TipsTricksHacks

Sending Fake e-mail

2010-06-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

First off, you have to find their mail exchanger. There are tons of sites on the net that will let you do that for free, and IP-Tools at http://spartandownloads.2ya.com will also allow you to find mailexchangers (also known as MX).

Usually they are easy to find, like hotmail's exchanger would be mx1.hotmail.com, or mx2.hotmail.com.

First what you will do is use telnet to connect to the server using port 25 (SMTP Port):

Example:

telnet mx1.hotmail.com 25

Once it shows up, it is usually nice to start with a HELO command. Some servers require you to provide a hostname within the HELO.

Example:

HELO hotmail.com

It should respond with a message such as pleased to meet you or whatever. To start off with your sending, you will use the MAIL FROM: command.

Example:

Mail From:fakeguy@fakeeeee.com

NOTE: All commands are usually pretty generic, although some may vary; try the HELP command.

Now to get this e-mail to who we want it to go to, we use the RCPT TO: command.

Example:

RCPT TO:person123wutever@hotmail.com

We are now ready to type the main areas of our e-mail since the server knows where to send it. Type DATA and it should respond, telling you how to end the body of the email. Usually it is one line with a DOT (.) on a line all by itself, minus the parentheses.
After typing Data, we can type our message. Remember, you cannot backspace on mailservers, so do this very carefully. Most places need a heading to seem authentic, so start with the top stuff in your email, which should usually be typed in this order:

Date: (input w/e date u want, and yes, u can send messsages from the future hehe)

To: (recipent email here)

From: (fake email address here, or whoever u r forging this for)

Subject: (enter subject here, not awlays required, but put one just in case)

After all that, you can type the body of your message. Type whatever you want, then end it however the mailserver told you to end, which is usually a DOT (.) on a line all by itself:

blahblahblah message here
.

After typing that dot, it should say message queued for delivery, which is usually only a few seconds.

Finally, type your quit command, and you are done!

The basic layout looks like this:

helo

mail from :

rcpt to :

body

[message]

.

Remember, all connections are logged, and eventually, no matter what, they will find a way to track you down, so don't do anything stupid and get yourself caught doing really bad things.

Enable virtual Wi-Fi

2010-02-17T07:04:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 includes a little-known new feature called Virtual Wi-Fi, which effectively turns your PC or laptop into a software-based router. Any other Wi-Fi-enabled devices within range - a desktop, laptop, an iPod perhaps - will "see" you as a new network and, once logged on, immediately be able to share your internet connection.

This will only work if your wireless adapter driver supports it, though, and not all do. Check with your adapter manufacturer and make sure you've installed the very latest drivers to give you the best chance.

Once you have driver support then the easiest approach is to get a network tool that can set up virtual Wi-Fi for you. Virtual router (below) is free, easy to use and should have you sharing your internet connection very quickly.

If you don't mind working with the command line, though, maybe setting up some batch files or scripts, then it's not that difficult to set this up manually.

How change parts of a theme

2010-01-12T00:59:00.000-08:00

Open Personalization by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type personalization, and then click Personalization.
Click the theme that you want to change to apply it to your desktop.
Do one or more of the following:
- To change the background, click Desktop Background, select the check box for the image that you want to use, and then click Save changes.
- To change the color of window borders, click Window Color, click the color that you want to use, adjust the intensity, and then click Save changes.
- To change the sounds for the theme, click Sounds, click an item in the Sound Schemes list, and then click OK.
- To add or change a screen saver, click Screen Saver, click an item in the Screen saver list, change any settings that you want to change, and then click OK.
Your revised theme will appear under My Themes as an unsaved theme. If you want to come back to your unsaved theme later, make sure you save it.

Unlock all the hidden features in Windows 7.

2010-01-02T06:41:00.000-08:00

Instead of going through all the currently-available tweaks manually, this tool will patch up all the files itself and enable the features that were demoed at PDC 2008.

Following files will be patched:

* WindowsExplorer.exe
* WindowsSystem32wisptis.exe
* WindowsSystem32ieframe.dll
* WindowsSystem32shell32.dll
* WindowsSystem32stobject.dll
* WindowsSystem32TabletPC.cpl
* WindowsSystem32themecpl.dll
* WindowsSystem32themeui.dll
* WindowsSystem32powercfg.cpl

And remember to backup
the above-mentioned files first, as this patch will not create a backup of them.

Download this software

Vista Orb Clock for Windows Sidebar

2009-12-15T05:10:00.000-08:00

This gadget contains 12 skins based on the icons and logo from Windows Vista: 5 Vista Orbs, Windows Media Center, Windows Live, Windows Media Player, a CD, 2 Globes & the blue compass from Guided Help.

You can drag the gadgets to you desktop and use them as Desktop Gadgets .
When you right click on the Sidebar and select close, the Sidebar minimizes to the system tray & the Desktop Gadgets are still on the desktop.

UltiMouse Task Controller

2009-12-15T04:59:00.000-08:00

This program turns the Mouse into a Task Controller without losing the default functionality of the Mouse Buttons.

Double Click Middle Mouse Button -> Window Switcher (Flip3D)
Back Button + Scroll Up/Down -> Cycle through programs on the Taskbar*
Middle Mouse Button + Scroll Up/Down -> Cycle through Sidebar Gadgets * NEW *
Back Button + Middle Mouse Button -> Up One Level (emulates the Up Button)
Forward Button + Scroll Up/Down -> Maximize/Restore selected program/window
Forward Button + Middle Mouse Button -> Close selected program/window
Middle Mouse Button + Back Button -> Minimize selected program/window
Middle Mouse Button + Forward Button -> Restore last Minimized program/window
Double Click Back Button -> Minimize All
Double Click Forward Button -> UnMinimize All

* When you release the Back Button, the selected program/window is activated.

Install: Copy UltiMouse.exe to anywhere you want and create a shortcut in the Startup folder.
It runs hidden in the background, you can close it with Task Manager.

To get saved passwords

2009-12-10T05:57:00.000-08:00

This trick is for getting passwords saved in mozila firefox

1-Click tools then option
then a window will pop up liket this

2-Then click on saved passwords

3-Click on show passwords
You will get all saved passwords

Myspace Hacking

2009-12-10T03:36:00.000-08:00

Code
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.edit&friendID=XXXXXX&blogID=XXXXXX

Explanation :
This is just an URL hack so it won’t last long,
1. You replace the friendID with their friendid, and blogid with their blogid… got it?

Well to view these the profile has to be public, or a friend of yours. You have to be able to see the blogs listed on their profile.

To get friendID and blogID, right click on the link and copy it, pick out the friendID and blogID.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=122498109&blogID=184962006&MyToken=1f49gc99-83e9-45y0-b1dc-1de09d556d27

View Private Pictures: *dead!
- use one of the following urls by replacing the XX’s with the desired friend ID.

http://forum.myspace.com/user/viewPicture.cfm?friendid=XXXXXX
http://groups.myspace.com/user/viewPicture.cfm?friendid=XXXXXX
http://editprofile.myspace.com/user/viewPicture.cfm?friendid=XXXXXX
http://events.myspace.com/user/viewPicture.cfm?friendid=XXXXXX
http://search.myspace.com/user/viewPicture.cfm?friendid=XXXXXX

View Private Comments: *dead!
- use one of the following urls by replacing the XX’s with the desired friend ID.
- to get past the 1st page, change the page=0 to page=1, page=2, ect..
- as agreed, thegeek from the that site also has other working codes for viewing comments on private profiles.. you can find them by doing a google search for “grownupgeek”

http://collect.myspace.com/user/viewallcomments.cfm?friendid=XXXXX&page=0
http://events.myspace.com/user/viewallcomments.cfm?friendid=XXXXX&page=0
http://favorites.myspace.com/user/viewallcomments.cfm?friendid=XXXXX&page=0
http://mail.myspace.com/user/viewallcomments.cfm?friendid=XXXXX&page=0
http://classifieds.myspace.com/user/viewallcomments.cfm?friendid=XXXXX&page=0
http://vids.myspace.com/user/viewallcomments.cfm?friendid=XXXXX&page=0
http://home.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewComments&friendid=XXXXXX
http://au.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewComments&friendid=XXXXXX
http://fr.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewComments&friendid=XXXXXX
http://de.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewComments&friendid=XXXXXX
http://ie.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewComments&friendid=XXXXXX
http://uk.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewComments&friendid=XXXXXX
http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.safedeleteComments&friendid=XXXXXX
http://groups.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.safedeleteComments&friendid=XXXXXX
http://editprofile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.safedeleteComments&friendid=XXXXXX
http://events.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.safedeleteComments&friendid=XXXXXX
http://invite.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.safedeleteComments&friendid=XXXXXX

View Private Friends List: *alive!
- use one of the following urls by replacing the XX’s with the desired friend ID.
- to get past the 1st page of friends, change the page=1 to page=2, page=3, ect.

http://collect.myspace.com/user/viewfriends.cfm?friendID=XXXX&page=1
http://vids.myspace.com/user/viewfriends.cfm?friendID=XXXX&page=1
http://forum.myspace.com/user/viewfriends.cfm?friendID=XXXX&page=1
http://groups.myspace.com/user/viewfriends.cfm?friendID=XXXX&page=1
http://editprofile.myspace.com/user/viewfriends.cfm?friendID=XXXX&page=1
http://events.myspace.com/user/viewfriends.cfm?friendID=XXXX&page=1
http://invite.myspace.com/user/viewfriends.cfm?friendID=XXXX&page=1
http://mail.myspace.com/user/viewfriends.cfm?friendID=XXXX&page=1

