PC Tips and Tricks

Change The Default Location For Installing Apps

2009-12-06T15:53:00.002+05:30

As the size of hardrives increase, more people are using partitions to seperate and store groups of files.

XP uses the C:\Program Files directory as the default base directory into which new programs are installed. However, you can change the default installation drive and/ or directory by using a Registry hack.

Run the Registry Editor (regedit)and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

Look for the value named ProgramFilesDir. by default,this value will be C:\Program Files. Edit the value to any valid drive or folder and XP will use that new location as the default installation directory for new programs.

Booting XP Fast

2009-12-06T15:50:00.002+05:30

Boot Winxp Fast

Follow the following steps

1. Open notepad.exe, type "del c:\windows\prefetch\ntosboot-*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.bat" in c:\
2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc".
3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window.
4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open".
5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.
6. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "devmgmt.msc".
7. Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
8. Right click on "Primary IDE Channel" and select "Properties".
9. Select the "Advanced Settings" tab then on the device or 1 that doesn't have 'device type' greyed out select 'none' instead of 'autodetect' & click "OK".
10. Right click on "Secondary IDE channel", select "Properties" and repeat step 9.
11. Reboot your computer.

.BIN & .CUE simple tutorial.

2009-12-06T15:49:00.000+05:30

There always seems to be the question "what do I do with a .bin and .cue file" in these forums so I figured I would write a quick and simple tutorial. Please feel free to add more.

So you have downloaded two files, one with a .bin extension and one with a .cue extension. "What do I do with these?" you ask. There are a number of options.

BURN TO CD

You will need either NERO, CDRWIN or FIREBURNER to burn the file.

To burn with NERO:
Start NERO, choose FILE, choose BURN IMAGE, locate the .cue file you have and double click it. A dialog box will come up, for anything other than music make sure you choose DISC-AT-ONCE (DAO). You can also turn off the simulation burn if you so choose.
Then burn away.

To burn with CDRWin:
Start CDRWin, choose the button on the top left, choose LOAD CUESHEET, press START RECORDING.

To burn with Fireburner:
Start Fireburner, click on the button on the bottom left corner "VISUAL CUE BURNER/BINCHUNKER", press the right mouse button and choose LOAD TRACKS FROM .CUE and choose the correct .CUE file, press the right mouse button again and chooseselect "Burn/Test Burn", choose DISK AT ONCE (DAO), disable TEST BURN and MULTISESSION, press OK.

.CUE ERRORS
The most common error you will get with a .cue file is when it points to an incorrect path. This is easily fixed. Find the .bin file, copy the exact title including the .bin extension. Now find the .cue file, open the .cue file using notepad. It should look similar to this:

FILE "name of file.bin" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 MODE2/2352
INDEX 00 00:04:00
INDEX 01 00:06:00

Delete everything in the quotes, in this case we would
delete name of file.bin. Now place the title you copied
in between the quotes. Save the changes and close out.
Thats it, your .cue file should work now.

OTHER WAYS TO USE .BIN & .CUE FILES

VCDGear:
This program will allow you to extract MPEG streams from CD images, convert VCD files to MPEG, correct MPEG errors, and more.

Daemon Tools:
This program creates a virtual drive on your PC which will allow you to "mount" the .cue file and use whatever is in the .bin file without having to burn it to a cd.

ISOBuster:
This program will allow you to "bust" open the .bin file and extract the files within the .bin.
_________________

Best Keyboard Shotcuts

2009-12-06T15:48:00.003+05:30

Getting used to using your keyboard exclusively and leaving your mouse behind will make you much more efficient at performing any task on any Windows system. I use the following keyboard shortcuts every day:

Windows key + R = Run menu

This is usually followed by:
cmd = Command Prompt
iexplore + "web address" = Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc = Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management
services.msc = Services
eventvwr = Event Viewer
dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services
Windows key + E = Explorer

ALT + Tab = Switch between windows

ALT, Space, X = Maximize window

CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager

Windows key + Break = System properties

Windows key + F = Search

Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows

CTRL + C = copy

CTRL + X = cut

CTRL + V = paste

Also don't forget about the "Right-click" key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you've opened up any program.

Keyboard Shortcuts

[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications

[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter

[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu

[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)

[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window

[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document

Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word

Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph

[F1] Open Help for active application

Windows+M Minimize all open windows

Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows

Windows+F1 Open Windows Help

Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons

Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box

acessability shortcuts

Right SHIFT for eight seconds........ Switch FilterKeys on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN....... Switch High Contrast on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK....... Switch MouseKeys on and off.

SHIFT....... five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.

NUM LOCK...... for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.

explorer shortcuts

END....... Display the bottom of the active window.

HOME....... Display the top of the active window.

NUM LOCK+ASTERISK....... on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.

LEFT ARROW...... Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder.

RIGHT ARROW....... Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder.

Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run

devmgmt.msc = Device Manager
msinfo32 = System Information
cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup
ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc = Microsoft Management Console
excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)
msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)
powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)
winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)
frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)
notepad = Notepad
wordpad = WordPad
calc = Calculator
msmsgs = Windows Messenger
mspaint = Microsoft Paint
wmplayer = Windows Media Player
rstrui = System Restore
netscp6 = Netscape 6.x
netscp = Netscape 7.x
netscape = Netscape 4.x
waol = America Online
control = Opens the Control Panel
control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog

internetbrowser

type in u're adress "google", then press [Right CTRL] and [Enter]
add www. and .com to word and go to it

For Windows XP:

Copy. CTRL+C
Cut. CTRL+X
Paste. CTRL+V
Undo. CTRL+Z
Delete. DELETE
Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE
Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item
Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item
Rename selected item. F2
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW
Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select all. CTRL+A
Search for a file or folder. F3
View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER
Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4
Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4
Switch between open items. ALT+TAB
Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC
Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6
Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10
Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC
Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu
Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10
Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW
Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW
Refresh the active window. F5
View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE
Cancel the current task. ESC
SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.

Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:

To Press
Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB
Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
Move forward through options. TAB
Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB
Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter
Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER
Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR
Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
Display Help. F1
Display the items in the active list. F4
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE

If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

Display or hide the Start menu. WIN Key
Display the System Properties dialog box. WIN Key+BREAK
Show the desktop. WIN Key+D
Minimize all windows. WIN Key+M
Restores minimized windows. WIN Key+Shift+M
Open My Computer. WIN Key+E
Search for a file or folder. WIN Key+F
Search for computers. CTRL+WIN Key+F
Display Windows Help. WIN Key+F1
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. WIN Key+ L
Open the Run dialog box. WIN Key+R
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U

accessibility keyboard shortcuts:

Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds
Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN
Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK
Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times
Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U

shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:

Display the bottom of the active window. END
Display the top of the active window. HOME
Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)
Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)
Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW

Error Code Manual

2009-12-06T15:24:00.000+05:30

After repeated requests for beep codes i have decided to post them here maybe they could be pinned

Standard Original IBM POST Error Codes
Code Description

1 short beep System is OK
2 short beeps POST Error - error code shown on screen No beep Power supply or system board problem Continuous beep Power supply, system board, or keyboard problem Repeating short beeps Power supply or system board problem
1 long, 1 short beep System board problem
1 long, 2 short beeps Display adapter problem (MDA, CGA)
1 long, 3 short beeps Display adapter problem (EGA)
3 long beeps 3270 keyboard card
IBM POST Diagnostic Code Descriptions
Code Description
100 - 199 System Board
200 - 299 Memory
300 - 399 Keyboard
400 - 499 Monochrome Display
500 - 599 Colour/Graphics Display
600 - 699 Floppy-disk drive and/or Adapter
700 - 799 Math Coprocessor
900 - 999 Parallel Printer Port
1000 - 1099 Alternate Printer Adapter
1100 - 1299 Asynchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1300 - 1399 Game Port
1400 - 1499 Colour/Graphics Printer
1500 - 1599 Synchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1700 - 1799 Hard Drive and/or Adapter
1800 - 1899 Expansion Unit (XT)
2000 - 2199 Bisynchronous Communication Adapter
2400 - 2599 EGA system-board Video (MCA)
3000 - 3199 LAN Adapter
4800 - 4999 Internal Modem
7000 - 7099 Phoenix BIOS Chips
7300 - 7399 3.5" Disk Drive
8900 - 8999 MIDI Adapter
11200 - 11299 SCSI Adapter
21000 - 21099 SCSI Fixed Disk and Controller
21500 - 21599 SCSI CD-ROM System

AMI BIOS Beep Codes
Code Description

1 Short Beep System OK
2 Short Beeps Parity error in the first 64 KB of memory
3 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB
4 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB Operational of memory
or Timer 1 on the motherboard is not functioning
5 Short Beeps The CPU on the motherboard generated an error
6 Short Beeps The keyboard controller may be bad. The BIOS cannot switch to protected mode
7 Short Beeps The CPU generated an exception interrupt
8 Short Beeps The system video adapter is either missing, or its memory is faulty
9 Short Beeps The ROM checksum value does not match the value encoded in the BIOS
10 Short Beeps The shutdown register for CMOS RAM failed
11 Short Beeps The external cache is faulty
1 Long, 3 Short Beeps Memory Problems
1 Long, 8 Short Beeps Video Card Problems

Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes
Note - Phoenix BIOS emits three sets of beeps, separated by a brief pause.

Code Description
1-1-3 CMOS read/write failure
1-1-4 ROM BIOS checksum error
1-2-1 Programmable interval timer failure
1-2-2 DMA initialisation failure
1-2-3 DMA page register read/write failure
1-3-1 RAM refresh verification failure
1-3-3 First 64k RAM chip or data line failure
1-3-4 First 64k RAM odd/even logic failure
1-4-1 Address line failure first 64k RAM
1-4-2 Parity failure first 64k RAM
2-_-_ Faulty Memory
3-1-_ Faulty Motherboard
3-2-4 Keyboard controller Test failure
3-3-4 Screen initialisation failure
3-4-1 Screen retrace test failure
3-4-2 Search for video ROM in progress
4-2-1 Timer tick interrupt in progress or failure
4-2-2 Shutdown test in progress or failure
4-2-3 Gate A20 failure
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode
4-3-1 RAM test in progress or failure>ffffh
4-3-2 Faulty Motherboard
4-3-3 Interval timer channel 2 test or failure
4-3-4 Time of Day clock test failure
4-4-1 Serial port test or failure
4-4-2 Parallel port test or failure
4-4-3 Math coprocessor test or failure
Low 1-1-2 System Board select failure
Low 1-1-3 Extended CMOS RAM failure

Beep Code Manual !!!!

2009-12-06T15:23:00.000+05:30

Beep Code Manual, Better Than Gold Techies, American Megatrends Int. & Phoenix

BIOS Beep Codes

When a computer is first turned on, or rebooted, its BIOS performs a power-on self test (POST) to test the system's hardware, checking to make sure that all of the system's hardware components are working properly. Under normal circumstances, the POST will display an error message; however, if the BIOS detects an error before it can access the video card, or if there is a problem with the video card, it will produce a series of beeps, and the pattern of the beeps indicates what kind of problem the BIOS has detected.
Because there are many brands of BIOS, there are no standard beep codes for every BIOS.

The two most-used brands are AMI (American Megatrends International) and Phoenix.

Below are listed the beep codes for AMI systems, and here are the beep codes for Phoenix systems.

AMI Beep Codes

Beep Code Meaning
1 beep DRAM refresh failure. There is a problem in the system memory or the motherboard.
2 beeps Memory parity error. The parity circuit is not working properly.
3 beeps Base 64K RAM failure. There is a problem with the first 64K of system memory.
4 beeps System timer not operational. There is problem with the timer(s) that control functions on the motherboard.
5 beeps Processor failure. The system CPU has failed.
6 beeps Gate A20/keyboard controller failure. The keyboard IC controller has failed, preventing gate A20 from switching the processor to protect mode.
7 beeps Virtual mode exception error.
8 beeps Video memory error. The BIOS cannot write to the frame buffer memory on the video card.
9 beeps ROM checksum error. The BIOS ROM chip on the motherboard is likely faulty.
10 beeps CMOS checksum error. Something on the motherboard is causing an error when trying to interact with the CMOS.
11 beeps Bad cache memory. An error in the level 2 cache memory.
1 long beep, 2 short Failure in the video system.
1 long beep, 3 short A failure has been detected in memory above 64K.
1 long beep, 8 short Display test failure.
Continuous beeping A problem with the memory or video.
BIOS Beep Codes

Phoenix Beep Codes

Phoenix uses sequences of beeps to indicate problems. The "-" between each number below indicates a pause between each beep sequence. For example, 1-2-3 indicates one beep, followed by a pause and two beeps, followed by a pause and three beeps. Phoenix version before 4.x use 3-beep codes, while Phoenix versions starting with 4.x use 4-beep codes. Click here for AMI BIOS beep codes.
4-Beep Codes
Beep Code Meaning
1-1-1-3 Faulty CPU/motherboard. Verify real mode.
1-1-2-1 Faulty CPU/motherboard.
1-1-2-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-1-3-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components. Initialize chipset registers with initial POST values.
1-1-3-2 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-1-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components. Initialize CPU registers.
1-1-3-2
1-1-3-3
1-1-3-4 Failure in the first 64K of memory.
1-1-4-1 Level 2 cache error.
1-1-4-3 I/O port error.
1-2-1-1 Power management error.
1-2-1-2
1-2-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-2-2-1 Keyboard controller failure.
1-2-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
1-2-3-1 System timer error.
1-2-3-3 DMA error.
1-2-4-1 IRQ controller error.
1-3-1-1 DRAM refresh error.
1-3-1-3 A20 gate failure.
1-3-2-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-3-3-1 Extended memory error.
1-3-3-3
1-3-4-1
1-3-4-3 Error in first 1MB of system memory.
1-4-1-3
1-4-2-4 CPU error.
1-4-3-1
2-1-4-1 BIOS ROM shadow error.
1-4-3-2
1-4-3-3 Level 2 cache error.
1-4-4-1
1-4-4-2
2-1-1-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-1-1-3
2-1-2-1 IRQ failure.
2-1-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
2-1-2-4
2-1-3-2 I/O port failure.
2-1-3-1
2-1-3-3 Video system failure.
2-1-1-3
2-1-2-1 IRQ failure.
2-1-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
2-1-2-4 I/O port failure.
2-1-4-3
2-2-1-1 Video card failure.
2-2-1-3
2-2-2-1
2-2-2-3 Keyboard controller failure.
2-2-3-1 IRQ error.
2-2-4-1 Error in first 1MB of system memory.
2-3-1-1
2-3-3-3 Extended memory failure.
2-3-2-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-3-2-3
2-3-3-1 Level 2 cache error.
2-3-4-1
2-3-4-3 Motherboard or video card failure.
2-3-4-1
2-3-4-3
2-4-1-1 Motherboard or video card failure.
2-4-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-4-2-1 RTC error.
2-4-2-3 Keyboard controller error.
2-4-4-1 IRQ error.
3-1-1-1
3-1-1-3
3-1-2-1
3-1-2-3 I/O port error.
3-1-3-1
3-1-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-1-4-1
3-2-1-1
3-2-1-2 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
3-2-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-2-2-1 Keyboard controller error.
3-2-2-3
3-2-3-1
3-2-4-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-2-4-3 IRQ error.
3-3-1-1 RTC error.
3-3-1-3 Key lock error.
3-3-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-3-3-3
3-3-4-1
3-3-4-3
3-4-1-1
3-4-1-3
3-4-2-1
3-4-2-3
3-4-3-1
3-4-4-1
3-4-4-4 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-1-1-1 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
4-2-1-1
4-2-1-3
4-2-2-1 IRQ failure.
4-2-2-3
4-2-3-1
4-2-3-3
4-2-4-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-2-4-3 Keyboard controller error.
4-3-1-3
4-3-1-4
4-3-2-1
4-3-2-2
4-3-3-1
4-3-4-1
4-3-4-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-3-3-2
4-3-3-4 IRQ failure.
4-3-3-3
4-3-4-2 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
3-Beep Codes
Beep Code Meaning
1-1-2 Faulty CPU/motherboard.
1-1-3 Faulty motherboard/CMOS read-write failure.
1-1-4 Faulty BIOS/BIOS ROM checksum error.
1-2-1 System timer not operational. There is a problem with the timer(s) that control functions on the motherboard.
1-2-2
1-2-3 Faulty motherboard/DMA failure.
1-3-1 Memory refresh failure.
1-3-2
1-3-3
1-3-4 Failure in the first 64K of memory.
1-4-1 Address line failure.
1-4-2 Parity RAM failure.
1-4-3 Timer failure.
1-4-4 NMI port failure.
2-_-_ Any combination of beeps after 2 indicates a failure in the first 64K of memory.
3-1-1 Master DMA failure.
3-1-2 Slave DMA failure.
3-1-3
3-1-4 Interrupt controller failure.
3-2-4 Keyboard controller failure.
3-3-1
3-3-2 CMOS error.
3-3-4 Video card failure.
3-4-1 Video card failure.
4-2-1 Timer failure.
4-2-2 CMOS shutdown failure.
4-2-3 Gate A20 failure.
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode.
4-3-1 RAM test failure.
4-3-3 Timer failure.
4-3-4 Time of day clock failure.
4-4-1 Serial port failure.
4-4-2 Parallel port failure.
4-4-3 Math coprocessor.

What is BANDWIDTH?????????????

2009-12-06T15:21:00.002+05:30

This is well written explanation about bandwidth, very useful info.

BandWidth Explained

Most hosting companies offer a variety of bandwidth options in their plans. So exactly what is bandwidth as it relates to web hosting? Put simply, bandwidth is the amount of traffic that is allowed to occur between your web site and the rest of the internet. The amount of bandwidth a hosting company can provide is determined by their network connections, both internal to their data center and external to the public internet.

Network Connectivity

The internet, in the most simplest of terms, is a group of millions of computers connected by networks. These connections within the internet can be large or small depending upon the cabling and equipment that is used at a particular internet location. It is the size of each network connection that determines how much bandwidth is available. For example, if you use a DSL connection to connect to the internet, you have 1.54 Mega bits (Mb) of bandwidth. Bandwidth therefore is measured in bits (a single 0 or 1). Bits are grouped in bytes which form words, text, and other information that is transferred between your computer and the internet.

If you have a DSL connection to the internet, you have dedicated bandwidth between your computer and your internet provider. But your internet provider may have thousands of DSL connections to their location. All of these connection aggregate at your internet provider who then has their own dedicated connection to the internet (or multiple connections) which is much larger than your single connection. They must have enough bandwidth to serve your computing needs as well as all of their other customers. So while you have a 1.54Mb connection to your internet provider, your internet provider may have a 255Mb connection to the internet so it can accommodate your needs and up to 166 other users (255/1.54).

Traffic

A very simple analogy to use to understand bandwidth and traffic is to think of highways and cars. Bandwidth is the number of lanes on the highway and traffic is the number of cars on the highway. If you are the only car on a highway, you can travel very quickly. If you are stuck in the middle of rush hour, you may travel very slowly since all of the lanes are being used up.

Traffic is simply the number of bits that are transferred on network connections. It is easiest to understand traffic using examples. One Gigabyte is 2 to the 30th power (1,073,741,824) bytes. One gigabyte is equal to 1,024 megabytes. To put this in perspective, it takes one byte to store one character. Imagine 100 file cabinets in a building, each of these cabinets holds 1000 folders. Each folder has 100 papers. Each paper contains 100 characters - A GB is all the characters in the building. An MP3 song is about 4MB, the same song in wav format is about 40MB, a full length movie can be 800MB to 1000MB (1000MB = 1GB).

If you were to transfer this MP3 song from a web site to your computer, you would create 4MB of traffic between the web site you are downloading from and your computer. Depending upon the network connection between the web site and the internet, the transfer may occur very quickly, or it could take time if other people are also downloading files at the same time. If, for example, the web site you download from has a 10MB connection to the internet, and you are the only person accessing that web site to download your MP3, your 4MB file will be the only traffic on that web site. However, if three people are all downloading that same MP at the same time, 12MB (3 x 4MB) of traffic has been created. Because in this example, the host only has 10MB of bandwidth, someone will have to wait. The network equipment at the hosting company will cycle through each person downloading the file and transfer a small portion at a time so each person's file transfer can take place, but the transfer for everyone downloading the file will be slower. If 100 people all came to the site and downloaded the MP3 at the same time, the transfers would be extremely slow. If the host wanted to decrease the time it took to download files simultaneously, it could increase the bandwidth of their internet connection (at a cost due to upgrading equipment).

Hosting Bandwidth

In the example above, we discussed traffic in terms of downloading an MP3 file. However, each time you visit a web site, you are creating traffic, because in order to view that web page on your computer, the web page is first downloaded to your computer (between the web site and you) which is then displayed using your browser software (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.) . The page itself is simply a file that creates traffic just like the MP3 file in the example above (however, a web page is usually much smaller than a music file).

A web page may be very small or large depending upon the amount of text and the number and quality of images integrated within the web page. For example, the home page for CNN.com is about 200KB (200 Kilobytes = 200,000 bytes = 1,600,000 bits). This is typically large for a web page. In comparison, Yahoo's home page is about 70KB.

How Much Bandwidth Is Enough?

It depends (don't you hate that answer). But in truth, it does. Since bandwidth is a significant determinant of hosting plan prices, you should take time to determine just how much is right for you. Almost all hosting plans have bandwidth requirements measured in months, so you need to estimate the amount of bandwidth that will be required by your site on a monthly basis

If you do not intend to provide file download capability from your site, the formula for calculating bandwidth is fairly straightforward:

Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Views x Average Page Size x 31 x Fudge Factor

If you intend to allow people to download files from your site, your bandwidth calculation should be:

[(Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Views x Average Page Size) +
(Average Daily File Downloads x Average File Size)] x 31 x Fudge Factor

Let us examine each item in the formula:

Average Daily Visitors - The number of people you expect to visit your site, on average, each day. Depending upon how you market your site, this number could be from 1 to 1,000,000.

Average Page Views - On average, the number of web pages you expect a person to view. If you have 50 web pages in your web site, an average person may only view 5 of those pages each time they visit.

Average Page Size - The average size of your web pages, in Kilobytes (KB). If you have already designed your site, you can calculate this directly.

Average Daily File Downloads - The number of downloads you expect to occur on your site. This is a function of the numbers of visitors and how many times a visitor downloads a file, on average, each day.

Average File Size - Average file size of files that are downloadable from your site. Similar to your web pages, if you already know which files can be downloaded, you can calculate this directly.

