AskAbz.Co.Cc

Login to Yahoo Messenger with multiple accounts at the same time

2010-01-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

Download Reg. script from here.

Just download the zip file and extract. Then open the Y!Multiple login.reg and click Yes, then Ok. That's all. Now you can open more than one Yahoo! messenger windows and can login with different accounts. Enjoy.
Download Reg. script from here.

Lock Windows with USB Drive using Predator

2010-01-17T19:52:00.000-08:00

The traditional way of locking Windows when you move out of your desktop or laptop involves entering the password when you are back. If you are looking for a better solution to this, then Predator is a perfect choice. Predator locks your PC when you are away, even if your Windows session is still opened and it uses a regular USB flash drive as an access control device. Once you have configured the application, you can easily lock and unlock theWindows using the USB drive.
You can create a password and this password will be used in case you lose the USB drive. The application provides option to set the screen darkness, multiple monitors, hide desktop icons and also to minimize all windows before locking.
This utility will not alter the files inside your USB Drive. You will be able to use your USB drive normally. The application sits in system tray and does the monitoring. You can also set the interval for monitoring. The application checks for your connected USB drive during the interval set and once USB is missing it automatically locks your PC.

Download Predator

Get Free License Key Of Registry Mechanic 8

2010-01-15T00:17:00.000-08:00

With Registry Mechanic you can safely clean, repair and optimize the Windows registry with a few simple mouse clicks! Problems with the Windows registry are a common cause of Windows crashes, slow performance and error messages.

By using a registry cleaner regularly and fixing registry errors your system should not only be more stable but it will also help improve your system performance without expensive hardware upgrades.

With a few easy steps our Windows registry cleaner will scan your entire registry for any invalid entries in the Windows registry and provide a list of the registry errors found, you can then choose to selectively clean each item or automatically repair them all. For your convenience and protection Registry Mechanic can also make a backup of any repairs made so that you can easily recover any changes if required.

If you want to try out Registry Mechanic 8 than you can use the following License Key and License Name to activate it.

License key: 98F8-50D5-05BB-98B1-02BD-A379-84B5-4ADB
License Name: Computer Active

Download Registry Mechanic 8

VMLite XP Mode : Alternative to Windows XP Mode in Windows 7

2010-01-12T02:19:00.001-08:00

VMLite XP Mode is a free software which allows users to run Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 without any hardware virtualization required.

Features:

Provides similar functions as Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode from Microsoft
No requirement for hardware-assisted virtualization, namely, it runs without VT-x or AMD-v
Provides seamless integration with host desktop to run applications from Windows XP virtual machine
Host files can be accessed from within the XP Mode virtual machine easily
Support 3rd party virtual machine images
Runs on any PC with Windows XP and above as host operating system
Highly performed, XP Mode boots in 15 seconds

Download Link

More Info

Homepage

via

Try Google’s New Interface

2010-01-12T02:13:00.000-08:00

Google is secretly testing a new interface for its search engine which is not yet available to public.

If you want to try the new interface, just follow the few steps:

1. Open Google.com in your web browser:

2. Now paste the following code in your browser’s address bar and press enter:

javascript:void(document.cookie=”PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com”);

That’s it. Now refresh the page and you’ll be able to see the new interface.

To see the old interface again, just delete your browser’s cookies.

Download Mozilla Firefox 3.6 RC1 (Release Candidate 1)

2010-01-11T19:49:00.000-08:00

Mozilla has released first release candidate of its upcoming web browser Firefox 3.6. This version is built on the Gecko 1.9.2 web rendering engine, containing many improvements for web developers, Add-on developers, and users.

Firefox 3.6 RC1 introduces several new features:

Made some changes to how third party software are allowed to integrate with Firefox in order to prevent crashes.
This release candidate is available in more than 70 languages - get your local version.
More than 70 fixes from the last beta to improve performance, stability, security and features.
The ability to run scripts asynchronously to speed up page load times.
Users can now change their browser's appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
Support for the WOFF font format.
Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

Download Link (Windows)

Download Link (Mac OS X)

Download Link (Linux)

Release Notes

Create your own search plugin in Firefox

2010-01-08T01:30:00.000-08:00

To choose which search engine to use in the Search Bar, click the down arrow next to the G in the Search Bar and choose your search engine from the list. Then, type in a search term, and you'll search using that engine. The engine will stay there as your default until you choose another one.

All that's well and good. But why settle for a search engine that's already been written? It's not that hard to write a plug-in of your own.

To get started, open a new file in a text editor such as Notepad. Give it the name of the site for which you're building a search engine, and give it the extension .src. In our instance, we're going to build a search engine for searching the federal government's White House site, so we'll call it White House.src. Save it in the folder C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\.

The first line of the plug-in should be the search tag , and the next line should indicate which version of Netscape the plug-in was written for. Now, I know Firefox isn't Netscape, but both are based on common code, called Mozilla, and for reasons not quite understandable, you need to include the most current version number of Netscape. At the time of this writing, it's 7.1, so that's the version we'll put here. Enter the text version="7.1" underneath the search tag so that the first two lines of your file look like this:

version="7.1

Next, name your plug-in by using this syntax:

name="My Plugin"

But replace My Plugin with the name of the plug-in you're writing. In our instance, we're calling it White House.

Now, describe your plug-in by using this syntax:

description="My Plugin - My First Search Plugin"

Our plug-in now looks like this:

version="7.1"

name="White House"

description="Search www.whitehouse.gov"

Now you have to tell the plug-in what action to take when you type in a search term and press Enter. What you're doing here is telling it how to search the site. To get this information, go to the site for which you want to build a search engine. Do a search, and look at the first part of the resulting URL, the portion before the first question mark (?). That's what will tell what action your search engine should take. For the http://www.whitehouse.gov site, that first part of the URL before the ? is http://www.whitehouse.gov/query.html.

Here's the syntax:

action="http://myplugin.faq/search"

So, in our instance, the line looks like this:

action="http://www.whitehouse.gov/query.html"

Now you need to put in the name of the search form. This will be the name of the site you're on, written with the following syntax:

searchForm="http://myplugin.faq"

Again, in our instance, this is:

searchForm="http://www.whitehouse.gov"

Underneath that, put the following code:

method="GET"

This tells the plug-in to use the GET method of searching, which is the only method supported, so there's no choice here. After that line, close off the search tag with a closing tag:

So, here's what our plug-in looks like so far:

version="7.1"

name="White House"

description="Search www.whitehouse.gov"

action="http://www.whitehouse.gov/query.html"

searchForm="http://www.whitehouse.gov"

method="GET"

Now you need to add a line that tells the site's webmasters and site administrators someone is searching the site using the plug-in. So, put in this line:

Next, you need to tell your plug-in what syntax to use when searching for the text you'll type into the Search Bar. This varies from site to site. Again, take a look at the URL that results after you search the site. Look for whatever falls between the first ampersand (&) and your search term. For the www.whitehouse.gov site, it is qt.

Here's the syntax for this line:

So, in our instance, the line looks like this:

Now you need to close off the entire search section with a closing tag:

Here's what our final file looks like:

version="7.1"

name="White House"

description="Search www.whitehouse.gov"

action="http://www.whitehouse.gov/query.html"

searchForm="http://www.whitehouse.gov"

method="GET"

That's it; you're done. Close Firefox and restart it. Click the down arrow at the Search Bar, and your search engine plug-in will show up. Select it, type in your search term, press Enter, and you'll search the site.

Hacking the Hack

When you right-click the down arrow on the Search Bar, you'll see that many plug-ins have a small icon next to them. Yours doesn't, however. That's because you haven't created an icon for it. Create a 16 16 pixel icon, give it the same name as your plug-in, and save it as either a .jpg or .png graphics file. Then, put it in the C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins folder. So, in our instance, we create one called White House.jpg.

For information about how to create icons. You can also find ready-made icons in the right size, although not the right format, right on the Web. When you visit many web sites, you'll see in your web browser a small icon to the left of the http://; that same icon might show up next to the http:// on your Favorites list because the sites use something called a favicon which the browser displays.

You can find the favicon for the site, save it to your PC, convert it to .jpg or .png format, and use it for your search engine plug-in. To find the favicon for a site, go to http://www.website.com/favicon.ico, where website is the Favorite you want an icon for. For example, go to http://www.oreilly.com/favicon.ico for the O'Reilly icon. Keep in mind, though, that not all web sites have favicons, so you won't be able to do this for every site.

If you're using Firefox to get the icon, a dialog box will open, asking what to do with the file. Save it to your hard disk. If you're using Internet Explorer, you'll open the icon itself in your browser. Right-click it, choose Save Picture As..., and save it on your hard disk.

It'll be in .ico format, so you need to convert it to .jpg or .png. An excellent program for doing this is IrfanView, available from http://www.irfanview.com. For details about how to do the conversion. When you store the file, make sure it's in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins.

Windows 7 Login Changer - Download now

2010-01-07T20:08:00.000-08:00

There are quite a few free tools to change the Windows 7 Logon screen like Windows 7 Logon Screen, Account Screen Editor, and Logon Screen Rotator. Login Changer is another useful and free tool to change the Windows 7 Logon. Another good feature of this tool is that you can add a collection of pictures and change between them at a specified interval. You can also reset to default Windows 7 Logon any time.

You can either select a single image or multiple images. In case the image size is large than what is require the tool will automatically resize and save it for you.

Image formats supported by this tool are Bitmap (BMP), Portable Network Graphics (PNG), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPG), and Graphics Interchange Format (GIF).

The application require .Net Framework 3.5 and works with Windows 7

Download Login Changer

Office 2010 Pricing and Version Details

2010-01-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

Microsoft had released the beta version of Office 2010 some time back and the final release is expected to the mid of 2010. Office 2010 comes with lots of new features and it was well accepted by the beta testers. Now, the Office 2010 team has announced the pricing and version details of Office 2010. Office 2010 will be available in 4 versions- Office Home and Business, Office Professional, Office Home and Student, and Office Professional Academic.

The pricing and version details for Office 2010 are as follows.

Office Home and Student [1]	Office Home and Business	Office Professional Edition	Office Professional Academic
Word 2010	Word 2010	Word 2010	Word 2010
Excel 2010	Excel 2010	Excel 2010	Excel 2010
PowerPoint 2010	PowerPoint 2010	PowerPoint 2010	PowerPoint 2010
OneNote 2010	OneNote 2010	OneNote 2010	OneNote 2010
	Outlook 2010	Outlook 2010	Outlook 2010
		Publisher 2010	Publisher 2010
		Access 2010	Access 2010
Full Packaged Product: $149	Full Packaged Product: $279	Full Packaged Product: $499	Full Packaged Product: $99 [2]
Product Key Card: $119	Product Key Card: $199	Product Key Card: $349	N/A

All prices are estimated retail prices and may vary by retailer.

Some of the highlights of the versions;

Office Home and Student boxed product is available in a Family Pack, allowing usage on three PCs in one house
Purchase rights for Office Home and Business, Office Professional, and Office Professional Academic boxed product allow for usage on two of your PCs.
The Product Key Card is a single license card (with no DVD media) that will be sold at major electronic retail outlets.
The Product Key Card is valid for a single installation of the product.

Notes:

[1] Not for use in any commercial, nonprofit or revenue-generating activities, or by any government organization.

[2] Office Professional Academic 2010 is available through authorized academic resellers only.

Windows 7 secret - Access to all Control Panel settings in a single place

2010-01-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

There is an hidden secret in Windows 7. You can access all the controll panel settings in a single page:

First create a new folder any where in your system, (eg: Desktop), then rename it as following:-

Control All.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

That's all.! Now you'll get access to all control panel applets.

In fact, there is no need to create a new folder to access it. You can directly access it using following command in RUN or Windows Explorer addressbar:

shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

You can also create a shortcut using following command:

explorer.exe shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

And its not any new thing in Windows 7. It was also present in Windows Vista.

FireFox v3.5.7 Portable - Download now

2010-01-06T01:43:00.000-08:00

FireFox v3.5.7 Portable

Mozilla Firefox - faster, more secure, easier to use and sporting a new look, this latest Firefox release sets a new standard for web browser innovation. Mozilla Firefox project (formerly Firebird, which was formerly Phoenix) is a redesign of Mozilla's browser component, written using the XUL user interface language and designed to be cross-platform. It is small, fast and easy to use, and offers many advantages over other web browsers, such as the tabbed browsing and the ability to block pop-up windows.

Mozilla Firefox 3 is focused on improved memory handling, performance, and stability, improved XUL, and new core components such as application data stored in SQLite. Mozilla Firefox 3 could break a few existing extensions and applications built on top of Firefox, and it will definitely include new optimizations if you like to build on the popular browser. Mozilla Firefox 3 should have additional javascript and SVG features if you're into that sort of thing.

Features in Firefox include:
- Easy migration: Switching to Firefox has never been easier now that Firefox imports data like Favorites, history, settings, cookies and passwords from Internet Explorer. Firefox can also import settings from Mozilla 1.x, Netscape and Opera.

- Smaller Download: Continuing efforts to make this the most efficient browser, the Windows version of Firefox is now only a 4.7 MB download, making downloading Firefox a breeze for dial-up and broadband users alike.

- New Default Theme: A new default theme provides a bright new look for Windows and Linux users.

- SmartUpdate: A new SmartUpdate feature notifies users of new versions of Firefox to ensure that the browser is always up to date.

- Help: A new online help system makes this one powerful, friendly browser.

- Extension/Theme Manager: New Extension and Theme Managers provide a convenient and secure way to manage and update the hundreds of add-ons that set Firefox apart from other browsers.

Mozilla Firefox also includes numerous bug fixes and incremental improvements, including faster page load speed.
- Popup Blocking: Stop annoying popup ads in their tracks with Firefox's built in popup blocker.

- Tabbed Browsing: View more than one web page in a single window with this time saving feature. Open links in the background so that they're ready for viewing when you're ready to read them.

- Smarter Search: Google Search is built right into the toolbar, and there are a plethora of other search tools including Keywords (type "dict " in the Location Bar), and FastFind (start typing the first few letters of some text in the page and Firefox takes you there).

- Privacy and Security: Built with your Security in mind, Firefox keeps your computer safe from malicious spyware by not loading harmful ActiveX controls. A comprehensive set of privacy tools keep your online activity your business.

- Hassle-Free Downloading: Files you download are automatically saved to your Desktop so they're easy to find. Fewer prompts mean files download quicker.

- Fits Like a Glove: Simple and intuitive, yet fully featured, Firefox has all the functions you're used to - Bookmarks, History, Full Screen, Text Zooming to make pages with small text easier to read, etc.

- S M L XL XXL XXXL: Firefox is the most customizable browser on the planet. Customize your toolbars to add additional buttons, install new Extensions that add new features, add new Themes to browse with style, and use the adaptive search system to allow you to search an infinite number of engines. Firefox is as big or small as you want.

- Setup's a Snap: At only 4.7MB (Windows), Firefox only takes minutes to download over a fast connection. The installer gets you set up quickly, and the new Easy Transition system imports all of your settings - Favorites, passwords and other data from Internet Explorer and other browsers - so you can start surfing right away.

- A Developer's Best Friend: Firefox comes with a standard set of developer tools including a powerful javascript and CSS error/warning console, and an optional Document Inspector that gives unheard of insight into how your pages work.

