Speed up slow Windows startup and boot with Startup Delayer
Posted on September 19, 2008 - Filed Under Computer Tips | 2 Comments
Is your Windows startup or boot time very long? If you have a lot of applications that startup when Windows loads, you may have noticed that your Windows startup is very slow. Earlier I wrote about speeding up your PC by going into the MSCONFIG tool and turning off useless startup programs.
However, even with lots of startup applications disabled, you may still have a good number that you want to run when Windows starts. Each application with eat up CPU cycles and may also have to read and write from the hard drive (hence the constantly blinking hard drive light when loading up). In this case, you can actually delay the startup of programs till after Windows starts.
Fix errors relating to swdsvc.exe and pctstray.exe
Posted on September 13, 2008 - Filed Under Computer Tips | Leave a Comment
Is a process called swdsvc.exe eating up all your memory or hogging up your CPU? Or what about annoying pop-ups with pctsTray.exe and some random error? These are errors usually related to Spyware Doctor from PCTools, which is a pretty good anti-spyware program.
If you are getting popup error messages in Windows related to pctstray.exe, you should first try to uninstall Spyware Doctor and make sure your computer is running normally. Sometimes there are viruses that use that process name, but have no relation to Spyware Doctor!
How to fix iTunes usbaapl64.sys blue screen of death in Vista
Posted on September 12, 2008 - Filed Under Computer Tips | 1 Comment
Did you just upgrade your iTunes to version 8 and have your Vista computer crap out with the blue screen of death and a usbaapl64.sys error? If so, then you are one of many that are having this very annoying problem.
I got this message after I restarted my computer and had several devices connected via USB. Apparently, certain devices connected to your computer will cause the blue screen of death! The main perpetrators for this error are HP drivers (which I hate to death) and Logitech drivers.
Change or spoof a MAC address in Windows
Posted on September 11, 2008 - Filed Under Computer Tips | 24 Comments
Every network interface card (NIC) has a unique MAC Address (Media Access Control address). This applies to all types of network cards, including Ethernet cards and WiFi cards. The MAC Address is a six-byte number or 12-digit hexadecimal number number that is used to uniquely identify a host on an Ethernet network.
An example of a MAC address is 1F-2E-3D-4C-5B-6A and it falls into the Layer 2 networking protocol of the OSI model. In today’s networks, a MAC address is converted to a Layer 3 protocol address, such as an IP address, by ARP, or Address Resolution Protocol. Read my post on how to find your MAC address if you don’t know it.
How to turn on auto-complete in the command prompt
Posted on September 10, 2008 - Filed Under Computer Tips | 4 Comments
Do you use the command prompt on a daily basis? If you do, then this tip is definitely for you! I recently found out that there is a way to turn on auto-complete for the command prompt via a simple registry hack. So that means if you are typing in a long path, simply type in the first few letters and then press TAB to auto-complete.
For example, if I am typing in C:\Documents and Settings\, I would just need to type in C:\Doc and then press the TAB key.
How to remove and reinstall all Windows Updates
Posted on September 10, 2008 - Filed Under Computer Tips | 3 Comments
Have you ever come across a situation where Windows Update gives you the message “An update failed to install” and gives you no other option? This can happen for a host of reasons and the first thing you want to do is search that phrase along with the update that failed to install.
There are some occasions, however, where you have to start from scratch and reinstall all Windows Updates from the beginning. Other than reformatting your computer and then installing every update again, you can also delete the folder that contains the updates and update history.
