Walker News » XP

Virtual CloneDrive Is Another Virtual CD Drive Emulator

Walker — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:00:26 +0000

For those who prefers simple solution to read CD/DVD images in Windows systems, I’ll recommend you the Virtual CloneDrive of Elaborate Bytes.

Virtual CloneDrive is absolutely a green freeware (version 5.3.1.2), comes with really native and simple user interface, which I suppose that everyone knows how to use it without referring to a guide. (And most probably you’re here because you’ve not heard about Elaborate Bytes or Virtual CloneDrive).

Although the official download site doesn’t spell it out explicitly, Virtual CloneDrive Version 5.3.1.2 (updated on 12th of June, 2008) is compatible with 32-bit Windows Vista and supports CCD, DVD, IMG, ISO, UDF, BIN CD image format.

Indeed, the Virtual CloneDrive Revision History file installed by the setup program shows that Virtual CloneDrive supports Windows Vista since version 5.2.0.2 (released on 28th of October, 2007). The latest version 5.3.1.2 fix data integrity problem in Windows Vista and added new option to use buffered I/O.

Personally, I prefers MagicDisc (the MagicISO Virtual CD/DVD-ROM emulator), because it’s GREEN freeware (version 2.6, build 093) and supports so many types of CD image format, which includes BIN (CDRWin), IMA/IMG (Generic disk images), CIF (Easy CD Creator), NRG (Nero – Burning ROM), IMG/CCD (CloneCD), MDF/MDS (Fantom CD), VCD (Farstone Virtual Drive), VaporCD (Noum Vapor CDROM), P01/MD1/XA (Gear), VC4/000 (Virtual CD), VDI (Virtuo CD Manager), C2D (WinOnCD), BWI/BWT (BlinkWrite), CDI (DiscJuggler), TAO/DAO (Duplicator), PDI (Instant Copy).

How to turn on Virtual CloneDrive buffered I/O option?

By default installation, there is a Virtual CloneDrive icon created on Desktop.

Double-click the icon to bring up Virtual CloneDrive setting dialog box (as shown in the screenshot), where you can turn off the Virtual Sheep icon that appears next to the virtual CD drive in My Computer, turn on the option to auto-load last CD image or enable the buffered I/O feature.

How to mount/load a supported CD image in Virtual CloneDrive?

Open up my computer, right-click the virtual CD drive (by default installation, the Virtual CloneDrive is denoted with a sheep icon), go to Virtual CloneDrive menu and select Mount (to load CD image) or unmount (to unload the mounted CD image).

How To Extract Audio Music From A Video Clip In Windows Movie Maker

Walker — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:34:53 +0000

Windows Movie Maker is a video editing software that bundled with XP/Vista. Without any modification, Windows Movie Maker can be used to cut or split a MP3 for DIY ringtone.

Also, it’s not complicated to extract audio music from a video clip in Windows Movie Maker, so long it’s a compatible video format.

This short flash video showing a simple trick on how to do it.

First of all, put the Windows Movie Maker in Timeline view (click View menu and select Timeline).

The next highlight is to make sure you drag the video clip into “Audio/Music” track (in the Timeline view).

Now, you may simply click the “Publish Movie” icon to extract the complete audio music data, or you may click “Split” button to cut a specific part of the audio music and “Publish” (save) the cutting for your DIY mobile phone ringtone.

That’s the simple trick of using Windows Movie Maker to split or rip audio music data from video clip.

Direct Download Windows Vista SP1 and XP SP3

Walker — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:25:47 +0000

If you’re running either Windows Vista or Windows XP, it’s time to upgrade them to latest service pack level, for the sake of performance, reliability and security.

As broadband Internet is almost a ubiquitous connection to most home users in most countries, Windows Update service should be enabled to automate upgrade of any published Microsoft Updates ((unless to be notified).
However, if you’ve more than one Windows machines, Windows Update is not good choice for service pack upgrade. Indeed, you should direct download and manually install the service pack file or CD/DVD image (Windows Vista SP1 All Language edition is about 544.3 MB while Windows XP SP3 is about 316.4 MB).

All these service packs are hosted on Microsoft servers, which you could easily find them in Microsoft Download Center. The clickable link direct you to the service pack download page to review updated information (if any) or you can simply copy the un-clickable link to your web browser or download manager for direct download (from genuine Microsoft servers).

Direct download Windows Vista SP1
If you want to know more about Windows Vista SP1, please refer to the release note.

