TechForms

How to Make 3D Images Using Photoshop

2009-09-03T04:50:00.000-07:00

A 3D anaglyph image will appear three-dimensional when viewed through red/blue lenses. Here is a reader-submitted technique for creating 3D anaglyphs in Photoshop 5.5. The tutorial should be compatible with later versions of Photoshop as well.

1. Obtain two stereo pair photos. (I often use two disposable cameras mounted on a board side by side and with an ever so slight convergence towards the horizon. Remember you're mimicking your eyes and your eyes always end up focusing on something--each eye can never look straight ahead separately. I find the best anaglyphs work with a very low level of convergence. This is usually evident by the amount of red/cyan silhouetting around objects in a scene.)

2. Scan each photo separately. (I would recommend desaturating them to make them B&W.)

3. Open left photo in Photoshop (just like your eye, the left photo is identifiable by the fact that objects within the scene are more to the right when overlayed with the other eye.)

4. From the color selector, select color #00FFFF (bright turquoise). The equivalent of this in RGB is R-000 G-255 B-255.(This is also called cyan).

5. Create a layer above the left photo and fill it with this color.

6. Duplicate this layer and go to Image > Adjust > Invert. This will change the color of this duplicate cyan layer to a red color (direct opposite). In RGB the color created will be R-255 G-000 B-000.

7. Open the right photo and copy it, close it and in the left photo (the one to which you added the colored layers), paste it below the red layer.

8. Now position the 4 layers as follows: The bottom is your right photo. Above it is the red layer. Above it is the left photo and above this is the cyan layer.

9. If you wish to check the alignment of the two photo pairs you can turn off red and cyan layers and adjust the opacity of the left photo to 50%. Make sure both photos are on the same vertical plane and shift up/down appropriately. When finished change the opacity of the left photo back to 100%.

10. Turn on the cyan layer and change the transfer mode to screen.

11. Merge the cyan and left photo layers together. You should now see a very abstract cyan tinted image that will be hard to distinguish in areas.

12. Turn off this new cyan layer.

13. Turn the red and right photo layers back on and change the red transfer mode to screen. (Note: You don't need to merge these two if you don't want to.) Again you'll see an abstract red image similar to the cyan before.

14. Turn on the new merged cyan/left photo layer and change the transfer mode to multiply. Put on glasses (red on left, cyan on right) and you should now see the anaglyph.

Tips:
1. You may wish to change the red/right layer's opacity to somewhere between 80 and 90%. Do this as you wear the glasses as it will make the adjustments easier. Remember in order to do this you need to add a white layer below the right photo (or red color/right photo merge) so you don't see the transparency squares beneath the photo if you started with a transparent background. You could also move this layer left or right to make adjustments to the alignment.

2. At the end you can merge down the image by going to Image > Flatten Image and save it as a JPEG image with the quality setting of your choice for simplicity so you don't have to save it as a layered Photoshop .psd picture.

How to maximize your Netbook's performance

2009-08-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

The advent of netbooks has recently taken the PC market by storm. Unfortunately, these mini-notebooks are a little slower than their full PC cousins, but with the right tweaks, you can squeeze the last bit of speed and functionality out of these small machines. This post shows you the best ways to optimize your netbook.

7 great tips and tricks to optimize your netbook :

1. Use a lightweight Media Player and codec pack to play all your favorite videos and music (e.g. Cole2k Codec Pack and Media Player Classic HC 1.2).

2. Uninstall programs you no longer use, especially trial software, as these can clutter up the drive. TuneUp Uninstall Manager of our TuneUp Utilities 2009 helps you immensely with that, because it tells you which programs you regularly use and which you don't.

3. Defrag the hard drive to better manage your data and keep your computer running fast. We recommend using TuneUp Utilities 2009 to safely and consistently do this on a regular basis.

4. Reduce the user interface of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and other Web browsers to better utilize the smaller “real estate” on your netbook. Right-click on the upper menu bar of your browser and uncheck unnecessary menu items.

5. Go back to the classic Windows look and feel. Animations can hinder the system's performance. To do that, right-click on your desktop and go to “Properties” (XP) or “Personalize” (Vista). Under the “Design” entry, select the classic design and hit “OK.”

6. Disable unnecessary devices, such as Bluetooth, FireWire, and Wi-Fi, to save battery power.

7. Don't run too many applications at the same time. Multitasking is better suited for a laptop, whereas netbooks are designed for basic use such as word processing and simple Web browsing.

Windows XP Tricks

2009-08-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

1.Replace Microsoft Windows XP “Copying…”animation

The Windows file copying animation is located in shell32.dll. This animation can be replaced or deleted with the help of a tool called Resource Hacker Download it From

http://files1.softwarepod.com/33821/reshack.zip

Shell32.dll can be found in \WINDOWS\system32 directory. Back up this DLL, and open a copy in Resource Hacker.

Expand the AVI folder.Then expand the folder named 160, right-click on the resource 1033, click on ‘Replace a resource’ and browse to the location where the new animation is stored.

Then type :

Resource Type: AVI

Resource Name: 160

Resource Language: 1033

You can now see that the animation has changed. Then expand the folder named 161 right click on the resource 1033, click on ‘Replace a resource’ and browse to the location where the animation is stored .

Then type :

Resource Type: AVI

Resource Name: 160

Resource Language: 1033

To save the changes click on ‘Save’ under the File menu. Remember the location where you have

saved the file as you will need it later. Restart your computer in DOS mode and replace the

shell32.dll in C:\WINDOWS\system32 with the edited shell32.dll.

Restart your computer and see the change by copying a file.

2.Startbutton in Windows XP displays the System Time

Download starclock.

This tiny piece of code comes with startclock.ini file for making configuration changes such as 12-hour clock with seconds, 24-hour clock, load program at startup, refresh rate (be careful while changing this setting; smaller the number, more the CPU usage) and hide tray icon. To exit

this program, press “Ctrl+Alt+x”. That’sit, now you can save precious space on the taskbar by replacing the clock from the system tray.

3.Limit Logon Hours For Users

Parents might want to limit their children’s computer usage, so they can set a time limit only between which they will be automatically allowed to log into their Windows account. Limited usage for particular users for certain time periods can be set through commands.The command for doingthis is:

net user /time:.

For example, “net user Anu /time:M- F,08:00-17:00” will only let the user Anu log in between 8 and 5 from Monday to Friday.

4.Shutdown, Restart, And Logoff Icons On The Desktop

You might want to have shortcuts on the Desktop for shutdown, hibernation, etc. Right-click on the Desktop and make a new shortcut by selecting New > Shortcut. Then in the Type the location of the item: box, enter “shutdown.exe -s -t 00”, where “00” is the delay in seconds.

(You can increase it.) You will then be asked to select a name (call it “Shutdown”, for example). After creating the shortcut, you can change the icon assigned to it by right clicking on the shortcut and selecting Properties. The window that comes up next has a “Change Icon” option, which is easy to use. For a Restart shortcut, use “shutdown.exe -r -t 00”. Replacing -r by -l

gives the code for logging off:“shutdown.exe -l -t 00”. Fast user switching is also possible; the code for that is “Rundll32.exe User32.dll, LockWorkStation”. Similarly one can also make a shortcut for Standby/Hibernation.If Hibernation is enabled, the computer will hibernate, else it will go into Standby.

For this, use “%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe PowrProf.dll,SetSuspendState”.

Make a USB drive a key to boot into XP

2009-08-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

For our task, a USB drive of a capacity ofat least 256 MB is required. If we need to include extra utilities, hotfixes, and sevicepacks, then we need at least a 512 MB drive.

Format the drive using "FAT" filesystem.

After having selected “Show hidden files and folders” and deactivating “Hide protected operating system files”, navigate to the root directory on which Windows is located, usually C:\. Copy the boot.ini, ntdlr,and NTDETECT.COM files from that directory to the USB Flash drive. Rename the “boot.ini” in C:\ to “boot.bak”.Windows will not now be able to boot from the hard drive,and the USB drive will be the key to unlocking the computer.Now to check whether your USB drive works or not! Restart your PC and select the USB drive as the First Boot Device in the BIOS.For this test, deactivate the “Quick Boot” and “Show Full Screen Logo” options in order to be able to monitor any BIOS-reported activities. Also, the “USB Legacy Support” and“USB 2.0 Controller” options need to be activated if available. Save your changes and exit the BIOS, and restart.If you encounter a problem booting, look for an option in the BIOS that extends the

response time of the USB drive, for example, the “USB Mass Storage Reset Delay” option found in the AMI-BIOS. Choose the highestvalue and gradually decrease the value until the problem pops up again. This should work, but if the problem persists, check your motherboard manual or visit the Web site of your motherboard’s manufacturer for a BIOS update.

Registry hacks to Improve performance of Windows XP

2009-08-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

1. Load Applications Faster

The Windows prefetcher aims to load applications faster by “pre-fetching” the application and storing it in the pre-fetch cache. You can speed up application loading by changing the default value of one the settings under the relevant key.

Navigate to:

HLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

The default value for the EnablePrefetchersetting is 3.Change this value to 5to make applications load faster. You can experiment with higher values—up to 9—and see if you get a further

improvement.Since this relates to the system, a reboot is required for the change to take effect.

2. Optimisation Of The Boot Files

Normal file fragmentation scatters the pieces of a file all over your hard disk. This invariably also affects the files that load at boot time. You can defragment the files that load at system startup to enable faster loading.

Navigate to:

HLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction

A setting called Enable under this key needs to be set to Y (forYes). This setting defragments the boot files, and it might relocate startup files into contiguous clusters on the volume, reducing the

movement of the disk head when reading the volume.

With the setting at Y, boot file optimisation occurs automatically if the system is idle for 10 minutes. A reboot is required for the change to take effect.

3. Unload Unused DLLs

After an application is closed, XP has the annoying habit of leaving the associated DLL files in memory. This can hog precious resources and memory, and also cause stability problems. Make

the DLLs unload themselves from memory after the program is done running.

Navigate to:

HLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AlwaysUnloadDLL

If the DWORD Always UnloadDLL is not present, you will need to create it. Set the Value of the “(Default)” setting to 1. Application-associated DLLs will get unloaded when the application is closed.

4. Disable User Tracking

Useless to most users—except perhaps for system administrators—XP’s inbuilt user tracking system uses up precious resources.The system keeps track of the programs run by a user, the

paths followed, and the documents used. (Did you know your XP was spying on you all this while?) Disable this to free up system resources.

Navigate to:

HCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Set the DWORD NoInstrumentationto 1. This will disable most of the user tracking features of XP.

5. Run 16-bit Apps In Their Own Processes

Use this hack if you have more than one 16-bit application left over from the days of your nostalgia. XP runs all 16-bit applications in a single process. Having a separate process for each application can increase their stability and process.

Navigate to:

HLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WOW

Browse to the String DefaultSeparateVDM. If it’s not there, you’ll need to create it. Set its value to Yes.

6. Load Kernel Into RAM

In Windows 98, programs could be loaded and kept in RAM for as long as you wanted. You could even load a video clip into RAMdirectly and have it play from there! XP is much more restrictive,

mostly due to security reasons. But when it comes to the Windows XP kernel, there’s something you can do. By default, XP only loads the required parts of the kernel into RAM at boot time, and calls the other parts as and when needed. Having the entire kernel available in memory speeds up processing.

Navigate to:

HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management

Set the value of the DisablePagingExecutive key to 1. This will make the entire kernel be loaded in memory. A reboot is required for the changes to take effect.

Only use this hack if you have sufficient memory. Recommended: 512 MB or more. Also, this hack may affect some programs that use the Windows swap file directly, such as Adobe Photoshop.

7. Edit The Startup Programs List

Many of the programs that start up at boot time do not figure in the Startup folder. If you want to stop more than one application from loading at bootup, you will normally need to go and turn off the preference in each application one by one. Tedious and time consuming. This hack can help you do this in one go.

