How to run any DirectX game in a window instead of full screen DOS mode.
I searched everywhere for this when trying to get Rune to run in a window.
All you do is hold down ALT and press ENTER while you are in the game
I couldn’t believe it was that simple.
The mysterious Windows XP Start button…why is it there? How did it get it’s name? Why is it so green? But most asked question of all is “How can I screw it up?”. There are many articles on the internet about this, however many of them are incomplete, difficult or unsafe. You will now learn exactly how to change “start” to whatever you like and even change the picture next to it.
You receive the following error when trying to use a program using Data Execution:
Data Execution Prevention – Microsoft Windows
To help protect your computer, Windows has closed this program.
Name: program name
Publisher: program publisher
This usually occurs with applications that use MDAC, JET or ODBC. There is a setting that prevents access to these components. To access it:
1. Right-click on MY COMPUTER.
2. Click on ADVANCED.
3. Click on SETTINGS within the PERFORMANCE pane.
4. Click on the DATA EXECUTION PREVENTION tab.
5. Ensure the option to Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only is selected. You can also configure it to work with only certain applications.
Convert your hard drive partition from FAT32 to NTFS and make it more efficient.
Click START–>RUN and type:
CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS
Within Windows, CONVERT will not be able to obtain exclusive access to your hard drive if any files are in use, as such the conversion must be done the next time Windows starts to load. You will be prompted to do this.
After the restart, your drive will begin converting over to NTFS after a scan of your hard disk.
How to create an icon that will lock your screen.
1. Right-click an empty area of your deskop
2. Select New–>Shortcut
3. Type ‘rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation’ for the Location.
Give the shortcut whatever name you want. Now you have an icon that will lock your machine.
Windows Key + L will also lock your screen
Make a windows folder icon have an image or photo appear over it in the Thumbnails view.
This tip is especially useful to use with folders that contain your MP3 or iTunes music files like this example at Paul Thurott’s site. When you view the folder in the Thumbnails view, they will have a photo over the folder. You can include the album art for each folder of your music files.
To do this, just place the image you wish to appear for that folder within that folder and name the image folder.jpg.
Now whenever you are looking at your folders with the selection enabled under VIEW–>THUMBNAILS, that folder will appear with that image over the folder.
Enable the ability to preview JPG, GIF and HTM files in Display Properties. Sometimes this setting gets lost.
To resolve the problem, go to START–>RUN and type the following commands below, one at a time.
REGSVR32 /i SHIMGVW.DLL REGSVR32 /i MSHTML.DLL
If the problem persists, or if the Preview pane turns White when you select a Wallpaper, then go to START–>RUN and type
REGSVR32 /i SHELL32.DLL
Emptying the Recycle Bin doesn’t truly delete your files. The data still exists on the hard drive but is just hidden from the OS. The ONLY way to permanently erase data is to overwrite the data with new data or take a hammer to your hard drive.
PC:
MAC:
Erasing data on a Mac is easier. Choose Secure Empty Trash from the Finder menu.
SOURCES: WIRED
You have a mapped network drive of G for example, but every time you plug your flash drive in, it takes over drive letter G. What do you do? Force your flash drive to use the same drive letter every time you plug it in or reboot.
You change the drive letter for your flash drive the same way you would for any other drive. Use the following steps:
1. Click Start–>Control Panel–>Performance and Maintenance.
2. Click Administrative Tools, double-click Computer Management–>Disk Management.
3. Right-click the drive you wish to change, and click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
4. Click Change.
5. Click Assign the following drive letter, select the drive letter that you want to use, and then click OK.
6. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the drive letter change.
Your drive letter is now changed. This setting should be saved for this your flash drive no matter if you restart the computer or remove the drive and connect it at a later time.
When you try to run Windows Update you receive an error message that says:
Error IUENGINE Determining machine configuration (Error 0×8007007E: The specified module could not be found.)
You might get this error message because several files in Windows aren’t registered properly.
You can also find information on solving this error here.
You cannot setup security permissions to a folder because the Security Tab is missing.
You will need to disable Simple File Sharing.
