TECHNO hide: Latest News on Operating System, Software and Web Applications

Update your iPod Shuffle

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:22:00 +0000

How do I update my iPod Shuffle software?

If you need to update or restore
your iPod Shuffle software, there are two
ways to do it: Download and install the
latest iPod Update software, or restore
your software using the iPod Updater

application that came on your iPod CD.
Warning: The restore process cannot be
undone. All your songs and files will be
deleted. Always make a backup of your
important data.

To update or restore the iPod shuffle
with the latest software:
Download the latest iPod Update from
http://www.apple.com/ipod/download.
The update contains the latest software
for all models of iPod.
Double click the software install ? le
and follow the onscreen instructions to
install the iPod Shuffle Update.

Open the "iPod Updater", click the
"Start" button, go to "All Programs", and
then point to "iPod". Click the name of
the most recent iPod Updater.
After the iPod Software Updater has
opened, connect the iPod Shuffle to your
computer.

Follow the onscreen instructions to
update or restore the iPod Shuffle
software. If the iPod Updater cannot detect the
iPod Shuffle connected to your computer,
turn the iPod Shuffle off and then on
again.

In case you want to restore the iPod
Shuffle software but you don't have an
Internet connection, use the iPod Updater
application that was installed on your
computer when you installed the software
from the iPod CD.

Reduce microphone sensitivity

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:21:00 +0000

What can I do to do away with the background noise when I am engaged in a conversation on the Internet?

Many of us suffer from the issue
of the microphone being too noisy
and sensitive, which results in a lot of
disturbance during voice conversations on
the Internet.

The most common problem with
microphones is extreme sensitivity, which
makes them capture all the background
noise. Thus the recipient not only hears
your voice but also the background noise.
To eliminate background noise, simply
adjust the sensitivity of the microphone, as
detailed below.

Go to "Start | Control Panel | Sounds and Audio Devices".
Choose the Voice tab.
Under the "Voice Recording" option, click
on "Volume".
Lower the volume of the microphone
and check for background noise.
Stop at a level where the background
noise fades out completely.

Preventing smart phone crashes - Mobile Phones

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:20:00 +0000

How should I prevent crashes on my smart phone? What is the problem that leads to
such frequent crashes?

In case your smart phone or PDA
crashes or reboots after you launch
applications or after accessing some
feature, the problem is most likely
associated with the software
loaded on
the phone. As with PCs, smart phones and
PDAs also have operating systems, hence
reboots and system crashes is evident
from time to time.

The best way to detect and repair
these issues is to find out the application
that is causing the problem. Detect the
exact action after which the operating
system crashes or reboots, and unload or
stop the application from loading in the
background. If this solves the issue, you
might need to check for the latest update
of the application or patches that might b
released to fix all known issues.

To detect issues with memory, try
to unload or uninstall some of the
applications. If the unit works fine after
this, the problem is most likely due to the
shortage of memory resources.
Try to upgrade the memory by using a
memory card; this will also provide more
storage space and help prevent crashes
and reboots.

Making use of the headphone jack

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:20:00 +0000

How do I use the headphone jack in the optical drive?

Almost every optical drive comes
with a headphone jack, but its seldom
used. In fact, many of us cant use it even
if we wish to, because we fail to get any
output from the headphone jack.
The
reason is that almost all optical drives
today can handle digital music directly,
instead of relying on the audio cable that
goes to the soundcard.

If your'e using Windows XP, chances are
that the digital music playback feature is
enabled by default. Optical drives cant play
digital and analog music simultaneously,
so if you want analog output from the
headphone jack, you will have to disable
digital music and switch to analog audio.
To do this, just follow these instructions:
Go to "Start | My Computer | Properties | Hardware | Device manager".

Locate your optical drive under "DVD/
CD-ROM Drives" and double click on it.
Go to Properties and under the "Digital
CD Playback", deselect the option
"Enable digital audio for this CD-ROM
Drive"
Restart your machine, and you should be
able to use the headphone jack with the
optical drive.

Get rid of dialup noise

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:19:00 +0000

Every time I connect to the Internet, the modem makes a lot of noise. What do I
need to do to get rid of this noise?

If you connect to the Internet via
a dialup connection and use an external
modem to do so, this tip will help you get
rid of the noise that the modem makes
while connecting to the Internet.
Usually,
the default volume level of the modem
speaker is set to maximum. This causes
the modem to make loud sounds while
establishing and connecting with the
dialup server.

