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How to boot Windows Vista after installing XP (Dual booting with Vista installed first)

Apr 2nd, 2009 by admin

This article is about how to boot Windows Vista after installing Windows XP over a System where Vista was already installed. We want to boot with the Vista which was already there in the system, but due to some reason is not shown, while booting up the system after the XP installation.

Situation:

  1. You have a system where Windows Vista was already present.
  2. You installed Windows XP into it to make it a dual boot system.
  3. Now when you boot up, only Windows XP is loaded and not the Vista.
  4. You want to boot the system with the Vista OR Dual boot with both Vista and XP now. So, what to do?

Solution:
Why previously installed Vista cannot be loaded after installing XP is because When you install XP over a pre-installed Vista, the XP setup overwrites some critical files like MBR, the boot sector, the boot files, etc. So, in the next startup, the system can only locate the XP loader and nothing else. Therefore, our job now is to create a new boot loader for Windows Vista so that in the next restart, the system finds the loaders for both XP as well as Vista.

Okay, assuming that you have right now loaded XP in your system, let’s start the process:

  1. Insert the Vista DVD (or the Vista backup DVD that came along with the System).
  2. Open command prompt and type the following command line:
    <Your DVD Drive>:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All
  3. Next type in the following command line
    <Your Vista Drive>:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /create {ntldr} /d “Windows XP Professional”
  4. Then run one by one the following command lines:
    <Your Vista Drive>:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=<Your XP Drive>:
    <Your Vista Drive>:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \ntldr
    <Your Vista Drive>:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} /addlast
  5. Restart the computer

If everything goes fine, you should get an option to load either XP or Vista now.

Alternative:
If you think command line thingy is very confusing, you can try out with EasyBCD. EasyBCD is a software that will help you easily manage your Boot Loader files. To proceed with EasyBCD, you can restart your system after STEP 2 in the above procedure. This time, your Vista will load. Then download EasyBCD and create a new boot file for your XP. I hope you will find EasyBCD very easy. But if you need help on that, I am always ready to reply your comment. Have a great day.

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Posted in General Topics | 3 Comments »

How optimize wordpress title through the header title tag without a plugin

Mar 29th, 2009 by admin

This is question that new wordpress bloggers often ask. Some may think it’s okay to have the wordpress default title tag while some may find it very important to change the title tag to some different, something so called “Search Engine Friendly” title. I myself think it is a good idea to change the default wordpress title tag to something else. If you look at the default wordpress titles, for each article you write, you will find the title being generated something like:

“Blog Name” >> Blog Archive >> “Blog Post Title”

This is because of the default wordpress title tag, which looks something like:

<title><?php bloginfo(’name’); ?> <?php if ( is_single() ) { ?> &raquo; Blog Archive <?php } ?> <?php wp_title(); ?></title>

In order to make it more search engine friendly, you can modify this default title tag to something else using the wordpress conditional tags, which will be called your custom title tag. You can use your own imagination here. Check out this page on wordpress.org where you will find detailed explanation on all conditional tags you can use while customizing the title.

To give you a picture of how these conditional tags is used, here is the custom title tag that I have used on this blog.

<title><?php if (is_home () ) { bloginfo(‘name’); echo ” – “; bloginfo(’description’);}
elseif ( is_category() ) { single_cat_title(); echo ” at ” ; bloginfo(‘name’); }
elseif (is_single() ) { single_post_title();}
elseif (is_page() ) { bloginfo(‘name’); echo ” – “; single_post_title();}
elseif (is_archive() ) {echo “Archives for “; wp_title(”); echo ” at “; bloginfo(‘name’);}
elseif (is_search()) {echo “Search Results for ‘”; echo $s; echo “‘ at “; bloginfo(‘name’);}
elseif (is_404()) {echo “404 Page Not Found – “; bloginfo(‘name’);}
elseif (is_page()) {echo wp_title(”); echo ” at “; bloginfo(‘name’);}
else { wp_title(‘’,true); } ?></title>

You can start from here and change it to whatever that suits your seo needs. And when you have come up with an even better title tag, do share so that we can all benefit from it. Hope you like it.

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Posted in Search Engine Tips | 11 Comments »

How to get back my expired domain OR how to re-acquire it

Mar 28th, 2009 by admin

Reacquiring Expired DomainsWell, this may happen more often than you think. One fine day you open up your browser and tried to open up one of your websites which you have not opened up for the last few weeks, you suddenly found a parking page instead of your website. Surprised, you hurriedly login to your domain registrar’s account and saw the domain has indeed expired. To add to your headache, you found that the domain expired more than a month ago! Now what should you do?

Well, there is always a solution. First, there are two extended periods after a domain expires, within which you can re-acquire your domain back into your account.

The first period is called the Domain Re-Activation Period and it last for about 30 days (sometimes 28 days or even less) after the domain expiration date. Within this 30 days period, you can re-activate your domain by simply logging in into your domain registrar’s account and clicking on the “Reactivate Domains” section (or check for something which says pending or de-activated domains in your domain management section). If the domain you are looking for is withing this Reactivation Period, you will find the domain in this section. Just select the domain and reactivate it. It will usually cost you an amount same as that of a domain renewal fee.

BUT, if the domain has been expired for more than 30 days, then it goes to an extended period called Extended Redemption Grace Period or the ERGP which last for about 60 days (once again this vary and go up to even 120 days) before the domain is deleted and sent back to the Pool. Yes, you can re-acquire your domain within this period by contacting your domain registrar. But the problem is that, it will cost you a ERGP fee of $160 PLUS whatever fee your domain registrar decides to get you back the domain ownership. Usually, it will be $160 + Renewal Fee. So, if your domain is very important to you, you can pay the fee and get it back. But if it is not, the option is left to your imagination!

Anyway, I hope this article was helpful. Please do leave by your feedbacks.

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Posted in The Internet | 1 Comment »

Intellilinks Links Missing – How to solve it

Mar 27th, 2009 by admin

If you are working with Intellilinks, sometimes you may find a message in your email inbox with the subject line “Important: Link Missing”. Well, first time when I saw the message I panicked. But you don’t need to, because it’s easy to solve the problem.

Well, there can be two reasons why the Links are missing from your website:

  1. The plugin is not working properly.
  2. The theme you are using is not widget enabled.

So, check if the Intellilinks plugin has been installed properly. You may opt to download a new plugin and install it all over again. That way you can make sure the plugin is working right.

The next thing will be to check if the Wordpress Template you are using is Widget-enabled. The widget feature is already present in your wordpress install, so you don’t need to install any widget plugin. The only thing is you need to make sure that your blog theme is widget-enabled. To check that, go to your wordpress theme management console and click the Widget tab there. If everything is working properly, you should see something like this:

Wordpress Widget Enabled

If your theme is not Widget enabled, based on the version of Wordpress you have installed, you will find a message there, something like the one shown below.

Wordpress widget not enabled

Now in the same widget error message, there is a link to instructions on how to widget-enable your wordpress template. You can follow the link and read the instructions. Oh yeah, that article may be confusing if you are not okay with PHP or html. Here is another article that may be of help in widget enabling your wordpress template. Check it out.

BUT, BUT, BUT…

Before you try widget-enabling your wordpress theme, getting your hands dirty, you should check whether a new version of the template that you are using is available on the template developer’s website. Of course, this is for those who are using free or premium wordpress templates available on the internet. If you have got a custom template designed, then the solution is already given above. Hope it was helpful.

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Posted in Blogging Tips | 1 Comment »

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