Windows XP 15 Minute Tune-Up

A few suggestions that can get that sluggish machine running at max speed in fifteen minutes or less.
http://www.tweak3d.net/tweak/xp15minutes/

Spyware terminator

Free 100% Real-Time Protection is included in Spyware Terminator basic version – an essential function most other applications charge you extra for. Effectively remove spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, home page hijackers and other malware threats.
http://www.spywareterminator.com/

Convert to PDF online

PDF Online is a nice and easy way to convert documents to pdf. All you have to do is select a supported document type from your hard drive, name the output filename and select an email address where the newly created pdf file will be send to. The script does not only support document files but also image files. The maximum file size of your document can’t exceed two megabytes.

Supported document files are doc, ppt, xls, rft, pps, html, txt and pub - supported image files are jpg, gif, tiff, bmp, png, emf and wmf. This is great if you are in need of a pdf file but do not want to download a software that is able to convert the files.
http://www.pdfonline.com/convert_pdf.asp

How To Prevent Windows XP Users From Writing To USB Drives

USB drives are extremely handy tools, but in some instances it might not be a good idea to allow users to write onto these devices from their PCs. This is especially true when working with highly confidential data or intellectual property at work. Users of Windows XP with service pack 2 installed can disable writing to USB devices.

To do this:

Open the Registry Editor click on the Start button on your taskbar, then click on Run and type "regedit" and click on OK to start the regedit utility.

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control.

From there right click and create a new key and name it "StorageDevicePolicies". In the window on the right then create a new DWORD value and label it WriteProtect, give it a value of "1" and users can no longer write to USB drives. To re-enable this option change the value to 0 and users are again allowed to write.

The modifications you made will be in effect after you reboot your PC.

Partitioneren !

Herindeling van harde schijf of bij ingebruikname van nieuwe HD.
dit doe ik aan de hand van GParted ...is een partioneringsprogramma voor het indelen van vaste schijven in partities. Je kunt partities aanmaken, verwijderen, groter maken, kleiner maken, verplaatsen, kopieren en controleren. Alle belangrijkste bestandsystemen worden ondersteund: ntfs, ext2, ext3, fat, hfs, etc...
Door middel van de LiveCD kun je onafhankelijk van je besturingssysteem gebruik maken van GParted.
info live cd:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
Download de laatste versie vanaf hier:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=173828
brand deze weg als image op een cd-tje (past op een mini cd)...en klaar.
Nu kan je vanaf deze cd je pc starten en aan de partitionering van je HD sleutelen.

Harde schijf klaarmaken voor de installatie van een linux distro recept BJ ;-)

1-Verwijder alle bestaande partities die GParted vind op je HD.
2-Maak een nieuwe partitie aan in het begin v/d schijf (groot genoeg, minstens 15Gb) en kies voor 'ext3' als bestandssyteem.
3-Maak achter deze ext3 partitie een linux-swap partitie aan van 512Mb.
4-Als dit gedaan is markeer je de eerste (ext3) partie als bootable...en klaar.
5-Rechter muisklik op je scherm en kies voor 'eject cd' (Gparted cd-tje wordt uitgeworpen).
6-Breng nu je nieuwe cd met favoriete linux distributie in de cd-lade, en terug met rechter muisklik op je scherm klikken en in het openspringend submenu klikken voor 'reboot'
7-Je kan beginnen aan de installatie van je linux distributie.

Changing the Boot Sequence on your BIOS

There are many reasons to want to boot your computer from your CD/DVD drive.
For one, when you buy a Linux distribution, it will come in CD or DVD form,
and booting from CD/DVD will be necessary to get yourself into installation
mode. Secondly, many modern Linux distributions, such as Knoppix, come in
"live" form, which allows you to run Linux a useful yet slower and more
limited version of Linux directly off of the CD/DVD.

Many systems are set to boot directly from the CD/DVD drive if bootable
media is found there. If your system does not, you may have to change the
BIOS settings on your PC. This is generally done by pressing or to enter the
Setup tool on your BIOS as the system is booting. (You will usually see such
a message before the operating system starts to load.) Because the menus
vary, it is impossible to cover them all, but look for a menu option that
specifies the boot order. You'll see something like A: first, then C: (in
other words, your floppy drive, then the hard disk). Change the boot order
so that it looks to the CD first, save your changes, then restart your
system.