Baytown Computer Tech Blog
Software, Computer Help
How to Enable God Mode on Vista and Windows 7
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Windows 7 interface and desktop is rather clean and minimalist. Of course, you can find everything you need in the famous and well-known Control Panel. However this solution won’t allow you to see and easily use all those nested settings included in the main options. Did you know that you can become a God? Well, at least on Windows 7!
One of the less known options on Windows 7 is the God Mode feature. Basically, it lets you have every setting and option right in front of you, ready to be used without having to browse among different settings before getting what you are looking for. Here is how to enable it:
1. Right click on any bank space on your desktop.
2. Click new from the menu and create a New Folder.
3. Rename the folder as follow: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
4. DO NOT use this trick on Vista 64X. It will cause your Windows to crash! (read comments below)
This simple command will create a special shortcut to the God Mode option letting you access all Windows 7 functions via a handy GUI!
EDIT: GodMode also works on Windows Vista!
[credit: stadt-bremerhaven.de]
Hack to make a Windows 7 Universal CD
Posted by kglee | Filed under Computer technician, Software Fixes
Windows 7 desktop
Ei.cfg Removal Utility (Windows 7 Universal CD) – Repair Tool of the Week
Lets You Use Any Product Key With Your Windows 7 Disc
Windows: Windows 7 install discs are edition-specific—if you’ve got a valid license key, you still need the right disc for installation. The ei.cfg Removal Utility, however, lets you create a new, universal installation ISO for Windows 7.
One of the biggest frustrations when installing Windows XP was making sure you had the correct CD for your license key. Windows Vista fixed this problem by having a universal CD that contained all versions (all 32bit versions or all 64bit versions, not both) and simply installed the version that the key matched.
Now that Windows 7 is out, Microsoft have reverted back to needing a separate disk for each version which is annoying for us computer technicians. However, the only difference between each DVD is a small 51 byte configuration file called ei.cfg which tells the installer what version disc it is. If you were to turn your DVD into an ISO, remove this ei.cfg file and write it back to a DVD, that DVD would become a Universal DVD.
ei.cfg Removal Utility will make this easy for you. Just create an ISO with your legitimate Windows 7 DVD, run this tool, choose the ISO and let it run. Once it has finished, just write the ISO back to a DVD again and you would only need to carry one 32bit version and one 64bit version to support any Windows 7 install onsite.
Of course, your client would still need to provide you with a working key for the Windows 7 install to work.
Source www.technibble.com
Windows 7 Password Recovery
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
winpass, choose Win 7 folder, unlock account, clear password
winpass -u username
http://mirror.tuxinator.org/trinityhome/trinity-rescue-kit.3.3-build-318.iso
I use chntpw a lot and using the hex id (RID) instead of the user name generally saves a lot of head aches.
Type “winpass -l” to to get a list of users then type “winpass -u 0x” replacing with a user’s hex value.
Something like this:
[root@trk]:(~)# winpass -l
…
0e3d | user name | ADMINISTRATOR
…
[root@trk]:(~)# winpass -u 0×0e3d
Hope this helps.
Six Software Tools To Clean up a Slow PC and Increase the Performance
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Clients complain of the virus or slow computer performance. They say their computer crashes, or will not boot up. I get many jobs for my computer repair business due to this. The best thing to do would be a Windows reinstall, but that is the plan B. Usually it is only necessary to clean the PC to get it running smoothly. If the computer will at least boot into safemode, these items can be applied to get the machine up and running. These are the tools I normally use, to get the system running good enough to continue the PC software repair process.
Step 1: Uninstall all unnecessary programs
1. Uninstall all browser toolbars, as well as shareware spy-ware removers.
2. Uninstall all anti-virus and replace it with AVG free download, or AVIRA Free download
3. Uninstall unneeded programs
Use Revo Uninstaller. It gets rid of unnecessary stuff left over from removed programs, along with uninstalling normally.
Step 2: Make sure there is nothing unnecessary starting up with your account login or windows startup
This, by far, is the greatest cause of slow PC’s, in my opinion. Totally unnecessary items such as Adobe Acrobat have startup programs which do nothing useful.
Watch how many processes are running in the back ground as the unnecessary ones will degrade performance – Right click the system tray, click the task manager, press the processes tab, do a search in Google to see what they do. To disable them type in run box type msconfig click on startup tab, and uncheck said ones to disable on next boot.
A more advanced software for doing just this is Autoruns from Sysinternals download
Step 3: Delete all unnecessary files
An extremely handy software that will help you with this is CCleaner – an accredited software endorsed by many reputable sources. download
Try this tool to find what is on your hard drive – Windirstat
Step 4: Do a scan with Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware scanner download
Scan with your virus scanner, see above:
Step 5: Update your drivers with Device Doctor download
Step 6: Update Windows security patches
turn on your windows firewall, turn off automatic windows updates
Additional Advanced steps to speed up the PC
Add More Memory Crucial
Run a Hard Disk File Defragger or the one that comes with Windows
Workaround to Install Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 Home Premium and Home Basic
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Windows XP Mode (XPM) is a pre-installed and pre-activated licensed copy Windows XP SP3 as guest OS virtual machine package for Windows Virtual PC. Microsoft provides Windows XP Mode as a mean to provide backward compatibility for legacy productivity software. In Windows XP Mode, a pre-installed RemoteApp integration components allow guest applications running within the virtualized environment to be integrated into host Windows 7 desktop, and appear as if running directly on the host, sharing the native desktop and Start Menu of Windows 7 as well as participating in file type associations.
