupted, etc.

There is no one solution that can solve all your problems booting your computer except to reinstall the whole operating system. One of your first lines of defense is Windows Recovery Console. The Recovery Console is a text based command line repair tool that allows you to perform some basic diagnostics and repairs of the Windows OS.

There are two ways to access the Recovery Console, the first way is booting off the Windows installation CD, and the second way it to boot to it from your hard drive if you had the forethought to install it before you have problems. If its already installed you access it from the Advanced Boot options screen (press F8 while Windows boots up), or in the OS boot menu.

To install the Recovery Console on your local system follow the instructions below (This will require almost 8MB of free disk space to install this service):

• Insert the Windows installation CD.
• From the Start menu select Run...
• Type the following command "{x:}\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons" (note: replace {x:} with the drive letter assigned to your CD-ROM drive).
• Press the OK button.
• Follow the instructions on the screen to install the Recovery Console.
• When the installation is complete, you will need to reboot your computer.

The Recovery Console will now show up in the list of available operating systems you can select from in the boot menu.

Note: To use the Recovery Console you need administrator privileges on the local computer.

Low-Cost Computer Ergonomics

When using your computer, it should never be painful or uncomfortable to use. Your workstation needs to be a comfortable place for you to work because you may have sit there for several hours everyday. Below are some suggestions to help make your work area more comfortable.

• Adjust the height of the chair to make sure your feet can touch the floor or a footrest (use a large book if necessary).
• Adjust the height of the keyboard tray and chair to make sure your forearms are parallel to the floor with your wrists and elbows angled slightly down or in a neutral position. Your elbows should also be at the same level as the workstation.
  
• The chair's armrests should not interfere with your typing or using the mouse, and you should not have to rest your arms on them to type.
  
• Your face should be about 18 to 24 inches from the monitor. Also consider changing the resolution (higher or lower) of the monitor to make it comfortable for you to view. The topmost line of the displayed should be eye level.
• When using the mouse make sure your hand is relaxed and in a neutral position.
• You should take frequent breaks from the computer, such as getting up and stretching, getting coffee or water, etc.
• All regularly used items around the workstation should be within a 16-inch radius of your reach.
• It's a good idea to avoid using wrist pads to support your wrist when typing, this promotes bad habits. It's better to float your hands above the keyboard while typing.

If your hands, arms, or neck continues to hurt you should consult a doctor as soon as possible.

Layered Service Provider (Advanced)

The most recent version of Internet Explorer includes an upgraded component called Winsock 2 (Winsock stands for Windows Sockets). Winsock is a standard interface between a network aware Windows client application and the underlying TCP/IP protocol stack. Part of this updated component is a feature called Layered Service Provider (LSP). The LSP allows 3rd party vendors to insert code for monitoring or filtering content in the Winsock data stream.

The LSP feature was designed for software developers to create special filter applications that can be used for parental controls, monitoring the TCP/IP traffic , etc. Some malware programs take advantage of the LSP to monitor your network activity without you knowing about it.

Then when you discover these malicious aapplications, and remove it they can leave the LSP without the ability to communicate with the Internet. Thus preventing your applications from communicating with the Internet.

One way to fix the broken chain is by using a freeware utility called LSP-Fix. LSP-Fix works by fixing the Winsock LSP chain by removing orphan entries left behind when LSP software is removed, or by repairing gaps in the chain.

TCP/IP Filtering (Advanced)

When Microsoft created Windows XP, they gave it a built-in software firewall to protect your computer against different types of network attacks. Although the versions of Windows before XP had a featured called 'TCP/IP filtering'. This feature allowed you to filter out different parts of the TCP/IP protocol from entering the computer, such as TCP/UDP ports and IP protocols.

Note: The following is an advanced tip that should only be used by those who have a good understanding of the TCP/IP protocol. This feature has very limited applications since the inclusion of the built-in firewall, but for those who might have a use for it below is the information you will need to get started.

To access the TCP/IP filtering option:

• Open the Control Panel
• Double-click the Network Connections folder
• Right-click your active network connection, and select Properties.
  
