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Tag: XP

WinGuggleWinGuggle is a small application that can Set, Change and Backup your Original Equipment Manufacturer’s Information. It can also get your Windows 7/Vista/XP and Office Product Key for Backup easily. How? No Installation is needed, Just unzip the archive and launch the application.

  • Now includes Bitmap Browser for images available on your PC (Windows 7 and Vista are supported)
  • System Summary of the most important information such as Hardware components, CPU information, Disk Drives, Audio and Video Codecs, Display Drivers and many more.
  • Before installation or upgrading to a new OS, It is recommended to run WinGuggle System Summary to a separate disk like flash drives or removable drive first to archived automatically all the System Information needed and if problems occur, you can still view the previous System Information like Sound Devices and Display Drivers. Prevention is Better than Cure!

Features:

  • Recover Windows 7/Vista/XP and Office Product Key (CD Key)
  • Change OEM Logo and Information Completely (Windows 7, Vista and XP)
  • Change Performance Information and Tools OEM Logo (Windows 7 and Vista)
  • Removing OEM Logo and Support Information in Windows 7/Vista/XP
  • Manual and Automatic Backup of OEM Logo and Information Settings
  • Reset to Default Restores the Original Settings

Windows 7/Vista/XP
Download WinGuggle 2.1 Build 1 Revision 1 (x32/64)
Download WinGuggle 2.1 Build 1 Revision 1 (x32)

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PC_DecrapifierThis version has been cooking up for quite some time now. Version 2.0.0 brings you a complete rewrite of the application. The PC Decrapifier is a program designed to remove or uninstall a specific list of unwanted software in an unattended fashion. It can be used to clean off most of the annoying software that is typically shipped with new PCs.

A list of applications PC De-Crapifier removes can be viewed here.

PC Decrapifier works with all versions of Windows XP and Vista.

Download PC De-Crapifier 2.0.3

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defraggler.gifPiriform, the company that brought you CCleaner and Recuva… now bring you a file defragmentation tool… Defraggler!

It differs from other defrag tools on the market, by enabling you to quickly and simply defrag the files you want to, without having to process the whole drive. Simply run it, select the file and defragment in seconds. No more struggling with the Windows defragmentation tool!

And remember like all Piriform products, Defraggler is completely free for both corporate and individual use.

Download Defraggler 1.06.118

Defraggler Features:

Defrag Individual Files
Most defragmentation tools only let you defrag the whole drive. Defraggler gives you the power to select individual files and folders to defrag. So you can get the job done in seconds, rather than waiting for the whole drive to complete. Of course if you want to defrag the whole drive Defraggler will let you do that too.

Compact and Portable
Defraggler was written in the same compact architecture as other Piriform products (CCleaner and Recuva). This results in a compact single EXE application, which can be copied to a thumbdrive and then used whenever you need it, without a complex installation process. The EXE itself is less than 1MB!

Vista Support
Defraggler supports all OSs released since Windows 2000, this includes Windows 2000, 2003, XP and Vista. 64-bit support has also just been added! Additionally Defraggler supports both NTFS and FAT32 file systems.

Locate Files on the Drive
After analysis Defraggler lists all the fragmented files on the drive. Selecting one or many will highlight their location on the disk. Allowing you to visually see the location of files on the disk.

Freeware
Why pay hundreds of dollars for a commercial defragmentation tool, when you can use Defraggler for free! This includes corporate use as well!

Defraggler 1.09.138 Changes:
- New search feature.
- Various tweaks to the drive list.
- Improvements to freespace calculation when moving large files.
- Improved handling of of sparse files.
- Lots of minor UI tweaks.

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defraggler.gifPiriform, the company that brought you CCleaner and Recuva… now bring you a file defragmentation tool… Defraggler!

It differs from other defrag tools on the market, by enabling you to quickly and simply defrag the files you want to, without having to process the whole drive. Simply run it, select the file and defragment in seconds. No more struggling with the Windows defragmentation tool!