Navigate to:

HLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

And to:

HCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

All the programs that load at boot time will be specified under these two keys. Review the applications listed in this list and delete all the entries you don’t want started up at boot time. Next bootup, they’ll be gone.

Be careful not to delete needed programs such as anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. You should be able to identify them by their path if not by the file name.

8. Optimise The System Cache

Desktop systems are normally optimised for applications, and servers for file caching. Depending on how you use your system, you may want to optimise your system for either.

Navigate to:

HLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management

Find the setting LargeSystemCache. Set this DWORD value to 1 for server behaviour or to 0 for desktop behaviour.

Some programs such as SQL Server and Exchange Server set this value during installation and override the change.

9. Turn Off Windows Animation

Windows animations—like those that happen when you minimise or maximise windows—look good, but only if you have the processing power and/or RAM. To get the most performance

out of your system turn off this setting. You could do it via a host of settings in the GUI, but this Registry hack does it all in one fell swoop.

Navigate to:

HCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

Change the value called MinAnimate to 0 to disable Windows

Animation. A restart is required.

Automate the installation of Windows XP

2009-08-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

You can create a CD that can install Windows automatically, putting in all the details and answering all the dialog boxes. The secret behind the unattended nature of the whole thing is the answer file, which tells Windows what to do while it’s installing. The answer file can be created using Windows Setup Manager. Using this tool, you can make the answer file so powerful that you can even tell

Windows to include or exclude individual components, set the display resolution, and

more. Here’s how you do it.

1: To begin with, insert your Windows XP installation CD into the drive and copy the entire contents of the CD to a folder on your hard drive.

2: Navigate to the Support > Tools folder on the CD and double-click the Deploy.cab file. Copy all the files to a folder on your hard disk.

3: The crucial part begins now—creating the answer file. To execute the Windows Setup Manager, double-click the Setupmgr.exe file from the contents of Deploy.cab, which you just copied onto the hard drive. The next step explains the option you need to select from the first few dialog boxes that appear.

4: The first few steps of the wizard are self-explanatory. Select the following options from the successive dialog boxes: Create a new answer file; Windows unattended installation (Select the appropriate Windows version); “Fully automated”; “No, this answer file will be used to install from CD”; and finally, accept the license agreement.

5: Under General Settings, you can customise the installation of Windows by providing the default name and organisation, display settings, time zone and the product key. Fill in the fields using the drop-down lists or by keying in the details. If you don’t select an option from the drop-

down lists, the default values will be used.

6: Under Network Settings, configure the computer name, administrator password, networking components and workgroup. If you are specifying the Administrator password, make sure you check the option to encrypt the password in the answer file. If you have a static IP address, you can specify the settings under the Networking Components section.

7 : Use the Advanced Settings section only to configure telephony, browser and shell settings and installation folders. Under Browser and Shell Settings, click the browser settings button to set the home page and add Favorites. If you are on a network, you can also specify the proxy settings.

8 : After you’re done,click Finish and save the answer file as “winnt.sif” when you are prompted. Advanced users can further tweak the answer file by referring to the Help file called Ref.chm in the same folder as the Setup Manager. Finally, copy the answer file to the i386 folder in the Windows XP installation folder you created in the beginning.

9: To burn a bootable installation disc, you need the boot sector of the Windows XP CD. Download it from www.tacktech.com/pub/microsoft/bootfiles/bootfiles.zip, and extract the boot sector file to a folder. This file will be used with Nero Burning ROM to create the bootable disc.

10 : Launch Nero and select CD-ROM(Boot) from the New Compilation dialog bo Under the Boot tab, specify the boot sector file you extracted. Set the emulation as “No emulation”, and keep the boot message blank. Most importantly, remember to set the “Number of loaded sectors” as 4.

11: Under the Burn tab, set the write method to disc at-once. Click the New button to begin adding files and folders to the compilation. Drag all the contents of the Windows XP installation disc that you copied to your hard drive (with the answer file in the i386 folder) into the left pane.

12: Insert a blank CD into the optical drive and hit the Burn button. Wait a few minutes and there you go! Your unattended Windows XP installation disc is ready!!!

Bypass Windows File Protection in Windows XP

2009-08-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

There are two different solutions, depending on whether you have SP2 installed or not.

If you don’t have SP2 installed

Locate the file sfc_os.dll, which should be in your System32 folder. Copy it and name it sfc_os.bak. Open this file using a hex editor such as XVI32,which is an excellent freeware. This is an extremely simple edit and does not require an editor with advanced features. All you need to do is change two values. The location of these values will vary depending on whether you’re using Windows XP without a Service Pack or Windows XP with SP1, but the actual hex values to change will be the same.For Windows XP with no Service Pack installed, go to offset 0000E2B8 (E2B8 hex). For Windows XP with SP1, go to offset 0000E3BB (E3BB hex). At those offsets, change the hex values 8BC6 to 9090.Note: Depending on your hex editor, you may see the value separated by a space, as in “8B C6”. If you can’t find the values, do not proceed. It could be that your version of XP is different. The edit as described here only applies to English retail versions of Windows XP.

If you have SP2 installed

Disabling System File Protection in XP prior to SP2 involved editing the sfc_os.dll file, but the version of sfc_os.dll that comes with SP2 is different, and you cannot disable file protection with it. With SP2, you need to use the previous version of the sfc_os.dll file, which is 5.1.2600.1106 (the one with SP2 is5.1.2600.2180). Open sfc_os.dll with a hex editor and go to offset 0xECE9. The values to change are 33 C0 40. Change these to 90 90 90. Save your changes. Rename the file with a .bak extension (sfc_os.bak). The original exists in two locations: the\Windows\System32 folder, and the\Windows\System32\dllcache folder. Place a copy of sfc_oc.bak in both these folders. Then in the dllcache folder, look for cmd.exe, double-click it, and enter this command: copy SFC_OS.BAK SFC_OS.DLL /Y Next, go to your System32 folder and do the same thing. Look for cmd.exe, double- click it, and enter exactly the samecommand.

Points to remember

* If you have a problem overwriting the files, you can do the copying within the Recovery Console, or you can try Safe Mode.

*The dllcache folder is a hidden folder.

*It is important to copy the file to yourdllcache folder first.

*If you’re prompted to pop in your Windows CD, click Cancel.

Once the files have been copied, shut down your computer and restart it. The final step is to disable System File Protection in the Registry. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\

Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon. In the right-hand pane, if it doesn’t exist, create a new DWORD value named SFCDisable. Double-click it and ente “FFFFFF9D”. Exit the Registry Editor and reboot. You’re done.

Creating A Windows XP SP2 Bootable CD

2009-08-14T06:52:00.001-07:00

1. First, create a folder on your hard drive e.g. D:\XPCD. Now, copy the entire contents of existing Windows XP CD to this folder. The Windows XP SP2 executable file is an archive of the Service Pack 2 files, so you can use WinZip and extract SP2 files to another folder say D:\SP2. Now, locate update.exe under D:\SP2. This can be found inside the sub-folder named ‘update’. Go to the DOS command prompt and change your directory to this ‘update’ folder. Run the commandcommand “update where/integrate:"(dir)" “(dir)” is the directory you saved the Windows XP CD files to, ( “D:\XPCD” in ourcase). This will start integrating SP2 into the Windows XP Installation files saved at D:\XPCD. You should get message box confirmation that integration was successful.Now the D:\XPCD folder contains Windows XP installation files with SP2 integrated.

2. Extracting the boot image from the existing Windows XP bootable CD is easy. You need to use software that can do this. Bart’s Boot Image Extractor (BBIE) is a simple but useful utility and isavailable for download from http://nu2.abwehr.net/bbie10.zip. Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD drive, and go to the command prompt and change directory to the folder where BBIE is located. Run “bbie -v (CD drive letter)” e.g. “bbie -v F:”. You should now find a file named

‘image1.bin’ being created in the same folder from where bbie.exe was run. This file is the

Windows XP Boot image.

3. Insert a blank CD-R media into your CD Writer. Use burning software such as Nero to create your boot CD. Go to File >> New, select ‘Boot CD’ and select the boot image file that you created in Step 2. Make sure that emulation is set to ‘No emulation’. The boot segment is automatically filled in by Nero—all you need to do is set the number of loaded sectors to 4. Select Mode1 and ISO Level 2, from under the ISO tab. Enable all options under ‘Relax ISO Restrictions’, and use the ISO 9660 Character set. Under the Label tab, enter the same label name as that of theoriginal CD. To find this, just insert the Windows XP Installation CD into your CD- ROM drive and open Windows Explorer to see the name displayed against your CD drive. Click ‘New’ to open the File Explorer browser. In the file browser, select all the XP Installation files with SP2 integrated (from D:\XPCD in our example) for writing to a new CD. Finally open the CD Write dialog box, and under the ‘Burn’ tab, enable the Finalize CD option. Now, write the compilation to the blank CD-R. You have successfully created a bootable Windows XP installation CD with SP2.

Scheduling Connecting And Disconnecting From Your ISP

2009-08-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

With many ISPs using PPPoE-based connections, and many ISPs havingawkward schemes such as night-unlimited it’s a good idea to schedule your dialling process rather than staying up late at night.Once connected, your downloads canstart. You can also schedule to connect to VPNs.

First we create a batch file. Start Notepad (or any other text editor). Enter the following:

RASDIAL

should be your exact connection name. Save the file using a suitable name such as“DIALNET.BAT”.

Now create a schedule by clicking on Scheduled Tasks in the Control Panel. Double-click on Add Scheduled Task. Click Next. Browse and choose the path of the BAT file. Choose the type of

frequency you want the task to run at.Next set the time and date. Finally enter the password for the account running the dialler. You can further make changes to the schedule by right clicking on the newly-created scheduled task and clicking on Properties.

So why would you want to make changes? Well, many more settings can be applied, and multiple schedules can be allotted. Say you connect between 12 and 8 AM,and then you want it to connect at 1 PM again. Such options are available only once you’re done adding the schedule through the Wizard.Similar to scheduling a connection, disconnection can be done in the same manner. Some alterations in the batchfile creation are needed. First, create anew text file and enter

RASDIAL

/disconnect

Save the file as a BAT file, for

example,“DISC-NET.BAT”.Be sure to enter your exact connection name in place of. Once again, like the connection schedule, create a schedule in the same manner only this time choose the Disconnecting BAT file.

Windows XP Hidden Applications

2009-08-14T06:38:00.001-07:00

Go to Start > Run and type the executable name (eg: charmap) to run these applications.

1) Character Map = charmap.exe

2) Disk Cleanup = cleanmgr.exe

3) Clipboard Viewer = clipbrd.exe

4) Dr Watson = drwtsn32.exe

5) DirectX diagnosis = dxdiag.exe

6) Private character editor = eudcedit.exe

7) IExpress Wizard = iexpress.exe

8) Microsoft Synchronization Manager = mobsync.exe

9) Windows Media Player 5.1 = mplay32.exe

10) ODBC Data Source Administrator = odbcad32.exe

11) Object Packager = packager.exe

12) System Monitor = perfmon.exe

13) Program Manager = progman.exe

14) Remote Access phone book = rasphone.exe

15) Registry Editor = regedt32.exe [also regedit.exe] .

16) Network shared folder wizard = shrpubw.exe

17) File siganture verification tool = sigverif.exe

18) Volume Contro = sndvol32.exe

19) System Configuration Editor = sysedit.exe

20) Syskey = syskey.exe

21) Microsoft Telnet Client = telnet.exe

22) Driver Verifier Manager = verifier.exe

23) Windows for Workgroups Chat = winchat.exe

24) System configuration = msconfig.exe

25) gpedit.msc used to manage group policies, and permissions

Create A Bootable XP CD That Pre-installs Additional Programs

2009-08-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

To create a bootable XP CD that pre-installs additional programs, first install Windows Unattended CD Creator (WUCC). You need to have Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 or higher installed.Windows Unattended CD Creator is a very small application that will help you create an user-customized Windows bootable CD. You can choose which drivers, components or hotfixes to be installed and you can even set your network settings. All you need to do in a normal Windows installation is taken cared of by this little application, so you can install your operating system in the fastest way possible.