• In the General tab, in the list box scroll down until you find 'Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)' and select it.
• Press the Properties button.
• Press the Advanced... button.
• Select the Options tab.
• Select 'TCP/IP filtering' then press the Properties button

From here you can configure TCP/IP filtering, by limiting the incoming TCP/UDP ports, and incoming IP protocols (you must specify the IP protocol number, for example the IP protocol 'General Routing Encapsulation' [GRE] is number 47).

References:

• Internet Protocol Numbers
• TCP and UDP port numbers
  

Notes:

• This feature applies to all network interfaces on your computer.
• This feature does not allow you to block ICMP traffic.
• This feature does not affect outbound traffic or response ports that are created to accept responses from outbound requests.
  

Google Pack Software

Google made an interesting announcement at CES, they unveiled a new package of software called the 'Google Pack'. This software bundles together several popular applications that you might use everyday into one package, and then helps you keep it up-to-date. Most of these applications are available free by themselves, but what is great about this package of software is that it all comes bundled together.

Below is a a complete list of the applications that are included in the Google Pack:

• Google Earth
• Google Toolbar for IE
• Ad-Aware SE Personal
• Google Desktop
• Google Pack Screensaver
• Norton AntiVirus 2005 SE
• Picasa
• Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar
• Adobe Reader 7
• RealPlayer
• Trillian
  

To download the the 'Google Pack' software, go to the following site.

Testing Broadband Connection Speed

If you already have a broadband connection (such as Cable, DSL, etc.), or just signed up for one, your service provider will make all kinds of promises about how fast the connection will be. Then after you have it installed there is no way to truely tell if you're really getting the bandwidth you're paying for.

If you want to validate the speed of your Internet connection, you will need to use a web site that can measure its bandwidth. There are several of these sites available on the Internet that can measure how fast your Internet connection is, but some seem better then others.

One of these sites that I like is from a company called Speakeasy, they have an easy to use and easy to understand connection speed test. All you have to do is select a server that is close to where you live, and watch your computer's display.

Note: The results of these tests can be affected by several factors, such as other people sharing your connection or processing loads on the Speakeasy servers.

Removing Windows Components (Advanced)

There are some Windows components (such as the Windows Media Player, multimedia components, Hyperterminal and more) that are intentionally hidden so that they can't be easily uninstall by using the 'Add or Remove Programs' applet from the Control Panel. The reason for this is that you can disable certain Windows system functionality by uninstalling some of this software.

I don't recommend removing any of these components, by doing so you can disable your Windows OS. In fact the only reason why I am sharing this tip is for those individuals that might have a real reason to uninstall these components for troubleshooting reasons.

To uninstall these components, you have to modify a text file called 'Sysoc.inf'. You have to remove the word 'Hide' (make sure you leave the commas) from the line of text.

For example:
Hidden
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
Unhidden
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7

To unhide these components:

• Open the Notepad, then open the following file: C:\Windows\Inf\Sysoc.inf
• Press Ctrl+H, and replace the string ,hide, with ,,
• Save the file.
• Open the 'Add or Remove Programs' control panel.
  
• The hidden components will appear in 'Add/Remove Windows Components'.

Below is a list of the hidden options, and what they are:

• AccessOpt: Accessibility Wizard
• com: COM+
• CommApps: Communications components (including: Chat, Hyperterminal, and Phone Dialer)
• dtc: Distributed Transaction Coordinator
• iis: Internet Information Server
• msmsgs: Windows Messenger
• MSWordPad: WordPad
• MultiM: Multimedia components (including: Media Player, Sound Recorder, and Volume Control)
• Pinball: Pinball game
• Starter: Starter Edition Optional Component
• TerminalServer: Terminal Server
• WBEM: Windows Management Instrumentation
  

Shared Computer Toolkit

Do you have shared computers in a public place (such as in a library, school, or other organization)? Since these computers are so accessible to the general public, they will need to handle the day-to-day abuse that they will receive. From the computer phobic who can crash any application without trying to Johnny 'want-to-be' hacker who thinks he crack into any computer.

Microsoft is now offering a free tool that can lock down these public computers, its called the 'Shared Computer Toolkit' (SCT). This application allows you to lock down the computer's configuration, including Internet and application access. The SCT works by locking down the system through group policy settings, then replaces the boot partition every time the computer is rebooted.

System Requirements:

• Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.
• Disk partition about 10% of size of the boot partition.