When you have a host on your own domain which uses wordpress and you want to change hosts there are a few steps you need to take:

1. FTP to your current host and download all the files and folders associated with your domain.

2. Export your database - login to your host phpMyAdmin, click on the database you need to export (on the left panel of phpMyAdmin), on the right top click Export (see image below).

On the next screen make sure that all the table fields are selected and that the following options are checked:
Add DROP TABLE / DROP VIEW
Add IF NOT EXISTS
Add AUTO_INCREMENT value
Enclose table and field names with backquotes (see image below)

Check the Save as file options and click the Go button.

Save the .sql file to your hard drive.

3. Login to your domain registrar and change the domain DNS to your new hosts DNS servers. Wait for the domain to propagate (it could take from 5 minutes to 72 hours).

4. Create a new database on your NEW host - use the host control panel.

5. Import the database using the sql file you exported in step 2 - login to the new host phpMyAdmin, click on the database you just created (on the left panel of phpMyAdmin), on the right top click Import.

Navigate to the .sql file on your hard drive and click Open.
If your database is too big and can not be imported via phpMyAdmin please read How to import large databases.

6. Open the wp-config.php file and change the name, the username, and the password to the new database’s name, username, and password (in most cases the MySQL host name is localhost but in rare occasions you might need to change that too, ask your new host if unsure).

7. FTP to your new host and upload all the files you downloaded in step one.

8. Open your web site in your browser - your blog looks just the way it did before the move!

Lets say that you have a huge blog which comes with a huge database and you are fed up with your current host A and want to move your precious blog to host B. The problem is that most hosts will set limitation on their virtual accounts and when you try to import the huge databases using phpMyAdmin it will time out.

First of all when you EXPORT a large database make sure that the Extended inserts under the Data panel is un-checked (see the picture below).

Then go ahead , export your database and save the .sql file to your hard drive. Also make sure that these fields under Structure are checked:
Add DROP TABLE / VIEW / PROCEDURE / FUNCTION
Add IF NOT EXISTS
Add AUTO_INCREMENT value
Enclose table and field names with backquotes

Good, now you have a nice 200MB .sql file on your hard drive ready to import to your newly created database. All you need is a little tool called BigDump.

Download the BigDump.zip file from the BigDump web site, unzip it, open it with your favorite text editor and change the database hostname, name, username, and password. FTP to the domain you moved to your new host, create a new directory (say /bd/) and upload the bigdump.php and the database .sql file to that directory.

Now launch your browser and navigate to the bigdump.php file:
http://www.MySite.com/bd/bigdump.php

Click the Start Import link and wait for the import to finish. If you get any errors during the process please make sure to read the BigDump FAQ.

That’s it!

Windows XP:

1. Click the Start button -> Run type cmd and press Enter.
This will bring up the command prompt.

2. Hold down the Windows key on your keyboard and press R, type cmd and press Enter.

3. If you need to get to command prompt before Windows loads then reboot your computer and keep tapping the F8 key on your keyboard (the same way you reboot in safe mode) and when you see the advanced boot options menu choose Command prompt only.

4. Getting to command prompt using the Windows XP CD. Insert the CD in your drive and reboot the computer. When you see the message “Press any key to boot from CD..” simply press any key on your keyboard. Soon you should see the “Welcome to Setup” screen, press ‘R” to start the recovery console. If you have two boot systems then you can choose either 1 or 2 and press Enter, then type the admin password and press Enter again. The command prompt should appear.

Windows Vista:

1. Hold down the Shift key and right click on a folder icon (or anywhere on your desktop for that matter) and choose “Open Command Window Here”.

2. Open Command prompt with administrative privileges - click the Start button, in the Start Search box, type Cmd. Right click on the Command Prompt in the search result listing and choose Run as Administrator.

3. Hold down the Windows key on your keyboard and press R, type cmd and press Enter.

If you have downloaded Windows 7 Beta which was released by Microsoft you need to take a few steps on order to install it on your computer.

First of all since this is a Beta release I advise you not to install it on your main computer or at least back up all your important files before you do so!

The first logical step is to download Windows 7 Beta from the Windows 7 Beta download page or use the Windows 7 Beta direct download links. The file is quite large therefore it might take a while for the download to complete.

Now that the Windows 7 ISO file is on your computer you need Magic ISO in order to mount it to a virtual drive.
If you have no idea what an ISO file is or what mounting an ISO file means there is no need to worry, I will show you how it’s done:
Download Magic ISO, and install it on your computer.

Now navigate to the folder were your Windows 7 ISO file is and right click on it.
Select Open with… then Magic ISO Virtual CD/DVD Manager.

