Computer, Printer, Networking Tips

Add/Remove Program Cleaner

2011-01-27T06:20:00.000-08:00

Add/Remove program cleaner 2.0 is a free and useful program that allows you to clean up the Add/Remove programs list in the control panel. It should only be used to remove entries that are broken and cannot be removed by running the uninstall program.

Add/Remove program cleaner 2.0 is made by http://www.intelliadmin.com and its made at date: 2006-05-25. The Add/Remove Program Cleaner 2.0 Size: 937 Kb, and its have licensea as Freeware. This Add/Remove Program Cleaner 2.0 requires All off windows type.

To download Add/Remove Program Cleaner 2.0 follow this link

BackgroundCMD

2011-01-27T06:19:00.000-08:00

BackgroundCMD is a command prompt folder background shell extension. BackgroundCMD allows you to start a command prompt from any directory that you're currently browsing.

Simply right-click the directory background, and select "CMD Prompt" from the context menu of BackgroundCMD. The new console's initial path will be set to the directory you were browsing.

The author is Author: Neer Roggel. BackgroundCMD create at 2006-06-08 with 118 Kb of size. BackgroundCMD have Freeware license. BackgroundCMD Require Windows XP/windows 2K/and windows 2003

To download go to roggel.com

Brute Force Uninstaller

2011-01-27T06:18:00.000-08:00

Brute Force Uninstaller is a scripting program that can execute a series of preset commands like a Windows batch file, aimed at uninstalled programs that are hard to remove, uninstall improperly or simply unwanted. Scripts are plaintext and can be written with Notepad, and the command syntax is very transparent.

Brute Force Uninstaller is very complete and powerful, has a small memory footprint and has no uninstaller.

Brute Force Uninstaller was created by Merijn at 2005-11-04. Its very small programs with 46 Kb and absolutly free. Brute Force Uninstaller require Windows all version

Using the Windows Task Manager

2007-03-02T05:56:00.002-08:00

Trick : To determine the amount of RAM you'll regain by disabling unnecessary system services, use the Windows Task Manager. Here's how: Before you disable any system services, reboot your system and don't launch any applications. If you have applications that automatically load when you start Windows, hold down the [Shift] key to bypass the Startup folder. Then, right click on the task bar and select Task Manager from the shortcut menu. When you see the Windows Task Manager dialog box, select the Performance tab. Now take note of the Available value in the Physical Memory panel. After you disable those system services you deem unnecessary, reboot your system in the same manner and compare the Available value in the Physical Memory panel to the one that you noted earlier.

World Wide Web Publishing Service

2007-03-02T05:56:00.001-08:00

You don't need your system to act as an WWW server
If you find a match and think that your system doesn't need that particular service, right-click on the service and choose the Properties command from the shortcut menu. When you see the Properties dialog box for that service, click the Startup Type drop down list and select Manual. Then click OK. As you change the Startup Type for any service, take note of the service's name. That way you'll have a record of which services you changed and can change them back if you need to, as I'll explain in a moment.

What Are System Services in the 1st place

2007-03-02T05:55:00.000-08:00

System services are actually small helper programs that provide support for other larger programs in Windows 2000. Many of the services are set up to run automatically each time you start Windows 2000. However, if you're not using the larger programs that these services are designed to support, these services are simply wasting RAM that could be put to better use by your applications. While the word "Disable" is used here to describe the idea that you'll remove these services from memory, what you'll really be doing is changing the startup setting from Automatic to Manual. When you do, the services won't automatically start each time you launch Windows 2000 Professional. However, Windows 2000 will be able to manually start the services if they're needed. That way you won't be unnecessarily wasting RAM, but you won't be crippling your system either. Note: If you're running Windows 2000 Professional on a corporate network, you may not be able to adjust system services. Regardless of whether you can or not, you should check with your system administrator before attempting the make these changes.
Changing the startup type of a service from Automatic to Manual is a relatively simple operation. To begin, open the Control Panel, open the Administrative Tools folder, and then double click the Services tool. When you see the Services window, set the View to Detail if it isn't already. Then click the Startup Type column header to sort the services by Startup Type. When you do, all the Services that start automatically will appear at the top of the list.
As you scan through the list of services on your system whose Startup Type setting is set to Automatic, look for the services in listed in the Table below. These are some of the services are good candidates to be set to a Manual Startup Type.
Examples of services that can be safely changed to Manual :-
DHCP Client -- You're not connecting to a specific DHCP server on your local network
Distributed Link Tracking Client -- You're not connected to a Windows 2000 domain
DNS Client -- You're not connecting to a specific DNS server on your local network
FTP Publishing Service -- You don't need your system to act as an FTP server
IIS Admin Service -- You don't need your system to act as an WWW server
IPSEC Policy Agent -- You're not connected to a Windows 2000 domain
Messenger -- You're not connected to a Windows 2000 domain
Remote Registry Service -- You don't remotely access the Registry of other systems on your local network
RIP Service -- You don't need your system to act as a router
Run As Service -- You don't use any applications that run as an alias

POWERDOWN ISSUES.

2007-03-02T05:54:00.001-08:00

“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.

SHUTDOWN WORKS, BUT IT’S REAL SLOW.

2007-03-02T05:53:00.002-08:00

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.

"STOP” ERROR MESSAGES AT SHUTDOWN

2007-03-02T05:53:00.001-08:00

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.

Use a Shortcut to LAN Connection Information

2007-03-02T05:51:00.000-08:00

Something new in Windows XP—instead of using the command line program and typing ipconfig to find local area network information, you can use the following shortcut:
1.Click Start, point to Connect to, and then click Show All Connections.
2.Right–click the connection you want information about, and then click Status.
3.In the connection Properties dialog box, click the Support tab.
For even more information, click the Advanced tab. To automatically enable the status monitor each time the connection is active, in the connection Properties dialog box, select the Show icon in taskbar notification area when connected check box.

Keyboard Shortcuts

2007-03-02T05:50:00.000-08:00

When speed counts, the keyboard is still king. Almost all the actions and commands you can perform with a mouse you can perform faster using combinations of keys on your keyboard. These simple keyboard shortcuts can get you where you want to go faster than several clicks of a mouse. You'll work faster on spreadsheets and similar documents, too, because you won't lose your place switching back and forth between mouse and keys.

Here are some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts:
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
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+F4
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
Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu
Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10
Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW
Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW
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
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE

If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

Display or hide the Start menu.
Display the System Properties dialog box. +BREAK
Show the desktop. +D
Minimize all windows. +M
Restores minimized windows. +Shift+M
Open My Computer. +E
Search for a file or folder. +F
Search for computers. CTRL+ +F
Display Windows Help. +F1
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. + L
Open the Run dialog box. +R
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item.
Open Utility Manager. +U

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
Open Utility Manager. +U

Keyboard shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:
Display the bottom of the active window. END
Display the top of the active window. HOME
Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)
Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)
Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW

Caught A Virus?

2007-03-02T05:46:00.000-08:00

If you've let your guard down--or even if you haven't--it can be hard to tell if your PC is infected. Here's what to do if you suspect the worst.

Heard this one before? You must run antivirus software and keep it up to date or else your PC will get infected, you'll lose all your data, and you'll incur the wrath of every e-mail buddy you unknowingly infect because of your carelessness.

You know they're right. Yet for one reason or another, you're not running antivirus software, or you are but it's not up to date. Maybe you turned off your virus scanner because it conflicted with another program. Maybe you got tired of upgrading after you bought Norton Antivirus 2001, 2002, and 2003. Or maybe your annual subscription of virus definitions recently expired, and you've put off renewing.

It happens. It's nothing to be ashamed of. But chances are, either you're infected right now, as we speak, or you will be very soon.

For a few days in late January, the Netsky.p worm was infecting about 2,500 PCs a day. Meanwhile the MySQL bot infected approximately 100 systems a minute (albeit not necessarily desktop PCs). As David Perry, global director of education for security software provider Trend Micro, puts it, "an unprotected [Windows] computer will become owned by a bot within 14 minutes."

Today's viruses, worms, and so-called bots--which turn your PC into a zombie that does the hacker's bidding (such as mass-mailing spam)--aren't going to announce their presence. Real viruses aren't like the ones in Hollywood movies that melt down whole networks in seconds and destroy alien spacecraft. They operate in the background, quietly altering data, stealing private operations, or using your PC for their own illegal ends. This makes them hard to spot if you're not well protected.

Is Your PC "Owned?"

I should start by saying that not every system oddity is due to a virus, worm, or bot. Is your system slowing down? Is your hard drive filling up rapidly? Are programs crashing without warning? These symptoms are more likely caused by Windows, or badly written legitimate programs, rather than malware. After all, people who write malware want to hide their program's presence. People who write commercial software put icons all over your desktop. Who's going to work harder to go unnoticed?

Other indicators that may, in fact, indicate that there's nothing that you need to worry about, include:

* An automated e-mail telling you that you're sending out infected mail. E-mail viruses and worms typically come from faked addresses.
* A frantic note from a friend saying they've been infected, and therefore so have you. This is likely a hoax. It's especially suspicious if the note tells you the virus can't be detected but you can get rid of it by deleting one simple file. Don't be fooled--and don't delete that file.

I'm not saying that you should ignore such warnings. Copy the subject line or a snippet from the body of the e-mail and plug it into your favorite search engine to see if other people have received the same note. A security site may have already pegged it as a hoax.

Sniffing Out an Infection

There are signs that indicate that your PC is actually infected. A lot of network activity coming from your system (when you're not actually using Internet) can be a good indicator that something is amiss. A good software firewall, such as ZoneAlarm, will ask your permission before letting anything leave your PC, and will give you enough information to help you judge if the outgoing data is legitimate. By the way, the firewall that comes with Windows, even the improved version in XP Service Pack 2, lacks this capability.

To put a network status light in your system tray, follow these steps: In Windows XP, choose Start, Control Panel, Network Connections, right-click the network connection you want to monitor, choose Properties, check "Show icon in notification area when connected," and click OK.

If you're interested in being a PC detective, you can sniff around further for malware. By hitting Ctrl-Alt-Delete in Windows, you'll bring up the Task Manager, which will show you the various processes your system is running. Most, if not all, are legit, but if you see a file name that looks suspicious, type it into a search engine and find out what it is.

Want another place to look? In Windows XP, click Start, Run, type "services.msc" in the box, and press Enter. You'll see detailed descriptions of the services Windows is running. Something look weird? Check with your search engine.

Finally, you can do more detective work by selecting Start, Run, and typing "msconfig" in the box. With this tool you not only see the services running, but also the programs that your system is launching at startup. Again, check for anything weird.

If any of these tools won't run--or if your security software won't run--that in itself is a good sign your computer is infected. Some viruses intentionally disable such programs as a way to protect themselves.

What to Do Next

Once you're fairly sure your system is infected, don't panic. There are steps you can take to assess the damage, depending on your current level of protection.

* If you don't have any antivirus software on your system (shame on you), or if the software has stopped working, stay online and go for a free scan at one of several Web sites. There's McAfee FreeScan, Symantec Security Check, and Trend Micro's HouseCall. If one doesn't find anything, try two. In fact, running a free online virus scan is a good way to double-check the work of your own local antivirus program. When you're done, buy or download a real antivirus program.
* If you have antivirus software, but it isn't active, get offline, unplug wires-- whatever it takes to stop your computer from communicating via the Internet. Then, promptly perform a scan with the installed software.
* If nothing seems to be working, do more research on the Web. There are several online virus libraries where you can find out about known viruses. These sites often provide instructions for removing viruses--if manual removal is possible--or a free removal tool if it isn't. Check out GriSOFT's Virus Encyclopedia, Eset's Virus Descriptions, McAffee's Virus Glossary, Symantec's Virus Encyclopedia, or Trend Micro's Virus Encyclopedia.

A Microgram of Prevention

Assuming your system is now clean, you need to make sure it stays that way. Preventing a breach of your computer's security is far more effective than cleaning up the mess afterwards. Start with a good security program, such Trend Micro's PC-Cillin, which you can buy for $50.

Don't want to shell out any money? You can cobble together security through free downloads, such as AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, ZoneAlarm (a personal firewall), and Ad-Aware SE (an antispyware tool).

Just make sure you keep all security software up to date. The bad guys constantly try out new ways to fool security programs. Any security tool without regular, easy (if not automatic) updates isn't worth your money or your time.

Speaking of updating, the same goes for Windows. Use Windows Update (it's right there on your Start Menu) to make sure you're getting all of the high priority updates. If you run Windows XP, make sure to get the Service Pack 2 update. To find out if you already have it, right-click My Computer, and select Properties. Under the General tab, under System, it should say "Service Pack 2."

Here are a few more pointers for a virus-free life:

* Be careful with e-mail. Set your e-mail software security settings to high. Don't open messages with generic-sounding subjects that don't apply specifically to you from people you don't know. Don't open an attachment unless you're expecting it.
* If you have broadband Internet access, such as DSL or cable, get a router, even if you only have one PC. A router adds an extra layer of protection because your PC is not connecting directly with the Internet.
* Check your Internet ports. These doorways between your computer and the Internet can be open, in which case your PC is very vulnerable; closed, but still somewhat vulnerable; or stealthed (or hidden), which is safest. Visit Gibson Research's Web site and run the free ShieldsUP test to see your ports' status. If some ports show up as closed--or worse yet, open--check your router's documentation to find out how to hide them.

How to turn MSN Messenger Display Pictures into User Pictures on XP

2007-02-24T20:34:00.000-08:00

For the pix you downloaded from MSN

If you’ve ever wanted to turn the display pictures you download from MSN into an account picture (the one that appears in your Start Menu next to your username) for XP here’s how.

1) In messenger Choose ==> Change Display Picture and then ==> Download more pictures.

2) Download the desired images.

3) Open 'Folder Options' in Explorer and make sure you can view Hidden Files and folders.

