COMPUTER HARDWARE

The big boys in the computer industry want you to continue thinking the way you are. The major desktop computer manufacturers thrive on consumers lack of knowledge and old ideas about desktop computers and computer hardware to drive sales of new desktop computers.

It works in their favor to keep these myths alive, because their business depends on it. So what are they?

Myth 1: You need top of the line computer hardware

Maybe some years ago this might have been true with older computer hardware, but times have changed. When computers were much slower than they are now, the latest version of any computer hardware increased speeds noticeably and allowed new possibilities from your desktop computer.

Those increases from computer hardware no longer yield such a huge increase in performance. With the basic uses of the desktop computer set and been in place for a while now, speed increases no longer result in real world benefits for most desktop computer users.

What was great computer hardware last year is still good enough now.

Myth 2: Computer hardware is the domain of Geeks

When personal computing was coming into its own, you really did need to be a Geek to know what was happening. For those old enough to remember, imagine life without Windows and hacking away at the command line, as used to be the case. Some still do, but I wouldn't want to do that again.

Desktop computers are such commonplace that the basics of computer hardware can be understood and researched with the minimum of hassle. The ball is on the consumers side of the court. You no longer need to be a geek, just a little knowledge that is now readily available.

Myth 3: A faster desktop computer will speed up the Internet

Possibly. If you are running 5-year-old computer hardware this might be the case. But the real reason for the increase in speed is usually not the computer.

Internet speed is related to your connection speed. If you have a dial up connection, it's going to be quite slow. When you upgrade your desktop computer and they throw in a cable internet, or DSL package the improved speed is from the faster connection, not the computer. Both cable and DSL can offer more than 10 times the speed of a dial-up connection. The computer has little to do with it.

Myth 4: To speed your computer up, upgrade!

New computer hardware is a very obvious way to speed things up. Even I have gone for new parts purely for this reason.

But it's definitely not the only way.

Various factors play into overall speed. On a purely physical level, upgrading memory is still a fantastic way to get things to move along a little faster. But apart from this the main things that slows things down on the programs and other stuff you have on the computer.

Over time, as more programs are put on and taken off and changed, things get left behind, and things get forgotten. When your computer starts, many things get loaded into memory and each one of those takes that little bit more of the computers resources. When you switch to a new program and don't remove the old one, the older one will still use resources.

Myth 5: Big brands are the best

Big brands essentially piece together a computer. They pick and choose the pieces to make a computer package. They also choose some software, give a warranty and then sell it to you.

Dell computer company has become well known for its customer service. This is the best part about Dell computers. The downside is there are limited choices. They pick what goes into the computer, which are often quite expensive parts. They are motivated by the suppliers to put more recent parts into their computers, keeping the prices at the same level and maintaining the "to get more, pay more," mentality.

You don't have the power of these big guys, but you have something more. Choice.

Your pick of parts for your desktop computer will allow you to put together something completely tailored to your needs. Put the money where you need it most, into the computer hardware that makes the biggest difference to you, and in the end getting a desktop computer you will fall in love with, rather than despise.

Read more...

XP: Biggest threat to Vista?

SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp's operating systems run most personal computers around the globe and are a cash cow for the world's largest software maker. But you'd never confuse a Windows user with the passionate fans of Mac OS X or even the free Linux operating system.

Unless it's someone running Windows XP, a version Microsoft wants to retire. Fans of the six-year-old operating system set to be pulled off store shelves in June have papered the Internet with blog posts, cartoons and petitions recently. They trumpet its superiority to Windows Vista,Microsoft's latest PC operating system, whose consumer launch last January was greeted with lukewarm reviews.

No matter how hard Microsoft works to persuade people to embrace Vista, some just can't be wowed. They complain about Vista's hefty hardware requirements, its less-than-peppy performance, occasional incompatibility with other programmes and devices and frequent, irritating security pop-up windows.

For them, the impending disappearance of XP computers from retailers, and the phased withdrawal of technical support in coming years, is causing a minor panic.

Take, for instance, Galen Gruman. A longtime technology journalist, Gruman is more accustomed to writing about trends than starting them.