To do this, click Tools–>Folder Options–>View
Uncheck the box at the bottom that says Use simple file sharing (recommended)
Your menu options and Applications, Processes, Performance and Networking tabs are missing from your Task Manager.
Double-clicking anywhere on the border of the Task Manager will make the options reappear. Double-clicking again with toggle this feature
List of environment variables used in programming and batch files.
%ERRORLEVEL% - System returns the error code of the most recently used command. A non-0 value usually indicates an error.
%HOMEDRIVE% - System returns which local workstation drive letter is connected to the user’s home directory. This variable is set based on the value of the home directory. The user’s home directory is specified in Local Users and Groups.
%HOMEPATH% - System returns the full path of the user’s home directory. This variable is set based on the value of the home directory. The user’s home directory is specified in Local Users and Groups.
%HOMESHARE% - System returns the network path to the user’s shared home directory. This variable is set based on the value of the home directory. The user’s home directory is specified in Local Users and Groups.
How to enable the “Run as…” command when you right click on an icon.
1. Log on with admin rights.
2. Right-click My Computer and click Manage.
3. In Computer Management, click the plus sign next to Services and Applications, and then click Services.
4. While in the details pane:
In Windows 2000: Right-click the RunAs service and click Properties.
In Windows XP: Right-click Secondary Logon service and click Properties.
5. In Properties set Startup type to Automatic, and click Start.
6. After the computer starts the service, click OK and close out of the window. The Run as… service should now be an option when you right-click an icon.
You try to install new drivers for a device using the Hardware Update Wizard, but you get the following error message:
“Cannot Continue the Hardware Update Wizard
The wizard could not find a better match for your hardware than the software you currently have installed.”
Try the process again, but change one thing.
When you get to the screen that asks you to “Please choose your search and installation options”
Select “Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install.”
Click NEXT then click HAVE DISK.
You can then browse to the location of the drivers for the device. Once you select the location it will force windows to install the driver.
Control where the data for profile folders are stored.
Go to START–>RUN and type REGEDIT. This will open the registry editor.
Find the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
There will be several values. Each controls the location of the files.
Common AppData - Application specific data
Common Desktop - Files displayed on your desktop
Common Documents - Recently used documents
Common Favorites - Recently used IE favorites
Common Programs - Icons displayed under START–>PROGRAMS
Common Start Menu - Icons displayed under START
Common Startup - Programs or shortcuts launched at startup
Common Templates - Templates for Office
The default setting for each of these contains a variable called %ALLUSERSPROFILE%. This variable represents each users profile folder. You can remove this and set each value to a static location such as:
C:\MY PROGRAMS
This example will change the data for all users that login to the system.
The option to create a virtual private network connection is disabled or grayed out in Windows 2000 or Windows XP when creating a new connection.
This problem usually occurs because the Remote Access Connection Manager service is not running. To fix this problem, perform the following steps:
1. Right click on your MY COMPUTER icon and select MANAGE.
2. Click on the plus sign next to SERVICES AND APPLICATIONS.
3. Double-clcik REMOTE ACCESS CONNECTION MANAGER.
4. For the box that says STARTUP TYPE select AUTOMATIC.
5. Click on the START button under SERVICE STATUS and click OK.
6. You should now have the option to create a virtual private network connection the next time you setup a connection.
Flushing the DNS resolver cache can help resolve DNS related problems.
To flush or reset the DNS resolved cache, perform the following steps:
1. Click START–>RUN
2. Type ipconfig /flushdns
This article applies to Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003
Also see:
Flush and reset a client resolver cache using the ipconfig command - Microsoft
How to map a network drive to a location on your network.
What is a mapped network drive?
A mapped network drive is basically an alias for a location on your network. Let’s say you have a folder named WORK on a computer named BOB. You share the WORK folder out on the computer BOB so that the computer JEN will be able to access it over the network. What you can do instead of trying to find the location at \BOBWORK, you can map a network drive to this location and call it the W drive.
Read more… »
Disable the annoying message “There are unused icons on your desktop” from appearing in Windows XP
1. Right-click an empty part of your desktop and select Properties.
2. Select the Desktop tab, and then click Customize Desktop..
3. Uncheck Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days box.
4. Click OK, then OK again.
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