Download: http://www.ziddu.com/download/3808480/WUCDCreatorSetup-1.0.2-Beta-10.exe.html

When you open WUCC, you will be asked for the Windows CD or the directory of the Windows install files (the CD must be bootable). To add these files, click Select. Afteradding the install files, select a targetdirectory for the new Windows CD (or you can modify the source directory provided it is not read-only). If you going to “Select target directory”, then it is better to use a new directory rather than an existing one. The target directory will be a temporary location the software will use to create your disc image.After you create your disc, you candelete this

directory.

Now,you can add Windows hot-fixes like those to Internet Explorer, WMP, DirectX, etc. Find

these in the Hotfixes tab. Click the Select button to import the .exe files. When you select one, it will ask for a short name in 8.3 format, like “Explorer.exe”. After confirming the name, click Add.Change to the Software tab. Here you add the software you want to install along with the Windows installation. Provide a name for the software in the Software Description box.Then “Select” the software type (Files Only or Directory). You’ll see that the files are being added to the program list. Click a program from the list and then click Select to enter the program’s start parameters (basically, the path from where it will be installed). Repeat this for every program in the program list.

The start parameter is like

“%CDROM%\Software\...”If you don’t want to copy the programs to the Windows CD, click

the checkbox titled “Install directly from…”, but when you repeat the step where you provide the start parameters, you must type a valid source path. Change the default “%CDROM%\Software\...”to the actual path, say: “C:\My Software\...\...”

When all your programs have been provided with their start parameters, switch to the Done tab. Here you’ll see the list of directories that will be included in the Windows CD. If the size of the disc you’ve made is larger than the disc size (usually 700 MB), you can delete unnecessary directories, or you can split the files according to the disc size. You can also use a DVD.

Finally, click “Create ISO-image” to create the image for the new Windows bootable CD. Write this image onto a disc. You can now delete the temporary folder (the target directory in the “Source-CD” tab) you created.

Create A Special Folder In Windows Explorer

2009-08-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

We can create a folder like My Documents one that will appear as a system folder in XP by doing the following steps...

1.In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID. Create a new1 key with a Globally Unique Identifier(GUID). The GUID is a 128-bit identifier that is usually generated by Windows. This can be a random number that is used touniquely identify COM objects. Create a key using this random GUID:{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}

2.Set the value of the “(Default)” setting for this key to the name of the folder, say “My Personal Data”. Create a new sub-key under the main key and call it “DefaultIcon”. That is, create a key called:HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCFABCD1DE12345}\

DefaultIcon

Set the value of “(DefaultIcon)”to the filename and path of the icon file you want to use for the folder, for example,“C:\Topsec.ico”, without the quotes. If you don’t specify a path to an iconfile, Windows will use its default folder icon instead.

3 .Create another sub-key under the main key called “InprocServer32”, that is, create the

key called HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}\

InprocServer32

Set the“(default)” setting here to“shell32.dll”.Create another string value called ThreadingModel and set its value to “Apartment”. There’s one more: create another sub-key called

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}\Shell\

Open MyFolder\Command

Set the “(Default)” value here to the command that should be executed when the folder is clicked. In this case, it would be “explorer /root,c:\My Personal Data”.

4.There’s more keys to be created:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}\ShellEx\

PropertySheetHandlers\{FD4DF9EO-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345} and

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}\

ShellFolder. Under this key, create a new binary value called“Attributes” with the value

“00 00 00 00”.

5.To place the folder in My Computer, add the original key to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\

MyComputer\Namespace\

So the key value will be

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\

MyComputer\Namespace\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}

Now go to My Computer, and you’ll see a new custom folder!

Automate the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP

2009-08-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

Cleanmgr.exe is designed to clear unnecessary files from your computer's hard disk. You can use command-line options to specify that Cleanmgr.exe cleans up certain files. You can then schedule the task to run at a specific time by using the Scheduled Tasks tool.

To start the Disk Cleanup tool, either run the Cleanmgr.exe command, or click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.

Disk Cleanup supports the following command-line options:

> /d driveletter: - This option specifies the drive that you want Disk Cleanup to clean.

Note: The /d option is not utilized with /sagerun: n.

> /sageset: n - This option displays the Disk Cleanup Settings dialog box and also creates a registry key to store the settings that you select. The n value, which is stored in the registry, allows you to specify tasks for Disk Cleanup to run. The n value can be any integer value from 0 to 65535. To have all of the options available when you use the

> /sageset option, you might need to specify the drive where Windows is installed.

> /sagerun: n - This option runs the specified tasks that are assigned to the n value if you use the \sageset option. All drives on the computer are enumerated and the selected profile runs against each drive.

For example, in Scheduled Tasks, you could run the following command after you run the

cleanmgr /sageset:11 command:

cleanmgr /sagerun:11

This command runs Disk Cleanup and includes the options that you specified with the cleanmgr /sageset:11 command.

The options for the files that you can specify for Disk Cleanup by using /sageset and /sagerun include:

-- Temporary Setup Files - These are files that were created by a Setup program that is no longer running.

-- Downloaded Program Files - Downloaded program files are ActiveX controls and Java programs that are downloaded automatically from the Internet when you view certain pages. These files are temporarily stored in the Downloaded Program Files folder on the hard disk. This option includes a View Files button so that you can see the files before Disk Cleanup removes them. The button opens the C:\Winnt\Downloaded Program Files folder.

-- Temporary Internet Files - The Temporary Internet Files folder contains Web pages that are stored on your hard disk for quick viewing. Disk Cleanup removes these page but leaves your personalized settings for Web pages intact. This option also includes a View Files button, which opens the C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local

Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5 folder.

-- Old Chkdsk Files - When Chkdsk checks a disk for errors, Chkdsk might save lost file fragments as files in the root folder on the disk. These files are unnecessary.

-- Recycle Bin - The Recycle Bin contains files that you have deleted from the computer. These files are not permanently removed until you empty the Recycle Bin. This option includes a View Files button that opens the Recycle Bin.

-- Temporary Files - Programs sometimes store temporary information in a Temp folder. Before a program quits, the program usually deletes this information. You can safely delete temporary files that have not been modified within the last week.

-- Temporary Offline Files - Temporary offline files are local copies of recently used network files. These files are automatically cached so that you can use them after you disconnect from the network. A View Files button opens the Offline Files folder.

-- Offline Files - Offline files are local copies of network files that you specifically want to have available offline so that you can use them after you disconnect from the network. A View Files button opens the Offline Files folder.

-- Compress Old Files - Windows can compress files that you have not used recently. Compressing files saves disk space, but you can still use the files. No files are deleted. Because files are compressed at different rates, the displayed amount of disk space that you will gain is approximate. An Options button permits you to specify the number of days to wait before Disk Cleanup compresses an unused file.

-- Catalog Files for the Content Indexer - The Indexing service speeds up and improves file searches by maintaining an index of the files that are on the disk. These Catalog files remain from a previous indexing operation and can be deleted safely.

If you specify cleaning up the drive that contains the Windows installation, all of these options are available on the Disk Cleanup tab. If you specify any other drive, only the Recycle Bin and the Catalog files for content index options are available on the Disk Cleanup tab.

The More Options tab contains options for cleaning up Windows components or installed programs.

> The Windows Components option creates free space by removing optional Windows components that you do not use. Clicking Clean Up starts the Windows Components Wizard.

> The Installed Programs option frees more disk space by removing programs that you do not use. Clicking Clean Up starts the Change or Remove Programs option in the Add/Remove Programs tool.

How to BackUp the registry in Windows XP

2009-08-12T23:56:00.001-07:00

Guided Help is available to export registry keys and to back up the registry. Guided Help can automatically perform the steps for you.

The actions that this Guided Help performs cannot be undone after Guided Help is finished.

Requirements to install and to use this Guided Help

1. You must be logged on to Windows by using a computer administrator account to install and to use this Guided Help.

2. You must be running an English version of Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Media Center Edition, or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition to install and to use this Guided Help.

You must first download Guided Help. To start, click the following link:

Guided Help

How To Increase Shutdown Time

2009-08-12T23:54:00.000-07:00

When Windows shuts down, each running process is given 20 seconds to perform cleanup work by default. If a process does not respond within this time-out period, Windows displays the "Wait, End Task, or Cancel" dialog box for the process, which prompts you to wait for another 20 seconds, stop the process, or cancel the shutdown process.

Prolonging the Time-Out Period

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article:

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To prolong this time-out period, you can modify a registry value. The default time-out value (20 seconds) is stored in the WaitToKillAppTimeout value in the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

This value is expressed in milliseconds. You can use Registry Editor to modify this value and then restart the computer for the change to take effect.

how to Increase or Decrease the shut down time of Operating System XP or Vista

1. Go to regedit

2. Find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

3. Find SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control

4. Then change the WaitToKillServiceTimeout value

5. Default value is 20,000 milli seconds if you decrease means shut down time will reduce vise versa

6. minimum time should be 3000 donot give below 3000

Warning :

Donot play in regedit it will affect your Operating System

NOTE: In general, it is best to refrain from increasing the shutdown time. For example, if your computer loses power, your uninterruptible power supply (UPS) may not be able to provide backup power for the computer long enough to allow all the processes, as well as the operating system, to shut down properly.

Recharge your Mobile with BigMazaa

2009-08-12T05:50:00.000-07:00

BigMazaa is new social networking website emerging at great speed with a new way of attracting people towards it. It adopted a way to Recharge the mobile of the members with more points.Yes, you heard it write it "Recharges Your Mobile".

Unfortunately it does not support all the networks but only some famous ones like - BSNL, Airtel, Aircel, Vodaphone, etc.

BigMazaa is just like orkut or facebook with much more features. All you have to do be a part of it and earn points to get free mobile recharge. This is a awesome idea as you do just as regular stuff and get recharge for your mobile for free. This is just like Bolmol where most of us got payments for being part of it or like jakaas offers were we got our mobile recharge.

So, if intrested all you have to do is be a part of BigMazza and do more activities and earn points which can be redeemed for mobile recharges..

For more info and to be a part of it, click here (it takes just 10 sec to register!)

How to recover deleted files?

2009-08-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

How files are deleted ?

When a file is deleted from your computer it is not really deleted. It is simply removed from the directory of files in the folder. Even though you can no longer see the file in the folder, its contents still exist 100% intact at this point.

If you're using Windows and you deleted the file using Windows Explorer, the file will have been moved to the Recycle Bin. If you're a Mac user, it's moved to the Trash. If you use Linux KDE, it's the Wastebin. Whatever the bucket shaped object is called, as long as a file remains there it can easily be restored in its entirety, with no problem at all. So the first thing to do when you want to recover a deleted file is look in the Recycle Bin / Trash / Wastebin.

If you emptied the bin, used Shift Delete to get rid of the file, deleted it from within an application or used some other method of removing it that bypassed the bin, then it is still almost certainly recoverable. When you empty the Recycle Bin or delete a file using another method, the file is still not really deleted. The file no longer exists as far as the operating system is concerned and the space it occupied becomes available for re-use by other files. But the disk space does not get re-used straight away, so the data contained in the deleted file will stay on your hard drive for some time to come.

Chances of recovery

Because the operating system doesn't immediately re-use space from deleted files, a file can be recovered or undeleted right after it has gone, and for a considerable time afterwards. But the chances of a perfect undelete decrease the longer you leave it, because eventually some or all of that space will be re-used.

The chances of recovery also depend on how full your computer's hard drive is. Windows tries to avoid re-using disk space that has recently been freed, to give deleted file recovery software a better chance of working. But the fuller a drive is, the sooner the free space is going to be used by other files.

