Stop Password Expiration

After you have run Windows XP for a while, you may receive this message when you log on: "Your password will expire in 14 days.....".

By default, Windows XP is set up with passwords which will expire after 42 days.

And 14 days in advance, Windows will start warning you of this fact.

Go to Start > Run > type control userpasswords2

Select the Advanced tab in the User Accounts window.

Press the Advanced button below the Advanced user management header.

Select Users in the Local Users and Groups.

In the right pane, right-click the user name for which you want to change the setting, and select Properties.

On the General tab, check Password never expires.

Click Apply and OK (all the way out).

Key Stroke Software for tracking your PC

Key Stroke Software

For system administrators : If you are involved in computer security, you must know that on a network the greatest threat comes from the inside. You can thus use Revealer to be sure that there is no confidential information leak, or to detect illegal activities on your computers.

For employers : Revealer Keylogger can be very helpful in your hiring process. Just install it on the computer of your new recruit during his training period and see if he spends more time chatting online than working on what you pay him for. With Revealer Keylogger you’ll make the right decisions, thus you’ll save time and money.

For home users : Keep an eye on your children activities. Know what is done on your computer while you are away. Recover lost text and passwords.

http://www.mediafire.com/?4lkz0ztmuqm

Hidden XP Football Worldcup

In XP, there is hidden "ASCII Football Worldcup"

Start ---> Run and then type TELNET ascii-wm.net 2006 and press OK.

For full screen option, press [Alt]+[Enter]

Seeing the monitor little bit far will give clear picture of the game.

How To Trace A Hacker?

How To Trace A Hacker?

Sometimes, it’s just not enough to simply know that there’s a Trojan or Virus onboard. Sometimes you need to know exactly why that file is onboard, how it got there - but most importantly, who put it there.

By enumerating the attacker in the same way that they have enumerated the victim, you will be able to see the bigger picture and establish what you’re up against. But how can you do this? Read on…

## Connections make the world go round ##

The computer world, at any rate. Every single time you open up a website, send an email or upload your webpages into cyberspace, you are connecting to another machine in order to get the job done. This, of course, presents a major problem, because this simple act is what allows malicious users to target a machine in the first place.

# How do these people find their victim?

Well, first of all, they need to get hold of the victim’s IP Address. Your IP (Internet Protocol) address reveals your point of entry to the Internet and can be used in many ways to cause your online activities many, many problems. It may not reveal you by name, but it may be uniquely identifiable and it represents your digital ID while you are online (especially so if you’re on a fixed IP / DSL etc).

With an IP address, a Hacker can find out all sorts of weird and wonderful things about their victim (as well as causing all kinds of other trouble, the biggest two being Portnukes/Trojans and the dreaded DoS ((Denial of Service)) attack). Some Hackers like to collect IP Addresses like badges, and like to go back to old targets, messing them around every so often. An IP address is incredibly easy to obtain - until recently, many realtime chat applications (such as MSN) were goldmines of information. Your IP Address is contained as part of the Header Code on all emails that you send and webpages that you visit can store all kinds of information about you. A common trick is for the Hacker to go into a Chatroom, paste his supposed website address all over the place, and when the unsuspecting victim visits, everything about your computer from the operating system to the screen resolution can be logged…and, of course, the all important IP address. In addition, a simple network-wide port scan will reveal vulnerable target machines, and a war-dialler will scan thousands of lines for exposed modems that the hacker can exploit.

So now that you know some of the basic dangers, you’re probably wondering how these people connect to a victim’s machine?

## Virtual and Physical Ports ##

Everything that you recieve over the Internet comes as a result of other machines connecting to your computer’s ports. You have two types; Physical are the holes in the back of your machine, but the important ones are Virtual. These allow transfer of data between your computer and the outside world, some with allocated functions, some without, but knowing how these work is the first step to discovering who is attacking you; you simply MUST have a basic knowledge of this, or you won’t get much further.

# What the phrases TCP/UDP actually mean

TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol, a TCP/IP packet is a block of data which is compressed, then a header is put on it and it is sent to another computer (UDP stands for User Datagram Protocol). This is how ALL internet transfers occur, by sending packets. The header in a packet contains the IP address of the one who originally sent you it. Now, your computer comes with an excellent (and free) tool that allows you to see anything that is connected (or is attempting to connect) to you, although bear in mind that it offers no blocking protection; it simply tells you what is going on, and that tool is NETSTAT.

## Netstat: Your first line of defence ##

Netstat is a very fast and reliable method of seeing exactly who or what is connected (or connecting) to your computer. Open up DOS (Start/Programs/MS-DOS Prompt on most systems), and in the MSDOS Prompt, type:

netstat -a

(make sure you include the space inbetween the “t” and the “a”).

If you’re connected to the Internet when you do this, you should see something like:
Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP macintosh: 20034 modem-123.tun.dialup.co.uk: 50505 ESTABLISHED
TCP macintosh: 80 proxy.webcache.eng.sq: 30101 TIME_WAIT
TCP macintosh MACINTOSH: 0 LISTENING
TCP macintosh MACINTOSH: 0 LISTENING
TCP macintosh MACINTOSH: 0 LISTENING
Now, “Proto(col)” simply means what kind of data transmission is taking place (TCP or UDP), “Local address” is your computer (and the number next to it tells you what port you’re connected on), “Foreign Address” is the machine that is connected to you (and what port they’re using), and finally “State” is simply whether or not a connection is actually established, or whether the machine in question is waiting for a transmission, or timing out etc.

Now, you need to know all of Netstat’s various commands, so type:

netstat ?

You will get something like this:
Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP network connections.

NETSTAT [-a] [-e] [-n] [-s] [-p proto] [-r] [interval]

-a Displays all connections and listening ports.
-e Displays Ethernet statistics. This may be combined with the -s option.
-n Displays addresses and port numbers in numerical form.
-p proto Shows connections for the protocol specified by proto; proto may be TCP or UDP. If used with the -s option to display per-protocol statistics, proto may be TCP, UDP, or IP.
-r Displays the routing table.
-s Displays per-protocol statistics. By default, statistics are shown for TCP, UDP and IP; the -p option may be used to specify a subset of the default.
Have a play around with the various options, but the most important use of these methods is when you combine them. The best command to use is

netstat -an

because this will list all connections in Numerical Form, which makes it a lot easier to trace malicious users….Hostnames can be a little confusing if you don’t know what you’re doing (although they’re easily understandable, as we shall see later). Also, by doing this, you can also find out what your own IP address is, which is always useful.

Also,

netstat -b

will tell you what ports are open and what programs are connecting to the internet.

## Types of Port ##

It would be impossible to find out who was attacking you if computers could just access any old port to perform an important function; how could you tell a mail transfer from a Trojan Attack? Well, good news, because your regular, normal connections are assigned to low, commonly used ports, and in general, the higher the number used, the more you should be suspicious. Here are the three main types of port:

# Well Known Ports These run from 0 to 1023, and are bound to the common services that run on them (for example, mail runs on channel 25 tcp/udp, which is smtp (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) so if you find one of these ports open (and you usually will), it’s usually because of an essential function.

# Registered Ports These run on 1024 to 49151. Although not bound to a particular service, these are normally used by networking utilities like FTP software, Email client and so on, and they do this by opening on a random port within this range before communicating with the remote server, so don’t panic (just be wary, perhaps) if you see any of these open, because they usually close automatically when the system that’s running on them terminates (for example, type in a common website name in your browser with netstat open, and watch as it opens up a port at random to act as a buffer for the remote servers). Services like MSN Messenger and ICQ usually run on these Ports.

# Dynamic/Private Ports Ranging from 49152 to 65535, these things are rarely used except with certain programs, and even then not very often. This is indeed the usual range of the Trojan, so if you find any of these open, be very suspicious. So, just to recap:
Well Known Ports 0 to 1023 Commonly used, little danger.
Registered Ports 1024 to 49151 Not as common, just be careful.
Dynamic/Private Ports 49152 to 65535 Be extremely suspicious.

## The hunt is on ##

Now, it is essential that you know what you’re looking for, and the most common way someone will attack your machine is with a Trojan. This is a program that is sent to you in an email, or attempts to bind itself to one of your ports, and when activated, it can give the user your passwords, access to your hard drive…they can even make your CD Tray pop open and shut. At the end of this Document, you will find a list of the most commonly used Trojans and the ports they operate on. For now, let’s take another look at that first example of Netstat….