Fudge Factor - A number greater than 1. Using 1.5 would be safe, which assumes that your estimate is off by 50%. However, if you were very unsure, you could use 2 or 3 to ensure that your bandwidth requirements are more than met.

Usually, hosting plans offer bandwidth in terms of Gigabytes (GB) per month. This is why our formula takes daily averages and multiplies them by 31.

Summary

Most personal or small business sites will not need more than 1GB of bandwidth per month. If you have a web site that is composed of static web pages and you expect little traffic to your site on a daily basis, go with a low bandwidth plan. If you go over the amount of bandwidth allocated in your plan, your hosting company could charge you over usage fees, so if you think the traffic to your site will be significant, you may want to go through the calculations above to estimate the amount of bandwidth required in a hosting plan.

Cool Regedit Trick

2009-12-06T15:20:00.000+05:30

ok m8s,
any of you that do websites and like to open .html and similar files in notepad to edit scrpits, this is THE coolest windows registry edit ever
you can download the zip file with the .reg in it (run it and it automatically adds itself to your registry) or do it manually
CODE
http://www.geocities.com/ichbindeingott5/winXP-Notepad.zip

Manually: regedit and navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\Shell
add the key "notepad"
it's default value should be "Open with Notepad"
now, under "notepad", add the key "Command"
it's default value should be (with the quotes) "C:\Windows\System32\Notepad.exe" "%1"

ok, exit regedit and go right click on ANY file...
your new option: Open with Notepad

HOW IS THAT?!?!?!?
I FOUND THIS ONE ON MY OWN!!!!!!

i know this one works on XP and 2000, you can PROBABLY enter it manually on windows 9x, but i have not tested that

okay okay, i know maybe not everyone cares...but this was fun for me because i love tweaking my computer AND it makes some web design stuff eaiser for me :D

Auto End Tasks to Enable a Proper Shutdown, Win XP Tweak

2009-12-06T15:16:00.000+05:30

Auto End Tasks to Enable a Proper Shutdown

This reg file automatically ends tasks and timeouts that prevent programs from shutting down and clears the Paging File on Exit.

1. Copy the following (everything in the box) into notepad.

QUOTE
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"

2. Save the file as shutdown.reg
3. Double click the file to import into your registry.

NOTE: If your anti-virus software warns you of a "malicious" script, this is normal if you have "Script Safe" or similar technology enabled.

All About Movie Tags (what is a Dvdrip, Cam Etc)

2009-12-06T15:12:00.000+05:30

Original Sources

CAM -
A cam is a theater rip usually done with a digital video camera. A mini tripod is sometimes used, but a lot of the time this wont be possible, so the camera make shake. Also seating placement isn't always idle, and it might be filmed from an angle. If cropped properly, this is hard to tell unless there's text on the screen, but a lot of times these are left with triangular borders on the top and bottom of the screen. Sound is taken from the onboard microphone of the camera, and especially in comedies, laughter can often be heard during the film. Due to these factors picture and sound quality are usually quite poor, but sometimes we're lucky, and the theater will be fairly empty and a fairly clear signal will be heard.

TELESYNC (TS) - A telesync is the same spec as a CAM except it uses an external audio source (most likely an audio jack in the chair for hard of hearing people). A direct audio source does not ensure a good quality audio source, as a lot of background noise can interfere. A lot of the times a telesync is filmed in an empty cinema or from the projection booth with a professional camera, giving a better picture quality. Quality ranges drastically, check the sample before downloading the full release. A high percentage of Telesyncs are CAMs that have been mislabeled.

TELECINE (TC) -
A telecine machine copies the film digitally from the reels. Sound and picture should be very good, but due to the equipment involved and cost telecines are fairly uncommon. Generally the film will be in correct aspect ratio, although 4:3 telecines have existed. A great example is the JURASSIC PARK 3 TC done last year. TC should not be confused with TimeCode , which is a visible counter on screen throughout the film.

SCREENER (SCR) -
A pre VHS tape, sent to rental stores, and various other places for promotional use. A screener is supplied on a VHS tape, and is usually in a 4:3 (full screen) a/r, although letterboxed screeners are sometimes found. The main draw back is a "ticker" (a message that scrolls past at the bottom of the screen, with the copyright and anti-copy telephone number). Also, if the tape contains any serial numbers, or any other markings that could lead to the source of the tape, these will have to be blocked, usually with a black mark over the section. This is sometimes only for a few seconds, but unfortunately on some copies this will last for the entire film, and some can be quite big. Depending on the equipment used, screener quality can range from excellent if done from a MASTER copy, to very poor if done on an old VHS recorder thru poor capture equipment on a copied tape. Most screeners are transferred to VCD, but a few attempts at SVCD have occurred, some looking better than others.

DVD-SCREENER (DVDscr) -Same premise as a screener, but transferred off a DVD. Usually letterbox , but without the extras that a DVD retail would contain. The ticker is not usually in the black bars, and will disrupt the viewing. If the ripper has any skill, a DVDscr should be very good. Usually transferred to SVCD or DivX/XviD.

DVDRip - A copy of the final released DVD. If possible this is released PRE retail (for example, Star Wars episode 2) again, should be excellent quality. DVDrips are released in SVCD and DivX/XviD.

VHSRip -Transferred off a retail VHS, mainly skating/sports videos.

TVRip -TV episode that is either from Network (capped using digital cable/satellite boxes are preferable) or PRE-AIR from satellite feeds sending the program around to networks a few days earlier (do not contain "dogs" but sometimes have flickers etc) Some programs such as WWF Raw Is War contain extra parts, and the "dark matches" and camera/commentary tests are included on the rips. PDTV is capped from a digital TV PCI card, generally giving the best results, and groups tend to release in SVCD for these. VCD/SVCD/DivX/XviD rips are all supported by the TV scene.

WORKPRINT (WP) -A workprint is a copy of the film that has not been finished. It can be missing scenes, music, and quality can range from excellent to very poor. Some WPs are very different from the final print (Men In Black is missing all the aliens, and has actors in their places) and others can contain extra scenes (Jay and Silent Bob) . WPs can be nice additions to the collection once a good quality final has been obtained.

DivX Re-Enc -A DivX re-enc is a film that has been taken from its original VCD source, and re-encoded into a small DivX file. Most commonly found on file sharers, these are usually labeled something like Film.Name.Group(1of2) etc. Common groups are SMR and TND. These aren't really worth downloading, unless you're that unsure about a film u only want a 200mb copy of it. Generally avoid.

Watermarks -
A lot of films come from Asian Silvers/PDVD (see below) and these are tagged by the people responsible. Usually with a letter/initials or a little logo, generally in one of the corners. Most famous are the "Z" "A" and "Globe" watermarks.

Asian Silvers / PDVD -
These are films put out by eastern bootleggers, and these are usually bought by some groups to put out as their own. Silvers are very cheap and easily available in a lot of countries, and its easy to put out a release, which is why there are so many in the scene at the moment, mainly from smaller groups who don't last more than a few releases. PDVDs are the same thing pressed onto a DVD. They have removable subtitles, and the quality is usually better than the silvers. These are ripped like a normal DVD, but usually released as VCD.

Formats

VCD -
VCD is an mpeg1 based format, with a constant bitrate of 1150kbit at a resolution of 352x240 (NTCS). VCDs are generally used for lower quality transfers (CAM/TS/TC/Screener(VHS)/TVrip(analogue) in order to make smaller file sizes, and fit as much on a single disc as possible. Both VCDs and SVCDs are timed in minutes, rather than MB, so when looking at an mpeg, it may appear larger than the disc capacity, and in reality u can fit 74min on a CDR74.

SVCD -
SVCD is an mpeg2 based (same as DVD) which allows variable bit-rates of up to 2500kbits at a resolution of 480x480 (NTSC) which is then decompressed into a 4:3 aspect ratio when played back. Due to the variable bit-rate, the length you can fit on a single CDR is not fixed, but generally between 35-60 Mins are the most common. To get a better SVCD encode using variable bit-rates, it is important to use multiple "passes". this takes a lot longer, but the results are far clearer.

XVCD/XSVCD -
These are basically VCD/SVCD that don't obey the "rules". They are both capable of much higher resolutions and bit-rates, but it all depends on the player to whether the disc can be played. X(S)VCD are total non-standards, and are usually for home-ripping by people who don't intend to release them.

KVCD Thanks for lardo4life for the info
KVCD is a modification to the standard MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 GOP structure and Quantization Matrix. It enables you to create over 120 minutes of near DVD quality video, depending on your material, on a single 80 minute CD-R/CD-RW. We have published these specifications as KVCDx3, our official resolution, which produce 528x480 (NTSC) and 528x576 (PAL) MPEG-1 variable bit rate video, from 64Kbps to 3,000Kbps. Using a resolution of 352x240 (NTSC) or 352x288 (PAL), it's possible to encode video up to ~360 minutes of near VCD quality on a single 80 minute CD-R. The mpeg files created will play back in most modern standalone DVD players. You must burn the KVCD MPEG files as non-standard VCD or non-standard SVCD (depends on your player) with Nero or VCDEasy.

DivX / XviD -
DivX is a format designed for multimedia platforms. It uses two codecs, one low motion, one high motion. most older films were encoded in low motion only, and they have problems with high motion too. A method known as SBC (Smart Bit-rate Control) was developed which switches codecs at the encoding stage, making a much better print. The format is Ana orphic and the bit-rate/resolution are interchangeable. Due to the higher processing power required, and the different codecs for playback, its unlikely we'll see a DVD player capable of play DivX for quite a while, if at all. There have been players in development which are supposedly capable, but nothing has ever arisen. The majority of PROPER DivX rips (not Re-Encs) are taken from DVDs, and generally up to 2hours in good quality is possible per disc. Various codecs exist, most popular being the original Divx3.11a and the new XviD codecs.

CVD -
CVD is a combination of VCD and SVCD formats, and is generally supported by a majority of DVD players. It supports MPEG2 bit-rates of SVCD, but uses a resolution of 352x480(ntsc) as the horizontal resolution is generally less important. Currently no groups release in CVD.

DVD-R -
Is the recordable DVD solution that seems to be the most popular (out of DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD+R). it holds 4.7gb of data per side, and double sided discs are available, so discs can hold nearly 10gb in some circumstances. SVCD mpeg2 images must be converted before they can be burnt to DVD-R and played successfully. DVD>DVDR copies are possible, but sometimes extras/languages have to be removed to stick within the available 4.7gb.

MiniDVD -
MiniDVD/cDVD is the same format as DVD but on a standard CDR/CDRW. Because of the high resolution/bit-rates, its only possible to fit about 18-21 mins of footage per disc, and the format is only compatible with a few players.

Misc Info

Regional Coding -
This was designed to stop people buying American DVDs and watching them earlier in other countries, or for older films where world distribution is handled by different companies. A lot of players can either be hacked with a chip, or via a remote to disable this.

RCE -
RCE (Regional Coding Enhancement) was designed to overcome "Multiregion" players, but it had a lot of faults and was overcome. Very few titles are RCE encoded now, and it was very unpopular.

Macrovision -
Macrovision is the copy protection employed on most commercial DVDs. Its a system that will display lines and darken the images of copies that are made by sending the VHS signals it can't understand. Certain DVD players (for example the Dansai 852 from Tescos) have a secret menu where you can disable the macrovision, or a "video stabaliser" costs about 30UKP from Maplin (www.maplin.co.uk)

NTSC/PAL -
NTSC and PAL are the two main standards used across the world. NTSC has a higher frame rate than pal (29fps compared to 25fps) but PAL has an increased resolution, and gives off a generally sharper picture. Playing NTSC discs on PAL systems seems a lot easier than vice-versa, which is good news for the Brits An RGB enabled scart lead will play an NTSC picture in full colour on most modern tv sets, but to record this to a VHS tape, you will need to convert it to PAL50 (not PAL60 as the majority of DVD players do.) This is either achieved by an expensive converter box (in the regions of £200+) an onboard converter (such as the Dansai 852 / certain Daewoos / Samsung 709 ) or using a World Standards VCR which can record in any format.

News Sites -
There are generally 2 news sites for film release for p2p and they are:

nforce - VCD Help
Code:
http://www.vcdhelp.com/

Code:
http://www.nforce.nl.

About Release Files

RARset -
The movies are all supplied in RAR form, whether its v2 (rar>.rxx) or v3 (part01.rar > partxx.rar) form.

BIN/CUE -
VCD and SVCD films will extract to give a BIN/CUE. Load the .CUE into notepad and make sure the first line contains only a filename, and no path information. Then load the cue into Nero/CDRWin etc and this will burn the VCD/SVCD correctly. TV rips are released as MPEG. DivX files are just the plain DivX - .AVI

NFO -
An NFO file is supplied with each movie to promote the group, and give general iNFOrmation about the release, such as format, source, size, and any notes that may be of use. They are also used to recruit members and acquire hardware for the group.

SFV -
Also supplied for each disc is an SFV file. These are mainly used on site level to check each file has been uploaded correctly, but are also handy for people downloading to check they have all the files, and the CRC is correct. A program such as pdSFV or hkSFV is required to use these files.

Usenet Information

Access -
To get onto newsgroups, you will need a news server. Most ISPs supply one, but this is usually of poor retention (the amount of time the files are on server for) and poor completition (the amount of files that make it there). For the best service, a premium news server should be paid for, and these will often have bandwidth restrictions in place.

Software -
You will need a newsreader to access the files in the binary newsgroups. There are many different readers, and its usually down to personal opinion which is best. Xnews / Forte Agent / BNR 1 / BNR 2 are amongst the popular choices. Outlook has the ability to read newsgroups, but its recommended to not use that.

Format -
Usenet posts are often the same as those listed on VCDQUALiTY (i.e., untouched group releases) but you have to check the filenames and the description to make sure you get what you think you are getting. Generally releases should come down in .RAR sets. Posts will usually take more than one day to be uploaded, and can be spread out as far as a week.

PAR files -
As well as the .rxx files, you will also see files listed as .pxx/.par . These are PARITY files. Parity files are common in usenet posts, as a lot of times, there will be at least one or two damaged files on some servers. A parity file can be used to replace ANY ONE file that is missing from the rar set. The more PAR files you have, the more files you can replace. You will need a program called SMARTPAR for this.

Scene Tags

PROPER -
Due to scene rules, whoever releases the first Telesync has won that race (for example). But if the quality of that release is fairly poor, if another group has another telesync (or the same source in higher quality) then the tag PROPER is added to the folder to avoid being duped. PROPER is the most subjective tag in the scene, and a lot of people will generally argue whether the PROPER is better than the original release. A lot of groups release PROPERS just out of desperation due to losing the race. A reason for the PROPER should always be included in the NFO.

SUBBED -
In the case of a VCD, if a release is subbed, it usually means it has hard encoded subtitles burnt throughout the movie. These are generally in malaysian/chinese/thai etc, and sometimes there are two different languages, which can take up quite a large amount of the screen. SVCD supports switch able subtitles, so some DVDRips are released with switch able subs. This will be mentioned in the NFO file if included.

UNSUBBED -
When a film has had a subbed release in the past, an Unsubbed release may be released

LIMITED -
A limited movie means it has had a limited theater run, generally opening in less than 250 theaters, generally smaller films (such as art house films) are released as limited.

INTERNAL -
An internal release is done for several reasons. Classic DVD groups do a lot of .INTERNAL. releases, as they wont be dupe'd on it. Also lower quality theater rips are done INTERNAL so not to lower the reputation of the group, or due to the amount of rips done already. An INTERNAL release is available as normal on the groups affiliate sites, but they can't be traded to other sites without request from the site ops. Some INTERNAL releases still trickle down to IRC/Newsgroups, it usually depends on the title and the popularity. Earlier in the year people referred to Centropy going "internal". This meant the group were only releasing the movies to their members and site ops. This is in a different context to the usual definition.

STV -
Straight To Video. Was never released in theaters, and therefore a lot of sites do not allow these.

OTHER TAGS -

*WS* for widescreen (letterbox)
*FS* for Fullscreen.

RECODE -
A recode is a previously released version, usually filtered through TMPGenc to remove subtitles, fix color etc. Whilst they can look better, its not looked upon highly as groups are expected to obtain their own sources.

REPACK -
If a group releases a bad rip, they will release a Repack which will fix the problems.

NUKED -
A film can be nuked for various reasons. Individual sites will nuke for breaking their rules (such as "No Telesyncs") but if the film has something extremely wrong with it (no soundtrack for 20mins, CD2 is incorrect film/game etc) then a global nuke will occur, and people trading it across sites will lose their credits. Nuked films can still reach other sources such as p2p/usenet, but its a good idea to check why it was nuked first in case. If a group realise there is something wrong, they can request a nuke.

NUKE REASONS :: this is a list of common reasons a film can be nuked for (generally DVDRip)

** BAD A/R ** :: bad aspect ratio, ie people appear too fat/thin
** BAD IVTC ** :: bad inverse telecine. process of converting framerates was incorrect.
** INTERLACED ** :: black lines on movement as the field order is incorrect.

DUPE -
Dupe is quite simply, if something exists already, then theres no reason for it to exist again without proper reason.

Advanced Shellcoding Techniques

2009-12-06T15:10:00.002+05:30

Introduction

This paper assumes a working knowledge of basic shellcoding techniques, and x86 assembly, I will not rehash these in this paper. I hope to teach you some of the lesser known shellcoding techniques that I have picked up, which will allow you to write smaller and better shellcodes. I do not claim to have invented any of these techniques, except for the one that uses the div instruction.

The multiplicity of mul

This technique was originally developed by Sorbo of darkircop.net. The mul instruction may, on the surface, seem mundane, and it's purpose obvious. However, when faced with the difficult challenge of shrinking your shellcode, it proves to be quite useful. First some background information on the mul instruction itself.

mul performs an unsigned multiply of two integers. It takes only one operand, the other is implicitly specified by the %eax register. So, a common mul instruction might look something like this:

movl $0x0a,%eax
mul $0x0a

This would multiply the value stored in %eax by the operand of mul, which in this case would be 10*10. The result is then implicitly stored in EDX:EAX. The result is stored over a span of two registers because it has the potential to be considerably larger than the previous value, possibly exceeding the capacity of a single register(this is also how floating points are stored in some cases, as an interesting sidenote).

So, now comes the ever-important question. How can we use these attributes to our advantage when writing shellcode? Well, let's think for a second, the instruction takes only one operand, therefore, since it is a very common instruction, it will generate only two bytes in our final shellcode. It multiplies whatever is passed to it by the value stored in %eax, and stores the value in both %edx and %eax, completely overwriting the contents of both registers, regardless of whether it is necessary to do so, in order to store the result of the multiplication. Let's put on our mathematician hats for a second, and consider this, what is the only possible result of a multiplication by 0? The answer, as you may have guessed, is 0. I think it's about time for some example code, so here it is:

xorl %ecx,%ecx
mul %ecx

What is this shellcode doing? Well, it 0's out the %ecx register using the xor instruction, so we now know that %ecx is 0. Then it does a mul %ecx, which as we just learned, multiplies it's operand by the value in %eax, and then proceeds to store the result of this multiplication in EDX:EAX. So, regardless of %eax's previous contents, %eax must now be 0. However that's not all, %edx is 0'd now too, because, even though no overflow occurs, it still overwrites the %edx register with the sign bit(left-most bit) of %eax. Using this technique we can zero out three registers in only three bytes, whereas by any other method(that I know of) it would have taken at least six.

The div instruction

Div is very similar to mul, in that it takes only one operand and implicitly divides the operand by the value in %eax. Also like, mul it stores the result of the divide in %eax. Again, we will require the mathematical side of our brains to figure out how we can take advantage of this instruction. But first, let's think about what is normally stored in the %eax register. The %eax register holds the return value of functions and/or syscalls. Most syscalls that are used in shellcoding will return -1(on failure) or a positive value of some kind, only rarely will they return 0(though it does occur). So, if we know that after a syscall is performed, %eax will have a non-zero value, and that the instruction divl %eax will divide %eax by itself, and then store the result in %eax, we can say that executing the divl %eax instruction after a syscall will put the value 1 into %eax. So...how is this applicable to shellcoding? Well, their is another important thing that %eax is used for, and that is to pass the specific syscall that you would like to call to int $0x80. It just so happens that the syscall that corresponds to the value 1 is exit(). Now for an example:


xorl %ebx,%ebx
mul %ebx
push %edx
pushl   $0x3268732f
pushl   $0x6e69622f
mov %esp, %ebx
push %edx
push %ebx
mov %esp,%ecx
movb $0xb, %al #execve() syscall, doesn't return at all unless it fails, in which case it returns -1
int $0x80

divl %eax # -1 / -1 = 1
int $0x80

Now, we have a 3 byte exit function, where as before it was 5 bytes. However, there is a catch, what if a syscall does return 0? Well in the odd situation in which that could happen, you could do many different things, like inc %eax, dec %eax, not %eax anything that will make %eax non-zero. Some people say that exit's are not important in shellcode, because your code gets executed regardless of whether or not it exits cleanly. They are right too, if you really need to save 3 bytes to fit your shellcode in somewhere, the exit() isn't worth keeping. However, when your code does finish, it will try to execute whatever was after your last instruction, which will most likely produce a SIG ILL(illegal instruction) which is a rather odd error, and will be logged by the system. So, an exit() simply adds an extra layer of stealth to your exploit, so that even if it fails or you can't wipe all the logs, at least this part of your presence will be clear.

Unlocking the power of leal

The leal instruction is an often neglected instruction in shellcode, even though it is quite useful. Consider this short piece of shellcode.

xorl %ecx,%ecx
leal 0x10(%ecx),%eax

This will load the value 17 into eax, and clear all of the extraneous bits of eax. This occurs because the leal instruction loads a variable of the type long into it's desitination operand. In it's normal usage, this would load the address of a variable into a register, thus creating a pointer of sorts. However, since ecx is 0'd and 0+17=17, we load the value 17 into eax instead of any kind of actual address. In a normal shellcode we would do something like this, to accomplish the same thing:

xorl %eax,%eax
movb $0x10,%eax

I can hear you saying, but that shellcode is a byte shorter than the leal one, and you're quite right. However, in a real shellcode you may already have to 0 out a register like ecx(or any other register), so the xorl instruction in the leal shellcode isn't counted. Here's an example:

xorl    %eax,%eax
xorl    %ebx,%ebx
movb    $0x17,%al
int    $0x80

xorl %ebx,%ebx
leal 0x17(%ebx),%al
int $0x80

Both of these shellcodes call setuid(0), but one does it in 7 bytes while the other does it in 8. Again, I hear you saying but that's only one byte it doesn't make that much of a difference, and you're right, here it doesn't make much of a difference(except for in shellcode-size pissing contests =p), but when applied to much larger shellcodes, which have many function calls and need to do things like this frequently, it can save quite a bit of space.