Windows Vista SP1 All Language (KB936330)

Download this standalone installation file and distribute it to team/family members’ machine for installation. Just double-click the exe file to start. Please be reminded that the installation of this 32-bit version requires 2500 MB to 5450 MB free disk space to succeed.

Direct download link of Windows Vista SP1, 32-bit, 544.3 MB, English:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/1/9/219163f5-fae5-4c2b-a607-872ff085f9e2/Windows6.0-KB936330-X86-wave1.exe

Windows Vista SP1 All Language DVD Image

This ISO image is good for those who intend to burn a DVD copy of Vista SP1 for distribution among team/family members, rather than sharing it in a mobile USB hard drive or sort of. The DVD image include both 32-bit and 64-bit version of Vista SP1 (hence the size is simply bigger)!

Direct download link of Vista SP1 DVD ISO image, 32-bit and 64-bit, 1418.1 MB, English:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/4/2/142b1f24-906a-4014-9765-48df2b8aa47b/6001.18000.080118-1840_iso_client_sp_wave1-FRMCSP1_DVD.iso

Please take note that this DVD image is not bootable by itself. It’s merely an DVD image of Vista SP1 installation file (not a bootable image that integrate Windows Vista installation files and Vista SP1, a process that commonly known as Slipstreaming)!
Windows Vista SP1 CD image

Unlike the DVD image, this ISO CD image only contains the 32-bit version of Vista SP1. If you don’t have a mix of 32-bit and 64-bit machines, just download the CD image to save half you network bandwidth :-)

Direct download link of Windows Vista SP1 CD image, 32-bit, 544.4 MB, English:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/3/7/b375974d-d9a8-454e-b929-4ed9b8020121/6001.18000.080118-1840_x86fre_wave1_ServicePackInstaller-FRMCSP1_CD1.iso

Direct download Windows XP SP3
Before you proceed to XP SP3 upgrade, it worth to simply vet through the release note.

Windows XP SP3 standalone (KB936929)

Download this 32-bit, standalone XP SP3 installation file (exe) and double-click to start. Again, please be reminded that it requires 380 to 460 MB of free disk space (with System Restore disabled) to succeed.

Direct download link of Windows XP SP3, 32-bit, 316.4 MB, English:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/3/0/d30e32d8-418a-469d-b600-f32ce3edf42d/WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe

Windows XP SP3 CD image

Again, similar to the other service pack ISO image, this is not a slipstreaming ISO image. I.e. the CD image itself is not bootable, as it only has the service pack files and not slipstreaming XP SP3 to Windows XP installation files.

Direct download link of Windows XP SP3 ISO CD image, 32-bit, 544.9 MB, English:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/e/9/ee9d0116-c9fe-4fc2-b59c-406cbfb6d515/xpsp3_5512.080413-2113_usa_x86fre_spcd.iso

The XP SP3 CD image installation require at least 750 to 1230 MB of free disk space (with System Restore disabled) to succeed.

Where Is IE7 Cache Folder

Walker — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 23:24:34 +0000

You may or may not know that there are two version of IE7, a.k.a. Internet Explorer 7.

Basically, IE7 only run on XP SP2 and above, i.e. Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Windows Vista. However, the Vista version of IE7 is bundled with the Windows Vista installation. In addition, Vista-IE7 could not run on XP and Windows 2003, and vice-versa.
The reason is that Vista-IE7 comes with extra security feature called Protected Mode, where the low privilege IE7 processes only allowed to write files and settings to a “low integrity” location, including the TIF folder (Temporarily Internet Files folder, or cache folder).

Thus, you may not find some of the cached files (e.g. YouTube video, JPEG, MP3, etc) in the normal cache folder path, as in earlier version of IE web browser.

Where Is IE7 Cache Folder in Windows Vista

Assuming the Protected Mode security is turned on by default.

Open IE7 in Windows Vista,
Press ALT+T keyboard shortcut to bring up Tools menu
Click the Internet Options sub-menu,
In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Settings button of Browsing History section,
Click the View Files button in the Temporarily Internet Files and History Settings dialog box,
Press ALT+D to highlight the Windows Explorer address bar,
Then follow by pressing the right-arrow key on your keyboard,
APPEND this hidden path \low\content.ie5 and press ENTER key.

By appending \low\content.ie5 to the traditional IE cache folder path, you’ll find most of the cached files in this “low integrity” folder (when IE7 is running in Protected Mode).

Some or all of the folders in this “low integrity” folder might be in hidden mode, which can only be seen or accessed by turning on the view hidden files option in Windows Explorer.