View Private Videos: *alive!
- use one of the following urls by replacing the XX’s with the desired friend ID.

http://collect.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendid=XXXXX
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendid=XXXXX
http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendid=XXXXX
http://groups.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendid=XXXXX
http://editprofile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendid=XXXXX
http://events.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendid=XXXXX
http://invite.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendid=XXXXX
http://mail.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendid=XXXXX

Message ANYONE: *alivish!
- works with private profiles & away messages. this one needs to be fixed now!
- use one of the following urls by replacing the XX’s with the desired friend ID.

http://messaging.myspace.com/Modules/Messaging/Pages/SendMessage.aspx?fuseaction=mail.reply&friendId=XXXX
http://home.myspace.com/Modules/Messaging/Pages/SendMessage.aspx?fuseaction=mail.reply&friendId=XXXX
http://www.myspace.com/Modules/Messaging/Pages/SendMessage.aspx?fuseaction=mail.reply&friendId=XXXX
http://myspace.com/Modules/Messaging/Pages/SendMessage.aspx?fuseaction=mail.reply&friendId=XXXX
http://au.myspace.com/Modules/Messaging/Pages/SendMessage.aspx?fuseaction=mail.reply&friendId=XXXX
http://fr.myspace.com/Modules/Messaging/Pages/SendMessage.aspx?fuseaction=mail.reply&friendId=XXXX
http://de.myspace.com/Modules/Messaging/Pages/SendMessage.aspx?fuseaction=mail.reply&friendId=XXX

If you liked it , plezz comment

Change IP Address

2009-12-03T04:29:00.000-08:00

Some ISPs do not support this type of procedure and hence there are chances of getting back the same old IP address even after trying this hack.In this case you need to switch off the modem and then switch it on to get the new IP address.

NOTE: All these tricks works only if you have a dynamic IP address.But if you have a static IP address you have no option to change your IP.

1. Click on “Start” in the bottom left hand corner of screen.

2. Click on “Run”.

3. Type in “command” and hit ok.You should now be at an MSDOS prompt screen.

4. Type “ipconfig /release” just like that, and hit “enter”.

5. Type “exit” and leave the prompt.

6. Right-click on “Network Places” or “My Network Places” on your desktop.

7. Click on “properties”.

You should now be on a screen with something titled “Local Area Connection”, or something close to that.

8. Right click on “Local Area Connection” and click “properties”.

9. Double-click on the “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” from the list under the “General” tab.

10. Click on “Use the following IP address” under the “General” tab.

11. Create an IP address (It doesn’t matter what it is. I just type 1 and 2 until i fill the area up).

12. Press “Tab” and it should automatically fill in the “Subnet Mask” section with default numbers.

13. Hit the “Ok” button here.

14. Hit the “Ok” button again.You should now be back to the “Local Area Connection” screen.

15. Right-click back on “Local Area Connection” and go to properties again.

16. Go back to the “TCP/IP” settings.

17. This time, select “Obtain an IP address automatically”.

18. Hit “Ok”.

19. Hit “Ok” again.

20. You now have a new IP address.

How to Copy Locked Photos from Orkut

2009-12-03T04:27:00.000-08:00

Recently Orkut updated it’s security feature and disabled Right-click on photos of friend’s album. So this makes it difficult to copy photos from Orkut. It’s a new security update made by Orkut to prevent people from copying photos from Orkut and misusing it. This may be annoying most of you! Then…

How To Copy Locked Photos From Orkut?

Yes it’s still possible to copy the photos from Orkut.Here’s a step-by-step procedure to copy the photo.

1. Login into your Orkut Account.

2. Goto your friend’s album and open the photo that you need to copy.

3. Once the photo is loaded to it’s full size just place the mouse cursor on the photo.

4. Press the left click button and drag and drop the photo onto the ADDRESS BAR. I think this trick is no longer working. So I have a new trick….

Just DRAG and DROP the PHOTO onto the current/new TAB (If you have IE 7). Alternatively you can also Drag and Drop the photo onto the Desktop. That’s it. This trick is working now!!

4. Now the photo gets displayed seperately on your browser.

5. You can Right-Click and select the Save As option to save the photo onto your PC.

The browser also displays the direct link to the photo. This link can be used to share the Orkut photos with your friends without the need to login to your Orkut account to access photos.

How to hack an account

2009-12-03T04:18:00.000-08:00

First of all you need to create an account in a form handling service. In the registration form enter your email address in the field “Where to send Data” and in redirect enter the URL of the site whose account is to be hacked( For Yahoo it will be http://mail.yahoo.com and for google it is mail.google.com/mail). After registering you will get an email from the web form designer with your form id.

Now follow the following steps :

1. Open the website of HotMail or GMail or YahooMail, its your wish. If you want to HACK yahoo id, then goto www.yahoomail.com
2. Now press “CTRL+U”, you will get the source code of yahoo page. NOw press “CTRL+A” copy all the text.
3. Open NOTEPAD, now paste it here. SAVE it as YAHOOFAKE.HTML
4. Now open the the file yahoofake.html using noepad, here you ll find a code which starts with

( This code is for Yahoo. For any other site this code will be different but you need to find the code starting with (form method=”post” action=”xxxxxxxxxxxxx”))
5. Now in place of (form method=”post” action=”xxxxxxxxxxxxx”)
put the following code after placing your form id:

Now Save the yahoofake.html.

To hack the victim’s password and username the victim has to login through this page. Many people had sent me queries about how to make someone login through your link in the previous version. I have the solution for that also.

First of all upload your page using some free webhosting services. Tip: Register to those webhost which don’t give their own ads and which gives URL of type “your site name.webhost.com”.

Now select your site name as mail.yahoo.com/support. You can also add some rubbish numbers and make is very long so that the victim does not see the name of webhost in the link.

Now send a fake mail from support_yahoo@yahoo.com to the victim’s email address with subject ” Account Frozen” and in the mail write that Due to some technical errors in yahoo we need you to login through this link otherwise your account will be frozen.

After reading this your victim will click and login through the page you created and as you have give the redirection URL as the URL of the site itself so it will goto the login page again and the victim will think that he might have given wrong password so the page came again but in reallity the username and password has been sent to your email account you specified and the victim is still not knowing that his account is hacked.

How to Uninstall Internet Explorer for Good

2009-11-27T07:46:00.000-08:00

This is for those users who have proplem in slow working for windows 7. Just follow the steps below to uninstall IE

Step 1: Click on the Start Menu and move to the Control Panel
Step 2: Select the Programs and Features
Step 3: Click on Turn Windows features on or off link located on the left pane
Step 4: The Turn Windows features on or off window appears. Uncheck the Internet Explorer 8 and click OK
Step 5: After a couple of restarts Internet Explorer should be gone for go

How to Avoid 200MB Hidden System Partition From Been Created During Windows 7 Installation

2009-11-27T05:38:00.000-08:00

Unknowingly to many Windows 7 users, a hidden primary system partition which is active will be automatically and forcefully created by setup during installation of Windows 7. The additional separate standalone NTFS partition, which is not labeled with any drive letter or path, has the size of 200 MB, but only occupy 32 MB of it with 168 MB remains free.

The small 200MB partition actually holds Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), which only available from DVD installation disc in previous operating system such as Windows Vista . The partition holds system files and bootable files that are essential to boot the Windows 7 properly in the event of the need to recover the OS in the event of corruption. The 200MB partition is pretty much similar to many recovery partition that been made on factory installation by most OEMs on the computer they sold.

However, when the small 200 MB separate partition has been created by Windows 7, it’s almost impossible to be deleted or removed. User cannot use delete the volume using Storage Disk Management in Computer Management. If forcefully deleted with third party partition manager or partition editor, Partition Table which is (normally) located in the master boot record (MBR) may be corrupted, or may become invalid.

The cause for the Partition Table error is because the 200MB partition does not use the standard sector zoning format. When deleted with partition tool which does not support non-standard partition type, the Partition Table will be corrupted. When the Partition Table is corrupted, the third party partition editor will show disk partition error has occurred on any re-created partition that uses the freed space (Disk Management in Win 7 do not show the error though). And the hard disk tends to have unallocated disk pace of 1 to 2 MB in size randomly. Format the hard disk volume or partition cannot fix the error either. In worst case scenario, some partition may be lost occasionally, causing files or data lost.

For Windows 7 users who don’t want the 200MB partition to be created and existed, the best way is to stop Windows 7 installation process to create the partition when installing Windows 7. In Windows 7, the feature (200 MB partition to store WinRE files) is installed on all computers if the OS is installed on hard disk with single partition scheme, or unallocated space (space which not yet been partitioned) on the hard disk drive.