4) Navigate to X:\Documents and Settings\User_Name\Application Data\Microsoft\MSN Messenger, where X: is the drive XP is on and User_Name is your username.

5) In here you'll see folders with long numbers for names. The next bit is trial and error. If you go into each of the folders you should see that some of them have a folder called UserTile inside of them. In that directory it will have .dat files. The files which have TFR in their names are the images (to make your life easier there is a list at the bottom showing which file is which for a few of them).

6) Going through all the UserTile folders copy these .dat files to a new folder. Now rename them and change their extension from .dat to .bmp by right clicking on them and choosing 'Rename'. Then try to open them in MS Paint or the Windows Fax and Picture Viewer. Not all of them will work (I'm not sure if this is just because some of them aren't actually image files, but any you downloaded should do).

7) If you want to edit them open them up in MS Paint and then make changes there or copy and paste them into your favourite image editor (opening directly doesn't seem to work as the formats are bit messed up from the renaming). Make any changes you want and save (either as BMP, JPEG, GIF or PNG).

8) Go to Control Panel ==> User Accounts

9) Click on your account and then choose 'Change my picture', then select 'Browse for more pictures'.

10) Browse to the image you just saved and select 'Open' and that's it!

11) You can also use the image as your SoD avatar - to do so you'll have to resize the image to being 64 X 64 pixels and save as either (gif, jpeg, swf, png). If you are uploading it to SoD make sure it's less than 20 KB. Otherwise upload to a web server and enter it's URL in the space provided and press 'Update Avatar'.

A list to help you identify the file you want:

CODE
TFR1C - Spider
TFR3F - Leaf
TFRRB - Jellyfish
TFRRC - Ladybug
N.B. The codes above may change, I'm not sure. I may add more files to the list later on.

Quick Launch Bar

2007-02-18T15:18:00.000-08:00

If you have opened more than one program, you might like to display Quick Launch Bar and use the Quick Launch bar. The Quick Launch bar makes it easy to access frequently used programs like Windows Media Player and your e-mail, and to open an Internet Explorer window. Quick Launch Bar of Windows XP loads several programs in the Quick Launch, including Show Desktop in Quick Launch Bar. One click on Show Desktop in Quick Launch Bar minimizes all the programs on your desktop. Another click restores them just as you'd left them in Quick Launch Bar.

To display Quick Launch on the taskbar

1. If the Quick Launch bar is not displayed, right-click an empty area on the taskbar and click Properties.
2. On the Taskbar tab, under Taskbar appearance, select the Show Quick Launch check box and click OK.
After Quick Launch is displayed, click Show Desktop to minimize all open programs. That's all the Quick Launch Bar tutorial to make Quick Launch Bar show. Have a nice Quick Launch Bar. You also can add programs and links on your Quick Launch Bar.

See you on other article

Advanced Settings and Multiuser Features

2007-02-18T15:17:00.001-08:00

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

Missing Administrator account

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

Show yourself

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

Hide yourself

Once you've created a user account, password-protect it to keep other users from viewing your files, Favorites, and cookies. Why? You may not want your child to see the note that you're sending to his or her teacher, or you may be planning someone's surprise party. (Note: Anyone with an Administrator account can still see them.)

Worried about remembering your password?

Create a hint to help you when you initially create it by following the prompts during setup. XP stores the password hints in the Registry at Hkey_local_machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Hints.

What if the hint doesn't help?

Any user or Administrator can create a password reset disk, which you can use to log on and create a new password. Go to Control Panel > User Accounts and select "Prevent a forgotten password" in the Related Tasks box on the left. Follow the wizard's instructions. After creating the disk, find a safe place for it. Don't forget the password or where you put the disk. Someone else could use it to change your password without you knowing it.

FAQ of Windows XP

2007-02-18T15:16:00.001-08:00

Does the Home or Pro version include IIS?

Only the Pro version has it.

I installed the Pro version but I can't find IIS.
The Pro installation doesn't install IIS by default. Go to Start->Control Panels->Add/Remove Programs, and click on "Add Windows Components". IIS will be listed in there.

How many computers can I install XP on?
Microsoft allows you to install XP on only one computer. Technically, it's been like this all along except there's been no way to enforce it. Microsoft's new Authentication System forces XP installations to link the PC, the CD Key, and an ID number that identifies your computer's components together, which means that you can't install XP from the same CD on another PC. You can read more about Windows XP Activation if you click here.

Will my programs work under Windows XP?
That's a complicated issue. Most modern programs have been written to work on Windows 95 and above, all the way to Windows XP using an API called Win32. By using this API, it guarantees that the application will work on any Win32 supported platform, so long as the application was properly written to Microsoft's guidelines. If an application wasn't written properly, it has the potential to break under not only XP, but any future OS. Now, programs that ran under DOS might not work at all due to a whole slew of reasons. Any popular DOS applications and games are sure to have a support forum, so check them out if you can.

Just in case your application doesn't work properly under Windows XP, there's a "Compatability Mode" in which your application will run in an environment similar to a previous operating system. Currently, the operating system choices are:

Windows 95
Windows 98/ME
Windows NT (Service Pack 5)
Windows 2000

So if you're having trouble with a particular application or game under XP, right click on the application's icon and click on the "Compatability" tab. You can also set a forced resolution of 640x480, force 256 (8-bit) color, and force the system to disable themes.

If I upgrade from Windows 98 or ME to Windows XP, can I revert back?
Yes, but I haven't done it myself so I don't know what the consequences are from upgrading, and then downgrading again. If you upgraded, there should be an item in "Add/Remove Programs" that allows you to uninstall XP. Note: if you upgraded to XP, and then changed your file system to NTFS, you cannot go back to 98 or ME since those operating systems don't understand how NTFS works.

Will my games work under Windows XP?
This is even more complicated than the application issue. Games are supposed to be written to not only the Win32 API, but any one of many different graphics APIs such as Direct 3D or OpenGL. Sometimes games take a "short cut" to gain better performance. Since Windows XP is built on a different core than Windows 95, 98, and ME, it's possible that some games won't work. You can read more about games under XP by clicking here.

Can I watch DVDs on Windows XP?
Not "out of the box", unfortunately. Microsoft is forcing consumers to buy a "DVD Decoder Pack" to allow playback of DVDs. You can read more about that by clicking here.

Can I listen to MP3s with Windows XP?
Yes. Windows Media Player will playback MP3s. If you're Yes. Windows Media Player will playback MP3s. If you're having trouble playing MP3s with Windows Media Player, make sure you have the latest update.

Can I rip MP3s with Windows XP?
Just like the DVD issue, you cannot rip MP3s with XP "out of the box". You'll have to buy the "MP3 Pack" which allows you to add MP3 ripping capabilities to Windows Media Player. However, you can use Music Match Jukebox and other third-party rippers as you have before, so long as they work under XP (chances are they do, but check the web pages of the applications to be sure). You can read more about music under XP by clicking here.

Can I have multiple operating systems installed on the same computer alongside Windows XP?
Yes. There's a procedure that's involved in order to do it properly. If you're installing Windows XP on a machine that already has another Windows OS, you have to make sure that you can install XP on a seperate partition, or a seperate hard drive. You cannot install XP on the same hard drive or partition that already has another operating system on it, meaning two OS's can't share the same space at the same time. The key is to install Windows XP last, this way the NT boot loader, which allows you to choose which OS to load at boot time, is installed by the XP installer. Microsoft has an article about multibooting.

What are the requirements for running Windows XP?
The minimum requirements can be found by clicking here.

If I'm buying the XP upgrade version, do I have to install over my old OS, or can I install fresh?
You can most certainly install fresh. When installing XP, you'll be prompted for your previous OS's CD. Once XP sees that it's a valid CD, you switch CDs again and the XP installer continues on its merry way.

What are the upgrade paths for Windows XP? Do I need to buy the full version?
All the valid upgrade paths for the Home and Pro versions can be found by clicking here.

I got a PC from with a restore CD instead of an actual Windows installer CD, is it considered valid for an upgrade?
This is tricky. Some PC manufacturers give the user a "Restore CD" which, although has a version of Windows on it, is nothing more than a "snapshot" of the hard drive when the user opened the box for the first time. Chances are, when the XP upgrade asks for the previous Windows OS CD, it will reject the Restore CD since it wasn't made by Microsoft. Your best bet would be to check with the manufacturer of your PC and see if you have an upgrade option. I'm still looking on Microsoft's site for a definitive answer on this.

Will Windows 2000 drivers run under XP? I heard that XP is just Windows 2000 with a new face.
There's no guarantee that Win2k drivers will work under XP. I wouldn't suggest even trying since it might make your system unstable. The best you can do is to check with your device's manufacturer first and see if they already have XP drivers ready for you to download from their web site.

I see there are two versions of XP - Home and Professional. Which one should I get?
Microsoft did a very good job of splitting the two versions, and making sure that one group doesn't need the features of the other flavor of XP. The only issue I can see i Microsoft did a very good job of splitting the two versions, and making sure that one group doesn't need the features of the other flavor of XP. The only issue I can see is the multi-processor support you get from the Pro version, and if it will affect gaming. Click here to read Microsoft's comparison of the two.

Add/Remove Optional Windows Components

2007-02-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

For some reason, Microsoft has removed the ability to specify which Windows components you want to install during interactive Setup, and when you go into Add/Remove Windows Components in the Control Panel, you still don't have the full list of applications and applets you can add and remove. Thankfully, this is easy to fix.

To dramatically expand the list of applications you can remove from Windows XP after installation, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open the sysoc.inf file. Under Windows XP Professional Edition RC1, this file will resemble the following by default:

[Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=06/26/2001,5.1.2505.0

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7
smarttgs=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,msnsl.inf,,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7

[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%
WindowTitle.StandAlone="*"

The entries that include the text hide or HIDE will not show up in Add/Remove Windows Components by default. To fix this, do a global search and replace for ,hide and change each instance of this to , (a comma). Then, save the file, relaunch Add/Remove Windows Components, and tweak the installed applications to your heart's content.

Sense of the New Program of My Computer Windows XP

2007-02-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

Windows XP needs a place to store your programs and files. So, programs and files borrowed the file cabinet metaphor, translated programs and files into light and airy programs and files icons, and called programs and files the My Computer program. My Computer shows the files and storage areas inside your computer, allowing you to copy or move them, rename them, or delete them.

Everyone organizes his or her computer differently. Some people don't organize their computers programs at all. To see how your computer programs has been organizing your files, click the Start menu and click My Computer.

The My Computer program is a big panel of buttons — sort of an extension of your desktop. Here's a brief rundown on what those big icons along My Computer's right side mean:

Files Stored on This Computer: Windows XP lets many people use the same computer, and everybody's files stay private. However, sometimes everybody wants to share information — letters from relatives, for instance. That's where the Shared Documents folder (shown in the margin) comes in.

The Shared Documents folder contains files and folders accessible to everybody that uses the computer. To share things with other users of your computer, call up My Computer and store the information inside My Computer's Shared Documents folder. (Double-clicking any folder shows its contents.)

Two additional folders live inside the Shared Documents folder: Shared Music and Shared Pictures. Everybody using the computer may also access music and pictures stored in here.

If you don't want other users to share your information, keep it out of the Shared Documents folder. Instead, store the information in your My Documents folder, accessible from the Start menu. (See the Other Places area listed along My Computer's left side, as shown in Figure 1? You can also open your My Documents folder from there by clicking its name.)

Notice two other folders in Figure 1, one belonging to Guest and the other to Tina? You see those folders because you're viewing the My Computer area of an administrator's account. The administrator can peek inside the files of any other user. So, Figure 1 shows the My Documents folders of two other users, Tina and the Guest account. Those folders are called Tina's Documents and Guest's Documents, respectively.

Hard Disk Drives: This one's not too difficult. It lists the hard drives installed on your computer. Double-clicking a folder here shows what's inside, but you rarely find much useful information. In fact, Windows often simply tells you to back off and look for programs on your Start menu, instead. Unlike files and folders, hard dives can't be moved to different areas.

Devices with Removable Storage: This area shows stuff you take in and out of your computer: floppy drives, CD-ROM drives, Iomega Jaz drives, and even MP3 players, if they're Windows XP compatible, like the HipZip's PocketZip player shown in Figure 1.

Scanners and Cameras: Digital cameras and scanners often appear down here, depending on their make and model.

Unlike files and folders, Hard Disk Drives, Devices with Removable Storage, and Scanners and Cameras can't be moved to different areas. They're stuck where they live in the My Computer area. To make them more accessible, you can place shortcuts to them on your desktop or any other convenient spot.

My Computer also includes several boxes along its left side. They serve mainly as shortcuts — pointers — that take you to other areas on your computer. The boxes change according to what you're viewing in My Computer. These choices appear when you first open My Computer, and here's what they mean.

System Tasks: Both items listed here, View System Information and Add or Remove Programs, deal with your computer's innards. They're shortcuts to icons on Windows XP's Control Panel.

Other Places: Three of these items, My Network Places, My Documents, and Control Panel, are simply shortcuts to items that appear on your computer's Start menu.

You may wonder (as others have) why there's a shortcut to the Shared Documents folder here, because the Shared Documents folder already appears a few inches to the right, as you can see in Figure 1. Hmmm, a mystery.

Details: Finally, something interesting. Click almost any icon in My Computer, and the Details window automatically displays information about that object: the date a file was created, for instance, or how much space it consumes.

Fixing Windows XP Annoyances, Covers SP2

2007-02-11T13:46:00.000-08:00

Windows XP is the most popular operating system on the planet--and the most annoying. From incomprehensible error messages to inexplicable crashes, from wonky wireless setups to just finding a file, Windows can make your computing life a nightmare. But thanks to Fixing Windows XP Annoyances, you can banish the bugs, speed up operations, and just make Windows work right.

