A Conflagration of Randomness

Today I am going to show four ways to make Windows XP do just that little more that you wish it could, while still using less memory and CPU than Windows Vista, while acheiving a much more user friendly system.  We will start off with my favourite, the famous UXTheme Patch.

UXTheme Patch

The object of this patch is to patch your uxtheme.dll file that resides in this directory: “C:\WINDOWS\system32″

Uxtheme.dll is a file that controls the visual styles that are enabled in Windows XP. From microsoft.com:

New run-time libraries—ComCtl32.dll version 6 and UxTheme.dll—are provided in Windows XP and later operating systems to enable visual styles. UxTheme.dll is used by the common controls to take advantage of system visual styles. ComCtl32.dll queries UxTheme.dll for appropriate dimensions and other pertinent information for a control, and calls UxTheme.dll to render the parts of a control or surface.

Taken from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb773187(VS.85).aspx

There are multiple ways to patch this file including UXTheme Multi-patcher and manually patching it, but there are also programs that will manage skins for you such as Windowblinds.  However, my favourite is the UXTheme Manager because it automatically patches the dll file and it is completely free.  There are two versions, 4 and 6 and sometimes one works and the other does not depending on the system and if you have 32 or 64 bits. Below are both versions for download, however you may need to try both to see which works.  I currently am using version 6.

Version 4

Version 6

To install simply extract the zip file and click the exe.  Follow the directions at this url: http://customize.org/xpthemes/help/How_To_Install_UX_Theme_Multi_Patcher

Once you have finished installing, you can scour the internet for .msstyle based themes.  A site to avoid is http://www.themexp.org/.  They used to have good themes, but now their themes tend to be bloated with spyware, adware etc.  I personally recommend Sentinel as it looks very nice.

An example of my Desktop theme (even though I am currently using a patched uxtheme, but am using a windowblinds theme):

(click to enlarge)

Docking

I have found one of my greatest computer friends in the last few weeks, the dock. Although originally designed for the Mac, the dock has become a great tool across all three major operating systems: MacOS, Windows, and Linux.  For Windows and Linux you must download separate programs in order to take advantage of the great offerings the Dock has to offer.  For the Windows there are multiple programs, but two famous ones are Rocketdock and Objectdock. Between the two there is a lot of competition though many people have found that the Rocketdock tends to run faster with the animations.  I prefer Rocketdock personally, but both have much to offer and are free.  To get Rocketdock go to http://rocketdock.com/ and to get Objectdock go to http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/.  For Linux there are Kiba Dock, Cairo Dock, and Avant Window Navigator.  I use Kiba Dock since it is the only one I have got to work in Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10.

Change Recycling Bin Name

Alright, time for a fun tweak I know it has always been your dream to change the name of your Recycling Bin and as you can see in my desktop picture above, mine is called “Trash Compactor.”   Unlike a folder where you could just right click and hit rename, the Recycling Bin does not have this feature.  Instead if you wish to perform this neat trick follow the instructions below.

1. Open Start Menu and click Run…
2. Type regedit into the input prompt and click OK
3. Now you are presented with the Registry Editor, the database of most settings on the Windows machine. NOTE: Do not stray from my explicit instructions.  The registry is a powerful tool and if you mess up a setting you may damage your computer permanently.  I do not take responsibility for you actions in any way when you mess with the Registry.
4. Navigate through the folder icons in this order: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
5. Once in this folder you should see the key named “LocalizedString” with a really strange data.  Double click on this key and clear the data in the “Value data” field and type whatever you want your Recycling Bin to be called.
6. Click OK when you are done and go to the Desktop then press F5 to refresh the Desktop and you should now have your new Recycling Bin name showing.

Showing Date in Taskbar

As you can also see from my Desktop picture, I have made my taskbar show the Date and Day of week in my Taskbar because I was getting tired of having to constantly put my mouse over the taskbar to see the date when typing letters or whenever.  I also did not feel like making my computer look completely awful by expanding the taskbar vertically.  So instead I turned to Google and discovered the program called TClock.  It can be downloaded from http://homepage1.nifty.com/kazubon/tclocklight/tclocklight-040702-3.zip.  This frees up my time by allowing me to see the date always just like I can do by default in Ubuntu Linux (which is what inspired to find this solution).

Well, that is all for today and good luck with tweaking your system

~roboguyspacedude

I’d say it is about time I get back to the receipt of my inquiry to Western Digital about my hard drive.

First, as far as I know, this new drive I was sent has been working okay (I stress okay since it definitely isn’t perfect or even near).  I haven’t lost any major files as of yet, though I have been careful not to put anything of value on it.

While I was away in Germany, I awaited the return of the hard drive (as well as my college acceptance letter which turned into a rejection  letter.  I’ll post about that in another post)  and upon my return from Germany, I hadn’t yet received the hard drive, but it came within a few days. I unpacked it installed it as before and have left it thus.

Now I will explain the process you should take in case you need to return your hard drive:

1. Go to the site I posted on my last entry.  Here it is.
2. You need to prepare your hard drive.  If not they may return the drive without consideration.  To do so follow this:
   • Find a box large enough to put the hard drive in and make sure it is corrugated.
   • Wrap the hard drive in the electrostatic bag you got it in or find another.
   • Register an RMA at that site.
   • Either you can pay for tyhe postage or you can use WD’s postal service which allows you to print a label form their site.  It is slightly cheaper.
   • Put the RMA number on the outside of the box if you don’t purchase one of their labels.
   • Send through the post and hope they send you a new one.

