12Aug/100
Installing an old, networked printer on Windows 7 or Vista (with the printer physically connected to a Windows XP machine)
I've got an old HP Deskjet 5550 that has served me faithfully over the years, so I haven't had the heart to toss it. I use it as a secondary printer every once in a while; it's physically connected to an old, crappy PC running Windows XP.
After installing Windows 7 on my nice PC, I had a heck of a time getting the networked printer to install on Windows 7. Every time I'd try to add it by searching for a networked printer, Windows 7 couldn't figure out the driver.
Here's the workaround. This should work for any printer that has this issue, I think.
- Click the Start Menu, then on Devices and Printers.
- In the upper left corner, click Add a Printer.
- Counter-intuitively, click Add a local printer.
- On the "Choose a printer port" screen, click Create a new port, and select Local port from the drop-down menu.
- In the "Port Name" box, you have to type two forward slashes (\\), the name of the computer where the printer is, another forward slash (\), and then the name of the printer. So the whole thing looks like \\computer-name\printer-name.
Tip: to find the name of the computer and printer, go to Start, Devices and Printers, click Add a Printer, and then click Add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer. Windows will search for any networked printers, and will display the computer name and printer name of any it finds. Note the pertinent computer and printer name, and then cancel out of that screen. You can then use that information to enter in the "Port Name" box in step #5.
- After you have entered the "port name", you can choose a driver.
- On the "Type a printer name" screen, give it any name you want:
- On the "Printer Sharing" screen, it's probably best to select the Do not share this printer option, since it's really already shared from another computer. If you want to get wild, though, why not try sharing it twice?
- Click Finish on the last screen. To verify your new printer is installed, go to Devices and Printers again, and you'll see it in the list:
That's it! Well, maybe that seemed like a lot of work, but your antiquated printer will thank you for saving it from the garbage heap.
Tip: if you delete the printer and try to re-add it, it won't work, because Windows remembers the port. To delete the port, you have to go to printmanagement.msc, expand Print Servers, expand your local computer, and then click on Ports. Delete the appropriate port from the list on the right, and then restart the Print Spooler service using services.msc. For more info on that process, check out this forum.
Give me a shout in the comments section if you have any trouble.
29Jul/100
Want the Image Resizer PowerToy for Windows 7 or Vista? Here it is (sorta).
Microsoft's Image Resizer PowerToy for Windows XP was a convenient, no nonsense way to quickly resize images on the fly. I used to use it all the time in XP, and was bummed it never found its way to Windows Vista/7.
But thankfully, all is not lost to Microsoft's neglect. The Image Resizer Powertoy Clone for Windows is available for free on CodePlex, in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors.
Works on XP, Vista, Windows 7...oh and even Windows 2000. 
3Jul/100
How to get different wallpaper on dual monitors in Windows (without 3rd party software)
Applies to:
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7
Windows XP, Vista, and 7 will only show the same wallpaper on both of your monitors. There isn't actually a setting to change this behavior (without the use of 3rd party tools such as Ultramon), but there is a very easy workaround.
You just need to do a little bit of image editing. For this demo, I'll use Adobe Photoshop, but any simple image editing tool will do.
First off, either open an image that is the resolution of your left monitor, or re-size an image to the proper resolution.
Note: this tutorial also assumes your left monitor is the same size or bigger than your right monitor. If not, this won't work right.
For example, my left monitor is 1920x1200, so — using Photoshop — I re-sized an image to 1920x1200.
The next step is to re-size our image's canvas to the total width of both monitors. Simply add up the width of your two displays. In my scenario, my monitors are 1920x1200 and 1280x1024, so the total width is 3200 pixels.
Using your image editor, re-size the width of the canvas (not the image) to the total width of both monitors. Make sure the left side of the image is anchored to the left edge, so the part that expands is blank. Finally, ensure the unit of measurement is set to pixels.
Now, copy another image, paste it as a new layer, and make it fill up the blank space (you'll probably want to use an image that is close to the resolution of your right monitor). Make sure the new image doesn't overlap the first image!
Save your new image somewhere as a JPEG or something Windows understands, and set it as your desktop wallpaper.
Then, go into your display properties and make sure the image's position is set to tiled:
That's it! You now have the appearance that each monitor has its own unique wallpaper. Kind of a pain, but worth it if you like a little variety in your wallpaper.
(Note: the screenshot below looks a little weird because the monitors are not the same height, and that's how it is displayed when I captured the image.)
28Feb/102
How to: quickly and easily copy multiple file names to the Windows clipboard
At work, I needed a way to copy about 60 file names from Windows Explorer into an Excel spreadsheet. Copying each one individually seemed like a huge waste of time, so I Googled for a solution.