Inspired by author David Karp's Windows XP Annoyances for Geeks, this all-new tome pulls together tips, tricks, insider workarounds, and fixes for PC novices and pros, in a handy, accessible Q&A format that lets you find the solutions in a flash. Fixing Windows XP Annoyances will not only increase your productivity but lower your blood pressure. Karp's new book covers:

* Setup and Hardware-Update Windows, reinstall Windows safely, speed up start up, resolve driver-hardware conflicts, and more.
* Windows Interface-Navigate quickly, fix screen resolution problems, customize the desktop, and switch applications more quickly.
* Windows Explorer-Force XP's file & folder management application to remember your view settings, save your default application choices, and get XP's Search tool to behave.
* Multimedia-Having a problem playing a video or burning a CD? Want to do more with your digital photo collection? We have the answers.
* Web and Email-Get a handle on spyware, spam and pop-ups; protect your privacy online; learn how to improve your online experience.
* Wireless and Home Networking-Connect all your PCs; share Internet connections; share files and drives securely; make your wireless network purr; share network printers; and more.

If you're having a problem, just look through the Table of Contents for the annoyance that most closely matches your problem, or feel free to start thumbing through the pages. You'll likely find a fix to a problem you didn't even know could be solved.

File can't be deleted that I really want deleted

2007-02-06T18:08:00.000-08:00

In addition to the advice by the answers expert, I wish to say that
when you use Limewire or Kazaa then you are prone to spyware and other
aggressive data mining programs. If you had read carefully in the
Licence agreementof these asoftwares they clearly mention this. So
they cannot be considered as illegal. Now if you wish to remove them,
which is your right, then you can go to the website
http://www.lavasoft.com and download the free Adaware utility. THis
finds and deletes all data tracking components installed on your
system. They cannot be deleted directly because they are already
loaded in memory as registered system processes and will not exit for
most parts. Also even if y ou do end the process they will get
reinstalled again. So the solution is to use adaware regularly to get
rid of tem. Then try to delete this file. I think it should work.

I may not be right about that particular file but you will see a
drastic improvementin your computer performance after you have done
that. If you feel my answer is correct please send a comment for me to
the editors of this site.

How to Change the location of the My Music or My Pictures folders

2007-02-03T06:08:00.000-08:00

In Windows 2000, Microsoft added the ability to right-click the My Documents folder and choose a new location for that folder in the shell. With Windows XP, Microsoft has elevated the My Music and My Pictures folders to the same "special shell folder" status of My Documents, but they never added a similar (and simple) method for changing those folder's locations. However, it is actually pretty easy to change the location of these folders, using the following method.

Open a My Computer window and navigate to the location where you'd like My Music (or My Pictures) to reside. Then, open the My Documents folder in a different window. Drag the My Music (or My Pictures) folder to the other window, and Windows XP will update all of the references to that folder to the new location, including the Start menu.

optional renoving features of Windows XP

2007-02-03T06:06:00.000-08:00

I first mentioned this technique in an old Technology Showcase for Windows 2000, but it still works in Windows XP, and can be quite useful: For some reason, Microsoft has removed the ability to specify which Windows components you want to install during interactive Setup, and when you go into Add/Remove Windows Components in the Control Panel, you still don't have the full list of applications and applets you can add and remove. Thankfully, this is easy to fix.
To dramatically expand the list of applications you can remove from Windows XP after installation, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open the sysoc.inf file. Under Windows XP Professional Edition RC1, this file will resemble the following by default:
[Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=06/26/2001,5.1.2505.0
[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7
smarttgs=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,msnsl.inf,,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7
[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%
WindowTitle.StandAlone="*"

The entries that include the text hide or HIDE will not show up in Add/Remove Windows Components by default. To fix this, do a global search and replace for , hide and change each instance of this to , (a comma). Then, save the file, relaunch Add/Remove Windows Components, and tweak the installed applications to your heart's content.
Cool, eh? There are even more new options now under "Accessories and Utilities" too.

Remove Windows Messenger

2007-02-03T05:55:00.000-08:00

Windows Messenger is an application that use for chat in internet. Many of programs chat like this. for sample yahoomessenger, msn messenger, icq lite, and others

It seems that a lot of people are interested in removing Windows Messenger for some reason, though I strongly recommend against this: In Windows XP, Windows Messenger will be the hub of your connection to the .NET world, and now that this feature is part of Windows, I think we're going to see a lot of .NET Passport-enabled Web sites appearing as well. But if you can't stand the little app, there are a couple of ways to get rid of it, and ensure that it doesn't pop up every time you boot into XP. The best way simply utilizes the previous tip:
If you'd like Windows Messenger to show up in the list of programs you can add and remove from Windows, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open sysoc.inf (see the previous tip for more information about this file). You'll see a line that reads:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
Change this to the following and Windows Messenger will appear in Add or Remove Programs, then Add/Remove Windows Components, then , and you can remove it for good:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,7

Hope this article help you. :)

Showing the Sharing Tab in Folder Properties

2007-02-03T05:52:00.000-08:00

In Windows 2000, getting to the Sharing options for a folder was simple: Just right-click, choose Properties, and you'd see a Sharing tab. In Windows XP, this seems to be missing, and the Beta 2 trick to displaying it (hold down CTRL as you right-click) no longer works.

But fear not, you can still cause your Windows XP RC1 or RC 2 system to display the Sharing tab if desired. Simply open up Folder Options (My Computer, then Tools, Folder Options) and navigate to the View tab. In the Advanced Settings section, scroll down to the bottom and uncheck Use simple file sharing (Recommended), a Mickey Mouse feature if there ever was one. Now share your folders on the LAN as you would in Windows 2000.

Sound Scheme on Windows

2007-02-03T05:49:00.000-08:00

Windows XP RC1 and RC2 ship with a nice new sound scheme, but it's not loaded by default for some reason. So once you've installed Windows XP, one of the first things you should do is get that new sound scheme loaded.
To do so, open up Control Panel and navigate to Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices. Then, choose the task titled Change the sound scheme. In the dialog that appears, choose Windows Default for the sound scheme. Windows will ask you whether you want to save the previous scheme, which is usually a brain-dead questions, since no scheme was previously loaded. So choose No, and then click OK to exit the dialog.

The ultimate configuration tool

2007-02-03T05:47:00.000-08:00

Do you know the most full featured Windows XP configuration tools? yes, it is available hidden right there in your system, but most people don't even know it exists. It's called the Local Group Policy Editor, or gpedit for short. To invoke this editor, select Start and then Run, then type the following:
gpedit.msc

After you hit ENTER, you'll be greeted by gpedit, which lets you modify virtually every feature in Windows XP without having to resort to regedit. Dig around and enjoy!

Key board Shortcuts

2007-02-03T05:44:00.000-08:00

Scan Disk has Gone

2007-02-03T05:38:00.000-08:00

Scan disk.. it's happen when we not shut down the computer. Scandisk is not a part of Windows XP - instead you get the improved CHKDSK. You can use the Error-checking tool to check for file system errors and bad sectors on your hard disk.
1: Open My Computer, and then select the local disk you want to check.
2: On the File menu, click Properties.
3: On the Tools tab, under Error-checking, click Check Now.
4: Under Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box.
· All files must be closed for this process to run. If the volume is currently in use, a message box will appear prompting you to indicate whether or not you want to reschedule the disk checking for the next time you restart your system. Then, the next time you restart your system, disk checking will run. Your volume will not be available to perform other tasks while this process is running.
· If your volume is formatted as NTFS, Windows automatically logs all file transactions, replaces bad clusters, and stores copies of key information for all files on the NTFS volume.

Accessibility Keyboard and Windows Explorer Shortcut

2007-02-03T05:33:00.000-08:00

Here some shortcut tips when using keyboard and windows explorer

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
Open Utility Manager. +U

Keyboard shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:
Display the bottom of the active window. END
Display the top of the active window. HOME
Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)
Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)
Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW

To make you more understand just try..
I see and I forget, I see and I remember, I try and I understand :)

Speed Up Your Internet Access and Network

2007-02-03T05:27:00.000-08:00

Here some tips to Speed Up Your Internet Access and Network. This article catch from collecting internet article. Ok, here the tips

Windows XP: Speeding Disk Access

Although this problem is a complex one, the solution is very simple. Instead of having to wait for the remote scheduled tasks, which is useless information to anyone who is not a system administrator remotely configuring scheduled tasks, you can disable this feature.

In order to do this, you will have to change the System Registry and delete a reference to a key so that this feature will not be loaded. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open up the Registry Editor by clicking the Start Menu and selecting Run. Then type regedit in the text box and click the OK button.

2. Once the Registry Editor has loaded, expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key.

3. Next, expand Software and then Microsoft.

4. Locate Windows and expand that as well.

5. You will want to be editing the main system files, so expand CurrentVersion.

6. Because this feature is a feature of the Windows component known as Explorer, expand the Explorer key.

7. Next, you will want to modify the remote computer settings, so expand the RemoteComputer key and then expand the NameSpace key to show all of the features that are enabled when you browse to a remote computer.

8. In the NameSpace folder you will find two entries. One is "{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}" which tells Explorer to show printers shared on the remote machine. The other, "{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}," tells Explorer to show remote scheduled tasks. This is the one that you should delete. This can be done by right-clicking the name of the key and selecting Delete..

Tip:
If you have no use for viewing remote shared printers and are really only interested in shared files, consider deleting the printers key, "{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}", as well. This will also boost your browsing speed.

Once you have deleted the key, you just need to restart and the changes will be in effect. Now your network computer browsing will be without needless delays.

Increasing network browsing speed

Does your computer slow down when you browse your local area network and connect to other computers that are sharing data? One of the most common causes of this slowdown is a feature of Windows Explorer that looks for scheduled tasks on remote computers. This effort can take some time on some computers and can really slow down your browsing. The window with which you are browsing the network may appear to freeze momentarily, as the system is waiting for a response from the remote computer.

Startup and Performance for Windows XP

2007-02-03T05:10:00.000-08:00

Dp ypu know about windows xp performance? Why choose windows xp than 98 or older version? Ok, here article that may be can help you what operating system that want you use.
Windows XP is now the predominant consumer OS of both gamers and power users. Sure, many of us still dual-boot with Win9x, because it is faster for many games, but the joy of a true 32-bit operating system with full consumer support is too much for many of us to remain loyal to NT 4.0 or Windows 2000. Now that Windows XP has matured past its infancy and many (but by far not all) of the bugs have been shaken out of it, Ars Technica brings you the first in a series of tweak guides for this illustrious and yet somewhat finicky OS.

This first guide aims to cover two main areas of contention: the boot process (sans the system services, which are an entire guide of their own) and a mishmash of general computing tweaks. The boot tweaks will be comprised of not only system settings, but also several under-utilized applications that can dramatically reduce load time. The general performance tweaks are simply various tweaks that do not quite fit in with the theme of this article, but still have a significant effect on system startup performance (because most any tweaks that one performs should have some kind of effect on the startup time of the system).

Before we begin, several pieces of laundry need to be aired out. To begin with, if you have already tweaked the services on the computer in question, please return them to the default settings. One of the applications I am recommending requires that several systems be enabled that most power users frequently disable (e.g., Task Scheduler). Once you have completed the tweaks mentioned in this guide, feel free to return said services back to your preferred settings, as they only need to be enabled for a short time.

Change to Windows XP Pro from Windows XP Home

2007-02-03T05:01:00.000-08:00

We can’t vouch for this hack, because we are too lazy to try it (and we never, ever violate copyrights or EULAs), but kind reader Martin explains the process for turning an Windows XP Home install disc to a Windows XP Pro disc after the jump.

It sounds pretty simple to do (just some registry changes), but you can’t install Service Pack 2, so you might try to slipstream in the changes to your modified install disc (if that’s even possible).

Alternately, buy XP Pro, or get a Mac.

Code:
yes indeed, you can’t change an installed Windows but only your Installation CD (or even a recovery CD in case the manufacturer had not left out important parts)

Here’s the detailed breakdown you asked for.

1. Copy the root directory and the i386 directory of the WindowsXP CD
to your harddisk
2. Extract the Bootsector of your WindowsXP CD
3. Change 2 Bytes in i386\Setupreg.hiv :
a) Open Regedit
b) Highlight HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
c) Menu: File -> Load Structure -> i386\Setupreg.hiv
d) Assign an arbitrary name to the imported structure e.g. “Homekey”
e) Goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Homekey\ControlSet001\Services\setupdd
f) edit the binary key “default” and change “01” to “00” and “02” to
“00”
g) Highlight “Homekey” and select menu: File -> unload structure
4. Burn your new XP Pro CD
5. Install WindowsXP as usual. Your XP Home Key will work.

Note: You cannot apply SP2 to such a WindowsXP Pro, so step 1.b)
might be to integrate SP2 in your Installation CD

Please check the menu-entries as I don’t owe an English copy of
XP and have to guess them.

