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Showing posts from 2012

I just love computers

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At times, i am tempted to say i love computers even more than human beings because computers tend to treat us better than our fellow humans. For instance, try booting a fellow human and you will get a dirty slap in the minimum, but boot a computer and it will gladly tell you......

Want a post written on a selected topic? Suggest it.

Hey peeps!!! I kind of feel like pleasing someone. So i give the opportunity for anyone to write a topic on which they want me to write a post. If the topic is computer related and i can get enough information, i will write on it within the shortest possible time. You can either put the topics in the comment field below or contact me with your topics. Always remember that, anyone who will like to contribute a post on this site is always welcome, as long as it is a computer related post.

Meet The Command Prompt - The Date Command

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This is a fairly simple command to use. The date command simply displays the current date. When this command is run without arguments, It first displays the current date, then prompts for a new date to be entered. You can simply press enter to keep the current date. When you don't want to be prompted for a new date, you can use the /t switch. This switch when used will simply display the current date

Meet the command prompt - The CD command

When working in the windows command interpreter, there is always a current working directory. This is the directory that is shown at the prompt. In the screenshot below, the current directory is D:\Windows\system32. When a command is run with no arguments, it simply displays the current directory path. Open the command prompt and simply type cd . You will see you current working directory displayed. The CD command takes a path argument when you want to change the working directory. For example, to change the current working directory to the windows temporary directory, you can type something like  cd %temp%  or cd D:\Users\Staphy\AppData\Local\Temp (depends on your operating system)

Meet the command prompt - the REN command

The RENAME command can be used instead of this command - they do the same thing. What they do (as the names suggest) is to rename a file. It takes two arguments; the file to be renamed and the new name to be given to the file. It takes the form ren file1 file2. Here, file1 is the path to the file to be renamed. file2 is the new name to be given to the file. After this command is executed successfully, there file specified by file1 no longer exists. If the file existed before, its name will be changed to file2. Note however that, the file name includes the extension.

Meet the command prompt - the pause command

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This command is mostly used in batch scripts. What it does is simply to suspend processing/execution of the batch script until the user presses any key. It gives the prompt for the user to press any key to continue. You may want to use this command when you want the user to see a particular output. For example: @echo off echo Hello there!! echo My name is Staphy echo Nice meeting you. echo I hope we'll get along very well pause The Pause Command  

Meet the command prompt - The exit command

As the name suggests, the exit command exits something. This "something" can either be the command interpreter or a batch program/script. The command is very simple to use. It is as simple as typing exit. When it is a batch script you want to exit from, You will need to do something extra, you will add a /b switch with an exit code.

Meet the command prompt - The color command

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The command prompt window by default has a black background with a white foreground. Unfortunately, this scares some people. Some other person may want to write in a different color on a different background color. That is what the color command is for. The color command takes an argument or not. When the color command is executed without an argument, it simply restores the color of the command interpreter to the initial color - that is the foreground and background that were used when you started the command interpreter.

Meet The Command Prompt - The Time Command

This is a fairly simple command to use. The time command simply displays the current time. When this command is run without arguments, It first displays the current time, then prompts for a new time to be entered. You can simply press enter to keep the current time. When you don't want to be prompted for a new time, you can use the /t switch. This switch when used will simply display the current time. time /t         -    displays the current time time          -    displays the current time and prompts for a new one time 11:11:11.11     -    sets the current time to the specified time

Meet the command prompt - the RD command

Like the CD and MD command, the RD command also has a twin. Its twin is the RMDIR command. These commands are for deleting directories. To delete a directory using this command, just type MD followed by the name of the directory to be deleted. If the directory to be deleted is not in the current working directory, you may need to specify its full path, or change the working directory. Using the command this way will fail if you intend to delete a folder that is not empty. To delete a non empty folder, you need to use the /s switch. Using this switch deletes the directory specified and all files and folders it contains.

