How to install a Microsoft Loopback Adapter in Windows 7

Some applications like SQL Server are dependent on network functionality. These usually require a network card to be present. If you don't have a network card installed on your PC, then you will need Microsoft Loopback adapter in order to setup and run these applications that depend on network functionality. The Microsoft Loopback adapter is a testing tool for a virtual network environment where network access is not available.

To install Microsoft Loopback adapter, follow steps below:

1. Go to START menu -> All Programs -> Accessaries -> Command Prompt. Run the Command Prompt as administrator (right-click the command prompt).


2. From the command prompt, run “hdwwiz.exe“. This should launch the “Add Hardware Wizard“. Click Next.


3. Select “Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)” and click Next.


4. Now from the list select Network Adapters and click Next.


5. Under Manufacturers, select Microsoft and select “Microsoft Loopback Adapter” under Network Adapter and click Next. This should start the installation. Click Finish when the installation is completed.


To confirm the loopback adapter installed, right-click Computer, select properties. Click Device Manager and expand Network Adapters and you can see the Loopback adapter installed there.

Read more »

Posted in: howto,microsoft loopback adapter,Windows 7,windows tips

How To WampServer 2.0 on Your Windows Machine

If you would like to build your own website, you can do it on your own computer without putting it on internet. But, you will need a web server, database and supported scripting languague to run at your computer. WAMP is the soulution you need. WampServer is a free utility that allows you to run Apache, PHP, and MySQL on Microsoft Windows. This article demonstrates how to download, install, and configure WampServer on a Windows PC.

Instructions:

1. Go to http://www.wampserver.com/en/download.php to download the latest version of WampServer 2.

2. Run the WampServer.20i.exe file. The setup wizard is straightforward, you don't need to change any default settings unless you want to install your WampServer to a location other than the default C:\Wamp directory.

3. Once the installation completed, the WampServer icon will show up in the system tray when it is launced. You can use the pull-up menu from the WampServer icon in hte system tray to manage the services of WampServer. By default, WampServer is installed to http://localhost and port 80.

Read more »

Posted in: apache,mysql,php,wamp,wampserver,web server,windows,Windows 7

How To Open An UIF File

Have you download a UIF file and wondering how to extract/mount this file format so that you can view the content compress with UIF.

A UIF file is actually a MagicISO CD/DVD image file. In order to view the contents, you have to first mount the UIF image file. The other common option for a compressed image file is ISO. comparatively, UIF provides better encryption and also has better compression than ISO format.

There are two ways to decompress and extract the content:

1. MagicISO

Unfortunately, MagicISO is not a free tool. If you plan to use within 30 days, you can download the trial edition to depression UIF file. MagicISO can be downloaded from: http://www.magiciso.com/. After the installation of MagicISO, start it. Then click on Tools and Decompress UIF Image.

Choose the source file and the destination location for the ISO file.

2. UIF to ISO Converter

This method is slightly more complex. But, you can use it to extract large files, larger than 300MB. The MagicISO trial edition has a file size limiation of 300MB. Unless you want to pay for MagicISO, UIF to ISO converter is a free version that can be used to overcome the limitation of MagicISO trial edition.

For Windows:

1.Download UIF2ISO converter. Extract the downloaded zip file to get a folder of the same name. Then, run the setup to install the program.

2. Double-click on the UIF2ISO icon to launch the program. Then, locate the .uif file you want to extract and click “Open”.

3. Specify a ISO file name and confirm the conversion to start the converting process.

For Mac OS X: Download and use uif2iso4mac.

Once the UIF file being converted to ISO format, you can mount it using any virtual disk manager software or using the free unzip tool such as 7zip to extract the content.

Read more »

Posted in: computer tool,file format conversion,howto,magicISO,poweriso,uif file

How To Boot and Install Windows 7 From USB Flash Drive

Usually, most people install or reinstall Windows operating system from DVD drive. But, since the USB become popular, we have an alternative to boot and install an operating system to a PC from USB flash drive.

Since most of windows installers come in DVD drive format, we have to copy it to a USB flash drive. Before that, I have to make the USB flash bootable. In this post, I will discuss the command prompt method. You can make the Windows 7 USB FLash installation Disk from any Windows computer. In this post, I use Windows 7 (the instruction is the same for Windows XP). Below are the steps:

Step 1: Format USB Flash Drive To NTFS format

In your Windows, go to Control panel -> system -> hardware -> Device manager. Under the disk drives section, right click on the USB storage drive and select Properties.

Step 2: Select USB Flash Drive To Be Bootable Disk

On Windows 7 Start Menu, navigate to command prompt entry (Start -> All Programs -> Accessaries) , right-click the Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

Type "diskpart" & press ENTER. Then type "list disk", ENTER to list all disks attached to this computer.

