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‘Windows Vista Tips’ Category

  1. Easiest way to clone a hard drive

    October 6, 2011 by Andrew Block

    I get asked a lot how to “clone” a hard drive, so here’s how. This scenario assumes you want to replace a current HDD in your system with a new one.

    1. Get yourself a SATA/IDE to USB adapter, like this one. It makes this so much easier.
    2. Get yourself a copy of Acronis True Image Home 2012.
    3. Install Acronis True Image Home 2012; reboot.
    4. Plug the new hard drive (the one you want to clone to) into the USB adapter, and connect the adapter to one of your PC’s USB ports.
    5. Make sure your PC recognizes the hard drive attached via USB.
    6. Fire up True Image, then click the “Tools & Utilities” tab. Click “Clone Disk.” The program walks you through the next steps. You may have to reboot to complete the cloning process.
    7. When the cloning process is complete, power down your PC, then remove the old hard drive and put the new hard drive in its place.
    8. Turn your computer back on.
    9. Optional: If you replaced a drive that contains Windows (assuming Vista or 7), your computer may not boot properly. Never fear! Just pop in your Windows disc, and choose startup repair. It should automatically fix the problem.

    And that’s all there is to it. I know this isn’t the free route, but it’s the most painless. I’ll look into posting a free solution if people are interested.

    Category Hard drives, Hardware tips, PCs & Hardware, Tech Tip, Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips | Tags: ,, | 2 Comments

  2. Delete Windows 7 Temp Files Auto – magically

    August 28, 2011 by Andrew Block

    This is a dead simple trick to delete those pesky temporary files that build up over time in Windows 7 — and the best part is you can set it and forget it.

    Step #1 — Create a new text document on your desktop, then rename it to cleanup.bat (or a name of your choosing, but keep the .bat extension). Note: you need file extensions enabled to do this…My Computer > Organize > View tab > uncheck “Hide extensions for known file types.”

    Step #2 — edit your new file (right click and choose “Edit”) and add these commands:

    @ECHO OFF
rmdir %TEMP% /q /s
mkdir %TEMP%

rmdir %WINDIR%\TEMP /q /s
mkdir %WINDIR%\TEMP

rmdir %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files /q /s
mkdir %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

    Don’t forget to save your file!

    Step #3 — create a shortcut to the file in your startup menu. Or since it’s so tiny, you could just move the file into your startup folder.

    Step #4 — enjoy as temporary files are cleaned each time your system boots up.

    Notes:

    • You can also add the batch file as a scheduled task, if you’d like to change the conditions that cause it to run (at a certain time, for example). Press Window key + R to bring up the run menu, and then enter taskschd.msc /s.
    • CCleaner is a great program that really scrubs your system for unneeded/unwanted files.

    Category Internet Explorer, Operating Systems, Tech Tip, Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  3. Use Apple Airport Extreme to add a second 5 GHz N-only wireless network

    May 30, 2011 by Andrew Block

    I inherited an Apple Airport Extreme from a friend of a friend, but already had a Linksys WRT320N that was working fine (well, after much hair pulling). I was initially going to use the Airport for shared network storage, but that proved too buggy to be of any real use. Since the WRT320N isn’t simultaneous dual-band, I decided to use the Apple to add a second, 5GHz + N only wireless network to my setup. Here’s how my setup looks:

    • WRT320N (running DD-WRT): Handling DHCP; running 5GHz wireless N-only network
    • Airport Extreme: Access Point; running 2.4 GHz N/G mixed network

    Here’s how I did it. First I changed the WRT320N to broadcast 5GHz + N-only, and I appended “-5ghz” to the SSID (so it reads like network-name-5ghz). Only a few of my devices can take advantage of that, but I mostly wanted it for faster wireless gaming on my XBOX 360.

    Then I got the airport up and running as an access point. Here are the key settings to do that. You first need to download and install Apple’s Airport Utility (the latest version is 5.5.2, as of this writing). Once you’ve added the device to your network and the Airport Utility recognizes it, go to Manual Setup, which is a button at the bottom. Note: If you need help with the initial setup, here is Apple’s user guide.