Unfortunately, Windows XP Mode is only available free of charge to users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions, as it’s widely considered as buy one free one deal, with a free licensed copy of Windows XP comes with Windows 7. However, Microsoft does provide Windows Virtual PC for every editions of Windows 7 except Windows 7 Starter edition.
Good news is that, according to MDL forum thread, in order to ensure that Windows XP Mode can be run properly without activation worry, Microsoft has embedded the necessary OEM:SLP (System Locked Pre-activation) string in the Windows Virtual PC’s BIOS so that offline OEM activation automatically activate Windows XP Mode. Thus, with the necessary OEM:SLP product key and OEMBIOS files, Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Premium users can manually install Windows XP on Windows Virtual PC guest virtual machine, and perform the steps in the hack below to create a Windows XP Mode with full integration features and functionality.
Tip: The guide can also be used any any editions of Windows 7 to create and install multiple or more than one activated Windows XP as Windows XP Mode with full integration features including seamless application publishing to host.
Hack to Manually Create and Install Windows XP Mode in Windows 7
1. Ensure that the computer is capable of running Windows Virtual PC, as Windows Virtual PC (and hence Windows XP Mode) required hardware-assisted virtualization. Microsoft also provides Hardware-Assisted Virtualization (HAV) Tool as free download to check the CPU capability.
Tip: Hardware-assisted virtualization is supported on most CPU processors, but may have disabled or locked in BIOS. In this case, reboot into BIOS to change the setting.
2. Download and install Windows Virtual PC.
Note: It’s impossible to download Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode from Microsoft Virtual PC homepage if user selects the operating system as 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic or Windows 7 Home Premium.
3. After installing Windows Virtual PC, browse to Windows Virtual PC folder by clicking on Start menu -> All Programs -> Windows Virtual PC -> Windows Virtual PC.
DNS Settings – How Do You Change Them Under Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP?
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
We all know by now how tweaking our operating systems (I’m lumping in Linux into this catagory) can help speed up our systems. We also know applying various networking tweaks to our operating systems can also speed up our web browsing experience but, outside of our OS’s we really have no control over anything outside of our routers. Or do we? Is there a way to make web browsing faster without having to dig into the Windows Registry? Can you speed up a Linux system by changing just a couple of DNS settings? Yep, you sure can!
What Exactly Is DNS
The “official” definition (via Wikipedia) – “It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participants. Most importantly, it translates domain names meaningful to humans into the numerical (binary) identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices worldwide. An often used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the “phone book” for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses.”
http://forums.winxpcentral.com/showthread.php?p=55324#post55324
Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Windows 7 USB Download Tool Lets You Install Windows from a Thumb Drive
If you’re trying to install Windows 7 on a netbook (or are having issues with your PC’s optical drive), the free USB Download Tool from Microsoft allows you to take a .ISO image and turn it into a bootable flash drive.
This was created not only for netbook users, but for anyone that opted to download Windows 7 from Microsoft in lieu of ordering an installation DVD. Windows 7 USB Download Tool can create a bootable flash drive (or DVD, if you prefer) from the downloaded .ISO file in quick fashion—just install it and follow the on-screen prompts. Note that if you opt to use a flash drive, it must be 4GB or larger to hold all the files.
The coolest part: Microsoft has open sourced this little app. Why, you ask? They got a bit of flak early on in the project for re-using open-source code and improperly documenting it (as well as making the program itself closed source), but true to their word that it was only a mistake, it’s been brought back and declared open source for all to use. So if you still haven’t gotten Windows 7 installed on that netbook of yours, head on over to CodePlex, Microsoft’s open-source repository, and download the tool now.
There was a bit of a furore over Microsoft’s ‘Windows 7 Netbook Installation tool’ back in November because they broke the cardinal rule this decade of software development: they used open-source code and didn’t declare it. Even worse, they modified open-source code and locked it up in proprietary, closed-source software. FOR SHAME!
But it’s OK: it was just a mistake, an honest mistake. They didn’t mean to include the open-source code fragments. So they pulled the software from their site and said it would be back in a little while, properly documented, and open-sourced. Well, it’s been a month and it’s finally back! It’s also now hosted on CodePlex, Microsoft’s open-source repository — cool.
If you weren’t aware such a tool existed, it creates bootable USB sticks from .ISO (CD or DVD) images, ideal for installing Windows 7 on a netbook or any other device without an optical drive. If you need more info – perhaps if you want to rejuvenate a tired old netbook for a grandparent this Christmas
How To Reset Your Password on Windows with the Help of a CD/DVD or USB Flash Drive
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Many times we face this problem when we forget or lost Windows password or somebody had changed the password of our system. In such a situation either we have to install windows again or find a solution to reset the password so that we can log into Windows easily. In this post, I will show you how you can reset the password on Windows easily with the help of your Flash Drive without reformatting or reinstalling your system.. In this post I will use a Flash Drive of 2 GB. Below are the steps to reset Windows password using bootable USB Flash Drive.
Step1. Download a free demo version of Windows Password Key 8.0
http://www.lostwindowspassword.com/downloads/Windows_Password_Key_Demo.exe
Step2. Run the downloaded file to install Windows Password Key 8.0.
You can install Windows Password Key 8.0 on any PC you have access to.
Step3.Windows Start menu – From your Microsoft Windows Start Programs menu, select Windows Password Key | Windows Password Key 8.0.exe. . Windows Password Key 8.0 will be launched automatically.
Step4. Create a bootable USB Flash Drive
4.1 You can click “Browse” to browse Windows Password Key 8.0 image file. The file is usually located as the default.