Bugzilla.
* Products / Firefox
* Features
* Security
* Customization
* 100% Organic Software
* Tips & Tricks
* Release Notes
* Other Systems and Languages

Download here

Create an Universal Windows 7 DVD

2010-01-05T19:56:00.000-08:00

When Windows 7 was released, Microsoft changed one important aspect of installation. Windows 7 has different versions and you need a separate disc for each of the version. The only difference between these disc is the configuration file called ei.cfg which decides which version to install. Although you can manually edit the ei.cfg file, it is not an easy job for all users. ei.cfg Removal Utility is a simple free tool to remove the ei.cfg file making the Windows 7 DVD an universal one.

When used on an original Windows 7 ISO image, this utility will disable the ei.cfg file, thus converting a disc image into a “universal” disc image. When used on aWindows 7 ISO image that has already been patched by this utility, this utility will undo the ei.cfg removal and restore the disc image to its original state.

All you need is to run the utility and then select the Windows 7 original ISO file for patching. Once the patching is done it will act as an universal DVD allowing you to install any version ofWindows 7 from a single DVD.

Once you patch the ISO file, you can write the files to DVD and use this DVD to install any version of Windows 7 on your PC without having to keep multiple DVDs. Although you can install any version using this tool, you will still need a valid license key for the version installed.

Download ei.cfg Removal Tool [Via]

2009-12-28T01:31:00.001-08:00

Wish to all readers, happy and prosperous New Year!

FREE Download Ashampoo WinOptimizer 5, Photo Commander 6 and Burning Studio 2009 Worth $119.97

2009-12-27T22:27:00.000-08:00

The leading software website Softpedia in collaboration with Ashampoo is providing FREE licenses of following 3 valuable products:

Ashampoo WinOptimizer 5 (worth $39.99)
Ashampoo Photo Commander 6 (worth $39.99)
Ashampoo Burning Studio 2009 (worth $39.99)

Ashampoo WinOptimizer 5 is designed to enable both novice and advanced users to cleanse and optimize their Windows system and adapt it to their own needs. The tool feels equally at home optimizing the Windows XP and 2000 operating systems as it does under Windows Vista.

Ashampoo Photo Commander 6 is a perfect example of a new generation of programs that are genuinely intuitive easy to use. It makes organizing your pictures and getting them to look great as simple as pressing the button on your camera. You’ll save time, have a barrel of fun and your friends and family will be really impressed.

Ashampoo Burning Studio 2009 is a burning software which is compact, fast and amazingly easy to use. You just choose from a list of tasks and the software guides you through every step.

You can get all these 3 software absolutely free using following steps:

1. Go to following link and download the desired software:

Download Link

2. Install the software and you'll be taken to a webpage where you'll need to enter your E-mail ID along with some optional details. After some time, you'll receive your free license code in your Inbox which can be entered in the software to make it fully licensed version.

Source: www.askvg.com

Tanzil : Quran Navigator

2009-12-21T03:35:00.000-08:00

Tanzil : Quran Navigator

Disable Autorun Functionality in Windows Using Registry Editor

2009-12-09T00:08:00.000-08:00

Whenever you insert a USB drive, CD/DVD, etc into your system, Windows automatically launches an Autorun dialog box which allows you to select an action from the given list. You can browse the content, play media files, etc using Autorun dialog box.

Sometimes you might find the Autorun functionality annoying and might want to disable it permanently. Today in this tutorial, we are going to share a small registry method to disable Autorun functionality in Windows.

This method works in almost all Windows versions including XP, Vista and 7.

1. Type regedit in RUN or Startmenu searchbox and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Go to following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

If the above key doesn't exist, create it.

3. In right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoDriveTypeAutoRun and set its value to any of following according to your requirements:

FF - To disable AutoRun on all drives
20 - To disable AutoRun on CD-ROM drives
4 - To disable AutoRun on removable drives
8 - To disable AutoRun on fixed drives
10 - To disable AutoRun on network drives
40 - To disable AutoRun on RAM disks
1 - To disable AutoRun on unknown drives

4. If you want to disable Autorun on a combination of drives, you'll need to calculate sum of the values. For example, if you want to disable Autorun on CD-ROM drives and removable drives, you'll need to set the value to 20+4=24.

5. If you want to restore the Autorun functionality, simply delete the NoDriveTypeAutoRun DWORD value created in Step 3 Or you can set the default value which is given below:

Windows 2000: 95

Windows XP: 91

Windows Server 2003: 95

Windows Vista, Server 2008 and 7: 91

6. If you want to disable Autorun functionality for all users in your system, use the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" instead of "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" mentioned in Step 2.

PS: If you are not very familiar with Registry and want a ready-made registry script to do the task automatically, simply download following ZIP file, extract it and run the desired REG file. It'll ask for confirmation, accept it:

Download Registry Script

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta released-Download now

2009-12-02T01:19:00.000-08:00

Recently Microsoft released Office 2010 Beta to MSDN and TechNet subscribers and now its available to public. You can get it for FREE using following link:

Get FREE Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta
Get FREE Microsoft Visio 2010 Beta
Get FREE Microsoft Office Web Apps Beta

What's included:

Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft InfoPath
Microsoft SharePoint Workspace
Microsoft Publisher
Microsoft Communicator

Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available.

System requirements:

500 MHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor or higher
256 MB of system memory or more
3 GB of available disk space
1024x768 or higher resolution monitor
DVD-R/W Drive
Windows XP SP3 , Vista SP1 , Server 2003 R2 , Server 2008, SP2 , 7

JDContextMenu Makes Windows Context Menu Efficient

2009-12-02T00:29:00.000-08:00

JDContextMenu is a freeware tool that was designed to be an extension for Windows Explorer. This program will enable a more efficient handling of the Windows Explorer. It combines a variety of features into the Windows explorer context menu. Once installed, you can see the options available in the Windows context menu. The options in the context menu differs based on whether you right click a folder or a file.

Features and options of JDContextMenu:

Copy to clipboard full name
Copies the full names of the selected items to the clipboard
Copy short name to clipboard
Copied the simple name of the selected items to the clipboard
CMD here
In the current directory opens a DOS window
MD5 Checksum
Generates a MD5 checksum of the selected files
File DateTimeStamp
Modifies the timestamp of the selected files
New Folder here
Generated from the specified directory new subdirectories
Clear Folder
Recognizes the specified directories according to their wishes
Send full name as link
Sends the complete file marked by email
Add File Link to Startup folder
Adds a selected program in order to start a car
Favorites
They manage their frequently used folders
Options / Info
Program information, including options and update test

Download JDContextMenu

Some Free web based instant messaging services

2009-11-30T02:42:00.000-08:00

Instant messaging is a popular form of communication among net users, because it's real time and fast and perfect for a quick short message. But because it's also a favorite time waster in schools, colleges and offices, instant messengers are often blocked in such places. So came web based instant messengers. Web based messengers allow you to chat with your buddies directly from within the browser, without installing any IM client, thus effectively bypassing the block. Web based messengers are quite popular among students and workers, in fact, it's become so popular that now many of these services too are blocked in schools and offices. That's why you need to know plenty of such websites offering this service. Here is a list of 19. You will find at least a couple of them available at your office/school/college.

1. Meebo is one of the original Ajax-based web instant messaging program which supports multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, MSN, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ and Jabber. Your network administrator probably has this one already blocked.

2. Yahoo! Messenger for the Web is a Flash based Yahoo! Messenger program from Yahoo!. Except the "Join Rooms" option, most of the options you find on the desktop client, you will find on this service. Yahoo! Web Messenger also allows you to chat with friends on MSN.

3. MSN Web Messenger is the web based version of MSN Messenger that has all the basic features necessary to chat with your friends on the MSN network.

4. MessengerFX is another web based service for the MSN network.

5. AIM Express allows you to login to the AIM network. It has sound alerts for new messages and even allows you to send SMS text messages to a cell phone.

6. ILoveIM Web Messenger connects you with MSN, Yahoo, AIM and Google Talk network. It also supports chat conferences.

7. eBuddy supports MSN, Yahoo, AIM, GTalk and MySpace network. eBuddy can also be accessed from your mobile phones, iPhone and PDAs. It supports chat conferences too.

8. KoolIM supports a wide range of IM networks including Yahoo, MSN, AIM, ICQ, Jabber, GTalk, Xfire and a few others. KoolIM does not require registration to use, but signing up for an account enables you to save your network IDs.

9. kk UR ok is for chatting and flirting, as they put it. It allows you to login to the Yahoo, AIM, MSN, ICQ, GTalk and Jabber networks.

10. Mabber lets you chat with your AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google buddies and also send messages. Registration is required to use this service. Mabber is also available in your mobile phones.

11. EasyMessenger supports MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo! and Jabber networks. Registration is required.

12. Soashable is an open source ajax-based instant messaging service that supports the MSN, AIM and Yahoo network.

13. ImHaHa allows you to login to Yahoo, MSN, AIM, QQ and ICQ network. You can create an account on ImHaHa and migrate all your existing account on various network which will enable you to login to all networks with a single login. It supports chat conferences.

14. radiusIM supports all the major networks: MSN, AIM/ICQ, Yahoo, and GTalk/Jabber. After your register and login to your account, you need to choose your location. Your friends will show up as a list and also as pictures inside a map. People whose location you don't know are shown around the map. You can drag or zoom the map to a new place to see new people from that area, something like Google maps.

15. IMunitive is another web based messaging service that connects you to the MSN, Yahoo and AIM network.

16. imo.im is yet another simple web based messaging service that supports MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, Google, MySpace and Skype network. This is the only web based service supporting Skype.

17. Instant-t Messenger is a relatively recent service that allows you to chat with your Yahoo, MSN, AIM, ICQ and Google talk buddies. Instant-t Messenger is also available as a desktop client supporting all of the mentioned protocols.

18. Communication Tube supports four IM networks namely ICQ, GTalk, MSN Messenger and IRC.

19. Centova Online requires you to sign up for their service. After logging in you have to add contacts from MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ and Jabber network that requires a few extra steps.

How to create Windows XP Live CD, complete with preinstalled programs

2009-11-30T02:34:00.001-08:00

To create a Windows XP Live CD we will require

1. Bart PEbuilder
2. A CD burner like Nero
3. A bootable Windows XP CD and
4. Some pebuilder plugins to customize the CD.

Step 1: Download PeBuilder from here and install it. Make sure you have enough free space on the drive where you install the program. After you have finished adding all programs it will create an ISO to be burned into a disk. The size of the ISO will depend upon how many programs you add to your live CD. I would recommend atleast 700MB of free space.

Step 2: You may want to set a wallpaper that will appear on the desktop when you boot the CD. For this open the folder where you have installed PEbuilder and replace the file bartpe.bmp with the wallpaper of your choice.

Step 3: Download XPE plugin from here (direct download link). It's the GUI shell of the XP Live CD that will create the XP start button and taskbar. You are free to download as many plugin (applications) you want. Currently there are more than 500 applications to choose from. Both freewares and commercial applications are available. Antivirus programs like Kaspersky, NOD32, Avast; burning program Nero; media players like VLC; OpenOffice, Foxit PDF reader, Acrobat Reader etc are available.

Pebuilder plugins repository
More Plugins here

Step 4: After you have finished downloading all your favourite programs, open PEbuider and specify the source path to the Windows XP installation bootable CD. You can copy the CD to your hard disk and point the source to the copied file.

Step 5: Click Plugins and add all the plugins you have downloaded. Since we have added XPE, disable nu2shell and the startup group from the list of plugins.

Step 6: Specify the ISO image file and click Build. The program will integrate the plugins and create an ISO image.

Step7: Burn the image into a disk using any burning software and your live CD is ready.

The Live CD Desktop

Running Abiword

Running VLC Media Player

Source: Digit magazine Nov 2007 issue.

2009-11-18T19:53:00.001-08:00

Opera 10.10 Final available. Download now

2009-11-16T00:23:00.000-08:00

Opera 10.10 with Opera Unite is a recommended upgrade offering new and improved features, plus security and stability enhancements.

New Features:

Opera Unite: Opera Unite gives you the power to connect with others directly and to collaborate and share information from your computer without storing any data on external servers. It enables you to unleash the true power and reality of the "one Web for all" experience. When you choose to share something on your computer using Opera Unite technology, it is available for family, friends, or the entire world — you decide what to share and how to share it with users that you trust. To communicate with you or access your shared data, others can use any modern Web browser they like.

Opera Unite initially includes the following Opera Unite applications, which are small Web-service programs running inside the Opera 10.10 browser:
Opera Unite Home - Your personal Opera Unite Web page shows the Opera Unite applications you wish to share with family, friends, or the world.
File Sharing - The File Sharing application enables a simple and safe way to share files directly from your computer.
Fridge - The Fridge application enables people to leave notes on your computer.
Media Player - The Media Player application enables access to your complete home music library from wherever you are.
Messenger - A personal and private chat connection between you and another Opera Unite user who is listed as your friend on myopera.com.
Photo Sharing - The Photo Sharing application enables you to share your personal photos with friends around the world without the need to upload them.
Web Server - The Web Server application enables you to host your Web sites from your own computer.

You can download it using following link:

Download Link

Released Notes

Yahoo Messenger 10 final Released, Download now

2009-11-16T00:19:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! Messenger 10 final version is available for download. This latest version (10.0.0.1102) incorporates many bug fixes, including some related to new video call feature along with improved overall stability of the product.
This version is compatible with Windows 7.
Here is a small excerpt taken from the official announcement posted at Yahoo! Messenger Blog:

High-quality video calls
We’ve completely redesigned our 1:1 webcam feature (under the hood too). Now you can make a high-quality video call to a friend with synched audio, right in the IM window. Features include the ability to swap video windows, position the video windows side-by-side, mute the call or place it on hold. You can even go full-screen with your video call. To get started, click the new “Video Call” button in the IM window (your friend also needs to be on Yahoo! Messenger 10). Tips for making video calls | Having fun with video effects
New “Y! Updates” view of your contact list
People are busy these days, doing all sorts of interesting things online. To help you keep up with your friends, we added an alternate view of your contact list that shows a real-time stream of their updates, including Messenger status message changes. If they’ve opted-in to share their updates via Yahoo!, you’ll be able to see what they’re saying on Twitter, reading on Yahoo! Buzz, listening to on last.fm, and more.
We also added additional features for how and when you see your friends’ updates. When a new update comes in, a “toast” alert will pop up in the lower right corner of your screen. If you want to disable these, go to Messenger > Preferences > Yahoo! Updates. You can turn alerts on and off and even update preferences by contact or by type of update.
Find more to chat about
Within the new “Yahoo! Updates” view, you’re sure to find more to talk about with your friends. To make it easy, we added a hover menu that lets you quickly IM a friend about their update. When you do, the update appears inline in the conversation window, so when you start your IM with “I can’t believe you like this song!”, your friend will know what you’re talking about. Note that your friend needs to also be on Yahoo! Messenger 10 to see the update inline.
Change your language easily
If you use the U.S. version but wish it could be in your local language, you’re in luck. When you start up Yahoo! Messenger 10, you’ll notice a new language menu on the sign-in screen. Choose from 16 different languages and the buttons, menus and various parts of the interface will change to that language. If you’re already signed in, you can also change your language under Messenger > Preferences > Language (you’ll have to restart Yahoo! Messenger for it to take effect).

