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Common Windows PC Problems And How To Repair Them

2011-03-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Common Windows PC Problems And How To Repair Them

Common Windows PC Problems And How To Repair Them

Are you frustrated with recurring PC errors?

Do you wish there was some easy way to deal with computer errors?

If you answered Yes, then this short article is meant for you! Let’s face it, we all have to deal with computer errors every now and then. In fact, there is no such system that is always free from errors. Thus errors will never go away, and we’ll have to keep fighting an eternal battle. However, we can do a lot to ensure that errors such as the framedyn.dll error, do not keep recurring.

It doesn’t matter if you’re not a computer expert, follow the simple steps given below and keep your system free from errors:

Perform registry cleanups – The registry can be treated as a master index file for the system. Essentially, it stores values and configurations for almost everything that goes on in the system and is thus responsible for all regulatory functions of the operating system. However, the registry grows old with use and might start losing a few indexes. The result is that it becomes slow and also gives rise to various errors, such as the rtvscan.exe error, which can be pretty hard to trace. To tackle this problem, you should invest in a good registry cleaner, which makes it very easy for you to scan and fix the registry.

Update the drivers – It is very important to update drivers regularly. Otherwise the system starts giving rise to errors, such as the sndvol32.exe error, which occurs when something is wrong with the sound drivers. The reason for this is that as we keep upgrading hardware, we usually forget or just don’t care to update the driver, which after some time, results in performance bottlenecks and driver conflicts. Updating drivers is very easy and is done through the Device Manager. But if you feel that it is asking too much of you, you can opt for a third-party software to scan for updates and install new system drivers, as and when needed. This saves you from the trouble of verifying the driver signature and tracking all the upgrades.

Implement a firewall – A firewall is a very important piece of protective software. While it can’t do much against virus and worm infections, its main purpose is to provide you with network security. Thus it stands as a guard between your system and the outside network, filtering all the incoming and outgoing traffic. It can save you from hacking or phishing attacks and in many ways, it is at least as important as an antivirus tool. The good news is that there are many excellent freeware firewalls available that you can use, however make sure that you download them from a legitimate and reliable website.

In this article, we have provided you with a few simple methods to enable you to deal with computer errors more effectively. Make sure that you carry out the aforementioned instructions and your system will be free from errors for a long time.

Make Your Windows Genuine

2009-09-14T08:16:00.004-07:00

Step 1: Dwnld this file.
hxxp://rs106.rapidshare.com/files/33440832/
windows_key_changer.zip

Step 2: Extract the zip file and run
the file "keyfinder.exe"
Point to Options > Change Windows Key

and use the following key and press "change"
------------------------------------------
V2C47-MK7JD-3R89F-D2KXW-VPK3J
------------------------------------------

Step 3: Restart ur system and ur ready

Renaming The Start Button

2009-09-14T08:16:00.003-07:00

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

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

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft
\ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon.

Change the value of Shell from Explorer.exe
to explorer_1.exe

Wanna Move Your Start Button

2009-09-14T08:16:00.001-07:00

How to move or close the start button!

1. Click on the Start button.
2. Press the Esc key.
3. Press the Alt and the - or dash keys at the same time.
4. This will give you a menu, you can move or close.
5. But if you move it you need to use the
arrow keys and not the mouse.
6. When you get it where you want it, push the Enter button.

BitTorrent

2009-09-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

Get a Router

If your computer is connected directly to a DSL or cable modem, you might want to hold off on any file sharing. Place a router with a built-in firewall between your computer and Internet connection, and set up port forwarding, which can speed up a BitTorrent client's performance. This will help minimize the chances of someone hacking into your system.

Use Your Browser

You don't have to download a dedicated client to use BitTorrent. Point your Web browser to BitLet and type in the Torrent file's URL in the box. It's perfect for the times when you aren't at your home computer.

Use a Thumb Drive

If the Web-based BitLet's barebones nature won't cut it, you can launch the popular, full-featured BitTorrent client Ã?ÂµTorrent off a USB thumbdrive. Simply download the app onto a portable drive, and access Ã?ÂµTorrent from there.

Schedule Your Uploads and Downloads

If you are using Ã?ÂµTorrent, take advantage of the Scheduler feature. You can set downloads and uploads during specific times of the day when you aren't using your computer for other tasks. This ensures you allocate your Internet's bandwidth appropriately. Go to Options > Preferences > Scheduler to set it up.

Serve Files From a NAS

Some external network-attached-storage devices offer features that cater specifically to BitTorrent users. The Fantom Drives G-Force Megadisk NAS MDN1000, for example, lets you enable it for unattended BitTorrent downloads and create maximum upstream and downstream bandwidth thresholds.

Check Seeds and Peers

When you're downloading, be on the lookout for torrents with the best seed/peer ratio. The more peers trying to access a file, the slower your download will go.

Wireless Home Networking Fix Connectivity Issues

2009-09-14T08:13:00.002-07:00

It sounds crazy, but 95 percent of all Internet connectivity problems can be solved by power-cycling both the router and the modem. Turn them both off, and then turn the modem back on first. Once its "sync" or signal light comes on, turn on your router.

Use Encryption

You've probably heard this before, but it bears repeating: Always enable your router's wireless security! Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption is the oldest (and weakest) form of security; the newer (and stronger) Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and WPA-2 are the best protection available today for home users.

Update Your Router's Firmware

All routers include internal read-only chips with embedded instructions that can be updated by the manufacturer. Router manufacturers generally update a product's firmware to increase performance as well as to resolve bugs and security issues, so it's wise to keep your router's firmware up-to-date. Check the manufacturer's Web site for the latest updates.

Boost Your Wireless Signal

If walls and distance are causing wireless signal degradation, you can do a few things to boost it. Move your router to higher ground—the signal radiates downward. You can also try a signal extender (or repeater), which boosts the signal. Finally, high-gain antennas will work, but they only focus the signal in one direction.

Change Admin Password

Every router has a well-known default password that's used to access the router's browser-based configuration page. Most setup wizards will make you change this password, but not all do. If not, be sure to change it yourself to prevent unwanted hangers-on from changing your network's settings.

Go Back to Factory Settings

If you've lost or forgotten your router's login credentials, you can get around this predicament by resetting the router to its factory settings. Do this by holding down the button on the back of it for 30 seconds. Next, look in the manual for the default user name and password, and then change them on your router's browser-based configuration page.

Disable SSID Broadcast

Unless you disable it, your router broadcasts its service set identifier (SSID)—the name of your network—which allows your neighbors to see (and attempt to gain access to) your network. Instead, disable broadcasting, making the network appear as "SSID not broadcast." Access the unnamed network by typing in the SSID name when prompted.

Change the Default SSID

Change your pre-defined, default SSID—leaving it as "Linksys," for example, tells the world that you haven't configured your router, which invites attackers.

Filter by MAC Address

Every piece of networking gear includes a unique "fingerprint" called a media access control, or MAC, address. You can configure your router to filter connections using these addresses so that only your computers can connect to your network. Most routers will show you connected devices, so adding an adapter's MAC address is a one-click process.

Step Up to 5GHz

The majority of today's networks operate in the crowded 2.4GHz frequency range, which is shared by microwaves, cordless phones, and other home networks. To avoid possible interference, many new routers are capable of broadcasting at 5GHz, which has 23 wide-open channels as opposed to 2.4GHz's three non-overlapping channels.

Limit Your Number of DHCP Clients

Most people use their router as a DHCP server; when clients connect, the router dynamically assigns IP addresses from a large pool of addresses. Limiting that list to the number of clients in your home, however, will help prevent interlopers from hopping onto your network.

Use Your Router's Firewall

Two features make most hardware firewalls more powerful than software firewalls: stateful packet inspection (SPI) and network address translation (NAT). SPI examines packets' content and behavior before granting access, and NAT hides all PCs connected to the router from the Internet, "translating" their IP addresses into private ones that are unreachable from outside the firewall.

Change Your Channel

Wireless B and G (and some N) routers operate at the 2.4GHz frequency, which only has three non-overlapping channels: 1, 6 and 11. By default, your router will most likely be using one of these channels, and the bad news is so your neighbors' routers as well. If you experience dropped connections, sluggish performance or both, a good first step is to switch the channel. If it's set to channel 1, go to 11. If it's set to 6, try either 1 or 11 for best results.

Let Windows Control Your Wireless Networks

If a network adapter's software takes control of your wireless network, it can be difficult to put Windows back in charge. First, click Start, then Run, then type services.msc. Scroll down to Wireless Zero Configuration and start the service. Right-click your wireless connection, select view available networks, and then click advanced settings on the left. Click the wireless networks tab, and check "Use Windows to Configure my wireless network settings."

Disable File Sharing in Public

If you're in a public place with a Net connection, it's a good idea to disable File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks. In the properties of your network adapter, uncheck the appropriate box. It's also a good idea to switch your notebook's wireless radio off if you aren't using it.

Put Windows Live Messenger On Your Desktop

2009-09-14T08:13:00.001-07:00

Did you ever got messages on Windows Live Messenger when you are busy and do not want to chat?

Then you would definitely have to open up the chat window and read the sender’s message, in fact, wasting a lot of time. Right?

But don’t worry, I have found a very neat plugin by which you can easily see all your incoming chat messages on you desktop without the need of opening each window to read. Of course you can reply to the important messages instantly or reply to them later. :)

from here. Installation is very easy. But even if you need any help, you can read the instructions with screenshots on that very same page.

This plugin works fine with Windows XP (Service Pack 2) and Windows Vista.

lock pc just by double clicking mouse

2009-09-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks ofthe mouse.

Create a new shortcut on your desktop usinga right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exeuser32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field.

Give the shortcut a name you like.
That's it -- justdouble click on it and your computer will be locked.

And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will dothe same.

SPEED UP YOUR ACROBAT READER

2009-09-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Do u get irritated when acrobat reader takes 5/10 seconds to load when you want to

open a pdf document. There is a way to speed up the loading.

1. Go to the installation folder of acrobat reader

(C:\program files\adobe\acrobat\reader\.. whatever)

2. Move all the files and folders from the "plugins" directory to the "Optional" directory.

(I repeat.. cut and paste the files NOT copy & paste).

Also make sure that acrobat reader is not open else it will lock the files and

not allow you to move the files).

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

Edit PDFs for free

2009-09-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Free PDF Editor
This is one completely free and simple PDF editing and creating software, it can help you to create your pdf documents by yourself in minutes.
No need any complex setting and knowledge about PDF format, handy and easy to use very much, specially for beginners.

Free PDF Editor comes with a very intuitive GUI that is easy to understand even for the beginner users.
It is one WYSIWYG PDF builder, what you see is what you get, and you can insert text, image and shape, then drop, resize and move these PDF elements with your mouse.

Download and know more here http://www.freepdfeditor.net/

PDF Printer PDF Printer 2009 is a comprehensive and professional utility designed to help you create PDF documents.This enables virtually any Windows applications to create professional quality PDF documents - with just a push of a button!With PDF Printer 2009, it is easy to create PDF documents from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, Photoshop and other Windows applications. it natively supports over 300 file formats

Reporting Error Disable

2009-09-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

1. Open Control Panel
2. Click on Performance and Maintenance.
3. Click on System.
4. Then click on the Advanced tab
5. Click on the error-reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
6. Select Disable error reporting.
7. Click OK
8. Click OK

Follow New TechNetMSDN Downloads on Twitter

2009-09-14T08:08:00.002-07:00

TechNet and MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) subscribers have access massive collection of full version software products from Microsoft with no time or feature limit, where paid subscription entitles subscribers to not only free downloads and product keys for the software, but also exclusive early access to new software releases, service packs, patches, and beta software before they’re available publicly.

With such an exclusive privileges, many subscribers of TechNet or MSDN will want to be the first one to know when there is new downloads been released or posted on MSDN Subscriber Downloads or TechNet Subscriber Downloads.

Microsoft does provide new downloads RSS for MSDN and TechNet, which everybody can subscribe to the feed.

Beau Giles gava a top that for Twitter maniac, or those who receive faster notification via Twitter followings, both MSDN and TechNet also has two Twitter accounts that can be followed in order to get to know new downloads been released on TechNet and MSDN.

TechNet New Downloads: http://twitter.com/TechNetDownload
MSDN New Downloads: http://twitter.com/MSDNDownloads

Both tweets the latest products added for subscribers (either TechNet or MSDN) to download, which including the highly anticipated Windows 7. For non-subscribers, new downloads in TechNet or MSDN also provide advantage of having insight into when a general public release will be available, which is likely to be sooner rather than later.

Play YouTube Video At A Specific Time

2009-09-14T08:08:00.001-07:00

There are thousands of interesting video clips available at the YouTube video sharing site. Of course you can’t deny there are many pretty long and boring clips amongst the interesting ones. When you come across interesting clips, it is always a pleasure to share with friends and others the video extract. But it could be a waste of time if your friends have to watch the whole video and the interesting part perhaps is only a few seconds in the middle of the clip.

Try a little trick here to allow you to direct your friends to the funny and interesting YouTube video at the specific time when the funny part is showing. What you need to do is just add the following tag at the end of the video’s URL: url: #t=01m28s. With this new tag added in, it means the video clip will automatically play at the 1st minute and 28th second. For instance, let’s see the example below:
The original video’s URL is as follow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocm_O0jfb_A&feature=popular

After adding the tag, it becomes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocm_O0jfb_A&feature=popular#t=01m28s

Users can change the numeric number accordingly to determine minutes and seconds they want. With this tag added to the URL, users can send it to friends and others. When they click on it, it will automatic play the video at the specific time

Browser Shaking

2009-09-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

This is a fun little trick that can create a shaking screen on your web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer, etc..)

The trick is simply a small Java Script that causes your browser window to move to different positions, causing a shake of your entire screen. It's kind of cool to watch and see what Java Script can do! Try it out..

Use this trick at your own risk.

Here's how:
Copy this entire line and paste it onto your address box, then press Enter:

javascript:function Shw(n) {if (self.moveBy) {for (i = 35; i > 0; i--) {for (j = n; j > 0; j--) {self.moveBy(1,i);self.moveBy(i,0);self.moveBy(0,-i);self.moveBy(-i,0); } } }} Shw(6)

Not To Buy The 3G Iphone5 Reasons

2009-09-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

1. The 3g Radio. Yes, I am going to complain about the 3G radio. Apple stuck a UMTS/HSDPA 3G radio in the iPhone. But why not use AT&T's HSPA network, which means faster uploads for pictures and e-mails? This offers about 3.36Mbps, where other phones in the market support 7.2Mbps.

2. Lack of upgrades. There is still no stereo Bluetooth, no MMS, no video recording, no character counter in the SMS app, no IM capability, no cut-and-paste, etc.

3. No keyboard. The iPhone's software keyboard has documented issues.

4. The price is $200 less than the first one, but you're not taking into consideration the additional $240 you will be paying for the contract over the 2 years.

5. The Camera. There is no improvement from the first Iphone, not even for the software. It is still 2 megapixel, and has no flash or vanity mirror.

Update iPod Touch to Firmware OS 3.0

2009-09-14T08:00:00.002-07:00

Apple has release iPhone and iPod Touch firmware OS software version 3.0. The firmware 3.0 is a major update that adds tons of new features to the portable device. While all generations of original iPhone and iPhone 3G entitles to free upgrade to iPhone OS 3.0 software update, both 1st generation and 2nd generation iPod Touch 2G is required to pay $9.95 to upgrade to to OS 3.0.

Bypass and skip the payment to Apple. It’s obviously unfair practice by Apple towards iPod Touch, who properly do not incur recurring charges. Use the following guide on how to upgrade and update to iPod Touch OS 3.0 software update firmware for free without cost.

How to Upgrade or Update iPod Touch to OS 3.0 Firmware For Free

1. Download and install iTunes 8.2 or higher version.
2. Download iPod Touch 2G OS firmware 3.0 Apple Device Software Update

IPSW file, iPod2,1_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw or iPod Touch 1G OS firmware 3.0 Apple Device Software Update IPSW file, iPod1,1_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw via the iPhone OS 3.0 software update direct download links.
Note: If the downloaded file is in ZIP format (iPod2,1_3.0_7A341_Restore.zip) , then rename the extension from .zip to .ipsw. If the file name is been appended with .zip extension, such as iPod2,1_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw.zip, just remove the .zip off the filename.

If you encounter “an error occurred while processing your request” error message when attempting to download iPod Touch firmware, download the IPSW files from here (for 1st generation iPod Touch) or here (for 2nd generation iPod Touch).

Plug in and connect the iPod Touch to computer.
Run iTunes 8.2 or higher.
Select the iPod Touch from Devices list.
Optional but recommended, take a backup of the iPod in case of accidental file lost.
Now there are two ways to update iPod Touch. For user who want to clean and fresh upgrade the iPod Touch, without retaining any existing songs, musics, videos, movies, apps and other media or data files on iPod Touch (mean you will be losing all files stored on iPod Touch), follows these steps:
In Windows environment, press and hold Shift key and left click Restore.
In Mac OS X system, press and hold Option key and left click Restore.

For user who want to retain and save everything that has been uploaded and stored on iPod Touch or ensure that the media is untouched (not losing any files), follow these steps instead:

On the iTunes main screen, there should be 2 options: “Check for update” and “Restore”. Click on Check for update.
A web page showing the iPod Touch OS firmware 3.0 features and offering option to buy for $9.99 will be loaded and shown. Click on Cancel.
iTunes will return to the previous iPod Touch main page. However, the “Check for update” option has now been change to “Update.
In Windows environment, press and hold Shift key and left click Update.
In Mac OS X system, press and hold Option key and left click Update.

Locate and select iPod Touch OS 3.0 Apple Device Software Update IPSW file downloaded in step above.
The update process will start. iPod may reboot a few times. Do not disconnect iPod Touch until iTunes has completed updating iPod Touch.
Once upgrading is done, the iPod Touch will be on OS firmware 3.0, for free without any cent been paid.
Optionally, if you have choose to restore iPod Tunes to firmware OS software 3.0 at factory default, iTunes will offer option to either create a new iPod or restore it from backup. For user already created a backup of iPod, just restore the date files to upgraded iPod Touch.

create digital photo album presentation in PowerPoint

2009-09-14T08:00:00.001-07:00

In Microsoft PowerPoint, you can create a digital photo album of your scanned photographs to represent as slide show presentation. Using this feature, you can display your business photo album on the web. Once you have converted it into HTML document, PowerPoint will allow you to publish this album to the internet.

You can create unlimited albums and also add unlimited photos in each album.

Follow the given steps to create a digital photo album of your scanned photographs:

First create a folder of your scanned pictures or transfer from your digital camera or download from the web.

Now click on "Picture" option from the "Insert" menu then click on "New Photo Album" option.

Here a small dialog box will appear with "Photo Album" title. Now click on "File/Disk" button under "Insert picture from" area to add first picture in album.

(1) you can add unlimited picture in one album. If you want to get pictures from scanner or camera then click on "Scanner/Camera" button.

(2) you can add effects to your pictures, for example rotates picture to different directions, background colors, picture brightness and contrast levels.

(3) Now under "Album Layout" area, you can choose the best picture layout, Frame shape and add design template also for your photos album.

Once you have selected the all required pictures and layouts for your photo album then click on "Create" button to start the process.

(4) Now "Save" the file and then run this photo album in Slide Show.

Registering a domain name

2009-09-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

There are two basic steps to getting your site online. Registering a domain name is the first step in it.A domain is the address of your site and ends with .com, .net, .org, .info, .us, .biz, .tv and many other. .Once you have registered your name, you will select a web host this is refered as the 2nd step. The web host is the guts of any website because this is where you create and publish your pages, build order forms, add functionality and maintain your site.
Selecting the Best Domain Name:
If being found in the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) is important to you, it is highly recommend that you register a name that contains your major keywords instead of your company name.You need to once think about it. The average surfer searches by subject, not by proper name. So you'll want to choose a name that includes keywords that your target audience would likely use when they search.So with that in mind, a name that has the keywords would be much better .Sure, you can still list your company name on your web pages, but believe it's more important to make sure the domain name includes your important "search friendly" keywords if you want to receive traffic from all over.Of course, you can still list your company name on the web site some place, but your domain name will include all the important keywords you'll want to be found with.

Fix Broken and Slow Tab Issues in Internet Explorer 8

2009-09-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

So, I have installed Internet Explorer 8 on my Windows Server 2008 SP1 Datacenter Edition 64-bit, but… not that smooth. Somehow, something goes wrong somewhere, and I got the following problems after the installation of Windows IE8 RTW.

- In Windows Explorer (I mean those file explorer for browsing folders/files), when I double-click on a folder, a new Windows Explorer is popped up instead of (my default behavior is) showing the folder in the same explorer.

- In Windows IE8, when I right-click a web address on a web page, and then click [Open in New Window] or [Open in New Tab], the web page cannot be opened in a new window / tab.

- In Windows IE8, when I click a link on a web page that uses scripting to open a new window, the new window cannot be opened. (This is absolutely inconvenience as I need to use some kind of banking services immediately, while that bank uses JavaScript to open a new window.)

After investigating the problem for a while, I found that a registry entry was (somehow!) missing after the installation of Windows IE8, that relates to [ actxprxy.dll ].

===== Solution =====

Run [ Command Prompt ] (You will need to **Run as administrator**)

Type the following command. ( regsvr32 actxprxy.dll )

All go smoothly!… and, I am now enjoying the much faster explorer engine. :)

Decrease your Applications startup time

2009-09-01T12:31:00.002-07:00

By default, Microsoft includes the /prefetch:1 switch to speed up it's Windows Media Player application start time. This switch can be used for other Windows applications and also many third party programs.

Example #1

You have AOL 8.0 installed on the computer. Complete the steps outlined bewlo to add the /prefetch:1 switch to AOL's Target path.

1. Right click on the AOL shortcut and select properties from the menu.

2. In the Target: Field add the /prefetch:1 switch to the very end of the path, like this: "C:\Program Files\America Online 8.0\aol.exe" /prefetch:1 and then click ok.

Now start AOL. It would load at least 50 times faster than ever before.

Example #2

1, Go to the Start button/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools

2. Right click on System Restore and select properties from the menu that appears. Add the /prefetch:1 to the Target Path entry so it looks like this %ystemRoot%\System32\restore\rstrui.exe /prefetch:1 and click ok.

Now System Restore will start immediately when executed.

Note: This switch will only work with some programs. Others will return a message saying the program in the target box is invalid. Just remove the switch (by Allan, forum admin).

Decrease system loading time by changing network settings

2009-09-01T12:31:00.001-07:00

When you start up your computer and you are connected to a LAN and your computer is set to DHCP and your computer has to search for the DHCP server and then request and IP address and all other configuration. This process takes up some time and slows down the time it takes to boot the computer up. Following the directions below will help your set a static IP address. Even if your ISP says to use DHCP this tweak may still work for you, but you are warnned!
Click Start and click on Run.
Type command in the text box and click OK.
In DOS, type ipconfig and hit enter.
This will show you your current IPs that your NIC and PPPoE adapters have. Only pay attention to your Ethernet Card Adapter, not to the PPP adapter.
Next, right click My Network Places and select Properties from the drop down menu. This will open up the Network Connections window. In here, locate your Local Area Network connection and right click it, select Properties from the drop down menu.
When the next Window that opens up, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties at the bottom.
In the next window, click 'Use the following IP Address'. This is where that DOS window comes in handy. Copy the same exact IP Address from your Ethernet card (in the dos window) and place it where it says IP Address. Same goes for the Subnet Mask and Default Gateway. If your Default Gateway is blank, then just leave it blank. Click Ok, then Ok again.
In the DOS window type exit dos then enter. Reboot your machine.
Now there is absolutely NO loading. You can connect as soon as you see your desktop.

Quick Note: If you use DHCP (Dynamic IP Address) to connect to the net, you may find that your net connection does not work after this. So if some day your network connection stops working, just go back into the NIC card properties and select automatically get IP address and reboot.

Correcting System Hang at Startup

2009-09-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

If your system hangs about 2 or 3 minutes at startup, where you can't access the Start button or the Taskbar, it may be due to one specific service (Background Intelligent Transfer) running in the background. Microsoft put out a patch for this but it didn't work for me. Here's what you do:

1. Click on Start/Run, type 'msconfig', then click 'OK'.
2. Go to the 'Services' tab, find the 'Background Intelligent Transfer' service, disable it, apply the changes & reboot.

This problem with the Background Intelligent Transfer Service should have been corrected in Windows update Q 314862, part of Service Pack 1. (yoyo)

Convert to NTFS from FAT32

2009-09-01T12:29:00.002-07:00

To change from FAT 32 to NTFS file system for more stability, security and less fragmentation, open the command prompt and type:

Convert C: /FS:NTFS

"C" being the drive you wish to convert. Make sure there is a space between the C: and the foward slash (/). Once you press enter it will ask you for confirmation and press Y. Then press Y and enter once more to reboot.. This also works for windows XP Home.

