Windows 7 Control Panel – Regain the “Classic View” | Tips for better Searching

One of the first “personalizations” I make to a new PC is switch the Control Panel from categorized tasks to the more detailed (and familiar to XP users) “Classic View”.

In Windows Vista, Microsoft provided an easy method for doing that – a click-able option there in the upper left.

Windows 7 there is no click-able option to use. In Windows 7, you have to use a different approach to revert, and switch back to Classic View.

1) Open the Control Panel (Start button > Control Panel)
2) Look to the upper right, and click on the drop-down arrow by View by: and change it to “Small icons”.

That’s it! You’re done. Your Control Panel will now be much more familiar looking if you’ve been using Windows for a while (more “XP like”) as well as providing a more comprehensive list of the Control Panel’s options.

Orig posting: 3/31/10

(Kinda hard to fathom that Win 7 has been with us 2 years already, eh?)

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Bonus: Tips for Searching the Web learn the secrets of “power” searchers.

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Enjoy your weekend everybody! It sure feels like Spring here.

Today’s quote: “Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.” ~ Ralph Marston

Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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Lost The Password? How To Reset Your Router

If you have lost or forgotten the User name and password, and cannot get in to your router’s control panel (or wireless access point) here are the steps you should follow to regain access, and control over your network settings.

1) If you do not know it already, determine the Make and Model of your router. This will often be found on a label on the bottom.
(“Make” is the manufacturer: Belkin, Netgear, Lynksys, D-link, for example; and the “model” will the “DIR 655”, or “WRT-54G” [your letters/numbers will vary].)

2) Use your favorite search engine and look up your router’s defaults – and write them down.
In the search pane, type the make, then the model, then “defaults” (D-link DIR 655 defaults, for example). From the list of results, look for the one that is the manufacturer’s Support page. Write down the:

• IP address (this will be something like “192.168.1.1”)
• Username
• Password

[note: if all you need is the User+Pwd, you can also go to http://www.routerpasswords.com/]

3) Open your web browser (Internet Explorer/Firefox/Chrome)
Type the default IP address you just looked up into the browser’s address bar (where the http://www.website.com goes) and press “Enter”.
This will open the router Control Panel login.

4) Try the default Username/Password (Often, this is “Admin” and the password is blank [empty].)

No luck?

5) Reset the router

IMPORTANT Note: resetting the router wipes away any changes you had made — and your connection settings to your ISP. You will have to create new user names and passwords and “wireless security keys” (WEP, WPA, WPA2) and reconnect to the Internet/ISP. (Which means you will have to reconnect each of your wireless devices by entering your new “key”.)

On the back of the router, look for a small button, or hole, labeled “Reset”.

• With the unit on, use a straightend paperclip to press the reset down for about 15 seconds, and then release it.
• The unit will restart on its own.
As soon as the lights stop blinking, the unit is ready.

Now repeat Steps 3 and 4, and this time you will be in, and you will have access to the router’s settings control panel.

Related:

• How to secure your wireless network
• How To Connect a Router Without the Setup CD
• Restricting Roommates Internet Use – Continued.
• A New Wireless Router “Internet security made me decide to buy a new router...”

Today’s quote: “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” ~ Japanese Proverb

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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How To Restore "Classic View" To Windows 7 Control Panel

When I first got a Vista machine, one of the first thing I did was switch the Control Panel from categorized tasks to the more detailed and familiar “Classic View”. Which was easy, as there was a click-able option there in the upper left.

Windows 7 also comes with the Control Panel preset to a categorized tasks, and I still want the more detailed and familiar “Classic View”, but there is no click-able option to use. In Windows 7, you have to use a different approach to revert, and switch back to Classic View.

1) Open the Control Panel (Start button > Control Panel)
2) Look to the upper right, and click on the drop-down arrow by View by: and change it to “Small icons”.

That’s it. You’re done. Your Control Panel will now be much more familiar looking if you’ve been using Windows for a while (more “XP like”) as well as providing a more comprehensive list of the Control Panel’s options.

Copyright 2007-2010 © Tech Paul. All Rights Reserved. post to jaanix.

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Uninstalled Program Still Appears

Reader Asks How To Repair the Add/Remove Programs List

Q: I have listing of programs which show up in my add/remove programs that do not exist on my computer. I would like to remove them from the add/remove programs. Is there a program or do you know an easy way to remove non-existent programs which still show up here?

A: When a program remains in the list of installed programs in your Control Panel’s Add/Remove Programs, after you have uninstalled it, it really doesn’t hurt anything to leave the entry there– but it is annoying and .. well, wrong. All it is is a key in the Registry didn’t get deleted by the uninstaller (which is why I use Revo to uninstall programs and not Add/Remove Programs or the Uninstaller)

The simplest way to remedy this ‘glitch’ is to click on the entry and launch the Remove process (as if it was still there) — Windows should “discover” that the program no longer exists, and ask if you want to remove it from the listing – answer yes, and it will remove the name.
(Vista and Win 7 are pretty good at this, but in XP [and older] it is more of a 50/50 proposition.)

If Windows doesn’t fix itself, then you can run the Registry repair/cleaner in CCleaner, which should find and delete the Registry key. When CCleaner asks if you want to make a backup, answer yes.

The direct approach is to manually edit the Registry. The Microsoft instructions for that are here, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314481. As always, I remind you that editing the Registry is risky and to make a new Restore Point (System Restore) and a Registry backup before editing the Registry.

