Windows PC’s have a Files and Settings Transfer wizard that you can use to transfer files. Usually the option to move files involves saving them to a CD-ROM or USB key. What if you have more files than will easily fit on those two items though? What would be nice is to plug a cable into the two computers to connect them directly.

The StarTech USB Data File Transfer Cable does exactly that.

Since the cable is USB 2.0, you’ll be able to transfer files between the two computers at 480Mbps.

The device works best when being used to transfer files from a Windows XP machine to another Vista machine. You can also use it to transfer from a Vista machine to a Vista machine, or Windows XP/Vista to Windows 7. From my own experience in testing out the device, it doesn’t work trying to transfer files between two Windows XP machines.

Did you follow that?

Basically if you’re upgrading to a new computer from an old one? You’re good to go. Pick up the StarTech USB Data File Transfer Cable and start moving your files almost effortlessly.

Post from: EveryJoe

Transfer Files from Your Old to New Computer

My experience with Windows 7 has been pretty good. The interface is mostly like Vista, so it’s still taken a bit of getting used to in trying to find things and familiarize myself with the operating system. After spending so much time with Windows XP, there’s bound to be a learning adjustment there. I think it’s probably similar to the interface changes that were seen by users switching into the Office 2007 ribbon interface.

My wife has been pleased with her experience for the last few weeks as well. The only real problem I think we’ve experienced is our Lexmark printer driver hasn’t been working for her since she upgraded to Windows 7. We’re hoping that a new driver will be available Thursday as well, if not soon after.

How many of you will be upgrading to Windows 7 as soon as it’s available on Thursday? Are you using Windows Vista now, or Windows XP? What’s the biggest change or improvement you’re looking to take advantage of with the upgrade?

Post from: EveryJoe

Windows 7 Available on Thursday

Currently, Netflix has more than 12,000 "Watch it now" movies and TV episodes. They are going to be available to Windows Vista Home Premium users or Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate edition. Windows XP users however; would not be able to take advantage of this service.

Users who can play videos streamed by Netflix from Windows Media Center would also be able to do the following as confirmed by Microsoft:

1. Search the entire Netflix library

2. Manage their DVD queues

3. Filter searches by titles that are available to watch instantly

Image from Netflix.

Post from: EveryJoe

Netflix on Windows Media Center

Windows XP Pro Prefetch Folder

One of those tweaks you can do is to delete your prefetch files and this has been said to improve your reboot time. What the prefetch routine does is look at the applications you use and creates pointer index files to the files those applications will need so that Windows can access them and start-up those programs quickly.

There’s a bit of a debate on if this is actually a tweak worth doing or not. In my opinion it does help. The slower prefetch experience Ed Bott noticed is due (in my opinion) that upon the first reboot of the system the prefetch files are getting rebuilt and identified as needed. I don’t think you’ll see the immediate effects until the following reboots.

It’s also my opinion that this helps because you may have started programs months ago that you no longer use and Windows is wasting resources in identifying where those programs and files are located to boot up quicker.

If you’re interested in seeing if this will work for your needs, you can follow these instructions for emptying your Prefetch folder on your Windows XP machine.

What’s been your experience with refreshing your prefetch files?

Post from: EveryJoe

To Prefetch or Not To Prefetch

Spoof of Windows 7 Logo

What will you do? From what I can tell so far I’ll probably upgrade happily to Windows 7 if I don’t upgrade to Vista between now and then. Just about the only reason I haven’t upgraded to Vista is because I don’t want to do any completely unnecessary changes to my laptop for whatever reason. It’s my production computer and if I lose it, I’m in a deep world of hurt. I’m hoping for a new laptop with Windows 7 installed as a much needed computer upgrade period.

Does this make things different for you? Will you upgrade without much thought if you know you can downgrade back to Windows XP if you don’t like Windows 7? Will you try and skip Windows 7 completely because of all the hubbub and hoopla that’s gone on with Vista?

What will you do?

Post from: EveryJoe

Windows XP Still An Option After Windows 7?

For a system A to connect to a remote system B through SSH, A needs a SSH client (like PuTTY for Windows) and B needs a SSHD server running all the time so as to accept incoming connections.

SSH is a proprietary software offered by SSH Communications Security, and as an alternative the open source version OpenSSH is being widely used. On all Unix-based OSs, the OpenSSH SSHD server is installed by default during the installation of the operating system. On Windows, however, it is not the case.

You can install it on top of Cygwin very easily. You will need administrator access with a password set for the account. When you run the Cygwin setup to download or install various packages, select openssh which will select all the other packages it requires.

Once you complete the install, to configure SSHD run $ ssh-host-config –y from the terminal. This will automatically answer ‘yes’ for the yes/no questions. Give an appropriate password that follows your system rules if an sshd_server is being created or ignore this step. Specify the value of the environment variable CYGWIN as “ntsec tty” for WinXP and Vista and “binmode ntsec tty” for Windows 2003 Server (without quotes). At the end of this process, the sshd service will have automatically started and placed itself among the Windows startup list.

If you have any problems, try following this article for WinXP and Vista and this one for Windows 2003 Server or drop me a message.