Acronyms of Computer II

2007-01-25T04:35:00.001-08:00

LG - LG Electronics
LAN - Local Are Network
LCD - Liquid Crystal Display
LDT - Lightning Data Transport
LED - Light Emitting Diode

Kbps - Kilobits Per Second
KBps - KiloBytes per second

JBL - JBL (Jame B. Lansing) Speakers
JVC - JVC Company of America

IBM - International Business Machines Corporation
IC - Integrated Circuit
IDE - Integrated Drive Electronics
IFS- Item for Sale
IRQ - Interrupt Request
ISA - Industry Standard Architecture
ISO - International Standards Organization

HDD - Hard Disk Drive
HIS - Hightech Information System Limited
HP - Hewlett-Packard Development Company
HSF - Heatsink-Fan

GB - Gigabytes
GBps - Gigabytes per second or Gigabits per second
GDI - Graphical Device Interface
GHz - GigaHertz

FC-PGA - Flip Chip Pin Grid Array
FDC - Floppy Disk Controller
FDD - Floppy Disk Drive
FPS - Frame Per Second
FPU - Floating Point Unit
FSAA - Full Screen Anti-Aliasing
FS - For Sale
FSB - Front Side Bus

ECC - Error Correction Code
ECS - Elitegroup Computer Systems
EDO - Extended Data Out
EEPROM - Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
EPROM - Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
EVGA - EVGA Corporation

DDR - Double Data Rate
DDR-SDRAM - Double Data Rate - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
DFI - DFI Inc. (Design for Innovation)
DIMM - Dual Inline Memory Module
DRAM - Dynamic Random Access Memory
DPI - Dots Per Inch
DSL - See ASDL
DVD - Digital Versatile Disc
DVD-RAM - Digital Versatile Disk - Random Access Memory

CAS - Column Address Signal
CD - Compact Disk
CDR - Compact Disk Recorder
CDRW - Compact Disk Re-Writer
CD-ROM - Compact Disk - Read Only Memory
CFM - Cubic Feet per Minute (ft�/min)
CMOS - Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor
CPU - Central Processing Unit
CTX - CTX Technology Corporation (Commited to Excellence)

BFG - BFG Technologies
BIOS - Basic Input Output System
BNC - Barrel Nut Connector

ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
AGP - Accelerated Graphics Port
ALI - Acer Labs, Incorporated
ALU - Arithmetic Logic Unit
AMD - Advanced Micro Devices
APC - American Power Conversion
ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASIC - Application Specific Integrated Circuit
ASPI - Advanced SCSI Programming Interface
AT - Advanced Technology
ATI - ATI Technologies Inc.
ATX - Advanced Technology Extended

Acronym of Computers I

2007-01-25T04:29:00.000-08:00

These are the acronym of computers that you have to know. I begin from the last with X number

XGA - Extended Graphics Array
XFX - XFX Graphics, a Division of Pine
XMS - Extended Memory Specification
XT - Extended Technology

VCD - Video CD
VPN - Virtual Private Network

UART - Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter
USB - Universal Serial Bus
UTP - Unshieled Twisted Pair

TB - Terabytes
TBps - Terabytes per second
Tbps - Terabits per second
TDK - TDK Electronics
TEC - Thermoelectric Cooler
TPC - TipidPC
TWAIN - Technology Without An Important Name

SASID - Self-scanned Amorphous Silicon Integrated Display
SCA - SCSI Configured Automatically
SCSI - Small Computer System Interface
SDRAM - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
SECC - Single Edge Contact Connector
SODIMM - Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module
SPARC - Scalable Processor ArChitecture
SOHO - Small Office Home Office
SRAM - Static Random Access Memory
SSE - Streaming SIMD Extensions
SVGA - Super Video Graphics Array
S/PDIF - Sony/Philips Digital Interface

RAID - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
RAM - Random Access Memory
RAMDAC - Random Access Memory Digital Analog Convertor
RDRAM - Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory
ROM - Read Only Memory
RPM - Revolutions Per Minute

PC - Personal Computer
PCB - Printed Circuit Board
PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect
PDA - Personal Digital Assistant
PCMCIA - Peripheral Component Microchannel Interconnect Architecture
PGA - Professional Graphics Array
PLD - Programmable Logic Device
PM - Private Message / Private Messaging
PnP - Plug 'n Play
PNY - PNY Technology
POST - Power On Self Test
PPPoA - Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM
PPPoE - Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet
PQI - PQI Corporation
PSU - Power Supply Unit

OC - Overclock (Over Clock)
OCZ - OCZ Technology
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer

NAS - Network Attached Storage
NAT - Network Address Translation
NEC - NEC Corporation
NIC - Network Interface Card

MAC - Media Access Control
MB � MotherBoard or Megabyte
MBps - Megabytes Per Second
Mbps - Megabits Per Second or Megabits Per Second
MHz - MegaHertz
MIPS - Million Instructions Per Second
MMX - Multi-Media Extensions
MSI - Micro Star International

Noise when copying CD

2007-01-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when we burn a cd with audio format useing nero or other software, some noise may be heard at the end of each track. To prevent this,try the following method:
1. Enter System Properties\device manager
2. Select IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
3. Double click on thee CD writer IDE channel
4. Select advance setting
5. Change the transfer mode to 'PIO Only'
6. Restart Computer
Try to burn, so noise sound will be off. No heard again

DOS (Disc Operating System)

2007-01-21T07:54:00.000-08:00

So you have the newest, glitziest, "Fisher Price" version of Windows: XP. How can you use XP in a way that sets you apart from the boring millions of ordinary users?
****************
Anyone who thinks this GTMHH will reveal how to blow up people's TV sets and steal Sandra Bullock's email is going to find out that I won't tell them how.
****************
The key to doing amazing things with XP is as simple as D O S (Disc Operating System) . Yes, that's right, DOS (Disc Operating System) as in MS-DOS, as in MicroSoft Disk Operating System. Windows XP (as well as NT and 2000) comes with two versions of DOS. Command.com is an old DOS (Disc Operating System) version. Various versions of command.com come with Windows 95, 98, SE, ME, Window 3, and DOS (Disc Operating System) only operating systems.
The other DOS (Disc Operating System) , which comes only with the XP, 2000 and NT operating systems, is cmd.exe. Usually cmd.exe is better than command.com because it is easier to use, has more commands, and in some ways resembles the bash shell in Linux and other Unix-type operating systems. For example, you can repeat a command by using the up arrow until you back up to the desired command. Unlike bash, however, your DOS (Disc Operating System) command history is erased whenever you shut down cmd.exe. The reason XP has both versions of DOS (Disc Operating System) is that sometimes a program that won?t run right in cmd.exe will work in command.com
So how do you turn on DOS (Disc Operating System) ? Click All Programs -> Accessories -> Command PromptThat runs cmd.exe. You should see a black screen with white text on it, saying something like this:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600](C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\>
Your first step is to find out what commands you can run in DOS (Disc Operating System) . If you type "help" at the DOS (Disc Operating System) prompt, it gives you a long list of commands. However, this list leaves out all the commands hackers love to use. Here are some of those left out hacker commands.
TCP/IP commands:
telnet
netstat
nslookup
tracert
ping
ftp
NetBIOS commands (just some examples):
nbtstat
netuse
netview
netlocalgroup
TCP/IP stands for transmission control protocol/Internet protocol. As you can guess by the name, TCP/IP is the protocol under which the Internet runs. along with user datagram protocol (UDP). So when you are connected to the Internet, you can try these commands against other Internet computers. Most local area networks also use TCP/IP.NetBIOS (Net Basic Input/Output System) protocol is another way to communicate between computers. This is often used by Windows computers, and by Unix/Linux type computers running Samba. You can often use NetBIOS commands over the Internet (being carried inside of, so to speak, TCP/IP). In many cases, however, NetBIOS commands will be blocked by firewalls. Also, not many Internet computers run NetBIOS because it is so easy to break in using them.

Make your acrobat reader 6 load faster

2007-01-18T16:14:00.000-08:00

I thought that you always install acrobar reader on your computer. But maybe we so bored when have to wait when acrobat reader loading the program. This cause of acrobat reader have to load the plugin and files and this program. But there are some plugin that we don't need when we using acrobat reader. Ok, here's tips to disable the plugin when acrobat reader being loaded.

Sp when you open acrobat reader its become faster. Try, You feel enjoy like using microsoft word.

Here's how to do it:
1. Go to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader (replace the C if you installed on another drive, like I did).
2. Create a new folder called plug_ins_disabled.
3. Move all files from the plug_ins folder to the plug_ins_disabled folder except EWH32.api, printme.api, and search.api. There should only be these 3 files in the plug_ins folder.
4. You're done.
(Courtesy of Darrell Norton)

Windows Vista for upgrade xp

2007-01-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

Do you plan to buy a new computer in the coming months? The immediate question in your mind then will be - should I purchase a Xp-capable PC now, and upgrade to Windows Vista? Or postpone my purchase and wait until January 2007 when Vista hits the retail market shelves ?

Buying Windows Vista loaded computer would make everything simpler. But as long as we know ol' Microsoft, we know that their promise of a January 2007 Vista launch is unlikely.

So, there you have it - don't wait for Vista, the come-so-late guy it is.

Vista requires a high end system for optimal performance. Just make sure that the new computer meets the Windows Vista Hardware requirements like have lots of RAM(read 1GB minimum, 2GB recommended), a separate graphics card with 256MB of RAM, the latest Pentium/Core2/AMD64/AMDX2/AM2 (preferrably 64 bit) and a huge hard-disk.

All hardware required for Vista is already available in the market. ATI's Mobility Radeon chipset and NVIDIA GeForce are Windows Vista Ready.

The entire x64 processors from Intel and AMD will be excellent processors for Windows Vista. The latest Intel Core 2 Duo processor for Laptops is perfect for Vista. The Intel 945G Express(and upwards) Chipset is Microsoft Windows Vista ready already.

Speed Up Windows XP Machine

2007-01-13T19:49:00.000-08:00

To get best preformance on your windows xp here's some tips.

1) Clear Windows History Files

Empty Prefetch folder
Delete empty folders in Windows Temp folder
Delete Outlook Express Deleted Emails
Erase folder streams in Windows registry
Empty Print Spool folder
Delete recently opened document history records
Erase run history
Clear past Icon History of system tray

2) Clear Internet History Records

Delete Cookies
Delete locked URL Cache files
Delete all Auto-Complete Data
Clear Browser History
Delete Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, Opera Cache files

3) Remove unneeded junk filed from system

Delete zero length files
Delete old Backup files (*.bak, *.old)
Delete dump file (*.dmp)
Delete temporary files (*.tmp, *.temp)
Delete empty folders
Delete duplicate files
Delete files bigger than 5MB
Delete temporary help files (*.gid)
Delete unwanted image files (*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.gif, *.bmp)
Delete scandisk broken link files (*.chk)
Delete archive or download files (*.zip, *.tar, *.cab)
Delete invalid or broken shortcut links (*.lnk)

4) Adjust Windows OS Settings

Adjust System Restore Point (1-5%) depending on disk size)
Adjust Recycle Bin size (10% or recommended)
Disable Active Desktop
Turn off Error Reporting

5) Optimize Windows performance

Remove unwanted applications
Disable unnecessary Startup programs
Fix/remove invalid registry entries
Defragment hard drive

6) Perform file system analysis

Check partition table, file structures, directory structures, indexes, etc

7) Disable unnecessary services

Alerter
Application Management
Clipbook
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Disributed Transaction Coordinator
Error Reporting
Fast User Switching Compatibility
Human Interface Device Access
Indexing Service
IPSec
Logical Disk Manager
Logical Disk Manager Administrative
Machine Debug Manager
Messenger
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Network DDE
Network DDE DSDM
Performance Logs and Alerts
Portable Media Serial Number
Qos RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Routing and Remote Access
Secondary Login
SSDP Discovery
Task Scheduler
Telnet
Uninterruptible Power Supply
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Web Client
Windows Time
WMI performance Adapter

Vista Window and Windows Vista

2007-01-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

For customer that wanna be a Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 (RC1) was being closed by microsoft.com about windows vista, windows Vista introduces dramatic improvements for business. Help people do their best work, collaborate, and connect to resources—regardless of location. Windows Vista Business edition is available now. See why it's better, and how to get the right edition of Windows Vista for our organization.

Wondering if you should buy a new PC or wait for Windows Vista (which will be broadly available January 30, 2007)? We can tell you: The time to buy is now! Here's how to feel confident that the PC you buy will be ready for the edition of Windows Vista you want:Choose the edition of Windows Vista that's right for you.Look for the Windows Vista Capable or Premium Ready PC logo when you shop.Make sure the PC you choose is eligible for an Express Upgrade to Windows Vista.

some information about windows vista Upgrade limitationsYou may not be able to upgrade your installation of Windows Vista RC1 to the final, commercially available edition of Windows Vista. To upgrade, you will need to acquire the final edition of Windows Vista and you may have to do a clean installation.

Beta support policyThis is pre-release (beta) software distributed for trial and testing purposes only. Microsoft does not provide technical support for beta releases. Although formal support is not offered for this beta, we have provided newsgroups to help answer questions you may have related to the installation and use of Windows Vista RC1.

Installation limitationsThere are three installation scenarios for Windows Vista RC1: You can do a clean installation. This process will overwrite any data that you have on your hard disk or on your installation partition. The overwritten data will be lost and unrecoverable.You can upgrade an existing installation of Windows XP.You can upgrade an existing installation of Windows Vista Beta 2.

No other installation scenarios are supported. Upgrading to this beta from any other edition of Windows requires a clean installation, as described in option 1. In addition, once you install Windows Vista RC1, you cannot roll back to the previous operating system installation—you will either have to acquire and install the final released edition of Windows Vista or reinstall a previous edition of Windows. Before installing Windows Vista RC1 on any computer, please remember to back up all your files.

Upgrading from Windows Vista Beta 2Please install any Critical Updates from Windows Update before upgrading from Beta 2 to RC1. Go to Start, All Programs, Windows Update, and click the "Check for Updates" button.
Note: Please close any open applications before beginning an upgrade. During installation, we recommend that you have an active Internet connection and choose Go online to get the latest updates for installation.

DVD-burning and installation instructionsHere's a summary of how to burn a DVD and install Windows Vista RC1:
Using a DVD burner and software, burn the ISO image of Windows Vista RC1 to a new blank DVD. We recommend burning at the lowest speed supported by your DVD burner (1X or 2X) to ensure the highest quality. Most DVD-burning software will recognize an ISO file.

