Computer Tips and Tricks

Recover Photo And Data From Scratched And Damaged CD
Recover Photo and Data from Scratched or Damaged CDList of programs that can help you recover data from scratched CD, I would like to explain to you how does all these program work. When a disc is badly scratched, that part will become impossible to read. If you copy the CD contents directly through Windows copy and paste function, you will definitely get an error saying that the file is corrupted. But with the programs below, you can copy and keep the file till the last bit that it was able to copy without error. That means that it is able to copy whatever it can without giving you error message and stopping there.
1. Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier- Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier recovers files from disks with physical damage. Allows you to copy files from disks with problems such as bad sectors, scratches or that just give errors when reading data. The program will attempt to recover every readable piece of a file and put the pieces together. Using this method most types of files can be made usable even if some parts were not recoverable in the end. It's easy to use, small, portable and no installation required. Just select the source, destination and click Copy. This can be used on hard drive as well.
[ Download Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier ]
2. CD Recovery ToolboxCD Recovery Toolbox (download) tool was developed for recovering damaged files from different disk types: CD, DVD, HD DVD, Blu-Ray, etc. You can use it to restore information lost as a result of some mechanical damage of the disk (scratches, chips, different spots on the surface) or as a result of incorrect recording.
[ Download CD Recovery Toolbox ]
3. IsoPuzzleThe goal of this program is to recover as much as possible data of damaged, bad burned or scratched CDs or DVDs. This version supports only data CDs and DVDs with sectorsize of 2048 byte - Audio CD, VCD and SVCD are not supported. Before you can start using IsoPuzzle, you'll need to download WNASPI32.DLL from Nero and place it in the IsoPuzzle's directory.
[ Download IsoPuzzle ]
4. CDCheck:-CDCheck is utility for prevention, detection and recovery of damaged files with emphasis on error detection. It can check each your CD/DVD (or any other media) and indicate which files are corrupted. CDCheck is actually a shareware but then it's free for PERSONAL use. You can request for a free license key at this page.
[ Download CDCheck ]
5. IsoBuster:-IsoBuster is a highly specialized yet easy to use optical media data recovery tool. It supports all optical disc formats and all common optical disc file-systems. IsoBuster is also a shareware but you can use it for free by clicking the "Free funct. only" button when you're prompted to register to enable the PRO functionality.
[ Download IsoBuster ]
Note:-If you've tried all 5 free data recovery tool for scratched, damaged or defective CD but still doesn't work, you can head on to YouTube, search for "scratch cd" and take the risk by trying those weird methods to fix a scratched disc. Try the method that has the most comment and also success rate.

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Clean a DVD or CD Disc

Here are a few handy tips to clean your priceless collection of CDs and DVD discs.But before you try any of these methods, remember that the disc media is very delicate and you may unintentionally damage the shiny reflective surface if you are not careful:» If dust particles are sticking to the CD surface, use a piece of soft cloth to wipe off the dust. To hold the CD, insert a finger or thumb inside the center hole of the CD or handle it by the edges but never touch the shiny surface.» If the DVD surface feels sticky or greasy, mix some baby shampoo in lukewarm water and use cotton or soft cloth to gently rub the CD surface with this solution. Make sure the CD is completely dry (no water drops) before putting it back in the jewel case.» If there are fingerprint marks on the CD surface, dip a soft cloth in Isopropyl Alcohol/Ethanol/Methanol and gently wipe the surface. Never use a petroleum based solvent like Acetone as that will permanently damage the CD surface.» When none of the above alcohol based products are available in the local market, use a bottle of Mineral water to clean the dirty CD surface. Normal tap water has higher concentration of salts that may leave white marks on the CD surface.» Always wipe the disc surface in a non-radial back-and-forth motion (from the center hole to the outer edge). Don't follow the concentric circles while cleaning.» There are few DVD polish products in the market that promise to repair the scratched surface of CDs and DVDs. I have never used them myself so cannot comment if they really work as advertised.Final Advice: If you notice a scratch on the surface of a CD or DVD, I would suggest that you immediately make a copy of the disc as it is possible that one fine day, your DVD drive may suddenly refuse to read the disc.