From the disk list, identify the USB Flash Drive. In my case, Disk 1 (red rectangle) is my USB flash drive. Type "select disk 1" to select the disk (the command is "select disk X" where X is the drive number).

After selecting the disk, list the partition in the selected list by typing "list partition". Select the partition you want to make a bootable Windows 7 installation by typing command "select partition Y", where Y is the partition number of USB flash drive. Then, type "active" to make the selected partition to become an active partition.

You are done in preparing the disk for bootable. Type "exit" and Enter.

Step 3: Creating bootable USB flash drive

Copy the content from the Windows 7 Installation content to your computer desktop into a folder, I named is as win-7 (you can name it according to your preference).

Go into the windows folder, in my case win-7 by typing command "cd Desktop/win-7" (Change the destination to the folder that you have extracted). Then, "cd boot" to go into boot directory.

Type: bootsect /nt60 X: (X is the drive latter of your USB drive)


Then, copy all the files from the Windows 7 folder to the USB flash drive. Now, you should be able to use the USB Flash drive to boot and install Windows 7.

Note: You need to change the first boot device to your USB drive in the BIOS.

Read more »

Posted in: bootable usb flash,disk partition,howto,installation,pen drive,usb flash drive,Windows 7,windows os,windows tips

What Causes Overheating In PCs Or Laptops

Most lastest computers or laptops have built-in Digital Thermal Sensor to protect the devices from overheating that may causes damages on computer hardware. You can use any computer's temperature monitoring tool such as CoreTemp to monitor your computer's temperature and identify if your computer is experiencing overheating problem.


What are the causes of Overheating in PCs or Laptops?

There could be many reasons for overheating of a computer system. One of them is the computer has been used for long time without shutting down for cooling. When the computer is used for long time, the processor is heated. If the computer is placed at a room or office with hot environment, the long usage and hot environment may cause the computer to heat up until its temperature reach the maximum temperature limit before it being shutdown automatically. Therefore, if you plan to run a computer for long hours, providing a proper cooling system, cooling environment and running internal fan are essential to prevent computer from overheating.

The surrounding temperature affects the computer’s internal temperature. If we run a computer in hot environment, the computers temperature will definite goes high. For this reason you must control the temperature of the environment. You can use Air conditioners to get rid of this problem. If the Air conditioner is not possible then at least remove the casing of the computer and provide external fan to through the air into computer.

Some time the fault in processor or in mother board is the cause of this problem. In this situation the repairing or replacement of the faulty device is required.

Read more »

Posted in: computer monitoring tool,computer problem,digital thermal sensor,overheating

How To Monitor Your PC Or Laptop Temperature

Is your computer shutting down frequently without any notice? Most often, it happens after your leave your computer running for a while, and it just shut down without any message. One of the root courses of this symptom is your PC or Lapter is experiencing high temperature until it hits the the max allowable temperature. The computer will be automatically shutdown to protect the PC from overheating.

So, if you PC is experiencing the symptom of shutting down suddenly and frequently, most probably it is caused by high temperature. One way to confirm the issue it is to measure the temperature of PC or Laptop.

You don't to install a thermometer at your PC or laptop. One of the best ways to monitor is to install temperature reading software that might help you actually know if the problem is causing by overheating. Coretemp is a tiny application which is low on resources and is surprisingly accurate in providing the PC or laptop temperature in real-time. It works by communicating with the built-in digital thermal sensor (DTS) on latest Intel and AMD processors.

It is a tiny but extremely powerful and accurate program which tells you the temperature of each core simultaneously and can be easily installed on Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. Coretemp can be download at http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/.

In the above example, CoreTemp reads the temperatue on Duo Core Intel PC. Tj Max is the maximum allowable temperature. If any of core temperature hit Tj Max, the computer will be shutdown automatically to pretect the PC from overheating. The above example, the Cores are measured at 69 deg. C to 70 deg. C, showing that this PC is experiencing an overheating issue.

Read more »

Posted in: computer tool,digital thermal sensor,howto,monitor pc temperature,windows,Windows 7,Windows Vista,Windows XP

How To Check If Your Computer Supports Hardware Virtualization

In the process of installation Mac Os X Snow Leopard on windows-based PC, one of the installation requirements is the computer should be able to support Hardware Virtualization. What is that? and how to check if my computer support it?

After googling the internet, finally I cound a good tool to do the job. The great thing is it supports both Intel-based and AMD based processor. The tool is able to the support of Hardware Virtualizaiton on both Windows and Linux OS.

The great tool is called: SecurAble. It can be download FREE at http://www.grc.com/securable.htm

SecurAble does not require any setup or installation. The executable file can simply be run as a stand-alone Windows or Linux/Wine program.

