Windows Tips

Restart windows without restarting your pc

2010-02-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

This works both with windows vista and xp.
so here's the trick..
Windows vista :

Select Start, then hover over the right arrow that is to the right of
the padlock icon until the pop-up menu appears that contains “restart”
as one of it’s choices. Hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on the
“restart” choice.

Windows xp :

Select Start. Select “Shut Down…”. Change the drop-down combo box under “What do you want the computer to do?” to “Restart”. Hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on the “OK” button.

Clear Past items from the Notification Area

2010-02-20T12:16:00.000-08:00

Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
Navigate to the following key:

[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify]

Delete IconStreams and PastIconsStream values
Restart the computer

Hide ur hard drives in XP thru cntrl panel

2010-02-20T12:13:00.001-08:00

1. Go to Control Panel

2. open Administrative tools

3. Open Computer Management

4 Then Select Storage > Disk Management

5. In the right window it'll show u all the drives in u r HDD

6. Right click drive u want to hide & choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths.. " from the list

7. A new window will open showing u current drive letter..

8. Simply click "Remove" button & click "Yes" in d confirmatin message.

Run Commands In Windows XP

2010-02-20T12:01:00.000-08:00

You can access all these programs by going through START/RUN or Simply Click Windows Key+r

SQL Client Configuration - cliconfg
System Configuration Editor - sysedit
System Configuration Utility - msconfig
System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately)- sfc /scannow
System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot)- sfc /scanonce
System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot) - sfc /scanboot
System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting)- sfc /revert
System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache)- sfc /purgecache
System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x)-sfc/cachesize=x
System Information - msinfo32.
Task Manager – taskmgr
System Properties - sysdm.cpl
Task Manager – taskmgr
TCP Tester - tcptest
Telnet Client - telnet
Tweak UI (if installed) - tweakui
User Account Management- nusrmgr.cpl
Utility Manager - utilman
Windows Address Book - wab
Windows Address Book Import Utility - wabmig
Windows Backup Utility (if installed)- ntbackup
Windows Explorer - explorer
Windows Firewall- firewall.cpl
Windows Magnifier- magnify
Windows Management Infrastructure - wmimgmt.msc
Windows Media Player - wmplayer
Windows Messenger - msmsgs
Windows Picture Import Wizard (need camera connected)- wiaacmgr
Windows System Security Tool – syskey
Windows Update Launches - wupdmgr
Windows Version (to show which version of windows)- winver
Windows XP Tour Wizard - tourstart
Wordpad - write
Password Properties - password.cpl
Performance Monitor - perfmon.msc
Phone and Modem Options - telephon.cpl
Phone Dialer - dialer
Pinball Game - pinball
Power Configuration - powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes - control printers
Printers Folder – printers
Private Character Editor - eudcedit
Quicktime (If Installed)- QuickTime.cpl
Real Player (if installed)- realplay
Regional Settings - intl.cpl
Registry Editor - regedit
Registry Editor - regedit32
Remote Access Phonebook - rasphone
Remote Desktop - mstsc
Removable Storage - ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests - ntmsoprq.msc
Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof) - rsop.msc
Scanners and Cameras - sticpl.cpl
Scheduled Tasks - control 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
Malicious Software Removal Tool - mrt
Microsoft Access (if installed) - access.cpl
Microsoft Chat - winchat
Microsoft Excel (if installed) - excel
Microsoft Frontpage (if installed)- frontpg
Microsoft Movie Maker - moviemk
Microsoft Paint - mspaint
Microsoft Powerpoint (if installed)- powerpnt
Microsoft Word (if installed)- winword
Microsoft Syncronization Tool - mobsync
Minesweeper Game - winmine
Mouse Properties - control mouse
Mouse Properties - main.cpl
Nero (if installed)- nero
Netmeeting - conf
Network Connections - control netconnections
Network Connections - ncpa.cpl
Network Setup Wizard - netsetup.cpl
Notepad - notepad
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
Outlook Express - msimn
Paint – pbrush
Keyboard Properties - control keyboard
IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration) - ipconfi/all
IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents)- ipconfig /displaydns
IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents)- ipconfig /flushdns
IP Configuration (Release All Connections)- ipconfig /release
IP Configuration (Renew All Connections)- ipconfig /renew
IP Configuration(RefreshesDHCP&Re-RegistersDNS)-ipconfig/registerdns
IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID)- ipconfig/showclassid
IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID)- ipconfig /setclassid
Java Control Panel (If Installed)- jpicpl32.cpl
Java Control Panel (If Installed)- javaws
Local Security Settings - secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups - lusrmgr.msc
Logs You Out Of Windows - logoff.....
Accessibility Controls - access.cpl
Accessibility Wizard - accwiz
Add Hardware - Wizardhdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs - appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools control - admintools
Adobe Acrobat (if installed) - acrobat
Adobe Designer (if installed)- acrodist
Adobe Distiller (if installed)- acrodist
Adobe ImageReady (if installed)- imageready
Adobe Photoshop (if installed)- photoshop
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
Control Panel - control
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 desktop
Display Properties- desk.cpl
Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected)- control color
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility- drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility- verifier
Event Viewer- eventvwr.msc
Files and Settings Transfer Tool- migwiz
File Signature Verification Tool- sigverif
Findfast- findfast.cpl
Firefox (if installed)- firefox
Folders Properties- control folders
Fonts- control fonts
Fonts Folder- fonts
Free Cell Card Game- freecell
Game Controllers- joy.cpl
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof)- gpedit.msc
Hearts Card Game- mshearts
Help and Support- helpctr
HyperTerminal- hypertrm
Iexpress Wizard- iexpress
Indexing Service- ciadv.msc
Internet Connection Wizard- icwconn1
Internet Explorer- iexplore
Internet Setup Wizard- inetwiz
Internet Properties- inetcpl.cpl

Error Message: "Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator"

2010-02-20T11:45:00.000-08:00

When you try to open Task Manager, the following error may occur:

Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator

Resolution

This error is caused if the DisableTaskMgr restriction is enabled. To enable Task Manager, try one of these methods:

IMPORTANT: If this restriction was enabled in your system without you doing anything or without your knowledge, then it's highly likely that a Virus has blocked the usage of Task Manager in your system by enabling the DisableTaskMgr policy via the registry. I strongly suggest that you perform a thorough checkup of your system immediately. Steps listed in the Resolution section of this article helps you unblock the Task Manager, but that does not remove the Virus (if any) from your system.

Method 1

Click Start, Run and type this command exactly as given below: (better - Copy and paste)

Method 2

Download and run this REG fix and double-click it.

Method 3

Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exe

Navigate to the following branch:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies\ System

In the right-pane, delete the value named DisableTaskMgr

Close Regedit.exe

Method 4: Using Group Policy Editor - for Windows XP Professional

Click Start, Run, type gpedit.msc and click OK.