And remember like all Piriform products, Defraggler is completely free for both corporate and individual use.

Download Defraggler 1.06.118

Defraggler Features:

Defrag Individual Files
Most defragmentation tools only let you defrag the whole drive. Defraggler gives you the power to select individual files and folders to defrag. So you can get the job done in seconds, rather than waiting for the whole drive to complete. Of course if you want to defrag the whole drive Defraggler will let you do that too.

Compact and Portable
Defraggler was written in the same compact architecture as other Piriform products (CCleaner and Recuva). This results in a compact single EXE application, which can be copied to a thumbdrive and then used whenever you need it, without a complex installation process. The EXE itself is less than 1MB!

Vista Support
Defraggler supports all OSs released since Windows 2000, this includes Windows 2000, 2003, XP and Vista. 64-bit support has also just been added! Additionally Defraggler supports both NTFS and FAT32 file systems.

Locate Files on the Drive
After analysis Defraggler lists all the fragmented files on the drive. Selecting one or many will highlight their location on the disk. Allowing you to visually see the location of files on the disk.

Freeware
Why pay hundreds of dollars for a commercial defragmentation tool, when you can use Defraggler for free! This includes corporate use as well!

Defraggler 1.06.118 Changes:
- Added interactive drive map.
- Improved scheduler handling of multiple drives.
- Fixed rare crash in Vista when defragging Folder entries.
- Optimized file placement for Win2k3.
- Improved placement of large files at end of drive.
- Added Dutch, Ukranian and Norwegian translations.
- Various UI tweaks.
- Several minor bug fixes.

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defraggler.gifPiriform, the company that brought you CCleaner and Recuva… now bring you a file defragmentation tool… Defraggler!

It differs from other defrag tools on the market, by enabling you to quickly and simply defrag the files you want to, without having to process the whole drive. Simply run it, select the file and defragment in seconds. No more struggling with the Windows defragmentation tool!

And remember like all Piriform products, Defraggler is completely free for both corporate and individual use.

Download Defraggler v1.02.078 RC2

Defraggler Features:

Defrag Individual Files
Most defragmentation tools only let you defrag the whole drive. Defraggler gives you the power to select individual files and folders to defrag. So you can get the job done in seconds, rather than waiting for the whole drive to complete. Of course if you want to defrag the whole drive Defraggler will let you do that too.

Compact and Portable
Defraggler was written in the same compact architecture as other Piriform products (CCleaner and Recuva). This results in a compact single EXE application, which can be copied to a thumbdrive and then used whenever you need it, without a complex installation process. The EXE itself is less than 1MB!

Vista Support
Defraggler supports all OSs released since Windows 2000, this includes Windows 2000, 2003, XP and Vista. 64-bit support has also just been added! Additionally Defraggler supports both NTFS and FAT32 file systems.

Locate Files on the Drive
After analysis Defraggler lists all the fragmented files on the drive. Selecting one or many will highlight their location on the disk. Allowing you to visually see the location of files on the disk.

Freeware
Why pay hundreds of dollars for a commercial defragmentation tool, when you can use Defraggler for free! This includes corporate use as well!

Defraggler v1.02.078 RC2 Changelog:
v1.02.078
- Removed dialog prompts for actions.
- Improved GUI button placement.
- Fixed minor algorithm bugs.
- Minor UI tweaks.

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An anonymous reader recommends a Computerworld article on a new report from Australian security vendor PC Tools. The company released figures on malware detection by its ThreatFire product, and in its user base 27% of Vista machines were compromised by at least one instance of malware. From the article:

“In total, Vista suffered 121,380 instances of malware from its 190,000 user base, a rate of malware detection per system [that] is proportionally lower than that of XP, which saw 1,319,144 malware infections from a user base of 1,297,828 machines, but it indicates a problem that is worse than Microsoft has been admitting to.”

Microsoft hasn’t responded yet to this report.

