Archive for the ‘Download’ Category:
More Windows Hacking
I found two things that I think everyone who works on computers frequently should know.
The first is how to RDP to a Windows XP box without kicking off the current user. This is usually only available to XP Server machines but Riccardo Raneri had a walk through on how to do it with a normal XP machine. Just to make sure I don’t have any more dissapearing links I put the instructions and the .dll file you need in the attached zip file. I would put all of the instructions here but they are kinda long so only those that are interested should downloadthe attachment.
The second “hack” is really cool if you install Windows from the cd (for those of you who do not know what a image is). This has to be one of the most simple and helpful hacks while installing Windows. You can play pinball (or minesweeper, or solitare) while Windows is installing. I found it via digg but it was also available from google. I just never thought to google it. The instructions are really easy.
You just have to wait until the right moment the pinball files are copied. Sometime after where it asks you for the product key and a question or two after that, where it says ‘copying files’.
SHIFT-F10 for command prompt
cd \
cd “Program Files”
cd “Windows NT”
cd Pinball
pinball.exe
That is all for right now. I should have more updates later in the week.
HD trailers without Quicktime pro
here is the blog i got it from http://fallen-idol.blogspot.com/2006/02/how-to-download-trailers-from-apple.html
Go to http://www.apple.com/trailers/ and select your trailer. Let’s say you choose http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/missionimpossibleiii/hd/
- On most trailer pages there are different sizes of the same trailer, so let’s say in this case we want to download the “480p” version of this trailer.
- In Internet Explorer click ‘View’ then select ‘Source’.
- In the source code look for the following section…param value=”http://movies.apple.com/movies/paramount/mission_impossible_3/mission_impossible_3-sb_480p.mov
- Copy the “href” url and using a download manager, (i recommend http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/), download this file to your desktop.
- In some cases this file MAY be the actual trailer, but more often than not this file is merely a pointer to the actual trailer so…
- Open this mov file in notepad and you should see something like this…moov rmra trmda 6rdrf url “mission_impossible_3-sb_h480p.mov rmdr rmqu
rmvc qtim
- See the other MOV link? Copy this and add this to the href link above to give you
http://movies.apple.com/movies/paramount/mission_impossible_3/mission_impossible_3-sb_h480p.mov - VOILA! You can now download the full trailer using this link in your download manager WITHOUT THE NEED FOR QUICKTIME PRO.
It really is a great walk through. Just shows apple that nothing is safe when you have more than a 10% share.
The I.T. Crowd
I found this funny british comedy thanks to boingboing It is called the I.T. crowd. There are only 3 episodes out right now but there are 6 total (i think). IM or email me if you want a link because I don’t think it is legal to post that kind of stuff.
If you are scared of clowns watch out in episode 3 (right around 20 min).
Powerglove Mouse
This was just cool. I don’t know why but it reminds me of the Nintendo Revolution controller. Maybe there will be some sort of mod for it.
2 downloads for today
I found two downloads that are really kinda fun.
SDesk can imulate multiple desktops (sorta like virtual desktop but all in one desktop). It took a bit to set up but once it was going a simple shortcut key scrolls throgh 6 different “regions” of my desktop. There are a couple things I don’t like about it but for now I’m trying it out. One of the things I don’t like is how windows switch regions when they are in the process of doing something. It makes it really annoying to have to keep dragging outlook back to the middle region. Get SDesk HERE
The second peice of software is something I found a long time ago but then lost because I couldn’t remember where I saw it. This time it is at HDBeat. It is called Powerstrip and it is used to set up custom resolutions for your tv. I am going to give it a try sometime because my viewable area seems to be shrinking on my tv.
That is all for now.
Making xp home -> pro
This is more for me than anyone else (well I guess this whole site is). But this is a cool walkthrough to make a oem version of xp home be xp pro, sorta.
The site is here.
I am going to put all the steps here also in case the guy takes his site down.
all props go to mikedopp.
It does take a bit of doing but here are the steps in more accurate detail.
1> Copy all the xp home(OEM or Upgrade) files off the disc to a local drive.
