Cool Windows XP tips & tricks

Top 7 Firefox add-on’s

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:55:35 +0000

Foxmarks If you use more than one computer then Foxmarks might become handy as it keeps your bookmarks and passwords (optionally) synchronized. Adblock Plus This is a must-have add-on for Firefox. Many sites have annoying flash ads in them. Not anymore - Adblock plus blocks them all! Sxipper Tired of filling in various web forms and all the [...]

Gadget Advisor

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:57:13 +0000

Gadget Advisor is a new and promising addition to the technology blogosphere. They filter out all the minor and uninteresting news and stories, posting only the coolest. The idea is great, but can they keep it up? The blog might be a little too technical for the avarage reader, (for example Intel i7 processors and ultra-fast [...]

10 Tricks With A USB Thumb Drive

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:43:22 +0000

Any ordinary USB memory device can do a lot more than you probably thought it could. It can carry programs, encryption and even a full installation of Windows XP! Here is our tenlist for the coolest things you can do with a USB thumb drive: Take your programs with you We all know how frustrating it [...]

Review: Recover Disk

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:09:10 +0000

Have a damaged CD or DVD that your computer can’t read? - Recover Disk can help you out. It doesn’t matter if the disk is scratched, microwaved or just incorrectly written. To be honest, I didn’t try the microwave experiment and I recommend you don’t as well. To relieve your curiosity and save you from a [...]

Gadget Advisor

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:59:01 +0000

There are many technology and gadget related blogs out there, but Gadget Advisor is different. They filter out all the minor and uninteresting news and stories, posting only the coolest. The idea is great, but can they keep it up? Although it’s still quite a new blog, there are already a lot of great posts about [...]

Defragment your hard drives and speed up your Windows XP

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:49:06 +0000

If your Windows XP or Vista is getting slow, a wise thing to do is to defragment your hard drives!defragment There are many programs but one of the best is Auslogics Disk Defragmenter. Just download the defragmenter, install it and run defragment. It should take approximately 1 hour and it says how much faster your computer [...]

How To: Remove Windows Messenger

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:46:10 +0000

Windows XP’s built in Windows Messenger can be quite a nuiscance for those 99% of us that use Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) or any other instant messaging program instead of it. To be honest, I don’t even really know why it even exists. Why does Microsoft need two free messenger programs, one much better [...]

The “Hibernate” function on Windows XP

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:10:21 +0000

The hibernate function on Windows XP is basically the same as stand by, but with one difference. The files and programs you have open will temporarily be saved onto a specific location on the hard drive, instead of RAM. This means that the computer can be switched off while hibernating and it will consume no power. [...]

How to: speed up your wireless internet connection on Windows XP

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:28:05 +0000

If you have a slow wireless internet connection that often crashes, then there’s probably something wrong with it. (Duh!) Here are some tips and tricks to fix some of the most common wireless problems on Windows XP. Before you start “fixing” anything, make sure your wireless connection isn’t already at it’s best. 1. Move the wireless [...]

Review: Audio Commander 4.0

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:11:31 +0000

After the Blaze Media Pro review I wrote on tuesday, Mystik Media has asked me to review another of their products, Audio Commander. So here’s my review for Windows XP tips & tricks: Audio Commander is a great command-line audio converter program for Windows XP. It allows you to convert from- and to a wide selection [...]

How to: change the start button text on Windows XP

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:28:52 +0000

Haven’t posted many Windows XP tricks recently, so here’s one: How to change the start button on your Windows XP. Tired of the boring old “start” button at the bottom left corner of your Windows XP’s monitor? Want something new to replace iit? Well here’s how to change it. With a few modifications in the Windows Registry, [...]

Software review: Blaze Media Pro

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:33:57 +0000

Blaze Media Pro is another multimedia application for Windows XP that let’s you play, edit and convert both audio and video. It has a clean, simple-to-use interface and is pretty straightforward yet powerful. The award-winning software will certainly help you convert and burn video and audio better that Windows Media Player. Here iis a list of [...]

What is a feed?

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:18:10 +0000

What is a feed? If you’re used to surfing the internet and viewing blogs, you probably already know what a feed is. If you don’t, then read on. A feed is basically way for a blog’s or website’s visitor to subscribe to the site using a web page, feed reader or email to subscribe. New posts are [...]

