Free audio and video stream broadcasting software

Free audio and video stream broadcasting software

IceCast (Free/Windows, Linux)
You can broadcast streaming MP3 (MPEG 1 Layer 3 Audio) using an IceCast 1+, streaming OGG Vorbis using IceCast 2+, streaming AAC using IceCast 2.2+ streaming server.
Icecast was designed to be Shoutcast compatible. Unlike the commercial Shoutcast product Icecast is free.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
VideoLan (Free/Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, BeOS ...)

The VideoLAN streaming solution includes:

VLS (VideoLAN Server), which can stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 files, DVDs, digital satellite channels, digital terrestial television channels and live videos on the network in unicast or multicast,
VLC (initially VideoLAN Client), which can be used as a server to stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files, DVDs and live videos on the network in unicast or multicast; or used as a client to receive, decode and display MPEG streams under multiple operating systems.
VLC's stream output works under Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS and many Unices. VLS works under Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
NullSoft Video at SVCI (Free)
NSV is a new multimedia container format designed for network video streaming. The format is known as NullSoft Video or simply NSV. NSV was developed by Nullsoft corporation, the same company that produced the popular Winamp and Shoutcast streaming audio software. Winamp TV uses NSV streams.
NSV consists of free software to encode, stream and view video. There are additional third party NSV applications being developed and distributed by stations and users. Additional software can be purchased from outside commercial software vendors as well.
NSV has broken the restrictive Internet video broadcast barrier and allows anyone the ability to produce and distribute live or recorded video content.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
MPEG4IP (Free / Linux, Windows, Solaris, FreeBSD, BSD/OS, Mac OS X)
MPEG4IP provides an end-to-end system to explore streaming multimedia. The package includes many existing open source packages and the "glue" to integrate them together. This is a tool for streaming video and audio that is standards-oriented and free from proprietary protocols and extensions.

Provided are a live MPEG-4/H.261/MPEG-2/H.263 MP3/AAC/AMR broadcaster and file recorder, command line utilities such as an MP4 file creator and hinter, and an player that can both stream and playback from local file.

This code is not intended for end users, and does not contain executables. Please read all the legal information to determine if it is suitable for you.

Read More

How-To: Stream almost anything using VLC

How-To: Stream almost anything using VLC
Posted Nov 29th 2005 2:30PM by Eliot Phillips
Filed under: Features, Home Entertainment, Media PCs, Portable Video


The VLC media player is an amazing piece of software. In its most basic form it is a lightweight media player that can play almost any audio or video format you throw at it. VLC is also multiplatform in the most extreme sense of the word; it can run on Windows, OSX, Linux and PocketPC / WinCE handhelds along with other systems. VLC works great as a streaming server and video transcoder too.

We used VLC to move Tivo recordings to an iPod before, but today we are going to show you how to stream any type of media file from your computer to another device on your network. We will also demonstrate how to remotely control VLC using any web browser. Using these techniques you could stream video from your office computer to a laptop plugged into the living room TV and control the playlist with your PDA.

The first thing you need to do is grab a copy of VLC media player for your platform. We are going to be streaming from a Windows machine to a Linux machine, but the interface is almost identical no matter what you are using.

Once you install VLC and start the program you will be greeted by this lightweight frontend.

Click “File > Open File…” to bring up the “Open…” dialog box.

Click on the “Browse” button to bring up a standard Windows file selection box. Select the file you want to play. Then click “Open”. We’ve selected multiple files so VLC will build a playlist.

Your selection should appear in the text box next to the “Browse…” button. Click the checkbox for “Stream Output” and then click the button “Settings.”

Check the box next to “Play Locally” under “Output Methods.” When streaming to another system you don’t have to play the file on the server, but we will use this option to visually confirm that our video is playing properly before trying to access the stream from another computer.

Check the box marked “UDP” and type in the IP address of the computer you want to stream the file to. Then click “OK”. The file is ready to play so click “OK” in the “Open…” dialog box too.

The video or audio file should begin playing on the computer. The last thing to do before switching to your second computer is to turn on VLC’s web interface by clicking “Settings > Add Interface > Web Interface”.

Open VLC on your second machine. We are using a Linux machine.

Click on “File > Open Network Stream”. UDP is already selected so you just need to click the “OK” button and VLC will start playing your stream.

Now that the stream is successfully playing on your computer you can open up a web browser to control VLC remotely. Type “http://:8080/” into the address bar. The web browser will present you with all of the controls you need to manage playlists and playback remotely.

Now that you’ve got full access to your 10GB of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from any device in any location there’s only one question left to answer: Where does all the dirt displaced by the Technodrome go?

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ <-- VLC media player

Read More

stream your quicktime media over the internet

stream your quicktime media over the internet


Once you have created and compressed audio or video files in QuickTime Media format, you can put them on the Web so that others can view your streaming media online.

This document explains how to set up Quicktime streaming media (a movie, audio clip, animation, or other multimedia) using the University of Washington streaming servers.

You will need:

QuickTime Pro installed on your computer,
a digital movie compressed in QuickTime format,
an FTP program such as SSH Secure File Transfer Client or Secure Fetch installed on your computer,
knowledge of how to use an FTP program,
to activate your streaming media and Web publishing services, and
MakeRefMovie installed on your computer.


Open QuickTime Pro.


Most people will be able to open QuickTime Pro in the following way:

On a PC, select Start > Programs > Entertainment > QuickTime.
On a Macintosh, click the QuickTime icon in the dock at the bottom of the screen.



Open the movie using QuickTime Pro.


Before you can prepare your movie for streaming over the Internet, you must first open it in QuickTime Pro.

If your movie is already in the QuickTime format (the file name ends in .mov):

In QuickTime Pro, select File > Open Movie... The "Open" dialog box will appear.
Locate and select your movie file.
Click Open.
If your movie is not in the QuickTime format (the file ends in an extension other than .mov):

In QuickTime Pro, select File > Import... The "Import" dialog box will appear.
Locate and select your movie file.
Click Convert (PC) or Open (Mac) .


QuickTime Pro understands and can import a lot of different types of files. However, when capturing and editing your video, it is always best to save or export your files as a Quicktime file if you intend to use Quicktime to stream it over the Web.


Export the movie as streaming media.


Now that you have opened your media files in QuickTime Pro, it is time to export them as streaming media. This is also called "hinting" your movie.

Select File > Export.... The "Save exported file as" dialog box will appear.
Once you have selected your bitrate, navigate to the appropriate location where you want to save the exported files, and give your file a name.
In the "Export:" drop-down menu, select Movie to Hinted Movie, if it is not already selected.
In the "Use:" drop-down menu, select the desired visual and audio quality from the listed options; this is the bitrate in kilobytes per second (kbps). If you are a more advanced user, you can click on the Options button and configure your own video and audio settings for the media export.
Click Save.
When you are finished using QuickTime Pro, quit the program by selecting File > Exit.


Bitrate, usually expressed as kbps, is the amount of information per second sent from the video server to the viewer's computer. Video and audio quality is directly proportional to bitrate; higher bitrates allow for clearer video and better sound.

When choosing bitrates, keep in mind the connection speed of the viewer. High bitrates are generally better for viewers who are using high-speed connections, such as a cable modems, digital subscriber lines (DSL), or network connections. Low bitrates are better for viewers using low-speed devices, such as dial-up modems.

