15 Top Windows XP Secrets

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Access Task Manager with shortcut :
   To access the Task Manager easier, you can make a shortcut that points to %windir%\system32\taskmgr.exe.
6. 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.
7. Run program as diffrent user :
   You can run a program as a different user. Right click an application and select Run As command.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. Edit accounts in the command prompt :
    You can edit accounts by running "control userpasswords2" at the command prompt.
13. 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.
14. 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.
    
15. 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

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

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.