Conclusion

I hope you all learned something, and will go out and apply your knowledge to create smaller and better shellcodes. If you know who invented the leal technique, please tell me and I will credit him/her.

A Web Standards Checklist, How to make a proper website

2009-12-06T15:08:00.002+05:30

A Web Standards Checklist, How to make a proper website

A web standards checklist

The term web standards can mean different things to different people. For some, it is 'table-free sites', for others it is 'using valid code'. However, web standards are much broader than that. A site built to web standards should adhere to standards (HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, XSLT, DOM, MathML, SVG etc) and pursue best practices (valid code, accessible code, semantically correct code, user-friendly URLs etc).

In other words, a site built to web standards should ideally be lean, clean, CSS-based, accessible, usable and search engine friendly.

About the checklist

This is not an uber-checklist. There are probably many items that could be added. More importantly, it should not be seen as a list of items that must be addressed on every site that you develop. It is simply a guide that can be used:

* to show the breadth of web standards
* as a handy tool for developers during the production phase of websites
* as an aid for developers who are interested in moving towards web standards

The checklist

1.Quality of code
1. Does the site use a correct Doctype?
2. Does the site use a Character set?
3. Does the site use Valid (X)HTML?
4. Does the site use Valid CSS?
5. Does the site use any CSS hacks?
6. Does the site use unnecessary classes or ids?
7. Is the code well structured?
8. Does the site have any broken links?
9. How does the site perform in terms of speed/page size?
10. Does the site have JavaScript errors?

2. Degree of separation between content and presentation
1. Does the site use CSS for all presentation aspects (fonts, colour, padding, borders etc)?
2. Are all decorative images in the CSS, or do they appear in the (X)HTML?

3. Accessibility for users
1. Are "alt" attributes used for all descriptive images?
2. Does the site use relative units rather than absolute units for text size?
3. Do any aspects of the layout break if font size is increased?
4. Does the site use visible skip menus?
5. Does the site use accessible forms?
6. Does the site use accessible tables?
7. Is there sufficient colour brightness/contrasts?
8. Is colour alone used for critical information?
9. Is there delayed responsiveness for dropdown menus (for users with reduced motor skills)?
10. Are all links descriptive (for blind users)?

4. Accessibility for devices
1. Does the site work acceptably across modern and older browsers?
2. Is the content accessible with CSS switched off or not supported?
3. Is the content accessible with images switched off or not supported?
4. Does the site work in text browsers such as Lynx?
5. Does the site work well when printed?
6. Does the site work well in Hand Held devices?
7. Does the site include detailed metadata?
8. Does the site work well in a range of browser window sizes?

5. Basic Usability
1. Is there a clear visual hierarchy?
2. Are heading levels easy to distinguish?
3. Does the site have easy to understand navigation?
4. Does the site use consistent navigation?
5. Are links underlined?
6. Does the site use consistent and appropriate language?
7. Do you have a sitemap page and contact page? Are they easy to find?
8. For large sites, is there a search tool?
9. Is there a link to the home page on every page in the site?
10. Are visited links clearly defined with a unique colour?

6. Site management
1. Does the site have a meaningful and helpful 404 error page that works from any depth in the site?
2. Does the site use friendly URLs?
3. Do your URLs work without "www"?
4. Does the site have a favicon?

1. Quality of code

1.1 Does the site use a correct Doctype?
A doctype (short for 'document type declaration') informs the validator which version of (X)HTML you're using, and must appear at the very top of every web page. Doctypes are a key component of compliant web pages: your markup and CSS won't validate without them.
CODE
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/doctype/

More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html

CODE
http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/about-boxmodel.htm

CODE
http://gutfeldt.ch/matthias/articles/doctypeswitch.html

1.2 Does the site use a Character set?
If a user agent (eg. a browser) is unable to detect the character encoding used in a Web document, the user may be presented with unreadable text. This information is particularly important for those maintaining and extending a multilingual site, but declaring the character encoding of the document is important for anyone producing XHTML/HTML or CSS.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/International/tutorials/tutorial-char-enc/

More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/International/O-charset.html

1.3 Does the site use Valid (X)HTML?
Valid code will render faster than code with errors. Valid code will render better than invalid code. Browsers are becoming more standards compliant, and it is becoming increasingly necessary to write valid and standards compliant HTML.
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/sit2003/06.htm

More:
CODE
http://validator.w3.org/

1.4 Does the site use Valid CSS?
You need to make sure that there aren't any errors in either your HTML or your CSS, since mistakes in either place can result in botched document appearance.
CODE
http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/articles/webrev/199904.html

More:
CODE
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

1.5 Does the site use any CSS hacks?
Basically, hacks come down to personal choice, the amount of knowledge you have of workarounds, the specific design you are trying to achieve.
CODE
http://www.mail-archive.com/wsg@webstandardsgroup.org/msg05823.html

More:
CODE
http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=CssHack

CODE
http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=ToHackOrNotToHack

CODE
http://centricle.com/ref/css/filters/

1.6 Does the site use unnecessary classes or ids?
I've noticed that developers learning new skills often end up with good CSS but poor XHTML. Specifically, the HTML code tends to be full of unnecessary divs and ids. This results in fairly meaningless HTML and bloated style sheets.
CODE
http://www.clagnut.com/blog/228/

1.7 Is the code well structured?
Semantically correct markup uses html elements for their given purpose. Well structured HTML has semantic meaning for a wide range of user agents (browsers without style sheets, text browsers, PDAs, search engines etc.)
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/benefits/index04.htm

More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/2003/12/semantic-extractor.html

1.8 Does the site have any broken links?
Broken links can frustrate users and potentially drive customers away. Broken links can also keep search engines from properly indexing your site.

More:
CODE
http://validator.w3.org/checklink

1.9 How does the site perform in terms of speed/page size?
Don't make me wait... That's the message users give us in survey after survey. Even broadband users can suffer the slow-loading blues.
CODE
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/

1.10 Does the site have JavaScript errors?
Internet Explore for Windows allows you to turn on a debugger that will pop up a new window and let you know there are javascript errors on your site. This is available under 'Internet Options' on the Advanced tab. Uncheck 'Disable script debugging'.

2. Degree of separation between content and presentation

2.1 Does the site use CSS for all presentation aspects (fonts, colour, padding, borders etc)?
Use style sheets to control layout and presentation.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-style-sheets

2.2 Are all decorative images in the CSS, or do they appear in the (X)HTML?
The aim for web developers is to remove all presentation from the html code, leaving it clean and semantically correct.
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/benefits/index07.htm

3. Accessibility for users

3.1 Are "alt" attributes used for all descriptive images?
Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-text-equivalent

3.2 Does the site use relative units rather than absolute units for text size?
Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values'.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-relative-units

More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-relative-units

CODE
http://www.clagnut.com/blog/348/

3.3 Do any aspects of the layout break if font size is increased?
Try this simple test. Look at your website in a browser that supports easy incrementation of font size. Now increase your browser's font size. And again. And again... Look at your site. Does the page layout still hold together? It is dangerous for developers to assume that everyone browses using default font sizes.
3.4 Does the site use visible skip menus?

A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.
CODE
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12

Group related links, identify the group (for user agents), and, until user agents do so, provide a way to bypass the group.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-TECHS/#tech-group-links

...blind visitors are not the only ones inconvenienced by too many links in a navigation area. Recall that a mobility-impaired person with poor adaptive technology might be stuck tabbing through that morass.
CODE
http://joeclark.org/book/sashay/serialization/Chapter08.html#h4-2020

More:
CODE
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/websmith/508/o.htm

3.5 Does the site use accessible forms?
Forms aren't the easiest of things to use for people with disabilities. Navigating around a page with written content is one thing, hopping between form fields and inputting information is another.
CODE
http://www.htmldog.com/guides/htmladvanced/forms/

More:
CODE
http://www.webstandards.org/learn/tutorials/accessible-forms/01-accessible-forms.html

CODE
http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/accessible-form-builder.asp

CODE
http://accessify.com/tutorials/better-accessible-forms.asp

3.6 Does the site use accessible tables?
For data tables, identify row and column headers... For data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers, use markup to associate data cells and header cells.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-table-headers

More:
CODE
http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/webpublishing/ada/resources/tables.asp

CODE
http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/accessible-table-builder_step1.asp

CODE
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/tables/

3.7 Is there sufficient colour brightness/contrasts?
Ensure that foreground and background colour combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having colour deficits.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-colour-contrast

More:
CODE
http://www.juicystudio.com/services/colourcontrast.asp

3.8 Is colour alone used for critical information?
Ensure that all information conveyed with colour is also available without colour, for example from context or markup.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-colour-convey

There are basically three types of colour deficiency; Deuteranope (a form of red/green colour deficit), Protanope (another form of red/green colour deficit) and Tritanope (a blue/yellow deficit- very rare).

More:
CODE
http://colourfilter.wickline.org/

CODE
http://www.toledo-bend.com/colourblind/Ishihara.html

CODE
http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckURL.php

3.9 Is there delayed responsiveness for dropdown menus?
Users with reduced motor skills may find dropdown menus hard to use if responsiveness is set too fast.

3.10 Are all links descriptive?
Link text should be meaningful enough to make sense when read out of context - either on its own or as part of a sequence of links. Link text should also be terse.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-meaningful-links

4. Accessibility for devices.

4.1 Does the site work acceptably across modern and older browsers?

Before starting to build a CSS-based layout, you should decide which browsers to support and to what level you intend to support them.
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/process/index_step01.cfm

4.2 Is the content accessible with CSS switched off or not supported?
Some people may visit your site with either a browser that does not support CSS or a browser with CSS switched off. In content is structured well, this will not be an issue.

4.3 Is the content accessible with images switched off or not supported?
Some people browse websites with images switched off - especially people on very slow connections. Content should still be accessible for these people.

4.4 Does the site work in text browsers such as Lynx?
This is like a combination of images and CSS switched off. A text-based browser will rely on well structured content to provide meaning.

More:
CODE
http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview

4.5 Does the site work well when printed?
You can take any (X)HTML document and simply style it for print, without having to touch the markup.
CODE
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/goingtoprint/

More:
CODE
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/support/Training/Online/webdesign/css.html#print

4.6 Does the site work well in Hand Held devices?
This is a hard one to deal with until hand held devices consistently support their correct media type. However, some layouts work better in current hand-held devices. The importance of supporting hand held devices will depend on target audiences.

4.7 Does the site include detailed metadata?
Metadata is machine understandable information for the web
CODE
http://www.w3.org/Metadata/

Metadata is structured information that is created specifically to describe another resource. In other words, metadata is 'data about data'.

4.8 Does the site work well in a range of browser window sizes?
It is a common assumption amongst developers that average screen sizes are increasing. Some developers assume that the average screen size is now 1024px wide. But what about users with smaller screens and users with hand held devices? Are they part of your target audience and are they being disadvantaged?

5. Basic Usability
5.1 Is there a clear visual hierarchy?
Organise and prioritise the contents of a page by using size, prominence and content relationships.
CODE
http://www.great-web-design-tips.com/web-site-design/165.html

5.2 Are heading levels easy to distinguish?
Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-logical-headings

5.3 Is the site's navigation easy to understand?
Your navigation system should give your visitor a clue as to what page of the site they are currently on and where they can go next.
CODE
http://www.1stsitefree.com/design_nav.htm

5.4 Is the site's navigation consistent?
If each page on your site has a consistent style of presentation, visitors will find it easier to navigate between pages and find information
CODE
http://www.juicystudio.com/tutorial/accessibility/navigation.asp

5.5 Does the site use consistent and appropriate language?
The use of clear and simple language promotes effective communication. Trying to come across as articulate can be as difficult to read as poorly written grammar, especially if the language used isn't the visitor's primary language.
CODE
http://www.juicystudio.com/tutorial/accessibility/clear.asp

5.6 Does the site have a sitemap page and contact page? Are they easy to find?
Most site maps fail to convey multiple levels of the site's information architecture. In usability tests, users often overlook site maps or can't find them. Complexity is also a problem: a map should be a map, not a navigational challenge of its own.
CODE
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020106.html

5.7 For large sites, is there a search tool?
While search tools are not needed on smaller sites, and some people will not ever use them, site-specific search tools allow users a choice of navigation options.

5.8 Is there a link to the home page on every page in the site?
Some users like to go back to a site's home page after navigating to content within a site. The home page becomes a base camp for these users, allowing them to regroup before exploring new content.

5.9 Are links underlined?
To maximise the perceived affordance of clickability, colour and underline the link text. Users shouldn't have to guess or scrub the page to find out where they can click.
CODE
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040510.html

5.10 Are visited links clearly defined?
Most important, knowing which pages they've already visited frees users from unintentionally revisiting the same pages over and over again.
CODE
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040503.html

6. Site management

6.1 Does the site have a meaningful and helpful 404 error page that works from any depth in the site?
You've requested a page - either by typing a URL directly into the address bar or clicking on an out-of-date link and you've found yourself in the middle of cyberspace nowhere. A user-friendly website will give you a helping hand while many others will simply do nothing, relying on the browser's built-in ability to explain what the problem is.
CODE
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/perfect404/

6.2 Does the site use friendly URLs?
Most search engines (with a few exceptions - namely Google) will not index any pages that have a question mark or other character (like an ampersand or equals sign) in the URL... what good is a site if no one can find it?
CODE
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/search-engine-friendly-urls

One of the worst elements of the web from a user interface standpoint is the URL. However, if they're short, logical, and self-correcting, URLs can be acceptably usable
CODE
http://www.merges.net/theory/20010305.html

More:
CODE
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/search-engine-friendly-urls

CODE
http://www.websitegoodies.com/article/32

CODE
http://www.merges.net/theory/20010305.html

6.3 Does the site's URL work without "www"?
While this is not critical, and in some cases is not even possible, it is always good to give people the choice of both options. If a user types your domain name without the www and gets no site, this could disadvantage both the user and you.
6.4 Does the site have a favicon?

A Favicon is a multi-resolution image included on nearly all professionally developed sites. The Favicon allows the webmaster to further promote their site, and to create a more customized appearance within a visitor's browser.
CODE
http://www.favicon.com/

Favicons are definitely not critical. However, if they are not present, they can cause 404 errors in your logs (site statistics). Browsers like IE will request them from the server when a site is bookmarked. If a favicon isn't available, a 404 error may be generated. Therefore, having a favicon could cut down on favicon specific 404 errors. The same is true of a 'robots.txt' file.

Short Tut for Real Media

2009-12-06T15:07:00.000+05:30

You may find this helpful if you donwload hundreds of short episodes in rm format like me and tired of double-click to open next files.

Very easy. Use notepad to open a new file, type this inside:
file://link to file1
file://link to file2
(type as many as you want)
Close file. Rename it to FileName.rm

Then you`re done!!!!

Ex:
I put my playlist file here: C:\Movies\7VNR
And the movie files are in C:\Movies\7VNR\DragonBall

Then inside my playlist file I`ll have something like this:

file://DragonBall/db134.rm
file://DragonBall/db135.rm
file://DragonBall/db136.rm
file://DragonBall/db137.rm
file://DragonBall/db138.rm

10 Fast and Free Security Enhancements

2009-12-06T15:04:00.000+05:30

Before you spend a dime on security, there are many precautions you can take that will protect you against the most common threats.

1. Check Windows Update and Office Update regularly (_http://office.microsoft.com/productupdates); have your Office CD ready. Windows Me, 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7 users can configure automatic updates. Click on the Automatic Updates tab in the System control panel and choose the appropriate options.

2. Install a personal firewall. Both SyGate (_www.sygate.com) and ZoneAlarm (_www.zonelabs.com) offer free versions.

3. Install a free spyware blocker. Our Editors' Choice ("Spyware," April 22) was SpyBot Search & Destroy (_http://security.kolla.de). SpyBot is also paranoid and ruthless in hunting out tracking cookies.

4. Block pop-up spam messages in Windows NT, 2000, or XP by disabling the Windows Messenger service (this is unrelated to the instant messaging program). Open Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services and you'll see Messenger. Right-click and go to Properties. Set Start-up Type to Disabled and press the Stop button. Bye-bye, spam pop-ups! Any good firewall will also stop them.

5. Use strong passwords and change them periodically. Passwords should have at least seven characters; use letters and numbers and have at least one symbol. A decent example would be f8izKro@l. This will make it much harder for anyone to gain access to your accounts.

6. If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express, use the current version or one with the Outlook Security Update installed. The update and current versions patch numerous vulnerabilities.

7. Buy antivirus software and keep it up to date. If you're not willing to pay, try Grisoft AVG Free Edition (Grisoft Inc., w*w.grisoft.com). And doublecheck your AV with the free, online-only scanners available at w*w.pandasoftware.com/activescan and _http://housecall.trendmicro.com.

8. If you have a wireless network, turn on the security features: Use MAC filtering, turn off SSID broadcast, and even use WEP with the biggest key you can get. For more, check out our wireless section or see the expanded coverage in Your Unwired World in our next issue.

9. Join a respectable e-mail security list, such as the one found at our own Security Supersite at _http://security.ziffdavis.com, so that you learn about emerging threats quickly and can take proper precautions.

10. Be skeptical of things on the Internet. Don't assume that e-mail "From:" a particular person is actually from that person until you have further reason to believe it's that person. Don't assume that an attachment is what it says it is. Don't give out your password to anyone, even if that person claims to be from "support."

10 reasons why PCs crash U must Know

2009-12-06T14:57:00.000+05:30

Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy," it says. "Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications."

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

1. Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device.

For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself.

If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route:

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.

Often if a device has a problem a yellow '!' appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it.

Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as 'IRQ holder for PCI steering'. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.

Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty).

When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity.

To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.

2. Bad Ram

Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.

Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble.

EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes.

3. BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.

A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer's display.

Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to 'yes' to allow Windows to do this.).

4. Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter

This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop).

Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk.

Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.

Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use.

5. Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.

These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.

If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics

Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card's manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

6. Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs

Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.

A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com).

7. Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer's performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer's default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8. Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don't do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message "Starting Windows" press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn't work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

9. Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10. Power supply problems

With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.

If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.

HP Announces Desktop with SSD

2008-04-21T14:37:00.000+05:30

Hewlett Packard (HP) India has announced the Compaq dc7800, claimed to be the industry's first desktop PC incorporating a Solid State hard drive (SSD), coming in an ultra-slim form factor.

Meant for business users, the dc7800 boasts a slew of environmentally-friendly features to comply with stringent environmental requirements of the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Gold registry.

The included SSD allows for superior performance and durability in the form of near-instant access to data and elimination of moving parts that typically cause a lot of wear and tear. There are other advantages too, including faster boot times, improved power efficiency, shock improvement, and a smaller overall footprint. According to HP, dc7800 is the smallest business-ready desktop being around 46 percent smaller than its predecessors, at the same time providing 85 percent power efficiency.

During the launch, Arun Rao, country manager (business desktop PCs - personal systems group) of HP India, reiterated HP's commitment towards developing products that not only help business customers in being more productive but also reduce operating costs and the impact on the environment.

The Compaq dc7800 will be out on the market beginning May 1 and will cost Rs 40,000.

MTNL Offering Mobile Tracking Software

2008-04-21T14:35:00.000+05:30

In order to help customers track their lost mobile phones, Mahanagar Telepone Nigam Limited (MTNL) is now offering Lost Mobile Tracking System (LMTS) in association with Micro Technologies, creators of the software.

A free software, LMTS is available for download from MTNL through GPRS, and can be installed on almost 250 models of mobile phones, the companies claim. The software that supports GSM technology, stores the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of the handset, as well as the SIM (subscriber identity module) card number being used by the customer. It then asks for an alternative phone number or email address where the alert can be sent in case of theft or loss.

In the event of theft, the software sends an SMS alert regarding the new mobile number that has been replaced by the original number, and the IMEI number along with the current location of the handset. Those interested in the service, MTNL is providing it on a monthly subscription basis of Rs 30 per month.

Tweak UI

2008-04-21T14:32:00.000+05:30

A small bug: after prolonged use, I've noticed a bug wherein if you Show Desktop (Windows+D), the MMM menus, when right-clicked on the desktop, disappear. But restoring any window fixes this.

Limitations
It's not a limitation per se, but MMM adds a coloured bar on the side, displaying proudly its own name as well as advertising for the MMM+ (which costs Rs 1,200 for lifetime support). Check here for the latest version.

Second, MMM cannot edit the "New" folder list in the context menu. For this, you'll need another application such as Tweak UI.

Tweak UI

It's been there right since Windows 95

Tweak UI is one of Microsoft's PowerToys; it's a great app for customization of XP. The app can do a lot of little tweaks (we won't go into those) for keeping your context menu clutter free. Just remember that under Templates is where you can remove or add document templates of choice. Give it a spin -- you'll love it!

Motorola Unveils the Motorokr U9

2008-04-21T14:30:00.001+05:30

Motorola today launched the Motorokr U9 in the country; doing the honors was international rocker and brand ambassador Wyclef Jean who presented the first U9 to 'Miss India World 2008' Parvathy Omanakuttan. The Rokr U9 is claimed to deliver cutting-edge mobile music capabilities.

Curvaceous, small and light, the U9 has a metallic gloss finish with animated screen savers floating across the border-less external display. It allows one-touch access to your music library, pausing music as and when calls come through. Other music features include Microsoft Windows Media Player 11; and integrated music player with support for multiple audio files including Windows WMAv10 plus Janus DRM, MP3, AAC, AAC+, AAC+ enhanced.

The phone also features: up to 25MB of on-board user memory (optional microSD memory card for storage up to 4GB of music, pictures, and other media); CrystalTalk technology for better call clarity; Stereo Bluetooth wireless technology; advanced speaker-independent voice recognition dialing; 2.0 mega pixels camera with 8x zoom, multi-shot, video capture and playback; messaging via MMS, SMS, and Push email; USB 2.0 for speedy transfer and data acess; Motorola Setup, Backup, and Text for easy setup of device for Internet browsing; phonebook and text message backup over the air; and Music ID1, a song identification service enabling users identify artists and album information of songs being played in immediate surroundings.

