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How to Download Windows XP for Free

Nostalgia. How do you feel about it? I like the warm fuzzy feeling I get when thinking about stuff from back in the day but hate the crushing disappoint I feel when I reacquaint myself with things from the past. Spoiler alert, they almost never live up to the unbelievably high expectations I have of them.

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That is why I’m not that sure about this little guide but as you may feel differently or may have a genuine need for it I’m going to walk you through this completely free and legal way I’ve found to get your hands on Windows XP. Microsoft may have stopped providing support for the most dominant operating system the world has ever seen but still, it is Windows XP.

Now whether you’re a developer and you need to test your coding creations across different operating systems or if you’re simply hankering for a dose of nostalgia doesn’t matter. If you want XP this is how to get it.

Stage 1: Go to the Microsoft Windows XP mode page and select Download. The executable file will download but when it is finished you don’t want to install it.

Stage 2: Right click on the exe file and then select 7-Zip, then Open archive and then finally cab.

Stage 3: You’ll find 3 files and if you click sources you’ll find another 3 files. If you double click xpm you’ll open up the Windows XP mode virtual hard drive folder.

Stage 4: Extract the files by clicking Extract in the toolbar. Then select where you’d like to extract the files too and create a new folder. Pressing OK will then start the process.

Stage 5: Once the files have all been extracted, head over to the location you selected and select the file VirtualXPVHD. Rename the file and simply add a . between the P and the V so that the file is now called VirtualXP.VHD. This will change the file into a virtual hard disk.

Stage 6: Now that you have the virtual hard drive you’re going to need a virtualization program to run your virtual copy of Windows XP on. VirtualBox is the best and you can download a copy of it here.

Stage 7: Once you’ve downloaded and installed VirtualBox open it and select New. Select Expert Mode and then give your virtual machine a suitable name, like Windows XP Mode.

Stage 8: Now you have to assign the RAM you want your virtual machine to be able to use. Anything between 512mb and 2048mb will be fine but remember that your computer needs to use RAM too.

Stage 9: You now need to assign a hard disk to your virtual machine. This is where we go back and get the virtual hard disk we created earlier.

Once you’re done you should have something that looks a little like this:

If you have click create.

Stage 10: Before you get started on your new virtual machine running Windows XP you need to do a little playing around with various settings. Go to the VirtualBox toolbar and select Settings. Then go to System and select Boot Order. You want to put Hard Disk to the top of the list.

Stage 11: Then go to Display and increase the video memory to 128mb.

Stage 12: Go to Network settings in VirtualBox and check that all of your network settings have been automatically applied to the virtual machine.

Stage 13: Boot that baby up. Don’t too excited just yet, however, as there are a couple more stages to get through. When you get to a completely black screen press Right Ctrl + R to restart the virtual machine. Cancel all of the new hardware installation and Microsoft Automatic Update wizards and head to Devices.

Once there select Install Guest Additions CD Image and use the default installation location.

Stage 14: Once this is complete Reboot the machine again and you’ll have a fully functional virtual machine running Microsoft Windows XP. You’ll be able to use it for 30 days unless you have an old XP code lying around. If not then you can go through the whole process again in 30 days time.

Follow me on Twitter: @PatrickDevaney_

Via: Makeuseof

How to watch WMV files on Mac

A very common problem Mac users have is playing Windows Media Video (WMV) files. When your Mac attempts to open and play WMV files by default in QuickTime, you’ll commonly receive an error message along the lines of ‘This is not a movie file’.

The reason behind this it the fact that WMV files use Microsoft proprietary codecs that don’t work in OS X. This gets really annoying if you come across a WMV file and want to watch it on your Mac.

Microsoft discontinued Windows Media Player for Mac way back in 2006, meaning there’s no longer a tailor-made player for the WMV format for OS X. Fortunately, there are a few free and easy solutions.

Option 1 – Use a Mac Video Player that Supports WMV

The good news is that there are plenty of simple and useful choices when looking for a wmv player for Mac. There are dozens to choose from in our catalog, but below we’ve selected the top 3 WMV compatible players for you.

Flip4Mac Plugin

This is probably the easiest solution to watch WMV files because it enables QuickTime playback of WMV files. This plugin, created by Telestream, allows you to import, export and play Windows Media video and audio files on your Mac. The Flip4Mac WMV plug-in also works with other QuickTime based apps like iMovie and Final Cut Pro, meaning you can even edit WMV files on your Mac too.