Thus in order to skip or avoid the 200M partition to be automatically created during installation, here’s a few rules to follow when choosing where to install Windows 7 to:

Do not install Windows 7 to a hard disk that not yet been partitioned or to unallocated space (When install Windows 7 to unallocated space, no warning pop-up or confirmation is asked, and setup will straight away and directly create partition 200 MB of disk space as special partition without notification).
If possible, try to create all the necessary partition(s) and format the partition(s) before attempting to install Windows 7.
If you’re installing Windows 7 into a new hard disk, or a blank hard disk with no partition defined yet, or if you must delete all existing partitions to start afresh, chose Drive options (advanced). Delete (if applicable) unwanted partitions. Then, click New to create the single partition or multiple partitions according to your own preference.

When prompted with dialog box saying “To ensure that all Windows features work correctly, Windows might create additional partitions for system files”, click on Cancel button. Optionally, to be double confirm, Format the partition before selecting it to install Windows 7.

When Windows 7 does not create the special 200MB partition, the WinRE recovery environment is stored in a folder in the root of Win7 installation drive. For example, if Windows7 is installed to a partition with a label of C:, the WinRE will be located located at C:Recovery.

XP Game Compatibility

2009-11-17T04:27:00.000-08:00

You want to know if all your favorite games are still going to run under Windows XP. Remember what happened when we tried to run games on our Windows 2000 machines? Sometimes we were a little disappointed. Windows 2000 was made more for corporate applications than "Quake," but true techno-geeks know they don't have to sacrifice death matches for a robust business environment -- at least not anymore.

Windows XP has shown an impressive track record of game compatibility. We ran a number of standard games, such as "Tiger Woods Golf," "NHL 2001," "Max Payne," and "Unreal" on our Windows XP Professional machine. Some of these games were specifically slated for Windows 95 and 98, and were shown not to work in Windows 2000. The installation in XP was as smooth as silk. The games ran quickly and beautifully -- not a problem in sight (except for my bad chip shot -- Tiger was hanging his head in shame).

Some less-sophisticated programs may not run as smoothly, and we found that some older applications, such as the Atari 2600 Classic Game Collection, did not appreciate the Windows XP environment. In this case you can use the Application Compatibility Wizard, found in the accessories menu. XP includes integrated compatibility layers to mimic older versions of Windows, so if your program does not work in Windows XP, the compatibility wizard will walk you through the process of getting even your favorite DOS games up and running. In this case, we ran the Atari Classic Game Collection in the Windows 95 environment, at 256 colors and 640x480 screen resolution. Then we set XP to always run our Atari application in this environment, and everything was smooth sailing after that.

One final tip about compatibility: Don't run the compatibility wizard if your program appears to be running well in the normal environment, as the wizard will give you an error message. In general, XP has great program compatibility, so you can upgrade your operating system without giving up all your old favorites.

Everything You Ever Needed to know about Microsoft Passport

2009-11-17T04:24:00.000-08:00

Whether you know it or not, if you've ever signed up for a Hotmail account, you have a Passport account, too. And that's a good thing, because if you want to access Microsoft's Web support site these days, you must enter a Passport ID and a password. So what gives? What is this thing called Passport?

Microsoft Passport is an online identification system that assigns a unique ID to individual Web surfers. Once you sign up for Passport, Microsoft provides access to a variety of its own services, including the new Windows Messenger chat program in Windows XP. And, thanks to a lot of crafty business development work from Microsoft, you can also use Passport to sign in to dozens of non-Microsoft sites, including Starbucks.com and Costco Online.

Microsoft intends to make Passport the undisputed ID system for the Internet, and its ambitious plan has consumer watchdogs, privacy advocates, and Microsoft's competitors up in arms. We'll tell you what all the controversy is about and whether you really need a Passport.

What is Passport?
Passport is Microsoft's online authentication service. Once you have a Passport account, you can use your e-mail address and password to log in to and shop a variety of Web sites and services. Many in-house Microsoft sites (such as tech support) and services (such as Windows Messenger in Windows XP) require a Passport account or will soon, along with a growing number of non-Microsoft sites, including OfficeMax.com and Victoria's Secret.

Passport is a part of Microsoft's .Net initiative, an ambitious plan to deliver software and services to businesses and consumers via the Web. Ultimately, Microsoft wants to turn Passport into the premiere authentication system for the Internet, but the company expects plenty of competition in the near future.

Passport comes in two flavors: sign-in and wallet. You need a sign-in account to use Microsoft's consumer services, including free e-mailer Hotmail, MSN Internet Access, and Windows Messenger. If you have a Hotmail or MSN account, you already have Passport: simply use your Hotmail or MSN address and password at sites that require a Passport sign-in.

The Passport wallet service lets you buy services and products online without having to reenter billing and payment information at every participating site; it's similar to Amazon.com's one-click shopping. Currently, however, only a limited number of non-Microsoft Web sites use the Passport sign-in and wallet. To date, Microsoft hasn't announced any plans to increase the number of sites.

How do I get Passport, and what am I in for?
When you create a Passport account, you're allowing Microsoft to maintain your online identity. Although that sounds vaguely Orwellian, it's really not as intrusive as you might think--especially if you skip the wallet option. To sign on at the official Passport site, for example, simply enter an e-mail address and a password. You don't have to provide your name, address, or any other personal information.

If you want both a Passport and an e-mail account, sign up for Hotmail, Microsoft's free e-mail service. You'll need to surrender a few extra personal details, here, including a sign-in name, password, zip code, e-mail address, country of residence, region or city, and a secret question and answer (in case you forget your password and need to recover it). Once your Hotmail account is active, your e-mail address and password will get you into Passport-enabled sites.

A Passport wallet account requires the most information, including purchasing information (for example, credit card numbers and billing addresses). Often referred to as e-wallets, online ID services such as the Passport wallet offer online shoppers many conveniences. For instance, you won't have to reenter billing and payment information every time you make a purchase online. Microsoft isn't the only player in the fledgling online ID market. Both VeriSign and Liberty Alliance, the latter is an industry consortium led by Sun Microsystems, are developing competing authentication systems.

Can I use Passport on my site?
As you may have heard, Microsoft has also made Passport available to Web developers, so if any Webmaster wants his or her site to have a built-in ID system, there's no need to reinvent the wheel. To put Passport on your site, you must install Passport Manager software on your Web server. For more information on how to Passport-enable your site, check out this Business Services page. One of the benefits of online authentication systems such as Passport is that they save Net businesses from the expense and hassle of creating their own ID schemes. Currently, Microsoft is waiving licensing fees for businesses, though it plans to charge a "nominal" annual fee in the future.

What is .Net, and how is Passport related to it?
Microsoft .Net is Microsoft's platform for delivering Web services to a variety of Internet-connected devices (such as handhelds and phones), regardless of programming language or operating system, including Mac, Linux, and Windows. In theory, .Net will allow different applications on different platforms to communicate and share data over the Internet. It's the foundation of Microsoft's software-as-services business model. (The Redmond company ultimately plans to charge subscription fees for the use of its applications.) Windows XP features the first batch of .Net services, including Windows Messenger, Web Publishing Wizard, and the Online Print Ordering Wizard (for purchasing paper prints of digital photos). Passport is the authentication system for .Net, so you'll need a Passport account to use future and current .Net services.

Will Passport help Microsoft monopolize the Internet?
Microsoft already dominates the PC software market, from operating systems to browsers to office suites. But it's too early to say who will control the online authentication market. Passport isn't the only player in the online ID game. Liberty Alliance, a consortium led by Sun Microsystems, General Motors, Fidelity Investments, and other industry titans, plans to launch a competing service. However, it's unclear when this service will be ready or even what its name will be. So far, Passport is the best-developed online authentication scheme. In any event, once the competing Net ID systems are available, Microsoft claims that Passport will be interoperable with them, similar to the way banks and their respective ATMs share financial information.

What's all the hoopla about Passport and security?
In the wake of two recent, well-publicized security breaches involving Hotmail and Microsoft's Internet Information Server, some analysts and privacy advocates question Microsoft's ability to ensure customer security. Microsoft is also a popular target among unscrupulous hackers, who are constantly trying to find holes in various Microsoft programs.

To be fair, Microsoft does as much as any other company to protect your data from hackers and thieves. According to the company, your information is stored on secure servers in a controlled environment, safe from hackers and physical intruders. When you log in to or buy something from a Passport-enabled site, the server sends your billing and contact information in encrypted form (using the Triple DES encryption). Still, potential Passport customers should consider these security issues before signing up--or deciding not to.

Will anyone sell my Passport information?
Security aside, privacy groups such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center are apprehensive about Microsoft's and other Passport participants' plans for your data. For example, once you start using your Passport account, will vendors track your Net activities and purchases? Will they sell your personal data to marketers? Microsoft says they won't. Passport's privacy policy lets you, the consumer, choose (during account setup) whether to grant Microsoft the right to share your data with third parties. And Passport's architecture doesn't allow Microsoft to see what you're buying online, according to Directions on Microsoft analyst Matt Rosoff. Microsoft possesses only the information you surrendered at sign-up (e-mail address, password, and so on). While Microsoft can share this information with its Passport partners--such as when you sign on to a participating site--it can't share it with other companies without your consent.

But what about Passport partner sites? Unfortunately, things get a little murky here. While Microsoft insists that its partners must have privacy policies, it does not dictate the terms of these policies. Microsoft "strongly encourages" Passport users to read its partners' privacy policies before they log in to or share information with a partner site.

