For those who had used Window 95/98/XP and like to customize how your OS looks like, you would have known that it is possible to change the boot screen to some image that you liked instead of the default logo. Like wise, it is possible with Vista. Although I don’t have any idea why you will want to go thru the trouble to get it done.
To change Vista’s boot screen, follow the steps below.
Warning, changing of system files might potentially corrupt your system. Do it at your own risk.
- Login to your Vista using an account with Administrative rights.
- Download and install Vista Boot Logo Generator (Yahoo for it. Yes, no Google here. I like going against the norm XD).
- Launch Vista Boot Logo Generator. Prior to that, you will need to prepare 2 images (800×600 & 1024×768) in 24bit *.bmp format.
- Inside Vista Boot Logo Generator, select the images you had prepared by clicking on the Browse for image… button.
- Click on File then Save Boot Screen File As and use the default file name.
- Next, fire up Windows Explorer and navigate your way to C:\Windows\System32\en-US.
- Right click on the file winload.exe.mui and select Properties.
- Click on Security tab then click on Advanced button.
- Click on Owner tab than click on Edit button.
- Under Change owner to: box, select Administrators group account and click OK.
- On the Advanced Security Settings for winload.exe.mui window, click OK.
- On the winload.exe.mui Properties page, select Security tab and click on Edit.
- Inside Group or user names: box, select Administrators and check Allow for Full control in the Permission box below.
- Click on OK for all.
- Next, backup the original winload.exe.mui to another location. Then replace the original with the winload.exe.mui that you had generated using Vista Boot Logo Generator.
- Last, click on Start then Run.
- Type msconfig then click OK.
- Click on Boot tab, select No GUI boot then click OK.
- Restart you computer.
There are alot of articles on the net stating the following steps helps.
- Click on Start then Run.
- Type in gpedit.msc then click OK to launch the Local Group Policy Editor.
- Select Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > QoS Packet Scheduler.
- On the right panel, select Limit reservable bandwidth, right click and select Properties.
- Select Enable and enter 0 (zero) in the Bandwidth limit (%) text box.
- Click OK and exit Local Group Policy Editor.
Though the Limit reservable bandwidth is set to Not Configured, by default 20% is set to reserve a portion of the connection bandwidth for Windows update and stuff.
Honestly, I do not see how this will affect the internet speed especially when the PCs are connected to a network through wired (10/100 mbps) or wireless (11/22/54 mbps) medium. Windows will detect the respective local network connection speed rather than the actual outbound internet connection speed, since the internet connection will be connected to either the switch or a router. So after subtracting 20% off the LAN speed, it still shouldn’t affect the internet speed as the balance will still be greater that the actual internet connection speed.
So… for those who are desperate to speed up their internet connection, do give it a try and leave a comment here with your outcome.
This is likely caused by corrupted spooler files. To fix it, first off your printer and then stop the print spooler service. Next, fire up Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS. Delete the files ending with *.SHD and *.SPL. Finally on you printer then start the print spooler service again.
To stop or start the Printer Spooler Service
- Go to Start then Run.
- Type in services.msc.
- Search for Print Spooler, Right Click on it and select Stop/Start
.
- Arabic
- Bulgarian
- Croatian
- Czech
- Estonian
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Hungarian
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Polish
- Portuguese (Portugal)
- Romanian
- Serbian
- Slovak
- Slovenian
- Thai
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
Though all of them has got nothing to do with me XD
Available at newegg.com, it cost US$189.99 (aprox SG$278).
What is Home Server anyway?
Download and install the Link-Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Responder on the WinXP machines.
This is a Beta software as of 06/09/2007.
Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista is no secret. The news has been out many months ago and the beta version of the SP had been available on the Internet for quite a while.
Many people are anticipating that the SP1 will bring huge improvement to Vista (similarly to what SP2 for Windows XP did), in fact there are some who claims that Vista is broken until the release of SP1. Unfortunately (fortunately to me 
) this is not the case. SP2 for Windows XP was an exception, due to the technology advancement since after WinXP was launched, new features were created and security was the main concern. As such, Microsoft has to find ways to deliver them (the features and patch) to the end users, thus, SP2 was formed.
Vista SP1 will include all patches that has been released (security, reliability and performance). In addition, the following will also be included in SP1.
Security
- Provides security software vendors a more secure way to communicate with Windows Security Center.
- Includes application programming interfaces (APIs) by which third-party security and malicious software detection applications can work with kernel patch protection on x64 versions of Windows Vista. These APIs help ISVs develop software that extends the functionality of the Windows kernel on x64 computers without disabling or weakening the protection offered by kernel patch protection.
