Android - how to find the MAC address on your android phone or tablet

There are some situations when you need to know the wi-fi mac address of your android phone or tablet.
To find the mac address you need to go to Applications and then tap Settings. Find the About tablet (About device) section and tap on it, then tap on Status. Here you will find the  mac address and information about battery, network, mobile network and device.
Hope this is helpful!

Missing CD/DVD drive in Windows 8

As you can deduct from the post's title, the missing cd/dvd drive saga didn't end once Windows 8 was released. This didn't happen to me yet, but it seems there are a lot of users who couldn't use their cd drives because Windows operating system decided they didn't need it anymore and hid it. Happily, there is a solution and it's not complicated.

So, here is what you need to do:
- go to the Windows 8 Metro UI, type cmd  and press ctrl+shift+enter. This will start Command prompt in administrator mode
- type this: reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice1 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001 and press enter
- reboot

Check if this solved the problem and give thanks to the Microsoft support engineer.

TV-Maxe - Cum sa il instalezi fara pachetul rpm

Daca esti incepator in Linux si nu ai invatat inca sa impachetezi programe, iti voi prezenta mai jos un tutorial despre instalarea TV-Maxe, un program pentru vizionat canale tv online pentru Linux, chiar daca nu dispui de pachetul rpm pentru instalarea acestuia. Distributia folosita de mine in mod curent si pe baza careia va prezint pasii de instalare, este OpenSuSE 12.3 cu KDE, dar modalitatea de instalare este potrivita pentru toate distributiile bazate pe rpm (daca ma insel, intrucat si eu doar am depasit usor nivelul de incepator, va rog sa ma corectati).
1. Sa incepem prin a descarca ultima versiune de TV-Maxe de pe pagina proiectului. Veti gasi aici o versiune ambalata intr-o arhiva de tip .tar.gz. Dupa descarcare, deschideti un manager de fisiere (Dolphin pentru KDE) si navigati catre folderul in care ati descarcat TV-Maxe (de obicei locatia este /home/user/Downloads). Faceti click dreapta pe arhiva si selectati Extract Archive Here, Autodetect Subfolder. Dupa extragerea arhivei se va crea un nou folder numit tv-maxe-0.09. 
2. TV-Maxe functioneaza cu ajutorul sopcast si al librariilor libstdc++5, pe care le puteti descarca de aici: sopcast si libstdc++5.
Dupa ce le-ati descarcat, dezarhivati-le. In acest moment veti avea in total 3 foldere: sp-auth, usr si tv-maxe-0.09.
Urmatorii pasi ii voi prezenta presupunand ca nu sunteti inca obisnuiti sa folositi comenzi intr-un terminal Linux si de aceea ne vom folosi in totalitate de interfata grafica a KDE-ului.
3. Pentru instalarea TV-Maxe va trebui sa copiem continutul folderelor de mai sus in /usr/share/, /usr/bin/ si /usr/lib/, toate acestea fiind detinute de root si, de aceea, trebuie sa obtinem drepturi de scriere asupra acestora. Pentru aceasta ne vom folosi de File Manager - Super User Mode.
Deschideti meniul KDE si selectati Applications > System > File Manager > File Manager - Super User Mode . Introduceti parola de root si se va deschide Dolphin cu drepturi de administrare de root. Navigati catre /usr/share/ si creati un folder numit tv-maxe in care copiati continutul folderului tv-maxe-0.09 (creat la pasul 2), mai putin aplicatia tv-maxe pe care o veti copia in usr/bin/.
4. Tot cu ajutorul Dolphin - Super User mode, din folderul sp-auth (creat la pasul 2), copiati sp-sc-auth in /usr/bin/, iar din folderul usr (creat la pasul 2) copiati cele 2 fisiere libstdc++.so.5 si libstdc++.so.5.0.1 in /usr/lib/ .
5. Pentru a functiona corect TV-Maxe 0.09 mai are nevoie de python-imaging, pe care il instalati deschizand din meniul KDE:Computer > Install/Remove Software .

In acest moment TV-Maxe poate fi lansat deschizand un terminal si scriind tv-maxe.

