How to install or remove fonts in Windows XP

Delete an Operating System entry in Windows

If you’ve ever had multiple operating systems or recently reinstalled your Operating System without deleting the existing windows installation,changes are that you’ll have invalid boot entries on your OS choice list.To remove invalid entries:

1. Click Start and then Click Run(alternatively,you can use the following key combination Windows Logo Key + R) and type cmd then hit Return(Enter).
2. Type the command bootcfg/query then hit Enter
3. The window above will display all the boot entries that exists
4. To delete a boot entry,say entry 1,type bootcfg /delete /id 1 (Note the spaces.Be careful not to delete the wrong boot entry,your computer will not boot if a valid boot entry is deleted)
5. The delleted boot entry will not appear anymore when your start your computer.

Make legacy programs Work with Vista

You recently upgraded to a new Windows Vista computer and at a loss on making your legacy software work with your new operating system.Most legacy programs work by running them in compatibility mode.To run a program in compatibility mode,Right Click on the programs executable(.EXE) file and click Properties. Go to the Compatibility tab and check the box for “Run this program in compatibility mode for:”, then select the operating system that worked best with the software.

Troubleshooting blue screen errors

The picture below should look familiar if you own a computer with a Windows Operating system.

Most users are at a loss as to what to do when these stop errors crash windows.The first troubleshooting step is to take note of the stop error code.In the picture above the code is 0x00000D1(comes after STOP:).You can look up this error code on Microsoft’s website.Follow the instructions that Microsoft provides in troubleshooting and fixing the error code.Sometimes,the information on Microsoft’s website may not be applicable to your operating system.In that case, the stop error may be due to faulty memory modules,incompatible software or a driver.You should proceed to running some diagnostics tools on your computer to further troubleshoot you computer.I will post an article soon on some free tools I use to diagnose computers.

Uninstall a program manually in Windows

There are times when Add or Remove Programs tool in control panel is unable to uninstall a program for various reasons.Uninstalling the program manually will be the way to go.Manually uninstalling a program entails editing registry keys.Serious problems such as Operating System instability and the like may result if the registry is edited incorrectly.I recommend creating a restore point before going ahead to edit the registry.To uninstall a program manually:

1. Click Start,then Run,type regedit and hit Enter
2. Locate the following key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall in the registry
3. The Uninstall registry key shows a list of programs installed on your computer.Click on the program you want to uninstall and click Export.
4. In the Export Registry File box,choose where you want to save the registry key and click Save.This enables you to restore the registry key in case the program does not uninstall.
5. Right Click on the program you want to uninstall in the left pane and click Delete.Click Yes to confirm you want to delete the registry key.
6. The program should no longer be in the list of programs in Add or Remove Program.
7. In case the program doesn’t uninstall successfully,restore the registry key by clicking it.Then click Yes to confirm that you want to add the key to the registry.

How to install XP

This tutorial will guide you through doing a clean install of XP. To install XP you will need the XP installation disc.Note:This process will delete all your files.You must make a back up of all your files else they will be lost.This tutorial assumes you are a bit computer savvy.

1. Start the computer from your CD. To do this you must set your BIOS to boot from CD.
2. The disc will start to load needed files and drivers.Press Enter to install XP when this screen below appears.
3. Read and accept the EULA(End User License Agreement) by pressing F8.
4. Choose the partition you want to install XP on.If there are any previous partitions, you can delete them by pressing D.
   
5. Select the partition you want to install XP on then press Enter.Choose the file system you want for the installation partition,preferably NTFS. XP will format(erases every data on the disc and prepares it for installation) the disc.
6. The setup will now begin to copy files from the installation CD.
7. The computer will reboot and the setup will load a graphical interface after it is done coping files.
8. The setup will ask for information such Name and Organization(you can leave the organization filed blank,but not the name field),Product Key and Time Settings(time zone,date,time).
9. The network settings window will appear after a couple of minutes. Choose typical settings(depending on your computer and installation media,you may not get this option).
10. Setup will now complete installing XP and boot into windows.The subsequent steps involve just following on-screen prompts and will not be covered here.Don’t forget to install drivers and the operating system install is done.You can post a question in the forum if you need help.

Disable User Account Control in Vista

UAC(User Account Control) is a feature Microsoft added to Windows Vista to improve security.UAC usually displays a pop when you try to perform tasks such as installing software.Clicking “Allow” or “Continue” simple gives the software administrative privileges.However,some users find it annoying and prefer to disable the feature permanently

There are two simple ways of doing this.

• Using System Configuration Utility
• Using Control Panel

1. Using System Configuration Utility

• Click Start,then Run(for those without run command on start menu,press Windows Logo Key + R) and type msconfig
• Click Continue when the UAC pop up appears.
• The System Configuration Utility box will appear.Click on the Tools tab
• Click on Disable UAC then click Launch. Click OK then click Restart.You can choose to click Exit without Restart if you don’t plan on restarting your computer immediately.UAC will not be disabled till you restart your computer.

2.  Using Control Panel

• Click Start then Control Panel
• Click User Accounts and Family Safety if your control panel is set to Control Panel Home then click User Accounts.If your control panel is set to Classic View click User Accounts.
• Click Turn User Account Control on or off
• Click Continue when the UAC pop up appears
• Uncheck the Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer box and click OK.
• Click Restart. Your computer will restart and UAC will be disabled.

Convert FAT32 to NTFS

Most external hard drives and flash drives are formatted with FAT32 file system.One limitation is that FAT32 has a 4GB file size limit,which means you cannot save files bigger than 4GB.Changing your file system to NTFS helps overcome this file size limit.You can also encrypt and set permissions on files with NTFS.The procedure in the video applies to changing FAT to NTFS too.

Run Command Prompt as Administrator

Reset windows admin password

I put together this little video tutorial to show how to remove your windows password in case you forget it.

Next Page »