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP macintosh: 27374 modem-123.tun.dialup.co.uk: 50505 ESTABLISHED
TCP macintosh: 80 proxy.webcache.eng.sq: 30101 TIME_WAIT
TCP macintosh MACINTOSH: 0 LISTENING
TCP macintosh MACINTOSH: 0 LISTENING
TCP macintosh MACINTOSH: 0 LISTENING
Now, straight away, this should make more sense to you. Your computer is connected on two ports, 80 and 27374. Port 80 is used for http/www transmissions (ie for all intents and purposes, its how you connect to the net, although of course it’s a lot more complicated than that). Port 27374, however, is distinctly suspicious; first of all, it is in the registered port range, and although other services (like MSN) use these, let’s assume that you have nothing at all running like instant messengers, webpages etc….you’re simply connected to the net through proxy. So, now this connection is looking even more troublesome, and when you realise that 27374 is a common port for Netbus (a potentially destructive Trojan), you can see that something is untoward here. So, what you would do is:

1) run Netstat , and use:

Netstat -a

then

Netstat -an

So you have both Hostnames AND IP addresses.

## Tracerouting ##

Having the attacker’s IP is all well and good, but what can you do with it? The answer is, a lot more! It’s not enough to have the address, you also need to know where the attacker’s connections are coming from. You may have used automated tracerouting tools before, but do you jknow how they work?

Go back to MSDOS and type
tracert *type IP address/Hostname here*
Now, what happens is, the Traceroute will show you all the computers inbetween you and the target machine, including blockages, firewalls etc. More often than not, the hostname address listed before the final one will belong to the Hacker’s ISP Company. It’ll either say who the ISP is somewhere in there, or else you run a second trace on the new IP/hostname address to see who the ISP Company in question is. If the Hostname that you get back doesn’t actually seem to mention an actual geographical location within its text, you may think all is lost. But fear not! Suppose you get a hostname such as

http://www.haha.com

Well, that tells us nothing, right? Wrong….simply enter the hostname in your browser, and though many times you will get nothing back, sometimes it will resolve to an ISP, and from there you can easily find out its location and in what areas they operate. This at least gives you a firm geographical location to carry out your investigations in.

If you STILL have nothing, as a last resort you COULD try connecting to your target’s ISP’s port 13 by Telnet, which will tell you how many hours ahead or behind this ISP is of GMT, thus giving you a geographical trace based on the time mentioned (although bear in mind, the ISP may be doing something stupid like not having their clocks set correctly, giving you a misleading trace. Similarly, a common tactic of Hackers is to deliberately have their computer’s clock set to a totally wrong time, so as to throw you off the scent). Also, unless you know what you’re doing, I wouldn’t advise using Telnet (which is outside the parameters of this tutorial).

## Reverse DNS Query ##

This is probably the most effective way of running a trace on somebody. If ever you’re in a chatroom and you see someone saying that they’ve “hacked into a satellite orbiting the Earth, and are taking pictures of your house right now”, ignore them because that’s just bad movie nonsense. THIS method is the way to go, with regard to finding out what country (even maybe what State/City etc) someone resides, although it’s actually almost impossible to find an EXACT geographical location without actually breaking into your ISP’s Head Office and running off with the safe.

To run an rDNS query, simply go back to MS-DOS and type

netstat

and hit return. Any active connections will resolve to hostnames rather than a numerical format.

## DNS ##

DNS stands for Domain Name Server. These are machines connected to the Internet whose job it is to keep track of the IP Addresses and Domain Names of other machines. When called upon, they take the ASCII Domain Name and convert it to the relevant numeric IP Address. A DNS search translates a hostname into an IP address….which is why we can enter “www.Hotmail.com” and get the website to come up, instead of having to actually remember Hotmail’s IP address and enter that instead. Well, Reverse DNS, of course, translates the IP Address into a Hostname (ie - in letters and words instead of numbers, because sometimes the Hacker will employ various methods to stop Netstat from picking up a correct Hostname).

So, for example,

298.12.87.32 is NOT a Hostname.
mail6.bol.net.au IS a Hostname.

Anyway, see the section at the end? (au) means the target lives in Australia. Most (if not all) hostnames end in a specific Country Code, thus narrowing down your search even further. If you know your target’s Email Address (ie they foolishly sent you a hate mail, but were silly enough to use a valid email address) but nothing else, then you can use the Country codes to deduce where they’re from as well. You can also deduce the IP address of the sender by looking at the emails header (a “hidden” line of code which contains information on the sender)…on Hotmail for example, go to Preferences, and select the “Full Header’s Visible” option. Alternatively, you can run a “Finger” Trace on the email address, at:

www.samspade.org

Plus, some ISP’s include their name in your Email Address with them too (ie Wanadoo, Supanet etc), and your Hacker may be using an email account that’s been provided by a Website hosting company, meaning this would probably have the website host’s name in the email address (ie Webspawners). So, you could use the information gleaned to maybe even hunt down their website (then you could run a website check as mentioned previously) or report abuse of that Website Provider’s Email account (and thus, the Website that it goes with) to

abuse@companynamegoeshere.com

If your Hacker happens to reside in the USA, go to:

www.usps.gov/ncsc/lookups/abbr_state.txt

for a complete list of US State abbreviatons.

## List of Ports commonly used by Trojans ##

Please note that this isn’t a complete list by any means, but it will give you an idea of what to look out for in Netstat. Be aware that some of the lower Ports may well be running valid services.

UDP: 1349 Back Ofrice DLL
31337 BackOfrice 1.20
31338 DeepBO
54321 BackOfrice 2000
TCP: 21 Blade Runner, Doly Trojan, Fore, Invisible FTP, WebEx, WinCrash
23 Tiny Telnet Server
25 Antigen, Email Password Sender, Haebu Coceda, Shtrilitz Stealth, Terminator, WinPC, WinSpy, Kuang2 0.17A-0.30
31 Hackers Paradise
80 Executor
456 Hackers Paradise
555 Ini-Killer, Phase Zero, Stealth Spy
666 Satanz Backdoor
1001 Silencer, WebEx
1011 Doly Trojan
1170 Psyber Stream Server, Voice
1234 Ultors Trojan
1243 SubSeven 1.0 - 1.8
1245 VooDoo Doll
1492 FTP99CMP
1600 Shivka-Burka
1807 SpySender
1981 Shockrave
1999 BackDoor 1.00-1.03
2001 Trojan Cow
2023 Ripper
2115 Bugs
2140 Deep Throat, The Invasor
2801 Phineas Phucker
3024 WinCrash
3129 Masters Paradise
3150 Deep Throat, The Invasor
3700 Portal of Doom
4092 WinCrash
4567 File Nail 1
4590 ICQTrojan
5000 Bubbel
5000 Sockets de Troie
5001 Sockets de Troie
5321 Firehotcker
5400 Blade Runner 0.80 Alpha
5401 Blade Runner 0.80 Alpha
5402 Blade Runner 0.80 Alpha
5400 Blade Runner
5401 Blade Runner
5402 Blade Runner
5569 Robo-Hack
5742 WinCrash
6670 DeepThroat
6771 DeepThroat
6969 GateCrasher, Priority
7000 Remote Grab
7300 NetMonitor
7301 NetMonitor
7306 NetMonitor
7307 NetMonitor
7308 NetMonitor
7789 ICKiller
8787 BackOfrice 2000
9872 Portal of Doom
9873 Portal of Doom
9874 Portal of Doom
9875 Portal of Doom
9989 iNi-Killer
10067 Portal of Doom
10167 Portal of Doom
10607 Coma 1.0.9
11000 Senna Spy
11223 Progenic trojan
12223 Hack´99 KeyLogger
12345 GabanBus, NetBus
12346 GabanBus, NetBus
12361 Whack-a-mole
12362 Whack-a-mole
16969 Priority
20001 Millennium
20034 NetBus 2.0, Beta-NetBus 2.01
21544 GirlFriend 1.0, Beta-1.35
22222 Prosiak
23456 Evil FTP, Ugly FTP
26274 Delta
30100 NetSphere 1.27a
30101 NetSphere 1.27a
30102 NetSphere 1.27a
31337 Back Orifice
31338 Back Orifice, DeepBO
31339 NetSpy DK
31666 BOWhack
33333 Prosiak
34324 BigGluck, TN
40412 The Spy
40421 Masters Paradise
40422 Masters Paradise
40423 Masters Paradise
40426 Masters Paradise
47262 Delta
50505 Sockets de Troie
50766 Fore
53001 Remote Windows Shutdown
54321 SchoolBus .69-1.11
61466 Telecommando
65000 Devil

Change The Size Of The Thumbnail Picture

There is a way easy way of changing the size of the Thumbnail that are displayed on Windows XP.