You can disable or reduce the
sound by following these steps:
Go to "Start' and open "Control Panel".
Click on "Network and Internet
Connections". On the left side of the page, click on the
"Phone and Modem" option and then on
the "Modems" tab.

Highlight your modem and click on the
"Properties" button. Drag the Speaker volume to the level you
want. Click on the "OK" button and close the
"Network and Internet Connections"
window.

Decrease hardware acceleration

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:18:00 +0000

I have been facing problems while playing games and even while surfing, etc. What
could be the reason?

Your problem seems to indicate that
your hardware is either not compatible
or not configured properly. This is due to
video acceleration problems,
which tend
to affect activities like surfing and working
with documents, one of the most common
being problems with scrolling and other
visual effects.

However, there are many
ways to detect and solve such problems.
The first step is to decrease hardware
acceleration, and disable other hardware-
related features that might cause issues.
Follow these steps:
Go to "Start | Control panel | Display".
Go to the "Settings" tab and select
"Advanced".

Inside the "Advanced" menu select the
"Troubleshooting" tab.
You can make changes to the hardware
acceleration settings by dragging the
slider from "Full" to "None". By default,
the acceleration is set to "Full". Depending
on the severity of the problem, you can
decrease the hardware acceleration
Just below the hardware acceleration
slider, you can see the "Enable write
combining" option.

Write combining
improves video performance by
speeding up the display of information
to your screen. However, increased speed
can cause screen corruption, so if you
experience problems with your display,
clear the check box.

Once done with the changes, click on
"Apply" and restart the system to apply
the new settings.
Note: This tip primarily applies to
Windows XP Operating System

Print many pages in reverse order

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:17:00 +0000

I have a lot of pages to print and I want to save paper at the same time. Is it possible to print on both sides of the sheet? Please can you tell me if there's a quick and easy way to do this without much sweat?

First you will need to set the Printer
Options to print in reverse order.
Click on File | Print in Word. The Print
dialog box opens up.

Click on Options and select the option
Reverse print order. Click OK.
Now you need to print all the odd pages
first and then the even.
For this, click
on the drop down list Print and select
Odd Pages first. Click OK and let the
printing begin.
The printout will have the last odd page
number at the bottom. All you have to
do is take these papers and flip them
over, such that the last odd number page
is on top now.

Keeping the head of this odd page
facing you, place the bunch in the
paper tray once again (not the manual
feed tray). It is advisable to take a test
printout with one page to con? rm with
your printer, instead of wasting a whole
set of papers.

Now, fire a print once again (note that
the reverse order is still on), this time
choosing Even Pages. The printer takes
the last odd page and prints the last
even page on it. This goes on and in
the end you will have the first page on
top no need to reshuffle. And its ready
to be bound.

Playing all popular video files

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:15:00 +0000

I have recently got movies encoded in the divx, xvid and various other formats.
In spite of installing quite a number of codecs, some of my movies don't play.
Can you recommend a single media player capable of playing almost all the popular formats?

One media player well known for
its capability to play a wide variety of
formats is VLC. VLC (initially Video LAN
Client) is a highly portable multimedia
player for various audio and video formats

(MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3,
ogg–) as well as dvds, vcds, and various
streaming protocols.

You can download the free software from their official web site,
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/. Once on
this page, select the player suitable for your
operating system. It supports a wide array
of operating systems including Windows,
Mac OS X, Debian GNU/Linux, Mandrake
Linux, Fedora core, Red Hat Linux and even
Windows CE/Pocket PC. You can even get
the source code.

Once downloaded, install the software. The interface is
like any other media player.
Once in a while keep looking
for newer versions of the software, which
would include support for newer formats.

Protection against power surges

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:17:00 +0000

How do I protect my computer against lightning? I also have frequent voltage fluctuations at my house. In such a scenario, how do I safeguard my PC?

A power surge is a sudden brief
increase in the line voltage, usually caused
by lightning or power outages, short
circuits, tripped circuit breakers, etc. It can
damage your electrical equipment or at
least reduce its life span.
When lightning
strikes a power line, it creates an extremely
large power surge that overpowers almost
any surge protector, so dont rely only on
a surge protector. The best way to protect
your computer is to unplug it. Also unplug
any phone or coaxial cables.