Download Link
Its an online installer, so you'll need Internet connection to be able to install it. If you want an offline installer which doesn't need Internet connection, you can download it using following link:
Download Link (Offline Installer)
And for our Indian friends, here is offline installer for Indian version:
Download Link (Indian Version) (Offline Installer)

DVD cutter software

2009-11-13T00:23:00.003-08:00

In DVDs files are stored in VOB format and extracting clips might not be easy task. DVD Knife is a simple freeware tool for extracting DVD clips from your DVD’s and the extracted clips will be stored in VOB format only. It is one of the fastest tool in its category which has ability to extract long VOB clips in few seconds. You need to make sure that you have installed all the DVD codec before using this tool.

Features of DVD Knife:

A very fast DVD cutter
Clips down DVD Movie in just three clicks
The clipped part is of same quality as the main movie # DVD video is neither compressed nor decompressed to extract clips
The main player used for viewing is Windows Media Player so even large clips are supported

DVD Knife can be used to extract your favorite clips from your movies so that you can make collection of these movie clips to watch in future without any problem. There could be many other possible uses like extracting a particular clip from your home video for E-Mail purpose.

Download DVD Knife

AVG Free Edition 9.0.704 Released- Download now

2009-11-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

AVG Free Edition 9.0.704

AVG Technologies - 73.98MB (Freeware)

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is trusted antivirus and antispyware protection for Windows available to download for free. In addition, the new included LinkScanner® Active Surf-Shield checks web pages for threats at the only time that matters – when you're about to click that link.
AVG Anti-Virus Free has these following features:

Award-winning antivirus and antispyware
Real-time safe internet surfing and searching
Quality proven by 80 million of users
Easy to download, install and use
Protection against viruses and spyware
Compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is only available for single computer use for home and non commercial use.

Download AVG 9.0.704 Free Edition Now

Copy Data from Scratched CD or DVD - Copy Cat

2009-11-10T19:51:00.000-08:00

CDs and DVDs are highly prone to scratches if you do not preserve them properly and once it get scratched it might be difficult to read or copy data from the CD or DVD. Copy Cat 2.0 is a freeware tool which actually skip the bytes which are not readable from file and copy all other bytes therefore it extracts max data which is normally not done by windows copy operation. Copy Cat can be helpful at times when you want to copy a CD or DVD which is scratched.

It can also be used when you want to copy data from hard disk area which is partially not readable , when you want to copy data from floppy which is currently not being copied by windows. You can specify the number of bytes to be skipped if any error is found while copying the CD or DVD.

Features;

Copies your oldest collection of CDs and DVDs
It even tries to copy a highly damaged media byte by byte
It gives you the option to skip the bytes if bad area found
It is a very fast data recovery tool
It also tries to copy damaged files on your hard disk
Unlike Windows copy operation it does not stop the copy if bad area found.

Download Copy Cat

Mozilla Firefox 3.6 beta 2 released - Download now

2009-11-09T00:38:00.000-08:00

Mozilla has released Beta 2 of its upcoming web browser Firefox 3.6. This beta version is built on the Gecko 1.9.2 web rendering engine, containing many improvements for web developers, Add-on developers, and users.

This second revision of the Beta of Firefox 3.6 / Gecko 1.9.2 introduces several new features:

More than 190 bug fixes from the last beta to improve performance, stability, security and features.
This beta is available in more than 45 languages - get your local version.
Users can now change their browser's appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
Support for the WOFF font format.
Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

Download Link

How to install Wordpress in Wamp server

2009-11-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

Though I’ve previously covered How to install WordPress in Windows Vista, that method used a BitNami stack, which comes with a few drawbacks. The method outlined in this tutorial will leave you with a perfect WordPress installation on your PC – which is great to use as a development and testing environment.

Before you install WordPress, make sure you have WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL & PHP) installed. Fortunately we have a tutorial that walks you through each step of installing and configuring WAMP. Once you’ve got that done, continue with step #2.
Click the WAMP icon in your System Tray and select www directory.
Explorer will open the folder C:\wamp\www\. This is where your HTML, PHP and other site files reside. You’ll notice an index.php file. This a WAMP file (the one that provides shortcuts to phpMyAdmin etc). You don’t want to delete it, but you also probably don’t want to leave it titled index.php.
Rename it to something else (for example, wamp.php).
Now download WordPress, and extract it into the C:\wamp\www\ folder
When you extract WordPress, it will create a folder called wordpress. If you’re using WAMP specifically for WordPress development, and you don’t want to have your blog show up at the address http://localhost/wamp (and would rather it display at http://localhost) – select all the files in the wordpress folder, cut and paste them into the C:\wamp\www\ folder.

click to enlarge

Now load the WAMP config screen in your browser by entering the address http://localhost/wamp.php – assuming you renamed the WAMP config file to wamp.php (in step #4).
In the Tools section, select phpmyadmin.
Log in to phpMyAdmin.
To create a new database for WordPress, select the Databases link.
In the Create new database section, enter wordpress as the database name (or something similarly descriptive) and click Create.
Make sure you get a confirmation that the database was successfully created.
Now enter http://localhost/ into your browser. You’ll be greeted with the WordPress “getting started” screen. Click the Create a Configuration File button.

click to enlarge

Review the info, and then click the Let’s Go! button.

click to enlarge

In the Database Name field, enter wordpress (or whatever database name you specified back in step #11). Enter root as the User Name (unless you’ve created another MySQL user) and your MySQL password in the Password field. Your Database Host should be set to localhost and the Table Prefix should remain wp_ (but can be changed if you wish). When you’re done, click Submit.

click to enlarge

Now click Run the install.

click to enlarge

A few seconds later you’ll be presented with the Information needed screen. Give your blog a title, and enter your email address in the provided fields. If you’re using this WordPress installation as a development site, uncheck the Allow my blog to appear in search engines like Google and Technorati. Click Install WordPress.

click to enlarge

Make note of your username (admin) and assigned password, then click the Log In button.

click to enlarge

Enter your Username and Password in the appropriate fields, and once again click Log In.

click to enlarge

That’s it! You can start writing posts, uploading/creating themes etc.

click to enlarge

Source: http://www.simplehelp.net

How to Enable Remote Desktop on Windows 7

2009-10-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

Remote Desktop is a feature in Window 7 by which you can connect to another PC in the network. Remote desktop might not be enabled in Windows 7 by default, but you can turn it on if you want to connect to another PC over the network. The Remote Desktop Protocol of Windows 7 is also enhanced to support real-time multimedia application including video playback and 3D games. It has some added features like visual styles support, aero and other features.

How to Turn on Remote Desktop on Windows 7.

1. Click on the start menu and right click on the My computer in the right panel of start menu and select Properties.

2. this will open the Windows 7 properties window. On the left hand side, click on the “Remote Settings” link.

3. This will open the System properties window with the Remote tab highlighted. Here check the box against “Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer”. Also specify who can connect for assistance.

Note: Remote desktop is only included in the Professional, Business, or Ultimate versions of Windows. Home editions do not have remote desktop.

Changing to Windows7: From XP or Vista

2009-10-29T02:21:00.000-07:00

Click here to know more about the migration to the Microsoft's new stunning operating system Windows7 from the older Windows XP and the great Windows Vista Os's.
Source: windowssecrets.com

Window7 wallpapers

2009-10-26T01:08:00.000-07:00

Click on the image to enlarge, and right click to save image.

How to Change the Library Icons in Windows 7

2009-10-25T20:49:00.000-07:00

Libraries are one of the new features added to Windows 7. We have covered in a depth tutorial on how to use and manage libraries. In this tutorial we will cover on simple steps to change the default icons of libraries. Libraries are in fact collection of (or a pointer to) folders and files from different locations for better file management. You can create your own libraries and add location to it. You can also change the default icon assigned to the libraries.

1. First step is to create your own library and add all the index locations. Now navigate to this location, C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries. Change the USERNAME to the actual user name on your PC.

2. In the next step, open notepad and drag and drop the library icon on to notepad. Drag and drop the library for which you want to change the icon.

Notepad will contain text similar to the one shown below.

3. Now go the folder where you have the new icons saved. Make sure that you use only .ico files, no other format will be supported. Hold the shift key and right click and select the option “Copy as Path”. Alternatively you can also copy the path of the file from the explorer navigation bar.

4. In the file opened in notepad, paste this line of code, ICON PATH HERE. Replace ICON PATH HERE with the path of the icon file copied. Paste this just below tag.

5. Save and close the file and now you can see the new icon in effect on the library.

Why Microsoft Used the Name Windows 7?

2009-10-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 has been released to public but many people are so much confused about its name. People are talking about why did Microsoft use the name Windows 7?

In this topic, we'll try to explain the reason behind it!

Mike Nash @ "The Windows Blog" posted why Microsoft decided to name it Windows 7:

The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We've used version numbers like Windows 3.1, or dates like Windows 98, or "aspirational" monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new "aspirational" name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows. Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore "Windows 7" just makes sense.

And if you are confused why Windows 7 is the 7th release of Windows, here is another simple explanation:

First Windows version was Windows 1.0. Second was Windows 2.0 and third was Windows 3.0. When Windows NT was released, it was code versioned as Windows 3.1. Windows 95, 98, 98 SE and MEWindows 4.0 as all were using Non-NT kernel or 9x kernel.Windows 2000 was code versioned as Windows 5.0 and Windows XP as Windows 5.1. Next version was Windows Vista which was code versioned as Windows 6.0. Since Windows 7 is the next Windows version, Microsoft decided to call it Windows 7 for easy and better understanding. (Millennium Edition) were code versioned as

1.0: Windows 1.0
2.0: Windows 2.0
3.0: Windows 3.0
3.1: Windows NT
4.0: Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME
5.0: Windows 2000
5.1: Windows XP
6.0: Windows Vista
7.0: Windows 7

Change user password through Command Prompt

2009-10-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

Recently I have found a dos command which changes administrator password without going to User account in Control Panel

Run command Prompt with administrator privilage(Vista,7,Server 2008) and type

net user administrator_account_name new_password

For XP you should be in the C:\windows\system32 directory before providing this command(C: represents system drive)

For example if your account name is admin and password is 123456 then to change your password type

C:\windows\system32:\> net user admin test (where test is the new password)

The method even doesn't asks you about your existing password.Logoff and see

Speed up your PC now!

2009-10-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

This is a very simple method to speedup your Windows XP system. Do these steps:

1. Open Notepad
2. Copy and Paste the below text in green color completely
3. Save the file in the name "speedxp_by_aboosoft.reg" including quotes.
4.Now run the saved speedxp_by_aboosoft.reg file.
5. Click Ok. You are DONE!

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To]
@="{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Move To]
@="{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\DosHere]
@="Command &Prompt Here"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\DosHere\Command]
@="%windir%\\System32\\cmd.exe /k cd \"%1\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\Shell\DosHere]
@="Command &Prompt Here"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\Shell\DosHere\Command]
@="%windir%\\System32\\cmd.exe /k cd \"%1\""

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"Link"=hex:00,00,00,00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]
"StatusBar"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]
"fWrap"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"
"HungAppTimeout"="1000"
"MenuShowDelay"="8"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="2000"
"LowLevelHooksTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001
"ClearRecentDocsOnExit"=dword:00000001
"NoRecentDocsHistory"=hex:01,00,00,00
"LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveSearch"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveTrack"=dword:00000001
"NoInternetOpenWith"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="2000"

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer]

Or you can download the zip file HERE. Extract the file and run, click Ok when you are asking to allow adding values automatically to registry. Restart your system to take effect. Enjoy :)

Frequently Asked Problems and Solutions

2009-10-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

1. Task Manager/Registry Editor/Tools -> Folder Options disabled.
2. opens while double-clicking on drives.
3. "Cannot find copy.exe" Error while double-clicking on drives.
4. Folder opens in a new window?
5. A sub-folder with the same name is created under parent folder.
6. My Documents/My Computer opens automatically at Windows startup .
7. "NTLDR missing" Error at system startup.
8. "Hal.dll is corrupt or missing" Error at system startup.
9. "Windows\System32\config\system file missing or corrupt" Error at system startup.
10. Not able to boot into Windows 2000/XP/2003 after installing Windows 98.
11. Windows XP Boot loader related problems, like adding/removing entries.
12. ScanDisk starts running at windows startup.
13. "CMOS checksum error. Defaults loaded." Error at system startup.
14. How to reset system BIOS password?
15. "Stand By" option is greyed out in shutdown dialog box and I can't use it.
16. Windows Login Screen has changed to "Classic Logon Box" automatically.
17. A strange process "ctfmon.exe" running in background.
18. How to recover lost Firefox bookmarks?
19. How to reset the corrupted windows icons?
20. How to make Desktop icons text background transparent?
21. How to get Windows XP Common tasks (Left-side pane in explorer) back?
22. "Copy To"/"Move To" dialog box opens automatically while right-clicking on Start -> Open.
23. Can't set "Show Hidden files/folders" option in "Tools -> Folder Options".
24. Accidentally deleted "mspaint.exe"/"notepad.exe"/etc. file, how to get it back?
25. Taskbar is showing only icons in opened application buttons not showing text.
26. Orkut.com, Youtube.com and Firefox is blocked in the system.
27. I have forgotten my Windows Administrator password . How can I reset / recover it?
28. I can't see any message in chat window of Yahoo! Messenger?
29. All User folders are showing default yellow icon instead of Glass icons in Windows Vista.
30. How can I change Power button in Windows Vista to Shutdown Windows instead of Sleep?
31. Hibernate option suddenly disappeared from Startmenu in Windows Vista.
32. Why menus appear on lest side of cursor in my Windows Vista?

-------------------------

1. In my windows Task Manager/Registry Editor/Tools -> Folder Options has been disabled. I'm getting warning message that "It has been disabled by Administrator". How can I enable it again?

Sol: Please visit following articles:

How to Fix “Task Manager has been Disabled by Your Administrator”?

How to Enable Tools -> Folder Options and Registry Editor in Windows

If any other Windows component like RUN, Desktop Properties, System Properties, etc has been disabled, then you can check following link:

All Kinds of Restrictions for Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista

-------------------------

2. Whenever I double-click on any drive/folder in My Computer, a Search window opens.

Sol: Open regedit and goto following keys one by one:

CODE

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell

In right-side pane, delete the "Default" key. If it doesnt work then delete the key "find" under both.

-------------------------

3. Whenever I double-click on any drive in My Computer, I get following error message:

QUOTE

Cannot find copy.exe. Make sure you have typed the name correctly and then try again.

Sol: Enable "Show hidden files" option in "Tools -> Folder Options" and then search for "Autorun.inf" file in all drivers and if you get them in root of any drive (e.g. in C:\, D:\ and so on), delete them.

-------------------------

4. Whenever I double-click on any folder in My Computer, it opens in a new window even I have selected the option "Always open folders in same window" in "Tools -> Folder Options".