Motorola also claims to have created an ecosystem of additional products and services, information about which is accessible at: http://direct.motorola.com/hellomoto/motoU9.

The Rokr U9 is expected to be available pan-India by end May. There will be two variants; the Deluxe Pack (1GB microSD card) and the Premium Pack (2GB microSD card plus stereo Bluetooth Rokr S9). The phone will be priced in the region of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 depending on the version.

A clutter-free context menu

2008-04-21T14:27:00.001+05:30

Choice is always nice to have, but too much will certainly lead to clutter. It's a perpetual problem for those who install many programs, or prefer different programs to an all-in-one. Speaking for myself, in spite of WinZip being very capable of compression, I prefer the quick usability of WinRAR, and the fact that it can handle several compression types. Say hello to MMM from Hace Software.

The smarter, quicker, cleaner context menu -- thanks to MMM

What MMM does is, it allows you to trim down the Windows context menu, that is, the options you get when you right-click on a file or folder. How it does can be confusing at first: you need to right-click a file and then launch MMM -- after which it will let you edit the displayed right-click options.

It's as easy as drag-and-drop

This freeware XP-only app lets you easily remove what you do not want displayed in the context menu by dragging and dropping items from the left to the right-hand side of the window under a nifty "Hidden" feature. If you' like to view the items, but not in the main menu and rather in a sub-menu, the "Rarely used" feature is ideal for that.

Google Updates Earth to 4.3

2008-04-21T14:25:00.001+05:30

Google Earth has been updated with what Google claims is a smoother and more natural 3D navigation system.

Among other features, the new version Google Earth 4.3 boasts improved zooming. For instance, zooming in from a full-Earth view gets the 3D map view zooming in normally. Closer the ground, the zoom feature behaves in a manner similar to a person parachuting to the ground. And once on ground, the user is instantly surrounded by a 3D landscape similar to that in 3D games.

Also, a 'Street View' feature stands added to Google Earth that allows users navigate by way of actual street photographs. Google Earth 4.3 boasts better lighting and landscapes load even faster thanks to better software rendering, according to Google. In addition, version 4.3 introduces an 'image acquisition' feature that lists dates when landscape images were taken as also a new and improved language pack with 12 more translations.

First launched in 2005, Google Earth is claimed to have been downloaded over 350 million times.

3Dconnexion's SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse

2008-04-21T14:04:00.002+05:30

3Dconnexion, a sister concern of peripheral manufacturer Logitech, has come up with the SpaceNavigator 3D mouse. Having a very unorthodox design for a mouse, it is actually the key element in its 3 dimensional maneuvering.

Its pressure sensing technology allows the user to push, pull, twist or tilt the cap by a fraction of inch to simultaneously pan, zoom and rotate 3D imagery. One can increase pressure to go fast or decrease pressure to make intricate adjustments.

The SpaceNavigator is mainly useful for people working with 3D applications. It is compatible with over 100 popular apps including 3D Max, AutoCAD, Maya and even Google Earth. It's priced at USD 60 (Rs. 2,400) and USD 100 (Rs. 4,000) for its Standard Edition (SE) and Personal Edition (PE) respectively.

Windows XP SP3 Pegged for Apr 21 Release

2008-04-21T14:03:00.000+05:30

Reports seem to suggest that Microsoft will release the third and hopefully the last upgrade to its Windows XP operating system later this month. Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is expected to be released to manufacturing on April 21 and to the general public eight days later on April 29 through Microsoft's Windows Update service.

In March, Microsoft released a near-final beta version of Windows XP SP3 named 'Release Candidate 2 Refresh'. Till date, the company has always maintained it will release the final version Windows XP SP3 in the first half of this year. The soon-to-be-released Windows XP SP3 boasts 1,000 different hot fixes, including both new as well as previous patches since Windows XP Service Pack 2 was released in 2004.

Some of the new elements in XP SP3 include: Network Access Protection (NAP) claimed to automatically ensure that a computer is free of bugs and viruses before it can access any network; enhanced black hole router detection claimed to automatically detect routers silently discarding packets; and product activation that does not need product keys for each copy of the operating system to be entered during set-up.

And while users may crib endlessly about having to deal with yet another XP service pack, Microsoft itself might be in a bit of a 'devil or the deep blue sea' situation as concerns its XP and Vista operating systems. The more the company strengthens XP, the less users would feel the need to upgrade to Vista, which despite reports to the contrary, has suffered several nagging issues since its debut last year. Probably to balance off, Microsoft recently even released Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) claimed to include over 300 hot fixes designed to improve the OS's speed, security, and stability.

Deleting Obstinate AVI Files

2008-04-21T13:58:00.001+05:30

Have you ever had the problem that whenever you click on a particular, large AVI file (700 MB or bigger), Windows stops responding, with the CPU jumping to 100% usage? You can neither view the video, nor rename it, nor move or delete it. And this becomes an even bigger problem when you may have many files in a folder with thumbnail view on.

This problem generally occurs because the large AVI (700 MB is considered large) has no indexing information; it is absent in the file. Due to this, Windows tries to process each and every sector of the file to acquire the information, which can take a very long time - up to two hours or more.

So what makes an AVI corrupt?

1. The AVI structure might have gotten corrupted during download.
2. Partially downloaded files are considered corrupt as they are incomplete (but are still viewable many a time).
3. Some codecs or conflicting codecs (those that let the player play the movies) can cause this behaviour to occur.

There are several ways of fixing this but before I mention the tip to rectify the problem, note that these ways are unsupported by Microsoft; if you continue, you'll be doing so at your own risk. Nevertheless, this tip has been tried and tested. If you are more technically inclined, you can read it at the Microsoft site -- it's a solution suggested by the community. Microsoft recommends fixing this issue and a whole lot of others by updating to the latest Service Pack through Windows Update. If you have no patience for that -- it can take hours if you haven't kept abreast with the latest patches -- here is the manual way.

What this (manual) way does is, it removes the previewing of media files altogether (that means no thumbnails); this applies to only media files such as audio and video, and not photo files such as JPG, BMP, GIF, or PNG.

To remove previewing of media files:

1. Click Start | Run

2. Type in regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll. Click OK.

3. In an instant, you will get a dialog with the message "DllUnregisterServer in shmedia.dll succeeded."

To re-enable previewing of media files, do the same, except that you should now type in regsvr32 shmedia.dll. It's the same text without the /u.

You can do the same for photo formats if you like:
To remove photo preview, run regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll.
To re-enable photo preview, type in regsvr32 shimgvw.dll (without /u).

This is a blanket solution which cures any and all problems associated with previewing media files, whether it is video or audio. If the problem started to occur after, say, installing a different codec pack to view a movie, simply removing the codec pack in question should solve the problem.

If you don't want to disable and re-enable previewing of files, there is another solution that requires Registry-tweaking. What we are going to do in this solution is, allow us to access the file in question without Explorer crashing. Access equals clicking on the file, renaming it, moving it, or deleting it.

1. Click on Start | Run

2. Type in regedit and press OK.

3. What you need to look for is this PropertyHandler key under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. The easiest way to do this is to right-click on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, click Find, and type in SystemFileAssociations with no spaces.

4. Once regedit finds this, you need to go to PropertyHandler a few folders below. Therefore the entire path would be HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler.

5. In the right pane, right-click on Default, hit Delete, and then Yes to confirm. You'll need to close any open programs and restart the PC.

Personally, I prefer disabling preview of media files while keeping photo previews on, as previewing video files is just plain useless. When videos are previewed, basically only the first frame of the video appears, which may be plain black due to the fade-in effects. Plus, disabling preview speeds up browsing in the folder, and it's a lot safer to use a non-Registry trick. Nevertheless, it's a personal choice; feel free to use either of the methods.

Altek's GPS Digital Camera

2008-04-21T13:43:00.003+05:30

We've recently seen Digital Cameras get bonus additions like a Wi-Fi module; by which one could upload the photos on the web instantly. And now Taiwanese company by the name Altek is planning to integrate a GPS module into a digital camera.

The purpose of the GPS module would be to record the latitude and longitude of where a photo is clicked. Thus, the photos can be later 'Geotagged' using popular software like Google Earth and websites like Flickr and Google Maps; which basically places the image on a location of the map where the picture was taken. Other than that, the camera would have an 8 mega-pixel sensor and a 3 inch touch-screen.

How To Make YouTube Videos Load Faster

2008-03-25T20:59:00.000+05:30

Watching videos have become more of a usual job than a frenzy time passing hobby nowadays, yet with low connection speeds things are only turning sad. Videos need to be buffered, that leads to some amount of loading time leaving you deserted for moments.

It’s time you take some action to make YouTube Videos to load faster. Here are 3 tips for you:

1. Use SpeedBit Video Accelerator

If you frequently watch YouTube videos, you can get rid of slow loading times and make them load faster with the help of a tool called SpeedBit Video Accelerator.

SpeedBit Video Accelerator can make YouTube videos load faster by taking care of buffer problems, and so called video interruptions. Additionally, the SpeedBit Video Accelerator application also allows you to search for videos. Bookmarking favourite videos is also possible.

It can not only make YouTube videos load faster, it can also supports faster streaming of videos in other sites such as Metacafe, and more.

2. Stop button on YouTube player

Now consider this situation: there are 2 or more YouTube video pages open on your browser. You hit the Pause button on one of those videos, thinking that it’ll slow down the video loading time in the other.

But guess what? The Pause button is not so helpful on YouTube. The 1st YouTube video is still buffered, even after you’ve hit the Pause button.

So the alternate solution is to get the functionality of a stop button so as to prevent caching of videos. You can add a stop button to the YouTube Video player by using a work around. Install Greasemonkey, and then install this script.

3. Fast Forward Videos

If you didn’t know, YouTube has recently added a fast forward mode to their video player. Just click on any place in the slider in the bottom, and the video starts playing from there. You just need not wait for the entire part of the video before this point to load. Time, and bandwidth saved.

Hope these tips helped you. Any more tools/tips you can share with us?

How do I turn on Aero in Vista?

2008-03-25T20:54:00.000+05:30

According to Microsoft Areo represents, “new transparent and three-dimensional visualizations require[ing] a graphics card that supports a new graphic driver model called the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM). These effects are part of the Windows Vista Aero desktop experience and include glass effects, advanced window management features, and a more stable experience through desktop composition. This rich graphical functionality is built on the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) graphics subsystem, formerly called Avalon.”

The default Aero color scheme is clear glass. It is active by default if you have a supported video card. It allows you to see other items behind your window through a slightly blurred glass effect. You also have lots of options to tint the glass the way you like: Frost, Smoke, Seafoam, Heritage, Sky, Heart, and Candy color schemes (and you can also disable transparent glass, specify the intensity and custom-mix colors and specify color saturation if you wish).

Keeping in mind that if you have Vista Basic Aero is not an available feature, Aero availability is dependant upon the capabilities of your computer’s video card.

Specifically, what you need is a DirectX 9-class graphics processing unit that supports: a WDDM Driver, Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware, 32 bits per pixel and adequate graphics memory. What exactly is adequate graphics memory depends upon the resolution you are shooting for. The specs provide this:
Adequate graphics memory is defined as:
- 64 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at 1,310,720 or less
- 128 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions 2,304,000 pixels or less
- 256 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions higher than 2,304,000 pixels
- Graphics memory bandwidth, as assessed by Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, of at least 1,600 MB per second

If your computer is not very old and it is not working for you, chances are you just need an updated driver so get the very latest driver installed. In some cases you may need to go for beta drivers when available. Here are some links to get you started…

Intel: http://www.intel.com/business/bss/products/client/vistasolutions/index.htm
ATI: http://www.ati.com/developer/windowsvista.html
NVIDIA: http://www.nvidia.com/page/technology_vista_home.html
S3: http://www.s3graphics.com/en/products/vista/index.jsp
Via: http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/vista/platform.jsp

What about VMWare? VMware emulates what’s close to an S3 Trio64, and it isn’t even DirectX8 compliant. Reportedly, Parallels and VMware are both working on DX and OpenGL acceleration by using your physical graphics processor instead of an emulated graphics processor.

Installation Tips

In some cases, it is best to remove a pervious version for a fresh install. Some vendors recommend disabling antivirus and DAP during installation (if present). If you download and install the latest driver and Vista still says it cannot find a compatible driver, point it to the driver manually:

1) Open device manager (the quickest way is to hit the start button, type “Device M” and hit enter-it shows up at the top of the list and like most commands, can be executed from here instead of typing the real path in the “Run” dialog.)
2) Right-click on your video card and select ‘Update Driver Software…’
3) Click the “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer” option button
4) Click the ‘Have Disk…’ button
5) Click ‘Browse…’ and go to the location where the drivers were extracted
6) Select inf file and click “Open” and Click “OK”

How to autorun programs from USB Flash Drive

2008-03-25T20:50:00.002+05:30

Like we have autoplay feature on CDs, it’s possible to autorun programs and applications from your removable USB flash drive, provided you use it on Windows XP SP2.

Here’s a quick guide on how to autorun portable applications from your USB drive.

- Open Notepad
- Type in:
[autorun]
open=PStart.exe
action=Run PStart Program
icon=PStart.exe
label=My Portable PC
- Save the file as autorun.inf
- Put the file in the root of your USB flash drive
- The next time you insert your removable drive into your PC, the specified program will autorun from the USB drive

Here are some important notes on what the autorun.inf file contains:

open=Pstart.exe
The open option specifies the program that should autorun. You must use relative paths here. Do not specify the drive letter since it may vary from PC to PC.

action=Run PStart Program

This describes the action that will be performed. This parameter is used by Windows Explorer in the autoplay dialog.

icon=PStart.exe
Specifies the icon to be used for the USB drive. The icon can be fetched from an .EXE file or it can be in the normal .ICO format. (more on changing icons here)

label=My Portable PC
The label parameter can be used to specify the name of the drive.

Restarting Windows Without Restarting Your PC

2008-03-25T20:47:00.001+05:30

A modern PC with Vista Home Edition takes about one and a half minutes to boot. An older machine with XP is about the same. That’s 30 seconds for the PC itself (the BIOS) to boot up, plus a minute for the Windows operating system to boot. Sometimes, you need to reboot Windows (e.g. when installing new software), but there is no need to restart BIOS, too. However, the default is to reboot both. (That’s called doing a “cold boot,” rather than a “warm boot.”) There’s a trick that works on both XP and Vista to get it to do a warm boot instead, thus saving you 30 seconds per cycle.

The trick is to hold down the SHIFT key when invoking the restart.

Windows Vista: Select Start, then hover over the right arrow that is to the right of the padlock icon until the pop-up menu appears that contains “restart” as one of it’s choices. Hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on the “restart” choice.

Windows XP: Select Start. Select “Shut Down…”. Change the drop-down combo box under “What do you want the computer to do?” to “Restart”. Hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on the “OK” button.

How to Double Firefox Speed

2008-03-25T20:42:00.001+05:30

supports:
-Microsoft Windows
-Linux
-Mac OS X

Unofficial Support:
-Free BSD
-OS/2
-Solaris
-SkyOS
-BeOS
-XP Professional x64 Edition

Now here are some Tips&Tricks that can help you double the speed of Firefox.

1. Type about:config in the address bar and then press Enter.

2. In the filter search bar type network.http.pipelining. Be sure the value field is set true,if not double-click to set true.

HTTP is the application-layer protocol that most web pages are transferred with. In HTTP 1.1, multiple requests can be sent before any responses are received. This is known as pipelining. Pipelining reduces page loading times, but not all servers support it.

3. Go back to the filter search bar and type network.http.pipelining.maxrequests. Double-click this option and set its value to 8.

4. In the filter search bar and type network.http.proxy.pipelining. Once opened double-click on it and set it to true.

5. In IPv6-capable DNS servers, an IPv4 address may be returned when an IPv6 address is requested. It is possible for Mozilla to recover from this misinformation, but a significant delay is introduced.
Type network.dns.disableIPv6 in the filter search bar and set this option to true by double clicking on it.

6. CONTENT INTERRUPT PARSING
This preference controls if the application will interrupt parsing a page to respond to UI events. It does not exist by default.
Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window, select New and then Boolean from the pop-up menu. Then:

A. Enter content.interrupt.parsing in the New boolean value pop-up window and click OK

B. When prompted to choose the value for the new boolean, select true and click OK.

Computer Shopping Tips

2008-03-24T19:40:00.000+05:30

So, you've decided to get a new computer; that's great. Whether you're buying one for yourself, your family, or another loved one, it's bound to bring you at least a brief flash of excitement as you start to think of all the great things can be done with a fast, new machine. But if you're like many people, that excitement may quickly be replaced by a feeling of dread as you start to realize all the questions you need to answer before you can make an informed purchasing decision.

Issues of gigahertz, gigabytes, gigabits and more can confound even experienced computer users, so it's no wonder people start to feel overwhelmed when shopping for a new PC or Mac. To help make the buying process a bit easier (not to mention understandable), I've put together this article. It provides you with the important questions to ask and the critical features to consider in your purchase. Whether you're buying your first computer or adding a second or third one to your home, I think you'll find something useful here.

The Basics

Before I get into the specifics, I need to cover a few basics. First, the good news is, no matter what choice you make, you can't really go wrong. Today's current model PCs and Macs offer tremendous value and computing horsepower that we could only dream about just a few years back. Even the most inexpensive models can handle any application you throw at them. In other words, they are plenty well-equipped to allow you to write letters, access the Internet, work with digital pictures, play games and do all the other things that most people are interested in doing with a PC. In fact, even advanced applications such as video editing and speech recognition--where you talk to your computer and it converts your spoken words to typed text on the screen--are usually no problem for today's lowest-cost computers.

Second, you need to figure out how much you're willing to spend on a PC. Full-blown computer systems are available for around $500 (or even less if you choose to take advantage of rebates and other special offers), but you can also spend $3,000 or more if you really want to. So, as with other big purchases, give yourself a budget range to work within.

When it comes to budgeting for PCs, there are essentially two trains of thought. You can either spend a good amount to get a cutting-edge computer with the expectation that it will last longer or you can just get a basic system that you know will be obsolete sooner, but which you can replace with another lower-cost system at a later time. Yesterday's top-of-the-line PCs have similar or even less functionality than today's bargain-basement models. Because there's no sign that trend will be changing any time soon, you might find that going the cheap route is actually a better strategy for the long term. Another alternative that I recommend for getting the most bang for your computing buck is to buy a computer that's one step down from a company's top-of-the-line. You always pay a premium to get the fastest computer available, but if you wait until a slightly faster model comes out, then the "second best" model (which used to be top-of-the-line) will lose its premium price and become a much better value.

The final general questions you need to consider are actually two important philosophical decisions: Mac or PC? And desktop or notebook? Though Apple has had its share of problems in the past, I now feel very comfortable recommending the Mac in today's computer environment, particularly for first-time computer users. If you choose a Windows-based machine, you'll need to figure out which brand. There's a certain comfort factor in selecting a brand name such as Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq, etc., but you may find a no-name clone--sometimes referred to as a "white box" PC--is a better choice.

A somewhat similar story can be found when it comes to computer type. Traditionally, most home computer users have opted for desktop PCs. Recently, however, consumers have started to purchase notebooks--sometimes called portable PCs or laptops--and computer manufacturers have responded with notebook models that are specifically targeted towards consumers. You'll pay a price premium for a notebook over a desktop, but if you want the flexibility and freedom of being able to take your computer with you, a notebook may be a better choice.

The Specs

OK, time for the good stuff. Here are the most important computer specifications you'll hear about/read about/need to know:

Processor Type and Speed

The processor is essentially the brains of the PC, driving all the operations that occur inside the computer and performing most of the number-crunching that needs to be done for software programs to work.

Common processors you hear about are the Intel Pentium III, Pentium IV and the Celeron, as well as AMD's Duron and Athlon. Speeds for these chips range from 700 MHz up to 2GHz (that's 2,000 MHz) and soon beyond. Other than the speed differences, there are also internal differences in the way they operate and in the amount and type of a special kind of memory called L2 cache that each chip has.

While the chip vendors want you to believe otherwise, literally any processor available today is plenty fast for regular PC applications and the Internet. That's not to say that computers with higher-speed processors won't run faster--they will--but the difference may not be as dramatic as you think (nor necessarily worth the extra costs involved).

If you're looking for a good value I'd recommend a Celeron or Duron processor and if you want the absolute best performance, take a look at AMD's Athlon or Intel's Pentium IV. The speed of the chip you choose is solely a matter of price--the faster you want, the more you'll pay. (To find out even more about processors and how they work, you can read an excerpt from my book, "Personal Computer Secrets.")

On the Macintosh, the processor choices are very simple: the G3 or the G4. The G4, which is the faster of the two, is found in Apple's tower-shaped desktop systems and their Powerbook notebooks, while the G3 is used in the iMac and iBook. G4-based computers are more expensive than G3s, but they also run faster.

Memory and Hard Drive

A computer's RAM, or Random Access Memory, is the computer's working area. The simple rule with RAM is, the more the better, whether you're considering a Mac or a PC. Extra memory gives the computer more "working room," which allows it to get more things done at once.

I recommend any system you purchase have at least 128 MB, but 256 MB is even better. Given the recent dramatic declines in memory prices, there's no reason to get any less.

In addition to the amount of memory, you may want to investigate what type of memory the computer is using. Most PCs and Macs use Synchronous DRAM, or SDRAM, but some newer PCs (those using the Pentium IV processor) use RAMBUS DRAM or RDRAM. RDRAM is more expensive than regular SDRAM, but in certain situations it can be faster. A more interesting new memory type is DDR, or Double Data Rate, SDRAM which operates faster than regular SDRAM (although nowhere near twice as fast, despite its name).

One other thing you may also want to find out is the speed at which the computer system "talks" to the memory, which is determined by the speed of the computer's system bus--sometimes also called the "front-side" bus. Most notebook computers and some older desktops operate at 100 MHz, while newer desktops operate with a 133 MHz system bus. This is sometimes designated as using PC133 memory. RDRAM is often rated as PC400 or PC800. Note, however, that the increase is nowhere near as dramatic as the numbers may first lead you to believe. A computer's final speed is determined by a wide variety of different factors with each section contributing only somewhat to the overall whole.

