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Posts Tagged ‘microsoft’

Remove Ads in Windows Live Messenger with A-Patch

December 13th, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | 2 Comments | Filed in Tech

apatchThe advertisements in Windows Live Messenger, the popular instant messaging program, can be very irritating, especially when you just want a clean look for your chat windows and contact list.

There is a way to remove the ads, using a free program called A-Patch for Windows Live Messenger.

This program is 166 kB, and it doesn’t require an installation, so it simply patches your Messenger install, and then it is done!  You can then erase the executable from your computer, and then nobody will know that it was ever there, except for the fact that you’ll notice that the ads are gone from Messenger.

Here’s the list of all the possible options that you can choose to patch using this tool:

  • Remove Advertisements (inside Contact List)
  • Remove What’s Hot Section
  • Remove Nudge Delay (allow you to spam your buddies with nudges :D )
  • Disable Nudge Shake (disables the window shake when nudges are received)
  • Accept more than 3 files (transfers) at a time
  • Polygamy (log in to two messenger accounts at once
  • Shorten Status Info in Info Bar
  • Remove Advertisements (inside Convo)
  • Remove “says” text (english only!)
  • Remove Billing Info Menus
  • Disable Photo Sharing (so people can’t spam you with photos)

This tools violates Microsoft’s EULA, so we’re not responsible if you get in trouble!

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Downgrading from WMP 12 to 11 in Windows 7

October 20th, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | 7 Comments | Filed in How Tos

Windows Media Player 12 in Windows 7 has a new UI that doesn’t include as many sleek transparency features as WMP 11 did, and Microsoft also for some reason removed the Advanced Tag Editor, one of my favorite features because my WMP Custom Album Art tutorial uses it, and because you can edit a whole albums tags in batch.

I see no real benefit to using Windows Media Player 12, as Windows Media Player 11 seems, at least to me, to be a much more well-rounded, and better looking too, music / video organizer and player.

How to install Windows Media Player 11 onto Windows 7:

  1. Go to the start menu, type services.msc and hit enter.

  2. Stop the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service.

  3. Install this registry edit (zipped): Take Ownership Context Menu Hack.

  4. Now take ownership of these items by selecting them in Windows Explorer and then right-clicking them and selecting Take Ownership in the context menu:All files in “Program Files\Windows Media Player\” folder
    All files starting with “wmp” in System32 folder
    wmploc.dll.mui in “System32\en-us\” folder.

  5. Download Windows Media Player 11 for Windows 7 and install. If you get an error message saying that wmploc.dll.mui is in use by a process, then kill sidebar.exe.  You’ll need to restart after install Windows Media Player.

  6. Run regedit and delete the key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Setup\Installed Versions”.

  7. If you want a good Windows 7 theme for WMP 11, check this one out:

    http://bogo-d.deviantart.com/art/7-for-Windows-Media-Player-11-105796300

    This skin is quite amazing – it combines the best elements of both WMP 11 and 12 to make an amazing looking skin.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed my tutorial, and enjoy your newly installed WMP 11 on Windows 7!

A better version of this tutorial: http://www.askvg.com/how-to-get-windows-media-player-wmp-taskbar-toolbar-back-in-windows-7/

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