Open Software Solutions

Nine Ways to Help Protect Your Mobile PC   The best thing about having a mobile PC (a notebook, Tablet PC, or ultra-mobile PC) is that you can take it with you wherever you go. You can use it just about anywhere-on a trip, at the library, or even at your favorite café. The downside is that your computer-and the valuable data on it-may be a target for thieves and hackers. You know it's important to protect your hardware and personal information, but ... Read more..

CHANGE/RESET PASSWORD FOR ANY USERNAME Reboot the computer Right after the bios is finished, hit F8 (or F2,10,12) Select 'Safe mode' or 'Safe mode with networking support' Windows will boot up to the logon screen. Click administrator, 9/10 there is no password. Do, Start->Run->type 'command' At the prompt, type 'net user' which will display a list of usernames. Find the one ... Read more..

Communicating by using an instant messaging (IM) program has some of the same security and privacy risks as e-mail, but there are a few unique dangers that you should be aware of. 1. Be careful when creating a screen name. Each IM program asks you to create a screen name, which is similar to an e-mail address. Your screen name should not provide or allude to personal information. For example, use a nickname such as SoccerFan ... Read more..

Add the following entries to your registry - you'll be able to right click and open any folder at the command line. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\command] @="Command &Prompt" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\command\command] @="\"cmd.exe\" /k cd \"%1\"" ----------------------------------------------- Microsoft Knowledge Base Article This article contents is Microsoft Copyrighted material. Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Trademarks Read more..

SYMPTOMS loadTOCNode(1, \'symptoms\'); After you install Windows Vista in a dual-boot configuration together with Microsoft Windows XP, you receive an error message that resembles the following when you try to start the computer by using Windows XP: Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. Please re-install a copy of the above file. CAUSE loadTOCNode(1, \'cause\'); You experience this problem if Windows Vista is installed in formerly unallocated disk space that existed in front of the partition on ... Read more..

The thumbnail view in windows explorer gives you easy access to a portfolio of images, but the default image size may not be to your liking. To control the thumbnail dimensions, go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer. Make a new DWORD value named ThumbnailSize. Double click the value and type in a number in decimal anywhere from 32 to 256. Making it smaller will display many more images on the screen for quicker perusual. Its an immediate change. ----------------------------------------------- Microsoft Knowledge Base Article This article contents is Microsoft ... Read more..

'Webbed ' Tables A 'Web look' can be imparted to your documents by using a Web formatting style. Select the Table and fro the Table menu, select Table AutoFormat. in the list of styles in the Formats box, three new Web styles have been added. Click on any of them for a 'Webby' look. Watermark Your Documents Creating your own watermark for professional looking documents is pretty simple in Work. First go to view > Header and Footer ... Read more..

You must be logged on as an administrator to perform these steps. You might want to restore the driver for a device to a previous version if you encounter problems with your computer or device after upgrading the driver.     1. Open Device Manager by clicking the Start button clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Device Manager.‌ If you are prompted for ... Read more..

Are you fed up with the new windows media player. Did you like the version of windows media player that came with windows 2K? Windows XP still has the version of media player installed but they hid it. To get it back follow the directions below: 1. Click on the start button and select run. 2. type "mplayer2" and click OK. it's the orginal movie player. If you want to make this the default media player follow the directions below: 1. When the classic ... Read more..

For added security you should always clear the page file upon shutting down your computer. Windows uses this file as extra ram. Lets say that you are working on a confidential MS Word doc. When you load this document it is loaded into ram. To save ram windows places certain items in the page file. The page file can then be opened and the document can be extracted as well as any other open program or files. However Microsoft has ... Read more..

By default NTFS will automatically update timestamps whenver a directory is traversed. This isn't a necessary feature, and it slows down large volumes. Disable it by pointing regedit to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem and set 'NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate' to 1. NTFS uses disparate master file control tables to store filesystem information about your drives. Over time these core MFT files grow and become fragmented, slowing down all accesses to the drive. By setting aside a little space, MFT's can grow without becoming fragmented. In the same key ... Read more..

Before you allow your child to go online without your supervision, make sure you establish a set of rules that you can all agree on. If you're not sure where to start, here are some ideas on what to discuss with your kids to teach them about using the Internet more safely. 1. Encourage your kids to share their Internet experiences with you. Enjoy the Internet along with your children. 2. Teach your kids to trust their instincts. If they feel nervous about ... Read more..

Optimizing your swap file may seem a moot point now, memory prices being that low, still it's never a bad idea. How much swap space do you need? That depends the amount of RAM you have and the programs you use. The rule of the thumb is 1.5 times the amount of system memory, unless you have too much memory on your system (make it 1 times or less) or too much load (make it more than you system's load). Say we decided ... Read more..

Annotating Slides Comments added to a slide are not shown during the actual presentation and can be convenient indicators. To add comments, click on Insert > Comment and type your comment info the comment box that popup's up. Click View > Comments will display the comments. furthermore, the Next Comment and Previous Comment buttons on the Reviewing toolbar can be used to browse thought the comments in the presentation. Maintain Proportions While Resizing Elements Resizing your images ... Read more..

Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. INTRODUCTION loadTOCNode(1, \'summary\'); This article contains recommendations that may help you protect a computer that is running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows XP from viruses. This article also contains information to help you minimize the effect of antivirus software ... Read more..

Display Connection Configuration: ipconfig /all Display DNS Cache Info Configuration: ipconfig /displaydns Clear DNS Cache: ipconfig /flushdns Release All IP Address Connections: ipconfig /release Renew All IP Address Connections: ipconfig /renew Re-Register the DNS connections: ipconfig /registerdns Change/Modify DHCP Class ID: ipconfig /setclassid Network Connections: control netconnections Network Setup Wizard: netsetup.cpl Test Connectivity: ping www.ossmall.info Trace IP address Route: tracert Displays the TCP/IP protocol sessions: netstat Display Local Route: route Display Resolved MAC Addresses: arp Display Name of Computer Currently on: hostname Display DHCP Class Information: ipconfig /showclassid Read more..

You may experience a situation in which songs will play normally, but all video files play without audio. This will affect video files purchased from the iTunes Store as well as other movies you've added to iTunes. Products affected iTunes for Windows To resolve this issue, it will be necessary to uninstall QuickTime (installed with iTunes), download the QuickTime standalone installer, and reinstall QuickTime. Follow the steps below to do this: Microsoft Windows Vista On the Start menu, click Control ... Read more..

Managing services A service is an application type that runs in the background and is similar to a UNIX daemon application. Services typically provide access to key features such as file servers, Web servers, database servers, and other server-based applications to users, both locally and across the network. Some of the most common tasks associated with managing services are starting and stopping a service if(typeof(IsPrinterFriendly) != "undefined") { var l = "#one"; var nl; var c = l.charAt(0); var o = document.getElementById("EK"); ... Read more..

Using an instant messaging (IM) program—such as Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger), Windows Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, or others—you and a friend can type messages to each other and see the messages almost immediately. Because IM is so popular, virus writers can use it to spread malicious programs. Understanding instant message viruses Like e-mail viruses, instant message viruses are malicious programs that are designed to travel through IM. These viruses are spread, in most cases, when a person opens an infected ... Read more..

Downloading files can include installing programs from a CD, opening pictures or links to Web sites from e-mail, copying Word documents and Excel spreadsheets from the company network, upgrading software acquired from the Web, or transferring music files from a computer half a world away. Files you download could be just what you expect, but they might also be a vehicle for malevolent intent. Malicious software (also called malware) is software that can harm you or your computer; it can include ... Read more..