Turns out there's a slick, free utility called CopyFilenames by ExtraBit. It adds a simple Copy Filename (for a single file) / Copy Filenames (for multiple files) entry to the right-click context menu. Simply install CopyFilenames, right click on one or more files, and choose Copy Filenames. Then paste the list of file names into your application of choice.
See it in action below — in my example I used Excel but you can paste the file names into any application.
Nifty! Saved me a bunch of monkey work.
1Dec/090
How to make Ubuntu Linux even more Windows-user-friendly
I think Ubuntu Linux is awesome in terms of how for it has come in terms of user-friendliness.
That said, I think there are still a few barriers when it comes to replacing Windows as a general purpose desktop for the average user (like my wife for example, who didn't even notice when we changed from Windows XP to Windows 7!)
After talking with many of my completely non-techie friends and family, here are my top six things Ubuntu Linux could still improve upon (I am focusing solely on Ubuntu, not only because of its relative popularity, but also because it is the easiest distribution of Linux the world has ever seen, imho).
- Not available pre-installed on enough PCs. I am not saying this one is easy, nor is it even anything Canonical can control, but it begs to be said anyway. But buying a PC without Windows might simply be too daunting for the average user. Why not offer PCs with both? A dual boot menu out of the box? Just a thought, and it may be a good strategy rather than forcing users to quit Windows cold turkey. Of course, convincing OEMs to actually do this would be no small task.
- Ubuntu is not generally available on store shelves. I would love to walk into Best Buy and see boxed copies of Ubuntu (or Linux Mint!) next to Windows. I bet there are a lot of users who would pay $10 - $20 for a boxed copy of Ubuntu on CD/DVD, especially sitting next to a $200 copy of Windows 7 Pro. Believe it or not, there are people out there who don't know how to download and burn an ISO, don't have CDs/DVDs handy, or are just plain too lazy to learn how (just like I'm too lazy to learn about how to fix my car). The Linux elite might say "We don't want those people anyway," but remember Ubuntu's mantra? "Linux for human beings." The typical human being is not an elite Linux user, and probably never will be.
- No installation from Windows. The typical user checking out Linux is coming from Windows, period. It is a statistically unavoidable fact. I know Wubi has taken great strides toward letting people try out Ubuntu within Windows, but what Ubuntu really needs is an auto-run feature that works in all flavors of Windows. It could ask a couple questions, reboot the machine, and install Ubuntu and Windows side-by-side (dual-boot by default). The average Windows user won't be ready to cut the cord with Windows that quickly.
- Cryptic names within the boot loader. The names in the boot loader should be written in Plain English. Instead of "Ubuntu 9.10 Kernel 2.xxx.xx.blah-blah-generic," just put "Ubuntu." Don't even both with the version, as the typical user doesn't care. Instead of "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)," just display "Windows 7." Of course, give advanced users the option to change this, but chances are, they already know how.
- No shortcuts to common applications on the desktop. The average Windows user typically surfs the web, writes documents, and maybe touches up some photos. Perhaps start Ubuntu for the first time with an interactive wizard that asks the user how they use their PC, and place shortcuts on the desktop accordingly.
- Avoidance of the terminal at all costs. For better or worse, Windows has trained millions of users that they can accomplish any task through the GUI. Every time I have had to use Ubuntu, even the latest version 9.10, I have had to fire up a terminal for some unforeseen issue. The average user is not usually inclined to Google the answer, and usually even less inclined to actually do it (in Ubuntu's defense, a lot of Microsoft pages direct the user to try cryptic registry editing, so...you know...just saying...).
Those are my top points. Again, these are not meant to be critical...I have nothing but the utmost respect for what the Ubuntu team has done, and continues to do. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments area below.
1May/093
Can’t format your flash drive as NTFS in Windows XP? Try this.
I have a 4GB PNY flash drive (currently FAT32) that I wanted to convert to NTFS. Right clicking on the drive in My Computer and choosing "Format..." only resulted in one choice: FAT32. Yuck.
The solution? Open a command prompt (Start > Run > cmd > OK) and type:
Convert x: /FS:NTFS
Obviously, replace "x:" with the letter of your Flash drive, so if your flash drive is "e:" then you'd type: Convert e: /FS:NTFS.
This got my drive converted to NTFS with no hassle.
Note: This doesn't appear to delete the files on the drive, but I'd recommend backing them up, in case.
If you're looking for a way to create a bootable USB flash drive, check out this blog post.
27Oct/084
Improve mouse response/accuracy by changing the USB polling rate
I got a fancy new Logitech laser mouse but was still disappointed that it was pretty laggy in games. So I hunted around a bit on how to increase the USB mouse polling rate and found a lot of info. Too much info. Every forum seemed to have a different method.
