Tips To Speed Up Windows XP – Part 2

Posted on Dec 12, 2007 in Windows | 1 Comment

I recently wrote a post titled Tips to Speed Up Windows XP, which provided easy ways of speeding up Windows XP. Many of those tips were easy to implement, and depending on your computer, you may not have noticed any large performance gain.

In this post I will explain how to gain possible even more performance gain but stopping unneeded Windows XP services. This is a more advanced method of gaining performance from your computer.


About Windows Services

A Windows service is an application that can be started when Windows starts and runs in the background until either it is stopped, or Windows is shut down. Services can be set to automatically start, start when it is needed (manual) or be set to disable, which means it never starts. Each service that is started is loaded and runs in the background.

The easiest way of displaying a list of installed services, as well as see which ones are currently running is to do the following:

  1. Click Start->Run to open the Run dialog.
  2. Type services.msc and click OK to open a window that lists the services.

You will now see a list of services on the right. The list includes the service name, description, current run status and the startup type (Automatic, Manual or Disabled).

In this post, I will provide a list of services that you can safely disable to prevent them from starting. To disable a service, use the following steps:

  1. Find the service in the list and then right-click its name.
  2. From the menu, click Propertiesto display the properties for that service.
  3. Beside Startup type, click the dropdown and select Disabled.
  4. If the Service status indicates that the service is Started, click the Stop button to stop it.
  5. If you can’t stop a service, don’t worry. It will be stopped when you restart.

Windows Services to Stop

By using the instructions provided above, we can now stop the following Windows services. Each service is accompanied by a note so you can decide whether you want to stop the service or continue to let it run.

IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service This services allows you to burn to CDs directly from Windows or applications that support Image Mastering Applications Programming Interface (IMAPI). If you have installed a vendor application, such as Nero, then you don’t need this service running to burn CDs.

Indexing Service This is one of the first services that I stop as it can be a resource hog on a system. This service is responsible for indexing the contents and properties of files on a computer. It allows for fast searching of the files.

Messenger This service is not associated with Windows Messenger, but rather is used by the net send command and the Alerter service messages. Chances are you don’t need those messages so you can safely disable this service.

Remote Desktop Help Session Manager The Remote Assistance service is managed and controlled by this service. If you disabled the Remote Assistance service, then you can disable this service as well.

Remote Registry This allows remote users to access the Windows registry on your computer. This service is not available on Windows XP Home. I disable this service for extra security since I don’t need anyone remotely accessing my Windows registry.

Server If you don’t use file or print sharing, or don’t have a network at home, then you can disable this service. Disabling this service will also remove any hidden shares on your computer.

Terminal Services This service allows several users to connect to a single computer simultaneously, as well as display the desktop to remote computers. I have no use for this at home, so I disable this service. If you use Fast User Switching, then you will need this service to be started.

Themes If you decided not to go with the Windows XP themes, and use the standard chiseled-gray Windows look, then you can stop this service. You won’t be able to use themes on Windows XP until you re-enable this service.

Wireless Zero Configuration If you are on a computer that doesn’t include any wireless connection, then you can disable this service as this one manages wireless connections.

Summary

This post provide a brief overview of Windows services, how to access them, and also how to disable and stop them from running. I also included a small list of services you may want to stop from running on your computer if you do not need them.

Review: The Path To Total Financial Freedom

Posted on Dec 10, 2007 in Web Site - Review | No Comments

There is much information on the Internet today that discusses how to make money online. Everyone appears to have a method that works for them, but what it all comes down to is hard work and dedication.

In this review I look at, not only a ways of making money, but also of increasing your traffic and online presence as well. This week I look at the blog The Path To Total Financial Freedom.

The Path To Total Financial Freedom

Design 2 stars

When I first viewed the blog, I noticed that it consisted of a left navigation sidebar and a content section. As I scrolled down the page I quickly realized that the design of the blog was the weakest part of it.

Although there is a navigation bar on the left, it didn’t help provide an easy means of navigating through the blog. A blog will usually consist of a category list and an archives selection method. Although there is an archives list further down the page, I had trouble finding anything that resembled a categories list.

The sidebar was confusing as it consisted of many jumbled and unorganized images that may have some meaning to the blog, but I had difficulty associating them with it. If the navigation bar was more organized, it would make moving around the posts easier.

The home page itself contains much information for a visitor provided in many posts. The downside of this, however, is that it increases the page size dramatically. Checking the properties of the page, I noticed it came in at a whopping 173KB, and that is without the images. Reducing the number of posts displayed on the home page, and including a nice navigation bar will help the design greatly.

The design flaws show up in the posts themselves, as I noticed some posts had blue links, others had light green links that were hard to read, while others even had red. Being consistent with the link colours using CSS can make them easier to understand for visitors.

The footer is just as confusing as the sidebar as it is a jumble of links and images.

The design of the blog is by far the weakest part of the blog, but one that can be easily fixed with minimal effort.

