FDISK - A DOS Command

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

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 Sound to almost every event in Windows

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?

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!

20 things you didn't know about Windows XP

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.

NTLDR Missing

NTLDR Missing! Do you ever got a message like this on booting. Well! I've suffered from this and believe me it's dangerous. The computer stops at a black and white screen and display the message

NTLDR Missing

and when you press Ctrl+Alt+Del it restarts and gives this message again and again. It will not let you start your computer!!!

This can be caused due to a virus or by your young children. There is a file present in C: Directory "ntldr" which is hidden if it is exposed it can be deleted by anyone. It may also be deleted by a virus. On deleting it will give no warning and the computer will work as it is. But as you will shutdown it the first time you'll open it you will get the same message.

If you have backup your data you simply use the Automated Recovery Program. Or

You can repair windows by inserting Windows CD or Windows USB and selecting Repair. Or

You can reinstall windows in the same directory with a bootable CD.

And don't commit the same mistake again