XP Problem Solution in Computers

The important commands of Windows 7

2012-01-17T05:48:00.000-08:00

The command prompt that has been in previous versions of Windows is still with us and is not much changed from Windows Vista. The command line remains a powerful and much used feature by system administrators everywhere. Thus, the old command interpreter cmd.exe has been continued although in a slightly newer version. Several commands are now in the standard list that were formerly available only on servers. There are many commands but here are 10 very important commands you must know.

1. Driverquery

Incorrect device drivers can lead to any number of system problems. If you want to see which drivers are installed on a Windows 7 system, you can do so by running the driverquery tool. This simple command-line tool provides information about each driver that is being used. The command is:

driverquery

If you need a bit more information, you can append the -v switch. Another option is to append the -si switch, which causes the tool to display signature information for the drivers. Here’s how they look:

driverquery -v

driverquery -si

2. Ping

Ping is probably the simplest of all diagnostic commands. It’s used to verify basic TCP/IP connectivity to a network host. To use it, simply enter the command, followed by the name or IP address of the host you want to test. For example:

ping 192.168.1.1

Keep in mind that this command will work only if Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) traffic is allowed to pass between the two machines. If at any point a firewall is blocking ICMP traffic, the ping will fail.

3. System File Checker

Malicious software will often attempt to replace core system files with modified versions in an effort to take control of the system. The System File Checker can be used to verify the integrity of the Windows system files. If any of the files are found to be missing or corrupt, they will be replaced. You can run the System File Checker by using this command:

sfc /scannow

4. File Signature Verification

One way to verify the integrity of a system is to make sure that all the system files are digitally signed. You can accomplish this with the File Signature Verification tool. This tool is launched from the command line but uses a GUI interface. It will tell you which system files are signed and which aren’t. As a rule, all the system files should be digitally signed, although some hardware vendors don’t sign driver files. The command used to launch the File Signature Verification tool is:

sigverif

5. Nslookup
The nslookup tool can help you to verify that DNS name resolution is working correctly. When you run nslookup against a host name, the tool will show you how the name was resolved, as well as which DNS server was used during the lookup. This tool can be extremely helpful when troubleshooting problems related to legacy DNS records that still exist but that are no longer correct.
To use this tool, just enter the nslookup command, followed by the name of the host you want to resolve. For example:
nslookup dc1.contoso.com
6. Repair-bde
If a drive that is encrypted with BitLocker has problems, you can sometimes recover the data using a utility called repair-bde. To use this command, you will need a destination drive to which the recovered data can be written, as well as your BitLocker recovery key or recovery password. The basic syntax for this command is:
repair-bde -rk | rp
You must specify the source drive, the destination drive, and either the rk (recovery key) or the rp (recovery password) switch, along with the path to the recovery key or the recovery password. Here are two examples of how to use this utility:
repair-bde c: d: -rk e:\recovery.bek
repair-bde c: d: -rp 111111-111111-111111-111111-111111-111111
7. Taskkill
The taskkill command terminates a task, either by name (which is referred to as the image name) or by process ID. The syntax for this command is simple. You must follow the taskkill command with -pid (process ID) or -im (image name) and the name or process ID of the task that you want to terminate. Here are two examples of how this command works:
taskkill -pid 4104
taskkill -im iexplore.exe
8. Pathping
Ping does a good job of telling you whether two machines can communicate with one another over TCP/IP, but if a ping does fail, you won’t receive any information regarding the nature of the failure. This is where the pathping utility comes in.
Pathping is designed for environments in which one or more routers exist between hosts. It sends a series of packets to each router that’s in the path to the destination host in an effort to determine whether the router is performing slowly or dropping packets. At its simplest, the syntax for pathping is identical to that of the ping command (although there are some optional switches you can use). The command looks like this:
pathping 192.168.1.1
9. Ipconfig
The ipconfig command is used to view or modify a computer’s IP addresses. For example, if you wanted to view a Windows 7 system’s full IP configuration, you could use the following command:
ipconfig /all
Assuming that the system has acquired its IP address from a DHCP server, you can use the ipconfig command to release and then renew the IP address. Doing so involves using the following commands:
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
Another handy thing you can do with ipconfig is flush the DNS resolver cache. This can be helpful when a system is resolving DNS addresses incorrectly. You can flush the DNS cache by using this command:
ipconfig /flushdns
10. Tasklist
The tasklist command is designed to provide information about the tasks that are running on a Windows 7 system. At its most basic, you can enter the following command:
tasklist
The tasklist command has numerous optional switches, but there are a couple I want to mention. One is the -m switch, which causes tasklist to display all the DLL modules associated with a task. The other is the -svc switch, which lists the services that support each task. Here’s how they look:
tasklist -m
tasklist -svc

Blocking An Account Automatically

2012-01-01T02:05:00.000-08:00

There are many ways for a crackers to break your account, such as a brute force method. In this method , a cracker tries to combine characters, letter and numbers to break your user account, or guessing various words in dictionary, or breaking your account directly through the weakness of system.

In Windows 7, There is a way to reduce an account breaking by locking the account. A locking is done automatically after user gives incorrect password for several times.

These are the steps to activate this feature:

1. Start_then type "secpol.msc" in Searching box

2. Local Security Policy Editor will be opened, go to Account Policies and choose Account Lockout Policy

3. Right click Account lockout thereshold and choose properties

4. Add amount of "invalid logon" from default 0 to higher number. If you enter "3" then the user account will be blocked after the user give a wrong password 3 times

5. OK to save change

Know Better The Windows 7 System Recovery Options

2011-07-19T07:41:00.001-07:00

There are actually several ways that you can get to the System Recovery Options, and the method you choose will depend on your situation.

If your system will still attempt to start Windows, then you can attempt to access the System Recovery Options from your hard disk.
If Windows won’t start at all, you can access the System Recovery Options by booting from the Windows 7 DVD.
If you have created a System Repair Disc, you can boot from that disk as well and access the System Recovery Options. (I’ll cover the creation of a System Repair Disc next time.)

For example, let’s suppose that your system will still attempt to start Windows, but it fails to complete the boot-up process. To access System Recovery, you will need to first power down the system and then turn it back on. After the system boots up and as soon as you hear the beep that signals the beginning of the Windows boot, press and hold the [F8] key.

When you see the Advance Boot Options screen, select the Repair Your Computer option. As you can see from the description at the bottom of the screen, selecting this option will display a list of system recovery tools that you can use to repair startup problems, run diagnostics, or restore your system. To continue, just press [Enter].

When you do, you’ll see a screen that tells you that Windows is loading files. Then you’ll see a boot screen with a green animated progress bar. After a few moments, you’ll be prompted to choose a keyboard input method,. To continue, click the Next button.

You’ll then see the logon screen. You should log on with an account that has administrative privileges. When you do, you will see the System Recovery Options menu.

As you can see, there are five options on the System Recovery Options menu. Let’s take a closer look.

Startup Repair: This should be your first choice if it did not run automatically when a boot problem was encountered. Keep in mind that Startup Repair is designed to fix only certain problems, such as missing or damaged system files. It is not designed to fix problems caused by hardware failures, such as a failing hard disk.
System Restore: As you know, this tool is designed to restore Windows system files to an earlier point in time without affecting your data files, such as email, documents, or photos, in any way. To accomplish this feat, System Restore continuously monitors your system, looking for significant changes to the operating system, such as an application or driver installation or an operating system update procedure, and will automatically create a Restore Point when it senses such an impending change. Restore Points are essentially snapshots of your system state, which include crucial system files and certain parts of the registry. System Restore maintains multiple restore points, which gives you the choice of restoring your computer to any number of previously saved states. As such, running System Restore and choosing a recent restore point is a good way to recover from an unbootable system.
System Image Recovery: If for some reason System Restore is unable to do its job and you have recently created a system image of your hard disk, you can use the System Image Recovery option to revive an unbootable system. A system image includes the operating system and all your system settings, your programs, and all your files. Keep in mind that when you restore your computer from a system image, it will actually perform a complete restoration of your entire system, which means that all your current programs, system settings, and files will be replaced with the versions that were current when you made the system image.
Windows Memory Diagnostic: If in addition to having problems starting Windows, you’ve been encountering application failures, operating system faults, or Stop errors, you can use the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool to test the RAM chips in your system and investigate the possibility of defective or failing RAM. Essentially, the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool performs its test by repeatedly writing values to memory and then reading those values from memory in order to verify that the data has not changed.
Command Prompt: When you select the Command Prompt option, you’ll be able to run a specific set of command-line tools that you can use to perform recovery operations as well as other types of diagnostics.

Few Tricks for Windows 7

2011-04-11T05:42:00.000-07:00

Still, as good as Windows 7 is, it’s not perfect out of the box. Here are a few tweaks and tricks you can use to make this excellent OS even better.

1. Get Quick Launch

Once you have the Quick Launch bar on your taskbar, you can drag programs to it as you did in Vista. See my Quick Launch bar in Figure A, on the right side of the taskbar next to the notification area.