Do not leave the bitrate on "Default Settings" or else you may not be able to view your movie from the Web. Instead, choose a setting. If you want a higher bitrate, consider using Media Cleaner Pro instead of QuickTime Pro to compress your video.


Upload and test your hinted movie.


To upload your hinted movie:

Using an FTP program, log into your UW Dante or Homer account.
Open your "public_media" (or "student_media") directory and upload your media (movie) files.
Close your connection and quit your FTP program.
It is a good idea to test to make sure your movie will stream from the Web. To test your hinted movie:

Open QuickTime.
Select File > Open URL... This will open an "Open URL" window.
In the "Enter an Internet URL to open" box, type the following address to test your movie.

rtsp://qtmedia.type.washington.edu/userid/hintedMovie.mov

Substitute type with staff, faculty, or student depending on the type of your account, userid with your UWNetID, and hintedMovie with the name of your uploaded hinted movie.

Click OK. Your movie should then load and play.



Create a reference movie.


A reference movie, or refmovie for short, is a file that contains the Web address of your movies on the streaming video server. Refmovies help the browser launch the QuickTime plug-in, and tell QuickTime where to find your movie. You can also create movies with different bitrates and include them all in the refer movie. The refmovie will inform the QuickTime plug-in about the alternate rate movies, allowing it to select the best rate for the viewer's connection speed.

Open MakeRefMovie. If MakeRefMovie is not installed on your computer, you can download it from QuickTime's support page.
A "Save Reference Movie as:" dialog box will appear and prompt you to save.
In the "File name" text box, name the movie and make sure your file has the .mov file extension. Navigate to the location where you would like to save the new movie, such as the desktop, and click Save.
Select Movie > Add URL. In the box that appears, type the following:

rtsp://qtmedia.type.washington.edu/userid/hintedMovie.mov

Substitute type with staff, faculty, or student depending on the type of your account, userid with your UW NetID, and hintedMovie with the name of your hinted movie.
Click OK. See the QuickTime Streaming Server URL Reference for help.
If you have other copies of your movie with different bitrates, select Movie > Add URL and repeat the preceding steps.
Once you are done referencing your movies, select File > Save.
When you are finished using MakeRefMovie, quit the program by selecting File > Quit.


Upload your refmovie file.

Once you have created your refmovie, you need to move it to your Web site.

Using an FTP program, log in to your UW account (usually Dante or Homer).
Open your "public_html" (or "student_html") directory and upload your refmovie file.
Close your connection and quit your FTP program.



Link to your streaming media.


In order for your your audience to view your movie online, you you need to create a link to your refmovie from your Web page.

Open or create your Web page in your favorite Web page editor.
To create a link to yourRefMovie.mov (replace "yourRefMovie" with the name of your movie), follow the steps for creating a link in your Web editor or add a link using HTML.
Save your Web page and use your FTP program to upload it to your Web site.


If you aren't sure how to create a Web page and link to your media, you can read our documentation about creating a Web site.

You should go to your Web site and test your link to make sure everything works. Your movie should open the QuickTime Player and play.

QuickTime does not launch automatically to play clips embedded in Web pages when running Microsoft Windows XP. If you are running Windows XP you will need to download a compatibility plug-in from Apple's Web site.

Read More

stream your windows media over the internet

stream your windows media over the internet


Once you have created and compressed audio or video files in Windows Media format, you can put them on the Web so that others can view your videos.

This document explains how to set up a Windows Media video file as streaming media using the University of Washington streaming servers.

You will need:

a digitized movie or other media file compressed in a Windows Media format (.asf, .wmv, .wma),
an FTP program such as SSH Secure File Transfer Client or Secure Fetch installed on your computer,
basic knowledge of an FTP program,
to activate your streaming media and Web publishing services; (If you have already activated these services, you will have a "public_media" or "student_media" and a "public_html" or "student_html" directory in your UW Homer or Dante account.)
Windows Media Player installed on your computer, and
a text-editing program such as Notepad, SimpleText, or BBEdit where you can save a file as an .asx file.


Upload and test your Windows Media.


After you have compressed your movie in a Windows Media format, you should upload your movie to the Web.

Using an FTP program, log in to your UW Homer or Dante account.
Open your "public_media" or "student_media" directory and upload your media files.
Close your connection and quit your FTP program.
It is a good idea to make sure your movie will stream from the Web. To test your movie:

Open Windows Media Player.
Select File > Open URL . This will open a window titled "Open URL."
Type the following URL to test your movie:

mms://media.type.washington.edu/userid/filename

Substitue type with "staff," "faculty," "student," "depts," or "courses," depending on the account to which you uploaded your movie, userid with the UWNetID of the account, and filename with the name of your original movie, including its extension (.asf or .wmv).
You may have placed your movie within file folders on the "public_media" server, so make sure these folder names are typed in correctly ni the address. For instance, the URL for a movie placed within a subfolder of a faculty media directory will look something like this:

mms://media.faculty.washington.edu/
john32/english100/filename.wmv


Click OK. The movie should load and play in the Windows player.

If your movie doesn't play, check Computing and Communications's page to troubleshoot common streaming problems.


Create a Windows Media metafile.


The way streaming media works, you cannot link directly from your HTML web page to your streaming movie. This is because the page and the media live in completely different places - one on the "public_html" server and one on the "public_media" server. In order to bridge this gap between servers, you must create a Windows Media metafile. These data files point the way from the web page (where you put your html page) to the streaming media servers (where you put your actual movie). In other words, they offer the Web browser directions on how to find your streaming media on the public_media servers.

To create a Windows Media metafile:

Open a new file in your text-editing program (Notepad, SimpleText, or BBEdit).
Type the following:







Substitue type with "staff," "faculty," "student," "depts," or "courses," depending on the account to which you uploaded your movie, userid with the UWNetID of the account, and filename with the name of your original movie, including its extension (.asf or .wmv).
Save your file by clicking File > Save. In order to keep your media files organized, rename it to match the movie it references. For instance, if your Windows Media movie is titled "john32.asf," title the reference file "john32_ref.asx" or some other easily recognizable name. Make sure to change the extension to .asx.
Upload your saved metafile using a FTP program to your "public_html" or "student_html" folder.



Link to your streaming Windows Media


Once you've created and uploaded your Windows Media metafile, you should create a link on your Web page that your audience can click to view your streaming video.

Open or create your Web page in your favorite Web page editor.
Create a link to your Windows Media metafile. The URL should look something like this:

http://type.washington.edu/userid/filename_ref.asx.

Substitute type with "staff," "faculty," "student," "depts," or "courses," depending on the type of your account, userid with the UW NetID of that account, and filename_ref.asx with the name of your Windows Media metafile. If you saved your reference file in subfolders of the "public_html" directory, make sure to include the folders in the URL.
Save your Web page, and if you're not using SimpleSite, use your FTP program to upload it to your Web site.


If you haven't already made your Web page and aren't sure how, please look at our Action Plan for creating a class Web site.

Make sure to load your web page and test the link to make sure it works. If the movie doesn't open in a new player window, make sure the URL link is correct and that you linked to your metafile on the "public_html" server rather than the real movie on the "public_media" server.