If your software does not automatically recognize this format, refer to the software's Help file for instructions.Insert the DVD on which you burned the software into the DVD drive of the computer on which you want to install Windows Vista RC1.The installation process should start automatically. If it does not, run Setup from the DVD to begin the installation, and follow the step-by-step instructions that appear on the screen.

source microsoft.com/ windowsvista/ getready/ preview.mspx

let see in system32 folder

2007-01-12T23:19:00.000-08:00

when we type something in run dialog box, this actually will run the programs and applications in c:\windows\system32
Ok let see what files in it. here the files in my computer when I type this.
176 folders
319 exe or application files
9 files acm extention
31 files activeX, Control files
12229 dll files, application extention
32 files ax
2 files chm
15 files configuration settings
24 files control panel extention *.cpl
12 files dat files
18 files device driver *.drv
9 h files
17 files microsoft common console document
14 files Ms Dos application
63 nls files
17 system files
11 TLB files
6 tsp files
8 uce files
9 VBscript files
1 vxd file its virtula device driver
1 windows explorer command
1 windows installer package
2 windows nt commad script
1 windows script component
and other

Forgot our Windows XP Admin Pa*sword?

2007-01-12T01:54:00.000-08:00

When we or anyone installs Windows XP for the first time our asked to put in your username and up to five others. Now, unknown to a lot of other people this is the only place in Windows XP that we can password the default Administrator Diagnostic Account. This means that to by pass most administrators accounts on Windows XP all you have to do is boot to safe mode by pressing F8 during boot up and choosing it. Log into the Administrator Account and create your own or change the password on the current Account.

This only works if the user on setup specified a password for the Administrator Account. This has worked for me on both Windows XP Home and Pro.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now this one seems to be machine dependant, it works randomly(don't know why). If we log into a limited account on our computer and open up a dos prompt
then enter this set of commands .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
cd\ *drops to root
cd\windows\system32 *directs to the system32 dir
mkdir windows_tips *creates the folder windows_tips
copy logon.scr windows_tips\logon.scr *backup logon.scr
copy cmd.exe windows_tips\cmd.exe *backup cmd.exe
del logon.scr *deletes original logon.scr
rename cmd.exe logon.scr *renames cmd.exe to logon.scr
exit *quites dos
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now what you have just done is told the computer to backup the command program
and the screen saver file, then edits the settings so when the computer boots the
screen saver we will get an unprotected dos prompt with out logging into XP.
Once this happens if we enter this command minus the quotes
"net user pas*word"
If the Administrator Account is called windows-tips and we want the password windows-tips-trick enter this
"net user windows-tips windows-tips-trick"
and this changes the password on windows-tips computer to windows-tips-trick and we in.

Search System or Hidden Files In Windows XP

2007-01-10T05:39:00.000-08:00

The Search in Windows XP searches for system and hidden files differently than in earlier versions of Windows. This article describes searching for system or hidden files in Windows XP.
Search for System or Hidden Files By default, the Search companion does not search for hidden or system files. Because, you may be unable to find files, even though they exist.
Here step to search for system or hidden files in Windows XP:
For first step, Click Start, click Search, click All files and folders, and then click More advanced options.
Then Click to check boxes the Search system folders and Search hidden files and folders.

NOTE: You do not need to configure your computer showing hidden files in the Folder Options dialog box in Windows Explorer to find files with either the hidden or system attributes, but you need to configure your computer not to hide protected operating system files to find files with both the hidden and system attributes. Search Companion shares the Hide protected operating system files option with the dialog box of Folder Options Windows Explorer.

Use and setup Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)

2007-01-10T05:31:00.000-08:00

With ICS in Windows XP, we can connect a computer to Internet, then share the Internet service with some computers on our home network or small office network.

Automatically, the Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP Professional provide all of the network settings that we need to share one Internet connection to all the computers in our network.
The computers in our network, can use programs such as Internet Explorer, mozilla firefox, opera and Outlook Express as if were directly connected to the Internet.

We shouldn't use this feature in an existing network with DNS servers, systems configured for static IP addresses, DHCP servers,gateways, or Windows 2000 Server domain controllers

Add/Remove Windows Components

2007-01-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

To show expand the list of applications, after installation, we can remove from Windows XP. To do this navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf and open sysoc.inf file. Under Windows XP Prof Edition RC1, this file resemble the following by default:

[Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=06/26/2001,5.1.2505.0

[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%
WindowTitle.StandAlone="*"

The entries include the text hide or HIDE will not showup in Add/Remove Windows Components. It's default. Fixing this, do a global search and replace for, hide & change each instance of this with , (a comma). We save the file, relaunch Add/Remove Windows Components, and the installed applications to your heart's content.

The Limitations and Burning CDs in XP

2007-01-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

CD burner Windows XP's integrated and pooured by the Roxio but lacks a familiar Easy CD Creator interface. There is no CD Burner icon on the desktop or in the start menu. So where is this promised burner? It’s depending to burn audio or data CD's.

Burning music CDs
The Windows Media Player was always a monstrosity, and now it now includes a new function -- CD burning. Select a song in our My Documents folder, and choose Copy to Audio CD from the folder options on the left. Surprise! Up pops the Windows Media Player, waiting for we to choose Copy to CD. Hit the record button, and have a good time.

Burning data CDs
Open a folder. Look at the folder options on the left of our screen. We should see an option to Copy All Items to CD or Copy to CD, depending on our folder view. We can also right-click a file or folder and choose Send To and then CD drive. I appreciate that XP has made it as easy to drop files to a CD as it is a Zip disk. It does not copy the files immediately. Instead, it places them into a repository and waits for further instruction on when and where to burn the CD. Now, place a blank CD into our CD drive or navigate to our CD drive in My Computer, and choose to write the files to a CD.

Limitations of CD burner
We cannot create bootable CDs with the Windows XP CD burner, nor can we create a CD from an image (like a .iso file). If we want this functionality, we need to install our favorite CD burning software. Don't try to install Easy CD Creator 5 just yet -- Windows XP won't let we.

Roxio will have XP patches available on their website soon, but only for their latest edition of CD creator. Roxio will not support Easy CD Creator 3.X and 4.X for Windows XP, and the user will be required to purchase the upgrade to Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum.

Windows XP does not have a CD burning interface, but it has CD burning artfully integrated into the operating system. However, third-party CD burning software is still necessary for those who want to burn more than the occasional audio CD.

Guide Installing a Printer in Windows XP

2007-01-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

Installing a printer with Add Printer Wizard, we choose between adding a local printer (directly cabled to computer through one of ports) or a network printer (connected to network with Ethernet card, as computer is connected to LAN).

Install local printer with Add Printer Wizard, follow these steps:

1. Click Start button on Start menu task bar and click Control Panel on right side of Start menu.

2. Click Printers & Other Hardware hyperlink if Control Panel is in Category View. Or double-click Printers &Faxes icon if Control Panel is in Classic View.

3. Click Add a Printer hyperlink in Printers and Other Hardware window to start Add Printer Wizard and then click Next button, or press Enter to advance to Local Printer or Printer Connection dialog box.

4. Make sure that Add Printer Wizard selects Local Printer radio button, and Automatically Detect and Install the Plug and Play Printer check box beneath the radio button before we click Next button.

5. If wizard is unable to detect printer in New Printer Detection dialog box, click Next to install printer manually.

6. Select port for printer to use in Use Following Port drop-down list box in Select a Printer Port dialog box and then click Next button.

7. Click manufacturer and model of printer in Manufacturers and Printers list boxes, respectively, of Install Printer Software dialog box.

If we have a disk with software for printer, put it into floppy or CD-ROM drive and then click Have Disk button: Select drive that contains the disk in Copy Manufacturer's Files drop-down list box and then click OK.

8. Click Next button to advance to Name Your Printer dialog box.

If we want, edit name for printer in Printer Name text box. If we want to make printer that we're installing default printer that is automatically used whenever we print from Windows or from within a Windows program, leave Yes radio button selected beneath heading, Do we want Windows-based programs to use the printer as default printer?

9. Click Next button to advance to Printer Sharing dialog box.

If we want to share the printer with other users on network, click Share Name radio button and then, if we want, edit share name (this is name that other users on network see when they go to select the printer for printing their documents) that wizard gives printer in Share Name text box.

10. To print a test page from newly installed printer, click Yes radio button selected beneath heading, Would we like to print a test page? in Print Test Page dialog box.

11. Click Next button to advance to Completing Add Printer Wizard dialog box, where we can review settings for new printer before we click Finish button or press Enter to finish installing new printer.

To use Add Printer Wizard to install a printer that's available through Local Area Network, we follow just slightly different steps:

1. Click Start button on Windows taskbar and then click Control Panel on right side of Start menu.

2. Click Printers and Other Hardware hyperlink if Control Panel window is in Category View. Otherwise, double-click Printers and Faxes icon if Control Panel window is in Classic View.

3. Click Add a Printer hyperlink in Printers and Other Hardware window to start Add Printer Wizard and then click Next button or press Enter to advance to Local or Network Printer dialog box.

4. Click A Network Printer or a Printer Attached to Another Computer radio button in Local or Network Printer dialog box and then click Next button or press Enter to Specify a Printer dialog box.

5. If we know name of network printer, click Connect to This Printer (or to Browse for a Printer, Select this Option and click Next) radio button and then enter network path in Name text box.

If network printer is on a network that uses an Internet address and we know the URL address, click Connect to a Printer on Internet or on a Home or Office Network radio button and then enter address in URL text box. If we know neither of these pieces of information, leave Browse for a Printer radio button selected and then click Next to advance to Browse for Printer dialog box.

6. In Browse for Printer dialog box, locate printer in Shared Printers list box by clicking network icons until we expand outline sufficiently to display printer icon.

When we click printer icon in the outline, wizard adds path to Printer text box above.

7. Click Next button to advance Default Printer dialog box.

If we want to make printer that we're installing default printer that is automatically used whenever we print from Windows or from within a Windows program, leave Yes radio button selected beneath heading, Do we want Windows-based programs to use the printer as default printer?

8. Click Next button to advance to Completing Add Printer Wizard dialog box, where we can review settings for new printer before we click Finish button or press Enter to finish installing new printer.

After we add a printer to computer, we can start using it when printing with programs such as Word 2002 and Excel 2002, or when printing from Windows itself.

To switch to a new printer that we haven't designated as default printer in programs such as Word and Excel, we need to open Print dialog box (choose File-->Print) and then select printer name in Name drop-down list box.

Making Sense of My Computer Program in Windows XP

2007-01-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

Windows needs a place to store your programs and files. So, it borrowed the file cabinet metaphor, translated it into light and airy Windows icons, and called it the My Computer program. My Computer shows the files and storage areas inside your computer, allowing you to copy or move them, rename them, or delete them.

Everybody organizes his or her computer differently. Some people don't organize their computers at all. To see how your computer has been organizing your files, click the Start menu and click My Computer.

The My Computer program is a big panel of buttons — sort of an extension of your desktop. Here's a brief rundown on what those big icons along My Computer's right side mean:

Files Stored on This Computer: Windows XP lets many people use the same computer, and everybody's files stay private. However, sometimes everybody wants to share information — letters from relatives, for instance. That's where the Shared Documents folder (shown in the margin) comes in.

The Shared Documents folder contains files and folders accessible to everybody that uses the computer. To share things with other users of your computer, call up My Computer and store the information inside My Computer's Shared Documents folder. (Double-clicking any folder shows its contents.)

Two additional folders live inside the Shared Documents folder: Shared Music and Shared Pictures. Everybody using the computer may also access music and pictures stored in here.
If you don't want other users to share your information, keep it out of the Shared Documents folder. Instead, store the information in your My Documents folder, accessible from the Start menu. (See the Other Places area listed along My Computer's left side, as shown in Figure 1? You can also open your My Documents folder from there by clicking its name.)

Notice two other folders in Figure 1, one belonging to Guest and the other to Tina? You see those folders because you're viewing the My Computer area of an administrator's account. The administrator can peek inside the files of any other user. So, Figure 1 shows the My Documents folders of two other users, Tina and the Guest account. Those folders are called Tina's Documents and Guest's Documents, respectively.

Hard Disk Drives: This one's not too difficult. It lists the hard drives installed on your computer. Double-clicking a folder here shows what's inside, but you rarely find much useful information. In fact, Windows often simply tells you to back off and look for programs on your Start menu, instead. Unlike files and folders, hard dives can't be moved to different areas.

Devices with Removable Storage: This area shows stuff you take in and out of your computer: floppy drives, CD-ROM drives, Iomega Jaz drives, and even MP3 players, if they're Windows XP compatible, like the HipZip's PocketZip player shown in Figure 1.

Scanners and Cameras: Digital cameras and scanners often appear down here, depending on their make and model.

Unlike files and folders, Hard Disk Drives, Devices with Removable Storage, and Scanners and Cameras can't be moved to different areas. They're stuck where they live in the My Computer area. To make them more accessible, you can place shortcuts to them on your desktop or any other convenient spot.

My Computer also includes several boxes along its left side. They serve mainly as shortcuts — pointers — that take you to other areas on your computer. The boxes change according to what you're viewing in My Computer. These choices appear when you first open My Computer, and here's what they mean.

System Tasks: Both items listed here, View System Information and Add or Remove Programs, deal with your computer's innards. They're shortcuts to icons on Windows XP's Control Panel.
Other Places: Three of these items, My Network Places, My Documents, and Control Panel, are simply shortcuts to items that appear on your computer's Start menu.
You may wonder (as others have) why there's a shortcut to the Shared Documents folder here, because the Shared Documents folder already appears a few inches to the right, as you can see in Figure 1. Hmmm, a mystery.

Details: Finally, something interesting. Click almost any icon in My Computer, and the Details window automatically displays information about that object: the date a file was created, for instance, or how much space it consumes.

Unique Computer Name

2007-01-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

You can set up a computer so that it has multiple installations of Windows XP and Windows 2000 Professional. However, you must use a different computer name for each installation if the computer participates in a Windows 2000 Server domain.

Because a unique security identifier (SID) is used for each installation of Windows XP on a domain, the computer name for each installation must be unique—even for multiple installations on the same computer.

1 OS/Partition

2007-01-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

Before installing and Windows XP and an earlier version on the same machine, you must prepare your hard disk with different partitions.