If you have defragmented the hard drive since the file was deleted, then this will severely harm the chances of a successful recovery. Current files will have been moved into the free space left by deleted files in order to reduce fragmentation, making it much less likely that undelete software will be able to find anything useful.

Recovering deleted files

Tools that can help you undelete files are not provided as standard in any operating system. So you will need to use undelete software from a third party.

Undelete software understands the internals of the system used to store files on a disk (the file system) and uses this knowledge to locate the disk space that was occupied by a deleted file. Because another file may have used some or all of this disk space, there is no guarantee that a deleted file can be recovered. But because the space isn't re-used straight away, there is a very good chance that you will succeed. In fact, users of our recommended Windows undelete software Uneraser have often been amazed to find that it recovers files that were deleted months or even years ago. The best undelete programs give you an indication of the chances of recovering a file intact, and even provide file viewers so you can check the contents before recovery.

Undelete software for Windows

If you're running Microsoft Windows then Uneraser is the best undelete software you can buy. It is developed by a company that specializes solely in data recovery products. Uneraser uses the deepest search methods and the most sophisticated recovery algorithms to give you the best possible chance of recovering your files. It also has powerful tools to help you find the files you want from among the thousands on the average hard disk.

Uneraser has the widest range of built-in viewers to let you examine the files it finds before recovery. You can try it with no risk. A free trial version lets you see for yourself whether it can recover the files you lost. If a file looks perfect in the viewer then recovery is 100% guaranteed.

See a tutorial showing how to recover deleted files using Uneraser

Download a free trial of Uneraser

See more information about Uneraser

Another reliable and effective Windows undelete software is Data Recovery Wizard. It is a full data recovery product that can even restore files from lost or corrupted partitions. Just like Uneraser you can try before you buy.

See a tutorial showing how to recover deleted files using Data Recovery Wizard

Download a free trial of Data Recovery Wizard

See more information about Data Recovery Wizard

Undelete software for Mac OS

For Apple Mac users we recommend Data Rescue II. This is a powerful, professional data recovery software that can be relied upon to restore your deleted files if at all possible.

Download a free trial of Data Rescue II

See more information about Data Rescue II

An alternative, easy to use uneraser for Mac users is File Recovery for Mac. This will recover your files in no time.

See a tutorial showing how to recover deleted files using File Recovery for Mac

Download a free trial of File Recovery for Mac

See more information about File Recovery for Mac

If you are able to connect your Mac disk drive to a Windows PC then you could also use the Windows based Uneraser to perform data recovery on it. The new Uneraser 4.0 can recover deleted files from Mac HPFS+ and Linux ext2/ext3 file systems, as well as FAT and NTFS.

Saving the recovered data

One of the cardinal rules of data recovery is that you must never write to the disk that contains the files you want to recover. This is because anything that gets written to the drive could potentially be written to the space that was holding the data you hope to recover. You should save the files that have been recovered to a different drive to the one they were recovered from. This could be an external drive or a network share, even a USB memory stick.

All of the undelete software products that Tech-Pro.net recommend will prompt you to save recovered data to a different location, but Uneraser has the greatest number of options. It has the ability to burn files direct to writeable CD or DVD without creating any temporary files on the hard drive. You can even save the files recovered to an FTP server.

Tips to restore your computer...

2009-08-12T05:16:00.000-07:00

Back Up First

Back up your computer before you run any system tools or do any troubleshooting. This is not just an over-cautious warning. Some of the steps I recommend in this column can cause pre-existing but hidden problems to surface, which may keep your computer from starting. Windows XP includes Backup, a tool that helps you protect your data.To open the Backup or Restore Wizard

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.

Before I make any changes, I'm going to time my computer to see how long it takes to restart. That way I know which of the changes helps the most. My computer took about three minutes to shut down, restart, and then open my e-mail client and browser. Of course, I hope to improve the computer's overall performance, but the time it takes to restart is easiest to measure.

Clear Out Forgotten Programs

The first step in tuning up your computer's performance is to remove any unnecessary programs. I install new programs all the time. Sometimes I'm thrilled with the new program and I continue to use it. Other times, it doesn't do what I hoped, and the program sits on my computer consuming resources and hurting performance.
Follow these steps to remove unneeded programs:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Add or Remove Programs.
3. Scroll through the list and examine each program. Windows XP lists how often you use a program and what day you last started it. You shouldn't remove anything labeled as an Update or Hotfix, however, because they improve the security of your computer.

4. Click each program you no longer need, click the Remove button, and then follow the prompts to uninstall it.
You may have to restart your computer after removing a program. After your computer restarts, repeat the steps above to remove more programs.

Free Up Wasted Space

Removing unused programs is a great way to free up disk space, which will speed up your computer. Another way to find wasted disk space is to use the Disk Cleanup tool by following these steps:

1. Open My Computer, right-click Local Disk, and then click Properties.
2. On the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button. Disk Cleanup will spend a few minutes examining your disk.
3. The Disk Cleanup dialog box opens. It found almost three gigs of space on my computer that it could free up!
4. Select the desired check boxes in the Files to Delete list, and then click OK. Disk Cleanup will spend several minutes clearing space.
5. If you have more than one hard disk, repeat this process for each hard disk listed in My Computer.

You can save yourself some time by automating the disk cleanup process. For more information, read the Microsoft Knowledge Basic article, How to Automate the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP.

Defragment Your Computer

I hate newspaper articles that start on the front page but continue somewhere in the middle of the newspaper. I could get through the article much faster if it was printed on consecutive pages like a magazine article. Files on your computer can either be fragmented like a newspaper, or unfragmented like a magazine. Over time, more and more files become fragmented. 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—just like it takes me a few seconds to find a page in the middle of a newspaper.

You need administrator privileges to defragment a drive or volume. Although fragmentation is complicated, it's easy to defragment your computer by following these steps:

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, and then click Defragment. As shown in Figure 4, 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.

My laptop's files were not terribly fragmented, so defragmenting them didn't speed it up much. However, after defragmenting the hard drive on my desktop computer, Windows and other programs started about 20% faster!

Disconnect Unused Network Connections

If you've ever had a network with more than one computer, you probably found it useful to share files between the computers by mapping a network drive. Network drives allow one computer to read and write files to another computer's hard disk as if it were directly connected. I use network drives all the time, and for me, they were the most significant source of slowness.

The problem with network drives is that Windows XP will attempt to connect to the network drives when Windows starts. If the remote computers don't respond immediately, Windows will wait patiently. Additionally, some programs will attempt to connect to the network drives when you browse for files and folders. If you've ever tried to open a file and had to wait several seconds (or minutes!), it's probably because the program was trying to establish a network connection—even if the file you are opening is on your local computer.

I am not as patient as Windows, and I'd rather not wait for unused network connections to respond. To reduce this problem, disconnect any unused drives by following these steps:

1. Open My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Disconnect Network Drive.
3. Select the network drives that you no longer need, and then click OK.

After I disconnected the network drives on my computer, my computer was able to restart in 1 minute, 45 seconds—about 40% faster!

Remove Autostart Programs

The next step in restoring your computer's performance is to identify any unnecessary programs that start automatically. Often, programs configure themselves to run in the background so that they appear to start quickly when needed. Some of these programs show an icon on your taskbar to let you know that they're running, while others are completely hidden. These autostart programs probably won't noticeably slow down your computer as it starts up, but they will steal away trace amounts of memory and processing time as your computer runs.

Windows XP comes with the System Configurationtool (Msconfig.exe), an excellent way to manage the startup process. To start it:

1. Click Start, click Run, type Msconfig, and then press Enter.
2. On the Startup tab, you'll see a list of all the programs and processes that are set to run when Windows XP loads.
3. Speed up your overall start time by clearing the check box next to any item you think you don't need.
4. Click Apply, and then restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

My favorite way to examine autostart programs is to use the Autoruns freeware tool from Sysinternals. Autoruns lists every program that will automatically start and allows you to quickly delete the link to the program. Many autostart entries are important parts of Windows XP, including Userinit.exe and Explorer.exe. So you should not simply delete everything that you don't recognize. Instead, you should look up each entry at Paul Collins' Startup Applications List to determine whether you want it to start automatically.

I also found a file named Wzqkpick.exe. After reading the description at The Startup Applications List, I decided I don't need to load that file automatically. I deleted the link using Autoruns by right-clicking it and then clicking Delete. This procedure works best for advanced users of Windows XP. If you aren't sure a program is unneeded—leave it!

The Startup Applications List may provide instructions for removing the startup program. If available, you should follow those instructions instead of deleting the link by using Autoruns.

How to Fix Bigger Problems

Many of the Windows XP Performance and Maintenance newsgroup users are experiencing serious, sudden performance problems. One day, their computer was fine and the next it was painfully slow. This type of problem is often caused by a computer virus or failing computer hardware. The suggestions in this article probably won't fix those types of problems. Instead, perform a virus scan on your computer. If that's not the issue, you should contact your computer vendor's technical support team for additional assistance. The troubleshooting process for this type of problem requires the knowledge to examine the computer's performance on a process-by-process basis, and usually includes a "process of elimination" phase where drivers, services, and hardware are removed/replaced one-by-one until the problem disappears. There's a very good chance that the computer won't start at all at some point in this process, so it's best to have support during the process.

Searching for "Windows XP Performance" on the Internet turns up a large number of performance tweaks. Some of these are useful, but most should not be attempted unless you understand exactly what you are doing. In particular, many of the tweaks that claim to improve your performance may only help under very specific circumstances. For example, in our own Windows XP Performance and Maintenance newsgroup, one user recommended disabling Internet Connection Firewall to solve a performance problem. Even if this did improve performance, it would leave the computer vulnerable to attacks from the Internet. I'd rather have a slightly slower computer than a hacked computer!

How to make your own theme?

2009-08-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

Theme Name

Decide what you want to call the Theme. Create a folder in C:\Program Files\PLUS!\Themes name it what you want the name of your theme to be. This keeps everything in one place for you to keep everything organized.

Wallpaper

Chose your background picture. Make sure it is in .bmp form. Place your bitmap into your new folder you created. You might want to then change the name to the same name as you named your Theme. For example if your theme is going to be called Mountain then rename this bitmap to say Mountain.bmp. Right click on your desktop, click properties, then click on Background browse to you new folder and choose your wallpaper.

Color Scheme

Right click on your desktop, click on properties, then click on appearances. You can chose the colors and fonts you want that complements the new wallpaper. After you've picked your new colors and fonts then click on the save as and save it with the name of your new theme. Example: Mountain. Click on apply.

Cursors and Icons

I use MicroAngelo 98 and IconEasel 98 to create my cursors (creates animated cursors too) and icons. These are very good products well worth the money. If you would like to try it out there is a demo version to download click on their names above. If your not going to create your own, you can find lots of cursors and icon packages on the internet. These packages are usually free for personal use. If you use cursors or icons from these packages or from another theme make sure they are not copyrighted and rename them with your new theme name and short description. Example: Mountain wait.cur then move it to your new theme folder. This makes it much easier to put all your theme components into your theme, and for the people who download your theme to recognize which files go to which themes.

You can draw it yourself or copy and paste a piece of clipart or photo; and then fix it up with a cursor and icon software product.

Sounds

you can find these wav. files on the internet or create your own. There are products like Gold wave or Cool edit you can use to edit and manipulate wav. files. Then name them after your new theme. Example: Mountain recycle.wav. Move them to your new theme folder. The trick to deciding on your sound is choosing ones to fit each event. Don't make these too long because it gets on peoples nerves and they will download a different theme to replace yours.

Screen Savers

You need a software program to help you with this part. There are so many I couldn't even list them.

Now all you have to do is make it a theme. We are going to apply all your components to your desktop and create the theme file. Right click on your desktop, click on properties and then backgrounds choose your new bmp. file under wallpapers and click on apply (if you haven't already done so.). While your here decide if you would like it to be tiled or centered. Click on the one you decided on.