Hard drives are the computer's storage area--kind of like a filing cabinet. All the computer's programs and files are stored on the hard drive and, as with memory, the more room you have, the better. Most systems today come with at least a 20 GB (Gigabyte) hard drive, but it's not uncommon to see 100 GB or more. Again, more storage costs more but, over time, you'll probably be glad you have it. (Just to put things into perspective, recording one hour of DV-format digital video takes almost 13 GB.)

In addition to size, one critical factor to look for in hard drives is the speed at which the drive spins, which is quoted in RPMs. The revolution speed can have a dramatic impact on how fast the hard drive works which, in turn, can have a dramatic impact on how fast your PC operates.

Most drives today operate at 5,400 RPMs, but some faster drives spin at 7,200 or even 10,000 RPMs. Once again, you'll typically pay more for a faster drive, but you may find it's worth it.

CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and Rewritable Drives

Another critical differentiating factor between computers is the types of other drives they include, most notably CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. Both of these types of drives allow you to use CD-ROM discs (which most of today's software comes on) in your PC, but DVD-ROM adds the ability to use higher-capacity DVD-ROM discs and, in many cases, lets you view DVD movies on your computer's screen. You'll pay slightly more for a DVD-ROM vs. a CD-ROM, but it's a better investment for the future.

As for speed comparisons, both types of drives are rated with an "x" rating that refers to how much faster than a typical CD audio player or DVD video disc player the drive spins. So, for example, a 32x CD-ROM can run 32 times faster than a standard audio CD player and an 8x DVD runs eight times faster than a DVD video player. This spin rate directly translates to how fast data can be read from the drive, or the "data transfer" rate, and that, in turn, determines how fast the computer can operate when it's reading a disc.

In addition to these types of drives, many computers also have rewritable storage drives, such as CD-RW (CD-Rewritable) or DVD-RW (DVD-Rewritable). All of these types of recordable drives can both read regular CD (or DVD) discs, as well as store data on them, much like a huge floppy drive. This is very important because they allow you to easily back up and store your data. (And backing up your data is a critical part of using a PC--they do break down, after all.)

Recordable DVDs are the most recent development in this area and are still somewhat controversial because there are three competing technology standards (DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM). While many in the computer industry debate the relative merits of each, the only important point to remember is that most people really only need the ability to create a DVD-R (DVD-Recordable), which is a disk that can only be written to one time, but which be played back on most standard home DVD players. DVD-R capable drives allow you to transfer your home videos or any other video recordings you have onto standard DVD discs which, in my opinion, is a pretty exciting new development. At the moment, only DVD-RW and DVD+RW offer DVD-R support, so I would recommend you select a drive that uses one of these two technologies.

For desktop PCs, I'd recommend a system with a DVD-ROM and a CD-RW or DVD-RW, which gives you the convenience of two drives and the ability to copy discs. For notebooks, I would recommend investigating combination drives that offer both DVD-ROM and CD-RW capabilities in a single drive.

Graphics Card and Monitor

Several years ago, the type of graphics card you had inside your computer was a critical factor in determining what types of applications your computer could run. Nowadays, virtually any type of graphics support inside a computer will let you run any type of software application you'd like. However, if you're interested in playing games on your PC, then you're going to want to take a hard look at the type of video card inside your computer.

Many games require a 3D-accelerated video card with 16 MB (or more) of onboard memory in order to run, but they will often run much faster or with a high-quality image if your video card has even more memory. Some of today's hottest 3D cards offer 64 MB (or more) of onboard memory, which lets you run the games at high resolutions with excellent quality. Again, you'll pay more for more onboard memory, but if you're into games, it will be worth it to you. If you're not interested in playing games, however, you'll be wasting your money for anything more than 16 MB of memory on your video card.

One other factor affecting a video card's performance is the speed of the connection it has to the rest of the computer. Most notebooks and most desktops support the AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus, which is faster than the older PCI bus. However, some systems support AGP 2x, others have AGP 4x and still others have AGP Pro, which runs eight times as fast as the original AGP bus. The faster connections are more important for 3D graphics than normal office applications, but as with most computer-related things, faster is always better.

The other critical visual component, of course, is your computer's monitor or display. Generally speaking, the larger monitor you can afford the better because the more screen "real estate" you'll have to see your work. In fact, if you're stuck deciding between a larger monitor or some other improvement, such as a faster processor, I would always vote for the larger monitor. After all, it's the screen that you're always looking at, so you want it to be as large as possible.

The standard size sold with most PCs today is a 17" CRT, or tube-based monitor, but some lower-cost systems are bundled with 15" monitors. If at all possible, make sure you go for a 17" model and, if you can, take a hard look at a 19". Despite the apparent two inch increase in size, the amount of stuff you actually see on your screen increases dramatically between 15" and 17" and 17" and 19". If you're concerned about size, take a look at some of the many short-depth 19" monitors now on the market. Most of these are no larger in size than many of last year's 17" models.

If you really want the latest monitor type, you can also consider flat-panel LCD monitors. Prices for these sleek, thin monitors have plunged recently, making them an affordable option for many computer buyers. You'll pay more than for a CRT, but many are happy to pay the price to gain back the desk space taken up by traditional tube-based monitors. The most common sizes for LCDs are 15", 17" and 18", but these numbers are a bit misleading because, unlike CRTs, LCD monitor size measurements refer to the entire viewable area of the display. As a result, a 15" LCD is roughly equivalent to a 17" CRT and 17" and 18" LCDs are roughly equivalent to 19" CRTs.

To help distinguish between CRT monitors, look at the resolutions and refresh rates that the monitor supports. The higher the resolution (given in pixels--such as 1,024 x 768), the more things you can see on the screen, but the smaller they appear. You'll need to find a compromise that suits your working style (and your vision!). One thing you need to make sure of is that the resolution you choose has a refresh rate of at least 75 Hz or higher, and preferably 85 Hz. Lower refresh rates cause an annoying flicker that will fatigue your eyes as you look at the screen.

For LCD monitors, you really need to look at the resolution the monitor supports because, unlike CRTs, LCD monitors are optimized to work at only one resolution--sometimes referred to as the monitor's "native" resolution. Most LCD monitors let you change resolutions through a technology known as "scaling," but the results are often far from ideal. On the other hand, refresh rates are meaningless for LCDs. All LCDs operate at 60 Hz--regardless of what any advertising or promotional literature may say--and don't have any problems with flicker.

For both CRTs and LCDs, you can also compare the monitor's dot pitch--measured in millimeters--which describes the space between display elements on the face of the monitor's screen. Generally speaking, you want at least .28mm or lower, but be aware that this measurement doesn't always provide the best comparison. When it comes to monitors, always trust your eyes and, if at all possible, look at the monitor before you buy.

Finally, if you're looking for the best possible quality in CRTs, look for the new generation of flat CRT monitors. Flat CRTs cost a bit more than traditional CRT monitors, but they offer better picture quality and less glare, which can make their visual quality even higher. In the case of LCD monitors, make sure you get one that offers both a traditional analog VGA connector as well as the newer digital DVI (Digital Visual Interface) connector. At the moment very few PCs and graphics cards offer DVI support, so you may not be able to use it initially, but this will guarantee compatibility with future DVI-enabled PCs.

Sound Cards, Speakers and Modems

Virtually all computers sold today come with a reasonably decent 16-bit audio sound card or built-in sound circuitry. However, if you're interested in buying the best possible computer gaming machine, you may want to look for more. Some sound cards offers features such as surround sound and support for multiple sets of speakers, both of which can provide a more compelling audio environment for games. In addition, if you're a musician, you'll want to look at how many synthesized voices the sound card supports and find out if it supports digital audio inputs and outputs.

Speakers of some sort also typically come with most PCs, although quality varies widely. Typically, you get what you pay for, so higher-cost speaker systems will sound better, which may be important if you want to listen to MP3 files over the Internet or play games.

As with sound cards, almost all PCs and Macs (including notebooks) now come with a built-in 56K V.90 modem. While there can be differences between these types of modems, they're usually much too subtle to bother about. If you know that you're going to be connecting your computer to a high-speed cable modem or DSL connection, you don't really even need an analog modem, but it's still nice to have one to fall back on. This is particularly true for notebooks, where you may travel with them and need to connect to the Internet away from a high-speed connection.

If you are going to connect your computer to a high-speed Internet connection, you'll need to make sure it has built-in support for an Ethernet network port (see section below), which is how you connect your PC or Mac to external cable and DSL modems. Some computers are starting to be offered with built-in DSL or cable modems, but before you buy one, make sure it will work with the ISP with which you'll be connecting. The reason is, not all high-speed modems are standardized yet, so one type of DSL modem, for example, may not work with your DSL provider.

Ports and Connectors

One often overlooked, but very important factor in a computer purchase is the type and amount of connectors a computer has. While today's PCs and Macs are powerful machines, you'll almost always want to connect at least some other devices to them and you'll most often do that via the computer's various ports or connectors.

The most important types of connectors to look for on PCs are USB (Universal Serial Bus), Serial, Parallel, Ethernet, and, if possible, IEEE 1394 (sometimes called i.Link or FireWire). Peripherals such as printers, scanners, digital cameras, high-speed cable and DSL modems and so on typically attach to a computer from these connectors, so the wider variety of connections a PC has, the better off you'll be.

Serial and Parallel ports are becoming less important with the rapid development of USB and IEEE 1394-based peripherals, but they're still handy to have, particularly if you have older peripherals and accessories (such as printers, digital cameras, graphics tablets, etc.) that only support these types of connections. Ethernet ports are important for home networking, as well as high-speed Internet connections. On the Mac side, you're limited to USB, Ethernet and FireWire (or IEEE 1394), although that's all you'll typically need.

The newest connection standard to be introduced is USB 2.0, which runs at rate that's 40 times faster than the original USB connector. USB 2.0 is backwards-compatible with existing USB devices--meaning that you can plug any existing USB devices into a USB 2.0 connector and the device will work (although it won't automatically get any faster)--plus it offers support for faster, new USB 2.0-compliant products. Very few computers offer USB 2.0 support right now, but it will be growing in importance over time. (By the way, USB 2.0 ports can be added to an existing computer by purchasing and installing a USB 2.0 plug-in card, much as you can add SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) connections to a PC or Mac by installing a SCSI card.)

One other point that bears mentioning here is that the number of open slots inside a computer--which was commonly used as a reference point for determining how "expandable" a particular computer system was--is becoming less and less important over time. The reason for this is most of the add-ons that people are buying for computers these days are external devices. As a result, the types of external connectors a computer has is becoming even more important.

Still, certain types of upgrades--such as 3D video cards and the aforementioned SCSI cards--often require an open slot inside your computer's case so I wouldn't completely ignore the issue. Thankfully, however, the base systems on many of today's computers are so good that there's less need for these types of internal upgrades.

If you're looking at a notebook computer, one final type of connectivity--or means of connecting to other computers or other devices--that you need to consider is support for wireless networking. With a wireless network connection, you can enjoy the freedom of moving around and working wherever you feel that a notebook offers you, while at the same time still have an Internet connection for browsing and e-mail. Several types of wireless networking options are available, but the most important is the 802.11b, or Wi-Fi, standard. Apple uses the name AirPort for their version of 802.11b, but it is otherwise the same thing. Support for 802.11b, which offers transfer speeds of up to 11 Mb/second (as fast as a standard wired Ethernet connection) can come in one of several ways. Some notebooks have everything you need for 802.11b wireless connections, including both an antenna as well as special wireless circuitry (a unique kind of radio, to be exact), while others only include a built-in antenna and require you to purchase a PC Card or other plug-in module separately.

Even if your notebook comes with a complete 802.11b "solution," however, it's important to note that to access the Internet, you also need to somehow connect with an 802.11b access point, which is a device that communicates with the 802.11b circuitry in your notebook and also provides a wired connection to the Internet. Just having 802.11b support doesn't magically give you a wireless Internet connection because it is only designed to replace a wired Ethernet connection. In other words, if you want to use 802.11b in your home, you not only have to have support for it in your notebook, you also need to factor in the cost of an access point. (To find out more about wireless home networking, see the "Home Networking and the Internet" article elsewhere on this site.) The same is true if you want to use it in a business environment. Some public places, such as hotels, restaurants, airports, convention centers and even coffee shops are starting to offer wireless Internet access via 802.11b, so if you have a notebook with 802.11b support, you can take advantage of these fast, convenient new connections (although you'll typically have to pay something for the privilege.)

One other wireless connectivity option you may also hear about for notebooks is Bluetooth. Like 802.11b, Bluetooth provides a means to wirelessly connect between a notebook PC (or any type of computer) and other devices. Unlike 802.11b, however, Bluetooth is not designed to be networking standard, but rather a means to connect between devices, such as a PC and a printer, or a cell phone and a handheld computer, conveniently without wires. In some instances Bluetooth can offer a simple form of wireless networking, but it's only 1/10 the speed of 802.11b and networking isn't really the best application of Bluetooth. In other words, for now at least, 802.11b is a lot more important than Bluetooth if you're looking to decide what to include on a new notebook purchase.

Other Stuff

The final things to consider when buying any type of computer are the amount and type of software or other hardware that's bundled with the computer, the company's warranty policy and the type of tech support they provide.

With regards to the bundled software you can always (and undoubtedly will) add your own selections at a later date, but it's good to have a reasonable collection to get you started. More importantly, make sure the company provides copies on CDs of all the software they preinstall on the hard drive, including Windows and applications. Some manufacturers only provide a single recovery CD (which brings the computer backs to its original state--as it came from the factory), while others only include CDs for some of the programs they installed and some include nothing at all.

All of these situations can be a big problem if you need to reinstall only a single application at a later date or if you have to reformat your hard drive and reinstall everything. (For more on this process, see "Starting Over: Repartitioning, Reformatting and Reinstalling" elsewhere on this web site.) Find this out before you buy and, if the company won't provide you with all the original program discs, look somewhere else for your new PC. It's really that important.

If the computer is bundled with a printer or other peripheral, make sure you're happy with the output quality and features it offers.

The warranty and tech support issues are the types of things you hope you won't have to worry about, but they still need to be considered. Unfortunately, tech support quality can vary dramatically even within the same company, so it's typically a matter of luck whether or not you connect with a knowledgeable person or someone who knows even less than you.

A related point regarding tech support is figuring out where you want to buy your computer (and where, therefore, the tech support will come from). Some people prefer buying from a small, local dealer, where they can get individual service, although the tech support hours are often limited. Other people want to purchase via the Internet or mail-order, in part so that they can have access to 24-hour tech support. Like many other decisions in the computer buying process, there isn't necessarily a right answer to this question, but you should consider it during your purchase planning.

Final Thoughts

No matter what type of system you end up buying, you're bound to enjoy it and have a great deal of fun with it. Of course, if you want to maximize your computer purchase, you may want to pick up a book that helps you get more out of your PC. To that end, I would highly recommend you take a look at "Personal Computer Secrets," (available for purchase through this web site) which will help you fully enjoy your computer purchase for many years to come.

Home Networking and the Internet

2008-03-24T19:39:00.000+05:30

n the early days of personal computers, the thought of having more than a single PC in a household was probably as uncommon as the idea of multiple televisions in households of the 1950's: it simply didn't happen. But now, just as multiple TVs per home has become the rule as opposed to the exception, so too has the multiple PC home become commonplace. (To get tips on what to look for in a new computer, by the way, check the "Computer Shopping Tips" article available on this web site.) People have found that, far from being an extravagance, owning multiple computers (whether they're PCs or Macs or even both) is extraordinarily practical, particularly for those households with multiple computer users, such as just about anyone with kids….

With the growing importance of the Internet, the dilemma now is figuring out how to get all those computers connected to the online world. Some people with multiple PCs have chosen to sign up for multiple online accounts, but in addition to being expensive, this can be impractical because of all the additional hassles it entails: setting up multiple phone lines, configuring multiple modems and so on. This is particularly true for those homes who already have or are interested in fast, "always on" (sometimes called broadband) connections to the Internet, such as via cable modems, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), satellite and fixed wireles technologies.

As a result, there's a tremendous interest in figuring out ways to share a single online connection among multiple computers. Simply put, the best way is to create a home network and then share the web connection through that network. Home networks offer many other useful benefits for multiple computer homes-including the ability to share printers and other peripherals, transfer files, play games and more-but sharing a single internet connection is widely recognized as being the "killer application."

Home networks will also be very important in the future for other types of applications, such as connecting information appliances and even consumer electronics devices, such as home stereo and home theater components, to the Internet. Without a home network in a place, you won’t really be able to take full advantage of some of the cool new crossover products and technologies that are just starting to become available.

Finding information on how to create a home network and shared Internet connection isn't easy, however, and many of the resources that are available aren't easy to understand. To address these issues, I've written this article. It offers complete, but straightforward explanations about both the concepts involved as well as the specific steps required to create your own home network with a shared Internet connection.

The Big Picture

The first thing to understand about this process is that there are two major steps involved. First, you have to create the network itself by connecting the appropriate hardware, installing the necessary software and setting up the computers to communicate with one another. Once that's done, then you also have to create the shared Internet connection, which can be done either with software or hardware. Simply creating a network does not automatically give you a shared Internet connection. Conversely, you cannot just install Internet connection sharing software and expect success-you have to have some type of network in place first.

Depending on the equipment and software you choose to install, you may find that you can achieve both ends (that is, create a network and share an Internet connection) with the same piece of hardware, but that's only because the device is specifically designed to handle both tasks. (Devices that offer this capability are sometimes referred to as residential gateways and they are discussed in much more detail later in this article.) In many cases, the process involves two or more separate pieces of hardware and/or software. Be aware also that the exact equipment you need and the procedures you’ll use to set them up vary depending on what you're using and what you already have. In addition, it’s important to know that there can be a lot of steps involved….

Getting Wired (or Unwired)

The first step in creating a network, which is the first part of the overall process, is figuring out how the machines will be connected together. Traditionally, this has been done via wired connections using specialized network cabling and a hardware device known as a hub, which serves as the common connection point between machines. Each computer uses (or needs to have installed) a network interface card (sometimes referred to as an Ethernet card), and the cables are connected from each PC's network/Ethernet card to the hub. Note that if your PC already has a network interface card that was installed along with your cable or DSL modem, you sometimes have to add a second network card to create your home network.

In many cases, home networks also use this type of arrangement, but it has one significant drawback. Traditional networks like this require that new cables be run to the rooms in which the computers are located. Not surprisingly, many homeowners (and renters) have no desire to run more wiring throughout their house, especially if it requires fishing wires through walls, climbing through attics or crawlspaces and so on. As a result, the computer industry has come up with several alternatives that are less intrusive or disruptive to the typical home and, in addition, are simpler to set up.

The first alternative encompasses two choices that are collectively referred to as "no new wires" techniques. As the name suggests, these methods use wiring that already exists in all homes: specifically, phone lines and the electrical lines. Products that use phone lines conform to the Home Phoneline Networking Association (HPNA) standard and allow you to network together two or more computers by plugging them into available phone jacks. Similarly, power-line products use your home's existing electrical outlets to connect together multiple PCs. In the case of power-line based products, the standard is called HomePlug, but it's being adopted very slowly and products that support have just started to trickle out. Importantly, both phoneline and power-line products work in such a way that they will not affect the normal operation of your home's phones or electrical outlets. So, for example, you can still make and receive calls on the phone lines while using an HPNA-based phoneline network and you can still plug in and use any device requiring electricity while using powerline-based networks. In both cases, the products essentially take advantage of unused “space” on the respective types of wires.

As appealing as these two options may be, there are certain limitations. Both mechanisms, for example, are typically slower than traditional wired network connections. Power-line connections, in particular, tend to run much more slowly than other alternatives. Similarly, phoneline products that conform to the HPNA 1.0 standard are much slower than other options, although HPNA 2.0-compliant products offer much better performance. To put it into numerical perspective, traditional wired Ethernet networks commonly run at 10 Megabits per second, or 10 Mbps. (The Mbps number refers to how much data, measured in bits, can be transferred across the network in a given amount of time.) In addition, 100 Mbps Ethernet, 1 Gigabit (Gbps, or 1,000 Mbps) Ethernet and even faster options are available with traditional network wiring. Some power-line networks, on the other hand, work at less than 1 Mbps, while HPNA 1.0 devices run at 1 Mbps and HPNA 2.0 devices offer up to 10 Mbps.

Other limitations are even more confounding. HPNA products, for example, must all connect to jacks that use the same phone number. If you happen to have multiple phone lines and, for example, only have jacks for the second line in one of the rooms in which your PCs are located (such as if you set up a dedicated phone line for dial-up Internet access), you could end having to wire your house with another phone line (or at least manually rewiring a phone jack) in order to get HPNA products to work. As far as I'm concerned, this completely defeats the purpose of HPNA in the first place because it doesn't live up to the promise of "no new wires." Thankfully, there are some solutions around this problem in some situations, but it can still be frustrating. Plus, it is very poorly and, in fact, very rarely, documented.

Power-line products, on the other hand, don't often work well with the electrical filtering found in power strips, which are otherwise usually recommended for use with your computer equipment. As a result, you'll have to be sure you attach power-line networking products straight to the wall or via a non-filtered outlet. Also, until more HomePlug-compatible products become available, all of the powerline products are proprietary and won't work with products from other vendors.

The second major alternative to wired networks are wireless products. Early wireless products were slow and more expensive than any wired alternatives, but current wireless products offer speeds up to 11 Mbps, in addition to the flexibility and ease of setup provided by a wireless connection. Cost-wise, however, they still are more expensive than the other options. Unfortunately, there are several different wireless alternatives and they are not compatible with each other, so you need to be careful if you're considering a wireless network. The two primary standards are Home RF (short for Radio Frequency) and IEEE 802.11b, which is used in Apple's AirPoint product and Lucent’s Orinoco RG-1000 among others. 802.11b has been standardized by many major computer and networking vendors and is now often referred to as Wi-Fi (short for Wireless Fidelity).

As long as all the products you use for your network conform to one of the two wireless standards you should be OK-even if you mix and match products from different companies-but to be safe, you should always check first to make sure that different wireless products can interoperate with one another. (One other potential future point of confusion is that neither of these wireless protocols work directly with another type of wireless networking technology called Bluetooth that's expected to be available in PDAs, cell phones, notebooks and other types of devices in the near future.)

Speaking of interconnections-or interoperability, as folks in the computer business like to say-it is sometimes possible to connect different kinds of network types together. So, for example, with the help of a hardware device that's generically referred to as a bridge (because it "bridges" or connects together two types of networks), you could have a home network that uses HPNA and Wi-Fi, or HomePlug and HomeRF or many other possible combinations. Certainly it's easier (and probably less expensive) if you stick with one main type of network connection, but be aware that there are "adapters" available that let multiple different network types connect together.