Just follow the given below trick.

Change the size of the Thumbnail Picture:-

1. Click on START
2. Click on Run
3. Type regedit and press enter
4. Navigate the following key:- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer
5. Create a new "DWORD" name it ThumbnailSize and hit enter.
6. Now double click the value and enter the value between 32 to 256 (ignore any other options). A larger number will relate to a larger thumbnail.
7. Close registry.
8. Restart Computer.
9. Open My Picture (Or any other picture folder) and set the view as thumbail.
10. See the effect and enjoy.....

Hide Your Files In a JPEG

Well, did you know you could hide your files in a JPEG file? For this, you will only need to download WinRAR. You just need to have a little knowledge about Command Prompt and have WinRAR installed.

Ok, lets begin…

1. Gather all the files that you wish to hide in a folder anywhere in your PC (make it in C:\hidden - RECOMMENDED).

2. Now, add those files in a RAR archive (e.g. secret.rar). This file should also be in the same directory

3. Now, look for a simple JPEG picture file (e.g. logo.jpg). Copy/Paste that file also in C:\hidden.

4. Now, open Command Prompt (Go to Run and type ‘cmd‘). Make your working directory C:\hidden.

5. Now type: “COPY /b logo.jpg + secret.rar output.jpg” (without quotes) - Now, logo.jpg is the picture you want to show, secret.rar is the file to be hidden, and output.jpg is the file which contains both.

6. Now, after you have done this, you will see a file output.jpg in C:\hidden. Open it (double-click) and it will show the picture you wanted to show. Now try opening the same file with WinRAR, it will show the hidden archive .  (C:\hidden).

How To Modify .exe Files

Learn how to change *.exe files, in 5 easy steps:

1) Don't try to modify a prog by editing his source in a dissasembler.Why?
Cause that's for programmers and assembly experts only.

try to view it in hex you'll only get tons of crap you don't understand.
First off, you need Resource Hacker(last version). It's a resource editor-
very easy to use, You can download it at h**p://www.users.on.net/johnson/resourcehacker/

2) Unzip the archive, and run ResHacker.exe. You can check out the help file too

3) You will see that the interface is simple and clean. Go to the menu FileOpen or press Ctrl O to open a file. Browse your way to the file you would like to edit. You can edit *.exe, *.dll, *.ocx, *.scr and *.cpl files, but this tutorial is to teach you how to edit *.exe files, so open one.

4) In the left side of the screen a list of sections will appear.
The most common sections are
-String table;
-RCData;
-Dialog;
-Cursor group;
-Bitmap;
-WAV.
*Icon: You can wiew and change the icon(s) of the program by double-clicking the icon section,chossing the icon, right-clicking on it an pressing "replace resource". After that you can choose the icon you want to replace the original with.
*String table: a bunch of crap, useful sometimes, basic programming knowladge needed.
*RCData: Here the real hacking begins. Modify window titles, buttons, text, and lots more!
*Dialog:Here you can modify the messages or dialogs that appear in a program. Don't forget to press "Compile" when you're done!
*Cursor group: Change the mouse cursors used in the program just like you would change the icon.
*Bitmap: View or change images in the programs easy!
*WAV:Change the sounds in the prog. with your own.

5) In the RCData,Dialog,Menu and String table sections you can do a lot of changes. You can modify or translate the text change links, change buttons, etc.

TIP: To change a window title, search for something like: CAPTION "edit this".
TIP: After all operations press the "Compile Script" button, and when you're done editing save, your work @ FileSave(Save as).
TIP: When you save a file,the original file will be backed up by default and renamed to Name_original and the saved file will have the normal name of the changed prog.
TIP: Sometimes you may get a message like: "This program has a non-standard resource layout... it has probably been compressed with an .EXE compressor." That means that Resource Hacker can't modify it because of it's structure.

Watch Movies in Ms Paint!!!!!! , I'm not JOKING!!!!!!

Watch Movies in Ms Paint!!!!!! , I'm not JOKING!!!!!!

Hey guys, did you know that you can watch movies in paint ? But u can't do anything(Just watch it when its playing in Winamp... hope no use other than just experimenting..)

Here's what you gotta do :

1.Open your favourite movie player and play the move (I played the .mpg format in Winamp)

2.Hit "PrintScreen", keep playing the movie in the player, dont stop it.

3.Open MsPaint.

4.Select "Edit>Paste" Or Hit "CTRL+V"

You can watch movies in Paint!

But there are no Pause, Next, Previous, Stop etc. buttons

Spead this fact to all your friends and show how COOL things you can do with Paint!

Experiment with other formats too, it doesn't play DivX , Flash movies, etc. Microsoft hasn't revealed this i think. MsPaint is GREAT


Please post your reply...so that i can show more interest in providing someother interesting facts

the actual Credit to all of this, goes to the a user who provided this information on net.....

if you already know this information then please ignore...

Hide Drive Partition without any software

Here is a cool technique which hides entire hard disk drives by a simple procedure.
This is the best security tip to be employ against unauthorised users.

1) Go to Start > Run > type "diskpart".
A DOS window will appear with following description.

DISKPART>

2) Then type "list volume"
The result will look something like one as shown below-

 

3) Suppose you want to hide drive E then type "select volume 3"
Then a message will appear in same window { Volume 3 is the selected volume}

4) Now type "remove letter E"
Now a message will come { Diskpart Removed the Drive letter }

sometime it requires to reboot the computer.
Diskpart will remove the letter.

Windows XP is not having capabilty to identify the unknown volume.
Your Data is now safe from unauthorised users.

To access the content of hidden Drive repeat the process mentioned above. But in 4th step replace " remove" by "assign".
It means type "assign letter E".
 

Lost / Forgot Your Windows Password

Can't Log On to Windows XP? Break Windows password. If that’s your only problem, then you probably have nothing to worry about. As long as you have your Windows XP CD, you can get back into your system using a simple but effective method made possible by a little known access hole in Windows XP.You can easily change or wipe out your Administrator password for free during a Windows XP Repair. Here’s how with a step-by-step description of the initial Repair process included for newbie’s.

1. Place your Windows XP CD in your cd-rom and start your computer (it’s assumed here that your XP CD is bootable as it should be - and that you have your bios set to boot from CD)

2. Keep your eye on the screen messages for booting to your cd Typically, it will be “Press any key to boot from cd”

3. Once you get in, the first screen will indicate that Setup is inspecting your system and loading files. When you get to the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to Setup Windows now

4. The Licensing Agreement comes next - Press F8 to accept it.

5. The next screen is the Setup screen which gives you the option to do a Repair. It should read something like “If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it”
Use the up and down arrow keys to select your XP installation (if you only have one, it should already be selected) and press R to begin the Repair process.

6. Let the Repair run. Setup will now check your disks and then start copying files which can take several minutes.

7. Shortly after the Copying Files stage, you will be required to reboot. (this will happen automatically and you will see a progress bar stating “Your computer will reboot in 15 seconds”

8. During the reboot, do not make the mistake of “pressing any key” to boot from the CD again! Setup will resume automatically with the standard billboard screens and you will notice Installing Windows is highlighted.

9. Keep your eye on the lower left hand side of the screen and when you see the Installing Devices progress bar, press SHIFT + F10. This is the security hole! A command console will now open up giving you the potential for wide access to your system.

10. At the prompt, type NUSRMGR.CPL and press Enter. Voila! You have just gained graphical access to your User Accounts in the Control Panel.

11. Now simply pick the account you need to change and remove or change your password as you prefer. If you want to log on without having to enter your new password, you can type control userpasswords2 at the prompt and choose to log on without being asked for password. After you’ve made your changes close the windows, exit the command box and continue on with the Repair (have your Product key handy).

12. Once the Repair is done, you will be able to log on with your new password (or without a password if you chose not to use one or if you chose not to be asked for a password). Your programs and personalized settings should remain intact.

13. I tested the above on Windows XP Pro with and without SP1 and also used this method in a real situation where someone could not remember their password and it worked like a charm to fix the problem. This security hole allows access to more than just user accounts.