Now while your still in there go to the appearances tab and choose the scheme you saved earlier, click on apply.

Now go to the Plus! tab still in the properties window. Click on change icon and browse for your new icons that you saved in your new theme folder.

Now click on start, then settings, then control panel and select the mouse. Go to the pointers tab an go down the list and browse for each of your new cursors in your new theme folder. Click save as, naming it after your new theme, and then click on apply.

Now go to the control panel again this time select sounds. Go down the list and browse for each sound in your new theme folder. Click on save as, naming it after your new theme name, then click on apply.

Finally, go to the control panel again and select desktop themes. Click on save as, now naming your theme, then click on apply.

Startup/Shutdown Screens

If you are interested in creating Win 95/98 Startup/Shutdown screens to go with your theme you need to create or edit a picture you have in your graphic editor such as Paint shop or Photoshop and make sure this image is 320x400 pixels and saved as 256 color RGB Encoded Bitmap. Then you can put them in your theme folder and open up a utility like ZD logo animator and resave the startup screen as logo.sys and the wait screen as logow.sys and the safe to shutdown screen as logos.sys, you can also use this utility to animate your logo screens. To implement them into your desktop:

*.sys file type is usually hidden in most people's computers under Win95. You might have trouble in finding *.sys files for copying files. Go to Explorer choose View menu, then select Options... in the dialog, enable "Show all files" or use a DOS window, in which most *.sys files can be viewed normally. I usually just use the find function entering c:*sys (or whatever is your hard drive) This file is usually in c: or in c:\windows Extract the new .SYS file to a temporary directory.

Move (backup) original "start-up" logo, "LOGO.SYS" from the root directory of your boot drive, usually C:\ to another temporary directory. (If you are using a compression utility or cannot locate the logo.sys file, please see the notes below.)

Use DOS window or Explorer to copy new logo file to the root directory, renaming the new copy to "LOGO.SYS" (If you are using a compression utility, please see the notes below.) Example of DOS command: copy c:\temp_dir\xrxlogo.sys c:\logo.sys

Restart your computer and you're done!

* Note *

If you are using a compression utility on your boot drive, you must put logo.sys in the host for that drive. (For example, if drive C: is compressed and its host is the G: drive, then logo.sys should be placed in the root directory of the G: drive.)

The default logo.sys is embedded in io.sys file. If you cannot find logo.sys in your drives, including the host drive (see above), chances are Win95 is using the logo that is embedded in io.sys as your start up logo. In this case, you don't have logo.sys to backup. Simply place the new logo.sys

in the root directory of your boot (host) drive. Logo.sys in the root directory will take precedence of the one embedded in io.sys file. To get back to the original win95 logo, simply rename the logo.sys to other name.

* To restore the original win95 logo, you must save (backup) the

file in step 1. Then just copy the original logo to the

designated directory.

Thanks to Rob Chen for these instruction on installing *.sys files.

NOW YOUR DONE!! ONE FINAL STEP!!

How To Increase Computer Speed And Performance? - Great Tips & Tricks

2009-08-12T05:03:00.000-07:00

Many computer users are worried about their computer's performance. After spending lot of bucks, still they cannot have that charm of using PC as they had expected. Here I am going to explain some major tricks which are used by many computer users which help them to take efficient use of their CPU.

These tips could be of little importance for people who are already using processors with speed more than 2400 MHz but people using computer with less speed and little older mother boards and processors will enjoy these tips. They will realize significant increase in their computer's performance.

Here are these tips:

1. Operating system choice:

You will be amazed to know that your choice of choosing right windows or operating system could play a significant role on your CPU's performance. For example if you are given 5 bricks to carry them to next apartment and then 10 bricks to do same. Think how would be your performance if compared with both situations. Obviously you would perform well when carrying only 5 bricks.

Same is the case with Microsoft windows. The lighter the windows you have, higher the performance will be shown. Now this does not mean that you should install Windows 95. Here is the order of Windows weight: Windows XP (any addition) > Windows 2000 > Windows Me > Windows 98 (the lightest one). So if you have Pentium 4 with good ram then I would recommend you to use Microsoft Windows XP. People using Pentium 3 computers could use windows 2000 or if they have ram more than 256 MB then they can use windows XP too. All other lower speed users should use windows ME or 98.

You would have to compromise between speed and quality. You can decide now which operating system you should use now.

2. Partitions:

Before starting this topic I would like to give you a simple example. Suppose in one case if 100 items are placed in a house having only 2 rooms and you are required to find item no. 89, from second room. You will have to scroll through 50 items in room two to find item 89. In other case if same 100 items are placed in house having 4 rooms and you are required to find item 89 from room 2 then you would have to scroll through only 25 items present in that room and you would spend less time.

Same is the case here for partitions. If you are having more number of partitions, it would help your windows more to find required data easily from your hard disk, when you run any file or program. I would advice you to have more partitions each having at least 5 GB memory and maximum 20 GB.

You should be very careful while partitioning your hard drive and believe me many people make mistakes when they partition hard disk and lose all of their important data. Here is a free resource Windows Setup Guide that can help you to learn about partitioning, formatting hard disks and installing windows.

3. Defragment Your Hard disks:

Your partitions become more fragmented when you create or delete folders, save new files, delete or move them and they become scattered on you hard drive and as time passes, windows become slower and slower due to time needed by the system to find required file on hard disk. You can learn more about why volumes become fragmented by using "Disk Defragmenter" Help.

My main point is that your computer becomes lazy with time. I am sure many of you have observed that after installing windows, computer become slower gradually with time. So I would strongly recommend you that you use Disk Defragmenter regularly, at least a week. I know it is quite boring process but while taking bath, lunch start it. Believe me you will feel the difference later.

4. Frequency of Changing Windows:

I would like you to compare the difference between speeds of your computer when you freshly installed windows and now. I know your answer! Obviously now you will be feeling your PC lazier than before.

This is all due to many factors such as file fragmentation; increasing of windows registry size, increase in number of files and folders in your primary partition and also because of some viruses and spy wares.

I would strongly suggest you that you should reinstall windows after formatting your primary partition at least every 3 months. That will keep your computer always efficient. Many people think that formatting hard drive is not good. That is almost a wrong illusion. Formatting your partition every 3 months and installing fresh copy of windows will considerably increase your computer's performance. Same website Windows Setup Guide could help you regarding this matter.

5. My last tip:

Finally do not save junk, programs, movies, games and almost anything you can on your windows partition that is usually C: and believe me your computer would show optimal performance for longer time and provide fewer errors.

It is better you make your "My Documents" folder in other drive than C: as well as make also Program Files folder so install everything like Microsoft office e.t.c there not in windows installation drive. Do it and feel the difference.

Always check for your programs which automatically run at startup and use your computer's significant resources. Try to disable them carefully and feel the change in performance. Here is a way to check which programs and processes start automatically when windows starts.

Go to START->Run then type "MSCONFIG" then you can see which your memory consuming programs are.

If you do not want to do anything above and want shorter way with shorter improvements then create new user account and delete previous one. You will observer a slighter change and this also removes many errors if present in windows.

If you cannot even do this then why you wasted your time by reading this article and do something else ;)

I have tried my best to show all possible ways that could help you all to improve your computer performance.

15 Top Windows XP Secrets

2009-08-09T02:34:00.001-07:00

Useful key shortcuts available:
- Windows key + D - shows the desktop.
- Windows key + M - minimizes all open windows.
- Windows key + Shift + M - maximizes all open windows.
- Windows key + E - Runs Windows Explorer.
- Windows key + R - shows the RUN dialog.
- Windows key + F - shows Search window.
- Windows key + Break - shows System Properties box.
- Windows key + TAB - Go through taskbar applications.
- Windows key + PAUSE Display the System Properties dialog box.
- Windows key + U Open Utility Manager.
- ALT + TAB - Cycle through opened applications.
- Hold down CTRL while dragging an item to Copy it.
- CTRL + ESC Display the Start menu.
- ALT + ENTER View the properties for the selected item.
- F4 key Display the Address bar list in My Computer or
- NUM LOCK + Asterisk (*) Display all of the subfolders that are under the selected folder.
Lock Windows to protect computer :
You can lock Windows to protect the computer when leaving the station easily by creating a shortcut with the path rundll32.exeuser32.dll, LockWorkStation. The Windows key + L is also a shortcut to this feature.
Edit sysoc.inf to list all software :
To show all software that can be removed from your computer (including protected Windows services), you can manually edit (using notepad for example) the sysoc.inf file located in Windows\inf\. Just remove the word hide next to the software pack.
Note - use this at your own risk. Removing critical components of the system will make Windows instable.
Windows XP comes with IPv4 and IPv6 :
Windows XP comes both IPv4 and IPv6 support. To enable IPv6, you can install the protocols needed with the command "ipv6 install" in the command-prompt. Then type ipv6 /? to see the options. The installation will not remove the IPv4 protocols so your current configuration will still work.
Access Task Manager with shortcut :
To access the Task Manager easier, you can make a shortcut that points to %windir%\system32\taskmgr.exe.
Stop treating ZIP files like Folders :
If you don't want your Windows XP to treat ZIP files like folders, you can disable this component by running regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll at the command prompt or Run dialog. If you start missing it, you can enable it by typing regsvr32 zipfldr.dll.
Run program as diffrent user :
You can run a program as a different user. Right click an application and select Run As command.
Switch users leaving applications opened :
You can switch users leaving the applications opened too (*NOTE* use this only when needed since it could lead to system instability).
Go to Task Manager - processes and end the process explorer.exe. This will end only your session and not all applications. Then go to Applications tab, click New task and type runas /user:domainname\username explorer.exe. A password prompt will appear to login to the desired username. The user's session will start, with all your previously applications running.
I recommend to open first a command-line prompt and type runas /? to see all the options available.
Rename multiple files in Windows at once :
Rename multiple files in Windows at once. Select them all, right click and select Rename. Enter the desired name. They will be renamed using what you specified, with a number in brackets to distinguish them.
Task kill feature in Windows :
Windows has a task kill feature similar to Linux. Go to a command prompt and run the command tasklist to see running processes with PID numbers. Then type tskill to end the specific task. This forces an instant closing of the task.
Edit features with GPEDIT.MSC :
You can edit many features by running gpedit.msc. You can add log on/log off scripts here and many features.
Edit accounts in the command prompt :
You can edit accounts by running "control userpasswords2" at the command prompt.
Use systeminfo.exe to see System Information :
You can use the systeminfo.exe command in the command prompt to see System Information, including all Windows updates and hotfixes.
Disable system services for maximum performance :
There are system services that you can disable to free up the system's load. To access the interface that permits you to make changes to system's services, type services.msc and the command prompt.
This is a list of services that are *usually* useless and can be safely disabled.
- Alerter
- Application Layer Gateway Service,
- Application Management
- Automatic Updates
- Background Intelligent Transfer
- Clipbook
- Distributed Link Tracking Client
- Distributed Transaction Coordinater
- Error Reporting Service
- Fast User Switching Compatibility
- IMAPI CD-Burning
- Indexing Service
- IPSEC Services
- Messenger
- Net Logon
- Net Meeting
- Remote Desktop Sharing
- Network DDE
- Network DDE DSDM
- Portable Media Serial Number
- Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
- Remote Registry
- Secondary Logon
- Smartcard
- SSDP Discovery Service
- Uninterruptible Power Supply
- Universal Plug and Play Device Host
- Upload Manager
- Webclient
- Wireless Zero Configuration
- WMI Performance Adaptor
NOTE: Make sure you don't need them since some applications you're using could depend on them. If you make any application to fail by disabling any of the services, go back and enable it again.
Repair Windows XP by using the XP installation CD:
If your system failes to start due to an error related to missing HAL.DLL, invalid Boot.ini or any other critical system boot files you can repair this by using the XP installation CD. Simply boot from your XP Setup CD and enter the Recovery Console. Then run "attrib -H -R -S" on the C:\Boot.ini file and delete it. Run "Bootcfg /Rebuild" and then Fixboot.