How to: visit password-protected websites without registering

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:09:22 +0000

We all know how annoying it is when we search Google for something and the result we are looking for leads to a password protected forum or site. You have to register to view content, but who likes doing that? Fortunately there is a solution to our problem. All we have to do is make the website believe that you are Googlebot. It's surprisingly easy and here's how to do it.

How to: write upside-down

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:25:32 +0000

flip!t is a very fun script that converts any text into certain ASCII characters that make any text appear upside down. Why not customize your boring email and forum signatures and write your name, written uʍop-ǝpısdn?

Tech Updates

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:33:09 +0000

Created by one of India's best bloggers, Amit Bhawani, the Tech Updates site is a good collection of tutorials and technology news. From mobile phones to internet routers and blu-ray players, Amit's site is a great source of well-written reviews and tutorials.

Do You Really Need a Registry Cleaner?

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:14:57 +0000

This is a guest post by James Ricketts from www.Instant-Registry-Fixes.org What Causes Registry Errors? Registry repair is an important aspect of any computer repair process—especially when you are trying to fix software errors such as DLL errors, rundll errors, kernel32 errors, and errors due to virus and spyware infections. Since its introduction with the Windows [...]

How To Prevent Windows Registry Problems

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:54:30 +0000

This is a guest post by James Ricketts from www.Instant-Registry-Fixes.org Introduction to Registry Problems Since their introduction a few decades back, computers have become a very important part of our lives. From students to scientists, everybody depends on computers to perform their tasks. As we become more dependent on computers, it becomes that much more important to keep [...]

Broadband speeds

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:55:49 +0000

Broadband is the faster form of an internet connection. There are several forms of broadband connections but here are the most popular two: ADSL (DSL) - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line This is the most common form of broadband. It is delivered from your phone network, through a modem or router but it won’t disturb your calls. Chances [...]

Cuil - The New Google?

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:33:47 +0000

Cuil - The New Google?

Is Cuil, the new kid on the search engine block, really as good as the developers say? We checked, and the results are NOT so promising...
First of all, the design of Cuil's search results page is very inconvenient. You just can't find what you're looking for! And the results themselves seem to be completely irrelevant and definitely not what what the user searched for. Read on and see what Cuil gives us when we search for "Windows"...

Stored Passwords In Firefox

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:00:48 +0000

There is a severe security risk in Firefox, that most people aren’t even aware of. All the passwords stored or “remembered” in the browser are accessible to anyone who happens to get on their computer (both physically or with hacking tools). Just try this in Firefox: Go to Tools -> Options and select the Security [...]

How To: Delete Files Securely

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 06:00:01 +0000

Going to sell your hard drive? Deleting personal files from a memory stick? Don’t believe it when Windows says that with one click, the file is deleted. In the real world, it takes a lot more to actually delete a file. This sounds a little strange, but when deleting a file, it isn’t actually deleted. This [...]

How To: Make Your XP Look Like Mac OSX In 3 Simple Steps

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:00:25 +0000

Browser Shortcuts - Speed Up Your Surfing

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:00:49 +0000

Ctrl + Enter When you type something into the address bar and press Ctrl + Enter, you will be automatically taken to http://www.something.com. This is a very useful shortcut, you’ll thank it from saving you from typing in all those www.’s and .com’s when you just want to get to somewhere. Fast. Alt + Ctrl + Enter will [...]

10 Reasons Why Firefox and Opera Are Better Than Internet Explorer

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:00:59 +0000

I don’t know anyone who knows anyone who uses IE. Because… As most of us know, Internet Explorer sucks. Here’s why: No more ads! IE doesn’t have a decent integrated ad-blocking device. Opera and Firefox, on the other hand, have the excellent AdBlock plugin. Of course, if you like to support a site with a few [...]

Firefox 3 - The New Look (And Feel) Of Firefox

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:05:05 +0000

This week is Firefox week in xptricks.net. We will post many reviews and tips about Firefox and other browsers, so stay tuned. Here is the complete guide to this week’s posts. You might find it handy to bookmark us (Ctrl + D) or subscribe to our feed. Lets start off with our review of Firefox 3. Firefox [...]

xptricks.net update

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:53:27 +0000

More good news! From now on, every user that registers gets a contributor account instead of subscriber. This means you can write posts and tutorials yourself! They will still be reviewed by me or any of our authors (usually takes 2 hrs - 1 day). When I’m feeling comfortable with your posts (usually after 3 or 4), [...]