Clicking AVI Files on explorer causing 100% CPU Usage

2009-09-01T12:29:00.001-07:00

Well windows seem to have a REALLY big problem when it comes to reading AVI files. It seems that when you click on an AVI file in explorer, it'll try to read the entire AVI file to determine the width,height, etc. of the AVI file (this is displayed in the Properties window). Now the problem with Windows is that if you have a broken/not fully downloaded AVI file that doesnt contain this info, Windows will scan the entire AVI file trying to figure out all these properties which in the process will probably cause 100% CPU usage and heavy memory usage.

To solve this problem all you have to do is the following:

1. Open up regedit
2. Goto HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler
3. Delete the "Default" value which should be "{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}"

Voila! Please not that this will no longer provide you with the windows properties displaying the AVI file information such as width, height, bitrate etc. But its a small price to pay for saving you resources.

NOTE: Please use caution when using regedit. Improper usage may cause windows to behave imcorrectly. Also, I cannot be held resposible. Backup your registry first.

Clean your prefetch to improve performance.

2009-09-01T12:27:00.002-07:00

This is an unique technique for WinXP. We know that it is necessary to wash registry and TEMP files for Win9X/ME/2000 periodly. Prefetch is a new and very useful technique in Windows XP. However, after using XP some time, the prefetch folder can get full of rarely used or obsolete links which can slow down your computer noticeably. My suggestion is: open C(system drive):/windows/prefetch, delete all files (or at least those more than 3 weeks old), reboot. I recommended that you do this every month.

Editor Note: Deleting prefetch files too often (Every reboot) can decrease system performance!

Automate Disk Cleanup

2009-09-01T12:27:00.001-07:00

Cleanmgr.exe is designed to clear unnecessary files from your computer's hard disk. You can use command-line options to specify that Cleanmgr.exe cleans up certain files. You can then schedule the task to run at a specific time by using the Scheduled Tasks tool.

To start the Disk Cleanup tool, either run the Cleanmgr.exe command, or click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.

Disk Cleanup supports the following command-line options:
/d driveletter: - This option specifies the drive that you want Disk Cleanup to clean.
/sageset: n - This option displays the Disk Cleanup Settings dialog box and also creates a registry key to store the settings that you select. The n value, which is stored in the registry, allows you to specify tasks for Disk Cleanup to run. The n value can be any integer value from 0 to 65535. To have all of the options available when you use the /sageset option, you might need to specify the drive where Windows is installed.
/sagerun: n - This option runs the specified tasks that are assigned to the n value if you use the \sageset option.

For example, in Scheduled Tasks, you could run the following command after you run the cleanmgr /sageset:11 command:
cleanmgr /sagerun:11

This command runs Disk Cleanup and includes the options that you specified with the cleanmgr /sageset:11 command.

ASPI Drivers

2009-09-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

I have had some bad times trying to get CD/DVD programmes working with XP. This was down to the ASPI drivers which I have now downloaded and installed. PowerDVD, AudioCatalyst and a few others now work how they were meant to.

Click Here to download the ASPI drivers from Adaptec

Application Defrag

2009-09-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

This type of defrag pushes all commonly used programs and boot files to the edge of the hard drive for faster access. Windows XP normally schedules this every three days when it is idle, however you can force it to do this by using the b switch anytime

i.e defrag c: -b

Adjust Graphics for Speed

2009-09-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

Windows XP has a lot of new cool looking visual elements, however, those new elements take up more RAM and cause your computer to be less responsive. By tweaking your graphics settings, you can increase the performance of your computer.

To get started, Let's reduce the color quality. This setting determines how many colors are displayed on your screen.

Right click on your desktop and select properties.
Click on the settings tab and adjust the color quality drop down box to Medium (16 Bit).
Click OK.
Next, let's use the windows performance settings to optimize your computer for performance. This will revert back to the old Windows 2000 look as well as take away a lot of the fancy graphics effects. However, if you are really into performance, this is the price you have to pay.

Right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop or in your start panel and select properties.
Next, Click on the Advanced tab and hit the setting button under performance.
On the visual effects tab, select Adjust for Best Performance and hit OK.
Hit OK once more to exit system properties.
Now your computer will run slightly faster!

I hear Windows XP must be "activated." What's that?

2009-08-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

Activation is a form of copy protection, in which each copy of XP must be turned on by registering it with Microsoft. The copy of Windows XP is then uniquely associated with a particular computer, thus preventing pirating of the operating system by using the same disk to upgrade multiple machines.

This is highly controversial, to say the least. The valid reason is that activation can break and require reactivation, which can be inconvenient. The bogus reason is that people raise the valid issue--and make a big deal about it--because they want to freely copy commercial software.

Microsoft has responded to user concerns, it says, by making activation as seamless as possible. New hardware with XP pre-installed doesn't require activation and should never require reactivation, even if significant changes are made to the hardware configuration.

Upgraders will have to activate their software when it is installed; typically, this is done automatically over the Internet or alternatively over the telephone. Microsoft says it's significantly raised the threshold of hardware changes required to force reactivation (which occurs if there are enough changes that XP thinks it's been copied to a new computer).

Probably, Microsoft has been sensitized to this issue, and we'll see how it works out once customers start upgrading to XP en masse. We think people whose real issue is a desire to steal software have blown people's fears of OS activation out of proportion.

By the way, Microsoft will be selling--at a 10 to 15 percent discount--additional OS licenses to users who'd like to use the same original disk to install Windows XP on multiple machines.

Disc Cleanup hangs

2009-08-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

When I run Disk Clean Up, it gets to the first three bars when checking the files (status bar says "compress old files") and then just hangs there? If I close it down and run it again, then it just never comes up at all.

Solution

From Microsoft KB 812248

1.Click Start, and then click Run.
2.Type regedit in the Open box, and then press ENTER.
3.Locate, and then click the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\VolumeCaches

4.On the File menu, click Export, and then click Desktop, type VolumeCaches in the File name box, and then click Save.

Note This step creates a backup of the VolumeCaches registry key. If you experience any problems after you complete the steps that are listed in this procedure, you can use this backup to restore the VolumeCaches key to its original state. To restore the key, double-click the VolumeCaches.reg file on your desktop, and then click Yes.

5.Expand the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\VolumeCaches

6.Delete the Compress old files registry key.

7.Quit Registry Editor.

Or, The Disk Cleanup Tool Stops Responding:

How do I stop pop-ups including Messenger spam?

2009-08-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

Pop-Ups are due to either Messenger Service, are embedded on web pages, or may even be part of a spyware program that you have installed. If they are due to Messenger Service you may either disable it or block the open ports. Note that disabling Messenger Service is only a temporary fix and doesn't address the real problem. Or, they may just be pop ups for automatic updates to OE or WinXP.

[Source - bootdisk.com]

Note that Messenger Service is different than Windows Messenger. This section deals with Messenger Service.

To disable Messenger Service see these links:

link 1

link 2

To block the ports to prevent spammers from sending you ads via Messenger Service read below:

If they say messenger service in the title bar, these have nothing to do with MSN messenger or Windows messenger.What this is a new way for spammers to attack your computer and send you pop-up ads. If you receive these ads it means that your computers netbios ports are wide open to the internet and this could be a real security problem.

What you should do is install a good firewall that will block the ports the spammers use and stop the ads. A good place to start is Zone Alarm [www.zonelabs.com] for an inbound/outbound blocking firewall or use the inbound blocking only firewall built in to XP. Configure the XP firewall to block ports 135, 137-139 and 445. Zone Alarm will block these ports by default. [Thanks purplehaz03]

The issue is that currently ANYONE can actually send you a message through the .NET Messenger network without being on YOUR contact list! You can change this so that people will have to add you to their contact lists before they can send you a message (which will have the effect of blocking these Spam messages in the future).

To Disable Messenger Service Spam - simply Open up the main Messenger window, click Tools, then Options, then the Privacy tab, click All users and then click the Block button. This way you can manually add who you want to receive messages from and block all others. [Thanks Taurarian]

Microsoft has some articles as well:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=330904
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/comm
unicate/stopspam.asp

Another option to manage the Messenger Service is to use a tiny utility called Shoot The Messenger.

Note that ShootTheMessenger is just a toggle switch that turns Messenger Service Off/On. One should still block the ports as noted earlier.

If the popups are are website based one may install a Pop-Up Stopper. A list of these type of utilities are listed for download on the Utilities Page under Popup Stoppers And Web Filters.

If your pop-ups are due to spyware, one can find such ware and disable it by using Ad-Adware or Spybot, both of which and more links can also be found under Anti-Spyware on the Utilities Page.

If due to automatic updates to OE or WinXP check Start | Settings | Control Panel | System | Automatic Updates and change it.

As things move on however more web browsers and/or add-on toolbars include anti-popup functions for popups and popunders coded into webpages.

How do I repair Internet Explorer in Windows XP?

2009-08-29T23:44:00.000-07:00

The ability to Repair Internet Explorer does not exist in the version that ships with Windows XP. This feature only becomes available after you upgrade to a newer version. This is normal and has been this way since Windows 98 and IE4.

However, you can reinstall IE in Windows XP by clicking Start, Run and entering the following command:

rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 %windir%\Inf\ie.inf

Note: You will need to have your XP CD available.

Some people have problems with the command line above. A small VB Script that will execute the command for you can be downloaded here. Save the file to your hard drive and double click it to run IE Setup.

How to Reinstall or Repair Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in Windows XP (Q318378)
here

How do I turn on automatic logon xp feature?

2009-08-29T23:42:00.000-07:00

If you are the only one who uses your XP machine logging in every time can be a pain in the rear. Here is a tiny adjustment that will automate the process.

Here's how to turn this feature on....

1) Go to the Start Menu and the Run box.

2) Type in the following:

control userpasswords2

now click OK

3) In the new Windows that appears select the account you wish to make the primary logon.

Now uncheck the "Users must enter a user name and password..." box.

4) Click Apply and a dialog box will appear asking you to confirm the selected users password.

Click OK when you are done!

That's it! You are now finished..... No more logging in!

Fine Tune XP for a Speed Boost

2009-08-29T23:39:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what Microsoft Windows XP is doing while you're using your word processor or browsing on the Internet? Windows XP actually uses a whole suite of applications to provide its rich levels of functionality, and virtually everything you take for granted is controlled by one of the individually configurable components of your operating system, all know as Services.

These system services include network connectivity, system security, automatic updates and even the ability to log in.

Service Management Computers are no different from people when it comes to performing more than one task at a time: the more plates you try to spin, the more each plate will slow until a critical point when the entire system overloads and crashes to the floor.

The difference, however, is that Windows XP relies on processor performance, RAM and available disk space to cope with this multi-tasking problem. As long as it doesn't run out of resources, things should tick over nicely.

Unfortunately, problems do start to appear when your resources run low; your applications, such as Microsoft Word, then begin to suffer as a result of these higher priority services sapping the strength of Windows XP. There are over 100 built-in system services installed by default with Windows XP Professional Edition and Service Pack 2 (a few less with Windows XP Home Edition) and this is before you load any additional applications that might also create their own services.

Anti-virus products, for example, install at least one extra service, and some install up to three. With all these services using up your system's ability to run your applications, how can you do any work without upgrading? The answer is simple: disable any unnecessary services, thus freeing up the resources they were using.

Wheat from the chaff

The complete list of services supplied with Windows XP will undoubtedly benefit you if you're a business user and have used Windows XP in a domain environment where the Net Logon service is actually used by the operating system to authenticate users to a domain controller. There are many services such as this in Windows XP that can actually be disabled to stop them from booting automatically when the system starts up, thereby freeing valuable system resources that could otherwise be used by a faltering program.

The trick to streamlining your system is in deciding which of the system services are critical to your level of operation and which you can live without. You can experiment by disabling services and finding out in greater detail what each one does and how it affects your performance, but it's best to start by looking at the safer options that could make a difference - it's not worth taking risks with your PC.

First principles

Services can be set to one of three modes: automatic, manual or disabled. If a service is set to start automatically then it starts with your system. If it's set to Manual, you can go into the Service Management Console and simply right click on it, then choose start.

Technically, services set to Manual can also be started by Windows XP if it needs them, but this is rarely the case. To completely stop a service from running it can be set to Disabled. The only way to reverse this is to go into the Service Manager and change the setting back to manual or automatic again.

You should familiarize yourself with the interface before proceeding. Click on Start> Control Panel, then select Administrative Tools, and double-click on Services. You'll quickly get an idea of which services
are running and whether they are set to start automatically, manually or if I they're disabled. Click the name of the service listed as I being the Computer Browser. If you are using a stand alone system or even a network of systems, only one of those needs to be a
computer browser. You could: switch off the Computer Browser service by setting it to disabled, only re-enabling it if you really need to.

Experiment with the following services: Error Reporting, Help and Support, Indexing Service, Logical Disk Manager, Net
Logon, NetMeeting, Remote Desktop Sharing, Network provisioning Service, Performance Logs and Alerts, Portable Media Serial Number Service, QoS RSVP, Remote Desktop Help Session Manager, Secondary Logon, Server, Smart Card and TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Service.

XP file command speed boost

2009-08-29T23:37:00.002-07:00

Would you like to speed up normal file commands like open, close, etc.? After all every bit of speed increase helps, right?

Here's how.

Windows XP keeps a record of all files on the hard disk so when you do a search on the hard drive it is faster. There is a downside to this and because the computer has to index all files, it will slow down normal file commands like open, close, etc. If you do not do a whole lot of searches on your hard drive then I suggest turning this feature off:

1. Control Panel

2. Administrative Tools

3. Services

4. Scroll to Indexing Services. Under Startup type select Disable.

5. Click OK

That's it!

Speed up XP's menu display

2009-08-29T23:37:00.001-07:00

When using the start menu you'll notice a delay between different tiers of the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible we recommend...

...changing this value to zero. This will allow the different tiers to appear instantly.

1. Start Regedit. Click Start, and then click Run >
> Type regedit in the Open box, and then press ENTER.

2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

3. Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.

4. Right on it and select Modify.

5. Change the value to 0

6. Reboot your computer.

Note: A setting of zero (0) is virtually instantaneous - experiment with other settings (200 or 300 or 400 perhaps) to see what you are most comfortable with.

Free Windows XP Tools

2009-08-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

FREE Antivirus Software... FREE FireWall... FREE Ad-aware...

FREE Antivirus Software...

The FREE AVG software http://free.grisoft.com

Another recommended FREE Antivirus product is the Avast Home Edition ver 4 available at: http://www.avast.com

FREE FireWall...

There is a Firewall capability within Windows XP (to be improved in XP Service Pack 2).

However you may want to consider something a little bit more robust for your PC. Here are THREE FREE FireWall software programs I personally recommend:

Zone Alarm Look for the FREE version

Kerio Personal Firewall - Limited Personal Edition - Free for Personal Use

Sygate Personal Firewall - version 5.5 is Free for Personal Use

NOTE: Sygate Personal Firewall 5.5 is free for personal/home use, serial number and registration code are not required to register the program. The text at the top of the linked page is misleading because it states “Welcome to our downloads section. You can download and evaluate Sygate software for a full 30 days to see if it suits your need(s). After the 30 day trial period, you can continue using the software by purchasing a license key to unlock it…” The statement refers only to the Pro version, not to the free personal version.

But if you have the spare cash then PLEASE take a serious look at purchasing the "Professional" versions. But if you can not afford it then at least download the FREE version!

Free Ad-aware

Ad-Aware is designed to provide advanced protection from known Data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components. With the release of Ad-Aware SE Personal edition.

Boost performance through My Computer

2009-08-29T23:35:00.001-07:00

Pretty easy tweak, if, you know where to look. Truth is, most people never find this on their own.

So here it is:

1) Start > Right Click on My Computer and select properties.

2) Click on the "Advanced" tab

3) See the "Performance" section? Click "Settings"

4) Disable all or some of the following:

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

There, now Windows still look good and perform faster.

Using Microsoft Regedit

2009-08-29T23:34:00.002-07:00

The Microsoft Registry Editor (regedit.exe) enables you to view, search for, and change settings in your system registry, which contains information about how your computer runs.

Although you can use Registry Editor to inspect and modify the registry, doing so is not recommended, as making incorrect changes can damage your system.

You might need to use Registry Editor, with assistance from a technical support professional, in order to adjust certain system settings.

Regedit.exe is automatically installed during setup and is stored in same folder as is Windows.

To start Regedit.exe

1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. Type Regedit, and then click OK.

Protecting Your PC Against Identity Theft

2009-08-29T23:34:00.001-07:00

The Internet is a scary place these days and just accessing it can put you at great risk. Identity Theft scams that enter your email disguised as mail from eBay or PayPal aren't your only enemy.

Thieves have been trying to get you via your e-mail for many years and you probably know all about antivirus software and how to check for an authentic site.

If you don't have any antivirus software, you need to get one. I recommend Trend Micro. The updates are automatic and timely plus it catches ALL the nasty viruses quickly.

What you may not know is that many sites are depositing some very nasty spyware onto your computer from your browser and your HTML enabled email. This spyware is beginning to get worse than those viruses. Most viruses are trying to use your computer to generate denial of service (DOS) attacks on companies and web sites they may not like.

Most viruses really leave your computer alone, except for storing code that will used in coordinated DOS attacks.

Spyware, on the hand is out to hijack your passwords, your browser, computer and steal your identity.

Unfortunately, if you use Internet Explorer, Outlook or Outlook Express, flaws in them will still allow these spyware agents to infest your computer.

Unfortunately, there's still another way your computer information can be hijacked. Anyone connecting to the internet is at risk and the most at risk are those with the high speed connections we all covet. Hijackers will call random computer addresses and connect to them via protocol ports that your computer needs to access networks. High speed connects are always on and typical have a static address.

Once they have found an unprotected computer's static address, they can send software to run on your computer without your knowledge. This software can be used for example to record every key stroke you make and send it to them. This makes any encryption you may use or relying on secure sites useless.

In order to protect yourself from these attacks, you need to have a firewall on your computer. A firewall can make your computer invisible to these attackers. Being invisible means that they won't be able to find you and they can't attach to something they can't find. Invisible is a good when it comes to the internet.

In conclusion, I want you to be aware that malicious hackers will continue to find ways around any security you or your operating system may implement. However, know that anything you can do is far better than doing nothing.

Computer Security

Ensure that you have established basic security measures for your computer. If possible, do not store information such as banking data and credit card information on your computer, and if you do, encrypt it. This will ensure that, even if someone does access your computer, they can't access the data. Wilders.org maintains a download site where you can obtain free encryption tools.

Use good passwords.

The failure to use good passwords is one of the most common mistakes that people make . It may be easier to remember a password based on a standard English word, pet name or birthdate, but it also means that they are easier to break. It is important to ensure you follow a few basic guidelines when establishing passwords for all of your computer programs, bank cards, e-mail and dial up accounts.

They are as follows:

Do not use passwords based on standard words found in the dictionary. These are the first words that password breaking programs will attempt and with the ability to try 10's to 1000's of words a minute, it may not take long to figure out.

Using both upper and lower case letters and punctuation/shift keys. It is generally recommended that you keep passwords to a minimum 6-8 characters in length. Try to make the characters random, for example: !s2g4$w3 or $barglr33$

Protect your Passwords.

Once you've actually taken the time and effort to protect your programs and information with good passwords, it would be a good idea to keep those passwords safe from prying eyes and fingers.

Don't write your passwords down, if possible. If you must write them down, do it in such a way that you don't give away what the password actually is or what program it is for. Encode it in a way that you and you alone understand.

Do not store passwords on your computer if you intend to retain any measure of security. Often passwords are stored in simple text files that can easily be accessed by people sitting at your computer, or if someone managed to access your system remotely. If you insist on doing so, you may wish to look at file encryption software, such as the free tools offered on this page at Wilders.org.

Personal Information in Programs

This is specifically relating to those programs that you generally plug your name and other personal information into when setting them up.

Follow the tips in the previous sections for e-mail, newsgroups, browsers, and chat to ensure you have maximum online privacy. Ensure that your name and other identifying information is not shown in the set up areas of any of these programs and that you do not enter personal information into websites requesting it if you have any hesitations.

Don't let web sites force you into entering highly personal information (that would include a birth date, etc..); many privacy advocates suggest making information up if it simply isn't required by the website. (E.g. A website for strictly online activities, such as games or e-mail, demanding a street address and telephone number)

In the United States, be absolutely sure to visit the Federal Trade Commission's site discussing the protection of personal information in relation to DMV's, Credit Bureaus and Direct Marketers. The information on this site is vital.

Antivirus and Security Tips

2009-08-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

What is a virus?

Simply put, a virus is a type of software that "infects" a computer. It's typically inserted into a program, and when that program is executed, the virus activates and attaches itself to other programs in your PC. Viruses can be a simple prank--an annoying pop-up message or blue screen, for instance--but too often a virus is a malicious attempt to outright destroy data and programs.

There are several different types of viruses, but they all have a common thread that you should remember: Viruses aren't actually attached to data; they must be run in some form to infect a PC or its data.

For instance, boot viruses are stored on floppies and infect a PC when the floppy is left in the drive during boot. Upon startup, the virus launches and then spreads to other floppies and wipes out data. Macro viruses are hidden within documents or data, and unleashed when the macro is run. Viruses also commonly come in the form of Web downloads and e-mail attachments, embedded in EXE, VBScript or database files.

But no matter what form it's disguised in, the virus must be triggered in order to run. So if you receive an e-mail attachment with a virus, for instance, as long as you don't open (run) the message, you should be safe. Delete the message immediately if you suspect a virus.

Viruses can infect and destroy immediately, or launch on a specified date. They can affect single desktops, or spread to entire networks, servers and Web sites. While many viruses are simply pranks or annoyances, others are more complex and their effects can be devastating.

Viruses can obliterate data, corrupt programs so that they no longer run, stall servers with e-mail bombs, and--in the case of the "I Love You" worm virus--replace files, steal passwords and infect address books as it propagates itself.

1. Secure your e-mail client against running unwanted scripts.

2. Scan your computers at least weekly to make sure they aren't harboring viruses or worms. Trend Micro's virus scanner, which uses a small "in-the-wild" virus list, will do a quick job of this. If you want a thorough virus scan or virus repairs we suggest Trend Micro for complete safety.

3. Keep your AntiVirus software up-to-date. AntiVirus software vendors update their virus lists on a regular basis. Make sure you visit your vendor's Web site at least once a week to download the update. Most virus software offers an auto-update feature which will grab the updates for you; make sure this feature is enabled (if available) in your software.

4. Avoid running attachments (especially .EXE files) that come in your e-mail, even if they come from your friends, relatives or colleagues. The warped minds now writing e-mail viruses will do their best to lure you into running their viruses and worms by making them look like love letters, jokes or pornography. Once you or one of your friends succumbs to this temptation, the script will mail itself to everyone on that computer's address list.

5. Make frequent backups of your data files, and keep some of your backups out of your computer. We like to burn CD-R backup discs on a regular schedule; CD-RW and Zip discs also work well.

6. Ensure that your operating system and your software is up-to-date with all of the latest security patches. To apply the latest Microsoft Security Patches.

7. Use a software and a hardware firewall: If you have broadband Internet service--even if you have Zone Labs' free ZoneAlarm or some other software firewall active on your PC--you can't be too safe. Belkin, D-Link, Linksys, and other vendors sell inexpensive broadband gateways that bounce back worm attacks that otherwise would reach your computer.

8. Control what starts up with Windows: Many worms place a reference to themselves in a portion of the Windows Registry that defines what programs start up with Windows. The TeaTimer applet that comes bundled with Spybot Search & Destroy 1.3 and with WinPatrol can control what gets added to this list. TeaTimer asks you to verify any program that seeks to be added to that list. Spybot and WinPatrol are free, so why not use both?

How To Save Time Booting Your Computer

2009-08-29T23:24:00.000-07:00

If you're like me you probably get just as frustrated when you boot up your computer because it just seems to take forever. Most of us develop a routine where we turn our computers on and then knowing it's going to take some time busy ourselves with other things.

Here's a way to put an end to all the waiting. In fact, when you press the power switch your computer can now roar to life in just seconds.

By putting your computrer into hibernation mode all the documents and applications that were opened will be exactly the same as they were when you put it into hibernation.

Bottom line:

Now when you start your PC in the moring it's ready almost instantly - NICE!

To set your computer up for hibernation:

- Go to Control Panel and double-click Power Options.
- Click the Hibernate tab and tick Enable Hibernation. Click OK.

- When you leave your computer, click Start and then Turn Off Computer.
- Hold down SHIFT and a new Hibernate option will appear. Click Hibernate.
- Or, press the sleep button on your keyboard.
- Your computer will save its state to memory and shut down. When you turn on your computer, your files and documents will open on your desktop exactly as you left them.