Focus 4.5 stars

The focus of the blog is easy to determine since the author has conveniently provided a short definition below the title: “A Guide on how to succeed with the amazing Passport To Wealth Business Opportunity”. The posts he has written maintains this focus as the posts provide tips and tricks on succeeding the online business by increasing traffic and your online presence.

To strengthen the online business called “Passport to Wealth”, the author uses it in the title of various posts. Although he has included the name in the title, many of the tips the author has provided can be used for various online opportunities as well.

Overall, the focus of the blog is well defined and represented in the various posts by the author.

Content 4 stars

The content of The Path To Total Financial Freedom can at times be nice and summarized, while other times it can be quite long. For the long posts, it can take some time to download, especially if they are included on the same page. It was much easier to read the smaller posts as the author nicely summarizes the important points nicely.

The posts in general focus on increasing traffic, and focus on such Web sites as Alexa, and Google. Many of the tips provided in the posts can also be used for other online opportunities, which makes this blog a valuable resource for generating traffic.

The posts the author has written on the blog do provide some useful information, but finding them can be quite difficult because of the current navigation available at this time.

Spelling and Grammar 3 stars

There are a few spelling and grammar mistakes in several posts that could cause a visitor to go back and reread the sentence again. For the most part, however, the posts are easy to read and understand.

Overall 3.5 stars

The Path To Total Financial Freedom does have a clear focus and well written posts that do provide a visitor with many tips and tricks. The design of the blog, however, will need some major rework to make it easier for a visitor to retrieve the information they are looking for. Restructuring the navigation sidebar will go a long way to making the blog better.

Entrecard – An Easy Way to Get More Blog Traffic

Posted on Dec 7, 2007 in Blogging | No Comments

There is some buzz surrounding the newest way of generating traffic to your blog, and it costs nothing. It is a unique concept and is very easy to implement on your blog and use it on other blogs. Entrecard was founded by Graham Langdom, the creator of the Million Dollar Wiki, and is completely free to those who want to use it.

I will provide an overview of what Entrecard is exactly and how you can use it to generate traffic.


How it Works

The who premise of Entrecard is based around a business card for you blog and credits. Every blog on Entrecard is allowed to upload on 125×125 pixel image to act as their business card. This business card is then placed on another blog as advertisement for your blog.

This means that what image you upload has a great effect as to how many visitors your will get. If you create an interesting business card, then you will probably get many visitors.

Now before you can submit your business card to any blog, you will first need to earn credits. Credits are the currency used on Entrecard. It is not hard to generate credits, but it does take some minor effort.

Credits are earned by other blog authors buying advertising space on your blog, the same way you do for theirs. Each blog costs so many credits per day to advertise on, so you may not be able to advertising on some of the more expensive blogs until you have earned enough credits. If you blog costs 8 credits/day, and you approve of a blog to advertise on your blog, then you have just earned 8 credits.

The cost of advertising on your blog is determined by a formula–meaning you can’t set the price yourself. The price is determined by twice the number of cards on that widget each day. If you get 20 cards dropped on your widget each day, then the price of advertising on your blog is 40 credits/day.

When you visit a blog that has installed the Entrecard widget, you can drop your business card on the widget and earn 1 credit. Your business card will then appear in the blog authors’ inbox within Entrecard. This is also another way of building traffic to your blog, as the author can now click on your business card to visit your blog.

For me, it has been interesting to discover, and visit, blogs that I may not have known existed. There are many great blogs out there, and this site allows you to visit many of them.

Summary

Like so many other blog authors, I have joined up with Entrecard and have immediately notice that traffic to my blog has increased. I’ll continue to earn credits by dropping my card on the widget, and then pay for advertising on other blogs. Since Entrecard is free to use, everyone with a blog should take advantage of this site to help increase traffic to their blog.

Downloaded Fonts not Showing in Windows

Posted on Dec 5, 2007 in Windows | 1 Comment

I recently decided to design a logo for a new blog that someone I knew was about to start. While looking through the fonts installed on my computer, I couldn’t find the right font to use. I didn’t have any additional fonts other than the ones that were installed with Windows XP, so I decided to search online for some new fonts.

I was able to find two fonts that I thought would work for the logo, so I downloaded and extracted the fonts into the correct directory. When I opened up Photoshop to use the new fonts, they didn’t show up in the list. I also checked Word to see if they appeared there, but they weren’t available in that application as well.

I decided to look into the problem and see if I can get the fonts to work properly. I did manage to fix the problem, and have provided to solutions you can try if you are having problems with installing fonts.


Extract and Copy Method

Most fonts that you download from the Web are usually compressed inside zip files. To use these fonts, you will first need to extract the font file and then copy it to the correct directory.

  1. Open up the zip file in your application of choice, such as WinZip. If you don’t have Winzip, or an alternative application, Windows XP can natively open up zip files in Windows Explorer.
  2. Extract the file to the fonts directory, which is usually C:\Windows\Fonts.
  3. Open up the application you plan to use with the font and see if it appears in the list. If it does, then you have successfully installed the font. Continue on if you don’t see the font in the list.

