How to Fix a Failed Linksys Wireless Router Set-up

Setting up a wireless network is one of the ways to extend your Internet connection to computers in other parts of your house. Sometimes, however, the default instructions for setting up the Linksys Wireless Router may not work. When that happens, you can fix a failed router set up by following these steps.

Power Cycle the Router

• Turn on the router, then use a pencil to press and hold the reset button on the back for 30 seconds.
• Unplug the router's power cord and wait for 1 minute, then plug it in again.
• Find the cable that connects the computer to the DSL modem. Unplug the modem and connect the computer to port 1 of the router.

Set-up the Router

• Go to the desktop and launch a web browser. You're going to have to go to the inline configuration panel for the setup.
• Type "http://192.168.1.1" into the address bar and click "Go." A login window will appear.
• Skip user name and type "admin" (admin is the default password) as the password, and click "OK."
• Click on the "MAC Address Clone" sub tab and select "Clone your PC's MAC". Save the settings. This may take a minute or so.
• Go back to the "Basic Setup" tab and look for the LAN IP, which is 192.168.1.1.
• Change the IP address to 192.168.2.1 then save the settings.
• Shut down the computer and router for 2 minutes, then turn both back on.

Get Online

• Connect the DSL modem to the Internet port of the Linksys router.
• Shut down the DSL modem, Linksys router and computer, and wait 3 minutes.
• Turn on the DSL modem and wait for it to stabilize.
• Turn on the router once the modem has stabilized, then turn on the computer.
• Check to see if you are able to get online.

Source: ehow.com

For More Details: Wireless Router Set-up

How to Restore files after Reformatting?

You will need to use a data recovery program such as Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery. Follow the Step by Step Process to restore the files:

• Install the program on your Windows or Mac computer system depending on the version of the program that you purchased.
• Connect the storage device that has been formatted to the computer. This can include an internal or external hard drive or flash memory card.
• Double click on the icon on the desktop after the program has been installed on start the program.
• Select the option under Data Recovery that says Formatted/Lost Files and Folder Recovery. This option is used to recovery data from formatted hard drives or other formatted storage devices.
• Select the option under Data Recovery that says Formatted/Lost Files and Folder Recovery. This option is used to recovery data from formatted hard drives or other formatted storage devices.
• Select the Scan Mode to use to scan the volume. You have the option of choosing a Quick Scan or Deep Scan option. The Quick Scan is the standard method that is used to scan. Deep Scan will take longer and can possible recover more files.
• Choose the picture files that you want to recover. All files that have been recovered will be displayed in the lower right pane. When all files have been selected click the "Recover" button to restore the files and save then on your system.

Source: ehow.com

For More Details:
Data File Recovery

Windows System Image Manager

Microsoft System Image Manager is the tool you use to build and assemble Windows 7 answer files. You can assemble features, packages, and answer file settings. Windows Setup uses Unattend.xml to assemble and customize the default Windows 7 installation for all conformation passes. For instance, you can assemble Internet Explorer, assemble Windows Firewall, and define the hard drive configuration. You can use Windows System Image Manager to assemble Windows 7 in several ways, including the following:

Advantages of Windows System Image Manager :-
Install third-party applications while installation. Customize Windows 7 by building answer files. Employ language packs, service packs, and updates to an image while windows 6 installation. Add device drivers to an image while installation. With versions of Windows previous than Windows Vista, you had to modify answer file settings manually using a text editor, even after initially building an answer file by using Windows Setup Manager. The Windows 7 answer file depends on XML and is far too composite to modify manually. So you must use Windows System Image Manager to modify Windows 7 answer files.

In another development, Windows Setup (Setup.exe) is the program that installs Windows 7. It uses image-based setup (IBS) to give a single, interconnected process with which all customers can install Windows. Image-based setup does clean installations and upgrades of Windows. Windows Setup and image-based setup permits you to prepare Windows 7 in your firm easily and cost effectively. Windows Setup comprises of many new features that help installations that are faster and more logical than Windows XP, including the following:

Enhanced image management using Windows System Image Manager :-
Windows 7 images are saved in a single .wim file. A .wim file can save many instances of the operating system in a single, highly compressed file. The install file, Install.wim, is positioned in the Sources folder on the new Windows 7 media. Streamlined installation - Windows Setup is optimized to enable the deployment assumptions used by most firms. Installation takes less time and gives a more uniform configuration and deployment process, resulting in less deployment costs.

Faster installations and upgrades using Windows System Image Manager :-
Because Windows Setup is now image based, installing and promoting Windows 7 is faster and easier. You can do clean installations of Windows 7 by deploying the Windows image to destination computers, you do promotions by installing a new image on an existing installation of Windows. Windows Setup saves the former Windows settings while the installation. Windows Setup amends the installation experience over Windows Vista. For example, Windows Setup moves the license key to the Windows Welcome page, providing users to type a product key after completing installation. Windows Setup also automatically builds a small, hidden partition for BitLocker Drive Encryption. This makes it easier to enable BitLocker Drive Encryption later, because users don’t have to prepare the drive. Additionally, the final stage of Windows Setup, Windows Welcome, is faster and gives more feedback on the progress of the setup process.

In another development, the new Windows 7 distribution media includes some of these tools, including Sysprep, DISM, and other command-line tool, but they aren’t on the media in a separate file such as Deploy.cab. The Windows AIK 2.0 includes the bigger tools, such as Windows SIM, Windows PE, and ImageX. These are the basic tools needed to build, customize, and prepare Windows 7 images.

