Saturday, June 19, 2010

Burn ISO Image to CD or DVD


Ok, I have an ISO file, now what? I can't see the files or folders inside although I copied it to a CD/DVD... Well, an ISO file is an image of a CD or DVD, simply copy it to a CD or DVD as a data file won't be enough. You can think of an ISO image as a "compressed" file. For a CD/DVD ISO, you'll need to burn it out to a blank disc, but with the "image burning" option. Most current burning applications come with this option, and they'll all do the same thing: Extract the files to a temporary location then burn them to CD/DVD.
One big advantage of using ISO image file for CD/DVD is, the image file contains all files/folders and the structure of the CD/DVD, including the hidden sectors, for example, the boot sectors. Some CD/DVD are "bootable", which means you can use the CD/DVD to startup your pc and run some installations or utility. With this kind of CD/DVD, when you view the contents in Windows, you won't see the bootable portion. And when you make a copy of the CD/DVD using the normal method for files, the bootable sectors will NOT be included. However, the Image method will take care of that.
With that said, when you're making a copy of your CD/DVD and you are not sure if the CD/DVD has some hidden contents or bootable sectors, then you better use the ISO image method to make sure everything gets copied.
This page shows you how to burn the ISO image back to CD/DVD, assume that you already have an ISO image is an image created from a CD/DVD.
For instructions how to create an ISO image from a CD/DVD, click Here.
The steps of burning an ISO image to CD/DVD are different depending on which tool you use. However, the following key points should be the same:
  1. Insert a blank CD/DVD.
  2. Open the burning tool.
  3. Select the burning option for ISO/image.
  4. Browse to the ISO/image file.
  5. Burn to CD/DVD.


Detailed Steps
The following sample instructions use Free Easy CD/DVD Burner v1.2. This is a free burning tool with advertising supported, but no spyware or adware. You can download this program from Softpedia, or v4.2 here
  1. If you have not installed a burning program, download the tool above and install it. Make sure to reboot after the installation.
  2. Insert a blank CD/DVD.
  3. Open the Free Easy CD DVD Burner program.
  4. Click on the "Copy CD/DVD" button on the top.

  5. Under the "Action" menu on the left, click the "Burn an image file" link. (Note that if this link is not selectable, then you might have no (or invalid) blank CD/DVD in your drive.)
    1. The window "Select the image file that you want to burn" opens, browse to the ISO file you wish to burn and click "Open".

    2. A dialog box will appear asking "Do you want to burn...", cilck "OK" to confirm.
    3. The burning process will start to extract files and burn to your CD/DVD. This process will take a few minutes depending on the size of the ISO file and the speed of your burner.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Basic Shortcut Keys


The followings are some basic PC shortcut keys that are supported in most IBM compatible computers. They are also supported in most application software.
Use at your own risk.
Shortcut KeysSupported Window VersionsDescription
Alt + e95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaPull down the top Edit menu.
Alt + f95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaPull down the top File menu
Ctrl + a95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaSelect all text.
Ctrl + c95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaCopy selected item(s) (to clipboard).
Ctrl + f95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaFind.
Ctrl + v95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaPaste copied item(s) from clipboard
Ctrl + x95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaCut.
Ctrl + Ins95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaSame as Ctrl + c
Ctrl + (left arrow)95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaMove one word to the left at a time.
Ctrl + (right arrow)95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaMove one word to the right at a time.
Shift + Ins95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaSame as Ctrl + v
Shift + Delelte (or Del)95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaCut. Or permanently delete selected item(s) on Windows Explorer.
F195, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaHelp.
Home95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaJump to the beginning of the line or page.
Ctrl + Home95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaJump to the beginning of the document or page.
End95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaJump to the end of the line or page.
Ctrl + End95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vistaump to the end of the document or page.
Shift + Home95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaSet selection (highlight) from current position to beginning of the line or page.
Shift + End95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaSet selection (highlight) from current position to end of the line or page.
Shift + (left arrow)95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaSet selection (highlight) from current position to the left, one character at a time.
Shift + (right arrow)95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaSet selection (highlight) from current position to the right, one character at a time.
Shift + (down arrow)95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaSet selection (highlight) from current position to the next line down.
Shift + (up arrow)95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, VistaSet selection (highlight) from current position to the next line up.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Command Prompt on Right-Click

Many computer users, specially the programmers, need to launch a command prompt window every once in a while to execute some dos/shell commands. The problem is, when a command prompt window launched, the default path is normally the system path or the user profile's path. The users will then have to do all the "cd" commands to change the directories to the path he/she wants.

 

This trick shows you how to add an option called "Command Prompt" when you right-click on a folder in Windows. With this option, a Command Prompt Window will launch and its current directory will be the path to the folder you've selected.
Use this trick at your own risk.
Here's what you'll get:






















The Solution
You can either edit your registry OR download the registry file and apply it on your computer.
Method I. Manually edit the registry:
  1. Start > Run
  2. Enter "regedit" and hit Enter
  3. Expand to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell"
  4. Right-click on "shell" and select New > Key
  5. Make sure a new key is created under "shell". Change the name of this key to "Command Prompt"
  6. Right-click on this new key "Command Prompt" and select New > Key
  7. Change the name of this key to "command"


  1. Here's what we should have: 
  2. Double-click on the "(Default)" text on the right window to bring up the edit box
  3. Enter this text into the Value Data field:
    cmd.exe "%1"
  4. Click OK and close the registry.

Method II. Download and apply the registry file:
  1. Download this registry file Here
  2. Unzip it to a temp folder, then double-click on the .reg file to add the registry data.