Read More

How to stream

As the Internet continues to play a larger and larger role in our lives, the role of the radio station must change to suit the times. With the introduction of audio streaming, listeners can access stations around the world. For a minimal investment, we can grab those listeners. Radio can take advantage of this new medium with two types of streams: static and live.

Static streaming takes a pre-recorded sound file and delivers it on demand. The file is recorded, then encoded and archived on the server hard drive. Good examples are demos, feature length programs or archived programs. This type of streaming does not require the use of a dedicated audio stream server. It can be streamed right off of your Web server to the client player. Some players begin playing the file before it is done downloading (quickstart), which is helpful for large sound files. Static streaming is supported by a variety of common audio file formats including .WAV, RealAudio, Quicktime, .WMP and .MP3.

Live streaming is a continuous audio feed that is always being encoded and delivered. The transmission side of a live streaming setup requires two main pieces of equipment: the encoder, which converts the audio signal to the delivery format, and the server, which accepts the single stream from the encoder and distributes it to the end user's client software.

Choosing a system


There are a growing number of streaming systems competing for dominance in the marketplace. Choose a system that compliments your audio and has players for every possible combination of hardware. Any system you choose will sound good at high bandwidth, but the trick is to choose a system that sounds good for low-speed users. It may pay to optimize your audio stream to the lowest common denominator.

Once a system has been chosen, decide how your stream will get onto the Net. There are a variety of ways in which to stream live audio.


1) Encode the audio at your facility and send the output of the encoder to a streaming provider. This is usually done with an encoding computer at your facility and a fixed Net connection — either a DSL or fractional T-1 to the provider. If you send your stream to a provider via DSL, remember that Net congestion and outages can affect streaming to all of your users. Some streaming providers insert advertising or picture clips in the player before the audio plays. Read your agreement carefully to be sure any ad insertions are appropriate for your station.
2) Encode the audio at your facility and send the output of the encoder to an in-house server. This requires at least a full T-1 access to the Internet. Top level access, providers that give direct access to the Internet backbone, is available through carriers such as UUnet, Verio, Digex, AT&T CERFnet and Exodus.
3) The third choice is to send your audio to a facility or ISP and have them handle the whole thing. This was the most common way to stream in the beginning. In many cases, a tuner was placed at the ISP and streamed directly to the Net. This method is the simplest, but a tuner feed of your air signal is usually a disaster unless you have a classical station with little to no processing on-air. Limiter by-products that are of little consequence to the air signal wreak havoc with the encoder. The extra harmonics and information cause distortion and noise in the decoded audio stream.

Nuts and bolts


Let's go through an on-site streaming system with Apple's Quicktime, and RealNetworks' Real Audio 5.0 and G2. These are the three systems we serve at WDUQ.

Prepare the audio with proper processing and equalization. Processing for the Net is different than processing for on air. Avoid traditional air-chain limiting and processing because heavy limiting does not work well with the encoder algorithm. Equalization ahead of the AGC is important, not to change frequency response, but rather to remove the frequencies that the encoder cannot pass. By placing the EQ ahead of the AGC, the AGC will not react to the frequencies that will not be heard anyway.

Listen on the player that your listeners will most commonly use. Adjust the processing while listening to a decoded signal. You want to hear the effects of the algorithm path. Hear what the user hears, just like adjusting air chain processing while listening carefully off air. There can be a considerable delay between the encoder input and audio decoder output, so take your time with adjustments. Many new processors are designed just for Internet encoding and have the settings and processing power needed for clean streaming.

Setting up an encoder


PCs and Macs work well as encoders. PCs should have a fast, modern CPU (Pentium class and at least 128MB RAM), a good sound card and network interface card (NIC). Older PowerPC Macs work well (128MB RAM and 100MHz PowerPC minimum). We encode on leftover Macintosh 8100s. Since Macs have very good on-board audio, a separate sound card is not needed. We use RealProducer software for our RealAudio streams and Sorenson Broadcaster with a Q Design PRO codec for our Quicktime streams.

The bit-rate speed is set at the encoder. Setting the speed too high will prevent modem users from receiving your stream. Setting it too low degrades audio quality. While cable modems and DSL are becoming more popular, a typical radio station will serve most of its users by POTS modem. Most of these users are still connecting at 28.8- to 33kb/s despite the availability of 56k modems. Some encoders, such as RealAudio's G2, are able to provide both higher speeds to users who can handle it and lower speeds to modem users. This is a great advance for streaming and really helps give you better choices.

Setting up the server


You have a choice of several server platforms. We chose UNIX because it is a mature, reliable and well-established operating system. I obtained a refurbished Sun Microsystems workstation for $50 and went to work. I was amazed to see how the older, smaller and slower 50MHz UNIX machine could handle the Real 5 server without being overtaxed. We later upgraded to a larger multiple processor, a Sun SparcServer1000E. We also added the Quicktime server and Realaudio G2. One workstation runs all three by setting the input and output control to different ports for each service.

I recommend downloading the free versions of the server software to determine your needs and get a sense of how many users you will have. RealNetworks offers a free 25-user G2 server, and Apple offers a free 1,000-user Quicktime server. Buying a streaming server license based on concurrent users may not be wise because it may be overkill. It does not take much traffic to saturate a T-1.
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
How to Stream Video

Four Basic Steps:
Creating, digitizing and streaming video is an extremely complex process. The following is a vastly oversimplified outline of how to stream video. If you decide to actually do this, be prepared to spend MANY hours, lots of money (on a fast PC with a HUGE hard drive) and suffer through multiple system crashes.

Step 1: Creating Content.
Video content can be created through traditional means such as a camera, camcorder or VCR. However, the type of film and the filming technique will greatly affect the clarity of the resulting video stream.

Step 2: Digitizing the Video.
The resulting video must be transformed into a digital file. This is accomplished by using a computer equipped with a video capture card installed. The VCR, camcorder or other video device is connected directly to the capture card via standard RCA cords or S-video cords. An S-Video connection will give you better quality. Video editing software such as Adobe Premiere can be used to run the capture card, and edit the resulting file.

Video can be captured in a number of ways, and each setting will effect the ultimate quality of the resulting video. Some settings work better than others with various encoding methods (see next step). Furthermore, capture cards often perform their own hardware compression which may or may not work well with the encoder you choose.

Step 3: Compressing/encoding the Video.
The resulting digitized video file is far too big to transmit over the Internet. The file must altered to reduce it's size. There are many software packages that use different algorithms to accomplish this task. Once encoded, the files are usually only viewable on the player associated with the encoding software vendor. Some of the leading encoders include; Real Video, Vivo, VDO and Streamworks.

Most encoders provide numerous options for encoding at various speeds, levels of image quality and smoothness of motion. At this point it is really a zero-sum game; better resolution means fewer frames per second and vice versa. Setting a higher transmission rate vastly improves both image quality and fps.

There is no "best" way to encode video. It depends on content of the video (animation, fast motion, talking head) and the upper limit of transmission speed that is available. Most articles recommend encoding several ways, and viewing the results on a control PC.