Meet the command prompt - the MD command

This command has a twin, MKDIR . Their function is to create a new directory (folder). The command creates all the directories that do not exist. This command can be use to create a directory structure some levels deep. for example md folder1\folder2\folder3 The above command will create three folders. the folder named folder1 will be created in the current directory. In folder1, there will be another folder named folder2. This folder will also contain the third folder, folder3. This command has quite some "power". Look at the post on how to create an undeletable folder.

Meet The Command Prompt - The Echo command

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This command is not very useful in the command window but is very useful when creating batch programmes. This command has two states, it is either on or off. The command is easy to use. It functions by making your prompt and commands either visible on the command window or not. To turn on echo, you simply type echo followed by on . There should be a space between echo and on (or off for that matter). echo off   turns off echo.

Meet The Command Prompt - The Cls Command

One of the easiest commands to use is the cls (clear screen) command. This command takes no arguments. Its function is to clear everything in the command window, leaving just a prompt for your next command. For help information on this command, type help cls or cls/?.

Meet The Command Prompt - The Help Command

One command that comes in handy when using the command prompt is the help command. It lists the commands that are accepted in the version of the command prompt accompanied with a short explanation of their functions. The explanations don't tell you how the commands should be used. The use of each command can be found out be typing HELP, followed by the command we are interested in. For example, help dir This command will give help information on how to use the dir command; the arguments it takes, different switches and what they do.

Meet The Command Prompt - Batch Files

The fact that you do not know C++, Java, Python or any other programming language does not mean you cannot write programmes. You can write simple batch files to automate some actions on your own system and you can even give it to friends. Batch files may be an alternative if your command prompt is disabled, either by a malware or by an administrator. Note however that, batch files can themselves be malware, causing havoc on your system.

Meet The Command Prompt - An Overview

The command prompt is a simple utility in the windows operating system. This utility, though powerful, is not usually used by most people because it does not provide the fancy graphical user interface that most of us are used to: buttons, combo boxes, icons, etc. However, there are a lot of tasks that can be accomplished by using the command prompt which can not be done (or at least, easily done) with the default windows system unless a third party software is used.

MMS Settings for GLO Ghana

MMS settings for GLO Ghana are just as easy to input as the internet settings . Note that, these settings will only work on an MMS enabled phone that uses the GLO Ghana network. The specific procedure may vary from phone to phone, so these settings should be adapted to your phone. To start, we'll set up a data account. 1. Go to services in your phone menu and select data account. 2. Add a new account or edit an existing account

MMS Settings for MTN Ghana

MMS settings for MTN Ghana are just as easy to input as the internet settings . Note however that, these settings will only work on an MMS enabled phone that uses the MTN Ghana network. The specific procedure may vary from phone to phone, so these settings should be adapted to your phone. To start, we'll set up a data account. 1. Go to services in your phone menu and select data account. 2. Add a new account or edit an existing account

Play a prank - disable desktop icons

In this trick, we are going to make the a computer user unable to click on any of his desktop icons (or so it will seem). We are going to do this by changing the background. This will cause the user to think his computer has a problem since everything will look the same, only that he/she cannot click on his icons. Press the print screen button (This will capture the image of the screen. You can also use any other screen capture program) Open Paint (Windows key + R) Paste the captured image into it and save it (remember not to change the size of the image, but you can crop the taskbar out to allow the use of the taskbar)

Rename the recycle bin

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In this post, I'll show you how to change the name since a "simple right click and click rename" does not work on your XP. You'll have to edit the registry, so it's advisable to back up your registry first. So let's go. Before the tweak, my desktop was like this: Desktop before tweak

Play a prank - Prevent some programs from running

Today, i was feeling quite in the mood for some pranks so guess what i did to my friend.... I made him feel his computer had gone crazy . This is what i did. Knowing his favourite programs, I made a little script that stops any of those programs when he runs them. Because of this, no matter which of those program he tries to run, he comes back to square. Fortunately for me, he's not the kind of person that will think of opening task manager or even starting in safe mode. the truth is even when he opens task manager, he wouldn't know what to do there. This is how i did it. I made a list of his favourite programs and got their process names (how they appear in task manager process list). my list was like this

Enable Hibernation on your computer

Hibernation is the state when your computer goes off without you losing any data, but saving energy. All data on the RAM is stored on the hard disk (or other media), only to be accessed and restored when the computer boots up the next time. Some computers do not have the option to hibernate. This is a simple way to get that option. If you would prefer to stand by (put the computer in a sleep mode for you to wake it up by moving the mouse or pressing a key on the keyboard), read my other post.