To tackle voltage fluctuations, its
advisable to use a good quality surge
protector. The quality is generally
proportional to the price; a cheap spike
guard (spikes and surges are pretty
similar, difference being a surge lasts for 3
nanoseconds whereas a spike lasts for 1 or
2 nanoseconds) would do little more than
just providing power outlets.

It should also
have an indicator light indicating whether
its functioning properly or not. It should
have a fuse that burns out if more than a
particular amount of voltage passes through
it. Power surges can also travel through your
phone lines and coaxial cables the phone
line connects to the modem and the coaxial
cable is used to provide broadband Internet.

Look for a surge protector with a telephone
and coaxial cable line-in jack. Some UPS
units also provide surge protection.

Cooling your system

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:17:00 +0000

Please tell me how I can keep my system cool.

Computers are becoming faster
by the day, promising more power and
capacity than you can ever need. But with
all the power comes some heat. The heat
generated by the chips running
at high
speeds is cooled by the coolers and fans
inside the case. To ensure proper cooling,
you should avoid cutting off the air? ow to
your computer.

Depending on the design, your
computer draws air through vents in the
front, sides or bottom. Keep everything
at least an inch away from obvious vents.

(Tip: If your computer starts running hot,
don't take off the case in an attempt to
give it more airflow. That usually diffuses
the air too much. Instead, find out why its
running hot and get it fixed.)

Scan those images right

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:16:00 +0000

How do I ensure that the documents I scan come out perfect?

Scanning images and documents
is a simple job but it does call for some
guidelines to ensure that the scanned
images and documents come out the
way you want them to.
For instance,
placing the document/photograph in the
flatbed scanner can also influence the
final output.

Most modern scanners are
intelligent enough to correct any accidental
placement errors. Many of us don't align
the pages properly, so some scanners
have incorporated a feature to correct
misalignments automatically.
However, the auto correction feature
in most scanners works only to a certain
extent.

The pages/photos that are just
slightly skewed on the scanner bed are
corrected. If your original is tilted by more
than 10 degrees, the scanner assumes
that you intentionally put it that way. So
don't cant assume that all the scans will
be corrected irrespective of the placement,
and try scanning the document or
photo again.

Updating time in Word

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:07:00 +0000

What is the shortcut to insert automatically updating time in a Word document?

To insert time, you have to go to
the Insert menu and then choose Date
and Time. Then in order to keep the time
updated, you have to choose the option
Update automatically
.

Next time when you want to insert time,
just press [Alt+Shift+t] and your work will
be done in half a second. This shortcut also
works in PowerPoint.

Tweaking Outlook

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:13:00 +0000

I rely on Microsoft Outlook for everything from e-mailing to tracking my schedules to assigning tasks to my team members. However, there are times when the application responds in a very sluggish manner. Is there a way I can move the mail Outlook file to a different directory or hard disk, to make it easier to take backups of it?

Outlook, being the multi-faceted
application it is, lets you do plenty of tasks
for the home and office. Ho
wever, in this
age of bloated attachments and relentless
e-mail forwards, it doesn't take too long
for your mailbox to swell up to hundreds
of megabytes. There are several ways
to counter this and to help keep it slim
and trim.

First, you can compress your mailbox
(and all attached files along with it). To
do this, select Tools | Options and choose
the Mail Setup tab. Now click the Data
files button and select Settings from
the following screen. You'll see a button
here called Compact. Clicking this will
enable Outlook to compress the data file
that is used to hold all your e-mails, tasks,
calendar entries etc.

The default location of the mail Outlook
PST storehouse file is within a long-winded
folder structure in a hidden location. Since
this is a critical data file, you would want it
to be in an accessible location from where
you can back it up easily.

Therefore, its
best to move it from its initial location.
First you need to locate the Outlook.
PST ? le. From the menu bar, click on
Tools, then select Options and click the
Data files button. Now click the Open
Folder button. A new window will open,
containing the main outlook file. Copy this
path to this file from the address bar.

Now
close Outlook and navigate to this file using
the path you saved. Cut the file from this
location and paste it to the new location
in an accessible folder. Now, the next time
you start Outlook, it will throw up an error
box since the file will not be found. Simply
navigate to the new location, select the file
and click [OK].

Thats it, from now, Outlook
will access the file from the new location.
You are now free to take backups of that
file from its new location.