The one thing that annoys me most about the WDs is that they turn off to0 safe electricity and make a really loud noise when turning back on which not only delays their activity, but also disrupts watching movies or listening to music.

Yep, tomorrow I am going to Germany for an exchange trip. Since I am in the top orchestra at my school, we go to Germany every two years and since it is my senior year, this is my last time knowing the German students. We are going to Detmold which is in Westphalia. It is going to be fun and I might post some things here while I am there.

In September, my 5 year old hard drive started making those clicking sounds that often tell of their soon to be death. And sure enough within the month, my computer had died and I was in need of reinstalling windows. So I had 2 hard drives and was planning on exchanging them, putting the OS on my 80 GB hard drive and leaving the 160 GB one completely free, but alas, as I was pulling the 80 GB out, it hit the platform on my computer and was thus broken.

So the next day I bid my father to go out and we’d buy an external drive, a Buffalo Brand 500 GB for $109, but since I knew of Western Digital (my hard drives at home were all WD) the man there was able to tempt to buy the WD 500 GB MyBook for $129 because he said he didn’t trust the Buffalos. Little did I know, the Western Digital 500 GB is considered one of the worst External Hard Drives. I had it for a few days and it started randomly deleting files, which would turn up a week later in the same folder, but others would disappear. I found one solution to the problem was to plug the adapter directly in the wall since it takes so much power. However, though that lasted for a few weeks, stuff once again started to disappear. And not more than two months after I had gotten it, most of my files were corrupted. So I started googling some answers.

I first started with data recovery tools since I needed to get the data back that had been lost on my drive (a load of music and other programs). After coming across GetDataBack for FAT (which I got for free *cough*), I backed up my whole drive to my G: Drive. It turns out the supposed 128 GB of used space was mostly just corrupt files. Then I turned my search to other tools to see just how bad the 500 GB MyBook is. I eventually came across this site which tells how you can break apart the case of a MyBook and recover the hard drive in there that can then be easily plugged into a SATA capable computer.

However, if you only have had the drive for a few months, you can easily return it to Western Digital who will send you a replacement one. I recently did this and am awaiting the return of the new drive. The process is called getting an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) and you can start the process here.

My point is don’t buy a Western Digital 500 GB MyBook even if your local computer store salesman tells you too because it most likely will break. Many users complain about it also never starting up again though I never had that problem.

Download IPFilter

I am not writing this post to encourage copyright infringement, you risk your own safety when you download illegal content, but I am writing this because there are legal things that can be downloaded through the Bitorrent method and if you are against the Patriot Act, or just like protecting your privacy then here is an overview of what I consider the best Bittorent Client out there.

Weighing in at a meager 263 KB is the mighty uTorrent, able to be customized to a great amount of personalization.  It not only is lightweight but packs as much punch as its biggest rival Azureus.  Utorrent allows you to sort torrents by % Completed, Date Completed, Seeder/Leecher ratio, and a whole variety of others.  It includes a user friendly system that is not bloated with ads or unnecessary junk like Azureus and shows you a simple list of all your current torrents.

However to get the most out of uTorrent, you need to enable some hidden features of the software.

Utorrent Download: http://utorrent.com

IP Filtering

One of the best features to protect your privacy in uTorrent is to enable IP Filtering.  It blocks out all the bad IP addresses that could compromise your privacy.

To enable this feature first open uTorrent and press CTRL + P to open the uTorrent Preferences and then go to the Advanced menu and find the setting labeled ipfilter.enable and make sure its value is set to “true”.  If not double click on the value and it should change to true.  A picture is below.

Once you have done that it is time to get the .dat file that includes the IP addresses.  To do so go to http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TZ1D5ZI2 and download to a directory where you know where to find it.  The old file I used to get was a tarball and needed Winrar to extract, however this version is a ZIP.   Once you have the ZIP extract it to a place you know where it is.  You should now have a file named ipfilter.dat . Now comes the final step.  If you are running Windows XP (which is what I use so if you don’t you will have to check documentation, go to Start -> Run.. and type “C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR NAME\Application Data\uTorrent” replace “YOUR NAME” with your username on your computer which should be easily found at the very top of your Start Menu when you open it.  Now copy the ipfilter.dat into this folder and restart uTorrent.  When you look in your logger on uTorrent, you should be presented with “Loaded ipfilter.dat (# entries).”  If not you did something wrong so repeat the process.

Other Preferences

If you wish extra protection go back to Preferences and set your settings to the following:

Bittorrent:

Queueing:

The rest of the settings are pretty much configurable based on your system and connection.  Fiddle around with them to see what works best for you.   Happy LEGAL Downloading!

Which torrent downloader do you use?

• Azerus (Vuze)
• uTorrent
• Other

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Great Legal Torrents:

http://www.ubuntu.com/

http://beta.legaltorrents.com/

Video Guides:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1qxUovxRls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAqvJIeyQXY

Other Ipfilter.dat sites:

http://www.atheistdictionary.com/ipfilter/ipfilter.dat