Play a prank - My shortcuts dont work

What happens if you open your favorite program shorcut on the desktop and you receive a crazy message and your PC shuts down. OK! It's not at all cool when you are at the receiving end; but when you are responsible for administering the prank, it can be so so GREAT. So we'll start by identifying the program that our target runs most frequently. I like using VLC or mozilla firefox. Most people run these programs very often. So we take the shortcut of one of these programs (or any other shortcut). 1. Right

Play a prank - Swap the mouse buttons

I must admit, apart from a few other things, playing pranks is one of the most enjoyable feelings in the world. (Unless the joke is on you). I will therefore like to make a distinction between a joke and wickedness. A prank when taken to the extreme and results in damage to another person is callous; wiping someone's hard disk clean is gross wickedness but hiding his data for a few minutes and restoring it after he "sweats" a little may pass for a prank. OK! In this post, we are going to make the right mouse button act as the left and the left as the right. Imagine the look on your friend's face when he wakes up to see everything upside down. Though this can be done in control panel under mouse settings but in this post, i'll show a .bat file method of doing it. Copy the code below, paste it into notepad and save it with a .bat extension (e.g. swap.bat).

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Remove a 'virus' manually - Part Five

I have gone through a virus infection, so what? This post is the fifth and last part of a series of posts on how to manually remove a malware from your computer. So here we go, you have successfully removed the virus from your computer and you now have the opportunity to undo the changes it has done. You may not be able to undo all the changes but you can at least use the special "system files checker" feature (sfc /scannow)  that comes with the windows operating system to undo changes to some important windows file. But wait a minute, before you do any of these changes, look for an antivirus and install on your system. Make sure you update it to its most recent virus definitions.

Remove a 'virus' manually - Part Four

Remove the culprit This post is the fourth part of a series of posts on how to manually remove a malware from your computer. If you have followed the earlier parts of this tutorials, the virus should be inactive now. We will therefore try to remove it from the system. First step to do this is to find its location among all the files on the computer. That's near impossible, Right? Wrong!!! From the second part of this tutorial, we learnt that the viruses (malware) make themselves active at every system start.

Remove a 'virus' manually - Part Three

Disable the malware This post is the third part of a series of posts on how to manually remove a malware from your computer. OK!, before we try to remove the malware, we should make sure it is disabled. We can do this by simply starting our computer in safe mode . This method works most of the time but some malware either disable safe mode or cause themselves to run even in safe mode. So, we'll do it this way:

Remove a 'virus' manually - Part Two

How viruses work This post is the second part of a series of posts on how to manually remove a malware from your computer. There are now lots of other malware which we usually call viruses. Real viruses must infect (copy themselves into other files on the computer). If they don't, they cannot merit the name 'virus'. Malware always have an action (payload) which they are executing now or at a later time.

Remove a 'virus' manually - Part One

This post is the first part of a series of posts on how to manually remove a malware from your computer. An antivirus software which is up-to-date on its virus definitions is the safest, easiest and cost-effective means of ridding yourself of most malware. They come in handy when it comes to fighting malware - that's their job anyways - and it will be quite dangerous to operate your computer without a good antivirus software which you periodically update. Without this, you are at a greater risk of your PC getting infected or infested with malware. You then risk your sensitive data being stolen, destroyed or worse. Enough of the preaching already!!! Lets get to work.

Change the windows wallpaper using a .bat file

Disclaimer : This post is solely for educational purposes. Any outcome of misapplication is thus not my responsibility. The windows operating system uses a bitmap image for wallpapers. An image of another format chosen as a wallpaper is first converted to a bitmap image and copied to a specific location and named wallpaper1.bmp. For this tweak, we'll need a bitmap image (with a *.bmp extension). MSpaint and Irfanview are tools that can be used to create (or convert) such images.