But after talking to Windows users for months, he realized his distaste for Vista and strong attachment to XP were widespread.

"It sort of hit us that, wait a minute, XP will be gone as of June 30. What are we going to do?" he said. "If no one does something, it's going to be gone."

So Gruman started a Save XP Web petition, gathering since January more than 100,000 signatures and thousands of comments, mostly from die-hard XP users who wantMicrosoft to keep selling it until the next version of Windows is released, currently targeted for 2010.

On the petition site's comments section, some users proclaimed they will downgrade from Vista to XP — an option available in the past to businesses, but now open for the first time to consumers who buy Vista Ultimate or Business editions — if they need to buy a new computer after XP goes off the market.

Others used the comments section to rail against the very idea that Microsoft has the power to enforce the phase-out from a stable, decent product to one that many consider worse, while profiting from the move. Many threatened to leave Windows for Apple or Linux machines.

Microsoft already extended the XP deadline once, but it shows no signs it will do so again. The company has declined to meet with Gruman to consider the petition.Microsoft is aware of the petition, it said in a statement to The Associated Press, and "will continue to be guided by feedback we hear from partners and customers about what makes sense based on their needs." Gruman said he'd keep pressing for a meeting.

"They really believe if they just close their eyes, people will have no choice," he said. In fact, most people who get a new computer will end up with Vista. In 2008, 94 percent of new Windows machines for consumers worldwide will run Vista, forecasts industry research group IDC. For businesses, about 75 percent of new PCs will have Vista. (That figure takes into account companies that choose to downgrade to XP.)

Although Microsoft may not budge on selling new copies of XP, it may have to extend support for it. Al Gillen, an IDC analyst, estimated that at the end of 2008 nearly 60 per cent of consumer PCs and almost 70 per cent of business PCs worldwide will still run XP.Microsoft plans to end full support — including warranty claims and free help with problems — in April 2009. The company will continue providing a more limited level of service until April 2014.

Gillen said efforts like Gruman's grass-roots petition may not influence the software maker, but business customers' demands should carry more clout.

"You really can't make 69 percent of your installed base unhappy with you," he said. Some companies — such as Wells Manufacturing Co in Woodstock, Ill. — are crossing their fingers that he's right. The company, which melts scrap steel and casts iron bars, has 200 PCs that run Windows 2000 or XP. (Windows 2000 is no longer sold on PCs. Mainstream support has ended, but limited support is available through the middle of 2010.)

Wells usually replaces 50 of its PCs every 18 months. In the most recent round of purchases, Chief Information Officer Lou Peterhans said, the company stuck with XP because several of its applications don't run well on Vista.

"There is no strong reason to go to Vista, other than eventually losing support for XP," he said. Peterhans added that the company isn't planning to bring in Vista computers for 18 months to two years. If Microsoft keeps to its current timetable, its next operating system, code-named Windows 7, will be on the market by then

Read more...

Windows Operating Systems and Physical RAM in excess of 3GB

With many Windows users installing now more than 3GB of physical RAM, this is increasingly becoming an issue members have to deal with and come to terms with. We tested theWindows operating systems indicated below.

Test System Specifications

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40 GHz 4 MB L2 Cache
ASUS P5B Deluxe WiFi/AP
2 X 1024 MB OCZ GOLD PC2-6400 DDR2 800 MHz (Non-ECC)
2 X 1024 MB Transcend PC2-6400 DDR2 800 MHz (Non-ECC)
NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 512 MB DDR3

Windows XP Professional X86 (32-Bit)

Even with SP2 Windows XP just does not have the capacity to use more than 3GB or physical RAM. There are boot.ini and application switches which permit certain applications to do so. In terms of the operating system itself though, this limitation prevails no matter what boot.ini switch one uses.

With Memory Remapping enabled in the BIOS (allows full identification of more than 3GB by the BIOS), the operating system is unable to use beyond 2GB of RAM



Disabling Memory Remapping (has the effect of limiting the BIOS identification of RAM to 3GB) lets the OS use more than 2GB of RAM, but limited to a maximum of 3GB



Windows Server 2003 Enterprise SP1 X86

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise SP1 X86 with RAM remapping set to Enabled in the BIOS it has no issues at all reading the full 4GB.

