Figuring out your version of Direct X
Posted by jerothe in 
I was installing 3d Studio Max (trial)today at work and needed to know what version of Direct X I had on my system because the most recent version of Max required the most recent version of Direct X for video playback, or whatever it really affects in computer modeling.
This is what you do to find out if you have the most recent version of Direct x (9.0);
Step. 1) In Windows, Click Start
Step. 2) Then on the left, click on Run…
Step. 3) Type in “dxdiag” for “Direct X Diagnosis”
Step. 4) Wait. This may connect you to the internet if you have dial up. There will be a display box that will tell you the version.
My Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer keep giving me an error message that says "Fatal Error"
I recently learned that Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer for Windows use the same technology to run. So, if you are getting an error message for either one, it is actually the same error because they are just different versions of one another.
If you want to try to fix the problems you are having, locate your Windows install CD, no matter whether you are running 98, ME, XP, whatever.
Go to your start menu
Choose “Run”, or hit on your keyboard the Windows Key + R, which is the same thing.
Type in sfc /scannow. This should scan for problems with Windows Explorer and try to fix them.
If this doesn’t solve your problems, try downloading Spyboy: Search and Destroy Version 1.3 and do a scan disk for any spyware that could be messing up your system. For more information do a search on the internet on either of these topics.
Use Windows XP Service Pack 2 to stop spam email.
Service Pack 2. I am sure most of my readers won’t know what this is, but it has had it’s share of media coverage online and off. Service Pack 2 is the Windows Update release that came out late last month that is a serious security overhaul of Microsoft’s Windows XP.
I was reading an article on the update and found out something I did not know. Microsoft Outlook will block pictures from your email unless you expressly permit them. This helps prevent any of that unwanted crap show up on your screen, but it also keeps your email from being validated. So, all you have to do is look at the email, and by you accessing the absolute links to the images in the email, the sender knows the address works and continues to send you junk.
Either way, a nice little preventative measure.
Reassigning default program extensions.
In a windows explorer, go up to Tools > Folder Options >File Types
Look down the list of the different file types, click one, and you can browse to change the default application with which to open the file. In the advanced tab, you can set up actions, if more than one default application is necessary.
The Task Manager (Shortcut = Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
The task manager can be your best friend. It contains information about programs that are currently running, the amount of RAM and Processor they are using, and lets you check for spikes in your processor usage and as well as how much of your paging file is used up.
Not to mention to can right click a process and “End Process” which should end the process. “End Process Tree” will kill a browser, and any new windows that are still trying to open up for those annoying chain popups that used to be so common.
If windows is acting up, you can right click and kill the explorer. The desktop will disappear, don’t panic. The explorer is not to be confused with the “windows explorer” but instead the GUI Shell that you interact with including your desktop.
All you have to do to get it back up is go to the file menu, choose “New Task(Run…)” and type in explorer and your desktop will start back up.
Under “Options” , you can check “Hide when Minimized”.and it will hide itself in your toolbar. But it will show a little grid that will rise and turn green when you are using a lot of your processor.
The same is true for Windows Media Player, (version 10 of which came out in the last month and is really slick looking). If you right click the toolbar and check windows media player, you can minimize the player into a little window and play movies right off your task bar on top of any other program you are working in.
Windows Shortcuts
I learned today, that like (Windows Key +E) will launch a windows explorer, you can get a run line prompt by pressing (Windows + R)
Then for a DOS prompt, type “cmd” and hit enter.
To get the IP address for your computer from the command line type “ipconfig” and hit enter.
How do I remote desktop between to Windows XP machines?
Click the start icon
Accessories > Communications > Remote Desktop Connection
Make sure of course that your computers are networked, and get the IP address of the computer you want to Connect to, and enter it here.
How do I setup a new email account in Microsoft Outlook?
In Outlook;
Tools > Email Accounts > Add new account
Check the Pop3 option for pulling in email from the web
The “next” button to go to the next screen and add the information requested; name, password, outgoing and incoming addresses, which can sometimes be the same. I know this isn’t specific, but here is an example of the format
Incoming Mail server: mail1.amazon.com
Outgoing Mail server: mail1.amazon.com
Also make sure to type in the name of your email account.
When you have filled in this information click,”More Settings”
In here, go to the “Advanced” tab and click the SSL for both the outgoing server (SMTP which stands for Simple mail transfer Protocol) and incoming server (pop3). Check to mail sure that POP3 is set to 110, and SMTP is set to 465. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know exactly.
Also, Click the Outgoing Server tab.
Check “My outgoing SMTP server required authentication”
You have just set up an email account that is also secure so that your information can be significantly if not impossible to access by third parties during transmission.
What does a 52X24X52X CD Writer and 16x4x16x DVD Writer mean?
These numbers mean three different speeds for any writer. The first is the write speed, the second is the rewrite speed, and the last number is the read speed. Now, you may say as I did, why are the DVD writers so much slower. Well, they aren’t
DVD writers can run up to 10,000 revolutions per second when writing. The speed is all in relation to the original speed that was released. So a 16X DVD writer is 16 times faster than the first one that was released, and so one for the other speeds for CD / DVD rom and writing drives.
How do I get to a file in Dos without typing the full path?
I have found out an extremely useful tip when using a Linux / Dos interface for file browsing. If you are looking for a directory with a name you aren’t sure of the spelling, but do know part of the word, don’t want to type the length of it, or are just looking to move quickly.
Type the part you know in this format
cd file/My Doc*
By adding the asterisk, this will retrieve the first result that has those first three characters, saving a ton of time when trying to change directory names to get to a file.