I’m back

I’m back because the company (which I will not mention) that host my web site ( www.pagestart.com ) search engine submission process takes so long, 6 to 8 weeks according to their Tech Support that by the time Google, Bing or Ask and other search engines display my latest article its already stale news in some cases.

 

So I will start posting the links to my articles here along with a brief description. Starting with how to dual boot a Windows 7 computer with the Windows 10 Technical Preview: http://www.pagestart.com/win7win10tpdb10121401.html

 

Firefox users should also visit my home page: www.pagestart.com for so important information about configuring Firefox.

Yet another version of .NET Framework
http://www.pagestart.com/

Chrysler and GM commit Hara-kiri

The word is out, both Chrysler and now GM have notified thousands of car dealerships that they are no longer wanted or needed. For two companies try to remake themselves as being a place to buy the new green powered car and high mileage hybrids they are not too smart.

Read the complete greasy, flat tire details here:
http://www.pagestart.com/chryslergmharakiri.html

Verizon Redirects Search Request – Part 2

It’s been almost a year now since I switched my ISP to Verizon. Shortly after switching I had a need to use one of my favorite software utilities Process Explorer. Process Explorer has far better abilities than Windows Task manager when listing and identifying what processes are running on your PC and what application that process is associated with. One very nice feature is to ‘Search Online’ for any process that you would like additional information for. This is when I found out Process Explorer’s web search ability was essentially useless after Verizon redirected my search request.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/verizonredirectspart2.html

Windows 7 RC for XP users - How to find your way around Part 2

For XP users who have skipped Vista and are either using the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) or plan to migrate to 7 when it is released here is how to transition smoothly. Navigating your way around could be a problem at first but once you know where to find things it’s not all that bad. And as usual there are at least two or three ways to get to where you want to go, as you will see demonstrated in this article. This is the second part of an earlier Windows 7 Beta article with updated and new information.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/win7forxpuserspart2.html

How to delete unused folders and files located within the $hf_mig$ folder – Part 1

I’ll show you how to perform a cleanup of files and folders located in $hf_mig$.The conventional answer to deleting the $hf_mig$ folder has always been not to delete it. While this still holds true for the folder, there are ways to delete a large number of sub-folders and files contained with $hf_mig$.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/hfmigpart1.html

In-Place Upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7

I’ll show you how Windows XP users can safely upgrade to Windows 7 without performing a “Clean Install”. For this article I picked a typical mid range ($1600) PC that was commonly sold around the 2004/2005 time frame.

The object of an “In-Place Upgrade” is to keep all your XP applications, user accounts, data files and not be forced to start with a clean install of Windows 7. Keep in mind a lot of XP applications are not Vista compatible and it will take time for patches or application upgrades become available after the official release of Windows 7.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/upgradexptowindows7.html

Windows Installer Folder – Is it safe to delete

Over time this folder can grow to over a Gigabyte or more in size. Some laptops that may only be a few years old could have relatively small hard drives and free drive space is at a premium. Here is a relatively simple solution to the problem.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/windowsinstallerfolder.html

MSIZAP: The real power of using the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility

For this article I will be exposing the real power of using the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility. How to safely remove orphaned files located in the C:\Windows\Installer folder that have accumulated over the years and gobble up a significant amount of disk space.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/msizap.html

Where to download the .Net Redistributables

A complete listing of where to download each version of the .NET Framework Redistributables starting at version 1.0 up to the latest .Net 3.5 SP1 update.

Get the links for all the downloads here:
http://www.pagestart.com/netframeworkdwnldlinks.html

NET Framework - Disk space requirements, Part 2

Part #2 provides disk space usage in detail on a version by version basis, additional information on .NET Redistributables and .NET Software Development Kits (SDK), plus tips on uninstalling .NET and a cleanup utility that you may find useful.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/netframeworkpart2.html

Clean Install - Windows 7 versus Windows XP

About 3 weeks ago the PC I use for testing software and operating systems, most of which ends up as articles on my web site failed. After finding a replacement PC, I performed a “Clean Install” of both Windows XP and Windows 7, each on its own separate hard drive, with only one hard drive connected at a time.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/cleaninstallwindows7vsxp.html

Windows 7 Repair Install

1) Set you BIOS to make the CD/DVD drive the first boot device.
2) When you reboot your PC and see "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD", press the space bar to start the Repair install.
3) Windows 7 will begin to loading files. (White progress bar).
4) The "Starting Windows" logo is displayed.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/windows7repairinstall.html

Windows 7 for XP users – How to find your way around

For XP users who have skipped Vista and are either using the Windows 7 Beta or plan to migrate to 7 when it is released here is how to transition smoothly

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/win7forxpuserspart1.html

Windows 7 Clean Install

Now that you have download the Public Beta .ISO file and use it to create a bootable DVD you can start the installation.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/windows7cleaninstall.html

NET Framework - Disk space requirements, Part 1

In Part #1 of this article I will cover the disk space requirements, the two main types of .Net, .Net version numbers, why you need .Net, drive space requirements, an overview of where the .Net files are located on you hard drive, Service Packs and a handy .Net verification utility.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/netframeworkpart1.html

NET Framework 3.5 SP1 - Temporary Folder is not deleted

Installing .NET Redistributable 3.5 SP1 results in several temp folders remaining after Setup has completed. In addition you may receive an XPS XPSEPSC error indication that this component has not been installed.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/netframework35sp1error.html

.NET Framework 3.0 - Windows XP Service Pack 3 Bug

XP Service Pack 3 fails to list the .NET 3.0 Redistributable as an optional update.The following steps were performed in order to validate this problem with XP SP3.