Trust me - This is one cool feature and saves me a ton of time DAILY!

50 Percent Increase In Your Computer Speed In Just Five Minutes

2009-08-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

Computer operating speed is of concern to almost everyone. In a recent series of tests PC SPY identified several programs that were responsible for the biggest cause of system performance slow downs.

Number one culprit...

Norton Internet Security which was responsible for slowing down the test computer by a staggering 58 percent.

Here are several other offenders...

- 1000 installed fonts
- Kaspersky Internet Security
- Yahoo Messenger
- AOL Instant Messenger
- McAfee Security Center

Removing or disable these programs and you could see a dramatic increase in speed, without spending any money.

Our suggestion

Remove them.

In the case or Norton, replace it with the Free AVG anti Virus security.
Download here

Steps To Dealing With Windows Errors 616

2009-08-29T23:22:00.001-07:00

Windows errors are a fact of life for most computer users. Although with each new version, Windows has become a more stable operating system, errors may still occur due to one reason or another. Most of the time, it is not the error, but the complex language of the error message that is most frustrating for the user.

However, even though these error messages may be difficult to understand, in reality, they are the first step to help you identify the cause of the error. You can use these error messages to search for troubleshooting and resolution steps in the Microsoft Knowledgebase and several other third-party websites and message forums. The main goal of these web sites is to help users understand the cause of a particular error and what should be done to resolve the issue. This article covers a few common errors that you may come across while working on your Windows computer and the resolution methods.

Windows Update Error Message: “Error 0x80072EE2”

You may encounter this error message while trying to update your Windows operating system by accessing the Microsoft Windows Update Web site. This error message usually occurs if a program running on your computer is conflicting with the update process. You may also come across the error in case of a network problem. To resolve this issue you may need to do the following:

- Access a website other than Windows update to ensure that your Internet connection is working fine—if your computer is part of a network, you may need to ensure that your computer is able to access the network and your system administrator has provided your user account the permissions needed to access the Internet and download Windows updates.

- If you have a personal firewall installed, check its settings to ensure that they are not preventing the updates from being downloaded and installed.

- Disable download accelerator programs to prevent them from interfering with update downloads.

- Add “Microsoft Update” and “Windows Update” Web sites to the Trusted Sites list in Internet Explorer.

- Remove “Windows Update” and “Microsoft Update” from %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file.

- Clear the configuration information of the WinHTTP proxy.

Error Message: “Setup is unable to proceed due to the following error(s):

The 2007 Microsoft Office system does not support upgrading from a prerelease version of the 2007 Microsoft Office system. You must first uninstall any prerelease versions of the 2007 Microsoft Office system products and associated technologies.

Correct the issue(s) listed above and re-run setup.”

This error message may be displayed when you attempt to install the release version of Office 2007 on your computer. To resolve this issue, you must ensure that you do not have:

- An Office 2007 beta release version on the PC.
- A single component of 2007 beta release version on the PC.
- A single add-on of 2007 beta release version on the PC.

If you find any of these, you must completely remove office 2007 beta release version components before proceeding with Office 2007 release version installation. To get rid of components of the beta release version, you may either use the Add or Remove Programs utility or a reliable third-party program removal tool.

At times, no error message may be displayed and your computer may slow down dramatically making it very difficult for you to work. For instance, users often report svchost.exe vista 100% CPU usage problems. The best way to identify high CPU usage problems is to use the Task Manager. This tool will enable you to identify the process that is consuming large amounts of system resources. You may just need to address issues related to this process to resolve your issues and speed up your PC.

Guidelines For Working With The Windows Registry

2009-08-29T23:15:00.000-07:00

Your Windows operating system is dependent on the Windows registry because it contains vital information that is required by your software and hardware to carry out various operations. The registry also contains information on how the system should appear and what should be available to different user accounts on the system.

Configuration data is stored in the form of keys and their values in a hierarchical structure. Registry problems start arising when the registry database gets filled up with too many unwanted, obsolete, orphan, and empty registry keys. A bloated registry gets damaged and fragmented easily. As a result, data access from your registry slows down and you may also start receiving registry errors.

To prevent these issues, there a few simple guidelines that you need to follow while working on your Windows computer.

Backup your Registry

The registry works constantly the entire time your PC is operational. This is the reason why there can be several things that may cause irreversible damage to it and prevent your PC from working normally. To avoid this situation, it is important that you make regular registry backups. When you do this, you can easily restore your registry from the last backup of the working registry. There are many ways in which a registry backup can be made. Let us take a look at some of the most common ways:

- You can use the File > Export command of the Registry Editor tool to export and save registry backup in a .reg file.
- Your Windows makes automatic registry backups daily, when the system restore point is created by the System Restore Vista tool. You can use this tool to make manual restore points before making any major changes to your computer.
- You can opt to use a Windows registry cleaner tool to easily create backups in just a few mouse clicks.

Tweak the Registry Entries

By default, there are several entries in the registry that are configured for a base performance. You can change these settings to speed up various processes, such as display time of menus and modify the prefetch settings. Information about registry tweaks is available on various Windows help sites. So, if you want to speed up your computer, you can search for and implement the tweaks that you can use. However, before making any changes, remember to make a registry backup.

Scan and Clean the Registry

To ensure that your registry stays healthy and error free, it is important that you keep it free from unwarranted entries. To do this, you need to regularly scan and clean the registry. A registry cleaner Vista or XP tool can be used to easily perform these tasks. These tools are designed to perform a thorough and deep scan of the registry database and to weed out all unwanted errors from it. You can also use a good registry tool to defrag the registry. Defragging helps in speeding up the registry by reindexing and compressing its files. And, finally as we have already discussed earlier, these tools can be used to perform easy registry backup and restore.

Windows Vista Editions--there's only one real choice

2009-08-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

ack in February, I explored the rumor that Microsoft was planning on releasing nine editions of Windows Vista. Now that we're on the eve of Microsoft's official release, it turns out that there will actually be only eight editions of Windows Vista. But, for most of us serious Windows users there will only be one choice.

In this edition of the Windows Vista Report, I'll sift through the eight editions of Windows Vista. As I do, I'll explain why I'm of the opinion that there is only one real choice when it comes to the Windows Vista editions. The eight editions are:

Windows Vista Starter
Windows Vista Home Basic N
Windows Vista Home Basic
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista Business N
Windows Vista Business
Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows Vista Ultimate
You can't touch this
Right off the bat, you can remove Windows Vista Home Basic N and Windows Vista Business N from your list of choices. These two editions of the operating system will only be available in the European Union and are stripped of all Windows Media-related technologies by decree of an antitrust ruling. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find any mention at all of the so called "N" editions on Microsoft's site.

You can also remove Windows Vista Starter because, according to Microsoft, "Windows Vista Starter is not currently scheduled to be available in the United States, Canada, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, or other high income markets as defined by the World Bank."

You can even remove Windows Vista Enterprise from your list of choices. This edition will only be available through volume licensing deals for large organizations participating in Microsoft's Software Assurance program--it will not be available via the retail chain. As such, if you work at a large organization, chances are you'll be using Windows Vista Enterprise.

The final four
As you can see, we're now quickly down to four choices. And in fact, when you go to the store on January 30, 2007 these are the four editions that you will see on the shelves. These four editions are shown in Table B along with suggested retail pricing information.

Table B: The four primary editions

Windows Vista Edition Full Package Price Upgrade Package Price
Home Basic $199.00
$99.95
Home Premium $239.00
$159.00
Business $299.00
$199.00
Ultimate $399.00
$259.00
I'm going to follow through with my target audience of serious Windows users and assume that you already own a copy of Windows XP and will be purchasing the upgrade package. I'm also going to assume that as a serious Windows user, your current system can be considered Windows Vista Premium Ready:

1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) CPU
1 GB RAM
128 MB video card w/support for DirectX 9 WDDM driver, Pixel Shader 2.0, and 32 bits per pixel
40 GB hard disk
DVD-ROM Drive
Let's focus on the price jumps as we move from the lowest to the most expensive of the four remaining Windows Vista editions. While getting a brand new operating system for under $100 may sound like a good deal, it costs just $59.05 to move up one level to Home Premium. It costs only $40.00 to move up from Home Premium to Business. To move from Business to Ultimate costs $60.00.

(Keep in mind that right now I'm just looking at the base price differences here--I'm not talking about the costs associated with the Windows Anytime Upgrade feature. At this time, the Windows Anytime Upgrade pricing structure is still under wraps.)

The elimination round
At this point, I'm going to throw Windows Vista Business out of the mix, for the simple fact that it has a very precise target audience. If you're going to be rolling out Windows Vista in a small- to medium-sized business and aren't participating in Microsoft's Software Assurance program, then you're going to use Windows Vista Business because it has everything you need for business computing and comes at a very reasonable price for a business.

Since Home Basic is the cheapest and Ultimate is the most expensive--and if the old adage "you get what you pay for" holds true--we can safely assume that Home Basic has nothing when it comes to the cool Vista features and that Ultimate has everything. In fact, this holds true when you look at the feature sets. Home Basic doesn't include Windows Aero, Flip 3D, or Live Taskbar Thumbnails, just to name a few, and Ultimate includes everything. Using that reasoning, we can throw out Home Basic.

So now it comes down to a choice between Home Premium and Ultimate editions. Here, the feature sets are very closely matched. In fact, Home Premium includes Windows Aero, Flip 3D, Live Taskbar Thumbnails and most of the cool Windows Vista features found in Ultimate. However, Home Premium doesn't include the Complete PC Backup imaging tool nor does it include the BitLocker drive encryption feature. While I'm only naming two here, these are highly prized Vista features that you definitely will want to take advantage of. And when it comes right down to it, for $100 more than the cost of Home Premium, you can get Ultimate and have everything that Windows Vista has to offer.

Conclusion
As I see it, when it comes to the feature set and the price, the Windows Vista Ultimate edition is the only choice for serious Windows users.

10+ tweaks, tricks, and hacks to make Windows Vista fly

2009-08-29T23:05:00.000-07:00

1: Add the Run command to the Start Menu

Beginning way back with the release of Windows 1.0, Microsoft has been all about the GUI interface (more or less effectively). But sometimes you just want to run a program without having to navigate the GUI maze of menus and folders. Windows Vista, by default, does not include the Run command on the Start Menu. This was a common and favorite feature of Windows XP.

To add the Run command back to the Vista Start Menu, follow these steps:

Right click the Taskbar in an open area
Click on Properties
Click on the Start Menu tab
Click the Customize button to get to the Customize Start Menu
Scroll down the list until you find the Run command checkbox and check it
Click OK and the Run command will now appear on the Start Menu

Disable the Welcome Center and Sidebar
The Windows Vista default setting is to show the Welcome Center on startup. While the Welcome Center is mildly interesting the first time you see it, you will quickly tire of it appearing every time you boot your Vista PC. This behavior is easily changed by unchecking the Run a Startup button located at the bottom of the Welcome Center.

Welcome Center
Similarly, the Vista Sidebar is also on by default. While some users will find the Sidebar and its widgets useful, many will desire the desktop real estate and underlying resources for other more productive uses. You can turn the Sidebar off by:

Right clicking the Windows Sidebar icon in the system tray
Click Properties
Uncheck the Start Sidebar when Windows starts checkbox
Click OK

Change the Product Key
A Windows Vista installation disk essentially has all of the various editions of Vista included on that one disk. Which version gets installed is dependent on what product key you enter during the installation process. At some point you may want to upgrade your current version to a version with more bells and whistles, which would require a new Product Key.

Or you may want to Activate your Windows Vista under a different Product Key for some reason. The easiest way to change your Product Key is through the System applet in the Control Panel.

System applet
Under the Windows Activation section there is a link: Change Product Key. Clicking that link brings up the screen where you can enter in a different Product Key.

Windows Activation
4: Start Windows Explorer at somewhere other than documents
While Windows Vista has desktop search that will theoretically allow you the option of merely typing in a location on your hard disk to get an Explorer view, some users will undoubtedly prefer to use Windows Explorer. By default, Windows Explorer in Vista shows you the files located in the user Documents folder. Follow these steps to have Windows Explorer start in a different folder:

Copy the Windows Explorer shortcut, usually found in the Start Menu under Accessories, to the Desktop.
Right click the shortcut and click properties.
Click on the Shortcut tab to get the window

Windows Explorer Properties
Change the Target filed to the desired location.
For example, to have Windows Explorer start at C:\ type in"

C:\Windows\explorer.exe /n, /e, c:\
Click OK
5: Privacy tweak
As a convenience, Windows Vista by default saves and displays a list of recently opened files and programs on the Start Menu. Ostensibly, this is supposed to make it easier to find a file or program. However, many users would prefer that information to remain hidden. Here is how to turn it off:

Right click the Taskbar and click Properties on the resulting menu
Click the Start Menu tab
Uncheck the checkboxes under Privacy

Click OK

Privacy settings
6: Smaller icons on Start Menu
The icons located on the Windows Vista Start Menu default to large

Large icons
For many users, the personal preference will be for those icons to be much smaller. Here is how:

Right click the Taskbar and click on Properties
Click the Start Menu tab
Click the Customize button
Scroll down to the bottom of the list
Uncheck the Use large icons checkbox
Click OK twice

No more large icons
7. Add Internet Explorer to the Vista Desktop
For some reason known only to the Windows Vista development team, there is no easy option to add the Windows Explorer icon to the Vista Desktop. You can add Computer, Recycle Bin, and the Control Panel --- perhaps someone can explain that to us. In the meantime, if you want to add Internet Explorer you can do it with a Registry hack. Before editing the Windows Registry it is always advisable to make a backup of the Registry file.

Click the Start button
Open the Run dialog box (or type regedit in to the search box on the Start Menu)
Type in regedit and press Enter
Navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel
Create a new DWORD 32-bit by right clicking in the key area
Copy this as the key name including the brackets:
{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}
Close regedit
Right click on the Desktop and click the Refresh menu entry --- Internet Explorer should now appear.

Regedit Internet Explorer
8: Change Security Center notifications
One of the most often leveled criticisms of Windows has been its lack of security. To overcome that perception Microsoft had programmed Vista to complain loudly and often if it discovers your malware, firewall or virus protection software is off or requires maintenance. For many users, the constant badgering to update your virus definitions is more annoying then effective. To calm Vista down a bit you can change the way you are notified of potential lax security.

Open the control panel and click the Windows Security Center

Windows Security Center
Click the link Change the way Security Center alerts me to reach the dialog box.

Choose you preference for notification

Chose your preference
9: Set Folder options
One of the first things experienced users change when they get a new Windows computer is change the Folder View options to a preferred setting. Windows Vista is no exception to this rule.

Open the Control Panel and click on the Folder Options icon
Click on the View tab

Folder options
Check or uncheck your folder preferences --- some suggestions:
Check show hidden files and folders
Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types
Uncheck protected operating system files
10: Adjust power settings
By default, Windows Vista sets the power options to what it calls a "Balanced" plan. While for many users this plan will be adequate, there are many who will want to make adjustments. For laptop users specifically, settings can vary greatly when operating on battery power versus plugged into an outlet. To adjust power settings:

Open the Control Panel and then click the Power Options icon

Power Options
Click on the Change Plan Settings under one of the default plans to make changes(See Power settings)

For additional fine tuning click Change advanced power settings
Advanced power settings

11: Reduce Desktop Icons
By default, the Windows Vista Aero GUI uses what it classifies as "Medium" icons on the Desktop. Medium in this case is really quite large. (There is also a Large icon setting, but we won't go there.) To bring the icons back to a less eye-popping size:

Right click on the Desktop
Choose the View menu item
Change to Classic Icons

Classic
12 Add another time zone
For many of us working away from home offices at satellite offices, home or on the road, knowing the time across various time zones can be a necessary evil. Windows Vista will allow you to keep time in two additional time zones to the machine time.

Right click on the time display located in Taskbar System Tray
Select the Adjust Date/Time menu item
Click on the Additional Clocks tab

Add clocks
Choose a time zone
Click the checkbox next to Show this clock
Click OK
Now when you mouse over the time in the Taskbar System Tray you will get the time in your chosen time zones.

10 things you'll miss when you upgrade to Vista (and how to get some of them back)

2009-08-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista has lots of cool new features, eye candy, and security enhancements we didn't have with Windows XP. But as with any software upgrade, there are also some missing pieces--features or capabilities you may find yourself wishing for after the upgrade. Luckily, in many cases you can get back what's missing with a simple download, a registry edit, or an "undocumented" technique.

After I switched to Vista fulltime as my primary operating system, I missed several things. Here's how I got some of them back and worked around others.

#1: Why can't I separate my toolbars anymore?
One of the first things I do when I set up a new operating system for daily use is configure the desktop to suit my working habits. For years, that has included dragging the Quick Launch bar off of the main taskbar and docking it vertically on one side of my screen. That gives me more room for the open program icons on the taskbar and more room to place program icons on the Quick Launch bar for easy and fast access.

In the first few Vista betas, I found that I was unable to move the taskbar or separate its sections, even after unlocking it. I figured it was a "beta thing" and would be fixed in the final version. Imagine my surprise to discover, after installing the RTM, that I could now move the entire taskbar to the side of the screen, but there was no way to detach the Quick Launch bar, no matter how hard I tried. A little research revealed that this was no oversight, but instead is a new "feature" designed to prevent the problem of people inadvertently separating the toolbars. Ouch! Apparently the thinking at Microsoft is that the Start Menu Search box substitutes for the QL bar. Well, not for me.

Thank goodness I found a way to get my Quick Launch bar back where it's supposed to be:

In Windows Explorer, browse to the Quick Launch folder (typically Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer). Vista's Start menu search feature makes it easy to find: Just type Quick Launch in the box.
Drag the Quick Launch folder to the edge of your desktop. It creates a toolbar there. You'll probably want to right-click and select View | Small Icons to make it look better.
You can do this with any folder to create a toolbar of its contents. Figure A shows my Vista desktop, with the detached QL bar holding shortcuts to my favorite programs. I closed the QL bar on the Vista taskbar and created a custom toolbar there for accessing frequently used folders and drives.

You can create a separate Quick Launch toolbar by dragging the folder to the edge of the desktop.
#2: Text-based Setup is gone
Okay, this isn't something anyone's likely to spend a lot of time mourning, but for those of us who have been installing Windows operating systems for years, the lack of "part one" of the Setup process, featuring white text on a blue background, is definitely a difference. The Vista installation program is graphical from the very beginning--and it's pretty, in keeping with the visual "wow" factor that Microsoft was aiming for with Vista.

#3: What's happened to my favorite third-party programs?
I created the custom toolbar for my folders and drives because I found I wasn't able to use the PowerDesk 5.0 toolbar I'd been using in Windows XP, which had a section for such shortcuts. PowerDesk itself installed on Vista and worked fine, but when I tried to create or open a toolbar, I got the error message shown in Figure B.

Some programs, or parts of programs, such as the PowerDesk toolbar, don't work in Vista.
Older versions of many programs won't work in Vista, but many software vendors are bringing out new versions that do, or releasing updates to make their programs Vista-capable.

In some cases, you can get the old programs to install or run by running the installation file or the installed program in Compatibility mode. To do so:

In Windows Explorer, navigate to the installation file or the program executable.
Right-click and select Properties.
Click the Compatibility tab.
Select the Run This Program In Compatibility Mode For check box and choose the operating system you were previously running it on from the drop-down list (for example, Windows XP (Service Pack 2).
You may also need to check the box to run the program as an administrator.
If it still doesn't work, you can try adjusting the settings for running the program (color depth and resolution) or disable visual themes, desktop composition, and/or display scaling.

Another program you might have been running in XP that has problems with Vista is the Diskeeper defragmentation software. This brings us to the next MIA feature, which is the reason some of you might want to run a third-party defrag utility.

#4: Where did the Defrag progress bars go?
The Vista Defrag utility now has a scheduler feature, something users have been asking for, but not everyone likes the simplicity of the new Defragmenter interface and the fact that there are no progress indicators. (See the view of a defragmentation in progress in Figure C.)

The new Disk Defragmenter GUI does away with the progress indicators.
Figure D shows the old XP Defragmenter interface, which some folks are longing for.

The XP Defragmentation interface graphically indicates the progress of the process.
The good news is that for those who want to use a third-party defrag utility, there's now a free update for Diskeeper 2007 that's compatible with Vista. See the January 22 post on the Diskeeper Weblog for information about how to get it. Other third-party defragmenters also work with Vista. Raxco's PerfectDisk has a free trial of its Vista-compatible beta (version 8).

#5: Why is it so much harder to use multiple monitors?
It took me longer than it otherwise would have to embrace Vista wholeheartedly because of problems I had with multiple monitor support. I started using multiple monitors regularly back with Windows 2000, although it was sometimes a bit of a hassle to get it configured on a new computer.

Windows XP perfected multi-monitor support. It became truly plug and play; I could throw two or three video cards into a computer's PCI slots, plug in my monitors, and XP recognized them almost every time.

Then along came Vista. When I installed it on my XP machine that was running four monitors, two off an ATI x600 PCIe card and two off a Matrox 450G PCI card, I got the Aero Glass interface on the first two (ATI), and nothing--black screen--on the second pair (Matrox). Research showed the Matrox card wasn't Vista capable, so I bought a card that, according to advertising, was: a GeForce 5200. Still no joy; still no third screen.

Finally, documentation became available on the Microsoft site indicating that to run Aero Glass on multiple video cards, they must use the same WDDM driver. If you have two Aero-capable cards that use different WDDM drivers (e.g., an ATI card and an nVidia card), Vista will disable one of them. It turns out that it is possible to use the cards together with the older XPDM drivers, but you don't get the Glass interface and associated Vista eye candy. Now I have three monitors working fine on my Vista machine, with a GeForce 7900 card paired up with the GeForce 5200. Figure E shows my setup.

Vista still supports multiple monitors, but it's not the no brainer it was in XP.
Multiple monitor support still isn't as stable in Vista as it was in XP. Even with the RTM, I occasionally turn on my system to find that my monitors have mysteriously "switched places" in the operating system's eyes. That is, my taskbar and sidebar have moved from my middle monitor to the right side monitor, which now thinks it's the primary monitor. It's a quick fix in the Display Properties dialog box, shown in Figure F, but it's an annoyance. I miss XP's user-transparent support of multiple monitors.

Vista occasionally "forgets" which monitor I've designated as the main monitor.
#6: Where's Windows Messenger?
XP came with Windows Messenger installed. Vista doesn't--but the Start menu does contain a link to the download page for Windows Live Messenger. Some folks may be annoyed at having to download and install the program (especially those who are restricted from installing programs), but this is probably a good idea for a couple of reasons:

It makes it easier for network administrators to keep users from chatting online, if your company's policies don't allow that.
It ensures that you'll get the most updated version of the Messenger program no matter when you install the operating system.
#7: Why is the new security system nagging me all the time?
Probably the most-missed characteristic of XP is its more demure behavior. If you were logged on as an administrator and you decided to install a program or perform some other administrative task, XP didn't question your decision. Vista's security is more in your face--even admins will encounter the User Account Control "nag box," shown in Figure G.

XP didn't argue when you wanted to install a program.
Vista's best-kept secret: It's possible to turn off the User Account Control feature--but it's not recommended. UAC takes some of the risk out of logging on with an administrative account, and if you regularly do so, you should let Vista protect you. That said, if you really want to get rid of those nag screens, here's how:

In the Administrative Tools menu of Control Panel, select Local Security Policy.
When prompted, click Continue.
In the left pane, expand Local Policies and click Security Options.
In the right pane, scroll down to User Account Control: Behavior Of The Elevation Prompt For Administrators In Admin Approval Mode and double-click it.
In the drop-down box on the Local Security Settings tab, select Elevate Without Prompting, as shown in Figure H.
Click OK.

You can configure Vista not to prompt administrators for permission when performing admin tasks.
Tip
You can modify a number of security behaviors via the Local Security Settings console. For example, I had to disable the policy User Account Control: Switch To The Secure Desktop When Prompting For Elevation to get a screenshot of the elevation prompt dialog box shown in Figure G. By default, the secure desktop prevents any other programs from interacting when this dialog box is being displayed.

#8: Windows Explorer looks different
The first time you open Windows Explorer, you may be a little disconcerted by the new look. In particular, you're likely to miss the old familiar menu bar, the one that says File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools, Help. In fact, you may find it a little difficult to get around without it. Figure I shows the new Explorer.

The top menu bar in Windows Explorer appears to have gone missing.
This one is an easy fix: Just click the down arrow on the Organize button, select Layout, and then click Menu Bar. A check mark there means your old friend the menu bar is back at the top of the window, right where it belongs, as shown in Figure J.