OpenSuSE 12.3 - configure statically assigned IP address

There are several ways of setting a static IP address  in OpenSuSE 12.3. If you are not familiar with linux commands, then you can use the graphical setup from Yast to setup network configuration. Network settings can be configured by using Network Manager or by using traditional method with ifup.
This tutorial will show you how to configure statically assigned network IP in OpenSuSE 12.3 with ifup. This can be easily done by following those simple steps:
- open Yast > Network Devices > Network Settings
- go to Global options tab and make sure that Traditional method with ifup is checked, then write a hostname in the Hostname to send field and uncheck Change Default Route via DHCP.

- go to Hostname/DNS tab, write in your Hostname and your Domain (workgroup name) and uncheck Change Hostname via DHCP; enter the DNS address in Name Servers and Domain Search List section (if you don't know the dns addresses, you can find them on your modem's interface)

- go to Overview tab, choose your network card and then click on Edit
- check Statically assigned network IP and write in your desired IP address, then click Next to apply settings for network card

- click Route on the Network Settings, write in the gateway IP address and click OK to save changes to your network settings.

To test settings, open a web browser and load a webpage. If internet doesn't work, try to open the modem's admin page. If the admin page loads, but you cannot access internet, then you entered wrong ip address for the gateway or you didn't write it at all.

Cable unplugged even if it is plugged in - how to troubleshoot network cable

What's to do when your computer says "A network cable is unplugged" or "Cable unplugged" on a wired network connection?

Usually this happens when there's a problem with the network cable, modem, router or switch. It could very well be a network card malfunction. So here are some tips for troubleshooting this network issue.

First of all, if you have another network cable you should replace the cable you are currently using with the spare one. If the problem doesn't go away, then there could be a modem/router/switch malfunction. Try plugging the cable into different slots (if you have more than one lan slot on the device) or reset the network device or replace it. If the problem is still present, check the network card driver. Try to disable and enable the network card from Control Panel -> Device Manager (for Windows OS). Uninstall the driver and reinstall it or update the driver if necessary. If this doesn't solve your problem try connecting another computer to the network. If other computers work, it means that your network card is defective so you must replace it.

If you don't have a spare network cable, check if the cable is properly connected to the modem/router/switch and to your network card. If it is, unplug it and check the cable for faults. It could be interrupted or the wires could be cut near the connectors. If this is the case, replace the cable.

This happened to me the other day and I discovered that the network cable had the wires cut at one end, near the connector.

How to take screen snapshots in Opensuse with KDE

Taking snapshots of the desktop or of individual windows is useful in many situations. Doing this in Opensuse 12.3 with KDE is very simple. These are the steps:

- open Menu
- go to Applications
- select Utilities
-  select Desktop
- click on  Screen capture program (Ksnapshot)

After Ksnapshot opens, you will notice that Capture mode has several options. Choose the one you need, adjust other options as needed and click on Take a new snapshot button to capture your screen. Then click Save as.., choose the desired format and location and save your capture. Simple as that!

Sharing files in OpenSuSE 12.3

As I said in previous posts, I am not a Linux expert, but I want to help other Linux beginners find their way through the world of Suse distro. This is the best way Linux community can grow, by helping each other.
This article is trying to help recent Suse fans configure sharing files and folders over a network of both Linux and Windows computers. Sharing files in Opensuse is simple. If you read this post than you have connected your Opensuse desktop to your local network. But there might be a problem, as it was in my case. I couldn't access the workgroups on my network or other users couldn't connect to my shared folders. After setting up the network as presented in the article mentioned above, when trying to access local network, Dolphin displayed "Time out on server ..." error. The solution to this was adding a line in smb.conf in the global section like this:

name resolve order = hosts lmhosts bcast wins


There are several ways of modifying smb.conf, but I use this one:
- open menu, go to Applications, then System, choose File manager and open File manager - super user mode. After entering root password, Dolphin opens in super user mode.
- navigate to /etc/samba and open smb.conf. Because it was opened as super user you can edit the file and save it. Don't forget to close File manager - super user mode when you are done!

After trying different ways of ordering the arguments, I found out that the order that best suited me was "lmhosts bcast hosts wins". Now workgroups are displayed immediately and I can access computers on the network.

Another issue with sharing my files in Opensuse 12.3 over network, was that users couldn't access my shared folders as samba asked for password even if I checked the Allow users to share directories and Allow guest access in samba server configuration window. This can be solved in Opensuse 12.3 by clicking on Guest Access button as shown below

I hope this helped you and please ask any question you may have in case this article didn't solve your problem.