After you've decided on the technology you intend to use to create your home network, you'll need to plug everything in and get the computers connected. With traditional wired networks, the process typically entails plugging in an Ethernet-based network card (or taking advantage of the Ethernet jack built into many of today's PCs and Macs) and plugging each of the machines into a device called a network hub using Category 5, or Cat5 cabling. Many companies sell home networking kits that bundle together everything you need, including the network cards (sometimes also called network or Ethernet adapters), the hub and the cable. If you want to, however, you can also purchase the pieces individually.

With most phoneline, powerline and wireless products, the process is somewhat similar, although most of the alternatives don't require a hub and they use different type of cabling (or no cabling at all!) to make the connections. HPNA products, for example, often come in the form of a plug-in card that you install inside an open slot within your PC. Some newer PCs come with HPNA adapters pre-installed and you can also get external HPNA adapters that attach via your computer's USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports. Whatever form the adapter takes, all you have to do is connect it to an available phone jack and you've completed the physical installation.

Similarly, powerline products install or connect to your PC and then attach to an available electrical outlet. Wireless products in some instances are stand-alone devices that plug into an available expansion slot inside your computer while in others, they are external and must attach to either a USB port or an Ethernet card or connector on your computer. In the case of notebook computers, the wireless products are sometimes built directly into the computer and, in other cases, are added via a PC Card slot or via some other internal connector. (If you run into problems installing the necessary network hardware, you may also want to investigate the "PC Hardware Troubleshooting Tips" and "Mac Hardware Troubleshooting Tips" articles that are also available on this web site.)

In all cases, including traditional wired and the other alternatives, the next step is to install the required software. Most hardware devices require the installation of driver software, which is system-level software that communicates between the operating system and the device. In addition, in order for computers to communicate, they have to use an agreed upon "language," which in the case of computer networks is called a protocol. Several protocols are used on computer networks but the most common is called TCP/IP, which stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. As its name explains, TCP/IP is also the language used to communicate between computers on the Internet. Other protocols used for simple networks include NetBEUI for Windows-based networks and AppleTalk for Mac-based networks.

The final two pieces of software required to make a network "work" are network clients, which essentially look for and talk to other computers connected to the network, and network services, which is software that allows you to do things such as share files and printers across the network.

Thankfully, you don't usually need to worry about manually installing all these different software components because the software installation process that you go through when installing network hardware virtually always takes care of it for you. So, for example, when you attach an Ethernet or HPNA or Wi-Fi card into your PC or your notebook's PC Card slot, you'll typically be asked to install the accompanying software. When you do, the installation process usually installs not only the driver software for the new device, but also the appropriate networking software pieces.

In some instances, however, you do have to install these pieces manually (and even if you don't, it's good to know what exactly is involved in case you need to troubleshoot your network later on). Should you need to manually install the network clients, adapter drivers, protocols and services on a Windows 95/98/ME machine, you can do so via the Networking control panel. (You don't have to worry about this for Windows NT or 2000 because they presume a network connection and therefore don't offer a Network Control Panel.) Just open the control panel, click on the Add… button, select the Network Component Type (such as Protocol) you need from the list, click Add… again, and choose from the available options. Note that you may need to have your Windows CD nearby in order to complete the installation. Also, in almost all cases (except for adapters), you should select Microsoft from the list of vendors that appears on the left side of the dialog boxes that appear during this installation process and then choose from the options that appear on the right.

Be aware that you can mix and match computers with different versions of Windows on a network. So, for example, you could network together a desktop with Windows 95, a notebook with Windows 98 or XP and another desktop with Windows 2000, without any problems. They do not have to all be running the same versions of Windows.

Crossing the Chasm

If you happen to have both Macs and PC (or a Mac and a PC), you can also connect them together in a network, although there are a few other considerations to bear in mind. Most importantly, you need to install additional software either on the Mac or the PC (but not both) in order to allow it to fully communicate with the other. That is, unless you're using MacOS X.1 or later, which includes built-in support for PC file and printer and sharing. All previous versions of the MacOS, including the original release of OS X, do not.

If you aren't yet running MacOS X.1 or later want to connect a single Mac to a PC network, I would recommend Thursby Systems' DAVE software, which lets Macs talk to PC networks. If, on the other hand, you're attaching a lone PC to a Mac network, check out Miramar Systems PC MacLan, which you install onto a PC in order to let it speak the language of Mac networks. If you have one Mac and one PC, you can go either way, but you'll have to choose one option or the other if you want to share files and printers. (Note that you don’t need any software if all you want to do is share an Internet between a Mac and a PC. In that case, you can just use a piece of hardware called either a gateway or router and connect each of the computers to that device via standard Ethernet cables. I’ll provide more info on this a bit later in the article.)

In addition to getting the Macs and PCs speaking together over the network, you may need file translation software in order to open Mac files on a PC or PC files on a Mac. Thankfully, versions of Microsoft Office 98 and later on the Mac and Office 97 and later on the PC can directly read each other’s files without the need for any translation. If you have other translation requirements in either direction, you should visit the Dataviz web site, where you can get either MacLinkPlus to install on the Mac or Conversions Plus to install on the PC. Both programs enable you to translate between Mac and PC files (such as AppleWorks on a Mac to Word or WordPerfect on a PC).

Testing the Connections

Once all the software is successfully installed, you'll need to reboot your machine to try your network out. Before you do that, however, make sure that inside the Network control panel of any Windows-equipped PCs you have connected together, that you give the same Workgroup name to each computer. You’ll find Workgroup name under the Identification tab of the Network control panel. For Windows 2000, you can check for and/or change the Workgroup name through the System Control Panel and then the Network Identification tab and finally the Properties button. You can call each computer by any name you want (each machine must be different), as long as it’s limited to about 15 characters.

One potential hassle you may run into very quickly is that, in most cases, when you have a network you'll have to create and a use a password to log onto Windows. Passwords aren't required for single computers, but they are for a network, so either get used to it, or download and install Microsoft's handy TweakUI control panel (the newly updated version I’ve linked to here works with every type of Windows from 95 on, despite the fact that this link comes from a Windows NT section of the Microsoft web site), which lets you "save" a password and automatically log on whenever you turn on your Windows-based PC. In the case of Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you can also tell the system that it can always presume the same user is going to be logging into the system so that the operating system does it for you automatically.

To check your network connections, double-click on the Network Neighborhood or My Network Places icon on your desktop and you should the see other PCs on your network. (You might need to click on the Entire Network icon first.) If you do, congratulations, you're now a networking guru! If not, double check all your hardware connections, ensure that all the necessary software is installed, double-check your workgroup names and then reboot your system and try again. (If you want help with software-related problems, you can also check out the "PC Software Troubleshooting Tips" and "Mac Software Troubleshooting Tips" articles that are also available on this web site.) Windows 98 SE, Windows ME and Windows XP include help files on Home Networking, by the way, so if you have one of those operating systems installed on any one of your networked PCs, you can just select Help off the Start menu and search for home networking support. The help files in Windows XP are particularly useful.

Once everything is working, you may want to turn file and print-sharing on if you want to be able to transfer files from one computer to another on the network or you want to share printers. To do so in Windows 95/98/ME, double-click on the Network control panel and the click on the File and Print Sharing… button and select the appropriate check boxes. As I will discuss later in this article, however, there are some important security-related issues that may arise when you turn on file sharing, particularly if you have a high-speed DSL or cable modem connection to the Internet, so be careful. If you do turn on file sharing, you can get access to files on the other computer(s) by double-clicking on one of them in Network Neighborhood or My Network Places. What you'll actually be doing is viewing their hard drives. Once you have another computer open, you can copy files or move files over from the machine on which you're working.

One important caveat that I discuss in more detail later is that if you have a software-based firewall installed on at least one PC on your network, you may not be able to "see" that computer or any printers attached to it. While this can be both frustrating and annoying, it's actually a good thing because it means the firewall is doing its job of "hiding" that PC from the outside world. You can quickly get around this limitation by temporarily disabling the firewall when you need to print or share a file, but just remember to turn it back on (or "re-enable" it) after you're done. The specific method for enabling and disabling a firewall varies from program to program, but all of them should offer an easy, straightforward way to do so.

Cool Network Stuff

Before we get into how to share an Internet connection, I want to spend a few moments discussing the great things you can now do with your new network. Foremost among these new opportunities is the ability to share peripherals across the network. Let's say, for example, that you just bought a nice new color inkjet and connected it to one of your PCs, but you also have an older laser printer or multifunction device that you like to print to or fax from as well. What you can do with a network is attach one device to each computer on the network and then print to either one from either computer.

All you have to do to make this happen (in addition to turning on Printer Sharing, that is) is install the appropriate printer driver software onto each machine. (Simply having a printer attached to a networked computer will not make it automatically show up on all the other networked computers, unfortunately.) To network-enable your printers, go to the Printers Folder and see which printers are already installed. Ideally, you should just have the one directly connected printer available to each machine. (If you have the other printer's software already installed, go ahead and delete it. We're going to re-install it as a network printer in just a moment.)

Double-click on the Add Printer Wizard and on the second screen of the wizard, select Network Printer. The only tricky part of this process comes on the next screen, when you have to type in or browse for the location of the network printer. All you have to do is select browse, find the computer on the network to which the printer you want to use is attached, double click it, and then you should be able to see and select the printer you want to use. The final step involves installing the actual printer driver software on the networked computer. Make sure you're ready by having the CD or floppy disk that came with the printer with you so that you can insert it at the appropriate point in the installation process.

Once all the installations are complete, you'll be able to print to any printer from any computer on the network, which is really nice. Just remember to choose the printer you want from the Print dialog box that appears when you go to print from an application. Again, also remember that if you are using a software firewall--which I highly recommend you do--you may not be able to "see" any shared printers unless you temporarily disable the firewall.

Other fun things you can conceivably do with a network is share a CD- or DVD-ROM drive so that, for example, you could access a CD or DVD from a computer that doesn't have one. This can be very handy if, for example, you have a notebook that doesn't have a CD- or DVD-ROM drive and you want to install some CD-based software onto the notebook from your desktop computer's CD- or DVD-ROM drive. You can also share scanners and other peripherals as well as do fun stuff like play networked games.

Sharing the Web

OK, now that the network is complete we're finally ready to talk about sharing your Internet connection (I told you there was a lot to this….) Before diving into the specifics, I need to explain conceptually what's involved so that you can understand how the different mechanisms work and why some are better suited for some applications than others.

The critical issue is that in order for a computer to communicate with any other computer on the Internet it needs to have an IP (Internet Protocol) address. These addresses, which are assigned to computers either manually or automatically depending on the type of connection you have to the Internet, are what enable you to, for example, type in the address of a particular web site and have that web site send back the contents of its page to your specific computer. Without an IP address, a request sent to a web site would go unanswered because the site wouldn't know where to send the information. IP addresses take the form of four separate numbers (ranging from 0-255) separated by periods. An example would be 207.30.37.115, which happens to be the IP address of the web server hosting this web site.

On most types of Internet connections involving a single computer, IP addresses aren't an issue you would have had to worry about because they're typically assigned to your computer automatically when you go to make a connection. What happens is a device at your ISP (Internet Service Provider) uses a standard called DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) to automatically assign an IP address to your PC. The process occurs by setting certain parameters in software. Importantly, the IP address that is given to your computer through this dynamic addressing process, as it's sometimes referred, lasts only the length that you are online. If you disconnect and then reconnect, your machine will have a different IP address assigned to it.

Some broadband Internet connections provide (or at least, used to provide) fixed IP addresses in which you are/were given a specific IP address that you assigned to your machine by typing it in the TCP/IP protocol section of the Networking Control Panel. The benefit of a fixed IP is that you always know what it's going to be. This turns out to be helpful when it comes to sharing an Internet connection, as you'll soon see. Many broadband ISPs have begun switching to dynamic IP addressing, however, as with traditional modem dial-up accounts, and require you to use a "dialing" program in order to connect to the Internet. In many cases, ISPs who have this type of arrangement are using what's called PPPOE (Point-to-Point Protocol Over Ethernet) in order to implement it. While this isn't necessarily a huge problem for single computer connections, it can make sharing an Internet connection across a home network a bit more confusing when you first set up your network. (In particular, you have to make sure that any hardware or software you use to share your Internet connection supports PPPOE. Thankfully, nowadays, most do.)

When it comes to networks, IP addressing issues can become more complicated. Nevertheless, they are something you'll have to deal with (or at least know something about), so it's worth spending some time discussing the basic issues. Again, each computer on a network has to have an IP address assigned to it in order to access the Internet. Logically, the easiest way to do this is to give each computer its own unique IP address. The problem is that most ISPs only provide you with a single IP address (fixed or dynamic) and charge extra for additional addresses. With PacBell's DSL service, for example, the monthly charge is $39 for a single IP address but $79 for an upgraded service that includes 5 unique addresses.

In order to avoid these additional costs, several different ways have been developed to "share" a single IP address across multiple machines on a home network. One of the most common is to assign an IP address to a single computer on the network that acts as a proxy for the other computers and through which they make their Internet connections. With this proxy server method, software running on the machine that's actually connected to the Internet (called proxy server software, appropriately enough) takes all the Internet-bound messages coming from the different PCs on the network and then routes it to the appropriate location on the web. When it receives data back, this proxy server software keeps track of which PC sent which request and routes the appropriate page back to each computer. Practically speaking, what this means is multiple people on the network can be connecting to different web sites at the same time and the proxy server software will make sure each person receives the right stuff.

Several companies make proxy server software, include Sybergen's Sygate, Deerfield's WinGate and Ositis Software's WinProxy, all of which work with Windows-based PCs. For the Macintosh, there's Sustainable Networks' IPNetRouter and VicomSoft's SurfDoubler. If you want to connect a Mac and PC to a shared Internet account, your best (and perhaps only) options are VicomSoft's SurfDoubler or Internet Gateway, two cross-platform packages that let you use either the Mac or PC as the machine that connects to the Internet. (Note that if you have a hardware router-see below for more-you can share a Mac and a PC connection without any special software. These products are for sharing without a router.)

In most cases, there is a small charge for the software but you may also be able to find shareware or even freeware proxy servers out on the Internet. Most proxy servers do more than just handle the juggling of IP addresses, by the way. Many, for example, include basic firewall security features. One potential drawback with a proxy server that you need to be aware of is that some Internet plug-ins or helper applications that work along with your browser need to be specially configured in order to work properly with a proxy server. (Some proxy server packages take care of most of this for you.) So, if after you install a proxy server you notice that you can't hear or see some types of streaming media, for example, look into making some adjustments to the plug-in's settings.

Unfortunately, as nice a solution as proxy servers may be, some of them don't work with PPPOE-based dynamic IP addressing schemes. In other words, depending on the type of account you have with your ISP, they might not work.

If you have Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), Windows Millennium Edition (ME) or Windows XP, another option you have is the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) software built into those operating systems. ICS is not typically installed by default, however, so may have to add it by going to the Add/Remove Software control panel, selecting the Windows Setup Tab, double-clicking on Internet Tools and then installing it (be sure to have your Windows CD ready). In addition to installing ICS on the main computer connected to the Internet, you'll also need to install the ICS "client" on each of the other computers on the network. Thankfully, Windows 98 SE, ME and XP include a wizard that creates a floppy disk with all the files you need. Simply create that floppy disk and then walk around to the other machines on the network and install the necessary files.

ICS essentially works by "fooling" the Internet connection into thinking that all the requests for information from different computers on the network are coming from a single machine. Conceptually, this is similar to how proxy servers work, but because of differences in the technical implementation of how the addresses are shared, ICS often does work even with PPPOE-type broadband connections. Technically, the process that ICS uses is called Network Address Translation or NAT.

The technical details of how to set up each of these different proxy servers vary, but the concepts are similar. If you want to find out more, I have links to several excellent web sites on the Troubleshooting Resources page of this web site. One particularly good resource is Practically Networked. One important point to remember in all of this is that you’ll need to find or have access to the parameters and settings that your ISP gives you when you sign up for Internet service. Specifically, you’ll need to know the IP addresses of the gateway and DNS server addresses in addition to any possible fixed IP address information (which again, the vast majority of people do not have).

The Hardware Alternative

If you don't want to deal with the difficulties of setting up these software-based systems and/or you don't want to always have to leave the Internet connected PC turned on--which you have to do with the software-based systems I've just described in order for the other computers on your home network to connect through it to the Internet--you're a great candidate for a hardware-based solution. In other words, you might want to spend a few more bucks and purchase a dedicated piece of equipment that you can set up once and then have your entire home connect through to the Internet. These dedicated routers or "residential gateways," as they're starting to be referred to, are one of the hottest areas in home technology.

Once again, there are several different choices available. Right now, products such as the Linksys EtherFast Cable/DSL Router and others like it essentially act as intermediaries between your home network and your Internet connection. In the case of the Linksys routers, for example, you attach it directly to your cable or DSL modem (or analog one, if that's all you've got) and then to the rest of your network. The company sells one unit with a built-in hub (if you don't already have one) and another one without the hub (if you do). If you have a hub, you connect all your PCs to the hub and then you also connect the router to the hub. They, and other companies, also sell similar units that integrate support for the 802.11b wireless network standard so that you can combine both wired and wireless connections in a single network.

One of the primary benefits of this approach is that you don't need to always leave one computer on-instead you simply leave this device on and whenever any computer on your network requires an Internet connection, it handles the connection (in conjunction with your DSL or cable modem). In addition, having a hardware connection like this saves you from having to install two networks cards into the main computer that connects to the Internet.

Another important aspect of these residential gateway devices is that they can automate (or even eliminate) the often tedious process or assigning IP addresses to each of your computers. As mentioned earlier, in order for computer and other devices to talk to other computers on the Internet, they have to be assigned an IP address of some kind. What happens with residential gateways is that most of these devices incorporate a mini-DHCP server inside the box, which means that they can take care of automatically generating and assigning IP addresses to each device on your home network that connects to them. The gateway itself has an IP address—either the automatically assigned IP address from your ISP via its DHCP server or, if you have one, the fixed IP address from your ISP. Then the gateway, in turn, assigns IP addresses to your connected computers. When you first set up a gateway, you need to enter all your ISP connection settings for it (IP, gateway, DNS addresses, etc.), just as you did when you first connected your computer to the Internet.

To get your computers to work with the gateway, all you have to do is tell them to “Obtain an IP address automatically” in the TCP/IP section of Windows’ Network control panel. In other words, once you’ve set this option up (and it is the default, by the way, so you may not even need to take this step) the configuration happens automatically, which is great—and much, much easier. In case you’re wondering, the difference between the DHCP server that your gateway might “listen” to from your ISP (if you don’t have a fixed IP address) and the DHCP server inside the gateway is that the DHCP server at the ISP assigns publicly available IP addresses which can be used on the Internet, whereas the mini-DHCP server inside the residential gateway/router assigns private IP addresses to your connected computer and these addresses can only be used on a private network (and won’t work directly on the Internet—only through the public IP address assigned to the gateway). Public and private IP address issues can be confusing, but the gateway/router should take care of this stuff automatically.

In the future, these residential or personal gateway devices will probably integrate the functions of and take the place of your cable or DSL modem and hub, which will simplify the setup process. In other words, instead of having three boxes (e.g., a cable/DSL modem, a residential gateway/router, and a hub), you might only need one. So, for example, when you sign up for a high-speed Internet account you might get a residential gateway box into which you plug in all your home's PCs--again perhaps via phoneline networking connections, regular Ethernet connections, powerline connections, wireless connections or some combination of them all--and it will take care of everything else for you. It will serve as a network hub, it will serve as a high-speed modem and it will serve as bridging device for connecting all the different types of networking products together. Unfortunately, we're not quite there yet…. In the mean time, you can piece together the equivalent of this dream solution with several different components, as I've described. By the way, most residential gateways do not care what type of network they are attached to. So, they will work with a standard Ethernet network, an HPNA-based network, an 802.11b-based wireless network and various combinations thereof.

If you add other devices to your home network, such as an Internet appliance, wireless web pad, Internet-enabled MP3 music player, or any other type of Internet-enabled consumer electronics device you may also have to deal with IP address issues. In most cases, all you have to do is plug in the device to the network and, by default, it will search for a DHCP to automatically assign it an IP address. In that case, with a residential gateway box that has a built-in DHCP server (as most all do) everything will just work, which is how it should be. If it doesn’t, however, you can apply the same principles to these devices as you do with PCs and make the appropriate IP address adjustments in the device’s settings.

Security Concerns

In these days of rampant computer viruses and never-ending hacker attacks I would be remiss if I didn't discuss two additional issues that all home networks should deal with, but particularly those with high-speed always-on connections such as DSL and/or cable modems: anti-virus software and security software. The anti-virus issue is simple: you need to have anti-virus installed and running on every computer on your home network. Period. Just putting it on one isn’t good enough.

If you don't have some type of anti-virus app on every connected PC, then there's a good chance that at some point, one of your PCs will be infected and you could lose valuable files. And don't forget to update the program's virus definitions. Note that this doesn't mean you have to buy all the latest upgrades to the program, but you do need to install and maintain the virus updates, which are typically provided at little or no cost. Many anti-virus applications are designed to automatically check for, download and install these updates files and I highly recommend that you use this capability. At the very least, have these updates occur once a month, but even once a week wouldn't be extraordinary.

In addition to anti-virus software, you need to keep your system secure. Network security (and home network security) is an enormous subject unto itself (see Steve Gibson's great Shields Up site for more security-related information) and I won't attempt to address all these issues here, but I will say this: home networks with high-speed Internet connections are at a much greater risk for security problems than those with dial-up modem connections. As a result, it is possible that unscrupulous hackers could break into your home computers and do all sorts of nefarious things, such as copying and or deleting files, spreading viruses and more. The easiest way to address this problem is to install one of several new personal firewall programs that have appeared on the market recently. Products such as the free ZoneAlarm from ZoneLabs or commercial packages such as Black Ice Defender, Norton's Internet Security 2001, or Open Door's Software's DoorStop for the Mac all provide important protections that can keep your computer data safe. Windows XP also incorporates a basic firewall into the operating system itself. As with anti-virus software, you should have a personal firewall installed on each computer in your home network. A properly installed personal firewall will prevent security problems even if you share files and folders on your home network.