Free up RAM to make windows run faster without any Software

Here is a method you might like to use to free up RAM to make Windows run faster.

When programs run in Windows XP, they frequently use what are called DLLs (Dynamic-Link Libraries).
These contain shared programming instructions and other files like icons, graphics, sounds, etc. that different applications use in order to run. DLLs are stored in RAM whenever the applications load them; when you quit a program, XP is supposed to release the DLL from memory. But some DLLs can get stuck.

Here is the method to mend this up.

Step 1: You can force Windows XP to release DLLs by adding a Registry key.
Step 2: Select Start > Run >Enter regedit >Hit Ok

Step 3: This will open the Registry Editor and navigate to
My Computer -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows -> CurrentVersion -> Explorer.

Step 4: Right click on EXPLORER in the Left Pane, Select New > Key.

Step 5: Name it as AlwaysUnloadDLL and set the default value to 1.

Step 6: Restart Windows to activate the change.

Remove Stored username and Passwords

To remove the Stored User Names and Passwords from your system, try this:

Click Start, Run and type Control keymgr.dll

Remove the entries from the list.

The other ways to access this dialog are:

Type Control Userpasswords2 in RUN box, click Advanced, Manage Passwords-or-From Control Panel, select your User Account, click Manage your network passwords

How To Unload Cached DLL Files To Free Memory

Windows Explorer caches DLLs (Dynamic-Link Libraries) in memory for a period of time after the application an using them has been closed. Which in some cases can be an waste of memory. To stop WinXP from always caching these DLL files, create the new registry key below.

FOLLOW the STEPS:-


Open up the Registry - start > run > regedit

And navigate to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer

Create a new sub-key named 'AlwaysUnloadDLL' and set the default value to equal '1' to disable Windows caching the DLL in memory.

Maximize Windows or Internet Explorer on opening

It is convenient to open the Internet Explorer with maximized window any times. We can set it maximized by Windows Registry. Let do these steps.

* Open Registry Editor program, running regedit.
* Go to the path,

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console

*
In the right window of the Registry Editor program, double click on FullScreen registry.
*
Change the Value data to 1 in the Edit DWORD Value window.
*
Click OK.
*
Finish !

Hidden Sound track in Windows Xp

Windows XP has a hidden sound track which plays as background music during Windows XP installation

There are 2 ways by which you can find this hidden sound track:

1.Go to start->search.Search for title.wma .But remember to include hidden files and folders in your search.

2.Navigate to C:\Windows\system32\oobe\ images, go to Tools > Folder Options > View, check Show Hidden Files and Folders options and then uncheck Hide Protected Operating System Files. You will now notice a file called title.wma, that is the hidden sound track. process, but most people can’t hear this music because they have a sound card that does not have drivers preinstalled on XP .

Preview Movies From Multi Part .rar Archives Without Having All Parts

Many people download all parts to check the quality of the current movie they are downloading not knowing that they can preview and even extract parted files without having all the parts...

It's sure frustrating to download a multi part movie, just to find out u already have it or don't want it. Using Winrar u can preview, not sure if any, but most movies just with one part of it. It have to be the 1st part, though.

To preview the movie e.g. .mpg- .wmv- .avi- .mp3-files by downloading only the first part.

You'll need:

1. Winrar Archiver
2. Password for the RAR Archive, if it is password protected
3. A Media Player like Jet Audio, WMP Classic, Winamp or WMP etc..............

This is how:

Lets assume that u want to preview a movie that has been divided into X RAR Archives named - , anymov.part1.rar, anymov.part2.rar, anymov.part3.rar and so on.

Download anymov.part1.rar and open it with Winrar. Cick the [ EXTRACT ]-button.

NOTE: Very important! Check the [ Keep broken files ]-box

To save anymov.part1.rar u, as usual, either enter a custom address or u leave it at default. Click [ EXTRACT ]-button. Enter the password if prompted and click [ OK ].

Now u'll be prompted to give the path for the next part. Just Click [ Cancel ] and [ Close ] on the error-dialog that pops-up.

Find the path and the extracted file. There's ur preview. Play the file with ur default Media Player.
Sometimes while trying to preview .avi files u may get an error. You can remedy this by playing it in some other player like, VLC Player

You are done and hopefully saved a lot of time and space... hehe...

How To Get Into Top 10 On Google Page Ranking

How To Give Yourself An Instant Page Rank 10 Website

Basically all you are doing is adding one line of code to your .htaccess file.

The short sweet and simple method....

1.) Paste this line of code in your .htaccess file

Redirect 301 /index.html http://www.google.com

And your done! Notice that your homepage will now suddenly redirect to Google, but all other pages will still work fine. After the next Google PR update, remove that line of code in your .htacess file, and if you look at that page it will have a PR 10!

::::Commonly Asked Questions!::::

Q.) How do I make A certain page other than my homepage have a pr10?

A.) Simply edit the 1 line of code to show the page you want to have the page rank 10. Let's say you want your links page to have an instant pr10, you would use this line of code in your .htaccess file.
Redirect 301 /links.html http://www.google.com

Q.) How do I customize the instant page rank that I receive? For example I want my website to have a page rank of 9...8...7...or 6 to make it look less obvious that the site used blackhat seo

A.) Simply change the url of the destination url in the code. For example..

If you want an instant page rank 9 domain use this code..
Redirect 301 /index.html http://my.yahoo.com/

If you want an instant page rank 8 domain use this code...
Redirect 301 /index.html http://www.fortunecity.com/

If you want an instant page rank 7 domain use this code...
Redirect 301 /index.html http://www.netfirms.com/

Basically look at the site that you put into the code and you will receive the exact same page rank as that website during the next pr update.

How To Recover A Corrupted System File

If an essential Windows file gets whacked by a virus or otherwise corrupted, restore it from the Windows CD. Search the CD for the filename, replacing the last character with an underscore; for example, Notepad.ex_. If it's found, open a command prompt and enter the command EXPAND, followed by the full pathname of the file and of the desired destination:

CODE:-

EXPAND D:\SETUP\NOTEPAD.EX_ C:\Windows\NOTEPAD.EXE

If either pathname contains any spaces, surround it with double quotes.

If the file isn't found, search on the unmodified filename. It will probably be inside a CAB file, which Win XP treats as a folder. Simply right-drag and copy the file to the desired location. In other Windows platforms, search for a file matching *.cab that contains the filename. When the search is done, open a command prompt and enter

EXTRACT /L followed by the desired location, the full pathname of the CAB file, and the desired filename; for example: 

CODE:-

EXTRACT /L C:\Windows D:\I386\Driver.cab Notepad.exe

Again, if the destination or CAB file pathname contains spaces, surround it with double quotes.

Optimize Firefox 3 (NEW)

Now we need to modify some entries: if you can't find one of these entries then you have to create it (just right click anywhere in the control panel then choose "New" using the proper desired value, remember to use Boolean when it needs to be "True or False"!):

* network.dns.disableIPv6: true
* network.http.max-connections: 48
* network.http.max-connections-per-server: 24
* network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy: 12
* network.http.pipelining.firstrequest: true
* network.http.pipelining: true
* network.http.pipelining.maxrequests: 32
* network.http.proxy.pipelining: true
* nglayout.initialpaint.delay: 0
* network.http.request.max-start-delay: 5
* extensions.checkCompatibility: false

Replace Computer Properties To Your Favourite Photo

To do this:

1. Open Notepad.

2. Type the following:
[General]Manufacturer="your_name
Model=HP d530 SFF(DC578AV)
[Support Information]
Line1= Your Ph No
Line2= Your Address.....

3. Save as "oeminfo.ini" in the System32 folder.(Without Quote)
4. Create a bmp file(Your Photo) and save it the System32 folder as "oemlogo.bmp"(Without Quote).
5. Now Check your My Computer Properties.

101 Run Commands

To Access…. Run Command.