What's a Kids Passport?
Microsoft offers a Passport service for pups, but it's designed to keep your children safe while they surf (rather than to get them shopping). Many Web sites customarily collect personal information from visitors, regardless of age. But according to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), commercial sites must obtain parental consent before collecting, using, or disclosing personal information on anyone under 13. Microsoft's Kids Passport service is designed to help enforce that rule.

The Kids Passport lets parents control what information their children share with Passport sites. When your child tries to sign on to or share information with a Passport site, he or she is denied access until approval is received from a parent. If you're in the same room as your child, you can walk over to the PC and enter your Passport ID and password to allow her access to, say, MSN.com. If you're at work, your child can e-mail you a request for permission to enter the site. Kids Passport is free, but you will need to provide a credit card number to set up an account. (Microsoft says it uses this information to verify your identity.)

Passport options

Can I use Passport if I don't have Windows?
Despite the Microsoft label, Passport isn't just for Windows. Whether you have a Mac, a Linux machine, or a Unix box, you can sign up for Passport as long as you have a Web browser.

Can I pass on Passport and still buy stuff on the Web?
If you'd rather not shop the Microsoft way, don't panic. You don't need Passport to shop online--well, not yet, anyway. Major retail Web sites such as Amazon.com and Kmart's BlueLight.com have their own proprietary authentication systems. For instance, once you've made a purchase at Amazon, the site stores your name, credit card number, and mailing address in its own database. As frequent Amazon shoppers know, the next time you buy the latest Harry Potter epic, your billing and payment information will appear automatically in the appropriate fields (after you enter your password, of course). And, like Amazon, Passport offers single-click shopping.

That said, however, you will need Passport to shop at many participating sites, such as Starbucks.com. Some vendors, however, including Costco Online, accept Passport but also allow you to register directly with the site without going through Passport.

Can I use Windows XP without Passport?
We've all heard rumors that Microsoft forces XP users to sign up for Passport. Well, we're happy to report that it's not true. Neither XP's product activation nor its product registration will automatically register you for the Passport service.

That doesn't mean XP is Passport-free. Some elements of the OS do require a Passport account, including Windows Messenger, the built-in upgrade to Microsoft's MSN Messenger chat program. (Of course, MSN Messenger also requires Passport, so it's not a major change.)

Do I really need Passport?
If you regularly access Microsoft content sites, such as MSN or bCentral, or if you want to use Hotmail, Windows Messenger, or even MSN Messenger, you will need a Passport account. You'll also need one if you use Microsoft software and want access to online technical support. But plenty of sites on the Web are still Passport-free.

"STOP” ERROR MESSAGES AT SHUTDOWN

2009-11-17T04:19:00.000-08:00

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

STOP 0000009F, DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
STOP 0x0000001E: KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
STOP 0x000000D1: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

TechNet and the Microsoft Knowledge Base have numerous articles discussing this type of error condition; for example, these. As a review of these articles will show, these are commonly device driver problems, but may also be caused by troublesome software (such as the notorious CrashGuard), or a problem in a system service. MSKB article Q262575 discusses a shutdown problem of this type, known to exist in Windows 2000 due to a resource (IRQ) conflict, if you have PACE Interlok anti-piracy software installed. This problem may occur in Windows XP as well.
Microsoft advises the following as one approach to these problems: Restart the computer. Press F8 during the restart and select “Last Known Good Configuration.” If you catch the problem when it first occurs (meaning you likely have installed only one or two drivers or new service), this will return you to a previous working condition. (Would System Restore accomplish the same thing? I don’t know, and don’t have a broken system to test it on.)

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

SHUTDOWN WORKS, BUT IT’S REAL SLOW.

If it appears that Win XP is not shutting down, give it some time. Some users have reported a minute or longer for shutdown to visibly start. Thus far, it appears that this is a consequence of software that is running when shutdown is attempted, and it also may have something to do with particular hardware. If you are experiencing this problem, be sure to close all running programs before attempting shutdown and see if this solves your problem. If so, then you can determine, by trial and error, which program(s) are involved.
One specific solution for this was provided by Microsoft support. ” In Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services. (You can also get this by launching SERVICES.MSC from a Run box. This utility is also built into the Computer Management console.) Stop the Nvidia Driver Helper service. Many other friends quickly confirmed that this solved this “extremely slow shutdown” problem for them.

POWERDOWN ISSUES.

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

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

This should resolve the powerdown issue in most cases. However, other factors can sometimes interfere with correct powerdown functioning. In that case, consider the following tips:
· If you are changing the default power settings in the BIOS, it can lead to a powerdown problem. Restoring all BIOS power settings to default will likely fix it.

OTHER KNOWN ISSUES & HINTS.

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

XP Animations

2009-11-17T04:18:00.000-08:00

You can turn off window animation ("exploding" windows), displayed when you play around with minimizing/maximizing open windows. This makes navigating Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP a lot quicker, especially if you don't have a fast video controller, or if you got tired of seeing it all the time (like I did). :)
To do this, run Regedit (or Regedt32) and go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER | Control Panel | Desktop | WindowMetrics
or if you are the only user of your Windows computer go to:

HKEY_USERS | .Default | Control Panel | Desktop | WindowMetrics

Right-click on an empty spot in the right hand pane. Select New -> String [REG_SZ] Value. Name it MinAnimate. Click OK. Double-click on "MinAnimate" and type 0 to turn OFF window animation or 1 to turn it ON. Click OK. Close the Registry Editor and restart Windows. Done.

TweakUI, the famous Microsoft Power Toy [110 KB, free, unsupported] can also turn off animated windows.
Just remove the check mark from the "Window Animation" box under the General tab.

Reduce Temporary Internet F ile Space

2009-11-17T04:17:00.000-08:00

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

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

For a Safer, faster XP Close Unwanted Services

2009-11-17T04:08:00.000-08:00

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

Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Fast User Switching
Human Interface Access Devices
Indexing Service (Slows the hard drive down)
Messenger
Net Logon (unnecessary unless networked on a Domain)
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)
Server
SSDP Discovery Service (this is for the utterly pointless "Universal P'n'P", & leaves TCP Port 5000 wide open)
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Telnet (disabled for extra security)
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Upload Manager
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration (for wireless networks)
Workstation

Tweaking the Clock

2009-11-17T03:38:00.000-08:00

Here is one tip for getting a little extra functionality from the Vista clock on the taskbar.
As simple as that clock is, many users need to keep track of time in multiple time zones.
Fortunately, you can do that right within your taskbar.
Right-click your clock on the taskbar and
select Adjust Date/Time. Select the Additional

Clocks tab and then determine whether you
need one or two additional clocks; then
select which names and time zones you
require.
The next time you hover your mouse over
your time, you will see the other time zones
you have configured. This is a great tool for
travelers who like to call home or business
employees who have offices and clients in
other zones.
You could also set up gadgets in the
Windows Sidebar to show you multiple
times in different zones. You are welcome to
choose whichever method you like best.

Logging Shortcuts

2009-11-17T03:34:00.000-08:00

Windows Logo+three right arrows and Enter To Shut down

Windows Logo+three right arrows and U To Shut down

Windows Logo+three right arrows and R To Restart

Windows Logo+three right arrows and W To Switch Users

Windows Logo+ one right arrow and Enter To Sleep

How to Enable the Windows Aero in Windows 7

2009-11-12T09:32:00.000-08:00

If you were looking for the best designed and most transparent Microsoft user interface then you can't escape Windpws Aero. Here's a hack to enable Windows Aero in Windows 7. But before you proceed with the steps keep a backup of your registry.

Step 1. Click on the Start Menu and type “regedit” into the search box. When the program appears click to open the regedit.exe icon.
Step 2. Locate the Key below
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsDWM

Step 3. Look to the pane on the right of the key hierarchy. Right click on the white area and select New > DWORD (32 bit) Value.
Step 4. As the value appears name it UseMachineCheck.
Step 5. Repeat and create 2 more DWORD Values, Blur and Animations
Step 6. First double-click the value just created with the UseMachineCheck and enter 0 in the Value Data box. Do the same for Values Blur and Animations. Then click OK.
Step 7. Now close the Registry Editor.
Step 8. Open the Start Menu and type “cmd” into the search box, right-click on cmd.exe when the program appears in the search results. Now, select Run as Administrator from the drop-down.
Step 9. As the Command Prompt opens type the commands below

i) Net Stop uxsms – this command will stop the Desktop Windows Manager Session Manager

ii) Net Start uxsms– this command will restart it

Step 10. Once you close the Command Prompt. Right click on the desktop and click on Personalize from the menu.
Step 11. Click on the Window Color and Appearance in the Personalization Windows Aero the Color Scheme menu.

And it's done

How to rename "start menu"

2009-11-12T09:22:00.000-08:00

Haven’t posted many Windows XP tricks recently, so here’s one: How to change the start button on your Windows XP.

Tired of the boring old “start” button at the bottom left corner of your Windows XP’s monitor? Want something new to replace iit? Well here’s how to change it.

With a few modifications in the Windows Registry, you can replace the “start” text with anything you like. Great for achieving a new, custom look for your Windows XP. So let’s get started.

Warning: this tutorial is more for advanced users, and I'm not
responsible if your system gets messed up. Only attempt the following
at your own risk.