Utilizing Word count toolbar in Microsoft Office

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:08:00 +0000

How do I get the word count in a Word document? Is there a way to keep the word count display active for all the documents?

The word count option is present
under the Tools menu. Apart from
word count, it also displays the number
of characters, lines and paragraphs in a
document.
The shortest way to get word
count is by using the shortcut [Alt+T+W].
But if you want to keep the word count
active permanently, there is a way to add a
word count toolbar.

To add it, go to View | Toolbars and select Word Count. After the
toolbar gets displayed, you can drag it to
the standard or the formatting toolbar so
that it snaps into place.

Now, to get the word count, you
simply have to click the "Count" button
on the toolbar. After you have edited the
document, you have to click on it again
to get a fresh count. A simpler way to
get the word count on the toolbar is by
pressing [Alt+c].

If you wish to get a count
of characters, lines or paragraphs, you can
set the option in the toolbar from its drop
down list.

Creating shortcuts in Word

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:05:00 +0000

How do I get some useful shortcuts in Word?

Here you go! These shortcuts will
help you to save time and keep your hands
off the mouse while you're working on a
Word document.

Previewing a document: To preview a
document, you either have to go to File |
Print Preview or click the Print Preview
button on the Standard toolbar. A quicker
way would be to press [ctrl+alt+i]. Don't
worry about clicking the [close] button
after you are done with the preview. You
simply have to press [alt+c] to resume
working on the document.

Page setup: Rather than going to File |
Page Setup, its easier to double click the
blank area at either sides of the horizontal
Ruler bar. Even though using the former
method is easy, the latter is surely an easier
and a time-saving method.

Zooming: Zooming in and out is not a big
deal. You just have to select or type the
zoom percentage in the zoom field in the
Standard toolbar.

But there is a quicker way without moving
the mouse! If you have a mouse with a
scroll wheel, keep the [ctrl] key pressed and
scroll the mouse wheel up to zoom in or
down to zoom out. Piece of cake, isn't it?
If you have a keyboard with a zoom slider,
nothing like it!

Embedding fonts in a document in Microsoft Office

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:03:00 +0000

I have downloaded and installed some additional fonts. If I create a document using those fonts, the document doesn't appear the way it is meant to on other PCs. Please give me a quick tip.

The document wont appear with
similar formatting on other PCs unless they
too have the fonts that you have used. The
first and the most common way
to solve
this problem is to carry the additional fonts
that you have used in the document and
copy them to the Fonts folder located in
the Windows folder.

A wiser option is to embed the font
in the document itself. It does make the
document a little larger in size, but you
wont to worry about installing the fonts
on other PCs. To do so, click [File | Save as]
and click the "Tools" drop down list in the
Save as dialog box.

Choose save options and check Embed
True Type Fonts. You can exclude the
system fonts from being embedded to
keep the file size low.

Correcting noise problem

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:02:00 +0000

It gets quite disturbing when there's a continuous hiss or distortion in the background while I am listening to my favorite tracks. I can detect the hiss more correctly when I use my headphones. I would like to know what causes the hiss.

The hiss could be due to various
reasons like a bad sound card, faulty
speakers or headphones and also due to
some interference
from other devices in
your computer. But the most common of
all factors is the soundcard itself and its
inputs, which might be enabled in spite
of them not being in use. To correct this
problem you need to follow the steps:

a) Open the software mixer or volume
control. There are several inputs that can
create noise in the speakers.

b) The microphone and the modem are the
usual culprits. Mute these two items. This
should eliminate all or most of the noise.
Note: The microphone does not have to
be un-muted to use it.

Un-muting the microphone allows you to hear what you are
recording through the speakers while you are
recording. It doesn't stop you from recording.
Therefore, the microphone should always
be muted so that it does not cause a hissing
sound or low-level hum from the speakers.

Prevent excess heat and vibration

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:59:00 +0000

While installing a second hard drive, what are the precautions I need to take?

With hard drives becoming more
and more affordable, buying a second
hard drive to boost the computer storage
is a very common upgrade amongst users.
Hard drives have a major contribution to
the overall system heat and
hence you
need to take the following precautions
before installing a second hard drive. Here
are some tips to ensure that the new hard
drive does not bring new worries.

1) Make sure there is enough ventilation
in the cabinet and ensure that the hard
drive is not in physical contact with any
other device (floppy disk drive, hard drive
or optical drive).

