Useful Utilities

Log Me In

With this utility, you can access your computer from anywhere, as long as you’ve got Internet access. It is totally free to use.

Log Me In Link

FileZilla

This is an excellent FTP client. With it you can remotely download/upload files from an FTP site, create directories and configure multiple FTP logins.

FileZilla Link 

DirLock

Ever wanted to protect a directory with a password without buying expensive software? Well, here you go: DirLock is free and works like a charm.

DirLock Link

 DAEMON Tools

Tired of cd swapping? Store your ISO’s on your pc and open it in a virtual CD/DVD – ROM environment.

DAEMON Tools Link

FlashGet

Flashget is a download manager that can even download torrents.

FlashGet Link

WinRAR

WinRAR is a compression utility that supports various formats like ZIP and RAR

WinRAR Link

Jellybean Keyfinder

Ever had the problem where you forgot which Windows/Office product key is installed on which computer? You do not have to guess any longer – Keyfinder will reveal the product key for Windows or MS Office!

Keyfinder

MalwareBytes

Must be the best malware remover I have ever come across. (That includes Spybot Search and Destroy)  Hint: Just run a quick scan.

Malwarebytes

Slow Network?

Let's stay on the subject of slowness. Today, I have once again, come across a company complaining about a slow network. This will be a mixed discussion concerning Windows Vista and Windows XP Pro.

One of the things that Windows XP incorporates, is the My Network Places folder. When you connect to shared folders, Windows makes a copy of the shortcut in that folder. This tends to slow things down. If you keep this folder clean, you should get an improvement in speed. There is also some registry tweaks, but I'm not going into that for now. Then you may connect to a share by entering UNC names in the Explorer search bar like: \\computer\share. Using UNC names may also cause a delay, having to resolve the IP to the proper name. Try using \\IP\share, for example: \\192.168.3.3\public. This can also give you a speed boost, especially if it is a huge shared folder that you access. Now, when on a domain and you get "Applying personal settings" or "Applying network settings" staring at you for a long while when logging in, you can be sure that you have a DNS problem. Nine out of ten times, it is because your primary DNS is not set to your server's IP (Your DC) So if your server IP is XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX, set your DHCP server so that the workstation's primary DNS will be XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX. Finally, locate your "hosts" file and add your server in there. For instance: server[TAB]IP where [TAB] is the actual tab button and the IP is the IP of your server and "server" is your server name.
In Windows XP the host file can be found here:C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc Edit the hosts file with Notepad.

My Windows menus has a delay

Menu dealy

I have stumbled upon this problem a couple of days ago: When you select any menu in Windows, there is a few seconds delay before it opens. How can I make the menus pop-up faster?
The good news is, you can set the delay time in the registry. This is how:
For Windows XP: Click on the start button and then on "Run".
Type "regedit" (without the quotes) inside the run box.

Expand "HKEY_CURRENT_USER", Expand "Control Panel" and click on "Desktop".
On the right, find the key "MenuShowDelay" and double click on it. By default the value is "400", but 200 works best for most people. The lower the value, the faster it will open.
Windows Vista is exactly the same. The only difference is that when you click on the "Start Button", you can directly type "regedit" in the search box and enter.

Extensis Suitecase fonts clash with system fonts

Why does my fonts clash with the system fonts?

I have got no fonts in my system, yet Suitcase insists that the fonts are clashing with some system fonts. I am running OS X Tiger 10.3.1 with Extensis Suitcase 11 and Quark 6.5. What is the problem?

Well, the font cache of OS X Tiger is a bit "confused" and it needs to be cleared. There are different methods: You can do it through commands or deleting two pref. files, but the easiest by far (that worked every time for me) is to boot the system into safe mode by holding the "shift" button just after the boot sound. Once started up in safe mode, the font cache gets cleared as well. Now all you have to do now, is restart the system and let it boot up normally.


Problem solved. :-)

My cd-rom/dvd drive is missing

Where did my CD-ROM drive go?

Just an interesting problem I had the other day: I open up "My Computer" and saw that the CD-ROM drive icon is missing! No problem I though - Maybe it is not assigned a drive letter. So I went to computer management and saw it wasn't there either. OK...? So I boot up in the BIOS and there it was detected fine. Still no problem, I thought. I will just uninstall/reinstall the driver. That is when I got this error:

The device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device (Code 31).
So I've discovered from Microsoft's KB articles that there is a registry fix for it. The following error messages points to the same problem:
A driver for this device was not required, and has been disabled (Code 32 or Code 31) and
Your registry might be corrupted. (Code 19) You might receive the following notification message: Windows successfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device. (Code 41)
The cause could be of some dvd or cd-rom burning software that you have uninstalled. This is the fix: (Remember to backup your registry first)

Step 1: Start Registry Editor

Start Registry Editor.

Step 2: Delete the UpperFilters registry entry

1. In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2. Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet.
3. Expand Control, and then expand Class.
4. Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
5. In the details pane of Registry Editor, on the right side, click UpperFilters.
   
   Note You may also see an UpperFilters.bak registry entry. You do not have to remove that entry. Click UpperFilters only.
   • If you see the UpperFilters registry entry in the details pane of Registry Editor, go to step 6.
   • If you do not see the UpperFilters registry entry, you still might have to remove the LowerFilters registry entry. To do this, go to "Step 3: Delete the LowerFilters registry entry."
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
7. Click Yes when you receive the following message:
   Are you sure you want to delete this value?

The UpperFilters registry entry is removed.

Step 3: Delete the LowerFilters registry entry

1. In the details pane of Registry Editor, on the right side, click LowerFilters.
   
   Note You might see a LowerFilters.bak registry entry. You do not have to remove that entry. Click LowerFilters only.
   
   If you do not see the LowerFilters registry entry, unfortunately this content is unable to help you any more. Go to the "Next Steps" section for information about how you can find more solutions or more help on the Microsoft Web site.
2. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
3. Click Yes when you receive the following message:
   Are you sure you want to delete this value?
   The LowerFilters registry entry is removed.
4. Exit Registry Editor.

Step 4: Restart your computer

Restart your computer. After you have done this, try to access the CD or DVD drive. If you can access the CD or DVD drive, and if you do not receive an error message, the problem is resolved. You can reinstall your CD or DVD writing or recording software.

If you cannot access the CD or DVD drive, or if you receive an error message, unfortunately this content is unable to help you any more. Go to the "Next Steps" section for information about how you can find more solutions to the problem.

I only had an "upper filters" entry. When I removed it and rebooted, all was well again.