When you install Windows on a new or reformatted hard disk, the Setup program typically does not partition your hard disk automatically. To create multiple partitions, choose Advanced Options during Setup and follow the instructions to create and name multiple partitions. You can also create partitions using Fdisk.

If you have already installed Windows, and you have only one partition, you must reformat and partition your hard drive before you can multiboot.

You can divide your hard disk into multiple partitions, and each partition can function as a separate logical drive. For example, logical drives C: and D: can both exist on the same hard disk, but function as separate disks. You should install each operating system on a different partition. Then install applications on the same partition as the operating system with which you run them. If an application is used with two different operating systems, install copies on both partitions. Placing each operating system in a separate partition ensures that it will not overwrite crucial files used by the other OS.

A basic disk can contain up to four partitions. Each partition can be formatted for use by a file system, such as FAT32 or NTFS.In general, you should always install the most recent OS last. In this case, you should install Windows 2000 and then install Windows XP.

Can't remove a desktop item from the desktop

2007-01-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

problem:
When you was on a website and You wanted to save a picture to your desktop. You forgot hit "save as desktop item". now You have a picture covering most of my screen. when You right click, the window for the desktop opens with no option to delete.

solve:
If this is the background of your desktop then to change that just go right-click on the screen, select properties and then the "Desktop" tab and select whatever background you want for the wallpaper as most call it. You could also access that properties page by selecting Display in the Control Panel. or you need to delet it from your pictures (if save it there) or just change it as you know now.

Related problem:
You tried changing the background. The background changes behind this picture as if it were an icon. when you right click on it, there is no delete option. you tried changing the background earlier. the background changes behind the picture as if it wre an icon.
solve:
Take a screen shot (minimize all your windows and use the print screen button), then upload that to a free photo hosting site like photobucket.com. Then post the URL here.
Click Start> control panel> performance and maintenance. In the upper left theres a system restore link, click there. A window will pop-up, select "restore my computer to an earlier time" and click next. Now select a day BEFORE you downloaded this "applet, icon, picture" whatever it is and click next. System will reboot and hopefully problem will be solve

If its win98 you probably have active desktop.
How to Delete an Active Desktop Item from the Desktop To delete an Active Desktop item, follow these steps: .
1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.
2. Click the Web tab.
3. Click appropriate Web site, and then click Delete.
4. Click Yes to confirm deletion.
5. Click OK.

I hope it can help

How to use FDISK.com in DOS

2007-01-05T12:56:00.000-08:00

The Basics of Fdisk: Primary partitions are the only one that are bootable. They're always the C: drive when active. Normally you can only have one (more with some special tricks etc.) Extended partitions are needed when you want more than one partition. You can only have ONE Extended partition. Logical Drives come into the Extended partition. They are handy since you know that you can only have one Primary and one Extended so you can get more than only two partitions. They would be your D:, E:, etc. drives.

First you need to reboot your system with the Boot Disk inserted.
1.At the A: prompt start "FDISK."
2.If asked to use Large Disc support say Yes.
3.The first screen looks like this:
Create Dos Partition or Logical Drive Set Active Partition Delete Partitions or Logical DOS Drives Display Partition Information Change current fixed drive. (In case you have two or more Hard Drivess) So, to prepare you hopefully did a backup from your data. You did, didn't you ?!
4.Next we need to remove the existing partitions. So go to 3.
5.Next screen like this:
Delete Primary DOS Delete Extended DOS Delete Logical Drives Delete Non-DOS Delete always in the following order
Logical (All) > Extended > Primary (Last)
6.Go back to first screen after all partitions have been removed.
7.Now we need to setup our new partitions. Go to 1.

This screen looks like this:
Create Primary DOS Create Extended DOS Create Logical DOS Drives Here we create in the following order
Primary > Extended > Logical Drives.
8.First create the Primary. If asked to use all space say No and enter the amount you wish for the C: drive. It should be set automatically to be the (only) Active partition. If not it may ask you or you have to select "2. Set active partition" from the main menu.
9.Next create the Extended Partition. Use all space left.
It probably advances automatically to the next step, creating the Logical DOS Drives.
10.Enter the amount you wish for the D: partition and than the rest for the third partition.
Think first about the size for the partitions.

OK now we're finished with FDISK so just exit it. Next you need to reboot with the disc still inserted and Format all partitions (the C: partition might need to be formatted with "format c: /s", check the Win95 tip). Another reboot and you can go ahead and install Windows.
When your system supports booting from CD just insert the Windows CD and reboot. The setup will start.

If not, follow these steps:Win98: insert Boot Disk and CD, reboot, choose "2. boot with CDROM support" and once you're at the prompt change to your CD-drive letter (depends on your partition setup) and enter "setup". Win95: You must format the C: partition with "Format C: /s"!. Next install your CDROM driver, reboot, insert the Win95 CD, change to the CD-driveletter, enter "setup". I hope I made no mistakes

Unlocking WinXP's setup.ini

2007-01-05T12:53:00.000-08:00

WinXP's setupp.ini controls how the CD acts. IE is it an OEM version or retail? First, find your setupp.ini file in the i386 directory on your WinXP CD. Open it up, it'll look something like this:
ExtraData=707A667567736F696F697911AE7E05Pid=55034000

The Pid value is what we're interested in. What's there now looks like a standard default. There are special numbers that determine if it's a retail, oem, or volume license edition. First, we break down that number into two parts. The first five digits determines how the CD will behave, ie is it a retail cd that lets you clean install or upgrade, or an oem cd that only lets you perform a clean install? The last three digits determines what CD key it will accept. You are able to mix and match these values. For example you could make a WinXP cd that acted like a retail cd, yet accepted OEM keys.

Now, for the actual values. Remember the first and last values are interchangable, but usually you'd keep them as a pair:
Retail = 51882335Volume License = 51883 270OEM = 82503 OEM
So if you wanted a retail CD that took retail keys, the last line of your setupp.ini file would read:
Pid=51882335
And if you wanted a retail CD that took OEM keys, you'd use:
Pid=51882OEM
Note that this does NOT get rid of WinXP's activation. Changing the Pid to a Volume License will not bypass activation. You must have a volume license (corporate) key to do so.

What Are System Services in the 1st place

2007-01-05T12:51:00.000-08:00

System services are actually small helper programs that provide support for other larger programs in Windows 2000. Many of the services are set up to run automatically each time you start Windows 2000. However, if you're not using the larger programs that these services are designed to support, these services are simply wasting RAM that could be put to better use by your applications. While the word "Disable" is used here to describe the idea that you'll remove these services from memory, what you'll really be doing is changing the startup setting from Automatic to Manual.

When you do, the services won't automatically start each time you launch Windows 2000 Professional. However, Windows 2000 will be able to manually start the services if they're needed. That way you won't be unnecessarily wasting RAM, but you won't be crippling your system either. Note: If you're running Windows 2000 Professional on a corporate network, you may not be able to adjust system services. Regardless of whether you can or not, you should check with your system administrator before attempting the make these changes.

Changing the startup type of a service from Automatic to Manual is a relatively simple operation. To begin, open the Control Panel, open the Administrative Tools folder, and then double click the Services tool. When you see the Services window, set the View to Detail if it isn't already. Then click the Startup Type column header to sort the services by Startup Type. When you do, all the Services that start automatically will appear at the top of the list.

As you scan through the list of services on your system whose Startup Type setting is set to Automatic, look for the services in listed in the Table below. These are some of the services are good candidates to be set to a Manual Startup Type. Examples of services that can be safely changed to Manual :-
DHCP Client -- You're not connecting to a specific DHCP server on your local networkDistributed Link Tracking Client -- You're not connected to a Windows 2000 domainDNS Client -- You're not connecting to a specific DNS server on your local networkFTP Publishing Service -- You don't need your system to act as an FTP serverIIS Admin Service -- You don't need your system to act as an WWW serverIPSEC Policy Agent -- You're not connected to a Windows 2000 domainMessenger -- You're not connected to a Windows 2000 domain Remote Registry Service -- You don't remotely access the Registry of other systems on your local networkRIP Service -- You don't need your system to act as a routerRun As Service -- You don't use any applications that run as an alias

Powerdown issues

2007-01-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

"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.

It's about shut down

2007-01-05T12:46:00.000-08:00

"STOP” ERROR MESSAGES AT SHUTDOWN
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_FAILURESTOP 0x0000001E: KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLEDSTOP 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.

What is the Registry

2007-01-04T07:04:00.000-08:00

May be in this weblog you will find much of tutorials using registry. And you wanna know what's registry. I hope article below can answer what is your question in your heart about this. I found this article in my PC. Ok, have a nice read.

The Registry is a database used to store settings and options for the 32 bit versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows 95, 98, ME and NT/2000. It contains information and settings for all the hardware, software, users, and preferences of the PC. Whenever a user makes changes to a Control Panel settings, or File Associations, System Policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the Registry.

The physical files that make up the registry are stored differently depending on your version of Windows; under Windows 95 & 98 it is contained in two hidden files in your Windows directory, called USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT, for Windows Me there is an additional CLASSES.DAT file, while under Windows NT/2000 the files are contained seperately in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Config directory. You can not edit these files directly, you must use a tool commonly known as a "Registry Editor" to make any changes (using registry editors will be discussed later in the article).

The Structure of The Registry
The Registry has a hierarchal structure, although it looks complicated the structure is similar to the directory structure on your hard disk, with Regedit being similar to Windows Explorer.

Each main branch (denoted by a folder icon in the Registry Editor, see left) is called a Hive, and Hives contains Keys. Each key can contain other keys (sometimes referred to as sub-keys), as well as Values. The values contain the actual information stored in the Registry. There are three types of values; String, Binary, and DWORD - the use of these depends upon the context.

There are six main branches, each containing a specific portion of the information stored in the Registry. They are as follows:
* HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT - This branch contains all of your file association mappings to support the drag-and-drop feature, OLE information, Windows shortcuts, and core aspects of the Windows user interface.
* HKEY_CURRENT_USER - This branch links to the section of HKEY_USERS appropriate for the user currently logged onto the PC and contains information such as logon names, desktop settings, and Start menu settings.
* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - This branch contains computer specific information about the type of hardware, software, and other preferences on a given PC, this information is used for all users who log onto this computer.
* HKEY_USERS - This branch contains individual preferences for each user of the computer, each user is represented by a SID sub-key located under the main branch.
* HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG - This branch links to the section of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE appropriate for the current hardware configuration.
* HKEY_DYN_DATA - This branch points to the part of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, for use with the Plug-&-Play features of Windows, this section is dymanic and will change as devices are added and removed from the system.

Each registry value is stored as one of five main data types:
* REG_BINARY - This type stores the value as raw binary data. Most hardware component information is stored as binary data, and can be displayed in an editor in hexadecimal format.
* REG_DWORD - This type represents the data by a four byte number and is commonly used for boolean values, such as "0" is disabled and "1" is enabled. Additionally many parameters for device driver and services are this type, and can be displayed in REGEDT32 in binary, hexadecimal and decimal format, or in REGEDIT in hexadecimal and decimal format.
* REG_EXPAND_SZ - This type is an expandable data string that is string containing a variable to be replaced when called by an application. For example, for the following value, the string "%SystemRoot%" will replaced by the actual location of the directory containing the Windows NT system files. (This type is only available using an advanced registry editor such as REGEDT32)
* REG_MULTI_SZ - This type is a multiple string used to represent values that contain lists or multiple values, each entry is separated by a NULL character. (This type is only available using an advanced registry editor such as REGEDT32)
* REG_SZ - This type is a standard string, used to represent human readable text values.

Other data types not available through the standard registry editors include:
* REG_DWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN - A 32-bit number in little-endian format.
* REG_DWORD_BIG_ENDIAN - A 32-bit number in big-endian format.
* REG_LINK - A Unicode symbolic link. Used internally; applications should not use this type.
* REG_NONE - No defined value type.
* REG_QWORD - A 64-bit number.
* REG_QWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN - A 64-bit number in little-endian format.
* REG_RESOURCE_LIST - A device-driver resource list.

Editing The Registry
The Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE) is included with most version of Windows (although you won't find it on the Start Menu) it enables you to view, search and edit the data within the Registry. There are several methods for starting the Registry Editor, the simplest is to click on the Start button, then select Run, and in the Open box type "regedit", and if the Registry Editor is installed it should now open and look like the image below.

An alternative Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE) is available for use with Windows NT/2000, it includes some additional features not found in the standard version, including; the ability to view and modify security permissions, and being able to create and modify the extended string values REG_EXPAND_SZ & REG_MULTI_SZ.

Create a Shortcut to Regedit
This can be done by simply right-clicking on a blank area of your desktop, selecting New, then Shortcut, then in the Command line box enter "regedit.exe" and click Next, enter a friendly name (e.g. 'Registry Editor') then click Finish and now you can double click on the new icon to launch the Registry Editor.

Using Regedit to modify your Registry
Once you have started the Regedit you will notice that on the left side there is a tree with folders, and on the right the contents (values) of the currently selected folder.

Like Windows explorer, to expand a certain branch (see the structure of the registry section), click on the plus sign [+] to the left of any folder, or just double-click on the folder. To display the contents of a key (folder), just click the desired key, and look at the values listed on the right side. You can add a new key or value by selecting New from the Edit menu, or by right-clicking your mouse. And you can rename any value and almost any key with the same method used to rename files; right-click on an object and click rename, or click on it twice (slowly), or just press F2 on the keyboard. Lastly, you can delete a key or value by clicking on it, and pressing Delete on the keyboard, or by right-clicking on it, and choosing Delete.

Note: it is always a good idea to backup your registry before making any changes to it. It can be intimidating to a new user, and there is always the possibility of changing or deleting a critical setting causing you to have to reinstall the whole operating system. It's much better to be safe than sorry!