With remapping Disabled, it reverts back to 3GB simply because the BIOS only reflects 3GB with that setting. The 512 MB RAM GPU causes no issues at all and is read with its full RAM available.



Windows XP Professional X64 Edition

Windows XP Professional X64 Edition also has no issues. This screenshot is before any driver installation but the same applied after all drivers were installed. I mention the drivers because I've been reading on other forums that drivers can use address space and thereby reduce the amount of RAM identified, but this seems not to have impacted on Windows XP Professional X64.

Windows Vista Ultimate Edition X86 (32-Bit)

Windows Vista Ultimate RTM X86 with memory remapping enabled, in other words with exactly the same hardware and settings as were used for Windows Server 2003 Enterprise X86 and Windows XP Professional X64 does NOT have the ability to read more than 2GB of RAM

When memory remapping is disabled though, 3GB of RAM show up

The fact that Windows Server 2003 Enterprise X86 and XP Pro X64 with the same settings (Memory Remapping Enabled), were able to show and utilize all 4GB of RAM, indicates to me that this is a Software/Operating System limitation in Window Vista Ultimate X86.


Windows Vista Ultimate Edition X64 (64-Bit)

Here's Windows Vista Ultimate X64. As with Windows Server 2003 Enterprise X86 and Windows XP Professional X64 Edition, it has no problems running 4GB of physical RAM:

Other Windows Vista x64 Editions

Large memory support for other editions of Windows Vista X64 was not tested. HERE is information provided by Microsoft about them.

Hardware and BIOS Limitations

Despite claims by some motherboard manufacturers that the chipset used supports 4GB or more of physical memory, it has been found that is not always the case. All memory controller chipsets don't have the ability to map more than 3GB. Motherboards with a BIOS which does not provide an option to "Remap memory", generally do not have that ability

Read more...

A glimpse into Windows future

There have been rumours floating about what all Microsoft's next operating system will have.

However, most of these have been mere speculations. For the first time this week Microsoft publicly demoed Windows 7 at D: All Things Digital conference in California. The high point of the new OS, called Windows 7 presently, is the "multi-touch" interface.

Other than, the touchy feely look, the demo also showed a user manipulating photos, browsing a map and playing an onscreen piano with simple one and two-finger taps and gestures.

Windows 7 is likely to hit the market in late 2009 or early 2010. Here's looking into all the new additions that are likely to form part of Windows 7.

Windows 7 will be made for iPhone-like touch-screen applications, an alternative to the computer mouse. This means that users will be able to control the next version of Microsoft Windows with touch controls.

Microsoft showed a new application called "Touchable Paint" that lets a user paint with their fingers, as well as software to organise photos or navigate maps by touch.

Company Chairman Bill Gates framed the new feature as an evolution away from the mouse. The ability to use touch to give users fingertip control of their screens could help revolutionise how computer desktops and mobile phones are controlled and would be an alternative to existing mice, keyboard and pen-based user controls.

Microsoft is seeking to one-up Apple, which made touch-screen software central to the success of its iPhone mobile device, which combines computer, phone and Web features and has sold around 6 million units in its first 11 months.

With Windows 7, Microsoft hopes to create a more life-like photo experience. As per the demo, new photo applications developed for Windows 7 will allow users to arrange and examine photos as they would on a table.

It will also allow users to write, rotate or zoom them. There also seems option of 3D slideshow, grid and scatter views

---

Another feature is the mapping app that seems to have modified from the Microsoft's Surface, a device for interacting with large tabletop computer displays, team's own Concierge application.

Like Concierge, it calls up data from Windows Live Local and Microsoft Virtual Earth.

Sessions of Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference, scheduled for October, also throws some light on the new operating system.

As per the session details, Windows 7 will enable users to advance the graphics capabilities of their applications while carrying forward existing investments in their Win32 codebase, including GDI and GDI+.

New enhancements to DirectX will help Win32 applications harness the latest innovations in GPUs and LCD displays, including support for scalable, high-performance, 2D and 3D graphics, text, and images.

