techyTim » Windows XP

Got an LCD? Turn on ClearType

techyTim — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 02:28:01 +0000

Windows XP includes a great tool for improving the readability of fonts on screen. ClearType is available both as a web interface and a downloadable extension accessible from the Control Panel. From the Microsoft website:

With Windows XP, ClearType delivers improved font display quality over traditional forms of font smoothing or anti-aliasing. ClearType improves readability on color LCD displays with a digital interface, such as those in laptops and high-quality flat panel displays. Readability on CRT screens can also be somewhat improved.

Check out the pic. It really does work!

Windows Media Player Woes

techyTim — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 22:34:00 +0000

I finally determined the cause of a problem that lurked me for quite some time. Whenever I went to stream audio using windows media player I received the following problem:

Windows Media Player loads, displays Ready, but stubbornly refuses to play any audio, even if I press play. The first time this happened, I managed to fix the problem by restoring a backup of my system. A few weeks later though, it happened again. Needless to say, I wasn’t about to restore a second time, especially if this was going to become a regular issue.

After a little researching I found the solution. Turns out the setting “Connect to the Internet” had been unchecked in Tools ? Options. Simply checking this box caused everything to work fine. If I ever find out what caused the unchecking in the first place I will post an update.

Stop the Annoying Auto-play Dialog

techyTim — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 23:06:27 +0000

Whenever I turn on my external hard drive, I get the annoying Windows XP Auto-play dialog box informing me that I have content on the drive and would I like to open it, etc, etc. Here’s a trick to turn off that annoying box once and for all.

1. Download and install Tweak UI (it’s free) from the Microsoft website (don’t ask me why it doesn’t come bundled).

2. Open Tweak UI and navigate to My Computer ? Auto-Play ? Drives.

3. Simply uncheck each drive on which you want to disable auto-play.

Disable Auto-restart on Blue Screen

techyTim — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 00:40:28 +0000

An annoying feature of Windows XP is it’s auto-restart whenever a (albeit, infrequent) blue screen of death appears. The instantaneous restart leaves no time to read any error code which could be useful in diagnosing the problem. Here’s how to disable the restart so you have time to read the message.

1. Go to Control Panel ? System.

2. Select the Advanced tab and click Settings under the Startup and Recovery heading.

3. Uncheck Automatically Restart under System Failure.

Tip: Get to the Device Manager fast

techyTim — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:32:42 +0000

The device manager in Windows XP is really buried: Start ? Settings ? Control Panel ? System ? Hardware ? Device Manager.

Here’s a quicker way:

1. Go to the run command (Start ? Run)

2. Type devmgmt.msc. You’re done!

Tip: Change a Drive Letter in Windows XP

techyTim — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 23:45:15 +0000

Say you have your iTunes library on an external hard drive, but now XP decides to assign the drive a different drive letter making your library unmapped. Here’s how to fix that annoyance.

1. Choose Start ? Run

2. Type diskmgmt.msc

3. Right click the drive you want to change and choose Change Drive Letter and Path….

4. Click Change and choose the drive letter of your choice in the drop-down menu.