Few seconds later you should see the Magic ISO icon on your right corner of your desktop, right next to your clock (see the image below).

Right click on the icon and choose Virtual CD/DVD-ROM and then choose the drive on the left E: No Media

Click Mount.

Now wait a few seconds until Magic ISO mounts the file, right after that you should see the Windows 7 Beta setup screen. Then click Install now and follow the instructions.

If the setup doesn’t start automatically open Windows Explorer and click on the E: drive, double click the setup.exe file in the right pane. The wizard will guide you trough the installation.

Enjoy your Windows 7!

Another problem that leaves a lot of computer users baffled. After trying quite a few remedies found on the Web you are still trying to figure out why you can not access user accounts in Windows XP.

Well, here is a little magic trick you can try, well not exaclty magic but in many cases it worked like a charm.

Reboot your computer in safe mode, open Notetab and paste these lines:
regsvr32 jscript.dll
regsvr32 nusrmgr.cpl
regsvr32 /i mshtml.dll
regsvr32 themeui.dll
regsvr32 Vbscript.dll

Now save the file as Fix.cmd on your desktop, double click Fix.cmd to run it, you should get a message for each dll being registered, simply click OK every time.
Reboot your computer and see if the problem has been solved.

In order to start Internet Explorer 7 with no add-ons do the following:
Click Start -> All programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> click the IE icon (with no system tools)
or
Start -> Run -> type iexplore -extoff then press Enter.

This can be very useful if your browser crashes or fails to launch, you can start IE7 with no add-ons and then go to Tools -> Manage Add-ons -> then remove all of them, restart IE7 and then add them one by one to see if one of the add-ons causes the problems.

If you see a program called searchsettings.exe which resides in a folder C:\Program Files\Search Settings then follow these steps to remove it:

Click the Start button -> Run -> Add or Remove programs, find Serach Settings, clcik on it and click the Remove button.

If you accidentally deleted the program from its folder and now you see Search settings installer every time you launch Internet Explorer, then follow these steps to fix that problem (works for Internet Explorer 7):

Click the Start button -> Run -> type iexplore -extoff and press Enter. This should start your Internet Explorer with no add-ons. One Internet Explorer is running click Tools -> Manage Add-ons… locate Search Settings and click it, under Settings click Disable then click OK. That should work!

One final step:
Click the Start button -> Run -> type msconfig and press Enter. Open the Startup tab and un-check the little box next to Search settings.

As of this moment we couldn’t find reliable information on what searchsettings.exe is, it could be a trojan or simply harmless IE add-on.

With the latest Windows Media Player should have no problem playing flv files, in case you can not then please install the ffdshow DirectShow codecs or the playflv plugin.

Note: if you get warnings when trying to play a flv file with Windows Media Player simply click OK and your video should start playing.

Short answer- NO!

In fact when you run two Anti-Virus programs it is very likely that one or more of the following will happen:
1. Programs crash.
2. You will get plenty of false alarms - what that means is that you will get threats reported while there are none.
3. Your system performance will be crippled.
4. Your computer might "lock up" after reboot. The Antivirus applications start as soon as Windows boots which might cause your computer to lock up.

What to do when you have two Antivirus programs running and your computer locks up right after reboot?

Take the following steps:
Reboot your computer in safe mode.

Unfortunately in safe mode you can not use the Windows Add or remove programs feature. You can use msconfig though. Press the Start button -> Run, type msconfing and press Enter, open the Startup tab and remove the Antivirus programs from your start menu.

Reboot your computer normally, now you can look for ways to uninstall one of them. If you run Windows XP click the Start button then Control Panel -> Add or remove programs, find the Antivirus software you want to uninstall and remove it. In case you still experience problems after the uninstall, due to traces left in the registry, you can try using System Restore to restore your system to a previous stable state.

How do you properly clean your laptop?

Well, before you begin there are a few items that you will need:

can of compressed air

cotton buds

cleaning solution

soft cloth

Now that you ready watch this video to learn how to properly clean a laptop.

If you are looking for free speech recognition software and your computer is running Windows Xp or Windows Vista then you are quite lucky since both come with built-in voice recognition.

Firts of all there are a few things you should know about voice recognition - the technology is not "quite there yet", so if you expect that you can type 100% "hands-free" using the voice recognition then you might be dissapointed. In many cases no matter how clear you speak the software will keep typing the wrong word, and you’ll keep correcting it, it can get quite frustrating.

What can you do to improve the voice recognition accuracy?