Step 4: Serving the Video.
Once the video files are created, they must somehow be served to clients. The simplest method is to download the entire video file, and then view it with a plug-in or helper application. "Raw" video files are typically quite large, however, and the user is not able to begin viewing the video until the entire file has been downloaded. An example of this method would be a Windows Movie (.avi) file.

A second technique is often called pseudo-streaming. This technique allows for playback as soon as enough data has been downloaded to fill a playback buffer. The required size of the buffer is dependent on the overall quality of the video, the speed of the connection, and in some cases the length of the video. The object is to maintain some data in the buffer at all times, to prevent disruption of the video playback. One example of this technique are Vivo encoded files (.viv). The Apple Quicktime plug-in also allows psuedo-streaming for regular Quicktime (.mov) files.

The last technique, aside from analog methods, is "true" streaming. Like pseudo-streaming, the viewer software maintains a buffer of data, which it uses to playback without having to download the entire file. Typically the encoding software greatly reduces the file size of the original video. The technique then takes advantage of a specialized server (which works in conjunction with a web server) to manage the stream of video between the server and the client. The server can dynamically modify the rate of transmission based on network congestion and other factors, greatly improving the quality of the delivered video. This also allows the user to "skip ahead" to a later portion of video, without needing to download the earlier portion. An example of this technique would be Real Video (.rm) files served by a Real Video server.

Read More

Hexidecimal, Decimal, and Binary #'s Explained

In order to fully understand this, you must also understand same basic math such as addition, multiplication, squaring, and Order of Operations (PEMDAS {Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction}). You must also be familiar with the binary number system and have experience on how to work with them. In this tutorial, I'll explain what is Hexidecimal, Decimal, and Binary numbers and how to convert between them.

Note: This tutorial was typed by a member of a hacking forum named "weazy". All credits of this tutorial go to him and the forum in which he posted the following tutorial. I'm not going to lie and say that I posted it............here goes.....

I've decided to write about a topic that is fun and very useful and one that not many people have mastered. I'm going to explain binary, hexadecimal, and decimal number systems and how to convert between them.

Decimal number system:

The decimal number system is the number system we all know and love. Decimal is a base 10 system, meaning that each place value goes up by a power of ten. This also means that in each place there can only be the numbers 0-9. Once we go past 9 a "1" is placed in the next column to represent 1 * 10^1 and a 0 in the last column to represent 0 * 10^0. Here is a diagram of the place values up to 10,000,000 in a base 10 system:

|10,000,000|1,000,000|100,000|10,000|1,000|100|10| 1|

For example, the number 123,289 can also be represented as:

1 * 10^5 + 2 * 10^4 + 3 * 10^3 + 2 * 10^2 + 8 * 10^1 + 9 * 10^0

Binary number system:

The binary number system is a base 2 system, which means that all the place values are a power of 2. In a base 2 system there can only be a "1" or a "0" in any given place because once a number is more than 1 a "1" is placed in the next column to represent 1 * 2^1 and a "0" is placed in the last column to represent 0 * 2^0. Here is a diagram of the place values in the binary system up to 128:

128|64|32|16|8|4|2|1

For example, in binary, the number 101001 can also be represented as:

1 * 2^5 + 0 * 2^4 + 1 * 2^3 + 0 * 2^2 + 0 * 2^1 + 1 * 2^0


Hexadecimal number system:

The hexadecimal number is base 16. This means that all the place values in a hexadecimal number go up by a power of 16. In any place there can be the numbers 1-9 and also the letters A-F. In a hexadecimal number the letters A-F represent the numbers 10-15.
A=10 B=11 C=12 D=13 E=14 F=15

Here's a diagram of the place values in the hexadecimal up to 268,435,456:

268,435,456|16,777,216|1,048,576|65,536|4,096|256| 16|1

For example the number 45A in hexadecimal can also be represented as:

4 * 16^2 + 5 * 16^1 + 10 * 16^0


Converting between number systems:

To give an example of converting numbers between the decimal hexadecimal and binary number systems I'll convert a number from hexadecimal to binary and then to decimal.

Lets take the hexadecimal number 4D, which happens to be the ASCII code for the letter "M":

Converting binary numbers to hexadecimal and back is made to be easy; in fact hexadecimal is a shorthand way of writing binary numbers. Each digit in a hexadecimal number represents 4 binary digits or bits. In order to convert 4D into binary we can first separate the 4 and the D and say that they each represent a 4-bit number. The D represents 13. In order to convert that to a 4bit binary number we have to look back at our binary place diagram and see what combination of place values will add up to 13. These are 8 + 4 + 1. So...
D = 1101
The "4" is simply 4 which is 100 in binary, but because we said that each hexadecimal digit is equal to 4 bits we add a 0 to the front to make it a 4 bit number. So...
4 = 0100

Now all we have to do is put them together:

0100 1101 = 01001101
4 D

In order to convert the binary number 01001101 into a decimal number all we have to do is take each "1", multiply it by its place value, and add the results together:


128|64|32|16|8|4|2|1
0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1

64 + 8 + 4 + 1 = 77

SO... 4D hex = 01001101 bin = 77 dec

I hope I've left you utterly confused; confusion is one of the first steps to enlightenment. If not, I hope I've taught you something new or at least refreshed you on a very important concept in the world of computers.

Read More

How to make folders invisible!!

Here is a fairly simple way of hiding your folders without using any special program.

Here's how you do it:

1) Create a new folder anywhere on your hard drive.
2) When naming the folder, hold down "Alt" and press "0160". This will make the folder have no name or characters. You cannot simply press the Spacebar because the folder will not stay blank!
3) When your finished naming the folder, right-click the folder and go to "Properties" and go to the "Customize" tab.
4) Select "Change Icon" and scroll along until you find a few blank spaces (which are icons). Select anyone of those for your folders icon and Apply the changes.
5) Enjoy........

Read More

Secure Folder in XP NO tools Needed !

Step 1:
---------
choose the folder you want to protect. [Ex: c:myFolder]

Step 2:
---------
Copy the following text

{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

Step 3:
--------
Right clikc on your folder [Ex: c:myFolder] and then click on rename.

when edit text is highlighted, at the end of the text type . and then

paste the above text. for ex:

myFolder.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

Voila whtz that.. your folder looks like Recycle Bin.. and when you

double clikc on it it will redirect you to recycle bin.

Step 4:
---------
Reverse Engineering
Press WindowKey R and this will open your Run Window then type CMD

and press ENTER. after when you are in DOS Shell map to folder PATH [in

my case -- cd c:] and then type dir/x [*dir/x :: is used for view

windows98 type dir tree..] and then rename your folder name.

EX:

c:>ren myFold~1.{64 myFolder [press Enter]

Voila you successfully done reverse enginnering also::

PS: for more security check the dont show system and hidden folder.

Read More

How To Trace The Spam Mail

Spammers often forge the headers of their email in an attempt to avoid losing their accounts and to evade email filters. These notes may help you track the source of spam. The most important thing is to have a mail reader that can show you the full headers of an email in question. The important lines are as follows:
From:
Who the message is from. This is the easiest to forge, and thus the least reliable.

From
As distinct from the "From:" line. This line is not actually part of the email header, but mail transfer software often inserts it when the mail is received. Many Unix mailers use this line to separate messages in a mail folder. This line will always be the first line in the headers.
This line can also be forged, but not always.


