Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader 'Michael' writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows XP professional on my system. I'd like to reinstall Windows on my PC, but cannot locate my CD case which has the Windows XP Product Key required to install Windows back onto my ... machine. Is there a way to extract the Product Key from within my computer? " My response: Yes. All CD Keys are stored in your System Registry, and there are a number of methods (and 3rd-party applications) that can extract this information for you. Magic Jelly Bean finder (the first link listed below) will extract Windows XP and Office ... (view more)

Yesterday, I came across a very interesting article posted by p2pnet.net which details a recent exploit in MS Windows, called "jpeg of death.c v.05". In summary: on September 17th, 2004, a proof-of-concept exploit was discovered that could ... potentially execute malicious code on the victim's computer when viewing a JPG file image file using Internet Explorer; at the time, however, the exploit only crashed Internet Explorer. On September 24th, a new variant of the exploit appeared, responsible for running potentially malicious code if an infected .jpeg file was downloaded from the ... (view more)

Recall -- Last week , Infopackets Reader Cara J. asked if it was possible to copy folders from one disk to another, without copying the contents of each folder: " Dear Dennis, I enjoy your newsletter greatly. I've been saving documentation on a 100 ... megabyte ZIP disk, which there are multiple folders I've created. I'm running out of space on this particular ZIP disk and will have to start using a new one soon. Question: is there a way to copy just the folders (and not the contents) from the first disk to a new one? I'm particular about the way I file my information and would like to use ... (view more)

Die-hard Infopackets Reader Dri-Anna D. writes: " Dear Dennis, Being that I consider you a trusted source (along with Fred Langa's LangaList), I am following your newsletter articles with great interest with respect to updating Windows XP to Service ... Pack 2. I have a question, however. I will be purchasing a new computer next month, and it will have a pre-installed copy of Windows XP Home Edition, complete with the install CD so I can install it again at a later date (if needed). I am very excited about using my new computer, yet, I am also dreading the job of transferring my gobs of ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve 'notjourney' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have Windows XP Professional and Office 2003. There are 3 people who use the machine. All 3 need to be able to modify Excel and Access files. I have put these files in the shared folder ... and yet only I can modify them. The other 2 users can only read them. I have tried everything I can find including making them both administrators. Nothing has worked. What do you suggest? By the way, thanks for all the help you have given me in other areas. " My response: It sounds to me like your share privileges are not set properly. ... (view more)

Last Thursday , I wrote an article on how to disable Windows Messenger using a System Registryhack. To date, this Registry Hack is the *only* known way to disable Windows Messenger v4.7 permanently from Windows XP. Most of the folks who are ... interested in disabling Windows Messenger v4.7 do so because they don't want it using up extra CPU or Memory, or because it's a service which isn't needed. From a security standpoint: the less unneeded services running on your system, the less chance of having a security exploit. Disabling Windows Messenger v4.7 isn't as easy as modifying the program ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Lei F. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have scoured the Internet and tried everything I could come up with, but I just can't seem to get stop (MSN Messenger) from the running processes. Even when I end the process using Task Manager, ... within minutes, msmgs.exe appears again. No one in our family even uses Windows Messenger, those that do use MSN Messenger v6. I have tried EVERYTHING, Dennis -- how do I get rid of it? I've tried searching Google for the answer, but was unable to come up with anything. I'm sure a significant proportion of infopackets subscribers have the same ... (view more)

Since writing this newsletter, I have come across a handful of noteworthy applications aimed at streamlining a Windows PC. Some of the programs I've reviewed are very particular in nature and focus primarily on one task, while others are ... multi-utility oriented. What is System LifeGuard v2.0? System LifeGuard v2.0 is a Swiss Army Knife of essential PC maintenance. Developed by NeoByte Solutions, System LifeGuard v2.0 includes a comprehensive collection of utilities designed to dramatically improve the performance of a Windows PC by safely removing junk files and folders and invalid System ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Cara J. writes: " Dear Dennis, I enjoy your newsletter greatly. I've been saving documentation on a 100 megabyte ZIP disk , which there are multiple folders I've created. I'm running out of space on this particular ZIP disk and ... will have to start using a new one soon. Question: is there a way to copy just the folders (and not the contents) from the first disk to a new one? I'm particular about the way I file my information and would like to use the same method on the new disk. Any help would be appreciated! " My response: This is an odd question, however, it is ... (view more)

I spent much of this weekend going over the emails that I've received from Readers concerning a new eBook that I'm working on, a Windows XP Service Pack 2 'failsafe' installation Guide. The consensus from the majority of Readers is that XP Service ... Pack 2 has caused some confusion (with respect to new security features), problems connecting to the Internet (related to the new Windows Firewall) and in some cases, failed to install properly (requiring the user to erase the C drive and reinstall Windows). As I mentioned earlier, the pros of Service Pack 2 outweigh the cons (in my opinion), even ... (view more)