Firefox week

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:23:24 +0000

The upcoming week, 14 - 20 July will be Firefox week here in xptricks.net. We’ll be posting many tutorials and reviews on Firefox and other browsers. You might find it handy to bookmark us (Ctrl + D) or subscribe to our feed. Here’s the post guide of the week: Monday 14th: Firefox 3 - The New [...]

“Screen-cleaning” screensavers

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:11:47 +0000

Have a dirty computer monitor? Here’s something that will keep your screen looking clean… These cute, free screen savers are from the movie “Must Love Dogs” and I must say they’re a great idea. There are four of them to choose from (Click the image to download): If you get an error with the “flash.ocx” file, you need [...]

How To Make Your XP Look Like Vista: The Complete Step-By-Step Guide

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:05:33 +0000

Tired of your XP? Want to buy Vista? Well, don’t. Vista is still full of bugs and not reliable yet. So what’s so good about it? Most people like the new and pretty looks. It’s a great idea to mix together the good things from both Windows systems: the reliability of XP and looks of [...]

How to: Fake a Webcam Conversation

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:02:07 +0000

This is a really fun how-to. Use it to prank your friends, colleagues or pretty much anyone! All you need is a instant messenger like Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN), Yahoo! or AOL and program called Fake Webcam. This will let you play any video as a webcam on your messenger. 1. Download Fake Webcam and install 2. [...]

The Day of Doom (If Google went down..)

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:41:54 +0000

Wow. Looks like there’s a tidal wave sweeping the web. First it was ThePlanet, then went Amazon and now, even adsense is down.. I wonder what will be next.. Google.com ? If google itself went down, There would be chaos. People screaming on the streets, whole cities burning down because no-one can google the solution.. [...]

How To Watch TV From Your Computer For Free

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:53:27 +0000

If you have an internet connection and 3MB of free disk space, you can watch TV on your PC for free. Yeah, I know you can buy all those weird TV cards and even antennas for your PC, but that isn’t FREE, is it? The way to go, is to download a free peer-to-peer streaming program. [...]

5 tips for making a strong password

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:25:03 +0000

Hackers have got very active lately and they’re always trying to get peoples’ accounts. They have various tools and software to help them guess passwords. A good password is both strong and memorable. Here are some tips to create one: 1. Include both uppercase and lowercase letters in random places. Example: Instead of fishyfish, type fiShyfIsH [...]

Babelfish contest

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:50:40 +0000

Lee Doyle has just started another crazy Entrecard contest. To win, you have to guess the original sentence he started out with. Using Yahoo’s babelfish, he translated his original sentence into French, then back to English. As babelfish sucks - no, really! It is rather difficult to find out the original sentence.. The main prize will be [...]

Star Wars in ASCII - Watch a Movie From your Command Prompt

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:58:27 +0000

This is certainly one of the coolest things I have EVER seen. It must have taken Simon Jansen a lot of time to make - a FULL-LENGTH movie in ASCII? I can’t believe it.. Well then, enough hype. Let’s get to business. Go to Start -> Run and type telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl Enjoy! Note: The movie doesn’t have any color [...]

Yahoo Widgets

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:45:01 +0000

Yahoo widgets is a nice little piece of freeware that will, if properly used, help you in making your XP look like Vista or Mac Os X, but even if you aren’t trying to fool your friends or yourself, it can change your desktop into something a lot more useful. From games to weather forecasts, [...]

Google’s new favicon

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:58:56 +0000

For those of you who don’t know what a favicon (Favorites icon) is, look at the left end of your browser’s adressbar and you should see a Windows flag. That’s my favicon. Most self-respecting blogs and sites have their own custom favicon, to help users locate the site on their favorites list or anywhere else [...]

Ohio Real Estate Blog

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:35:33 +0000

Everyone should have a home. Everyone. If you’re Buying a home in Ohio, or anywhere near, tere’s a great site to help you. The Cleveland Ohio Real Estate Blog. It has loads of news and information about Ohio and the real estate market. Make sure you check it out! addthis_url = [...]

