Friday 24 August 2012

How to Create a Windows 7 Live CD the Easy Way

Windows 7 Live CDBefore we get into creating a Live CD, lets understand what exactly it is and how it can save you a lot of trouble in case of a computer crash or malware infection on your PC. A Live CD is basically a bootable storage device that contains an operating system (OS). What is different about a live CD is the fact that the working of the OS does not depend on the hard drive. Why do you need a Live CD? If your Windows operating system crashes completely, you will have limited access to important files.
By using a Live CD, you can easily access these files and transfer them to another storage device. You can also use a Live CD to clean severe malware infections. In some cases, the malware blocks all executable programs—which prevents your antivirus software from running. By using a LiveCD, the malware’s defense will be completely obsolete!
There are numerous types of Live CD software like Linux that allow you to recover and fix your computer. However since many of these Live CDs are based on different platforms, they are not fully compatible with Windows. Therefore, you will have problems scanning your Windows drive from a different operating system (like Linux) on a Live CD. Creating a Windows Live CD allows you to fix many errors on your Windows drive with much more convenience.
In this guide, you are going to learn how to create a Windows 7 Live CD – the easy way. There are other tutorials about this on the Web, but they mostly involve using WinBuilder—which doesn’t always work successfully. In this guide, you are going to learn how to create a live CD using Make_PE3 which is a better alternative as well as with WinBuilder. After reading about each software you can choose which one to use for creating a Live CD.

Things you’ll need:

  • Windows 7 ISO File
  • Make_PE3 or WinBuilder
  • Windows Automated Installation Kit (If You are Using WinBuilder)

Downloading the Windows 7 ISO File:

You need the installation files to create a Live CD. These installation files can be  found on your Windows 7 setup disc. If you don’t have one, you can download from here.

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Windows 7 With Service Pack 1 Direct Download Links

Download Windows 7 Integrated SP1 ISO Images

Windows 7 Home Premium x86 SP1 ISO

X17-24208.iso (bootable)

Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1 ISO

X17-24209.iso (bootable)

Windows 7 Professional x86 SP1 ISO

X17-24280.iso (bootable)

Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1 ISO

X17-24281.iso (bootable)

Windows 7 Ultimate x86 SP1 ISO

X17-24394.iso (bootable)

Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 ISO

X17-24395.iso (bootable)
After you have downloaded the ISO, you can burn it to DVD using any DVD writing software that supports writing disc images or double-click on the image if you are running Windows 7 already.
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Saturday 11 August 2012

Fix Folders Become Shortcuts Caused by Virus

ALL My Files & Folders Became Shortcuts?

Just all of a sudden all the files & folders turned into shortcuts showing 1KB or 2 in size when you connected your USB flash drive, memory card or hard drive to your PC? It should be a couple of GB as you saved so many documents, photos, movies etc to the disk drive. How could this happen? Where are those files? Are they hidden or deleted? How to recover the lost files and folders?
It could happen if your PC hard drive or removable disk suffered certain kinds of virus, spyware or trojans such as AUTORUN, BUOUFO, QWERT etc.

How to fix Folders Shortcuts problem

  • Click 'Start' -->'Run' --> type 'cmd' and click OK. Note: if you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, use "Home + R" combination and type 'cmd'.

  • Input this command attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:\*.* Take care of the space between, it's recommended to copy the line and paste (Note: here assume your drive letter shows as G: under 'My Computer', do not forget to replace it if different).

  • Press 'Enter' button.
Good Luck.
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Wednesday 8 August 2012

Android secret codes / android tricks

Android is becoming a very popular these days and all big companies have launched android phones.Android is giving a strong competition to Iphones, symbian phones(like nokia).Though people have a lot of expectations from lumina series by nokia,but i don’t think it will be able to compete with android phones!
So here are some tricks and codes which can be useful if you have an android phone!


Cell Battery, WiFi Usage etc Info *#*#4636#*#*
Restore Factory Settings *#*#7780#*#*
Format Phone *2767*3855#
Launch service mode *#*#197328640#*#*
Test WiFi *#*#232339#*#* or *#*#526#*#* or *#*#528#*#*
Display WiFi MAC address *#*#232338#*#*
GPS test *#*#1472365#*#*
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Wednesday 1 August 2012

Hide desktop icons to improve Windows startup performance



Long, long time ago in a bedroom not so far away I was booting up my laptop. As my laptop was loading Windows, I couldn't help but notice the desktop icons took a good amount of time to appear. Then a thought hit me: What if I hide the desktop icons -- would that make my boot time faster? After all, with the excellent search box embedded in the Windows 7 Start Menu that will be no more soon, I rarely even used my desktop icons anyway; what could go wrong. So I gave it a try. And, to my pleasant surprise, p-value was < .05 -- the null hypothesis was rejected: My Windows indeed did load faster with no desktop icons present.