Change Favicon of Your Blogger

2009-08-09T01:56:00.000-07:00

What is a Favicon?

A favicon (short for "favorites icon" and also known as a page icon), is an icon associated with a particular website or webpage that is displayed in the browser address bar next to a site's URL.

The question now is how to customize it? This time i will share you a tutorial to customize your own favicon. So, here we go...

You would first need to have an icon which you would like to use, bearing the extension .ico format. If you search your hard disk, you might find some icons which are generic. I would suggest that you create one to represent your own unique identity. There are quite a number of free icon editor software which you can download from the net.

If you do not wish to download any software, you may also try creating an icon online.

Step 1. Visit HTML Kit - Online Favicon Maker to make your own favicon from your desired image.

Step 2. Download it and rename the custom favicon as you want.

Step 3. Open MS Paint in your computer and change format ICO. to PNG or GIF format and save.

Step 4. Then upload somewhere (i use http://imageshack.us/ for this ). Remember to save the link / url of your uploaded favicon.

Step 5. Go to your Blogger Dashboard > Layout > Edit HTML.

Find the title tag which looks like this:-

Step 6. Copy and paste the following code (right after above script)

For ICO. format

link href='URL of your icon file' rel='shortcut icon' type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'

For PNG. format

link href='URL of your icon file' rel='shortcut icon' type='image/png'

For GIF. format

link href='URL of your icon file' rel='shortcut icon' type='image/gif'

Remember to type in the “URL of your icon file”, Then Save Template.

That's all there is to it, enjoy your favicon! Enjoy your new favicon look!

Other online favicon generator ::

http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/

http://www.favicongenerator.com/

http://www.chami.com/html-kit/services/favicon/

http://www.favicon.co.uk/

http://www.favicon.com/

Control User Logins by Hacking the Registry

2009-08-01T04:02:00.000-07:00

Make better use of the XP login screen.

If your system contains more than one user account, or if you've set up XP to require logins, you'll have to log in to XP before you can begin to use it. But you needn't stay with the default XP login rules; you can use a single Registry key to customize how you log in. For example, you can display custom text before login, and you can remind anyone with an account on the PC to change their password a certain number of days prior to the password's expiration.

To control logon options, run the Registry Editor [Hack #83] and go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion Winlogon subkey, which contains a variety of logon settings (as well as some settings not having to do directly with logons). Following are the most important values you can edit to customize logons.

Don't Display Last UserName

This setting lets you control how the system logon dialog box is used. If this String value is present and set to 1, all users will have to enter both their username and password to log on. If the value is 0, the name of the last user to log on will be displayed in the system logon dialog box.

Default User Name

This String value contains the name of the last user who logged on. It will be displayed only if the DontDisplayLastUserName value is not present or is set to 0.

Legal Notice Caption

This String value, used in concert with the LegalNoticeText value, displays a dialog box prior to logon that contains any text you want to display. (The text doesn't have to be a legal notice, but this value is often used for that purpose.) The box has a title and text. The LegalNoticeCaption value will be the dialog box's title.

LegalNoticeText

This String value, used in concert with LegalNoticeCaption, contains the text that you want to be displayed inside a dialog box displayed prior to logon.

Password Expiry Warning

This DWORD value lets you display a warning message to users a certain number of days before their passwords are set to expire. It lets you determine how many days ahead of time the warning should be issued. To edit the value, click the decimal button and enter the number of days.

Shutdown Without Logon

This String value enables or disables a button on the XP logon dialog box that lets the system shut down. A value of 1 enables the button (so that it is shown); a value of 0 disables the button (so that it is not shown).

Shell

This String value really doesn't have to do with logons, but it's one you should know about. It determines the shellthe user interfacethat will be used by XP. The default is Explorer.exe, but it can be another shell as wellfor example, the Program Manager from older Windows versions. Type in the name of the program; for example, Progman.exe for the Program Manager, or Taskman.exe for the Task Manager.

Auto Restart Shell

This DWORD value doesn't have to do with logons either, but it's another good one to know. It sets whether to automatically restart the Windows shell if the shell crashes. A value of 1 automatically restarts the shell. A value of 0 tells XP not to restart the shell, forcing you to log off and then back on again to restart it.

Now that your system's startup and shutdown are under control, let's move on to the user interface.

Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop

2009-07-30T05:11:00.000-07:00

You can Download the latest version of Ubuntu Operating System here

click the link below:

http://mirrors.portafixe.com/ubuntu/releases/jaunty/ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso

It's Absolutely Free

Making Windows XP Genuine - The Easiest Way

2009-07-17T06:14:00.000-07:00

download Jellybean Keyfinder from this website

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

Now open Keyfinder.exe

Click on options and click "change windows key"

Now enter this key and you're done.

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

V2C47-MK7JD-3R89F-D2KXW-VPK3J

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

P.S: this works on windows xp sp2 only......

ppl u can try this out...

this might sound silly but it works perfectly...

TRY INSTALLING IE7 OR MEDIA PLAYER11.

How To Catch A Hacker

2009-07-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

Some one wrote this great Post at orkut about Catching Hackers

I don't know who exactly the writer of this great post is...

Here is what he had to write :

"just wrote this guide to give you some tips of which you may not have heard yet. Hopefully, it won't come to a hacker getting in, but if it does...

Tip 1: Hackers cover their tracks. Experienced hackers cover them more thorougly, but amateur hackers sometimes leave things behind. Don't expect them to leave any really big evidence behind; expect more of little things here and there you might find surprising. For example, if you're writing a term paper and a black hat hacker accidently saved it when he took a paragraph out- that's suspicious. Where did that paragraph go? Well, for one thing, now you know he was in that area. Check the folders surrounding the file- you might find something.

Tip 2: Decipher between the type of hackers that are attacking you. Experienced hackers will have a more in depth look around when they penetrate your system. They won't touch much because they know that that won't add too much to their knowledge. But if you know a hacker's been in, and some files are messed with, and you have a log of someone guessing passwords to a file or something of that sort, its probably some newbie who's just starting out. These are the easiest hackers to catch. They usually get so caught up in thoughts like "I'm in!" that they forget the basics, such as work behind a proxy.

Tip to protect yourself

My friend was setting up a webserver once. His first time too, and he wasn't to anxious to set up some good software to protect against hackers and viruses. He didn't put up one IDS, and before you know it, the obvious happened. But this time, a newbie had struck. The nice log files showed, bluntly across the screen, multiple instances of a foreign IP address that stood out. Some stupid newbie had tried to login as "uucp" on my friend's XP computer, with a password of "uucp." Well, that's great, but he also had tried the same user/pass combination three times, enough to get himself logged nicely. Even a semi-brainless user with some form of neurological system knows that uucp isn't a default XP account. Again, excitement toiled this hacker's brain, and maybe if he hadn't done that, along with a few other stupid things, he wouldn't have gotten caught. What other things did he do? Well, lets see. He openned 35 instances of MS-DOS. He tried to clean the printer's heads, and he edited a .gif in notepad. Then he uninstalled a few programs and installed some html editor, and replaced four files with the words "14P." he might as well have posted his phone number. In a few days, we had tracked him down to a

suburban town in Ohio. We let him go, not pressing any charges, because he had done nothing really damaging and had provided me with an example of a moron for this guide.

Tip 3: Don't go crazy if you lose data. Chances are, if it was that important, you would have backed it up anyway. Most hackers nowadays wish they were back in 1989 when they could use a Black Box and having a Rainbow Book actually meant something. Most hackers aren't blackhat, they are whitehat, and some even greyhat. But in the end, most hackers that are in systems aren't satisfied by looking around. From past experiences, I have concluded that many hackers like to remember where've they been. So, what do they do? They either press delete here and there, or copy some files onto their systems. Stupid hackers (yes, there are plenty of stupid hackers) send files to e-mail addresses. Some free email companies will give you the IP of a certain e-mail address's user if you can prove that user has been notoriously hacking you. But most of the time, by the time you get the e-mail addy it's been unused for weeks if not months or years, and services like hotmail have already deleted it.

Tip 4: Save information! Any information that you get from a log file (proxy server IP, things like "14P", e-mail addresses that things were sent to, etc.) should be saved to a floppy disk (they're not floppy anymore, I wish I could get out of the habit of calling them that) incase there's a next time. If you get another attack, from the same proxy, or with similar e-mail addresses (e.g: one says Blackjack 123@something.whatever and the other says Black_jack_45@something.znn.com) you can make an assumption that these hackers are the same people. In that case, it would probably be worth the effort to resolve the IP using the proxy and do a traceroute. Pressing charges is recommended if this is a repeat offender.

Tip 5: Don't be stupid. If you've been hacked, take security to the next level. Hackers do talk about people they've hacked and they do post IPs and e-mail addresses. Proof? Take a look at Defcon Conventions. I've never gone to one, but I've seen the photos. The "Wall of Shame"-type of boards I've seen have IPs and e-mail addresses written all over them in fat red, dry-erase ink. Don't be the one to go searching the Defcon website and find your e-mail address posted on the Wall of Shame board!

Tip 6: Don't rely on luck. Chances are, sometime or another, you're going to be targeted for an attack. Here you can rely on luck. Maybe they'll forget? Maybe they don't know how to do it? If you think this way, a surprise is going to hit your face very hard. Another way you could stupidly rely on luck is by saying this: It's probably just a whitehat. On the contrary, my friend, it's probably just a blackhat. A blackhat with knowledge stored in his head, ready to be used as an ax. It's your data. You take the chance.

Javascript Trick: Dancing Images

2009-07-17T06:05:00.000-07:00

A Javascript trick that makes all the images on the site your on float and dance around. :]

//You can do this to ANY site with images//

Directions:

Open your internet web browser, go to your prefered site you wish to do this trick on, Once there, Go to the address bar on top, Delete everything that's there, and copy and paste the code below into it, press enter and have fun. :]

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.getElementsByTagName("img"); DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=(Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5)+ "px"; DIS.top=(Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5)+" px"}R++}setInterval('A()',5); void(0);

Rename a Series of Files

2009-07-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

When you download photos from your digital camera, they often have unrecognizable names. You can rename several similar files at once with the following procedure. This also works for renaming other types of files.

1.Open the My Pictures folder. (Click Start, and then click My Pictures.) Or open another folder containing files that you want to rename.

2.Select the files you want to rename. If the files you want are not adjacent in the file list, press and hold CTRL, and then click each item to select it.

3.On the File menu, click Rename.

4.Type the new name, and then press ENTER.

All of the files in the series will be named in sequence using the new name you type. For example, if you type Birthday, the first will be named Birthday and subsequent files in the series will be named Birthday (1), Birthday (2), and so on. To specify the starting number for the series, type the starting number in parentheses after the new file name. The files in the series will be numbered in sequence starting with the number you type. For example, if you type Birthday (10), the other files will be named Birthday (11), Birthday (12), and so on.

FDISK - A DOS Command

2009-07-17T05:43:00.000-07:00

The Basics of Fdisk:

Primary partitions are the only one that are bootable. They're always the C: drive when active. Normally you can only have one (more with some special tricks etc.) Extended partitions are needed when you want more than one partition. You can only have ONE Extended partition. Logical Drives come into the Extended partition. They are handy since you know that you can only have one Primary and one Extended so you can get more than only two partitions. They would be your D:, E:, etc. drives.

First you need to reboot your system with the Boot Disk inserted.

1.At the A: prompt start "FDISK."

2.If asked to use Large Disc support say Yes.

3.The first screen looks like this:

Create Dos Partition or Logical Drive

Set Active Partition

Delete Partitions or Logical DOS Drives

Display Partition Information

Change current fixed drive. (In case you have two or more Hard Drivess)

So, to prepare you hopefully did a backup from your data. You did, didn't you ?!

4.Next we need to remove the existing partitions. So go to 3.