2) The two hard drives should have
sufficient space between them, if they
are too close to each other, the heat
emitted by them can not only cause
damage to the hard drives but also
pushes the system temperature higher,
putting the other components in danger
of excess heat. Maintain a minimum
distance of 1.5-2 inches between the
two drives; in case you have more
than two drives, which don't allow
sufficient gap between the drives, its
recommended that you use hard drive
coolers to control the heat.

3) Being mechanical devices, hard drives
have a tendency to vibrate in case they
are not attached properly. Loosely fit
hard drives can cause vibrations that
not only damage the hard drive but
other components as well. To avoid
such issues, make sure that they are
fit properly and ensure that they are
attached to the chassis of the cabinet
from all four sides.

Get bright images without flash

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:24:00 +0000

Ensure bright images without using the flash?

There are several issues with digital
cameras although they are easier and
smarter than film cameras. Low-light
shooting is one of these issues. Capturing
images in low-light
can become a daunting
task, especially if you want to avoid the use
of flash. Using flash tends to overexpose
(brighten) the image too much.

To capture decent images in low light, you will have
to increase the Exposure setting, which
basically determines the sensitivity of the
sensor to ambient light conditions.
The exposure settings are used to
lighten or darken the image by overriding
the default exposure.

Most cameras provide "EV Compensation" to adjust the
amount of light that reaches the image
sensor-this is controlled by a combination
of the lens aperture and shutter speed.
Experimenting with the Exposure setting
will yield surprisingly accurate results in
low-light conditions.

Check for the actual lens resolution

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:22:00 +0000

Planning to buy a digital camera

Digital cameras are mostly sold on
the criteria of "lens resolution" higher the
resolution, the more preferred it is. Since
the resolution
is the single most dominant
factor, lots of manufacturers play around
with words by boasting of resolutions of
5 MP and above.

These cameras are sold
for almost half or an even lesser price than
the other models in a similar category.
This can easily convince the user to buy
the particular camera. The catch lies in the
fact that the resolution is not the actual
lens resolution; in fact its the interpolated
resolution.

These cameras have an
inbuilt interpolation technique, which
converts the images to high resolution by
interpolating them the result is a dull,
washed out and pixilated image. The actual
hardware resolution of the lens is nearly
half of the claimed resolution, thus the
quality suffers a great deal.

To avoid such confusion and buying
hazards, always check the resolution of
the lens, ask the seller to provide you with
the exact hardware resolution. Always
evaluate a camera on the actual hardware
resolution of the lens and the image
quality rather than making the decision on
the basis of the claimed/advertised lens
resolution.

Avoiding clutter in the case

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:20:00 +0000

In what way do I get rid of all the clutter in the case?

Your computer might be the coolest
of all in terms of looks and technology
but opening the computer case might
reveal a completely difference picture.
With a lot of hardware installed in the
computer, the clutter of wires
is almost
unavoidable to begin with, but there are
simple and effective ways of managing the
clutter in a way that it causes minimum
inconvenience.

The clutter of wires also
poses a risk to the components because
they might obstruct and disturb some of
the components from functioning properly.
With coolers fitted with high-speed fans,
there is a high probability of the wires
obstructing the fan and causing damage
to the components. To keep such incidents
at bay, you can simply tape all the wires
together in such a way that they cause
minimum clutter and also are safe from
fans and other equipment.

Cleaning the computer case

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:17:00 +0000

Use a vacuum cleaner to clean the insides of the computer case?

Have seen many a times people
using a vacuum cleaner to suck up or blow
the dust inside the
computer case. This
can be lethal to the components inside the
computer case since the vacuum cleaner
generates a lot of static electricity, which
can damage the components.

Users can use a vacuum to suck up dirt, dust, or hair
around their computer on the outside case
and on their keyboards.

Installing the right monitor

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:13:00 +0000

how to install the correct monitor.