How To Turn Off Desktop Icons?

Note: This tip should work on Windows XP, Vista, and Win7. It may work on Win8.
Easy. Right-click on your desktop, go to View, and uncheck Show desktop icons:


 Once Show desktop icons is checked, the icons on your desktop won't show. They aren't deleted -- they just won't show. To reshow the icons, simply recheck Show desktop icons.

I'm not sure what the technical reason behind this is (aside from the whole "there are fewer things to load" explanation) and frankly I don't know. Since that time long ago, I have rarely ever had the icons my desktop showing and am a better person for it.. If you have trouble with slow Windows boot, you may want to do the same.
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How to add a (simple) start menu to Windows 8 without third-party programs

A major change in Windows 8 is the lack of a Start Menu -- you know the cornerstone of Windows since... forever. Because of this new change, many programs have cropped up to fill the void, allowing you to add a start menu to Windows 8. What if you don't want to use third-party programs? Can you still have a start menu in Windows 8? Oh why yes you can good sir (or madam).

Simple Start Menu

Before you get sweaty palms of excitement, take note this start menu I speak of isn't Start Menu in its full glory. Rather, this is a simple start menu that shows you things like the Programs folder and recent/common programs. See the screenshot above to understand what I mean.

How To Add Start Menu In Windows 8 - Part 1

To add a start menu to Windows 8, do the following:

Step 0: Make sure your taskbar is not locked. To check if your taskbar is locked, right-click on a blank spot of the taskbar and see if Lock the taskbar is checked. If it is checked, click on it to uncheck it. If it is not checked, you don't have to do anything.

Step 1: Right-click on a blank spot of the taskbar and select Toolbars -> New tool bar…:



Step 2: Browse to Local Disk (C:/ drive) -> ProgramData -> Microsoft -> Windows, single left-click on the Start Menu folder, and hit Select Folder:


Congrats! You now have a "start menu" on your Windows taskbar:


How To Add Start Menu In Windows 8 - Part 2

Now that we have a start menu, we want to position it properly. So...
Step 1: Grab the columns of dots and move it as far left as possible:


Step 2: After you move the column of dots, you should see Programs and Windows Update on your taskbar; there will also be another column of dots on the far left of the taskbar. Grab the columns of dots on the far left and drag it to the right of Windows Update and then, while still dragging the column of dots, move it to the left until it stops just to the right of Start Menu:

If you do it correctly you should have something like this:

-->
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Computer crashes have you down? Test your RAM for problems with Memtest86+.

MemTest86+ is a diagnostic program used to detect hardware problems with RAM (memory) modules. Since it can be run from a bootable CD, it is faster, safer, and more accurate at detecting memory problems than similar tools which would be run from within Windows.

To use MemTest86+, you first create a bootable CD/DVD with the program on it. You then boot your computer from this CD/DVD and MemTest86+ will start testing your RAM automatically. If there is a problem with your computer’s memory, MemTest86+ will list the errors on screen. Here is how to go about using MemTest86+:
  1. Click here to download the ISO image from the MemTest86+ website. Be sure to select the file named “Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)”.
  2. Save this file to your desktop.
  3. Once the download completes, open the downloaded archive file and extract (drag and drop) the single file contained inside to your desktop. The extracted file should have a “.iso” extension.
  4. Use your favorite CD burning software to burn the ISO image to a CD. Be aware, the ISO file you downloaded is an image of a complete CD. You do not want to just burn the ISO image file to a CD as you would other data files, but instead want to make a CD from the image file. How you do this will vary depending on the program you use, but most will have an option similar to “Burn CD from Image File”.
  5. Once you have a MemTest86+ CD, leave it in your computer’s drive.
  6. Restart your computer.
  7. As soon as your computer begins to restart, you will see the BIOS screen (white text on a black background). You should see an option to access a boot menu (often times you are instructed to press “F12″, “F10″ or “Esc” to access the boot menu).
  8. Press the appropriate key to access the boot menu, then select the CD drive with the MemTest86+ CD in it as the boot drive.
  9. Your screen will turn blue and the MemTest86+ program will start its tests. You can watch the progress in the top right.
  10. Depending on the amount of RAM you have, the tests could take a long time. You can either stay and watch the tests run, or leave your computer and return to it later.
  11. Any errors that are found will be listed in red at the bottom of the MemTest86+ screen. If the test complete without errors, you can eject the CD and restart your computer as normal.

What do the errors mean?
If the MemTest86+ scan reported errors, it means that is a problem with your RAM modules or your computer’s motherboard. You should consult a qualified IT company to further troubleshoot the problem and replace any defective hardware.
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