5.Next screen like this:

Delete Primary DOS

Delete Extended DOS

Delete Logical Drives

Delete Non-DOS

Delete always in the following order

Logical (All) > Extended > Primary (Last)

6.Go back to first screen after all partitions have been removed.

7.Now we need to setup our new partitions. Go to 1.

This screen looks like this:

Create Primary DOS

Create Extended DOS

Create Logical DOS Drives

Here we create in the following order

Primary > Extended > Logical Drives.

8.First create the Primary. If asked to use all space say No and enter the amount you wish for the C: drive. It should be set automatically to be the (only) Active partition. If not it may ask you or you have to select "2. Set active partition" from the main menu.

9.Next create the Extended Partition. Use all space left.

It probably advances automatically to the next step, creating the Logical DOS Drives.

10.Enter the amount you wish for the D: partition and than the rest for the third partition.

Think first about the size for the partitions.

OK now we're finished with FDISK so just exit it. Next you need to reboot with the disc still inserted and Format all partitions (the C: partition might need to be formatted with "format c: /s", check the Win95 tip). Another reboot and you can go ahead and install Windows.

When your system supports booting from CD just insert the Windows CD and reboot. The setup will start.

If not, follow these steps:

Win98: insert Boot Disk and CD, reboot, choose "2. boot with CDROM support" and once you're at the prompt change to your CD-drive letter (depends on your partition setup) and enter "setup".

Win95: You must format the C: partition with "Format C: /s"!. Next install your CDROM driver, reboot, insert the Win95 CD, change to the CD-driveletter, enter "setup".

I hope I made no mistakes.

How to Use Qfixapp.exe In Windows XP

2009-07-17T05:38:00.000-07:00

This article describes the Quick Fix utility (Qfixapp.exe) that is included with the Application Compatibility Toolkit for Windows XP and Windows .NET. Qfixapp.exe is a tool that includes pre-packaged fixes that provide an easy way to fix a program.

Use Qfixapp.exe To Apply Program Fixes

You can use Qfixapp.exe to quickly apply various program fixes (AppFixes, also known as "shims") to a program to determine their effectiveness. Qfixapp.exe reads the %SystemRoot%\windows\apppatch\sysmain.sdb database to produce a list of available fixes. When you select an AppFix, you can start the program executable (.exe) file, and the AppFix will be applied. If a suitable AppFix is found, the tool eventually helps you to generate and test matching file information. When you run Qfixapp.exe, you see the following items:

The The application for which to apply the fix(es) check box. This setting disables existing fixes in the database.

The Layer tab with the Choose one of the existing layers to apply to your app box that contains the following entries:

256 Color

640X480

Disable Themes

Internaltional

LUA(Limited User Account)

LUACleanUp

NT4SP5

ProfilesSetup

Win2000

Win95

Win98

The Fixes tab. On this tab you can select the individual fixes that you want to apply.

Example of How to Use Qfixapp.exe

1. Start Notepad, and then click About Notepad on the Help menu. Note that the version is 5.1.

2. Start Qfixapp.exe, click Win95, click Browse, and then open the Windows folder. Note that the Windows\System32 folder is protected by Windows File Protection, so it is not able to use the layers.

3. Click Notepad.exe, click Open, and then click Run.

4. Start Notepad, and then click About Notepad on the Help menu. Note that the version is now 4.0.

If you click ViewLog, you could see what AppFix(es) are being used. If you click Advanced, you could see information about the .exe file. You can click Add Matching Info, and then select files that are related to the .exe file to identify that particular program. After you finish that step, you could click Create Fix Support to add the layers with the Matching Information (GRABMI) and create an XML-based database that is named YourAppName.sdb. Note that in the preceding example it is named Notepad.sdb, and is in the AppPatch folder.

Add Album Art to any Music Folder

2009-07-17T05:34:00.000-07:00

One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is its album thumbnail generator, which automatically places the appropriate album cover art on the folder to which you are copying music (generally in WMA format). But what about those people that have already copied their CDs to the hard drive using MP3 format? You can download album cover art from sites such as cdnow.com or amguide.com, and then use the new Windows XP folder customize feature to display the proper image for each folder. But this takes time you have to manually edit the folder properties for every single folder and you will lose customizations if you have to reinstall the OS. There's an excellent fix, however.

When you download the album cover art from the Web, just save the images as folder.jpg each time and place them in the appropriate folder. Then, Windows XP will automatically use that image as the thumbnail for that folder and, best of all, will use that image in Windows Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) if you choose to display album cover art instead of a visualization. And the folder customization is automatic, so it survives an OS reinstallation as well. Your music folders never looked so good!

Album cover art makes music folder thumbnails look better than ever!

Add Sound to almost every event in Windows

2009-07-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

XP comes with a new set of sounds that will surely add pizzazz to the way you work in Windows. But there's one problem -- you need to actually turn on the Windows default sound scheme before you'll be able to hear them.

To turn on the Windows XP default sound scheme, follow these directions:

Single-click the Start menu.

Single-click the Control Panel.

Single-click the Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices icon.

Single-click the Sounds and Audio Devices icon or the text labeled "Change the sound scheme."

Make sure you're on the Sound tab and locate the pull-down menu under Sound scheme.

Select the Windows Default option and press Apply. Windows will ask you if you want to save the previous sound scheme. Since there wasn't a sound scheme already loaded, just choose No.

If you look under the text labeled "Program events," you'll be able to sample your new sounds or customize them with your own. Read Customize Events Sounds if you'd like to learn how to do this yourself.

How to make a Simple Shutdown Virus?

2009-07-17T03:20:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial you will learn how to make a virus joke to your friends and shut down their computer. Replace one of their used icons on the desktop with a fake one. And when they try to open it, their computer will close.

Let's Start :

1. Right click on the desktop and go to New -> Create Shortcut.

2. Type in the windows that appears:

shutdown -s -t 60 -c "Virus Detection. Computer is shutting down."

Instead of 60 you can put what value you want. It represents the time in seconds. And also between quotes you can put what message you desire.

3. Click Next and type Internet Explorer. You can write whatever you want.

4. You will have a program like this on your desktop.

5. We need to change its icon to look like Internet Explorer. Right click on it and chooseProperties.

6. Go to Shortcut ->Change Icon.

7. You can find the icon in the ones available or go to C:/Program Files/Internet Explorer and select the icon from there.

8. After the icon is selected press Open.

9. The 'virus' will look like Internet Explorer.

10. And when you open it the computer will be closed in 60 seconds or whatever value you chosed.

11. The only way to stop the computer from shutting down is to go to Start->Run and type "shutdown -a", and press "Enter" Remember that this is just for educational purposes only and you should not harm computers and their functionality.

Fool your Friend now!

Ping

2009-07-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

Here are all of the ping functions and option. Let's start!

Ping function works only with DOS or something like DOS like "Command Prompt". You can try out this function in Command Prompt. To open Command Prompt just type "cmd" or "command" in Run and press "Enter".

example .. In DOS .. c:>ping 192.168.0.1 -t

-t Ping the specifed host until interrupted

-a Resolve addresses to hostnames

-n count Number of echo requests to send

-l size Send buffer size

-f Set Don't Fragment flag in packet

-i TTL Time To Live

-v TOS Type Of Service

-r count Record route for count hops

-s count Timestamp for count hops

-j host-list Loose source route along host-list

-k host-list Strict source route along host-list

-w timeout Timeout in milliseconds to wait for each reply

Experiment to see how helpful these can be done, provided you have to have a network connection :D

"STOP” Error Message at Shutdown

2009-07-16T03:20:00.000-07:00

Some users have gotten an error message similar to the following when attempting either to shutdown or restart Win XP:

STOP 0000009F, DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE

STOP 0x0000001E: KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

STOP 0x000000D1: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

TechNet and the Microsoft Knowledge Base have numerous articles discussing this type of error condition; for example, these. As a review of these articles will show, these are commonly device driver problems, but may also be caused by troublesome software (such as the notorious CrashGuard), or a problem in a system service. MSKB article Q262575 discusses a shutdown problem of this type, known to exist in Windows 2000 due to a resource (IRQ) conflict, if you have PACE Interlok anti-piracy software installed. This problem may occur in Windows XP as well.

Microsoft advises the following as one approach to these problems: Restart the computer. Press F8 during the restart and select “Last Known Good Configuration.” If you catch the problem when it first occurs (meaning you likely have installed only one or two drivers or new service), this will return you to a previous working condition. (Would System Restore accomplish the same thing? I don’t know, and don’t have a broken system to test it on.)

Microsoft reported similarly that these STOP code error message occur when Windows XP is trying to shut down devices. He says that he has seen this twice: once with Logitech Quickcam installed (with an unsupported driver), and once with a USB DSL modem that would hang if it wasn’t disconnected before shutdown.

SHUTDOWN WORKS, BUT IT’S REAL SLOW.

If it appears that Win XP is not shutting down, give it some time. Some users have reported a minute or longer for shutdown to visibly start. Thus far, it appears that this is a consequence of software that is running when shutdown is attempted, and it also may have something to do with particular hardware. If you are experiencing this problem, be sure to close all running programs before attempting shutdown and see if this solves your problem. If so, then you can determine, by trial and error, which program(s) are involved.

One specific solution for this was provided by Microsoft support. ” In Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services. (You can also get this by launching SERVICES.MSC from a Run box. This utility is also built into the Computer Management console.) Stop the Nvidia Driver Helper service. Many other friends quickly confirmed that this solved this “extremely slow shutdown” problem for them.

POWERDOWN ISSUES.

“Powerdown issues” are quite distinctive from “shutdown issues.” I define a shutdown problem as one wherein Windows doesn’t make it at least to the “OK to shut off your computer” screen. If Windows gets that far, or farther, then it has shut down correctly. However, the computer may not powerdown correctly after that. This is a different problem, and I encourage that people reporting these issues to make a very clear distinction in their labeling.

When Windows XP won’t powerdown automatically, the APM/NT Legacy Power Node may not be enabled. To enable this, right-click on the My Computer icon, click Properties | Hardware | Device Manager | View. Check the box labeled “Show Hidden Devices.” If it’s available on your computer, there will be a red X on the APM/NT Legacy Node. Try enabling it and see if this resolves the powerdown problem.

This should resolve the powerdown issue in most cases. However, other factors can sometimes interfere with correct powerdown functioning. In that case, consider the following tips:

If you are changing the default power settings in the BIOS, it can lead to a powerdown problem. Restoring all BIOS power settings to default will likely fix it.

OTHER KNOWN ISSUES & HINTS.

BIOS UPGRADE.

As with every new operating system that comes along - especially one that is as much of a “step up” as Windows XP is from Windows 9x - the recommendation is made to be sure your BIOS is updated. Many people have reported that this has solved their shutdown problems (and had other advantages) with Win XP, just as it has in earlier versions of Windows.

To Convert a FAT partition into NTFS

2009-07-16T03:01:00.000-07:00

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS:

Click Start, click Programs, and then click Command Prompt.

In Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type cmd and then click OK.

At the command prompt, type CONVERT [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS.

Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.

NOTE: Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion from FAT to NTFS is minimal, it is best to perform a full backup of the data on the drive that it is to be converted prior to executing the convert command. It is also recommended to verify the integrity of the backup before proceeding, as well as to run RDISK and update the emergency repair disk (ERD).

Keyboard Shortcuts

2009-07-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

When speed counts, the keyboard is still king. Almost all the actions and commands you can perform with a mouse you can perform faster using combinations of keys on your keyboard. These simple keyboard shortcuts can get you where you want to go faster than several clicks of a mouse. You'll work faster on spreadsheets and similar documents, too, because you won't lose your place switching back and forth between mouse and keys.

