FilesAnywhere.com Promo Code

April 6, 2011 By 1 Comment

In response to my article How to Map filesanywhere.com as drive in Windows 7 the nice people at filesanywhere have provided a promo code for my readers.

Please use this code: AB05 

Filesanywhere is the leader in cloud storage:

  • Sync Folders, Schedule Offsite Backups
  • WebFolder Drive Mapping, Direct File Editing
  • Share Files using Dropbox Links
  • View / Edit Documents and Pictures Online
  • Photo Slideshows, Video and Audio Streaming
  • Search Files by Content, Custom MetaData
  • SSL Encryption, Secure FTP, WebDAV
  • Add SubAccounts to Create a Workgroup
  • Version History with Checkin/Checkout
  • Private Site Branding for Businesses

My experience with the business private site plan has been very positive and filesanywhere has always answered to support questions with a sense of urgency. I highly recommend filesanywhere.com for your cloud storage needs.

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Run Ubuntu in Windows 7, XP, Vista with VMware Player

February 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Do you run Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 7, or Windows Vista and need to run Ubuntu Linux software without setting up dual boot? With just a few easy steps, VMware player is a great solution!

How the Process Works

Download VMware Player

From this link: http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
You will need to complete a short registration form before downloading VMware player. Install your VMware Player software. On occasion, and this will vary system to system, you may see some prompts about installing drivers – Approve Them. After installing VMware player, restart your computer.

Install Ubuntu 10.10, or most recent distribution

Open VMware Player and select “Create a New Virtual Machine.”

VMware allows you to install from a disk or directly from the .iso image provided by Ubuntu. If you don’t already have the .iso image file from Ubuntu, you may download it from here: http://www.ubuntu.com/

If you insert your disk, VMware player should detect it, otherwise browse to your .iso image file to complete installation.

  1. 1. Enter your name, username, and password as required.
  2. 2. Choose a name for your virtual machine and save it in your location of choice. Click next to accept default settings. Default hard-drive setting is 20gb, but you have the ability to choose something different.
  3. 3. Review your settings and click “Finish” to start installing Ubuntu.

NOTE: During installation you will be prompted to install VMware tools for linux. Just click “Download” and the tools will automatically download and install – you will have to approve the UAC prompt.

Once the installation of ubuntu has completed, enter your username and password and WELCOME TO UBUNTU!!!

VMware Tools for Linux Installation Failure

If you are connected to the internet during installation, the VMware toolset for linux should download and install successfully. If you were not connected to the internet during installation, these tools will not be installed successfully.

To Complete Installation of VMware Tools for Linux:

  1. Make sure you are connected to the internet
  2. Click “VM” and then select “Install VMware Tools” in the menu.
  3. In the file browser window, double-click the VMwareTools icon and Click “Extract” on the button at the top of the window. Select “Desktop” on the left as the location to extract the files and click the “Extract” button to complete. Once all files are extracted, click close.
  4. At the top of the screen in Ubuntu, click “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”
  5. Once in the Terminal, type (case-sensitive and without quotes): “cd ./Desktop/vmware-tools-distrib”
  6. Now type (without quotes): “sudo bash” – enter your password at prompt
  7. Now install wmware tools by typing (without quotes): “./vmware-install.pl”. Press enter to accept prompted default settings at installation. If prompted with questions about documentation files, press enter through prompts to accept defaults.
  8. VMware tools should now be installed. When asked to configure tools, select “Yes” at the prompt. If prompted for the experimental backup feature, select “no”
  9. When prompted to set up graphics configurations, select “yes”
  10. You should see a message that install has been completed. Restart Ubuntu by clicking on the on/off symbol at the top right corner and select restart.
  11. Log back in to ubuntu and enjoy.


I hope that you enjoy this tutorial. As always, with any questions or comments, please use the comment feature below.

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How to Dual Boot Ubuntu 10.10 and Windows XP Professional

November 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment


Background

I have been using Ubuntu on my Dell Inspiron 8600 for just over a year now and I am impressed with the quality and performance that Linux has to offer. Originally, I had installed it as a standalone operating system and upon installation it took to all of my OEM hardware with absolutely zero issues. Not only did the hardware work flawlessly, but I have never had issues with pesky popup windows, spyware, or the threat of viruses. Linux just works!

Linux is an amazing operating system, but in a world where Microsoft dominates the market, the Windows platform is king for many high productivity software titles that do not work on Linux. For this reason, I have decided to create a dual-boot environment (and write this tutorial).

Dual Boot Ubuntu 10.10 and Windows XP ProfessionalBefore we begin, I have to say that I am offering this tutorial as a simple guideline and offer ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY or promise of any support. As a friendly reminder, make sure you backup all of your files, e-mail, etc… before making any changes.