You can get the menu bar back with a few quick clicks of your mouse.
#9: What's up with the Up button?
Another difference in Windows Explorer is the missing Up button. This has been replaced by the Back button--but that takes you back to where you started, not necessarily to the top level of the path you're in. It would have been nice to have both.

In most cases, you can work around this by using the new clickable folder path. Now you can click at any level of the path shown in the top address/navigation bar. You can also click the down arrows beside each level and see a clickable list of all the files and folders contained at that level.

In addition, you can use the Recent Pages button, which is a small down arrow located between the back and forward buttons and the address bar, to display locations to or through which you've recently navigated. This is a great help in finding your way around the file system.

#10: Vista requires too many clicks
Many new Vista users have complained that some operations now require more clicks to complete than they did in XP. For example, in XP you could right-click the Network icon on the desktop and select Properties to see a list of your network connections.

In Vista, that same right-click selection displays the Network And Sharing Center, shown in Figure K. An extra click is required to get to the list of network connections. You must select Manage Network Connections in the left Tasks pane.

Some users miss being able to access the list of network connections with two clicks.
If getting to the network connections list quickly is an issue, you can easily create a shortcut to it by dragging its icon to the desktop (Figure L) or Quick Launch bar, giving you access with one click instead of two.

Use check boxes to select files

2009-08-27T11:44:00.002-07:00

When you want to select multiple files in Windows Explorer, you can hold down the [Ctrl] key as you click on each file. If the files are in consecutive order, you can select the first file, hold down the [Shift] key and select the last file. However, when using either of these techniques, it’s easy to slip up and have to start all over. In Windows Vista there’s a way to put check boxes next to each file in Windows Explorer. As such, you can select files for regular file management operations just like you would select files in many backup programs.

To enable this feature, launch Windows Explorer, press the [Alt] key to toggle the Menu Bar on, pull down the Tools menu, and select Folder Options. When you see the Folder Options dialog box, select the View tab. Then, under the Advanced Settings scroll down to the bottom of the list and select the Use Check Boxes To Select Items check box. Click OK to complete the operation.

Now, when you hover your mouse pointer over the files in Windows Explorer, a check box will momentarily appear next each file as you move past it. If you select the check box, it will remain next to the file and the file will be selected. You can continue selecting files in this manner until you’ve selected all that you want, as shown in Figure E. You’ll also notice that there is a check box in the Name column header. If you select that particular check box, all the files in that folder will be selected.

Check the license status in Vista

2009-08-27T11:44:00.001-07:00

As you know, activating your license in Windows Vista is a big deal. If you ever feel the need to check the status of license on your computer, you can of course go to the System screen by pressing [Windows]+[Break] and check out the Windows Activation section to see if it is activated properly. However, Microsoft included a little VBScript tool that will provide you a bit more information about your license.

To launch this little VBScript tool, press [Windows]+R to access the Run dialog box. Then, type slmgr.vbs –dli in the Open text box, and click OK. In a moment, you will see a Windows Script Host dialog box, like the one shown in Figure D. As you can see, in addition to informing you that your copy of Windows Vista is indeed licensed, it also gives you your edition, tells how you acquired it (Retail or OEM) and even shows you a partial product key. While you can't tell in this screen shot, it’s only the last five characters in your product key.

Create an administrative Command Prompt in Vista

2009-08-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

you’re running Windows Vista from within a limited user account, you know that you can use the Run As Administrator command to open an administrative Command Prompt. To do so, you right click on the Command Prompt shortcut and select the Run As Administrator command. You then see the UAC dialog box which prompts you to type in the Administrator password. While this is a simple enough operation to carry out, you can shorten it by one step.

Right-click on the Command Prompt Shortcut and select the Properties command. When you see the Properties dialog box, click the Advanced button, When you see the Advanced Properties dialog box, select the Run As Administrator check box, as shown in Figure C. Then, click OK twice, once to close each dialog box.

You can save yourself a step when opening a Command Prompt by activating the Run As Administrator option.
Now, when you click the Command Prompt shortcut, you’ll immediately see the UAC dialog box which prompts you to type in the Administrator password.

Enable an auto logon in Windows Vista

2009-08-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

As you know, one of the many areas in which there are vast improvements in Windows Vista is security. Even so, if you're the only one who has access to your computer in your home, having to log on each time you turn on the computer, may seem like overkill. Fortunately, you can configure Windows Vista to automatically logon with your account when you turn on your computer.
To do so, click the start button and type netplwiz in the Start Search text box and then press [Enter]. When you do, you’ll encounter a UAC confirmation dialog box and can click Continue or enter the Administrator credentials.

When you see the User Accounts dialog box, like the one shown in Figure A, make sure that your account in selected in the User for This Computer list. Then, clear the Users Must Enter A Username And Password To Use This Computer check box and click OK.

From this hidden User Accounts dialog box, you can enable an auto logon in Windows Vista.
You’ll then see the Automatically Log On dialog box, as shown in Figure B, and will be prompted to type your password twice. To continue, click OK and restart your system. When Windows Vista boots up, it will automatically log you in to your account.

You’ll need to enter you password twice in order to complete the operation.

Few Important tricks :-

2009-08-26T01:14:00.001-07:00

Rip high-quality MP3s in Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP)
Contributed by Mark Elder, updated by Paul Thurrott
The relationship between Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) and the MP3 audio format is widely misunderstood. Basically, MPXP is able to playback MP3 files out of the box, but encoding (or "ripping") CD audio into MP3 format will require an MP3 plug-in. During the Windows XP beta, Microsoft supplied a sample MP3 plug-in for testing purposes, but it was limited to 56 Kbps rips, which is pretty useless, leading some to report that Microsoft was purposefully hobbling MP3 to make its Windows Media Audio (WMA) format look better. This is not the case.

To enable MP3 encoding in Windows XP, you'll need to to purchase one of three MP3 Creation Add-on packs for Windows XP. For more information, please visit the Microsoft Web site.

Speed up the Start Menu
Contributed by Paris Paraskevas and Jarrett Miller
The default speed of the Start Menu is pretty slow, but you can fix that by editing a Registry Key. Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay

By default, the value is 400. Change this to a smaller value, such as 0, to speed it up.

If this doesn't work for some reason, then you might try the following: Navigate to Display Properties then Appearance then Effects and turn off the option titled Show menu shadow. You will get much better overall performance.

Enable ClearType on the Welcome Screen!
Contributed by Erdim Tanyeri
As laptop users and other LCD owners are quickly realizing, Microsoft's ClearType technology in Windows XP really makes a big difference for readability. But the this feature is enabled on a per-user basis in Windows XP, so you can't see the effect on the Welcome screen; it only appears after you logon.

But you can fix that. Fire up the Registry Editor and look for the following keys:

(default user) HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ FontSmoothing (String Value)
HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ FontSmoothingType (Hexadecimal DWORD Value)

Make sure both of these values are set to 2 and you'll have ClearType enabled on the Welcome screen and on each new user by default.

Stop Windows Messenger from Auto-Starting
Contributed by Kevin Mazzone
If you're not a big fan of Windows Messenger, you can use the tip "Add/Remove optional features of Windows XP" above to remove it, or simply delete the following Registry Key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\MSMSGS

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

Use the Windows Sound Scheme

2009-08-26T01:13:00.002-07:00

Contributed by Keith Furman
Windows XP ships with a really 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.

Use the ultimate configuration tool (Professional Edition only)

2009-08-26T01:13:00.001-07:00

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

gpedit.msc

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

Display the Sharing Tab in Folder Properties

2009-08-26T01:12:00.001-07:00

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

Remove the Shared Documents folders from My Computer

2009-08-26T01:11:00.002-07:00

Contributed by Bryan Somerville
One of the most annoying things about the new Windows XP user interface is that Microsoft saw fit to provide links to all of the Shared Documents folders on your system, right at the top of the My Computer window. I can't imagine why this would be the default, even in a shared PC environment at home, but what's even more annoying is that you cannot change this behavior through the shell: Those icons are stuck there and you have to live with it.

Until now, that is.

Simply fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ My Computer \ NameSpace \ DelegateFolders

You'll see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. If you delete this, all of the Shared Documents folders (which are normally under the group called "Other Files Stored on This Computer") will be gone.

You do not need to reboot your system to see the change.

Before: A cluttered mess with icons no one will ever use (especially that orpaned one). After: Simplicity itself, and the way it should be by default.

Add/Remove optional features of Windows XP

2009-08-26T01:11:00.001-07:00

Contributed by Ong Choon Keong and Hans Breemer
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, 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.

Automatically defrag drives with a new context menu item!

2009-08-26T01:10:00.002-07:00

Contributed by Doug Knox
Create a new Registry import file named context_defrag.inf in Notepad (be sure to save with it with the Save as type set to All Files and not Text Documents) and place the following text inside:

; context_defrag.INF

; Adds Defrag to the right click context menu in Windows XP

[version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"

[DefaultInstall]
AddReg=AddMe

[AddMe]

HKCR,"Drive\Shell\Defrag\command",,,"DEFRAG.EXE %1"

Then, right-click and choose Install. This will add a context menu to XP that allows you to automatically defrag drives, using the command line version of the built-in defragmentation utility. To use it, navigate to a drive in My Computer, right-click, and choose Defrag. A command line window will appear, and that drive will be defragged. When it's complete, the window just disappears.

UPDATE: To remove this functionality, Open regedit.exe and navigate to the following location:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\

Then delete the Defrag folder and close Regedit.

Add album art to any music folder

2009-08-26T01:10:00.001-07:00

Contributed by Richard Davidson and Brian Donovan
This is easily my favorite tip! One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is its album thumbnail generator, which automatically places the appropriate album cover art on the folder to which you are copying music (generally in WMA format). But what about those people that have already copied their CDs to the hard drive using MP3 format? You can download album cover art from sites such as cdnow.com or amguide.com, and then use the new Windows XP folder customize feature to display the proper image for each folder. But this takes time--you have to manually edit the folder properties for every single folder--and you will lose customizations if you have to reinstall the OS. There's an excellent fix, however.

When you download the album cover art from the Web, just save the images as folder.jpg each time and place them in the appropriate folder. Then, Windows XP will automatically use that image as the thumbnail for that folder and, best of all, will use that image in Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) if you choose to display album cover art instead of a visualization. And the folder customization is automatic, so it survives an OS reinstallation as well. Your music folders never looked so good!

Album cover art makes music folder thumbnails look better than ever!

UPDATE: In addition to the folder.jpg file mentioned above, you can also optionally create a smaller version of the image called albumartsmall.jpg, if desired. This is the image used to display album art in MPXP when its sized so that the display area is smaller than 200 x 200 pixels, and in the folder thumbnails for folders that contain album folders. If you don't create albumartsmall.jpg, however, Windows XP will automatically scale folder.jpg in these cases.

Delete files when the Recycle Bin is hidden

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

hought it was appropriate for the Tips page, even though it's probably been a feature of Windows for years. (UPDATE: Sure enough, it's been around for a while. It's still a cool tip and proof that one learns something every day).

By default, the Windows XP Recycle Bin sits at the bottom right of the desktop, just above the tray notification area and system clock. If you've got a bunch of floating windows open, however, it's possible to obscure the Recycle Bin and make it impossible to drag files and folders there for deletion. However, Microsoft must have thought of this event, because you can automatically hide all of those open windows during a drag operation. The first time it happened, I thought it was a fluke. But it's not. Instead, it's a cool hidden feature of XP.

Here's how it works: Make sure a bunch of windows are open on the screen, with at least one of them hiding the Recycle Bin. Then, find a file or group of files you'd like to drag to the Recycle Bin. Pick up the files with the mouse and move them to the lower right of the screen. As you reach the bottom area of the screen, pass the mouse cursor over a blank area of the task bar, hover there for an instant, and--voila!--the open windows all minimize, leaving the Recycle Bin available to accept the dragged files. Good stuff. This tip also works when windows are maximized, assuming the file(s) you want to delete are visible in one of the available windows.

Want To Buy New PC? Handy Tips

2009-08-26T01:05:00.000-07:00

Taken from:- http://www.vsubhash.com/writeups/tipsandtricks.asp
Wonder why your PC is not as fast as it was when you first bought it? Is it time for an upgrade? Probably not. Like cars, PCs need to regular maintenance. Also, if you know how to tweak various hardware and software settings from their factory-set defaults, you will be surprised to find your PC performing better than when you bought it!

In this writeup, you will find over 100 tips and tricks that you can use with 32-bit Windows operatings systems, such as Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. In another writeup called Windows XP Tips & Tricks, I have provided some other tips and tricks that are special to Windows XP. If some of the PC-hardware-related concepts mentioned here seem alien to you, then read the writeup PC Hardware Explained. If you find that none of these writeups really address the problem that you had come in search for, then you can mention it in my discussion forum.

Hardware
A well-configured PC by itself offers great performance. The key here lies in the choice of the components and their arrangement.

Choice of CPU: Because ordinary people do not know much about computers, they simply buy one that has an Intel processor. More discerning buyers get PCs with AMD processors. Benchmark tests by prominent computer magazines and websites have shown that AMD Athlon processors score over Intel Pentium processors. Unlike Intel CPUs, AMD processors natively support both 32-bit and 64-bit software. AMD processors consume less power and consequently generate less heat. Hence, they do not require huge noisy fans. AMD is also a much better consumer-friendly company. It has been contributing to the development of open standards, which results in cheaper PC components. Intel, on the contrary, had tried to impose proprietary products like the RD-RAM memory technology, which was developed by its subsidiary Rambus. The biggest argument for AMD processors is the cost. AMD CPUs are always cheaper than Intel's. Remember, it is always the consumer who ultimately pays for the advertising and marketing expenses.
Choice of Motherboard: Thanks to the HyperTransport technology developed by AMD, motherboards of their CPUs are at a level higher than than Intel motherboards. Intel motherboard still use the obsolete front-side bus (FSB) technology to provide a connection between the CPU and the RAM (memory) modules. In the AMD platform, the CPU has an integrated memory controller which directly accesses the memory modules. Hence, memory operations are not bottlenecked by the FSB. Also, motherboard chipsets for AMD processors are being made by many third-party vendors (like VIA, nVidia, and ATI) who add their own expertise and performance increments to the motherboards. Intel jealously guards the chipset market for their CPUs and hence all innovations have to come from Intel.
IDE Drives Setup: Most motherboards have to IDE connectors allowing you to connect up to four IDE devices (hard disks and CD/DVD drives). Each connector can connect to two IDE devices in a master/slave combination. If you have just two devices, say a hard disk and a CD drive, connect them separately to the two IDE connectors. If you have a CD drive and CD-RW drive, connect them both to an IDE connection with the CD writer as the master and the CD drive as the slave.
Autostart CDs: To prevent a CD from autostarting when it is inserted, hold down the Shift key until Windows Explorer recognises the disk. Use Xteq X-Setup or TweakUI to permanently disable autostart behavior for CD/DVD drives.
Power Supply and Cabinet: PC components like the CPU and the graphic card consume a lot of power. So, make sure your PC cabinet has a power supply rated at a minimum of 350W. Also, make sure the cabinet has provisions for two extra fans (one in the front and one in the back). The power supply comes with a fan, which also tries to takes some hot air off the CPU through a grill placed just above the CPU. This grill needs to properly spaced out, be big enough and ideally located to provide effective cooling. Almost all PC cabinets today support the ATX standard, which will allow software to shut the PC down. In Windows 9x/Me/2000/XP, select Enable hibernation under the Hibernate tab of the Power Options applet in Control Panel. A new Hibernate option will now be available in the Shutdown Windows menu.
COM Ports: If you use a serial mouse, then connect it to the COM1 port as this is the first port that the OS checks when it is looking for a mouse. You can connect your dialup modem to COM2.
CNR Port: This port (known as Audio Modem Riser or AMR in older motherboards) can be used to add a specially made low-cost peripheral replacement. The replacement is far cheaper than a separate sound card or modem.
Fans: If your cabinet allows it, install additional fans for extra cooling.
Dust: Remove dust regularly from the insides of your cabinet and prevent them from forming a coating over the motherboard and other parts.
Driver updates: Manufacturers of PC components release new driver updates to fix problems associated with their products. Check their websites for these releases and keep your machine updated.
BIOS
BIOS Backup: Sometimes the BIOS program on your motherboard can become corrupt and your PC will not function properly. So, you need to always keep a backup of a good version of the BIOS on a floppy disc. If something ever goes wrong with the BIOS, you can flash (overwrite) it with your backup. The software used to backup or flash the BIOS is usually available on the motherboard driver CD or on the motherboard/BIOS manufacturer's website. Refer the motherboard manual for step-by-step instructions on using the BIOS flash software.
Do not Detect Absent Devices: When a PC is started, the BOIS checks all available ports/connectors on the motherboard to identify devices attached to them. Usually, not all of these ports/connectors have devices attached to them and bootup time gets unnecessarily prolonged. For example, even if you have only one IDE drive on your PC, the BIOS will still check the other three IDE connectors. To avoid this delay, enter the BIOS Setup program and change the settings to Disabled or None for these ports/connectors. However, when you add new hardware components, make sure to change their BIOS setting to Auto so that they get properly detected.
Supervisor Password: To prevent your BIOS settings from being changed by anyone else, set a Supervisor password in the BIOS and do not set the user password.
User password: If you want to prevent access to anyone else, then set the User password.
Remote access: If you often travel with a laptop PC, you might have felt the need to connect to your desktop PC at home. All you need to remotely access your home PC is a telephone connection. In the power settings section of the BIOS, set the PC to wake up on external modem act. When you leave home, keep the modem powered on, the PC switched off, and the power line connected. Use your laptop to dial your home number. When your modem at home receives the call, the PC will switch itself on. You can then use software-based networking to retrieve files from your machine. You can also use the same principle to send faxes to your PC and make it work like a fax machine. To shut down your the desktop PC remotely, you can simply rely on OS power schemes or use a remote access software.
Boot sequence: After you have installed your OS, set your hard disk first in the boot-up sequence with the CD drive and the floppy following it in that order.
Quick Power On Self Test: Keep this enabled and save on boot-up time.
Boot Up Floppy Seek: Keep this disabled.
PCI Expansion Cards: PCI add-on cards will not work properly if there is IRQ sharing conflict. Refer the motherboard manual for an IRQ number that has been designated as for PCI IRQ Steering. Set this number as the IRQ for the devices in the BIOS setup. Many devices will happily share their IRQ with other devices. However, some devices like graphic cards and TV tuner cards have heavy performance requirements and will not work with a shared IRQ. Provide these cards with a dedicated IRQ.
Disk Partitions
Primary Partitions, Extended Partitions and Logical Partitions: A hard disk can have a maximum of only 4 partitions, which are called PRIMARY PARTITIONS. In the early days of the PC, this four-partition limit was deemed sufficient. To go beyond this limit, a special kind of primary partition called EXTENDED PARTITION was invented. A hard disk could have ONLY ONE extended partition but this particular partition could have any number of smaller partitions called LOGICAL PARTITIONS housed inside it.
Multiple OS and Partitions: Some people have more than one OS installed on their PCs. It is not possible to have more than one OS on a single partition. So, you need to dedicated a partition for each OS. It is preferrable to install Linux on a primary partition. Windows 2000/XP will work on kind of partition. Windows 95/98/Me installs in the first partition on the hard disk. Perhaps you would like to read my writeup How To Multiboot Operating Systems for more information.
My recommendation is to have three primary partitions - two ordinary primary partitions (one for Win 9x/Me and one for Linux) and one extended partition.
Partitioning tool: Windows 9x/Me supplies a partition tool called FDISK. It does not recognize partitions created by Linux installations. So, you might want to use something like Ranish Partition Manager. In Windows 2000/XP, the disk management tool in the Computer Management console will allow you to partition your hard disk.
Boot Loader: If you have multiple operating systems, you might want to use a GUI-based boot loader such as Extended Operating System Loader (XOSL).
Disk Swap
Console-based OSs like DOS have only modest memory requirements. GUI-based operating systems like Windows needs lot of memory, much larger than the RAM that is usually installed on PCs. So, they use something called virtual memory. Here, a large file on the hard disk is used in conjunction with the RAM, which greatly expands the memory available to the OS. Only the data that is required at the given moment is loaded on the RAM; the rest is cached on the swap file. Just like any other file on a disk, the swap file can also get fragmented over time and OS might seem to slow down. To prevent the swap from breaking up, you can place it on a dedicated partition (just like in Linux). Set the size of this partition at about 2.5 times the size of your installed RAM and format it. Next, you need to make sure that the OS does not reserve space on this partition for deleted files because this partition is going to have only one file - the swap file. From the Recyle Bin context menu, choose Properties » Configure drives independently. Select the partition's tab and select the Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted option.
In Windows 9x/Me: Right-click on My Computer, click on Properties, choose the Performance tab, and click on Virtual Memory. Here, check the Let me specify my own virtual memory settings and chose the new partition. Set the Minimum and maximum size to something below the total size of the partition. See screenshot.
In Windows 2000/XP: Right-click on My Computer, click on Properties, click on the Advanced tab, click on Performance Options, and click on Change. Here, choose the drive where the swap currently resides and remove the settings (set them to 0) in the Initial Size and Maximum Size boxes. Now, choose your swap partition and set the initial and maximum sizes to the new partition's full capacity minus say 20 MB. See screenshot.
Use the Microsoft TweakUI utility to hide this partition so that you don't save ordinary files on it inadvertantly. If you plan to run heavy-duty applications such as Oracle Database, you may need a swap partition as big as 1.5 GB, just to run the installer. In these cases, do not create a swap partition.
If you have two hard disks, then the swap partition could be created on the first partition on the second disk, preferrably connected to the secondary IDE channel. When the OS load gets shared on two hard disks, there is a perceivable increase in performance.
Device Manager
Keyboard shortcuts: There may have been times when your mouse was not detected and you had a hard time getting around the device manager. Here are the navigation keys with Device Manager. If you are in the desktop, press the TAB key repeatedly until My Computer is selected. Then press the CONTEXT MENU key, which is between the left Ctrl key and the Windows Key. This opens up the context menu for the My Computer. Now select Properties from this menu. Now you see the System Properties window. This has several tabs, one of which is the Device Manager. Press Ctrl+TAB repeatedly to move to Device Manager. Now you see all the devices listed. Press TAB to move to them. To open up any particular device, press the RIGHT ARROW and to shrink it up press LEFT ARROW. To open up the properties of any particular device, press ALT+ENTER or the CONTEXT MENU key.
DMA: Direct Memory Access (DMA) technology enables high-speed transfers from hard disk and reduces the load on the CPU in making correct data reads and writes. Make sure this option is checked in the Disk Drive Properties. Otherwise, your disk operations will be slow.
Ports: If you have a 56 kbps modem, then set its port speed to 1,15,200. This can be done from the Communication Port Properties
Modem: Most Indian modems use American-made chipsets, they do not dial tones on Indian telephone lines. So, set the modem to blind dial by choosing the Do not wait for dial tone setting or using the modem initializing string ATX3. Refer your modem manual for the list of AT commands you can use with your modem.
Saving Memory and Increasing Speed
In Windows 9x/Me, the system cache setting is not always optimised. A software called Cacheman will do this for you. In Windows 2000/XP, try changing the I/O lock page size. To do this, you can use Xteq Systems X-Setup. Choose the appropriate setting under System » Memory.
Clear the startup programs: Startup programs get loaded along with Windows. This causes a delay before the desktop becomes active. Most of these programs do nothing but hog precious memory. See if you can use the programs' settings to prevent them loading with Windows. If that is not possible, use Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel to do that. After you install this program, you can access it from the Control Panel.
RAM: A PC might start running faster simply by adding an extra module of RAM. See if this works for you. If you think you have more than adequate ram but the PC seems sluggish, then use RamBooster to proactively free up unused RAM at regular intervals.
Task Manager: Task Manager (taskmgr.exe) in Windows 2000/XP will list of programs in memory. For detailed information, use TaskInfo. These programs are useful if you are trying to weed out unwanted programs that get loaded on to the memory.
Increasing the Performance of Individual Programs: You can increase the speed of a program, by setting the process priority of the program to either High or Realtime in Task Manager. Do not go overboard on this or your system will become unresponsive.
Active Desktop: Unless you run stock market price tickers on your desktop, deactivate Active Desktop to save memory. If you have enabled Active Desktop just to enable a GIF or JPEG file as the background, then convert the file to a BMP file and set that as the wallpaper without Active Desktop.
Plain Desktop: Remove the desktop background image and set it None. This will save some memory.
Screen Resolution: Set your screen resolution to 15 bit or 16 bit for both speed and saving memory. Set a higher level only when playing games and other such special programs that require higher resolutions.
Clean the Desktop: Remove all unwanted icons from the desktop and shortcuts from the desktop and the quick launch bar. If you have shortcuts for CD drives, windows will check for their contents every time it loads up and cause a delay before the Desktop becomes active.
Remove sound events: If you remove the desktop theme sounds, your operations will get faster. To do so, go to Control Panel » Sounds and Multimedia » Schemes and then choose No Sounds.
Windows Explorer
Keyboard and mouse shortcuts:
Open any folder and press F3. This will bring up the Find Files dialog box for that folder.
Press Start+TAB key combination just once. Now, pressing TAB repeatedly will allow you to jump between various areas of the desktop, such as the desktop proper, taskbar, system tray, quicklaunch toolbar, and Start button.
When you drag a file with the right mouse button, you will be presented with an option to move or copy the file when you drop it elsewhere.
If you drag a file from some location and hover it over a folder that is minimized on the desktop without dropping it, then that folder will spring open allowing you to drop the file there.
If you drag a shortcut and place it over the Start button without dropping it, then the Start menu will spring open and you can navigate to your special program groups and drop it there.
Sometimes, when you have many programs open and you use the Alt+TAB combination to switch to another program, it does not switch. In this situation, press the Start button twice.
Press Alt+F4, to close a program. If no program is open, then it functions like a Shutdown command.
Pressing Alt+Enter after selecting an item will bring up its properties box.
Pressing Start+Pause will bring up the System Properties of your computer.
Add Extra the Send To Menu Options: Open the SendTo folder create shortcuts to the programs and folders that you commonly use. My suggestion is to have shortcuts for the Desktop, My Documents, IrfanView, and Subhash VCDPlayer. When you use the Send To menu option on a file, it will be opened by the relevant program or copied to the relevant folder.
Adding Extra Context Menu Options: Usually, a certain file type can be opened with many programs. However, the file type's right-click menu may have option for just one or two programs. So, why not add some new options for other programs? Here is how you create a context menu option for the MP3 file type so that their files can be opened by Subhash VCDPlayer. Go to Folder Options. Click on File Types tab. From the list under Registered File Types, search for and select MP3 Format Sound. Now click on Advanced. In the Edit File Type window, click on New. In the New Action window, enter Open with Subhash VCDPlayer in the text box under Action and "C:\Program Files\Subhash VCDPlayer" "%1" (including the quotation marks) in the Application used to perform action. Here, the ampersand symbol '&' is placed before the 'S' in Subhash VCDPlayer so that 's' becomes the hot key in the context menu. Use the Edit button to modify any existing settings. Exercise caution with the choice of the program. If the program and the file type are incompatible, results can be unpredictable. See screenshot.
Resize Explorer Columns: Press Ctrl+Plus to resize columns to best fit the contents. Do not use this trick in the Temporary Internet Files folder though; super-bad news if you frequent this folder to manually pick out files.
Folder Options: Customizing the Windows Explorer is done via the Folder Options. To access this,
In Windows Me/2000: From the menu, choose Tools » Folder Options.
In Windows 9x: From the menu, choose View » Folder Options
To move between the different tabs, press the Ctrl+TAB key combination or just use the mouse.
Setting the default view: There are five types of views available
Large Icons
Small Icons
List
Details
Thumbnails
You can have the same view for all Explorer windows. Open any folder and choose the type of view that you want from the toolbar. If you were to choose the Details view, then adjust the column sizes. Then, go to Folder Options and in the View tab, click on the Like Current Folder.
Single-Click To Run Applications: Normally, to select a file you single-click and to run you double-click. You can change this to hover for select and single-click to run. Go to Folder Options. Here, in the Click items as follows section, check the Single-click to open an item and Underline items only when I point at them.
Expanding and Collapsing Folder Tree Branches: On the folder pane, you can expand a branch by pressing the * (asterisk) key. To collapse a branch, press the - (minus) key.
Customized Links Toolbar: The Links toolbar has shortcuts to several Internet sites that you will never visit. Why not replace them with shortcuts to folders or files in your hard disk or your own choice of Internet sites? Display the Favorites menu, right click on Links, and select Open. In the Links folder that opens, remove the shortcuts that Microsoft has provided and create some shortcuts to your own files and folders in your hard disk or network.
Open Links in the Same Window: When you click on a folder shortcut in the Links toolbar, a new Explorer window is opened. To open the folder in the same window, right click on the shortcut and select Open from the context menu.
Removing the Links toolbar: If you want to remove toolbar from showing up at all, then right click on the Links toolbar, and click on the Links option in the context menu.
Favorites: Rather than having links to Internet websites alone, you can also have links to folder in your disk drives or network in the Favorites menu. Just open these folders and select the Add to Favorites from the Favorites menu. Now, you do not have to dig deep into My Computer or My Network Places. Just selecting the location from the Favorites menu will take you to the folder.
Using Favorites in Other Programs: The above tip can come to good use not just in Explorer windows, but also in other programs such as Word or Excel when you want to open or save files. Just click on the Favorites icon on the left of the Open or Save As dialog boxes.
Customising the Toolbar: In Windows Me/2000/XP, you can customise the toolbar with your own choice of buttons. For this, right click on the toolbar and select Customize from the context menu.
Suggested toolbar buttons: My suggestion for buttons for the customized toolbar is
Back
Forward
Separator
Refresh
Separator
Cut
Copy
Paste
Separator
Copy To
Move To
Separator
Delete
Separator
Undo
Separator
Properties
Folder Options
Views
Separator
Up
Browsing
Opera is one of the lightest and fastest browsers available. It was also the first one to provide tabbed browsing. It has numerous customisable features and is a treat to use.
Internet Explorer (IE) has the biggest share among Internet browsers and is the most standards-compliant one. Hence, many websites prefer to work with IE and some of them will not even work with other browsers. As an unfortunate result of its popularity, IE is also a favourite target for hackers, spyware and viruses. IE then becomes a security hole in your computer. So many people have migrated to other browsers like Mozilla Firefox. Firefox has been developed to closely resemble IE and has support for tabbed browsing. But because it lacks support for ActiveX controls and VBScript, it has largely escaped many browser-based attacks. If you like Firefox, feel free to use it in place of IE but remember that Firefox by itself is not an inherently safe product. New Firefox vulnerabilities are being discovered and as the new browsers gains in popularity, it will suffer the same fate as IE.
...
You can send messages to computer running the Messenger service (Windows 2000/XP) by using the command net send