Step 1: Modify explorer.exe

If the warning didn’t scare you enough, then the title of this step probably did. Yes, we are going to change Explorer, the backbone of your Windows XP, but don’t worry. Everything should be safe as long as you follow the steps closely.

As explorer is a binary file, we need a special tool to modify it. One of the best ones for this purpose is resource hacker. There are of course others that will get the trick done, but we will be using RH this tutorial so I recommend installing it to avoid making mistakes. Install it and let’s continue.

As always before changing anything. you want to back up. So open My Computer and navigate to and look for explorer. Copy paste it to a safe location on your hard drive.

Now that you’ve backed it up, fire up Resource Hacker and find the same explorer.exe.

When you’ve found and opened explorer in RH, navigate to String Table -> 37 -> 1033. The “start” value is on line 4, after the 578. Change the text “start” to anything you want, making sure you keep the quotes. In this example. I changed the text to xptricks.

Press the Compile Script button to make Resource Hacker put together the code. Now click File and Save the script as explorer.exe. into C: \WINDOWS\inf or another C: \WINDOWS subfolder.

Note: make sure you choose Save AS, NOT just save!!

And that’s all for the first step! Now let’s move onto the second one -modifying the registry.

Step 2: changing the registry.

By now, you have a modified explorer sitting in the /inf/ subfolder, so we need to tell Windows to use that one, instead of the original one still resting untouched.

To do this, we need to make just one simple registry modification. To open up the registry, press start (something else soon ) -> run and type regedit.

In the registry editor window that opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Micrpsoft/Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon and look for the registry entry “shell”. Click it.

Change the explorer.exe to inf/explorer.exe or whereever you saved the modified explorer.

And believe it or not, you’re done! All you have to do now is reboot or log out and bacö in to see the changes. Enjoy your new custom Windows XP start button!

12 tricks for WIn 7

2009-11-12T09:11:00.000-08:00

Restore your gadgets

Windows 7 has tightened up its security by refusing to run gadgets if UAC has been turned off, so limiting the damage malicious unsigned gadgets can do to your system. If you've disabled UAC, miss your gadgets and are happy to accept the security risk, though, there's an easy Registry way to get everything back to normal. Run REGEDIT, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Sidebar\Settings, create a new DWORD value called AllowElevatedProcess and set it to 1. Your gadgets should start working again right away.

New WordPad formats

By default WordPad will save documents in Rich Text Format, just as before. But browse the Save As Format list and you'll see you can also save (or open, actually) files in the Office 2007 .docx or OpenDocument .odt formats.

Protect your data

USB flash drives are convenient, portable, and very easy to lose. Which is a problem, especially if they're carrying sensitive data. Fortunately Windows 7 has the solution: encrypt your documents with an extension of Microsoft's BitLocker technology, and only someone with the password will be able to access it. Right-click your USB flash drive, select Turn on BitLocker and follow the instructions to protect your private files.

Minimise quickly with shake

If you have multiple windows open on your desktop and things are getting too cluttered, it used to be a time-consuming process to close them all down. In Windows 7 you can use the Aero Shake feature to minimise everything in seconds, using a cool mouse gesture. Grab the title bar of the window you wish to keep open and give it a shake, and rejoice in a clear desktop area.

Configure your favourite music

The Windows 7 Media Centre now comes with an option to play your favourite music, which by default creates a changing list of songs based on your ratings, how often you play them, and when they were added (it's assumed you'll prefer songs you've added in the last 30 days). If this doesn't work then you can tweak how Media Centre decides what a "favourite" tune is- click Tasks > Settings > Music > Favourite Music and configure the program to suit your needs.

Customise System Restore

There was very little you could do to configure System Restore in Vista, but Windows 7 improves the situation with a couple of useful setup options.
Click the Start orb, right-click Computer and select Properties > System Protection > Configure, and set the Max Usage value to a size that suits your needs (larger to hold more restore points, smaller to save disk space).
And if you don't need System Restore to save Windows settings then choose the "Only restore previous versions of files" option. Windows 7 won't back up your Registry, which means you'll squeeze more restore points and file backups into the available disk space. System Restore is much less likely to get an unbootable PC working again, though, so use this trick at your own risk.

Run As

Hold down Shift, right-click any program shortcut, and you'll see an option to run the program as a different user, handy if you're logged in to the kids' limited account and need to run something with higher privileges. This isn't really a new feature - Windows XP had a Run As option that did the same thing - but Microsoft stripped it out of Vista, so it's good to see it's had a change of heart.

Search privacy

By default Windows 7 will remember your PC search queries, and display the most recent examples when searching in Windows Explorer. If you're sharing a PC and don't want everyone to see your searches, then launch GPEDIT.MSC, go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Explorer, double-click "Turn off display of recent search entries..." and click Enabled > OK.

Tweak PC volume

By default Windows 7 will now automatically reduce the volume of your PC's sounds whenever it detects you're making or receiving PC-based phone calls. If this proves annoying (or maybe you'd like it to turn off other sounds altogether) then you can easily change the settings accordingly. Just right-click the speaker icon in your taskbar, select Sounds > Communications, and tell Windows what you'd like it to do.

Rearrange the system tray

With Windows 7 we finally see system tray icons behave in a similar way to everything else on the taskbar. So if you want to rearrange them, then go right ahead, just drag and drop them into the order you like. You can even move important icons outside of the tray, drop them onto the desktop, then put them back when you no longer need to keep an eye on them.

Extend your battery life

Windows 7 includes new power options that will help to improve your notebook's battery life. To see them, click Start, type Power Options and click the Power Options link, then click Change Plan Settings for your current plan and select Change Advanced Settings. Expand Multimedia Settings, for instance, and you'll see a new "playing video" setting that can be set to optimise power savings rather than performance. Browse through the other settings and ensure they're set up to suit your needs.

Write crash dump files

Windows 7 won't create memory.dmp crash files if you've less than 25GB of free hard drive space, annoying if you've installed the Windows debugging tools and want to diagnose your crashes. You can turn this feature off, though: browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\CrashControl, create a new DWORD value called AlwaysKeepMemoryDump, set it to 1, and the crash dump file will now always be saved.

15 tricks for win 7

2009-11-12T09:03:00.000-08:00

Recover screen space

The new Windows 7 taskbar acts as one big quick launch toolbar that can hold whatever program shortcuts you like (just right-click one and select Pin To Taskbar). And that's fine, except it does consume a little more screen real estate than we'd like. Shrink it to a more manageable size by right-clicking the Start orb, then Properties > Taskbar > Use small icons > OK.

Enjoy a retro taskbar

Windows 7 now combines taskbar buttons in a way that saves space, but also makes it more difficult to tell at a glance whether an icon represents a running application or a shortcut. If you prefer a more traditional approach, then right-click the taskbar, select Properties, and set Taskbar Buttons to "Combine when taskbar is full". You'll now get a clear and separate button for each running application, making them much easier to identify.

Remove taskbar buttons

One problem with the previous tip is the buttons will gobble up valuable taskbar real estate, but you can reduce the impact of this by removing their text captions. Launch REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics, add a string called MinWidth, set it to 54, and reboot to see the results.
Restore the Quick Launch Toolbar
If you're unhappy with the new taskbar, even after shrinking it, then it only takes a moment to restore the old Quick Launch Toolbar.
Right-click the taskbar, choose Toolbars > New Toolbar, type "%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Inter net Explorer\Quick Launch" (less the quotes) into the Folder box and click Select Folder.
Now right-click the taskbar, clear 'Lock the taskbar', and you should see the Quick Launch toolbar, probably to the right. Right-click its divider, clear Show Text and Show Title to minimise the space it takes up. Complete the job by right-clicking the bar and selecting View > Small Icons for the true retro look.

Custom power switch

By default, Windows 7 displays a plain text 'Shut down' button on the Start menu, but it only takes a moment to change this action to something else. If you reboot your PC a few times every day then that might make more sense as a default action: right-click the Start orb, select Properties and set the 'Power boot action' to 'Restart' to make it happen.

Auto arrange your desktop

If your Windows 7 desktop has icons scattered everywhere then you could right-click it and select View > Auto arrange, just as in Vista. But a simpler solution is just to press and hold down F5, and Windows will automatically arrange its icons for you.

Disable smart window arrangement

Windows 7 features interesting new ways to intelligently arrange your windows, so that (for example) if you drag a window to the top of the screen then it will maximise. We like the new system, but if you find it distracting then it's easily disabled. Run REGEDIT, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop, set WindowArrangementActive to 0, reboot, and your windows will behave just as they always did.

Browse your tasks

If you prefer the keyboard over the mouse, you will love browsing the taskbar using this nifty shortcut. Press Windows and T, and you move the focus to the left-most icon on the taskbar. Then use your arrow keys to change the focus to other icons, and you get a live preview of every window.

Display your drives

Click Computer in Windows 7 and you might see a strange lack of drives, but don't panic, it's just Microsoft trying to be helpful: drives like memory card readers are no longer displayed if they're empty. We think it's an improvement, but if you disagree then it's easy to get your empty drives back. Launch Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options > View and clear 'Hide empty drives in the computer folder'.

See more detail

The new and improved Windows 7 magnifier offers a much easier way to zoom in on any area of the screen. Launch it and you can now define a scale factor and docking position, and once activated it can track your keyboard focus around the screen. Press Tab as you move around a dialog box, say, and it'll automatically zoom in on the currently active control.