Windows 7 - how to remove "Install updates and shutdown" option from the power button

How many times were you forced to quickly shutdown the computer but couldn't because Windows needed to install updates first and then shutdown?
Sometimes I just don't have time to wait for Windows 7 to install updates and then shutdown. This happens at my workplace where due to the fact that electricity stops after work hours are done I must turn off the computer before power outage. So, to get rid of this awful feature (for me) I chose a simple solution. This works by modifying an option from Windows Update Policy Settings. Here are the steps to follow:

- Open Start menu, enter gpedit.msc in the search box and launch gpedit
- go to User configuration > Administrative templates > Windows components > Windows update
- double click on Do not adjust default option to 'Install Updates and then Shut Down' in Shut Down Windows dialog box to edit option.
-after the edit window opens, click on Enable and then Apply. Close everything and you're done!

Documentation:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457141.aspx#ECAA

Windows 7 - cum sa inchidem calculatorul fara a instala actualizarile

Ce putem face atunci cand ne grabim sa inchidem calculatorul rapid, dar nu este posibil pentru ca Windows 7 vrea sa instaleze actualizarile inainte de a inchide calculatorul?
Exista mai multe solutii, dar eu o voi prezenta pe cea mai simpla dintre ele. Aceasta presupune modificarea unei setari in Automatic Updates Policy Settings. Asadar, pasii de urmat sunt:

- Deschideti meniul Start , scrieti in casuta de cautare gpedit.msc si apoi lansati gpedit.msc.
- Mergeti la User configuration > Administrative templates > Windows Components > Windows update.

- Faceti dublu click pe optiunea Do not adjust default option to 'Install Updates and Shut Down' in Shut Down Windows dialog box, selectati Enable si apoi click pe Apply.

Asta este  tot. Acum veti putea inchide calculatorul fara probleme cand va grabiti.

Alte informatii:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457141.aspx#ECAA

Opensuse 11.4 - Install flash player 64bit on Firefox 4 x86_64

Since I started using Firefox 4 beta x86_64 on OpenSuSE 11.3 I noticed that some flash players from different websites were not working properly. On some flash players or flash animations I had white rectangles appearing over images. I hoped that this would be fixed when Firefox 4 would be released or after I upgraded to OpenSuSE 11.4, but the problem persisted.
One solution for this flash player problem would be to uninstall the 64 bit version of Firefox and install the 32 bit version, but this would result in a decrease of speed for Firefox.
The second option is to uninstall the 32 bit version of the flash player which comes with OpenSuSE 11.4 and install a 64 bit version of Adobe Flash which is available from  Adobe Labs. They developed Adobe Flash Player "Square" which is a preview release that enables native 64-bit support on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows operating systems.
Before installing flash player "square" you must uninstall the previous version of flash player. To do this, open kick-off menu, go to Computer and click on Install/Remove Software. After the software manager opens, search for "flash" and select to uninstall flash-player and pullin-flash-player.
Now go to http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10_square.html and click on "Download plug-in for 64-bit Linux (TAR.GZ, 4.1 MB)".
Next step is to install the flash player "square":

- go to the location you saved flashplayer10_2_p3_64bit_linux_111710.tar.gz and extract the .tar.gz archive
- copy libflashplayer.so to /usr/lib64/browser-plugins (note that you must do this as root):

sudo cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib64/browser-plugins

Restart Firefox and open a web page that contains flash animations or a flash player that you know previously didn't work.

Important: Please note that if you install the Flash Player "Square" preview, you will need to keep this version up to date by manually installing updates from the Flash Player "Square" download page on Adobe Labs. You will not receive automatic update notifications for future final releases of Flash Player, and you will need to manually uninstall Flash Player "Square" before installing a final shipping version of Flash Player.

Opensuse 11.3 - instalare TV-Maxe, program pentru linux cu posturi tv romanesti online

Intr-un articol anterior prezentam aparitia TV-Maxe, un program romanesc, bazat pe pluginul sopcast, care ofera posibilitatea vizionarii online de posturi tv romanesti in Linux. Dupa cum e scris si in acel articol, TV-Maxe este impachetat de catre autorul sau in pachet .deb pentru Ubuntu si .tar.gz. In acest ghid va voi arata cum sa instalati TV-Maxe in Opensuse 11.3.
Dupa cum stiti Opensuse foloseste pachete .rpm pentru instalarea de softuri, de aceea va trebui sa convertim pachetul tvmaxe.deb in pachet .rpm pentru a-l putea instala.

