Hot Computers & Programming How-Tos

How To: Clean the keyboard on a Dell laptop

A laptop keyboard can collect a lot of dust, dirt, and breadcrumbs. In this tutorial, we learn how to clean out your laptop keyboard. Start off by removing the casing from around your laptop, making sure not to unplug any wires. You will need a screwdriver to remove the screw. Next, you will want to use a soft brush or tooth brush to clean where the keys were, and the inside underneath the screen. Next, replace the keyboard where it was and any screws. Also, plug in anything that may have com...

How To: Crack a WPA encrypted wireless network

In this how to video, you will learn how to crack a WPA encrypted wireless network. To do this, you will need the Air Crack package for Linux. First, disable the wireless adapter and enable monitor mode. Next, identify the channel in the wireless network and Mac address. Once you have this, you can listen to the traffic coming to and from this point. Wait for the handshake or disconnect something in order to force it to reconnect. From here, you are ready to perform the attack. With any encry...

How To: Find details about your RAM & processor type in XP

In this how-to video, you will learn how to check your personal computer's RAM, processor speed, and operating system information on Windows XP. First, go to start and select my computer. From here, click view system information to open a new window. A screen will show you the information you need, such as the type of operating system you are running, the size and speed of the processor, and the amount of ram you have. Click okay to exit this window. This will be helpful for doing upgrades or...

How To: Make an annoying batch file to prank friends

To make an annoying batch file to prank your friends you need to first right click on your screen and go to New and then Folder. In this New folder make a Text file and type in "for /l %%n in (1,1,10) DO md %%n" and that is it. Now this will loop from 1 - 10 and make a new folder for whatever n is. You can change the command if you would like to! Now, you can change this text file to 'Folder' and allow for this to be clicked. You can change the number "10" to any large number so the folder co...

How To: Use command prompt and cmd commands

Command prompt and other commands can save you lots of time on your computer. Use these shortcuts to bypass longer keystrokes and access blocked sites. There are many things you can do with cmd prompts and this tutorial will tell you about all of them. Learn step by step how to use and take advantage of these commands in the following video.

How To: Change the text on your "start" button in Windows XP

Bored and feel like customizing your Windows XP? Check out this tutorial and learn how to hack Windows and change the text on your "Start" menu button. With this video, you will learn how to change this icon, step by step. You can then turn the menu button into anything you'd like. This is also a fun prank to do on someone's computer, or a great way to personalize all of the PCs in your office or workplace.

How To: Delete temporary files in Windows XP

In this video it is demonstrated that how to delete temporary files in Windows XP. There are two different methods for deleting temporary files. First of all go to and click "start" then go to "run" and type temp now click on ok, then a window will appear, in this window there are all useless files, select all files and delete it. Now the other method is go to "run" and type %TEMP%, after clicking ok a window will appear in which there are useless folders and files, select all folders and fil...

How To: Delete a virus from your computer manually

Clintprexis teaches viewers how tot delete a virus manually without using anti-virus. First, you have to kill the process that keeps the virus running. You can do this by opening up test manager by clicking CTRL+ALT+DEL. When you open task manager go to the process tab and kill the process that keeps it running. Now, you have to figure out which process is running the virus. You have to do research to find this and it is usually a 'wscript.exe'. Now you'll want to go to Start then go to run a...

How To: Remove unwanted files from your PC with CCleaner

Alex with Mr. Find A Way demonstrates how to remove unwanted files from your PC with the CCleaner program. First open up your web browser and download the CCleaner program. After the program has downloaded, open the file to install the program on your computer system. Open up the program and select the deletion options from the choices on the left hand side of the screen. Click the run cleaner button on the bottom right hand side of the screen. The program will now delete the files. A status ...

How To: Get rid of screen flickering for Java game development

In this 14th video in a series about JAVA game development, "thenewboston" (Bucky Roberts) explains how to redefine your screen to avoid annoying flickering. Flickering in JAVA games often occurs because of time lags as the viewer watches the computer draw a new screen, pixel by pixel. Pre-installed code in JAVA can be used to eliminate this problem by taking advantage of "Buffering" and "Page Flipping". These functions permit you to delay the composition of a new screen until it is finished,...

How To: Take a picture off your PCs screen

You don't need a camera to take a screen shot of your computer. In fact, a camera would probably give you an extremely blurry picture! There is a special button on your keyboard called Prnt Scrn. All you need to do is press that button. The screen shot of your desktop is then stored onto your clipboard. To get it off the clipboard, you need to paste it in paint. Open it up, go to edit and click paste. Then go to file and click save as to save your file. Choose where you want it to be saved, n...