Hiding the Windows Live Messenger icon

If you use Windows Live Messenger a lot, you'll have noticed that the icon now resides on the taskbar, where you can easily change status and quickly send an IM to someone. If you prefer to keep Windows Live Messenger in the system tray, where it's been for previous releases, just close Windows Live Messenger, edit the shortcut properties and set the application to run in Windows Vista compatibility mode.

Customise UAC

Windows Vista's User Account Control was a good idea in practice, but poor implementation put many people off - it raised far too many alerts. Fortunately Windows 7 displays less warnings by default, and lets you further fine-tune UAC to suit your preferred balance between security and a pop-up free life (Start > Control Panel > Change User Account Control Settings).

Use Sticky Notes

The Sticky Notes app is both simpler and more useful in Windows 7. Launch StikyNot.exe and you can type notes at the keyboard; right-click a note to change its colour; click the + sign on the note title bar to add another note; and click a note and press Alt + 4 to close the note windows (your notes are automatically saved).

Open folder in new process

By default Windows 7 opens folders in the same process. This saves system resources, but means one folder crash can bring down the entire shell. If your system seems unstable, or you're doing something in Explorer that regularly seems to causes crashes, then open Computer, hold down Shift, right-click on your drive and select Open in New Process. The folder will now be launched in a separate process, and so a crash is less likely to affect anything else.

Watch more videos

Windows Media Player 12 is a powerful program, but it still won't play all the audio and video files you'll find online. Fortunately the first freeware Windows 7 codecs package [shark007.net/win7codecs.html] has been released, and installing it could get your troublesome multimedia files playing again.

Preview fonts

Open the Fonts window in Windows XP and Vista and you'll see the font names, probably with icons to tell you whether they're TrueType or OpenType, but that's about it. Windows 7 sees some useful font-related improvements.
Open the new fonts window and you'll find a little preview for every font, giving you a quick idea of how they're going to look.
The tedium of scrolling through multiple entries for each family, like Times New Roman, Times New Roman Bold, Times New Roman Bold Italic and so on, has finally ended. There's now just a single entry for each font (though you can still see all other members of the family).
And there's a new OpenType font, Gabriola, added to the mix. It's an attractive script font, well worth a try the next time you need a stylish document that stands out from the crowd.

Clean up Live Essentials

2009-11-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

Installing Windows Live Essentials will get you the new versions of Mail, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery and others - great. Unfortunately it also includes other components that may be unnecessary, but if you like to keep a clean system then these can be quickly removed.

If you left the default "Set your search provider" option selected during installation, for instance, Windows Live will install Choice Guard, a tool to set your browser home page and search engine, and prevent other programs from changing them. If this causes problems later, or you just decide you don't need it, then Choice Guard may be removed by clicking Start, typing msiexec /x and pressing [Enter].

Windows Live Essentials also adds an ActiveX Control to help upload your files to Windows Live SkyDrive, as well as the Windows Live Sign-in Assistant, which makes it easier to manage and switch between multiple Windows Live accounts. If you're sure you'll never need either then remove them with the Control Panel "Uninstall a Program" applet.

Unlock Taskbar in Windows 7

2009-11-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

Download the 32-bit or 64-bit tools as per your requirement and place it into the Windows directory

Open command prompt with administrative privileges and type the following commands

takeown /f %windir%\explorer.exe
cacls %windir%\explorer.exe /E /G UserName:F (replace UserName with your username in windows 7)
taskkill /im explorer.exe /f
cd %windir%
start unlockProtectedFeatures.exe

Now you need to re launch the shell by clicking the launch button

More Win 7 keyboard shortcuts

2009-11-12T08:03:00.000-08:00

Window Management

* Win+Left Arrow and Win+Right Arrow: Dock a window to the left or right half of the screen.

* Win+Shift+Left Arrow and Win+Shift+Right Arrow: Move a window from one monitor to another, keeping them in the same relative location to the monitor’s top-left origin.

* Win+Up Arrow and Win+Down Arrow: Maximizes and restores/minimizes a window.

* Win+Shift+Up Arrow and Win+Shift+Down Arrow: Maximizes and restores the vertical size
of a window.

* Win+Home: Minimize all the non-active background windows, keeping the window you’re
using in its current position. (Press Win+Home again to restore the windows to their original locations.)

* Win+(plus key) and Win+(minus key): Zoom in or out using Windows Magnifer.

* Win+E: Opens Windows Explorer.

* Win+U: Opens the Ease of Access Center.

* Win+D: Show/hide the desktop.

* Win+F: Opens the Search Results window.

* Win+L: Locks the computer.

* Win+B: Sets focus to the “Show hidden icons” button on the task bar.

* Win+M: Minimizes all windows.

* Win+Ctrl+F: Opens the Active Directory Find Computers dialog.

Taskbar

* Win+Space: Use “Aero Peek” to see any gadgets or icons you’ve got on your desktop.

* Win+R: Opens the Run dialog.

* Win+T: Move the focus to the first taskbar. (Pressing again will cycle through them.)

* Win+Shift+T: Move the focus to the last taskbar. (Pressing again will cycle through them.)

* Ctrl+(mouse click on a single application icon in the task bar): Toggle through each of the open windows in order. The best example of this is Internet Explorer. If you have five tabs open in a single IE instance, holding the Ctrl key while repeatedly clicking on the single IE icon in the task bar will toggle through each of the five tabs in order.

* Ctrl+Shift+(mouse click on an application icon in the task bar): Launch that application with full administrative rights. You can also use Ctrl+Shift+Enter for commands from the search bar for the same action.

* Shift+(mouse click on an application icon in the task bar): Launch a new instance of the application rather than switching to the existing application. (You can also middle-click with the third mouse button or scroll wheel.)

* Win+1 .. Win+5: Launch a new instance of the any of the first five icons on the task bar. (By the way, the icons can be reordered to suit your needs by simply dragging them around and can be pinned shortcuts or running applications.)

* Shift+(right mouse click on an application icon in the task bar): Show the Window menu. (You get different menus depending on whether the application is running or has multiple instances open.

4G

2009-11-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

4G refers to the fourth generation of cellular wireless and is a successor to 3G and 2G standards. The rest of this article associates 4G with International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT Advanced), though 4G is a broader term and could include standards outside IMT-Advanced. A 4G system may upgrade existing communication networks and is expected to provide a comprehensive and secure IP based solution where facilities such as voice, data and streamed multimedia will be provided to users on an "Anytime, Anywhere" basis and at much higher data rates compared to previous generations.

Goals

4G is being developed to accommodate the QoS and rate requirements set by forthcoming applications like wireless broadband access, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), video chat, mobile TV, HDTV content, Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), minimal services like voice and data, and other services that utilize bandwidth.

The 4G working group has defined the following as objectives of the 4G wireless communication standard:

* A spectrally efficient system (in bits/s/Hz and bits/s/Hz/site),
* High network capacity: more simultaneous users per cell,
* A nominal data rate of 100 Mbit/s while the client physically moves at high speeds relative to the station, and 1 Gbit/s while client and station are in relatively fixed positions as defined by the ITU-R,
* A data rate of at least 100 Mbit/s between any two points in the world,
* Smooth handoff across heterogeneous networks,
* Seamless connectivity and global roaming across multiple networks,
* High quality of service for next generation multimedia support (real time audio, high speed data, HDTV video content, mobile TV, etc)
* Interoperability with existing wireless standards,and
* An all IP, packet switched network.

In summary, the 4G system should dynamically share and utilize network resources to meet the minimal requirements of all the 4G enabled users.

4G features

According to the members of the 4G working group, the infrastructure and the terminals of 4G will have almost all the standards from 2G to 4G implemented. Although legacy systems are in place to adopt existing users, the infrastructure for 4G will be only packet-based (all-IP). Some proposals suggest having an open Internet platform. Technologies considered to be early 4G include: Flash-OFDM, the 802.16e mobile version of WiMax (also known as WiBro in South Korea), and HC-SDMA (see iBurst). 3GPP Long Term Evolution may reach the market 1–2 years after Mobile WiMax is released.

An even higher speed version of WiMax is the IEEE 802.16m specification. LTE Advanced will be the later evolution of the 3GPP LTE standard.

It's Uses

At the present rates of 15-30 Mbit/s, 4G is capable of providing users with streaming high-definition television. At rates of 100 Mbit/s, the content of a DVD-5 (for example a movie) can be downloaded within about 5 minutes for offline access.

Speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines

2009-11-06T09:27:00.001-08:00

Here's a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks. Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn't search for Scheduled Tasks anymore. Here's how :

Open up the Registry and go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

and delete it.

This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.

This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.

Hide 'User Accounts' from users

2009-11-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

Go to Start/Run, and type:

GPEDIT.MSC

Open the path

User Config > Admin Templates > Control Panel

doubleclick "Hide specified Control Panel applets"

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

click Add button,

type "nusrmgt.cpl" into the add box

20 things you didn't know about Windows XP

2009-11-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Protect your data

2009-11-06T05:53:00.001-08:00

Protect your data
USB flash drives are convenient, portable, and very easy to lose. Which is a problem, especially if they're carrying sensitive data. Fortunately Windows 7 has the solution: encrypt your documents with an extension of Microsoft's BitLocker technology, and only someone with the password will be able to access it. Right-click your USB flash drive, select Turn on BitLocker and follow the instructions to protect your private files.

