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Power Defragmenter for Windows 7 and Windows Vista and Windows XP based on Contig

Nerd Grind — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:58:52 +0000

If you’ve noticed your computer getting slower over time you might need to defragment the files and folders on your hard drive. From Windows XP forward a basic defragmenter was included, but it was very poor. Microsoft did include a Windows defragmentation API that could be hooked into to provide better defragmentation.

The reason you might want to defragment your hard drive using something other than the included software would be to defrag files 64 MB and smaller, which are ordinarily ignored, but can still impact overall performance.

One program that hooks into the defrag API is called Power Defragmenter. The Microsoft Sysinternals Contig core, or defrag API, is called simply Contig. Power Degragmenter is a GUI for Contig, with which you can select files and folders to degragment. The software is not yet automated.

The author warns not to use Power Defragmenter on USB flash drives, or SSD (solid state) drive, because they consist of a type of memory where fragmentation does not occur, and trying to defragment those drives can ruin them.

Click here to download Power Defragmenter, and here to view the home page.

The core program from Microsoft that Power Defragmenter uses is called Contig. You can run Contig from the command line without installing Power Defragmenter. Be sure to run Contig from the command line as "Run as administrator," or it will fail to run.

Click here to download Contig.

Here’s some information on Contig from the program’s page:

Introduction

There are a number of NT disk defraggers on the market, including Winternals Defrag Manager. These tools are useful for performing a general defragmentation of disks, but while most files are defragmented on drives processed by these utilities, some files may not be. In addition, it is difficult to ensure that particular files that are frequently used are defragmented – they may remain fragmented for reasons that are specific to the defragmentation algorithms used by the defragging product that has been applied. Finally, even if all files have been defragmented, subsequent changes to critical files could cause them to become fragmented. Only by running an entire defrag operation can one hope that they might be defragmented again.

Contig is a single-file defragmenter that attempts to make files contiguous on disk. Its perfect for quickly optimizing files that are continuously becoming fragmented, or that you want to ensure are in as few fragments as possible.

Using Contig

Contig can be used to defrag an existing file, or to create a new file of a specified size and name, optimizing its placement on disk. Contig uses standard Windows defragmentation APIs so it won’t cause disk corruption, even if you terminate it while its running.

To make an existing file contiguous use Contig as follows:

Usage: contig [-v] [-a] [-q] [-s] [filename]

-v Use the -v switch to have Contig print out information about the file defrag operations that are performed.
-a If you want to simply see how fragmented a file or files have become, use the -a switch to have Contig analyze fragmentation.
-q The -q switch, which over-rides the -v switch, makes Contig run in "quiet" mode, where the only thing it prints during a defrag run is summary information.
-s Use the -s switch to perform a recursive processing of subdirectories when you specify a filename with wildcards.

For instance, to defragment all DLLs under c:’winnt you could enter "contig -s c:’winnt’*.dll".

To make a new file that is defragmented upon creation, use Contig like this:

Usage: contig [-v] [-n filename length]

How it Works

Contig uses the native Windows NT defragmentation support that was introduced with NT 4.0 (see my documentation of the defrag APIs for more information). It first scans the disk collecting the locations and sizes of free areas. Then it determines where the file in question is located. Next, Contig decides whether the file can be optimized, based on free areas and the number of fragments the file currently consists of. If the file can be optimized, it is moved into the free spaces of the disk.

Facebook Notifications Software for the Desktop Download

Nerd Grind — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:23:07 +0000

A .NET desktop application called Facebook Notifications 2 can make it much easier to check for pokes, messages, events, friend requests, notices, and more, without logging into Facebook.com every time.

Once installed the program will place a small icon in your tray from which you can find out all that is happening in your Facebook account.

Click here to download this app.

Windows 7 Installation Hangs When Upgrading from Vista – Fix

Nerd Grind — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:57:12 +0000

When upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 the upgrade setup may hang at 62% indefinitely, and restarting the setup will only get it stuck at 62% once again.

This hang can be seen in the setupact.log

With the following line repeated about every 15 minutes.

Warning [0x080b50] MIG AsyncCallback_ApplyStatus: Progress appears to be stuck. Current progress: 62

If this entry is not occurring in the log file or you are hanging at a percentage other than 62% this workaround should not be attempted.

Note: There can be other services that may cause this hang or this log entry.

The iphlpsvc service may be hanging during the upgrade. This is one service that has been identified as hanging at this point during setup.

The fix below is only for hangs at the 62%:

1. Reboot the computer; this will cause a rollback to Windows Vista.
2. Click Start, and right-click Computer.
3. Click Properties, and then click Advanced System Settings
4. Click Environment Variables.
5. Under System Variables, click New, and then press ENTER
6. Type in the following variable information:
Variable Name: MIG_UPGRADE_IGNORE_PLUGINS
Variable value: IphlpsvcMigPlugin.dll
7. Then Restart Setup.