message from the MS-DOS prompt. To send a message to yourself, type net send 127.0.0.1 hello in the Run dialog box.
Internet Explorer
IE loads up pretty fast because parts of it is loaded by Windows.

Disable the Links toolbar to provide more space for webpages. Close the History/Search pane for the same reason.
Customize the toolbar via View » Toolbars » Customize. My suggestion for toolbar buttons includes
Back
Forward
Separator
Stop
Separator
Refresh
Media
Separator
Search
Favorites
History
Separator
Edit
Separator
Full Screen
Blank home page: Set your home page to a blank one so that it loads up faster. This is done via Tools » Internet Options » General » Use Blank. When your browser is infected with spyware, you will find that no matter how many times you set the home page, it always changes to something else. Use anti-spyware software like Ad-Aware to root out such annoyances.
Offline browsing: You do not have to be online to revisit a webpage. You can access it from the browser cache. Select Work Offline from the File menu. Open the History pane by pressing Ctrl+H or clicking the History toolbar button and select the page from the list. You check the latest version on the Net however by clicking on the Refresh toolbar button or pressing the F5 key.
Search Pane: The search pane (press F3) is a feature of Internet Explorer that allows you to use MSN Search to search the Internet. When you install the Yahoo! toolbar, it will modify IE so that Yahoo! Search is used inside their search pane. However, you are still limited to using just one search engine. So, I created a search pane tweak called Search Heaven, which will allow you to access all popular search engines plus other resources like dictionaries and thesaruses from the search pane. See a demo here.
Context Menu Extensions For IE: IE allows you to copy the address of a link with just two clicks. But to copy the address of an image on a webpage, you have make at least 5 clicks. To make things like this more easier, you can create your own context menu extensions. For this, some new keys will have to be added to the registry. These keys will refer to Javascript or VBScript functions placed in some special HTML files. For a sample, download the cmes.zip. Extract the HTM files to C:\. Extract the Install CMES.reg and double click on it. The keys will be merged into the registry. Your IE context menu will have new options - "Copy All Hyperlink Address" (default), "Copy All Image Addresses" (default), "Copy Image Address" (on images), "Set Text Size To Medium" (on selected text), "Copy HTML Code" (on selected text), "Open Frame In New Window" (default), "Highlight Text" (on selected text) and "Open Link In Same Window" (on hyperlink).
Computer Security: Some websites carry misleading ads and wrong tactics to sell computer security products. Do not download or install these software. Be careful about installing ActiveX controls. The only ActiveX controls or plugins that ordinary people can safely install are that of Macromedia Flash, Real Player, QuickTime and Windows Media Player. All others like Gator or Bonzi are likely to be spyware of some sort. Many spware products are released along with dialers, screensavers, and programs like MP3 Dancer. They are almost impossible to uninstall. Even if you run their uninstall programs, they will continue to hide in your computer without your knowledge. So, be careful about installing software.
Paranoia 1: IE's autocomplete feature may throw up some web addresses at the address bar, which you may not want others to see. So, clear the history. This is done by Internet Options » Clear History. If otherwise you want to selectively remove history items, then delete the appropriate folders inside the History folder. In Windows 9x/Me, the History folder is inside the Windows folder. In Windows 2000/XP, it will be inside the Documents and Settings\«User name»\Local Settings\ folder. A list of web addresses that you have typed in the Address bar is saved in the registry. Run regedit.exe, do a search for "TypedURLs" keys and delete any values you find on the right-side pane.
Paranoia 2: Deleting the files in the Temporary Internet Files folder can remove only part of your tracks. Cookies stored by websites usually remain in this folder with their full web address. So, that is a security violation. To remove them, choose Internet Options » Temporary Internet Folder » Delete Cookies.
Paranoia 3: There is a file named index.dat inside the the Temporary Internet Files or the Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5 folder. This contains a list URLs you have visited. If you delete this file, Windows will automatically generate an empty index.dat. However, this file can refuse to go away easily. If this is the case, then go close all windows, start Task Manager (taskmgr.exe) and end the last remaining explorer process. Your taskbar and desktop will disapear but this is okay. Now, go to the File » New Task (Run...) menu option. Type cmd to start an MS-DOS window. Use the cd command to navigate to the folder containing the index.dat file and give the del command to delete the file. Type exit to close the command prompt window. Now, switch back to Task Manager, go the File » New Task (Run...) menu option and type explorer to get back your desktop and taksbar.
Paranoia 4: When the Autocomplete feature is enabled, all your personal information including passwords are stored on the computer, which is available for others to misuse. So, when you are done with browsing at your office or an Internet cafe, follow the above three steps and clear the saved data by choosing Internet Options » Content » AutoComplete » Clear Forms and Clear Passwords. Sometimes, the Internet Options menu option might be disabled in your office or web cafe. So, delete the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\IntelliForms key from the registry. If you want to steal or backup passwords, export this key and import it on a different machine or installation. You will also have to copy the {username}.pwl file and cookies to the new machine/installation. Sometimes, there are ActiveX programs that sit silently recording everything. You can check them out at Internet Options » Temporary Internet Files » Settings » View Objects. This will open the Downloaded Program Files folder in the windows folder. By right-clicking the contents, you can either remove them or check out their properties.
Paranoia 5: In many Internet cafes, some people leave keylogger software installed on the PCs. These record everything that is typed on the keyboard, including your usernames and passwords. So, when you visit a Internet browsing centre, run Task Manager and kill all suspicious-looking programs you find. Some sophisticated keyloggers do not even appear in the Task Manager. To be safe, do not type the characters in the your password in the usual order. Jumble them up. Use your mouse to position the cursor so that the characters are in their proper positions. Few keyloggers are smart enough to detect mouse clicks. Try this demo. The password is "lkBg(tts)2" but we do not type it in that order.

Dialer: When you click on a link, IE starts the dialer program, which can be very annoying. So, disable this via Internet Options » Connection » Never dial a connection. When you want dial a connection, go to the Dial-Up Networking.
Savings on Telephone Bills: You can make optimum use of your online time by opening the links in new windows rather than in just a single window. Take for example your Yahoo! Inbox. Right click on each message and open new windows. By the time, you finish reading the web page in one window, all the other windows would have downloaded their messages.
Downloading Recalcitrant Files: Download managers can download files faster by using more than one connection to the download server. However, they may not be able to catch the URL of some files. In such cases, open the source code of the web page via View » Source and do a search for the download file. Usually, the full url of the file will be found here. Copy this and paste it in the download manager. Some websites prevents you from right-clicking so that you are unable to save images from their website. But you can look inside the Temporary Internet Files folder and you will find that the image has been already downloaded there. All you need to do is maka a copy.
IE Toolbars & Desktop Tickers: Add the Google Toolbar to IE. With this toolbar, you will get to the results without having to visit Google's home page first. If you have to keep in touch with the latest news, then get the Reuters Desktop Ticker. Reuters is the world's leading news provider and almost every newspaper and TV station in the world gets feeds from it. Once connected to the Net, headlines flash across the ticker and you can click on the headlines to read the news stories in a browser window.
ESCAPE: Many people do not know this. If a page is being downloaded and you want to stop it, then pressing the Escape key will do that. Also, pressing Backspace key will take you to the previous page.
Saving web pages: IE allows saving a web page in a single file along with it images and other embedded content. To do this, choose Save As from the File menu. In the Save as type, choose Web Archive, single file (*.mht). Sometimes, MHT files may not show anything even though its thumbnail does show something. If you disable Javascript, you will be able to see the saved content.

Outlook Express
Outlook Express is a free e-mail client that comes bundled with IE.

OE has a lot of GUI clutter and you can reduct this. Go to View » Layout and uncheck Contact, Outlook Bar, and View Bar in the Window Layout Properties window. This is chosen by selecting Layout from the View menu.
Customize the toolbar from Window Layout Properties. My suggestion for buttons is
Send/Recv
Separator
Create Mail
Separator
Reply
Separator
Delete
Separator
Copy To
Separator
Preview
Separator
Offline
The New Message window has a separate set of toolbar buttons. Customize this with
Send
Separator
Undo
Separator
Spelling
Separator
Attachment
Separator
Insert Signature
Separator
Offline
Messages that are already in the various folders have a different toolbar. Customize this with
Reply
Separator
Previous
Separator
Next
Separator
The columns that are viewed inside a folder can be customized via View » Columns. My suggestion for columns is
Size
Attachment
Mark for Offline
Sent
From
To
Subject
The Outbox has a different set of columns so modify that separately.
Implementing Spam Filters For POP Accounts: Create two folders in your mail client - Filtered Inbox and Spam. Create the following four Message Rules in Outlook Express (Tools » Message Rules » Mail). Use your old messages as a guide while picking the words for your filters. Check the Spam folder once in a while for any false-positives. If you find any spam among the flagged messages in the Filtered Inbox, then update the filters in the third rule with new words.
Mail Rule #1: Mail From Known Contacts
Where the From line contains 'friendname' or 'contact@emailaddress.com'
Move it to the Filtered Inbox folder
and Stop processing more rules

Mail Rule #2: Mail Not Addressed To Me
Where the To or CC line does not contain 'your@emailaddress.com'
Move it to the Spam folder
and Stop processing more rules

Mail Rule #3: Word filters on From, To, & Subject lines
Where the From line contains 'debt' or 'enlargement' or 'teens' or 'viagra'
or Where the Subject line contains 'debt' or 'enlargement' or 'teens' or 'viagra'
or Where the To line contains 'debt' or 'enlargement' or 'teens' or 'viagra'
Move it to the Spam folder
and Stop processing more rules

Mail Rule #4: Suspect Mail
For all messages
Move it to the Filtered Inbox folder
and Flag it
and Stop processing more rules

Integrating HotMAIL: You can integrate your HotMAIL account with Outlook Express. Just go about as you would do with adding a POP account. After you enter your HotMAIL address, OE will automatically identify it as a HotMAIL account and pre-fill the E-mail Server Names details. Click Next enter the userid and password. When you are done, OE will ask if you want to download folders for that account. Here, choose Yes. After the folders have been downloaded, you can use it like you would use a POP mail account except that you will not be able to use the Message Rules (available under the Tools menu) on this account.
Protecting Your E-mail Address: Junk mail seems inevitable but there are a few things you can do about it. Do not give your office e-mail address or personal POP address to any website or service. Just to make sure your contacts use your e-mail address responsibly, add the following to your e-mail signature (Tools » Options » Signatures).
E-MAIL BEST PRACTICES

When you send a joke to many contacts, put all e-mail addresses in the bcc (blind carbon copy) box. (None of the recipients will know who the other recipients were.)
If you do have to forward a joke, delete all names and e-mail addresses from the message before sending it. Respect others' privacy.
Never send a mail asking the recipient to forward it to everyone he/she knows. (Chain mail accumulate many e-mail addresses over time & spammers thank the Lord when they receive one.)
Never send virus warnings to anyone. (It may be a hoax and your contacts may end up damaging their machine or losing useful data. Making regular updates to the OS, firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware and other software is enough.)
Never use another person's e-mail address without his/her permission on any website. (Spammers harvest e-mail addresses by providing some free service.)
Handling Bulk Mailers:
Use an e-mail address from a free e-mail provider like Hotmail or Gmail. They have better junk mail filters than you can possibly create on your own.
If you want to stay one step ahead of junk mailers, then use disposable email addresses provided by Yahoo! Mail's AddressGuard service.
If a website requires that you provide an e-mail address before you can use their services, then use temporary e-mail addresses provided by Mailinator.com.
After you add your HotMAIL account to Outlook Express, right click on individual folders and select Synchronization Settings » Headers Only. This will ensure that only the message headers are downloaded when you send/receive message. After identifying useful message, you can double-click them and have their entire content downloaded. Now, you can choose to delete other messages that you think are junk without having to download them.
It is very easy to forge the the From addresses of e-mail messages. Almost all bulk messages have forged From addresses. So, there is no point in complaining to the owners of the domain used in the From address. You need to look at the message headers (select the message, right-click, select Properties » Details) to identify the ISP used by the bulk mailer. Check the screenshot for an example. The Received: header identifies the ISP used by the spammer as rr.com (Road Runner). To complain to an ISP, you need to "abuse@" to the ISP's domain name. In this case, the e-mail address to use will be "abuse@rr.com." In your message, add a copy mail headers of the junk message you had received. Without the mail headers, the ISP will not be able to take any action on the culprit.
Archiving E-mail Messages: Your e-mail messages are kept in a message store folder. The store folder's location can be found by going to Options » Maintenance » Store Folder. Copy the location of the store folder and paste it in the address bar of Explorer. Make a backup of this folder at regular intervals. When you want to move your old messages to another PC or a different installation of Windows, simply import messages (File » Import » Microsoft Outlook Express 6 » Import mail from an OE6 store directory » Browse) from the backup of your original message folder.
Options: To change the various settings of OE, choose Options in the Tools menu. If you have a dial-up account, then under the General tab, uncheck all the check boxes. Under the Send tab, uncheck the Send messages immediately. Under the Compose tab, under Font Settings choose the Verdana 9pt font or anything else that you might fancy. Under the Signatures tab, create different signatures for different accounts or one for all accounts. If you are in India, then setting the dictionary to English (United Kingdom) in the Language section of the Spelling tab will prevent conflicts with American spelling.
Blind Carbon Copy (bcc): Not many people know how to send e-mail messages using bcc (blind carbon copy). Choose View » All headers in the New Message window.
Xteq X-Setup
Xteq X-Setup is a great utility to tweak your system. It has different settings for Win 9x/Me/NT/2000.

To create a DOS box with current folder as its default directory, go to Appearance » Explorer » Context Menu » Context Menu Options and check on Enable 'DOS Prompt here' command for directories.
To hide certain drives, go to Appearance » Explorer » Options » Hide drives. For settings on shortcuts, go to Appearance » Explorer » Shortcuts.
To set up your own customized OEM logo on the Device Manager, go to Appearance » OEM information. Set the outer portions of the BMP file to the color of the 3D object (in your color scheme) before that. See screenshot.
To speed up your modem, choose the port in Hardware » Modem » COM Port Speed.
To prevent others from changing the screensaver or background, go to Appearance » Control Panel » Other Settings » Visible Pages in 'Display'.
Miscellaneous
With faxing software, if you cannot locate the recommended initialization string for your particular modem, try fax class 1 in combination with the generic initialization string: AT&F&C1&D2&K3S7=55 If this doesn’t work, try fax class 2 in combination with the generic initialization string: AT&F&C1&D2&K4S7=55
Windows 9x/Me might sometimes throw up error message that some system file has gone corrupt. You can restore things using System File Checker from Start » Programs » Accessories » System Tools » System Information » Tools.
To show the correct speed with which your modem connects to the ISP, enter the initialization string ATW2
Of all antivirus programs, AVG Antivirus is the best and the lightest. It is better than Norton or McAfee.
Run your antivirus program's complete checkup every week. Also, defrag your hard disk every week. Use Disk Cleanup every now and then to clear your hard disk of junk files.
When Windows throws up a lot of errors and refuses to stop them even after a reinstall, a clean install of Windows is in order. This process can be done more safely and easily if your data files reside in a drive other than the one where Windows sits on. This way you don't have to do time-consuming backups. So, after the first time you install Windows, follow these steps.
Your My Documents would typically be in C:\My Documents or C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\My Documents. If you have space on drive D, why not keep your documents in it? If anything goes wrong with your C drive, your documents will be safe in the D drive. For this, right-click on your My Documents and select Properties » Move. Now, select a folder in the D drive. Now, your My Documents will be available from this folder.
Change the store folder of your Outlook Express email messages as mentioned above, to a folder in another drive.
It also helps to backup email account settings too. Select Tools » Accounts » Mail. Select the email account and click on Export. This will create a file with the extension .iaf. Whenever you want to re-create the email account, click on the Import button and select this .iaf file.
Most people format their Windows drive before doing a clean install. This is not necessary. If you have more than one OS, it will delete the boot files of the other OSs too. Just delete the Program Files folder and the Windows folder from MS-DOS or from another OS and go ahead with the install. After that is done, import your email messages from the folder you had created previously. Now, delete any files in that folder. Next, change the message store back to that folder. Also, change the My Documents back to the folder you had created earlier.
Use a download manager to manage your downloads. Second-generation download managers allow for the files to be downloaded in pieces simultaneously by more than one thread, and combine them together after download is over.
If you keep a lot of programs installed, your program menu can get very long. So, divide them into sections such as Multimedia, Internet, System Tools, Utilities, etc., by creating appropriately named folders inside the c:\windows\Start Menu\Programs folder and making appropriate choices during installation.
Quicklaunch Toolbar: Keep the Show Desktop icon in it. If you had deleted it for some reason, then do a search for *.scf in the drive and if you find the Show Desktop.scf file, copy it to the Quicklaunch folder. If you do not find it, then create a new folder. Open Notepad and type the following
[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Choose Save as from the File menu. In the dialog box, change Save as type to All files. Give the filename as Show Desktop.scf. Make sure you save it in the folder you had created just then. Now, right click the taskbar and choose Toolbar»New Toolbar. Here choose the folder where you had put the Show Desktop.scf file.

Keep shortcuts in your Quicklaunch bar for your drives. Create a shortcut with the target as c:\windows\rundll32.exe user.exe,exitwindows. Clicking on this icon will shut down Windows in a snap. However, this command works for Windows 9x/Me only. For Windows NT/2000/XP, you need something more sophisticated. I suggest you download Wizmo (Windows Gizmo - 37 KB). Create shortcuts to this small program using appropriate parameters for logoff, shutdown, restart, hibernate, reboot, and several other functions.
Explore and try to find new ways of doing things.

Changing the MAC address in W2K and XP

2009-08-24T02:49:00.002-07:00

Method 1:

This is depending on the type of Network Interface Card (NIC) you have. If you have a card that doesn’t support Clone MAC address, then you have to go to second method.
1. Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel and double click on Network and Dial-up Connections.
2. Right click on the NIC you want to change the MAC address and click on properties.
3. Under “General” tab, click on the “Configure” button
4. Click on “Advanced” tab
5. Under “Property section”, you should see an item called “Network Address” or "Locally Administered Address", click on it.
6. On the right side, under “Value”, type in the New MAC address you want to assign to your NIC. Usually this value is entered without the “-“ between the MAC address numbers.
7. Goto command prompt and type in “ipconfig /all” or “net config rdr” to verify the changes. If the changes are not materialized, then use the second method.
8. If successful, reboot your systems.
Method 2:

This method requires some knowledge on the Windows Registry. If you are not familiar with Windows Registry, just use the SMAC tool to change the MAC addresses, or consult with a technical person before you attempt on the following steps. Also, make sure you have a good backup of your registry.

a. Goto command prompt and type “ipconfig /all”, and

I. Record the Description for the NIC you want to change.

II.Record the Physical Address for the NIC you want to change. Physical Address is the MAC Address

b. Goto command prompt and type “net config rdr”, and you should see something like.

c. Remember the number between the long number (GUID) inside the { }. For example, in the above “net config rdr” output, for MAC address “00C095ECB793,” you should remember {1C9324AD-ADB7-4920-B02D-AB281838637A}. You can copy and paste it to the Notepad, that’s probably the easiest way.

d. Go to Start -> Run, type “regedt32” to start registry editor. Do not use “Regedit.”
e. Do a BACKUP of your registry in case you screw up the following steps. To do this
I. Click on “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE on Local Machine” sub-window

II. Click on the root key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE”.

III.Click on the drop-down menu “Registry -> Save Subtree As” and save the backup registry in to a file. Keep this file in a safe place.

f. Go to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. Double click on it to expand the tree. The subkeys are 4-digit numbers, which represent particular network adapters. You should see it starts with 0000, then 0001, 0002, 0003 and so on.