Accessibility Controls --> access.cpl


Add Hardware Wizard --> hdwwiz.cpl


Add/Remove Programs -->appwiz.cpl


Administrative Tools --> control.exe admintools


Automatic Updates --> wuaucpl.cpl


Bluetooth Transfer Wizard-->fsquirt


Calculator -->calc


Certificate Manager -->certmgr.msc


Character Map -->charmap


Check Disk Utility -->chkdsk


Clipboard Viewer -->clipbrd


Command Prompt -->cmd


Component Services  -->dcomcnfg


Computer Management -->compmgmt.msc


Date and Time Properties -->timedate.cpl


DDE Shares -->ddeshare


Device Manager -->devmgmt.msc


Direct X Control Panel (if installed)*  -->directx.cpl


Direct X Troubleshooter -->dxdiag


Disk Cleanup Utility -->cleanmgr


Disk Defragment -->dfrg.msc


Disk Management -->diskmgmt.msc


Disk Partition Manager --> diskpart


Display Properties -->control.exe desktop


Display Properties -->desk.cpl


Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected) -->control.exe color


Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility -->drwtsn32 


Driver Verifier Utility -->verifier


Event Viewer -->eventvwr.msc

File Signature Verification Tool--> sigverif


Findfast --> findfast.cpl


Folders Properties --> control.exe folders


Fonts --> control.exe fonts


Fonts Folder --> fonts


Free Cell Card Game -->freecell


Game Controllers -->joy.cpl


Group Policy Editor (XP Prof) -->gpedit.msc


Hearts Card Game -->mshearts


Iexpress Wizard -->iexpress


Indexing Service --> ciadv.msc


Internet Properties -->inetcpl.cpl


Java Control Panel (if installed) --> jpicpl32.cpl


Java Control Panel (if installed) --> javaws


Keyboard Properties -->control.exe keyboard


Local Security Settings --> secpol.msc


Local Users and Groups -->lusrmgr.msc


Logs You Out Of WINDOWS --> logoff


Mcft Chat -->winchat


Minesweeper Game -->winmine


Mouse Properties --> control.exe mouse


Mouse Properties --> main.cpl


Network Connections --> control.exe netconnections


Network Connections -->ncpa.cpl


Network Setup Wizard -->netsetup.cpl


Nview Desktop Manager (if installed) -->nvtuicpl.cpl


Object Packager --> packager


ODBC Data Source Administrator --> odbccp32.cpl


On Screen Keyboard -->osk

Opens AC3 Filter (if installed) -->ac3filter.cpl


Password Properties -->password.cpl 


Performance Monitor -->perfmon.msc


Performance Monitor -->perfmon


Phone and Modem Options --> telephon.cpl 


Power Configuration --> powercfg.cpl


Printers and Faxes -->control.exe printers


Printers Folder -->printers


Private Character Editor -->eudcedit 


Quicktime (If Installed)  --> QuickTime.cpl


Regional Settings  -->intl.cpl


Registry Editor -->regedit 


Registry Editor -->regedit32


Removable Storage -->ntmsmgr.msc


Removable Storage Operator Requests --> ntmsoprq.msc


Resultant Set of Policy -->rsop.msc


Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof) -->rsop.msc  


Scanners and Cameras -->sticpl.cpl


Scheduled Tasks -->control.exe schedtasks


Security Center -->wscui.cpl


Services -->services.msc


Shared Folders -->fsmgmt.msc


Shuts Down WINDOWS -->shutdown


Sounds and Audio --> mmsys.cpl


Spider Solitare Card Game -->spider


SQL Client Configuration -->cliconfg


System Configuration Editor -->sysedit 


System Configuration Utility -->msconfig


System File Checker Utility  -->sfc


System Properties -->sysdm.cpl


Task Manager -->taskmgr


Telnet Client -->telnet


User Account Management --> nusrmgr.cpl


Utility Manager -->utilman


WINDOWS Firewall -->firewall.cpl


WINDOWS Magnifier -->magnify


WINDOW Management Infrastructure -->wmimgmt.msc


WINDOW System Security Tool -->syskey


WNDOWS Update Launches -->wupdmgr


WINDOWS XP Tour Wizard -->tourstart


Wordpad --> write

Examining A Blue Screen Of Death Error

Examining a Blue Screen of Death error with the Watchdog Event Log

Takeaway: Use this tip to analyze Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) error messages when they occur.

Troubleshooting Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) errors, or as Microsoft calls them, Stop messages, can be extremely frustrating due to the fact that, by default, Windows XP automatically restarts the computer as soon as a BSoD error occurs. There's not enough time for you to analyze, let alone read, the error code before the message disappears. 

You could disable the Automatically Restart option in the Startup And Recovery dialog box, but doing so might lock your system into an unrecoverable error situation. As such, that's not an advisable solution.

Fortunately, Windows XP keeps a special log of all BSoD errors, called a Watchdog Event Log. Unlike a memory dump, whose creation is the result of a BSoD error, a Watchdog Event Log is a straight text file that is easier to read and understand.

Here's how you access a Watchdog Event Log:

1. Use Windows Explorer to access the C:\Windows\LogFiles\Watchdog folder.

2. Locate and right-click the most recently dated .WDL file.

3. Select the Open command from the context menu.

4. In the Windows dialog box, choose the Select The Program From A List option and click OK.

5. When you see the Open With dialog box, select Notepad and click OK.

Tips for Performance Booting

Many times, we face booting problems because of some system performance issues.


Here are some tips/suggestions to make faster boot.


Disable startup programs that are rarely used. 
Uninstall programs that you do not use. You can do this from going to Start, 

• Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs. 
• Defragment the hard disk often. 
• Spool your print jobs 
• Upgrade your computer memory 
• Install Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware programs to prevent spyware 
• Do not set large image files as desktop backgrounds 
• Disable other visual treats like 3D icons and mouse pointers.

Increase your System Performance

Increase your System Performance



You can increase your System performance with “Windows Disk Cleanup” process.


Windows Disk Cleanup is a very easy and useful tool to increase performance of your system.


Windows Disk Cleanup searches many unnecessary programs and files on your hard drive that be deleted. So that you can increase free space on your hard disk.


Delete Temporary internet files 
Delete Office Setup files 
Delete Recycle Bin items 
Delete Old windows programs that are not being used. 
Delete all temporary Downloaded Program files 
Delete Old Chkdsk file 
Delete all Setup log files 
Delete Windows temporary files 
Delete Web Client or Publisher Temporary files. 
Delete all Catalog file for the content indexer. 
Delete the Optional windows components that you are not being used To run the Disk Cleanup Utility, follow the below steps.


Click on Start button, Go to Programs ==> Accessories ==> System Tools and then Click on Disk Cleanup. or Click Start, and then click Run. In the Open box, type cleanmgr, and then click OK. 
It will popup a window to select the Drives that you want to clean at Select the drive you want to clean up. Now Disk Cleanup will take some time to access all your system file and then 


open a popup window. Popup window will show the message like “You can use Disk Cleanup to free up to xxxxx of disk space on drive Y” You can see all the files listed under ”Files to Delete” section. Select each file and click on “View files” before deleting the files.

How-to Safely Remove A Usb Hdd When The Icon Disappeared From The Taskbar

Sometimes the notification area's buffer does seem to 'remember' more than only the current situation, and the icon will dis-appear.

The 'safely remove your USB drive' is done by 'Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll', found in '%windir%\system32\'.

You just have to run 'Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll', but if you want to execute a shell command you first need to learn how-to do that!

%SystemRoot%\System32\Run DLL32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDL L hotplug.dll

The command basically tells rundll32.exe to execute a shell command that opens the hotplug device manager

You can of course make a dedicated 'How-to safely remove a USB HDD when the icon disappeared from the taskbar in Windows XP'-shortcut also:

* Create a 'New Shortcut' on 'Desktop'.

Right-click on the desktop, select 'New', then 'Shortcut'.

* Insert 'Command' in the 'Location Field'.

From here-on, a dialog box will appear, asking for the location of the item you want to create a shortcut to.

* Enter the following line of text (as is):

%SystemRoot%\System32\run DLL32.EXE shell32.dll,Control_RunDL L hotplug.dll

* Name the Shortcut 'Eject USB HDD' (or something you think is more eye-catching).

* Save & Test (optional).

Double-click to test: the 'Eject Hardware Manager' window should open.

* Add an icon (optional).

As the icon will probably be a plain white file icon, I suggest you to find an icon that is a bit more eye-catching.

Desktop Tips and Tricks

Restoring a Lost Desktop

If you ever lose the Desktop but Explorer is still running with the Start Button,

you can do this to bring back your Desktop in a Windows box.

