Tag Archives: Windows XP

Windows XP – The End

As of today if your still running Windows XP then you have a big problem. There will be no more security updates for Windows XP.

You may have notice this message on your computer recently as well.

Windows XP End of Support NoticeYou pretty much have no choice now, disconnected Windows XP from the internet or upgrade because it will just be a matter of time before you pay the price with a security breach if you havn’t already been hit.

How to Block Wallpaper Changing via Group Policy

So one of the things that pisses you off if your an admin is people changing the desktop image on computers even though you have set all the options to stop it. Well it turns out that even if you disable access to the settings you can still use a browser to change the image.

The best solution for this is to go into a group policy “User Config\Administrative Templates\Desktop\Active Desktop\Active Desktop Wallpaper” and set it to a non-valid image file. (Something none existent another words)

This should be all that needs to be done, even if the user changes the image next time they logon it’s goon again.

Removing Windows Wallpaper on 2000 and XP machines?

Canon CanoScan LiDE 50 x64 Drivers

I don’t know who made these but they work, whoever you are I salute you. Since Canon are tools & wont make the drivers for the Canon LiDE 50 scanner for 64bit Windows, someone hacked them together from drivers of another (LiDE 60) Canon scanner.

Device support for this scanner is not included within Microsoft XP/Vista/Windows 7 x64 or provided as an installable driver by Canon. To resolve this lack of support please install the modified driver below.

This package is based on original Canon ScanGear driver for the LiDE 60 and includes the full ScanGear GUI TWAIN interface required to operate the scanner.

Modifications for the LiDE 50 include:

  • Insertion of Hardware ID
  • Insertion of Device ID
  • Replacement of LiDE 60 Colour Profile with correct LiDE 50 ICC file
  • Insertion of correct flatbed scan area dimensions and imaging capabilities

Direct Download [MediaFire]
eMule ED2k

(You will need 7-Zip to extract this file)

Installation instructions

Extract the files from the archive to a folder.

If you have not yet plugged the Scanner in then when you plug the scanner in Windows will ask you for the location of the drivers, however if you have already plugged in and cancelled this request then you will need to follow the next steps:

  1. Open Device Manager.
  2. Scroll through the list and look for other devices
  3. Expand the other devices group, you will find a device with a yellow exclamation mark on it
  4. Right click on the device
  5. Click Browse my computer for driver software
  6. Click on browse and then navigate to the folder you extract the files to on your Desktop (I.e. the extracted ZIP file) then click next (check Include subfolders if it is not selected)
  7. If Windows thinks the driver in the folder is a match for the device you selected, it will install it.
  8. Once the Wizard finishes successfully, Reboot to allow driver installation to complete

If the installation Wizard was not successful then this driver is not going to work, this usually means you are trying to install the wrong hardware or have a version of Windows that this does not work with.

Windows XP SP3 Public Release Delayed

Looks like Microsoft has found a problem with it’s RTM version of Windows XP Service Pack 3. Microsoft is claiming that there is a compatibility problem between computers with the service pack installed and Microsoft‘s Dynamics Retail Management System. This fault has also been noted in Windows Vista Service Pack 1, but that has already been made publicly available. In the case of Windows XP Service Pack 3, Microsoft has chosen to delay the public release so that it can be fixed.

Coverage:

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3

So I’ve now got my hands on Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), which was released on April 21st 2008. April 21st 2008 was the Release To Manufacturers (RTM) by Microsoft, SP3 will be released to everyone else on the 29th April 2008.

Here is the file information for the RTM version:

Size :
316MB
331805736 Bytes
File Name : WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe
MD5 : BB25707C 919DD835 A9D9706B 5725AF58
SHA-1 : C81472F7 EEEA2ECA 421E116C D4C03E23 00EBFDE4
SHA-256 : 62E524A5 52DB9F6F D22D4690 10EA4D7E 28EE06FA 615A1C34 362129F8 08916654
SHA-512 : 976C8959 44CD23EB 9D4FB021 D17B531E 938845D2 251508AF BBDF3216 9CEC39E5 DC38517E AFC57FFA 7918A518 FF480AFF 58071FD5 C955E1B6 9D5CA7BE C4F09D1E
Size-64 : 00000000 13C6F428
ED2k : 8943241A2282E06240165A68B7F39F69
Direct Download :

Update: 29th April 2008

Windows XP SP3 Public Release Delayed

Update 2: 29th April 2008

Even though the public release is delayed Microsoft has the download on their site. See above.

Update 3: 7th May 2008

Microsoft has now officially released Windows XP Service Pack 3, so we can probably assume that they have fixed the little bug they had.

KB936929