Reply-To:
The address to which replies should be sent. Often absent from the message, and very easily forgeable. However, it often provides a clue. For example, forged spam often has a legitimate Reply-To: field so that the spammer can receive mail orders.

Return-Path:
The email address for return mail. Same as Reply-To:

Sender:
The account that sent the message. Mail software is supposed to insert this line if the user modifies the From: line. Most Mail software is broken in this respect, so this line is rarely present. Some mailers provide an X-Sender: line.

Message-ID:
A unique string assigned by the mail system when the message is first created. This is also forgeable in most cases, but requires a little more specialized knowledge than forging the From: line. Also, the Message-ID: often identifies the system from which the sender is logged in, rather than the actual system where the message originated.
The format of a Message-ID: field is @

Each kind of mail software has its own style of unique string. Sloppy forgeries often get it wrong, thus a forgery can be confirmed by comparing the message id with some legitimate messages from that same site.


Received:
These are the most reliable lines in the header. They form a list of all sites through which the message traveled in order to reach you. They are completely unforgeable after the point where it was injected. Up to that point, they may be forgeries.
Received: lines are read from bottom to top. That is, the first Received: line is your own system or mail server. The last (non-forged) Received: line is where the mail originated.

Each mail system has their own style of Received: line. A Received: line typically identifies the machine that received the mail and the machine that the mail was received from. I.e.:


Received: from foo.com by bar.com id AA15057; Fri, 25 Jul 97 09:39:02

The "foo.com" part is the name that the sending machine used to identify itself. This may be forged in the case of spam. The id is for logging purposes and may help system administrators track the spam if you can get them to cooperate with you.
Many mailers will add extra information. For example:

Received: from foo.com ([129.2.3.4]) by bar.com id AA15057; Fri, 25 Jul 97 09:39:02

In this case, bar.com has inserted the IP address of the sending system. If the machine name does not match the IP address, then you have likely identified the point where the mail was forged. In other words, the machine whose address is 129.2.3.4 lied when it identified itself as foo.com. Any Received: lines that follow are likely to be forgeries.
If the IP address does not make sense (for instance, no component may be greater than 255), then this entire Received: line is a fake. Contact a system admin for more advice in determining if an IP address is bogus. If the entire Received: line is fake, then the injection point is somewhere above in the headers.

Sometimes you will see

Received: from foo.com (x.y.alterdial.uu.net [129.2.3.4]) by bar.com id AA15057; ...

In this case, the mailer has inserted both the IP address and the real name of the sending system. This will help you identify forgeries and eliminate the need to look up the IP address by hand.

Comment:
Some mailers may add additional information to the headers, such as "Authenticated sender is doe@foo.com". Forged Comment: lines can be easily added to outgoing mail, so this line is likely to be fake, but not always.
Other mailers may insert their own authentication information in the headers.

Here is an example of a forgery:
From webpromo@denmark.it.earthlink.net Tue Jul 8 13:05:02 1997
Return-Path:
From: webpromo@denmark.it.earthlink.net
Received: from denmark.it.earthlink.net (denmark-c.it.earthlink.net
[204.119.177.22]) by best.com (SMI-8.6/mail.byaddr) with ESMTP id
NAA21506 for ;
Tue, 8 Jul 1997 13:05:16 -0700
Received: from mail.earthlink.net (1Cust98.Max16.Detroit.MI.MS.UU.NET
[153.34.218.226]) by denmark.it.earthlink.net (8.8.5/8.8.5)
with SMTP id NAA12436; Tue, 8 Jul 1997 13:00:46 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from adultpromo@earthlink.net by adultpromo@earthlink.net
(8.8.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id GAA05239 for ;
Tue, 08 Jul 1997 15:48:51 -0600 (EST)
To: adultpromo@earthlink.net
Message-ID: <199702170025.gaa08056@no-where.net>
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 97 15:48:51 EST
Subject: Hot News !
Reply-To: adultpromo@earthlink.net
X-PMFLAGS: 12345678 9
X-UIDL: 1234567890x00xyz1x128xyz426x9x9x
Comments: Authenticated sender is
Content-Length: 672
X-Lines: 26
Status: RO

Obviously, the To: line is a forgery; the actual recipients list was hidden, probably with a blind carbon-copy (Bcc: header)
The "From", "Return-Path:" and "From:" all identify the same email address, but that may be a forgery. You can try mailing to the given address and see if your complaint bounces.

The "To:", "Reply-To:" and "Authenticated sender" lines all identify a different account. Again, these may all be forgeries.

The Message-ID: line is an obvious fake.

The first Recieved: line shows the mail arriving at my service provider from Earthlink. I trust my service provider, so this line is almost certainly valid.

The second Received: line shows this inconsistency:


... from mail.earthlink.net (1Cust98.Max16.Detroit.MI.MS.UU.NET [153.34.218.226])

In other words, the machine that delivered the mail to denmark.it.earthlink.net identified itself as mail.earthlink.net but was actually named 1Cust98.Max16.Detroit.MI.MS.UU.NET. This is very likely a lie. However, Earthlink rents POPs from Uunet, so this might be an Earthlink customer dialing in from Uunet.
The third Received: line is completely bogus. If the mail came from a dial-in customer at Uunet, there wouldn't be any more Recieved: lines. If the mail was being relayed from Uunet, this Received: line would indicate Uunet, not Earthlink. Further, this Received: line contains email addresses, not machine names.

Clearly, this email was forged to make it look like it came from Earthlink but was actually injected from Uunet. Whether this was by an Earthlink customer or some other Uunet customer is impossible to tell without cooperation from Earthlink sysadmins.

Here is another forgery:

Received: from cola.bekkoame.or.jp (cola.bekkoame.or.jp [202.231.192.40])
by srv.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id BAA00705
for ; Wed, 30 Jul 1997 01:15:27 -0600 (MDT)
From: beautifulgirls585@aol.com
Received: from cola.bekkoame.or.jp
(ip21.san-luis-obispo.ca.pub-ip.psi.net [38.12.123.21]) by
cola.bekkoame.or.jp (8.8.5+2.7W/3.5W) with SMTP id OAA11439;
Wed, 30 Jul 1997 14:35:50 +0900 (JST)
Received: from mailhost.aol.com(alt1.aol.com(244.218.07.32)) by
aol.com (8.8.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id GAA00075 for <"">;
Tue, 29 Jul 1997 22:19:42 -0600 (EST)
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 97 22:19:42 EST
Subject: You can have what you want...
Message-ID: <574857638458.hwf39862@aol.com>
Reply-To: beautifulgirls585@aol.com
X-PMFLAGS: 56354433 0
Comments: Authenticated sender is
X-UIDL: vjg79u26gfkjjrty38jf983j309jfyrw

Here, the second Received: line indicates that "cola.bekkoame.or.jp" received the mail from a machine which identified itself as "cola.bekkoame.or.jp", but was in fact "ip21.san-luis-obispo.ca.pub-ip.psi.net". This mail was probably forged from a Psi.net dial-in account.
As a final proof, the IP address mentioned in the third Received: line cannot be matched via whois or traceroute. It certainly doesn't match AOL, indicating that this line is bogus.

