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Andromeda43

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Everything posted by Andromeda43

  1. There are two programs, floating around on the internet, , , "Take Ownership" and "Grant Administrator Privileged" that can make you the owner of any file or folder in Windows XP, Vista or Win-7. The latter is an extended version of the former. They both add themselves to the Right Click Context Menu. Find a file you want to 'deal with', right click it and "Take Ownership" of that file and it's YOURS. I do that often when Windows tells me I don't have permission to delete or rename a file. Good Luck, B)
  2. Always..... Windows Firewall, with a hardware firewall in a Router. Dual protection and totally NON-Invasive. But you'd better back that up with a competent Anti-Virus program, with Anti-Trojan and Anti-Spyware. No one program will ever give you 100% protection. It's always advisable to use a package of good programs to be really safe. B)
  3. A Recycle bin is no more than a fancy name for a waste basket, garbage can or Dumpster bin. There are a ton of programs that will dump that bin. Now if I wanted to remove a file but sort-of keep it, I'd just move it somewhere else, into any Holding area that you might want to set up. Files in a standard Windows folder can be ordered about any way you want them. Just a thought....... Good Luck, B)
  4. Then you didn't read the whole thing.1 - You need (if you don't have) the Update File installed. (REQUIRED) 2 - There are multiple "We''ll Fix It For You" clickies, either "Disable" or "Enable"... Go back and take a look-see... Sorry about that! I did go back and look. Still no fix. OK....I seem to have solved at least most of my double barreled problem. I reinstalled the sounds for hardware in and out....so that took care of the sound problem. I read an article in "Windows Secrets" this morning concerning doing an "XP Non-Destructive Reinstall from XP Setup CD". After reading through that somewhat lengthy article, I performed the re-install as per the instructions and VOILA, I now have autoplay of most CD's. I still don't get a window opening up on my desktop when I plug in a data Flash Drive, but that's pretty small potatoes. What I did do though, I made a shortcut to that Flash Drive, which I use a lot, and put the shortcut on my desktop, so I just plug in the FD and then click the shortcut to open Windows Explorer and display the contents of the drive. One little extra step....no big deal. Over all, I'm pretty happy to know about the non-destructive re-install of XP. That could make life a little simpler around here. Thanks to everyone who responded to my cry for help. You're a great bunch of guys. Blessings!
  5. There was another "fix" at one time that was part of MS Updates (can't remember which/when) that changed the behavior. Look here for some more info (and another "fix") that may be relevant. Of course, I did go to the link mentioned. However it addresses Disabling Auto run, not getting it to work when all attempts have failed. Thanks anyway B) EDIT: I just had a flash of brilliance..... I checked the Sounds applet and found that the sounds for Inserting Hardware and removing hardware were set to NONE. Yikes! I re-enabled the sounds and now I do get the little two-tone audio alert when I plug in a device or remove a device. I still don't get the alert on the screen, asking me what to do with the device. I have all devices set to auto play, but they don't.
  6. All USB devices that I've tried, DO work, including my USB Printers (3). Only the insert notification seems to have gone away, along with AutoPlay. So it's kind of a double barreled problem, which I'm hoping has a common cause. My computers are SO different, that comparing the BIOS's would avail little. I have actually gone through this PC's bios to check all settings. It's fine and has not changed since I originally set up this computer. Actually, I do run several OS's on this computer and this one install of XP is the only one having any problems. It's diabolical! I've tried everything I can think of except for performing an exorcism. Thank you, for you response, B)
  7. I only post this, after hours of Googling the problem and trying this and trying that. When I insert a USB Flash Drive, for instance, into my XP PC, (XP-Pro-SP3) I get no "bong" sound or window opening on the desktop with options. The Flash Drive does show up in My Computer so I can open it and run files, etc. Similarly, when I put a AutoRun CD in the CD drive, the drive registers the CD so I can see it in My Computer, but there is no other indication and the CD will not Auto Play. I've done all the registry fixes that I've seen posted on the internet and I even downloaded the "AutoPlayFix" program from Microsoft. So far nothing has helped. Other than that, my XP runs just fine. I've even done a re-install of the OS, and ran SFC /scannow, to no avail. Out of five PC's I have running XP, this is the only one exhibiting this action. I'm open for suggestions, short of reformatting my drive and re-installing XP. Cheers mates!