In a blog post earlier this week, Microsoft's Chris Flores said that Windows 7 will be an evolution of the Vista kernel and one of our design goals for Windows 7 is that it will run on the recommended hardware we specified for Windows Vista and that theapplications and devices that work with Windows Vista will be compatible with Windows 7 .

According to another session at the conference, a single application will help reduce mobile battery life (presumably in laptops and other mobile devices) by up to 30 per cent.

Windows 7 will provide advances for building energy-efficient applications.

The session write-up says: "In this session we will discuss how to leverage new Windows infrastructure to reduce application power consumption and efficiently schedule background tasks and services."

According to a session on Web services, Windows 7 will introduce a new networking API to support building SOAP based Web services in native code. It's likely to have native support for running virtual hard disks, specifically disk images in Microsoft’s own VHD format.

Courtesy: Indiatimes News Nework

Read more...

Top 10 Nations by Average Internet Speeds

At the end of 2008, approximately 19 per cent Internet connections around the world were at speeds greater than 5 Mbps - a 21 per cent increase over the average global connection speed at the end of 2007.

This is according to the State of the Internet report, a quarterly study by Akamai Technologies, the US-based Internet content distribution giant. The State of the Internet report tracks average connection speeds for countries around the world.

Check out the top 10 nations in terms of average Internet connection speed.

1. South Korea
South Korea rules supreme when it comes to Internet connection speed and broadband connectivity. It is the world's No.1 with average connection speed of 15 Mbps, ten times the global average!

During 2008, South Korea's rate of quarterly change appeared to be locked into a cyclical pattern, with quarterly decreases being recorded in the first and third quarters, and increases seen in the second and fourth quarters.

For the whole year, South Korea saw a modest 7 per cent rise in their levels of high broadband adoption. South Korea is also ranked first in terms of high broadband connectivity with 69 per cent connections above 5 Mpbs.

2. Japan
Japan ranks 2nd in terms of Internet connection and high broadband connectivity. Japan ranks 2nd in terms of high broadband connectivity. About 54 per cent of the connections in Japan are above 7 Mbps.

3. Hong Kong
Hong Kong ranks third with an Internet connection speed of 6.9 Mbps. The country ranks fifth in terms of high broadband connectivity with 38 per cent of the connection above 5 Mbps.

4. Romania
Romania is at the fourth position with a Internet connection speed of 5.7 Mbps. The country ranks third in terms of high broadband connectivity with 45% of the connection above 5 Mbps.

5. Sweden
Sweden is at the fifth position with a Internet connection speed of 5.6 Mbps. Sweden ranks fourth in terms of high broadband connectivity with 39 per cent of the connection above 5Mbps.

6. Switzerland
Switzerland has bagged the sixth position with an Internet connection speed of over 5 Mbps. The country however does not figure in the top ten list of countries with high broadband connectivity.

7. Netherlands
Netherlands ranks 7th with an Internet connection speed of 4.9 Mbps. The country ranks 7th in terms of high broadband connectivity with 28 per cent of the connections above 5 Mbps.

8. Belgium
Belgium is at the 8th position with an Internet connection speed of 4.7 Mbps. The country ranks sixth in terms of high broadband connectivity with 31 per cent of the connection above 5 Mbps.

9. Slovakia
Slovakia bags the ninth position with an Internet connection speed of 4.5 Mbps. The country does not figure among the top ten in terms of high broadband connectivity.

10. Norway
Norway ranks tenth with an Internet connection speed of 4.5 Mbps. The country ranks fifth in terms of high broadband connectivity with 38 per cent of the connection above 5 Mbps.

United States is at the 17th position with an Internet connection speed of 3.9 Mbps, up approximately 8 per cent from the average connection speed for the first quarter of 2008.

In terms of Internet connection speed, China is way behind leading economies with an average Internet connection speed of 833 kbps.
India has been ranked at a dismal 115th among 223 countries in terms of average Internet connection speeds. India has an average Internet connection speed of just 772 Kbps compared with the global average of 1.5 Mbps.

Read more...

What Is Registry?

