Louder than words

The Weight

Podcast by Shilpa Nainani

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What Every Computer User Needs









What Every Computer User Needs


Why is the registry important?


The registry is one of the most vital components of your Windows operating system because it comprises essential configuration information that is required by various hardware devices and software programs installed on your computer to carry out their operations. The registry also stores your user preferences and system preferences. In other words, the registry is the heart and soul of your Windows computer and there is not a single task that you can perform without going through the registry.


What causes registry errors?


Registry errors are caused by the accumulation of obsolete, invalid, and corrupt information within it. Some of the common operations and actions that add this unwanted data in the registry are:



  • Frequent installation of programs on the system—especially freeware tools, software and utilities downloaded from the Internet. Quite often, software downloaded from dubious Web sites come packaged with spyware and adware programs that stealthily install on your computer. These malicious programs fill up the registry and your system with loads of malicious information, steal your confidential data, display troublesome popup-ads and dramatically slow down your computer.

  • Left behind orphan and empty registry keys when programs are uninstalled.

  • Incorrect program uninstallation processes.

  • Unwarranted system crashes that prevent the registry loaded in the system’s memory to be written back to the hard disk.

  • Virus and spyware infections that fill up the registry with loads of malicious keys and values.

  • Faulty software programs and device drivers.


Why do I need a registry program?


Despite the importance of registry maintenance to maintain a healthy registry, the Registry Editor tool that is shipped with Windows computers does not include features that can help you perform regular registry maintenance. This is the reason why it becomes essential to opt for a third-party registry cleaner program to perform regular and preventive maintenance of the registry.



What are the benefits of a registry program?


There are several benefits of registry cleaner programs. You can use them to:



  • Perform a thorough scan of the registry and eliminate all unwanted information accumulated within it.

  • Search for erroneous registry keys and repair them to resolve several computer errors, such as stop errors, runtime errors, and fatal errors.

  • Weed out malicious entries added by virus and spyware programs from deep within the registry to ensure complete removal of these malware programs.

  • Defrag the registry to compress its files by removing empty registry keys and reindexing its fragmented files to speed up data access time and thus enhance the performance of your computer.

  • Backup the registry regularly to ensure that you can repair your system in case of system failure or errors that may damage the current registry.


How to choose a registry cleaner tool


When you perform a search on the Internet, you will find several Windows registry resources claiming to provide the best registry software. However, as a vigilant user you must do the following:



  • Choose a tool that uses smart algorithms to report only genuine errors.

  • Purchase your tools only from a trusted Website—in fact this is a precaution that you must follow for all your online purchases.

  • First use the trial version of the registry tool and then purchase it only if you are fully satisfied with the result.

  • Opt for tools that provide a few other essential features that enable you to perform tasks such as managing startup programs, Internet Explorer Browser Help Objects (BHOs), and orphan system files and folders.





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Displaying hidden files

Yes everyone would already know how to display hidden files and folders... But here i shall show you how to solve that problem when changing the setting to "Show all files and folders just dosen't do the trick :)

First i will go through the normal method of changing the options and at the end we shall do a little more complicated stuff...

In Windows go to START --> Control Panels and choose "Folder Options":



Now you'll see the basic set of "General" view options for your folders:




Note particularly that this is where you can switch back to "Classic" folder views if you don't like the list of common tasks that appears in most folders you open (I generally like them, actually, as they help me figure out how to quickly solve problems, but you might prefer just seeing more files and folders in that window).

What you seek, however, is under the "View" option:



There that is the normal method... But if you still aren't able to view your hidden files then there have been changes made to you registry and we have to undo those changes.To undo the said changes follow the steps below and you shall have everything back to normal.... :)

To go to the registry editor

go to RUN and there type "regedit" and press enter.

Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL

DELETE the value CheckedValue in the right window. (Its type should be REG_SZ and data should be 2.)

Now create a new DWORD value called CheckedValue (same as above, except that the type is REG_DWORD). Modify the value data to 1 (0x00000001).

This should let you change the "Hidden Files and Folders" option.

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How to Dual Boot Linux with Windows

You can set your computer to dual boot either with the Windows NT bootloader, Grub, LILO or any other bootloader.
normal Windows partition is at /dev/hda1 and Linux partition is at /dev/hda2. The boot is at /dev/hda4.
Grub as the bootloader
First, emerge Grub with

emerge grub

Edit /boot/grub/grub.conf

title Gentoo
root (hd0,1)
kernel /kernel-2.6.15-gentoo-r4 root=/dev/hda4 vga=791
boot

title Microsoft Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Legend: In my laptop,
/dev/hda1 is (hd0,0)
/dev/hda2 is (hd0,1)

If you want a graphical Grub, click here
LILO as the bootloader
If you want to let LILO be the bootloader, just click on 'yes' during the installation; thats what I did.
I selected graphical LILO as the bootloader for my computer at home and GRUB at work in the Plant Pathology dept where I worked.

Windows NT bootloader as the default bootloader
However, if you want Windows NT bootloader as your default bootloader, follow the steps below.

* Windows 2000 has to Own the MBR - you can't install LILO in it.
* When you install linux, install LILO on the root install partition instead & make a boot disk when prompted.
* Then, when linux is done installing, boot it from the disk.
* Mount a new msdos floppy and type:
dd if=/dev/hda6 bs=512 count=1 of=/linux.bin
(here, hda6 is the root partition, you can substitute it for your own linux root partition)
* Now you need to copy the MBR to the floppy
mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
cp /linux.bin /mnt
umount /mnt
* Remove the floppy from the drive and reboot in Windows 2000.
* Copy the linux.bin file from the disk you just used to the root of your C drive.
* Edit c:\boot.ini and add an entry at the end that looks something like this: c:\linux.bin="RedHat 7" or whatever you want to call it.
* The NT bootloader will now launch LILO when you choose RedHat from the menu.

Recovering a lost LILO
Boot into Linux using a Linux boot floppy and type /sbin/lilo

Removing LILO
If you have Win 95/98, type FDISK /mbr
If you have Windows 2000, boot from the Windows 2000 CD and type fixmbr
Or else, from Linux, type /sbin/lilo -u

Removing Grub (and installing LILO)
If you have Grub as your default bootloader and want to replace it with LILO, here is what you do.
To remove Grub, you have to create a /etc/lilo.conf that describes your setup.
Type lilo -v to replace Grub with LILO.

Removing Grub (and installing Windows bootloader)
If you have Grub as your default bootloader and want to replace it with the Windows bootloader, you have two options.
Execute the fixboot command in Windows. It may work.
Or else, reinstall Windows.

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Installing Windows Xp

A clean installation consists of removing all data from your hard disk by repartitioning and reformatting your hard disk and reinstalling the operating system and programs to an empty (clean) hard disk.

To perform a clean installation of Windows XP, follow these steps:
Back up all important information before you perform a clean installation of Windows XP. Save the backup to an external location, such as a CD or external hard disk.
Start your computer from the Windows XP CD. To do this, insert the Windows XP CD into your CD drive or DVD drive, and then restart your computer.

Note To boot from your Windows XP CD, the BIOS settings on your computer must be configured to do this.
When you see the "Press any key to boot from CD" message, press any key to start the computer from the Windows XP CD.
At the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to start Windows XP Setup.
Read the Microsoft Software License Terms, and then press F8.
Follow the instructions on the screen to select and format a partition where you want to install Windows XP.
Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the Windows XP Setup.

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