  8. Acronis True Image will reliably back up a specific drive letter on a HD with several drive letters on it. If you have a Seagate HD, you can get the ATI program FREE in the Seagate "Seatools" package, easy to download from Seagate. The ATI program was also available on the MaxBlast CD that came with Retail packaged Maxtor drives. Worldwide, ATI is a very popular backup tool. For XP, I'm still using Ghost 2003, which runs from a bootable floppy disk. It works GREAT! But, for Vista or Windows 7, I have to use Ghost 11.5, which is too large to fit on a single floppy, but runs great from a Flash Drive or CD. There are just many, many options for backing up your C: drive. You never have to be stuck with just one program that maybe doesn't work right. But no matter what program you decide to use, doing backups on a regular schedule, like Weekly, is always a good idea. Every week, I back up my C: drive using Ghost 2003, then I check the update Image File for correctness and then I do an immediate restore. The result is a perfectly ordered C: drive with NO spaces and of course, NO fragmentation. The entire operation takes less than a half hour on my PC. Good Luck! B)
  9. And,,,,,you want the garbage in your waste basket sorted.....WHY? Life is already too short, , , empty the dang recycle bin and move on. Just a suggestion B)
  10. K-Lite Mega for XP, with all options checked. There are also separate K-Lite codecs for Vista and Win-7. One download won't do you for life. New packs are released quite often, like updates to your AV software. Those Codec packs are FREE, so update them often. Cheers Mates! B)
  11. Duh.....in my own install of XP-Pro-Sp3, that key does not exist. I checked the path twice!!! Wanna give it another try?
  12. I'm a member of at least 20 forums and moderator on three of them. I even have one of my own. I try to visit each forum at least once a week and a very few, once a day. Since my retirement from my own computer business, I'm caring less and less about computers and more about my little Suzuki SX4. The Car forums are where I now spend most of my time. Some of the PC forums got so ridiculous, with people wanting to do things that should never be done with a computer, that I just had to back away from them. The questions just got stupider and stupider over the past few years, and the answers weren't far behind. I'd read a few posts and just have to log off. No one wants to search for an answer anymore. They just jump on a forum, open a new thread and want to be force-fed the answers. 90+% of the questions asked, on forums, could be quickly and efficiently answered by a simple Google Search. Except for polls, of course. B)
  13. There are several very good companies that have added MUCH to the world of computers and printers, which do not show up on the poll. But, out of the ones that did make it......I chose Panasonic. I'm a factory trained Panasonic printer tech and I know and love those printers. They also make the only Bullet Proof laptop. (well, almost bullet proof.) If Epson were on the poll, I would have given it at least a 50% vote. Their hardware (Printers) are as good as any other but their Software is far superior to, say HP (which puts out some horrible software/drivers) Oh, and I'm also a factory trained Epson tech. I have five printers in my house and they are all Epson, three with scanners and two without. Cheers Mates! B)
  14. Is that really surprising? Not for this old tech. After the SE upgrade and Unofficial Service Pack, 98 was one rock solid and very useful OS. I reluctantly upgraded, years ago now, to XP because it was more compatible with the new software that was coming out. Besides that, as a service tech, I needed to learn how to tweak and tune XP for top performance, which I've done. I'm running XP-Pro-SP3 right now and I will be for quite some time to come. Cheers Mates!
  15. The poll was somewhat misleading, since IBM and Quantum are no longer making hard drives. As a computer builder, the worse drives I ever used were WD's. If you do have an RMA with one, you'll get a rebuilt drive back, not a new one. The last one I got back from WD was so scratched up, it looked like someone had kicked it across a cement floor. It only lasted one month, in service, before it shot craps. NO MORE WD's for this old tech. I use mostly Seagate/Maxtor drives, but recently I got a great deal on a Samsung 1 terrabyte drive (SATA II) and I'm lovin' it. It's fast, quiet and does not heat up like the WD's used to. B)
  16. Does it really matter what you want to call it? You could call it a popcicle if you want, but when you go to buy one, you'd better know what the manufacturer and the dealer calls it, or you may not get what you want. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=379&SRCCODE=WEBGOOFLASH&cm_mmc_o=mH4CjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE Apparently, "Memory Stick" is what they call those little flat dohickies that you plug into your digital camera. I see them all the time in the stores, on the sales racks, and every one of them has "Flash Drive" plainly printed on the package. So is there really any argument about what to call them? I'd think NOT! B)
  17. My apologies! Back in 2006 when I posted to this thread, I gave links to my Web Page, to download certain programs for windows 98/SE. That web page has been gone now for several years. I still have some of the old programs that I used for '98, even though I've not used them in many years now. However, I still use my Windows ME Utilities disk to set up new hard drives. I recently used it to set up a new 500gig SATAII drive. For all my DOS boot disks, like the one I use to run Ghost 2003, I use the boot files from Windows ME. If someone really needs one of the old programs, please just drop me a PM and I'll see if I can find them for you. Y'all have a great 2011 Andromeda B)
