The Net Gate

WindowsRecovery Rogue

To remove the ‘WindowsRecovery’ Trojan Horse virus, follow the instructions from Tigzy that are published on the kioskea.net.

Audacity with RealTek Audiomixer

Using Audacity with RealTek Audiomixer on Windows Vista may need some tweaking.

Check in the system tray, the Audiomixer settings:

right-click on the speaker icon in the system tray and select  volume control

right-click on the speaker icon in the system tray and select sound manager (you may also have access to these settings through the control panel)

check the recording settings and select the Stereo Mix as input device

Recording with Audacity (version 1.2.6)

Retrieving the files:

Audacity is a freeware application that allows to record any audio played on your pc.

Download the application from the project site.

By default, the records can be saved in ‘wav’ format. To save the recording in ‘mp3‘ format, you must install the lame encoding (‘lame_enc.dll’).

Download the lame file, here from the bioss site or from the project site or from this codec site.

Configure for MP3 export:

Install the application (run the setup) and save the lame mp3 encoder file (‘lame_enc.dll‘) in a folder on your pc. Then start Audacity and select ‘Preferences‘ in the ‘Edit’ pull down menu. In the preferences menu, select ‘Find Library’ and locate the file in the folder where saved the lame mp3 encoder file (‘lame_enc.dll’):

Adjust the recording configuration:

Start Audacity and adjust the settings to your needs:

• if you want to record from an audiostream, modify the input from microphone to ‘Stereo Mix‘
  in case you have issues with this, check  my post about RealTek

  

• you may also want to adjust the playback and recording level

  

• match the (mp3) recording quality to the streaming quality (eg 96kbit/s)
  note: the higher the quality to bigger the file, the lower the quality the smaller the file

  
  

  
  

  
  

  (below is an example of a radio station, where ‘Instellingen’ provides the streaming quality information)
  

  

Start Recording:

First start the recording in Audacity:

Then start the audiostream.

Warning: changing the audio level of your pc has a direct impact on the recording audio level – ‘what your hear, is what you get’ – if you turn off the PC speaker (mute), you will record silence.

Stop Recording:

Once the audiostream is finished, stop the recording in Audacity and Export As MP3:

Edit the Recording:

Before saving (exporting), you may want to edit the recorded file and cut the non-relevant parts at the beginning and the end.

You can jump to the beginning of the recording:

and cut the non-relevant parts: move the mouse pointer on the track line position from where you want to cut and with the left mouse-button you can select the length of the part:

Export the Recording:

To save the recording , select in the Audacity File menu, ‘Export As MP3′:

The application will ask to complete the MP3 tags before saving the file. It is not mandatory to complete all fields. My recommendation is to complete at least the Title Field:

How to fix the Windows Vista and Windows 7 error:

“The User Profile Service service failed to login.

User Profile cannot be loaded”

This is the only way I was able to fix this error. These steps were found on the Microsoft Windows Forum.

In my case, only one account was configured (obiously with admin rights) and the only way out was to press the F8 key while the system boots and start windows in ‘Safe Mode’. Then I proceeded with step 2 and beyond.

1. Log into an admin account (using safe mode if necessary)

2. Launch Regedit, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

3. The relevant profile existed in two forms: one with a long number, the other with the same long number plus .bak

4. Rename the one without the .bak extension to have a .old extension (or anything else really)

5. Rename the one with the .bak extension to _not_ have the .bak extension

6. In the one without the .bak extension (as changed in step 5), change refcount to 0

7. In the same profile, change state to 0

8. Close regedit, reboot

This is an example of how the registry entry looks after the fix:

Microsoft Outlook 2007 with GMAIL accounts

Using a GMAIL account in Outlook requires specific settings both in the client and your account settings:

GMAIL Account Settings:

- make sure that IMAP/POP SUPPORT is enabled in your GMAIL Account settings (Forwarding and POP/IMAP)

note: ‘Enable POP’ will work as well but does not offer the folder views from the GMAIL server

OUTLOOK 2007 Account Settings:

- follow these recommendations to configure your Outlook Account settings

note: if you have opted for POP3, use the settings below:

Incoming Mail: pop.gmail.com

Outgoing Mail: smtp.gmail.com

Account Name: your_id@gmail.com (Note that it is your full email address)

enable “My server requires authentication”

Gmail doesn’t use default ports, the ports are:

SMTP or Outgoing Mail: 465  (use SSL)

POP3 or Incoming Mail: 995

enable “This server requires a secure connection (SSL)”

If you’re having trouble sending mail but you’ve confirmed that encryption is active for SMTP in your mail client, try to configure your SMTP server on a different port: 587.