Sol: Copy following code and paste it in Notepad then save the file with name "vishal.reg" (including quotes). After it run the file and confirm the action:

CODE

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore]
"BrowserFlags"=dword:00000022
"ExplorerFlags"=dword:00000021

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,45,00,78,00,70,00,6c,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,\
65,00,20,00,2f,00,65,00,2c,00,2f,00,69,00,64,00,6c,00,69,00,73,00,74,00,2c,\
00,25,00,49,00,2c,00,25,00,4c,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\ddeexec]
@="[ExploreFolder(\"%l\", %I, %S)]"
"NoActivateHandler"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\ddeexec\application]
@="Folders"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\ddeexec\ifexec]
@="[]"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\ddeexec\topic]
@="AppProperties"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open]
"BrowserFlags"=dword:00000010
"ExplorerFlags"=dword:00000012

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,45,00,78,00,70,00,6c,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,\
65,00,20,00,2f,00,69,00,64,00,6c,00,69,00,73,00,74,00,2c,00,25,00,49,00,2c,\
00,25,00,4c,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open\ddeexec]
@="[ViewFolder(\"%l\", %I, %S)]"
"NoActivateHandler"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open\ddeexec\application]
@="Folders"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open\ddeexec\ifexec]
@="[]"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open\ddeexec\topic]
@="AppProperties"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\explore]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\open]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell]
@="none"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell]
@="none"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell]
@=-

-------------------------

5. Whenever I open a folder, another folder with the same name is created under it.

Sol: Your system is infected by a variant of Indonesian virus called Brontok/Rontokbro. It creates a sub-folder in a folder with same name. Most of the times it comes from mobile memory cards. Scan with a good anti-virus and remove the virus. Also download HijackThis and scan your system with it in Safe Mode, then fix following entries:

CODE

C:\WINDOWS\system32\SSVICHOSST.exe
F2 - REG:system.ini: Shell=Explorer.exe SSVICHOSST.exe
O4 - HKCU\.\Run: [Yahoo Messengger] C:\WINDOWS\system32\SSVICHOSST.exe
O7 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System, DisableRegedit=1

-------------------------

6. Whenever I start my computer, My Documents/My Computer opens automatically at windows startup.

Sol: Open regedit and goto:

CODE

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

In right-side pane, change value of "Userinit" to:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,

NOTE: If you have windows installed in other drives, then change C:\ to that drive label.

Now goto:

CODE

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

In right-side pane, change value of "PersistBrowsers" to 0

Now log off windows and it should solve the problem.

-------------------------

7. When I start my computer, I get error message:

QUOTE

NTLDR is missing

QUOTE

Boot: Couldn't find NTLDR

Sol: Boot using Windows Setup CD and enter into "Recovery Console" by pressing "R". Now Log into windows installation and enter admin password. Now give following commands at prompt:

copy x:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy x:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

Where "x" is your CD drive, change it acc. to your system.

-------------------------

8. When I start my computer, I get error message:

QUOTE

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

9. When I start my computer, I get error message:

QUOTE

"Windows\System32\config\system" file missing or corrupt

Sol: Boot using Windows Setup CD and enter into "Recovery Console" by pressing "R". Now Log into windows installation and enter admin password. Now give following commands at prompt:

copy %windir%\Repair\system %windir%\System32\Config

If it doesnt work, then again boot into "Recovery Console" and give following commands:

fixmbr
bootcfg /scan
bootcfg /rebuild
fixboot

-------------------------

10. I have Windows 2000/XP/2003 installed in my system and yesterday I installed Windows 98 over it, after that I'm not able to boot into Windows 2000/XP.2003. I'm not getting option to select the OS.

Sol: Windows 98 has overwritten the boot loader. Boot using Windows Setup CD and enter into "Recovery Console" by pressing "R". Now Log into windows installation and enter admin password. Now give following commands at prompt:

fixmbr
bootcfg /scan
bootcfg /rebuild
fixboot

-------------------------

11. When I start my system, I'm getting 2 entries for windows XP in the boot loader. How can I remove the duplicate entry?

OR

How can I change the default OS in windows boot loader?

OR

How can I change the entry labels in windows boot loader?

OR

How can I change the boot loader time? Its set to 30 seconds and I want to change it.

Sol: There are several way. You can follow any of following:

A. Type "sysdm.cpl" in RUN dialog box and press . Now goto "Advanced" tab and click on "Settings" button in "Startup & Recovery" section. Now click on "Edit" button and then you can edit the boot loader time, labels, etc.

B. Type "msconfig" in RUN dialog box and goto "Boot.ini" tab and then you can change the desired thing. If you want to remove the corrupt/non-working entries, then click on "Check all boot paths" button.

C. Enable "Show hidden files/folders" and disable "Hide protected system files" options in "Tools -> Folder Options". Now open C:\ drive and remove the READ-ONLY attribute of "BOOT.INI" file from its Properties. Now open this file and then you can make your desired changes.

-------------------------

12. Whenever I start my computer, Scandisk starts running even I proper shut down the PC last time.

Sol: Do as following:

A. Open regedit and goto:

CODE

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager

In right-side pane, change the value of BootExecute to:

autocheck autochk *

B. If the above trick doesnt help then give following commands in Command Prompt:

chkntfs /x drive_name

for e.g., if ScanDisk runs automatically for C: and D: drives, then give following commands one by one:

chkntfs /x C:
chkntfs /x D:

-------------------------

13. When I start my computer, I get following error message:

QUOTE

CMOS checksum error, defaults loaded.

Sol: Open the cabinet and look for a coin-sized battery in motherboard. Remove it and attach a new one. The new battery will cost approx. 15-20 Rs.

-------------------------

14. I forgot my system BIOS password. How can I reset it?

Sol: Open the cabinet and look for a coin-sized battery in motherboard. Remove it and attach it again after a few minutes. All BIOS settings will set to default and the password will also reset.

-------------------------

15. I re-installed my windows and now "Stand By" option is greyed out in shutdown dialog box and I can't use it.

Sol: Install VGA drivers from your motherboard CD and the option will be enabled. If you don't have the motherboard CD, then goto the manufacturer site and downlaod the required drivers.

-------------------------

16. My Windows Login Screen has changed to "Classic Logon Box". I want the new Welcome Screen back.

Sol: Type "control userpasswords" in RUN dialog box or Open "User Accounts" in Control Panel. Then click on "Change the way Users log on and off". Now check the option "Use Welcome Screen". If you get following error:

QUOTE

Uninstall client services for netware.

Then Open "Network Connections" and open Properties of your Internet Connection. Now goto "Networking" tab and select "Client services on Netware" option and click on the"Uninstall" button.

-------------------------

17. A strange process "ctfmon.exe" always runs in background and if I click on "End Process" button, it restarts automatically.

Sol: Open Control Panel and goto Add/Remove Programs list. Now click on the Microsoft Office entry and then click on "Change" button. Now select "Add/Remove Features" and click on "Next". Now expand "Office Shared Features" and click on "Alternative User Input" and then select "Not Available" and finally click on Update. It'll permanently remove that ctfmon.exe and your problem will be solved.

You can also use 3rd party utility "CTFMON-Remover" to get rid of ctfmon.exe easily and quickly:

CTFMON-Remover

-------------------------

18. I just noticed that all my Firefox Bookmarks have gone. The bookmarks list is empty. How can I get them back?

Sol: Type "%appdata%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles" in RUN dialog box and then open the "xxxx.default" folder (where xxxx will be random numbers and characters). Now open "bookmarkbackups" folder and you'll get your bookmarks there. Now you can import them in Firefox again.

-------------------------

19. My Windows is showing some wrong icons of files. How can I reset the corrupted icons?

Sol: You can use any of following methods:

A. Download TweakUI from here and then click on "Repair Icons" in "Repair" section.

B. Open My Computer and goto:

C:\Documents and Settings\User_Name\Local Settings\Application Data

Replace C:\ with your system drive and "user_Name" with your username.
Now there'll be a HIDDEN file "iconcache.db", delete it and restart your system.

-------------------------

20. I'm using Windows XP and the desktop icons suddenly started showing an ugly background rectangle behind the text. How can I make the text transparent?

Sol: Type "sysdm.cpl" in RUN dialog box and press . Now goto "Advanced" tab, click on "Setting" button in "Performance" section and enable the option "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop".

-------------------------

21. I'm using Windows XP and suddenly the Common tasks stopped showing in left-side pane.

Sol: Open "Tools -> Folder Options" and enable the option "Show Common Tasks in folders".

-------------------------

22. Whenever I right-click on Start button and select "Open", a "Copy To"/"Move To" dialog box opens automatically.

Sol: Open regedit and goto:

CODE

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\

Now under this key, delete following 2 keys:

Copy To
Move To

-------------------------

23. I can't see Hidden files/folders in my computer. Even I enable the option "Show hidden files/folders" in "Tools -> Folder Options", its automtically disabled again.

Sol: Open regedit and goto:

CODE

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

In right-side pane, change value of "Hidden" to as following:

1 - To show hidden files
2 - To not show hidden files

If it doesnt work, then scan your computer with an anti-virus software.

-------------------------

24. I accidentally deleted my "mspaint.exe"/"notepad.exe"/etc. file, how can I get it back?

Sol: You can use any of following methods:

A. Goto "%windir%\System32\DLLCache" folder and look for the file, if its there then copy it to "%windir%\System32\" folder.

B. Insert your Windows Setup CD and goto "I386" folder. Now look for the same file, it'll present there but the last letter of extension will be "_". e.g., u'll get "mspaint.ex_"/"notepad.ex_"/etc. Now open Command Prompt and goto "I386" folder and give following command:

expand mspaint.ex_ mspaint.exe
expand notepad.ex_ notepad.exe
etc.

Now u can copy the file to "%windir%\System32" folder.

C. Give following command in Command Prompt:

sfc /SCANNOW

It'll automatically restore the files.

-------------------------

25. Suddenly my taskbar is showing only icons in all opened application buttons. I can't see any text. How can I get back the full taskbar buttons?

Sol: Open regedit and goto:

CODE

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

In right-side pane, change the value of "MinWidth" to -2300

-------------------------

26. Whenever I open "www.orkut.com" or any folder with the name "orkut", I get following error with a scary laugh:

QUOTE

Orkut IS BANNED, orkut is banned you fool The administrators didnt write this program guess who did?? r r MUHAHAHA!!

Sol: Pls visit following thread:

[Solution] Orkut.com, Youtube.com and Firefox has been Blocked in System

————————-

27. I have forgotten my Windows Administrator password. How can I reset / recover it?

Sol: Pls visit following link:

How to Reset / Recover Forgotten Windows Administrator Password?

————————-

28. In Yahoo! Messenger, whenever I send a message or get a message I can't see the contents in chat window. All I can see is a blank window.

Sol: Pls download Windows Script from the following link and install it:

Download Windows Script

————————-

29. Why all User folders in my Windows Vista show default yellow icon instead of the new glass icons?

Sol: Please follow the steps mentioned in following tutorial:

How to Fix User Folders Showing Simple Folder Icon in Windows Vista?

————————-

30. Whenever I click on power button in Vista startmenu, it put my system in Sleep state. How can I change it to shut down the system?

Sol: In Windows Vista the default action of power button is set to Sleep. But you can change it to shut down like previous Windows versions. Please follow the instructions given in this tutorial:

How to Change Power Button in Windows Vista to Shut Down the System instead of Sleep?

————————-

31. Suddenly Hibernate option is missing in my Windows Vista. How can I enable it again?

Sol: You must have run "Disk Cleanup". Its a known issue in Vista. There is a solution to re-enable Hibernate option:

How to Re-enable Missing Hibernate Option in Windows Vista?

————————-

32. Why in Windows Vista menus appear on left side of mouse cursor? In previous Windows versions, menus used to show on right-side. How can I change it in Vista?

Sol: Its a problem which many Vista users are facing. Don't worry, follow the following link:

How to Change Menu Position from Left to Right in Windows Vista?

A few more problems with their solutions have been covered here.

Source: www.AskVG.com and MeraWindows forums

Your own image in Start menu

2009-10-12T03:23:00.000-07:00

1. Go to : C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures
* Dir is hidden
2. Delete the ones you never use
3. Add your own 48x48 .jpg/.png/.gif/.bmp images.
Enjoy...

Tweak Windows XP for better performance

2009-10-12T03:21:00.001-07:00

lets tweak windows xp to make it fast.
lets start with some registry tweaks.

go to start->run and then type the words "regedit" without the inverted commas.
now do the following.

1.Hate pop ups?
HKEY_USERS\Default\ControlPanel\desktop.
Look for the "UserPreferencemask". Double click it and up comes a panel showing 8 digits. Change the first two digits to 3e and press OK.

2.Reduce the time taken to kill a Time Out.
HKEY_Current_USERS\ControlPanel\desktop
Look for the "WaitToKillAppTimeout". Right click and choose modify. The default is '20000' make it 4000.

Now let us have some system tweaks...
Fonts. Do you need loads of fonts you do not use. These not only take up space on your hard drive but also use Windows XP resources. Purge. Remove the ones you do not use. You can easily save a copy before you delete them so you can put them back.

1.Hibernate. If your desktop PC computer is NOT a laptop then you can stop Hibernate. Go to your Control Panel, Power Option and select Hibernate Tab. Uncheck Hibernate. That stops that Windows XP program running and wasting resources.

2.Virtual Memory Size. Change the size of your page file size. So. Control Panel, System, Advanced Tab, Performance, settings button & then Advanced. At the bottom you can change the virtual memory. We use min & max set at 500MB.

3.While you are there. You will also have noticed on your way through that you can change the Visual Effects. You are given a choice. Why not try the performance version for increased performance.

4.System Restore. This can be turned off a well by clicking this tab.

5.Remote assistance. Click the Remote tab and make sure the options there are not ticked.

6.Speech Recognition or handwriting software. Do you use it. No. Right. Control Panel, Regional & Language Options, Languages, Details, Advanced, System Config and "Turn off" Advanced Language Services.

Now lets tweak the Administrative tools section.
Go to:
control panel->administrative tools->services.
Select the extended tab at the bottom. Here you see the services that are running or not if they have been stopped already. So, which ones do we not need to have running all the time if at all. Windows XP tweaks aplenty.

1.Error Reporting Service. No we do not need that. Since when has Microsoft helped you. So high-light it and then double click it. Up come a panel with options. Half-way down is says "Start Up Type". Click the drop-down button and select Disable and OK. That told it.

2.Fast User Switching Compatibility. Are you basically the only person using the computer, if not, so what. Disable that as you did above.

3.Indexing Service. What's the point in Windows continually indexing your hard drive or drives for searches you never do. Disable.

4.Network DDE & Network DDE DSDM. If you are not connected to a network or broadband using Ethernet this too can be Disabled.

5.Portable Media Serial Number. Not using an MP3 player or iPod then disable.

6.Windows XP Pro tweaks & tips just keep coming.

7.QoS RSVP. Stop Windows using your bandwidth. Disable will stop all that Windows traffic that you cannot believe is going on. This tweak, top can reclaim anything up to 25% of your bandwidth.

8.Remote Registry. Do you want remote computers to alter your registry. Disable.

9.Smart Card. If you do not use a Smart Card on your computer then you can disable this too.

10.System Restore. What's the point in Windows XP Pro continually every so many minutes taking a snap shot of your system. Disable.