Where Is IE7 Cache Folder in Windows XP

Because the XP and Windows 2003 don’t support Protected Mode as in Windows Vista, there is no so-called “low integrity” folder in these Windows.

However, IE7 running on XP and 2003 doesn’t cache all files in the traditional cache folder path as well.

In order to access the IE7 cache folder in XP / Windows 2003:

Open IE7 in Windows XP or 2003,
Press ALT+T keyboard shortcut to bring up Tools menu
Click the Internet Options sub-menu,
In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Settings button of Browsing History section,
Click the View Files button in the Temporarily Internet Files and History Settings dialog box,
Press ALT+D to highlight the Windows Explorer address bar,
Then follow by pressing the right-arrow key on your keyboard,
APPEND this hidden path \content.ie5 and press ENTER key.

Similarly, you might need to turn on the view hidden files options in Windows Explorer before you could view / access all the web pages components cached by the web browser.

Useful CTRL Hotkey In Windows Vista and XP

Walker — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 07:46:19 +0000

Keyboard shortcut, also known as hotkey, is a useful and intuitive interface to work with a computer system.

Sometimes, only the hotkeys are able to trigger some common Windows functions when the application doesn’t provide them explicitly. For example, the CTRL + Z or CTRL + Y are really worth to remember keyboard shortcuts if you want to undo or redo changes made while composing a web-based email, writing a blog post in WordPress or Blogger, etc.

Now, let’s see what could the CTRL related hotkeys do in Windows OS (including the latest Windows Vista Ultimate)!

CTRL + F4 to close the active window in a MDI form or tab in IE7 or Firefox.

CTRL + PRINT SCREEN to capture screenshoot of Windows context menu with Snipping Tool – execute Snipping Tool, click Cancel snip button to put it in standby mode, bring up context menu and press CTRL + PRINT SCREEN hotkey.

CTRL TAB or SHIFT + CTRL + TAB to toggle between tabbed browser windows (applicable to IE7 or Firefox).

CTRL + Q to show tabbed browser windows in thumbnail format – it’s more efficient if there are little tabbed windows in IE7 web browser!

CTRL + I to access web browser Bookmark / Favourite

CTRL + B to organize web browser Bookmark / Favourite

CTRL + H to access to web browser History

CTRL + D to add the webpage to Favourite / Bookmark

CTRL + F5 to unconditionally reload whole webpage from Internet (not from browser cache folder, i.e. without using the cached content in Temporarily Internet Files folder).

CTRL + W is an alternative to CTRL + F4 hotkey, i.e. to close the active application.
CTRL + Z to undo changes (regardless application provides Undo function)!

CTRL + Y to redo changes (regardless application provides Redo function)!

CTRL + SHIFT + ESC to bring up Windows Task Manager

CTRL + SHUTDOWN to shorten Windows XP shutdown time – run the Windows Task Manager, simultaneously pressing the CTRL key and click the Shutdown menu!

CTRL + ESC to display the Windows Start menu – similar to the Windows key!

CTRL + SPACE to toggle input languages – similar to Left ALT + SHIFT keyboard shortcut.

CTRL then SHIFT to toggle between Microsoft IME input and Non-IME input method.

CTRL with mouse click to selectively highlight or deselect multiple files in a folder.

CTRL while Windows boots up is similar to press F8 hotkey when Windows boots up – to bring up the Windows Boot up menu or Startup menu.

CTRL + C to copy the highlighted items

CTRL + V to paste the highlighted items

CTRL + X to cut the highlighted items

CTRL + A to select all items

CTRL + N to open a new application window (only applicable if the application supports multiple windows, e.g. Microsoft Office, IE7, Firefox, etc).

CTRL + F to bring up the application Search dialogue box (if it’s available).

CTRL + P to print document directly to the default Windows printer.

CTRL + E to activate web browser “Search Internet” text box (available in IE7, Firefox, or web browser with Google Toolbar installed).

Any other CTRL related hotkeys for Windows? I believe yes. Appreciate if you could top it up via the comment form…

How To Create ISO Image In Windows Vista

Walker — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 19:15:29 +0000

With any UNIX or Linux distributions, there is a standard dd program to create an ISO image of CD-ROM.

However, you’ve to rely on third party ISO image writers if you’re using any Microsoft Windows editions, including the Windows Vista Ultimate!
As with most software, there are not short of Windows-based freeware for this topic!