How to filter incoming messages and block or allow from specific sender or domain

2009-08-24T02:49:00.001-07:00

To organize your Inbox by creating filters to direct incoming messages to specific folders, please follow these steps:
1. Sign in to the Windows Live Hotmail website with your Windows Live Hotmail account.
2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Options, and then click More options.
3. Under Customize your mail, click Automatically sort e-mail into folders.
4. Perform one of the actions as per your requirement:
Click New filter to Create a new filter
Or
Click Edit next to the filter that you want to edit.
Or
Click Delete next to the filter that you want to delete.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to specify which messages you want to filter and where you want to filter them, and then click Save.

Note: Not all international characters are supported as filters.

Fix the MBR in Windows XP

2009-08-24T02:48:00.001-07:00

The Master Boot Record (MBR) will be created when you create the first partition on the hard disk. It is very important data structure on the disk. The Master Boot Record contains the Partition Table for the disk and a small amount of executable code for the boot start. The location is always the first sector on the disk.

The simplest way to repair or re-create MBR is to run Microsoft's standard utility called FDISK with a parameter /MBR, like

A:\> FDISK.EXE /MBR

FDISK is a standard utility included in MS-DOS, Windows 95, 98, ME.

If you have Windows NT / 2000 / XP, you can boot from startup floppy disks or CD-ROM, choose repair option during setup, and run Recovery Console. When you are logged on, you can run FIXMBR command to fix MBR.

Uninstalling Windows from Command Prompt

2009-08-24T02:47:00.001-07:00

Windows XP is the ability to uninstall XP if you performed an upgrade from Windows 98, 98SE, or Windows Me. The standard method of removing XP is achieved by booting into XP normally and uses the Add/Remove Programs tool in Control Panel. If you are unable to start XP normally, the second option is to load XP in Safe Mode then use the same tool. If you are unable to boot normally or boot into Safe Mode, XP can be removed by uninstalling from a Command Prompt. The procedure is as follows:

Note: This procedure is available only if a successful image of the previous operating system was created during the XP upgrade.

1. Start the computer to Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
2. At the command prompt, type cd\, and then press ENTER.
3. Type cd\windows\system32, and then press ENTER.
4. Type osuninst.exe, and then press ENTER.

On screen instructions will guide you through the uninstall process to revert to the previous operating system.
This procedure can only be performed by users logged on as Administrator or a user with administrative rights.

Update Internet Explorer

2009-08-24T02:46:00.001-07:00

Running Windows Update can often correct problems by replacing out-of-date files and fixing vulnerabilities.
1. Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button , and then clicking Internet Explorer.
2. Do one of the following:
• In Internet Explorer 8, click the Safety button, and then click Windows Update.
• In Internet Explorer 7, click the Tools button and then click Windows Update
3. Follow the instructions on the Windows Update page.

How to fix BlueScreen (STOP) errors that cause Windows Vista/XP to shut down or restart unexpectedly

2009-08-24T02:45:00.000-07:00

If you do not have a restore CD-ROM or DVD, you can install a new, or clean, version of Windows by using the Windows installation disc (Bootable Disc). However, you must reinstall all of your other software separately in this case.

If you have a restore, or recovery, disc (CD-ROM or DVD) from your computer manufacturer, you can use it to quickly restore Windows and all the software that came preinstalled with your computer. However, you must reinstall any software that was not already installed by the computer manufacturer, if you use this method. In most cases, you can insert the disc and then restart your computer to start the restore process.
Reasons and Solutions of Blue Screen

IS IT A HARDWARE ERROR?
Have you recently added any new hardware to your system? If so, power off the computer, remove them, and then attempt to reboot.

TEST YOUR MEMORY
It could be that you have errors in the memory of your system. The best way to check this is to purchase a windows memory diagnostic program and copy it to CD, Use it to Reboot your system and test the memory. If there are problems with this then you will have to purchase some new memory. But it is feasible that this is causing your blue screen of death problems.

FIX MISSING / CORRUPTED SYSTEM FILES
Missing or corrupt system files will obviously impact on the performance of your Windows operating system and can lead to those blue screen errors. In this case you can perform a repair install and return all Windows system files without having any impact on your settings or user data.

MORE SOFTWARE ERROR SOLUTIONS:
It is possible that your blue screen errors are occurring because incompatible software that starts immediately with Windows, and causes the computer to crash. The solution: Use PC’s MSCONFIG utility to edit your startup programs.

Multiple login in yahoo Without Using any Software

2009-08-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

Multiple login in yahoo Without Using any Software You can login with multiple id’s on the same yahoo messenger without
any download or patch .

1.Go to Start ----> Run . Type regedit, then enter.
2.Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER --------> Software --->yahoo ----->pager---->Test
3.On the right pane , right-click and choose new Dword value .
4.Rename it as Plural.
5.Double click and assign a decimal value of 1.
That's it done!!
Now close registry and restart yahoo messenger .For signing in with new id open another messenger.

Password Protect Folders in XP

2009-08-24T02:41:00.000-07:00

There are two ways to password protect a folder built into Windows XP (for other Windows flavors, there are some freeware/shareware programs out there).

Method 1:- If you have a log in password for your account, this can be used to protect folders from other users. Your hard drive must be formatted using NTFS (which it probably is unless you're dual booting with another operating system). Here's what to do...

Right-click the folder that you want to make private and choose "Properties" (or Alt+Double-click). Go to the "Sharing" tab and check the "Make this folder private" box.

Click Apply . If you do not have a password on your account, a box will pop up asking if you want to assign a password. This must be done if you want to make the folder private, so click Yes . You will need to use your password to log on to your computer from then on.

Type in a password then confirm it. Click the "Create Password" button then close the Password window.

Click OK in the Properties dialog box.

Now anyone else logged on to your computer can't access that file without knowing your password.

Method 2:- If the Folder is Zipped you can give it a unique password.

Just double-click the zipped folder. In the top menu select File then click "Add a Password".

Type a password into the Password box. Then again in the "Confirm Password" box.

Now, you are the only person who can access files in this folder. The folder can be opened allowing the files to be seen, but you are the only one who can access them.

Delete STUBBORN files

2009-08-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

Deleting unwanted files can sometimes prove to be almost impossible because of various factors. Instead of just letting these files be, it is better to take measures to get rid of them. Here I give you some techniques to do the same :-

1. USE TASK MANAGER
Using task manager to delete a troublesome file is one of the most common methods. First, make sure u have quit all other applications.
> Hold the key combination [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del] to launch the 'Task manager'.
> Go to the 'processes' tab.
> Select 'explorer.exe' and click 'End Process'.
> Click "File | New Task",enter "command" and click 'OK'.
> In the command prompt, navigate to the folder which contains the file that you want to delete.
> Once you are in the folder, simply type 'Del' followed by a space and then the filename. (In case you are not that bright) For Eg:- 'Del UnwantedFile.txt'.
> Type 'Exit' and hit 'Enter' to close the prompt.
> In the task manager, click 'File | New Task'.
> Type "explorer.exe" in the textbox and click 'Ok'.

2. WINDOWS RECOVERY CONSOLE
The Windows Recovery Console helps administrators to recover their systems from fatal crashes and other problems. Make sure you have administrator privileges before proceeding with this one.
> Insert the bootable Windows XP CD.
> Click 'Start | Run'.
> In the command prompt, enter 'E:\i386\winnt32.exe/cmdcons' (where 'E' is the CD-ROM).
> The 'Windows Setup' dialog box will appear on your screen. This dialog box will contain brief information about Console. Click 'Yes'.
> The installation will complete automatically. After it completes, restart your machine.
> Select 'Windows Recovery Console' on startup.
> Wait for the files to be copied into your system.
> If you have windows installed on only one drive then enter '1' and press [Enter]. Else, select which installation of windows you want to start.

The next time window starts, Microsoft Windows Recovery Console (Phew!!) will automatically start. Use this console to navigate to the location where the file is stored and delete it.

3. DELETE WITH UNLOCKER
Unlocker is a free application that can safely get rid of files that refuse to be deleted. Using it various errors can be dealt with, especially file access denial, sharing issues and broken links. Here's how to go about it with its installation, configuration and usage (Finally) :-
> Visit the site here for free software, download and install it(Please don't ask how).
> Once the application is installed you will notice a tray icon called 'Unlocked Assistant'. Right click the file that could not be deleted and click 'Unlocker' in the context menu.
> Click 'Unlock' to automatically remove all the restrictions that keep you from deleting the file.

Once the file is unlocked you can delete it from the respective source. Unlocker also provides you with another option that enables you to kill the process.

10 tricks for Windows Vista

2009-08-22T02:56:00.000-07:00

Tip #1: Shrink a partition

If you have created one or more partitions on your hard drive and a few months later you think "mmmmh this partition has to be a bit smaller", it is possible in Vista to shrink them. You can do this even with a 'system partition'.
How to shrink a partition?

Step 1:
Click with your right mouse button on 'Computer' and then click 'manage'.
The next screen is shown.

In this screen you click in the left pane on 'Disk Management' below 'Storage'.
Then the next screen is shown.

Now you see all your partitions which you have created. To shrink a partition you simple right click on the partition and in the menu which appears you click 'Shrink Volume'.
The next screen is then shown.

Here you can enter the amount of space to shrink in MB.

If there is empty space available behind the partition there is also the possibility to extend the the partition using the option 'Extend Volume'.
There one thing you can not do. You can not move a partition or extend it with an empty space which is in front of a partition.

Tip #2: Use ReadyBoost to speed up your system!

SPEED IT UP NOW!
Click here to run a Free Performance scan

What is ReadyBoost and what is SuperFetch?
Microsoft introduces, using Windows, these new techniques, which have to speed up your computer which is used for daily usage.

How do these technologies work?
Do you really get a super system when you extend the memory using a USB stick?
The memory in computers increased dramatically since a few years ago. This is logical because there is nothing what makes a computer more stable and faster than extra memory. Microsoft wants to use that new memory maximum and equipped Windows Vista with a few techniques which have to take care of this.

The memory manager of Windows Vista can change the grouping of the memory any time, which decreases the chance of overloading a part of the memory. Microsoft calls this 'dynamic kernel address space'.

The possibility to assign memory dynamically is also used to decide which data have to be loaded into the memory and which data is mend for the virtual memory. Previous versions of Windows did not make any difference between data which is used much and which is used less. Windows Vista does it on another way. SuperFetch doesn't look at the data which is unused the longest, but it predicts which data will be needed as first again and keeps this data stored in the memory.If there will be any free space in the RAM-memory then SuperFetch will fill these spaces with the data of which it predicts it will be needed as first again.

Read more about ReadyBoost and SuperFetch...

Tip #3: How to disable User Account Control?

To keep your computer safe and clean of viruses that's one thing which is very important for your computer. But you don't want to get bothered with annoying warnings from Windows Vista each time you install a program or when you make a change in Vista's settings?
Without any doubt is Vista's most irritating tool the User Account Control (UAC). The User Account Control takes care that Windows asks permission to several system sources over and over again.
I have to admit that this standard setting helps you to keep your computer clean, but do you really want to give permission for every small setting change, like changing the Windows' standard font?

I think your answer is NO!

Read more about User Account Control...

Tip #4: How to make screenshot quick and easy in Vista?

Vista has a great tool to make screenshots very easily. This tool is called the 'Snipping tool'.
Using this tool you can make screenshots of your screen or a selection of it very easily.

This tool can be found at:

Start
Programs
Accessories
Snipping Tool
Using this tool you can make screenshots in several ways, for example you can make a:
Free-form snip
Rectangular snip
Window snip
Full screen snip
Below you find a screenshot I made using the 'free-form snip'. So if you need to make a screenshot of something on your screen you can use this tool for it.

Tip #5: Enable hidden built in administrator account

Select cmd prompt run as Administrator
Type: 'net user administrator /active:yes', press enter
To disable type: 'net user administrator /active:no'
This Windows Vista Trick was written by Jinish Kg from India

Tip #6: Display multiple clocks

With huge popularity of social websites there is huge possibility that you have found some friends which are spread across the planet? With Windows Vista, you can display up to 3 clocks, each representing a different time zone. You know immediately what time is in your friend's country. This can help you to know in what time you can contact your friend. Of course these clocks can also have other purpose but this with social website was a simple example. To display multiple clocks in windows vista fallow steps below:

1. In Windows Vista, click the clock in the notification area, right of the taskbar.

2. The clock and a complete schedule appear. Click Change settings of the date and time.

3. Open Additional Clocks tab.

4. Then check the Show this clock, select a new time zone and then give a name to the clock.

5. You can then repeat the operation for a third clock. Click OK when you are finished.

6. Now when you spend a few moments with mouse pointer on the clock your other clocks will be displayed.

7. The time your friends will also be displayed after double clicking the clock.

Tip #7: How to disable unnecessary features in Windows Vista

Windows Vista is automatically installed with many features, not always useful for the use of your computer. You can optimize your system and win a few seconds to start disabling the functionality you're not using. Here is how:

1. Click the Start button and then click Control Panel.

2. Click on the Programs icon.

3. Then click the Enable or disable Windows features of the Programs and Features heading.

4. Click the Continue button.

5. The list of features of the system is displayed. Uncheck the boxes just before the features you do not and you want to disable. For example, you can uncheck the box in front of optional components for Tablet PC if you do not have a Tablet PC, before games if you do not use Windows games before DFS Replication Service Windows if you do not need to synchronize files between multiple computers, etc..

6. Finally, click on the OK button at any time you can re-checking features and return them in their previous state.

Tip #8: How to create a self extracting self installing program, a setup file

I know a very cool trick...

First Go to start and then run and then type "iexpress" without the quotations. This will open a window which will let you create a self extracting self installing program. Just complete it and there we are!!! Your done!!!

This Windows Vista Trick was written by Adam Devey from United Kingdom

Tip #9: Increase performance easily

The real performance hit in Windows Vista is within its power management settings. In the advanced settings, there are spots to set the minimum and maximum CPU speed. Even on "high performance" the minimum isn't set to 100%, so to fix the problem, either create a custom profile or just edit the "high performance" profile to have a minimum and maximum CPU speed of 100%. This will cause Vista not to slow the CPU down, so you will have ultimate performance. Vista runs better and there is a noticeable responsiveness to it when the CPU setting is fixed. This setting is good for desktops and laptops on plugged in power. Adjust as needed for laptops on batteries, but that should be on a separate power profile, anyway.

This Windows Vista Trick was written by Jason from United States

Tip #10: Set the Run option in the Windows Vista Start menu

The Run option in the menu of Windows XP is a handy way to access various features of the operating system. Windows Vista Versions do not have that option because it have a search box on the Start menu, where you just enter the name of the desired option or for the results to appear.

In general, the option to search in Windows Vista is more practical, but it does not record a history of words, terms and commands searched. Therefore, many users do not like to use the menu of modern and sophisticated operating system from Microsoft.

The good news is that you can add a much desired option Run in the Start menu of Windows Vista and best of all is that you will not need to change registration or administrative settings. Follow the instructions below and see how easy it is.

1) Clicking the right mouse button over the symbol of the Start menu, choose "Properties."

2) In the properties window that opens, go to the "Start Menu" and click "Customize ...".

3) Now just check the option "Run Command" to implement the changes made, click "OK" and on "Apply" then

4) There, the Run command is within reach of your mouse.

If you from some reason need to remove this Run command from start menu simply repeat above steps but at the last step you have to uncheck file "Run Command".

Smart Ways To Keep DLL Errors At Bay

2009-08-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

Smart Ways To Keep DLL Errors At Bay

Anyone who has been working with computers for some time can tell you that computer errors are inevitable. However, this does not mean that you cannot reduce the frequency of these errors and ensure that they do not happen again. In fact, by taking good care of your computer and by practicing safe computing techniques you can avoid as many as 90% of software and application related errors such as DLL errors and EXE errors. Imagine the amount of time and money you will be able to save if you are able to keep most of the computer errors at bay. In order to prevent such errors from happening or recurring, all you need to do is to understand what causes these errors and how to prevent them.

DLL errors form a major part of computer errors that you may face. These errors are related to DLL or Dynamic Link Library Files which are present in large numbers on all Windows computers. These files were originally created by Microsoft, the manufacturer of Windows Operating Systems. The idea behind these files was to create a library of common files that can be used by several different applications in order to simplify processes, save space and speed up applications. However, these critical files are just like other computer problems and are equally vulnerable to errors.

Usually, it is not possible to remember what each DLL error stands for, given the strange naming system and the fact that there are thousands of different DLL files on a single computer. In this scenario, it is best to research the error to find its origin. For example, if you get a hcwutl32.dll error, you can perform a Google search to reveal that this error occurs in applications or drivers which have been created by Hauppauge Computer Works. Similarly, you may not be able to decipher much from an error message like:

“stlang.dll could not be loaded”

This is an error which is related to C-Major Audio of SigmaTel, Inc.

Reasons behind DLL errors:

There are numerous reasons behind DLL errors. The most common reasons include:

Missing DLL file which could be due to deletion of the file by mistake or by incorrect program removal.

Virus or spyware infection

Conflict between two DLL files

Hard disk problems that may corrupt one or more DLL files

Overwriting of a working file with an invalid file

Device driver issues

Hardware problems

Preventing DLL Errors

Resolving DLL errors may be a time-consuming process. Therefore, it is recommended that you take all possible precautions to keep these DLL errors at bay and reduce your computer downtime. Following these steps will help in the prevention of such errors:

Be vigilant while installing and uninstalling any program. Never delete or overwrite a DLL file which is being shared with another application.

Never use or install any software in which the genuineness of the software is not guaranteed. Fake software may not only contain malware, but may also cause conflicts with other applications and make your life miserable.

Update your operating system and all other programs installed on your PC regularly to take care of any bugs or loop holes in their code. This will reduce the chances of DLL application errors.

Make it a point to use a reliable anti-malware tool to prevent attacks from spyware and virus.

Maintain the health of your registry by using a good pc registry cleaner tool.

How to: visit password-protected websites without registering

2009-08-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

We all know how annoying it is when we search Google for something and the result we are looking for leads to a password protected forum or site. You have to register to view content, but who likes doing that?

Fortunately there is a solution to save your time and email account from spam – pretending to be Googlebot. For those of you that don’t know, Googlebot is Google’s “spider” that crawls sites and indexes them for Google’s search results. More about Googlebot. The owner of a password protected site also wants their site to be on Google, so they make a separate account on their site for Googlebot.

We can use this small security hole and visit a website pretending to be Googlebot. This way you are automatically logged into the site or forum and don’t need to enter any password or login info. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Here’s how:

Step 1. If you’re not using it already, get Firefox! It’s a lot better than Internet Explorer and here’s why.

Step 2. Download and install the User Agent Switcher plugin for Firefox.

Step 3. Restart Firefox to complete the installation and go to Tools -> User Agent Switcher -> Options -> Options. In the window that opens, select the User Agents tab and press Add.

Step 4. Add a new user agent. Write Googlebot for the description and Googlebot/2.1+(+http://www.google.com/bot.html)” in the User Agent box as shown above. Press OK and you’re good to go!

Now you can visit most password protected sites and forums that appear on Google’s search results. Here are a few to try:

1) http://www.portaliz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17780

2) http://www.h4cky0u.org/

Another (worst) solution may be BugMeNot http://www.bugmenot.com/

How To: Make Your XP Look Like Mac OSX In 3 Simple Steps

2009-08-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

Alright. After I showed you how to make your XP look like Vista, some people asked me to post a guide to making your XP look like Mac OSX. Leopard, to be precise. There are two ways to accomplish the OSX look: the easy way - with a transformation pack, and the hard way - manually. I will, of course, show you how to do this the easy way, but if it for some reason doesn’t work for you, email me or comment and I’ll teach you to do it all manually. So here’s how it’s done the easy way:

Step 1: Get a transformation pack.
The best Mac OSX transformation pack for Windows XP is probably FlyakiteOSX. The creator’s website itself is worth the visit, but if it doesn’t load in your browser, get Firefox, and here’s a download link.

Step 2: Install
Run the installer and when you get to the following screen, MAKE SURE you check the box Create System Restore Point. The transformation pack will change a lot of system files and settings and although you should be able to uninstall easily later, you might find yourself in a mess if something goes wrong. This way you can always do a System Restore. Check any other options you want and you’re ready!

Step 3: Enjoy!
After the restart, you should be able to convince all, but the most die-hard Mac lovers that you have an OSX. This is what your desktop should look like now: Like other good transformation packs, this also leaves you a nice Mac OSX shutdown screen: …And a Mac OSX logon screen:

I’ll give FlyakiteOSX an excellent 5 stars. Note: The transformation pack might trigger your anti-virus protection as it changes some system files, but this is probably a false positive. Be careful though, and remember to back up!

How to: Make 4 fake computer viruses!

2009-08-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

Why not have some fun and prank your friends? There are several kinds of fake virus messages you can make. I will discuss 4 of them:

1. Fake error message

This one is by far, the easiest one to make and all you have to do is to make a new text document with notepad, type msg * YOUR MESSAGE and save as anything.bat. As always, make sure that you select All files instead of Text Document.

2. Forced shutdown

This will display a custom error message and start a countdown which will shut down the computer.

Right-click your desktop and create a new shortcut.
Paste the following code into the Location box in the Create Shortcut menu:
shutdown -s -t 30 -c “Your message here“

Replace 30 with the length of the countdown you want (in seconds) and place your custom error message between the quotes. Click next and name the shortcut to something the victim would be likely to click on such as “Internet explorer” or “My Documents”, etc.

Next you’d want to change the icon. Right-click on the shortcut you made and click properties. Find the Change Icon button and click it. Choose a suitable icon for the name you chose earlier.

And that’s all! Now you just have to sneak the shortcut onto the victim’s desktop and run!

Note: to stop it, open Run from the start menu and type shutdown-a.

3. Endless Command prompt windows

This will open up a series of command prompt windows that will never end.
The basic idea is that there are two .bat files that open the other one when opened, so the other one opens the first one again and the windows just won’t stop coming.

How to do this:
1. Fire up notepad and type: start 2.bat
2. Save it as 1.bat (make sure you choose all files when saving it)
3. Make another new text document and type: start 1.bat
4. Save it as 2.bat into the same folder as the other one.

All you have to do to start it is to click on either of them.

The only way to stop it is to wait for the windows to become so numerous that they are a group on the taskbar. Then you can use Close group to get rid of the bastards.

4. Fake Command prompt viruses

These are also a good way to make the victim believe that a worm is gnawing at their hard drive and that they can’t do anything to stop it.

Open up notepad and type @echo off

To make text appear, type it after an echo tag.
To have the the commands wait for the user to press any key type pause
(Note: if you write pause >nul it won’t display Press Any key to continue…)

To have a complete high-speed description of files in the drive of the .bat file, type dir /s
You can also initiate any other command we covered earlier, such as shutdown, error message, etc.
And why no include all of these in one fake virus?

For example:

I can’t post the batch files here, as sharing .bat files over the internet is illegal.
And remember, everything here is for informational purposes.

How to: speed up your wireless internet connection on Windows XP

2009-08-21T12:34:00.002-07:00

If you have a slow wireless internet connection that often crashes, then there’s probably something wrong with it. (Duh!) Here are some tips and tricks to fix some of the most common wireless problems on Windows XP. Before you start “fixing” anything, make sure your wireless connection isn’t already at it’s best.

1. Move the wireless router to a better location
The first thing you want to do is to make sure your wireless router is in the best location possible. If you have a laptop that you move around all the time or if you have several computers, the router should be in the centre of your home and office. Don’t hide it into cupboards, or under chairs and tables.

But if you only have one stationary computer, use a cable connection to the router or move the router as close to the computer as possible.

You can check the signal strength from the Wireless connection menu, accessible from Start -> Connect To -> Wireless Connection. You can also access it by clicking the wireless icon at the bottom right corner of the screen if you are connected.