Using the Font Thing Application

If the first method did not install the font correctly, you can always use a font manager application. These help you manage the many fonts that may be installed on your computer. The application I used was an old application (circa 1999), but I was able to use it with no problems on Windows XP. The application is called The Font Thing.

  1. Follow the first method, but instead of copying the font file to the fonts directory, copy the file to another directory on your computer.
  2. Download The Font Thing from the author’s Web site. The download link is in the upper right corner of the Web page.
  3. Install the application on your computer by unzipping the zip archive to a folder on your computer and running the setup.exe file.
  4. Run The Font Thing application and then click the Browse tab on the left side of the screen.
  5. Navigate to the folder that your uncompressed your font into in step 1. The font should be listed on the left below the directories.
  6. Select the font in the list, and then click Install in the toolbar. There should now be an icon (looks like the old Windows logo) beside the font in the list to indicate that it was installed.
  7. Open up the application you plan to use with the font and see if it appears in the list. If it does, then you have successfully installed the font.

If you are still having problems with the font, try downloading another font that looks similar from another site and see if you can install that one. Some of the free font files may not be recognized by the application so you may not have success with all fonts. I have only downloaded a few fonts, but have not had any problems with them.

Summary

In this post I provided two methods that I have used to install fonts successfully. My recent problems with installing fonts was solved by using The Font Thing application. There are other font management applications on the market, but this was small, free and easy to use.

Review: tenforty

Posted on Dec 3, 2007 in Web Site - Review | 4 Comments

Many blog authors like to write about personal experiences, which can be a refreshing change to those who like to read blogs. It’s nice to read about someone’s experiences on what they have done, or would like to do. For those that write a blog on their travels, the photos they take and display add to the enjoyment of the blogs as many of the photos provide a windows into another country and culture.

In this post I review a blog that provides both great content and photos to locations in the eastern part of the world. You may not understand the title: tenforty, but once you read the description of the title on the blog you will understand.

tenforty Blog

Design 3.5 stars

When I first looked at tenforty one word came to mind: blue. The entire site is mainly various shades of blue. If you are not a fan of that colour, then this may not be the blog for you. Blue is my favourite colour, however, I do have my limits to the amount of blue that I like to see.

Unfortunately, the right navigation bar’s background colour is blue as well as the links. This makes the links more difficult to read as blue on blue doesn’t work too well. Once a link has been visited the colour changes to a light orange colour. This makes it also a little difficult to read.

There are some items in the navigation bar that just don’t blend well with all the other items. An example of this is the Resources item, which stands out amongst all the other items since it has a faded book background. Making all items in the navigation bar similar will provide a nicer look to the entire right-side of the pages.

One of the things I liked about the design of the blog were the design of the posts. The author has chosen a nice large and very readable font. The titles of the posts are even large so they stand out against the fonts chosen for the post content. I like how the posts are all surrounded by a thick border and are separated by other posts with a space. This provides some nice separation between the posts.

The design of the blog could be improved if the author limited the amount of blue as a background colour, maybe possibly making the right navigation bar and the post background match and keeping the main body background as blue.

Focus 4.5 stars

For those that haven’t visited tenforty before may find it a little confusing as to the focus of the blog. There are many categories listed in the navigation bar, which may obscure the focus.

To help visitors understand the focus of the blog, the author has provided a nice description in the upper right corner. There the author also explains the name of the blog: “The 10/40 Window is an area of the world extending from 10 degrees north to 40 degrees north of the equator, and includes countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.” This also helps to set the focus for the entire blog, which is really ingenious. Sometimes coming up with a name for a Web site or blog can be complicated and I feel that the name captures what the author is writing about.

The focus of the blog is enhanced by the well written posts that also include photos of the authors experiences. Once you have visited the blog, the focus is more easy to determine as your read the posts on the blog.

Content 4.5 stars

As I have briefly touched upon in the focus, the main content of the blog is about the author’s experience in the eastern countries in the world. The author has gone into great detail in some posts, but not too much where they have lost the focus of the post. Many of the posts are enhanced with the inclusion of at least one photo followed by a brief description of the photo. This helps to picture what the author is illustrating in the posts.

While the photos help the posts, those visitors on dial up may have to wait for the complete post to be downloaded. Some posts have one photo, while others may have several. Some of the photos can be rather large (80KB and larger) which can take longer if you are on dial up.

The content overall is detailed and well illustrated with photos. The post length is not too long where the interest of the visitor can be lost, but are rather short and to the point, while at the same time not losing the focus of the post.

Spelling and Grammar 4.5 stars

As I read several posts I noticed that the author has obviously spent time checking both the spelling and grammar. I rarely found any problems with the spelling and grammar, which sometimes is a rarity in blogs. The very minor mistakes I did find, didn’t affect the readability of the posts. In this regard the author is very careful when writing the posts.

Overall 4 stars

I enjoyed reading many of the posts that have been written on tenforty, as well as view many of the photos that are available. The only issue I found with the blog is the amount of blue that was used. This made some of the links in the navigation bar hard to read as they almost blend into the background. Besides the blue colour, there were no real issues with the blog and was a really well written and detailed blog. It was worth the visit.

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