Speed up XP & Free up HD Space

Felix here does a nice screencast on how speed up your Windows XP. He's a bit quick but it has some good info. Stuff I hadn't tried yet.

How to: Forgotten Password (XP Home)

Recently I was trying to log on to a PC(recent gift) that had Windows XP Home Edition that had password protected accounts. I was a bit baffled at first but after some research I found a relatively easy work around.

First you reboot the computer and log onto "Safe Mode" (usually by pressing F8 but some PC's differ). This will log you on as an "Administrator". Go to "Control Panel" then "User Accounts". From that point you can change or add/remove any password on any account. This could be a great way to to play a joke on a loved one/friend too (but you didn't get that from me of course). This only works in Windows XP Home Edition and not XP Professional which has tighter security. With XP Pro you'd probably need some third party software to crack the password like Ophcrack or something similar. I've not tried this so I can't vouch for it. Good luck and have a great day.

Installing Backtrack 3 to dual boot with XP

I was recently asked to upgrade a laptop's drive(Dell Lattitude D600) from an 80Gb to a 120 Gb and to install Backtrack 3(Linux) in a dual boot with Windows XP. Backtrack 3 is a Linux distribution focusing on wireless security. The website for it is here called Remote Exploit. After I had successfully cloned the drive over using XXClone software, my next task was to configure the dual boot. I first tried to find some video's on Youtube on the subject or at least some instruction on the web. Though I did find some, many were a bit confusing even contradicting. 90% were for Ubuntu which though similar wasn't quite the same setup. For some reason didn't even think to try main website (Remote Exploit) so I ended up there and sure enough I found a tutorial video on dual booting XP and Backtrack. This was done by one of the developers Mati Aharoni(user: muts). It's a good tutorial though he's a bit quick though. I had to stop the video several times to follow along. I basically copied how he did it. Needless to say it was successful and the laptop now is configured to dual boot both Windows XP and Backtrack 3. There were a few moments when I held my breath because of a couple of goofs(though mostly my fault, Mati did a couple too) one was one line that had something like "root/root/" and all that was needed was one "root/" command. There were a couple of other's but I can't remember them(sorry).

I was happy that I was successful though it was tedious entering all the settings manually. It's not for the faint of heart. Most importantly(Even Mati emphasizes this) is to have a backup. I had just cloned the drive so basically I had a backup in case I messed up. You should too if you attempt this. Also if you attempt this I suggest have a good chunk of time and coupled with a whole lot of patience.

Source: Wiki page for Backtrack 3

PC Basics: Windows XP - Desktop

No I'm not talking about the coffee ring filled, cluttered with old bills one that your monitor sits on. The one your looking at right now on your monitor. What you see on your screen is what Microsoft calls a Desktop. I wouldn't advise putting your coffee on it though. Whatever you do on your computer runs through your desktop. Getting familiar with your desktop is another essential item in learning to use your computer. What I'm going to cover today is the basic items on your desktop,like the Taskbar, the Start button and System Tray.

Let me just give you a general overview of the desktop and then I'll cover individual items. On your desktop you'll have what is called a taskbar running along the bottom. You can actually move it around to different sides of the computer but the majority of the user's I've seen keep it on the bottom. Included in the task bar are the Start button and what is called the system tray(or notification area) . Yes you use the Start button to shut off the computer. It's proof Bill Gates has a sense of humor. Anyway above the taskbar in the great wide open is the rest of your desktop. Everyone's is usually different. You can customize by putting your own pictures up (called wallpaper). Generally you'll have what are called icons on your desktop. These are many times shortcuts to your more popular programs or files. A common icon is the recycle bin which is where your deleted files go.


Windows taskbar


This is the bar like I described above that runs across the bottom of your display. This is the genaral area where Windows tells you what is going on. You have the Start button on your left and the System area on the right. In between windows will give you button which tells you what programs or what windows are open. You can use these to switch between windows or programs quickly.




Start Me Up

First things first. Let's begin with the start button. This is located on the bottom left hand corner of your desktop. This button is the window to everything inside your computer. If you click on it it will bring up what is called the Start Menu which you can access your files, start up programs , maintain your PC, restart or shutdown your PC and wash your car. Ok I made up the last one but, you get the idea.

System Tray (aka:Notification area)


This is located in the bottom right of the taskbar. It's where your clock is. On a side note about the clock, Microsoft may be known for software but not time keeping. These can be notoriously inaccurate. So be aware of that before you realize your late for your dentist appointment or meeting for your next performance review. Also located here are items generally running in the background, Stuff like volume settings,whether your antivirus is running, spyware programs, your network connection and so on.


Well that seems simple enough doesn't it? Well we cover the basic items on the desktop like taskbar, system tray and the mighty Start button. In upcoming articles I'll be covering those items in more detail. As always thank you for coming by and have a great day.

Operating systems for older machine

First I'd like say thanks to for Ray accepting an invitation to post here. I work with Ray on a daily basis at our day jobs. What he brings here is his perspective on items like (but not limited to) laptop's, freeware software, alternate operating systems(Linux etc..) and his experience with dealing with spyware and virus's. I look forward to his stuff.

Ok on to my main subject which of course choosing an operating system for an older machine(say 5-6 years old in this case)> I came across an interesting item here from PC Daily Tips . The author tells how he put Windows 2000 pro in his wife's laptop. I've put Windows 2000 in several machines and also run on the family PC(which is close to 8 years old) and I find it to be a very dependable operating system which at times is faster than comparable machines running XP. It may not be able run all the latest games or highly graphical programs but for everyday home/office use it does the job. It's great for a second PC, student or kid's first PC. Linux might be for a more advanced user which I'm sure Ray introduce some here. Well that's just my two cents. Have a great day and come back soon.