Most useful key-board shortcuts for Vista

2009-11-01T03:46:00.000-08:00

Copy = Ctrl+c

Cut = Ctrl+x

Paste = Ctrl+v

Undo = Ctrl+z

Delete = Delete

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

To copy selected item, CTRL while dragging an item

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

Rename selected item, F2

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

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

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

Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph, CTRL+UP ARROW
Highlight a block of text, CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys

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

Select all, CTRL+A

Search for a file or folder, F3

View properties for the selected item, ALT+ENTER

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

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

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

Switch between open items, ALT+TAB

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

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

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

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

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

Display the Start menu, CTRL+ESC

Display the corresponding menu, ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
Refresh the active window. F5

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

Cancel the current task. ESC

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

Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:=

Move forward through tabs, CTRL+TAB

Move backward through tabs, CTRL+SHIFT+TAB

Move forward through options. TAB

Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB

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

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

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

Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
Display Help. F1

Display the items in the active list. F4

Helpful accessibility keyboard shortcuts:=

Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds

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

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

Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times

Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds

Windows vista slow start up problem and solution:-

2009-11-01T03:42:00.000-08:00

Facing lots of problem for Windows Vista slow start up. This is common for new operating system.
Now many people facing problem about windows vista slow start up and windows vista takes to long even after entering password screen to boots up.

It may some time show message like Errors: AFEE32.EXE
And also find Server Busy

The possible reason and solution are

Most common reason is Trojan virus called afee32.exe = TAJEAWE.EXE .This is a backdoor Trojan. However these are just some of its files, the virus's real name is "W32 Randex". This Trojan using a port back door. You can find explanation about this virus at

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2003-081213-3232-99&tabid=1

Try running WINDOWS DEFENDER or Windows OneCare 1.5 to isolate the file.
Use MS Malicious Virus Removal Tool, it will remove this virus according to MS.

http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

Now if your system is not virus infected than follow these steps

Use msconfing on run and disable unnecessary start up program.

Also try defragging and generally cleaning up the system spyware adware checks virus scans etc..

Make sure all the driver are correct.

Uninstall or unplug external hardware besides your mouse and keyboard. And see if any difference you found.

Vista Tips For Changing Windows Boot Graphic

2009-11-01T03:30:00.000-08:00

You may like the Vista boot screens. We love when that little orb appears in the middle of the screen and then the colorful login screen displays. But if you don’t like, you can actually change it slightly. During boot, behind the scenes is a boot screen that Vista techno-geeks call Aurora. The only difference between it and what you see by default is that, instead of a scrolling bar with a Vista graphic at the beginning of the process, you see a stationary picture with the text Starting Windows Vista at the bottom.

Here are the steps for vista tips to change boot screen. To enable the “Aurora” boot screen:

1. Press the + R keys in combination to open Run dialog.

2. Type MSCONFIG.EXE.
3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.
4. In the “System Configuration” window, click on the Boot tab.

5. Select your Windows Vista installation and under Boot options, check No GUI boot.
6. Press OK.
7. In the dialog that appears, check “Don’t show this message again”, and then click on Restart.
8. Your computer will now reboot, and you will see the “aurora” boot screen with text that says “Starting Windows Vista.” And if you really like the Aurora boot screen you should also try out the Aurora screensaver.

Vista Tips to Recover Deleted Files

2009-11-01T03:24:00.000-08:00

Windows vista System Restore makes it possible to roll back important system files to previous dates. But it is also possible to restore single file or documents those are deleted or modified. System restore point automatically generates everyday.

now make sure system restore is enabled. Now go to the folder where file was saved. Now right click in is and choose the tab Restore Previous Versions as shown in the figure.

It loads Folder Properties with a list of previous saved versions of the folder. As shown in the figure it has 1 restore point. If more than one vista restore point that select 1 by clicking it.

You have three options to access the old files - either Open, Copy or Restore.
• Open allows you to browse the archive of the folder from the restore date, letting you drag and drop any number of files out of the archive (probably the easiest method).
• Copy will prompt you to select a destination folder to copy all of the backup archive to. This is useful if you want to restore the entire folder to a new location.
• Restore will overwrite the currently selected folder with all the files from the restore point (overwriting any modifications). Only use this if you are aware any file since this restore date will be overwritten.
this Windows vista tip help to recover your deleted files

Rename a Series of Files

2009-11-01T03:03:00.000-08:00

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

1.Open another folder containing files that you want to rename.
2.Select the files you want to rename. If the files you want are not adjacent in the file list, press and hold CTRL, and then click each item to select it.
3.On the File menu, click Rename.
4.Type the new name, and then press ENTER.

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

Delete Browsing History commands

2009-10-31T21:37:00.000-07:00

• Delete Temporary Internet Files: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 8

• Delete Cookies: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 2

• Delete History: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 1

• Delete Form Data: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 16

• Delete Passwords: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 32

• Delete All: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 255

• Delete All + files and settings stored by Add-ons: RunDll32.exe

Application Keyboard Shortcuts

2009-10-31T09:01:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista has it's own set of keyboard shortcuts, but did you know you can launch also assign shortcuts to launch any application? For example, you might want to launch the Calculator every time you press CTRL + F12.
To assign a keyboard combination, find a shortcut to the application you wish to launch, right click it and select Properties:
Then click in the "Shortcut Key" box and press the desired key combination you wish to start the application. Once you have done this, click OK. You can choose a key combination from the following options:

* F1-F12 or Numpad Key
* SHIFT + (F1-F12 or Numpad Key)
* CTRL + (F1-F12 or Numpad Key)
* (CTRL + ALT or CTRL + SHIFT or ALT + SHIFT) + Almost any key

Now, pressing that key combination should load your selected application. This can be a real time saver for your most used applications.

Remove Watermark from Windows 7 beta 1 Desktop

2009-10-31T05:54:00.000-07:00

Remove Watermark from Windows 7 beta 1 Desktop

WIndows 7 is in its beta version and you can realize it well with the lapses in the operating system. One such annoying feature with the OS is the water mark embedded in the desktop. To remove the watermark you can follow the steps below. Before beginning with the steps you need to ensure that the User Account Control is disabled.

Step 1: Click on the Start Menu> Control Panel
Step 2: Click on User Accounts. Change User Account Control Settings and adjust the slider so that it is at the bottom of the screen (Never Notify).
Step 3: Next restart the computer
Step 4: After the rebooting browse to the following directory

C:WindowsSystem32en-US
Step 5: Once you’re in the directory locate and right-click the following file
user32.dll.mui
Step 6: From the drop down menu select the properties. Click on the Security tab and click on the Advanced button at the buttom.
Step 7: In the Advanced Security Settings window click on the Owner tab and click Edit.
Step 8: Click OK to effect the changes and return to the original file Properties window.
Step 9: Under the security tab, Click Edit.
Step 10:Select Users and a checkmark to the all the checkboxes giving you full control of the file
Step 11: Rename user32.dll.mui to user32-backup.dll.mui
Step 12: Download the patched version of the files - 32 bit Download or 64 bit Download
Step 13: After the files have been downloaded extract it from the original directory
C:WindowsSystem32en-US
Step 14: Restart the computer

ProgramShortcutKey

2009-10-31T05:39:00.000-07:00

Create Keyboard Shortcuts for Programs

You can create keyboard shortcuts for any program in Windows 7.
Right-click the program icon
select Properties.
Select the Shortcut tab, click in Shortcut key, to set the keyboard shortcut for that program.

ProgramShortcutKey

How to Unlock the Windows 7 Hidden Themes

2009-10-31T05:26:00.000-07:00

The Windows 7 beta has a pack of hidden and locked themes.Let's see how you can unlock the hidden themes.

Step 1: Open the Explorer (Windows + E) and go to C:\Windows\winsxs
Step 2: Enter *.theme into the search field. Alternately you can use the * sign on the number block.
Step 3: You'll get the Click me prompt
Step 4: Double-click the themes ZA, US, GB, CA, AU to install them.

Using the mouse wheel to change the icon views

2009-10-31T02:10:00.000-07:00

Using the mouse wheel to change the icon views

If you’re using Windows Explorer to work with your files and folders, you’ve probably already discovered the new Views menu. You just click the arrow next to the Views icon on the toolbar to bring up the Views menu, as shown in Figure C, and then drag the slider up or down to change the size and appearance of the file and folder icons.

The slider on the Views menu has seven settings that range from Extra Large Icons to Tiles.

While clicking the icon and dragging the slider is simple enough there is an easier way. Simply hold down the [Ctrl] key and scroll your mouse wheel up and down to resize the icons from Tiles to Extra Large Icons.

Using the [Ctrl] key and the mouse wheel combination also works on the Desktop. While the Desktop is selected, just hold down the [Ctrl] key and scroll your mouse wheel up and down to resize the icons from a microscopic 16 x 16 all the way up to huge 256 x 256 renditions.

2009-10-31T00:59:00.000-07:00

Make Internet Explorer 8 Load Faster

If you want Internet Explorer 8 to load faster, you need to disable the add-ons that slow it down, so go to Tools -> Manage Add-ons and check the load time for each one. You can choose for yourself the ones you can live without and ones that would increase the load speed.