How to kill a proccess with the Command Prompt

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Fri, 30 May 2008 04:43:15 +0000

After the post about killing explorer, some people asked me how to kill a process on Windows XP using the Command Prompt. It’s really easy, all you have to do is type pskill programname.exe [For example: pskill notepad.exe] To start a process, type start programname.exe addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xptricks.net%2Fwindows%2Fxp%2F2008%2F05%2Fhow-to-kill-a-proccess-with-command-prompt%2F'; addthis_title = 'How+to+kill+a+proccess+with+the+Command+Prompt'; [...]

How to: Start and kill explorer

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:40:32 +0000

You might need to kill explorer if it stops responding. You would probably open up Task Manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del) or even restart if you were really dumb. The clean way to close explorer is like this: Go to Start > Turn Off Computer and hold Ctrl + Alt + Shift and press Cancel. The [...]

How to: Create your own shortcuts

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:22:51 +0000

This clever little tutorial is from Bloody Computer! You probably know most of XP’s useful shortcuts, but did you know that you can make your own shortcuts to programs? To do this, right click the shortcut icon of a program (in the desktop or preferably in the start menu) and click Properties. Select the Shortcut tab and [...]

U Comment - I Follow

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:14:41 +0000

I have good news for all you readers and commenters, I removed the nofollow tag from my blog, so you can now put links in posts and google will count them as sitelinks! Please don’t spam though, and I also prefer you putting your link as your name, rather than in the comment. Link exchanges are also [...]

Carnival of Computer Help and Advice

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:03:00 +0000

Welcome to the fifth monthly Carnival of Computer Help and Advice. A big thank you to all the blog authors who contributed their posts. Limitation of space means that some did not make it into this month’s carnival. If you want to submit your own articles, see the information at the bottom of this post. Paul Wilcox, a regular contributor to [...]

How to: Hide files in .JPEG images

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Mon, 26 May 2008 16:42:59 +0000

This nice little tutorial is based on the one at The Tech Tray. So, basically you compress your files into a .rar archive and copy them into an innocent-looking .jpeg image. (You’ll need WinRar to make .rar’s) The only thing that will look suspicious, is the file size which (depending on what you’re hiding) can be quite [...]

Shortcut of the Week: Ctl + Enter

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:30:09 +0000

When you type something into the address bar and press Ctrl + Enter, you will be automatically taken to http://www.something.com. This is a very useful shortcut, you’ll thank it from saving you from typing in all those www.’s and .com’s when you just want to get to somewhere. Fast. Alt + Ctrl + Enter will open the [...]

The new xptricks.net!

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:21:34 +0000

Hey guys, sorry for no posts the last few days, I’ve been busy re-thinking the site and from now on we will have game reviews, computers and more XP-related stuff apart from tutorials (which will still be the main topic, though). I’ve also changed the design a little. Thanks for your patience, The xptricks.net team addthis_url [...]

Shortcut of the week: Ctrl + W

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:48:31 +0000

This is quite a handy shortcut. It lets you close a browser tab without reaching for the tiny red x with your mouse. So, the next time you’re surfing in Firefox and need to close something fast, remember - Ctrl + W ! (Note: to close the whole browser or any other window, press Alt + F4.) [...]

How to Download Music and Videos From Google

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:09:15 +0000

Although you may not know it, Google is one of the best places to search for music and movies. You can use this technique to download pretty much anything. The way it works, is that google will look in index directories where people upload music for themselves or their sites. ?intitle:index.of? mp3 [artist] [title] Put your artist [...]

How to download YouTube and Google videos.

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:13:14 +0000

There are many ways to do download YouTube videos. You could install some software or use a website to download and convert videos, but the easiest way is to install the firefox plugin. If you don’t use firefox (here’s why you should), then there are many sites out there that let you download YouTube videos. I [...]

How to use Remote Desktop

admin@xptricks.net (Eerik) — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:49:38 +0000

The Remote Desktop Connection utility is a very useful tool, especially if you need to access your work computer at home, or vice-versa. It lets you create a direct connection between two computers, one able to control the other. Here’s how it’s done: Step 1: Setting up the Remote Computer account Log in as administrator on [...]