The Four-eyed Journal » How-to

Faster way to remove Windows System Restore Points - Recover hard drive space with free PC tool

jhay — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:00:01 +0000

Windows System Restore creates ‘snapshots’ of your PC’s system files, registry keys, installed programs, etc., making it possible to roll back to a previous state in the event of system malfunction or failure. It works most of the time but this post is not about that.

The problem with System Restore is that the snapshots, called Restore Points, it stores on your hard drive can take up a lot of space. Over time and because this Windows feature works in the background, you wake up one day surprised that suddenly your hard drive has a lot less free space available.

To recover hard drive space, the traditional method is to delete previous Restore Points using Window’s built-in Disk Cleaner. (Right-click on your hard drive, Properties > Disk cleanup)

Another problem with this method is that it’s really slow and take up system resources. A faster alternative is to use Piriform’s CCleaner. It’s one of the most popular tools in cleaning up PCs. Just follow the steps:

Open CCleaner
Select the Tools tab
Select System Restore
Remove all the Restore points, the most current one is locked for safety

CCleaner removes all those previous Restore Points and recovering valuable hard drive space a lot faster than before.

The best part is, CCleaner is a free tool. Go ahead and give it a download, you’d be impressed by it.

Recover lost blog posts with Feedblitz & Google Reader

jhay — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:56:20 +0000

The most devastating damage this blog took from the recent hack attack + database screw-up was the lost of six month’s worth of blog posts.

Though my webhost has managed to provide me with a copy of my blog’s database before the hack attack took place, the backup was unusable. It sucks big time! So I had to be more resourceful and figure out a way to recover most if not all of the blog posts I’ve lost.

The first solution that came to mind was Google Cache. That neat service by Google wherein they keep a snapshot of the web pages it has indexed. So I tried that but unfortunately, Google has also cached the corrupt pages of my blog so it was also unusable.

My hopes of recovering those lost blog posts nearly died until I saw that my Google Reader has the last 16 posts I’ve posted. Yes, I do subscribe to my own RSS feed. I do this to see how my posts really look like via RSS.

Google Reader has a copy of all my published blog posts from years back.

Going back, I thought that if Google Reader had my last 16 posts, maybe it has all the posts I’ve ever published since I had long subscribed to my own RSS feed years ago. Thank the stars for Google Reader, it does have them! All posts from way back to February 2009 were still viewable via Google Reader.

While browsing how far Google Reader had copies of my past blog posts, I remembered another way of recovering the ones I’ve lost. That silent and almost forgotten feed subscription and newsletter service known as Feedblitz.

It allows blog readers to subscribe to their choice of blogs via email. A simple newsletter of sorts that delivers every published post to my subscribers via email. Then I remembered that I had my very first Gmail account subscribed to it way back just to see how my posts were displayed by Feedblitz. I logged in and I almost jumped for joy when every single post I’ve ever published were right there in my inbox complete with post styling, embedded images & videos to boot!

Thanks to FeedBlitz, I was able to archive my published blog posts in my Gmail account.

So now, it’s just a matter of copying posts both from Google Reader and Feedblitz to my blog and re-publishing them. This would also be a great opportunity to update some posts that need to be updated and fix the typos I’ve left unnoticed since then.

The only drawback to this method is that the comments and trackbacks the posts have collected over time have been lost forever. Which goes to prove that it’s still best to have a working backup, even multiple backups of your blog’s database.

Nonetheless, I’m content that there’s a sure way to recover the lost blog posts and in the coming years, I know better how to prevent this harrowing experience from happening again.

If you had your own share of blog hack attacks and other methods of recovering lost blog posts do share them for all to read and learn from.

How to fix that Windows Old ActiveX vulnerability

jhay — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:26:42 +0000

Betanews reports of an old ActveX Control that tunes in to MPEG2 transport streams in Windows machines that have outlived their usefulness but its mere presence has become another vulnerability for attacks.

However, don’t expect an update or patch from Microsoft that will fix this vulnerability. According to the company, we users can fix it for ourselves! (So much for support right?)

We do this by tweaking with our machine’s Registry! Yes, Microsoft has just asked you to do brain surgery on your Windows machine. Don’t be scared. It’s Windows so you’re already used to having bugs, security holes and vulnerabilities on it. Besides, betanews has a guide on how to do this ‘brain surgery’ on your computer.