Download Flip4Mac Plugin

VLC Media Player

The most versatile player out there, VLC media players lets you play WMV files without the Flip4Mac Plugin, although it’s only a playback solution; it doesn’t let you edit WMV files in QuickTime supported apps including iMovie and Final Cut. The great thing about VLC Media Player, however, is that it’s lightweight, fast, and can handle almost any media format you throw at it.

Download VLC Media Player

Get More With These 5 Expert Hacks for VLC Player

MPlayer OSX

This player emerged out of the Google Codes project as an attempt to create an all-round player. MPlayer OSX is a simple but powerful video player designed specifically for Mac and can handle WMV playback. It features more options and preferences than VLC Player, with the only drawback being that the first time it plays a video, it has to build a font cache, which can take a while. Luckily, it only has to be done once.

Download MPlayer OSX

Option 2 – Convert the WMV file to a Different Format

Another option, and one that is equally good is to use a tool to convert wmv to mp4 or another popular format supported on the Mac. This is a particularly good option if you’re going to want to share the video with other Mac users. Once again, there are a lot of wmv converters for the Mac in our catalog. To save you some time, we’ve hand-picked some of the best ones right here.

VLC Media Player

Oh, VLC, what would we do without you? Yes, if you’ve read this far then you know that VLC Media Player already shows up on our list of WMV Video Players.

But VLC is also a killer tool for converting videos of all formats, and it’s hands-down the best tool of the bunch for converting WMV to MP4 or any other major video format supported by the Mac.

Download VLC Media Player

Total Video Converter Lite

Another top-notch option for converting WMV files on your Mac to another format is Total Video Converter. It features a friendly user interface that will be more comfortable to some Mac users than VLC and it supports conversions of over 160+ video format types.

The unregistered lite version is limited to converting just the first 30% of your file, however, and you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro version of Total Video Converter to complete the job.

But VLC is also a killer tool for converting videos of all formats, and it’s hands-down the best tool of the bunch for converting WMV to MP4 or any other major video format supported by the Mac.

Download Total Video Converter Lite

Original article published on July 6, 2009.

9 tricks to use CCleaner properly – it does more than you think

If all you do with CCleaner is set it to automatically clean your system and then assume the job is done, then you are seriously wrong. You can endanger valuable information and slow your system performance if the program is not properly configured. And we all make this mistake, because very few people know how to use CCleaner properly – myself included. That is, until recently, because I have been reading a lot of tutorials to get myself up to speed (links at the end).

I have distilled my learning into 9 easy tricks to learn how to use CCleaner super effectively.

Download CCleaner

CCleaner does not do what you think

Many people believe that CCleaner is a maintenance tool that automatically improves the performance of their computer. Actually, CCleaner cleans your discs by deleting temporary files, or files that take up a lot of space. This frees up room on your hard disk, which can result in improved performance.

Why is it important to understand this? Because if you use CCleaner every day believing that your computer will run faster, you are mistaken; indeed, in many cases, it may run slower.

This is what you should do BEFORE cleaning with CCleaner

Before running CCleaner’s… cleaner… think of exactly what you want to clean. If you are not interested in deleting your cache and cookies, then set the program to ignore them. Alternatively, if you do not want others to spy your browsing history, then clean them frequently.

However, what happens if you clean your machine and it runs slower? This is because your computer needs some files to perform efficiently. If you delete these files with CCleaner, performance will suffer. If you visit some favorite pages every day, but clean the cache every few hours, you’ll find these pages take longer to load.

This brings me to my next point.

Protect the important cookies

CCleaner deletes all cookies by default – but you may well want to keep some of them around to keep your browsing quick.

You have two options for this. On the one hand, you can use CCleaner’s Smart Scan to detect the cookies you use most and protect them from most common cleans (such as Google). Alternatively, you manually flag the cookies that do not want to be touched.

Do the same with programs

You can apply protection to programs and files. This feature is particularly useful if you find that CCleaner is obsessed with trying to eliminate a file that you actually want. You can exclude whole disks, folders, files, or records. You can also protect specific file extensions.

If you use Registry Cleaner often, you’re going to get in trouble

I do not recommend that you regularly use CCleaner’s Registry Cleaner. After all, who cleans their house every day? A clean registry can help if your system is damaged, but it doesn’t improve your performance under normal circumstances and – in some cases – it can be harmful. Leave this feature alone unless you have problems running a particular program.