Read More

Lightning Fast Browsing Trick For Internet Explorer And Firefox (video link )

Make web pages load lightning fast.. A must-see tweak for
Firefox and Internet Explorer users.
more...Most browsers are configured for dial-up.. Tweak the settings
to boost surfing speeds and minimize page load times

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/333720/lightning_fast_browsing_trick_for_internet_explorer_and_firefox/

Read More

Security Tips and Tricks

I wanted to give a brief, yet hopefully informative, little guide on internet security and how to protect yourself online. There are four major areas that I'm going to cover:

1. Updating Windows

2. Firewalls

3. Antivirus Software

4. Email

Updating Windows is the first suggestion that I would have for you. When you installed your brand new Windows operating system they didn't have all the bugs worked out of it and they issue updates for your operating system. These updates will fix many of the security holes that were found in the original operating system. So, how do you go about updating your Windows? Go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Next suggestion is a firewall, with the ever increasing number of people with a broadband connection and 24/7 connectivity it becomes even more important that you put a firewall on you computer. Your computer has a series of ports that are either opened or closed to receive and send information onto the net. If someone attacks these ports with D.O.S. (Denial of Service) attack they can shut your connection to the net off, but that's not that bad, but they can also look at these open ports and find openings in your computer. This is serious because they can gather information on you, can look into you hard drive, and do all sorts of malicious activities. Go to the Firewall section of the website to download one of the free software programs there. They will make your computer even more safe then it was with the security updates you just completed.

The third and final suggestion is Antivirus software. Viruses can range in severity from something simple and annoying to viruses that will wipe your hard drive clean. So you need to get an Antivirus software program. AVG is a free virus scanner that works excellently at protecting your computer. Read more about the antivirus software at the Antivirus section of this website. Antivirus software will also help prevent Trojans from getting on you computer. Trojans allows a user to have remote access to your computer, yes, just like the trojan horse it sits on your computer waiting for the person that put it there to use it...so antivirus software will work wonders on your computer. Make sure you keep the virus definitions up to date! Also avoid downloading email attachments, downloading files from an untrustworthy site, and make sure you frequently scan you hard drive.

Email - No reputable place will ask for you to fill in your credit card information in an email, delete it or sending it to your ISP to point out this danger. If you get an email from EBAY or AOL or any other big company and there is this link in the email asking you to update your credit card info, don't do it, it's a scam, don't do it, they just make a webpage that looks like Ebay or AOL. This is a quick way to get your credit information stolen...so basically use some commonsense when you're reading your emails.

These four basic steps will secure your computer and make your time on the internet a pleasurable one and not a headache. Happy Safe Surfing!

Read More

Protecting your kids online with Web Filters

You have kids, you have a computer with an internet connection, the two put together = trouble! I don't mean to understate this point, because when it comes down to it, you, the parents, are the the one that has to take responsibility for your children and what they view. I'm generally pretty harsh on parents that think that nothing can happen on the internet...while the internet feels "safe" because it's in your house, what bad thing could happen? Well, read the newspapers and see what can happen with the "safe" internet. If you're going to have a net connection you need to be responsible and make sure your kids are safe online. So, here are some programs that will help you monitor what your kids are up to:

iProtectyou - This is one of the best programs on the net at the moment to stop your kids from seeing objectionable material and unmonitored chat and email sessions. This program is FREE so download it. This program allows you to control which websites your kids are allowed to visit, which programs can have internet access, blocking email, chat, instant messages that would have objectionable words in it...it will also gather information about what your children are doing online...you can also set up a schedule when your child can be online. I just can't say how great of a program this is and if you're a parent and you want to help your kids be safe, this is the program for you. It is password protected, so as long as your kids don't have the password, they can't change the settings. Really, take responsibility for you children's online life. If I get enough requests I'll write a tutorial for this program that will show you the steps for setting this program up. You can download this program here http://www.softforyou.com/

We-Blocker - This is a very effective web filtering tool that will stop objectionable websites. It has some very nice features including multiple accounts so you can set up different settings for different age groups or different age groups. A very good web filtering tool, I still like iProtectyou a little more because you can limit access to certain programs and chatrooms, IM's, and other venues should be restricted...so this is good if you just want to filter web pages. You can download this program at http://www.we-blocker.com/index.php

AOL and MSN, and many other Internet service providers have some form of internet blocking and restricted zones you can set so you can limit the access of your children on the net. It will limit emails, IM's and things like that...but I think parents are too often drawn into a false sense of security with these settings...if you minimize AOL and open a browser like Mozilla the filters will be gone, and you know those kids will find ways around simple defenses.

In closing, the best way to make sure you kids are safe online is to surf with them...kids, especially young kids, shouldn't be left on the computer without parental supervision. If however you can't be with your kids while they surf, please download iProtectyou and make sure you set it up to block areas that would be dangerous for them. No matter how many laws the government passes to protect children, it will always be up to you, the parent to proactively protect your children.

Read More

Setting your Home Page

These steps are pretty similar for most of the browsers out there, I'll show you how to set your home page in Internet Explorer (this is the page the first opens up when you launch your browser), but basically you can find this option in the settings of all the browsers out there. Here is how to set your IE homepage.

First go to Tools and then Internet Options

The general tab will be where you would want to change the settings, in the Home Page section where it says Address: you can either fill in a web address that you want to have as a homepage or you can hit the Use Blank which will make no page load when you first open your browser.

In Mozilla and Netscape you would go to:

Edit ---->Preferences

Then go to the Navigator branch to the left and it will open up this display, you can either click Blank Page, Home page (that will be the page url listed where it says Home Page) or you can use the last page you visited.

There you have it, how to set your home page in IE and in Netscape and Mozilla.

Read More

Programs to Tweak you Windows Settings

These are a list of programs to help you mess around with you registry settings. Before you do anything remember these programs could really mess up your system and I don't want you complaining to me if you do. These programs are 1. For advanced users 2. People that know how to get themselves out of trouble when they do get themselves in trouble. There is my disclaimer before you try any of these programs...so don't complain to me, because your pleas will fall on deaf ears. Gee, I sounded so nasty there...I mean, I'll try to help you if you screwed things up, but don't send me a bill. Now I'm not sure if I should even include this section...ahh what the heck, mayhem can be fun and it makes you grow as a person.

Fresh UI - This has lots of basic hacks that will make your system run a little more like you want it too. It's what I consider it a "safe" program. Has lots of things that you can change, you shouldn't get into trouble using this program. Lots of changes you can make to your system and you really don't have to worry about destroying your computer with it...it's also a freeware download, so no harm in downloading it and giving it a try.

Tweak UI - This is part of the Power Toys Microsoft puts out but doesn't really support. Basically Microsoft is saying, "Here's this program, it's cool, can do lots of stuff, but if you screw up don't come crying to us". There are two versions of this program, one for Win XP and one for Win 98, 95, ME...Download the right one.

These are the two programs I've tried, if you have any that you like just drop me an email and I'll check it out. I'll be writing registry hacks for this site where you go directly into regedit and do the changes yourself...but it's late tonight while I write this and I'll continue and add more as this website gets a little bit older and gets more visitors.

Read More

The Great Browser Question - Which to use?