Most often what happens is
Windows XP fails to realize your LCD/CRT
monitor type and model. The result is that
the highest resolution support and the
refresh rates supported are not displayed
accurately in the video control panel.
Windows XP takes
the monitor as either
"Default Monitor or "plug and play
a , installing generic drivers with
monitor
the most common set of features and
settings for the display device. To install
the correct type of drivers, follow the steps
given below:

"Start | My Computer
1) Go to
"My Computer and

2) Right click on
select "Properties

3) Go to "Hardware tab and select
"Device Manager

4) Under the device manger click on
"Monitors

5) If it displays a "Default monitor or
"Plug and play monitor then that
implies that the correct monitor driver is
not installed
"Default Monitor

6) Double click on the
and select "Driver
"Update driver

7) Click on the tab

8) The Driver update wizard will be
launched; in case you don't have the
drivers downloaded, you can either let
the wizard connect to the Internet and
look for them.
You can also alternatively
trust Windows to have the drivers in
its database; in such a case select the
"Install from a list or specific
option and in the next screen choose location
"Don't search, I will choose the
option to manually select the driver
driver from the data base.

9) Select the monitor manufacturer/brand
from the given list and then select the
correct model number. Once done, click
"Next. on

10) Windows will not accept the driver if
it doesn't match the hardware.

Once "Finish the driver is accepted, click on
to complete the driver installation
process.

Using the mouse pad

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:12:00 +0000

Since the optical mouse doesn't have a ball, is it ok to use it without a mouse pad?

If you flip your optical mouse and look at its back side or rather its bottom surface which rests on a ? at surface, you will notice that it has small plastic
or rubberised pads called skids (generally four along the edges).

These, if used on a coarse or not so smooth surface, tend to get grazed due to friction and then the mouse does not feel as smooth or tactile as before. Hence, use a mousepad. It mostly comes for free.

Transferring settings from an older OS

noreply@blogger.com (Jithu) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:10:00 +0000

I have just bought a new computer for my office already installed with Windows XP. I intend on setting up this computer similar to the rest of my employees machines. I have been doing this manually and would like to know if there is an automated method to configure a PC similar to others in my office. It will save a lot of time.

There is a way by which you can
make the process of configuring a new
computer with settings similar to the ones
in your office. You should use Windows
XPs Files and Settings
Transfer Wizard
to save time. Older operating systems
like Windows 95/98/ME settings are also
supported. For this reason you will need
to have the Windows XP or a "wizard disk"
handy on the older operating system.
Running the Wizard on Windows 95/98/
ME machine, Here is how you can create a wizard disk or
run it from the Windows XP CD:

On a Windows XP machine, click on
Start | Programs | Accessories | System
Tools | Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.
Click on Next and select New Computer.
Choose "I want to create a Wizard Disk in
the following drive", insert an empty floppy
disk and click on Next. This is all you need
to launch the transfer wizard on an older
operating system. To launch the wizard on
say, Windows 98, insert the floppy disk,
click on Start | Run and type,
A:\FASTWiz Click on OK.

The wizard will run
prompting you to select the settings you
want to transfer to the new computer. If
you want to use the Windows XP CD then
let it auto run on the Windows 98 system
and click on "Perform additional tasks"
in the CD menu. In the next menu, select
"Transfer files and settings".
Running the Wizard on Windows XP
machine, All you have to do is start the Files and
Settings Transfer Wizard, click Next, select
Old Computer and click on Next again.
Saving the Settings of the Old Machine
You can transfer both files as well system
settings or you can manually select the
items you would like to reproduce. When
you reach the "Select a transfer method",
choose the direct cable option if you have
created a direct connection between two
machines. If your office is interconnected
(networked) then select the small of? ce
network option. In the office environment it would
also be better to save the settings to an
external storage or a shared folder for later
use. For this, select "Other (for example, a
removable drive–)"
Clicking on Next will display a list
of all the files, file types and settings
that saved to the destination folder (or
external drive). If the new computer is
for a different department then the files
need not be transferredselect "Settings
Only".

This will transfer display settings,
audio settings, mail, network (including
proxy), dial-up, Office settings. There
are many more settings that are listed. If
you select "Files Only" then everything
within your user profile folder (Desktop,
My Documents, Fonts and QuickLaunch)
will be transferred. Manually select the
file types, files or settings you want to
transfer by checking the box "Let me select
a custom list–" Transfer settings to the new computer
Start the Files and Settings Transfer
Wizard and select New Computer. Select
I don't need the Wizard Disk. I have already
collected my files–" and click Next. Now
select the transfer mode you want to
use-cable (if network or direct) or external
storage. Browse to the source folder
and click on Next to begin the transfer.
(Passwords will not be transferred in this
process. Any passwords created in Outlook,
Office or dial-up will not be transferred.)