What is the Registry?

The Registry is a database used to store settings and options for the 32 bit versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows 95, 98, ME and NT/2000/XP. It contains information and settings for all the hardware, software, users, and preferences of the PC. Whenever a user makes changes to a Control Panel settings, or File Associations, System Policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the Registry.

The physical files that make up the registry are stored differently depending on your version of Windows; under Windows 95 & 98 it is contained in two hidden files in your Windows directory, called USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT, for Windows Me there is an additional CLASSES.DAT file, while under Windows NT/2000 the files are contained seperately in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Config directory. You can not edit these files directly, you must use a tool commonly known as a "Registry Editor" to make any changes (using registry editors will be discussed later in the article).

The Structure of The Registry

The Registry has a hierarchal structure, although it looks complicated the structure is similar to the directory structure on your hard disk, with Regedit being similar to Windows Explorer.

Each main branch (denoted by a folder icon in the Registry Editor, see left) is called a Hive, and Hives contains Keys. Each key can contain other keys (sometimes referred to as sub-keys), as well as Values. The values contain the actualinformation stored in the Registry. There are three types of values; String, Binary, and DWORD - the use of these depends upon the context.

There are six main branches, each containing a specific portion of the information stored in the Registry. They are as follows:


* HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT - This branch contains all of your file association mappings to support the drag-and-drop feature, OLE information, Windows shortcuts, and core aspects of the Windows user interface.
* HKEY_CURRENT_USER - This branch links to the section of HKEY_USERS appropriate for the user currently logged onto the PC and containsinformation such as logon names, desktop settings, and Start menu settings.
* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - This branch contains computer specific information about the type of hardware, software, and other preferences on a given PC, this information is used for all users who log onto this computer.
* HKEY_USERS - This branch contains individual preferences for each user of the computer, each user is represented by a SID sub-key located under the main branch.
* HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG - This branch links to the section of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE appropriate for the current hardware configuration.
* HKEY_DYN_DATA - This branch points to the part of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, for use with the Plug-&-Play features of Windows, this section is dymanic and will change as devices are added and removed from the system.



Each registry value is stored as one of five main data types:


* REG_BINARY - This type stores the value as raw binary data. Most hardware component information is stored as binary data, and can be displayed in an editor in hexadecimal format.
* REG_DWORD - This type represents the data by a four byte number and is commonly used for boolean values, such as "0" is disabled and "1" is enabled. Additionally many parameters for device driver and services are this type, and can be displayed in REGEDT32 in binary, hexadecimal and decimal format, or in REGEDIT in hexadecimal and decimal format.
* REG_EXPAND_SZ - This type is an expandable data string that is string containing a variable to be replaced when called by an application. For example, for the following value, the string "%SystemRoot%" will replaced by the actual location of the directory containing the Windows NT system files. (This type is only available using an advancedregistry editor such as REGEDT32)
* REG_MULTI_SZ - This type is a multiple string used to represent values that contain lists or multiple values, each entry is separated by a NULL character. (This type is only available using an advancedregistry editor such as REGEDT32)
* REG_SZ - This type is a standard string, used to represent human readable text values.



Other data types not available through the standard registry editors include:


* REG_DWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN - A 32-bit number in little-endian format.
* REG_DWORD_BIG_ENDIAN - A 32-bit number in big-endian format.
* REG_LINK - A Unicode symbolic link. Used internally; applications should not use this type.
* REG_NONE - No defined value type.
* REG_QWORD - A 64-bit number.
* REG_QWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN - A 64-bit number in little-endian format.
* REG_RESOURCE_LIST - A device-driver resource list.



Editing The Registry

The Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE) is included with most version of Windows (although you won't find it on the Start Menu) it enables you to view, search and edit the data withinthe Registry. There are several methods for starting the Registry Editor, the simplest is to click on the Start button, then select Run, and in the Open box type "regedit", and if the Registry Editor is installed it should now open and look like the image below.

An alternative Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE) is available for use with Windows NT/2000, it includes some additional features not found in the standard version, including; the ability to view and modify security permissions, and being able to create and modify the extended string values REG_EXPAND_SZ & REG_MULTI_SZ.

