XP's possibilities

Dec 16, 2006 12:57 GMT  ·  By

CD Burning XP

CD/DVD writing has become a regular activity nowadays and I cannot imagine a computer that is not equipped with a burning device, no matter how rudimentary it is (CD writer). When buying a retail burning device you will be provided with the necessary software to write your discs with. Of course, the application has to be installed and the user will have to learn how to use it.

Losing the disc with the writing software may result in buying a new application to burn your files with. What few users know is that all you need for this is your Windows XP operating system and the obligatory burning device. I mention from the beginning that this Windows XP feature is available only for writing CD-Rs and CD-RWs, as well as erasing CD-RWs.

Double click on My Computer icon on your desktop and open the optic drive. In my case, it is CD Drive (E:). Drag the files you want to write on the disc. After the copying is complete (the files are copied into a temporary folder) you are ready to proceed. Go into the File menu and choose Write these files to CD, or just choose this option from the left side menu. The available wizard will guide you through the options, which - to be frank - are not that intricate or numerous. The user will be able to name the disc, otherwise the name will be automatically given and will be the current computer date.

Clicking Next starts the writing process. Unfortunately, there is no writing speed setting, so the files will be written using the maximum speed your burning device supports. However, with the new technology around this will not create any problems.

Despite the fact that the option is called CD Writing, I tested the feature with a DVD-RW and it failed to write it, of course. But it works just fine with CD-RW, as it can erase them. You should be aware that the regular options you can find in the usual burning softwares are not available in here. I guess this is just a fast solution for those times when you do not have an Internet connection or a writing software.

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Defrag at your right click

A week ago I gave you a tip on how to create a command line for defragging all your drives with Windows Disk Defragmenter and see the job report. I am going to continue with Disk Defragmenter, as many users prefer it to the professional, costing solutions on the market.

I was looking at the drives in Windows Explorer when I thought that a defragmenting option in the context menu should come in handy. I found the solution for this. It is just a matter of Notepad and some codelines. Very easy actually.

Open the Notepad from the Start>Run or wherever you have it, and type in the following:

; context_defrag.INF

; Adds Defrag to the right click context menu in Windows XP

[version] signature="$CHICAGO$"

[DefaultInstall] AddReg=AddMe

[AddMe]

HKCR,"DriveShellDefragcommand",,,"DEFRAG.EXE %1"

Save the file as All files under what name and in any location you feel comfortable. After doing this, the only condition for the trick to work is to change the extension from TXT to INF (information file). Next step is to integrate the defragmentation tool into the context menu of the drives. For this to happen, a simple right click on the INF file you have just created is enough. Choose Install option and that's it.

You should not be surprised that you saw nothing happening. The registry entries have been modified and if you right click on any drive's icon you will see that Defrag (an option that was not there before) has appeared out of the blue. Now you are ready to defragment your drive by simply starting the command from the context menu.

The DOS defragmentation window will appear and the defragmentation will begin shortly. After the command has been given, you do not need to worry about closing the defragmentation window as once the operation is complete it will close by itself.

The option will also appear in the context menu of other file managers, like Total Commander, so it is not limited to Windows Explorer.

At one moment, you may get tired of this trick and you may want to get rid of the Defrag context menu option. For this, you will have to open a registry editor (type regedit in Start>Run) and go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDriveshell. In here you have the Defrag entry. Delete it and close Registry Editor and everything will get back to normal. There is no need to reboot your computer or anything else.

Be careful with the Registry Editor as - if you delete the wrong entries - you may experience some nasty behavior from your computer.

To learn how to create a command to defrag all your hard disks without attending the Disk Defragmenter and getting a defragmentation report, click here.

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