Figure A

2. Bring back the Vista taskbar look and behavior

Even though I like the new taskbar, I know some people don’t. They’d prefer to have the old Vista/XP look and behavior, where the taskbar uses less screen space. If you’re in that camp, it’s easy to change the taskbar so it will be similar to the old look:

Right-click the Start button and select Properties.
Click the Taskbar tab.
Select the Use Small Icons check box and click Apply.

If you don’t like the way Windows 7 combines icons for all instances of an application, you can change that, too. On the same tab, click the down arrow on the Taskbar Buttons box and select Combine When Taskbar Is Full.

This dialog box also allows you to select the taskbar location on the screen (bottom, top, left, or right), customize which icons appear in the notification area (system tray), and decide whether to temporarily minimize all open windows when you place your mouse on the far end (or bottom) of the taskbar (Desktop Preview).

3. Put different wallpapers on multiple monitors

If you’re using Windows 7 with two or more monitors, you’ll be pleased to find that multi-monitor support has been improved. One thing I really like about Windows 7 is that when I connect to it via Remote Desktop from another computer, it doesn’t rearrange all my icons as Vista often did with multiple monitors. However, one thing Microsoft didn’t build into Win 7 that some of us were hoping for is the ability to set different wallpapers on different monitors.

In XP and Vista, I used UltraMon to do that, but it costs $40. In a tough economy, many people don’t want to spend that much for a program of that kind. Besides, based on what I read in the forums, it doesn’t yet work reliably on Windows 7. Luckily, I was able to hunt down another application called DisplayFusion. The free version gives you multiple wallpaper support, and the paid version, which costs $20 less than UltraMon, gives you multiple taskbars and window management features. I’ve installed it on two Windows 7 computers and it works great. As you can see in Figure B, you can configure a variety of settings.

Figure B

4. Turn off Aero Snap

A new feature in Windows 7 is Aero Snap, which causes your application windows to automatically snap into a preconfigured place when you move them to the edges of the screen. Drag a window to the far right, and it will size itself to fill exactly half the screen. Drag it to the top corner and it will maximize to fill the whole screen. This can be handy, but it can also be annoying if you prefer that your windows stay the size you made them. Luckily, you can easily turn Snap off. Here’s how:

Click Start and select Control Panel.
Click Ease of Access Center.
Click Make the Mouse Easier to Use.
Select the Prevent Windows From Being Automatically Arranged When Moved To The Edge Of The Screen check box and click OK.

5. Display Control Panel applets with small icons

By default, the Windows 7 Control Panel shows the Category view (Figure C), similar to the default in Windows Vista.

Figure C

The default Control Panel view in Windows 7 is Category.
You can easily change to a more classic view by clicking All Control Panel Items at the bottom of the categories list, but that gives you a list of the items represented by large icons, as shown in Figure D.

Figure D

Clicking All Control Panel Items gives you a view of the applets with large icons.
What if you’d like to display the items with small icons so more of them will fit in the same space? Your first thought might be to click the View menu on the taskbar, but at least in the public beta (build 7000), the icon size choices are all grayed out. However, there’s a little trick: Right-click on an empty space in the window, and you’ll get a context menu from which you can pick View Small Icons. Selecting this command will allow you to display many more items in the same size window.

6. Format the text in sticky notes

Another new feature in Windows 7 is the built-in Sticky Notes application. You’ll find it on the Start menu. You’ve probably already discovered that you can change the color of notes by right-clicking and selecting a new color. You may also have figured out that you can use the Ctrl + B and Ctrl + I shortcuts to format the text as bold or italic. But did you know that you can make bulleted and numbered lists in your sticky notes, and increase or decrease the text size? Here are some more handy keyboard shortcuts that work within sticky notes:

Ctrl + Shift + L (once): Bulleted list
Ctrl + Shift + L (twice): Numbered list
Ctrl + Shift + >: Increase text size
Ctrl + Shift + <: Decrease text size
Ctrl + U: Underline
Ctrl + T: Strikethrough

7. Turn off Windows features

Microsoft gives you much more flexibility with Windows 7, allowing you to turn off Windows components — such as Internet Explorer, Windows Search, the Gadget platform, and media features — that you couldn’t disable in earlier versions of Windows. Here’s how:

Click Start | Control Panel and select Programs And Features.
In the left pane, click Turn Windows Features On Or Off.
Simply select or deselect the check boxes to enable or disable the various Windows features,

8. Make Adobe Reader display PDFs properly

If you’ve installed Adobe Reader in Windows 7, you may notice that sometimes when you try to open a PDF file, you get an error message and the file doesn’t open. It seems Adobe doesn’t play well with IE 8 in Windows 7 and won’t open the files (or at least won’t open some of them) in the browser.

If you set Adobe not to display PDFs in the browser, it will open them without any problems. Here’s how to configure that:

Open Adobe Reader.
Click Edit | Preferences.
Click Internet in the left Categories pane.
Under Web Browser Options, deselect the Display PDF In Browser check box and click OK.

9. Use the new keyboard shortcuts

If you’re a fast typist and hate having to move your hands from the keyboard to the mouse, you’ll be happy to know that Windows 7 provides new shortcut key combos to let you do more without mousing. Here are a few to try out:

Windows + E will open a new Explorer window.
In Windows Explorer, press Alt + P to turn the preview pane on.
Windows + P opens the Display Switcher applet.
Windows + Spacebar shows the desktop (makes active windows transparent).
Windows Logo Key + Plus (+) key turns on the Magnifier to zoom in on the desktop. Windows Logo key + Minus (-) key zooms back out.
Ctrl + clicking an icon in the taskbar toggles between the open instances of the program.
Windows Logo key + Left or Right Arrow key will shift the active window to the left or right side of the screen and make it fill half the screen (same as dragging the window to the left or right edge of the screen but without using the mouse).
Windows Logo key + Shift + Left or Right Arrow key (with multiple monitors) will move the window to the left or right monitor.

10. Install Windows 7 from a USB thumb drive

If you’re so impressed with Windows 7 on your desktop computer that you want to install it on your laptop, what do you do if the laptop is an ultra compact that doesn’t have a DVD drive? Of course, you could connect a USB DVD drive, if you have one. Or you could put the installation files on a network drive and connect to it over the network.

But here’s another option that works surprisingly well: Copy the contents of the Windows 7 ISO image to a 4 GB or larger USB thumb drive (or a flash memory card, if the laptop has a built-in reader). Installing the OS this way is likely to be faster than using a DVD.

Modifying Windows 7 Boot Loader

2011-02-13T03:56:00.000-08:00

In Windows 7, if you ever have two operating systems and now you have removed one of them, then in Windows 7 Boot Loader, one of removed operating system is still there. You're forced to make the selection advance. This is so annoying. Now these are little steps to remove it:

To begin, open the Start menu, select All Programs, and then choose Accessories. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run As Administrator. Once in the command window, type bcdedit.This will return the current running configuration of your boot loader, showing any and all items that can boot on this system.

Select one of Windows Boot Loader that has no identifier {current}, it has rows of numbers and letters in identifier line.

Then type Bcdedit /delete {boot loader identifier} , braces included. That's all.

Warning: Don't you try to delete Windows Boot Manager ! you may render your computer unbootable. You may only delete Windows Boot Loader.

Deactivate "Your Computer Might be at Risk" popup in Windows XP SP2

2010-12-31T23:57:00.000-08:00

Is this often bother you? If your computer doesn't has antivirus software installed or out of dated antivirus, popup always shown at start up as default. Here are the tricks to disable it:

1. Go to Control Panel

2. Click Security Center icon

3. On the left side, you'll see a resources section, click link "Change the way Security Center Alerts Me" at the bottom.

4. You can choose which alert to disable here. Try them and see the differences

Activate Windows 7 GodMode

2010-12-31T23:20:00.000-08:00

"GodMode" is one of Windows 7's facilitation that allows you to access windows setting so easily. It gives a single place to access all windows setting without browsing Control Panel.

1. Create a new folder

2. Rename it to GOD MODE.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}, this code

number is important, but you can change "God Mode" text.

3. The folder icon will change and try to doubleclick it, you'll brought to God Mode window.

Scan Windows 7 system files to repair errors

2010-11-29T05:36:00.000-08:00

First you will need to start a permission-elevated command-line prompt. Typecommand into the Desktop Search box and then right-click on the Command Prompt menu entry and select the Run as Administrator item (Figure A).

Figure A

After accepting the elevated permissions, at the prompt type this command:

sfc /scannow

Now the system will verify the system

files and repair any corrupted files (Figure B).

Figure B

My test system had no errors (Figure C); however if it did, this scan would have repaired any corrupted files, but without forcing a system reboot.

Figure C

Most Useful Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

2010-09-04T06:14:00.000-07:00

Try these cool cheats, it will help you work more efficiently with Windows 7, these need combination with 'win' ( a button with windows flag).