Intai de toate navigati pe aceasta pagina pentru a descarca ultima versiune a TV-Maxe.

De asemenea, pentru a rula corect programul trebuie instalate urmatoarele dependinte: libstdc++5 si sp-sc-auth (executabil sopcast in versiune linie de comanda). Pentru a le descarca faceti click aici (mergeti la sectiunea Sopcast 3.2.6 for Linux) sau faceti click pe urmatoarele linkuri: http://download.easetuner.com/download/sp-auth.tgz si http://www.sopcast.com/download/libstdcpp5.tgz .

Deschideti acum un manager de fisiere (Dolphin daca folositi KDE sau Nautilus pentru Gnome) si navigati spre cele doua fisiere descarcate (de obicei ele sunt salvate de Firefox in folderul /home/nume_utilizator/Downloads). Faceti click dreapta pe fiecare si alegeti Extract here... Vor rezulta 2 foldere, unul intitulat sp-auth care contine executabilul sp-sc-auth, iar celalalt va fi usr si va contine un subfolder numit lib, in care veti regasi fisierele libstdc++.so.5, de tip shortcut si libstdc++.so.5.0.1.

Deschideti un terminal linux si logati-va ca root (tastati su si introduceti parola de administrator).

Navigati catre folderul in care s-au descarcat cele doua dependinte:

cd /home/nume_utilizator/Downloads 

Inlocuiti nume_utilizator cu numele dumneavoastra sau cu numele ales la instalarea sistemului de operare.


Tastati urmatoarele comenzi pentru a instala dependintele:

cd sp-auth
cp sp-sc-auth /usr/bin/
cd usr/lib
cp libstdc++.so.5 /usr/lib
cp libstdc++.so.5.0.1 /usr/lib

Pentru a transforma pachetul tvmaxe.deb in pachet .rpm vom folosi programul alien care ar trebui sa fie disponibil deja in repertoriile software ale Opensuse 11.3. Pentru a instala alien tastati urmatoarea comanda:

zypper in alien

Dupa instalarea alien, putem trece la convertirea pachetului .deb al TV-Maxe in pachet .rpm, dar inainte de aceasta ne intoarcem in folderul Downloads unde este descarcat pachetul tvmaxe.deb:

cd /home/nume_utilizator/Downloads

alien -r tvmaxe.deb

Aceasta comanda va crea un pachet numit tv-maxe-0.04.1-2.noarch.rpm

In acest moment avem instalate dependintele pentru TV-Maxe si avem disponibil un pachet .rpm pentru instalarea TV-Maxe in Opensuse 11.3. Pentru a instala si TV-Maxe tastati urmatoarea comanda:

zypper in tv-maxe-0.04.1-2.noarch.rpm

Apasati enter in momentul in care veti fi intrebat daca doriti instalarea programului tvmaxe si asteptati terminarea instalarii.

Acum puteti lansa aplicatia TV-Maxe din meniul Kickoff la sectiunea Multimedia>More Programs>TV-MAXE

Opensuse 11.3 - how to install Mozilla Firefox 4 beta

The most popular web browser, Firefox, will release Firefox 4, the fastest web browser, in the late February or the beginning of March 2011. It features a lot of improvements, a feedback button so everyone can share his opinion on Firefox, a redesigned interface and support for new web technologies.
You can download it and test it on any platform and in this guide I will show you how to install it in Opensuse 11.3
First of all you need to add the latest Firefox test versions repositories to Opensuse 11.3 by following these instructions:
- open a terminal and login as root:  open a terminal and type su, hit enter, type in your password and then hit enter again
- type the following commands and hit enter after each command:

zypper ar -r http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/mozilla:/beta/openSUSE_11.3/mozilla:beta.repo
zypper ar -r http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/mozilla/openSUSE_11.3/mozilla.repo
zypper in MozillaFirefox

Wait until Firefox 4 beta finishes installing and then enjoy a nice, unique experience in surfing web.