Importing and Exporting Registry Settings
A great feature of the Registry Editor is it's ability to import and export registry settings to a text file, this text file, identified by the .REG extension, can then be saved or shared with other people to easily modify local registry settings. You can see the layout of these text files by simply exporting a key to a file and opening it in Notepad, to do this using the Registry Editor select a key, then from the "Registry" menu choose "Export Registry File...", choose a filename and save. If you open this file in notepad you will see a file similar to the example below:

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup]
"SetupType"=dword:00000000
"CmdLine"="setup -newsetup"
"SystemPrefix"=hex:c5,0b,00,00,00,40,36,02

The layout is quite simple, REGEDIT4 indicated the file type and version, [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup] indicated the key the values are from, "SetupType"=dword:00000000 are the values themselves the portion after the "=" will vary depending on the type of value they are; DWORD, String or Binary.

So by simply editing this file to make the changes you want, it can then be easily distributed and all that need to be done is to double-click, or choose "Import" from the Registry menu, for the settings to be added to the system Registry.

Deleting keys or values using a REG file
It is also possible to delete keys and values using REG files. To delete a key start by using the same format as the the REG file above, but place a "-" symbol in front of the key name you want to delete. For example to delete the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup] key the reg file would look like this:

REGEDIT4
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup]
The format used to delete individual values is similar, but instead of a minus sign in front of the whole key, place it after the equal sign of the value. For example, to delete the value "SetupType" the file would look like:

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup]
"SetupType"=-

Use this feature with care, as deleting the wrong key or value could cause major problems within the registry, so remember to always make a backup first.

Regedit Command Line Options
Regedit has a number of command line options to help automate it's use in either batch files or from the command prompt. Listed below are some of the options, please note the some of the functions are operating system specific.
* regedit.exe [options] [filename] [regpath]
* [filename] Import .reg file into the registry
* /s [filename] Silent import, i.e. hide confirmation box when importing files
* /e [filename] [regpath] Export the registry to [filename] starting at [regpath]
e.g. regedit /e file.reg HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT
* /L:system Specify the location of the system.dat to use
* /R:user Specify the location of the user.dat to use
* /C [filename] Compress (Windows 98)
* /D [regpath] Delete the specified key (Windows 98)

Maintaining the Registry
How can you backup and restore the Registry?

Windows 95
Microsoft included a utility on the Windows 95 CD-ROM that lets you create backups of the Registry on your computer. The Microsoft Configuration Backup program, CFGBACK.EXE, can be found in the \Other\Misc\Cfgback directory on the Windows 95 CD-ROM. This utility lets you create up to nine different backup copies of the Registry, which it stores, with the extension RBK, in your \Windows directory. If your system is set up for multiple users, CFGBACK.EXE won't back up the USER.DAT file.

After you have backed up your Registry, you can copy the RBK file onto a floppy disk for safekeeping. However, to restore from a backup, the RBK file must reside in the \Windows directory. Windows 95 stores the backups in compressed form, which you can then restore only by using the CFGBACK.EXE utility.

Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 98 automatically creates a backup copy of the registry every time Windows starts, in addition to this you can manually create a backup using the Registry Checker utility by running SCANREGW.EXE from Start | Run menu.

What to do if you get a Corrupted Registry
Windows 95, 98 and NT all have a simple registry backup mechanism that is quite reliable, although you should never simply rely on it, remember to always make a backup first!

Windows 95
In the Windows directory there are several hidden files, four of these will be SYSTEM.DAT & USER.DAT, your current registry, and SYSTEM.DA0 & USER.DA0, a backup of your registry. Windows 9x has a nice reature in that every time it appears to start successfully it will copy the registry over these backup files, so just in case something goes wrong can can restore it to a known good state.

To restore the registry follow these instruction:
* Click the Start button, and then click Shut Down.
* Click Restart The Computer In MS-DOS Mode, then click Yes.
* Change to your Windows directory. For example, if your Windows directory is c:\windows, you would type the following:
cd c:\windows
* Type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each one. (Note that SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0 contain the number zero.)
attrib -h -r -s system.dat
attrib -h -r -s system.da0
copy system.da0 system.dat
attrib -h -r -s user.dat
attrib -h -r -s user.da0
copy user.da0 user.dat

* Restart your computer.
Following this procedure will restore your registry to its state when you last successfully started your computer.

If all else fails, there is a file on your hard disk named SYSTEM.1ST that was created when Windows 95 was first successfully installed. If necessary you could also change the file attributes of this file from read-only and hidden to archive to copy the file to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT.

Windows NT
On Windows NT you can use either the "Last Known Good" option or RDISK to restore to registry to a stable working configuration.

How can I clean out old data from the Registry?
Although it's possible to manually go through the Registry and delete unwanted entries, Microsoft provides a tool to automate the process, the program is called RegClean. RegClean analyzes Windows Registry keys stored in a common location in the Windows Registry. It finds keys that contain erroneous values, it removes them from the Windows Registry after having recording those entries in the Undo.Reg file.

Windows Xp tips, A work in progress

2007-01-04T07:03:00.000-08:00

OK, every time I have to install, reinstall, or optimize someone elses XP setup I forget what I need to do, so I have to go throught dozens of magizines and find all the good useful tips that will speed up the computer and Windows.
So I made this tutoral and text file so I and everyone else can see and use on a floppy or thumb drive or something and carry it around, so you don't have to forget and can the computer without downloading anything.

And if you have something to add, just post it and I'll add it to the text file and this post.

Services to turn off:

Alerter
Application Management
Automatic Updates
ClipBook
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Error Reporting Service
Fast User Switching Compatibility
Messenger
Portable Media Serial Number Service
Remote Registry
Routing and Remote Access
Task Scheduler
Telnet
TPC/IP NetBIOS Helper
Uninterruptible Power Supply

To turn of the service, right click on my computer. You can choose from your desktop or from windows explorer. select manage and computer management window will appear. select services under services and applications. Now you can choose that services will be off

Change "Recycle Bin" size to 1%
To change it, Right click on recycle bin on your desktop or windows explorer. The windows recycle bin properties will appear. Drug the horizontal scroll until 1%. after that click Apply and OK. You can edit properties of this recycled bin global or by drive.

Registry tips:

This tips is in registry editor. to open registry window you can find some tutorials in this weblog. Do step same the other tutorials in this weblog, but the difference is in the value or key.
Auto Sort Start Menu
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder
Go to Edit/Permissions, click Advanced, clear the "Inherit From Parent" check box, click Copy from the dialog box, click OK and then clear the "Full Control" for your account and now Windows will autp sort the start menu, but you can still do it too

Disable User Tracking
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Add or Edit DWORD = NoInstrumentation, Value = 1
Disables Windows user tracking; better performance, much better privacy

Cache Thumbnails
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Add or Edit DWORD = DisableThumbnailCache, Value = 1
Disables thumbnails in Windows, saving hard drive space

Kill Chrashed Apps Quicker
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Add or Edit Sring = HungAppTimeout, Value = 1000-5000
Cuts time for Windows to recongize a crashed application and allow you to kill it; default is 5000(for 5 seconds)

Faster Start Menu
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Add or Edit Sring = MenuShowDelay, Value = 0 - 400
Changes the delay that for Windows to show a menu in the start menu; value is in ms

Network Intelligently
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
Add or Edit String = DisableTaskOffload, Value = 1
Frees processor from doing network-card work

Browse the Network Faster
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace
Delete subkeys {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} and {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
Speeds up network browsing of old Windows machines on the LAN by ignoring their scheduled tasks and printers

Remove Compression Option In Disk Cleanup
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Compress old files
Delete the Default Value Key and the next time you start Disk Cleanup, it will skip the compression analyisis

Disable the Windows Key

2007-01-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

May be when you playing games and this nasty windos logo key keep annoying you, cause you often accidently clicked it , I found the following article in microsfot website, and it did work, hope this helps you.
CODE
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=181348

or in other articles, u can copy the following messages into ur notepad and save as *.reg, and use it..
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,5b,e0,00,00,5c,e0,\
00,00,00,00

The actualy that binner you save in *.reg extention is the extention for registry. when you click twice and click OK when a messagebox appers, this key, binner and value will be input to you windows registry. You can check it with open registry windows and find the tree in registry editor. You'll find the value same with *.reg file. Try it

How To Remove and Add Right-Click Menu Items from Files and Folders

2007-01-04T06:58:00.000-08:00

Removing Items
A lot of programs you install will add themselves to the right-click menu of your files and/or folders. And most times, you have no choice in the matter and, as a result, your right-click menu can get very long with added items you don't even use. The last person I was helping with this had a right context menu so long that the Rename option was no longer visible!

Fortunately, you can easily remove those unwanted menu items, if you know the registry values to edit. And it's not at all difficult once you know the keys responsible for the additions.

For Files, the secret lies in the "context menu handlers" under the shellex subkey for "All Files" which, in the registry, is nothing but an asterisk - like a dos wildcard, which means the values entered apply to all files. It is at the very top of the Root key, right here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
Click the the + sign next to the ContextMenuHandlers key, to expand it.
Now you will see some of the programs that have added items to your right-click menu. Simply delete the program keys you don't want.
Yup! It's that simple. If deleting makes you uneasy, just export the key before deleting it. Or, instead of deleting the values, disable them. Simply double click the default value for the program on the right hand pane and rename the clsid value by placing a period or dash in front of it.

ie; - {b5eedee0-c06e-11cf-8c56-444553540000}

Then exit the registry, refresh, and right click a file to see if the item was removed from the menu.
Some programs - like WinZip or WinRar - will add several items to your right click menu but all of them will be removed by deleting or disabling their one context menu handler.

Note that the above key only applies to the right click menu of files.
To remove entries from the right click context menu of folders, you need to navigate to the Folder and Drive keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

All you have to do is follow the same procedure as for Files - either disable or delete items you wish to remove.

Adding Items
Adding Items to the right click menu of Files and Folders is also fairly simple using the Registry. It just involves the creation of a few new keys for each item you wish to add. You edit the same keys used for removing items. Let's use Notepad as an example of an item you'd like to add to the right click menu of all your files or folders.

For folders, go to this key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder
Click the + sign next to Folder and expand it so that the Shell key is visible. Right click the Shell key and choose New>Key and name the key Notepad or whatever else you'd prefer (whatever the key is named is what will appear in the right-click menu). Now right click the new key you made and create another key named Command. Then, in the right hand pane, double click "Default" and enter Notepad.exe as the value.
Exit the registry, refresh, and right click any folder. Notepad should now be on the context menu.

For files, go here again:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*
Expand the * key and see if a Shell key exists. If it does exist, follow the same procedure as for folders. If it does not exist, you'll have to create a new Shell first. Just right click the * key and choose New>Key and name it Shell. Then right click the Shell key and continue on the same way you did for adding items to the right click menu of folders.

Once done, Notepad should appear as an option in the right click menu of all your files.

Windows XP Hidden Aplication

2007-01-04T06:56:00.000-08:00

May be you don't know there are some usefull aplication in windows. Here the listing of these applications with a little description. To run any of these apps go to Start > Run and type the executable name (ie charmap).

1) Character Map = charmap.exe (very useful for finding unusual characters)2) Disk Cleanup = cleanmgr.exe

3) Clipboard Viewer = clipbrd.exe (views contents of Windows clipboard)

4) Dr Watson = drwtsn32.exe (Troubleshooting tool)

5) DirectX diagnosis = dxdiag.exe (Diagnose & test DirectX, video & sound cards)

6) Private character editor = eudcedit.exe (allows creation or modification of characters)

7) IExpress Wizard = iexpress.exe (Create self-extracting / self-installing package)

8) Microsoft Synchronization Manager = mobsync.exe (appears to allow synchronization of files on the network for when working offline. Apparently undocumented).

9) Windows Media Player 5.1 = mplay32.exe (Retro version of Media Player, very basic).

10) ODBC Data Source Administrator = odbcad32.exe (something to do with databases)

11) Object Packager = packager.exe (to do with packaging objects for insertion in files, appears to have comprehensive help files).

12) System Monitor = perfmon.exe (very useful, highly configurable tool, tells you everything you ever wanted to know about any aspect of PC performance, for uber-geeks only )

13) Program Manager = progman.exe (Legacy Windows 3.x desktop shell).

14) Remote Access phone book = rasphone.exe (documentation is virtually non-existant).

15) Registry Editor = regedt32.exe [also regedit.exe] (for hacking the Windows Registry).

16) Network shared folder wizard = shrpubw.exe (creates shared folders on network).

17) File siganture verification tool = sigverif.exe

18) Volume Contro = sndvol32.exe (I've included this for those people that lose it from the System Notification area).

19) System Configuration Editor = sysedit.exe (modify System.ini & Win.ini just like in Win98! ).

20) Syskey = syskey.exe (Secures XP Account database - use with care, it's virtually undocumented but it appears to encrypt all passwords, I'm not sure of the full implications).

21) Microsoft Telnet Client = telnet.exe

22) Driver Verifier Manager = verifier.exe (seems to be a utility for monitoring the actions of drivers, might be useful for people having driver problems. Undocumented).

23) Windows for Workgroups Chat = winchat.exe (appears to be an old NT utility to allow chat sessions over a LAN, help files available).

24) System configuration = msconfig.exe (can use to control starup programs)

25) gpedit.msc used to manage group policies, and permissions

Character Map

2007-01-04T06:51:00.000-08:00

You can use Character Map to view the characters that are available in a selected font. Character Map displays the following character sets: Windows, DOS, and Unicode.

You can copy individual characters or a group of characters to the Clipboard and paste them into any program that can display them. Or, depending on the program you are using (such as WordPad), you can even copy characters by dragging them from Character Map directly into an open document.

Using Character Map, you can search for characters by Unicode character name or Unicode subgroup (such as arrows or mathematical operators) or by other special classifications.

You can also use Character Map to view and copy private characters that you have created using Private Character Editor.