1. Win + Home = Minimizes all but the current window

2. Win + Spacebar = Preview Desktop (makes all open windows transparent)

3. Win + Up Arrow or Down Arrow = Maximizes the current window or minimizes/restores the current window

4. Win + Left Arrow or Right Arrow = Tiles the window on the left side(or the right side) of the screen

5. Win + P = Chooses a Network Projector presentation display mode

6. Win + Alt + 1..0 = Accesses the Jump List of a program pinned on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number

7. Win + T = Cycles through the items on the Taskbar

8. Win + 1..0 = Launches a program pinned on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number; or accesses a running program on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number

9. Win + Shift + 1..0 = Launches a new instance of a program pinned on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number

10. Win + Ctrl + 1..0 = Accesses the last active instance of a program pinned on the Taskbar in the position indicated by the number

Create your own icons in Paint

2010-06-27T06:27:00.000-07:00

You can create Windows XP icons for your own in Paint. Here are the steps:

1. Click on Start-All Programs-Accessories menu.

2. Pull down the Image menu then select the Attributes command.

3. Type 32 in both the Width and Height boxes in the Attributes dialog box and click OK.

4. Choose the Magnifier tool and select the level 8 magnification setting in order to make the image easier to work with.

5. Press [Ctrl] and G togethet to add gridlines.

6. Use the tools and colors to create your icon.

7. Press [Ctrl] and S to save the file with an ICO extension.

Adding Virtual Drive on your computer

2010-05-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

There's an utility for Windows XP that allows you to play ISO files. That is Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel V2.0.11. You can download it in http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Virtual-CDROM-Control-Panel-v-Download-16468.html. This supports Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition, then do the several ways:
1. Extract the files to your %systemroot%system32\drivers folder and double-click the VcdControlTool.exe and
click Driver Control. Click the Install Driver button and navigate to the %systemroot%system32\drivers folder
and choose VcdRom.sys and click Open and Start and OK.
2. Click Add drive in order to add a virtual drive letter. A virtual drive letter will appear.
3. Choose Mount to mount your ISO image to the virtual drive letter. Now you can enjoy your Virtual
CD-ROM
4. choose Eject |Remove Drive | Driver Control| Stop | Remove Driver | OK, when you want to stop playing
with Virtual CD-ROM.

Making Your Network Places in Win XP Faster

2010-05-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

Windows XP usually scans all remote computers for scheduled task. This can cause your computer network runs extremely slow. You can modify this configuration by editing Registry Editor.
1. Start - Run - then type : Regedit.exe (Open the Registry Editor)
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/ Current Version/Explorer
/RemoteComputer/NameSpace.
3. Under the NameSpace branch, locate the subkey named {D6277990-4C6A-
11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}.
4. To make a backup copy of this key, right-click the key, and select Export.
5. In the Export Registry File dialog box, select a folder, and give the file a
descriptive name.
6. Right-click the key, and select Delete.
7. Close the Registry Editor, and restart Windows XP for the change to take effect.

Before you do editing Regedit.exe, I recommend that you back up your registy file first.

configuring a wireless Internet connection in Windows Vista

2010-04-10T17:33:00.000-07:00

Here are the steps :

Double click the double computer icon in the lower right-hand corner of your screen.
The Network Center appears which shows a graphical presentation of your network.
If you do not broadcast your ssid, you will need to configure a manual connection.
Enter the applicable information such as Network Name, Security Type, Encryption Type, and Passphrase.
You are now ready to connect to your wireless network.
With Windows Vista, you now have the ability to choose whether your wireless connection is for a public or private network for added security.
You can now go back to the Network Center and view your graphical display of the connection and set further options.

Cool Features of Windows 7 Calculator

2010-04-10T16:38:00.000-07:00

Admittedly, the standard calculator application found in every version of the Microsoft Windows operating system since the beginning is not usually considered sexy, but the new version found in Windows 7 earns props for adding real value. Check out some of the new features found hidden in the menu tree of this often-taken-for-granted free applet.

The Hidden

The Calculator app is located in its typical spot in the Start Menu — under Accessories. Of course, the easiest way to get to the application is to type “calc” in the Start Menu search box, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

Starting the calculator

Click on the Calculator application icon, and you will get the familiar standard view shown in Figure B.

Figure B

The standard calculator format

Click on the View menu item (Figure C), and one of the first things you should notice is that there are a plethora of new options available besides the Standard and Scientific modes of the past, including the new Programmer (Figure D) and Statistics (Figure E) modes.

Figure C

view menu

Figure D

Programmer mode

Figure E

Statistics mode

History is a feature I have wanted for a long time (Figure F). The ability to get what amounts to calculator tape appeals to the accountant in me.

Figure F

History

But where the real feature changes have taken place are in the lower levels of the View menu. Figure G reveals the conversion feature, where you can convert one kind of unit of measurement into another unit of measurement. The categories of units you can convert range from angle to weight/mass.

Figure G

Conversion

The Date calculation will tell you how many days separate two dates. Yes, that is a lot of days (Figure H).

Figure H

Date calculation

Under the Worksheets menu item (Figure I), you see four additional worksheets for calculating:

Mortgages
Vehicle leases
Fuel economy in miles
Fuel economy in kilometers

Figure I

Worksheets

I have been using Web sites to calculate the mortgages on my dream houses in the past, but now I can dream without involving the Internet (Figure J).

Figure J

Mortgage calculation

Take advantage

The unadvertised enhancements to the standard calculator applet that comes with Windows 7 have raised the usefulness of this ubiquitous program tenfold. Check out the new features, and you just might end up pinning it to your desktop.

Tweaking Win XP Registry

2010-04-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

We’ve all heard the dire warnings about editing the Registry: Crack open the Registry Editor and your system will explode. But you can make many Registry edits that are quite beneficial, as long as you exercise care. This blog post presents a few Registry edit gems you can try out in Windows XP to make adjustments that go beyond simple Control Panel settings.

You may already be familiar with the Registry Editor. For Windows XP, you just run the REGEDIT command at the Run prompt. Then, move down through the organization tree levels to the values and settings you want and double-click them to change them in a dialog box format. However, before you start making any changes, it’s a good idea to make a backup copy of the Registry by choosing File | Export.

1: Change categories in the Control Panel

Windows XP’s Control Panel is broken down by category in the default Category view, but the group to which an item belongs is not always obvious. If you disagree with Microsoft’s assignments, you can switch them around. To assign a different category to an item, go to:

# HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\Extended Properties\{305CA226-D286-468e-B848-2B2E8E697B74} 2

Find the item you want to change and double-click it to bring up a dialog box. Change the item’s DWORD value to your preference. Use Table A as a guide (shown with decimal numbers, which is the way you should enter them).

Table A

Category	DWORD value to set
Other Control Panel Options	0
Appearance and Themes	1
Printers and Other Hardware	2
Network and Internet Connections	3
Sounds, Speed, and Audio Devices	4
Performance and Maintenance	5
Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options	6
Accessibility Options	7
Add or Remove Programs	8
User Accounts	9

2: Create a hidden user account

The user accounts you’ve set up appear on the Welcome screen (another new feature in Windows XP) when you start up the PC. To hide one of the user accounts so that it doesn’t appear here, go to:

# HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList

Right-click anywhere within the Registry Window and click New to create a new DWORD value with the name of the account to be hidden. Set the value to 0 (decimal). This account won’t be accessible when switching users with Fast User Switching; you’ll be able to access it only from the Log On to Windows dialog box. Keep in mind that it is not a totally hidden account; the account’s profile will appear in the Documents and Settings folder. Also, the account appears in Local Users and Groups when an administrator is logged on.

3: Prevent programs from loading at startup

Remember back in the good old days of Windows 3.1 when you could open up the Win.ini file in a text editor and remove an item from the RUN= line to disable it from running at startup? With Windows 9x and above, the Win.ini file became less useful because 32-bit programs were set to run at startup from within the Registry instead.

One way to selectively disable programs from loading at startup is to use MSCONFIG (from the Run command) to deselect certain items. Another way to remove them is to edit the Registry directly. Consider the following locations:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

for applications that start up for all users

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

for applications that start up when the current user logs on

Remove the entry for a program by right-clicking it and selecting Delete to prevent it from loading.

4: Sort menus alphabetically

When you install a new program for a user, it doesn’t find its place in the alphabetical Start menu hierarchy right away; it hangs out at the bottom for a little while. If your users employ the Classic Start menu, they can realphabetize it manually by right-clicking the taskbar and choosing Properties, clicking the Customize button next to the Classic Start Menu, and clicking the Sort button. With the Windows XP style of Start menu, however, you don’t have an equivalent button. To make Windows always alphabetize the list, remove the permissions from the Registry key that controls the sort order for the Start menu. To do so, go to:

# HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder

Choose Edit | Permissions and click the Advanced button. Deselect the Inherit from Parent the Permission Entries That Apply to Child Objects check box and then click Copy when the Security dialog box pops up. Click OK and clear the Full Control entry for your account and all security groups you are a member of. Leave only Read permission.