- Improves the security of running RemoteApp programs and desktops by allowing Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) files to be signed. Customers can differentiate user experiences based on publisher identity.
- Adds an Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) to the list of available PRNGs in Windows Vista.
- Enhances BitLocker Drive Encryption (BDE) to offer an additional multifactor authentication method that combines a key protected by the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) with a Startup key stored on a USB storage device and a user-generated personal identification number (PIN).
Reliability
- Improved reliability and compatibility of Windows Vista when used with newer graphics cards in several specific scenarios and configurations.
- Improved reliability when working with external displays on a laptop.
- Improved Windows Vista reliability in networking configuration scenarios.
- Improved reliability of systems that were upgraded from Windows XP to Windows Vista.
- Increased compatibility with many printer drivers.
- Increased reliability and performance of Windows Vista when entering sleep and resuming from sleep.
Performance
- Improves the speed of copying and extracting files.
- Improves the time to become active from Hibernate and Resume modes.
- Improves the performance of domain-joined PCs when operating off the domain; in the current release version of Windows Vista, users would experience long delays when opening the File dialog box.
- Improves performance of Windows® Internet Explorer® 7 in Windows Vista, reducing CPU utilization and speeding JavaScript parsing.
- Improves battery life by reducing CPU utilization by not redrawing the screen as frequently, on certain computers.
- Improves the logon experience by removing the occasional 10-second delay between pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL and the password prompt displaying.
- Addresses an issue in the current version of Windows Vista that makes browsing network file shares consume significant bandwidth and not perform as fast as expected.
Administration Experience
- BitLocker Drive Encryption encrypts extra local volumes. For example, instead of encrypting only drive C, customers can also encrypt drive D, E, and so on.
- Addresses problems with printing to local printers from a Windows® Terminal Services session.
- The Network Diagnostics tool will help customers solve the most common file sharing problems, in addition to the basic problems that it already diagnoses.
- Administrators can control the volumes on which to run Disk Defragmenter.
Emerging Hardware and Standards
- In the future, flash memory storage and consumer devices will use the exFAT file system. Windows Vista SP1 adds support for this file system to Windows Vista.
- The service pack will include support for Secure Digital (SD) Advanced Direct Memory Access (DMA), which will be on compliant SD host controllers soon, to improve transfer performance and decrease CPU utilization.
- x64 PCs can boot using the EFI. Windows Vista currently supports network boot by using Windows Deployment Services for x86, a PC’s basic input/output system (BIOS) for x64 PCs, and EFI for IA-64 PCs. Windows Vista SP1 will add support for network boot by using x64 EFI.
- The service pack will add support for Direct3D 10.1, adding application programming interfaces (APIs) and features that enable 3-D applications, so game developers can better take advantage of a new generation of Direct3D graphics hardware
- The Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP) is a remote access tunneling protocol that will be part of the Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) platform. This protocol helps provide full-network virtual private network (VPN) remote access connections without challenges that other protocols face when traversing NATs, Web proxies, and firewalls. Windows Vista SP1 will include support for SSTP.
Those in italics are what I believe most average end users are more interested in (at least I know I am).
Disclaimer
Vista SP1 is currently still in beta and subject to changes.
There are cases whereby you are denied from logging on the the Guest account even after you have enabled it. This is due to a local security policy that prohibits you from using that account to log on locally, even though its enabled.
To allow Guest account to log on locally, follow the steps below.
- Go to Start then Run.
- Type in MMC and click OK.
- In the MMC windows, click on File, Add/Remove Snap-in then Add.
- Select Group Policy Object Editor from the list and click Add.
- Click Finish in the Select Group Policy Object window.
- In the Add/Remove Snap-in window, click OK.
- In the MMC console, expand Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Management.
- On the right panel, right click on Deny log on locally and select Properties.
- Select Guest on the user list and click on Remove.
- Click OK and exit the MMC window.
Two leaked Vista update that has been floating around the internet community for a while since end of July have been made official. However, the updates are not part of the Microsoft Windows Update yet.
The two updates, performance update KB938979 and reliability update KB938194 do not patch any security vulnarabilities, but instead patches non-security bugs such as the infamous video drivers glitches and the slow file copying process (where it sometimes takes all day long to calculate the time remaining). The updates can be downloaded at their respective websites.
The Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Responder is needed to be install on the WinXP machines. LLTD is used by Vista to map out the computers and devices on the network.
The LLTD Responder for WinXP can be downloaded from here (KB922120).
Comments (0) 
Themocracy