How To: Get the task manager in Windows Vista

Vista Tips teaches the viewer how to easily get the task manager in Windows Vista. Vista Tips warns that the simple way to get task manager used to be to simply hold the keys Ctrl, Alt, Del down simultaneously. Now, these keys yield a menu. The way to get task manager on Windows Vista has now been changed to Ctrl, Shift and Esc. Simply hold down Ctrl, Shift and escape simultaneously to directly yield the task manager. Another way to do this is to use the start bar to get the task manager. Sim...

How To: Use HTML and open & closed brackets

To open the body of an HTML first open the HTML document, to do so write an open bracket, then html, the close the bracket. Next press enter. Type another open bracket, then type the word body, then type a closed bracket. Next press enter again. Now you can type an open bracket, then a backwards slash. Next type the word body again. Now type a closed bracket. Press enter once again. Now type another open bracket and then type html. Then type a closed bracket. Now you have just opened and clos...

How To: Install Ubuntu in a RAID 0 array

RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, lets you divide and replicate data among multiple hard disk drives for information storage security. This video tutorial demonstrates how to install Ubuntu in a RAID 0 array. Before starting, you'll need at least 2 hard drives and an Ubuntu alternate installation CD. RAID 0, or striped disks, let's you install an operating system, such as Ubuntu, on a partition, while using others for data storage, as illustrated in this instructional segment.

How To: Open ISO files using WinRAR

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to open ISO files, using Winrar. An ISO file is in an "image" of an entire CD or DVD. It contains all the contents of the disk. Begin by opening Winrar. Go to Options and select Settings. Go to the Integration tab and check ISO. Now Winrar will be able to associate with ISO file. Press OK. Users just need to right-click the file and select extract. It is the same as a ISO extractor program. This video will benefit those viewers who have Winrar and wou...

How To: Make an animation with a batch file

CtrlFormula teaches you how to make an animation with a batch file. Before you begin you must know that sending batch files over the internet is risky, so keep that in mind. You create a new .txt file and type in: @echo off. Hit Enter twice and type in: echo loading. Then hit Enter once and type: ping localhost -n 2 >null. Hit Enter once and type in: cls. Copy and paste this structure three times. For each loading you see you have to add another dot at the end, so the animation will slowly go...

How To: Uninstall software in Windows XP

This tutorial will help you uninstall software or programs from Windows XP. It can be used easily by beginners who have limited knowledge of the operating system. The instructor shows a visual step-by-step tutorial on how to find and use the Add or Remove Programs feature, clearly explaining and showing what you need to do, including some extra advice on follow-up checking. Make sure that when you do go to Uninstall a Program that it is the correct one and read all of the screens during the p...

How To: Align the printhead on your Epson printer

Not aligning your printer before you print is like going to a job interview without brushing your hair: Everything else looks right, but you somehow still look unprepared and messy. Aligning the printhead on your printer will help ensure all text prints out where it's supposed to print out and there's no awkward color blurring with pictures.

How To: Convert videos to DVD on Windows using DVDStyler

This video shows you how to convert videos to DVD using a cross-platform free, open-source authoring application called DVDStyler. It has a wide range of features, and this video shows you how to use it in the Windows OS. This program will also work for Ubuntu Linux. Update your videos today and make them look spectacular!

How To: Fix broken AVI files with DivFix++ on Ubuntu Linux

Broken AVI video files are your worst nightmare. Nobody wants to watch a video and find out it's corrupted and not working anymore. But there could be a solution on Linux. This computer operating system could be a bit tricky for beginners, but fret not, help is here. Check out this video tutorial on how to fix broken AVI files with DivFix++ on Ubuntu Linux.

How To: Use the Hacker Defender rootkit or HackDef

Hacker Defender is one of the most widely deployed rootkits in the world. It is a user-mode rootkit that modifies several Windows and Native API functions, which allows it to hide information (files, processes, etc.) from other applications. In addition, Hacker Defender implements a backdoor and port redirector that operates through TCP ports opened by existing services. This means it is not possible to find the hidden backdoor through traditional means, like launching a remote port scan agai...

How To: Map EDI data with MapForce

MapForce includes support for the two most popular EDI formats, UN/EDIFACT and ANSI X12. In this how-to video, you'll learn how to use MapForce to map and convert data between EDI messages (X12 and UN/EDIFACT) and XML, databases, or text files. Learn to map EDI data with this how-to.

How To: Launch applications with AppleScript

This is a short video tutorial on how to launch applications with AppleScript (Script Editor) for the Mac, and there's also a little bit about what to do with the applications after they're launched. You can instantaneously launch different Safari pages on Tiger and Leopard. There's no limit to what you can do, just watch and learn.