Windows XP Slow Startup Problems.

USB Memorysticks have been around for a long time now and most people have at least one. What do people use them for? Well for one thing they have replaced the old “floppy Disk” drive. Just about every PC you can buy these days doesn’t even have one installed. A USB Memorystick is generally used for transporting stuff just like the floppies were used for. Do you know that they can be used for a heap of other things as well? There are some that anyone can use them for and some where you need to be a bit more au fait with Windows.

You now can get a USB memorystick up to 32 gigabytes these days and they keep getting bigger so why not use one for backing up your most important data. There are several programs (free ones as well) that can be used to automatically backup your critical information. One free on I use and think it is excellent is “Karen’s Replicator”.

Windows comes with it’s own media player so you can listen to music on your PC and also copy music files with it. It can be used to build a library on your USB memorystick that you can then plug into any PC running windows and listen to your favorite music. You have then effectively a MP3 player. Listen on your PC speakers or plug in headphones.

Like to speed up your PC. Using a USB memorystick if you are running Windows Vista, you can speed up your system using ReadyBoost . You can use the space on a memory stick as additional memory cache to aid the cache on your hard disk. Flash memory is faster than a hard disk, with its physical moving parts. The memory cache provided by ReadyBoost can greatly improve system responsiveness. Using ReadyBoost is easy. You just insert your USB memorystick into your Vista system and follow the on screen prompts to configure and use it.

Want to make your PC more secure? You can use a USB memorystick as a “key” What it can do is lock up your PC whenever you remove the memorystick from the USB port. No-one can then use or access your data until you plug the memory stick back in. There is a little utility called “Predator”  that you can download for free it will key your USB memorystick to your PC.

You can run what are called “Portable Applications” from a USB memorystick. Just think you can take your most used applications and run them on any PC specially useful if you do not own a laptop. Applications such as “OpenOffice”, Firefox can be made portable. Others can be found at PortableApps. You can virtually install just about everything you need to run things as if you were on your own PC.

If you want the complete thing you can even run a whole windows or linux operating system from a USB memorystick. Not for the faint hearted though and can be a bit ticklish to do. There are some guides around to assist in this endeavor.

Are you a Web developer? did you know that with Server2Go, you can run a Web server that supports Apache, PHP, MySQL, and Perl from a memory stick. Server2Go runs on all versions of Windows, supports all the common browsers, and is free. The benefits of having a portable Web server on a USB memorystick are numerous. You will find more information on the Server2Go site.

Windows tricks | No Comments »

The Windows XP Taskbar is usually situated at the bottom of the display. Did you know that there are several things you can do to it to make it more friendly and useful?

For example you can make it disappear and reappear at will thus making your whole screen display available for just viewing. You can also put your most used programs as icons and invoke them with a single click. You can also move it around and make it bigger so if you are a person who has lots of windows open can show them all in buttons in the taskbar.

If you are interested in customizing your windows xp taskbar, then read on.

Your windows xp taskbar consists of 3 parts. On the left you can see the “quick Start” icons. On the right you can see icons of all the programs that are started during startup. The middle contains all the buttons of the programs you have running.

Windows XP Taskbar

First find the start button and left click with your mouse, select “settings” then “Taskbar and Start Menu” You will get a window like this:

Taskbar Window

As you can see there are several boxes you can select. Before you can on the actual Taskbar you need to unlock it. The Auto hide selection makes the taskbar disappear if you mouse pointer is not at the bottom of the screen. If you do not want to use the quick launch buttons you can deselect it this makes extra space for the program buttons. If you select the “Hide inactive icons” This hides any startup programs that are not presently in use.

Select everything you need but leave the “lock the taskbar” deselected. Click on “apply” then “OK”.

Now let us have a bit of fun with the windows xp taskbar.

If you place your mouse pointer in an empty space in the taskbar and press the left button on your mouse holding it down, you will find that when you move the mouse to the right, left or top the taskbar will move to those locations. Take you finger of the left mouse button and it will stay there. Move the taskbar to the location you like best.

If you would like your most used programs as “quick launch” icons in your taskbar all you have to do is to left click on the icon on your main desktop. While holding the button down drag the icon down into the “quick start” area of your taskbar then release the button. You will get a miniature of the icon in the taskbar. You can then delete the program icon on your main desktop if you wish. This enables you to reduce the “clutter” on you desktop.

You can make the windows xp taskbar deeper if you wish. Just move your mouse down to the taskbar, move it to the top edge until you see an up and down arrow. When you see this press your left mouse button and while holding it down move the mouse up until you get the depth you require then release the button.

One other thing you can do is increase the width of the “quick start” area. You may want to do this if the number of icons cannot fit the area. You will see a vertical bar to the right of the quick start area. Move your mouse to this until you see a left and right arrow. Press your left mouse button and while holding it down move the mouse to the right until all your icons can be seen.

The last think you should do to your windows xp taskbar is to lock it. This will prevent any accidental changes being made. All you have to do is “Right” click in an empty area in the task back. A window will appear where you will see a menu item “lock the taskbar” just click on this and then your taskbar is locked and no changes can be made. If you need to make changes just do the same and deselect the “lock the taskbar” and you will then be able to modify your windows xp taskbar again.

Windows tricks | No Comments »