Here you can find more info on Firefox 4:
http://en.opensuse.org/Firefox
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/beta/

Opensuse 11.3 - Instalare Mozilla Firefox 4 beta

 For english version click here.

Cel mai popular browser de internet, Firefox, pregateste pentru utilizatorii sai Firefox 4, un browser modern, cu o interfata pe masura si cu suport pentru cele mai noi tehnologii in materie de web. Firefox 4 este aproape de lansarea finala a browserului si este disponibila pentru download in versiunea Firefox 4 beta11.
Firefox 4 beta beneficiaza de un buton de Feedback pentru cei care doresc sa impartaseasca dezvoltatorilor aplicatiei aspecte legate de experienta utilizarii browserului si, de ce nu, eventuale propuneri de imbunatatiri. Este un browser modern ce incearca sa tina pasul cu dezvoltarea aplicatiilor web si ofera suport partial (deocamdata) sau total pentru cele mai noi tehnologii web, cum ar fi HTML5 sau CSS3.
Se stie bine faptul ca Firefox este unul dintre cele mai rapide browsere pentru internet, iar noua versiune va fi chiar mai rapida decat Firefox 3.6.13.
Daca doriti sa testati noua versiune de Firefox, puteti afla prin acest ghid cum il instalati in Opensuse 11.3. Iata pasii de urmat:
- mai intai trebuie adaugat repertoriul pentru cea mai noua versiune de test a browserului Firefox. Pentru aceasta puteti accesa aceasta pagina si mergeti la paragraful intitulat "Latest version" (unde veti gasi instructiuni de instalare) sau deschideti o fereastra de terminal si scrieti pe rand urmatoarele comenzi, apasand tasta enter dupa fiecare comanda (introduceti parola de administrator cand vi se cere):

sudo zypper ar -r http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/mozilla:/beta/openSUSE_11.3/mozilla:beta.repo 
sudo zypper ar -r http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/mozilla/openSUSE_11.3/mozilla.repo

sudo zypper in MozillaFirefox

Asteptati sa se instaleze si apoi puteti incepe experienta unica a utillizarii celui mai popular browser web intr-o versiune cu o interfata moderna, prietenoasa si cu suport imbunatatit pentru diferitele tehnologii web.

Legaturi:
http://en.opensuse.org/Firefox
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/beta/

Windows 7 - How to share a folder

In the previous article we learned how to enable file sharing in Windows 7. Now you will see how to share a folder in Windows 7.
There are more than one way to share a folder and in this tutorial I'll show the one I consider the fastest and simplest.
Navigate to the folder you wish to share and right-click it and choose Properties. After the properties window appears, go to the Share tab and click on Advanced Sharing...:

In the Advanced Sharing window click the Share this folder check box, enter a name for your share and
then click on Permissions to set the folder's permissions:

In the Permissions window you can set the network users rights on your shared folder. You can give full control over folder meaning read/write access or you can make it read only. To give full access to your network folder click the Full control check box. To make it read only make sure only the Read check box is checked:

Now click OK to close the Permissions window, then click Apply and then OK to close the Advance Sharing window and your folder will appear in your network.

Windows 7 - How to enable files and folders sharing

In this tutorial I would like to help Windows 7 users who migrated to 7 straight from Windows XP, how to join a network and share files and folders on the network.

First of all you need a Windows 7 computer connected to a local area network. Network computers must be on the same workgroup so you can easily share files and folders between them.
To join the workgroup in your local network:

Open the Start menu and then right click Computer and choose Properties:

In the Properties window navigate to Computer name, domain and workgroup settings and click Change Settings:

A new window will appear. Here you can enter a brief descriprion of your computer (optionally). To join a workgroup click on Change button:

In the new window enter you computer's name and the workgroup's name and click Ok.

A welcome to the workgroup message will appear and click Ok. Then a warning message will pop up and click Ok to close it. Now click Close on the System Properties window and restart your computer.

Now your computer is on a Workgroup in your local area network but due to Windows 7 default network settings your computer is not yet ready to share files and folders. To enable file sharing you must:

Open Control Panel from the Start button and then go to Network and Sharing Center:

In the Network and Sharing Center window click on Change Advanced Sharing Settings from the left panel:

 To enable file sharing and make you computer discoverable on the network make sure you check the settings like in the picture below:

Restart computer for all the changes to take effect.