1. Click Start

2. Click Run

3. Type a period " . "

4. Then press Enter

Creating a New E-Mail Shortcut

To create a shortcut that will open your default e-mail program starting a new e-mail,

1. Right click on an open area of the desktop

2. Select New / Shortcut

3. For the Command Line, enter mailto:

4. For the title enter something like New E-Mail

5. When you click on this your default e-mail program should start with a new e-mail form.

Creating 3D Window Effect

You can create a nice 3D effect for your windows

1. Start Regedit

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Colors

3. Make sure the following setting are there:

* ButtonHilight=128 128 128

* ButtonShadow=255 255 255

Creating Shutdown, Restart and Logoff Icons

To create the icons, create a shortcut on the desktop.

For Shutdown, the command is C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindows

For Restart, the command is C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindowsexec

For Logoff, the command is C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE shell32.dll,SHExitWindows Ex 0

Having your Favorites and Start Menus Sort Alphabetically

If your Start Menu Program or Favorites are not sorting alphabetically, it is easy to fix this:

1. Start Regedit

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/MenuOrder

3. Under here is are Favorites and Start Menu folders

4. In each there is a value called Order

5. Simply delete (or rename this) and restart Winodws

6. Your Favorites or Start Menus should now sort alphabetically

Increasing the Icon Cache

1. Run Regedit

2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwa re\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer

3. Create a new string called Max Cached Icons

4. Give it a value of 10000

5. This will increase response time in windows and give the Shellicon cache file more elbow room.

Make Icons 256 Color 16-Bit

1. Open the Registry

2. Hit Ctrl+F

3. Type Shell Icon BPP

4. When found, right click the Shell Icon BPP icon

5. Click Modify

6. Change the value from 4 to 16

7. Click Ok

8. Close the registry

9. Restart your computer

Removing Shortcut Arrows

An easy way to remove those irritating arrows from your desktop shortcut icons and not change their properties

1. Right click the Desktop / Properties / Appearance tab

2. Select Item

3. Scroll for Icon

4. The default size is 32

5. Change this to 30

6. Clicking Apply

Adding the Control Panel to the Start Menu

1. Open up the Explorer

2. Go to \WINDOWS\Start Menu

3. Right click in the right-hand panel

4. Add a new folder

5. Name it Control Panel.{21ec2020-3aea-1069-a2dd-08002b30309d}

6. This makes getting to the Control Panel items a little easier

Making Desktop Changes Permanent

To make changes to the Desktop like window size, positon after rebooting:

1. Start Regedit

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Softwar e\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer

3. Create a New Binary Value

4. Name it NoSaveSettings

5. Give it a value of 01 00 00 00

Easy Shortcuts on the Desktop

Here is an easy way to put shortcuts on the Desktop where they can easily be moved to other group icons.

1. Using the Explorer, create a SHORTCUT to the \Windows\Desktop directory in your \Windows\SEND TO directory.

2. Now whenever you want to make a shortcut and move it to the desktop:

3. Just make the shortcut you want using Explorer

4. Right click on that shortcut

5. In the pop up menu select the Send To and Desktop shortcut.

Changing a Folder's Icon

To change the icon of a Folder on desktop:

1. Using the Explorer, move the folder from the Desktop directory to another directory on the hard drive

2. Right click on the new folder and select "Create Shortcut"

3. Move the shortcut to the Desktop

4. Right click and select a new icon

Full Window Drag ( Without Plus! )

1. Start Regedit

2. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER /ControlPanel /Desktop /DragFullWindows

3. On "DragFullWindows" properties change 0 to 1

Fixing Corrupted Desktop Icons

Easier way to reset icons then deleting SHELLICONCACHE.

There's no need to exit Win95 and delete the SHELLICONCACHE file in order to reset icons that you may have changed (like Network Neighborhood).

1. Go to Control Panel, Display, Appearance Tab.

2. Select Icon from the Item drop down list.

3. Change the Size up or down one and apply.

4. Change the Size back to your original and apply.

If your Start Menu is slow or your icons are black for some reason, it means your Shelliconcache file is corrupt and should be deleted.

Delete the hidden file.

It will be recreated the next time you start Win95

Getting Screen Shots

If you need to get a screen shot, and you do not have a screen capture program, try this:

* Hit the Print Screen key. This copies a bitmap of the full screen into the Windows clipboard. Start up a graphics editor and paste it in.

* Alt + Print Screen will capture only the active window.

Increasing the Size of the Scroll Bar

How to adjust the width of the scroll bar:

1. Select Properties

2. Select the Appearance tab

3. Go to the item list and find scrollbar.

4. Increasing the value in the Size field will increase the scrollbar width.

Unable to Create Shortcuts on the Desktop

If you can't create shortcuts on your Desktop, you might have a corrupted registry.

1. Start Regedit

2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\Sh ellNew\Command

3. Make sure it has a value of:

4. RunDLL32 AppWiz.Cpl,NewLinkHere %1 if you don't have IE 4

5. or RunDLL32 AppWiz.Cpl,NewLinkHere %2 if you have IE 4.0 or IE 4.01

Removing the InBox from the Desktop

A faster way to remove "Inbox" from the Deskop is to

1. Right mouse click on "Inbox"

2. Select delete

3. It will then tell you "you cannot store the inbox in the recycle bin. . .etc"

4. Click "Yes"

5. Wait 2 secs and it's gone.

Customizing Individual Folder Icons

To change a folder's icon:

1. Open Notepad and enter two lines,

[.ShellClassInfo]

IconFile=file name,number

(e.g. IconFile=C:\Icon\CustomFo lder.ico,0)

2. Save the file as DESKTOP.INI in the folder you wish to change.

3. Click Start -> Run, type in the command line,

ATTRIB +S "folder name"

4. Open Explorer or My Computer and refresh (press F5 key).

This tip only work Windows 95/NT 4.0 + IE 4.0 with shell integration, or Windows 98/NT 5.0.

Removing the Recycle Bin

To remove Recycle Bin from the desktop:

1. Run REGEDIT.

2. Find NAMESPACE key in left pane (HKEY_Local_Macine \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Current Version \ Explorer \ Desktop \ Namespace)

3. Expand NAMESPACE (click '+' box)

4. Delete the value RECYCLE BIN in right pane

Adding Send To the Recycle Bin

Add a SHORTCUT TO THE RECYCLE BIN in your SEND TO folder.

That way you can just right click on a file you want to delete, and send it to the recycle bin without having to confirm each time.

Having Icons with No Name

Normally you have to have a name for an icon, just spaces are not allowed.

To create an icon with no name attached:

1. Make sure NumLock is on

2. Highlight the Icon you want to change

3. Right-Mouse click and select Rename

4. While holding down the Alt key, type 0160

5. Now the icon will have no name below it.

To Create Multiple Icons with No Name -

1. Follow directions detailed above

2. With the second icon simply add one space-bar character AFTER the 0160 number.

3. Each successive icon gets an additional space-bar character at the end (to prevent a duplicate naming error).

Moving the Start Button

How to move or close the start button!

1. Click on the Start button

2. Press the Esc key

3. Press the Alt and the - keys together

4. This will give you a menu, you can move or close

5. But if you move it you need to use the arrow keys and not the mouse.

Aligning Drop-Down Menus to the Right

All dropdown menus can be aligned to the right.

This features becomes useful when trying to access

menus with submenus that appear directly to the right.

1. Open the Registory editor (e.g. regedit.exe)

2. Goto \\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Contr ol Panel\Desktop

3. Create a string entry called "MenuDropAlignment"

4. Set its value to 1

5. Reboot

Note: Will not work under NT 4.0.

Repositioning a Background Bitmap

Normally, you only options for displaying a background bitmap are tiled, centered, or stretch to fit (with the Plus Pack).

You can edit the registry and have a third option which is to place the bitmap anywhere on your screen by specifying the X and Y coordinates.

1. Start Regedit

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Control Panel / Desktop

3. Create new Strings called WallpaperOriginX and WallpaperOriginY

4. Give them values to position them around your desktop

5. The bitmap must be smaller than your desktop size

Changing Drive Icons

To change a drive's icon when you open My Computer

1. Create a file called AUTORUN.INF on the root of your hard drive

2. Enter the lines

[autorun]

ICON=Name of the ICON file

For the name of the icon file you can either specify the path and name (e.g. ICON=C:\WINDOWS\ICONS\MY_ ICON.ICO) or

a specific icon in a library (e.g. ICON=ICONFILE.DLL,2)

Adding AnyFolder and Mail to SendTo

Previous examples of adding items to the SendTo usually require editing the Registry.