For Windows: Just double click the securable.exe.



For Linux: you can run the following command: egrep ‘(vmxsvm)’ /proc/cpuinfo

If nothing is printed, it means that your CPU doesn’t support hardware virtualisation. Otherwise, it does.

Note: SecurAble may detect that your CPU does not support hardware virtualization if your computer does but it has been disabled at BIOS. So, if the tool detect that your CPU does not support Hardware Virtualization, go to BIOS and check whether it has been turned ON.

Read more »

Posted in: hardware virtualization,linux,Mac Os X on PC,mac os x snow leopard,windows

What Is DMG File and How to Convert It To ISO format Using DMG2ISO

Recent I have downloaded some file with DMG extension. I try to use an Extraction Tool like Unzip to extract the file because I thaught it is one of the compression file. No, it is NOT!

In fact, it is a file type associated with 'Macintosh OS X' by Apple Inc. On the Macintosh, these files are treated like a real disk. They can be created with Disk Copy, burnt to CD or mounted as a normal volume. If you have a .DMG file on a Windows PC it's likely you have a Macintosh file that is can't be read from a Windows PC. How to convert the .DMG file so that it can be used in Windows PC?

Thanks to DMG2ISO, a small tool that run on Windows and convert .DMG file into ISO format. It is a FREE tool that can be download at: http://vu1tur.eu.org/tools/.


Once downloaded the DMG2ISO.zip from the URL above, unzip it. You should see dmg2iso.exe. No installation needed. To use the tool , at your Windows (in my case I used Windows 7), select START, type in CMD at search field and press ENTER to go to Command Shell.


At the command shell, the syntax to convert .DMG file to .ISO file is:

dmg2iso [filename.dmg] [filename.iso]

For example, I have a file name: myfile.dmg that I want to convert it to mynewfile.iso, the command is: dmg2iso myfile.dmg mynewfile.iso [ENTER].

The file will be converted to ISO format.

DMG2ISO is a command-line tool that is not very user-friendly. PowerISO is a windows version that is more user-friendly and easy to use. However, it is NOT free. You can use it's trial version that has a few limitation, but still do a good conversion job.

Read more »

Posted in: dmg,dmg2iso,file format conversion,howto,poweriso

How To Use Windows 7 Disk Management To Partition Hard Disk

I just bought a new USB 2.5" 500GB SATA external hard disk. Since disk size is big. I am thinking of partition it to 2 partitions so that I can use one partition to install Operation System and the other one to store data.

Since my current operation system is Windows 7, I will use the Disk Management Tool that comes with Windows 7 to do the job. The built-in disk manager of Windows 7 allows you to create partitions, allocate unallocated space, change the driver letter or start other related tasks.

Below are the steps to partition an external hard disk:

1. If it is a USB external hard disk, just plug it into one of the USB ports at the PC.

2. Click Start and enter diskmgmt.msc into the search field.


3. Once you hit "ENTER" after entering the diskmgmt.msc into the search field, the "Disk Management" window will be launched. The new external hard disk is one of the listed hard disks.


4. With mouse, right-click on the disk you want to partition, in my case, the DISK 1. Then select "Delete Volume" and confirm to delete the partion. The Disk 1 will become an Unallocated disk.


5. Similarly, with mouse, right-click on the unallocated disk (in my case disk 1)and select "New Simple Volume" from the pull up menu.


Follow the simple Wizard to assign the size of new partition, specify the file system to complete the new Volume creation. In my case, my new hard disk size is 500GB, I allocate 200GB for the first partition. Repeat step 5 for another partition that takes the rest of size as the 2nd partition.

Read more »

Posted in: disk management,disk partition,Windows 7

The Best FREE Antivirus Software To Protect Your Computer

Although there are limitations in free antivirus in protecting our computer compare to those paid version. But, there are some the Best Free Antivirus Software that do very good protection from virus intrusion. You can use one of them to protect your home computers. Below is the list of free anti-virus that you can download for:

1. AVG Anti-Virus Free

Anti-Virus Free from AVG is the best antivirus software available. It provides free protection against viruses and spyware. You don’t need to pay for it as it is available for download free from their website. The anti-virus software supports all Windows operating systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000.



Although it is a free version, it is a full-fledged antivirus and antispyware tool, includes an email scanner, link scanner, scheduled scanning options, automatic updates, and more. Moreover, the huge number of premium features, frequency of updating, and install-it-and-forget-it aspect of AVG's Anti-Virus Free really do make it the best of the most downloaded free antivirus programs available today.

Download AVG Anti-Virus FREE & Get Your Computer Protected.