Create a Shortcut to Regedit
This can be done by simply right-clicking on a blank area of your desktop, selecting New, then Shortcut, then in the Command line box enter "regedit.exe" and click Next, enter a friendly name (e.g. 'Registry Editor') then click Finish and now you can double click on the new icon to launch the Registry Editor.

Using Regedit to modify your Registry
Once you have started the Regedit you will notice that on the left side there is a tree with folders, and on the right the contents (values) of the currently selected folder.

Like Windows explorer, to expand a certain branch (see the structure of the registry section), click on the plus sign

• to the left of any folder, or just double-click on the folder. To display the contents of a key (folder), just click the desired key, and look at the values listed on the right side. You can add a new key or value by selecting New from the Edit menu, or by right-clicking your mouse. And you can rename any value and almost any key with the same method used to rename files; right-click on an object and click rename, or click on it twice (slowly), or just press F2 on the keyboard. Lastly, you can delete a key or value by clicking on it, and pressing Delete on the keyboard, or by right-clicking on it, and choosing Delete.

Note: it is always a good idea to backup your registry before making any changes to it. It can be intimidating to a new user, and there is always the possibility of changing or deleting a critical setting causing you to have to reinstall the whole operating system. It's much better to be safe than sorry!

Importing and Exporting Registry Settings

A great feature of the Registry Editor is it's ability to import and export registry settings to a text file, this text file, identified by the .REG extension, can then be saved or shared with other people to easily modify local registrysettings. You can see the layout of these text files by simply exporting a key to a file and opening it in Notepad, to do this using the Registry Editor select a key, then from the "Registry" menu choose "Export Registry File...", choose a filename and save. If you open this file in notepad you will see a file similar to the example below:

Quote:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup]
"SetupType"=dword:00000000
"CmdLine"="setup -newsetup"
"SystemPrefix"=hex:c5,0b,00,00,00,40,36,02


The layout is quite simple, REGEDIT4 indicated the file type and version, [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup] indicated the key the values are from, "SetupType"=dword:00000000 are the values themselves the portion after the "=" will vary depending on the type of value they are; DWORD, String or Binary.

So by simply editing this file to make the changes you want, it can then be easily distributed and all that need to be done is to double-click, or choose "Import" from the Registry menu, for the settings to be added to the system Registry.

Deleting keys or values using a REG file
It is also possible to delete keys and values using REG files. To delete a key start by using the same format as the the REG file above, but place a "-" symbol in front of the key name you want to delete. For example to delete the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup] key the reg file would look like this:

Quote:

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup]


The format used to delete individual values is similar, but instead of a minus sign in front of the whole key, place it after the equal sign of the value. For example, to delete the value "SetupType" the file would look like:

Quote:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup]
"SetupType"=-


Use this feature with care, as deleting the wrong key or value could cause major problems within the registry, so remember to always make a backup first.

Regedit Command Line Options
Regedit has a number of command line options to help automate it's use in either batch files or from the command prompt. Listed below are some of the options, please note the some of the functions are operating system specific.


* regedit.exe [options] [filename] [regpath]
* [filename] Import .reg file into the registry
* /s [filename] Silent import, i.e. hide confirmation box when importing files
* /e [filename] [regpath] Export the registry to [filename] starting at [regpath]
e.g. regedit /e file.reg HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT
* /L:system Specify the location of the system.dat to use
* /R:user Specify the location of the user.dat to use
* /C [filename] Compress (Windows 98)
* /D [regpath] Delete the specified key (Windows 98)

Maintaining the Registry

How can you backup and restore the Registry?

Windows 95
Microsoft included a utility on the Windows 95 CD-ROM that lets you create backups of the Registry on your computer. The Microsoft Configuration Backup program, CFGBACK.EXE, can be found in the \Other\Misc\Cfgback directory on the Windows 95 CD-ROM. This utility lets you create up to nine different backup copies of the Registry, which it stores, with the extension RBK, in your \Windows directory. If your system is set up for multiple users, CFGBACK.EXE won't back up the USER.DAT file.