An easy way around this is to use the following methods.

To add ANYFOLDER:

1. Open the Explorer

2. Go to \Windows\SendTo

3. Right click in the right hand panel

4. Select New / Text Document

5. Name it anything with a .otherfolder extension

When you want to send files to another folder:

1. Select the files with Explorer

2. Right Click

3. Select Send to and the name you just created

4. You them have the option of copying or moving the file to a folder of your choice

To add Mail:

1. Open the Explorer

2. Go to \Windows\SendTo

3. Right click in the right hand panel

4. Select New / Text Document

5. Name it anything with a .MapiMail extension (ignore any warnings about the file extension)

When you want to Mail files as attachments:

1. Select the files with Explorer

2. Right Click

3. Select Send to and the Mail name you just created

4. This allows you to easily mail multiple files

Adding Shortcuts to Desktop Without "Shortcut To" text

1. Start Regedit

2. Go to:HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer

3. Add binary value to Explorer:link="00,00,00,0 0"

4. Now You can make Shortcuts to desktop without Shortcut To" text.

Easier User Interface

Add a menu item named "Open THIS folder!" to each of your cascading menus off of the Start menu.

This makes it easier to put items wherever you want them!

1. Go to Windows \ Start Menu \ Programs \ (etc.) in the Explorer

2. Start right click/dragging folders to the desktop, one by one.

3. Rename them and left click/drag them back to the same folder.

It takes a little while, but when you are finished you have a much easier interface to work with.

Removing the Start Button

1. Click on the start menu button twice, so there is a dashed line around the button

2. Press Alt and the minus sign

3. Choose Close to make the start button disappear, or move to move it to the right!

Note from Bob: - You have to re-boot to get it back again, or:

1. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete

2. Highlight Explorer

3. Click on the End Task button

4. Select No to doing a full shutdown

5. Wait a few seconds and the click on the End Task button

Changing the clock to 24-Hour Time

1. To change the display of the clock on the taskbar to 24-hour format:

2. Open the Control Panel

3. Double-click on the Regional Settings icon

4. Click on the Time tab

5. In the Time style section select H:mms

Removing the InBox and Recycle Bin Icons from the Desktop

To remove the InBox from your desktop, without needing to run the Policy Editor:

1. Start Regedit

2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ explorer \ Desktop \ NameSpace

3. Below that should be a few keys

4. Rename the key {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}. I usually put another character before or after the curly braces.

5. Restart Windows and the InBox icon should be gone

6. You can do the same for any other items you don't to show such as the Recycle Bin or The Internet icons

Changing or Removing the Start Menu Icons

1. Download Microangelo and install it.

2. Create a blank.ico file.

3. Put it in a directory (C:\Windows. Then double click on the Microangelo Engineer to run it.

4. When you get it up on the screen click on the "start" tab. You will see a list of all the icons in the start menu.

5. Highlight the first one (programs) and select "Change". It will bring up a dialog box - select "browse".

6. Go to the directory that contains the blank icon and select it. Hit OK until you get back to the main

7. Engineer window and do all the rest exactly the same way.

8. When you have finished changing them all to the blank icon, Hit "Apply".

9. Hit your start button and look to see if all the icons are invisible. (They should be.)

10. Close out Micro Engineer and you're finished.

Adding Drive to the SendTo List

* I have recently found that if you want to send something from A: drive or from any where to any drive, you can just make a short cut of that drive in subdirectory SENDTO.

* For example I have two hard drives, a Floppy Drive, and a CDROM

* After I have make a copy of each of my drive I will be able to send a whole directory of E:\XXX from the CDROM drive to A: drive or any other drive that i have had made the short c t in the SENDTO subdir of WINDOWS.

Adding a Protected Briefcase

You can make your briefcase a shortcut on the on desktop so if you have multiple users on your PC and you don't want to have a password for your briefcase, you can at least protect it from inadvertent deletion by just making the briefcase a hidden file or in a different location other than \Windows\Desktop\My Briefcase, then send a copy or shortcut to the desktop.

Customizing the Start Button's Name and Icon

To change the name of the Start button:

1. Copy EXPLORER.EXE in your Windows directory to another directory

2. Start a hex editor (I've been using Diskedit from Norton)

3. Edit EXPLORER.EXE

4. Search for the string 53 00 74 00 61 00 72 00 74

5. This is the word Start with the letters separated by a null character

6. The section you are in should also have the words "There was an internal error..." also separated with the null character immediately following

7. Now just replace the Start letters with any of your choice (up to 5 characters only)

8. Exit Windows

9. Boot to DOS

10. Copy your new Explorer file over the original

To change the Start button icon:

1. Copy USER.EXE in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory to another directory

2. Use an icon editor that can replace icons in executable files

3. Edit USER.EXE and replace the flag icons with the icon of your choice

4. Boot to DOS

5. Copy the new USER.EXE

The same can be done with NT 4.0, just the offset will be different but the location to just before "There was an internal error..." is the same.

Adding the Device Manager to your Desktop

This allows you to quickly see all the devices attached to your computer.

I use it a lot to select Refresh when I add new external SCSI devices that were not

powered up at startup. This way you do not need to restart the computer. To add the Device Manager Icon:

1. Right click on an open area of your desktop

2. Select New / Shortcut

3. Type in C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL SYSDM.CPL, SYSTEM, 1

4. Replace C:\WINDOWS with whatever directory you installed Windows95

5. Click on the Next box

6. At the next dialog box type in Device Manager

7. Click on the Finish when you are done

Note: Replacing the 1 with a 3 will bring up the Performance Status

Adding Options to the Right-Click of the Start Menu

To add an option to the Right-Click of the Start button:

1. Go to Control Panel, View, Options

2. Click on the File Types Tab

3. Scroll down until you see File Folder

4. Click on Edit

5. Click on New

6. Type in the Name you want to in the Action box

7. Type in the Application you want to use

A good option to add is an MS-DOS Prompt:

Try this c:\command.com /k cd %1

It also puts the shortcut on a regular folder.

This command will open a DOS window with that folder as the current directory.

How to make the task bar autohide

1. Click the right button on a blank area of the task bar

2. Select Properties

3. Select Autohide

4. Click OK

This will make the task bar slide off the screen when the cursor moves away from it,

and it will slide back on when the cursor is moved near it again.

The same can be done for the MS Office task bar. The "sliding" effect is nice, and can free up some desktop space.

More Removing Shortcut Arrows

'lnkfile', 'piffle' and 'internetshortcut' are the three places

that I have seen the isshortcut arrow.

The best way to deal with this is to rename the 'isshortcut' to

'isshortcutbak' by right clicking on the 'isshortcut' then

select rename and add 'bak' to the end.

Closing Nested Folders

If you have several nested folders (folders within folders) and want to close them all,

simply, hold the Shift key while closing the last folder

This will close all previous ones as well.

Changing Application Icons

To have a wider choice of application icons:

1. Right click on the icon shortcut

2. Chose Properties

3. Click on the Program tab

4. Chose Change icon

5. Click on Browse

6. Select Files of type All Files

7. Browse to the directory where your icon files are kept

8. You can even use some bitmap files for you icons

Moving and Resizing the Taskbar

You can move the taskbar by pointing on a corner panel and dragging it

It is easier to move if you close all your windows first

You can also resize it by moving the mouse to the edge and dragging it larger or smaller.

Correcting Corrupted Fonts

If you have a problem with your non-true type fonts, here's what you do:

1. Open the Control Panel

2. Double click on Fonts

3. Search for the "Monotype Sorts" font

4. Delete this Font

Changing Desktop Folders - With No Registry Changes

1. From the Explorer, create a folder somewhere OTHER than the desktop, and call it something like "Desktop Folders."

2. Move all your desktop folders into that folder.

3. Create shortcuts to all of those folders on your desktop.

4. Now, you are free to change the icons of each shortcut individually, to anything you like!

Updating the Desktop

If you want to update the desktop, for example after you've been changing the registry.

1. Right-Click anywhere on the desktop

2. Press F5

Adding the Desktop to your Start Menu

Create a shortcut to the Explorer on your Desktop

1. Right click on the Start button

2. Choose Open

3. Go into the Programs Folder

4. Drag the Windows Explorer Icon on your Desktop using the RIGHT Mouse button

5. Choose copy here

Change the command line switch

1. Right click on the Shortcut you created

2. Choose Properties

3. Choose Shortcut

4. Type in following command line as target:

* C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n, /root,

* The last "," is vital!

