Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

I have often ran across computers that I needed to gain access to for data recovery, but I didnt have the administrator password to access the hard drive. Since in many situations, there is just one administrator account I can’t log into another administrator account and change the password so I have to rely on other methods. I could put the hard drive into another computer as a slave and gain access (sometimes) or I could try installing a second copy of the operating system in parallel and gain access but there must be a better way.

That way is to try to reset the administrator password to something you do know and allow you to access to the user profile and the data. In most cases,

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Tags: computer, hardware, vista, windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Sometimes playing videos on your PC isn’t easy, particularly when they have been downloaded off the internet. This is normally because your PC doesn’t have the necessary codecs installed to play the video file in question. Codecs and DirectShow filters are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video formats.

The quickest way to ensure that your PC can play all video files is to install the K-Lite Codec Pack. The K-Lite Code Pack is a collection of almost every codec under the sun, that will allow you to play all your video and audio files.

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Tags: computer, software, windows

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Amid significant customer demand, the computer maker said on Thursday that it has returned to offering the older Windows version as an option on some of its consumer PCs. Like most computer makers, Dell switched nearly entirely to Vista-based systems following Microsoft’s mainstream launch of the operating system in January.

However, the company said its customers have been asking for XP as part of its IdeaStorm project, which asks customers to help the company come up with product ideas. “We heard you loud and clear on bringing the Windows XP option back to our Dell consumer PC offerings,” Dell said on its Ideas in Action page. Users get to vote on various suggestions, and the notion of bringing back XP got 10,000 “points,” making it among the most popular requests but well below top picks such as adding Linux or OpenOffice.org to its PCs.

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Tags: buy, computer, windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Nanoscan is free online Malware scanner from Panda security, that will detect in a minute whether you are infected with viruses, spyware or Trojans. It will also scan your PC for other threats.

It’s worthwhile running your PC through Nanoscan even if you think you are currently protected, as in many cases people who think they are protected actually aren’t. In fact 70% of machines that have been scanned by nanoscan have had at least one form of infection.

Nanoscan contains the following features:

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Tags: computer, web

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Updating your drivers and software sometimes can significantly improve the speed of your PC and software, as well as fixing old bugs or adding new functionality. Unfortunately, many manufacturers don’t build into their applications an auto-update process, so the only way to do this is manually.

I get around this by keeping a bookmarks folder on my PC where I store links to the sites for all my software and hardware. Then every month or so, I spend 30 mins upgrading all my software and drivers. This is a good habit to get into to keep your machine running smoothly and to stop problems happening further on down the line.

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Tags: computer, drivers, hardware, windows

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

I love fonts. I have a fantastic collection of them, ranging from delicate script fonts to ones that look as if they’ve been stenciled. The most wonderful of all, however, are the fonts I made myself. The process is simpler than you might imagine; all you need is a bit of free time, some software (such as High-Logic’s FontCreator, Home edition, $79 direct; www.high-logic.com), and a scanner.

You’ll have to do some fairly tedious writing: all the uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation marks and other symbols you typically use. (Alternatively, depending on what kind of font you want, you could draw the characters in your graphics software.) Then you’ll scan the page into your PC, tweak the characters, and in less time than it would take to chisel the alphabet into granite, you’ll have your very own font. — next: Step By Step

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Tags: computer, internet, software

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

The Windows Disk Cleanup utility does a good job of deleting old Microsoft temp files, logs, memory dumps and other OS related junk files. It can free up a lot of space on your computer but it often leaves a lot of junk behind. A great program that I use all the time on my computers is called CCleaner. Not only does it clean the Microsoft OS related junk files from your computer, it also removes junk files from other popular applications such as Firefox. Additionally, it is very good at locating other temporary files.

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Tags: computer, vista, windows

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Microsoft Corp. today unveiled the second stage of its April security updates by releasing five security bulletins that patched eight vulnerabilities — including one that was missed during the company’s Windows Vista beta testing and ended up in the final version of the new operating system.

Of the four updates that addressed bugs in Windows, the MS07-021 update was clearly the one to patch pronto, said researchers. “This is my first [to patch] choice,” said Amol Sarwate, manager of Qualys Inc.’s research lab. “It affects everyone,” agreed Minoo Hamilton, senior security researcher with patch management vendor nCircle Network Security Inc.

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Tags: computer, vista, windows

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Toshiba said Wednesday that shipments of its HD-A20 HD DVD player had begun. The player is the first of the high-definition players, either Blu-ray or HD DVD, to offer 1080p resolution at a sub-$500 price point. The player will include an HDMI interface which Toshiba says could upconvert standard DVDs to near-HD quality, as well as standard interactivity and networking capabilities.

Over 900,000 HD DVD discs have been sold to date, Toshiba says, and 70 new titles are scheduled to be released between now and July.

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Tags: buy, computer, hardware

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

1. Install the latest version of iTunes. Download iTunes
2. Connect your iPod to your computer.
3. To update your iPod on a PC the iPod must be formated for a PC.
4. Open iTunes.
5. Itunes will detect the latest version available and will prompt you to install it.
6. Depending on your iPod’s model you will be prompted to leave your iPod connected to the computer for the update to complete or you may be asked to connect the iPod to the iPod Power Adapter.

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Tags: computer, ipod, mac