2. Avast! Free Antivirus

Avast! Free AntiVirus is deserved to be listed as on of the best anti-virus programs. Similar to AVG Free AntiVirus, the free edition provides very comprehensive protection from viruses and spywares. It has fully functioning spyware and antivirus engines to protect your PC from threats from internet, email and file sharing. For those who don’t want to go for a paid-version of anti-virus software, Avast! Free AntiVirus can be a good option.



Avast! Free AntiVirus supports almost all latest versions of Windows: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000.

Notes: During the Avast! Free AntiVirus installation, you will be asked to install Google Chrome. If you are not interested in installing the Google Chrome, just uncheck the box. Also, you will need to register Avast! Free AntiVirus after the installation in order to use it more than 30 days (after the registration, there is no expire date in using the anti-virus program).

Download Avast! Free Anti-Virus.

Read more »

Posted in: anti-virus free,antivirus,avast antivirus,AVG free,avira antivir,comodo antivirus,digital defender antivirus,free anti-virus,panda clound antivirus,pc tools,software,trial software

How To Disable Logon Screen Saver in Windows Vista

Recently, one of my laptops running Windows Vista shows "Logon Screen Saver stopped responding" error everytime I walk away from the laptop I return to a logon screen saver or a blank screen, and cannot get back to the screens I was using. I have to log off or restart the laptop.

After searching from the internet, this solution fixes my problem:

Since the problem is due to the Login Screen Saver, so I have decided to disable it, so that the laptop won't go into the logon screen saver when I away from the laptop.

Below are the steps to distable the Logon Screen Saver at the Registry level:

1. Logon the computer/laptop with an administrator account. If you are the only user using the computer/laptop, most probably your default logon username already have the administrator privileges.

2. Go to START -> RUN. Type regedit into the textbox and hit ENTER to launch the Registry Editor.


3. By double-clicking on the appropriate folders, Navigate to HKEY_USERS -> CONTROL PANEL -> DESKTOP. You should see:


4. Find "ScreenSaveActive" and "ScreenSaveTimeOut" from the rightmost panel. Set both values to 0. You can do this by double clicking on the words and entering the number 0 in the following pop-up window.

5. Close the Registry Editor.

IT DONE! No more "Logon Screen Saver not reponding" Error anymore.

Read more »

Posted in: logon screen saver,logon screen saver not responding,registry,trial software,Windows Vista

How To Backup & Restore Registry in Windows 7/Vista/XP

In proper modification of registry in Windows may cause system crash. So, it is important to backup the existing registry before you modify it. Just in case any problem arise due to the registry modification, you can always restore it from the backup copy.

Exporting - Backup Registry

There are slidely different in steps to backup the registry in different Windows versions. Below are simple steps to backup the registry for Windows 7/Vista/XP:

Windows XP and Vista : Open Start menu, type regedit in Start Search and click OK.

Windows XP: Open Start menu, click Run, type regedit and select OK.


Once the Registry Editor window launched, go to the File Menu and select Export.


Under the export range select All.


Put an appropriate file name and save as file type Registration Files(*.reg).

Importing - Restore Registry

If you want to restore the registry, select the import from the file menu of registry editor:

Now select the registry file(backup) that you made(using above procedure) and it will recover your settings that were before you made changes in the registry.

Read more »

Posted in: backup registry,trial software,Windows 7,Windows Vista,Windows XP

How To Reinstall Trial Software After Trial Period Has Expired

There are a few methods to resinstall and reset the trial period of a trial software:

Method 1: Backup The Registry

Most trial software add a registry key to track it validality. When you uninstall a software, the registry key will not be removed. So, if you have removed a trial software and try to reinstall again, you wont be able to reset the trial period as the software found the registry key created in your previous installation and gives you a message like for e.g, "Your trial period has expired".

So the best way to re-used a tria software is: Backup your computer registry before install any trial software so that you can restore the registry, the one without the trial software key and enable you to reset the trial period again. See how to backup and restore computer registry.

Method 2: Use Process Monitor

Process monitor is a small window tool created to let computer users to monitor their computer activities in real time. With process monitor, activites such as real-time file system, registry and process/thread can be monitored. With this you can see which applications are accessing your Registry, which keys they are accessing, and the Registry data that they are reading and writing – all in real-time.

Note: The Process Monitor will show all activities by default. You can use the toolbar, circled in RED to filter out all activities except the registry activities for easy of tracking purpose.

Then, run the Process Minitor and install the trial software, see which registry being added or monidifed, and note down the name and the path of the key. Once the trial software expired, you can revert back the trial period by modifying the key and set them back to the value as you recorded during the trial software installation.

Update: There is a small tool called: Little Registry Cleaner that you can use to clear up invalid/broken registry items, in this way it can clean up all traces of a program.

Read more »

Posted in: backup registry,computer tool,registry tool,reinstall trial,softwrae,trial software