Nice Sites that I Stumbled Upon – Log#2

Today I’ll share some nice forums with respect to OS Customization.

1. Winmatrix – Great Forum for starters. You will find people very helpful and sharing.

2. Neowin – Another nice forum where you will find all customization related stuff and also updated news on tech.

3. AeroXP – Good set of people here to help us out in customizing stuff.

4. JoeJoe – Another friendly community website dedicated to tech news and customization.

5. AquaSoft – If you are interested in making Windows into Mac then probably this forum would surely help you out.

XP/Vista System Sound not working..!!!

Hi All, Recently for some reason I met up with this problem while I was working on vista suddenly my login/logoff and other system sounds were not working. It was annoying me a lot. I thought it has to be related with some codec package installing or uninstalling. Then I found a solution which worked fine for me.

I downloaded K-lite codec package and while installing select custom selection and select only Codec Tweak tool and continue installing.

After successful installation, launch the tool by clicking on  START –> ALLPROGRAMS –> K-LITE CODEC PACK –> TOOLS –> CODEC TWEAK TOOL. Now in Fixes group, select ‘Fix non working System Sound’ and press Next,

And there you go all your system sound should be working fine. Now you can go ahead and uninstall the tool if you don’t want it in your system.

Or, If you do not want to install any new softwares then you may try doing this, Go to START -> MYCOMPUTER right click on local System drive, then click on PROPERTIES ->  TOOLS -> ERROR-CHECKING -> CHECK NOW, You have to restart the System and wait for sometime for it to finish. But I never tried this step so you may try and input your valuable comments.

Nice Sites that I Stumbled Upon – Log#1

I thought i would share my bookmarks and some nice sites that I come across. Here you’ll find some popular sites and also some unique websites. Today i’ll share some popular websites with respect to phones.

1. Engadget – If you are gadget geek then you should be knowing this. A great site for new news about your favorite and upcoming phones and also other gadgets.

2. Boy Genius Report – Another similar and famous website for gadget’s news.

3. AndroidGuys – If you have any plans of knowing about the upcoming and promising Android OS based phones or news then this is the place to go for.

4. WMExperts – If you are hunting for a Windows mobile (like me) then probably this site would help you know about latest windows mobile news & reviews.

5. IphoneNews – Last but not least the infamous Iphone. You’ll find all news related to it and also reviews of some nice applications here.

A first step before things go wrong

Hi All,

The first thing I learnt after owning a computer is to backup my OS before things could go really wrong. I went wrong hell a lot of times and immediately I press the format button but then realized it was not the cure for all.

Found that a perfect solution is to backup a successful install of any OS with our favorites installed. Alright straight into the point, Of all the Backup solutions I came across Symantec Ghost best suited for my needs. I would guide you how to use this one which is as simple as drinking a soft drink.

BACKUP:

STEP 1: After Installing a fresh new OS, start installing all your favorite apps without screwing your OS. Hope after all makeup your baby is as good as you thought. For me,

My Desktop

STEP 2: Get BARTPE which is really a very useful kit to have for almost all crisis we face in windows. It comes with preinstalled version of Symantec Ghost and also other useful utilities.

2.1-In case u find it hard to create a BARTPE try following the links like this or this. U can also get some pre made images in underground sites which I cant mention here.

STEP 3: Boot using the bootable CD and you’ll end up in a screen having a kinda Windows 98 style menu. Now navigate to START –>PROGRAMS –> SYMANTEC GHOST v8 –> GHOST.

Mockup of the Symantec Ghost Window

Now after clicking ‘OK’, navigate to LOCAL –>PARTITION –> TO IMAGE, then select your hard disk and then select the right partition where your OS is installed. Then select to place to save the drive image.

STEP 4: Then it will ask for the Compression range whether NO – No compression at all, FAST – Better compression and speed ratio, HIGH (my choice) – High compression but slow speed. That is it now you are all set to play like hell with your OS.

After some months of usage say you screwed up your system and after tons of google searches & suggestions you find yourself in a dark room, In comes GHOST to give you light

RESTORE:

Step 1: Boot again with your bootable CD and follow the same way to launch GHOST then, LOCAL –>PARTITION –> FROM IMAGE and select your previously saved Backup(GHO) file on your drive.

Selecting the backup file

Step 2: Now select your screwed up partition on which you want to restore the image and that is all. You have got back to your OS with your favorites installed.

Now Sit Back and Screw Your System Again..!!!