5: Change the desktop cleanup frequency

Through Display Properties (Desktop tab, Customize Desktop button, General tab), you can turn on and off a feature that runs the Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days. You don’t have an option to set a different interval there, but you can change the interval in the Registry. To do so, go to:

# HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\CleanupWiz

Change the Days Between Clean Up Value to some other number of days (in decimal format).

6: Use desktop patterns

Windows XP provides no direct support for the Patterns feature that was present in earlier versions of Windows, but the feature is still there. It’s just hidden in the Registry. To enable a pattern, first set None as the background in Display Properties. Then you need to find out the code for that pattern. To look up a code, go to:

# HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Patterns

A variety of patterns is listed, and each one has a Data value. Copy the value you want to the Clipboard. Then go to:

# HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Add a string value called Pattern. Then paste the string from the clipboard in as its value. The new pattern will appear the next time you log on.

7: Delete the Files Stored on This Computer category in the My Computer window

In Windows XP, the My Computer window’s listing is broken down by categories: Hard Disk Drives, Devices with Removable Storage, and so on. One of these categories is Files Stored on This Computer, which appears at the top of the My Computer window. If a user doesn’t need it (and most folks don’t), you can get rid of it. To do so, go to:

# HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\Delegate Folders

Delete the {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c55595fe6b30ee} subkey to remove the category.

8: Erase the swap file at shutdown

You might be concerned about someone browsing your users’ swap files and gathering up little bits of their sensitive data. A remote possibility, to be sure, but it could happen. For that extra measure of security, go to:

# HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

Set the ClearPageFileAtShutdown DWORD to 1. This will make shutdowns take longer, because it overwrites everything in the swap file with zeroes. Don’t turn this feature on unless you have a serious security threat.

9: Adjust System Restore values

The new System Restore feature in Windows XP automatically backs up a snapshot of your system, including your Registry, every 24 hours. It also saves restore points for 90 days. Neither of these values is directly editable in the System Restore program, but you can change them in the Registry. Go to:

# HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore

You’ll find an assortment of settings here. To change the interval between automatically created restore points, change the RPGlobalInterval setting. To change the number of days that a restore point is retained, change the RPLifeInterval setting.

System Restore time intervals are measured in seconds, not days, so you must convert the number of days you want into seconds. There are 86,400 seconds in a day, so multiply 86,400 by the number of days you want to determine the value. There are 3,600 seconds in an hour.

10: Create a right-click command prompt option

You can right-click a folder to get a list of actions you can apply to it. Here’s a way to create an action on that right-click menu that opens a command prompt window with that folder as the current directory. In a text editor such as Notepad, type the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Cmd Here]@=”Command &Prompt Here”

[HKEY_CLASSES-ROOT\Folder\shell\Cmd Here\command]@=”cmd.exe /k pushd %L”

Save the file with any name you want, with a .reg extension. Then double-click the saved file and choose Yes to merge the file’s information into the Registry. You can delete the file. Right-click any folder and you’ll see the CommandPrompt Here option.

Conclusion

Registry editing doesn’t have to be a dangerous endeavor. With a careful eye to detail, any IT pro can make use of the powerful features included within the Registry. I hope you will use these tips as a guide to build on your own Registry editing skills.

Put your name in the Windows XP notification area

2010-03-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

During those times when the urgent need for high powered technical intelligence wanes a bit– especially on a slow Friday afternoon — try this fun trick and amaze your colleagues. Here’s how to make your “own” time by putting your name in the notification area next to the time.

Access the Control Panel from the Start menu.
Double click Regional and Language Options.
Click the Customize button in the Standards And Formats panel of the Regional Options tab.
When the Customize Regional Options dialog box appears, select the Time tab.
In the AM Symbol and PM Symbol boxes, you can replace that text with your name or whatever word you want, as long as it is no longer than 12 characters.
To complete the operation, click OK twice — once to close the Customize Regional Options dialog box and once to close the Regional And Language Options dialog box.

You’ll instantly see your name appear in the notification area right next to the time.

10 cool new shortcuts in Windows Vista

2010-03-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

I came across these shortcuts in Windows Vista and felt they were worthy of sharing.

To access these shortcuts press the Windows key + the appropriate letter.

Win + G - Cycles the Gadgets selections.
Win + Spacebar - Brings Gadgets to the front.
Win + X - Cycles though the Mobility Center.
Win + Tab - Activates Flip 3-D.
Win + U - Activates the Ease of Use Center.
Win + T - Cycles through Taskbar Programs.
Win + D - Show Desktop
Win + M - Minimize windows
Win + L - Lock your computer
Win + F - Search for files

Vista "dump" file

2010-03-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

Here is a nice feature that I found when poking around Windows Vista. In Windows Vista, you can create dump files that are stored in the Temp directory.

Dump files are really useful when you need to troubleshoot BSOD, application crashes, freezing, and any problem a Windows box maybe exhibiting.

Here are the steps to create a dump file in Windows Vista.

Open Task Manager.
Right-click on applicable process.
Select Create Dump. A dialog box will appear with the path of the file. Typically it will be in “c:\users\Appdata\Local\Temp\***.DMP.
Open Dump file in applicable debugger tool such as WinDBG to troubleshoot your issue. You simply type Windbg in the Instant Search and choose File|Open Crash Dump.

Create a Windows XP and 7 dual-boot system staged for an easy migration

2010-03-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

If you’re like of lot of Windows users out there, you skipped Vista and are still running XP on your computer. You’ve been waiting for October 22, 2009 and now that it’s here you’re ready to try Windows 7. Your system is relatively new, about three- to four-years old, and you’ve run Microsoft’s Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and your hardware is well on par with Windows 7’s requirements.

However, you’re not quite ready to give up XP just yet. Maybe you have some applications that failed the Upgrade Advisor’s compatibility check or maybe you got burned during the Vista debacle. No matter what the reason, you want to give the new operating system a chance but you just don’t want to put all your eggs in the Windows 7 basket.

So you’re pondering the idea of installing Windows 7 in a dual-boot configuration along side of Windows XP. Doing so will place both Windows XP and Windows 7 at your disposal, which will be a big advantage as you begin your experimentation. You can investigate Windows 7, but when you need to get some work done, you can boot back into Windows XP. This type of configuration will also be handy if and when you decide that you want to move to Windows 7.

Migrating your settings, documents, and applications from XP to 7 is a much more relaxed experience when you can simply boot into Windows XP to check out how something is set up and then boot into Windows 7 to re-create the same configuration. Again, if something doesn’t quite work right in 7 or is taking longer to get just the way that you want it, you can boot back into Windows XP and get your work done. Then, when you have more time, you can boot back into 7 and work on it some more.

If things continue to progress satisfactorily and you get comfortable working in Windows 7, at some point in the future you’ll remove the dual-boot configuration. When you do, you’ll want to set Windows 7 as the primary OS and then remove Windows XP. In order to make this type of transitions as work as smoothly as possible, both Windows XP and Windows 7 must be installed on the same hard disk but on separate partitions.

In the past, if you only have one partition on your hard disk, creating this type of configuration could be a tricky operation that required expensive third-party disk partitioning software. Fortunately, those days are long gone. Today, you can find great disk partitioning software for free, such as Easeus Partition Master Home Edition 4.0.1. And best of all, Easeus Partition Master will safely adjust partitions while keeping data intact.

In this edition of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll show you how to use Easeus Partition Master Home Edition to easily resize your existing Windows XP partition and then install Windows 7 in a dual-boot configuration on the same hard disk.

Make a backup

Even though Easeus Partition Master can safely adjust partitions while keeping data intact, you’ll want to back up all your data — at least once and maybe twice, just in case. Maybe just make copies of all your data files on CD/DVD or on an external hard disk. While it may sound like overkill, having an extra backup will give you peace of mind.

Creating a partition for Windows 7

Once you download and install Easeus Partition Master Home Edition, repartitioning your Windows XP hard disk is easy. When you launch Partition Master, you’ll see your partition in a nicely organized user interface, as shown in Figure A. As you can see, on my example system here, I have a 120GB hard disk that is configured with a 114GBpartition on which Windows XP is installed.

Figure A

Easeus Partition Master Home Edition provides as easy to use interface.

To begin, select your partition and then click the Resize/Move button. When you see the Resize/Move Partition dialog box, specify the size of the new partition in the Partition Size box. As you can see in Figure B, I’ve simply divided my 114GB partition in half by typing 59616 in the Partition Size box.

Figure B

On my example system, I divided my 114GB partition in half.

To continue, click OK. When you do, you’ll return to the main screen and will see how your Resize operation will change the partition once it’s complete, as shown in Figure C.

Figure C

Partition Master will show you what your new partition configuration will look like.

To initiate the operation, click the Apply button. When you do, you’ll see a confirmation dialog box followed by a warning message, as shown in Figure D. Just click “Yes,” to work through both.

Figure D

After you click the Apply button, you’ll work through several dialog boxes.