11.Themes. Since we have adjusted for performance lets disable this as well.

12.Uninteruptible Power Supply. If you do not have one fitted to your PC computer then this can be disabled too. Who has.

13.Wireless Zero Configuration. Do you use WiFi. No. Disable.

You can also see others there that you do not want running. And of course, you can always turn them back on if you want to at a later date.

Speed up Windows Startup

2009-10-12T03:18:00.001-07:00

To speed up windows startup you will have to cut down on the background processes running. This will also speed up you running windows in general.

First, let’s start this up by viewing what processes are currently running right now.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and click the processes tab, then click the User Name column and it will organize all your processes depending on who’s running them. Find the processes being run by your User Name.

If a process looks unfamiliar to your, go to Google and type it in.

Next, Start>Run>type in MSCONFIG> Click the Startup Tab

Next is the hardest part. You have to investigate every process running and if it is important or not. Some of these are easy to find, others are annoying. Although some of them can be tricky.

Expand the Command Column

Some of them are obvious, others leave you confused. Once again, go to Google.com and type I each process that you do not know of. Tip: Sometimes you need to put .exe at the end of the process; and if the Google search results bring back a site with the prefix www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/ then I would go with that because this is a great site.

Warning: Some of these processes are important to making your computer run correctly. I.E. Video Driver, Anti-virus, Firewall, ect……

Enjoy Running windows faster

Size up window via mouse scroller

2009-10-12T03:16:00.000-07:00

If you want to increase the size of your text in a Word document or a website in IE, Press one of your CRTL buttons and hold it down. Then scroll with the mousescroller up or down to increase or decrease.

Rename Recycle Bin

2009-10-12T03:13:00.000-07:00

Changing the name of the Recycle bin is pretty easy, you can change it into something like; Trash, Waste, etc..

1. Open a .txt editor (notepad) and copy the following text into a new file:

Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\CLSID\\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\\ShellFolder]
\"Attributes\"=hex:50,01,00,20
\"CallForAttributes\"=dword:00000000

3. Now save the txt file as a .reg so for instance; NewBinName.reg, put it anywhere you like
4. Double click it and import it into the registry
5. You will now see a new option when you rightclick, it will say \'NewBinName\'

If you would like to disable this make a new .reg file and insert this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\CLSID\\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\\ShellFolder]
\"Attributes\"=hex:40,01,00,20
\"CallForAttributes\"=dword:00000000

Once again, open it and add it to the registry, now its gone again.

Remove tray icons

2009-10-12T03:11:00.000-07:00

If you want a cleaner look or you want to hide a certain icon in your trayicons near the clock do the following:

1. Click Start and than choose \'Run\'
2. Type in \'Regedit\' (without quoted ofcourse)
3. Go to this key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Explorer
4. Add a \'REG_DWORD\' entry called \'NoTrayItemsDisplay\'
5. Open it and give it the HEX value 1 instead of 0
6. Close regedit and reboot your computer

Control + Alt + Delete will bring you to the Windows Task Manager if you need to close an app.

Open folder icons faster

2009-10-12T03:10:00.000-07:00

Load up folder items/icons quicker.
With explorer open, click on Tools in the menu bar.
Go to Folder Options, and click to open up the options window.
Click on the View tab to show a bunch of options with bullets next to them.
Uncheck the first one, \"Automatically search for network folders and printers.\"

No Search Puppy

2009-10-12T03:08:00.000-07:00

To get rid of the puppy:

1. Open search dialog
2. Click \'Change Preferences\'
3. Click \'Without an animated screen character\'
4. Now the puppy will vanish...

Increase XP performance

2009-10-12T03:07:00.002-07:00

This is the kind of tweak you will probably find on your own, but still, some of you may not find it right away:

1. Click Start
2. Right click on \'my computer\'
3. Choose properties
4. Click the \'advanced\' tab
5. See the performance section? Choose settings
6. Disable the following:

- Fade or slide menus into view
- Fade or slide Tooltips into view
- Fade out menu items after clicking
- Show shadows under menus
- Slide open combo boxes
- Slide taskbar buttons
- Use a background image for each folder type
- Use common tasks in folders

Hide Recycle Bin

2009-10-12T03:07:00.001-07:00

If you want to hide the Recycle Bin on your desktop follow these steps:

1 - On Start Menu, choose "Run" and type Regedit.

2 - a) If you are using the XP style start menu:
Search for:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel\

b) If you are working with the classic menu:
Search for:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu\

3 - Inside, right click and create a new DWORD-Value with the name "{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}".

4 - Right click on the new value, choose 'Modify' and change the Value to "1".

This will just hide the Recycle bin icon, if a Dock is installed, by this procedure the 'Recycle bin' Docklet won't be anyhow affected.

To restore the desktop icon again, just 'Modify' the same DWORD-Value to "0".

Hide user from logon screen

2009-10-12T03:06:00.000-07:00

1. Click start
2. Click run
3. Type regedit and hit enter
4. Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList \
5. Rightclick in a empty space and choose new DWORD
6. Name this the exact name as the username you want to hide
7. Give it the value 0
8 Exit and Restart

Faster Start browsing

2009-10-12T03:05:00.000-07:00

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. type in \'regedit\' and enter
4. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / CONTROL PANEL / DESKTOP
5. Make a new key and call it \'MenuShowDisplay
6. Enter it and give it a 0 or 1 value
7. Exit en restart Windows.

Edit Start menu text!

2009-10-12T03:03:00.000-07:00

This tweak is for the advanced PC user, WinModify is not responsible for any damage, tweak at your own risk.

To edit the start button text:

1. Go to your windows directory.
2. Backup Explorer.exe and name it something like explorer1.exe, put it in the windows directory.
3. Get a free copy of a Hex editor on a freeware site.
4. Open up explorer1.exe in the Hex editor.
5. Search for strings named Start

This is what you need to edit:

Windows XP (enhanced start menu)
Offset: 0x000412B6 - 0x000412BE

Windows XP (Classic Start Menu)
Offset: 0x0004158A - 0x00041592

Windows XP SP1 (Enhanced Start Menu)
Offset: 0x0004208E - 0x00042096

Windows XP SP1 (Classic Start Menu)
Offset: 0x0004259A - 0x000425A2

Start will be just before this \'There was an internal error and one of the windows you were using has been closed.\'

6. Now you can edit this text and give it another 5 letter word.
7. Save it
8. Open up regedit
9. Go to:[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Winlogon]
10. Search for the value named Shell and make it equal to explorer1.exe. than save.
11. Restart and your done...

Make PC custom branded (OEM)

2009-10-12T02:55:00.000-07:00

-- Picture

1. Make a bitmap thats about 175x175px
2. Name it oemlogo.bmp
3. Copy to \\windows\\system32

-- Text

1. Open notepad and type in the text below and add your text after the \'=\'

[General]
Manufacturer=
Model=
[Support Information]
Line1=
Line2=
Line3=

You can make more lines if you want...

2. Now save as oeminfo.ini into \\windows\\system32

Done
Now take a look in to My Computer's properties.

What's the Difference between Intel Core Duo and Core 2 Duo

2009-10-09T04:10:00.001-07:00

Core Duo is Intel's first dual-core CPU. It's a whole new architecture for Microsoft, using two cores on a single die, which, put simply, gives you two chips in one package. Running at lower speeds than the old Pentium line, the Core Duo conserves substantial power vs. ratcheting up clock speed while offering what was, at the time, record-breaking performance.
Now there's Core 2 Duo. In many ways Core 2 is the same as Core: The chips are built using the same production process and fit in the same sockets as Core Duo chips. Putting aside Core 2 Extreme (a fancy version of the Core 2 Duo), you won't see many spec changes: Both chips have the same frontside bus speed of 667MHz, but Core 2 Duo is now available at somewhat faster clock speeds (as I write this, 2.67GHz chips are available). The frontside bus communicates between the CPU and RAM (and other components), and it's a notorious performance bottleneck for computers. The Core 2 also has the same L2 cache that the Core has. However, there are architecture changes to the silicon that give the Core 2 more sophisticated processing abilities. Both chips exist in desktop and laptop versions.
Why does all of this matter? Performance, pure and simple. In my tests, Core 2 Duo computers outperform Core Duo computers on tasks across the board, from rendering graphics and video to spell-checking documents. The speed improvement varies widely, but on average it's about 30 percent. That's significant in an industry that thrives on tiny, incremental improvement. Better yet, there's not an appreciable difference in battery life on notebooks, as power consumption for both chips (at the same clock speed) is about the same.
Now let's consider pricing. Initially, Core 2 chips were more expensive than Core, but that has changed, as Core is practically gone from the desktop market now. Surprisingly, you can now get a 2.13GHz Core 2 CPU for less than the price of a 1.66GHz Core CPU.
Still, expect to see some systems still on the market that use the Core CPU, especially in laptops. Performance is still very good with Core, so don't feel like you're getting second-class goods if you buy a Core Duo notebook, but remember you are buying a chip that Intel is no longer actively selling, and prices for Core 2 systems aren't really any different than they were for Cores. If it was my money, I'd hold out for a Core 2 system unless you got a great deal on a Core... which will be all but vanished from the market in a matter of months.

Some useful shortcuts in the Windows explorer

2009-10-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

Alt + Enter - View the properties for the selected item.
Alt + ESC - Cycle through items in the oder that they have been opened.
Alt + F4 - Close the active item, or quit the active program.
Alt + Spacebar - Display the system menu for the active windows.
Alt + TAB - Switch between the open items.

Backspace - View the folder one level up in my computer or IE or Windows Explorer.

Windows Key + R - Open the run dialog box
Windows Key + M - Minimize all windows.
Windows Key + F1 - Display windows help
Windows Key + F - Search for a file or folder
Windows Key + E - Open \'my computer\'

CTRL + A - Select all
CTRL + C - Copy
CTRL + V - Paste
CTRL + X - Cut
CTRL + Z - Undo
CTRL+W - Close current browser tab
CTRL + ESC - Display the start menu.
CTRL + F4 - Close the active document in programs that enable you to have mulptiple documents open simultaneously

F10 Key - Activate the menu bar in the active program
F2 Key - Rename the selected item
F3 Key - Search for a file or a folder
F4 Key - Display the address bar list in my computer of windows explorer
F5 Key - Update the active window.
F6 Key - Cycle through the screen elements in a windows or on the desktop

Shift + Insert a cd - Precent the cd-rom from automaticly playing
Shift + Delete - Delete the selected item permanently without placing the item in the recycle bin

Shortcutting syntax

2009-09-28T01:58:00.000-07:00

Some shortcuts you might want on your desktop or anywhere else. For all these, choose create new shortcut and enter the command line:

Shutdown commands

Enter this command line:

rundll32 user.exe,exitwindows
..to exit Windows easily,

rundll32 user.exe,ExitWindowsExec
..to restart Windows,

rundll32 shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx 2
..to reboot the computer, and..

rundll32 shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx
..to log off the current user (without the confirmation question).

Those are for 9x (95, 98, Me). XP has shutdown.exe, also available in NT and 2k resource kits:

%windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -r

would be a reboot. Some useful attributes:

-r = shuts down and restarts;
-f = forces processes to terminate;
-l = shuts down all running processes, then logs off;
-s = shuts down to a point at which it is safe to turn off power;
-h = help.

Also note the "-t xx" attribute (thanks Clockwise). Default shutdown has a countdown of 30 seconds, with this you can change that ("-t 00" being zero).

Undefined adds that XP also has "tsshutdn 0 /POWERDOWN" to put in target field for a shutdown and mentioned kill.exe. This tool is provided with 2k (tools dir on the cd), and "will kill every task running without warning, so it probably harms your system in some way or another. Don't do it unless you absolutely have to." Freely available online.

Then, bittemei noted a little application for all platforms, giving room for a lot of specific wishes you might want: "Poweroff is a small program for Win95/98/NT/W2K/XP to schedule a shutdown/reboot/logoff/poweroff/Standby/Hibernate/Lock/Wake-On-LAN at a certain time. It also supports command line options that allow poweroff to be used in batch scripts. It has a built-in scheduler, it allows you to run a program before doing the action, you can give a warning message to the user, wait for a process to finish before doing the action and full remote control is supported."

Short names: enhanced run box

Maybe you noticed, some apps get launched in the run box just by typing their names (for example iexplore.exe for IE, notepad.exe...). That's because when they were installed a reg key with this short name was created in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\.

To create a new short name, create a new key with any name (file name: no special characters), and don't forget the extension (even if you don't need to type it when launching), put ".exe" if you don't know what else to put.
Modify its default value with the real app path.

And best of all, you can use a shortcut as the path ! This means you can make special shortcuts as described below and link to them. For example typing "mycomp" would really open this special folder.

Zeratul adds an even easier way. Any shortcut you drop in your windows folder, renamed to something rememberable, can just be typed in the run box too. And ofcourse that gets even easier with the address bar added to the taskbar (rightclick taskbar, toolbars).

Command creator (shareware (once free), all Windows versions) will make all that easier by modifying the registry for you with a cool interface.

But here's Short Run, great little tool to add any command for free. Those using their run box often should check it out!

Another way proposed by madpigeon, is to modify

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\URL\Prefixes.

"In there, there are string values which allow you to assign a certain character to represent a prefix. So, being an ex-Litestep user, I decided to try setting "!" to a prefix, and it works.

Make shortcuts to all your favorite programs and place them in a folder of your choice. In following with my example, start all the shortcut names with "!". So, "eudora" would become "!eudora". Or, you can choose to use something else besides "!"; it's your choice.

Then, go to the aforementioned key in the registry and add a new string value. The Value Name should be "!", or whatever you have decided to use in front of your file names. The Value Data should be the directory your shortcuts are in, such as "C:\shortcuts\".

So, as an example, if I have a shortcut called "!eudora" in the folder "C:\shortcuts", I would go add a string value with name "!eudora" and data "C:\shortcuts\". Then, if I type "!eudora" in the Address bar, the !eudora shortcut will open (opening the program)."

Full replacements of the run box are here...

Control panel items

If you need a shortcut to some specific tab of any control panel item, the shortcut should go to C:\Windows\Control.exe, or just enter "control" (space), then the name of the .cpl file (comma), name of the control panel item (in your language version, comma), number of the tab you want (front one = 0). For instance, for the listing of your hardware, try this:

control Sysdm.cpl,System,1

Also, there's a couple of items controlled by just one .cpl, main.cpl. For these, make it say:

control main.cpl @X

Replace the @X with:

@0 for the mouse properties item;
@1 for the keyboard properties item;
@2 for the printers item;
@3 for the fonts item.

Special folders/items

Some specific Windows folders/items have their own ID within the registry, called a CLSID value (Class Identifier). Making a shortcut to explorer.exe and referring to this value can be a useful way to create some shortcuts.

