open your browser and go to ISO recorder and download the plugin (power toy) for your Windows version. click on the .MSI file to to launch the setup wizard:

the installation should be straightforward, just click Next on all windows.

once you have installed the ISO recorder power toy, right click on any directory you want to create an ISO image of, and you will see the option to create an ISO image from the right-click menu:

The Create ISO image window will come up:

Basically, you can just click on the Next button here, but if have time, add the Volume label name, and choose the directory rather than the default where to save the ISO image.

you will find that the ISO image has been created:

now if you right-click on this ISO image, you can easily burn it to a CD or DVD by choosing the option to Copy image to CD or DVD from the menu:

from there on just insert a blank CD or DVD and click on next button to burn it.

that’s it. that’s how simple is to create an ISO image on windows XP, Vista or 7.

The remote computer requires network level authentication, which your computer does not support. for assistance, contact your system administrator for technical support.

Network Level Authentication is a new authentication method on Windows Vista and Server 2008 that completes user authentication before you establish a Remote Desktop connection and the logon screen appears, and apparently windows XP does not support this new authentication method, even when using the latest RDP client.

to be able to login to Windows 2008 server from a  Windows XP machine using remote desktop, we need to uncheck the option that requires network level authentication on windows server 2008. to do that, login to your server and right-click on My Computer icon, then go to properties. under the task panel, click on the remote settings. choose, Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure) from he system properties window.

click on apply, then OK.

try Remote Desktop again. it should work.

Here is the list of things I recommend to do to optimize a computer.

Follow the tips in sequence for better results…

Prevent Programs From Running At Startup

If you have many programs installed on your computer, most likely some of those programs are running at the start-up; that’s a waste of resources on your system. to stop those programs from running at the start-up do the following:

click on the Start button then click on RUN and type msconfig. click on the startup tab on the system configuration window:

Uncheck all the programs that you don’t want the computer to open when it starts-up. some of those programs include, WinZip, Adobe Acrobat, Itunes etc. if you have a laptop make sure you don’t delete necessary mobile functionality programs like touch pad, wireless drivers, etc .

click on APPLY and then OK to restart the computer.

system configuration utility is a windows XP/Vista built-in utility, but if you want to see what’s running on your computer more in detail, I advice you to download some useful tools from the Microsoft Sysinternals site. the two tools that can help you optimize the startup process on your computer are:

• Autoruns http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx
• Process Explorer http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

With this two tools you can get deeper on the computer startup process to figure out what’s hogging resources on the system.

Autorun screenshot.

Process Explorer screenshot:

as you can see, you can see everything running on your system in real time with Process explorer.

Deleting Temp files, Internet Temp files, and unnecessary junk.

After rebooting the computer from above, is time to delete some unnecessary junk: click on Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Cleanup:

at the Disk Cleanup tab, check everything you think is unnecessary. if you have office installed on the system, just leave alone the Office Setup Files all the rest can be deleted. click on the More Options tab to clean up Windows Components delete Install Programs and clean up System Restore.

Click OK to start deleting the files.

Windows Updates

after running the disk clean up utility, check if your windows operating system is up to date will all the updates and service packs. normally you find the Windows Updates option by clicking on Start>All Programs>Windows Updates if its not there, check the control panel.

Make sure your system is up to date.. until you get the message:

Make sure you update the Office suite if you have one to the latest updates and service pack as well.

Disable Services Running For Nothing.

your computer might be running many unnecessary services that only take resources out of your system. to check what services are running on your computer, click on Start button then Run and type services.msc and hit Enter.

To know what services you need to stop, read the following post I wrote when I authored helpdesk geek blog at:

http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-xp-tips/stopping-unnecessary-windows-services/

Disable Automatic Searching for Network Folders And Printers

If your computer is not on a network, or if you don’t need to check for network folders or printers then it makes sense to remove this option from your computer. to do that do the following, Click on Start then Run and type Control Panel hit Enter. when Control Panel comes up click on Folder Options. when the folder options window comes up click on the View tab. on the Files and Folders option uncheck: Automatically search for network folders and printers:

click on Apply and then OK after you uncheck the settings.

Disk Defragmentation

By now is time to defrag the hard drive on your system. by defragmenting the hard disk of your computer, the files will be organized in sequence, and as a result the hard drive will spin less to find the files. to defrag your hard drive click on Start> All Programs>Accessories> System Tools>Disk Defragmenter click analyze then defrag if windows recommend to do so:

click on Defragment if you get this window.

Other things you might consider to speed-up your computer.

Download BootVis to speedup the boot up process of your operating system. when you open Bootvis click on File then New and choose Next Boot + Drivers Traces

Click OK to reboot the computer.

after the computer restarts, open Bootvis and click on Trace on the menu and choose Optimize System. the system will reboot again, and it will take awhile.

Download CCleaner To Clean up the Registry

Download CCleaner from the following link http://www.ccleaner.com/download

after you install CCleaner, click on the Registry tab on the left menu and Scan For Issues:

after the scan finished, click on Fix selected issues.

Registry Hacks

Last but not least you can perform the following registry tricks to speed up your system.

click on Start then on Run and type Regedit and navigate to the following registry key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop find the following key  “WaitToKillAppTimeout” and set the value to 1000

look of the key “HungAppTimeout” and set the value to 1000 as well.

To prevent the computer from hanging when some applications don’t close correctly or crash during the shutoff process do the following registry hack:

On your registry navigate to the following key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and look for the following key: “AutoEndTasks” and set the value to 1.

there you have it, the Ultimate Computer Optimization Guide just like a pro will clean a computer.

That’s the logon screen in my computer!! I normally like to keep my system clean and performing well, so every week I check all these settings, and disable what I don’t need.

Download autorun and see what’s running on your system. Download the small file from here

If you have tried to increase the cache size limit in the offline folder settings, then you know that after closing the window it goes back to default settings which is 1.90 GB allocated for offline files.

To permanently increase the cache size allocated to offline files to do the following; click on Start then click on RUN and type gpedit.msc. The group policy window should come up:

Maximize the Network folder, and click on Offline Files then double click on Default Cache Size. the default cache size property should come up:

Click on Enable and specify the percentage of the amount of the hard drive space you want use for offline files storage. for example, if you have a 80 GB hard drive, and want to use 8 GB of your entire hard drive, enter 1000 on the default cache size. after you finish click on OK.

one of the things you might notice after you do this is that the slide button to increase the amount of disk space for temporary offline files storage is grayed-out.

That’s normal; because the settings controlling the offline cache size storage is on the group policy