UnLocker

Ever get that annoying message?

It has many other flavors:

Cannot delete file: Access is denied
There has been a sharing violation.
The source or destination file may be in use.
The file is in use by another program or user.
Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use

UnLocker is a nifty util that gets around that problem.

Download from this website.
Direct link to file here.

VUE 6

Pronounced "View 6" is an awesome 3D package.

Website

You can d/l their FREE version called PLE (Personal Learning Edition) here. It is fully functional, it just has a watermark on the renders you make.

There are several versions, the ones you want are either;

a) - VUE6 Xstream
b) - VUE6 Infinite

Get Xstream if you use another 3d package such as Cinema4d, Maya, Lightwave,Max etc., and Xstream will integrate with them.

Get Infinite if you don't already have a 3d program and Infinite is a stand-a-lone 3d package.

BSOD with DWL G650

If you are getting the Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) with your Dlink wireless network card, in my case the DWL G650 but other models get it to. It's based on a dodgey AR5211.sys driver which is an older Atheros driver. The solution is the following;

OPTION 1

The following steps may solve this problem in versions of Windows XP:

In preparation for these steps:
A. Download the latest version of the DWL-G630 drivers from support.dlink.com.
B. Consider setting a Restore Point. For additional information about System Restore, click Start, click Help and Support, type system restore in the Search box, and then press ENTER.

1. Go to Add/Remove Software
2. Remove your G630 software
3. In Explorer, go to %windir%\system32\drivers and, if you see AR5211.sys, rename it to AR5211.old. (Note: it may have already been deleted by Step 2, above.).
4. Reboot your computer and log on
5. If Add/Remove Hardware wizard comes back up, choose Cancel
6. Install the latest DWL-G630 software that you downloaded earlier.
7. The software should install and your network card should now be enabled or detected. If it is, proceed normally. If it is not...
8. ...Click Start, Run, and run compmgmt.msc and open Device Manager ... click the name of your computer at the top of the tree, then click the icon to scan for new hardware

This worked for me.

OPTION 2

Even better solution is to go to this website and check if your card is in the compatibility list. If it is then download the latest Atheros driver and install that.

I'm using Atheros drivers intead of D-Link drivers on D-Link DWL-G650.
Atheros drivers supports 54Mbps in ad-hoc mode (D-Link drivers only 11Mbps).
Atheros drivers are much better when there is no line of sight between antennas.
I've got up to 150KB/s with D-Link drivers and up to 1500KB/s with Atheros.

It is a bit complicated to setup once installed, so if you are in no way technically minded then don't do this and stick with OPTION 1

Just remember:

1) BEFORE you do this,UN-INSTALL any previous D-Link drivers (using Device Manager)

2) PULL OUT the card

3) SHUT DOWN

4) Install the Atheros drivers by running Setup.exe from EXTRACT directory

5) and ONLY THEN insert the card (that's really important)

Send To Toys

One of my favorite tools, one that I usually install right after finishing setting up any new system.

Send To Toys is an enhancement of the Send To system menu. It has many nice features including:

* Send To Toys Control Panel Applet allows you to manage the Send To system menu content, and configure Send To Toys settings.
* "Add to Send To menu" and "Remove from Send To menu" allows you to personalize the Send To system menu for drives, folders, and programs.
* Send To "Clipboard (as name)" copies the name of the file or files to the clipboard. Hold down the CTRL key to change the settings for this extension.
* Send To "Command Prompt" opens a DOS console window, setting the current directory to the selected folder. If the selection was a file, the folder containing the file will be the active directory and the name of the file will be typed for you at the prompt. Hold down the CTRL key to change the active directory to a different folder
* Send To "Favorites" adds a shortcut to your Favorites list. Hold down the CTRL key for the "Add Favorite" dialog.
* Send To "Folder..." sends a file or files to another folder, you will be shown a dialog box that lets you choose where the files should be copied. To move the files press and hold down the SHIFT key. The creation of a new folder is not supported on Windows 95, 98, and NT.
* Send To "Recycle Bin" send a file or files to the Recycle Bin. Hold down the CTRL key to perform a file shredding.
* Send To "Run..." sends a file or files to the Run command dialog

Send to Toys is freeware and can be installed on any version of Windows.

sendto.exe. <----Download here

Download videos from MySpace

If you want to d/l videos from myspace, youtube, google videos etc., there are 2 ways that work well

#1 the best way is to get a util called vdownloader (google for it) you don't need to install it and it converts the flv video into avi, mpg, mp4 etc., for you. This works well for MySpace videos.

#2 go to websites like
http://keepvid.com/
http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php

nVidia nforce NIC for ghostcast server

If you are having a bastard of a time finding ndis drivers for your nvidia nforce network card to use with Ghost Cast server then get this. Nvidia Nforce

This is my big boot4.11.ima I use this on bootable ghost images in Nero

The file is a .IMA file and is in 2.88 meg Floppy format. I use it with Nero to make a bootable CD that lets me boot computers with a working network connection and connects to the GhostCast server.

If you want to use it as a floppy, then you will need to get WinImage which makes .IMA files and extract the files.

You need to make 2 floppies. On the 1st floppy keep the exact file structure but don't have the ghost.exe in the Ghost dir.

On floppy 2, put the ghost.exe in the ghost dir