Note This workaround only applies to the iphlpsvc service hangs

Steve Ballmer Does Not Understand the iPhone

Nerd Grind — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:26:14 +0000

While promoting Windows 7 improvements Steve Ballmer scorned the idea that smart phones could unseat PCs as the technology of choice for on-the-go consumers saying:

"Let’s face it, the Internet was designed for the PC. The Internet is not designed for the iPhone. That’s why they’ve got 75,000 applications, they’re all trying to make the Internet look decent on the iPhone."

Just a little correction. At the time Ballmer made this statement it was already well-known there are 85,000 apps. With the addition of new plugins for content management systems such as Wordpress that allow sites to be viewed easily with the iPhone, iPod Touch, and other high-end phones, the 230,391,343 blogs that exist at this moment can be viewed easily, and those blogs look great. With the new plugins blogs don’t even have to make a special mobile friendly site anymore.

Try viewing NerdGrind in your high-end phone and you’ll see how wrong Ballmer is.

What’s worse for Microsoft investors is that Microsoft develops the Windows Mobile OS for phones, so maybe he meant the Internet doesn’t look good on Windows Mobile phones.

With the explosive growth of the iPhone and iPod Touch Ballmer might want to stop ignoring that market.

HSN Wii Fail

Nerd Grind — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:39:44 +0000

The Home Shopping Network host was demonstrating Wii tennis when his accessory flew into the TV. Yes he had the wrist strap secure, but not the plastic tennis racket attachment.

Always double check your wiimote, or you Wiil be sorry.

Wordpress 2.8.5 Security Hardening Release

Nerd Grind — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:14:13 +0000

Wordpress 2.8.5 is a security hardening release. Some of the notable changes are:

A fix for the Trackback Denial-of-Service attack that is currently being seen.
Removal of areas within the code where php code in variables was evaluated.
Switched the file upload functionality to be whitelisted for all users including Admins.
Retiring of the two importers of Tag data from old plugins.

If you aren’t seeing an upgrade banner message at the top of your Wordpress Admin dashboard, go to Tools -> Upgrade to trigger the cron job upgrade manually.

To upgrade Wordpress in two steps without having to disable plugins, or if automatic upgrade fails, click here. If you’ve never been able to use automatic upgrade due to errors you could never explain click here.

Translate RSS News Feed in Google Reader

Nerd Grind — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:41:31 +0000

If there are RSS news feeds you would like to subscribe to, and read, but they are written in a foreign language you don’t understand, there is a way to automatically translate those news feeds as you read them.

First login to Google Reader. Click Add a Subscription at the top left of the page, and add the news feed you need translated.

Now click on Feed settings, and select Translate into my language.

The translation isn’t perfect, but it’s better than not being able to read the news feed at all.

Share Files and Folders and Printers Over a Network

Nerd Grind — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:21:37 +0000

If you have more than one computer, and the computers are networked, you probably want to share resources like files, folders, and printers over the network. As a rule of thumb it makes no difference if the network is wired, wireless, or both, or even if the computers connect through a router or access point, the computers only see network devices.

There are now printers that have an ethernet port, or a radio to wirelessly connect to an access point, but you may also have an old fashioned printer that connects directly to your computer through a USB or some other cable connection. Sharing a printer is simple.

Click the Windows Start button -> Printers, then right click the printer you want to share, and choose Properties as seen in the screenshot above.

Click the Sharing tab, and check the boxes next to Share this printer, and Render print jobs on client computers. In the Share name field give the printer a name that will make it easy to identify by other users on the network. Now click OK and you’re done.

Sharing files and folder is just as easy. Right click on any folder you wish to share, and choose Properties. On the Sharing tab click the Share button under Network File and Folder Sharing.

On the File Sharing dialog window click the pull down menu arrow to choose a user account on this local computer to use, so that other computers can login and share the files in this folder. If you own all the computers on the network you can login to each with the same username and password, so that you won’t have to type in a username and password when accessing files on your other computers. Otherwise, use a secure account with the proper limitations to keep your network secure.

Now just click the Share button, and you’re done.

If you are unable to connect, or cannot see the shared folders or printers, you might need to open ports in your firewall. Click here to learn more.

Clone or Copy My Hard Drive with Norton Ghost

Nerd Grind — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:22:25 +0000

When upgrading your hard drive to a bigger faster hard drive the Norton Ghost utility called Copy My Hard Drive can make the upgrade quick, easy, and painless. Copy My Hard Drive used to be referred to as cloning the hard drive.

First we’ll need to prepare the new hard drive. Click the Windows Start button -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management.

When Disk Management is opened after a new hard drive is installed the Initialize Disk dialog window should open. Unless you know what you’re doing, select the disk that matches yours, and choose MBR (Master Boot Record).

Some people have reported problems initializing a new disk, so Microsoft has written the following support articles to help solve problems when the Initialize Disk window doesn’t pop up automatically.

A basic disk’s status is Not Initialized.

