Ripping and Converting WMA Music Files in Windows Media Player to MP3 Format
By admin | September 3, 2010
Windows Media Player is the default player on your Windows XP machine. You may find that you have got files off online download stores such as Napster, but you want to play these on your iPod or other audio Device. The only problem is that stores such as Napster save the files onto your computer as WMA files, this is a file format created by Microsoft and supported by a lot of different players. However your player may not support this format of audio, so how do you get those files onto say an iPod. Well you have to convert the files in Windows Media into MP3 format, now MP3 is a supported format of the iPod and can be played on it, MP3 is a smaller file size and has no copy protection so you can easily transfer to any device.
To start off find where your files are located on your Windows XP machine, this is likely to be your ‘My Music’ folder. Make sure they are in your Windows Media Player library ready to be converted, now I am sure you’re going to say “Do I have to buy commercial software to do this WMA to MP3 conversion” and the answer is yes you can if you want but you’re wasting money doing that when you can do the conversion for free. To start off the process go into Windows Media Player, now I am going to instruct you as you have Windows Media Player 11, however in Windows Media Player 10 it’s the same process. You will want to get a blank CD-RW and then just place it in the CD drive and wait for it to be recognized. Now go into your Windows Media Player library and drag the files you want onto the tab on the far right hand side, you will see a little meter telling you how much space is left on the CD. Once you have added the files you want select ‘Start Burn’ this will then burn your files in Windows Media Audio format to the blank CD-RW.
Of course now you have to put them back on but this time before you do what is called ripping (the transfer of files onto a PC) you must change some settings so that you rip into MP3 format.
First go to the Tools menu.
Click Options
Then click the Rip Music Tab
Here you will see a variety of options at the top of the screen it will say by default rip music files into Windows Media Audio. You want to change this to do that click the arrow next to the text to bring a dropdown menu up. On this menu select MP3 then click ok. Now your files will be converted into MP3 format, so now we go to ripping to start the transfer click the rip tab. Make sure the CD you just burned is in the drive then the files will load up on the screen select rip music at the bottom of the window and the files will be transferred to your PC in MP3 format. Your files are likely to be in the same location to your WMA files so just go into ‘My Music’ locate the artist then the album and move the MP3 files out of there into a seperate folder. For example if you wish to copy these onto an iPod go to iTunes select the folder add to the iTunes library and complete the sync process.
There you go you have just successfully completed a conversion of WMA files into MP3 files.
Topics: media player 11 | No Comments »
How to Configure Windows Server as a Ntp Server
By admin | September 2, 2010
The Microsoft Windows operating systems from Windows 2000 onwards has a built-in time synchronization service – ‘Windows Time’. This article describes how to configure the Microsoft Windows 2003 and Windows 2000 time service as a NTP time server. It shows how to modify registry entries to configure the Microsoft Windows Time Service. The Windows Time service allows a Windows network to provide synchronisation of all machines within a domain.
Windows 2003 Server Configuration
Windows 2003 has expanded on the original Windows 2000 time service by providing a true NTP implementation. The time service, installed by default, can synchronise to a NTP Server. Indeed, by manipulating registry settings for the service it can act as both an NTP server and client to synchronise other network clients in the domain.
The ‘Windows Time’ service should be present in the systems service list. The application executable is ‘w32time.exe’. The parameter list for w32time can be found in the registry at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time
Before modifying registry entries it is good a dood idea to backup the registry settings. The registry can then be restored in the event of problems being encountered.
To configure a Windows 2003 machine to synchronise to an external NTP server, edit the following registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\AnnounceFlags
Set the ‘Announce Flags’ registry entry to 5, to indicate a reliable time source.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NTPClient\SpecialPollInterval
The ‘Special Poll Interval’ registry entry defines the period in seconds that the Windows 2003 machine should poll the NTP server. A recommended value is 900 seconds, which equates to every 15 minutes.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\NtpServer
The ‘NTP Server’ parameter is used to provide a list of IP addresses or DNS names, separated by a space, of NTP servers that the Windows 2003 machine can synchronise to.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NTPServer\Enabled
Changing the ‘Enabled’ flag to the value 1 enables the NTP Server.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type
Change the server type to NTP by specifying ‘NTP’ in the ‘Type’ registry entry.
Windows 2000 Time Service Configuration
Windows 2000 has an integrated time synchronisation service, installed by default, which can synchronise to a NTP Server. Indeed, by manipulating registry settings, the service can act as both an SNTP client and SNTP server to synchronise other network clients.
Before modifying registry entries it is good a dood idea to backup the registry settings. The registry can then be restored in the event of problems being encountered.
The ‘Windows Time’ service should be present in the systems service list. The application executable is ‘w32time.exe’. The parameter list for w32time can be found in the registry at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters
Windows 2000 can operate as an NTP client and synchronise to an NTP server by setting parameter ‘NTP Server’ to the IP address of a NTP Server.
By default, the Microsoft Windows 2000 machine will synchronise to the specified NTP time server every 8 hours (or 3 times a day), which may not be enough to maintain accurate synchronisation. The period can be reduced by setting the ‘Period’ parameter to how many times a day synchronisation is required. Setting the period to 48 will activate synchronisation with the NTP server once every half hour.
Windows 2000 can also be configured to act as an NTP server by setting the ‘Local NTP’ parameter to ’1′.
After editing any of the registry entries for the windows time service, the service must be restarted for the settings to take effect. The services can be started or stopped from the service control applet in ‘administrative tools’. Alternatively the service can be controlled via the DOS net command thus:
net start w32time
net stop w32time
NTP Troubleshooting
A number of problems can be encountered when configuring the Windows Time Service. NTP operates using the UDP protocol over TCP/IP. Therefore the TCP/IP network infrastructure must be operational for NTP to be effective. Synchronisation issues may arise when NTP attempts to synchronise to an inaccurate time reference or if network delays are excessive.
Synchronising Time on Network Devices
As well as synchronising Microsoft Windows servers and workstations, NTP can also be used to synchronise network devices, such as hubs, switches and routers. Any network device that can synchronise to a NTP server can be pointed to the Windows server to achieve time synchronisation. In this way the whole network and accompanying infrastructure can be synchronised.
Topics: windows | No Comments »
Uninstall Windows Media Player – Clean a Stubborn Program Thoroughly
By admin | September 1, 2010
In this world, there are always some people do not like Windows Media Player and do not like all things about Microsoft, for example, media player. Some people like other media player like Real Player. If you want to remove Windows Media Player, I will share some skills with you for free.
1. You can go to the control panel and use Add or Remove program tool. It is very easy to do that. I will not say more.
2. You may also use the program spuninst.exe that is not well known by people. To do that successfully, you should go into the safe mode of Windows. You need to click Run menu and type ‘%windir%\$ntUninstallwmp11$\spuninst\spuninst.exe’, and then follow the wizard. Using this process, you can delete the core of Media Player.
3. It is wise to select a professional uninstall program to clean appointed stubborn program because I think the system uninstall component is just a toy. A professional uninstall software can force to delete the body of any stubborn program. Then, more importantly, it can scan registry and other system directory to clear residual data. This feature is not available in system uninstall component. Most of programs like to leave data in registry in order to save it. When you delete it, you would not clean it thoroughly in fact. Maybe it will leave a backdoor in system. Professional uninstall program can throw stubborn programs away entirely. It can also restore a program for mistake.
Fortunately, there are some professional uninstall programs in the market. When you encounter stubborn program, you may use it to solve that.
Topics: windows media | No Comments »