Enabling Telnet in Windows Vista

By default, neither telnet server nor client is installed in Vista. This is very easy to fix.

1. Go to start, Control Panel, and open Programs and Features.

2. Click on the "Turn Windows features on or off" hyperlink.


3. In the Windows Features dialog box that appears, check one or both of the Telnet boxes, depending on your needs.

How to Disable Word Verification for Comments

Do you get tired of typing jumbled characters to post a comment? This feature is supposed to keep blogs from getting spammed with advertising comments, but in my experience, this doesn't typically happen unless the blog has been left dormant and without updates for quite some time. If you have a Blogspot blog and you'd like to disable this feature for your readers, it's easy.

1. When on your Blogger dashboard, go to "Settings". Click on the "Comments" tab.
2. Scroll to near the bottom, and disable the word verification requirement.

It Really Works!

I was exasperated with Vista and how slow it was running. I kept reading that changing themes would help performance, but I didn't want to give up the cool Aero features (switch between windows, thumbnail previews on taskbar, cool graphics, etc).

Today, I gave it a try. I changed from Windows Vista Aero theme to Windows Vista Classic theme. It isn't pretty--in fact, it reminds me of Windows 2000. But immediately, I noticed a drastic difference in speed. I think I'm sold on it.

To change your Vista theme, right click the desktop and select "Personalize." Click "Theme." Select desired theme from available drop-down menu.

Windows Vista: A Few Good Things

I've had Vista on my personal laptop for over a month now. After upgrading to Vista Business and tweaking a few preferences, I've found that I can tolerate the operating system enough to where I'm not tempted to take a baseball bat to my monitor every twenty minutes. In hopes of encouraging those who are also stuck with Vista, I thought I'd highlight a few of its advantages over XP.

Taskbar thumbnail previews

This is a pretty cool feature. If you have the Vista Aero theme selected, hovering over any items on your taskbar reveals a real-time thumbnail preview. See example. Note that there is software that can be installed on XP to implement a similar feature.


Volume mixer

I have to say, this is a pretty sweet deal...and definitely an improvement with the Vista OS. Users can set different volume levels for every single program running. Maybe you want to hear your YouTube movie, playing in an open browser, and while you do, you don't want Outlook bothering you with the "New Mail" sound. Just single click on the volume button in the notification area of your taskbar, click the "Mixer" hyperlink, and specify the volume level for each program currently in use.


Start menu search box

The search box in the bottom of the start menu is very handy as well. You can choose to have it only search programs in your start menu, or even search all documents and files on your computer. Of course, there is a basic desktop search program that can be installed on XP...but it is handy to have it in the bottom of the start menu, and automatically included in the operating system.

Two Tips

School has me super occupied right now, and posting on this blog hasn't been at the top of my priority list. So here are just a couple of random tips for your reading pleasure.

Looking for quality screen capture software? The Jing Project is a free download that I have been consistently using for school assignments. Easily capture screen activity for the whole desktop or just a selected area or specific window, and instantly upload it to your personal library (also free) at Screencast. Making a screen capture video of a specific process or system feature can be an excellent way to show someone how it's done. For the non-techy, watching a step-by-step video is usually easier to understand than following written directions. Download Jing, create a Screencast account, and you're good to go!

Googling information pertaining to Linux? Frustrated by all the unrelated results? Refine your search before you've even entered keywords by going to www.google.com/linux. All results will be specific to Linux, and you'll have far less irrelevant sites to wade through. (Go to www.google.com/microsoft to receive Windows-specific results.)

My Battle With Vista

Alright...well since you are all simply GLUED to this exciting, informative, and revolutionary blog, you've been waiting for over a week now to hear about creating a system restore point, right? (Yeah...in case you haven't caught on yet, that was a joke.) Well I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not going to write about the promised System Restore Point yet. It'll come eventually, I promise. But for right now, I'm going to post a few thoughts pertaining to the hectic roller-coaster ride I've had in the technological realm the past two days.

I bought a beautiful new HP Pavilion laptop. As far as the hardware goes, I love it. 4 GB RAM, a nice big hard drive, a core 2 duo processor...much more than my current use requires. The only problem? Windows Vista Home Premium. And yes, that's a definite problem.

I knew I would run into driver issues trying to install XP Pro, but I didn't know I'd encounter them during the installation process. I tried numerous tricks to fool Vista into letting me wipe it out for XP, but to no avail. After a lot of research and a lot of experimenting, I seem to be stuck with Vista. Permanently. And that pretty much stinks.

I ended up reverting my laptop to its original factory state. That meant I also had to optimize it on my own...basically remove all the junk it comes with as a new install.

As I began to make the best of Vista and prepare my laptop for school, I ran into some other problems I didn't know Vista had. (Besides being a resource hog, bugging me with constant pop-up boxes, and sticking things in out-of-the-way and irrational locations.)

1. The built-in administrator account is disabled by default in Vista. And given my specific scenario, that turned out to be a real pain.

2. You can't even get to a lot of the computer management tools in Home Premium. You have to upgrade to Vista Business or better in order to perform basic management tasks.

I am now in search of a Vista Business CD so that I can upgrade. I have a legal key for it, I just need the corresponding media. Given the hours I've spent with Vista and its wonderful little quirks these past couple days, I will probably be posting more Vista-specific articles in the near future. Stay tuned to find out more about working with this problematic operating system.

Closing Your Laptop: What Happens

Ever wished you could keep your laptop from going into standby mode when you close the lid? Well, you can. Here's how to control what shutting your laptop does, in Windows Vista.

1. Click on the Start button, and click on "Control Panel" to open it.

2. Click on the "Mobile PC" hyperlink.

3. Click "Power Options."


4. Click the "Choose what closing the lid does" hyperlink in the left sidebar.


5. Choose what you want your laptop to do when you close the lid, depending on whether you are running on battery or are plugged in. The options are Do Nothing, Sleep (stand by), Hibernate, or Shut Down.


My personal preference is to "do nothing" when I'm plugged in. This way I can close my laptop and still listen to the music I have playing, remain signed in to any chat engines, and hear system notification sounds. Note that from this dialog box, you can also specify what action the laptop takes when you press the Power or Sleep buttons.

Here's a very low resolution video of this easy process.