Windows XP users pay close attention because it seems that your version of Windows is the most vulnerable one. Vista and Windows 7 users can relax a little. However, one could never be too cautious with your Windows machine right? Anyways, here’s how to fix it:

Open Security Advisory 972890 and scroll down to General Information. Open the Suggested Actions tier, followed by Workarounds, and scroll down until you see the long list marked Class Identifier.
Start the Windows Registry Editor (REGEDIT). (For Vista, you may need to click on Continue at the UAC prompt.)
In the left pane, open the folder corresponding to the Registry tier \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility. The good news here is that all the CLSIDs in this segment of the Registry, and all the CLSIDs in Microsoft’s warning list, are in hexadecimal numerical order, so you won’t have to search each one from top to bottom.
Scan the Registry to see if any of the CLSIDs correspond exactly to any of the 45 Registry items flagged by Microsoft. More than one may correspond. If none correspond, you are already safe from this exploit. Betanews was unable, for example, to find any of the 45 Registry entries on our Windows XP or Vista systems, and we don’t expect to see it in Windows 7
If you do find an offending CLSID, then do not delete it. That actually won’t change anything at all, believe it or not. Instead, choose its entry from the left pane.
Check the right pane for a value named Compatibility Flags. If it does not yet exist, you’ll need to create it. Right-click on the empty space in the right pane, and from the popup menu, select New, Binary Value. A new listing will be created that moment, which you’ll need to rename. Type Compatibility Flags and Enter.
Right-click on Compatibility Flags and from the popup menu, select Modify. In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, under Value data, type 400, leave the Base setting on Hexadecimal, then click on OK. Repeat this process for all the remaining CLSIDs in Microsoft’s list.

What this does is set the kill bit for the control. It’s still registered (and it’s still taking up space on your hard drive, doing nothing), but now it’s at least turned off, so it can’t be leveraged in an attack.

Simple was it not? For those who are too scared to perform this procedure on your machine, try this Fix it For Me page which allows you to download a small app from Microsoft that will automate this registry tweak for you.

Combining Linux & Mac OS X – sort of

jhay — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:30:00 +0000

So I’ve finally taken the plunge. I gave in to the habit of tweaking the UI of Vista on my notebook so as to become more productive, suit my workflow and please my personal preferences.

No, I did not download one of those transformation packs to make Vista look and behave almost exactly like Mac OS X. I’ve grown tired of living in a dream and have decided that if I wanted to use something like Mac OS X, I’d get the real one. Albeit, someday, in the distant future. lol

What I did was simple. The Taskbar was moved on top of the screen, just like in OS X and Ubuntu. This way, I don’t have to strain my hand every time I scroll down when switching between running apps I’ve minimized and the same goes for my neck and eyes. I’ve only used OS X twice in my entire life, so it was in using Ubuntu Linux that I’ve come to appreciate the more natural look of the menus popping down from the top instead of from below.

Next, I’ve downloaded and installed ObjectDock. It’s a free and open-source application that works like the Dock in OS X. At present, it contains all the shortcuts to the applications that I use regularly. Firefox, WinAmp, FileZilla, NotePad++, Evernote, Photoshop and Flickr Uploader. Yes, since last week, Windows Live Writer is also included as well. What about Microsoft Word and Excel? Good question. I hardly use those nowadays that why I’ve become accustomed to launching them from the Start Menu or Vista’s nifty Search function.

As you can see from the screen-shot of my new desktop, which sports the WordCamp Philippines wallpaper, Vista’s Sidebar is missing. It’s because I’ve decided not to use it anymore. John Clyman from PC Magazine was right, using the Sidebar was really a personal preference and so I’ve decided that since I never really needed Sidebar, it’s much better to regain the screen space it once occupied.

The goodies

The immediate benefit is that I now have a much more organized, cleaner and less-cluttered desktop. Everything I need are just a few clicks away and I can keep an eye on the apps that I’m currently running. Plus, I get more eye-candy from ObjectDock instead of Vista’s Aero which is more demanding system resources.

Second, performance has increased significantly. Since Sidebar is no longer being used, my notebook’s startup time decreased dramatically. Plus, apps that I run are more responsive because they have more system RAM to work on. Proof of this is that I was able to run five Firefox windows each with not less than three active tabs, and close all of it after a whole day’s worth of web browsing without Firefox crashing. In between, Photoshop, EverNote and PowerPoint were ran at different times during the session.