Fix Windows Black Screen Error

1. Restart your PC

2. Logon and wait for the black screen to appear

3. Make sure your PC should be able to connect to the internet (black screen does not appear to affect this)

4. Press the CTRL, ALT and DEL keys simultaneously

5. When prompted, Click Start Task Manager

6. In Task Manager Click on the Application Tab

7. Next Click New Task

8. Now enter the command:
“C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe”
(Download Patch file) “http://info.prevx.com/download.asp?GRAB=BLACKSCREENFIX”

Note this command assumes that you are using internet explorer as your browser, if not substitute your browser path and file details for those of iexplore.exe or use the Browser option of Task manager to locate it.

9. Click OK and your browser should start up and begin the download process

10. When prompted for the download Click run, the black screen fix program will download and run to automatically fix the issue.

11. Now restart your PC and the black screen problem will hopefully be gone.

HOW TO SPEED UP WINDOWS XP STARTUP ?

Perform a Boot Defragment

There's a simple way to speed up XP startup: make your system do a boot defragment, which will put all the boot files next to one another on your hard disk. When boot files are in close proximity to one another, your system will start faster.

On most systems, boot defragment should be enabled by default, but it might not be on yours, or it might have been changed inadvertently. To make sure that boot defragment is enabled on your system, run the Registry Editor (Hack #83 in the book) and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction

Edit the Enable string value to Y if it is not already set to Y. Exit the Registry and reboot. The next time you reboot, you'll do a boot defragment.

Hack Your BIOS for Faster Startups

When you turn on your PC, it goes through a set of startup procedures in its BIOS before it gets to starting XP. So, if you speed up those initial startup procedures, you'll make your system start faster.

You can speed up your startup procedures by changing the BIOS with the built-in setup utility. How you run this utility varies from PC to PC, but you typically get to it by pressing the Delete, F1, or F10 keys during startup. You'll come to a menu with a variety of choices. Here are the choices to make for faster system startups:

Quick Power On Self Test (POST)
When you choose this option, your system runs an abbreviated POST rather than the normal, lengthy one.

Boot Up Floppy Seek
Disable this option. When it's enabled, your system spends a few extra seconds looking for your floppy drive -- a relatively pointless procedure, especially considering how infrequently you use your floppy drive.

Boot Delay
Some systems let you delay booting after you turn on your PC so that your hard drive gets a chance to start spinning before bootup. Most likely, you don't need to have this boot delay, so turn it off. If you run into problems, however, you can turn it back on.

Fine-Tune Your Registry for Faster Startups

Over time, your Registry can become bloated with unused entries, slowing down your system startup because your system loads them every time you start up your PC. Get a Registry clean-up tool to delete unneeded Registry entries and speed up startup times. Registry First Aid, shown in Figure 1-3, is an excellent Registry clean-up tool. It combs your Registry for outdated and useless entries and then lets you choose which entries to delete and which to keep. It also creates a full Registry backup so that you can restore the Registry if you run into a problem.

Speed Up Shutdown Times

It's not only startup times that you'd like to speed up; you can also make sure that your system shuts down faster. If shutting down XP takes what seems to be an inordinate amount of time, here are a couple of steps you can take to speed up the shutdown process:

Don't have XP clear your paging file at shutdown

For security reasons, you can have XP clear your paging file (pagefile.sys) of its contents whenever you shut down. Your paging file is used to store temporary files and data, but when your system shuts down, information stays in the file. Some people prefer to have the paging file cleared at shutdown because sensitive information, such as unencrypted passwords, sometimes ends up in the file. However, clearing the paging file can slow shutdown times significantly, so if extreme security isn't a high priority, you might not want to clear it. To shut down XP without clearing your paging file, run the Registry Editor and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

Change the value of ClearPageFileAtShutdown to 0. Close the Registry and restart your computer. Whenever you turn off XP from now on, the paging file won't be cleared, and you should be able to shut down more quickly.

source:http://www.askdavetaylor.com/speed_up_windows_xp_startup.html

Configure MSN To Work With Outlook

Follow the steps to configure Configure MSN To Work With Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

Step 1. In Windows XP, click Start, and then click Run. Copy and paste (or type) the following command in the Open box, and then press ENTER:
control panel
Control Panel appears.

In Windows Vista, click Start, and then copy and paste (or type) the following command in the Search box:
control panel
Control Panel appears.

Step 2. If you see the Pick a category view, click User Accounts.

If you do not see the Pick a category view, go to step 3.

Step 3. Double-click Mail.
Step 4. Click E-mail Accounts. The Account Settings window appears.
Step 5. On the E-mail tab, on the left side of the Account Settings window, click New.
Step 6. Click Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP, and then click Next.
Step 7. Click to select the Manually configure server settings or additional server types check box, and then click Next.
Step 8. Click Internet E-mail, and then click Next.
Step 9. On the Add New E-mail Account screen, type the following setting information:

• In the Your Name box, type your name as you want it to appear to recipients.
• In the E-mail Address box, type your e-mail address. For example, type yourusername@msn.com.
• In Account Type, select POP3.
• In the Incoming Mail Server box, type pop3.email.msn.com.
• In the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) box, type smtp.email.msn.com.
• In the User Name box, type your MSN account name.
• In the Password box, type your MSN password.
• Select the Remember Password check box, if you want to save it.
• Select the Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) check box.

Step 10.On the right side of the Add New E-Mail Account screen, click Test Account Settings. If you receive no errors, your e-mail account is set up correctly.

If you receive an error, make sure that you have entered all the information correctly, and then click Test Account Settings again. If all the information is correct and you continue to receive errors, go to the "Next steps" section for additional help.

Step 11.Click Next, and then click Finish.

source:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287604

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