Here are some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts:

Copy. CTRL+C

Cut. CTRL+X

Paste. CTRL+V

Undo. CTRL+Z

Delete. DELETE

Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE

Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item

Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item

Rename selected item. F2

Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW

Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW

Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW

Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW

Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys

Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys

Select all. CTRL+A

Search for a file or folder. F3

View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER

Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4

Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR

Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4

Switch between open items. ALT+TAB

Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC

Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6

Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4

Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10

Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR

Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC

Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name

Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu

Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10

Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW

Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW

Refresh the active window. F5

View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE

Cancel the current task. ESC

SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.

Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:

Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB

Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB

Move forward through options. TAB

Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB

Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter

Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER

Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR

Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys

Display Help. F1

Display the items in the active list. F4

Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE

If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

Display or hide the Start menu.

Display the System Properties dialog box. +BREAK

Show the desktop. +D

Minimize all windows. +M

Restores minimized windows. +Shift+M

Open My Computer. +E

Search for a file or folder. +F

Search for computers. CTRL+ +F

Display Windows Help. +F1

Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. + L

Open the Run dialog box. +R

Display the shortcut menu for the selected item.

Open Utility Manager. +U

Helpful accessibility keyboard shortcuts:

Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds

Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN

Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK

Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times

Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds

Open Utility Manager. +U

Keyboard shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:

Display the bottom of the active window. END

Display the top of the active window. HOME

Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)

Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)

Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)

Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW

Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW

How to bypass CD DRM Encryption?

2009-07-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

DRM is an encryption manifest file which dissallows an individual who's purchased a CD which contains the DRM directly written into the actual Audio Disk. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management.

What's the cause for DRM Encryption?

DRM(Digital Rights Management) is to control the internets piracy of Audio files, mp3s for example.. on P2P (Peer To Peer) Clients, (A famous one is KaZaA) for non-3rd party use. Which this means that You can rip the audio to your computer, and listen to them only at your computer and nowhere else. Now there usually is an internal ripper provided by the CD itself, for you to burn the audio to another CD-R or whatever, but if you follow my howto it'll make things a lot simpler.

-What you need-

1. 6-ft. (182m)* Shielded Audio Cable, 1/8/11th's stereo miniplug, to 1/8/11th's stereo miniplug. Radio shack item # (42-2387A)

2. A CD Player.

3. The CD which has the DRM encryption.

4. A Computer with working Microphone input, and soundcard output.

5. An Audio editor such as Sonic Foundry Sound forge 6.0 or something like it.

Now, take the Audio chord and plug it into your CD player where you'd put your headphones, then take the other end and plug it directly into your CPU's microphone input.

Once that's done, open up your Audio Editor... click on File>New> Once the new layout has opened, click "Record" now once it has started to record, click Play on your CD Diskman. (Make sure you have your Sound on the Diskman to MAX output)

Now thats pretty much it... once the disk has been fully played and upstreamed to your audio editor... you can disect the Tracks and the name them on New Sound layouts, name the track... and save it as mp3. Becuase by default all audio editors save upstreamed tracks as .WAV format, and wav format is a relativelly enormus size as far as bytes are concerned. Remember, it's our right to do what we want with what we buy.

Tips to create a Strong Password Easily..!!!

2009-07-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

How to create a Strong Password. Easily!!!!!

This lead me to explain the method I follow to set a password - A Strong Password indeed by all standards.

You must follow the following criteria while creating a Strong Password:

* The password must be a minimum of 8+ characters.

* The password must have 1 number , 1 special character, 1 Upper Case character.

A very simple example that I use to explain my friends and colleages is : P@ssw0rd. It fullfills all the criteria's. The 'a' is replaced by a special character @. The 'P' is of upper case. The 'o' is replaced by the numeral 0.

Well, you can now convert your regular password into a Strong Password by following a few changes like the example I have mentioned above for the simple password - P@ssw0rd.

* Make the first character Upper Case.

* Change all 'a' in the password to the special character @.

* Change all 's' in the password to the special character $.* Change all 'l' in the password to the special character !.

* Change all 'o' in the password to the numerical 0.

* Change all 'i' in the password to the numerical 1.

Create a better password for your account now!!! Thanks for reading.

How to Lock a Folder Using Notepad

2009-07-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

How to Lock a Folder Using Notepad

1) Consider you want to lock a folder named caclub in your f:\, whose path is f:\caclub

2) Now open the Notepad and type the following

ren caclub caclub.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30 309D}

3) Where caclub is your folder name. Save the text file as loc.bat in the same drive.

4) Open another new notepad text file and type the following

ren caclub.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30 309D} caclub

5) Save the text file as unloc.bat in the same drive.

Usage:

6) To lock the caclub folder, simply click the loc.bat and it will transform into control panel icon which is inaccessible.

7) To unlock the folder click the unloc.bat file. Thus the folder will be unlocked and the contents are accessible.

Lock Your Folder and secure you data!!!

Hide User Accounts from other Users

2009-07-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

Go to Start/Run, and type:

GPEDIT.MSC

Open the path

User Config > Admin Templates > Control Panel

doubleclick "Hide specified Control Panel applets"

put a dot in 'enabled', then click 'Show"

click Add button,

type "nusrmgt.cpl" into the add box

NTFS vs. FAT

2009-07-15T08:18:00.001-07:00

To NTFS or not to NTFS—that is the question. But unlike the deeper questions of life, this one isn't really all that hard to answer. For most users running Windows XP, NTFS is the obvious choice. It's more powerful and offers security advantages not found in the other file systems. But let's go over the differences among the files systems so we're all clear about the choice. There are essentially three different file systems available in Windows XP: FAT16, short for File Allocation Table, FAT32, and NTFS, short for NT File System.

FAT16

The FAT16 file system was introduced way back with MS–DOS in 1981, and it's showing its age. It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive, and has had minor modifications over the years so it can handle hard disks, and even file names longer than the original limitation of 8.3 characters, but it's still the lowest common denominator. The biggest advantage of FAT16 is that it is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX. The biggest problem of FAT16 is that it has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger. In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.

FAT32

The FAT32 file system, originally introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, is really just an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. As such, it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system. However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.

The Advantages of NTFS

The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.

The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.

When to Use FAT or FAT32

If you're running more than one operating system on a single computer (see Dual booting in Guides), you will definitely need to format some of your volumes as FAT. Any programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT16 or possibly FAT32 volume. But keep in mind that you have no security for data on a FAT16 or FAT32 volume—any one with access to the computer can read, change, or even delete any file that is stored on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition. In many cases, this is even possible over a network. So do not store sensitive files on drives or partitions formatted with FAT file systems.

Make your Folders Private

2009-07-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

If you are using a shared computer, this infomation may help you to protect your data from other users

Follow The instruction given below :-

1. Open My Computer

2. Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer).

3. If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.

4. Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.

5. Double-click your user folder.

6. Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.

7. On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.

Note

1. To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.

2. This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.

3. When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.

4. You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS. Click Here

Safe You Data !!! Do it now.

For a Safer, faster XP Close Unwanted Services

2009-07-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

To disable unneeded startup services for a safer, faster XP, use the "Services" Admin Tool (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services). If you are a single user of a non-networked machine, you can disable the following items, with no ill effect.

Alerter

Clipbook

Computer Browser

Fast User Switching

Human Interface Access Devices

Indexing Service (Slows the hard drive down)

Messenger

Net Logon (unnecessary unless networked on a Domain)

Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)

Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)

Remote Procedure Call Locator

Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)

Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)

Server

SSDP Discovery Service (this is for the utterly pointless "Universal P'n'P", & leaves TCP Port 5000 wide open)

TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper

Telnet (disabled for extra security)

Universal Plug and Play Device Host

Upload Manager

Windows Time

Wireless Zero Configuration (for wireless networks)

Workstation

20 things you didn't know about Windows XP

2009-07-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

You've read the reviews and digested the key feature enhancements and operational changes. Now it's time to delve a bit deeper and uncover some of Windows XP's secrets.

1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).

2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).

3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.

6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.

7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.

8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.

9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.

11. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.

13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.

14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.

16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.

17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.

18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.

19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.

20. The next release of Windows XP, codenamed Longhorn, is due out late next year or early 2003 and won't be much to write home about. The next big release is codenamed Blackcomb and will be out in 2003/2004.

Change the location of the My Music or My Pictures Folders

2009-07-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

In Windows 2000, Microsoft added the ability to right-click the My Documents folder and choose a new location for that folder in the shell. With Windows XP, Microsoft has elevated the My Music and My Pictures folders to the same "special shell folder" status of My Documents, but they never added a similar (and simple) method for changing those folder's locations. However, it is actually pretty easy to change the location of these folders, using the following method.

Open a My Computer window and navigate to the location where you'd like My Music (or My Pictures) to reside. Then, open the My Documents folder in a different window. Drag the My Music (or My Pictures) folder to the other window, and Windows XP will update all of the references to that folder to the new location, including the Start menu.

Joining A Network

2009-07-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

f you want to connect to a network during Setup, you must have the correct hardware installed on your computer and be connected to your network.

If you will be using a network, first determine whether your computer is joining a domain or a workgroup.

If you're not sure, select Workgroup when you are prompted during Setup. (You can always join a domain later, after Windows XP Professional is installed.) Any computer user can join a workgroup—you don’t need special administrative permissions. You must provide an existing or new workgroup name, or you can use the workgroup name that Windows XP Professional suggests during Setup.

If you select Domain ask your network administrator to create a new computer account in that domain or to reset your existing account. Joining a domain requires permission from the network administrator.

Joining a domain during Setup requires a computer account to identify your computer to the domain you want to join. If you’re upgrading, Setup uses your existing computer account; or if there isn’t one, Setup prompts you to provide a new computer account. Ask your network administrator to create a computer account before you begin Setup. Or, if you have the appropriate privileges, you can create the account yourself and join the domain during Setup. To join a domain during Setup, you need to provide your domain user name and password.

Unless you're an advanced user, it's recommended you use the default settings.

Make Money Typing

2009-07-09T23:15:00.000-07:00

Earn Money Using Your Home PC.

While typing is no longer offered at most business schools or high schools, it is still a service much in demand. Doctors, lawyers and authors record notes and then seek professionals to help type those notes into legible documents. The formal name for this service is transcribing, and it is easy to get set up as a transcriber. Then you can start making money typing.

Making Money Typing

With the world almost completely online, there is little need for a typewriter, however typing is still a marketable skill. The faster you are able to type, the faster you can share ideas and commit your thoughts to the screen. Using those typing skills to put the thoughts of others in written form is a way to supplement or even replace your current income.

Most medical and legal professionals take copious notes while working. Surgeries and investigations are recorded and then the recordings later transformed into the written word. The same is true for the legal field. Despositions are taken from witnesses and clients on video or voice recorded, but there is almost always a pressing need for a written form of the recording. The current environment of lawsuits and legal proceedings make it even more necessary to have accurate documents.

If you are able to listen to what is recorded and then type that recording correctly using the computer, you are able to transcribe and your skill is in demand.

Becoming a Transcriber

To become a transcriber, you have a few options. One is to research and find legitimate companies that already offer this service. There is a steady demand for skilled individuals, and these companies will willingly take on new employees who show commitment to their work. Some may charge a fee for a start-up package. These companies require a bit of extra research to ensure that they are indeed selling you a package and future work, not just taking your money.

Another option to begin making money typing is to approach professionals in your area. Doctors, lawyers, security professionals, authors, police stations and similar locations all might have need of someone to transcribe notes and recordings.

It can be challenging to demonstrate your abilities if you don't have references, so consider offering your service on a trial basis if potential clients are skirmish. Remember that much of what you are potentially transcribing can have serious legal repercussions, so you should approach the material with the utmost care and understand the skepticism and caution of clients. It might be worthwhile to take a few classes to fine-tune your skills and gain references of instructors.

Once you have established yourself as accurate and trustworthy, be sure to maintain a set of references from past clients. Also ask for referrals to new clients as many in the legal and medical field are closely networked.

Over time you will have established an ongoing client base and steady work. Considering most transcribers make upwards of $30 per hour, you will be very nicely supplementing other income or even completely replacing it by working just a few hours a day.

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