Check these FAQs if you experience loggin issues, such as unlocking your ‘Captcha’.

Tuning the Windows environment – Windows XP re-install

Here is a guide to refurbish a Windows XP Laptop system; in other words, re-installing Windows from scratch. In this case, the Laptop was a Toshiba Satellite 1800-514 which has a Celeron 1 GHz processor and 384 Mb RAM (128MB + 256MB) installed and a 15Gb internal hard drive. It is a ‘legacy’ system with limited resources, indeed. However, with some tweaking, it will still perform well for common applications. After customization, the system was able to run iTunes 9, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Office 2003 suite.

1)      Backup all data.
Make sure you are logged on with administrator privileges. Change the folder options to include hidden files and system folders.
Search the system for data files. Not all files may reside under ‘My Documents’, in particular also scan the Shared folders on the system.
An easy way to perform the backup is to use the ‘Sysback’ tool.

2)      Backup user profile specific files.
Custom desktop wallpaper files are stored in C:\Documents and Settings\<user profile>\Local Settings\Microsoft\
Custom account picture files are stored in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\

3)      Backup user mailboxes.
In case of Microsoft Outlook Express, it wise to follow my Microsoft Outlook Express housekeeping steps.

4)      Backup or get a copy of specific drivers for video, sound, modem and network support. In particular, keep a copy of the video drivers; download the most up to date copy from the manufacturer’s site (e.g. NVIDIA or ATI), if necessary. Check if any other specific files or settings have to be saved. Check the equipment model and version in the Device Manager (Control Panel, System, Hardware). The auto detection of some of the devices may not work for older systems, so write them down.

5)      Save your Wireless Network Connection settings, in particular, ensure you note the network name (SSID) and security key.

6)      Set the CD-ROM as first bootable drive in the BIOS and reboot the system with the Windows XP installation CD. Remove all external drives! If not, windows may install them as system drives.

7) Before starting the windows installation process, check the available partitions. Ideally, you should create a partition to install windows on (with at least 30 Gb) and a partition for the user data files (any remaining space). If the drive is too small (50 Gb or less), just use one partition. More information about partitioning is available in my ‘dedicated data partition‘ post. In this case the system has only 15 Gb, which means that you should remain with only one partition.

Once Windows has been installed, proceed with the custom driver installation. The first to update is the video driver. Then check the Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager: for any device with a (yellow) question mark, you will need to install or update the driver. Use the files from step 4, install from the manufacturer CD (if available) or download from the internet. This step is only successful if no question marks occur in the Device Manager list. You may need to reboot the system after installation of some device drivers.

9)      Start the customization of your windows environment:
Regional and Language Options (in the Control Panel) are a minimum to verify, in particular the keyboard settings (in the Languages tab, Details) need to match the attached keyboard lay-out.
Name and Company Information can be changed in the Registry. Follow the Microsoft instructions.
Apply the items of my ‘Windows XP optimization‘ post.
In this particular case, I applied additional tweaks to improve the performance:

1. Verification if some services can be disabled (refer to my ‘disable services’ post).
2. Prefetch setting was set to value 1-App launch (instead of 3-Both):
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher].
3. Last Access Timestamp was disabled
   [run: FSUTIL behavior set disablelastaccess 1]
4. DOS 8.3 filename creation was disabled
   [run: FSUTIL behavior set disable8dot3 1]
5. Performance counters were disabled
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib]
   (run regedit and create DWORD ‘DisablePerformanceCounters’)
   Set the value of DisablePerformanceCounters to 1
6. Disable ‘Automatically search for network folders and printers’ in the Control Panel, Folder Options, View tab.
7. Process idle tasks in the background (this operation may be periodically repeated).
   (run ‘Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks’)

10)   Set the Hard Drive as first bootable drive in the BIOS and reboot the system. Make sure the system is connected to the internet (a wired connection, not Wi-Fi), to allow windows updates to occur. The system may need to be rebooted upon request. In this particular case, only a Wi-Fi adaptor was available.

