Disk Investigator Freeware Allows You to Discover Hidden Data on Your Disk Whoops! You just deleted a file by mistake. What's worse is that it's a text file with the names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of your most valued business contacts. Time for a new career? Maybe not yet. You might be able to retrieve that file using a freeware tool called Disk Investigator. This handy tool allows you to see everything on your hard disk. Discover hidden files and their contents - see what the spyware vendors have placed on your drive. See what your spouse is trying to hide from you! (just kidding). This tool is also helpful in verifying that your "disk wiping" utility really wiped. Download your free copy WinXPnews Tue, Sep 17, 2002 (Vol. 2, 37 - Issue 43)    Print Selected Text and Graphics in Internet Explorer A few of you have written in about how to print just the information you want from the WinXPNews. Printing the entire newsletter seems like overkill if you only want a hard copy for a particular section of the newsletter. No problem! Most Windows programs allow you to print just the selected area of a Web page or email. Check this out: Go to http://www.winxpnews.com and look around for a section of the newsletter you want to print. Drag select the information you want to print. You want to highlight everything you want to appear on the printed page. After you've highlighted the text you want to print, click the File menu and then click the Print command. In the Print dialog box, select the Selection option button in the Page Range frame. Click Apply and then click Print. Voila! Only the text you selected is printed. Is that cool or what? WinXPnews Tue, Sep 17, 2002 (Vol. 2, 37 - Issue 43)    How to Install Windows XP SP1 when the SP Misidentifies Your Windows XP as Stolen I received a number of reports from readers telling me they had a legitimate version of Windows XP they purchased themselves, but the Windows XP SP1 installation routine falsely reported that they had an illegal copy of Windows XP. I was somewhat suspicious of these assertions, but I like to keep an open mind. Then I saw the "Screen Savers" episode last week on TechTV (www.techtv.com) where they tried to install the Windows XP SP1 on a legit copy of Windows XP and it said that the copy was illegal! The guys on the show said their copy was completely legit and I have no reason not to believe them! So what should you do if this happens to you? Follow these instructions ONLY IF you have a legal copy of Windows XP and SP1 misidentifies your copy as illegitimate. We don't condone software piracy, so if you have a pirated copy, do not perform these steps. Download the Windows XP Service pack from Microsoft: http://premierdownload.microsoft.com/download/whistler/SP/SP1/WXP/en-us/xpsp1_en_x86.e x e Download the serial key patch at: http://www2.tweaktown.com/files/xpsp1.zip Unzip the serial key path to a folder on your hard disk. Double click on the SPPro-Corp-keyChange.exe file. A DOS window will open and list a number of serial numbers that will work on your computer. Read the instructions in the window. The Activate Windows dialog box opens. Select the Yes, I want to telephone a customer server representative to activate Windows. Click Next. The Activate Windows by phone dialog box appears. Click the Change Product Key button on the bottom of the screen. In the Change product key dialog box, enter one of the product keys you found in the DOS window in the New key text boxes. After entering the key, click the Update button. You'll be taken back to the Activate Windows by phone dialog box. Close that dialog box as your key has been updated. Double click on the service pack file that you downloaded. The service pack will now install with no problem! Note that with the new key, you may have problems with the Microsoft phone representatives in the event that you need to reinstall Windows XP. Just explain to them what happened and I'm sure they'll be more than glad to accommodate you [g]. A better solution is to save the service pack file in a safe place. Then wipe your disk clean and reinstall Windows XP with your original key. Go through the procedure above to reinstall the service pack. You want to make sure you save the current service pack, because there's a good chance that Microsoft will update the SP and prevent the fix from working. Many thanks to Cameron Wilmot from www.tweaktown.com for pointing us in the right direction for this fix! WinXPnews Tue, Sep 17, 2002 (Vol. 2, 37 - Issue 43)    Speed Up Windows XP Shutdown Want to speed up shutdown in Windows XP? If so, one thing you can do is allow the shutdown routine to force shutdown of applications. Some applications will prompt you to save data before shutting down. If you want to shutdown, and