Navigate to this branch:

User Configuration / Administrative Templates / System / Ctrl+Alt+Delete Options / Remove Task Manager

Double-click the Remove Task Manager option.

Set the policy to Not Configured.

More Information

Switch users with Welcome Screen and Fast User Switching disabled

2010-02-20T11:37:00.000-08:00

It's not possible to switch users with Welcome Screen and Fast User Switching enabled. This tip tells you how to switch users with both Welcome Screen and Fast User Switching disabled. I don't support this tweak, nor any outcome arising of this method. It's one more XP tip.

Here are the steps:

Disable Welcome Screen & Fast User Switching through Control Panel, User Accounts applet.
Manually edit the registry and set AllowMultipleTSSessions=dword:0000001 in this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Now, "Disconnect" the current user using Task Manager, Users tab.
Type in the Login name in the Classic Logon dialog and Login as other user.

Notes

If you want to switch back to the previous user, repeat the same procedure from that user account.

The Win + L cannot be used in this case to switch users. The only option is thru Task Manager. Win + L still brings up the Classic Logon dialog, but terminates the current session, unlike the Task Manager method.

"Turn Off Computer" option is missing from Start Menu

2010-02-20T11:26:00.000-08:00

Problem:-

When you click Start Menu, the Turn Off Computer option may be missing. This is due to a group policy / registry restriction. To restore the missing option, try this - for stand-alone systems:

Solution:-

Open Registry Editor by typing REGEDIT.EXE in the Start, Run dialog.
Navigate to the following locations:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer
-and-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer

In the right-pane, double-click the value NoClose and set it to 0.
Restart Windows for the changes to take effect

Error message "A recently installed program has disabled the Welcome screen and Fast User Switching" while turning on the Welcome Screen

2010-02-20T11:18:00.000-08:00

Problem:-

When you attempt to turn on Fast User Switching or Welcome Screen, you may receive a message stating that a program used CSGina.dll ( or any other DLL ginamsi.dll etc ) to disable the Fast User Switching and the Windows Welcome screen features. The exact error message follows:

Cause:-

This issue occurs if a third-party GinaDLL value is set in the registry, thus disabing the Microsoft Graphical Identification and Authentication file (Msgina.dll) automatically. CSGINA.DLL is a filter driver of Cisco Systems VPN Dialer program. The filename may vary depending upon the software that you've installed.

Solution:-

To resolve the problem and restore the Welcome Screen and Fast User Switching, you need to reset the GinaDLL entry using these steps:

Click Start, Run and type REGEDIT
Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon

Backup the key by exporting to a file.
In the right pane, right-click GinaDLL, and then click Delete. (You need to remove the whole value, not just its Value Data)
Close Registry Editor

Windows Command (Run)

2010-02-16T09:34:00.000-08:00

access.cpl : Program Accessibility Options

hdwwiz.cpl : Program Add Hardware

appwiz.cpl : Add/Remove Programs

admintools : Administrative Tools control

wuaucpl.cpl : Setting Automatic Updates

fsquirt : Program Bluetooth Transfer Wizard

calc : Calculator

certmgr.msc : Program Certificate Manager

charmap : Program Character Map

chkdsk : Check Disk Utility

clipbrd : Clipboard Viewer

cmd : Command Prompt

dcomcnfg : Component Services

compmgmt.msc : Computer Management

timedate.cpl : date and time

devmgmt.msc : Device Manager

dxdiag : Direct X (Direct X Troubleshooter)

cleanmgr : Disk Cleanup Utility

dfrg.msc : Disk Defragment

diskmgmt.msc : Disk Management

diskpart : Disk Partition Manager

desk.cpl : Display Properties control desktop

control color : Display Properties

drwtsn32 : Dr. Watson

verifier : Driver Verifier Utility

eventvwr.msc : Event Viewer

sigverif : File Signature Verification Tool

folders : Folders Options control

control fonts : Fonts Folder

fonts : Fonts Folder

freecell : Game Free Cell

joy.cpl : Game Controllers

gpedit.msc : Group Policy

iexpress : Iexpress Wizard

ciadv.msc : Indexing Service

inetcpl.cpl : Internet Properties

control keyboard : Keyboard Properties

secpol.msc : Local Security Settings

lusrmgr.msc : Local Users and Groups

logoff : Log-off

main.cpl : Mouse Properties control mouse

ncpa.cpl : Network Connections control netconnections

netsetup.cpl : Network Setup Wizard

notepad : Notepad

osk : On Screen Keyboard

perfmon.msc : Performance Monitor

powercfg.cpl : Power Options Properties

eudcedit : Private Character Editor

intl.cpl : Regional Settings

regedit : Registry Editor

mstsc : Remote Desktop

ntmsmgr.msc : Removable Storage

ntmsoprq.msc : Removable Storage Operator Requests

rsop.msc : Policy

sticpl.cpl : Scanners and Cameras

schedtasks : Scheduled Tasks control

wscui.cpl : เรียกหน้าต่าง Security Center

services.msc : Services

fsmgmt.msc : Shared Folders

shutdown : Shuts Down

mmsys.cpl : Sounds and Audio

spider : Spider Solitare

sysedit : System Configuration Editor

msconfig : System Configuration Utility

sfc /scannow : System File Checker Utility

sfc /scanonce : System File Checker Utility

sysdm.cpl : System Properties

taskmgr : Task Manager

nusrmgr.cpl : User Account Management

utilman : Utility Manager

firewall.cpl : Windows Firewall

magnify : Windows Magnifier

wmimgmt.msc : Windows Management Infrastructure

syskey : Windows System Security Tool

wupdmgr : (Windows Update)

write : Wordpad

Stop Password Expiration

2009-11-23T23:02:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-23T23:01:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:53:00.001-08:00

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?

2009-11-23T22:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:50:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:49:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:48:00.001-08:00

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!!!!!!

2009-11-23T22:47:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:44:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:43:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:41:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:40:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:37:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:34:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:33:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:31:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:26:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-23T22:14:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T22:12:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-19T11:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-19T11:43:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-19T11:40:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-17T06:25:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-17T06:09:00.000-08:00

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

Shut Down Windows XP in Different Ways

2009-11-17T05:54:00.000-08:00

There are so many different ways to turn off your Windows XP computer, let's look at some of them:

1)The standard approach - click the Start Button with your mouse, then select the Turn Off menu and finally click the Turn Off icon on the Turn Off computer dialog. blink.gif

2)Press Ctrl+Esc key or the Win key and press u two times - the fastest approach.

3)Get the Shutdown utility from Download.com - it add the shut down shortcuts for you. Else create them yourself using approach 4.

4)Create a shutdown shortcut on your desktop. Right click on the desktop, choose New Shortcut and type shutdown -s -t 00 in the area where you are asked to specify the location of the program file. Now you can just double click this icon to turn off the computer. The best location would be your quick launch bar.