Before you begin, you will need the Windows Operating System disk that came with your PC. You will also need a bootable live CD of Ubuntu 10.10.

To create a live CD, you will need to burn the Ubuntu 10.10 image to a CD using image burning software. Windows 7 has image burning ability out of the box, but if you are running Vista, XP, etc… You will need software that will burn an image. Most versions of Nero will work, otherwise if you need a more economical solution, check out ImgBurn. ImgBurn is a great open source software that you can download and use free of charge.

STEP 1
To make the installation run more smoothly, I decided to wipe all partitions, reformat my hard-drive, and install a fresh copy of Windows XP Professional to the entire drive (very important to install to the whole drive).

So, remember to back everything up, and reinstall windows with the disk set that came with your system. NOTE: All systems are different. If your system didn’t come with a packaged disk set, check to see if you have pre-installed software that will allow you to create system disks. Generally this software is located in a folder labeled with the manufacturer’s name under the Start menu.

STEP 2
Once your Windows XP re-installation has completed and you have added basic drivers, etc… Restart your computer, and boot to the Ubuntu 10.10 live CD.

A welcome window will appear where you will select your preferred language (on the left), English should be selected by default and you will select the option on the right to install Ubuntu 10.10.

The next window that will appear asks that you have at least 2.6 GB available, your computer is plugged in, and you are connected to the internet. I selected both check-boxes at the bottom, the first one to download updates during installation and the second one to install third-party software (if you are not connected to the internet, don’t select the boxes). Click Next.

The next window that will appear offers you three options, select the first option to install along with other operating systems and click Next.

The next window that will appear gives you a graphical representation of your installation’s and the hard drive space that they will occupy. If you would like to modify these amounts, you can click and drag left and right by the bar in between Windows XP and Ubuntu.

Once you are happy with the space you would like to allocate, select next and follow any additional instructions.

STEP 3
Once Ubuntu is installed, remove the live CD, reboot. After reboot, you should see the GRUB bootloader option window where you can select the operating system you would like to boot.

RESOURCES/LINKS

Ubuntu Live CD Image
ImgBurn (Image Burning Software)

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UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME in Windows XP

July 24, 2009 By 16 Comments


I haven’t posted in a while, and I encountered an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error on a clients machine earlier this week. This error is displayed while booting Windows XP and appears in the form of BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). The reason for this problem/error, the boot.ini file is corrupt.

I would recommend that only someone with knowledge of installing windows and changing BIOS settings performs this fix. This is ment to be a guide, and I take zero responsibility for any errors that may arise.

To fix this problem, you need to boot to a bootable Windows XP installation or boot disk and do a repair on windows. This can be accomplished by placing the boot disk in the CDROM drive and rebooting the computer. Before the computer passes the setup screen, you need to enter the BIOS (generally by hitting f1 or f2 for setup) and change the disk boot order to boot to the CDROM drive first, Save Settings, exit the BIOS, and if needed reboot the computer by hitting ctrl-alt-delete. Doing this will force the machine boot to the CDROM drive (if you encounter the blue screen error again, the machine booted to the hard drive instead of the CDROM drive, check your bios boot settings and try again).

Once you have booted into the windows boot disk, you need to make the ‘R’ selection for Recovery. This selection will be on the first screen after the CDROM boot process has completed.

Once the selection has been made for the recovery console, it will look like a DOS-Type prompt. Type these commands:
chkdsk /p
the check disk process will run, once this process has completed, type this command:
fixboot
Select yes, by hitting Y

Once the boot has completed it should boot into windows. IMPORTANT: remember to change your BIOS boot settings back to normal. The boot settings should resemble something like this:

a: – floppy drive (if you have a floppy)
c: – hard disk drive
d: – cdrom drive

Once the BIOS settings have been properly set back to normal, save, exit and reboot. The computer should now boot back into Windows XP.

If you would like to learn more about fixing your own computer, check out this ebook.

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Adobe Acrobat Freeze

May 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment


Occasionally, when opening PDF files off of websites through Internet Explorer, Adobe Acrobat will freeze up and temporarily stop or slow Internet Explorer from working properly. This problem also has the tendency to freeze up a computer all together.

I have personally encountered this problem on Windows XP numerous times, and may have caught it on Vista once or twice.

If your computer freezes after opening an adobe PDF from Internet Explorer, open the Task Manager by holding ctrl+shift+esc simultaneously.

In the task manager, find the file listed as Acrord32.exe and left-click once to highlight it.  Once highlighted, click the “End Process” button. After clicking the “End Process” button, a warning window will open, click “yes”.

This solution should work if your system is frozen because of opening an Adobe Acrobat PDF file in XP or Vista. After unfreezing your system, I would recommend saving any files you are working on, and restarting your system.

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