Source

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Well, it’s been talked about anecdotaly in web forums for a while now that the new service pack for XP brought with it an unexpected performance boost.

MicrosoftThe researchers found that a PC loaded with Microsoft’s XP SP3 completed the OfficeBench test suite in less than 50 seconds. A similarly configured system running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 took more than 50 seconds to complete the test suite — which measures how quickly a computer can perform common tasks in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

“Since SP3 was supposed to be mostly a bug-fix/patch consolidation release … the unexpected speed boost comes as a nice bonus,” the researchers wrote.

They added that XP SP3’s slick performance may lead some computer users to forgo Windows Vista. Exo.performance.network found that with the new service pack, XP is now two times faster than the newer Microsoft OS.

The tests were conducted late last year on a prerelease build of XP SP3. So it’s possible the final version is even faster.

It’s not all four-star reviews for the service pack, however…

Full Story

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Maybe I can help you with that.

MicrosoftWhat is it lately with Microsoft Service Packs? To be fair, once the Windows XP Service Pack 3 is installed everything works just fine. However, I tested the SP3 install today and came across a problem. The install went through most of the install then would, nearly upon completion, die when attempting to write to the registry. So, then, I tried making sure the antivirus program was off and not just disabled, disabled everything in the start tray, killed any other non-necessary processes in the Task Manager. After these checks were made I then ran CCleaner to ensure any temp files were gone. So, at this point, I feel fairly confident that regardless of the outcome the install would not fail due to any firewall or antivirus program or any other running process. So, I run the install it fails again with the end result “Access Denied”.

Since this is a known legit install of XP that’s not of concern. I mention this as when many on the internet would post in forums and mention this problem the first question asked was “Is your XP install legit?”. OK, it’s legit so I continue Googling for possible solutions. Google is your friend and was mine once again today (although the solution I am about to post came from one of a few possible websites – so… I can’t quite give the credit where it duly belongs but, for full disclosure, it is not from my brain – I just happened to have success with this particular suggestion and thought I would post the steps I took and paste the code I discovered).

OK. here we go (You can just jump straight to here to skip my blabbering on and get to the solution).

Step1: Install subinacl.exe if you do not already have it installed. I already had it installed but most people will not. No worries. If you’re one that doesn’t have the file you can download it quickly and easily from Microsoft, here.

Step 2: Open notepad.

Step 3: Copy the following text, below, and paste it in notepad.
cd /d "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Resource Kits\Tools"
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %windir%*.* /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

Step 4: Save the file as reset.cmd.

Step 5: Run reset.cmd. This process can take a while to run (took me about 8-10 minutes, I believe).

After those 5 steps I was able to successfully install the Windows XP Service Pack 3 Update.

If I helped anyone from having a headache let me know. Comments should be working now and registration is not required.

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vista.pngStill in “testing”… Let’s review. Microsoft releases Vista SP1 then holds on to the service pack release for XP for additional “customer feedback”. As I scour the Web, the feedback is quite clear: Release the service pack, already!

A skeptic may believe that Microsoft is trying to get all the publicity for the Vista service pack in hopes of getting more Vista purchases before releasing the XP Service Pack. A skeptic may also believe that Microsoft didn’t exactly want a side-by-side comparison of the service packs and the speed differences covered between the two updated operating systems on the same hardware with a nearly simultaneous release. Whatever the truth of the matter is the end result is the same – no service pack 3 release yet for XP. Well, at least mid-April isn’t too far off.

Yes, Microsoft, regardless of yet another slight, most of your customers will wait patiently or impatiently, quietly or roaring as loud as their fingers can type, but do not get too comfortable with this operating system monopoly. Competitors will rise that you won’t be able to buy out or squash and that competitor may just give you a run for your money. Regardless of who wins in that pending duel, one thing is clear: competition is good and as a side-effect, us, the forgotten customer, will likely get a better product from one or the other or both.

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