Automatic action on every windows start-up using a .bat file (Registry method)

Disclaimer : This post is solely for educational purposes. Any outcome of misapplication is thus not my responsibility. Here, we'll add some keys to the registry using a batch file. Make sure you follow these steps carefully since editing the registry wrongly has its consequences. Scared? use another method Brave enough? let's go!!!

Automatic action on every windows start-up using a .bat file (start-up folders method)

Disclaimer : This post is solely for educational purposes. Any outcome of misapplication is thus not my responsibility. You can set an action to happen automatically at different periods of the computer running. This post concentrates on running a file (any file) on startup. Note however that, malware also employ this method to carry out their "activities" on every system start. Windows execute the files in this folders on every "normal" system boot.

Manual internet settings for Glo Ghana

If you want the internet settings for Glo on your phone, you can get it sent directly to your phone. Read on how to get the automatic settings for the Glo network here . The following procedure assumes you already know where to put the settings on your phone. If you don't, you can still follow the full procedure as stated in this post , by only switching values. Put the following setting to access Glo Ghana internet: APN : glowap USERNAME : glo

Automatic internet settings for Glo Ghana (short code)

For the automatic configuation of your phone with Glo Ghana internet settings, you will have to send an SMS to their short code. Note however that, this method does not work for all phones. A failure notice will be sent to you (via SMS) if automatic configuration of your device was unsuccessful. The settings: Send SETTINGS to short

Automatic internet settings for mtn and airtel Ghana

To get the settings for internet sent directly to your phone, you would have to send a text to the network short codes listed below. If your phone does not support automatic configuration, a message will be sent to you to notify you. For MTN and Airtel (zain) automatic settings. Use the short codes below: MTN                                                    686

Use your China phone as a modem

China phones come with quite some ability as well. Those using "original phones" are not the only ones who can benefit from nice phone features. One such feature is the ability to connect a china phone to your PC as a modem and browse. This is a feature that comes with most china phones but not all. Does your phone support use as a modem? Find out by just connecting your phone using your USB to a PC. If there is a "COM PORT" option, you're good to glow, otherwise, sorry. Now i assume your phone supports this feature. Follow the steps below to use it as a modem

Use your phone as a modem

This post shows you how to access the internet on your computer using your phone as a modem.This post concentrates on phones with a phone suite, like the Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones. On how to use a china phone as a modem, see my other post.  O.K. let's get started. First of all, you'll have to know the manufacturer of your phone (Whether you are using a Nokia, Siemens, or any other phone).  The manufacturer's website should have a program with which you can connect your phone to a PC and get functions like saving contacts and browsing with your PC using your phone as a modem. Below is a list of some popular

Internet settings for Airtel Ghana

This applies for Zain which is now Airtel. This procedure is targeted to china phones or any other phone that takes manual settings. Follow the procedures below to set up your phone to access the internet. The instructions are divided into two. PART ONE: DATA ACCOUNT SETTINGS 1. Go to services in your phone menu and select data account. 2. Click on any item there to edit (or add new if your phone has the option) 3. set the NAME to Ghana Airtel or any other name suitable for you 4. Set the APN or access point to WAP 5. Leave every other option blank and choose OK to save. You can now proceed to the second part. PART TWO: INTERNET SERVICE SETTINGS 1. Go to internet settings in the services menu <-- more --> 2. Choose settings 3. Choose edit account 4. If asked to select a Sim, select the Sim which contains your MTN 5. Choose an account to edit (one that you don't use). 6. Name: Ghana Airtel 7. Homepage: www.starphy.blogspot.com (or any other URL)

Internet settings for Vodafone Ghana

These procedure is targeted to china phones or any other phone that takes manual settings. Follow the procedures below to set up your phone to access the internet. The instructions are divided into two.   PART ONE: DATA ACCOUNT SETTINGS 1. Go to services in your phone menu and select data account. 2. Click on any item there to edit (or add new if your phone has the option) 3. set the NAME to Ghana Vodafone or any other name suitable for you 4. Set the APN or access point to browse 5. Leave every other option blank and choose OK to save. You can now proceed to the second part. PART TWO: INTERNET SERVICE SETTINGS 1. Go to internet settings in the services menu 2. Choose settings