When you click the last Yes, your system will restart and boot into a Partition Master environment which will carry out the resize operation. When it is finished, it will shut down your system and you will then need to manually turn it on. When you do, you’ll see a Partition Master screen that tells you the operation was successful and Windows XP will boot normally.

If you launch Partition Master again, you’ll see the new partition, as shown in Figure E. Once you close Partition Master, you’re ready to install Windows 7.

Figure E

Once Windows XP boots up, you can launch Partition Master again to check te new partition configuration.

Installing Windows 7 on the new partition

To begin, insert your Windows 7 DVD into the optical drive and restart Windows XP. When your system boots from the DVD, you’ll begin the installation procedure as you normally would. When you’re prompted to choose the installation type, select the Custom (advanced) option, as shown in Figure F.

Figure F

When prompted to choose the installation type, select the Custom (advanced) option.

In a moment, you’ll be prompted to select where you want to install Windows 7, as shown in Figure G, and will select the new partition. You’ll then click the Next button and continue with the installation procedure as you normally would.

Figure G

You’ll then select the new partition and click Next.

Booting Windows 7

When you restart the system, you’ll see the Windows Boot Manager menu and you’ll see that the Installation procedure names the new installation Earlier Version of Windows, as shown in Figure H.

Figure H

When you see the Windows Boot Manager screen, you can choose to boot either Windows XP or Windows 7.

You can now easily boot between Windows XP and Windows 7 and migrate your settings and data at you leisure. When you are ready to give up Windows XP, you’ll be able to make Windows 7 your primary OS and move forward.

Hide shared folders with Windows XP Pro's Net command line tool

2010-02-19T21:15:00.000-08:00

When you want to limit who can access your shared folders in Windows XP Pro, you can use the Net command line tool to hide your computer, and subsequently your shared folders, from other network users. Greg Shultz shows how to create a hidden share.

By sharing a folder in Windows XP Pro, it usually means that you want network users to be able to find and access the folder in the My Network Places tool. If you want to share a folder with only certain users, you can use the Net command line tool to essentially hide your computer and shared network folders.

Follow these steps to create the hidden share:

Open a command prompt.
Type this command: net config server /hidden:yes.
Share the folder as you normally would.

If your computer is already sharing network folders, it may take up to 30 minutes for this command to take effect and hide the computer name.

Users who have access to the hidden shared folder can get to it by using the UNC name or by mapping the hidden share to a local drive letter. To unhide the computer, type
net config server /hidden:no.

Download an extension to learn more about Windows XP fonts

2010-02-19T21:11:00.000-08:00

If you're curious to learn more about the fonts on your Windows XP machine, there's a free and handy extension that will give you the scoop. It also helps you see which fonts are already on your machine.

The Fonts folder, located in the Control Panel, provides a number of features you can use to keep track of the fonts installed on your Windows XP system. For example, on the View menu, you'll find the the List Fonts By Similarity command, which gives you a unique way to organize your fonts, and the Hide Variations command, which makes it easier to quickly discern available fonts by showing only one font from each family.

If you want to add more features to the Fonts folder, you can download the newest version (2.30) of the Font properties extension from Microsoft's typography page

After you download and install this extension, the number of tabs on each font's properties dialog box will jump from two to 11, with each tab providing all kinds of information about the font. The information contained on these 11 tabs includes very detailed descriptions of each font, links to the font vendors and font designers, legal information, such as ownership, copyright, trademark, license, and embedding permissions, as well as technical information about the font.

Change the font Windows XP displays in Windows Explorer

2010-02-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

Windows XP uses the same font for desktop icons and Windows Explorer. If the font is too hard to read, you can change its size or the font itself with a few mouse clicks. Here's how to adjust the look of your system fonts.

Windows Explorer and My Computer display the same font that Windows XP uses for icon titles on your desktop: Tahoma, 8 point. If you want to change the font or font size used in Windows Explorer, follow these steps:

1. Access the Display Properties dialog box by right-clicking the desktop and selecting the Properties command.
2. Select the Appearance tab and click the Advanced button.
3. Select Icon from the Item drop-down list.
4. Use the Font drop-down arrow to select a font from the list.
5. Click OK twice -- once to close the Advanced Appearance dialog box and once to close the Display Properties dialog box.

You can see the new font by launching Windows Explorer or My Computer. If you don't like what you see, repeat the steps and select a different font.

Permanently set Windows XP's Windows Explorer as your flash drive's default AutoPlay action

2010-02-13T19:00:00.000-08:00

AutoPlay can be fickle when it comes to determining the default action for opening files from your flash drive. Here's how to configure Windows XP to bypass AutoPlay and automatically launch Windows Explorer when you insert your flash drive.

If you have a USB flash drive holding various Windows XP files, you may want to configure the drive to automatically open Windows Explorer rather than display the AutoPlay dialog box.
You can select the Open Folder To View Files In Windows Explorer and select the Always Do The Selected Action check box but that only configures the flash drive for one file type. Here's how to configure your flash drive to open Windows Explorer for all file types at the same time:
1. Insert your flash drive into the USB port.
2. When you see the AutoPlay dialog box, click Cancel.
3. Open My Computer, right-click your flash drive icon, and select Properties.
4. In the Properties dialog box, select the AutoPlay tab.
5. Perform the following steps for each item in the Content Type drop-down list:
- Select an item in the Content Type drop-down list.
- Choose Select An Action To Perform in the Actions panel.
- Select the Open Folder To View Files In Windows Explorer action.
- Click the Apply button.
6. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box.
Now use the Safely Remove Hardware feature to remove your flash drive -- wait a moment and plug it back in. You'll see the AutoPlay progress appear momentarily, and then you should see Windows Explorer open to show the contents of the flash drive.

Never Disable These 10 Windows XP Services !

2010-01-17T07:09:00.000-08:00

There are dozens of guides out there that help you determine which services you can safely disable on your Windows XP desktop. Disabling unnecessary services can improve system performance and overall system security, as the system’s attack surface is reduced. However, these lists rarely indicate which services you should not disable. All of the services that run on a Window system serve a specific purpose and many of the services are critical to the proper and expected functioning of the desktop computing environment. In this article, you’ll learn about 10 critical Windows XP services you shouldn’t disable (and why).

1: DNS Client

This service resolves and caches DNS names, allowing the system to communicate with canonical names rather than strictly by IP address. DNS is the reason that you can, in a Web browser, type http://www.techrepublic.com rather than having to remember that http://216.239.113.101 is the site’s IP address.

If you stop this service, you will disable your computer’s ability to resolve names to IP addresses, basically rendering Web browsing all but impossible.

2: Network Connections

The Network Connections service manages the network and dial-up connections for your computer, including network status notification and configuration. These days, a standalone, non-networked PC is just about as useful as an abacus — maybe less so. The Network Connections service is the element responsible for making sure that your computer can communicate with other computers and with the Internet.

If this service is disabled, network configuration is not possible. New network connections can’t be created and services that need network information will fail.

3: Plug and Play

The Plug and Play service (formerly known as the “Plug and Pray” service, due to its past unreliability), is kicked off whenever new hardware is added to the computer. This service detects the new hardware and attempts to automatically configure it for use with the computer. The Plug and Play service is often confused with the Universal Plug and Play service (uPNP), which is a way that the Windows XP computer can detect new network resources (as opposed to local hardware resources). The Plug and Play service is pretty critical as, without it, your system can become unstable and will not recognize new hardware. On the other hand, uPNP is not generally necessary and can be disabled without worry. Along with uPNP, disable the SSDP Discovery Service, as it goes hand-in-hand with uPNP.

Historical note: Way back in 2001, uPNP was implicated in some pretty serious security breaches, as described here.

If you disable Plug and Play, your computer will be unstable and incapable of detecting hardware changes.

4: Print Spooler

Just about every computer out there needs to print at some point. If you want your computer to be able to print, don’t plan on disabling the Print Spooler service. It manages all printing activities for your system. You may think that lack of a printer makes it safe to disable the Print Spooler service. While that’s technically true, there’s really no point in doing so; after all, if you ever do decide to get a printer, you’ll need to remember to re-enable the service, and you might end up frustrating yourself.

When the Print Spooler service is not running, printing on the local machine is not possible.

5: Remote Procedure Call (RPC)

Windows is a pretty complex beast, and many of its underlying processes need to communicate with one another. The service that makes this possible is the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service. RPC allows processes to communicate with one another and across the network with each other. A ton of other critical services, including the Print Spooler and the Network Connections service, depend on the RPC service to function. If you want to see what bad things happen when you disable this service, look at the comments on this link.

Bad news. The system will not boot. Don’t disable this service.

6: Workstation

As is the case for many services, the Workstation service is responsible for handling connections to remote network resources. Specifically, this service provides network connections and communications capability for resources found using Microsoft Network services. Years ago, I would have said that disabling this service was a good idea, but that was before the rise of the home network and everything that goes along with it, including shared printers, remote Windows Media devices, Windows Home Server, and much more. Today, you don’t gain much by eliminating this service, but you lose a lot.