11)   Install all applications (respect the copyrights) and printers. This may be a good opportunity to upgrade the system with the latest version of the applications. Check on the software developer’s site if any new versions are available. In this case, Firefox 3.5.5 was installed instead of Internet Explorer 8.  Firefox performed better when I checked the performance of the browser, using the Network Tools on my ADSL page.

12)   Create a system ‘restore point’ (Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore).

13)   Restore the data from step 1, 2 and 3. Check the user privileges and access rights of the restored data (try to copy a file to an USB key, to check the file access rights).

14) Perform the five essential steps in XP Maintenance.

Windows XP re-install

Here is a guide to refurbish a Windows XP desktop system; in other words, re-installing Windows from scratch. In this case, the desktop was a Dell Dimension 4550 on which three user profiles were defined.

1)      Backup all data for each user profile.
Make sure you are logged on with administrator privileges. Change the folder options to include hidden files and system folders.
Search the system for data files. Not all files may reside under ‘My Documents’, in particular also scan the Shared folders on the system.
An easy way to perform the backup is to use the ‘Syncback’ tool.

2)      Backup user profile specific files.
Custom desktop wallpaper files are stored in c:\Documents and Settings\<user profile>\Local Settings\Microsoft\
Custom account picture files are stored in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\

3)      Backup user mailboxes.
In case of Microsoft Outlook Express, it wise to follow my Microsoft Outlook Express housekeeping steps.

4)      Backup or get a copy of specific drivers for video, sound, modem and network support. In particular, keep a copy of the video drivers; download the most up to date copy from the manufacturer’s site (e.g. NVIDIA or ATI), if necessary. Check if any other specific files or settings have to be saved.

5)      Set the CD-ROM as first bootable drive in the BIOS and reboot the system with the Windows XP installation CD. Remove all external drives! If not, windows may install them as system drives.

6)      Before starting the windows installation process, check the available partitions. Ideally, you should create a partition to install windows on (with at least 30 Gb) and a partition for the user data files (any remaining space). If the drive is too small (50 Gb or less), just use one partition. More information about partitioning is available in my ‘dedicated data partition‘ post.

7)      Once Windows has been installed, proceed with the custom driver installation. The first to update is the video driver. Then check the Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager: for any device with a (yellow) question mark, you will need to install or update the driver. Use the files from step 4, install from the manufacturer CD (if available) or download from the internet. This step is only successful if no question marks occur in the Device Manager list. You may need to reboot the system after installation of some device drivers.

8)      Start the customization of your windows environment:
Regional and Language Options (in the Control Panel) are a minimum to verify, in particular the keyboard settings (in the Languages tab, Details) need to match the attached keyboard lay-out.
Name and Company Information can be changed in the Registry. Follow the Microsoft instructions.
Apply the items of my ‘Windows XP optimization‘ post.

9)      Set the Hard Drive as first bootable drive in the BIOS and reboot the system. Make sure the system is connected to the internet (wired connection, not Wi-Fi), to allow windows updates to occur. The system may need to be rebooted upon request.

10)   Install all applications (respect the copyrights) and printers. This may be a good opportunity to uprade the system with the latest version of the applications. Check on the software developer’s site if any new versions are available.

11)   Create a system ‘restore point’ (Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore).

12)   Create the user profiles and restore the data from step 1, 2 and 3. Check each user profile, in particular the user privileges and access rights of the restored data (try to copy a file to an external drive, to check the file access rights).
Visual Effects may need to be reviewed for each user profile.

13)   Perform the Five essential steps in XP Maintenance.

Reclaim Disk Space after an XP Hotfix Installation

To reclaim diskspace from Hotfix installations, you can use a freeware:

XP_Remove_Hotfix_Backup.exe

this utility removes Hotfix Backup files and the Add/Remove Programs Registry entries.