What is a browser? Simplest possible terms it's the program that allows you to surf web pages. For most people that use Windows their browser of choice is Internet Explorer, but why? Well, simple answer to that is that it comes built in with your Windows system and it's highly integrated (perhaps too much so) into the Windows operating system. For most people IE is just fine and you don't really need another browser, but did you know that there are other browsers out there? Did you know some of them have really cool features? Well, there is this brave new world of browsers out there and it's time that you take a look and test drive other browsers, after all, just because you have Windows doesn't mean that you have to use IE. Here is the breakdown of what's out there at the moment

Mozilla - Oh, you gotta love open source, it sometimes produces the best programs out there and Mozilla is a happy result of this open source community. So, let's do a brief little history on Mozilla...many years ago in a galaxy far far away there was a browser that competed with Dark Empire (also known as Microsoft)...this brave browser was called Netscape Navigator. Well, years of struggle, and finally Netscape on deaths door does something that few expected, it gave away its source code and made it open source and asked a band of rebels to take the challenge of making a better browser than IE...lo and behold MOZILLA was born...yes Mozilla, the first distribution of it basically made this loud thudding sound...oh god was it bad, but still it kept growing, getting better, and soon became THE BEST BROWSER. Yes, it's grown so big now that it will be stepping on Tokyo soon and the cries of, "Mozilla is coming, Mozilla is coming" will be dubbed with an out of sync English accent. Seriously though, Mozilla is faster than any browser out there, it meets almost all the internet standards perfectly, and it's a very stable browser. For my money it's the best value, oh and it's free, yes I mentioned that right? Yes, well it is free. You can download Mozilla here www.mozilla.org . Many Linux users will be familiar with this browser since it comes as standard fair in most of the Linux distributions now.

Internet Explorer - Okay, so, this is the one most people use. Internet Explorer has come a long way and it's in many ways one of the things Microsoft succeeded with by paying attention to the internet standards that are currently out there. I find that Internet Explorer meets many of the HTML, CSS, XML, ASP, PHP, and pretty much any other webpage standard you want to throw at it...why is this good? Well, it means that the webpage will be displayed as the author intended it to be displayed. So, it is a very good web browser, however, I find on older systems like Win 95, 98, ME, if you screw up your IE, you screw up your whole damn operating system. This is where IE is just too integrated into the operating system and this is where you could end up in a little bit of trouble.

Opera - The innovative little browser that could. What makes this browser interesting is the features it adds beyond the basics of web browsing. One thing I like is the popup blocker included in the program. Yes those annoying popup ads are bye bye and they stay that way. It's a small, relatively fast browser, and generally I like it. It is web compliant, umm, mostly compliant, okay so I have used it and gotten some funky looking pages from time to time. The Con's of this browser - It costs, umm, $30 the last time I checked...if you don't pay you can have a freeware version that's supported with advertising. It sort of makes me cringe to pay anything for a web browser, mainly because the best browser is free, but I can't fault Opera for wanting to make money, not every program can be open source. I think Opera will have it's market in Palm devices because of it's ability to render pages small and to still make them look like web pages. Give it a download here www.opera.com if you want to give it a try.

Avant - This is more of an add-on to Internet Explorer, so it won't get really that big of a write up. Originally it was called IE Opera, umm, yeah good name considering there was already a browser named Opera, but anyway, so they became Avant. Pluses about this browser, it has a very effective popup blocker and some quick mouse gesture things, so it's more of an add-on to IE and it does work rather nice, but, it's still basically Internet Explorer.

Netscape Navigator - I put this browser last, because, well, basically Mozilla and Netscape are indistinguishable at the moment. Netscape is basically Mozilla only they make you register to use the browser, which isn't that bad, but still it's basically Mozilla or is Mozilla basically Netscape. The line is getting blurred a bit. The positives about Netscape, well, I used them loyally for years, so I'll always have a bit of loyalty towards them. Second, I liked that they knew when they needed help and opened their source code. One other pro is that their email client that comes attached with the browser will accept AOL mail, so if you want an email client for you AOL account this is the way to go (AOL bought out Netscape a few years ago). Basically Netscape is Mozilla that you have to register to use...but still, it is a good browser and has some interesting integrations in it, like ICQ, AIM, etc.

So that's the list, did I miss some browsers, umm, yeah, probably I did, but I'll make this list longer as new browsers come out. Which browsers do I use, I like Mozilla, it is the fastest most stable...that would be my choice, but any of the browsers listed will do a good job, you just have to pick a browser that's best for you. Mozilla is coming...oops, sorry, I couldn't resist.

Read More

Formatting Your Hard Drive

Sometimes you just have to format. I equate it to a baptism for your computer, you are washing away all the sins from it, making it new, fresh, giving it a new beginning. I know people feel formatting can be a traumatic experience, but if it's any comfort to you, most computer pros format their computers more often then most beginners. The difference is: Computer Geeks can get their computer up and running in an hour after a format (maybe less time than that) and a beginner might get it up and running in 4 to 5 hours (sometimes longer). So let me walk you through the important things you should do before, during, and after a format:

Pre-Format steps (The stuff before you go nuts and format):

• Backup your important data - Just because you have to format doesn't mean you have to lose everything on your computer. Backup outlook, important documents, downloads, just about anything you can burn to a disk that will make your computer like home again. Just think of this step as if you're moving...you pack up all the junk you want before you move into the new place.
• Startup Disk - Make a bootable startup disk, in Windows 98, ME, 2k, and XP they have where you can make a startup disk. So, get yourself a startup disk.
• Go to your device manager and write down the hard drive components you have on your computer. This will make it easier if you can't find the drivers you need, you'll be able to get them off the net or the original CD's that came with your computer or components.

FDisk - Getting the partition ready (SKIP THIS STEP IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR EXISTING PARTITIONS)

If you already have a partition on your hard drive you can skip this step. I personally like to make a new partition and really have a clean start when installing an operating system or if I want to manage the partition size of a large hard drive. So here are the steps:

• Insert the startup disk that you made in the first part of this tutorial. Restart your computer and your computer will boot from the floppy disk drive. In Windows (98 and ME) you'll get a question asking if you want cd support or not, go ahead and scroll down to: "Start Computer Without CD-Rom support"
• At the command prompt type fdisk
• If your hard drive is bigger than 512 mb (ugh, like who's isn't now) It will ask if you want large disk support. Type in Y or yes

You'll then see an option menu that contains the follow choices:

1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
2. Set Active Partition
3. Delete Partition or Logical DOS Drive
4. Display Partition information
5. Change current fixed disk drive

Once you get to this you'll have a few options and there are a few things you need to know. If you already have a DOS partition and you want to delete it then you go to 3. Delete Partition or Logical DOS Drive and you'll select to delete this drive.

To create a new partition on your hard drive you select 1. Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive then press enter. Then on the next menu select 1. Create Primary DOS Partition and then press Enter. After you do this you'll get the message "Do you wish to use the maximum available size for primary DOS partition?" That basically is assigning how much space you want on the partition (only for Fat38 or NTFS if you want to install using a FAT 16 you'll have to follow a few different steps not covered in this tutorial...mainly because I haven't formatted anything in FAT16 in such a long time I forgot off the top of my head). If you have a large hard drive you might want to break it up into smaller partitions. For now let's say you just want to use the whole hard drive space for this partition. You'll type Y and then Enter. After doing this you'll hit Esc and then Esc to quit Fdisk.