Disable the Workstation service and your computer will be unable to connect to remote Microsoft Network resources.

7: Network Location Awareness (NLA)

As was the case with the Workstation service, disabling the Network Location Awareness service might have made sense a few years ago — at least for a standalone, non-networked computer. With today’s WiFi-everywhere culture, mobility has become a primary driver. The Network Location Awareness service is responsible for collecting and storing network configuration and location information and notifying applications when this information changes. For example, as you make the move from the local coffee shop’s wireless network back home to your wired docking station, NLA makes sure that applications are aware of the change. Further, some other services depend on this service’s availability.

Your computer will not be able to fully connect to and use wireless networks. Problems abound!

8: DHCP Client

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a critical service that makes the task of getting computers on the network nearly effortless. Before the days of DHCP, poor network administrators had to manually assign network addresses to every computer. Over the years, DHCP has been extended to automatically assign all kinds of information to computers from a central configuration repository. DHCP allows the system to automatically obtain IP addressing information, WINS server information, routing information, and so forth; it’s required to update records in dynamic DNS systems, such as Microsoft’s Active Directory-integrated DNS service. This is one service that, if disabled, won’t necessarily cripple your computer but will make administration much more difficult.

Without the DHCP Client service, you’ll need to manually assign static IP addresses to every Windows XP system on your network. If you use DHCP to assign other parameters, such as WINS information, you’ll need to provide that information manually as well.

9: Cryptographic Services

Every month, Microsoft provides new fixes and updates on what has become known as “Patch Tuesday” because the updates are released on the first Tuesday of the month. Why do I bring this up? Well, one service supported by Cryptographic Services happens to be Automatic Updates. Further, Cryptographic Services provides three other management services: Catalog Database Service, which confirms the signatures of Windows files; Protected Root Service, which adds and removes Trusted Root Certification Authority certificates from this computer; and Key Service, which helps enroll this computer for certificates. Finally, Cryptographic Services also supports some elements of Task Manager.

Disable Cryptographic Services at your peril! Automatic Updates will not function and you will have problems with Task Manager as well as other security mechanisms.

10: Automatic Updates

Keeping your machine current with patches is pretty darn important, and that’s where Automatic Updates comes into play. When Automatic Updates is enabled, your computer stays current with new updates from Microsoft. When disabled, you have to manually get updates by visiting Microsoft’s update site.

New security updates will not be automatically installed to your computer.

How do I search for duplicate files with Auslogics Duplicate File Finder?

2010-01-07T04:07:00.000-08:00

How many duplicate files do you have on your machine? Do you have any idea? Have you ever looked? My guess is that the majority of PC users have never bothered to search for duplicate files and don’t realize that after a couple of years of use, a PC can pile up enough duplicate files to take up more space than you would like. Although hardware has become quite cheap, installing a simple application to contain widespread file duplication across a company can save thousands of dollars. Auslogics Duplicate File Finder offers the following features:

Finds files by content, not just name
Includes an easy-to-use interface
Checks local drives and removable drives
Supports Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7

But is Auslogics Duplicate File Finder the solution? Let’s install it, use it, and find out.

Getting and installing

Installing Auslogics Duplicate File Finder is as simple as installing any other Windows application. Download the installation file from the http://software.techrepublic.com.com/abstract.aspx?docid=1133707. Once you have that file, just double-click it to begin the installation. You will not run into anything out of the ordinary during the installation.

Once the installation is complete, you can either run the application immediately or close the installation out and run the application from the Start menu.

Starting and using the application

If you open the Start menu, you will find a new entry labeled Au

slogics. Within that directory, you will find three entries. The entry you want to click to start the application is labeled Auslogics Duplicate File Finder. When you click it, the application will run, revealing the main (and only window) for this tool, as shown in Figure A.

After you select what drive (or directory) you want to scan, you will be greeted with a second widow (Figure B) that allows you to configure the criteria for your search. From this window you can get somewhat granular with your search by dictating the tool search for duplicates in Name and/or Date, Size, Contents, or Image type.

Figure B

Once you have configured your criteria, click the Scan button, and the Duplicate Finder will do its thing.

I have found that searching for duplicate files larger than 1MB will often lead to fewer matches but a faster scan. If you are primarily concerned with saving space, you will most likely want to search for larger files first. When your results are displayed (Figu

re C), you can then go through the listing and delete all the files you want to delete.

Figure C

Obviously you will want to use caution when deleting duplicate files. You will inevitably find files that have the same name but either are not for the same application or serve different functions. So when you are faced with deleting files whose names you are not sure of, make sure you check the path the files are located in before you delete them. This isn’t such an issue when you check the Ignore Files Smaller Than option, because most critical system files are going to be smaller than 1MB.

If you opt to scan file contents for duplicates, you might want to run this scan overnight, because it does slow the scan down considerably. A scan that would take less than 30 seconds (on my nearly fresh Windows 7 installation) takes nearly ten minutes. Understand that is a Virtual Machine installation on a VM that is under 10 gigs. A much larger drive, with many more files, will take considerably more time. The results, however, paint a far more accurate picture.

Issues

I have found this application to be outstanding for locating duplicate files from installations and downloads. On the contrary, Duplicate Finder is not so great at locating user-created files. I have run tests on both Windows XP and Windows 7 for .txt and .doc files saved before and after the installation of Duplicate File Finder, and the application could not locate the duplicate files. The only way around this is to uncheck Match Date and Time, Match Size, and Ignore Files Smaller Than. You will also need to check All File Types. You will get a warning indicating that ”The selected file matching the following criteria are not safe.” Go ahead with the scan, but use caution when deleting files.

Outside of that issue, I have found the application to be a simple, quick method to reduce duplication on your hard drives.

Final thoughts

If you keep your operating systems running for months and years, this tool might well be one that you should be employing. By scanning for duplicate files, you can gain back precious hard drive space and keep that PC running smoothly.

Acceleratng Folder Access

2009-10-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

If you have a lot of folders and subdirectories, your computer may runs slower and slower when start accessing them. This is wasting your time. Try this trick to avoid the problem.

1. Start> Run> regedit
2. "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetContr olFileSystem"
3. Right-click on the part and it (look for an empty area of reply), and select 'DWORD Value'
4. Create a DWORD Value with the name 'NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate'
5. Right-click the new value and select 'Modify'
6. Change the data to be '1 '
7. Click 'OK'

Bring back the lost folders deleted by antivirus

2009-09-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

When viruses attack your computer, you may relax, because you've updated your antivirus every day. Problems will arise if your antivirus, rather than eliminate the virus but also remove the folders that contain your important files.
What is on your feelings then? confused and frustrated? Do not panic, try this:
1. From Start select Run and type "cmd".
2. If the missing folder was on drive C:, type "attrib-r-s-h / s / c"
3. Wait until the process is complete, you will see your folders again.

Smaller Icons

2009-08-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

With smaller icons makes your wallpaper looks wider.

Follow these easy steps:

Go to Registry Editor.
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERS\Desktop\WindowMetrics.
Find Shell Icon Size at right window.
Double Click it and type a smaller value than its default value.
The difference will shown a couple of seconds.
If you want to increase color quality of icons, double click Shell Icon BPP and fill one of the numbers: 12, 24, 32. If your computer icon's max resolution is 24, you can't change the value into 32.

Auto End Task

2009-08-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

We often press Ctrl+Alt+Del and choose end task to close a not-responding program. Want to do make this automatically? Here's the steps:
(Attention: For your registry safety, I recommend to back up your registry first)

Click Start>Run, type regedit.
Go to key: HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop.
Find or make String Value named is AutoEndTasks.
Give a value by double-clicking AutoEndTasks, and type: 10000. It means that a not- responding program will be ended after 10000 milisecond. Try to enter various number by yourself and feel the difference.

To Make Windows XP Startup Faster

2009-08-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

Open Windows Explorer (right click on Start-explore).
Go find your Windows XP installation folder, and go to Prefetch folder. For example : C:\Windows\Prefetch.
Click View and click Select All Command or by pressing (Ctrl+A). All files in this folder will be highlighted. Then press Delete on your keyboard.
Restart your computer and feel it. Use this step once a week or everytime your prefetch folder contains of many files.

To Show Missing Address Bar in Windows Explorer

2009-08-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

Confused with a situation like this?

Where is The Address Bar? Yes, It has gone. This has nothing to do with virus. If Address Bar is such a very important thing to you, This is the trick to show it again:

Right-click on Windows Explorer Toolbars.
Uncheck Lock The Toolbars.
Don't forget to check menu Address Bar above the Lock The Toolbars menu.
You should see The Address Bar now. If you see only "Address", then you need to put the cursor on the dotted line next to it, if your cursor become a two-direction arrow, Left- click your mouse and bring The Address Bar to the place where do you want to place it, then release your mouse.