Windows 7 - How to uninstall Internet Explorer 8

I have recently found a question on internet from a kid, I think, who wanted to uninstall Internet Explorer from Windows. The solutions given by the answers he received weren't accurate enough so I hope this guide woill help him or anyone else who wants to uninstall a Windows feature. This is quite easy and for this you need to follow these simple steps:

First of all you must know you must be logged in as an administrator to perform this task.
Click the Start menu and open Control Panel.
After Control Panel opens, click on Programs and Features.

When the Programs and Features windows appears, go to the task pane and click on Turn Windows features on or off.

A new windows with a list of all Windows components will appear. Now search for Internet Explorer and clear the checkbox next to Internet Explorer, then click OK.

A warning message will pop up where you click OK.
Now Windows will uninstall Internet Explorer and after this your computer will be restarted.
If you want to do the same on other versions of Windows follow this link: click here

Anunt publicitar achizitie directa - Muzeul National Peles

In atentia operatorilor economici interesati

1. Emitent: Muzeul National Peles cu sediul in Sinaia, str. Pelesului, nr. 2, jud. Prahova, cod postal 106100, telefon 0244.310918, 0244.312184, fax 0244.312416, cod fiscal RO 27312381, cont trezorerie RO16TREZ5255003XXX000835 deschis la Trezoreria Sinaia

2. Procedura aplicata: Achizitie directa conf. art. 19 din O.U.G. nr. 34/2006
3. Metoda de selectie interna si atribuire contract: Studiu de piata
4. Forma contractului: contract de service
5. Obiectul contractului: servicii de revizie periodică trimestrială şi intervenţii accidentale la echipamente informatice M. N. Peles
6. Cod CPV rev. 2: 50312000-5
7. Locul de prestare: sediul M. N. Peles
8. Caiet de sarcini: la solicitarea operatorilor economici interesati (fax, e-mail etc)
9. Propunerea financiara si propunerea tehnica: conform caiet sarcini
10. Sursa de finantare: bugetul de stat
11. Criterii minime de calificare: conform caiet sarcini
Documente minime solicitate:
   - Certificat de inregistrare de ORC - copie conforma cu originalul
   - Certificate de autorizare/atestare a calitatii solicitate potrivit obiectului contractului - copie conforma cu originalul
   - Certificat fiscal eliberat de Administratia Financiara teritoriala la care este arondat sediul persoanei fizice sau juridice, dupa caz - copie conforma cu originalul/original
   - Alte documente care vor fi considerate necesare, dupa caz
12. Perioada de valabilitate a ofertelor: 60 de zile de la data depunerii ofertelor
13. Perioada de derulare a contractului: conform caiet sarcini
14. Pretul: va fi exprimat in lei fara tva
15. Valoarea estimata a contractului: 2680 lei fara tva (623.25 euro fara tva)
16. Criteriul de atribuire: pretul cel mai scazut, rezultat conform Studiu de piata
17. Data maxima de depunere a ofertelor prin fax, e-mail, scrisoare recomandata etc. la adresa sediului precizat mai sus: 10 zile lucratoare de la data publicarii sau solicitarii caietului de sarcini, dar nu mai tarziu de 15.02.2011
18. Data comunicarii rezultatelor ofertelor depuse: 3 zile de la data aprobarii raportului de atribuire a cumpararii directe prin studiul de piata
19. Alte clarificari si solicitari de informatii pot fi obtinute de la Serviciul Achizitii Publice, int. 108, telefon 0244.310918, 0244.312184, fax 0244.312416 sau Sef Serviciu Achizitii Publice - jr. Dragos Sandu, telefon 0720.020244.

http://achizitiipublice-stmd.blogspot.com

Windows XP - How to add your computer to a workgroup

If your computer is already part of a network, you can join a certain workgroup so you can see all the computers on the network. To join a workgroup follow some simple steps:

Open Start Menu and right click on My Computer and choose Properties.

When the properties window appears, go to Computer Name tab and click on it. On this tab you can enter a computer description (optionally, if you want network users to easy recognize your computer). Click on Change to enter the workgroup name in your network (if you don't know it, just ask the network administrator for the workgroup name).

A new window will appear. Here you can enter your computer's name and then make sure Workgroup is checked and enter the workgroup name.Click OK and then restart your computer.

