The MS Windows TrickMe page.

 
Paragraphs in this page are:
Tips Tricks and Caution
I need to import KDE Mail into Mozilla
I want to tweak my system restore settings
Booting Linux from Dos
The NT Bootloader case
How to stop using Lilo for booting
How to purge old Notification icons
Dealing with specific old Windows games


Tips Tricks and Caution

This paragraph will get updated very frequently.

1) For best security settings be a regular user and have an administrator account only for global modifications to the computer (installations/uninstallations, settings/services changes etc.). I prefer to name the administrator account "root" and always add a regular account for me in all the computers I support. If you do so, keep in mind that a perfectly (or almost at least) setup multiuser system will be at some cases annoying, but it is worth the effort. BE a regular user, have passwords for all user + administrator accounts (spare the ease of use in some cases) and think before you turn the Vista safeguards off (User Account Control, Windows Defender etc.).

2) The Software installing under the above account setup will think initially of administrator as current user. So, always instruct the programs to install "for all users". This way, you, the regular user, will have them accessible (in your start menu for example). If these programs add icons to your desktop and you need to move/delete them, the system will ask for administrator permissions. keep in mind that most programs that install and initially run under installations instructions will launch under the properties, home, settings and privileges of the administrator (root in my case). So, if Sea Monkey runs initially and does not see your regular user's previous mail folders, don't panic. When you run it from your user's desktop shortcuts all personal settings folders will be there.

3) Prefer portable/free/open software. This was obvious in the GNU/Linux pages, but the Windows Vista ones need that remark coloured and - if html tech allowed - blinky. My migration from Linux to Windows is always easy when I use Sea Monkey (the Mozilla suite) OpenOffice.org Lilypond and Gimp. Visit the Licenceme page from my GNU/Linux top site for more on this issue.

4) Serious installation failure possibility: Upon installing itself, Vista might fall in a trap considering multiple non-dos/windows partitioned disks. The "friendly" partitioning interface might remove the partitions successfully but it might also perform just a quick format, which will definetly leave a problematic primary partition for installation. The bad thing is that in such a case the error report messages might mislead us in thinking that there is a problem with the ide chipset or the hard disk itself. Here's what I do in these cases: I boot from an msdos floppy disk, launch fdisk and remove all the partitions, create a primary dos one, reboot with the floppy and perform a thorough format: format c: /s - it will take a while. Then I can boot and format the partition to ntfs with the Vista installer's help. After the thorough format, chkdsk worked perfectly and scandisk performed a surface scan with absolute success. There was never any ide or hd error after all.

5) Disabling annoying services. While i my case I like User Account Control and Windows Defender, I don't like the Superfetch Windows Search services and the Thumbnail Preview option because of the amount of memory and disk operation overhead plus current program running slowdown.

Superfetch remembers the programs frequently used and preloads them in memory during startup. Not good for a pc with less than 2G RAM.
Windows Search indexes the computer's files constantly. Since I know where I'm putting everything I don't need it.
Thumbnail preview builds thumbnails of all the files in a directory, especially annoying when parsing a movie in order to do so.

Goto start > settings > control pane > administrative tools and run "Services" as an administrator if you are not so yet.
Find Superfetch and Windows Search and respectively put them into the "disabled" status and also stop them.
Goto the explorer menu (press "alt" to reveal it) > tools > Folder Options > View and check "Always show icons, never thumbnails".

Alternatively for thumbnail view: Set up the current folder's view as you like it, (meaning simple), go to options - apply to all folders.
Then set up individual folders with the enhancements that you like!

Although the results should be instant, you need to restart.

That's it for now.



I need to import KDE Mail into Mozilla

There is also a paragraph for GNU/Linux Here.

Mozilla Mail stores the mail folders as files, while KDE Mail most probably (according to the user initial decisions) will have the mail folders as directories under the ~/Mail dir in the user's home directory.

First, open KMail and select each folder. Select all (or the ones you like) messages right click and choose "save as". Choose names like "OldInbox" , "OldSent" etc. In this way, each folder will be saved as file in the mbox format.

Then use an intermediate media to transfer the files in a filesystem that Windows can mount/browse. Use a usb stick, ftp transfer, network share or a FAT32 partition in your hard disk. Copy/move the files there.

Start Windows and find the Mozilla path: Click Start Menu > Run and enter %appdata% in the text box. It will open your user's account application settings in an explorer window. Then browse and go to Mozilla > profiles > default > blah blah blah > Local Folders. There you found it. Copy the files that KMail saved (OldInbox , OldSent) here and start (or close and restart) Mozilla. Mozilla Mail will adjust to the new findings and treat them as Mail Folders.

From there, you can go into these folders, select all messages, move them to the appropriate ones (Inbox Sent etc.) and then delete the Old* folders and finally purge them from the Trash folder of Mozilla Mail. Or you can leave them there intact. As the import itself was successful, from here it's up to you. It wouldn't hurt to choose "compact" folder, to purge deleted data permanently.