In case you don't know what I'm talking about right now, Windows sets the default USB polling rate to 125Hz, which is the equivalent of 8ms of lag. Some twitch gamers like to overclock the default polling rate to make their mice even more responsive. The lags associated with the various speeds are:
- 125 Hz = 8ms
- 250 Hz = 4ms
- 500 Hz = 2ms
- 1000 Hz = 1ms
The more you bump up the speed, the less lag you get. Of course not all mice can handle the speed increase. The other downside of increasing the polling rate is that it eats up a tad more CPU cycles—of course on a multi-core, Core 2 system this is hardly an issue.
Anyway, I finally came across a nice program that does all the work for you. It's called hidusbf. Follow the instructions and it should work just fine. I have tested so far in Windows XP 32-bit. I'll test on Vista x64 tonight.
Update: This doesn't appear to work on Vista x64--at least not for me. If you do happen to install the driver and your mouse stops working, simply use your keyboard to navigate to Device Manager, uninstall the mouse driver, and unplug and replug in the USB cord attached to your mouse. I wouldn't recommend using this on Vista x64 unless you know how to fix it if it breaks.
You may also want to download this dx_mouse_timer_dialog so you can verify that the tool actually worked.
5Jun/0813
old school: use xcopy to back up your stuff
Need an easy way to back up your files, but don't feel like monkeying with expensive or complicated software? Using the xcopy command and a simple text file, you can accomplish this rather easily. Here's what I do.
First, make sure that file extensions are not hidden by going to My Computer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View. Uncheck Hide Extensions for Known File Types and click OK (if it's already unchecked, don't worry about it).
Now create a blank text document on your desktop. Rename it to backup.bat. Now right click on the newly created file and click Edit. Do not just double click, because that will actually run the batch file—we want to edit it for now.
The syntax for xcopy is pretty simple:
xcopy "[source location]" "[destination location]" /switch
And then there are a bunch of switches you can use. I'll give you an entry from my batch file, and then I'll explain what the switches all do. To copy my files from my hard disk to my USB drive, I use (follow the syntax exactly, including the quotes!):
xcopy "C:\Docs\*.*" "G:\ANDYB\Docs" /d /s /e /c /i /h /r /k /o /y /f
As you can see, wild card characters can be used to filter your backup. I just use *.* to get everything. Now, the switches:
- /d
- /s
- /e
- /c
- /i
- /h
- /r
- /k
- /o
- /y
- /f
There are other switches, like /exclude, which—surprise—allows you to exclude one or more files and/or directories. Finally, to run your batch file, simply double click it. Again, remember if you want to edit it, you right-click and choose Edit.
<Nerd Alert>
If you want to be really nerdy, you can have xcopy output everything to a log. I guess if you want an inventory of everything that has been backed up, this might be useful to you. Just add > [drive]:\log_file_name.txt to the end of each xcopy entry. For example:
xcopy "C:\Docs\*.*" "G:\ANDYB\Docs" /d /s /e /c > c:\backuplog.log
To append an existing log, use >> [drive]:\log_file_name.txt, like this:
xcopy "C:\Docs\*.*" "G:\ANDYB\Docs" /d /s /e /c >> c:\backuplog.log
</Nerd Alert>
Now if you want to get really lazy, you can set your batch file to run as a scheduled task. Most people know how to use the task scheduler in Windows, so I won't go into that for now...unless someone demands it!
P.S. If you want, you can download xcopy here, but Win 2K and XP users should have it by default. I'm not sure if it runs under Vista or not. Try at your own risk!
2May/0812
I don’t hate Windows Vista
All right, despite the inherent unpopularity of saying this, someone has to: everywhere I turn on the 'Net, it seems there's some Apple/Linux fanboy bashing Vista. I know the cool thing to do these days is to hate MS and love Apple and/or Linux, but come on: it seems more like a case of being socially acceptable (hating MS) than Vista actually being that bad.
Before I get into this, two disclaimers: 1. I am not an MS Fanboy by any means...I use their products, yes: Windows XP, Windows Vista, an XBOX 360, and a Windows Mobile Phone. I generally like their stuff...it has served me well over the years; 2. I love Linux and open source software in general. I have an Ubuntu box and a ClarkConnect (CentOS-based firewall) box. I don't use Apple stuff much, but I am aware they make some very nice products...and I'm not shy about admitting they often create hipper, cooler products than MS. And yes, FireFox is better than IE.
