shutdown

Google waves sayonara to Hello

Google has announced the shutdown of Hello, a sort of photo-messaging service that became part of the Mountain View family when Google acquired Picasa in 2004.

"All good things come to an end," a placeholder on the Hello.com home page says. "So it is with sadness that we say goodbye to Hello." Guess they weren't so sad that they felt the need to steer clear of goofy plays on words. Hello will fade away on May 15, though Google's photo-sharing service Picasa remains otherwise intact.

"We originally embarked on a mission to … Read more

Fix for XP sessions that don't close properly

Earlier this week, I described some Registry tweaks that force Windows to shut down faster. Another weapon in the fight against interminable shutdowns in XP is Microsoft's User Profile Hive Cleanup service, a free download written by Robin Caron.

Some programs and services don't release their connections to Registry keys when a user logs off. This can cause problems when the person tries to log onto another PC connected to the same company network, but mainly it just adds to the time it takes XP to shut down.

Before you can download the program, you have to let … Read more

TorrentSpy shuts down

A prolonged legal fight with the movie industry has forced TorrentSpy, BitTorrent's popular search engine, to shut down.

"The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile," said a note on TorrentSpy's front door. "We spent the last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of our users and ourselves... we now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users - permanent shutdown."

In 2006, the largest Hollywood film studios … Read more

Shut down Windows in an instant

The other evening I turned off my Windows XP system and busied myself with other matters, only to find the machine churning away several minutes later as it worked through its shutdown process. I could've understood the delay if it were installing updates, or even if some program or service had hung the system. But this was a typical PC shutdown, and it was taking forever.

"There's gotta be a better way," I thought, and after doing a little research, I found a bunch of Registry tweaks that reset Windows to close shop like it's … Read more

Fixes for three of the most common Windows glitches

Windows breaks; it's a fact. Sometimes the only fix you need is a system restart, but other times you may feel like you'll never get your PC working again. While not even a building full of Microsoft engineers can promise solutions to every Windows problem, these tips will help you begin your quest for a cure.

Windows won't update First, make sure you're logged into an administrator account. Next, open the Windows Update log, which is at C:\Windows\Windows Update.log, and look for an error message, which may include an error code you can … Read more

Start Windows in an Instant

No two jobs are alike, but one thing millions of us have in common is the daily wait for Windows to get going. Why can't our PCs start as quickly as our radios, TVs, and other electronic devices?

Well, the instant-on PC isn't likely to arrive anytime soon, but you can get your workday rolling without having to stare down that annoying Windows logo. The simplest solution is to set Windows' Power Options to send your system into XP's standby or Vista's sleep mode after it has been idle for a while. Then you can simply … Read more