  18. That wouldn't do you or anyone else any good, because so many of the lines in my batch file involve paths and folders not present in any other PC. What I've shown here is only a SAMPLE and not what you should be using on your own PC. OK? Why bloat your HD with "Programs" to do what you can do with what's already a part of your OS.....and has been for decades. I just found out yesterday, that Macromedia Flash stores links to many websites in its own folders. MORE JUNK! I've added those folders to my XPCleanup.bat program. Just for fun, do a 'Search' for "www" and you'll be horrified at what shows up. C:\Documents and Settings\Alex\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\7WG7TUGE C:\Documents and Settings\Alex\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\macrodedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys Compare the above mentioned paths to those in your own PC. This is MY path, yours, will of course, be different. Another way to fully utilize what's already given to you (by MS) for FREE, is to run the Disk Cleanup routine in Extended mode. That greatly increases the number of folders that will be cleaned out. (DO NOT SELECT THE SETUP.LOG FOLDER FOR DELETION) The shortcut, to run Disk Cleanup in the Extended mode is: %SystemRoot%\System32\Cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:35 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:35 As with many command line entries, shortcuts, etc., every character and every space is important, so if you want to use this shortcut, copy and paste it into a desktop shortcut....do not type it unless you fully understand the syntax being used. The above program shortcut not only cleans out C: but all other connected drives as well. Thorough HD cleaning can be and usually IS a complicated process. Before I do a Ghost Backup of my own HD, I spend several minutes doing a very thorough HD cleaning. I remove the pagefile and all the OLD System Restore Points. By doing this cleanup, I decrease the volume of stuff going into my Ghost backup by over 4 gigabytes. When I'm making the first call to a customer's PC, I perform a very thorough cleanup of the HD and it's not uncommon for me to remove well over 100,000 junk files using several different programs, batch files, etc. Sorry guys..... I didn't mean for this to run so long. Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! B)
  19. "Tastes like chicken" ??? Speaking My true feelings about an OS that's not for sale and not supported by its creator, would probably get me banned or at least censured, so I'll refrain. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! B)
  20. For years, and through several OS's I've always used batch files to clean up the junk on my PC. Put one line in the batch file, for every folder in the HD that you want to clean out. Then put a shortcut to that batch file on your desktop, so you can run it whenever you are performing your regular HD maintenance. Also, a shortcut to that batch file, put in your "Startup" folder, gives you a FREE Cleanup on every boot-up. I call that my FREE Maid Service. I also do that for every one of my customers. A Sample of my own XPCleanup.bat program follows: Rem: The Deltree.exe command must be in your %systemroot%\system32 before this program will run. Rem: This command can be found in any system running Windows 98 or ME. Rem: the /y after deltree tells deltree to execute the command without stopping to ask if it's OK. Rem: The lines that do not adhere to the DOS 8+3 file-name structure must be in quotes. @Echo off cls deltree /y C:\temp\*.* deltree /y "%systemroot%\temp\*.*" deltree /y "%systemroot%\system32\config\systemprofile\cookies\*.*" deltree /y "%systemroot%\SYSTEM32\config\systemprofile\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\*.*" deltree /y "%systemroot%\Prefetch\*.*" deltree /y "C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\*.*" deltree /y "C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\*.*" My actual batch file is much longer, as there are MANY folders on the HD where windows or other programs store their junk files, .bak files, .tmp files, .log files, etc. I even delete the contents of my AV program's Virus Vault. My total batch file is over 30 lines long. Deltree is so versatile, that you can use it to delete just one file or a group of similar files from a directory. For those afraid or unwilling to use Deltree.exe, a work around does just fine. An Example: Echo y| Del "C:\temp\*.*" I use the above syntax in my batch file for Windows 7. (Win-7 doesn't seem to like Deltree.exe) Writing your own cleanup batch file is much safer than running some packaged programs, because you can specify exactly what gets removed. Cheers Mates! Happy Thanksgiving! Andromeda (aka, The Doctor ) B)
  21. Most of what I used on XP, work equally well for Vista or Win-7. B)
  22. There are several companies that have created partition management programs that work very well with Windows 7/64. One I've tried lately is Acronis Disk Director and the other is Easeus Partition Master (Manager) 6.5.1 Home. Both can be had for FREE, (legally) if you just look around. Cheers and Good Luck, B)
  23. In XP, I set up Outlook Express to download my email from Gmail, every three minutes. Sending Gmail from O.E. is just as simple. The only draw back to GMail is that you can't send email to large groups of recipients. I keep a local email account for that. In Vista, I use Windows Mail for my Gmail and in Win-7 I use Windows Live Mail. Gmail works equally well with all of them. In Google Mail, setting up POP3 (and disabling IMAP) is just a matter of a few mouse clicks. I only need to actually go to GMail once a week to empty my SPAM folder and see how many NON-Spam emails wound up in there. While I'm there, I empty the other folders as well. I set up a lot of my friends and customers with GMail, because they can change their ISP and not have to change email addresses. Cheers mates! B)
  24. I have installed Win 7, Ultimate 64 on my own PC and I don't have such a protected partition, so what's up with that? Where did it come from? I have partitioned my HD before installing W-7, just like I'd do with any other OS (into two partitions...one for the OS and one for Storage) I won't do anything to my HD from within windows (any version). (repartition it, or back it up) I always use a boot CD. That takes windows out of the equation and makes it easier to do what I want without interference, or errors. B)
  25. G'day Bad Boy! Since W-7 was released, the internet has been abuzz with tweaks and adjustments to speed up boot times, shut down times and general speed and efficiency. I incorporate them all and I have a PC that runs like a scalded dog. Just Google for what you want and you'll get lots of ideas. Cheers Mate! B)
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