Command line should look like this:

explorer /root,,::{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}

Running IE5 you probably have to leave "/root," out to get them going. Or add "/e," instead to have the item opened in explorer, instead of a seperate window. Here's the clsid values:

My Computer: {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Recycle Bin: {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
Desktop: {00021400-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Control Panel: {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
Printers: {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
Dial-up networking: {A4D92740-67CD-11CF-96F2-00AA00A11DD9}
Fonts: {BD84B380-8CA2-1069-AB1D-08000948F534}
Internet Explorer: {871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}
Microsoft Outlook: {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Network Neighborhood: {208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
Inbox: {00020D76-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Subscriptions: {F5175861-2688-11d0-9C5E-00AA00A45957}
URL History Folder: {FF393560-C2A7-11CF-BFF4-444553540000}
Briefcase: {85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}
Internet Cache Folder: {7BD29E00-76C1-11CF-9DD0-00A0C9034933}
ActiveX Cache Folder: {88C6C381-2E85-11D0-94DE-444553540000}

One oddity, for the control panel it should read:

explorer /root,,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\::{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

Note some of these might get inverted in different windows versions, so if one doesn't work try something else.

Handling alternative launchers

If you use one of the utilities to create bitmapped links on the desktop and/or one of the additional toolbars, you may find it's only possible to link executables. But it's often possible to link to folders and files too by entering your own command line (if the app itself won't let you, there's often an .ini or other file that can be edited in notepad, and it will work.

Basically, you still enter an executable, the one you want the folder/file to be opened with. For a folder, that's explorer.exe. Set the action to "c:\windows\explorer.exe, space, path to any folder" to create a shortcut to the folder. Same for specific files, for instance, set it to (..) "c:\program files\Internet Explorer\Iexplore.exe, space, path to .html" if you want a shortcut to some local webfiles.

Some specific links

The "Find: files and folders" dialog is a useful thing to link. A couple of options:

1. Using a command line like "rundll32 shell32.dll,SHFindFiles". I still don't understand why this doesn't work, it should... be nice and rightclick your desktop, choose new/shortcut and enter this line. Does it work for somebody, or got an idea on an alternative ?

2. Using a script (came up in a discussion at Skinz.org, found here). Create a new textfile and enter these lines:

Dim objShell
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
objShell.FindFiles

Save and rename the file to find.vbs. Now simply link to the file with the applauncher or a regular shortcut. If you can't link to specific files, try this command line: "wscript.exe x:\path\find.vbs".

3. An option that will work for sure is using an executable that launches the dialog. Dan 'FnaD' Findley coded one that does it (just that, nothing more, coded to answer this question). Find "FaF" here.

4. Another option would be to link to another application, that replaces the dialog. Find some options here, from simple to advanced.

5. Henk van Zetten pointed out one we missed. If you open the dialog, set the direction you commonly search, then choose file/save, you'll have a .fnd file. Clicking/linking the file will open the dialog, set to the directory you choose.

Using the same syntax as the find.vbs file above you could link to some other hidden ui functions, just replace the .FindFiles at the end by any of these :

.CascadeWindows
.ControlPanelItem(applet)
.Explore(folder)
.FileRun
.FindComputer
.FindFiles
.Help
.MinimizeAll
.UndoMinimizeALL
.SetTime
.ShutdownWindows
.Suspend
.TileHorizontally
.TileVertically
.TrayProperties

Cascades all of the windows on the desktop.
Opens a control panel item, replace applet by the file name (*.cpl).
Explores a folder.
Displays the Run dialog.
Displays the Find: Computer dialog box.
Displays the Find: Files dialog box.
Displays Windows Help.
Minimizes all of the windows on the desktop.
Restores all of the windows.
Displays the Date/Time Properties dialog box.
Displays the Shut Down Windows dialog box.
Suspends the computer.
Tiles all of the windows on the desktop horizontally.
Tiles all of the windows on the desktop vertically.
Displays the Taskbar Properties dialog box.

A link to your "current screensaver" could be nice. Ofcourse it's easy to link to any .scr file and have that specific screensaver running. When doing this from an applauncher, add "/s" to the command line if the link opens the configuration dialog of the screensaver. But maybe you're changing screensavers quite often and want the link to go to whatever screensaver you've got installed, without changing the link (?). It seems there's no easy command line to enter for a shortcut (it being not just one call to some system file). So, another simple executable that checks the screensaver you have set and starts it (and nothing more) would be in place:

Find "Start Screen Saver" at crayzee's homepage.
Another option, if you've got Office installed, is making a shortcut to "officepath\office\osa.exe -s". For Office 2000 it's osa9.exe (thanks Joseph).
Or there's QTraySaver.

Just to be complete, if you follow the traditional routes to the "System Configuration tool" (that's opening systeminfo , clicking the "extra" tab, then selecting it, or using the command line and entering "msconfig" - not available in 2k) and want it available otherwise, it's good to know there's an executable in your windows/winnt folder, msconfig.exe, you can link.

And True Small tools (thanks Red) are tiny executables to open your regular close/confirmation, your run dialog and pressing of the startbutton.

The "Folder options" dialog is a useful thing to link. In Me/2k it's an icon in the control panel, so a shortcut can be made. More direct linking is complicated, it seems. Elastic came up with this command line:

rundll32 shell32.dll,Options_RunDLL

This works in Me and XP. For 2k, JP Morgan found

rundll32 shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL appwiz.cpl,@1

Anything to add/ask here ?! This item is nowhere near finished, we'd like to expand it.

Shortcutting apps

An alternative way to "shortcut" your way through the OS would be using SENSIVA Symbol commander (free, pro version available). It lets you draw simple graphic symbols on your screen (holding your right mouse button) that are assigned to actions. Lots of actions are predesigned.

A little less commercial and dug up by Don: "StrokeIt is an advanced mouse gesture recognition engine and command processor. What is a mouse gesture? Mouse gestures are simple symbols that you "draw" on your screen using your mouse. When you perform a mouse gesture that StrokeIt can recognize, it will perform the "action" associated with that gesture." Easy expandable, and free.

[*toptool:] Another cool app would be Winkey (free, all), it lets you assign any keyboard shortcuts (as long as it contains the Winkey) to any app, file or folder, this way you just have to hit some keys and your app is launched, for example pressing Ctrl + Winkey + E would open IE. You can also manage the state of an active window (Close, Minimize...).

More advanced, but with a price, is Hot Keyboard (shareware, all), you can use any key and has some unique options like start screensaver, paste text and you don't have to use the winkey... pointed out by Mike.

Macro Maker (Free, 9x/Nt/2k) is pretty advanced (really, maybe even more than Hot Keyboard), and free. Only drawbacks would be that it leaves an icon in the systray and doesn't support Winkey.

HotKeyz (shareware, all) stands out by having winamp control: it can Play, Stop, Pause, Raise and Lower the volume in Winamp without Winamp being the front application or having any focus. You can also create playlists.

the Wonderful Icon (Free, all) has some unique features (Volume, create new folders...), and can use any key combo you can think of. You can hide the icon too, if you want (check the readme). A little less easy to use than Winkey, but the options are probably worth it, and you don't change your shortcuts every day do you?

WireKeys (Free, 2k+) is pretty nice too, lots of options really.

Great Tweaks for Vista

2009-09-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

Techniques

2009-09-27T22:47:00.001-07:00

MS Office Techniques

Open Microsoft Word
Type the following code

=rand(100,100)

then press enter key and see what happens@!!!

Open office Calc Technique:

Open Openoffice Calc
Type the following code

=GAME("StarWars")

type this in one cell and press enter

Get more tweaks from Kelly's Corner..

2009-09-26T03:02:00.000-07:00

Get more tweaks from Kelly's Corner..

Windows XP Tips

2009-09-26T02:42:00.000-07:00

Use the ultimate configuration tool (Professional Edition only)

One of the most full featured Windows XP configuration tools available is hidden right there in your system, but most people don't even know it exists. It's called the Local Group Policy Editor, or gpedit for short. To invoke this editor, select Start and then Run, then type the following:
gpedit.msc
After you hit ENTER, you'll be greeted by gpedit, which lets you modify virtually every feature in Windows XP without having to resort to regedit.

Want to remove MSN Messenger?

A lot of people want to know how to remove the MSN Messenger service from XP... here's how:
Locate SYSOC.INF in the \Windows\INF folder (hidden file and folder), Open it in Notepad and locate the line: msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
Remove the word "hide" from the line and save the file. You will now have an entry in add/remove programs. Do what you will :)
OR (XP Pro Only) leave it installed, but tell Windows to never let it run. If you're running XP Professional, you can use GPEDIT.MSC to prevent Messenger from loading. Otherwise, even disabling it in startup won't cause it to "always" not run. NOTE: Outlook, Outlook Express and some Microsoft web pages can still make it load.

Start, Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Messenger

You can now modify whether it starts initially and/or whether it's to run at all. UPDATE: I have recieved some email that say this fix slows down outlook when starting, that is because outlook wants to start messenger when it starts, the easiest and fastest way to disable messenger and still have a quickj starttime with outlook is to rename the exe file, located here c:\program files\messenger\msmsgs.exe, to something other than msmsgs.exe, such as msmsgsnew.exe.

Know your rights

Windows XP comes bundled with Windows Media Player 8.0. While Media Player plays just about any digital media file format--it supports 35, including MP3, it records music only in the Windows Media Audio, or WMA, format. The reason? Content protection.
When recording, or ripping, music from CDs, Media Player allows you to make protected recordings so that no one will be able to copy the recording from one computer to another. You can turn copy protection on or off on the Copy Music tab by checking or unchecking the box that says Protect Content.

Protect your identity

Like many other audio players, Windows Media Player rushes out to the Internet to find information for you when you play a CD. Some of this information, such as song titles and album art, is useful, but Media Player also identifies your copy of Media Player to the site where it's getting data. Why? According to the help file, "The server uses this unique identifier to monitor your connection. By monitoring your connection, the server can make adjustments to increase the playback quality and to alert you about events that occur when receiving streams over the Internet."
If you're disturbed by this exchange of information, here's how to stop it. In Windows Media Player, click Tools > Options and go to the Player tab. Notice the option that says "Allow Internet sites to uniquely identify your player?" Turn it off.

Group and Ungroup Similar Taskbar Items

Just open three or four Internet Explorer windows and you won't see them all in a row on your Taskbar, as you did in previous versions of Windows. By default, Windows XP groups similar items on one button. For example, if you have 3 Internet Explorer windows open, you'll see an Explorer item with the number 3 on it. Click it to see a pop-up list of those windows, then select the one you want.
If you would like, Windows XP will display all open windows separately on the Taskbar. Right click a blank area of the Taskbar and select Properties. Under Taskbar Properties, deselect Group Similar Taskbar Buttons, then click OK.

Turn back the clock

Gray is definitely out. The folks at Microsoft bathed Windows XP in color. Don't like XP's look? To switch back to the Classic look that resembles Windows 2000, right-click the desktop, select Properties, click the Themes tab, and choose Windows Classic from the drop-down list. a! You're back to comfy shades of blue and gray--not to mention having all those familiar icons.
Click "Switch to Classic view" in the upper-left corner of the Properties dialog to bring back the familiar Control Panel icons of earlier versions of Windows. To get back to a Start menu that looks more like Windows 2000's, right-click in an empty portion of the Start menu's left-hand column, select Properties, and go to the Start Menu tab. Select Classic Start Menu. To bring the new look back, just reverse these steps.

Customize the Start menu

The Start menu gets more real estate in XP than in previous versions, and it's more customizable. To make the Start menu display only the applications you want, rather than the default determined by Microsoft, right-click in an empty section of the Start menu's left column, and select Properties > Start Menu > Customize. Here you'll find a list of your most frequently used programs. (XP keeps track of what you use and what you don't, then updates this list dynamically.) Don't want your boss to know that Pinball, Solitaire, and Quake all make your list? Go to the General tab, click Clear List, and set the counter to zero.

Swap out the defaults

In XP, your favorite programs are displayed in the top left column of the Start menu. Microsoft starts you off with Internet Explorer and Outlook Express.
Want to display a different set of applications in this spot? Right-click an empty portion of the Start menu's left column and select Properties > Start Menu > Customize. At the bottom, deselect the program you no longer want displayed in the "Show on the Start menu" dialog, and, using Windows Explorer or My Computer, navigate to the program you want instead. Right-click the program and select "Pin to Start menu." To rename the new shortcut, right-click it and select Rename. Note: You can't pin files, just programs.

Organize your desktop

The only default icon on XP's desktop is the Recycle Bin, but we think it's a good idea to add a shortcut to Computer Management, a quick and dirty way to get to such important tools as the Event Viewer, Local Users and Groups, Shared Folders, the Device Manager, and Disk Management. To surface this handy management dialog, click Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools. Right-click the Computer Management shortcut. Select Copy from the dialog menu. Right-click an empty portion of the desktop and select Paste Shortcut. Use this procedure to add shortcuts to anything else; use Windows Explorer or My Computer to find your target

Turn on your firewall

Microsoft included a firewall in Windows XP to keep you safe from hackers while you cruise the Internet. How do you know that the Internet Connection Firewall is on? Go to the Control Panel and double-click the Network Connections icon. In the dial-up, DSL, or cable connection dialog that appears, check the Status column. If your firewall is on, it should say Firewalled. You can turn the firewall off with the check box, but unless you are going to add a third-party firewall for heightened security, it's best to leave it on.
Now that you know that your firewall is on, how do you know that it's doing its job? Test it with ShieldsUp, the free testing service sponsored by Gibson Research. According to our tests, XP's Internet Connection Firewall kept the computer in full stealth mode. Hackers could not break in and couldn't even see the computer online.
But, given the latest security problems with USB 2.0, etc, you should always go to Windows Update
to make sure you have the latest patches, no matter what operating system you use.

Microsoft Narrator

Want to hear your computer talk? Select Start, Programs, Accessories, Accessibility, Narrator. Or press the Windows key plus the letter "U" to open the Utility Manager. Microsoft Narrator, an accessibility option designed to assist readers who are blind or have impaired vision, starts automatically.
Once you've read through the intro screen (or let the Narrator do it), click OK and you'll see a dialog box of Narrator options. Assuming you want to leave Narrator running, select the desired options, then minimize its dialog box. And if you've opened the Utility Manager, feel free to close it.
To turn Narrator off, click the Exit button or right-click its taskbar item and select Close.

Internet Connection Sharing

To enable Internet Connection Sharing on a network connection:

Open Network Connections.
Click the dial-up, local area network, PPPoE, or VPN connection you want to share, and then, under Network Tasks, click Change settings of this connection.
On the Advanced tab, select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection check box.
If you want this connection to dial automatically when another computer on your home or small office network attempts to access external resources, select the Establish a dial-up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet check box.
If you want other network users to enable or disable the shared Internet connection, select the Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection check box.
Under Internet Connection Sharing, in Home networking connection, select any adapter that connects the computer sharing its Internet connection to the other computers on your network.

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Watch your cookies

In XP, the Documents And Settings folder holds all user information, including configuration settings, favorites, and cookies. The Documents And Settings\Username\Cookies folder is where XP stashes cookies. How do you control the number of cookies you allow on your system? Click Start > Control Panel > Network And Internet Connections > Internet Options. Click the Privacy tab, then use the slider bar to modify your cookie settings. For instance, you can block cookies from sites that use personal identification without your consent. To increase your security, try out the other privacy settings in this dialog. The lowest level is Accept All Cookies while the highest is Block All Cookies, with low, medium, medium-high, and high settings in between. (An explanation of each appears as you move between settings.) Keep in mind that rejecting cookies may limit your actions on some Web sites, and some sites use cookies to track how many times you see a popup, for example, on this website, if you blocked cookies, you would see a popup on every page.

