You know the problem - you have people you would like to help out and perhaps even remotely connect to their PCs via the internet to show them how to do things. The problem is that these types of people are invariably IT novices. They are having problems because they aren’t “geeks” and because of this, getting them to install and configure remote control software you know would be a nightmare. And then if that person also has a router, you have to talk them through port-forwarding and things. And after hours on the phone, it probably still wouldn’t work. Invariably we just wouldn’t even start would we? And we would have to make a visit, which would mean the person’s PC might be out of commission until you can make time to get there and fix it. Well now things have changed…

Enter “Crossloop”. A free public beta download. The software is in a tiny download, measuring a byte-sized 2Mb. Once you’ve downloaded and installed it you have the ability to connect, or be connected to. To connect to someone it is easy with nice (almost pre-school) graphics & simple to follow buttons and boxes. If you want to connect to someone else’s PC to help them out, get them to download the Crossloop software - talk them through the install & get them to run it. When they’ve got that far, just get them to click on the Share tab at the top of the box and get them to read out the Access Code that appears in the box. Type this number into your own copy of CrossLoop, from the Access tab at the top of your box and hit Connect. Get them to also hit their Connect button, in the share tab. After a few system messages the person sharing their desktop will be asked if the person trying to remotely access should be allowed to do so. Simply get them to hit Yes and away you go.

The really cool thing with this software is it makes it a lot easier for the not so tech-savvy individual to share their desktop. Also, in the background it uses open-source VNC without any of the normal configuration required. And because both the Access and Share sessions connect centrally to talk to each other, there is no need to open any ports. Finally, for the security paranoid, the Access Code randomly changes on every launch of the CrossLoop software. Simplicity itself. [SHOW ME]

Yeap, you heard correct. Literally hot off the press, the release candidate is available as a 336Mb download (which I’m downloading as I write this) and includes potential speed increases, bugfixes & enhancements to current features - much earlier than expected. The Windows Vista SP1 RC can be downloaded now, but is not widely available to the public. The full list of the changes and enhancements in XP SP3 can be found [here]. One of those, NAP or Network Access Protection, is a feature linked to the new Windows Server 2008 OS. NAP makes sure a computer is protected properly before giving access to valuable network resources. There also less corporate-based updates, such as to the wireless protocols, adding the much more secure WPA2. Changes to existing parts of the OS, explaining security a little more, for instance are also present. You now also have the ability to install Windows XP, with SP3 without a product key - allowing you to enter it at a later date when it’s more convenient.

Please remember though that this is a Release Candidate which means, although this version of the service pack will most likely be exactly the same as the released version, there are no guarantees that your system won’t be screwed over by the install. Backup important data first, and if possible, take an image of your hard drive just to be safe. I’m also sure that if you don’t have, how shall we say, a “valid” copy of Windows this update will probably break your installation. Look for follow-ups to this article (just in case things go horribly wrong for me in a minute!!) [SHOW ME]

Update: If you have previously used UX Theme Multi-patcher to skin windows XP, you would have noticed you will lose the ability to use custom skins. This can easily be fixed by checking the ‘Update’ section at the end of the original post.

OK, this may be a little misleading, but this has been around for ages, and thanks to a guy in Holland, you can watch starwars from the command prompt. Obviously lacking a bit in the sound department, this is still a work of genius. Do it tomorrow at work - no "boss" key required!

All you need is access to a command prompt (Windows, Mac, Linux - it doesn’t matter) and you can have access to starwars. Open up the command prompt, type the command "telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl" and be amazed.

Yeap, it’s apparent from this article that the GPU inside a Geforce 8 card is better equipped at the billions of math calculations required to crack passwords than the standard CPU. According to the report in this article, the Graphics processor is better by up to 25 times! I guess if you get loads of ATI cards hooked up over PCI-Express with Crossfire, you could have the ultimate home password cracking machine. [SHOW ME]

I know what you’re thinking, it sounds like one of those websites that offer the "free download" and then you find out that it’s the product you’re going to have to pay for - not the download. A clever and annoying play on words..

Anyway, that’s not the case here. This truly is free. Windowblinds? Windowsblinds? We don’t need no stinking Windowblinds! That’s right, why should you pay for a 3rd party app like Windowblinds to skin your OS, when it’s already built right into XP?! The reason is, and you may not realise this, but why you normally have 2 or 3 skins in XP is because that’s how Microsoft want it (in an almost applesque sort of way.) And the reason you can’t install 3rd party skins in Windows is a file called "uxtheme.dll." This little file prevents any themes that aren’t signed by Microsoft from showing up in the menu and being used by the Windows XP GUI.

So you need a fix for this file. And it comes in the shape of the "UX Theme Multi-patcher." A program to undo what Microsoft did. Run it once and it will patch your "uxtheme.dll" file. After this is done (and you did read what the little box said, didn’t you?) Windows will try to warn you that a system file has changed. This is perfectly normal and you can safely cancel windows from trying to put the old file back. Once done, do a reboot and visit the following sites for some nice themes (I’ve included the one in the example to get you started.)

• UX Theme Multi-patcher
• "Cerulean Theme" from example
• ThemeXP.org
• XPTheme.info
• Belchfire
• Customize

Please bare in mind that you do this at your own risk - don’t blame me if you fry Windows. However, that being said I’ve never heard of anyone having problems installing this fix.. And if you want the original uxtheme.dll file back, just run the Multi-Patcher again.

Update: If you’ve installed Windows XP SP3, it will overwrite your patched ‘uxtheme.dll’ file. You have to amend it manually. To do this, boot into safe mode and replace the uxtheme.dll file in the Windows\System32 directory with this one. This is at your own risk, so always make backups first before messing with your system! I can say it worked a treat for me with no problems

Yeah, this is pretty geeky. If you’ve ever been interested in Cryptography (the study of crytograms - or code making / breaking) then this will be really useful to you. But then as children I think we were all interested in spies and spying - and even more so if you were a boy - so I think anyone can benefit. I still have the PGP manual written by Simson Garfinkel and published by O’Reilly which I must have read it 5 or 6 times, just because the history and the technology is so interesting. Have a look - I may also, over the next day or so download the book and offer it on my website, along with the copyright notices. [SHOW ME]

Microsoft are getting ready to release an RC of the service pack for Windows Vista. Really only for advanced users, the "Release Candidate" shows that the official service pack 1 is getting very close for release to the waiting public.

Maybe this will convert a few more XP users to Vista? I’m sure there will be an impact, as power users & IT professionals traditionally always wait for the first service pack, before even touching a Microsoft OS. However, Windows XP has the advantage of being well bedded in. Next year will also see the arrival of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP and early reports are stating a 10% performance increase over SP2. Couple that with the fact that even Microsoft themselves are offering downgrade packages from Vista and you can quickly see that this will really only be news for current Vista owners. [SHOW ME]