To Make Balloon Tips Disappear

2009-08-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

If you are an advanced windows user, maybe balloon tips like this:

is very annoying. Here are the tricks to hide it:

Click Start-Run then type Regedit.
Go inside this path: HKEY_CURRENT_USERS\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Find DWORD value named is EnableBalloonTips. If there's no that value yet, you need to create it. Right-click on the right Registry Editor window panel, choose New>DWORD Value, name it as EnableBalloonTips.
Click it twice, fill its value with: 0 (zero).
Close Registry Editor and Restart Windows.

Fixing problem caused by Service Pack 2 Installation

2009-07-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

According to Microsoft's web site (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;885523), after a user finishes installing Service Pack 2 (SP2), computer will be restarted many times with an error message "A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. Technical information: STOP: c0000135 (Unable To Locate Component). This application has failed to start because winsrv was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem". The problem occurs when the following conditions are met: there is T.V. Media software (TvMedia.tvmbho) made by Total Velocity Corp, installed in a computer with Windows XP as its operating system, but a user try to install SP2 before installing Critical Update 885523. Microsoft said that the problem is caused by compatibilities between Windows XP SP2 installer program and advertising program called T.V.Media.

Solution
Users can prevent the problem by deleting or uninstalling T.V. Media software. But if users don't want to do so, they can install Critical Update 885523 (can be taken at http://msmvps.com/blogs/donna/archive/2004/10/07/15115.aspx or at http://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=65875203-cf1b-4d32-8f32-e00d004659f6&displaylang=en) before installing Windows XP SP2. Note: users don't need to install this Critical Update before installing Windows XP SP2, if there's no T.V. Media software in their computers. But there's an alternative way to remove T.V. Media software, by using a special utillity software called Adware T.V. Media Removal Tool can be taken at http://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=f94e8b27-b656-45cd-9668-73134a18231bcf1b&amp;displaylang=en)

Finishing Touch
If T.V. Media still exist although automatic removing with Adware T.V. Media Removal Tool has done, users may edit their registry manually:

Run Windows XP in safe mode. To get into the Windows 2000 / XP Safe mode, as the computer is booting press and hold your "F8 Key" which should bring up the "Windows Advanced Options Menu". Use your arrow keys to move to "Safe Mode" and press your Enter key.
Click Start-Run-Regedit then click OK.
Find and delete T.V. Media entry in the following regisitry paths:

~ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
~ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\RunOnce
~ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
~ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

4. Find these entry and delete from registry:

~ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID$707E6F76-9FFB-
4920-A976-EA101271BC25)
~ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
\Browser Helper Objects\(707E6F76-9FFB-4920-A976-EA101271BC25)

5. Restart computer in safe mode.
6. Click Start-Run-type appwiz.cpl then click OK.
7. Delete T.V. media software.
8. Click twice on My Computer and find TV Media folder (the default is in C:\Program Files$.
9. Restart computer.

Patch for Error 2378

2009-07-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

Have you ever received the Internal Error 2378 message? It appears because of the damage of Windows Script Host (WSH) , even possible that it is corrupted. WSH is an automation tecnology for Microsoft Windows. It is used for some purposes like logon scripts, administration and general automation. Here are the steps to download the patch:

Make sure that you have an authentic version of Windows, because Microsoft will validate your Windows before downloading the patch
Visit The Microsoft Download Support page and search for: Windows Script 5.6 for Windows XP and Windows 2000
Under the yellow page, choose your estimated download time
Select the type of connection you are using
At the bottom of the yellow box, you can choose the language package you would like to download
Next to the "Validation Recquired" statement, there's a "Continue" button. Click it.
Restart you computer after The Installation has completed
Try to reinstall the software that gave you the error, if the message does not appear anymore, that means the patch is successfully worked.

To Make An Arrow Icon Disappear

2009-07-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Every shortcut you've created to desktop has an arrow. Some people may consider that's not cool :)
So here are the tricks to make arrows disappear:

click Start-->Run
type Regedit
go to key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons
Back up this key first for your registry safety by clicking File-->Export (choose the directory where you want to save your registry file, name it by typing in File Name's box, then click Save)
OK, let's have a look at right pane, create a new string value (right-click-->New-->String Value) then name it to 29
double-click 29 and set it's value data as C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll,50
restart your computer

Note : shell32.dll,50 is an empty icon

Error Loading bridge.dll

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

After running our anti-virus program, We often see an error message at startup like this:

Bridge.dll is an adware program that has been removed by your anti-virus or anti-adware program. This message shows up because Windows always executes bridge.dll on startup.This can be very disturbing. These are the steps to avoid:

click Start-->Run
type Regedit in the box
go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
in the right side, look for RunDLL, double-click it to be sure that it brings to bridge.dll
delete that RunDLL entry
close Registry Editor then restart your computer

Shortcut Without Name

2009-06-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is a cool trick, but unfortunatelly, this only can be used for one shortcut. Maybe you want to apply it to your special icon. You may use it for one more shortcut, but it may cause unsteady position for both shortcuts.

Here are the steps:
1. In this case, I use ACDSee 4.0 shortcut, right click on it
2. choose rename
3. then press delete on your keyboard into blank
4. then press alt on your keyboard while you're typing : 0160

my ACDSee shortcut become like this

How to Fix Low Virtual Memory

2009-06-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

Are you really really disappointed everytimes you see that message but you haven't decided to upgrade your memory yet? Here is the trick, push Ctrl+Alt+Del Immediately. In Windows Task Manager, Go to View-Select Columns

Check Virtual memory size's box, press OK.

Now You'll see what programs use the large amount of virtual memory. Select Those Programs, you can stop them running if you want to by pressing End Process.

Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Error SOLUTIONS

2009-05-30T20:04:00.000-07:00

It's easy..there are several ways to solve that problem you can choose.

BEWARE !! You must backup your registry by export it (Go to regedit.exe, Start-Run-then
type regedit, File, Export) before you do the following instructions:
#1. Close Port 445
~ Go to regedit.exe, Start-Run-then type regedit
~ Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters
~ In the right window, find entry of TransportBindName, double-click it, then delete its
value

then you must close port 135 too
~ Go to regedit.exe, Start-Run-then type regedit
~ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\OLE
~ See the right window, Set EnableDCOM to N
~ Restart Your PC

#2. ~HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Services > Browser >
Parameters
~In Regedit menu, click Find, type inside find dialog box: IsDomainMaster
~set Data to False
~Restart your PC

#3. ~Run
~type : cmd
~In Console Command, type : netsh, then enter
~type : winsock, then enter
~type : reset
~Restart your PC

#4. You can download LspFix at http://cexx.org/lspfix.htm, then follow the instructions
#5. Download Microsoft Update Patch (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894391) then find
and run “Thanx to Nirmal for this"

Good Luck to all of you, guyz !!

Take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP

2009-05-23T05:41:00.000-07:00

Prerequisites for taking ownership of a file or a folder

You must be logged on to the computer with an account that has administrative privileges.
If you are running Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, you must start the computer in safe mode, and then log on with an account that has Administrative rights to have access to the Security tab. To start Windows XP in Safe Mode
For Microsoft Windows XP Professional, you need to disable Simple File Sharing, in order to see the Security tab. To disable simple file sharing, follow these steps: Click Start, and then click My Computer. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab. In the Advanced Settings section, clear the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) check box. Click OK.

To take ownership of a folder, follow these steps:

Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:

You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?

All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.

where folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of.

Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.

To take ownership of a file, follow these steps

Right-click the file that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click Administrator, or click the Administrators group, and then click OK.

The administrator or the Administrators group now owns the file.

Remove Windows XP's Messenger

2009-05-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

Fire up the Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the %SYSTEMROOT% \ INF folder. What the heck is that thingy with the percentage signs? It's a variable. For most people, %SYSTEMROOT% is C:\Windows. For others, it may be E:\WinXP. Get it? Okay, on with the hack! In the INF folder, open sysoc.inf (but not before making a BACKUP copy first). Before your eyes glaze over, look for the line containing "msmsgs" in it. Near the end of that particular line, you'll notice that the word "hide" is not so hidden. Go ahead and delete "hide" (so that the flanking commas are left sitting next to one another). Save the file and close it. Now, open the Add and Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Click the Add / Remove Windows Components icon. You should see "Windows Messenger" in that list. Remove the checkmark from its box, and you should be set. NOTE: there are other hidden system components in that sysoc.inf file, too. Remove "hide" and the subsequent programs at your own risk.

Attributes - Display the Attributes Column in Explorer

2009-03-07T05:51:00.001-08:00

Right click on the column headers and select Columns. You'll get a list of them to choose from. Attributes is one of them.

Start/Run/Regedit HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\Advanced. Value Name: ShowAttribCol, Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value), Value Data: (0 = disable, 1 = enable). Create a new DWORD value called 'ShowAttribCol' and set the value to '1' to enable the attributes column.