5)Press the Win key + R key to open the run window. Type shutdown -s -t 00. [s means shutdown while t means the duration after which you want to initiate the shutdown process].If some open processes or application won't let you turn off, append a -f switch to force a shut down by closing all active processes.

6)Win+M to minimize all windows and then Alt+F4 to bring the Turn Off computer dialog.

7)Open Windows Task manager (by right clicking the Windows Task bar or Alt+Ctrl+Del) and choose Shut down from the menu. Useful when the Windows are not responding.

8 )open task manager--->click on shutdown--->hold the ctrl key and click on Turn off::::::: pc will be turned off in 3 secs.. fastest method other than hard shutdown

Make Your Windows Xp Run Faster Than Never Before

2009-11-17T05:46:00.000-08:00

These Are Some Tricks That Make Use Of Programs Listed In This Guide And Nothing Will Happen Even If You Go

DISABLE INDEXING SERVICES
Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don't search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:

1. Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Double-click Add/Remove Programs
5. Click the Add/Remove Window Components
6. Uncheck the Indexing services
7. Click Next

OPTIMISE DISPLAY SETTINGS

Windows XP can look sexy but displaying all the visual items can waste system resources. To optimise:

1.Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Click System
5. Click Advanced tab
6. In the Performance tab click Settings
7. Leave only the following ticked:
- Show shadows under menus
- Show shadows under mouse pointer
- Show translucent selection rectangle
- Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons

DISABLE PERFORMANCE COUNTERS

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several areas of your PC's performance. These utilities take up system resources so disabling is a good idea.

To disable:

1. download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List(http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/remove404.mspx)
2.Then select each counter in turn in the 'Extensible performance counters' window and clear the 'performance counters enabled' checkbox at the bottom.button below.

SPEEDUP FOLDER BROWSING

You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing significantly:

1. Open My Computer
2. Click on Tools menu
3. Click on Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab.
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
6. Click Apply
7. Click Ok
8. Reboot your computer

IMPROVE MEMORY USAGE

Cacheman Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.

Once Installed:

1.Go to Show Wizard and select All
2.Run all the wizards by selecting Next or Finished until you are back to the main menu. Use the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing.
3.Exit and Save Cacheman
4.Restart Windows

OPTIMISE YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION

There are lots of ways to do this but by far the easiest is to run TCP/IP Optimizer.

1. Download(www.speedguide.net/files/tcpoptimizer.exe) and install
2. Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed (Kbps)
3. Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to connect to the Internet
4. Check Optimal Settings then Apply
5. Reboot

OPTIMISE YOUR PAGEFILE

If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file.

1. Right click on My Computer and select Properties
2. Select the Advanced tab
3. Under Performance choose the Settings button
4. Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
5. Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.

RUN BOOTVIS - IMPROVE BOOT TIMES download from(www.majorgeeks.com)
BootVis will significantly improve boot times

1. Download and Run
2. Select Trace
3. Select Next Boot and Driver Trace
4. A Trace Repetitions screen will appear, select Ok and Reboot
5. Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log your system's boot process. When it's done, in the menu go to Trace and select Optimize System
6. Reboot.
7. When your machine has rebooted wait until you see the Optimizing System box appear. Be patient and wait for the process to complete

REMOVE THE DESKTOP PICTURE

Your desktop background consumes a fair amount of memory and can slow the loading time of your system. Removing it will improve performance.

1. Right click on Desktop and select Properties
2. Select the Desktop tab
3. In the Background window select None
4. Click Ok

REMOVE FONTS FOR SPEED

Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.

1. Open Control Panel
2. Open Fonts folder
3. Move fonts you don't need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.

DISABLE UNNECESSARY SERVICES

Because Windows XP has to be all things to all people it has many services running that take up system resources that you will never need. Below is a list of services that can be disabled on most machines:

Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Fast User Switching
Help and Support - (If you use Windows Help and Support leave this enabled)
Human Interface Access Devices
Indexing Service
IPSEC Services
Messenger
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
Remote Registry Service
Secondary Logon
Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)
Server
SSDP Discovery Service - (Unplug n' Pray will disable this)
Telnet
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Upload Manager
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration (Do not disable if you use a wireless network)
Workstation
To disable these services:

Go to Start and then Run and type "services.msc"
Doubleclick on the service you want to change
Change the startup type to 'Disable"

TURN OFF SYSTEM RESTORE

System Restore can be a useful if your computer is having problems, however storing all the restore points can literally take up Gigabytes of space on your hard drive. To turn off System Restore:

Open Control Panel
Click on Performance and Maintenance
Click on System
Click on the System Restore tab
Tick 'Turn off System Restore on All Drives'
Click 'Ok'

DEFRAGMENT YOUR PAGEFILE

Keeping your pagefile defragmented can provide a major performance boost. One of the best ways of doing this is to creat a separate partition on your hard drive just for your page file, so that it doesn't get impacted by normal disk usage. Another way of keeping your pagefile defragmented is to run PageDefrag. This cool little app can be used to defrag your pagefile, and can also be set to defrag the pagefile everytime your PC starts. To install:

Download(www.sysinternals.com) and Run PageDefrag
Tick "Defrag at next Reboot",
Click "Ok"
Reboot

SPEEDUP FOLDER ACCESS - DISABLE LAST ACCESS UPDATE

If you have a lot of folders and subdirectories on your computer, when you access a directory XP wastes a lot of time updating the time stamp showing the last access time for that directory and for ALL sub directories. To stop XP doing this you need to edit the registry. If you are uncomfortable doing this then please do not attempt.

Go to Start and then Run and type "regedit"
Click through the file system until you get to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Syste m\Cur rentControlSet\Control\Fi leSys tem"
Right-click in a blank area of the window on the right and select 'DWORD Value'
Create a new DWORD Value called 'NtfsDisableLastAccessUpd ate'
Then Right click on the new value and select 'Modify'
Change the Value Data to '1'
Click 'OK'

DISABLE SYSTEM SOUNDS

Surprisingly, the beeps that your computer makes for various system sounds can slow it down, particularly at startup and shut-down. To fix this turn off the system sounds:

Open Control Panel
Click Sounds and Audio Devices
Check Place volume icon in taskbar
Click Sounds Tab
Choose "No Sounds" for the Sound Scheme
Click "No"
Click "Apply"
Click "OK"

IMPROVE BOOT TIMES

A great new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot defragment. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk to allow for faster booting. By default this option in enables but on some builds it is not so below is how to turn it on.

Go to Start Menu and Click Run
Type in "Regedit" then click ok
Find "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTW ARE\M icrosoft\Dfrg\BootOpt imizeFunction"
Select "Enable" from the list on the right
Right on it and select "Modify"
Change the value to "Y to enable"
Reboot

IMPROVE SWAPFILE PERFORMANCE

If you have more than 256MB of RAM this tweak will considerably improve your performance. It basically makes sure that your PC uses every last drop of memory (faster than swap file) before it starts using the swap file.

Go to Start then Run
Type "msconfig.exe" then ok
Click on the System.ini tab
Expand the 386enh tab by clicking on the plus sign
Click on new then in the blank box type"ConservativeSwapfile Usage =1"
Click OK
Restart PC

MAKE YOUR MENUS LOAD FASTER

This is one of my favourite tweaks as it makes a huge difference to how fast your machine will 'feel'. What this tweak does is remove the slight delay between clicking on a menu and XP displaying the menu.

Go to Start then Run
Type 'Regedit' then click 'Ok'
Find "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Contro l Panel\Desktop\"
Select "MenuShowDelay"
Right click and select "Modify'
Reduce the number to around "100"
This is the delay time before a menu is opened. You can set it to "0" but it can make windows really hard to use as menus will open if you just look at them - well move your mouse over them anyway. I tend to go for anywhere between 50-150 depending on my mood

MAKE PROGRAMS LOAD FASTER

This little tweak tends to work for most programs. If your program doesn't load properly just undo the change. For any program:

Right-click on the icon/shortcut you use to launch the program
Select properties
In the 'target' box, add ' /prefetch:1' at the end of the line.
Click "Ok"
Voila - your programs will now load faster.

IMPROVE XP SHUTDOWN SPEED

This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.

Go to Start then select Run
Type 'Regedit' and click ok
Find 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Contro l Panel\Desktop\'
Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'
Now select 'HungAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'
Now find 'HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Cont rol Panel\Desktop'
Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'
Now find 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Syste m\Cur rentControlSet\Control\'
Select 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout '
Right click and select 'Modify'
Change the value to '1000'
Click 'OK'

SPEED UP BOOT TIMES 1

This tweak works by creating a batch file to clear the temp and history folders everytime you shutdown so that your PC doesn't waste time checking these folders the next time it boots. It's quite simple to implement:

1. Open Notepad and create a new file with the following entries:

RD /S /q "C:\Documents and Settings\"UserName without quotes"\Local Settings\History"
RD /S /q "C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\History"
RD /S /q "D:\Temp\" <ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“"Deletes temp folder, type in the location of your temp folder"

2. Save the new as anything you like but it has to be a '.bat' file e.g. fastboot.bat or deltemp.bat

3. Click 'Start' then 'Run'

4. Type in 'gpedit.msc' and hit 'ok'

5. Click on 'Computer Configuration' then 'Windows Settings'

6. Double-click on 'Scripts' and then on 'Shutdown'

7. Click 'Add' and find the batch file that you created and then press 'Ok'

SPEED UP BOOT TIMES II

When your PC starts it usually looks for any bootable media in any floppy or cd-rom drives you have installed before it gets around to loading the Operating System from the HDD. This can waste valuable time. To fix this we need to make some changes to the Bios.

1. To enter the bios you usually press 'F2' or 'delete' when your PC starts

2. Navigate to the 'Boot' menu

3. Select 'Boot Sequence'

4. Then either move your Hard drive to the top position or set it as the 'First Device'

5. Press the 'Escape' key to leave the bios. Don't forget to save your settings before exiting

Note: Once this change has been made, you won't be able to boot from a floppy disc or a CD-rom. If for some strange reason you need to do this in the future, just go back into your bios, repeat the steps above and put your floppy or CD-rom back as the 'First Device'

SPEED UP BOOT TIMES III

When your computer boots up it usually has to check with the network to see what IP addresses are free and then it grabs one of these. By configuring a manually assigned IP address your boot time will improve. To do this do the following:

1. Click on 'Start' and then ''Connect To/Show All Connections'

2. Right-click your network adapter card and click 'Properties'.

3. On the 'General' tab, select 'TCP/IP' in the list of services and click 'Properties'

4.I n the TCP/IP properties, click 'Use the following address' and enter an IP address for your PC. If you are using a router this is usually 192.168.0.xx or 192.168.1.xx. If you are not sure what address you could check with your ISP or go to 'Start/run' and type 'cmd' and then 'ipconfig/all'. This will show your current IP settings which you will need to copy.

5. Enter the correct details for 'Subnet mask', 'Default gateway' and 'DNS Server'. Again if you are not sure what figures to enter use 'ipconfig/all' as in stage 4.

FREE UP MEMORY

I found this useful app via FixMyXP. ClearMem Is an Excellent Tool for speeding up your XP Computer (especially if your system has been on for awhile and you have a lot of applications open). What it does, is it Forces pages out of physical memory and reduces the size of running processes if working sets to a minimum. When you run this tool, the system pauses because of excessive high-priority activity associated with trimming the working sets. To run this tool, your paging file must be at least as large as physical memory. To Check your Paging File:

1. Go to your control panel, then click on 'System', then go to the 'Advanced' Tab, and Under 'Performance' click 'Settings' then the 'Advanced' Tab

2. On the Bottom you should see 'Virtual Memory' and a value. This is the value that must be at least as large as how much memory is in your system.

3. If the Virtual Memory Value is smaller than your system memory, click Change and change the Min Virtual Memory to a number that is greater than your total system memory, then click 'Set' and Reboot.

4. Once you have rebooted install ClearMem

ENSURE XP IS USING DMA MODE

XP enables DMA for Hard-Drives and CD-Roms by default on most ATA or ATAPI (IDE) devices. However, sometimes computers switch to PIO mode which is slower for data transfer - a typical reason is because of a virus. To ensure that your machine is using DMA:

1. Open 'Device Manager'

2. Double-click 'IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers'

3. Right-click 'Primary Channel' and select 'Properties' and then 'Advanced Settings'

4. In the 'Current Transfer Mode' drop-down box, select 'DMA if Available' if the current setting is 'PIO Only'

ADD CORRECT NETWORK CARD SETTINGS

Some machines suffer from jerky graphics or high CPU usage even when a machine is idle. A possible solution for this, which, can also can help network performance is to:

1. RightClick 'My Computer'

2. Select 'Manage'

3. Click on 'Device Manager'

4. DoubleClick your network adaptor under 'Network Adapters'

5. In the new window, select the 'Advanced' tab

6. Select 'Connection Type' and select the correct type for your card and then Reboot

REMOVE ANNOYING DELETE CONFIRMATION MESSAGES

Although not strictly a performance tweak I love this fix as it makes my machine 'feel' faster. I hate the annoying 'are you sure?' messages that XP displays, especially if I have to use a laptop touchpad to close them. To remove these messages:

1. Right-click on the 'Recycle Bin' on the desktop and then click 'Properties'

2. Clear the 'Display Delete Confirmation Dialog' check box and click 'Ok'

If you do accidently delete a file don't worry as all is not lost. Just go to your Recycle Bin and 'Restore' the file.

DISABLE PREFETCH ON LOW MEMORY SYSTEMS

Prefetch is designed to speed up program launching by preloading programs into memory - not a good idea is memory is in short supply, as it can make programs hang. To disable prefetch:

1. Click 'Start' then 'Run'

2. Type in 'Regedit' then click 'Ok'

3. Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTE M\Cur rentControlSet\Control\Se ssion Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParame ters\ '

4. Right-click on "EnablePrefetcher" and set the value to '0'

5. Reboot.

enjoy people have a great time

dont forget to reply all your thoughts ok

Make your computer 3 times faster

2009-11-17T05:40:00.001-08:00

This tUtorial will teach you how to increase your operating system speed 3 times faster.

this steps should be applied by either slow and fast computers. it will speed up your operating system surfing.

there are 28 easy steps. it might take a bit long to apply them all especially if you're not familiar with windows registry, but trust me it worth it.

Ok now here it goes..read carefully...coz i wont accept any questions about it...

1. Visual effects should be set to a minimum.
Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings > Visual Effects Tab > Adjust for best performance

2. Switch Off Desktop Background Image
Right Click Desktop > Properties > Desktop Tab > Background None

3. Disable Screen Saver
Right Click Desktop > Properties > Screen Saver > None

5. Disable Fast User Switching
Start > Settings > Control Panel > User Accounts > Change the way users log on or off > Untick Use Fast User Switching

6. Switch Off Power Schemes
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options > Always On > Turn off monitor and turn off hard discs to Never

7. Switch Off Hibernation
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate > Untick Hibernation

8. Activate DMA on Hard Discs/CD ROMS
Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager > IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers > Right Click Primary IDE channel and Secondary IDE channel > Properties > Advanced Settings Tab > Tra

9. Disable System Sounds
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds Tab > Sound Scheme to None.

10. Do Not Map Through Soundcard
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Hardware Tab > (highlight your soundcard from the list) > Properties > Audio Devices > (highlight your soundcard from the list) > Properti

11. Disable System Restore
Start > Settings > Control Panel> System > System Restore Tab. Tick the "Turn off System Restore on all Drives"

12. Disable Automatic Updates
Start > Settings > Control Panel> System > Automatic Updates > Turn off automatic updating. I want to update my computer manually

13. Startup and Recovery Options
Start > Settings > Control Panel> System > Advanced > Startup and Recovery Settings > Untick Automatically Restart

14. Disable Error Reporting
Start > Settings > Control Panel> System > Advanced > Error Reporting > Disable Error Reporting

15. Disable Remote Assistance
Start > Settings > Control Panel> System > Remote > Untick Allow remote assistance invitations to be sent from this computer

16. Fix Swap File (Virtual Memory)
Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings > Advanced > Virtual Memory Change > Custom Size. Set initial and maximum size to the same value

17. Speed Up Menus
Start > Run > Regedit > HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Control Panel > Desktop Folder. Set MenuShowDelay to 1

18. Disable Offline Files
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Folder Options > Offline Files Untick "Enable Offline Files"

19. Disable Remote Desktop
Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Remote > Untick "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer"

20. Disable Internet Synchronise Time
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Date and Time > Internet Time > Untick "Automatically synchronize with internet time server"

21. Disable Hide Inactive Icons
Start > Settings > Taskbar and Start Menu > Taskbar TAB > Uncheck "Hide Inactive Icons"

22. Disable Automatic Desktop Cleanup Wizard
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display > Desktop > Customise Desktop > Untick "Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days"

23. Disable NTFS Last Access Time Logging (NTFS File Systems Only)
Start > Run > regedit > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > System > CurrentControlSet > Control > Filesystem. Add a new DWORD value - "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpd ate" and set value to 1.

24. Disable Notification Area Balloon Tips
Start > Run > regedit > HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer > Advanced. Create a new DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips and set to 0.

25. Disable CDROM Auto play
Start > Run > regedit > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > System > CurrentControlSet > Services > Cdrom. Set autorun to 0.

26. Disable Disc Indexing Service
Right Click Start > Explorer > Right Click Each Disc > Properties > Untick "Allow Indexing Service to index this disc for fast file searching"

27.Restart ur pc...enjoy!!!

Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator

2009-11-17T05:39:00.000-08:00

When you try to open Task Manager, the following error may occur:

Task Manager has been disabled by your administratorResolution

This error is caused if the DisableTaskMgr restriction is enabled. To enable Task Manager, try one of these methods:

IMPORTANT:
If this restriction was enabled in your system without you doing anything or without your knowledge, then it's highly likely that a Virus has blocked the usage of TaskManager in your system by enabling the DisableTaskMgr policy via the registry. I strongly suggest that you perform a thorough checkup of your system immediately.

Steps listed in the Resolution section of this article helps you unblock the Task Manager, but that does not remove the Virus (if any) from your system.

Method 1Click Start, Run and type this command exactly as given below:

(better - Copy and paste)
REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\W indows\CurrentVersion\Pol icies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Method 2Download and run this REG fix and double-click it.

Method 3Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exeNavigate to the following branch:HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies\ SystemIn the right-pane, delete the value named DisableTaskMgrClose Regedit.exe

Method 4: Using Group Policy Editor - for Windows XP ProfessionalClick Start, Run, type gpedit.msc and click OK.Navigate to this branch:User Configuration / Administrative Templates / System / Ctrl+Alt+Delete Options / Remove Task ManagerDouble-

click the Remove Task Manager option.Set the policy to Not Configured.

Some Windows Short Cut Keys

2009-11-17T05:37:00.000-08:00

Some Windows Short Cut Keys

Task manager shortcut --> ctrl + shift + Esc.

ctrl + shift + clicking on hyperlink - opens page in new window (works in firefox too!)

ctrl + click a file and then draging it creates a copy of that file.

Windows key + e Opens Windows Explorer

Refresh webpage - Ctrl + R

Windows key + e Opens Windows Explorer

ctrl + shift + click a file and then draging it creates a shortcut of that file.

Alt + F4 close the window currently being used
or
If no windows are open then it brings you to a shut down screen

windows key + m minimizes all windows

windows key + f open the search window

windows key + L locks your station

F9-Volume Up

F10-Volume Down

windows key + pause/break key opens up system properties.

if multiple windows are opened:

alt + tab - will show the next page under the currently viewed one

Change The Start Button Name

2009-11-17T05:33:00.000-08:00

Change The Start Button Name

1. Navigate to your windows or winnt directory.
2. Make a copy of explorer.exe put it somewhere safe. make another copy name it explorer1.exe, put it in the windows directory.
3. Download a version of a Hex editor on a freeware site.
4. Open up explorer1.exe in the Hex editor .
5. Search for strings named Start
6. Heres some help with the offsets:

# Windows 98
Offset: 0x00028D6E - 0x00028D76
# Windows NT4
Offset: 0x00028BEE - 0x00028BF6
# Windows ME
Offset: 0x00033DDE - 0x00033DE6
# Windows 2000
Offset: 0x0003860E - 0x00038616
# Windows XP (Enhanced Start Menu)
Offset: 0x000412B6 - 0x000412BE
# Windows XP (Classic Start Menu)
Offset: 0x0004158A - 0x00041592
# Windows XP SP1 (Enhanced Start Menu)
Offset: 0x0004208E - 0x00042096
# Windows XP SP1 (Classic Start Menu)
Offset: 0x0004259A - 0x000425A2

start will be just before this:

1) There was an internal error and one of the windows you were using has been closed.".

2) now rename start to another five letter word of your choice like Help

3) save the modified explorer1.exe

4) open up regedit, you are looking for this key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWA RE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogo n]

5) search for the value named Shell and make it equal to explorer1.exe.

6) restart for changes to take place.

7) alternatively, close all apps, fire up task manager and end the process explorer.exe, start new traske explorer1.exe and there you go.

8) if PC dont boot, slave off , navigate to your windows delete explorer1.exe and rename explorer.exe to explorer1.exe, plug back into your PC and there you go back to normal, i assure you it works great!

Automatically close the non-responding Program

2009-11-17T05:27:00.000-08:00

Automatically close the non-responding Program

With a small registry tweak, Windows XP can be set to automatically close any program that 'stops responding' (crashes), eliminating the need for you to use the taskmanager to close down the offending software manually.

Steps:
Open REGEDIT and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\ Desktop
Modify the REG_SZ entry AutoEndTasks with a value of 1

Note:
Without having much knowledge in Registry Editor Dont try. Before editing registry take a back up.
Back Up Registry:
Start --> Run
Regedit
File --> Export
And export the registry to the safe place.

Add your Photos in My Computer Properties
Todo this:

1. Open Notepad.

2. Type the following:

[General]
Manufacturer="tollywood-rocksr"
Model=sony

[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.

How to Restrict Logon Hours in Windows XP

2009-11-17T05:26:00.000-08:00

How to Restrict Logon Hours in Windows XP

Open Start --> Run --> CMD

Syntax:

net user username /times:{day[-day][,day[-day]] ,time[-time][,time[-time]] [;…] all}

Example:

net user tollywood-rocks /time:M-F,08:00-17:00
net user tollywood-rocks /time:M-F,8am-5pm
net user tollywood-rocks /time:M,4am-5pm;T,1pm-3pm;W-F,8:00-17:00
net user tollywood-rocks /time:all (this allows user to logon at any time, on any day)

Change Title of Internet Explorer

Customize ur Internet Explorer

1. Open Registry Editor

2. Move to the following key.

3. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Softwar e\Microsoft\Internet. Explorer\Main.

4. In the Right Panel look for the string "Window Title" and change its value as u wish. If the String value is not there create a New String value and assign the value as your wish.

To Delete a File - Which cannot be deleted

2009-11-17T05:24:00.000-08:00

To Delete a File - Which cannot be deleted

1. Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open.

2. Close all open programs.

3. Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE.

4. Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe.

5. Leave Task Manager open..
(After this There will be no desktop icons and nothing is accessible but don’t worry this is due to shutting down of explorer)

6. Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory to where undeletable
file) is located in.

7. At the command prompt type DEL where is the file you wish to delete.

8. Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell.

9. Close Task Manager.

Xp Registry tricks LIKE HACKING

2009-11-17T05:21:00.000-08:00

Xp Registry tricks

Its a mixed bag.. a compilation of all the tricks..

many tricks are what i discovered..

many are shared ..

keep if u know more

Display Your Quick Launch ToolbarTip:

Is your Quick Launch toolbar missing from the taskbar?

To display your familiar Quick Launch toolbar:

Right-click an empty area on the taskbar, click Toolbars, and then click Quick Launch.

Easy as that your Quick Launch bar appears. To add items to your Quick Launch toolbar, click the icon for the program you want to add, and drag it to the Quick Launch portion of the taskbar.

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How to remove recycle bin from your desktop Tip:

Open Regedit by going to START - RUN and type Regedit and hit enter. Then you should navigate to following entry in registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Explorer\

Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF0 40-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} and delete it.

This action should remove recycle bin from your desktop.

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How to stop new programs installed balloon from coming up tip:

Right click on START button and select properties. Click on Customize and go to Advanced tab and deselect check box saying "Highlight newly installed programs". This would help you stop this annoying feature from popping up every now and then.

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Unlock Toolbars to Customize Them Tip:

The new Windows XP now features locking toolbars, and you can adjust them. You may customize a lot of the Windows XP features such as the Taskbar, Start Menu, and even toolbar icons in Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. Remember your right-click:

* Right-click on a toolbar, and then click Lock the Toolbars to remove the check mark.

* Right-click on the toolbar again, and then click Customize.

You may add or remove toolbar buttons, change text options and icon options. When you've got the toolbar customized, click Close. Now right-click on the toolbar and then click Lock the Toolbars to lock them in place. com

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Want to remove shared documents folder from My Computer window tip:

Some don't like my shared documents folder option. If you are one of that, here is a trick to remove it.Open registry editor by going to START-RUN and entering regedit.

Once in registry, navigate to key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ My Computer \ NameSpace \ DelegateFolders You must see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. If you delete this key, you have effectively removed the my shared documents folder.

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How to improve on shutdown time ? Close apps automatically & quickly at shutdown tip:

Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL PANEL\DESKTOP and look for AutoEndTasks. On my computer default value is 0. Change it to 1. Thats all. Further more you can reduce the time it takes for Windows to issue kill directive to all active/hung applications.

In doing this only constraint that you should make sure exists is that HungAppTimeout is greater than WaitToKillAppTimeout. Change the values of WaitToKillAppTimeout to say 3500 (since default value for HungAppTimeout 5000 and for WaitToKillAppTimeout is 20000)

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Are you missing icons Tip:

Are you missing icons? You may be wondering where all the icons from your desktop are in Windows XP? Well if you're like me, you like to have at least My Computer, My Network Places, and My Documents on the your desktop.

You need to:

* Right-click on the desktop, and then click Properties.

* Click the Desktop tab and then click on Customize Desktop.

* Put a check mark in the box next to My Document, My Computer, My Network Places, or Internet Explorer, to add those familiar icons to your desktop. Easy yes!

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How to login as administrator if you don't see it available tip:

Unless and until you have run into issues and fixing XP (underwhich case you have to go to Safe Mode to login as Administrator), you can get to administrator screen by simply pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE twice at the main screen.

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Speedup boot up sequence by defragmenting all key boot files tip:

Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWA RE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOpt imizeFunction. In right hand panel look for Enable.

Right click on it and set it 'Y' for enable. This is the way I have it set on my computer.

This will help speedup boot time.

Use a Shortcut to Local Area Network Connection Information:

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Use a Shortcut to Local Area Network Connection Information Tip:

Here's something new in Windows XP, instead of using the command line program and typing ipconfig to get local area network information, you can try using the following shortcut:

* Click on Start, point to Connect to, and then click Show All Connections.

* Right–click the connection you want information about, and then click Status.

* In the connection Properties dialog box, click the Support tab.

