HowToDoThings.com Operating Systems

How To Get Zune on Linux

Mikey — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:00:58 -0500

For Linux users who own Microsoft Zune MP3 players, compatibility has always been a problem. With a little work however, it is possible for you to sync your Zune to your computer, even if you happen to be using the Linux operating system. What you’ll need to do is use VMware, a program that allows you to run another operating system within your standard operating system. Don’t worry, this isn’t complicated at all, but you may need to spend some money as VMware is not a free program. You will need a USB 1.1 hub as well, but the good news is that they aren’t expensive.

How To Make Your Computer Start-Up Faster

vinnyct88 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:35:02 -0500

OK, so this is supposed to help those who are having a bad time starting up their computers. You know the feeling--you turn it on and it takes a lifetime for you to actually do something on it. Argh!

How To Reset a Forgotten Windows Administrator Password

jamsam — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:36:27 -0500

We’ve all forgotten Windows passwords. When it happens, it can really cause a panic, but don’t worry – there is still a way to get out of this. So you are locked out from your PC and can’t access it. You can’t call the locksmith, because the locksmiths can only unlock your car’s and home’s doors, not PC Windows doors. In this article I’ll show you the way to reset the Windows password.

How To Connect 2 PCs Directly

alexalexL — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:50:31 -0500

Sometimes people need to connect two PCs. When and why?

Imagine this situation. You come to your friend's house with your laptop to show him the video about your last vacation in Brazil. He wants to have this video, too, and he wants to have it now. What can you do? Use your 2GB USB flash card? No, the size of the video file is much larger. Burn the video on DVD? No, that would take several hours.

Here's another situation. Your elder son found a new PC strategy game. It's so cool, and he wants to play network game with you next weekend. You have a laptop and home computer, but how do you connect them for this network game?

So many different situations...

What you need in order to connect 2 PCs:

How To Create a Screenshot in Windows

alexalexL — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:58:59 -0500

Pictures of windows, dialogs or toolbars usually help illustrate any documentation related with IT. Technical support services also use screenshots; using screenshots is the easiest way for a user to explain a problem to support people, and the easiest way for such services to answer users and help them to solve their problem. Screenshots clarify any explanation. It looks like they make a photograph of the screen. How can you do that?

You do not need any special software. In fact you can create screenshots just using standard Windows tools. Here's how to make a screenshot:

How To Increase the Speed of Your Windows Vista

sillyticker — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:31:24 -0500

A computer is more fun to use when it rarely hits a high speed bump or crashes into a guard rail. When spending more money on a PC, either new or old, is not an option, a more practical approach is necessary to achieve that increase in speed. Here are some tips.

How To Transfer Files from a Desktop to a Laptop

rik — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:46:46 -0600

More and more people must rely on using a laptop/portable PC in their ever-busy lives to keep up with their workload, and then find they have different copies of the same file on this PC and their desktop. The easiest solution is having all machines networked and storing all working files on the network's file server(s). However, if you need to work at home and other locations using multiple computers, this may not be possible.

How To Format a USB Flash Drive with the NTFS File System

alexalexL — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:22:45 -0600

By default, Windows users are able to format a USB flash drive with FAT or FAT32 file systems only, but not with NTFS. It confuses some of them. NTFS (New Technology File System) is the standard file system Microsoft uses for their Operating Systems starting from Windows NT 3.1 till Vista. But when you try to format a USB flash drive with this standard file system, you don't have this option available.

Why do users want to set up the NTFS file system on flash drives? What advantages could it bring them?

Advantages
With NTFS, you can save more files on the flash drive (from 5 to 40% of disk space). You can create permissions to access files and/or folders on the flash drive. You get all other security file management options you have on Windows.

How To Create a Bootable XP CD That Pre-Installs Additional Programs

bhattner1 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:23:11 -0600

To create a bootable XP CD that pre-installs additional programs, first install WUCC. You need to have Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher installed.

How To Create a Windows XP Installation CD

bhattner1 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:39:49 -0600

There are many operating systems available today. Most recently, Microsoft has launched the new Windows Vista operating system. However, it’s going to be a long time before Vista overtakes XP as the most popular operating system. Users are much more comfortable with the Windows XP operating system and continue to use it.

However, the installation process can be tedious. During the normal installation of the Windows XP operating system, you need to customize various things like name, serial number, network, etc. And after the installation of Windows XP, you have to install various drivers like sound, graphics and other hardware drivers, which can take a lot of time.

You can save a lot of time by making a Windows XP installation CD in which all the required drivers are pre-installed.