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‘Windows XP Tips’ Category

  1. 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

  2. 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: | 47 Comments

  3. 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

  4. Installing an old, networked printer on Windows 7 or Vista (with the printer physically connected to a Windows XP machine)

    August 12, 2010 by Andrew Block

    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.

    1. Click the Start Menu, then on Devices and Printers.

    2. In the upper left corner, click Add a Printer.

    3. Counter-intuitively, click Add a local printer.

    4. On the “Choose a printer port” screen, click Create a new port, and select Local port from the drop-down menu.

    5. 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.

    1. After you have entered the “port name”, you can choose a driver.

    2. On the “Type a printer name” screen, give it any name you want:

    3. 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?

    4. 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.

    Category PCs & Hardware, Tech Tip, Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips, Windows XP Tips | Tags: ,,, | No Comments

  5. Want the Image Resizer PowerToy for Windows 7 or Vista? Here it is (sorta).

    July 29, 2010 by Andrew Block

    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. :)

    Category Tech Tip, Windows, Windows 7 Tips, Windows Vista Tips, Windows XP Tips | Tags: ,,, | No Comments

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