The omnipotent Administrator

When you use Windows XP, you belong to one of two groups: Administrators or Users. Administrators are all-powerful: if you have a so-called Admin account, you can make systemwide changes and change other users' accounts. While this power is a boon to the ego, it's also dangerous. If, for example, you encounter a virus, a Trojan horse, or a worm while you're logged on as Administrator, you could wreck all the accounts on your entire system. Log in as User, on the other hand, and any damage you cause will be less extensive, because ordinary users are prevented from making systemwide changes. A word to the wise: Do your everyday computing as a regular user and log on as Administrator only when it's absolutely necessary, such as when adding a new user or changing security settings. To sign on as User, use the Run As command: just right-click a shortcut and select Run As. As long as you know the username and password, you can sign on as another user.

Reduce Temporary Internet File Space

The temporary internet files clutter your hard drive with copies of each page visited. These can build up over time and take up disk space. Even more bothersome is that instead of getting new pages each time IE often takes the page out the temp internet files. This can be a problem if you are viewing a website that is updated all the time. If you are on a slow connection such as a 56K or lower then this can be good but if you are on a fast broadband connection, like me, then you can get away with decreasing the size of your temp internet files to just one meg without any performance decrease.

Launch Internet Explorer.

Select the Tools from the menu bar. Then select Internet Options... from the drop down menu. Once the internet options has loaded click on the general tab. Under the temporary internet files section click the settings button. A settings window will load. Slide the slider all the way to the left so the size indicated in the text box on the right is one. Click OK Click Ok

Turn Off System Recovery

Right click on My Computer and choose Properties. Click on the System Restore tab and check the box Turn off System Restore. (This will increase Windows performance & save disk space)

Enable / Disable Firewall

Open Control Panel and double click on Network Connections. In the new box that appears right click on the Connection and click on the Advanced tab. Check or uncheck the box according to your desire.

Win XP Won't Completely Shutdown

Goto Control Panel, then goto Power Options.
Click on the APM Tab, then check the "Enable Advanced Power Management support."
Shut down your PC. It should now successfully complete the Shut Down process.

WinXP Clear Page file on shutdown

Go to Control panel Administrative tools, local security policy. then goto local policies ---> security options. Then change the option for "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile"

Turn off hibernation

Control Panel-Screen Saver Power-Hibernate Tab-uncheck hibernation box-reboot and hiberfil.sys is no more.

Adjust various visual effects

Open up the control panel
Go under system and click on the advanced tab
Click settings under Performance options
You can now change various graphical effects (mainly animations and shadows)

Disable error reporting

Open Control Panel
Click on Performance and Maintenance.
Click on System.
Then click on the Advanced tab
Click on the error-reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
Select Disable error reporting.
Click OK
Click OK

Close Multiple Windows : Note works in all versions of Windows

If you just opened a number of separate, related windows (a folder inside a folder, and so on), there's an easier way to close them all than one-at-a-time. Hold down the Shift key as you click the X caption button in the upper-right corner of the last window opened. Doing so closes that window and all windows that came before it.

Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons

Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP.

Start regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile
Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

You may need to restart Windows XP.

Remove Shared Documents

Open Regedit(Start- Run- Regedit) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer My Computer NameSpace DelegateFolders There will see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. By Deleting this you can remove the 'Other Files stored on This Computer' group.

Change the text in Internet Explorers title bar to anything you want

In regedit navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMain
change the value of the string "Window Title" to whatever you want on the title bar of Internet Explorer - to have no title except the title of the web pages you are browsing do not enter anything for a value.

Easy sendto menu modification

first open - X:Documents and SettingsusernameSendTo (it is hidden) where X is your drive letter and username is your username make and delete shortcuts to folders at will

Enable Clear Type

Easy way- Click on or cut and paste link below: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/cleartypeactivate.htm?fname=%20&fsize= or

Right click on a blank area of the Desktop and choose Properties
Click on the Appearance Tab; Click effects
Check the box: Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts
In the drop down box select: Clear Type

Turn of CD Auto Play

Open My Computer
Right click on your CD ROM and choose Properties
Click on the Auto Play tab
In the drop down box you can choose the Action for each choice shown in the drop down box

Go to Start->Run->gpedit.msc
Computer Config -> Administrative Template -> System
Double click Turn off Autoplay
Enable it.

Getting MP3 ripping to work in Windows Media Player 8 in XP

Enter the following in the registry : [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE
MicrosoftMediaPlayerSettingsMP3Encoding] "LowRate"=dword:0000dac0 "MediumRate"=dword:0000fa00 "MediumHighRate"=dword:0001f400 "HighRate"=dword:0002ee00 This corresponds to 56, 64, 128 and 192 Kbps. You can change this to your liking using the following dword hex values : 320 Kbps = dword:0004e200 256 Kbps = dword:0003e800 224 Kbps = dword:00036b00 192 Kbps = dword:0002ee00 160 Kbps = dword:00027100 128 Kbps = dword:0001f400 112 Kbps = dword:0001b580 64 Kbps = dword:0000fa00 56 Kbps = dword:0000dac0

Increase BROADBAND

This is for broad band connections. I didn't try it on dial up but might work for dial up.

make sure your logged on as actually "Administrator". do not log on with any account that just has administrator privileges.
start - run - type gpedit.msc
expand the "local computer policy" branch
expand the "administrative templates" branch
expand the "network branch"
Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left window
in right window double click the "limit reservable bandwidth" setting
on setting tab check the "enabled" item
where it says "Bandwidth limit %" change it to read 0

Effect is immediate on some systems, some need to re-boot. This is more of a "counter what XP does" thing. In other words, programs can request up to 20% of the bandwidth be reserved for them, even with QoS disabled, this is no big deal and most programs do not request it. So, although QOS has caused a big stink because people think it reserves 20% of their bandwidth, you can still disable it, just to be sure, hehe.

Increase your cable modem or DSL speed in XP

This tweak is for broad band cable connections on stand alone machines with winXP professional version - might work on Home version also. It will probably work with networked machines as well but I haven't tried it in that configuration. This is for windows XP only, it does not work on win2000.
I use 3 Com cards so I don't know how it works on others at this point. It does not involve editing the registry. This tweak assumes that you have let winXP create a connection on install for your cable modem/NIC combination and that your connection has tcp/ip - QoS - file and print sharing - and client for microsoft networks , only, installed. It also assumes that winxp will detect your NIC and has in-box drivers for it. If it doesn't do not try this.
In the "My Network Places" properties (right click on the desktop icon and choose properties), highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK

From the windows XP cd in the support directory from the support cab, extract the file netcap.exe and place it in a directory on your hard drive or even in the root of your C:\ drive.
next, open up a command prompt window and change directories to where you put netcap.exe. then type "netcap/?". It will list some commands that are available for netcap and a netmon driver will be installed. At the bottom you will see your adapters. You should see two of them if using a 3Com card. One will be for LAN and the other will be for WAN something or other.
Next type "netcap/Remove". This will remove the netmon driver.
Open up control panel / system / dev man and look at your network adapters. You should now see two of them and one will have a yellow ! on it. Right click on the one without the yellow ! and choose uninstall. YES! you are uninstalling your network adapter, continue with the uninstall. Do not restart yet.
Check your connection properties to make sure that no connection exists. If you get a wizard just cancel out of it.
Now re-start the machine.
After re-start go to your connection properties again and you should have a new connection called "Local area connection 2". highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.
Choose connection properties and uncheck the "QOS" box
Re-start the machine
after restart enjoy the increased responsivness of IE, faster page loading, and a connection speed boost.

Why it works, it seems that windows XP, in its zeal to make sure every base is covered installs two seperate versions of the NIC card. One you do not normally see in any properties. Remember the "netcap/?" command above showing two different adapters? The LAN one is the one you see. The invisible one loads everything down and its like your running two separate cards together, sharing a connection among two cards, this method breaks this "bond" and allows the NIC to run un-hindered.

Use a Shortcut to Local Area Network Connection Information

Something new in Windows XP, instead of using the command line program and typing ipconfig to find local area network information, you can use the following shortcut:

Click Start, point to Connect to, and then click Show All Connections.
Right click the connection you want information about, and then click Status.
In the connection Properties dialog box, click the Support tab.
For even more information, click the Advanced tab.

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

Change the Start Menu Style

Does the new Windows XP Start menu take up too much space on your desktop? You can easily change the look back to the Windows Classic Start menu by following these steps:

Right�click the Start button, and then click Properties.
Click Classic Start menu.
Click the Customize button to select items to display on the Start menu.

By default, selecting the Classic Start menu also adds the My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, and Internet Explorer icons to your desktop.

Add a Map Drive Button to the Toolbar

Do you want to quickly map a drive, but can't find the toolbar button? If you map drives often, use one of these options to add a Map Drive button to the folder toolbar.

Option One (Long Term Fix)
- Click Start, click My Computer, right-click the toolbar, then unlock the toolbars, if necessary.
- Right-click the toolbar again, and then click Customize.
- Under Available toolbar buttons, locate Map Drive, and drag it into the position you want on the right under Current toolbar buttons.
- Click Close, click OK, and then click OK again.
You now have drive mapping buttons on your toolbar, so you can map drives from any folder window. To unmap drives, follow the above procedure, selecting Disconnect under Available toolbar buttons. To quickly map a drive, try this option.
Option Two (Quick Fix)
- Click Start, and right-click My Computer.
- Click Map Network Drive.

If you place your My Computer icon directly on the desktop, you can make this move in only two clicks!

Do Not Highlight Newly Installed Programs

Tired of that annoying little window that pops up to tell you that new software is installed? If it gets in the way when you're logging off, turn it off completely.

To do this Click Start, right-click at the top of the Start menu where your name is displayed, and then click Properties.
In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, on the Start Menu tab, click Customize.
Click the Advanced tab, and then clear the Highlight newly installed programs check box.
Click OK, and then click OK again.

Now that message won't be popping up when you least want to see it.

Speed up the Start Menu

You can use this tip to speed up the Start Menu in Windows XP release candidate 1. You can customize the speed of the Start Menu by editing a Registry Key.

Click Start, and then click Run.
Type Regedit in the box, and then click OK.
Expand the menu in the left panel and select the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop folder.
Scroll down in the right panel and double click on the MenuShowDelay file.
In the Value Data box, change to default value for the menu speed from 400 to a lesser number, such as 1.
Click OK.

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your computer.

Use the Windows Classic Look

More comfortable performing a task with the familiar Windows Classic user interface? You can quickly switch the user interface to the familiar Windows Classic appearance on your computer if it helps you remember a task in your operating system or program. You can go back to the original Windows look with a couple clicks.

Right-click on your desktop, and then click Properties.
Click the Appearance tab.
On the Windows and Buttons menu, select Windows Classic. Click OK.

There you go, now you can feel right at home with the old look, and you'll still get the best out of Windows XP, new look or old.

Add Familiar Icons back to your desktop

It�s the case of the missing icons. Many of you may be wondering where all the icons from your desktop are in Windows XP? Well if you're like me, you like to have at least My Computer, My Network Places, and My Documents on the desktop.
To do this:

Right-click on the desktop, and then click Properties.
Click the Desktop tab and then click on Customize Desktop.
Put a check mark in the box next to My Document, My Computer, My Network Places, or Internet Explorer, to add those familiar icons to your desktop.

Unlock Toolbars to Customize Them

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

Right-click on a toolbar, and then click Lock the Toolbars to remove the check mark.
Right-click on the toolbar again, and then click Customize.
You can add and remove toolbar buttons, change text options and icon options. When you've got the toolbar customized, click Close.
Now right-click on the toolbar and then click Lock the Toolbars to lock them in place.

Display Your Quick Launch Toolbar

Is your Quick Launch toolbar missing from the taskbar? To display your familiar Quick Launch toolbar:

Right-click an empty area on the taskbar, click Toolbars, and then click Quick Launch.
Easy as that your Quick Launch bar appears. To add items to your Quick Launch toolbar, click the icon for the program you want to add, and drag it to the Quick Launch portion of the taskbar.

Keep Your Favorite Programs Near the Top of the Start Menu

Do you have a favorite program that you frequently use? Elevate its priority on the Start menu by putting it at the top of the list. This ensures that the program will remain on the Start menu and cannot be bumped by other programs, even if you use the others more frequently. Right-click the link to your favorite program on the Start menu and select Pin to Start Menu. Your program will be moved permanently to the top part of the list, just below your browser and e-mail programs.

Use the Address Bar to Launch Programs or Web Pages

Windows XP Professional enhanced the functionality of the Address bar to make it easier to launch your favorite programs. You can add the Address bar to the taskbar on the bottom of your desktop. Then you can launch programs simply by entering their names in the Address bar. For example, to launch Calculator, simply enter calc in the Address bar. Anything you would normally enter in the Run box on the Start menu can be entered in the Address bar. The Address bar also lets you quickly go to any Web page you specify.
To add the Address bar to the taskbar:

Right-click an empty area on the taskbar.
Point to Toolbars, and then click Address.
Open the Address bar by double-clicking it.

Stop Password Expiration

After you have run Windows XP for a while, you may receive this message when you log on: "Your password will expire in 14 days.....".
By default, Windows XP is set up with passwords which will expire after 42 days. 14 days in advance, Windows will start warning you of this fact. If you do not want your passwords to expire:

Go to Start > Run and in the Open: box type control userpasswords2
Select the Advanced tab in the User Accounts window
Press the Advanced button below the Advanced user management header
Select Users in the Local Users and Groups
In the right pane, right-click the user name for which you want to change the setting, and select Properties
On the General tab, check Password never expires
Click Apply and OK (all the way out)

Safely Remove Hardware Icon?

If you have an USB device attached to your system, you will notice an icon in the Notification area, which - when clicked - will give you the option to Stop your hardware, before you unplug it.
It is possible that you never unplug this hardware. So how do you get rid of the icon? As far as I know the only way is to right-click the notification area, and selecting Properties. Under the Notification area heading, click Customize. Find the Safely Remove Hardware icon and select Always hide in the Behavior column next to it (press OK and Apply to back out).

Multiuser features

Like Windows 2000, but unlike Windows 95, 98, and Me, the ability to log in multiple users simultaneously plays a big role in Windows XP. There is a default Administrator account set up when Windows XP is first installed, but you can create as many accounts as you need later, depending on how many people will be using the machine. Each user, once he or she has an account, can customize XP to his or her liking. Individual users get their own subfolders in the Documents And Settings folder; this folder serves as a centralized location for most personalized information, such as the Start Menu, Favorites, and Documents settings.

Missing Administrator account

Once you have created regular user accounts, the default Administrator account vanishes from the Welcome screen, which you see when the computer starts up. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete twice at the Welcome screen to retrieve the standard logon dialog. You can log on as Administrator from here. To switch among accounts, just click the Log Off button on the Start menu. You'll then see the Log Off Windows dialog box. Click the Switch User button, and you'll be taken to the Welcome screen where you can select and log on to other accounts.