To see computers on the workgroup, open Network Places (from the Start Menu or open My Computer and click on My Network Places on the left panel), then click View Workgroup Computers on the Network Tasks  panel on the left.

If you want to see computers from other workgroups in your local network (if there are any), follow the step above and then click on Microsoft Windows Network from the Other Places panel on the left.

Windows cannot start because the following file is missing or corrupt: vgaoem.fon (EN)

Few days ago my Windows XP Professional failed to start due to a power blackout and showed the following error:

Windows failed to start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\vgaoem.fon

If for some reason this happens to you too, don't panic, the solution is very simple. Just make sure you have a Windows XP installation cd and follow these simple steps:

Setup your computer to boot from cd (do this from BIOS or press F12 or F11 to change the boot sequence; might be a good idea to check your motherboard manual first to see how to change the boot order). Insert your Windows XP installation cd and restart computer.
 
When the "Press any key to boot from cd..." appears, press any key to start computer from installation cd.

After the Welcome screen appears, press R to start Recovery console.

Choose the operating system and press enter. Type in the administrator password and hit enter or just hit enter if you don't have a password.

Type map and hit enter to see which letter is assigned to the cdrom device containing the installation CD.
Type the following command to copy and expand vgaoem.fon file (replace E : with the corresponding letter of your cd-rom drive. Do the same with C, replacing it with the corresponding letter of the partition where Windows is installed), then press enter):

expand E:\i386\vgaoem.fo_ C:\windows\system

Notice the underscore after "o" in "vgaoem.fo_".

A message confirming the operation will be displayed.

Type exit to reboot computer and remove the Windows installation cd. Now your Windows Xp should be fixed and start normally.

See here an official Micorosft guide for this: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315338

Windows cannot start because the following file is missing or corrupt: vgaoem.fon (RO)

Mesajul de eroare ce face titlul acestui articol, s-a intamplat sa imi apara dupa o pana de curent cand aveam calculatorul pornit. In cazul de fata fisierul cu erori este vgaoem.fon, insa aceasta eroare poate aparea si in cazul altor fisiere, cum de altfel mi s-a si intamplat.
Nu va speriati atunci cand observati ca Windows XP nu mai porneste dupa o pana de curent sau alte probleme cu tensiunea din prize (fluctuatii de tensiune). De obicei solutia este simpla, ca si in cazul acesta.
Pentru a rezolva problema asigurati-va ca aveti un CD de instalare de Windows XP si setati BIOS-ul sa booteze de pe CD (intrati in BIOS si modificati secventa de boot sau la pornirea calculatorului apasati F12 sau F11 in functie de placa de baza pe care o aveti).

Asadar, pasii sunt urmatorii:
Introduceti CD-ul in unitate si reporniti calculatorul, selectand apoi ca mediu de boot CD-ul (vezi mai sus), apoi la aparitia mesajului "Press any key to boot from CD", apasati orice tasta pentru a boota de pe CD.

Dupa ce apare interfata de instalare a Windows si  meniul cu optiuni apasati "R" pentru a intra in Recovery console.

Dupa ce s-a deschis interfata MS-DOS a consolei, selectati sistemul de operare si apoi introduceti parola de administrator (daca exista, daca nu, apasati enter).

Tastati map si apasati Enter pentru a putea vedea ce litera corespunde unitatii optice (ex. E:\Device\CDrom0).

Tastati urmatoarea comanda (inlocuiti CD_ROM drive cu litera corespunzatoare unitatii optice care contine cd-ul de instalare, iar drive reprezinta litera corespunzatoare partitiei pe care este instalat sistemul de operare, de obicei C) pentru a copia fisierul vgaoem.fon de pe cd-ul de instalare in directorul Windows:

expand CD-ROM drive:\i386\vgaoem.fo_ drive:\windows\system

Atentie: observati in comanda de mai sus prezenta caracterului underscore sau "liniuta jos" dupa litera "o" in "vgaoem.fo_"

Va aparea un mesaj de confirmare a operatiunii, dupa care tastati exit si apasati enter pentru a reporni calculatorul. Scoateti cd-ul de instalare al Windows si porniti normal calculatorul (daca e nevoie setati ca prim mediu de boot hard diskul). In acest moment, Windows XP ar trebui sa porneasca normal.

Aici gasiti un ghid Microsoft pentru aceasta problema: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315338