Remove 'My Sharing Folders' from My Computer

If you have installed Windows Live Messenger you have probably noticed the annoying new shortcut it adds to My Computer! It is a folder that you may put stuff in so that when you log on to WLM people may copy whatever you have in that folder. I find this feature totally useless and a waste of space in My Computer. This guide will demonstrate how to remove 'My Sharing Folders' from My Computer.

Keyboard, Windows Shortcuts

+ethief from Neowin has compiled a list of Windows and Keyboard Shortcuts. This is very usefull when you need to do things quickly without searchign through a lot of complex menus. Click Read More for the shortcuts.

Printscreen While Watching a Movie

UPDATE: This guide is outdated. Please use the new guide.

If you have tried to use printscreen to get a screenshot of a movie you are currently watching on your computer, it probably didnt work and appeared completely black where the video is supposed to be. This is due to the hardware acceleration of videos in your computer. Because of it, a printscreen will not work. This howto will show how to task a screenshot of a video playing on your computer without the need of 3rd part software.

Firefox

Firefox is a very secure and fast web browser. It has the ability to be skinned or "extended" with extensions. It has many features like tabbed browsing that people like it for. If you have not tried firefox yet, press the link to it on the top of the page if you are using Internet Explorer.

Skip Re-Activation When you Reinstall Windows XP

For many computers, a reinstall of Windows XP (even if its on the same PC) requires re-activation with Microsoft. Some versions of XP require you to actually call Microsoft after a certain number of activations have already been performed to get it activated again. This howto shows how to bypass all this by backing up your activation files.

Is 100 MB too much ? Nero 7 Premium Alternatives

Nero 7 has become quite large for a simple CD burning program and now includes many utilities many people see as useless and bloat. It has Nero Scout which is like the Windows Indexing service and especially useless if you have Media Center Edition. There are some free or cheap alternatives to Nero that take up less space too.

Stop PDFs from freezing Firefox

Firefox has the ability to use the Arobat Reader plugin and it is set by default. Whenever you click on a PDF link without realizing, it will freeze your browser for about a minute before it responds correctly. If the plugin crashes, it also crashes your browser. This is really annoying and there is a very simple fix to this.

Video Codecs

A lot of videos and movies you can download use codecs that do not come included with most computers. This can be very annoying, especially for people who do not know what a codec is or where to get one. Cole2k Media has a solution for this annoying problem. They have a downloadable codec pack with most common codecs that are used, but not included with Windows.

To get the codec pack, go to Cole2k's website and download one of the codec packs on the top left. If you do not know much about what you want or need, just get the standard pack and leave all the options default.

Xbox Controller on PC

A lot of people own Xboxs, but most of them do not know that their controller can be used on the computer. All you need to do to make it work is buy an adapter for around $6 shipped from ebay and download some drivers. The drivers support all the buttons, rumble, and even the slots on top for a microphone or something of that sort. A controller for the computer with all the features of an Xbox controller is very expensive, so even people without an Xbox can benefit from this!

To get an adapter, search eBay for "Xbox to USB"
To get the drivers, follow this link and click XBCD

Disable Error Reporting

Windows XP Has a feature called error reporting where it brings up a window after a program crashes asking if you would like to report the error to Microsoft. This is meant to help Microsoft in fixing bugs, but I just find them annoying. Some other people are concerned for their privacy even though it does not send any personal data. Press Read More to see how to disable it!

Hiding Drives in My Computer

If you have a computer that you share with people, you may want to be able to hide a hard drive so that people can not see it. This works only if the person(s) you want to hide it from does not know about it. The drive will still be accessible by entering it into the address bar i.e. D:\. This how to will explain how to hide drives in My Computer so that people unaware of them do not use them.

MediaMan - A great Collection Catalogue

If you are like me, you have a lot of DVD's, games, and other things people always ask to borrow. It sometimes gets hard to keep track of who has what when a lot of people are borrowing something of yours. I set out to find a solution to my problem and found MediaMan, a great cataloguing software. It can display your collection as a virtual shelf, list, by category, and more.