Internet settings for MTN Ghana

These procedure is targeted to china phones or any other phone that takes manual settings. Follow the procedures below to set up your phone to access the internet. The instructions are divided into two. PART  ONE: DATA ACCOUNT SETTINGS 1. Go to services in your phone menu and select data account.  2. Click on any item there to edit (or add new if your phone has the option) 3. set the NAME to Ghana MTN or any other name suitable for you 4. Set the APN or access point to INTERNET 5. Leave every other option blank and choose OK to save. You can now proceed to the second part. PART TWO: INTERNET SERVICE SETTINGS 1. Go to internet settings in the services menu 2. Choose settings

How to partition a pen drive

Imagine having more than one partition on your pen drive/thumb drive. This can serve different purposes like securing one partition and keeping sensitive data there. Some partitions can also be hidden from "the prying eyes".  Creating a partition on your USB pen drive is not easily achievable using the default disk management in windows operating system. Then why the h*ll am i writing this post? Partitioning pen drive is easily achievable with third party software. These third party software can do other tweaks like password protection, hiding partitions, assigning drive letters and a host of other things. Below is a list of some of the free ones and trial versions of some paid ones

Fix "this copy of windows is not genuine" (updated)

Hope you read my initial post on how to fix the windows is not genuine issue. In this post, I'll show you two tools that you just have to click to do the trick. If you have ever used another such tool, (which of course might have disappointed you), then you will need this tool to undo "the hurt the initial program caused" (sorry).

Is your anti virus reaaly working? Find out.

Computer malware are becoming increasingly common, antivirus software are becoming even more common. But the question is are these antiviruses strong enough to detect malware? There is one sure way to find out; give your antivirus a virus to scan, if it detects it, you're safe, if not.......... Here's how 1. Copy the following code and paste it in notepad.

No network access solved

When you try to connect to the internet and you are told some crap about not having network access, but you know you should be having it, try these: 1.  Go to the start menu and click on Connect to 2.  Open all connections 3.  Click on your connection and try to repair it. If this does not work, 1. Right click on your connection and click on properties 2. Click on properties and choose connection settings <-- more --> 3. Choose the automatically detect IP setting Reset your configuration 1. Open the run dialog box and enter "inetcpl.cpl" without the quotes 2. Go to the advanced tab and click restore defaults Also, you must check your firewall to see if it does not restrict some programmes or total connection to the internet. Uninstall any third party firewall to be sure.

HOW TO DELETE THE CON FOLDER

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HOW TO DELETE THE CON FOLDER Have you created the con folder and are wondering how to delete it? Here's how: You would still need the "black window" to do this step 1 : open command prompt

ENABLE DISABLED TASK MANAGER

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ENABLE DISABLED TASK MANAGER Wake up one morning and the windows task manager is greyed out. Ctrl + Alt + Del won't work. Oh God, do i have to reformat? Definitely not. There is a way to re enable it. In windows XP professional, vista and windows 7 1. Click run in the start menu (or windows key + R) and 2. type gpedit.msc , then click on OK

fix no network access in windows

On a thousand and one sites, there is this problem of connecting to the internet using any method and getting the connected message, but still cannot access the internet. I can't boast of not experiencing this problem before but luckily, i was able to solve mine. This is how i solved mine. I hope this will work for you too. I use my phone as a modem. It used to connect fine before one day, everything went wrong.