Show yourself

Only the Administrator can set up new user accounts (go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Create A New Account). You can select a picture to identify the account. When you're logged on to the system under your username, this picture, along with your username, peeks out at you from the top of the Start menu. There are a slew of 48x48-pixel bitmap images to choose from within XP. They're housed in D:\Documents And Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures. But why limit yourself? You can also copy any graphic you want into this folder or browse for another from your hard drive. Usable file types are BMP, GIF, JPEG, or PNG. However, always use a square picture, to limit the white space on the side. Your image can be any size but will be displayed as 48x48-pixel image, so a close-up works best.

Hide yourself

Once you've created a user account, password-protect it to keep other users from viewing your files, Favorites, and cookies. Why? You may not want your child to see the note that you're sending to his or her teacher, or you may be planning someone's surprise party. (Note: Anyone with an Administrator account can still see them.)
Worried about remembering your password? Create a hint to help you when you initially create it by following the prompts during setup. XP stores the password hints in the Registry at Hkey_local_machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Hints.
What if the hint doesn't help? Any user or Administrator can create a password reset disk, which you can use to log on and create a new password. Go to Control Panel > User Accounts and select "Prevent a forgotten password" in the Related Tasks box on the left. Follow the wizard's instructions. After creating the disk, find a safe place for it. Don't forget the password or where you put the disk. Someone else could use it to change your password without you knowing it.

Not A Tweak, But A Double XP Surprise!

Neither Win2K nor WinME has the ability to create a simple, basic, DOS- based boot floppy (a "startup disk") unless you jump through hoops or do things in nonstandard ways. Because XP is the fusion of Win2K and Win9x/ME, I assumed it would follow the same "no boot floppy" tack. But instead, I was surprised to poke around in XP and see that the format option there does indeed offer a "Create MS-DOS Startup Disk."
As an experiment, I created a startup disk, and all went smoothly. I was able to use the disk to boot my PC without any problems. But when it started up, I got the second surprise. The DOS boot message showed "Microsoft Windows Millennium." To confirm this, I typed "Ver" to see what version of DOS was running, and the screen showed: Windows Millennium [Version 4.90.300]
Although it's very strange to see the WinME startup message on an XP-created floppy, all this means is that Microsoft cribbed a few essential DOS boot files from WinME, and made it so XP can drop them onto a freshly- formatted floppy for you. I'm glad they did: It's a very good thing that Microsoft restored the ability to make a simple boot disk.

Fast Boot /Fast Resume Design

Customer research shows a frequently requested feature that users want from their PCs is fast system startup, whether from cold boot or when resuming from standby or hibernation. The Windows development team at Microsoft has taken bold steps in making fast startup PCs a reality with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system.
The design goals for Windows XP on a typical consumer PC are:

Boot to a useable state in a total of 30 seconds
Resume from Hibernate (S4) in a total of 20 seconds
Resume from Standby (S3) in a total of 5 seconds

Boot and resume times are measured from the time the power switch is pressed to being able to start a program from a desktop shortcut. Click here to go to Microsoft's development center and learn how, download boot tools and read white papers on the subject.

Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog

For some reason, Hibernate isn't available from the default Shut Down dialog. But you can enable it simply enough, by holding down the SHIFT key while the dialog is visible. Now you see it, now you don't!

Speed up the Start Menu

The default speed of the Start Menu is pretty slow, but you can fix that by editing a Registry Key. Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay
By default, the value is 400. Change this to a smaller value, such as 0, to speed it up.
If this doesn't work for some reason, then you might try the following: Navigate to Display Properties then Appearance then Advanced and turn off the option titled Show menu shadow. You will get much better overall performance.

Automatically defrag drives with a new context menu item

Create a new Registry import file named context_defrag.inf in Notepad (be sure to save with it with the Save as type set to All Files and not Text Documents) and place the following text inside:
; context_defrag.INF
; Adds Defrag to the right click context menu in Windows XP
[version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"
[DefaultInstall]
AddReg=AddMe
[AddMe]
HKCR,"Drive\Shell\Defrag\command",,,"DEFRAG.EXE %1"
Then, right-click and choose Install. This will add a context menu to XP that allows you to automatically defrag drives, using the command line version of the built-in defragmentation utility. To use it, navigate to a drive in My Computer, right-click, and choose Defrag. A command line window will appear, and that drive will be defragged. When it's complete, the window just disappears.

Display the Sharing Tab in Folder Properties

In Windows 2000, getting to the Sharing options for a folder was simple: Just right-click, choose Properties, and you'd see a Sharing tab. In Windows XP, this feature is missing by default, but you can make the system display the Sharing tab if desired. Simply open up Folder Options (My Computer, then Tools, Folder Options) and navigate to the View tab. In the Advanced Settings section, scroll down to the bottom and uncheck Use simple file sharing (Recommended), a Mickey Mouse feature if there ever was one. Now share your folders on the LAN as you would in Windows 2000.

My Computer Won't Shut Down Itself After Installing XP

There are a number of users who have been complaining that their PC will no longer automatically power down/shut off without pressing the power off button on the computers unlike in Windows Me/95/2000. There could be a number of reasons for this - but the main one seems to be that ACPI is not enabled on the computer or in Windows XP. Here is how to enable it:

Click - Start - Control Panel - Performance and Maintenance - Power Options Tab
Then click APM - Enable Advanced Power Management Support

Create a Password Reset Disk

Microsoft has enhanced security features in XP including the the ability to create a floppy diskette to recover your password incase it is forgotten.

Click Start
Click Control Panel
Click User Accounts
Click on the account which you want to create a password disk
Click Prevent a forgotten password which starts the Forgotten Password Wizard . This is found under Related Tasks
Insert a blank, formatted disk into drive A, and click Next
Enter the password in the Current user account password box

To use the recovery disk, at the Welcome screen

Click the user name whose password is on the recovery disk
Click the question mark button
This causes the Did you forget your password message to appear.
Click use your password reset disk
This will start the Password Reset Wizard.

From this point, just follow the wizard's instructions and you will be able to set a new password. It is different if you are part of a domain, see next tip.

How to Create a Password Reset Disk for computers that are part of a domain

Note that this procedure requires one blank, formatted floppy disk.
To create a password reset disk for your local user account:

Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE. The Windows Security dialog box appears.
Click Change Password . The Change Password dialog box appears.
In the Log on to box, click the local computer. For example, click Computer (this computer) .
Click Backup . The Forgotten Password Wizard starts.
On the "Welcome to the Forgotten Password Wizard" page, click Next .
Insert a blank, formatted disk in drive A, and then click Next .
In the Current user account password box, type your password, and then click Next . The Forgotten Password Wizard creates the disk.
When the progress bar reaches 100 percent complete, click Next , and then click Finish . The Forgotten Password Wizard quits and you return to the Change Password dialog box.
Remove, and then label the password reset disk. Store the disk in a safe place.
In the Change Password dialog box, click Cancel .
In the Windows Security dialog box, click Cancel.

If you forget your password, you can log on to the computer with a new password that you create by using the Password Reset Wizard and your password reset disk.
To gain access to your local user account on a computer that is a member of a domain, or has been disconnected from a domain:

In the Welcome to Windows dialog box, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE.
In the Log On to Windows dialog box, type an incorrect password in the Password box, and then click OK .
In the Logon Failed dialog box that appears, click Reset . The Password Reset Wizard starts. The Password Reset Wizard lets you create a new password for your local user account.
On the "Welcome to the Password Reset Wizard" page, click Next .
Insert the password reset disk in drive A, and then click Next .
On the "Reset the User Account Password" page, type a new password in the Type a new password box.
Type the same password in the Type the password again to confirm box.
In the Type a new password hint box, type a hint that will help you remember the password if you forget it. NOTE : This hint is visible to anyone who attempts to log on to the computer by using your user account.
Click Next , and then click Finish . The Password Reset Wizard quits and you return to the Log On to Windows dialog box. The password reset disk is automatically updated with the new password information. You do not have to create a new password reset disk.
In the Log On to Windows dialog box, type your new password in the Password box.
In the Log on to box, click the local computer. For example, click Computer (this computer) , and then click OK . You are logged on to the local computer with your local account information.

Disable Automatic Windows Update

Windows XP is configured out of the box to routinely scan for and download updates to Windows XP automatically. While this can be somewhat convenient for those with very fast Internet connections and those who would otherwise forget to check for updates, it can be a nuisance for the rest of us, who are still using 56k or, even worse 33k modem connections.
To control or disable automatic updating, open the System icon in Control Panel (or right-click My Computer and select Properties), and choose the Automatic Updating tab.
To check for updates manually, open Internet Explorer and select Windows Update from the Tools menu.

Try automatic camera recognition in windows xp

If you have a digital camera, try this trick for downloading pictures to your machine. Don't load any of the drivers or software that comes with your digital camera. Instead--if your camera supports USB--connect your camera via a USB port. There's a good chance that Windows XP will recognize the digicam. After a few moments, the Scanner And Camera Wizard should start up and walk you through the steps involved in copying your pictures from the camera to a folder of your choice on your computer--much faster than doing it manually. You may still need to install your camera's software if it provides configuration controls you can't access in any other way, such as those for changing the picture resolution on your camera or the software's special editing functions.

HOW TO: Use Automatic Completion with a Command Prompt in Windows XP

To Activate Automatic Completion
For example, to change to the Program Files folder, you can type cd \pro control_character. Or, to display the contents of the Myfile.txt file, you can type type myf control_character. If there are multiple folders or files that match the characters you type, typing the control character again displays the next matching instance. When the correct folder or file is displayed, press ENTER to complete the command. If no folder of file matches the characters that you type, you hear a beep. You can activate or deactivate this feature for a computer, for a user, or for only the current command session.
Click here for the article from Microsoft.

Damaged Registry Repair and Recovery in Windows XP

When a registry hive becomes damaged, your computer may become unbootable, and you may receive one of the following Stop error messages on a blue screen:
Unexpected Shutdown
Stop:0xc0000135
Registry damage often occurs when programs with access to the registry do not cleanly remove temporary items that they store in the registry. This problem may also be caused if a program is terminated or experiences a user-mode fault.
Click here for the article from Microsoft.

Boot Windows XP from a USB flash drive

2009-09-25T04:51:00.001-07:00

Advice: An USB-Stick refuses its function, after approximately 100.000 writing-processes. Assuming that the system needs only two writing-processes every second, an USB-Stick holds nearly 60 Days (8 hours of working).
Due to this disadvantage we advice you to use an USB-harddisk.

Step 1

1.) (Testing the capability of USB-booting on your computer)

Set all Bios entries for USB as enabled.
Copy the three files ntdetect.com, ntldr and boot.ini to the USB device you want to boot from. The content of the boot.ini should be:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional2"

The USB device from which you want to boot can be a USB harddisk (best device for testing) with FAT16, FAT32 or
NTFS (compressed) it has to be partitioned and the first partition has to be set active. Using an USB-Stick a minimal
capacity of 1GByte is normally required. It is possible to use a 256mb USB-Stick, but this is more problematic and inhibits/
blocks any software update or installation of any other software due to the lack of memory cache.
Never use the USB-Stick without the EWF filter.
Having followed all the instructions, you should now be able to see the bootmenu. This means your computer supports the
USB-boot.

Step 2

2.) (Installing a new XP Version on your harddisk)

Install a new XP (SP1 or SP2) or Windows Server 2003 again on your harddisk.
(It is possible to copy your working XP to the USB device, but we prefer in this case a new installation.)
The XP installation works best, if your IDE harddisk is complete formatted or new.
Caution: No other harddrive or USB device should be connected! Do not install any other drivers than from your XP CD.
This could be done later on.

Step 3

3.) (Copying and customising the new XP installation)

When the new XP installation is working, disable the page file. (Whether the page file can stay on your USB device,
is not certain until now.)
Connect the USB device to your computer with the new installed XP.
Copy and past this new XP to your USB device. (By using another XP installation or BartPE.)
Do not copy recycled data and system volume information.
Replace the ntdetect.com on the USB device by the modified version. It is not needed on all computers but it is more
safe to do so.
(If you have installed XP SP2, you also have to replace all USB driversu sb*hci.sys, usbhub.sys,
usbstor.sys, usbport.sys and usbd.sys in USB device folder WINDOWS\system32\drivers by the XP SP1 drivers.)

Step 4

4.) (Backing up and adapting the Registriy)

Create a new folder named "Rettung" in the config folder on the USB XP and copy the Registry hive system into it.
Delete the key "mounted devices" in "otto".
Delete the key "HKLM\otto\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase".
Copy the following text, create a new file "otto.reg" an paste the text into the new file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\otto\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\otto\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\*pnp0000]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E97D-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\otto\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\*pnp0100]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E97D-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\otto\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\*pnp0200]

Step 5

5.) (Installing "otto.reg" and adapting it a second time)

Install "otto.reg" via double click.
For Windows Embedded you need a different otto.reg as CriticalDecviceDatabase which you can copy and paste
from here.
If the general entries (here WD160BB) do not work on your system, you may put the Vid and Pid names and the
HardwareID of your special USB device manually to the CritiacalDeviceDatabase) We additionally show you how to
do these steps in the extra tutorial.

Go to HKLM\otto\ControlSet001\Services and change the following setting:
usbehci : Change start = 3 to start = 0
Change Group = Base... to... Group = System Reserved
usbohci : (if the key is there, if not go to next usbhub)
Change start = 3 to start = 0
Change Group = Base... to... Group = System Reserved
usbhub : Change start = 3 to start = 0
Change Group = Base... to... Group = System Reserved
USBSTOR : Change start = 3 to start = 0
Build a new key Group (REG_SZ) (this key is present for the other usb entries)
Group = System Reserved
usbuhci : Change start = 3 to start = 0
Change Group = Base... to... Group = System Reserved
Export "otto" as hive to folder "config" of your USB device.
Update "otto" in the registry. It can be done by closing the registry and restarting it again.
Copy hive "otto" to folder "Rettung".
Delete hive "SYSTEM".
Rename "otto" to "SYSTEM".
Search on your USB device in the "windows/inf folder for the following files an delete them:
usb.pnf
usbport.pnf
usbstor.pnf

Open all three "*.inf" instances of the three files you deleted an set in each of them the LoadOrderGroup to System
Reserved ONLY for "usbhub", "usbehci", "usbohci", "usbuhci".
Set StartType = 0 ONLY for "usbhub", "usbehci", "usbohci", "usbuhci", "usbstor".
Generate key "LoadOrderGroup" for "usbstor" and set it as in "System Reserved" mode.
Shut the computer down.

Step 6

6.) (Booting from the USB device)

Disconnect all your other harddrives, except the USB device.
Reboot (XP boots from your USB device!)
Make a backup directly from your USB device, in case any errors might occure later on.
If the USB device does not work, you can also try thes pecial feature.

Additional:

A Tutorial for the EWF Filter is avaible from SFiorito.
For the Hitachi Microdrive Filter, that shows your USB-Stick as non-removable harddisk, search within thefo rum and you
will get all the required information.

Test your WinUSB, whether it can boot from other computers, but always make a backup of your USB device before!

Additional WinUSB is an tutorial written by Dietmar Stölting. This tutorial is constantly in development by the author. Due to the lack of time, the author has to handle with, there is no possibility to write a final tutorial for every special system. If you make experiences, that may be helpful for the tutorial by adding information, the author would be very gratefull to receive any feedback from you.