Use Virtual Hard Disk Files

2009-10-31T00:53:00.000-07:00

Use Virtual Hard Disk Files

You can now create and manage virtual hard disks files in Windows 7 as if they were real disks. This can allow you to use a live Windows installation on the virtual disk without the need to boot the virtual Computer. To create a virtual disk you have to press the Windows Key, right-click on Computer, then go to
Manage
-> Disk Management
-> Action
-> Create VHD. There you can specify the location and size of your virtual hard disk file.

To attach the virtual disk file, press the Windows Key, right-click Computer, then go to Manage -> Disk Management -> Action -> Attach VHD and you have to specify the location and if it’s read only or not.

To initialize a virtual hard disk, press the Windows Key, right-click on Computer, go to Manage -> Disk Management -> Action -> Attach VHD, specify the location, click Ok, then right click on the virtual disk and click on Initialize Disk. Select the partition style you want to use and then right-click on the unallocated space and click “New Simple Volume” and follow the instructions wizard. Now, a new hard drive appears in Windows Explorer and you can use it as a real partition.

Extend Windows 7 trail period.

2009-10-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

Extend Windows 7 from 30 days to 90 Days trail

Follow the procedure below to extend your trail period

1.Firstly, Download Windows 7 Pre-Beta M3 Build 6801 from here.

2. Burn it on a DVD, and install windows 7.

Note: This hack will work after every days of use, so try these commands 2 times just some days before your 30 days trail is going to end.

3. When installation is complete, open Command Prompt.

Type any of the three commands below:
sysprep /generalize
slmgr.vbs –rearm
rundll32 slc.dll,SLReArmWindows

This is how you can get 90 = 30+60 days of Windows 7 trail period.

Keybord shortcuts

2009-10-31T00:31:00.000-07:00

Keyboard shortcuts

Alt+P
Display/ hide the Explorer preview pane

Windows Logo+G
Display gadgets in front of other windows

Windows Logo++ (plus key)
Zoom in, where appropriate

Windows Logo+- (minus key)
Zoom out, where appropriate

Windows Logo+Up
Maximise the current window

Windows Logo+Down
Minimise the current window

Windows Logo+Left
Snap to the left hand side of the screen

Windows Logo+Right
Snap to the right hand side of the screen

Windows Logo+Home
Minimise/ restore everything except the current window

Customise the Windows log-on screen

2009-10-31T00:16:00.000-07:00

Customise the log-on screen

Changing the Windows log-on screen used to involve some complicated and potentially dangerous hacks, but not any more - Windows 7 makes it easy.

First, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background in REGEDIT, double-click the DWORD key called OEMBackground (not there? Create it) and set its value to 1.

Now find a background image you'd like to use. Make sure it's less than 256KB in size, and matches the aspect ratio of your screen as it'll be stretched to fit.

Next, copy that image into the %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds folder (create the info\backgrounds folders if they don't exist). Rename the image to backgroundDefault.jpg, reboot, and you should now have a custom log-on image.

Alternatively, use a free tweaking tool to handle everything for you. Logon Changer displays a preview so you can see how the log-on screen will look without rebooting, while the Logon Screen Rotator accepts multiple images and will display a different one every time you log on.

Activate XP mode

2009-10-31T00:12:00.000-07:00

Activate XP mode

If you've old but important software that no longer runs under Windows 7, then you could try using XP Mode, a virtual copy of XP that runs in a window on your Windows 7 desktop. But there's a big potential problem, as XP Mode only works with systems that have hardware virtualisation (AMD-V or Intel VT) built-in and turned on. If you've a compatible CPU then this may just be a matter of enabling the option in your BIOS set-up program, however some high profile brands, including Sony Vaio, disable the setting for "security reasons". And that blocks XP Mode from working, too.

One solution has emerged, but it's a little risky, as essentially you'll have to alter a byte in your laptop firmware and hope this doesn't have any unexpected side-effects. Gulp. If you're feeling brave then take a look at the Feature Enable Blog for the details, but don't blame us if it goes wrong.

A safer approach might be to use VirtualBox, a virtualisation tool that doesn't insist on hardware support, but then you will need to find a licensed copy of XP (or whatever other Windows version your software requires) for its virtual machine.

AppLocker

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AppLocker

AppLocker is a completely new feature for Windows 7 that enables you to lock down certain applications for users that you specify, using rules and properties to provide access control for applications.

Meant primarily for businesses, it's available in Windows 7 Ultimate, while you can also create rules in Windows 7 Professional.

You can configure numerous rules including restricting applications by publisher, for example, so you could restrict certain games or simply applications you use for work. AppLocker is hidden away though, in the Local Group Policy Editor.

To launch this, run GPEDIT.MSC and go to Computer Configuration ➜ Windows Settings. Then highlight Security Settings and look for Application Control Policies. AppLocker is within this group.

8. Shake your mouse for clarity

One of our favourite little enhancements to Windows 7 is the shake to minimise feature. If your desktop is cluttered with windows, it can be a time-consuming process to minimise them all to your taskbar. Now you don't need to.

Just grab hold of the title bar of the window you still want to use with your mouse, and shake it around a little. All the windows will minimise to the taskbar, except for the one you're using. Cool eh?

Oh, and should you want to clear the entire desktop, then just click on the area next to the clock in the bottom right-hand corner.

Make your Folders Private

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Make your Folders Private

•Open My Computer
•Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
•If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
•Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
•Double-click your user folder.
•Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
•On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.

Note

•To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
•This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
•When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
•You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS

How to make your Desktop Icons Transparent

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Just do this.

Go to control Panel > System, > Advanced > Performance area > Settings button Visual Effects tab "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop

Keyboard-shortcuts

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CTRL + ( ) shortcuts

CTRL + N Opens a new Firefox window

CTRL + O Open a local file

CTRL + P Print the current webpage

CTRL + R Reloads the current webpage

CTRL + S Save the current webpage on your PC

CTRL + T Opens a new Firefox Tab

CTRL + U View the page source of the current webpage

CTRL + V Paste the contents of the Windows clipboard

CTRL + W Closes the current Firefox Tab or Window (if more than one tab is open)

CTRL + X Cut the selected text

CTRL + Z Undo the last action

F + ( ) shortcuts

F1 Opens Firefox help

F3 Find more text within the same webpage

F5 Reload the current webpage

F6 Toggles the cursor between the address/URL input box and the current webpage

F7 Toggles Caret Browsing on and off. Used to be able to select text on a webpage with the keyboard

F11 Switch to Full Screen mode

Keybord-shortcuts

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CTRL+( ) Shortcuts

CTRL and A Selects all the items in the active window.

CTRL and C Copies the item or items to the Clipboard and can be pasted using CTRL and V.

CTRL and F Displays the Find all files dialog box.

CTRL and G Displays the Go to folder dialog box.

CTRL and N Displays the New dialog box.

CTRL and O Displays the Open dialog box.

CTRL and P Displays the Print dialog box.

CTRL and S Displays the Save dialog box.

CTRL and V Pastes the copied item or items from the Clipboard.

CTRL and X Cuts the item or items selected to the Clipboard.

CTRL and Z Undoes the last action.

CTRL and F4 Closes the active document window.

CTRL while dragging an item Copy the selected item

CTRL+SHIFT with arrow keys Highlight a block of text

CTRL+F4 Close the active document

CTRL+ESC Display the Start menu

CTRL and F6 Opens the next document window in the active application.

ALT+( ) Shortcuts

ALT+ENTER View the properties for the selected item

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

ALT+SPACEBAR Open the shortcut menu for the active window

ALT+TAB Switch between the open items

ALT+ESC Cycle through items in the order that they had been opened

F+( ) Shortcuts

F1 key Gives help on the active window or selected item.

F2 key Rename the selected item

F3 key Search for a file or a folder

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

F5 key Update the active window

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

F10 key Activate the menu bar in the active program

Windows Logo+( ) Shortcuts

Windows Logo Display or hide the Start menu

Windows Logo+BREAK Display the System Properties dialog box

Windows Logo+D Display the desktop

Windows Logo+M Minimize all of the windows

Windows Logo+SHIFT+M Restore the minimized windows

Windows Logo+E Open My Computer

Windows Logo+F Search for a file or a folder

CTRL+Windows Logo+F Search for computers

Windows Logo+F1 Display Windows Help

Windows Logo+ L Lock the keyboard

Windows Logo+R Open the Run dialog box

Windows Logo+U Open Utility Manager

Other Shortcuts

TAB Move forward through the options

SHIFT+TAB Move backward through the options

CTRL+TAB Move forward through the tabs

CTRL+SHIFT+TAB Move backward through the tabs

ALT+Underlined letter Perform the corresponding command or select the corresponding
option

ENTER Perform the command for the active option or button

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

F1 key Display Help

F4 key Display the items in the active list

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

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

END Display the bottom of the active window

HOME Display the top of the active window

NUM LOCK+Asterisk sign (*) Display all of the subfolders that are under the selected folder

NUM LOCK+Plus sign (+) Display the contents of the selected folder

NUM LOCK+Minus sign (-) Collapse the selected folder

LEFT ARROW Collapse the current selection if it is expanded, or select the parent folder

RIGHT ARROW Display the current selection if it is collapsed, or select the first subfolder