shutdown fast, try this out: Click Start and click the Run command. Type Regedit in the Open text box and click OK. Navigate to the following Registry key: HKEY CURRENT USERControl PanelDesktop Double click on the AutoEndTasks entry and replace the 0 with a 1 in the Value data text box. Click OK in the Edit String text box. Double click on the WaitToKillAppTimeout entry in the right pane and change the Value data to 3500. Click OK Click Start and then click Turn off the Computer. Click the Turn Off button and watch how fast the computer shuts down! WinXPnews Tue, Sep 24, 2002 (Vol. 2, 38 - Issue 44)    Open Up Internet Explorer Superfast! Want Internet Explorer to open up superfast? Then try out this quick tip. You need the Quick Launch Bar running to make the most out of this. Right click on the Internet Explorer link in the Quick Launch bar and click Properties. In the Target text box, at -nohome at the end of the line. Mine looks like this: "F:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.E X E" -nohome Click Apply and then click OK. Now click on the Internet Explorer link on the Quick Launch Bar. POW! IE flies open. No default Web page shows, but you can type in where you want to go. WinXPnews Tue, Sep 24, 2002 (Vol. 2, 38 - Issue 44)    Your Definitive Windows XP Lockdown Guide I don't know about you, but I'm getting really tired of dealing with security issues. I want to turn on my computer, surf the Internet, get email and play some games. That's about it. There's only so much you can do to secure your computer, and after that, it's anyone's game. What are some things you can do to tighten up your Windows XP Computer's security? Verify that all disk partitions are formatted with NTFS Protect file shares Use Internet Connection Sharing for shared Internet connections Enable Internet Connection Firewall Use software restriction policies Use account passwords Disable unnecessary services Disable or delete unnecessary accounts Make sure the Guest account is disabled Set stronger password policies Set account lockout policy Install anti-virus software and updates Keep up-to-date on the latest security updates If you take care of all these issues, you should be in good shape. Oh! And one more thing, make sure you get a spam whacker. Read on for details on one of the best. More info on locking down your Windows XP computer WinXPnews Tue, Sep 24, 2002 (Vol. 2, 38 - Issue 44)    How To Launch CDs with HTML Applications: A well-designed CD launcher can raise end users' confidence in your applications, even before they install them, by presenting read-me or pre-installation requirements information to the end user, providing help, checking for required third-party software or operating system requirements, advertising other products or services available, and (most importantly) simplifying the process of installing the software. [DevX]    Setting OWA Email and Calendar Notifications. Discover how the WebDAV protocol's Subscribe and Poll methods combine to support OWA email notifications and calendar reminders. --Kevin Laahs [Exchange and Outlook UPDATE]    Customize Folder Views. Sue reveals several ways to customize the views on specific folders. --Sue Mosher [Exchange and Outlook UPDATE]    Send Email Anonymously. Find out whether you can send email anonymously in Outlook. --Sue Mosher [Exchange and Outlook UPDATE]    Make Hidden Commands Visible. The functionality you want might be a hidden command in Outlook 2002. Here's how you can make all commands visible. --Sue Mosher [Exchange and Outlook UPDATE]    Export Contacts to a Web Page. Here are several ways that you can export your Outlook Contacts to a Web page in an attractive format. --Sue Mosher [Exchange and Outlook UPDATE]    Open Web Pages from the Toolbar. Find out how to open a Web page from the Outlook toolbar. --Sue Mosher [Exchange and Outlook UPDATE]

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"Data! data! data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."
— Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson in "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" by Arthur Conan Doyle. 

"I like deadlines," cartoonist Scott Adams once said. "I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

"There is nothing like that feeling of spending days and days banging your head against a wall trying to solve a programming problem then suddenly finding that one tiny obscure and seemingly unrelated piece of the puzzle that unlocks the solution. Oh yeah!"

- Chris Maunder, CodeProject Newsletter 28 Jan 2002

"Management at eSnipe, which is me, is also feeling the pain of the 2002 bear market. So rather than pout about it, I bought some stuff on eBay that I really didn’t need, but made me feel better."

- Tom Campbell, president of eSnipe