    AirPort section

    • Wireless tab: Create a wireless network here. In my case, I set the Radio Mode to “802.11n (b/g compatible)”. This allows all of my non-N and/or non-5 GHz devices to access a wireless network. I gave it the same name as my 5 GHz network, except I dropped -5ghz off the end.

    Internet section

    • Internet connection tab: Connect Using should be set to “Ethernet” and Connection Sharing should be set to “Off (Bridge Mode)”.
    • TCP/IP tab: I did configure IPv4 “Using DHCP” but you can manually assign an IP address, too (My WRT320N hands out IPs, some of which I make static for port forwarding purposes).

    That’s it! This should allow you to have your Airport Extreme act as an Access Point, and broadcast a second, uniquely-named wireless network. I’ve noticed a significant reduce in lag and latency using 5GHz for XBOX Live, and since the networks are on different frequencies (5GHz vs. 2.4GHz), the signals don’t interfere with each other.

    Note: My iPad and Gateway laptop are the only other devices that can “see” my N 5GHz-only network. A lot of wireless N adapters can only do 2.4 GHz, sadly, so they get relegated to the AirPort’s mixed network.

    Category Apple, Mac OS Tip, Networking tips, Routers, Tech Tip, Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips, Windows XP Tips | Tags: ,,,,, | 2 Comments

  4. How to uninstall Symantec Endpoint Protection 11 WITHOUT the uninstall password

    March 7, 2011 by Andrew Block

    So you inherited a PC? Sweet. But dang, it has Symantec’s crapware Endpoint Protection 11 on it. Tried uninstalling, but you need a password? Don’t know it? Sorry dude.

    Actually, there’s good news. There is a way to remove SEP 11 without the password. The first (and easier) way is detailed here. Unfortunately, that way didn’t work for me (I think Symantec disabled it in an update), so I found another way to remove it.

    Disclaimer: Don’t do this on a work-issued PC. Your company may have policies about such things, which, if violated, could get you in trouble.

    Steps to remove Symantec Endpoint Protection 11 WITHOUT knowing the uninstall password:

    1. Click on Start -> Run (or Window Key + R if you don’t have the Run menu item)
    2. Type smc -stop. If it prompts for a password, open regedit (Window Key + R; type regedit; hit ENTER) and then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\SMC. Look for the smcexit key, delete it, and then type smc -stop in the Run box again. Note: my key was called smcexit-test or something like that, but deleting it had the same effect.
    3. Now, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\SMC. Look for the smcinstdata key; delete it.
    4. You should now be able to use Add/Remove programs (or Programs & Features in Vista & 7) to remove SEP 11 without supplying the uninstall password.
    5. You’re now free from the shackles of Symantec. Enjoy a 10-15% performance boost. :)

    For a free replacement antivirus/anti-spyware program, I’d recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. I’ve used it for a couple years with no problems, and it seems to go easy on my system resources.

    Did this guide work for you? Let me know either way below.

    Category Symantec Software, Tech Tip, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips, Windows XP Tips | Tags: | 64 Comments

  5. Extract images from Microsoft Word 2007 / 2010 documents, the easy way

    February 18, 2011 by Andrew Block

    So, I had to put together a user guide for work. I used a bunch of screen shots that I had capture with SnagIt, and pasted them all directly into the rather lengthy Word doc.

    But, when it came time for the designers to actually make the guide pretty, they asked me if I had saved the images anywhere. Oops! I needed to figure out a way to extract the images from the Word doc somehow — and quickly! As always, Google was my friend.

    So here’s what to do (only works with Office 2007 and up): make a copy of the Word document, and change the extension of the newly-made copy to .zip. Now open up the new .zip file, go into the ‘word’ folder, and then into the ‘media’ folder. You’ll see that all of the images that are in that document should be in that folder, as PNGs. The other nice thing is, they are generally in the right order that they appear in your document.

    So that’s how I saved my butt from having to re-do 50+ screen captures. Maybe it’ll save yours, too.

    Questions? Something I wrote doesn’t make sense? Let me know below.

    Category Microsoft Office, Software, Tech Tip, Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips, Windows XP Tips | Tags: , | 2 Comments

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