This will create one large partition hard drive...(if you've wanted to make multiple partitions you would basically not assign all the space to the one partition and then go 1. Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive and then on the second menu you would hit choice 2. Create Extended DOS Partition and then you can create another partition with the remaining space.)

Formatting your Hard Drive

• Insert Start Up Disk

• Get to the command prompt

• Type Format C: (or whatever letter is assigned to the drive you want to format) **Note if you get a message like "Bad command or file name" you'll have to extract the format.com file to do this just type: extract ebd.cab format.com at the command prompt and then type Format C:

• The startup disk will ask you "WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST!
  Proceed with Format (Y/N)?" Now once you hit Y everything on your hard drive will be deleted. Type Y

• After the format is complete it will ask "Volume label (11 characters, ENTER for none)?" Either put a name in or just hit enter

• There you have it a formatted hard drive!!! Ready for you to install an operating system on...so get going and install one already.

Read More

Scandisk

This is something that Windows 98 users will use from time to time to help fix errors on their disk, thankfully Windows XP has improved enough where the scandisk will only happen during serious failures and only happen during startup...mainly this is because of the NTFS file format, but, you don't need to know that at the moment. If you're in Windows 98 this is how you do a scandisk:

Go to Start--->Accessories---->System Tools--->Scandisk...once you do this you'll open up a program that will give your computer a quick scan in order to find a file format problem, lost clusters, corrupt clusters, etc. You can run a standard which will check the files and a thorough that will scan the hard disk for physical errors.

If you're a Windows 98 user and you run into hard drive troubles or any computer troubles remember to give scandisk a try, it might solve the problem. I underline might because I used Win 98 for years and scandisk only solved the problem once, so...keep in mind that it is not the be all and end all to computer repair.

Read More

System Restore (XP Only)

Windows XP when it was first released had such a positive buzzzzzz around it that you thought it would be able to leap small buildings in a single bound, that it would be able to run faster than a locomotive, that it would have a girlfriend named Lois!!!! Once you installed XP it basically looks like a fancy version of Windows 98...alright so you don't know what's so good about it and I remember the first day I installed XP I stopped and thought, "This is what everyone was screaming about?" It took me a week before I started to see what was so great about Windows XP and I think that the best feature in Windows XP would be the System Restore function.

Most Windows XP users probably haven't had the opportunity to try System Restore, or for that matter, they probably didn't even realize Windows XP came with such a function. So, what is System Restore? Basically it's a time machine for you computer. Let me explain, say your computer was working just fine a few days ago, but alas today it doesn't work at all...could it have been that download you installed? EGAD, what can you do to fix this...well you use System Restore. Basically System Restore takes a daily snapshot of your computer and stores it there. If your computer should suddenly not work one day all you have to do is go to System Restore and pick a day or a restore point for your computer (basically a day where your computer was working) and then the computer will reboot and be like new again or at least like a day ago when it was working. So, here's what you do:

Step 1:

Go to Start--->All Programs---->Accessories--->System Tools--->System Restore

Once you do this it will open up program that looks like this:

There will be two options on this first page:

1. Restore my computer to an earlier time
2. Create a restore point

If you want to restore you computer make sure you have that filled in and click next. The second option is good if you want to manually create a restore point before doing something dramatic to your system. So, there are two important options here, but, lets continue with restoring you computer back to a previous day. Click Next...after doing so you'll get a window that looks like this:

Oh cool, a calendar, yes that has a listing of all the restore points, basically you can restore your computer to weeks earlier, but I don't recommend that, especially if you've installed a lot of software in that time. Basically pick a day or two before, this will get you back to a working computer without having the hassle of installing lots of software again. Then you click Next...it will ask you if you want to restore and then it will reboot your computer...once your computer reboots it will be rebooting to what your computer looked like a few days ago. There you have it!!! Now isn't that cool? I mean if there is any feature that I tell people about XP it's the System Restore function. I've used it once already after I installed some flaky software a friend recommended, ughhh, but System Restore had me smiling in just one reboot. It's a good thing...gee I suddenly feel like Martha Stewart, hmm, you think I should try some illegal stock dealings now? hehe, umm, never mind.

Read More

Disabling Windows XP Built In Firewall!

One of the lamest attempts at a firewall I've seen in a long time. This little thing that Microsoft threw in almost as an afterthought serves little purpose but happens to be buried so deep that most people wouldn't even know where to find the stupid thing. Is it better than nothing, yes, but not much better...so shut this off and get a real firewall, check the Freeware Downloads of this website to get a real firewall. Now on to shutting this stupid thing off:

Go to the Control Panel and then to Network Connections...select your network connection and you'll get something like this:

Okay you get this Window above and then you click Properties...just as a sidenote, yes my computer has been on 6 days straight connected to the internet and my connection is oh so nice. Now back to disabling the firewall. Click on Properties and you'll get here:

Now click on the advanced tab at the top and then uncheck the "Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer from the internet". Once you do this Win XP's lame firewall will be off! Good, now get a real firewall in the freeware section. One other thing, don't think of running this firewall and another software firewall. Two software firewalls almost always cause conflicts with each other and never really serve much of a purpose...they end up canceling each other out in the end. You can have a hardware firewall and a software firewall, but I'll write about this in the future and which combo is best to use.

Read More

Creating Desktop Shortcuts and Folders

Most people know how to do this and it is a rather simple process, but this article is for the beginner and I thought it would be helpful to those not in the know. So, if you've been using the computer for a bit, you probably know how to do this, so skip over this article and go to one of the more difficult ones. This will work on Windows XP, 98, ME, 95, and I think 3.1 (but I don't have that handy to make sure)

First off, what is a desktop shortcut? When you boot your computer and Windows opens up, you have the desktop...the first screen you see. In this area you can create shortcuts to your favorite or most used programs, websites, pictures, etc. These shortcuts are easy to create and you should make a few to the programs you use the most. So, here it is:

Step 1:

In the desktop area of your computer right click with the mouse. That will open up a box that looks like this:

Picture 1

This box has a few useful things in it, but since we're only dealing with creating a shortcut all you have to do is scroll down to New > and this will open a second box that looks like

Picture 2

Now you want to go to the shortcut section, click on it and it will open yet another box that looks something like this:

Picture 3

Now in this section you hit the browse button and you search your hard drive for the software, picture, file, that you would want to create a shortcut with, then once you find the program, etc. that you want as a shortcut you hit Next, then name the shortcut, and then hit Finish. Now you'll see a desktop shortcut that leads directly to the file or program you specified. It's just that simple!!!

**There is another thing you can do, in picture two you see where it says, Folder....well that allows you to create a folder on your desktop, now why is this good? Well, I happen to have lots of shortcuts, just because of all the programs I used during the day. Now these folders could be a wonderful way to organize your desktop. I happen to have 5 folders on my desktop that I use to organize my programs. Just create a folder and then drag the shortcuts over the folder and drop them in the folder. Now your shortcut is still on the desktop and you have it organized into a folder with similar programs. This is just a useful tip if you happen to be like me and happen to have lots of shortcuts.

There are other ways to create shortcuts, but I find this way to be the easiest for people to understand. So make some shortcuts now!!

Read More