Find XP drivers for your Vista Laptop

Many users come to me wanting to downgrade their laptop to Windows XP.   Now every technician will give you a different answer for finding the XP drivers.   You can find the drivers most of the time by going to the manufacturer’s website.   If the manufacturer does not offer an XP driver, go to each driver and read the details (they may be listed as Vista but most of the time you can see the model number and brand name of the installed hardware).   Now search the manufacturer’s website (or Google) for these pieces of hardware and you can usually find a XP driver for the computer.

Recently we received a student’s computer to repair and the student had purchased XP.  The student did not want Vista on the computer (The manufacturer’s installed software).  We went to the manufacturer’s website, read the details of the video, LAN, Wireless and sound card.  We then searched for the XP driver for the devices and found them easily.   Several of the automated driver ’search’ software applications could not find the drivers.   System information software applications also did not show the hardware brand or information.

Sometimes it requires a little detective work but you can find the drivers.

Chipset Drivers – SMBus Drivers

SMBus or System Managed Bus is a driver for your computer’s motherboard.  These Drivers are critical in the functionality of Windows.   The drivers also make integrated devices such as your network card function correctly. ( I recently could not get a computer to network until I reloaded the SMBus driver on one of our computers even though the Device Manager said everything was OK – Note: TCP/IP Winsock fix, Netsh, and a million other things were tried.)

Intel Link

NVidia Link

ATI Link

How do you know which to load?  Generally the Device Manager will install a Video Card or other devices that will be the same brand.   Also, many computers will have a vendor or brand decal/sticker on the case.

Speedup Your NVIDIA or ATI Video Card

RivaTuner is an excellent piece of software that speeds up your NVIDIA or ATI Video Card.   I’m not a gamer but have used this software to increase the video cards performance when needed.  In today’s world, there may not be a true need to do this on modern hardware.  Link

WARNING – overclocking your computer can damage hardware.  If you are a hardware techie and find the need to try speeding up your hardware, you are taking a risk when overclocking.

Overclock your Netbook

Back in the ’70’s I remember the muscle cars and everyone’s need for speed.  Funny thing, today I hear about how fast someone’s computer is.   There is a lot of free software that is still out there that helps you overclock your full size computer.  Here is a utility to overclock that little netbook.  While I no longer see a need, here is a software program that does just that. Link

WARNING – overclocking your computer can damage hardware.  If you are a hardware techie and find the need to try speeding up your hardware, you are taking a risk when overclocking.

Delete Remembered Network Passwords

If you or someone has ‘remembered’ a network login, the easy way to get rid of this and other cached passwords is easy.

Follow these steps to remove or edit the password.

Go to Start
In the Run line, type Control UserPasswords2 and hit Enter

Download DotNet Full Versions

I like carrying the full versions of much needed software around with me when doing repairs.  Having a portable drive with the full versions of Java, Flash, Windows XP XP3,  Windows Vista SP2 and the DotNet Family makes repairs easier.   I recently helped someone who needed DotNet 3.5 (The download is huge!) Here are the links for the DotNet’s (This also helps when on a slower internet connections).

.NET Framework 3.5

• Download 32 bit & 64 bit Versions

.NET Framework 3.5 -Service Pack 1

• Download .NET 3.5 Service Pack 1

.NET Framework 3.0

• Download 32 bit version
• Download 64 bit version

.NET Framework 2.0

• Download 32 bit version
• Download 64 bit version

What Version of DotNet are You Running?

DotNet is Microsoft’s library of programming files used to make software.  Many programs today require you to download this library in order for software packages to install.  If you are not sure what version you have, (if add/remove programs doesn’t show it) , then you can download this little jewel to see exactly what version you have.  Link

Kon-Boot allows breaking passwords on Linux or Windows

The dangers of physical security to a computer cannot be over exaggerated.   This type of software can be used maliciously.  This blog does not condone the use of software like this in a way that would be illegal.

From the website Kon-Boot -

Kon-Boot is an prototype piece of software which allows to change contents of a Linux kernel (and now Windows kernel also!!!) on the fly (while booting). In the current compilation state it allows to log into a Linux system as ‘root’ user without typing the correct password or to elevate privileges from current user to root. For Windows systems it allows to enter any password protected profile without any knowledge of the password.

No special usage instructions are required for Windows users, just boot from Kon-Boot CD/Floppy, select your profile and put any password you want. You lost your password? Now it doesn’t matter at all

Note: While this can be used for technicians and IT professionals, this software can be used maliciously.  Physical security to computers is an integral part of computer and network security.