If you’re in the habit of downloading large files, like ISO images, and you happen to be a Windows User, you may want to take a look at WinWGet.

Use your Bandwidth later

Personally, when I’m surfing the web, writing posts, or playing some First Person Shooter, I want all the bandwidth I can muster. So I try to schedule my downloads for when I’m sleeping. This is why I first decided to look at WinWGet.

Don’t use up all of your Bandwidth

Another reason that I like WinWGet is that you can limit the rate at which you are downloading. This is pretty handy if you are downloading a large file from a web site, and you want to still be able to use your Internet connection.

Or, if you are downloading a large file from a big web site, and you don’t want to use up all of your company’s Internet connection.

Resume Broken Downloads

One other benefit to downloading large files with WinWGet is that if the download stops for some reason, and the server supports it, you don’t have to start from scratch. If you ever try to download a 5G file from a flaky server, you’ll thank me for this tip.

What is WinWGet

WGet is a powerful command line utility in Unix / Linux, which among other things, allows you to download files from the Internet in the command prompt or console window. Luckily, for the Windows users, WinWGet is a very powerful GUI utility and WGet port for Windows.

Download and Install

If you go to the Cybershade.us homepage for WinWGet, you can find the download page.

I don’t usually advise it, but in this case, I would get the .20 beta version, which is a single download you can get here. I haven’t had any problems with this beta, and it is a heck of a lot easier to do it this way.

After saving the installer to disk, and then running it, the install is pretty straightforward. Click on Next 7 times (feel free to change any defaults to whatever your heard desires), and then install and finally “finish”.

After installation, you’re ready to start creating your first download jobs.

Posted in Wget, Open Source, Utilities, Internet, Windows No Comments »

If you are like me, pretty things are nice to look at, but I quickly get tired of visual effects if they don’t do anything for the operation of the computer. That is about how I felt about Aero Glass. It’s nice to look at, but I’m sure it eats up valuable system resources.

If you aren’t like me, and somehow Aero Glass was turned off on your computer, then you’ll want to scroll down some, so you can see how to turn it on.

Your first step, wether you want to turn it on or off, is to get to “Windows Color and Appearance”.

Getting to Windows Color and Appearance Settings

Right Click on a blank space on the desktop, and choose personalize:

The personalization Menu should now appear. Choose “Windows Color and Appearance”

Turning Aero Glass off / Disabling Aero Glass

If you already have Aero on, then you will see the window pictured below (click on it for a larger version). If you have Aero glass turned off, then scroll down to the “Turning Aero Glass Off / Enabling Aero Glass”

Click on “Open classic appearance properties for more color options”

You should see the window pictured below:

Basically, choosing anything besides “Windows Aero” in the color scheme section will turn off Aero Glass. Windows Vista basic looks pretty close, just without the transparencies.

Clicking apply will let you see the change without closing the window. When you are happy with the appearance, click on “OK”.

Turning Aero Glass Off / Enabling Aero Glass

If you followed the instructions above, in Getting to “Windows Color and Appearance Settings”, then you should see the screen below.

All you have to do is click on “Windows Aero”, and then click on Apply. If you are happy with the way things look, then click on “OK”. That’s all there is to it.

Posted in Vista, Aero Glass, How To, Windows 1 Comment »

There are two errors associated with this:

“The necessary services are disabled or unavailable. Error 0×80246007″

“The necessary services are disabled or unavailable. Error 0×80246008″

I saw this error when one of my computers was trying to install updates from Windows Server Update Services, but you may also see it when you are trying to connect to the Windows Update site, or when you are trying to install updates downloaded from the Windows Update site.

In my case it was an issue with the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) needing to be re-registered. These steps are all outlined in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 883822.

To re-register the service, perform the following steps:

1. Click on Start then Run
2. Type “cmd” and click on “OK” or press enter.
3. In the Command Prompt Window, type in “regsvr32 qmgr.dll” then press enter. A window should pop up stating that “DllRegisterServer in qmgr.dll succeeded” Click “OK”.
4. In the Command Prompt Window, type in “regsvr32 qmgrprxy.dll ” then press enter. A window should pop up stating that “DllRegisterServer in qmgrprxy.dll succeeded” Click “OK”.
5. Close the command Prompt Window.

Now you should be able to install updates, but if you’ve been having this problem for awhile, you may need to install a whole slew of updates to get caught up.

The knowledge base article says that Microsoft Update and Microsoft Windows Update are the affected products. I saw the issue on Windows XP Pro, SP2.

References

MS KB 883822 - You receive a “The necessary services are disabled or unavailable” error message when you connect to the Microsoft Windows Update Web site or to the Microsoft Update Web site. - Microsoft

Posted in Windows Update, Windows, Bugs No Comments »