The End

Well, OK, not quite. But now that everything is connected, the software is installed, you can access the Internet from any computer in your home, and you've secured your home network, there's only one thing left to do. Enjoy it!

Step 4: Reinstall

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Now that the hard part is over, it’s on to the drudgery of re-installing everything. Of course the first thing you’ll need to do is re-install the operating system from scratch.

To do that, after you start your computer with your boot floppy inserted into the floppy drive, you'll need to make sure you have the Windows 95, 98 or ME CD in your CD/DVD-ROM drive. Once it's there, just type the following at the A:\ DOS prompt you should see when the boot process finishes. Hit the Enter key at the end of it. (Note that you may have to type a letter other than "D" if your CD/DVD-ROM is assigned to a different drive letter.)

D:\Setup.exe

On a freshly formatted drive this process should go smoothly, but be prepared with any drivers or driver upgrades you have available on floppies or CDs. As Windows goes through the Plug-and-Play process of detecting your computer’s hardware and then attempting to install drivers for it, the OS should give you very clear signs whenever it needs input (or disks/discs) from you.

If you want to, you can create a directory on your hard drive called Win95CAB or Win98CAB and then copy all the compressed .CAB (or cabinet) files you’ll find on the Windows 95/98 CDs (in the Windows 95 or Windows 98 folders respectively) into those directories. It takes a fair chunk of hard disk space—around 100 Mbytes or so—but it saves you from having to look for your Win 95 or Win98 CD down the road if you ever install anything and the installation process asks for the CD. Instead, you can just direct it to the CAB files on your disk and you’ll be all set. Thankfully, Windows ME does this for you automatically.

If your PC comes with a program that automatically returns it to its factory fresh state, you’ll use that to install your OS instead. Doing so should automatically take care of installing the OS and applications that came with your computer. If you have any updated drivers or applications as part of your backup, however, you’ll have to re-install those manually, as explained a bit further down.

If you have trouble during the installation, it could be that one of you drivers is out-of-date. If so, you’ll want to check the manufacturer’s web site for an update (see the "PC Hardware Troubleshooting Tips" article for more). Once the OS installed, you should run any other driver installation programs you have. Occasionally these types of programs will tell that you need to reboot for the changes to take place. When you’re going through this re-install process I highly recommend you take their advice for each program that requires it. Even though constantly rebooting adds even more time to the process, it can be worth it in the long run. The reason is if you install multiple pieces at once that make changes to your system, those changes could conflict or counteract each other. Because the purpose of this exercise is to get everything working properly, you’re better off taking the conservative route here and letting each piece "take hold" one at a time.

Once all your drivers are done, it’s time to reinstall the apps. Again, if at the end of the install the program says it needs to restart Windows for the changes to take effect, I would restart. The order that you install the applications in typically doesn’t matter, although I would probably install any that had been causing you problems first. Once the main apps are in place, you need to reinstall all those lovely Service Packs, bug fixes and other updates that you painstakingly backed up in Step One. Remember also that some updates and Service Packs can only be done after a previous update to the same program has been made so make sure you do them in the proper order.

Before copying over your own data, I suggest you try running a few of your favorite applications to make sure everything is working properly. In addition, make sure you double-check any previously problematic programs once everything has been installed. If a problem crops up now, it’s probably due to a software conflict with another application on your system. If that’s the case, you’ll need to check web sites for updates and see if that helps (see the "PC Software Troubleshooting Tips" article for more).

Finally, after all the applications have been installed, it’s time to copy back over all your own data. If you haven’t already, I suggest you take advantage of this re-installation process and use the opportunity to organize all your data files in a single location, such as the My Documents directory. You don’t want to put everything at the main level of the My Documents directory, however, or you’ll be overwhelmed. Instead, to make that directory useful, you should first create sub-directories inside it and then use those directories to store your various types of files.

Step 5: Enjoy

When everything has been restored, it’s time to enjoy your new machine. Well, almost. Though it shouldn’t make any difference, it’s probably worthwhile to double or triple-check any problem applications (you know—the ones that led you to take on this procedure in the first place) after you restore your own files.

Once you’re confident that things are working well, you can take yourself and your PC back on a second (or third or fourth) technological honeymoon and get to know each other all over again.

Step 3: Partition and Reformat

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The crux of the process occurs here in Step 3. The first part of this step is called partitioning your hard drive and it’s usually done with the DOS-based Fdisk program bundled with all versions of Windows. (Some people prefer third-party partitioning programs such as PowerQuest’s powerful PartitionMagic or QuarterDeck’s Partition It or Partition It Extra Strength for this process.) Partitioning involves organizing a single hard drive into logical chunks called partitions, as well as setting an overall file structure to be used on each partition, such as FAT16 or FAT32. The second half of this step is called reformatting and it basically wipes any existing data from each partition and prepares the partition to accept new files. (By the way, this is not the same thing as a true low-level hard drive format—these days that can typically only be done—and should only be done—at the factory.) Formatting is done with the DOS–based Format program, or simply within Windows itself, just as you do with a floppy disk.

Before getting into specific steps, you need to know a bit more about partitions, such as the fact that there are two main types: primary and extended. The most important difference between them is that primary partitions can be used to boot your computer and extended partitions cannot. In addition, unlike primary partitions—which actually hold data—extended partitions are themselves just containers for yet another kind of structure called logical DOS drives. So, for example, you might find that your hard drive is divided into one active partition and one extended partition and the extended partition contains two logical drives "inside" of it.

Each active partition and logical drive uses its own drive letter (i.e., C:\, D:\, E:\, etc.) and operates independently, so with multiple partitions, a single hard disk may "look" like multiple drives. In reality, however, it’s just one physical disk that’s organized into different containers. Of course, if you have multiple hard disks inside a computer, each of them uses a drive letter as well, so when you have multiple partitions on multiple disks, things can get kind of confusing.

If you want to run multiple operating systems on your PC—such as Windows ME and NT, or Windows 2000 and Linux—you often need to have multiple primary partitions. In some instances, such as with Windows 95 and NT, it's possible to have just one primary partition with two operating systems, but both operating systems need to be able to understand the partition scheme--such as FAT or FAT32 (see below for more)--for this to work.

The maximum number of primary and/or extended partitions you can have is four, but be aware that only one primary partition can be active (and therefore "visible" to the rest of your system) at once. On the other hand, other than the 26-letter drive limit—which does exist—there are no restrictions on the number of logical drives that you can have within an extended partition.

More importantly, multiple logical drives within an extended partition can be used and visible on your system at once. So, for example, if your system has an extended partition with two logical drives and one primary partition (you always have to have one of those), you would be able to see all three drive letters at once. On the other hand, if you have two primary partitions and one extended partition with two logical drives, you might only see three drive letters because the other primary partition and any data or programs stored on it would be invisible if the two primary partitions were completely different types (such as Ext2 for Linux and NTFS for Windows 2000). Again, if both operating systems "understand" the same partition type, then you might be able to see all four drive letters.

In many cases you’ll want to keep your entire disk as a single primary partition—and, therefore, single drive letter—although there are some cases where you can’t. Specifically, if you have a hard drive larger than 2 GB and you’re using the original version of Windows 95 or Win95A, you’ll have to use multiple partitions because of limitations in Win95 itself. (To find out what version of Windows you’re using, open the System Control Panel and look in the upper right portion of the General Tab. You should see a reference to Windows 95, 95A, 95B, 95C, 98, ME and 2000 underneath where it says System.)

Other limitations you may run into on disk size limits may be as a result of your computer’s BIOS. Some older BIOS’s had a hardware limitation of around 2.1 GB (some newer ones are limited to 8.4 GB), that prevents them from working with larger drives, but that can usually be fixed with a BIOS update. Check your computer manufacturer’s or motherboard manufacturer’s web site, or you can also try the Micro Firmware or Mr. BIOS sites.

If you have both an updated BIOS and Windows 95B (sometimes called OSR2) or later—including Windows 98 or Windows ME—then you can take advantage of the FAT32 (File Allocation Table 32-bit) file system and have a partition (or even multiple partitions) larger than 2 GB. Without going into too much detail, the basic reason for this is that FAT32 is able to keep track of a much larger number of individual file elements than the older FAT16 file system (which is more commonly referred to just as FAT). This translates into the ability to work with larger partitions.

Before you actually begin the partitioning process, you need to decide how you want to partition your drive—if you want to keep it all as one big drive, or if you want several different partitions/logical drives with one for data, one for programs, etc. In addition, if you plan to try out or regularly work with multiple operating systems (OS's), you’ll have to plan for that at this stage. You’ll also need something called a boot loader if you install multiple OS's—one comes bundled with PartitionMagic and another comes with Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. A boot loader is a program that lets you decide which primary partition to make active at boot-up. The OS that is loaded from the active partition is the one that gets "control" over the machine for that particular session.

Once you have a basic strategy figured out, you can move onto the specific steps. The following describes how the process works with Fdisk. (If you’re using PartitionMagic, or some other utility, you’ll have to follow different steps, but the concepts will be similar.)

First you need to boot your computer with your boot floppy and then launch the Fdisk program as soon as you get to the A:\ prompt. To do that, just type in Fdisk and then hit Enter or Return. If you’re running the version of Fdisk that comes with Windows 95 OSR2 or later (including 98, 98 SE, or ME), you’ll first see a kind of obscure text message and question about having support for large disks to which you answer yes or no. Though there’s no specific mention of it, this question is asking whether or not you want to use FAT32. If you answer yes, you’ll get FAT32 and if you answer no you’ll get a FAT16-formatted drive. (Of course, if you have Windows 98, you can convert from FAT16 to FAT32 with the bundled FAT32 Driver Converter after the fact. If you have Windows 95, however, you’ll either have to start all over again to switch to FAT32, or purchase a third-party tool such as PartitionMagic.)

Once you’ve answered the question, you’ll be presented with four numeric choices from which you can create a new partition, delete an existing partition, make one of the partitions active or get more information on the current partitions you have. In general, I’d recommend selecting option 4 first to get more information about your current partitions.

If you’re going to switch from multiple partitions to a single partition or if you want to adjust the size of your current partitions, you’ll first need to delete all but the primary active partition. Before you can delete an extended partition, however, you first need to delete any logical drives that are inside the extended partition. To make any of these deletions, select option 3 off the main Fdisk menu and follow the directions. You’re always given a warning before you do anything destructive, so if you take your time, you shouldn’t run into any serious problems.

To create new partitions or logical drives or to resize the remaining primary partition, select option 1. If you want to use logical drives, you first need to create an extended partition to hold them and then you can create the logical drives. In all cases, you’ll need to know how large you want the partitions and/or logical drives to be in megabytes, so do your math ahead of time. If you’re resizing a single partition, simply make the partition the same size as the available disk size. Also remember that all hard drives use a certain amount of space for disk overhead so don’t get upset when your new 8 GB hard drive (or whatever size you have) doesn’t have eight full gigabytes (or whatever its advertised capacity is) for creating partitions.

Once you’ve finished your partitioning, you can exit from Fdisk by simply hitting the Esc button at the main Fdisk screen. As the ensuing screen says, you’ll have to restart before the changes take effect and before you can re-format the newly created or resized partitions.

By the way, if you opt for something like PartitionMagic, you’ll find the partitioning process more intuitive and more flexible than what Fdisk provides. For example, you can resize partitions graphically without having to first delete them, and you can easily switch a particular partition back and forth between FAT16 and FAT32, among other capabilities.

Regardless of how you partition the drive, however, the re-formatting process is very simple. Once again, you’ll need to restart the computer with the boot floppy installed and when you get to the A:\ prompt, type in:

Format C: /s

What this command does is reformats the active primary partition on your main drive—in other words, it reformats your hard drive. The /s switch at the end of the command tells the computer to also copy over the basic DOS system files to the hard disk so that you can then restart from the hard disk and boot to a C:\ DOS prompt if you want. To continue onward with Step 4, however, you’ll probably want to boot from your boot floppy.

Step 2: Create a Boot Disk

2008-03-24T19:35:00.000+05:30

The next step is to create a bootable floppy disk that includes all the programs you’ll need to get the next few steps. I cover how to do this in my "How to Create a ‘Real’ Windows 95 (or 98) Boot Disk" article. One additional point I’ll add here is that you need to make sure both the Fdisk.exe and Format.com DOS utilities are on your newly created Windows 95 or Windows 98 boot floppy. If they aren’t (the standard Windows 98 floppy still needs Format.com), you may need to copy them over from your hard drive onto the boot floppy—you’ll find them both inside the Command directory inside your main Windows directory. (In fact, Windows/Command is where you’ll find all the important DOS-based utilities.)

One other option for Windows 98, Windows 98 2nd Edition and Windows ME users is that the Windows 98/ME CD is bootable, meaning it has all the necessary files to start your computer stored in the right places, much like a boot floppy disk. Your computer has to support booting from the CD-ROM and you have to enable this feature (which you do in your computer’s BIOS or CMOS Setup program) in order for this technique to work, but it can be a handy option. If you’re unsure whether or not your computer supports this, look for a reference to the El Torito BIOS standard—which this feature is sometimes called—or look around in the Boot Options section of your computer’s BIOS Setup program. Also remember that after you’re done with this procedure you’ll want to change this BIOS setting back to booting from your floppy drive and hard drive (usually in that order).

Whether you go with the floppy or the CD, be sure you try it out at least once before you begin the partitioning process. The next step in this process will erase all of your computer’s data, so you want to be sure your computer boots from the disk/disc before you continue.

Step 1: Backup

2008-03-24T19:34:00.000+05:30

Before you even think about doing anything to your hard drive, you need to back up all your critical files. This means not only all your data files (you did organize them all in a single location, didn’t you?), but also those application files and other software pieces that took some time and/or effort to acquire. Included on this list should be updated driver software, applications patches, service packs, bug fixes and any other enhancements that you’ve downloaded off the web (and don’t have available on CD or in some other handy form). I also recommend you save your browser bookmarks which, if you're using Internet Explorer, can be found in the Windows/Favorites folder.

One file that's commonly overlooked (because it isn't stored in an obvious place) is your Outlook or Outlook Express e-mail file. The easiest way to find it and back it up is to search for *.pst off the Start menu. All Outlook files use the .pst extension and you can be sure to find yours this way, even if it doesn't have the default name of Outlook.pst. Generally speaking, your Outlook file should be in the C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder. This is important to know because when you reinstall, you need to copy your .pst file back to this same directory.

In addition, don't forget to write down all your network settings from any network log-in you have, as well as those found in the network control panel. If you have dial-up networking connections, remember to right down the settings for each of those as well. When you go to re-establish your network settings, you'll be awfully glad you did.

You’ll probably run into a problem with applications that automatically update themselves over the web, because they don’t necessarily have an easy way to find the update files they’ve downloaded. If that’s the case with some of your applications, you’ll probably have to simply let the application "re-update" itself after you re-install it.

Windows 98 or Windows ME updates that occur via the Windows Update feature may also present this problem, although you might be able to find them in your Windows directory in a hidden folder called msdownld.tmp (at least, that’s where they were on my machine). To view hidden files, open Windows Explorer, select Folder Options from the View menu, select the View tab, and click on the Show all files radio button.

You don’t need to back up all your applications because you can more easily install them off their original CDs. In fact, part of the point of this exercise is to re-install your applications so that all the right files get put in all the right places. For this reason, I also don’t recommend that you make a complete disk copy, or disk image before you do a re-install of all your software. If you do, and then you restore that copy, you could end up with the same types of problems that led you to take on this procedure in the first place. Just back up what you need.

2008-03-24T19:32:00.001+05:30

There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get when you first turn on a new computer and begin to use your unspoiled machine. Except in very rare occasions, it’s one of the few times you can be virtually guaranteed that everything will work, that the software already installed on the hard disk won’t crash and that you can get something useful done. Of course, this technological honeymoon never lasts terribly long, because you invariably install some new software, add new hardware, make some configuration changes or do something that—though it should work fine—eventually leads you down the slippery slope of seemingly inevitable PC problems.

The desire to recreate that "fresh" feeling often leads people to start over with their computers by reformatting their hard drive(s) and reinstalling their applications from scratch. In fact, I’ve heard of several people who do this on a semi-yearly or even more frequent basis as a regular form of system maintenance. In addition, many computers now come with special boot floppy disks and installation CDs that are specifically designed to bring your system back to its pristine, shipped-from-the-factory state.

Another reason for pursuing this strategy is that no matter how hard you may try, there are times when your system reaches a point where it’s simply not worth expending any additional effort trying to figure out why programs keep crashing or other strange problems keep occurring. I know that dedicated PC troubleshooters never want to give up, but one of the hardest lessons you can learn is that sometimes it really is better to start over.

Now, I wouldn’t throw in the towel too quickly because starting from scratch is a fairly time- and effort-intensive project. But if you’ve tried the techniques I describe in the "PC Hardware Troubleshooting Tips," "PC Software Troubleshooting Tips," and "PC Startup Troubleshooting Tips," articles and have still been suffering through several difficult days, weeks or, God forbid, months of problems that just don’t seem to get any better, then you’re a good candidate for a fresh start.

The problem is, nobody every really tells you how to make that fresh start. Oh sure, you hear the basics: "Just reformat and reinstall," but you don’t really ever hear exactly how the whole process is done. Well, worry no more, because this article will take you step-by-step through the process of starting over with your PC.

Getting into Conflict

2008-03-24T19:31:00.001+05:30

Oftentimes, software problems are due to conflicts between two applications, which basically means one or both of the programs in question does something in the course of their normal operation that causes the other application to crash or to not function properly. This is related, though not identical, to the .DLL problems described above.

Some conflicts are relatively easy to troubleshoot. If you install a new application and every time you try to run it while your word processor is open the new program crashes, but the new application works fine if the word processor isn’t running, then you’ve got a software conflict. The only way to fix it is by getting an update for one (or sometimes both) of the applications in question. Hopefully you won’t end up in a situation where each vendor claims it’s the other’s fault and nothing gets done, but be aware that that exact scenario sometimes happens.

Other conflicts are much harder to determine. One thing you should check is to see if the conflict is related to applications that are running in the background. Unbeknownst to most computer users, quite a few small applications are usually running in the background on typical Windows 95/98/ME machine. This is true even if you don’t see any applications running on the Taskbar (which is why this can be so confusing).

Under Windows 95, you can see a list of all applications running at a particular time by holding down Ctl-Alt-Del simultaneously (just do it once, though—if you do press all three again, it will restart your machine without prompting you to save any open files). The Close Program Window that pops up lists all the currently running tasks. While some are easy to understand, many of the programs listed only use obscure names like Systray or Rnaapp (which happen to be System Tray—which is the system application that puts all the icons in the lower-right corner of your Taskbar—and Remote Networking—which is used by Dial-Up Networking whenever you connect to the Internet via a modem). Figuring out what some of these various programs are and do can be extremely difficult because there’s usually very little information available about them.

Again, Microsoft has improved this situation in Windows 98 and ME by including a handy utility called Microsoft System Information that gives a thorough, understandable breakdown of all the different software components that are open and running on your machine at the time you run the utility.

One possible option for Windows 95 users is to pick up a copy of a shareware utility from SiSoft called Sandra. Sandra's Processes Information module can not only give you more information about each task (technically called a process) currently running on your machine, it can also tell you how much memory each one is using. Very handy.

Another option for Windows 95 users is to get a copy of the WinTop utility, which is part of Microsoft's Kernel Toys for Windows 95. What WinTop does is give a quick overview of what applications and other software processes are open on your computer at a given time and shows you how much of the processor's time they're demanding.

For troubleshooting purposes under Windows 95, 98, or ME you can quit applications individually from the Close Program Window mentioned earlier by selecting one and clicking on End Task. As you go through and quit each one you can see if that resolves your problem, but it’s a tedious process that doesn’t always give you the results you want. Another way to prevent (or see) some, though not all, of the applications that run in the background is to check your Startup folder, which is buried inside the Windows folder (it’s in the Programs folder, which is inside the StartMenu folder). Many applications place small utility programs inside the Startup folder, so you might be surprised at all the stuff you find there.

All the applications that are listed in the Startup folder are run in the background every time Windows 95 starts. Some of them put an icon in the System Tray to let you know that they’re running, but many of them don’t provide any visual indication whatsoever that they’re currently in use. If you want to prevent them from loading at startup to check for conflicts with certain programs, or if you just want to remove them completely, just remove the shortcuts listed in the Startup folder, either by deleting them or moving them to a different place. (Note that deleting a shortcut has no impact on the real file that the shortcut points to—it will still be on your system, but it won’t load at the system’s startup.)

Windows System File Problems

2008-03-24T19:28:00.000+05:30

A related, but even worse version of the problem can occur if an application overwrites some of the shared system files used by Windows 95—although that often means the operating system won’t load. (The same types of problems can also happen with Windows 98 or Windows ME, although Win98's System File Checker utility can help take care of these problems much more easily.) If that’s the case—it is relatively rare—you’ll probably need to reinstall Windows itself. (And if you do, you'll probably need to have a boot disk complete with a CD-ROM driver. Here's an article that tells you how to create one.)

If you do think it's time to reinstall Windows, you might try the Windows Setup program's Verify option first—it should save you time and maybe even a few extra headaches. The Verify option is supposed to be available any time you run Windows 95, 98 or Windows ME Setup on a machine that already has the same version of the operating system installed (although I've found that it doesn't always show up for some reason).

What happens is, the Setup program detects that Windows is already installed and then asks if you'd like to Verify your installation. If you do choose to Verify, it goes through an installation log file called Setuplog.txt (you can find it in your main hard drive's root directory--e.g., C:\--if you want to look at it) to see what should be installed, confirms that all the required files exist and aren't damaged, and then silently reinstalls any components that it finds are missing or damaged. In some cases, this will solve Windows system problems.

Diving In

If your willing to get your digital fingernails a bit dirty and you know the specific name of a .DLL or other Windows system file that's causing a problem (perhaps because an error message keeps telling you the problem file's name), there's another option. You can try to individually reinstall particular files. The process is not trivial, however, because all the Windows system files are stored in compressed Cabinet (.cab) files either on your hard disk, the Windows 95/98/ME CD-ROM, or both. What you have to do is find the compressed file within a particular .cab file, decompress it, and then copy it to appropriate directory inside the Windows folder.