Cause: The disk does not contain a valid signature. After you install a new disk, the operating system must write a disk signature, the end of sector marker (also called signature word), and a master boot record or GUID partition table before you can create partitions on the disk. When you first start Disk Management after installing a new disk, a wizard appears that provides a list of the new disks detected by the operating system. If you cancel the wizard before the disk signature is written, the disk status remains Not Initialized.

Solution: Initialize the disk. The disk status briefly changes to Initializing and then Online status. For instructions describing how to initialize a disk, see Initialize New Disks.

If that doesn’t work maybe this next one will help.

Initialize New Disks

To initialize new disks
In Disk Management, right-click the disk you want to initialize, and then click Initialize Disk.

In the Initialize Disk dialog box, select the disk(s) to initialize. You can select whether to use the master boot record (MBR) or GUID partition table (GPT) partition style.

Your new hard disk should now be initialize, but the hard drive space remains Unallocated.

To format the new hard disk right-click, then choose New Simple Volume, which is a new partition.

Assign the next logical drive letter. Now the hard drive can be seen by other programs on the PC.

Now open Norton Ghost. In older versions you would see Clone Hard Drive, but newer versions use Copy My Hard Drive which is the same utility.

The Copy Drive wizard will walk us through the steps.

First select the source drive you want to copy everything from, so this is the old hard disk.

Now we’ll select the new hard drive we are upgrading to. Notice how on my Dell computer it lists the drive as Disk 2, and Destination as Dell Utility. The only distinguishing identification is the size of 931.5 GB. This is a 1 TB hard disk, so this is clearly the disk we are looking for.

When you get to the Advanced options do not choose Check source for file system errors, or Check destination for file system errors. Checking these two options could cause the copy process to take days.

All you need to check is the Set drive active (for booting OS), and Copy MBR -> Destination partition type: Primary Partition. The drive letter does not need to be assigned.

I have a lot on my hard drive so it averages about 25 minutes.

Looks like it took closer to 24 minutes to complete.

Power off your computer, and unplug the power cord. Now you can remove the power cable and data cable from the old hard drive, and hook up both cables to the new hard drive. Power up your computer, and it should boot into the new hard disk. If not, hook up the old drive, use Norton Ghost to create a backup image, and a Norton Ghost System Boot Disc, shut down the computer, unhook the old drive, hookup the new drive, power up with the System Boot Disc ready, and restore from the disk image to the new hard drive. Remove the System Boot Disc, reboot, and you’ve got everything copied.

Click the Windows Start button -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management. As you can see here there is one partition 222.78 GB, which was the size of the old hard disk, and a 708.73 GB Unallocated partition.

Since we want to use the entire hard disk for the C: drive we will right click on Disk 0 -> Extend Volume (which is a partition).

A wizard pops up to guide us through the process of expanding the smaller volume to take up the entire hard disk.

Add your Disk from the Available side to the Selected side, and use the Maximum space available to expand the whole disk.

Click Finish.

Now the hard disk has a single large volume (partition) that extends across the entire disk.

Note: You can upgrade to an equal or larger size hard disk only.

Share a Printer Files and Folders Over a Wired or Wireless Network Through a Firewall

Nerd Grind — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:43:07 +0000

On my home network I have a Cisco Linksys Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router that has a built-in firewall, and I run McAfee Security Center that also includes a firewall for each machine it is installed on. I tried sharing files and folders, and printers, between a wired PC and a wireless PC, but was denied. It makes no difference on a network if the PCs are wired or wireless, because they all look the same on the network, and use the same protocols.

Since I could see the other PC on the network, but I could not see any printers, or shared files and folders, I suspected the McAfee firewall was blocking the ports needed to share.

Let’s setup sharing between these computers.

First click the Windows Start button -> Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> Manage Network Connections, then right-click on the Local Area Connection or Wireless Area Connection -> Properties, and make sure the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks box is checked.

The settings under Windows Start button -> Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center should look like the following for most home networks.

This article does not cover the Windows Firewall settings, but if you need to you go to Windows Firewall Settings -> Exceptions tab, and add both TCP/IP and UDP ports 137 to 139.

Open the McAfee Security Center. To open right-click the McAfee icon in the tray by the clock, then click Open SecurityCenter.

Using the Advanced Menu

Click Configure in the bottom left of the window, then click Internet and Network.

Using the Basic Menu

Under Common Tasks you should be on the Home menu.

Click Internet and Network then click Configure.

Under Firewall protection click the Advanced button.

Under Firewall click System Services.

Make sure Windows File Sharing (NETBIOS) Ports 137-139 is checked, select that option, then click Edit.

Under Edit System Service Rule type 137-139 into the Local UDP Ports field. Your settings should look like the ones in the screenshot below.

Now just click OK until the windows close, then close the remaining McAfee windows, and you should now be able to share printers, files and folders, with other PCs across your wired network and wireless network.

Note: You only need to open ports 137-139 on the PC that is sharing the printers, files, and folders.

Click here to learn how to share folders and printers over a network.

NerdGrind - How-to Computer Help - Tutorials - Tech and Gadget News

Power Defragmenter for Windows 7 and Windows Vista and Windows XP based on Contig

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