This feature offers much more than its name suggests

Startup is an optional tool that, in theory, lets you disable programs that run automatically when you start your computer. In this way, you can access and edit your PC boot process.

What few people know is that Startup allows you to disable or remove scheduled tasks and browser extensions. These options are already included by default in Windows, but you can have a look during one of your regular cleanings.

Breaking the myth of Cleaner Hard Drives

One of the great myths behind hard disk cleaners is that you need to perform multiple scans to get the drive really clean. But there is no need for this with CCleaner’s Drive Wipe, because it can clean your drive with a single click, completely removing unwanted files while leaving programs untouched.

Note that when you delete a file in Windows it doesn’t actually delete it; it simply removes the path to it so it can’t be seen by the system, freeing the space it occupied and allowing it to be overwritten. This allows files to be restored by those who know how. That does not happen with CCleaner, which overwrites old files as it deletes them. Great for security, but please be sure that you want to delete the selected files.

Forget this tool

CCleaner has many secondary tools, the most redundant of which is Uninstall Programs. This is totally dispensable and does not work as well as the Windows Uninstaller. There are better uninstallers out there, like Revo, which you can download from Softonic.

You see? You do not need to know everything about CCleaner.

… and finally, the Golden Rule

It doesn’t matter if you use CCleaner or another cleaning tool – never do any cleaning without making a backup of important files first. If the program deletes something important, the consequences can be catastrophic. Fortunately, with a backup or a restore point, you can recover the state of your computer in a couple of clicks.

Sources: TechRepublic, How To Geek (text 1, text 2, and text 3), Guiding Tech, Life Hacker

Why doesn’t uTorrent open?

Why doesn’t uTorrent open por softonic-en

You’ve just installed uTorrent and restarted your computer, but the program won’t open. We know, it’s so irritating! But why does it happen? Usually, by double-clicking on the desktop uTorrent icon, the program should open. However, sometimes, this doesn’t work.

Once uTorrent is installed, it should open automatically when you start Windows and remain minimized in the system tray. Because of this, it sometimes seems like the program won’t open, when in fact it’s already running. This happens because the program’s settings are designed by default to resume downloads as fast as possible when you turn on your computer without having to open the program.

To ensure that uTorrent is open, first locate the uTorrent icon in the system tray, which should be next to the Windows clock.

Once you’ve located the uTorrent icon, double click to open it. uTorrent will open and you’ll be able to use it.

If you do not want uTorrent to open automatically when Windows starts, open the program, click on “Options“, and go to “Preferences“. In the “General” tab, find the option “Start uTorrent when Windows starts“. Then, all you need to do is to unmark this option to avoid uTorrent opening when you turn on your computer.

To close uTorrent, right-click on the icon in the system tray and select “Exit“.

uTorrent has many settings, so you might want you take a look at them and choose those that fit your needs!

20 Windows processes you can kill to make your PC run quicker

In Windows, all processes are listed in the Task Manager. Among the processes that use the most resources, some are useful, while others run unnecessarily in the background. So, which processes can you easily eliminate to increase the speed of your PC? We’ll show you 20 processes that your PC doesn’t need.

We’ve divided the processes into 5 categories: quick starters, software updates, processes from hardware manufacturers, software processes and Windows processes. For each of these, you’ll find a short explanation.

First, you’ll need to access Task Manager. Do this by going to Control Panel> All Control Panel Items> Performance Information and Tools> Advanced Tools> Open Task Manager. Alternatively, press CTRL + ALT + DEL and click on Task Manager.

Task Manager

Then, click on the tab that says Processes.

Quickstarter

Quickstarters preload parts of a program in case the user wants to open the program later. If you don’t open and close these programs often, however, the process can be eliminated.

reader_sl.exe is a part of Adobe Reader and stands for Adobe Acrobat Speed Launcher. It speeds up the launch of the reader, but isn’t actually necessary.
jqs.exe accelerates the launch of almost all software that works with Java. The Java Quick Starter isn’t really necessary.
Osa.exe enables some Microsoft Office programs in Windows XP to launch more quickly and anchors certain Office functions to the start menu. The Office Source Engine may be of interest to regular Office users, but probably not to others.
soffice.exe fulfills the same purpose as Osa.exe, but for the Office packages StarOffice and OpenOffice.

Software-Updates

Update managers periodically check whether a new version of the program is available. To save memory, you can change the update options in the program and regularly look for updates when you open it. In the meantime, you can simply end these processes.