Reclaim Disk Space after Vista Service Pack Installation

For Vista SP1 you may use the File Removal Tool Vsp1cln.exe from the command line.

For Vista SP2 you may use the File Removal Tool compcln.exe from the command prompt.

Keep in mind that once you have run these tools, the Service Packs cannot be uninstalled.

You may also refer to the Microsoft article about the Windows Installer Cleanup (MSICUU2.exe) utility.

Reclaim Disk Space after Windows 7  Service Pack Installation

For Windows 7 SP1 you may use the Disk Cleanup Tool and use the Systems Files Cleanup option:

Alternatively, you may also run (as administrator) the command line:

dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /spsuperseded

To save even more disk space, you may also cleanup obsolete restore points in the Other Options menu:

Best of breed software

• AVG Anti-Virus is a FREE virus scanner that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• Spybot Search & Destroy is a FREE spam scanner that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• Internet Eraser is a FREE history eraser.

• Google Chrome is a FREE web browser that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• Internet Explorer is a FREE web browser that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• Mozilla Firefox is a FREE web browser that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Note: the reason for using both Internet Explorer and Firefox is because of their different implementation of ‘standards’ which causes unsimilar display results when you design web pages – (check out my posts on Mozilla Firefox).

• Windows Live Mail is a FREE mail client that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Note: Outlook Express is end-of-life and was my initial prefered mail client – (check out my posts on Outlook Express).

• Skype is a FREE Internet Phone client and service that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Media Players

• VLC is a FREE mediaplayer with great video codec support that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• iTunes is a FREE mediaplayer and library tool that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Note: check out my posts on iTunes support

• IrfanView is a FREE image viewer that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• Foxit Reader is a FREE PDF reader that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Media Library and Conversion Tools

• Videora iPod Converter is a FREE video converter for iPod.

Note: check out my posts on Videora support

• DVDVideoSoft.com offers a FREE collection of tools to work with DVD, video and audio files.
• DVD Profiler is a DVD Collection Database Manager that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• calibre is an ebook management tool that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• Mixxx is free, open source DJ software that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• Audacity is a FREE audio recorder and editor that works well for XP.

Note: check out my post on recording with Audacity

• iTunes Sync is a FREE iTunes MP3 Player Integration tool that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Note: check out my posts on iTunes Sync support

File, Print and System Tools

• Cute PDF is a FREE PDF creator that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• ZipGenius is a FREE file compression tool.
• FileZilla is a FREE file transfer client and server that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• CCleaner is a FREE system optimization tool that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• MyDefrag is a FREE system disk defragmenter and optimizer that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• KeePass is a FREE password manager that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• SyncBack is a FREE backup and file synchronization tool that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• EASEUS Partition Master is a FREE hard disk partition tool that works well for Windows XP.

Remote Assistance Tools

• TeamViewer is a FREE Remote Assistance Client that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• TightVNC and UltraVNC are FREE Remote Assistance Clients.

Note: check out my posts on Remote Assistance support

Enjoy the free ride!

XP Housekeeping

The foundation to make the housekeeping process easy and efficient is the partioning of my hard disk(s).

While the primary partition holds the operating system and programme files, the secondary is dedicated to the data files. This way, the operating system may be re-installed at any time without data loss. Disk cleanup and defragmentation will run faster and more efficient. Finally, also the system performance may be improved.

Removing unused and temporary information from your system allows Windows to run faster and more efficiently:

• Perform a regular disk cleanup and defragmentation of the volumes
• Perform a regular registry cleanup and defragmentation
• Perform a regular complete virus scan of your disks
• Perform a regular complete spyware scan of your system
• Defrag the pagefile

Check my related posts:

‘Five Essential Steps in XP Maintenance‘,

‘Windows XP Optimization‘,

‘optimize XP for audio and video‘,

‘disable services‘,

‘reclaim disk space‘,

and Best of Breed section for a selection of freeware tools to help you with these tasks.

Dutch speaking users may check PcLeek.com which offers an excellent digest of XP and Vista help pages!

Check out the Windows Sysinternals website for latest tool developments.