Note: For Windows XP and 2000 the path will most probably be inside C:\Documents And Settings\username (replace username with your actual username). Search there for Mozilla paths.

For Windows 9x I can not provide specific info right now, but the paths are probably located inside the Mozilla installation path or in C:\Windows\Application Data. You will have to search.



I want to tweak my system restore settings

 System Restore is a great tool that helps revert our Windows NT based (2000 XP Vista) Wintel box to a previously functional state.
Sometimes, this is needed even if we do a driver update that does not produce the expected results. Somethng like that happened sometime to a friend of mine after he updated his soundcard drivers through Windows Update. The System Restore mechanism solved the situation, until a better driver was issued for update.

System Restore needs a certain space in the hard drive (initially where Windows are located), allocated as a percentage of the drive or as a certain max space. Today's HDs are so big that even a small percentage (15%) uses really big space and can confuse the regular user about the drive use.

System Restore enhancements in Vista (shadow copy) allow wider change recovery, but also need more space.
Although the space allowed can be easily tweaked in XP, in Vista it can not.

We will need a command which can be issued either from the "Run" button or from the Command prompt:
vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=c: /for=c: /maxsize=1GB

maxsize 1 GB is an example. We may enter the amount the suits best for our needs.
"on" means which drive the setting refers to, "for" means which drive the restore works for.
When the size shrinks, the older restore points are erased first.

If you run into a permissions problem, then "copy" the above line into the clipboard, go to Start Menu > Programs > Accessories, right click on the "Command Prompt" and issue "Run as Administrator". Then right-click on the terminal and choose "Paste".

 

Booting Linux from DOS (loadlin)

Assuming that your primary Master Boot Record is a DOS-Win9x one and you Do Not want to change it, you must know how to boot a Linux OS from there.

Booting from DOS is easy provided that you have Loadlin.exe and a Kernel image inside the DOS filesystem (VmLinuz for example) copied FROM our linux installation.

The commands in general are:

smartdrv /C
DRIVE:\PATH\Loadlin.exe DRIVE:\PATH\VmLinuz <parameters>

Q: What is this smartdrv command?
A: With this command, using smartdrv.exe we are sure that any unwritten disk buffers are flushed!

These commands can easily be inside a batch file (.bat)

If VmLinuz AND LoadLin.exe are located in C:\Windows we can create a Linux.bat text file inside C:\Windows that will be:

@echo off
rem  Sample DOS batch file to boot Linux.
rem  First, ensure any unwritten disk buffers are flushed:
smartdrv /C
rem  Start the LOADLIN process:
loadlin c:\windows\vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb1 ro vga=773

As LoadLin.exe and linux.bat are in the path, they can be called from everywhere.

the parameters are easy to understand:
root=/dev/hdb1 : my Linux root dir is in Pr.Slave HD, 1st Partition.
ro             : mount it initially as read only for checking
vga=773    : initiate 1024x768 resolution 256 colors virtual consoles

Change as appropriate, but the ro option is recommended.



The NT Bootloader case

This applies to Windows Vista 2000 2003 and XP as tested by me.

But I think it is relevant to any NT Based MsWindows (4.0,5.0,2000,XP,2003,Vista)

Note: The bootloader is changed in Vista. Now a command line tool is used, therefore frontends like EasyBCD have to be used for convenience.

The NT BootLoader (NtLdr) can boot many OSes from a menu.
It is automated considering found Windows installations and can be configured to boot a Linux OS!

This is actually tested by me and mentioned in many books that teach UNIX- GNU/LINUX.

First, we need to copy the first 256 sectors of a working lilo Master Boot Record.
We Follow these steps, being root if needed (we need to :))
We edit /etc/lilo.conf and change the boot parameter to: boot = /dev/fd0
We then place an empty floppy disk and call lilo
then, we issue the command:
dd bs=256 count=1 if=/dev/fd0 of=/bootsect.lin
The first 256 bytes are copied in a file.
Now, we have a backup boot sector in a floppy and  its image in a file.

We re - edit /etc/lilo.conf and change the boot parameter back to: boot = /dev/hda

Second, we need to copy the created file in our C:\ partition.
Writing to NTFS filesystems is now possible using the ntfs-3g filesystem typi when mounting the NTFS partition.
You may also: either have a FAT32 partition for an intermediate copy, or copy the file to a floppy disk, formatted for DOS

Third, we boot to our NT Based Windows and edit c:\boot.ini
This file must be hidden and system or read-only
For any case we can issue a command in a Dos Prompt:
attrib -h -s -r c:\boot.ini
OR remove these properties inside our Windows Explorer IF we have set the options to see hidden and system files.
Assuming the file's bootesct.lin path is C:\bootsect.lin
we make a copy of boot.ini as i.e. boot.old.
we edit boot.ini in a Dos Prompt:
edit c:\boot.ini
and type this line in the end:
C:\BootSect.Lin="Linux"
OR edit this file in notepad.exe. In any case, the same line must be typed.
OR skip the third step and edit the boot.ini with pico (or nano) in linux.