Here is my list of some favourite ISO image creators (available as freeware editions at the time of writing):

LC ISO Creator – Lucersoft

LC ISO Creator is an incredible small footprint freeware written in C++ programming source code – 14KB in zip format or 52KB as a standalone Windows program.

As seen in the snapshot (taken by Snipping Tool), LC ISO Creator is compatible with Windows Vista Ultimate (my favourite edition of Vista) and appears with a really simple, straight-forward user interface!

The official Lucersoft download page indicates that LC ISO Creator is compatible with Windows 98/ME/2000/XP.

Be it a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, LC ISO Creator is ready to dump the CD/DVD content into ISO image format for your backup or distribution purpose! (Though, I haven’t personally tested the DVD-ROM ISO image writer function).

ISO Recorder – Alex Feinman

ISO Recorder is another ISO Image writer freeware for Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Windows Vista.

ISO Recorder V3 RC1 (Windows Vista edition, both 32-bit and 64-bit) is able to burn CD and DVD images, copy disks, make images of the existing data CDs and DVDs and create ISO images from a content of a disk folder.

How to use Alex Feinman ISO Recorder V3 RC1?

Well, I’m a bit nervous after installing this image writer, as I couldn’t find the program shortcut in Start menu and Windows Desktop.

To create or write an ISO image of a Windows folder or CD/DVD-ROM, use the Windows right-click Context menu.

As seen in snapshot (above), click the “Create ISO Image File” command in the Context menu to bring up Alex Feinman ISO Recorder V3 RC1 (below).

ImgBurn v2.3.2.0 – Lighting UK

ImgBurn v2.3.2.0 is the latest release that published on April 2007.

The tagline says “ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit!”

Beside those disc burning function, ImgBurn is capable to create an ISO image of discs, files or folders on Windows computer and network drive!

Click here for detail screen-shot of each ImgBurn program functionalities.

Folder2Iso – TrustFM

FolderIso image writer is GUI version of mkisofs – a popular Linux program used to create an hybrid ISO9660 / JOLIET / HFS file system.

Beside appears with GUI frontend, FolderIso is also a tiny, standalone ISO image writer freeware to dump any Windows folder (including subfolders) into an ISO image.

Of course, FolderIso is capable to create ISO image of CD/DVD-ROM as well!

Copy And Paste Text In Command Prompt

Walker — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:53:16 +0000

GUI interface is intuitive to use, so as the attractive Windows Aero interface on some of the Windows Vista editions!

Sometime, however, command line utilities are just too convenient and efficient than Windows GUI. Indeed, not all Windows-compatible applications have a GUI!

If you’ve applied the tricks about how to enable full screen mode of Command Prompt window in Windows Vista, you might also interested on how to turn on Command Prompt editing function, i.e copy and paste!

Please take note that Windows Command Prompt copy and paste feature is not unique to Windows Vista – it’s available since Windows 2000 to Windows XP and Windows 2003!

Also, the ALT+Windows keyboard shortcut will not enable full screen mode Command Prompt in Windows Vista, unless the semi-transparent Windows Aero interface is turned off or not supported!

How to tune Windows Vista Command Prompt to work more efficiently?

[ Skip this step if it's already done ] Create an elevated privilege Command Prompt shortcut in Quick Launch toolbar,
Double-click the Command Prompt shortcut created in step 1 to bring up an elevated privilege Command Prompt window,
Right-click the Command Prompt window title bar and click on the Properties menu,
Locate the Edit Options section and tick the two check-boxes that labelled as Quick Edit Mode and Insert Mode respectively.
Click OK to close the Command Prompt window properties dialog box. Done!

How to copy Command Prompt output text to Notepad or other program?

Hold down the mouse left-click button and drag to highlight the area of Command Prompt output text that you want to copy, as seen in snapshot at below. The selected area is highlighted in white color. To copy the selected text to Windows Clipboard, just press the ENTER key (and the “white” color will gone)!

How to insert the copied text in Windows Clipboard to the Windows Command Prompt window?

While at the active Command Prompt window, just right-click the press the mouse left-click mouse button once to insert or paste the copied text in Clipboard onto the Windows Command Prompt!

How useful is the Command Prompt editing feature, i.e. copy and paste?

In case you want to test out a long Windows command line that posted in weblog or website, you don’t have to type it out exactly! Just copy and paste it to the Command Prompt window and hit ENTER key to execute it immediately!

For example, you can copy and paste this lengthy Windows command to disable Vista UAC security feature in the Command Prompt window:

%windir%\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Isn’t it easier and less likely with typo error? Have fun!