Anyway, I have been using Vista Ultimate x64 for four+ months now, and I can sincerely report I haven't had any issues with it. Honestly. Hasn't BSOD'd, hasn't crashed, hasn't erased my hard drive and sent all my sensitive data to Redmond. I have used all of the following applications with no issues:
- Raxco PerfectDisk 8
- AVG Free 7.5
- MS Office 2003 and 2007
- Picasa2, Google Earth
- Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, InDesign
- MS Visual Studio 2005
- QuarkXPress 7
- FireFox & Thunderbird
- The GIMP
- WinMerge
- CleanMyPC Registry Cleaner
- uTorrent
- iTunes
- TurboTax '07
- Daemon Tools
- WinRar
- Goldwave
- e-Sword (Bible software)
- ...and many others.
Of course the 'Net is rife with forums about how Vista won't run Netscape Navigator 4.04 or 7th Guest or something absurd like that, but come on people! Let's get with the times (these are the same people who are mad they can't watch reruns of Full House).
And, let's not forget about my games that have run without a hitch:
- Oblivion
- FEAR
- HL2, Garry's Mod
- Geometry Wars
- Worms World Party
- Crysis
- UT3, UT2k4, UT2k3, original UT
- Deus Ex and Deus Ex: IW
- ...and many others
So as you can see, I have had zero application issues thus far, with one exception: FireFox was crashing, but it turned out to be an AVG 8.0 plugin causing that. I disabled the plugin and all was well (hardly Vista's fault).
But what about driver issues? No problems here, and I honestly expected a few issues using the x64 version of Vista. But after installing Vista, every single device on my computer was recognized and the appropriate drivers were installed (I have pretty modern hardware, though).
But what about slow performance? Well, my Vista box is running pretty nice hardware (Core 2 Duo Q6600, 4GB Ram, 8800 GTX, Sata II, SB X-Fi, etc.), so it's hard to say. I have used XP x64 on this same box, and honestly, Vista feels faster. I can't quantify this for you...just a feeling I get using both OS's. I have also used Vista on my older P4 system, and it didn't seem slow to me. I haven't run Vista on really old hardware though. On a P3 and/or low memory box, I imagine XP would be faster.
Oh, and speaking of memory, people complain about Vista's RAM requirements, but honestly, I put 4GB of nice Corsair XMS memory in my gaming box for less than $200. Cheaper RAM is even less...you can get 2GB these days for $40 online. So who really cares if Vista runs smoothest with 1GB or more? I wouldn't recommend using it with 512, but I've used Ubuntu on a 512MB box, and that was a little pokey too.
But Vista doesn't have any useful or new features! I don't agree. The new Network & Sharing Center is slick, and the ability to generate a map of my network is cool (if not a little gimmicky). Wireless works well. The new Media Center UI is very well-designed, and seems light years ahead of anything Apple or open source. The search seems to work as well as Apple's Spotlight, although I admit it's not super-intuitive to configure it to index additional locations.
The overall UI seems to be nearly as pleasing as Mac OS. SuperFetch does its job well, and ReadyBoost can speed up older systems. Yes, User Account Control is irritating. I disabled it; not a real biggie. Previous Versions is nice, although it has been done before. IPv6 support will be useful soon. The ability to adjust the volume for individual apps is handy. DX10 may be a little overhyped at this point, but I think it has potential down the road.
And one other thing. The new fonts they put in Vista are very pretty—at least equal to MacOS, and a night and day difference from Ubuntu (which has ugly fonts, imho).
So to sum this up, is there a real and compelling reason to get Vista if you have XP and are happy with it? Maybe not. But then again, is each new version of Ubuntu or Mac OS absolutely critical? No. The bottom line is, Vista has new features, seems rock-solid stable, does everything I need it to do, and doesn't suck as bad as people say. Is it perfect? Hardly. But I don't hate it. Nay...dare I say...I like it?
20Jun/070
Make Windows XP Pro/Home look like Media Center Edition 2005
I installed Windows MCE 2005 on my media PC this weekend, and noticed how much more I like the theme that's included with it vs. the standard XP Pro/Home "Luna" theme. I liked MCE's theme so much, in fact, that I wanted it on all of my regular XP computers.
So I did a little digging, and found it's really easy to copy the theme from MCE 2005 into XP Pro/Home. Better still, I have provided the file for your downloading convenience.
Simply download this zip file of the MCE 2005 theme and follow the instructions in the readme file. Enjoy!
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Recent Posts
- Install the Good, Vista Version of Windows Movie Maker (6.0) on Windows 7
- Installing an old, networked printer on Windows 7 or Vista (with the printer physically connected to a Windows XP machine)
- Want the Image Resizer PowerToy for Windows 7 or Vista? Here it is (sorta).
- How to get different wallpaper on dual monitors in Windows (without 3rd party software)
- R.I.P., Dell XPS M1330
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