(to get xp sp2 (download me here) slipstreamed into the oem folder I simply used a program called Nlite More about this program later.)
2> Next I opened the “I386″ folder looked for “winnt.sif” and edited it.
Here is how I run automated installs using this file.
[Data]
Autopartition = 0
MsDosInitiated = 0
UnattendedInstall = Yes
[Unattended]
UnattendMode = FullUnattended
UnattendSwitch = No
OemPreinstall = Yes
OemSkipEula = Yes
FileSystem = *
WaitForReboot = No
NoWaitAfterTextMode = 1
NoWaitAfterGUIMode = 1
TargetPath = Windows
ProgramFilesDir = “C:\Program Files”
CommonProgramFilesDir = “C:\Program Files\Common”
DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore
NonDriverSigningPolicy = Ignore
[Display] Xresolution = 1024
Yresolution = 768
BitsPerPel = 32
Vrefresh = 75
[GuiUnattended]
EncryptedAdminPassword = No
AdminPassword = “Whatever You Want”
TimeZone = 010
OEMSkipRegional = 1
OemSkipWelcome = 1
[Shell]
DefaultThemesOff = Yes
DefaultStartPanelOff = Yes
[LicenseFilePrintData]
AutoMode = PerServer
AutoUsers = 20
[Components]
iis_common = On
iis_inetmgr = On
iis_pwmgr = Off
iis_doc = Off
iis_www = On
Iis_www_vdir_printers = Off
Iis_www_vdir_scripts = Off
[UserData]
ProductKey = “*****-*****-*****-*****-*****” —THis will enable you to install without putting your product key in!
ComputerName = RENAME_ME
FullName = “Your FUllName”
OrgName = “Your OrgName”
[RegionalSettings]
Language = 0409
[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents = Yes
[Identification]
JoinWorkgroup = workgroup
Here is the file if you want to just edit it yourself. (open in notepad only) winnt.sif **EDIT**link was removed You can still make your own with these instructions**.
You can also use Nlite to automate this also.
4>Then I edited the “setupreg.hiv” This was the most tricky part. To do this you need to open up regedit and go to
“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” Highlight it and click on file and load hive.
Load “i386\Setupreg.hiv”. regedit will ask for a name
name it “Homekey”.
Drill down throught this key untill you find “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Homekey\ControlSet001\Services\setupdd”
all you have to do is edit the binary key “default” and change all “01″ and “02″ to “00″.
Once you have done this you can save it and go back and highlight “Homekey” entry and go to file and “unload hive”
it should ask to where and save it to “i386\Setupreg.hiv”. It will ask you to overwrite the existing. Go ahead and do so.
If you do not feel comfortable with doing this yourself you can down load my Setupreg.hiv**EDIT**Link was removed. You can still make your own with these instructions**.
5>Now run Nlite to slipstream xp sp2 into the “I386″ folder
Nlite will also allow you to tweak your install and delete unnessasary language files as well as help files.
Nlite will ask you to create an ISO of your new install wherever you would like it to go.
****With Nlite you can also disable activation!!!*** VERY KEY feature….
Here is the WPA.DB_ that will kill activation. **EDIT**I cannot find this file anymore. It was removed from the original location but you can find instructions on how to do it HERE and HERE** (right click and choose “save as”)
A great thing about Nlite is it will also include the much needed boot img and files you need to do the oem install
Thats it.
You now have a fully usable windows xp pro lite.
a drawback that I have found!
The Usermanagement software found in pro is not included.(I am looking for a way to hack this).
Mac Mediacentral
Thought this looked really neat. I will probably try this on my mac in my bedroom when I get around to it. Equinux
Check it out and let me know what you think.
Comments were disabled because I was sick of the spam comments.
Why reboot
I can’t say it any better than the review I read of it.
“One of my biggest pet peeves is software that insists on you rebooting your computer after you’ve installed it. As a guy who writes about software, if I rebooted for every installer that insists I do I’d spend more time looking at XP’s loading screens than actually using it.”