* For more information, click on the Advanced tab.

To automatically enable the status monitor each time the connection is active, in the connection Properties dialog box, select the Show icon in taskbar notification area when connected check box.

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Do you know you can have Virtual Desktops (like in Linux) with PowerToys ?

If you have powertoys installed on Windows XP Its available for free at Microsoft download webpage. It is very easy to enable Microsoft Virtual Desktop Feature. Simply right click on the Start Panel Bar also called TaskBar, Click on Tool Bar and select Desktop manager.

You would see a set of 5 icons placed on the right portion of the TAskBar. Click on number 1 to 4 to go to any of the desktops. Now you have have four different Active Desktops.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You may see a little degradation in performance.

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Customize Internet. Explorer Title bar tip:

This tip won't make your computer any faster but may help personalize your computer experience. Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Softwar e\Microsoft\Internet. Explorer\Main. In right hand panel look for string "Window Title" and change its value to whatever custom text you want to see.

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adding content to Right click credit : tollywood-rocks

Once done, you will be able to right click any file or folder and use the Browse for Folder dialog to choose the location you want to move or copy your file or folder to, without having to go to the destination path.

First we will add the copy and move options to the right click menu of all FILES.

CLICK Start>Run, type REGEDIT and click OK to open up the registry editor and make your way to this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT->*->shellex->ContextMenuHandlers

Right click the ContextMenuHandlers key and choose New>Key.

Name the new key “Copy To” (without the quotes).

Repeat the above and create another new key named Move To.

You should now have two new subkeys under the ContextMenuHandlers key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT->*->shellex->ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT->*->shellex->ContextMenuHandlers\Move To

Select the Copy To key and in the right hand pane, double click “Default”

Enter this clsid value as the value data:

{C2FBB630-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

Next , select the Move To key and in the right hand pane set the default value to:

{C2FBB631-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

This now takes care of the Copy and Move options for the right click context menu of all your files.

Now all that is left is to add the same options to the right click menu of all your folders.

The procedure will be the same as for files but at a different key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directo ry\shellex\ContextMenuHan dlers

Right click ContextMenuHandlers and create a new key named Copy To.

Right click it again and create another new key named Move To.

left click on the right hand pane, add the same default values as you did for Files:

For Copy To:

{C2FBB630-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

For the Move To:

{C2FBB631-2971-11d1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

Exit the registry and you are done.

Now when you right click on a file or folder, you should see two new options: Copy to Folder and Move to Folder

Enable or Disable Taskmanager

2009-11-17T05:11:00.000-08:00

Goto start and click on run(Win+r) and type in regedit and find this input

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System .

If you do not see “System” folder under Policies you can create it by right mouse click on

Policies > Key > and name it System.

Than point your mouse pointer to an empty area, right click it and choose

create new DWORD (32 bit) value. Name it DisableTaskMgr and press enter.

Than double click it and set Hexadecimal value to 1. Press enter and reboot computer.

After than task manager will be disabled on your machine and inaccessible.

If you later decide to enable task manager again, navigate once against to dword 32 value we just created and simply delete it or change value to 0.

Navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Softwar e\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\System.

If there’s no key called “System” right click Policies navigate to “New -> Key” in the right click menu and type “System” to create a new key.

(skip this step if you have the key) To disable task manager right click the empty area in the right side pane and create a key with the following settings “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value” and type “DisableTaskMgr” and press Enter.

(without the quotes) Right click on “DisableTaskMgr” and click“Modify”, type 1 and press ok(see screen caps for more info) to enable task manager simply navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Softwar e\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\System

right click “DisableTaskMgr” click delete and click yes for confirmation.

Increase bandwidth by 20% in Windows XP

2009-11-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

A nice little tweak for XP-Pro only. Microsoft reserve 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes (suspect for updates and interrogating your machine etc..)

Here's how to get it back:

Click Start-->Run-->type "gpedit.msc" without the "

This opens the group policy editor. Then go to

Local Computer Policy-->Computer Configuration-->Administrative Templates-->Network-->QOS Packet Scheduler-->Limit Reservable Bandwidth

Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab :

"By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default."

So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO.

This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.

works on XP Pro, 2000 but not on other o/s not tested.

****************

Additionally you might also use this tool to tweak your adsl settings set network speed to max

select nic and select optimal settings

SpeedGuide.net :: TCP Optimizer / Downloads

Disk Defragmentation

2009-11-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

In the context of administering computer systems, defragmentation is a process that reduces the amount of fragmentation in file systems.

It does this by physically reorganizing the contents of the disk to store the pieces of each file close together and contiguously.

It also attempts to create larger regions of free space using compaction to impede the return of fragmentation.

Fragmentation occurs when the operating system cannot or will not allocate enough contiguous space to store a complete file as a unit, but instead puts parts of it in gaps between other files (usually those gaps exist because they formerly held a file that the operating system has subsequently deleted or because the operating system allocated excess space for the file in the first place).

Larger files and greater numbers of files also contribute to fragmentation and consequent performance loss.

Defragmentation attempts to alleviate these problems.

In the successor to Windows XP, Windows Vista, Microsoft have introduced the capacity to automatically "defragment" the hard drive in the background.

Unfortunately you have to do this manually in Windows XP!

The key points to remember are that:

When a file is fragmented, it takes longer for the computer to read it because it has to skip to different sections of the hard disk.

Paging and Registry file fragmentation can be one of the leading causes of performance degradation related to file fragmentation in a system.

The techniques used by the Disk Defragmenter are as follows:

Moving all the index or directory information to one spot. Moving this spot into the center of the data, i.e. one third of the way in, so that average head travel to data is halved compared to having directory information at the front.

Moving infrequently used files further from the directory area.

Obeying a user provided table of file descriptions to emphasize or ignore.

Making files contiguous so that they can be read without unnecessary seeking.

The Windows XP Disk Defragmenter Tool

1) Open My Computer, right-click Local Disk, and then click Properties.

2) On the Tools tab, click Defragment Now. The Disk Defragmenter opens.

3) Click your first hard disk (normally C:), and then click Defragment. As shown in Figure 1, Disk Defragmenter will work for at least several minutes, though it may take several hours.

4) If you have more than one hard disk, repeat this process for each hard disk listed starting at Step 3.

Windows XP Disk Defragmenter Limitations:

Disk Defragmenter in Windows XP has the following MAJOR limitations:

# It does NOT defragment files residing in the Recycle Bin

# It also cannot defragment "in-use" files

# Does not defrag and clean the registry

Defrag Your Boot Files:

File fragmentation can happen at start-up too. A real power tip (not for beginners) is to have Windows XP automatically defragment these files, but you will have to make sure your Windows XP registry has the correct setting.

Open your Registry Editor and go to key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction

Look for a VALUE in the right hand pane called BootOptimizeFunction

...if it does NOT exist, choose from the menu Edit > New > String Value and create it.

