April Fools Pranks

I don't know many, but a good one is making a post with the title "april fools pranks" and see the page views rise. Speacially today. If you visit Google Trends you'll see what I mean.

Best day to troll is right before april fools.

MANual uninstall

WARNING: don't start doing any of this right off the bat if you're a n00b and don't understand any of it. Read through the whole thing if you don't want to risk messing up your computer.

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Yesterday I installed a program which had no uninstaller, so I had a bit of trouble with it after realising this thing was useless (have I mentioned it didn't even had an uninstaller?). I couldn't remove it in Add or Remove Programs, Revo and IObit Uninstaller's didn't work either, because all of these need the uninstaller. So I did it MANually.

I don't recommend doing this at all, it should only be your last resort. I don't even know if this is a correct way to uninstall a program, but I've had no problems so far. You won't be surprised, it's pretty obvious what I decided to do. I deleted the program's installation folder in C:\Program Files. That's it.

Of course, it won't let you delete everything, because some of those stupid .exe will still be running. What you have to do is to forcefully terminate them. Open up the Task Manager (if you're a complete n00b and don't even know what that is, hit the Ctrl+SHIFT+ESC combo to bring it up. There it is. Congratulations, you've just learnt a new combo). Now go to the Processes tab if you're not already there. There's a button/check box on the bottom left corner, it'll show you the processes running for all users once you click it. So click it.

Now you're probably staring at your monitor going "wtf", if you're a n00b. Next you have to know what process to terminate. First make the list steady by clicking on Image Name. Now scroll the list and look for the .exe that has the same name as the one you can't delete. Select it and hit the End Process button on the bottom right. Once successful you'll be able to delete the .exe from the folder. Clean up the registry afterwards if you want, using something like CCleaner or Wise Registry Cleaner.

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more WARNING: don't mess around in the Task Manager, n00b, and be sure about the process you're terminating. Don't terminate anything else except the one you want to get rid of. Hopefully you won't find many programs without an uninstaller, so again, this is your last resort.

Ubuntu USB flash drive

So you googled how to install Ubuntu in a flash drive and (I hope it actually happened) you found this.

There are many sites that have posted their guides on how to do this, but my post is more of a "you should really do it, it's handy" kind of thing. You can find the best (imo) step-by-step guide right on Ubuntu's download page (scroll down a bit). However, before any of that I recommend doing this.

Now what? Well now you've got a portable OS, that's what. Also, it comes in handy for fixing Windows and indeed having an OS to work with when Windows fails. It can be used to install Ubuntu on any computer too.

One last thing, make sure you can boot from the USB flash drive. You do that by accessing the BIOS on your PC when it turns on (press the indicated key for that, usually it's something like ESC or F10). You know, that weird looking thing that shows up first in every boot?

Press the correct key (ESC or F10 or ...) and BAM you're in the BIOS. Now look for the menu where there's an option to change the boot order or priority. Now give priority to USB Flash Drive over all else and you're set to boot from your Ubuntu USB stick. Congratulations.

Windows XP Mode

Today I installed Windows XP Mode. All it takes is having Windows 7 and going here. If you can read, you'll have no problems getting through the installation process. It's no different from any other installation and I bet you've done a lot of that.

Initially, I did this hoping I'd be able to install TI's NoteFolio Creator, to cut down on the time I spend making cheat sheets for my calc, but the same problem I found, when I tried to install it under Windows 7, arised (look at me, thinking I know what I'm talking about). I needed .NET Framework 1.1. or higher. So I googled what to do and this came up. Pretty damned helpful.

Now, I'm wondering if I should keep XP Mode. Know any cool tips or uses for running XP Mode? Share them in the comments, please. Thank you.

(this whole post, it's like I'm implying I'm gonna have readers. lol)

My first post ever

Being absolutely new to all this, I have but a small bunch of words for my first post. This blog will be dedicated, primarily, to venting my boredom on a daily basis, so don't count on finding a lot of serious business blogging. I will post a few tips and tricks I have and will have learnt of, followed by links to a more in-depth view on the subject. That is all, for now.