2. Upgrade the wireless router firmware
Sometimes the problem is with the router firmware. Make sure you update your router firmware as often as possible to avoid incompatibility with newer systems. You can update your router firmware from the wireless router control panel. Type your router’s IP address into the browser to access the CP.

The default IP of routers is normally 192.168.1.1 for Linksys, 192.168.0.1 for D-Link and Netgear, some US Robotics routers use 192.168.123.254 and some SMC routers have 192.168.2.1. The router’s default IP address is always in the documentation of the router.

3. Change the wireless broadcast channel

If there are several wireless networks in your area, they can begin to distract each other. Most routers use the wireless channel 6 by default and the channel can slow down if full of signals coming from many routers. You can change the wireless channel from the Wireless Control Panel.

If changing the channel didn’t speed up your wireless connection, change it back to 6. It’s better not to play with them too much because this can distract your firewall.

4. Update your computer’s wireless network drivers
You can search for driver updates from the Windows Update site or your manufacturers website.

If none of the above tips helped, contact your wireless router manufacturer or just go back to a wired internet connection.

A Faster Way To Shut Down And Log Off Your Windows XP

2009-08-21T12:34:00.001-07:00

If you’re experiencing slow shutdowns and log offs on your Windows XP, this trick will help you.

Instead of accessing the shutdown menu via Start->Turn Off Computer, open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

Press “Shut Down” at the top of the Task Manager and choose what you want your Windows XP to do:

Stand By
Hibernate
Turn Off
Restart
Log off
Switch User
The task will be performed in a matter of seconds.

How To Speed Up Your Windows XP By Disabling File Indexing

2009-08-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

File indexing is a Windows service that like many others, is totally useless - unless you do a lot of searching on your computer. As most users don’t, it’s a good idea to disable it to speed up actions like opening and closing files and folders on your Windows XP.

To disable the Indexing Service:

Go to “My Computer” and right click on your hard drive. At the bottom of the window that opens, you should see a check box titled “Allow Indexing Service to index the disk for fast file searching.” Uncheck it.

Press OK and you’re done! Your computer should be a little faster after a restart.

How to: change the start button text on Windows XP

2009-08-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

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

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

Warning: this tutorial is more for advanced users, and I'm not
responsible if your system gets messed up. Only attempt the following
at your own risk.
Step 1: Modify explorer.exe
If the warning didn’t scare you enough, then the title of this step probably did. Yes, we are going to change Explorer, the backbone of your Windows XP, but don’t worry. Everything should be safe as long as you follow the steps closely.

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

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

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

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

Press the Compile Script button to make Resource Hacker put together the code. Now click File and Save the script as explorer.exe. into C: \WINDOWS\inf or another C: \WINDOWS subfolder.
Note: make sure you choose Save AS, NOT just save!!

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

Step 2: changing the registry.

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

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

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

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

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

10 Tricks With A USB Thumb Drive

2009-08-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

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

Take your programs with you

We all know how frustrating it is when we take your files to another computer just to discover that the software required to read the files is not installed.

Here’s the simplest solution – take your programs with you – on your USB thumb drive. Here’s how to do it with Portable Apps:

1. Go to the Portable Apps website and download the installer, choosing the software you want to carry along.

2. Run the installer and install the software to the root of your USB thumb drive.

And you’re done! As soon as you connect your thumb drive into a computer, Portable Apps will open up automatically.

Surf anonymously

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

Set a program to run automatically (autorun)

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

Open up notepad and paste the following script:

[autorun]

ShellExecute=filename

Label=description

UseAutoPlay=1

Make sure you replace filename with the full path to the file. For example, a file called program.exe in a folder called “programs” on the thumb drive would be /programs/program.exe

Replace description with a short description of the program, for example, My Jukebox or Mozilla Firefox.

Save the file as autorun.inf, making sure you select “All Programs” from the save menu, not “Text document”!

Help! I’m lost!

Ever lost a USB drive? Even if you haven’t, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll lose a few during your life. And with all the important information on it, it could be a disaster to have it fall into someone’s hands.

A good idea is to encrypt all the information on the drive, but you would still want it back, wouldn’t you? Luckily, the folks at the Daily Cup Of Tech have come up with a solution.

Save a program called “Help! I’m Lost!” on the drive, that a finder just can’t get around opening. The program opens a message box with your personal “I’m lost” message. It’s a good idea to offer the finder a bigger reward than the drive itself, so that they’ll be interested in contacting you.

Hide the drive inside something

Why not surprise your friends and co-workers by sticking something that looks like a broken USB cable into the computer’s USB drive?

You’ll be sure to get a few shocked faces when you start to play a movie from it.

The guys from Technobuzz.net show us how to do it. (You are gonna need an unbelievably small thumb drive for this…)

Secure your PC

Just like with an RFID badge, you can use a USB drive to lock and unlock a PC. Insert it to begin working and pull it out when you’ve finished, locking the computer. There are several programs for this . Rohos, a commercial program and WiKID, a semi-open source one.

If you really need to secure your computer with a USB drive, I suggest you give Rohos a try, as WiKID is rather complicated.

Portable jukebox

Don’t just carry the music with you, also carry the player! You can install audio programs such as WinAmp and CoolPlayer+ on your thumb drive. Just unextract the ZIP folders to the USB drive.

If you want the jukebox to start up automatically when you connect the memory stick to the computer, use the autorun feature shown tip 3 and point it to the exe of your audio player.

Encrypt your data

If you carry any sensitive indormation on your USB memory stick, a good idea is to encrypt it. Hardware-level encryption will help, but it will cost extra. You can get a free program to encrypt your data just as securely. For this I recommend TrueCrypt, but most others will also do.

You will need admin access on the computer you want to use your encrypted thumb drive on, so this it’s usability a little.

Run a standalone OS for dedicated tasks

The easiest OS to boot from a USB drive is probably Linux. There are many small capacity Linux versions out there that will fit on your drive. The best 3 are Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux and Webconverger.

Make sure you select a version that needs less space than your USB drive’s maximum, so you have room for files and software.

And this leads us nicely to the final tip…

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

What you’ll need:

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

Boot Block Recovery For Free

2009-08-10T22:52:00.001-07:00

Boot Block Recovery For Free

You don't need to pay a measly sum of dollars just to recover from a boot block mode. Here it is folks:

AWARD Bootblock recovery:

That shorting trick should work if the boot block code is not corrupted, and it should not be if /sb switch is used when flashing the bios (instead of /wb switch).

The 2 pins to short to force a checksum error varies from chip to chip. But these are usually the highest-numbered address pins (A10 and above).

These are the pins used by the system to read the System BIOS (original.bin for award v6), calculate the ROM checksum and see if it's valid before decompressing it into memory, and subsequently allow Bootblock POST to pass control over to the System BIOS.

You just have to fool the system into believing that the System BIOS is corrupt. This you do by giving your system a hard time reading the System BIOS by shorting the 2 high address pins. And when it could not read the System BIOS properly, ROM Checksum Error is detected "so to speak" and Bootblock recovery is activated.

Sometimes, any combination of the high address pins won't work to force a checksum error in some chips, like my Winbond W49F002U. But shorting the #WE pin with the highest-numbered address pin (A17) worked for this chip. You just have to be experimentative if you're not comfortable with "hot flashing" or "replacement BIOS".

But to avoid further damage to your chip if you're not sure which are the correct pins to short, measure the potential between the 2 pins by a voltmeter while the system is on. If the voltage reading is zero (or no potential at all), it is safe to short these pins.

But do not short the pins while the system is on. Instead, power down then do the short, then power up while still shorting. And as soon as you hear 3 beeps (1 long, 2 short), remove the short at once so that automatic reflashing from Drive A can proceed without errors (assuming you had autoexec.bat in it).

About how to do the shorting, the tip of a screwdriver would do. But with such minute pins on the PLCC chip, I'm pretty comfortable doing it with the tip of my multi-tester or voltmeter probe. Short the pins at the point where they come out of the chip.

AMIBIOS Recovery bootblock:
1. Copy a known working BIOS image for your board to a floppy and rename it to AMIBOOT.ROM.
2. Insert the floppy in your system's floppydrive.
3. Power on the system while holding CTRL+Home keys. Release the keys when you hear a beep and/or see the floppy light coming on.
4 . Just wait until you hear 4 beeps. When 4 beeps are heard the reprogramming of the System Block BIOS went succesfull, so then you may restart your system.

Some alternative keys that can be used to force BIOS update (only the System Block will be updated so it's quite safe):
CTRL+Home= restore missing code into system block and clear CMOS when programming went ok.
CTRL+Page Up= restore missing code into system block and clear CMOS or DMI when programming went ok.
CTRL+Page Down= restore missing code into system block and do not clear CMOS and DMI area when programming went ok
Btw: the alternative keys work only with AMIBIOS 7 or higher (so for example an AMI 6.26 BIOS can be only recovered by using CTRL+Home keys).
Boot Block Recovery for FREE

************************************************
BLACKOUT Flashing
*************************************************

Recovering a Corrupt AMI BIOS chip
With motherboards that use BOOT BLOCK BIOS it is possible to recover a corrupted BIOS because the BOOT BLOCK section of the BIOS, which is responsible for booting the computer remains unmodified. When an AMI BIOS becomes corrupt the system will appear to start, but nothing will appear on the screen, the floppy drive light will come on and the system will access the floppy drive repeatedly. If your motherboard has an ISA slot and you have an old ISA video card lying around, put the ISA video card in your system and connect the monitor. The BOOT BLOCK section of the BIOS only supports ISA video cards, so if you do not have an ISA video card or your motherboard does not have ISA slots, you will have to restore your BIOS blind, with no monitor to show you what’s going on.

AMI has integrated a recovery routine into the BOOT BLOCK of the BIOS, which in the event the BIOS becomes corrupt can be used to restore the BIOS to a working state. The routine is called when the SYSTEM BLOCK of the BIOS is empty. The restore routine will access the floppy drive looking for a BIOS file names AMIBOOT.ROM, this is why the floppy drive light comes on and the drive spins. If the file is found it is loaded into the SYSTEM BLOCK of the BIOS to replace the missing information. To restore your BIOS simply copy a working BIOS file to a floppy diskette and rename it AMIBOOT.ROM, then insert it into the computer while the power is on. The diskette does not need to be bootable or contain a flash utility. After about four minutes the system will beep four times. Remove the floppy diskette from the drive and reboot the computer. The BIOS should now be restored.

Recovering a Corrupt AWARD BIOS
With AWARD BIOS the process is similar but still a bit different. To recover an AWARD BIOS you will need to create a floppy diskette with a working BIOS file in .BIN format, an AWARD flash utility and an AUTOEXEC.BAT file. AWARD BIOS will not automatically restore the BIOS information to the SYSTEM BLOCK for this reason you will need to add the commands necessary to flash the BIOS in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The system will run the AUTOEXE.BAT file, which will in turn flash the BIOS. This is fairly easy. Here are the steps you need to take.

· Create a bootable floppy diskette
· Copy the BIOS file and flash utility to the diskette
· Create an text file with any standard text editor and add the following lines

@ECHO OFF
FLASH763 BIOSFILE.BIN /py

In the above example I am assuming that you are using the FLASH763.EXE flash utility. You will need to replace the FLASH763 with the name of whatever flash utility you are using, and replace the BIOSFILE.BIN with the name of the BIOS file you are using. You will also need to change the ‘/py’ to whatever the command is for your flash utility to automatically program the BIOS without user intervention. If you do not know the command to automatically flash your BIOS type the name of the flash utility with a space and then /? to display the utility’s help screen. The help screen should pecify the command switch to automatically flash your BIOS. If you are using the FLASH763.EXE utility then the switch to automatically flash your BIOS is ‘/py’.

Block Adservers

2009-08-10T22:51:00.000-07:00

Block Adservers

f you wanna remove those nasty ads from the pages which waste lot of time and bandwidth then here is something for you I belive it will help you a lot

how it works
It's possible to set up a name server as authoritative for any domain you choose, allowing you to specify the DNS records for that domain. You can also configure most computers to be sort of mini-nameservers for themselves, so that they check their own DNS records before asking a nameserver. Either way, you get to say what hostname points to what IP address. If you haven't guessed already, the way you block ads it to provide bogus information about the domains we don't want to see - ie, all those servers out there that dedicate their existence to spewing out banner ads.

The hosts file

Probably the most common way people block ads like this is with something called the "hosts file". The hosts file is a simple list of hostnames and their corresponding IP addresses, which your computer looks at every time you try and contact a previously unknown hostname. If it finds an entry for the computer you're trying to reach, it sets the IP address for that computer to be whatever's in the hosts file.

127.0.0.1 is a special IP address which, to a computer, always means that computer. Any time a machine sends a network request to 127.0.0.1, it is talking to itself. This is very useful when it comes to blocking ads, because all we have to do is specify the IP address of any ad server to be 127.0.0.1. And to do that, all we have to do is edit the hosts file. What will happen then is something like this:

1. you visit a web page
2. the web page contains a banner ad stored on the server "ads.example.com"
3. your computer says "ads.example.com? never heard of it. wait a second, let's see if I've got the number on me..."
4. your computer finds its hosts file and checks to see if ads.example.com is listed
5. it finds the hostname, which points to 127.0.0.1
6. "great", says the computer, and sends off a request to 127.0.0.1 for the banner ad that's supposed to be on the page
7. "oh", says the computer, and fails to show anything because it just sent a request to itself for a banner ad

Where's my hosts file?

* Windows 95 / 98 / ME: C:\Windows (I think)
* Windows NT: C:\WinNT\hosts
* Windows 2000: C:\WinNT\system32\drivers\etc\
* Windows XP: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc
* FreeBSD / Linux / Mac OS X / Unixish operating systems: /etc/hosts
* Classic Mac OS: please read this helpful information submitted by David "iNerd" B
* Mac OS 9: Marcia Skidmore sent in details that hopefully explain what you need to know

The format of the hosts file is very simple - IP address, whitespace, then a list of hostnames (except for older Macs; please see above). However, you don't need to know anything about the format if you don't want to as you can just view the list hosts file.

Of course, that's not the only way to use the list, but it's probably the most simple for most people.

here is the hosts list which are serving you the ads just append it to your hosts file and enjoy ad free surfing makes things faster. if you want ad from certain site then just remove it from the list below.

QUOTE
127.0.0.1 007arcadegames.com
127.0.0.1 101order.com
127.0.0.1 123banners.com
127.0.0.1 123found.com
127.0.0.1 180searchassistant.com
127.0.0.1 180solutions.com
127.0.0.1 247media.com
127.0.0.1 247realmedia.com
127.0.0.1 24pm-affiliation.com
127.0.0.1 2log.com
127.0.0.1 2o7.net
127.0.0.1 4affiliate.net
127.0.0.1 4d5.net
127.0.0.1 7adpower.com
127.0.0.1 911promotion.com
127.0.0.1 a-counter.kiev.ua
127.0.0.1 a.consumer.net
127.0.0.1 a.gismeteo.ru
127.0.0.1 a.mktw.net
127.0.0.1 a.r.tv.com
127.0.0.1 a.xanga.com
127.0.0.1 a32.g.a.yimg.com
127.0.0.1 aaddzz.com
127.0.0.1 abcnews.footprint.net
127.0.0.1 abetterinternet.com
127.0.0.1 abz.com
127.0.0.1 ac.rnm.ca
127.0.0.1 accelerator-media.com
127.0.0.1 accipiter.speedera.net
127.0.0.1 action.ientry.net
127.0.0.1 actionsplash.com
127.0.0.1 actualdeals.com
127.0.0.1 ad-annex.com
127.0.0.1 ad-flow.com
127.0.0.1 ad-images.suntimes.com
127.0.0.1 ad-logics.com
127.0.0.1 ad-rotator.com
127.0.0.1 ad-server.gulasidorna.se
127.0.0.1 ad-souk.com
127.0.0.1 ad-space.net
127.0.0.1 ad-tech.com
127.0.0.1 ad-universe.com
127.0.0.1 ad-up.com
127.0.0.1 ad.100.tbn.ru
127.0.0.1 ad.37.com
127.0.0.1 ad.4web.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.71i.de
127.0.0.1 ad.a8.net
127.0.0.1 ad.abcnews.com
127.0.0.1 ad.abctv.com
127.0.0.1 ad.about.com
127.0.0.1 ad.aboutit.de
127.0.0.1 ad.aboutwebservices.com
127.0.0.1 ad.aftonbladet.se
127.0.0.1 ad.allstar.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.altervista.org
127.0.0.1 ad.asap-asp.net
127.0.0.1 ad.bondage.com
127.0.0.1 ad.centrum.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.cgi.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.chip.de
127.0.0.1 ad.clix.pt
127.0.0.1 ad.digitallook.com
127.0.0.1 ad.directconnect.se
127.0.0.1 ad.disney.go.com
127.0.0.1 ad.domainfactory.de
127.0.0.1 ad.dvdforum.nu
127.0.0.1 ad.e-kolay.net
127.0.0.1 ad.e-not.net
127.0.0.1 ad.eurosport.com
127.0.0.1 ad.ezpeer.com
127.0.0.1 ad.fido.net
127.0.0.1 ad.fragzone.se
127.0.0.1 ad.free6.com
127.0.0.1 ad.grafika.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.harmony-central.com
127.0.0.1 ad.hbv.de
127.0.0.1 ad.howstuffworks.com
127.0.0.1 ad.hyena.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.iinfo.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.ilse.nl
127.0.0.1 ad.img.yahoo.co.kr
127.0.0.1 ad.infoseek.com
127.0.0.1 ad.investopedia.com
127.0.0.1 ad.ir.ru
127.0.0.1 ad.itmedia.co.jp
127.0.0.1 ad.jetsoftware.com
127.0.0.1 ad.keenspace.com
127.0.0.1 ad.krutilka.ru
127.0.0.1 ad.leadcrunch.com
127.0.0.1 ad.linx.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.liveinternet.ru
127.0.0.1 ad.lupa.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.mediastorm.hu
127.0.0.1 ad.mgd.de
127.0.0.1 ad.moscowtimes.ru
127.0.0.1 ad.musicmatch.com
127.0.0.1 ad.mwizard.net
127.0.0.1 ad.nachtagenten.de
127.0.0.1 ad.nozonedata.com
127.0.0.1 ad.nrk.no
127.0.0.1 ad.pbs.bb.ru
127.0.0.1 ad.playground.ru
127.0.0.1 ad.preferances.com
127.0.0.1 ad.rambler.ru
127.0.0.1 ad.reunion.com
127.0.0.1 ad.seznam.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.simgames.net
127.0.0.1 ad.spieletips.de
127.0.0.1 ad.suprnova.org
127.0.0.1 ad.surfsecret.com
127.0.0.1 ad.sweclockers.com
127.0.0.1 ad.t2t2.com
127.0.0.1 ad.tbn.ru
127.0.0.1 ad.tiscali.com
127.0.0.1 ad.tisnet.net.tw
127.0.0.1 ad.tomshardware.com
127.0.0.1 ad.top50.to
127.0.0.1 ad.tv2.no
127.0.0.1 ad.tweakpc.de
127.0.0.1 ad.uk.tangozebra.com
127.0.0.1 ad.uol.com.br
127.0.0.1 ad.usatoday.com
127.0.0.1 ad.way.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.wz.cz
127.0.0.1 ad.yadro.ru
127.0.0.1 ad.yieldmanager.com
127.0.0.1 ad.yourmedia.com
127.0.0.1 ad01.mediacorpsingapore.com
127.0.0.1 ad1.emediate.dk
127.0.0.1 ad1.gamezone.com
127.0.0.1 ad1.hardware.no
127.0.0.1 ad1.kde.cz
127.0.0.1 ad1.lbe.ru
127.0.0.1 ad1.outpost.com
127.0.0.1 ad1.zendmedia.com
127.0.0.1 ad2.atlas.cz
127.0.0.1 ad2.bb.ru
127.0.0.1 ad2.insitemedia.hu
127.0.0.1 ad2.lbe.ru
127.0.0.1 ad2.linx.cz
127.0.0.1 ad2.linxcz.cz
127.0.0.1 ad2.lupa.cz
127.0.0.1 ad2.mamma.com
127.0.0.1 ad2.seznam.cz
127.0.0.1 ad2.tisnet.net.tw
127.0.0.1 ad3.tisnet.net.tw
127.0.0.1 ad4.atlas.cz
127.0.0.1 ad4.tisnet.net.tw
127.0.0.1 ad41.atlas.cz
127.0.0.1 ad4ex.com
127.0.0.1 adbanner.ro
127.0.0.1 adboost.de.vu
127.0.0.1 adbot.com
127.0.0.1 adbot.theonion.com
127.0.0.1 adbrite.com
127.0.0.1 adbureau.net
127.0.0.1 adbutler.com
127.0.0.1 adbutler.de
127.0.0.1 adcell.de
127.0.0.1 adcenter.mdf.se
127.0.0.1 adcenter.net
127.0.0.1 adcentriconline.com
127.0.0.1 adcept.net
127.0.0.1 adclick.com
127.0.0.1 adclick.gamespy.com
127.0.0.1 adclick.mint.se
127.0.0.1 adclick.ro
127.0.0.1 adclient.rottentomatoes.com
127.0.0.1 adclient1.tucows.com
127.0.0.1 adcomplete.com
127.0.0.1 adcontent.gamespy.com
127.0.0.1 adcontroller.unicast.com
127.0.0.1 adcreative.tribuneinteractive.com
127.0.0.1 adcycle.com
127.0.0.1 adcycle.icpeurope.net
127.0.0.1 addcontrol.net
127.0.0.1 addesktop.com
127.0.0.1 addfreestats.com
127.0.0.1 addme.com
127.0.0.1 addynamix.com
127.0.0.1 adengage.com
127.0.0.1 adext.inkclub.com
127.0.0.1 adfarm.mediaplex.com
127.0.0.1 adfiles.api.no
127.0.0.1 adflight.com
127.0.0.1 adfly.com
127.0.0.1 adhostcenter.com
127.0.0.1 adi.mainichi.co.jp
127.0.0.1 adimage.asiaone.com.sg
127.0.0.1 adimages.been.com
127.0.0.1 adimages.carsoup.com
127.0.0.1 adimages.go.com
127.0.0.1 adimages.homestore.com
127.0.0.1 adimages.sanomawsoy.fi
127.0.0.1 adimg.cnet.com
127.0.0.1 adimg.com.com
127.0.0.1 adimg1.chosun.com
127.0.0.1 adimgs.sapo.pt
127.0.0.1 adincl.gopher.com
127.0.0.1 adition.de
127.0.0.1 adition.net
127.0.0.1 adjuggler.yourdictionary.com
127.0.0.1 adlegend.com
127.0.0.1 adlink.de
127.0.0.1 adlog.com.com
127.0.0.1 adlogix.net
127.0.0.1 adm.ad.asap-asp.net
127.0.0.1 adman.freeze.com
127.0.0.1 admanagement.ch
127.0.0.1 admanager.beweb.com
127.0.0.1 admanager.btopenworld.com
127.0.0.1 admanager.carsoup.com
127.0.0.1 admanager.persianblog.com
127.0.0.1 admaximize.com
127.0.0.1 admedia.ro
127.0.0.1 admeta.com
127.0.0.1 admex.com
127.0.0.1 adminder.com
127.0.0.1 adminshop.com
127.0.0.1 admonitor.com
127.0.0.1 admonitor.net
127.0.0.1 admotion.com.ar
127.0.0.1 adnet.biz
127.0.0.1 adnews.maddog2000.de
127.0.0.1 ado.internet.cz
127.0.0.1 adorigin.com
127.0.0.1 adpepper.dk
127.0.0.1 adpick.switchboard.com
127.0.0.1 adprofile.net
127.0.0.1 adprojekt.pl
127.0.0.1 adpush.dreamscape.com
127.0.0.1 adq.nextag.com
127.0.0.1 adremedy.com
127.0.0.1 adremote.pathfinder.com
127.0.0.1 adrenaline.cz
127.0.0.1 adrenalinesk.sk
127.0.0.1 adreporting.com
127.0.0.1 adres.internet.com
127.0.0.1 adrevolver.com
127.0.0.1 adrevolver.holzmannverlag.de
127.0.0.1 adriver.ru
127.0.0.1 adroar.com
127.0.0.1 adrotate.de
127.0.0.1 adrotator.net
127.0.0.1 ads-205.quarterserver.de
127.0.0.1 ads-de.spray.net
127.0.0.1 ads.100asians.com
127.0.0.1 ads.5ci.lt
127.0.0.1 ads.aceweb.net
127.0.0.1 ads.adshareware.net
127.0.0.1 ads.adultfriendfinder.com
127.0.0.1 ads.advance.net
127.0.0.1 ads.adverline.com
127.0.0.1 ads.affiliates.match.com
127.0.0.1 ads.allsites.com
127.0.0.1 ads.alwayson-network.com
127.0.0.1 ads.amazingmedia.com
127.0.0.1 ads.amdmb.com
127.0.0.1 ads.aol.com
127.0.0.1 ads.as4x.tmcs.net
127.0.0.1 ads.asia1.com.sg
127.0.0.1 ads.asiafriendfinder.com
127.0.0.1 ads.aspalliance.com
127.0.0.1 ads.battle.net
127.0.0.1 ads.belointeractive.com
127.0.0.1 ads.berlinonline.de
127.0.0.1 ads.betanews.com
127.0.0.1 ads.bfast.com
127.0.0.1 ads.bigcitytools.com
127.0.0.1 ads.bigfoot.com
127.0.0.1 ads.billiton.de
127.0.0.1 ads.bitsonthewire.com
127.0.0.1 ads.blick.ch
127.0.0.1 ads.bloomberg.com
127.0.0.1 ads.bluemountain.com
127.0.0.1 ads.box.sk
127.0.0.1 ads.businessweek.com
127.0.0.1 ads.canalblog.com
127.0.0.1 ads.canoe.ca
127.0.0.1 ads.cavello.com
127.0.0.1 ads.cbc.ca
127.0.0.1 ads.cdfreaks.com
127.0.0.1 ads.centraliprom.com
127.0.0.1 ads.cgnetworks.com
127.0.0.1 ads.channel4.com
127.0.0.1 ads.cimedia.com
127.0.0.1 ads.clearchannel.com
127.0.0.1 ads.collegclub.com
127.0.0.1 ads.com.com
127.0.0.1 ads.currantbun.com
127.0.0.1 ads.cyberfight.ru
127.0.0.1 ads.cybersales.cz
127.0.0.1 ads.danworld.net
127.0.0.1 ads.datingyes.com
127.0.0.1 ads.dbforums.com
127.0.0.1 ads.ddj.com
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Bell Hell Volume #2

2009-08-10T22:50:00.002-07:00

/CONTENTS/
In vol. I we discussed some of the minor aspects of bell hell. Now we shall
enter the realm of serious bell hell, including how to crush AT&T's firm grip
on the wired industry and Ma's underground passages.