Make sure that it has the entry Y

Windows XP DirectX Diagnostic Tool

2009-11-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

Dxdiag.exe

The DirectX diagnostic tool, which has been available since DirectX 6.0, lets you display all DirectX related files on your computer; check the versions of those files, input devices, and the video drivers you're running.

And also test the features of DirectPlay, DirectSound, DirectMusic, DirectDraw, and Direct3D.

(For those not familiar with DirectX, it's the core Windows technology that drives high-speed multimedia and games on the PC.) ...

DirectX Diagnostic Tool...

DirectX runs in the background and greatly speeds up your computer's handling of audio and visual content. You'll rarely (if ever) have to think about it unless you need to know your system specs. That's where the DirectX Diagnostic Tool comes in handy.

The DirectX Diagnostic Tool takes a snapshot of your machine and shows you what it sees. All this happens entirely within your computerâ€”no information is reported to anyone but you.

To run the DirectX Diagnostic Tool

To do this:

Step One: Click Start, and select the menu item Run

Step Two: In the Run dialog box, type: dxdiag

Step Three: Click Ok

You will then be presented with a dialog window asking you to download new WHQL certificates from the Internet, as in the screenshot below:

I fully recommend you allow this to happen - you will need to be connected to the internet at the time.

After you click the YES button, the DirectX Diagnostic Tool will load and you will be presented with a window as in the screenshot below:

What are the different parts of DirectX?

Direct3D. This helps make three-dimensional animation possible on your computer monitor. Direct3D is designed to provide a powerful link between your computer's video card and software programs that can render three-dimensional (3â€‘D) objects. The faster your computer can process animation, the more realistic the 3â€‘D objects, light, and motion on your monitor will appear to be.

DirectDraw. This helps produce two-dimensional (2â€‘D) visual effects. Your computer's video card and many software programs use DirectDraw to communicate with one another before sending the finished visual image to the monitor. Computer games, 2â€‘D graphics packages, and Windows system features all use DirectDraw.

DirectSound. This boosts the performance of audio effects on your computer and makes many subtle effects in audio mixing and playback possible. It provides a link between software programs and the hardware on your computer. DirectSound provides multimedia software programs, such as games and movies, with hardware acceleration, mixing capabilities, and access to the sound card.

Using the Windows XP DirectX Diagnostic Tool...

The following list contains a description of each tab in the DirectX Diagnostic Tool dialog box:

System

The System tab provides system information about your computer and specifies the version of DirectX that is installed on your computer.

DirectX Files

The DirectX Files tab lists the file name and the version number for each DirectX file that is installed on your computer, as well as the file name and the version number of many common files that are used by games that are running under DirectX.

If the DirectX Diagnostic Tool detects a problem with a DirectX file, a warning message appears in the Notes box.

Display

The Display tab lists your current display settings, and allows you to disable DirectDraw, Direct3D, and AGP Texture Acceleration. This tab also allows testing of DirectDraw and Direct3D. Passing these tests indicates that the DirectX Graphics runtime files are installed and operating correctly. It is not a comprehensive test of your computer's display hardware.

The Display tab also lists your device's available memory and can tell you if your video driver is "Signed", which indicates that it has passed Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs testing regimen.

Note: Dxdiag.exe cannot report memory that is in use at the time that it starts. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see less memory reported than your video card actually has.

If the DirectX Diagnostic Tool detects a problem with your display settings, a warning message appears in the Notes box.

Sound

The Sound tab displays your current sound settings, and enables you to test DirectSound. The Sound tab can tell you if your audio driver is "Signed" - which indicates that it has passed Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs testing regimen.

The Hardware Sound Acceleration Level slider is used to correct audio glitches that might be caused by some audio drivers. Reducing the acceleration by one notch and re-testing the application is the best way to troubleshoot DirectSound audio problems. Lowering the Hardware Sound Acceleration Level from the default setting of "full acceleration" may disable advanced audio processing techniques, such as 3D spatialization from functioning.

If the DirectX Diagnostic Tool detects a problem with your sound settings, a warning message is displayed in the Notes box.

Music

The Music tab displays your current MIDI settings, and enables you to test the DirectMusic component of DirectX.

If the DirectX Diagnostic Tool detects a problem with DirectMusic, a warning message is displayed in the Notes box.

Input

The Input tab lists the input devices connected to your computer and the input drivers installed on your computer.

If the DirectX Diagnostic Tool detects a problem with an input device or an input device driver, a warning message is displayed in the Notes box.

Network

The Network tab lists the registered DirectPlay Service Providers. These are the connection methods that DirectPlay will operate across. A registry problem here can normally be resolved by reinstalling DirectX.

The Registered Lobyable DirectPlay Applications section lists all applications that have informed DirectX that they will use DirectPlay for their network communication needs. A registry error here can normally be resolved by removing and reinstalling that application.

The DirectPlay test opens a chat window over DirectPlay using the settings you specify. Systems that cannot successfully chat with one another here will almost certainly be unable to establish a network connection within games.

If the DirectX Diagnostic Tool detects a problem with a DirectPlay Service Provider or Application, a warning message is displayed in the Notes box.

More Help

If you cannot resolve your DirectX issue by using the previous troubleshooting tabs, you can use the More Help tab to continue troubleshooting the issue.

The following list contains a description of the functionality of each button on the More Help tab:

Troubleshoot

The Troubleshoot button starts a DirectX troubleshooter.

Sound

The Sound button starts a sound troubleshooter.

MSInfo

The MSInfo button starts Msinfo32.exe, a utility that gathers system information about your computer. The file created by Msinfo32.exe can be sent to Microsoft Technical Support to help resolve persistent issues.

Override

The Override button changes the DirectDraw refresh rate.

Note: Microsoft does not recommend changing the DirectDraw refresh rate as a general troubleshooting step..

Windows Vista

Please note that under Windows Vista the DirectX Diagnostic utility underwent some minor changes. But you can still access it by typing in dxdiag into the "Start Search" box on the Start orb.

I hope this article on the Windows XP DirectX Diagnostic utility was useful?

How to check Ip Address information

2009-11-11T10:01:00.000-08:00

There are several ways you can determine your IP address information:

IPCONFIG

Start / Run / cmd
IPCONFIG /ALL

This opens a command window. One advantage is that you can send the information to a text file (IPCONFIG /ALL > c:\ip.txt)

But sometimes the window shows show much information you need to scroll around to fine it.

VIEW STATUS

Control Panel / Network Connections / Double click the icons for your network (If the network has an icon in the system tray you can also just double click on that icon)
Click on the Support tab
Click on the Details button

Hide Recycle Bin from Desktop

2009-11-11T09:57:00.000-08:00

How Hide Recycle Bin from Desktop

simply follow the steps:-

click on start button ----> select RUN
type regedit

Go to the following path

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons]
Create these two files.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu]
"{645FF
040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
"{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"=dword:00000001

Restart the system and check the Recycle Bin its hidden.