Modify the Internet Auto-Dial Settings

2009-03-07T05:46:00.001-08:00

Windows has the option to automatically dial your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to establish an Internet connection. This option can be controlled using this tweak.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings

Create a new binary value named "EnableAutodial", and set the new value to equal "01 00 00 00" to enable autodial or "00 00 00 00" to disable it.
Note: This restriction can be used either on a user by user basis by adding it to HKEY_CURRENT_USER or on a computer wide basis by adding it to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

To view the list of names and addresses recorded by AutoDial, type the following command at a command prompt: rasautou -s

To delete a name or address entry from the list: Start/Run/Regedit HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RAS Autodial\AddressesYou can delete any TCP/IP addresses that you see under this key.

Note that AutoDial can use IP addresses, DNS fully qualified domain names (FQDN), and NetBIOS names.

Auto-disconnect in Internet explorer

2009-03-07T05:42:00.001-08:00

Start/Run/RegeditHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\ParametersIn the right pane, find Autodisconnect and change the time accordingly.

Alternately You can try this from command prompt: net config server /autodisconnect:30 -to set the autodisconnect to 30 minutes.

To Set the My Documents Folder to Private

2009-03-07T05:40:00.002-08:00

On the Start menu, right-click My Documents, and then click Properties. Click the Sharing tab, and then click to select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box. Click Apply, and then click OK. Note: You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS, You Cannot Select the "Make This Folder Private" Option

Home Edition: Set Permissions for Shared Files and Folders. Boot into safe mode and logon to the 'Administrator' account. Right click the folder in question/Sharing and Security/Make Folder Private.

To view the Security tab for a file or folder in XP, hold down the Ctrl key while right-clicking the file or folder, and select Properties. If you are in a domain instead of a workgroup, this approach is unnecessary.

Tip: Hide Files and Folders inside of Windows XPWindows Explorer/Tools/Folder Options/View/Show Hidden Files and Folders. Right click the folder to be hidden/Sharing and Security/General Tab/Hidden/Apply Changes to.../

Menu Display - Speed Up

2009-03-07T05:40:00.001-08:00

Start/Run/Regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop In the right pane select, "MenuShowDelay". Right click, modify and set the value to 0. Reboot.

Tip: TweakUI/Mouse/Menu Speed/Move glider to fast/Reboot.

Disable Automatic Modem Connections at Startup

2009-03-07T05:39:00.001-08:00

If remote connections are enabled in Windows, the system may try to initiate an Internet connection at Windows startup or at the start of many applications. This setting disables that behavior.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole. Value Name: EnableRemoteConnect, Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value), Value Data: "Y" = enable automatic connections, "N" = disabled.

Create a new String value, or modify the existing value, called 'EnableRemoteConnect' and edit the value according to the settings above. Exit your registry, you may need to restart or log out of Windows for the change to take effect.

Stops the Selective Startup screen

2009-03-07T05:37:00.001-08:00

Download the xp_nomsconfig.vbs file: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_nomsconfig.htm and save it to your Desktop (you may want to right click and use Save Target As). Double-click the xp_nomsconfig.vbs file after closing MSConfig. You will not see the Selective Startup screen on the next boot.

Or...
Start/Run/Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

In the right pane, delete the value for MSConfig. Alternatively, you can use a small VB Script file to do this for you as well.

Copy the following three lines to a Notepad file and save as No_MSCONFIG.VBS

On Error Resume NextSet WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")WshShell.RegDelete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\MSConfig"

After running MSConfig, run the VBS file and this entry will be removed automatically.

Rename "My Computer"

2009-03-07T05:34:00.002-08:00

Start/Run/Regedit HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}. Data Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ (Expanded String Value).

Rename the value named "LocalizedString" to "LocalizedString.old".

Create a new REG_EXPAND_SZ value named "LocalizedString", and set the value to "%USERNAME% on %COMPUTERNAME%".

Exit the registry editor, click on your desktop and press F5 (for refresh). The "My Computer" icon should now be rename to "Username on Computername".

Makes the 'My Documents' folder on the Start Menu into a cascading folder

2009-03-07T05:34:00.001-08:00

This tweak makes the 'My Documents' folder on the Start Menu into a cascading folder, which then give you direct access to sub-folders without having to open the main 'My Documents' directory first. Start/Run/Regedit.

You may need to create the key if it does not already exist. Create a new String value, or modify the existing value, called 'CascadeMyDocuments' and edit the value according to the settings below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AdvancedValue Name: CascadeMyDocumentsData Type: REG_SZ (String Value)Value Data: "Yes" or "No"

Exit your registry, you may need to restart or log out of Windows for the change to take effect. Note: This setting can be used either on a user by user basis by adding it to HKEY_CURRENT_USER or on a computer wide basis by adding it to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

Remove My Documents Folder From Desktop

2009-03-07T05:32:00.000-08:00

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}\ShellFolder

Value Name: AttributesData Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)Value Data: (0xf0500174 = Hidden, 0xf0400174 = Default)

Modify the value called "Attributes" and set it to either "0xf0500174" to hide or "0xf0400174" to display My Documents. Click on a blank area of desktop and press F5 to refresh for the change to take effect. Note: This tweak can also by used on a system wide basis by entering the same values under the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE] hive.

Remove Recent Documents from the Start Menu

2009-03-07T05:26:00.002-08:00

This setting can be used to remove the recent Documents folder from the Start Menu. Open your registry (Start/Run/Regedit) and find the key below.

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

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

Value Name: NoRecentDocsMenuData Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)Value Data: (0 = display, 1 = remove)

Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value, called 'NoRecentDocsMenu' set the value to equal '1' to enable the restriction. Exit your registry, you may need to restart for the changes to take effect.

Name and Company - For Microsoft Applications

2009-03-07T05:26:00.001-08:00

When you install a new application, using MS Setup, a default Name and Company are shown, these values can be changed when the details have changed or are incorrect.

Start/Run/RegeditHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MS Setup (ACME)\User Info

Value Name: DefName, DefCompanyData Type: REG_SZ (String Value)

Modify the two values named 'DefName' and 'DefCompany', and change the values to your current Name and Company respectively. The next time you install a program these new values will be used as the defaults instead. Note: This will not affect the registered names of existing applications, it only affects new installations.

Wallpaper (Folder) Background

2009-03-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

Background for folders: To create a template folder with a background image, create a new folder and customize it to create a hidden desktop.ini file inside. Edit the desktop.ini in the folder and add two lines:

[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]IconArea_Image=Background.bmp

Then create a hidden image file in the folder and name it "Background.bmp". This image can be .bmp, .jpg, or .gif, but you will need to edit the image file extension in your desktop.ini file to match the image file name.

Welcome Screen Old Style

2009-03-07T05:23:00.000-08:00

Change the Login Window to W2K Style - This setting controls which type of logon screen is shown, either the classic Windows NT/2000 format or the Windows XP welcome screen.

Start/Run/Regedit

Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]Value Name: LogonTypeData Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)Value Data: (0 = Classic Mode, 1 = Welcome Screen)

Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value, called 'LogonType' and edit the value according to the settings below. Exit your registry, you may need to restart or log out of Windows for the change to take effect.

Note: Using the classic logon method will also disable the use of fast user switching, where applications remain active in other users sessions.

Welcome Screen - Colors

2009-03-07T05:22:00.001-08:00

Select theme and color scheme for welcome screenWith this tweak you will be able to modify which color selection of the default theme is shown when the computer start up screen is displayed. Currently since there is only one theme you can only change the color scheme for the theme but in the future when more themes are available for XP you will be able to change which theme is used in the same place in the windows registry.

Go to Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ThemeManager Locate the key NormalColor Right Click on it and select modify. Change where it says "NormalColor" to "Metallic" Click Ok, and exit regedit Restart

Note: To go back to the old color scheme durring startup just change "Metallic" back to "NormalColor" Once more themes are released you will be able to modify the DllName key to select different themes.

Cleaning Your Harddisk

2009-03-07T05:17:00.000-08:00

Hard disks keep getting bigger and bigger, but somehow we still run out of space. MP3s and other media files are immensely popular–and simply immense. Programs are bigger, and data files are bigger. Windows Explorer isn't much help. It will tell you the size of all selected files in a folder, but nothing about the files in that folder's subfolders.

Enter DiskPie2 a utility to identify the biggest consumers of disk space. Pie charts let you see at a glance which folders and file types are taking up the most space. The charts are highly customizable, and can be printed.

An Explorer view lets you navigate to the folder you want to chart, and as a bonus displays the number of bytes in and below the selected folder. DiskPie2 also can display and print a report of the largest files in the selected folder. Armed with the information that DiskPie provides, you can decide how best to allocate the space on your disk.

TreeSize: Every hard disk is too small if you just wait long enough. TreeSize tells you where precious space has gone to. TreeSize can be started from the context menu of a folder or drive and shows you the size of this folder, including its subfolders. You can expand this folder in Explorer-like style and you will see the size of every subfolder. Scanning is done in a thread, so you can already see results while TreeSize is working. The space, which is wasted by the file system can be displayed and the results can be printed in a report. TreeSize is Mailware for Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP.