This. Is. The. Most. Irritation. Error. Message. Ever. And. So. Is. This. Writing. Style.

Seriously, when I get this, I freak out. What does this mean? That I’m not in control of my own computer? Shouldn’t I be incharge? But viruses think otherwise. They prefer to disable the task manager and the registry. And they amuse themselves. No amount of antiviruses out there can get rid of this. At least, that’s been the case with me. A Windows reinstall is always a viable option, but not in my case. My Intel 82845G Graphics Controller is so outdated, that even Intel doesn’t consider it to be worthy of getting a decent driver. The latest driver carries this stupid trojan, which disables important stuff. Tech gurus like me always like to mess up the Windows anatomy, and set it back again. Even novice users three-finger-salute Windows occasionally always, and kill processes. What now?

As always, here at Shadow Line comes another tutorial without using any third-party application. To fix this stupid error.

1] Open Notepad, by going to Start–>Run… and typing Notepad.

2] For enabling Task Manager, paste this:

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Or, for enabling Registry Editor, paste this:

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

3] Once you’ve pasted the required one, hit enter and open the Task Manager or Registry normally. Note that you’d have to do this always to open ‘em up

Lets take it a level further. Lets make a batch file, so that you can enable both with a single click from your desktop.

4] In Notepad, paste both the lines separated by a line.

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

5] After you’ve done that, go to File –> Save. Save it as fix.bat. You can replace fix by anything. But the .bat thingy is important. Save it at the desktop. Its easily accessible now. Double-click it, and you should see a command-prompt window for a split second. Open Task Manager and Registry editor normally now. You have to repeat this again, if you want to access the registry once more.

But if you’re the busy types, and you want someone else to do the dirty work, I’ll help you. Download the batch file itself.

So, thats it! Its fixed! But if you really want to stay away from all these viruses, I suggest you go elsewhere.

Hey! Looks like you’re trying to install a new software! And it looks like its downloaded from the internet.

Yes.

Hmm. iTunes 9. Do you really want to install this?

Yes.

Alright. <wait a minute> I really don’t think you should. It may harm your computer.

I don’t care.

Ookay. But still, I must ask again. Do you really want to install this?

Yes, you idiot!

Alright! There’s no need to get so angry! <wait five minutes> Unfortunately, this program doesn’t seem compatible with Windows. Wanna try with recommended settings?

Hmm, alright. Ballmer didn’t leave me another choice, did he?

Er, no he didn’t. Lets go over this again.

Hmm. iTunes 9. Do you really want to install this?

Yes.

Alright. <wait a minute> I really don’t think you should. It may harm your computer.

I don’t care.

Ookay. But still, I must ask again. Do you really want to install this?

Yes, you idiot!

Alright! There’s no need to get so angry! <wait five minutes> Looks like you don’t have the permission to install software. Do you have an administrator password?

This is an administrator account, you twat.

I know, but still. Gimme a password.

Here goes…

Alright, then.

Hmm. iTunes 9. Do you really want to install this?

Yes.

Alright. <wait a minute> I really don’t think you should. It may harm your computer.

I don’t care. No wait. Cancel the freakin’ installation!

But why?

Psst! Lemme give you a piece of friendly advice. Use Windows Media Player.

That doesn’t work with iPods.

Do I care? Buy a Zune, for Bill’s sake! And oh, that installation you wanted to cancel? You can’t. Its hung. Its crashed.

Die.

Now WHERE did I keep those Linux disks?

Or, how to print effectively without any hassles in Ubuntu.

Step 1] Boot Ubuntu

Step 2] Make sure your printer is connected (via USB) and switched on

Step 3] Have two glasses of water

Step 4] Watch TV for five minutes

Step 5] Return to your terminal and start printing.

That’s it. No spoolsv problems, nothing. Ubuntu will notify about low-ink and out of paper problems. It also reads .pdfs and .docs, so there is no question of incompatibility anyway.

Familiar to all Windows XP users (and haters!)

This is a post about why Windows sucks big time and why Ubuntu Linux or practically any Linux version can give any version of Windows a run for its money.

Reasons to use Windows

There are basically three reasons to use Windows:

1. Microsoft Office 2007 (because OpenOffice.org can never give such awesome text effects; and I’m still trying to figure out how make this work with WINE)
   
2. iTunes (because Apple does not offer support to Linux and iTunes doesn’t run on WINE. Although I can use Rhythmbox to transfer songs to my iPod, but still adding photos, making playlists is not possible. And Ankur Bannerjee does not like Rhythmbox and I agree with some of his points too.)
   
3. Safari (because it does not work with WINE either and it’s text rendering is awesome; although it is quite buggy and unstable)
   

That’s it, folks!