After you have backed up your Registry, you can copy the RBK file onto a floppy disk for safekeeping. However, to restore from a backup, the RBK file must reside in the \Windows directory. Windows 95 stores the backups in compressed form, which you can then restore only by using the CFGBACK.EXE utility.

Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 98 automatically creates a backup copy of the registry every time Windows starts, in addition to this you can manually create a backup using the Registry Checker utility by running SCANREGW.EXE from Start | Run menu.

What to do if you get a Corrupted Registry
Windows 95, 98 and NT all have a simple registry backup mechanism that is quite reliable, although you should never simply rely on it, remember to always make a backup first!

Windows 95
In the Windows directory there are several hidden files, four of these will be SYSTEM.DAT & USER.DAT, your current registry, and SYSTEM.DA0 & USER.DA0, a backup of your registry. Windows 9x has a nice reature in that every time it appears to start successfully it will copy the registry over these backup files, so just in case something goes wrong can can restore it to a known good state. To restore the registry follow these instruction:
[list=1]
* Click the Start button, and then click Shut Down.

* Click Restart The Computer In MS-DOS Mode, then click Yes.

* Change to your Windows directory. For example, if your Windows directory is c:\windows, you would type the following:

cd c:\windows

* Type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each one. (Note that SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0 contain the number zero.)

attrib -h -r -s system.dat
attrib -h -r -s system.da0
copy system.da0 system.dat
attrib -h -r -s user.dat
attrib -h -r -s user.da0
copy user.da0 user.dat

* Restart your computer.



Following this procedure will restore your registry to its state when you last successfully started your computer.

If all else fails, there is a file on your hard disk named SYSTEM.1ST that was created when Windows 95 was first successfully installed. If necessary you could also change the file attributes of this file from read-only and hidden to archive to copy the file to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT.

Windows NT
On Windows NT you can use either the "Last Known Good" option or RDISK to restore to registry to a stable working configuration.

How can I clean out old data from the Registry?
Although it's possible to manually go through the Registry and delete unwanted entries, Microsoft provides a tool to automate the process, the program is called RegClean. RegClean analyzes Windows Registry keys stored in a common location in the Windows Registry. It finds keys that contain erroneous values, it removes them from the Windows Registry after having recording those entries in the Undo.Reg file.

Read more...

Windows Tips and tricks

Using your windows key

Most of you must have this windows key on your computer . On a windows computer this is a very important shortcut key. In combination with other keys this key forms a very important shortcut which can be used to performe some important tasks shown below:

Windows key combination	Command / Acction
+ E	Open windows explorer
+ R	Opens Run Dialog box
+ L	Locks your computer/workstation
+ D	Shows Desktop (it works like minimize all. If you press + D again it will restore back all the windows) this is quiet a useful key.
+ M	Select application starting with M on your desktop. (Generally My Computer)
+ U	Shows windows utility manager. (Not so useful command)
+ F	Opens Find window
+ H	Opens drawing pad
+ V	Speech recognition software
+ Tab	Cycle throught Applications on your taskbar
+Shift+ Tab	Reverse Cycle throught Applications on your taskbar
+ break	Show system property dialog box

Thanks Nilashis for liking my post. But i could really do with some more replies. It motivates me to write more... newayz.. here is more coming..

Most of the times when we are typing some stuff we hate to have to use mouse. it is really good if we had some keyboard shortcuts to do the work we want .. well, in fact we do have many shortcuts. I will start with how we can start may applications just by bringing up the run dialog box. Below i have listed some applications and their commands...





Pressing “ + R” will bring the run window. Type in the following commands and hit enter to bring the respective application.

The commands mentioned here are generic commands and should work for windows 98 and above although I have only tested them on Windows XP.

Command to type	Application that will open
notepad	Notepad
winword	Microsoft word document
excel	Microsoft excel document
msaccess	Microsoft Access
powerpnt	Microsoft Power Point
mspaint	Paint
iexplore	Internet Explorer
firefox	Fire Fox
calc	Calculator
outlook	Microsoft Outlook
control	Control panel
desktop	Opens your desktop as a folder
explorer	Opens windows explorer
cmd	Command prompt

[/glow]




Commands mentioned below are some advanced commands which open up utilities to configure windows.