Third, I was able to increase my output by some significant margin. Sidebar with its Notes, Calendar and Slideshow gadgets turned out to be more of a distraction that kept me from focusing on my work. Instead WinAmp has taken its place on the screen serving my daily dose of my favorite music from The Bee Gees, Bamboo and The Eraserheads. Tunes that help keep my creative mood and juices going and going and going.

Lastly, for now, I’ve learned to use keyboard shortcuts to get around the desktop instead of using the trackpad which gives my hand some extra strain. The only time I use the trackpad is when launching apps from ObjectDock, navigating in Windows Explorer and doing some quick editing in Photoshop. If ever there’s a need for an application from the Start menu, I just press the Start menu key, search for the app and hit Enter to launch it.

Too bad, I can’t get Lauchy to work on my notebook the first time I’ve installed it. Ah but that’s for another post. So far, I’m happy with the new setup. I’m not really after making Vista look and behave like Mac OS X just to get more eye-candy or impress my friends. All I wanted was to get things done, the way I wanted it done.

So did you changed Vista’s default UI too? Do share your stories, tips and tricks.

Ergonomics and proper posture in using a laptop

jhay — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:26:32 +0000

Okay, so it takes a little while to get used to Firefox 3′s new “Awesome bar”, and now I’m beginning to agree with the remark of commenter minor‘s wife that the new address bar in Firefox 3 could cause some added eyestrains because it spits out huge chunks of text every time you type in a URL. Still, congratulations to Mozilla and to all Firefox fans, it’s reported that we reached 8 Million downloads for Firefox 3 on Download day.

Which means there are now 7 Million users who will have to grapple with the new address bar of FF3, it’s a usability issue that I hope will be addressed in the next versions of Firefox.

Speaking of usability, ergonomics and health issues with regards to using computers and laptops, today I’d answer what friends have been asking me every time they see me using a full-sized mice with my laptop. The trend is that with desktops you should use full-sized mice while if you’re going to use a laptop and not bother with its track pad, you would use one of those mini-mice which is half the size of the regular ones, hell there are even micro or pocket-sized mice that could easily fit in one’s underpants. Case in point, Carlo’s new mini-mice for his Asus Eee PC. Cute but not for me.

I for one did not follow this convention. Simply because my right hand is too big to comfortably use a micro-mice. See the photo below?

That wireless mini-mice given to me by my uncle could easily be hidden underneath my hand, if my hand were a lot hairier it would look like a tarantula that has caught a small mice (the animal) for dinner. So I went out and bought a full-sized Optical Mice by Logitech. It’s twice the size of most mini-mice but it saves me a lot from painful wrist and finger strain or what’s properly called as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Asides from taking care of our hands and wrists, which I think are one of the most important parts of a blogger’s anatomy, Manav of Technospot.net reminds us of the importance of using good posture in using our computers, especially if your work or lifestyle involves using it for long periods of time.

By my reckoning, it’s written for those who use desktop computers as these are much more common and configurable because the monitor and keyboard could be adjusted separately for greater comfort.
On the other hand, for laptop users like, our situation is a bit different thus our setup is also a bit different.

A set of good ergonomic tips in using a laptop can be found in the website of The University of Ontario:

Shoulders should be resting at your sides, elbows bent to 90 degrees and wrists straight. Tilt the screen to reduce neck bending and any glare.
Make sure you use a light touch while keying and mousing.
The armrests on your chair should not obstruct arm movements as seen in the picture to the right.
Can you use secondary function or short-cut keys instead of the mouse
Consider the tasks you will be working on. Raise the screen to eye level when reading lengthy documents (consider using the mouse for scrolling) or lower the keyboard to elbow level for intensive keying.
Consider using the laptop as a stand alone CPU with an external keyboard, mouse and monitor. If the notebook screen is large, raise the entire computer to eye level and use an external keyboard and mouse.
If you are working at a table that is too high for proper keying, try tilting the laptop towards you using an empty binder. Reclining your seat slightly will help to improve arm postures. Tilting the laptop will also help to raise the screen closer to eye level.
Take a break from your laptop. Do you have other jobs you can work at for a bit that don’t involve using a computer? Several short breaks, where you can change your posture, is recommended over one long break.

Other sites offer more tips in proper and healthy laptop usage but I don’t have the luxury of having a secondary LCD monitor to plug in to my laptop to achieve that eye-level setup recommended when reading documents from the computer. For now, I’ll just adjust the height of my gas-lift chair when needed.