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Lost the Setup CD? How To Connect a Router*

Reader asks how to connect to the Internet without the original CD

Q: “How can I connect to the Internet with my laptop via D-link router from desktop? We have no CD ROM for d link.”

A: You do not need the setup CD to make a router work (frankly, the following is my preferred method, as the CD’s usually install unnecessary “bonus features”.) Here is how you establish Internet connections (aka “configure a”) on a router.

1) Assign your PC an IP address in the same range as the router’s default address– for most routers, assign the IP 192.168.1.2, but since this is a D-Link router, use 192.168.0.2.
(Look to “Assign Address” here for Illustrated instructions.)

2) Connect the PC directly to the router with an Ethernet cable.

3) open a web browser (IE, Firefox, Safari) and enter the IP address number of the router into the address bar. (If you don’t know this, look to the router manufacturer’s Website for “default settings”). Typically, this is 192.168.1.1, or 192.168.0.254 — but D-Link uses 192.168.0.1.

4) Enter the default Name and Password (again, look to to the website’s support page/FAQ’s if you don’t know these). But typically these are “admin”+”admin”, or “admin”+”password”.
D-Link’s default is admin/admin.

Your are now in your router’s “web interface” Control Panel, and you can enter the PPPoE setting provided by your ISP. Typically all you need is an identifier.. which is an e-mail address + password.
If you can’t find or remember these, contact your ISP’s support. D-Link’s Wizard will help.

[note: Once your ISP has connected, and while you’re in the Control Panel, set your router’s security configuration, and set a new password (and write them down). Illustrated instructions can be found here, https://techpaul.wordpress.com/2008/01/01/how-to-secure-your-wireless-network/]

5) Return to Network Connections (from Step 1) and reset your PC to “Get address automatically–DHCP”. Reboot your PC if necessary.

Today’s free download: Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. (Full Install.) Wolfenstein Enemy Territory is a stand-alone multiplayer game in which players wage war as Axis or Allies in team-based combat. In Wolfenstein Enemy Territory Axis and Allied teams do battle in traditional single scenarios, or wage war through a series of linked scenarios in a totally new campaign mode. During combat players gain experience and skill, and through battlefield promotions are awarded additional abilities that remain persistent across an entire campaign.

Today’s free link(s):
* Ginipic – Taking image searching to a whole new level…
* Inventive FaceBook Scammers Trick You Out of Money with Trojans

* Orig post: 10/13/2008. For some reason, this has been getting a lot of ‘hits’ this week…

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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The power of the nap

I do not want to start out today by alarming, or shocking, you Dear Reader, but I do want you to realize one thing — not everyone does things the same way we (in the USA) do.
Yes. It’s true.

Now, I’m not talking about simply using a weird language (non-English) to talk to each other. I’m talking about methods of accomplishing tasks, and how we live life.

For instance:
I am told that if you travel to some Distant Lands, you will find that the people there insist on driving on the wrong side of the road. In fact, in those places, so many people drive on the wrong side that the car builders have taken to installing the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car.

I am also told that there are Distant Lands where it takes several hours to eat your meal (no Drive-Thru windows, I guess). I am also told that wine is served every night. In some of these places, it is said that the evening meal doesn’t begin until about 10pm. That one pushes my credulity, 10?! That’s my bedtime.
I have been told this is true in places like Spain, and also in Italy.
I have also heard that in France they give you three hours for lunch. That has to be a lie… my last “real” job gave me 30 minutes.

Also unlike here, many Distant Lands do not treat smoking a cigarette as a Criminal Offense… and the smoker as a leper.
Weird stuff.

* Now back to today’s title:
I mentioned Spain and Italy before, and I want to get back to them because one of the bizarre things I’ve heard the people there do is of extreme (well.. moderate) interest to me, now that I’ve reached my “middle years”– I am talking about the “siesta“.

Now to my, admittedly limited, understanding.. the way it works is like this: you eat your midday meal (with wine), BS with your friends for a while, and then go lay down and take a midday nap.. then you get up and go back to work. (Maybe that’s why it takes 3 hours?)
I gotta confess..  when I first heard of this, it sounded pretty good to me. In fact, it sounds so good, it surely must be a lie. However, I have taken to adopting this mythical siesta-thing into my own life, and now I regularly (well.. as often as possible.. which isn’t as often as I’d like) lay down for 20 minutes in the afternoon.
Only I don’t call my lay-down a “siesta”; I call it a “power nap” (some folks call it a “NASA nap”).
And folks, I can attest: what you’ve heard about power naps is true. A brief eye-shutting does rejuvenate the mind, body, and soul. And now that I’ve tried this wonder, I ain’t going back.. I am now a “siesta guy”.

What does this have to do with Tech?
Glad you asked. First let me say that (gasp!) life is not all Tech.. and suggest that you may want to look into this midday nap thing yourself (it will actually increase your productivity) and give Personal Sleep Mode a try, and then…
Tip of the day: Putting computer into a low power mode, such as “Sleep” or “Standby”, or “Hibernate” is a good thing to do when you’re not actively using your machine. You will save on your electricity bill, and actually reduce wear-and-tear on your machine.
To learn about adjusting your computer’s low power-state options, read the second “question answered” in this article. And to learn how to enable Hibernation mode on your desktop PC, click here.

Today’s free link: A fella who calls himself “Mr. Electricity” has a page on his Website which helps you understand computer (and attached devices) power consumption, and by reading the information there, you can calculate how much money you’ll save by taking advantage of your computer’s ability to “power nap” too. (It can be an eye-opener to see how much your monitor is costing you.)

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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