Post from: EveryJoe

Installing and Configuring SSHD Server on Cygwin

Milo discovered a product especially useful for enterprises of all sizes called Nightwatchman, a good news that Microsoft didn’t lay off anybody in the Vista team. I knew that they didn’t touch the Silverlight team, but frankly I’m surprised about this because Vista hasn’t been very profitable to Microsoft. Or has it? One bad news is the Windows 7 minimum requirements. It may not be a good experience to try it on my netbook which just meets the minimum requirements and my laptop which is old enough to even miss the minimum. But if anyone is interested, you can get the Windows 7 look into Windows XP. He also found a couple of amusing videos, one called “how to say i love you.” and another a confirmation of love, a marriage at Taco Bell. Recession, aye?

Jason found a few websites that can assist you in unique ways: one for helping educate your kids, one a calendar to help others, and another to scan your computer online. He covered a lot of Windows Powertoys, a mobile media browser and found another reason to continue loving Zune. He also has a couple of how-tos for selecting non-linear text in a word document and sharing Outlook calendar availability. One bad news, I mean another one, is that Microsoft is shutting down MSN Groups.

Claire thought out loud about the gap between Linux and mainstream users, learnt something new about less (which all you Cygwin users may find useful), discovered a wonderful browser called Kidzui which attempts to make the Internet a more kid-friendly place.

Juan wonders whether the Mac is not invincible anymore and whether Apple really needs to make a netbook. He is glad to find a symbol cheat widget and an app that can save his day with a bunch of drawings. The latter isn’t my cup of tea. He along with Jayvee found out about Apple’s stand on piracy.

Post from: EveryJoe

A Massive Tech Channel Roundup

On Windows XP, the installation needs two reboots – one after uninstalling IE8 Beta 2 and another after installing IE8 RC1. On Windows Vista, a single reboot after the installation will suffice. On Windows 7, this is not expected to work at all. (Windows 7 already comes preinstalled with an IE8 beta version.) Read the complete installation instructions here.

I installed the software on both my desktop and laptop, both currently running on Windows XP, and my biggest complaint is that after the first reboot (uninstalling IE8 Beta 2), when the installation of IE8 RC1 step ends, the second reboot takes place without a prompt. It is bad that a reboot is required in the first place. Any other work you may be doing in the meantime (because installation takes a few minutes) could be lost. Keep that in mind if you are trying to install it.

Another age-old issue is that IE automatically sets itself as the default browser though it is not much of a problem. That said, I welcome Microsoft’s new generosity to allow custom non-Microsoft search engines and accelerators to be set in the user preferences.

IE8 RC1 appears to be running faster than IE8 Beta 2, which itself has considerably improved over IE7. The software has been made more secure and Microsoft seems to be taking pains to be more compliant to the global web standards. The latest version is definitely a big step in the right direction for the future of the Internet Explorer.

Image Source: Internet Explorer.

Post from: EveryJoe

Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1

During work, e.g., we open a web browser – because we are so used to it – but more importanly have several other programs opened simultaneously. While navigating from Microsoft Outlook to Eclipse to the work folders using Alt + Tab, it is irritating to find Mozilla Firefox in between. Also, the task bar has only this much place.

Still, most of the web browsers like the Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox continue to ignore our need for a “Minimize to system tray” option (Opera provides the option). And we don’t always know the registry hack to minimize Microsoft Outlook. Trayconizer comes to our rescue.

The “Mozilla Firefox” icon sitting in my system tray is not a photoshop gimmick. I used a miniscule utility called Trayconizer.exe to minimze Firefox to the system tray. It is only 10.5 KB in size and, hmm, doesn’t need installation.

All you have to do is invoke the target program, Mozilla Firefox in this example, through the utility. The easiest way to do this is to set the target of a shortcut you use like this:

Replace “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”
with C:\Downloads\Trayconizer.exe “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”

It may not be possible to Trayconize all programs and I am not sure if it works on Windows Vista, but it seems to work well enough on Windows XP. You can download it here. The page shows that the utility hasn’t had a newer version in over 5 years.

Image Source: Screenshots taken on my laptop running Windows XP.

Post from: EveryJoe

Trayconize Any Program to System Tray

Below are a few simple ways to make sure your computer stays safe and secure for that much longer (they all eventually get messed up, even you Mac):

• Run a software firewall (Windows XP comes with one built in, not too sure on the Mac OS front but I would imagine they have something).
• Keep anti-virus software installed and up-to-date (AVG is free for the PC and ClamXav is free for the Mac).
• Install a router. Make sure you are running a decent home router (at home) and a good commercial router (for businesses). They are insanely cheap today, so there’s no excuse not to run one. Belkin, Linksys and Netgear all make decent home routers.
• If you run wireless, secure it. Today, almost all wireless routers support WPA or WPA2, so use it. In fact, it’s easier to remember your WPA key than it is to remember WEP. I think that “my Awesomely Secure Pa55word” is much simpler to remember than “FF5C0B374FA81D2959C2578F65″.

These are only a few ways to help protect your PC and information. Losing your data is a pain. Identity theft is an even bigger problem. Don’t get caught in either one.

P.S. – Keep an eye out for the fun contest (which should be starting on Monday, right here at That Damn PC).

Post from: EveryJoe

How to protect your computer, simple and easy