Changing registration information in Windows XP or Vista

It is possible to change the “registered to” information in Windows XP/Vista. This may be required if you typed in something nasty in these fields and then want to change it later. On my machine, registration information looks like the following. You can see this information by pressing Windows key along with break key (Win+break).

To change these values, you need to modify entries in Windows registry. Please be careful while making these changes as any mistake could render your machine unusable!
1. Open registry by typing “regedit” on command prompt.
2. Open folder “My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version”. You will see the following entries on the right side.

3. Double click on the entry to change and type in new values.
4. Close “regedit”. You should see the new values when you take the system properties again (Win+break).

Organize multiple mail accounts with Google Mail Fetcher

Gmail is one of the most popular email services out there. In a short time it has overthrown hotmail, yahoo etc. Why did this happen? Simple – Gmail is very user friendly and offers unmatched feature set.
Organizing mails with Gmail is easy. Google provides a couple of features for this.
1. Use filters/labels – I use filtering and labels to organize mails in virtual folders. This way I ensure that only critical mails end up in my inbox.
2. Use POP3 access – You can configure Outlook or other email clients by enabling POP3 access. This is useful when you need offline access to your mails.
3. Use Gmail Mail Fetcher – This is the most useful feature I found. Using this, you can aggregate mails from other sources such as your official mail. For this to work, your mail provider also must support POP3 access.
Gmail mail fetcher can be configured from Settings->Accounts->Get mail from other accounts. Following is a sample screenshot. You need to know the username, password and POP3 server address to configure your external account.

Please note that this is of no use with accounts such as Yahoo mail which doesn’t support POP3 access.

Simple Solutions For Stop Errors On Your PC

Well, one can’t hope to get rid of computer errors permanently, but if your goal is to learn some simple diagnostic steps that will help reduce their occurrence, then it certainly can be done. One of the most irritating computer errors is the Stop error. It would be worthwhile to learn some steps that you can take to prevent them from occurring so frequently.
Computer ‘Stop’ errors:

A stop error is so called because it is accompanied by the word ‘stop’ in its error message, such as the stop 0×800106ba error. If you have ever faced a situation where the screen freezes and turns blue, and nothing seems to work, then you have certainly come across this error. Also known as the Blue Screen of Death error, Stop errors are the result of a critical system failure, and can result in data loss or operating system corruption.
Dealing with Stop errors:

The good news is that no matter how terrifying Stop errors may seem, it is entirely possible to avoid such errors by following some simple steps.

    Registry cleanup – The registry is a very important component of the Windows system, and can be compared to a master database that stores all the settings for literally everything in the system. Errors within the registry can cause many Stop errors, such as the stop error 0×80070002, which is the result of a failure with the Automatic Update service. To avoid such situations, make sure you have a good quality registry cleaner installed on your system, and that you scan the registry regularly for problems. Do make sure, however, that the software vendor is a trusted source.

    Driver update – Because a typical PC keeps getting upgraded very frequently, it is important to update the drivers as well. For instance, running a modern hardware on a very old motherboard will result in memory dump errors like the 0×80070052 stop error. If it sounds too difficult for you, you can download a good driver-update software that will make it easy for you to check for updates and install them.

    Compatibility – Perhaps one of the best things you can do is to check the software and hardware compatibility before buying anything. For instance, if you have an AMD processor but end up buying a game for the Intel processor, then you are bound to end up getting fatal Stop errors. This simple precaution can save you a lot of trouble and data loss.

This article has tried to establish the fact that it is no big deal to learn about the various types of computer errors and try to fix them on your own. You certainly don’t need to be an expert to be able to do so. Just follow the steps mentioned above to keep your system error-free.