windows

Infopackets Reader Susan C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your newsletters ;-) Question: I am using Windows ME and tried to restore my computer to an earlier time using System Restore; however, the problem is that the computer keeps telling me to ... pick a earlier date on the calendar than what is available. For example: I can bring up the calendar to choose which restore to use, but the only option I have available is for December 1999. I have used system restore before, but for some reason it's now gone awol and won't let me pick another date. Is there any way that I can restore my computer to ... (view more)

Do you care if you get hacked? You should! Just think about all the things you do with your computer. At the very least, I would bet you use it to send e-mail, and surf the web on a regular basis. In fact, if you're anything like the average ... computer user, you probably use the Internet to buy gifts, manage your stock portfolio, and even pay your bills online. So what if your computer became compomised by a hacker? In that case, it's safe to assume that everything you do with your computer is no longer private. Not only that, but depending upon the sophistication of an attack, a hacked ... (view more)

Bootable Live Windows Cd Build a BartPE -- Bart Preinstalled Environment -- bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks. It will give you a complete ... Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on. This will replace any DOS bootdisk in no time. http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ Boot Editor An editor for creating boot screens ( ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Robin' writes: " Dear Dennis, Regarding yesterday's Shell Extension City pick labeled ' SystemRescueCd ': According to the write-up, I understand that this particular rescue disc is (and I quote) 'a Linux system.' Question: does ... this mean that this is a rescue system for Windows XP that operates under Linux or is it a rescue system for people running Linux on their PC? I hope you understand what I mean. I'm confused! " My response: I was also very interested in this Shell Extension City pick, so I downloaded it and burned it onto a rewriteable disc. The answer to your ... (view more)

WinRoll is an add-on for managing all of the open windows on your desktop. If you typically have more than four or five windows open, it can be a chore switching between windows. WinRoll will "roll up" a window when you right click on its title bar. ... Right click again and it unrolls. Hold down the alt key before clicking and all open windows roll up. Quote from the homepage: " Make a window roll into its title bar, send it to the back or make it stay on top. Minimize, maximize or close all visible windows, including minimizing to the tray area. Make a window translucent on Windows 2000 or ... (view more)

Earlier, I reflected upon Microsoft's "software bloat" which has been driving the computer industry to develop improved hardware at a rapid pace (see: Part 1 | Part 2 ). And the trend has no end in sight. So what about the computer systems of ... yester-year? Will they continue to suffice when Microsoft Windows Vista is released the second-half of 2006? Perhaps; perhaps not. So the question becomes: is it worth upgrading the current system or buy new? Should you decide the latter, what will you do with the computer that's sitting on your desk? To help put things into perspective, ... (view more)

Continued from Part 1 . As I stated previously, one could argue (to a degree) that Microsoft has created a marketplace for new computer hardware. And it's not necessarily a bad thing. However, one must also consider the scope of Downward ... Compatibility as a result of upgrading. And it's not just isolated to just MS Windows: it encompasses nearly every operation related to upgrading a computer -- including Third Party software. Case in point: most software written for windows use Microsoft libraries to provide functionality that the software developer would otherwise have to build from scratch ... (view more)

I've been in the computer business for quite some time and have read countless publications related to both the computing industry and its users. Since I continue to read a number of publications on an ongoing basis, I see developing trends and the ... direction the industry is going. I find new hardware especially intriguing, as well as software that is constantly being developed for the consumer market. But, there has been some rather disturbing news along with all the 'hype', including some recent unsavoury news concerning Microsoft. Before I get into that, let's review a bit of history: Back ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have recently added a 120GB external hard drive to my Dell Dimension computer (via the USB port). Problem: whenever I turn my computer on (to start Windows), the external hard drive always tries ... to boot first. Inevitably I get an error message that 'operating system is not found' and I have to shut off the external unit and then reboot the machine in order to start Windows properly. For this reason, I am curious if my Windows XP crashes, would it be able to boot from the external hard drive? If so, how would I go about doing this? ... (view more)

Metapad is a replacement for Windows Notepad. I've been using metapad for nearly two years now. It's fast, it's free and it has many features I love using. The most useful feature for me is that web addresses are clickable in metapad and will open a ... website up in your favorite web browser. Don't run Windows without it! From the metapad website: " Once upon a time, one of the most useful programs for everyday use was known as Microsoft Notepad. I realized that Notepad was quite powerful and did a lot of what I wanted in a simple text editor. Yet I found the user interface to be unlike most 32- ... (view more)