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Uninstall Symantec Norton Antivirus Client without Password
Norton AntiVirus Clients or Symantec AntiVirus Clients especially Corporate Edition Clients can be installed as managed network setup type by a Symantec AntiVirus Server. When a Symantec AntiVirus Client is managed, it will prompt for password when uninstalling client via local computer Control Panel Add or Remove Program applet. If you don’t know or forget the password, then the client is not able to uninstall or remove. And the SAV client uninstall password won’t work with server group password too, as if you enter that password, you will receive an invalid password message.The client uninstallation password is different from the server group password, and it can be set by the administrator through the Symantec System Center for the client that is managed. If the client uninstallation password has not been set or changed specifically, it will still be the default password. Thus, first thing to try in order to successfully uninstall a Symantec Client Security program is by using the default password for the uninstalling clients, which is symantec.
In the cases where Symantec AntiVirus server has been taken down and no longer exist, or the client computer has no access to company network, or the default client uninstall password does not work, the following hack will enable you to remove Symantec Antivirus without using a password:
Open Registry Editor (regedit).
Navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\INTEL\LANDesk\VirusProtect6\CurrentVersion\Administrator Only\Security\
Change the value for useVPuninstallpassword key from 1 to 0.
Exit Registry Editor and now you can uninstall Symantec AntiVirus Client.
The trick should work on most version of Symantec AntiVirus client or Norton AntiVirus Client, including version 7, 8, 9 or 10.

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How to Find Product Keys for Windows using Google?????

Some users simply don’t get it. They are so careless with sensible data that they publish product keys for Windows Operating systems on the Internet. They probably don’t know what they are doing which is not an excuse but a possible explanation for what they are doing. The Belarc Advisor is a free system scanner that generates a detailed profile of installed applications and missing hotfixes and displays the findings on a website.Some users had the clever idea to post the complete profile into forums to find some help with a problem they encountered. The problem with this is that the profile also contains the Windows product key which is used to validate the operating system. All that needs to be done is to perform a search on Google with the line “Belarc Advisor Current Profile” “key:” which will list many pages that contain such profiles. Some user blacked out the product key will others simply did not know better than to leave everything as it was

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Unable to Open Hard or USB Flash Drive ?????
In some situation especially when anti-virus program has cleaned, healed, disinfected or removed a worm, trojan horse or virus from computer, there may be error happening whenever users try to open or access the drive by double clicking on the disk drive icon in Explorer or My Computer window to try to enter the drive’s folder. The problem or symptom happens in hard disk drive, portable hard disk drive or USB flash drive, and Windows will prompt a dialog box with the following message:
windows script Host
Can not find script file autorun.vbs.
Sometimes you will be asked to debug the VBScript with error code of 800A041F - Unexpected ‘Next’.
or
Choose the program you want to use to open this file with:
In this case, the “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” option is grayed out.
The symptom occurs because when autorun.vbs is created by trojan horse or virus. The virus normally loads autorun.inf file to root folder of all hard drive or USB drive, and then execute autorun.bat file which contains script to apply and merge autorun.reg into the registry, with possible change to the following registry key to ensure that virus is loaded when system starts:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]Userinit=userinit.exe,autorun.exe
Finally, autorun.bat will call wscript.exe to run autorun.vbs.
When antivirus or security software detected the autorun.vbs file as infected, the file will be deleted or removed or quarantined. However, other files (autorun.*） and registry value still referring to autorun.vbs, and this document no longer exists, hence the error when users double click to open a drive folder.
To correct and solve this error, follow this steps:
Run Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del or right click on Taskbar)
Stop wscript.exe process if available by highlighting the process name and clicking End Process.
Then terminate explorer.exe process.
In Task Manager, click on File -> New Task (Run…).
Type “cmd” (without quotes) into the Open text box and click OK.
Type the following command one by one followed by hitting Enter key:
del c:\autorun.* /f /s /q /adel d:\autorun.* /f /s /q /adel e:\autorun.* /f /s /q /a
c, d, e each represents drive letters on Windows system. If there are more drives or partitions available, continue to command by altering to other drive letter. Note that you must also clean the autorun files from USB fllash drive or portable hard disk as the external drive may also be infected.
In Task Manager, click on File -> New Task (Run…).
Type “regedit” (without quotes) into the Open text box and click OK.
Navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Check if the value name and value data for the key is correct (the value data of userint.exe include the path which may be different than C drive, which is also valid, note also the comma which is also needed):
“Userinit”=”C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,”
If the value is incorrent, modify it to the valid value data.....

New Ubuntu 8.04 (nicknamed as "Hard Heron") Download now
New Ubuntu 8.04 (nicknamed as "Hard Heron") Download nowUbuntu reached yet another milestone with Ubuntu 8.04 (nicknamed as "Hard Heron"). Ubuntu 8.04 is the second version of Ubuntu to come with LTS (Long Term Support). Ubuntu 8.04 will be supported till 2011 for desktop and 2013 for server.
Ubuntu 8.04 includes Wubi, which enables Windows users to install Ubuntu without creating a separate partition. Firefox 3 Beta 5, PulseAudio, Xorg 7.3, Totem and Inkscape are few other goodies that are packed into Ubuntu 8.04.Ubuntu 8.04 is also available in Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu flavors. You can download or upgrade or even request free CDs.