Microsoft includes a DOS-based .cab file decompressor called Extract.exe on the Windows 95 CD and installs it in your Windows folder as part of the default installation. However, as you'll be able to quickly see from this article in Microsoft's Knowledge Base on how to use the Extract program, the program is not easy to use. Nevertheless, it can help you find the files you need. Another more straightforward option is to get the CabView utility from Microsoft (it's party of their handy PowerToys utility pack), and use it to specifically find and then decompress the component you need. Another improvement in Windows 98 and Windows ME is you can view the contents of CAB files and extract individual elements just by using Windows Explorer.

Most shared .DLL problems can be avoided if the programmers have done their homework, but given all the possible combinations of programs and .DLLs that are out there, it’s almost impossible for them to avoid all problems. And unfortunately, as frustrating as it may be, the only real answer to these problems is to reinstall the software. In fact, I’ve even heard or read some people recommend that you reinstall Windows and your apps every 3-6 months or so to avoid problems. I think this is overkill, but the thought has passed through my mind on more than one occasion as I’ve struggled through trying to resolve software problems on my own or other people’s machines.

Another possible solution is to not remove any shared .DLL files when you uninstall an application, but while that may work in a few instances, it eventually leads to a Windows folder full of unnecessary, potentially problematic stuff, so it’s not a great long-term solution. Frankly, there’s no great long-term solution other than to slug your way through, keeping your software as up-to-date as you can (and even that doesn’t always work—sometimes it’s better just to find a combination of software that works and stick with it).

When is an Application not an Application?

2008-03-24T19:27:00.000+05:30

Many of the software problems that people run into stem from the confusing nature of today’s Windows applications. Instead of consisting of one large chunk of code (as they generally used to do, and still in many cases do on the Mac), today’s software programs are actually made up of lots and lots of little pieces held together by an umbrella application. This umbrella app is typically the main program file you double-click on to get an application started. To confound matters further, these different pieces are often strewn across several different locations on your hard disk, which creates even more possibilities for errors or other breakdowns.

Many of these individual pieces are .DLLs, or Dynamic Link Libraries, which are chunks of program code that are called upon to perform various functions as you run an application. Another name for them is Application Extensions. Ideally, you never have to worry about these files—they just do their magic in the background while you do your work. And, when everything works right, that’s exactly what happens. If one of those files is deleted, changed or somehow corrupted, however, the application that uses them won’t work, and you’ll be in trouble.

Let me explain the installation process to give you an idea of the issues involved. When you install an application, what usually happens is that the installer creates a folder for your new program, copies some of the application’s pieces into there, copies other pieces into the Windows folder, creates shortcuts to your program on the Start Menu (or in the Program Manager for Windows 3.1), makes additions to the Windows Registry, and may even make some additions or alterations to your startup files, such as autoexec.bat, win.ini, etc. (In many cases, these changes are the cause of problems that keep your PC from booting properly. See the "PC Startup Troubleshooting Tips" article for more.)

The complexity of this process is the reason, by the way, that uninstaller applications were developed in the first place—it simply got to be too hard to keep track of where all the different pieces of an application were stored (if you could even get that info in the first place).

The files copied into the Windows folder may be .DLLs or they may be other files that the program’s developer has decided should be kept there. Unfortunately, so many developers have decided to store bits and pieces of their applications in the Windows folder that it’s become a dumping ground for a whole lot of junk. (Even worse, there’s no easy way to separate the wheat from the chaff—the useful, necessary stuff from the unneeded "bloatware"—so Windows folders just keep growing and growing….) Some of the .DLLs will probably be unique to the program you installed and will only be used by that application. Others will be shared files, which means they might be used by more than one application. And that’s where lots of problems arise.

Imagine, for example, that application A uses a shared .DLL called ABC.DLL. Now, let’s say that you install application B, which also happens to use the shared ABC.DLL. But, it turns out, application B uses a later version of ABC.DLL and so it overwrites the existing ABC.DLL file when it’s installed (without any warning to you). Now, depending on how application A is written, the next time it’s run and it looks for ABC.DLL, it may seamlessly work with the later version of ABC.DLL installed by application B, or it might crash (a likely possibility). If the latter occurs, it will undoubtedly lead you to wondering how that could’ve happened, since it worked just fine the day before. Sound familiar?

A similar type of situation is possible in reverse. Let’s say you try to remove application A from your system using Windows' Add/Remove Programs Control Panel (or even the application’s own uninstaller). At some point during that uninstall, the program may ask you if it should remove any shared .DLLs that are not being used by other applications. The default choice is to remove them and that's what most people do, but that can lead to more problems.

Again, depending on how the uninstaller works in conjunction with the application being removed, it’s possible that application A would remove ABC.DLL because it didn’t know that a newer version had been installed by application B and therefore would think that it wasn’t being used by another application. The result would be that after uninstalling application A, application B wouldn’t work because it was missing the ABC.DLL file (and you might even get an error message to that effect).

In both of these instances, the only real solution to these problems would be to reinstall the apps in question because there’s usually no simple way to reinstall only a shared .DLL (and even if there is, it may not be at all obvious where it needs to be located). In the first example, you’d probably have to first get an updated version of application A from the vendor’s web site and then reinstall that, hoping that it works with the new version of the ABC.DLL (and praying that it doesn’t add any new shared .DLLs that might break other applications!). In the second example, you’d just need to reinstall application B.

PC Startup Troubleshooting Tips

2008-03-24T18:59:00.003+05:30

As wonderful as computers can be, they can also be incredibly infuriating. Probably the most frustrating problem computer users run into are startup problems, where your computer won’t boot. Equally annoying are error messages you constantly run into during your computer’s startup process. In this article I’ll give you a few tips on how you can avoid some of the most common problems that happen right after your computer turns on.

Learning the Boot

Before getting into the troubleshooting details, you need to know a little about when goes on during the startup process. The reason is, there are actually quite a few steps that occur in between flipping the power switch and hearing the familiar Windows 95, 98 or Windows ME startup sounds and seeing the Windows desktop. In fact, there are a whole series of files that are automatically loaded one after the other when you turn your computer on. The trick with troubleshooting startup problems is trying to figure out which of those files (or what step in the process) causes your specific problem to occur. If you don’t know approximately where in the startup process your holdup happens, you could end up wasting an inordinate amount of time (and even causing more problems) on something that’s irrelevant to your situation. So, here goes.

When your computer is first turned on, it automatically loads a program called the BIOS, or Basic Input/Output System, which is stored on a special chip on your computer’s motherboard. The BIOS is essentially a combination of software and hardware in that it consists of software, but the contents of that software is stored in a hardware chip. On most recent computers, the BIOS can be updated via a process called flash updating, which uses a piece of software that’s stored on a special startup floppy disk to overwrite the contents of the chip with a new version. On older computers, however, to upgrade the BIOS software you need to physically remove and replace the chip itself. (BIOS upgrades are often a necessary step in solving hardware-related problems. See the "PC Hardware Troubleshooting Tips" article for more.)

One of the first things you should see on your computer’s monitor when you start your PC is some type of message that’s akin to "Hit Esc to enter Setup," although instead of Esc it may say F2 or F10 or any number of other keys and instead of Setup it may say CMOS Setup or BIOS Setup or just CMOS. Make note of the key required to enter the Setup program because you may need that later (some startup problems can only be solved by changing some BIOS/CMOS settings via the Setup program).

As the BIOS runs, it performs a number of tests on your hardware called POST (Power On Self Test), such as checking the memory. Then it lists any devices that it finds attached to your computer’s internal IDE controller(s). Typically, this is any internal hard drives, CD/DVD-ROM drives, tape drives, etc. One common problem you can check for is to make sure that all the devices that are supposed to be attached to the IDE controllers are listed. If not—for example, if you just upgraded your hard drive or added a DVD-ROM drive and you don’t see a reference to them right after your computer turns on—then more than likely there is a connection problem between the IDE controllers on your motherboard and the device itself. You’ll have to open up your PC, check the cable connections at both the drive and on the motherboard and, if necessary, replace your IDE cable(s). In a few rare instances you may also have to make some changes to your hard drive settings in the BIOS Setup program mentioned earlier.

Another possible problem if a drive that used to appear in that listing no longer appears is that a physical problem has occurred with the drive. (Computer peripherals don’t last forever after all—although you should get at least five years out of a hard drive or CD-ROM drive.) If that’s the case, check the cable connections—sometimes they just come loose—and then run a disk utility such as ScanDisk or Norton Utilities’ Disk Doctor from a boot floppy disk to see if you can salvage any of your data. More than likely in this scenario it’s time to start thinking about a new hard drive.

If you have a SCSI controller installed in your PC, you will also see a message about any BIOS (separate from the main system BIOS) that it has, as well as a listing of all the internal and external SCSI devices attached to it. Again, if you don’t see a device listed, you need to double check the cable connections, or check the integrity of the devices themselves. One other possible issue with SCSI devices has to due with SCSI termination issues, which I discuss more thoroughly in the "Mac Hardware Troubleshooting Tips." (SCSI is SCSI, regardless of platform, so the concepts explained there are just as relevant for PC people as they are for Mac users).

Mastering the Master Boot Record

After the BIOS finishes it work, it hands control of the startup process to some specific files stored in the first sector of your hard drive. This special area is called the master boot record and it contains critical information about how to start Windows (or any other operating system(s) you may have installed on your PC) as well as the specific files needed to continue the startup process.

Because of critical role it plays, your hard drive’s master boot record is also a favorite target of virus writers. Why you wonder? Well, if a virus corrupts or rewrites your master boot record, your computer won’t work (and people who create viruses seem to get some sick pleasure out of causing computers to "break"). Viruses that target this area are called, logically enough, boot viruses and they are probably the most common type of virus there is (other than Word macro viruses, that is, but those aren’t typically very lethal). Most anti-virus programs can take care of boot viruses, but only if you have a boot floppy disk with the anti-virus program installed on it (otherwise you can’t boot your computer to get to the anti-virus program to run it!).

If you’re really stuck, one other trick you can try is to use the Fdisk partitioning program, which comes with any version of Windows, to rewrite the master boot record. You’ll need a boot disk with the Fdisk and Sys programs on it for this trick to work (see "Creating a 'Real' Windows 95 (or 98 or ME) Boot Disk" for more on how to do this). You can find both those programs (as well as other DOS utilities) in the Commands folder inside your Windows folder.

As with any startup floppy disk, you need to turn your computer on with this floppy disk in the floppy drive and then the computer will use it to start the computer instead of trying to use your hard drive. If your PC boots successfully from the floppy, you should be taken to a DOS command prompt that says A:\. To make anything work under DOS you have to type in commands that tell the computer what to do, so use the following commands to continue with this process (hit the Enter key after each one).

c:

fdisk /mbr

sys c:

The first command switches over to your main hard drive, the second command tells the Fdisk program to rewrite the master boot record, and the third command rewrites the critical startup files back to your master boot record using the DOS Sys program. I’ll warn you now that this technique doesn’t always work (and in some cases you may need to reinstall Windows), but if you’re desperate, it’s certainly worth a try.

Starting the Startup Files

If you’re not having any problems up to this point, and your computer continues to boot, then that means your master boot record and a few of the critical startup files (such as Io.sys) are fine.

Next up are some old DOS startup files that—despite Microsoft’s claims to the contrary—continue to play an important role for Windows on many (though not all) PCs. Specifically I’m referring to the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files, which are typically used to load device drivers and startup programs, respectively. (Device drivers are pieces of software that are used to communicate between the operating system and all the different peripherals inside your PC, such as your CD-ROM drive, sound card, modem, etc.) In addition, these files can be used to set up a few relatively obscure system parameters that usually don’t have any impact under Windows 95, 98 or ME.

If you have Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files on your PC (again, not all systems do), then any commands that they contain are automatically loaded or any programs that they refer to are automatically started when they themselves are loaded. One very common problem that occurs when you install new software (or hardware) on your PC is that the installation program may add a line to one of these startup files. This line (or lines) tells your PC to automatically load some software that the new program (or piece of hardware) that you just installed requires. Unfortunately, sometimes those new startup programs conflict with other software you already have installed on your system and cause the boot process to stop or your system to crash. (See the "PC Software Troubleshooting Tips" article for more on how to deal with those types of problems.)

Another related problem can occur when you remove software (or hardware) from your system. Depending on how you removed it or how the program’s uninstaller works, you may end up with a situation where there are references in one of these startup files to programs that no longer exist on your hard drive. In most cases like this you’ll get some type of error message that says something about being unable to find a particular file, but if you hit OK, your system often continues to boot and works just fine. In other words, it’s not causing any real problems for your PC, but it can be somewhat disconcerting or, at the very least, annoying.

In either the first or second example (but particularly the latter), the solution to the problem usually involves removing the reference to the problem line in your startup files. In other words, you tell your computer not to try and load the files that are either causing a conflict or no longer exist. You can do that by either finding the specific line in your Config.sys or Autoexec.bat file and deleting it or by essentially telling your PC to ignore that particular line by "remarking it out." There are two ways to do this as well. You either type rem and then the space character at the very beginning of the offending line, or use the semi-colon (;) character at the beginning of the line. So, for example, a line that previously said:

Device=Nec_bm.sys

Would change to:

Rem Device=nec_bm.sys or ;Device=nec_bm.sys.

To edit your Config.sys or Autoexec.bat files (which should find in the root directory of your main drive—typically C:\) under Windows 95, you need to use some type of text editing program, such as Notepad, or the DOS Edit program. The easy way to do it, however, is to open the Run… command window off the Start menu and type in Sysedit, which launches the System Configuration Editor. This utility program automatically opens the five main startup files (including Config.sys or Autoexec.bat) in five overlapping windows for easy editing. Regardless of how you open files, you can make any necessary changes to the file(s) and save it (or them).

Windows 98 makes the process much easier by providing a program called the System Configuration Utility that lets you individually turn on and off lines in any of your startup files, including Config.sys and Autoexec.bat (as well as lots more that I’ll be getting to in just a bit). You can find the powerful System Configuration Utility via the System Information Tool, which is available off the Start menu via Programs, Accessories, System Tools. Launch System Information Tool and then from its Tools Menu you’ll find the System Configuration utility (as well as other very useful troubleshooting tools—this is one area where Windows 98 and Windows ME offer clear benefits/improvements over Windows 95). The easy way to launch the program it is to select Run… from the Start menu and type in msconfig.exe.

And More Startup Files

After the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files (if present) load, the System.ini and Win.ini (again, if present) load. While these files are primarily leftovers from the days of Windows 3.1, they too can have a role in the startup process. And similarly, the exact same kinds of problems that can occur with Config.sys and Autoexec.bat can occur with these files—specifically, references to startup files that conflict with other programs or no longer exist on your system. In addition, though rare, it’s possible that certain settings in the System.ini or Win.ini can cause startup problems.

Thankfully, the exact same methods that you use to solve problems with Config.sys and Autoexec.bat can be used with System.ini and Win.ini. The respective System Configuration utilities I mentioned above will open them and let you delete or remark out references in those startup files as well. In addition, you can manually edit or, in some cases, simply delete settings in these files that are causing problems. (Of course, you may want to make a backup copy of them before you start deleting anything.)

Reading the Registry

The first "real" Windows 95/98/ME file to load is the massive Windows Registry, which keeps track of loading all the 32-bit Windows 95/98/ME drivers—their filenames typically end in .vxd—for all the peripherals in your PC. (The previously mentioned Config.sys only loads older 16-bit drivers that you solely need under DOS.) The Registry is in charge of loading a ton of other important operating system files as well. If you ever want to see just how many, take a look at the Bootlog.txt that you’ll typically find in the root directory of your C: drive. (You’ll have to turn on hidden files in Windows Explorer by going to the View menu, selecting Folder Options and going to the View tab in order to see it.)

When you see the text message that Windows 95, 98 or ME is starting to load (and then when you see the Windows splash screen), then you’ll know that your PC has begun loading and "processing" the registry.

If you don’t quite make it to the Windows splash screen, you could have a problem with one of the low-level drivers that form part of the Windows Virtual Machine Manager (or VMM). The VMM is what lets Windows run multiple applications at once (which makes your PC appear to be multiple "virtual" machines in one—hence the name). Typically, you’ll see a message that refers to being unable to load vmm32.vxd. In reality, vmm32 refers to a folder located inside your Windows/System folder on your main hard drive that holds several driver (.vxd) files. In some situations this error message may indicate that some of the low-level drivers stored in this folder have been corrupted, which typically requires you to re-install Windows. However, I have found that simply turning the computer off, letting it rest a few minutes, and then turning it back on sometimes takes care of the problem all by itself. (In fact, this is a good piece of advice for startup problems in general.)

In other situations, stopping right before the Windows splash screen could indicate a corrupted Windows Registry. That’s never a good problem to have, because it often requires re-installing Windows and all your applications (because application preferences are also stored in the Registry). You might be able to fix some Registry problems with Microsoft’s free RegClean if you can find it (it's no longer available on the Microsoft web site) or, if you have Windows 98 or ME, by running the Scanreg (DOS) or Scanregw (Windows) utilities bundled with that OS.

If your registry is completely hosed, you can go back to a previous version (or any one of five or more previous versions under Windows 98 or ME), by renaming the Registry backup files that Windows automatically creates every time it successfully starts up. The two files that actually make up the Registry are called System.dat and User.dat and the main (or most recent) backups of those files are called System.da0 and User.da0. You’ll find all of these files at the main level of the Windows folder. To make use of the backups you’ll need to boot to a DOS prompt and then rename the System.da0 and User.da0 files to System.dat and User.dat respectively, overwriting the other files in the process. To do that in DOS, you use the following commands:

Rename system.dao system.dat

Rename user.da0 user.dat

Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to restart the machine (holding the Control, Alt and Delete keys simultaneously always works), and then reboot from the hard drive to make the changes take effect. This is a good technique to use if you just installed a new application and start having Registry-related problems immediately afterwards because it will revert the Registry to the state it was in before you did the install. If you made the installation a few days (or, more importantly, a few "restarts") ago, then the backup versions will have the same problems as well, so this technique may not work in those situations.

Registry Drivers

If your computer makes it to the Windows splash screen before it stops, you probably have a driver-related problem. Many PC startup problems are the result of drivers that don’t load properly from the Registry, either because of a conflict with another driver, because a driver has been corrupted or accidentally deleted, or other possible problems. Unfortunately, there’s no easy to way to edit the Registry in the same way you can with other startup files, so Windows provides other options if your computer stops the boot process at this point.

The most common one is known as Safe Mode, which is essentially a limited, or minimal version of Windows that loads when your PC is having problems. Thankfully, in many situations Windows is smart enough to know when a problem has occurred and will automatically start in Safe Mode (or at least give you the option to start in Safe Mode) the next time you restart. In some situations you may also want to force your computer to start in Safe Mode. To do that, hold down the F5 key when you start up and keep holding it until you see that your PC has booted to Safe Mode. You can easily tell this because your screen resolution will be reduced to the VGA standard 640 x 480 resolution and you’ll see the words "Safe Mode" all over the screen. (Another way to do this is to hold down the F8 key during boot time until you’re presented with the Windows Startup Menu and then choose Safe Mode from the list of options presented there.)

When you’re in Safe Mode Windows skips the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files and loads a minimal set of drivers that lets your PC function at a basic level. However, usually you can’t print, use your modem or do lots of other things you would normally otherwise be able to do. You can, however, run most of your applications, so if you’re desperate to get some work done and your machine keeps crashing, you may want to consider simply working in Safe Mode for a while.

The idea of Safe Mode, however, is to let you do things like install driver updates or make other software changes (such as changing references to start up files, as discussed earlier) while in a familiar Windows environment. Once you’ve made your changes, you can restart the machine and check to make sure that everything works.

Another common startup troubleshooting technique is to take advantage of the Step-by-Step Confirmation mode that Windows also offers you when you use F8 to boot your machine. In step-by-step mode, Windows asks you before it loads certain programs called for in your startup files. The idea is that by loading files one at a time, you can more quickly tell what’s causing the problem. Basically, you say Yes to each prompt until your machine freezes and you’ll learn the culprit. Note that this mode processes the entire Registry at once, however, so if the problem is a particular file called for in the Registry, this method won’t tell you which one it is.

Still More Places for Programs to Run

Believe it or not, we’re still not done yet, particularly if you’re trying to track down all the different programs that can be loaded automatically when your computer boots up. Some applications and utility programs, for example, take advantage of the fact that in addition to loading drivers, the Windows Registry can also automatically load applications (or small programs that continuously run in the background while your PC is on) in a kind of "hidden" way. The only way to find these is to open RegEdit, the built-in Windows Registry editor and go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion section of the Registry and click on the Run, RunOnce, RunOnceEx, RunServices, and RunServicesOnce keys inside the Registry. Each item you see listed on the right hand side is started up each time Windows boots.

To prevent any items listed in any of these keys from starting up, you need to delete the specific settings from the key by right-clicking on it and selecting Delete from the context menu that appears. Select all but "Default" if you want to get rid of all of them and simply quit RegEdit when you're done. (Note that deleting these settings will not delete the software they're pointing to, just the command to launch them at boot time.) I don’t recommend you edit the Registry unless you know exactly what you’re doing, but this simple procedure can be helpful.

Finally, the last step that occurs in the Windows startup process is to automatically launch any programs that have shortcuts stored in the Startup folder, which you can find inside the C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs directory. As with Registry’s Run keys, some applications and utility programs take advantage of this feature to automatically launch program’s every time you start Windows. Using the Startup folder is a more "public" way of doing it, however.

Unlike the Registry, fixing problems related to the Startup folder is easy—simply drag the shortcut of the offending application (or anything else you want to keep from starting automatically) out of the Startup folder and onto your Windows desktop. If you prefer, you can even delete it—as long as it’s just a shortcut it won’t affect the real application. The next time you restart your machine and Windows loads, whatever you’ve taken out of the Startup folder simply won’t start automatically. You can start it manually any time you want, however, by simply double-clicking on the shortcut icon you dragged to your Windows desktop.

The End

As you can see, there’s quite a bit to the Windows startup process. In fact, if you had to go through all these different techniques it could literally take you days to figure out what your problem was and what was required to fix it. If you can narrow down where in the process your particular problem occurs, however, you can save yourself a lot of time and effort.

Ultimately, all computer troubleshooting problems—including those related to startup—are solvable, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily logical, nor easy. (If you feel like you've invested enough time, you can always just start over and reinstall everything. See "Starting Over: Repartitioning, Reformatting and Reinstalling" for more.) As with all difficult procedures, perseverance, common sense and a bit of good luck is what you’ll need to get through your startup problems and get back to enjoying your PC.