AdobeARM.exe belongs to Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader. The process runs in the background and checks for updates to Adobe products.
AAM Update Notifier.exe comes with Adobe Creative Suite products. The process manages updates for multiple Adobe programs.
Jusched.exe actually stands for Java Update Scheduler. Once a month, the process checks whether there is a new update for Java, which is quite infrequent for a process that’s always running.
DivXUpdate.exe runs in the background and checks for updates to DivX Plus. You can simply terminate the updater; it launches automatically when you open any DivX program.

Processes from hardware manufacturers

Hardware manufacturers generally supply the appropriate software and drivers for their devices. Many nice additional features are automatically added on the computer, but in most cases they’re not used very often.

NeroCheck.exe searches for drivers that could trigger conflicts with Nero Express, Nero, and NeroVision Express. You can also start this service manually if necessary.
HKCMD.exe accompanies Intel hardware. The process allows the user to allocate any function to the keys, but also often leads to a sluggish system.
atiptaxx.exe/ati2evxx.exe comes with ATI video card drivers. The processes provide faster access to the graphics card settings on the taskbar or individual keys.
RAVCpl64.exe stands for Realtek HD Audio Manager. The process detects which audio devices are connected to your computer, including headphones or a microphone. Conveniently, the devices are also recognized without the process and will run anyway.
Nwiz.exe usually accompanies a NVIDIA graphics card. Anyone who uses NVIDIA nView functions needs the process. but it’s otherwise unnecessary.
CCC.exe stands for ATI Catalyst Control Center. For gamers and users with higher demands for the graphic settings on their PC, this is certainly interesting; for everyone else, it’s not necessary.
SynTPEnh.exe is used on many laptops and has drivers for touchpads, but Windows can provide these too. In addition, Synaptics TouchPad Enhancements is a known solution for stability problems.

Software Processes

In addition to updates, many programs offer useful and less useful services in the background. Anyone can decide for themselves whether they really need a button for each application in the start menu.

winampa.exe places Winamp to the right at the bottom of the taskbar and makes sure that no other programs with media content are linked.
iTunesHelper.exe/iPodService.exe works in the background for iTunes and QuickTime. If the process runs without these programs, it can be stopped safely – iTunes starts it automatically if needed.
OSPPSVC.exe comes with Microsoft Office 2010. The Office Software Protection Platform verifies that Office still has a valid licence.

Windows Processes

Windows also comes with a number of interesting, yet resource-intensive processes. Decide for yourself what to make of them.

Sidebar.exe makes the practical widgets on Windows 7 and Vista possible, but also eats up a lot of memory. Anyone who doesn’t use the widgets can stop Sidebar.exe.
wmpnetwk.exe searches the network for media files in order to populate them into Windows Media Player. If you don’t use the media player, or don’t want to search for new files, you can stop the service.

Here, you can find more processes and explanations

If you have more questions about processes and their functions, you can also consult various databases. Please note, most databases are compiled by users, so you should always consult multiple sources.

I am not a geek – about processes and their dangers
Neubert – with less content, and no search function
Searchtasks – with search function and recommendations on processes

[Original article by Klaus Müller on Softonic.de]

The Best 24 Apps for Windows 10

One of Windows 10’s biggest features as an operating system is its flexibility moving between devices. Whether you are on your home computer, tablet, or phone, Window 10 is designed to offer a cohesive experience. Here is our pick of apps that offer you a great experience where ever you are.

Adobe PhotoShop Express

Adobe’s fantastic photo editing suite has long been the gold standard, and with PhotoShop Express they have managed to perfectly adapt the experience to touchscreen. The app allows you to quickly and easily tweak you pictures with options like red-eye removal, noise reduction, and a range of filters. The free version even lets you upload 50 photos a month to the cloud.

Option 1 – Use a Mac Video Player that Supports WMV

Flip4Mac Plugin

VLC Media Player

MPlayer OSX

Option 2 – Convert the WMV file to a Different Format

VLC Media Player

Total Video Converter Lite

CCleaner does not do what you think

This is what you should do BEFORE cleaning with CCleaner

Protect the important cookies

Do the same with programs

If you use Registry Cleaner often, you’re going to get in trouble

This feature offers much more than its name suggests

Breaking the myth of Cleaner Hard Drives

Forget this tool

… and finally, the Golden Rule

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