HowToHaven™

Tutorials and guides on how to do various things with your computer

System

Newest articles:

How to Slipstream Windows XP Service Pack 3 to Create an Integrated XP Setup Disk with SP 3

Find out how you can create a new XP install disk that has service pack 3 already integrated into it. This makes the installing (or reinstalling) process much faster and more secure.
How to Back Up Your Hard Disk in Windows

Learn how to back up your entire hard disk (or image it) so that in a crunch you can restore your system to the exact state it was in when you backed it up. It's a much better way than reinstalling everything if you're upgrading hard disks, or recovering from a system problem.
How to Securely Prepare Your Old Computer for Disposal

Do you have an old computer that you want to get rid off? Don't just throw it away or donate it, or you may lose more than that old system. Even if you reformat it or delete your data, it may still be somewhere on the hard disk, waiting to be discovered. This guide shows you how you can securely wipe that computer so that you can give it away (or dispose it) with peace of mind.
How to Turn Off Volume Shadow Copy in Windows Vista

Vista comes with a convenient feature that allows you to recover previous versions of a saved file from your hard disk. This, however, comes with a price in terms of hard disk space used and possibly security. This article deals with how you can disable the volume shadow copy feature in Vista.
How to Work Around the Missing Up Arrow Button in Vista's Windows Explorer

Do you miss the "Up" arrow button in Windows Explorer that was present in earlier versions of Windows, but now absent in Vista? This article shows you that even more efficient methods exist in Vista that allow you not only the same one-click access to a parent folder but also to many other folders on your hard disk. Learn how to work in Vista efficiently.
How to Customize the Sherpya XPE for Your Windows Rescue CD (BartPE Disk)

Learn how to customise your emergency Windows Rescue Disk created with the earlier tutorial to add Start Menu items and Desktop shortcuts, modify the taskbar and screen resolution, etc.
How to Force Windows Explorer to Always Show You the File Extensions

Avoid being tricked by viruses that pretend to be picture files and the other host of problems that come from being blinded by Windows Explorer. View your filenames as they really are.
FAQ for How to Create Windows XP Setup CD for a Windows-Preloaded System

Frequently Asked Questions about the guide to creating an XP install CD from a system with Windows preloaded. It also contains information on how you can create the setup CD that installs XP without your having to re-activate it.
How to Create an Emergency Windows Rescue CD

Create an emergency bootable Windows rescue CD that you can use to recover files from a crashed system, even from NTFS file systems. You can also defragment your disk, backup and restore your system and even surf the Internet from this "LiveCD".
How to Create a Bootable Windows XP Setup CD/DVD on a Preinstalled Windows System

Learn how to make a Windows install CD from a system that came with Windows preloaded.
How to Delete Undeletable, Locked, Busy or Currently In-Use Files in Windows

Ever had those pesky files that refused to be deleted? Here's how to forcibly remove them.
How to Perform a Full Manual Defragmentation of Your Hard Disk Under Windows Vista

Make the defrag utility on Windows Vista do your bidding instead of second-guessing you.

Click here for more System "How To" articles (main index)

Multimedia

Newest articles:

How to Record or Save Streaming Music / Audio

Have you ever listened to streaming audio or music on the Internet and wished there was a way to record it for later listening? Here's how.

Click here for more Multimedia "How To" articles (main index)

Web Design

What's New

29 April 2008

New page: How to Slipstream Windows XP Service Pack 3 to Create an Integrated XP Setup Disk with SP 3. Now that service pack 3 for XP is released, how do you go about integrating it into your existing XP setup disk, so that when you next install XP, you will automatically have a system with XP SP 3? This guide shows you how.

10 April 2008

New page: How to Back Up Your Hard Disk in Windows. Learn how to back up your hard disk in such a way that you can restore your system to its working state any time there is a problem. A hard disk image is a useful thing to have in the event of hardware problems (like a crashed disk) or a bad virus attack on your system.

25 March 2008

New page: How to Securely Prepare Your Old Computer for Disposal. Don't just throw away or give away your old computer. Even if you delete your files or reformat it, your data still lives somewhere on your hard disk. This guide shows you how you can securely prepare your old computer before you dispose of it (or donate it).

18 March 2008

New page: How to Turn Off Volume Shadow Copy in Windows Vista. Learn how to turn off Vista's volume shadow copy to save space and possibly increase security.

11 March 2008

New page: How to Work Around the Missing Up Arrow Button in Vista's Windows Explorer. If you are one of those who miss the "Up" arrow functionality of Windows XP and earlier, after migrating to Vista, you may be pleased to learn that even better methods exist in Vista to give you one-click access to parent folders. Learn more about it from this tutorial.

6 March 2008

Added a cautionary note about using ImgBurn 2.4.0.0 (the latest version, at this time) to create the Windows XP setup disk.

18 February 2008

Added another FAQ to the FAQ for How to Create Windows XP Setup CD for a Windows-Preloaded System page.

10 February 2008

New page: How to Customize the Sherpya XPE for Your Windows Rescue CD (BartPE Disk). Create a customized Windows rescue disk with your own start menu and desktop items, Windows taskbar placement and so on, with this second chapter on how you can make your own emergency Windows rescue CD for those terrible times when you need to rescue data from your hard disk or other such emergencies.

7 February 2008

New page: How to Force Windows Explorer to Always Show You the File Extensions. Avoid being tricked by viruses that pretend to be picture files and the other host of problems that come from being blinded by Windows Explorer. View your filenames as they really are with this newest tutorial.

6 February 2008

New page: Learn how to create an XP setup disk that does not require you to activate your copy of Windows XP and other things, from the newest article FAQ for How to Create Windows XP Setup CD for a Windows-Preloaded System.

15 October 2007

New page: How to Create an Emergency Windows Rescue CD - create an all-purpose recovery disk that boots into Windows, allowing you to rescue your data, partition your disks, backup/restore your system, etc.

3 June 2007

New page: How to Delete Undeletable, Locked, Busy or Currently In-Use Files in Windows - if you have ever tried to delete a file and received an error message that the file could not be deleted for some reason or other, this is the article for you.

22 December 2006

New page: How to Perform a Full Manual Defragmentation of Your Hard Disk Under Windows Vista.

16 December 2006

New page: How to Record or Save Streaming Music or Audio - looking for a way to record streaming audio? Check this out.
New section: Multimedia "How To" Guides - guides on how to do various things involving sound and video.

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