5. If you want the two pane Explorer view ad the switch ,/e

6. Then rename the Shortcut to "Desktop" or whatever you choose and drag the icon onto the start button.

Removing shortcut arrows

One problem when removing shortcut arrows is that

if you delete a desktop item, it will remove it.

If it is a shortcut it will just remove the icon.

If it is not a shortcut, then it will remove the program.

Having the little icon arrow is one way to tell the difference

Getting rid of Click Here to Continue

1. Start the Registry Editor

2. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Policies / Explorer

3. Create a binary value and call it NoStartBanner

4. Double-click on it and give it a value of 01 00 00 00

5. You will need to repeat the same steps for HKEY_USERS / .Default / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Policies / Explorer

Changing the Desktop and Explorer Folder Icons

The following steps will change the icon that is displayed as the default Folder icon.

1. Start the Registry Editor.

2. Search for "Shell Icons".

3. This will bring you to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / explorer / Shell Icons.

4. Double-click on the one has the value name of "3" in the right pane.

5. Type in the new icon you want to use.

6. If you have a DLL file specified, you need to count for the location of the particular icon you want to use, starting at 0.

7. To reset the icon cache, use a program such as Tweak with comes with the PowerToys from Microsoft.

Note: I haven't experimented with too many of the other icon changes possible.

Adding Control Panel Icons to the Desktop

This is an easy one..

1. Simply open up the Control Panel.

2. Right Click and Drag the icon you want to your desktop or folder.

3. This will create a shortcut for that icon.

4. It could come in handy if there are always certain items you need to get to quickly.

Create a Control Panel menu directly below the Start Button

1. Click the Start Button once with your right mouse button. You should see a right-button menu (called a context menu because it offers different choices in different contexts).

2. You should see the items Open, Explore, and Find on the context menu. Click Explore with your left mouse button.

3. An Explorer file management window should open. A directory tree should appear in the left pane, with the right pane displaying the contents of the Start Menu folder.

4. Right-click any empty space within the right pane. A context menu should appear. Click New and then Folder.

5. The Explorer will create a highlighted icon called New Folder. Type in the following string, all on one line, replacing the words New Folder with this new line. You must type the period, the curly braces, all four hyphens, and the hexadecimal numbers exactly as shown. After the closing curly brace, press Enter.

Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

Other Folders can be added following the same instructions.

* Dial-Up Networking.{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48}

* Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}

* Inbox.{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}

* My Computer.{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

* Recycle Bin.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

* Network Neighborhood.{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}

* Desktop.{00021400-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

* Briefcase.{85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}

* Fonts.{BD84B380-8CA2-1069-AB1D-08000948F534}

Minimizing All Windows

To minimize all windows:

1. Press Ctrl-ESC ESC to bring up the Task Bar

2. Right Mouse Click on an open area of the Task Bar

3. Select Minimize all Windows

This makes it a lot easier to minimize windows when all your open applications are full screen.

With the Microsoft Keyboard, you can accomplish the same thing by pressing the Window-M key.

Removing the Shortcut Icon Arrows

1. Open REGEDIT.EXE

2. Open the Key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

3. Open the Key LNKFILE

4. Delete the value IsShortcut

5. Open the next Key PIFFILE

6. Delete the value IsShortcut

7. Restart the Win95

Turning on AutoArrange for Folders

To make all folders keep AutoArrange turned on:

1. Open up an existing folder

2. Select View / Arrange

3. Arrange the Icons the way you would like, (e.g. Name, Size,etc.)

4. Select View / Arrange again

5. Select AutoArrange

6. Press the Ctrl-key while you close the window.

7. This folder should now have AutoArrange always selected.

This should allow you to create new folders that have AutoArrange selected by default.

You only need to specify by Name, Size, etc. if you want to change it from the default you set above.

Note: I have only tested this on a few computers. Please give me feedback regarding any problems.

Creating Document Scraps

If you are using Microsoft Word 7.0,

you can highlight a section of the document then drag and drop the highlighted area to

your desktop. Windows will create a file for you with a name something like

"Document Scrap From..." followed by the first few words you selected

Quick Access to Your Desktop

How do you access your darn desktop when you have a ton of applications open?

Well you could right click on the taskbar and do a minimize all, but that can be slow.

Instead:

1. Open a browser window (double-click on "My Computer")

2. If there is no toolbar, select View from the menu and select Toolbar.

3. Then from the dropdown list-box in the toolbar select desktop.

4. Now minimize it and forget about it.

5. The next time you want to access your desktop just click the desktop window on the taskbar.

6. As long as you don't close the window when you shutdown, it will reopen when you start windows again.

Additional Note from Bob: You can also drag the Desktop folder to the start menu.

Then you just press Ctrl-ESC and click on Desktop

Restoring Corrupted Icons

* If you use a graphic Card and you change the resolution, sometimes the icons are bad.

* End Win95 and restart. When you see the starting message press F8 then type standard.

* After this start of Win95 exit and restart.

* Change back to your Resolution and restart.

* The icons should be corrected.

Turn Off Window Animation

You can shut off the animation displayed when you minimize and maximize windows.

This tip makes navigating Windows 95 a lot faster especially for those that don't have

super fast video cards.

1. Open Regedit

2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER

3. Control panel

4. Desktop

5. WindowMetrics

6. Right Mouse Click an empty space in the right pane.

7. Select new/string value.

8. Name the new value MinAnimate.

9. Doubleclick on the new string value (MinAnimate) and click on "Modify"

10. Enter a value of 0 for Off or 1 for On then hit

11. Close Regedit and all programs then reboot.

Renaming the Recycle Bin

1. Start the Registry Editor

2. Type Ctrl-F to bring up the Find Menu

3. In the Find What box type Recycle

4. Double click on the Recycle Bin in the right pane

5. Type in the new name under Value Data

6. Restart Win95

Turning off Desktop Icons

If you want to turn off all the icons on your desktop:

1. Start the System Policy Editor

2. Select File / Open Registry

3. Select Local User

4. Select Shell / Restrictions

5. Select Hide all items on Desktop

All Icons will now be hidden.

Note: One side effect is the your CD will no longer automatically play when it is inserted.

Adding in Old Windows Groups

If you are setup to dual boot between your old Win 3.x and want to add in the old groups, just click on the *.GRP file in your old windows directory. The programs will be added to your list under Programs in the task bar.

Note: Any DLL's the programs require will need to be copied.

To speed up the Start Menu

1. Start the REGEDIT program

2. Search for the word desktop

3. This should be in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT / CLSID / {00021400...

4. Right Click on the right panel

5. Pick NEW / String Value.

6. Name it MenuShowDelay, all one word.

7. Select a value from 1-10, 1 being the fastest.

8. Exit REGEDIT

9. Restart Windows

To change the My Computer or Recycle Bin icon

1. Open Regedit

2. Find My Computer or Recycle Bin

3. Tab to the left panel

4. Double click on the highlighted line

5. Double click on DefaultIcon in the left panel

6. Double click on DefaultIcon right panel

7. Type in the value for the new icon

8. Note: DLL files can be used. Specify the location of the new icon with the filename,#

Remove the tildes in short filenames

1. Open Regedit

2. Go to Hkey_Local_Machine\System \CurrentControlSet\Contro l\FileSystem

3. Right Click on the Right pane

4. Select New / Hex

5. Add the value NameNumericTail= 0

To remove the Network Neighborhood Icon

1. Start POLEDIT. It is on the CD in \Admin\Apptools\Poledit

2. Open Registry

3. Select LocalUser

4. Select Shell

5. Select Restrictions

6. Select Hide Network Neighborhood

To change the Startup and Logoff screens

Startup Screen

* Create a 320x400 bitmap in the root directory and name it LOGO.SYS

* You can use LOGOW.SYS file in the Windows directory as a starter

Logoff Screens

1. There are several files called LOGOX.SYS

2. They are actually bitmaps 320x400 that just have a different extension

3. The hidden one in the root directory LOGO.SYS is the startup logo.

4. There are two files in the Windows directory.

5. LOGOW.SYS is the Wait while Shutting down ... screen

6. LOGOS.SYS is the You may now shut-off or Reboot screen

7. To edit them, rename them with a BMP extension and use your favorite graphic editor

8. You can edit these files or create you own

9. They just need to be the same size