Command to type	Application that will open
services.msc	Microsoft Service Console
msconfig	System configuration utility
regedit	Registry Editor
certmgr.msc	Certificate Manager
mmc	Microsoft Management console

[/glow]


The applications mentioned below opens for office 2003.

Command to type	Application that will open
infopath	Microsoft Office Infopath 2003
mspub	Microsoft Publisher 2003
ois        Â	Microsoft Office Picture Manager

[/glow]


Now some interesting stuff......

Command to type	Application that will open
. (Single Dot)	Your user folder.
.. (Two Dots)	A level higher than your user folder (generally Document and setting folder)
…(Three Dots )	Two level higher than your user folder (generally My computer)

Some tips to make your computer faster

1)
Probably most of us are using windows XP as operating system on our computers. XP is know for its better graphics display over its predecessors. But this graphics display comes at a cost of CPU performance. So if you are not so awed by the looks of XP or want a change it for whatsoever reason here is what you can do:

 i) On "My Computer" icon right click and go to "Properties".
ii)Â In the "Sysetm Properties" dialog click on Advance tab.
iii) In the "Advance" tab, inside the performance section there is a "Settings" button. Click it.
iv) In the "Visual Effects" tab, there are various radio buttons. Click on "Adjust for best performance" radio button.
v) Click on "Apply".

Doing this will give your desktop a more traditional look and feel but you will observe some increase in your PC's performance. Personally i love this look and feel more than the XP default look and feel.




2)
Most of us have multiple partition hard disk. When partitioning a hard disk do we ever think the amount we assign to each partition? Well I am not about to go into the details of partitioning but whenever you partition a hard disk remember to give at least 20 GB of space to your system drive (Drive where your OS is installed, typically C:). Keep as much free space on your system drive as possible.

Windows uses a process called as "paging" to allocate runtime memory (also called as virtual memory) to programs. This happens because our RAMs are not always sufficient to handle all theapplication process. Due to this a filled called "pagefile.sys" is created on your system drive. So keep as much space on your system drive as possible. Also regularly defragment your system drive. this will improve the access to the sytsem files by the OS improving the performance of your computer.




3)
Improving your startup.

Whenever you start your windows, many programs are scheduled to start with it automatically. There are many ways to do this, E.g. put the program shortcut manually in Start --> Programs --> Start up or put the program entry in Autoexe.bat file or create a registry entry in the startup section. Well, even though these can be scheduled to start differently, there is a single way to view them: "msconfig" the configuration utility.

Click on Start --> Run.
In the Run dialog type "msconfig" and hit enter.
System Configuration utility dialog box comes up.

The last tab in this dialog box is a startup tab will all the programs schedule to startup start when windows start. Most of these utilities are not requied in our day to day work. Some of them are even viruses or worms or trogans. So remove the programs that you think are not required during startup. To do this uncheck the box against the startup item and click apply.

Now probably the question in your mind is how to decide which items to uncheck and which items to keep untouched??? We have an excellent guide for this. http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php . Here you will find most of the startup program and what to do with them.

Unwanted startup programs not only slows your startup but also runs as a background process clogging your valuable CPU resource time.

Using your windows key

Most of you must have this windows key on your computer . On a windows computer this is a very important shortcut key. In combination with other keys this key forms a very important shortcut which can be used to performe some important tasks shown below:

Windows key combination	Command / Acction
+ E	Open windows explorer
+ R	Opens Run Dialog box
+ L	Locks your computer/workstation
+ D	Shows Desktop (it works like minimize all. If you press + D again it will restore back all the windows) this is quiet a useful key.
+ M	Select application starting with M on your desktop. (Generally My Computer)
+ U	Shows windows utility manager. (Not so useful command)
+ F	Opens Find window
+ H	Opens drawing pad
+ V	Speech recognition software
+ Tab	Cycle throught Applications on your taskbar
+Shift+ Tab	Reverse Cycle throught Applications on your taskbar
+ break	Show system property dialog box

Read more...