If you know the Unicode equivalent of the character you want to insert, you can also insert a special character directly into a document without using Character Map. To do so, open the document and position the insertion point where you want the special character to appear. Then, with NUM LOCK on, hold down the ALT key while using the number pad keys to type the Unicode character value.

To insert a special character into a document
Open Character Map.
In the Font list, type or select the font you want to use.
Click the special character you want to insert into the document.
Click Select, and then click Copy.
Open your document and position the insertion point where you want the special character to appear.
On the Edit menu, click Paste.
Notes

XOX
You can also use a drag-and-drop operation to copy a special character into documents that support drag-and-drop functions. To do this, click the character you want to copy (it appears enlarged), and then drag the character into the open document.
If you know the Unicode equivalent of the character you want to insert, you can also insert a special character directly into a document without using Character Map. To do so, open the document and position the insertion point where you want the special character to appear. Then, with NUM LOCK on, hold down the ALT key while using the number pad keys to type the Unicode character value.

Finding characters
In Character Map, all the characters in a specific font are displayed in the order of their Unicode value. If you know the Unicode value of the character you are looking for, you can scroll through the characters in the font to find it.

If you don't know the Unicode value of the character you are looking for, select the Advanced view check box. This lets you display groups of characters to help you refine your search. You can even use the Search for box to search for a character by name. For example, if you are looking for the euro character, select the Advanced view check box, and then type euro in the Search for box. If the status bar displays a message that no character is available, select a different font and try your search again. Some fonts do not contain all characters.

Select windows visual effects

2007-01-03T11:30:00.000-08:00

In default after instalation, windows always in best appearence seting. That always check these options:

Animated windows when minimizing and maximizing

Fade or slide menus into view

Fade or slide ToolTips into view

Fade out menu items after clicking

Show shadows under menus

Show shadows under mouse pointer

Show translucent selection rectangle

Show window contents while draging

Slide open combo boxes

Slide taskbar buttons

Smooth edges of screen fonts

Smooth scroll list boxes

Use a background image for each folder type

Use common tasks in folders

Use drops shadows for icon labels on the desktop

Use visual styles on windows and buttons

The impact of this option checked is windows run slowly. In my windows, I just checked Use drops shadows for icon labels on the desktop and Use visual styles on windows and buttons. but it's depend by your self and your computer.

To change these options, do this step by step:
1. Open up the control panel (Start =>> setting =>> control panel)
2. Double click on System icon (it'll display system properties)
3. Click on the advanced tab
4. Click settings under Performance options, this will display performance properties. click tab visual effects

5. You can now change various graphical effects (mainly animations and shadows)

After you change this options, click OK or (apply and then OK).
Now you can feel the difference after you change your seting

Remove Shared Documents

2007-01-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

In default after instalation, always there's a shared documents folder. May be sometimes you have thinking to remove it. Here what you want will come true. hehe

Open Regedit(Start- Run- Regedit). This step still same with tutorials that have writen first.

After registry windows opened navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE >> SOFTWARE >> M'zoft >> Windows >> CurrentVersion >> Explorer >> MyComputer >> NameSpace>> DelegateFolders

There will see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. Delete this you can remove the 'Other Files stored on This Computer' group.

Get rid of windows messenger

2007-01-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

Here simple tips to Get rid of windows messenger
Click Start-> and then Run-> and type "gpedit.msc" without apostroff
This command will open Group policy window. On left side there menu and sub menu like folders on windows explorer.

Goto Windows Messenger folder with click this folder
1 Computer Configuration
2 Administrative Templates
3 Windows Components
4 Windows Messenger
after click Windows Messenger on right side there 2 setting that not being configure. Those are
"Do not allow Windows Messenger to be run"
and
"Do not automatically start Windows Messenger initially"

Click those seting twice and select enabled. Do it for both setting.
hope this help you

Shutdown XP Faster

2007-01-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

Shutdown XP Faster I
When a user shuts down Windows XP, first the system has to kill all services currently running. To know the service, you can press CTRL+ALT+DEL and click tab Processes.

Every once in a while the service does not shut downinstantly and windows gives it a change to shut down on its own before it kills it.This amount of time that windows waits is stored in the system registry.If you modify this setting, then windows will kill the service earlier. To modifythe setting, follow the directions below:

Start Regedit.
To start it, you can do step like in Make Fast Your Start Menu tutorial.

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).

Shutdown XP faster II
It takes long time to restart or shutdown windows xpwhen the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. to solve this problem you must disablethis 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.

How To Boot Xp Faster

2007-01-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

First of all, this tutorial only apply to those who only have one HDD on their primary IDE channel (nothing else on device 0 or 1) and a CD-ROM and/or DVD-ROM on the secondary IDE channel. Each time you boot Windows XP, there's an updated file called NTOSBOOT-*.pf who appears in your prefetch directory (%SystemRoot%Prefetch) and there's no need to erease any other files as the new prefetch option in XP really improves loading time of installed programs. We only want WindowsXP to boot faster and not decrease its performance. Thanks to Rod Cahoon (for the prefetch automation process...with a minor change of mine) and Zeb for the IDE Channel as those two tricks, coupled together with a little modification, result in an EXTREMELY fast bootup:

Open notepad.exe, type "del c:windowsprefetch tosboot-*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.bat" in c:
From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc".
Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window.
In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open".
Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.
From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "devmgmt.msc".
Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
Right click on "Primary IDE Channel" and select "Properties".
Select the "Advanced Settings" tab then on the device 0 or 1 that doesn't have 'device type' greyed out select 'none' instead of 'autodetect' & click "OK".
Right click on "Secondary IDE channel", select "Properties" and repeat step 9.
Reboot your computer.

Your computer should be faster than before

Why Your PC Crash

2007-01-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy," it says. "Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications."
You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening? Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy," it says. "Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications."

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

Ø Conflict of Hardware

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device.

For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself.

If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route:

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.

Often if a device has a problem a yellow '!' appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it.

Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as 'IRQ holder for PCI steering'. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.

Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty).

When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity.

To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.

Ø Bad Ram

Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.

Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble.

EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes.

Ø BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.

A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer's display.

Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to 'yes' to allow Windows to do this.).

Ø Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter

This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop).

Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk.

Hard diss will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.

Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use.

Ø Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems. These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.

If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics

Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card's manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

Ø Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs

Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.

A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com).

Ø Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer's performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer's default settings and you may be able to carry on.

Ø Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don't do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message "Starting Windows" press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn't work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

Ø Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

Ø Power supply problems

With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.

If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.

Sorry for Not Update

2007-01-02T00:40:00.000-08:00

Sorry if this weblog not being update. coz there broken link from indonesia to United state. This happened because there's a because of damage to undersea cables caused. here the news from BBC

Asia communications hit by quake

The quake was felt across Taiwan

Telecommunications across Asia have been severely disrupted because of damage to undersea cables caused by Tuesday's earthquake near Taiwan.

Banks and businesses in Taiwan, South Korea, China and Japan reported telephone and internet problems.

The earthquake, a magnitude 7.1 according to the US Geological Survey, struck off Taiwan's southern coast

Two people were killed and at least 42 injured in the temblor, which shook buildings across the island.

The earthquake took place at 2026 (1226 GMT) south-west of Hengchun. It was followed by a number of aftershocks.

Japan's Meteorological Agency had warned of a possible localised tsunami heading towards the Philippines, but nothing was later reported.

'Seriously affected'

Taiwan's largest telephone company, Chunghwa Telecom Co, said damage to an undersea cable had disrupted 98% of Taiwan's communications with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Repairs could take three weeks, Vice-General Manager Lin Jen-hung said, but quality would improve daily.

Telecommunications companies in Hong Kong, Japan and China also reported problems.

China's biggest telecoms provider, China Telecommunications Group, said that communications cables to the US and to Europe had been damaged.

"Internet connections have been seriously affected, and phone links and dedicated business lines have also been affected to some degree," it said.

In South Korea, broadband provider KT Corp said six submarine cables had been affected, interrupting services to customers including banks.

Some foreign exchange trading was reportedly affected.

"Trading of the Korean won has mostly halted due to the communication problem," a dealer at one South Korean domestic bank told Reuters news agency.

Several companies have warned of slow internet access over the next few days.

In Taiwan, rescue workers were searching through rubble for people injured in the earthquake.

Two members of a family died in Hengchun when their house collapsed, Taiwanese officials said

The earthquake came on the second anniversary of the Asian tsunami, which claimed almost 250,000 lives.

Make Fast Your Start Menu

2006-12-23T13:05:00.000-08:00

When you click start on start menu on windows (windows 98, windows xp, windows 95, windows nt and any version of windows), you felt that respons the start menu is so slow. That because of the delay setting on registry being set up being high. If you want to make your start menu delay become faster, follow the step bellow:

Click Start on start menu and then click Run

Type in the open box "regedit" (without apostrof)

It will open registry edit editor window. After registry edit editor window opened, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop like in windows explorer. With click the folder in left side

Find the binary data on right side that call MenuShowDelay. After be founded Double click on that bunary data. It will open the edit string window.

Change the value data from 400 be 0 or 1. It's up to your want to how fast is your start menu delay. and click OK
After you change, you can close the registry editor menu. You will feel the fast respon from your start menu windows after your windows being restarted.

Here some note about registry editor:

Registry EditorRegistry Editor is an advanced tool for viewing and changing settings in your system registry, which contains information about how your computer runs. Windows stores its configuration information in a database (the registry) that is organized in a tree format. Although Registry Editor enables you to inspect and modify the registry, normally you do not need to do so, and making incorrect changes can break your system. An advanced user who is prepared to both edit and restore the registry can safely use Registry Editor for such tasks as eliminating duplicate entries or deleting entries for programs that have been uninstalled or deleted.

Using Registry Editor with Windows XP, 64-Bit Edition
The registry in Windows XP, 64-Bit Edition is divided into 32-bit and 64-bit keys. Many of the 32-bit keys have the same names as their 64-bit counterparts, and vice versa. The default, 64-bit version of Registry Editor that comes with Windows XP, 64-Bit Edition displays only the 64-bit keys.

To view or edit 32-bit keys from the registry of a computer running Windows XP, 64-Bit Edition, you must use the 32-bit version of Registry Editor in the %systemroot%\Syswow64 folder. You must close the 64-bit version of Registry Editor before you can open the 32-bit version, and vice versa. There are no differences in the way you perform tasks between the 32-bit version of Registry Editor and the 64-bit version of Registry Editor.

The Short Way with Start - Run

2006-12-21T10:03:00.000-08:00

May be, when you want to run application in windows, you usually click Start => Programs => and the application that you want to open. Also may be after click programs, still choose other subdirectory on start menu, like accecories, Microsoft office tools and others.

I give you sample, if you want to open calculator, you click start => Program=> Accecories => and calculator.
If you calc this you do 4 step to go to calculator program. There's short way to do this with keyboard. Press win + R button on your keyboard. Win button is a button on your left side near the alt button. Here the picture of it.
It will open run window, and you can type the application that you want to run.
To know the application that you want to open, you can know from C:\WINDOWS\system32 directory. There are many of programs. The programs that you can run just the file that have .exe extention or application program. to know it you can know from type of file.

To For example the application are tourstart, calc, sysocmgr, ftp, osk etc. Beside that can't be opened. But also remember that applications on C:\WINDOWS\system32 directory, some run in windows and some run in DOS. I hope I can explain it other time.

ok see you on other article. Don't forget to always check new windows tips here :) :-h bye

Wallpaper Make Desktop Accessing Slow

2006-12-20T16:19:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we like to make a background picture on our desktop windows. In all windows, windows 98se, windows nt, windows xp and else. But did you know the wallpaper on desktop will make computers could slow down the system performance.

Why? Because when we access the desktop, we also access the picture that you take in desktop. To know how faster your computer without wallpaper on desktop, remove the wallpaper and compare the performance with wallpaper and without a wallpaper.

May be the picture in desktop background will be motivation, inspiration, or make your mind in being cold. It's depend on you and your computer. If you feel the wallpaper important, or your computer have much RAM you can use it. But if the your computer is low technology, remove it. hehe sory.

OK see you on other article.. bye

Change Drive Letter in Windows XP

2006-12-20T10:42:00.000-08:00

In Windows xp, drive letter to define partition of storage is automatically from installing windows xp from your Windows XP CD. But after installing is finished and we add drives to our computer, such as an extra hard drive, a CD drive, or a storage device that corresponds to a drive, Windows automatically assigns letters to the drives. However, this assignment might not suit our system; for example, we might have mapped a network drive to the same letter that Windows assigns to a new drive. When you want to change drive letters, follow these steps:

Right-click on My Computer, and then click Manage.

Under Computer Management, click Disk Management. In the right pane, you’ll see your drives listed.

Right-click the drive or device you want to change, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Click Change, click Assign the following drive letter, click the drive letter you want to assign, and then click OK.

For note: You will not be able to change the boot or system drive letter in this manner. Many MS-DOS-based and Windows-based programs make references to a specific drive letter (for example, environment variables). If you modify the drive letter, these programs may not function correctly. So don't try to change the boot or system drive letter. Usually the boot or system drive letter is C:\

First Posting

2006-12-20T10:04:00.000-08:00

Welcome to windows-tips-trick.blogspot.com

In this weblog I'll give much much of tricks and tips to make your windows run better, cleaner from junk, bad/useless/empty registry, and make your windows run faster. Some tips for windows xp service pack 1 or service pack 2, windows 98 second edition, windows millenium edition, windows nt, or windows 2000. It's all about windows tips

Hope from this blog you'll understand your windows, so you can understand what happend with your windows and take action to give first aid for your pc and your windows.

Here you also will gived some software that have related with windows optimizing. Have a nice reading And thank you for coming. Hope you allways check this page minimum once a week. So don't forget to cek windows-tips-trick.blogspot.com.

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2006-01-18T12:16:00.000-08:00

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