Do not forget to copy the file bootsect.lin to the root path of the C: drive.

Remember, Dos & all Windows are case insensitive.

If things go well, you CAN boot Linux from NtLdr (NT Loader).



How to stop using Lilo for booting

This is an edited Linux Trickme page paragraph stripped down for the Windows User's needs

In the case of Dos-Win9x you can issue this command in Dos Prompt or Mode:
fdisk /mbr

In the case of 2000 & XP you might need to use the Recovery Console from your Setup CD or your Boot Floppy Disks.

After booting a Windows XP installation disk, choose repair a Windows installation, select the installation, type the Administrator password and
call the fixmbr command. Confirm the action and when all repairs finis, type exit. You may also need the fixboot command.

You may want to install the Recovery console permanently:

Assuming that your CD Drive is D: and you have your Windows Setup Cd inside, issue:
d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons or something like that, depending on the path.

An option to boot to Recovery Console will be added to your boot menu.

Recovery Console has capabilities similar to a DOS Boot Disk but oriented to NT logic (native NTFS support etc.)

Also visit www.ntfs.com from my Links page to find about NT oriented products.

If Windows Vista or 7 is the case, after opening the console, run Bootrec.exe /fixmbr and Bootrec.exe /fixboot



How to purge old Notification icons

The Icon notification feature is very helpful at keeping icons out of our way, provided that we know what we are running and do not torture our system
with a hoard of applications that not only consume resources but may as well conflict to each other. Know what you are running!


Nevertheless, it is practical to hide application quickstarters, alarm bells and antivirus programs.
Icon notification however, can be too smart sometimes and remember old uninstalled application tray icons.
Since there is not a forget action only for for these icons, let's take a tour to the registry.

Run regedit. Search for HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify
Delete the PasteIconsSteam and IconStreams keys. Exit regedit.
Start Task Manager by pressing either Ctl-Alt-Del or Crl-Shift-Esc keys.
Kill Explorer.exe. That is, go to the Processes Tab, find Explorer.exe and end the task. The desktop will be "gone".
Either reboot by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and selecting the reboot option, or Logout and relogin.
There is an option to logout also in the Task Manager Users tab.

That's it. Next time you try the Notification area, it will list the current application tray icons.
You will also find the registry keys recreated.

Caution! DO NOT perform a "cold" reboot or "forced" shutdown! Leave the power & reset bottons alone!
Caution! Messing around with the registry carelessly, can be bad for our Wintel Boxes health!
 Caution! Ads spotted luring users to run programs with viruses that pretend to solve this issue!



Dealing with specific old Windows games

Windows Vista and 7 include an impressive compatibility mode.
Options include disabling visual themes, reducing resolution and color depth etc.
Compatibility modes go down even to Windows 98SE and 95!
If this is not enough, there is also virtualization!

There are however some games stubborn enough to refuse to work. In this case, the common trouble is colors messed up.
Games that fall to this category are Fighters Anthology Fallout 2 and Starcraft.

The solution is simple but not easy to guess. We have to stop Explorer from working as long as the game runs.
This will be done with the help of a batch file in the game's directory and a shortcut of the batch to the desktop.

Batch file in the game directory: suggested name runme.bat

This can be created with notepad. Contents assuming Fighters Anthology:
rem Runme.bat file, dealing with explorer b4 launcing the game
rem First kill Explorer.exe, which messes up the colors
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
rem run the application for example Fighters Anthology
fa.exe
rem Wait for the game to quit, press Enter to continue
pause
rem Restart Explorer.exe
start explorer.exe
exit

Placing the shortcut to the desktop afterwards

After creating the runme.bat, right click and drag-drop it to the desktop. Choose "create shortcut here".
Check the shortcut's properties, specifically the "Shortcut" tab: Target file and Start directory must be non void.
Optionally, change the icon: Choose either icons in the classic dll provided by Windows, or find the game's exe icon with a little browsing.

The drive - directory location may be defined in the batch file itself. Assuming D:\Janes\Fighters Anthology is the dir, put these lines above fa.exe:
D:
cd \Janes\fighters anthology
This is necessary when the batch file is on our desktop and has to work in a different location.
But in our case it is not, since in our example we have a shortcut of the batch file on our desktop, rather than the batch file itself.

Note: Before calling Explorer.exe again, we have to be sure that the game exited successfully, that's why the pause option has to be in the batch file.
Therefore, it is NOT RECOMMENDED to omit it.

Bug! There are cases of programs that stay on the traybar instead of the taskbar when minimized. They usually give a choice in the options menu.
In cases like this, when they run normally, they appear as applications, but when minimized to tray, they "move" to the processes stack.
When Explorer is rerun, they might not register correctly in the traybar, thus being like "ghost" processes without the option to "bring to front" by the task manager.
WinSCP is one of the buggy situations. We may simply stop these processes and rerun them, unless they are on a job like downloading, so we wait for a while before closing them.