Read the full article here: http://www.pagestart.com/netframeworkxpsp3bug.html

Image Backup – When a Restored Image fails to Boot

This was an unplanned article but it came about as a result of deciding to restore my PC back to a point in time before I started to perform a series of tests scenarios for my recent articles on XP Service Pack 3. I created a Image Backups before and after each install of SP3 using Norton’s Ghost (version 10), as a result I had at least eight image backups created on various partitions on my hard drive.

http://www.pagestart.com/imagebackupfails.html

Windows 7 for XP users – How to find your way around

For XP users who have skipped Vista and are either using the Windows 7 Beta or plan to migrate to 7 when it is released here is how to transition smoothly.

Navigating your way around could be a problem at first but once you know where to find things it’s not all that bad.

Read the entire article: http://www.pagestart.com/win7forxpuserspart1.html

Windows XP Service Pack 3 – Part 3 “Installing SP3 Using Windows Update”

Part 3 was not planned but came about based on a question posted to one of the Microsoft Windows XP newsgroups.

For Parts 1 and 2 I manually downloaded the Windows XP Service Pack 3 .exe file named:(WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe) and used it to install SP3, skipping the more commonly used Microsoft Windows Update site

In part 3 of this series will identify where Windows Updates downloads the SP3 update files to on your hard drive and how much disk space does it really take to install SP3.

I will also cover what gets cleaned up during and after installing SP3, what is left behind on your hard drive, a trick on how to free up some drive space before you install SP3 and what you can safely delete after installing SP3 to gain back even more of that lost disk space.

At the end of this article I’ll make some suggestions on how to optimize your chances of installing SP3 successfully.

Read the entire article: http://www.pagestart.com/windowsxpsp3p3pg1.html

How to optimize your chances of installing Windows XP SP3 successfully:

Verify that your disk drive has the free space required to install SP3:
I recommend at least 2GB for a PC that is fully loaded with applications. Use ‘Disk Cleanup’ to free up additional space on your hard drive.

Laptop users tip:
If your laptop is a few years old and only has a 20 or 30GB hard drive and you have been saving drive space by reducing the amount of space available for System Restore points, be aware that a during the installation of SP3 a new restore point will be created and the size of the restore point could exceed 850MB. So you may need to change your restore point setting to increase the space available for restore points.

Do not use the Windows Update web site

Read the entire article: http://www.pagestart.com/windowsxpsp3p3pg8.html

Slipstream and Install Windows XP Using SP3 – Two roads to success

For this article I will be creating two Windows XP SP3 slipstreamed CDs using AutoStreamer. The first CD will be created using a previously slipstreamed SP2 CD (that I originally created from a Windows XP Gold CD). The second CD will use my Windows XP Gold (the original release of XP and therefore has no service packs) as a starting point.

Read the entire article: http://www.pagestart.com/slipstreamsp3.html

Windows XP Service Pack 3 – Part 2

Why was SP3 taking 12 minutes to shutdown:
As mentioned in Part 1, only a few small applications were installed on an otherwise clean machine. Below are the trouble shooting steps I took and the results which are somewhat surprising and puzzling.

Read the entire article: http://www.pagestart.com/windowsxpsp3p2.html

Windows XP Service Pack 3 – Part 1

In this article I discuss the two different methods I used to install Service Pack 3 (SP3) and if the results are the same. The first method will use a clean install of Service Pack 2 (SP2) and then applying the security updates using Windows Update and then applying SP3. The second method will once again start with a clean install of SP2 and then I will immediately apply SP3 using the SP3 download file. A comparison of the files installed using both methods will then be made.

Read the entire article: http://www.pagestart.com/windowsxpsp3p1.html

Your Internet Cable Service may be running at Half Speed

About 18 months ago I started receiving email notices from my internet cable service provider which mentioned that download speeds had been increased to 6.0Mbts. Being excited about this I decided to check my actual speed by using one of many web sites that test and report your speed. To my surprise my speed had actually gone down and not up. The best numbers I could get at any time of the day or night where about 2.2Mbts (Mega Bits Per Second), which is about one third of the advertised speed. I’ll include a list of several test sites at the bottom of this article.

Read the entire article: http://www.pagestart.com/slowcablespeed.html

Is it safe to delete the $NtUninstallKBxxxxxx$ folders

Example: C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB948881$
A number of people have asked this question. Most often in an attempt to reclaim some space on their hard drive. My standard answer is yes as outlined below.

Read the entire article: http://www.pagestart.com/ntuninstall.html

Verizon Redirects Search Request (Updated July 29, 2008)

I recently switched my ISP to Verizon. Shortly thereafter I had a need to use one of my favorite software utilities Process Explorer. Basically PE has far better abilities than Windows Task manager when it comes seeing what processes are running on your PC and what application that process is associated with. I’m not going into the detail of Process Explorer’s features in this article just the recent problem I encountered with PE’s ability to allow you to select a process and then use PE’s built in web search to find what information is out there on the web about a process that you may not recognize.

Read the entire article: http://www.pagestart.com/verizonredirects.html

Iowa – Holding a nation hostage

For nearly the last 12 months we have been hearing day after day how the candidates have been campaigning in Iowa and how important winning or finishing high in the results will make or break a presidential candidate.

Iowa only has 7 of the 538 total electoral votes “Each State is allocated a number of electors equal to the number of its U.S. Senators (always 2) plus the number of its U.S. Representatives”. That means that Iowa has only 5 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives. Iowa has a population of about 3 million people, the U.S. population by comparison has total of 300 million people. That means that after the Iowa caucus is done about 297 million people will most likely be cheated out of a chance to cast a vote for their favorite candidate.

How can one state be so important that except for a very few others states, most will never get a chance to be heard from as their state’s primary election day will be held too late to make a difference.

Should Vista be compared with Windows ME

It’s been nine months and there are still vistas of problems reported with the new OS.
See what PC World has to say about this:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,138693/article.html