Computer Hardware Servicing Tutorial

You have heard that when your Xp, Vista, or Win 7 computer plays a sound when the computer is turned on. Now what if we are going to modify the sound that will play something like "Good Day Adam, how are you?" upon starting up the computer? Will it be nice if you play a sound recording or a narrated text when your computer starts? That is absolutely cool right? This is no trick and will not do harm in your computer as we are only going to put a program in the startup folder of your operating system. And if you wish to remove it, you can just delete the file anytime. So here is the procedure.

Making a Custom Sound on Computer Startup

a. Open notepad and paste in the following code (choose only one of the codes)

for narrated voice copy :

Dim speaks, speech
speaks="Welcome, Please wait for a moment to prepare your computer"
Set speech=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")
speech.Speak speaks

for a recorded wave sound copy :

strSoundFile = "C:\windows\Media\Notify.wav"
Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
strCommand = "sndrec32 /play /close " & strSoundFile
objShell.Run strCommand, 0, False

(test if your script plays the sound by clicking it)

b. Save the copied file as "chstutorial.vbs" where chstutorial can be replaced with any name you like and also maintain the quotations in saving the file.

NOTE : If you used the recorded wave sound file, make sure that the you put your wave file to the target directory ex: "C:\windows\media\my sound.wav" where my sound.wav is your customized sound file.

c. Now you have your visual basic scripts ready, copy that file to to the startup folder. Below are listed where the startup folder should be found in the default installation of your operating system.

for Win Xp, navigate to :
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

for Win Vista and Win 7, navigate to
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

d. Disable your default startup sound by going to the "Control Panel", "Sounds and Audio Devices", "Sounds Tab", in the Program Events find "Windows Startup", under Sounds option, choose under drop down option "No Sound". Alternately, you can also just look for the wave file you wish to play on startup even without using the VBS script above. This is simple but now you know you have options which to take. :-)

By the way, the sound will of course only play upon startup.

Do you know that can actually increase the speed of you internet connection without any additional cost? What most of us don’t know that our internet connection is limited or controlled by our operating system or our browser? This controlling of the bandwidth that we receive can be corrected by this simple yet powerful freeware.

It may not be a big issue if your are having a slow connection, but your productivity decreases and you don’t like that. However, there is this cool software called BP Internet Optimizer. This is a freeware and portable application that makes most of your internet connection that you really deserve.

BP Internet Optimizer gives you faster intern connection by doing changes in your computer configuration. The software will make configurations in the setting for the TCP / IP, such as MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) , RWIN (TCP) , and other parameters as well. This changes will make adjustments until the proper and optimized connection if achieved.

Bp Inter Optimizer is so easy to use, it should make the process finished in three quick clicks. First, specify what connection you have. Second, determine the speed your modem is capable for. And Lastly, Click the Optimize button. Doesn’t it sound so easy? By the way, you need to restart your computer to make changes effective.

Do you ever wish to have your favorite mp3 play as you click on the icon of your USB Flashdrive? Yes at last! As I tried "googling" for quite some time I wasn't able to find one tutorial on the net how to autoplay sound upon clicking your flashdrive icon. Now I made one! It might not be perfect but it works on XP. It works by creating 2 files : the autorun.inf file and a batch file. See how I made it.

Setting System Restore should be practiced before making any changes in your computer specially if you're dealing with the registry. What is needed in System Restore is the a little space of your hard drive (which by the way you can adjust the size by going to system properties, then to the System Restore Tab) and choosing a Restoration Point. So, here it is done.

We usually prevent programs to run at startup using the msconfig (go to "run" then type msconfig). We can also prevent some programs to run at startup using the Registry Editor. Before editing the registry, be sure to have it backed up and have set system restore. Here's how we prevent programs to run at startup.

Autoruns are used by virus coders to launch their virus via removable drives. Upon inserting our thumbdrive, the autorun program kicks in automatically run any program with an autorun attribute. To be able to disable the autorun feature of the programs temporarily, we can hold down the "Shift" key then plug in your thumbdrive until it will be identified and loaded in to your system.

You always wanted to change or customize the location of the programs you are to install. Perhaps if you'd like to put the programs you are to install in a folder called "My Programs" in another directory other than C:\ like D:\. To be able to do this, we must make some changes or "tweaks" in the registry. Just follow the simple things below to get the job done nice and easy. :-)

Do you like to restrict your friends or a brother or sister access certain websites? You may not have to use third party programs to do the job. Whatever reasons you have to block a site or websites, I'm glad to share this tut I have learned from others. Share this tut as well or refer this blog to others. If you have another way to block a site, please do share it to us.

Blocking Websites using Hosts File in Vista or Xp

1. Let us assume we are going to block our blogsite http://www.clhidohardware.blogspot.com from any web browser you have. If we are to block a specific site, we must indicate the possible urls a user might write on the address bar like clhidohardware.com, http://clhidohardware.blogspot.com, wwww.clhidohardware.blogspot.com. These possible urls must be screened or filtered from the Hosts File.

2. Go to "Run" and type in "cmd". And in the command prompt type this in without quotes net user administrator /active:yes . This will give you administrative rights to be able to do the tweaks.

3. Go to "Run" from the Start button and type in "Drivers" ( without the quotes )

4. As the Drivers window pops out, go to folder "etc".

5. Inside folder "etc", open file "Hosts"

6. Open file Hosts with notepad.

7. Do you see "127.0.0.1 localhost", add up below it like:

127.0.0.1 www.clhidohardware.blogspot.com
127.0.0.1 http://clhidohardware.blogspot.com
127.0.0.1 clhidohardware.blogspot.com

8. Save the file. Try opening a browser and type in either of the three urls to test if it screens the address. If it opens, then it hasn't able to block the urls you entered in the Hosts file. Try using 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1 in the Hosts file.

Hope you successfully screened off the sites you wish to block. :-)

Sometimes, you want to make some personal touches on your Windows System Properties Box with a big label of your name. Luckily windows grants us to make these changes by simple creation of the logo and some ini file for additional info about the label. I got this great tweak from the windows help central page and laid out things very easy for to follow. So here it is.

Ever wanted to keep your files from being publicly seen in your home computer? You don't have to buy a third party program to be able to do so. It is free and relatively easy to do. In order to hide document files in a picture, you must have a picture a file or document to be "embedded" and WinRar. Palihug tawon sabta ang instructions ha? Kay if you can't follow such instructions you might find it difficult hiding a document in a picture. So here it is!