How to Remotely Access Your Computer Using VNC and a Flash Drive or a Web Browser

There are probably many times you wish you had access to your computer but are not at it. It can be frustrating because it and the computer you are at are both connected to the internet, but you have no way to get your files or bookmarks from your computer.
The solution is VNC and a Dynamic DNS service like No-IP. VNC allows you to remotely control your computer but because many people hace dynamic ips that is hard because your IP can change at any time. That is where No-IP comes in. No-IP is a client software that updates a free subdomain like example.no-ip.org to your IP every time your IP Changes.
This howto will cover installing UltraVNC a VNC server and client, how to set up UltraVNC, and how to set up No-IP.

How to Change the Locations of Program Files and Documents and Settings During Windows XP Installation

If you would like to change the location of Documents and Settings and Program Files during the windows setup, there is a very simple way to do this. You will have to put a file into the I386 directory of the CD which will tell the installer options that are not available through the GUI. This howto will cover copying to the hard drive and modifying the Windows CD and preparing it to be burned again for use.

Improving Windows XP's Speed, Boot Time

Here is a collection of many different guides to improve Windows XP's speed, boot time, performance, and more. They contain many different tweaks, files to delete, services to disable, etc. After doing many of them I must say my computer is a bit faster and nicer to use. I though I would like to share all these guides with everyone so that they may improve their computing experience.

Free Web Hosts

I have compiled a list of free web hosts. They all are pretty good and offer a decent amount of space.

Remote Desktop Connection - Windows XP Professional

Enabling Remote Desktop Connection
If you have ever needed to access your XP Professional computer remotely you should use the included Remote Desktop Connection software.

This howto will show how to enable remote desktop connection and how to change it to allow an unlimited number of connections.

Shortcut Keys

A little know feature in windows for some reason is the Shortcut Keys. Many people do not know how to use them, yet they are simple and helpful. To set a shortcut key for something, open your start menu and navigate to it then right click it and press properties. A new window will pop up. Press in the Shortcut key box and do any combination of ctrl, alt, shift and anything else and press OK.

Batch Convert and Resize Images with Photosop

If you have a large amount of pictures that need to be resized or converted all at once and have Photoshop, there is a quick and very simple way to do it! Photoshop comes with scripts that allow it to preform repetitive tasks quickly and easily. This how to will cover using the Photoshop CS2 Image Processor (older versions have it too, but I am not sure it is in the same place or works the same).

How to Reinstall Windows XP Easily

This howto will demonstrate how to keep all of your data while reinstalling Windows without copying it off of your hard drive. This will only work if you have a Windows XP CD or a real source to install it from, NOT a manufactures "Restore CD" which reloads all the junk it came with.
I have seen people on the internet dread reinstalling Windows because it takes so long to backup gigabytes of data and to restore it later! I have found a way that makes it so you do not have to go through the whole hassle! Read on to find out!

Always On Top, Minimize To Tray, Task Priority and Window Transparency with PowerMenu

I found a small program (49KB download) a long time ago that adds 4 new options to any window menu. It allows you to a windows process higher priority, set always on top, set transparency, and minimize it to tray easily, quickly, and the minimal RAM usage.

Batch Rename Files with Lupas Rename

A great program called Lupas Rename allows you to rename multiple files, be it photos, documents, or anything else easily and very quickly. This howto will show how to use it and what it can do.

How to change the default save format for Office 2007

Everyone who has tried Office 2007 out has seen the new format it saves in. The problem is many people who you want to send your documents to do not have Office 2007 and therefore will not be able to see your document. It is a hassle to have to press save as and change it to the right format every time you make a new document. An easy fix to the problem is to change the default format until more people can read the new office format. It is the same procedure for all office products so I will only show the procedure for Microsoft Office Word 2007.

Update: If you would like to see how it is done in Office 2010, use the new guide.

The multiple uses of TweakUI

Many people do not know about the Windows XP Powertoys Microsoft released. They can help with speeding repetitive tasks up or help further customize Windows. This blog will be about TweakUI. You may download it here.