The one and most important factor is having a very good microphone, also take note that voice recognition uses a lot of computer resources therefore running it on older PC might be quite cumbersome.

Ok, now that you are ready to get your feet wet here are two very good articles:
Speech Recognition with Windows XP

Speech Recognition with Windows Vista

If you have problem with your laptop keyboard - you can not type certain characters, can not use the CAPs or your keyboard is just “messed up” here are a few things you can try to fic the issue.

Go to the Control Panel -> Accessibility options -> on the Keyboard tab you have three buttons named Settings under Sticky keys, Filter keys and Toggle keys. Click the buttons one by one and un-cheks the Use shortcut options.

In some cases switching your keyboard layout might also help, here’s how you can do this:
how to change your keyboard layout - article 1.
how to change your keyboard layout - article 2.

If all fails then try plugging in an external keyboard to your laptop and use it until you get your issues resolved.

First of all I advise you to back-up your files any time you are about to repair your operating system especially if you don’t consider yourself an advanced user.

Also you need to know that if perform repair installation for Windows Vista few items will be reset to default - Windows mail, Device drivers, the computer sound event scheme and a few more.

Please read carefully the following article - How to perform a repair installation for Windows Vista, make your back-ups, follow the instructions, and be patient as it might take up to four hours depending on your computer hardware.

Thumbs.db is a Windows Xp file that is used to cache the thumbnails of a folder, and it can be very annoying to say the least. If you want to get rid of Thumbs.db take the following steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Click Tools -> Folder Options -> Open the View tab.
3. Make sure that Do not cache thumbnails is checked.
4. Click the Apply to all folders button.
5. Click OK.

As probably many of you know Microsoft was about to offer Windows 7 BETA as a free download and in fact it did - they posted the files with some delay but then pulled them since their servers couldn’t handle the overwhelming traffic.

Right now the Windows 7 default page displays the message:
Thanks for your interest in the Windows 7 Beta. The volume has been phenomenal—we’re in the process of adding more servers to handle the demand. We’re sorry for the delay and we’ll re-post the Beta as soon as we can ensure a quality download experience.

Anyway if you want to download Windows 7 BETA then this is the page you should keep your eye on:
Windows 7 HOME page

PS I am aware of all the torrents that have been around for a while but I wouldn’t advise you getting Windows 7 from an unknown source.

Try Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Character Map, then choose the symbol you want (say the copyright character) and click on it, click the Select button and then click the Copy button to copy the symbol to the clipboard, open your text editor and paste it there. It’s that easy ;)

If you are looking for a free and really good hardware and software diagnostic tool which can help you solving almost any computer problem then you are presented with a few options with and if you are running Windows Ultimate Boot CD for Windows is by far one of the best products available right now, and above all it is a freeware.

As of this moment Ultimate Boot CD for Windows works with Windows 2K / XP / 2003, as for Vista it can still be used but you have to be cautious, please read the FAQs on the site for further info. So what exactly is Ultimate Boot CD for Windows and how can it help me fix my computer problems?

Ultimate Boot CD for Windows comes with the following programs:

• Anti-Spyware Tools


• AntiVirus Tools


• Disk Tools


• File Management tools


• Network Tools


• Password Tools


• Registry Tools


• System Information Tools


• Applications


• CD Burning Applications

Once you download Ultimate Boot CD for Windows for free if you have any questions you can always go to the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows forum and get help.

Great cool way to customize and organize your desktop is using docks. Two great programs that can do that are Stardock ObjectDock and RocketDock.

Both applications are quite easy to use and provide a number of way to customize your desktops, both are pretty light on your system resources, and on top of all look really cool!

Here are two screenshots from a computer running Windows XP with ObjectDock installed - as you can see you have the options to hide (or not) the Windows task bar and use the dock alone for your needs, you can add or remove programs to the dock, launch your browsers from there, check your email, check out the weather, launch a number of your favorite applications and many other features. Well, above all, it is free (the Plus version costs $19.95 at this moment) so you have niothing to lose!

If you are looking for good data recovery software then you have a few options:

GetDataBack - this program will recover your data if your hard drive boot sector or the partition table have been damaged, even after fdisk was ran. The software comes with free demo.

EasyRecovery Professional - Trial Edition - if you need another good data recovery software - DO NOT download and install on the SAME media or partition on which you are experiencing data loss!!!. Please read carefully the web page including the FAQs on how to download, install, and use EasyRecovery.

If you have a device that is marked as uknown device in the Device manager you can use these free programs to find out what the deivce is, its model, manufacturer etc, which will help you get the right driver for that device and install it properly:

Unknown Device Identifier 6.01
Unknown Devices