Remove an autorun virus

We will have to start the computer in safe mode. But before that, if you are frightened, pass here , if not, let's go. Start you computer in safe mode  Here, windows prevent your programs from running and runs only it's trusted programs. Now, open the media with the autorun.inf file and delete the file normally (by right clicking and selecting delete in the drop down menu). This does not normally fail but if it does, use these methods. If you are successful, restart your PC to enjoy your favorite apps.  Still has problems, you can contact me for more help

make a folder that cannot be deleted

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Ever mistakenly deleted some important files? Ever wanted to prevent mistaken deletion of some files? Ever tried to make the folder  undeletable? - and all this without any success? The "saviour" is here now. Try to create a folder normally with any of these  name: con, aux, lpt1 - lpt9. You should realize that it is not possible in explorer To make a folder undeletable in windows (no matter the version). follow these steps: Open the "black window" (Command Prompt). To learn how to do this, see how to access the command prompt. 2. To make a directo

How to restore a registry back up

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Editing the registry is quite dangerous and before we do that, we should usually back up the registry. If we realize that all did not go well after changing things with the registry, This is how we restore the previous version that we backed up. Locate the file that you saved. It should have a .reg extension. You can search for it by using the *.reg wildcard in the search dialog box. Double click on the file. This should bring up a prompt for you to confirm that you want to add the keys in the file to the registry. NB: It is not advisable to add just any registry keys to the registry. Confirm the prompt if you are sure you really want t

Fix "THIS COPY OF WINDOWS IS NOT GENUINE" message in simple steps

OK! Straight to the point. That boring message that appears when you start your computer telling you to 'get genuine' can easily be fixed. It at times appears at the bottom right of your screen. Follow theses steps to fix it. 1. Start your computer in safe mode 2. Open task manager and end the wgatray.exe process 3. Delete the file c:\windows\wgatray.exe 4. Delete c:\windows\system32\wgatray.exe 5. Launch regedit (or any other registry editor) 6. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\Notify 7. Delete the wgaLogon folder 8. Restart your pc. This process should disable the notifications, but it may return when you use automatic updates. To ensure it does not return (ever again), do these: 1. Go to control panel > security centre > automatic update settings 2. Disable automatic update of Windows Genuine Advantage Notification Tool This should solve the problem (fully) - Any comments/help? Put them below.

How to create your own website for free

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How to create your own website for free Want to create a website? it easy. There are a lot of  website that agree to host your files at a very great price. People like us who cannot afford  just can't own our websites. upon a long search on the internet, I FOUND IT. My files are currently hosted by a free website hosting site, And the good thing is that, free means free. They equally have paid services at very affordable  rates per month. Wondering how it possibly can be absolutely free? Take a look at this.

Ask a computer related question

Many at times, we are faced with many computer - related problems that seem to have no solutions nowhere on the internet. Sites that allow you to ask questions almost always require you to register. If you have any question which you want to get a solution to, ask here in the comments section and an answer will be provided to you within the shortest possible time. Would you like a post to be written on any particular topic? Add it to the comments section here. would you like to write posts on this site? or would you like to contact me for any other reason? Mail me on starphylococcuz@yahoo.com and i'll get back to you on it.

Make money easily and genuinely online without resoting to cyber fraud

Money seems to be hard to come by these days. who at all is hoarding all the money? well, we can also make our money the easy way we know, using the computer. By this, I do not in any way suggest internet/cyber fraud. there are genuine ways of making money online. 1. affiliate programs - these programs pay you for directing people to them. some pay when the people click on a link. you can go here for some a start. 2. upload files - upload all sorts of files to the net and get payed when someone downloads them. yeah, that easy. some sites restrict the types of files. you can try at sharecash 3. get paid to take surveys - big companies will really want to know how to get even bigger and will like to hear their consumers assessments. most of these companies pay you to take surveys. you can start at toluna or daily surveypanel. these are some ways you can make money online, just you and your pc. sharewith others.

Use your keyboard like a pro

This d*mn mouse is really killing me. How can others use these keyboard shortcuts while i can't? where at all did they learn them from? Come on? You don't have to attend any class to learn keyboard shortcuts. Windows has them. Below are a few useful one Press this key To do this F1 Display Help Ctrl+C Copy the selected item Ctrl+X Cut the selected item Ctrl+V Paste the selected item Ctrl+Z Undo an action Ctrl+Y Redo an action Delete