/MA'S CODES ETC./
In order to make things easier for her employees, Ma has given us not only
free access to almost all her treasures but guides next to them to help us
along the way. One of the more common boxes found are the ones located either
at the end of your street, in an adjacent field or on telephone poles. Any of
these boxes contains all the lines for the surrounding neighbourhood. Ma
usually supplys a code for the wires inside on the side of the door to one of
these boxes, if not the code usually goes like this:

Red (ring-) = Ring line, allows others to call you
Green (tip+) = Calling out line, for you to call others

Ma has conveniently located these, the red on the right and the green on the
left. If you run into one of these boxes and it's locked then you'll need to
purchase is either a 1/2" crowbar or an 7/16" hex driver, prefferably the
latter. In order to use the 7/16, simply give a 1/8" turn counter clockwise,
presto you are in. The crowbar is self explanatory I believe.

The other, and less likely to be found of the bell underground network is just
that, the underground network. To find one of these simply look for a manhole
cover with a bell in the middle instead of an S or what-ever you sanitary
dept. might use. The aspects and entry of these will be discussed later in
this article, now to the boxes.

Now that you are in one of these boxes there is a rather interesting list of
prospects you can do, connect a linesmans handset, connect a box, or eavesdrop
to name a few, here's some of the ways to do the following.

Hell #1:

/LINESMANS HANDSET/
In order to make a linesmans handset (if not included within the newly found
box) you'll need a few things:

1 a phone (prefferably a GTE flip fone or a slimline)
2 a spliceing knife (any knife will do, the sharper the better)
3 a set of alligator clamps (if not already within the box)

Now take your knife and cut off all the wires and the modular jack (if one)
saving the red (ring-) and green (tip+) wires. Now attach the alligator clips,
one to the red and one to the green, and your set. All you need do is attach
the alligator clips to the designated colors on the box (red - red/green -
green) and you have essentially become an extension of that line.

Hell #2:

/THE BLACK/BLUE BOX/
Finally a place where you can use that box of yours with minimal worries of
being caught (the only way would be to get caught red-handed). Ah yes, bell
hell at one of its finer points. Commonly it takes Ma about a month or so to
figure out the trip on this one.

If you are unfamilar with boxes, the black box allows others to call you free
where-as the blue box allows you to use operator lines and even become one of
the bitches (become an operator). For more info I would suggest consulting
black/blue box plans.

Use the normal plans for a black/blue box and make the following
modifications:

Equipment:
(1) SPST SWITCH (found at your local Trash Shack)
(1) 10K OHM 1/2 WATT 10% RESISTOR (same as above)
SOME EXTRA WIRE (same as above above)

Now disconnect the green wire in the box and connect it to one of the two
poles on the SPST switch. Take a piece of your extra wire connect one end to
the other pole on your SPST switch and the other end to the terminal. Now
place the 10k ohm resistor between the terminal and the terminal.
Connect it (the 10k ohm resistor) via wire to the two. The terminal
should have a green wire going to it and the terminal should have a white
and blue wire connected to it. Your finished product should look something
like this:

--/-/--
:S P S T:
-------
:: ::
-----GREEN WIRE--:: ::----
!
10K OHM
!
!
-----WHITE WIRE-----------\\
------BLUE WIRE-----------------

This is simply the basic wiring, if you decide to become one with advancement
you might try hooking up lights to go on when your online or perhaps a
recorder, what-ever you wish.

Hell #3

/EAVES-DROPPING/
There are many various ways to accomplish this, seeing how I like to stick to
basics I will describe what I feel is the easiest by far. First you need to
make a linesmans handset as mentioned above if you already haven't. Now simply
disconnect the sending end (the end you talk through) and listen in. From here
you can accomplish several various tasks. If you are into blackmail you can
hook up a tape recorder (if you want to do this you can leave me a msg. or
wait for another file later, its rather a long task) or you may simply hold
the recorder to the listening end of the phone. To find out about the line
etc. You can do a couple of things, first you can dial your ANI (automatic
number identification) and find out the line you are on, after this call, you
are a local CN/A (described below) and run a check on who's line it is etc.
This can bring all kinds of hell for those not-so-trustworthy wifes/husbands.

More Hell:

/OTHER TRICKS/
You can set up a conference call simply by dialing your conference operator
(0-700-456-1000) and setting it up, just do what she says. I suggest this
operator for her lines are superior to those of the bitchy PBX ones. Oh,
you'll also need to know that lines person, address etc. Just pull an ANI and
then an CN/A on it.

If you have an urge to get back at someone simply attach your linesmans
handset to the persons line (fine their line as mentioned many times before)
and leave it off the hook. You can imagine just how long it could take Ma's
loyal employees to discover the problem. Possibly weeks if not a month.

Using the persons line to call computer systems that trace. This also goes
under the heading 'getting back at people' for the hassles you'll cause them
when the line is traced to them is numerous, bitchy Ma employees tend to be
irrational, spoiled children when it comes to busting people.

Bugging the operator - self explanatory.

RAISE HELL

/Insider/ - The rest of this doc is mainly explanations, a little hell and a
few other things I decided to throw in instead of making another Vol.. It's
true purpose is to coincide with Vol. I, as well as take up space, the rest is
unknown.

-----------
800 EXTENDERS
-----------

Basically, 800 extenders are much like Save-Net or Am-Net going 800 instead of
local access numbers. With this one you can call anywhere in the U.S. for
free, of course you need the X digit code, but this is easily found. You use
these just like you would if you were using Save-Net, i.e. you would dial
1-800-XXX-XXXX, then enter in your X digit code and then the area code + the
number you wish to reach, i.e. 1800521167429125036358443, as you can see there
is an 800 number followed by a 4 digit code followed by a number wished to be
reached. Here's a few 800 extenders, theres many many more:

1-800- 1-800-
------- -------
245-4890 4 DIGITS 327-6713 4 DIGITS
243-7650 6 DIGITS 328-7112 4 DIGITS
654-8494 6 DIGITS 327-9895 7 DIGITS
327-9136 4 DIGITS 227-3414 4 DIGITS
682-4000 6 DIGITS 343-1844 4 DIGITS
858-9000 3 DIGITS 521-1674 4 DIGITS
537-3511 8 DIGITS 843-0698 9 dIGITS

=-=-=-=-=-=-=------------------------->
LOOP NUMBERS EXPLORED

Loop numbers simply connect two people together using two different numbers.
Thus these numbers always come in pairs, one being the higher one while the
other being the lower one. So if you were to use one, you would call one of
the pair and the other one would call the other one (you take the high road
I'll take the low road). Loop numbers are equal in quality as calling direct,
thus it would be the same quality as you would get calling your neighbour. If
you would happen to call a loop number and no one was on the other end one of
two things would happen, if you called the higher of the two you would here
silence, if you dialed the lower you would get a 1000 hertz tone. Heres a list
of some loop numbers:

Area Code 212
XXX-9979 (HIGH)
XXX-9977 (LOW)

XXX= 690,534,569,432,868,255,228,677,982,466,926,220,586,524,283

XXX-9906 (HIGH)
XXX-9900 (LOW)

XXX= 529,352,439,388

Where you see XXX you enter the prefix desired, thus if you wanted area code
212, you could choose a prefix say 690, so one person would dial 690-9906 and
the other 690-9900.

In order to scan for loop numbers you'll need a friend to help. Loop numbers
run in pairs, the combination is 00XX and XX99. So what you need is for one
person to scan one end while the other scans the upper (using the same
prefix). The hang side has no tone while the other gives off a 1000hz tone.

To use a loop number in order to start a conference call simply have one
person get on the hangside while another calls the conferenceing operator (PBX
operator will do). The person calling the operator (hopefully from a fortress
phone) should charge the call to the upper loop number (the one the other
person isn't on), when the operator calls to verify she'll get your freind,
who of course will accept all charges gladly.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=------------------------->
Customer name and address
(CN/A)

A CN/A operator is disagnated for the use of AT&T employees who need some
information on a certain person. Ex- A Bell cop got a persons name from a nark
or whatever, he needs more info about the person so he calls up the CN/A
operator and asks her for the persons where abouts. Ma has been nice enough to
grant these operators the knowledge of a few more things (Ma's slip up), such
as their phone number. Thus we can call up one of these operators, say,'Hi, my
names Joe Rodrequiz and I'm from the Lake Oswego Bell customer service
department, I need the following info on a 'Jack Suchos'.' Then you become
really nice and ask if you can have that persons phone number so you don't
have to go over there. Since these operators are human, and are easily conned
and are very informed they'll give you just about whatever you need to know.
However you must be polite and business like. Following is a list of CN/A's,
to use it, find your area code and the CN/A operators number will follow:

DUTCHMAN DIRECTORY
AREA CODE PHONE NUMBER
---------- ---------------
201 201-676-7070
202 301-384-9820
203 203-789-6815
204 204-949-0900
205 205-988-7000
206 206-382-8000
207 617-787-2750
208 303-399-4200
209 415-546-1341
212 518-471-8111
213 213-501-4144
214 214-948-5731
215 412-633-5600
216 614-464-2345
217 217-525-7000
218 402-345-0600
219 317-265-4834
301 301-534-1168
302 412-633-5600
303 303-399-4200
304 304-344-8041
305 912-784-9111
306 NONE....NONE
307 303-399-4200
308 402-345-0600
309 217-525-7000
312 312-796-9600
313 313-223-8690
314 314-726-7142
315 518-471-8111
316 816-275-2782
317 317-265-4834
318 318-227-1551
319 402-345-0600
401 617-787-2760
402 402-345-0600
403 403-425-2652
404 912-784-9111
405 405-236-6121
406 303-399-4200
408 415-546-1132
412 412-633-5600
413 617=787-2760
414 608-252-6932
415 415-546-1132
416 416-922-6686
417 314-726-7142
418 514-861-2635
419 614-464-2345
501 405-236-6121
502 502-583-2861
503 203-784-6815
504 504-245-5330
505 303-399-4200
506 506-657-3855
507 402-345-0600
509 206=382-8000
512 512-828-2501
513 714-464-2345
514 514-861-2635
515 402-345-0600
516 518-471-8111
517 313-223-8690
518 518-471-8000
519 416-922-6686
601 601-961-0877
602 303-399-4200
603 617-787-2750
604 604-432-2996
605 402-345-0600
606 502-583-2681
607 518-471-8111
608 608-252-6932
609 201-676-7070
612 402-345-0600
613 416-922-6686
614 614-464-2345
615 615-373-5791
616 313-223-8690
617 617-787-2750
618 217-525-7000
701 402-345-0600
702 415-546-1341
703 804-747-1411
704 912-784-9111
705 416-922-6686
707 415-546-1132
709 NONE....NONE
712 402-345-0600
713 713-820-4112
714 213-501-4144
715 608-252-6932
716 518-471-8111
717 412-633-5600
801 303-399-4200
802 617-787-2750
803 912-784-9111
804 804-747-1411
805 415-546-1341
806 512-828-2501
807 416-922-6686
808 212-334-4336
809 LIST BELOW
812 317-265-4834
813 813-223-9678
814 412-633-5600
815 217-525-7000
816 816-275-2782
817 214-948-5731
819 514-861-2635
901 615-373-5791
902 902-421-4110
903 NONE....NONE
904 912-784-9111
906 313-223-8690
907 NONE....NONE
912 912-784-9111
913 816-275-2782
914 518-471-8111
915 512-828-2501
916 415-546-1341
918 405-236-6121
919 912-784-9111

900+(DIAL-IT) NUMBERS: 212-334-3611

FOR BAHAMAS, BERMUDA, DOMINICAN REP, JAMAICA AND PUERTO RICO: 212-334-4336

Downloaded From P-80 Systems 304-744-2253

Bell Hell Volume #1

2009-08-10T22:50:00.001-07:00

PREFACE: In this issue will discuss the different types of operators, area
codes and special numbers. This edition is made to give you a basic
understanding of the wicked ways of MA. I hope it'll give you a good enough
back ground to do well. Look for Bell Hell vol. 2 for more info on hacking.

=-=-=-=-=
OPERATORS:
=-=-=-=-=

Here we'll go over in detail some of the most common operators.

TSPS OPERATOR:

Trafic (us) Service Position System Operator is the bitch you commonly here
whenever you use a pay phone etc. To say the least she's a meat head. Her
responsibilities are as follows:

[1] Getting all billing information for Calling Cards and 3rd number calls.

[2] Making sure you get the right person on person-to-person calls.

[3] Making sure the fool on the other end will pay for your collect call (why
call collect?)

[4] Identifying calling numbers, or basically asking you,
'what number are you calling, please.' when the system fucks up.

Even though these operators are commonly ding-bats, you shouldn't screw with
them, for they are known to be quick with the tracer. She can even tell if you
are calling from a fortress phone. She has a portable all time ready tracer.
Beware of these deadly bitches.

INWARD OPERATORS:

This wench is basically an apprentice to the bitch above (TSPS) or commonly
the '0' operator. She will never question you as long as you are within her
dimension (service) area. She can only be reached by a mighty Blue Box
(discussed in up and coming tutorial) or another operator.

DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE OPERATORS:
(DOA?DAO?)

This is the operator you get when you call directory assistance (555-1212).
All she can do is either tell you a listed number or tell you if a number is
unlisted. Waste of time.

DEAF D.A.O.'S

This neat little operator is set up to help with directory assistance for deaf
people (who would they want to talk to?). She's reachable by dialing
800-855-1155. She talks to the deaf via Teletypewriters (terminals). If your
modem can transfer baudot (Oh those sweet Apple Cats can) then you can talk to
her. You might find her alot more friendly, more talkitive, and alot easier to
manipulate a number out of. However, she does use abbreviations like GA for go
ahead (pretty tricky huh).

CN/A OPERATORS

Oh the sweet CN/A, god bless its soul. These operators instead of giving you
information on a persons phone number, they give you information on a phone
numbers person (the person at 503-229-7600). However, if manipulated these
beauties can give you the number for an unlisted phone number (the number),
they have all kinds of access. This topic is discussed later in this tutorial.

INTERCEPT OPERATOR:

All places have their share of low lifes, well this is the scum, bottom of the
barrel of operators. She's the one you get when all the recordings are busy
(lower than a recording). Infact these dames can cause you more pains then a
recording. They only know a handful of english (around two sentences) and can
barely even say those. Even though they have no clue to what a trace is,
unless you know their native tongue, and then doubtfully, their just a pain in
the butt to deal with.

OTHER OPERATORS:

Well we have - marine verify, mobile, route and rate, ship to shore,
conference and a few other specific ones. No real help to us now.

*NOTES: Most operators have their own little Directory Assistance. If any
operator is giving you probs ask to speak with his/her/its supervisor. This
will freak them out. In rare loveable cases you might find a nice operator
with a number like (503-123-4567). Whenever you find a 0 or 1 in the 4th
number slot then you know need a Blue Box. It'll give you special access to
those hard to get wenches.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
AREA CODES ETC.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

HOW PHONE NUMBERS WORK:

Basiclly MA made our phone numbers quite simple. Here's how they work:

[A] The area code is what the call a three digit number plan area or NPA. This
means that an area code is just that, the code for an area.

[B] The rest of our number (ie. 666-7209) is divided into two segments. The
first being the Central Office number (666 would be N. Portland) and the
ending (7209) is the station number, or basically your assigned home number.

This complete combination (503-666-7209) is known as the destination code.
Here's how MA has developed the combo's:

[NPA] [TELEPHONE NUMBER]

X*Y XYY-YYYY

X = a number from 2-9
y = a number from 0-9
* = either 0 or 1

Normally an area code may never cross a states boundry, thus an area code
(NPA) may not be used for both New York and for Pennsylvania. However, as for
all other rules there is an exception. Here they are.

SPECIAL AREA CODES:
(SACS)

510 - TWX (USA)
610 - TWX (CANADA)
700 - NEW SERVICE
710 - TWX (USA)
800 - WATTS LINES
810 - TWX (USA)
900 - DIAL-IT SERVICES
910 - TWX (USA)

The explanations of these are as follows:

TWX:

Telex II, as you can see above there are 5 TWX machines. They are all owned by
Western Union. Normally these babes may only be accessed by other TWX
machines, however, if you do not wish to go and purchase one you can access
them by use of the Easylink, by Western Union. For more on this I would
suggest reading The Bioc Agents, and Tucs article on 'Hacking Western Union's
Easylink.'

700:

This is a new service for employees of AT&T in which someone (one of the
special employees) can call his own 700 number (say 700-292-9876), enters
his/her code, and where he is staying and then hangs up. If there is any new
info on the case he is working on, the computer will call him back and tell
him all the latest updates.

800:

There are basically two types of Watts Lines, Inward Watts and Outward watts.
These are probably some of the nicest of the special area codes since they
allow you to call for free. Here's an explanation of the two:

INWARD WATTS:

Inward Wide Area Telecommunications Service is probably the one your most
familiar with. MA has developed it so there are 6 different levels of Inwatts.
Level 6 being the whole U.S. (all 50 states) level 5 being all 48 contienental
states etc. all the way down to 1, only one state. Usually a company will get
a level 6 and then a level 1 because all though level 6 allows you to call
from anywhere in the U.S. it excludes the state where the call is terminated
at, so the company usually buys a level 1 for that state.

Interstate Inwatts are less common but still exist. These are the ones you can
only call from say one state. You can tell one quite easily for they all have
a 2 for the last central office number, or the 6th number (ie. 800-XY2-XXXX).

All companies that have an 800# must have at least two lines. This is because
if you call the first number (ie. 800-666-0190) and it rings busy the 800#
number will always go to another port to see if its busy. Inwatts customers
are billed by the hour instead of month like us.

OUTWARD WATTS:

Outwatts are just that, there for making outward calls only. Large companies
commonly use Outwatts since they recieve bulk discounts. Outwatt 800's are in
the form of:

800-*XX-XXXX

* may only be a 0 or 1 and can only be reached by way of box. The whole set,
*XX is the areas that are accessable by that comany.

900:

This is a nation number used for taking polls and the like (How do you think
they know what shows on the tube are k00l). The number for this service is,
900-555-1212. This will tell whats up on the system. Beware, this MA trick
will cost you 50 cents a minute, and 35 cents there after (ever heard of MA
being cheap?).

=-=-=-=-=
CO CODES
=-=-=-=-=

These are the way the switching office knows where to route the call. The
following codes are reserved nationwide:

555 - directory assistance
950 - future use
958 - plant test
959 - plant test
976 - dial-it services (weather etc.)

950:

This includes all special service. Heres a list of a few:

1000 - SPC
1022 - MCI Execunet
1033 - US Telephone
1044 - Allnet
1088 - SBS Skyline

*NOTE: These beauts are free from fortresses.

958,959:

These consist of ANI, Ringback and some other MA tests.

976:

Check this one out. Simply dial 976-1000. Alot of BBSs around will probably
have a more complete listing of these services.

=-=-=-=-=
N11 CODES:
=-=-=-=-=

I'm not sure which one of these are still in service. Basically MA wants to
dump these services, but alot are still in use, it'll vary with your area.

011 - international dialing prefix
211 - coin refund operator
411 - directory assistance
611 - repair service
811 - business office
911 - EMERGENCY

Downloaded From P-80 Systems 304-744-2253

Beep Codes Error Codes

2009-08-10T22:49:00.002-07:00

After repeated requests for beep codes i have decided to post them here maybe they could be pinned

Standard Original IBM POST Error Codes
Code Description

1 short beep System is OK
2 short beeps POST Error - error code shown on screen No beep Power supply or system board problem Continuous beep Power supply, system board, or keyboard problem Repeating short beeps Power supply or system board problem
1 long, 1 short beep System board problem
1 long, 2 short beeps Display adapter problem (MDA, CGA)
1 long, 3 short beeps Display adapter problem (EGA)
3 long beeps 3270 keyboard card
IBM POST Diagnostic Code Descriptions
Code Description
100 - 199 System Board
200 - 299 Memory
300 - 399 Keyboard
400 - 499 Monochrome Display
500 - 599 Colour/Graphics Display
600 - 699 Floppy-disk drive and/or Adapter
700 - 799 Math Coprocessor
900 - 999 Parallel Printer Port
1000 - 1099 Alternate Printer Adapter
1100 - 1299 Asynchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1300 - 1399 Game Port
1400 - 1499 Colour/Graphics Printer
1500 - 1599 Synchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1700 - 1799 Hard Drive and/or Adapter
1800 - 1899 Expansion Unit (XT)
2000 - 2199 Bisynchronous Communication Adapter
2400 - 2599 EGA system-board Video (MCA)
3000 - 3199 LAN Adapter
4800 - 4999 Internal Modem
7000 - 7099 Phoenix BIOS Chips
7300 - 7399 3.5" Disk Drive
8900 - 8999 MIDI Adapter
11200 - 11299 SCSI Adapter
21000 - 21099 SCSI Fixed Disk and Controller
21500 - 21599 SCSI CD-ROM System

AMI BIOS Beep Codes
Code Description

1 Short Beep System OK
2 Short Beeps Parity error in the first 64 KB of memory
3 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB
4 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB Operational of memory
or Timer 1 on the motherboard is not functioning
5 Short Beeps The CPU on the motherboard generated an error
6 Short Beeps The keyboard controller may be bad. The BIOS cannot switch to protected mode
7 Short Beeps The CPU generated an exception interrupt
8 Short Beeps The system video adapter is either missing, or its memory is faulty
9 Short Beeps The ROM checksum value does not match the value encoded in the BIOS
10 Short Beeps The shutdown register for CMOS RAM failed
11 Short Beeps The external cache is faulty
1 Long, 3 Short Beeps Memory Problems
1 Long, 8 Short Beeps Video Card Problems

Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes
Note - Phoenix BIOS emits three sets of beeps, separated by a brief pause.

Code Description
1-1-3 CMOS read/write failure
1-1-4 ROM BIOS checksum error
1-2-1 Programmable interval timer failure
1-2-2 DMA initialisation failure
1-2-3 DMA page register read/write failure
1-3-1 RAM refresh verification failure
1-3-3 First 64k RAM chip or data line failure
1-3-4 First 64k RAM odd/even logic failure
1-4-1 Address line failure first 64k RAM
1-4-2 Parity failure first 64k RAM
2-_-_ Faulty Memory
3-1-_ Faulty Motherboard
3-2-4 Keyboard controller Test failure
3-3-4 Screen initialisation failure
3-4-1 Screen retrace test failure
3-4-2 Search for video ROM in progress
4-2-1 Timer tick interrupt in progress or failure
4-2-2 Shutdown test in progress or failure
4-2-3 Gate A20 failure
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode
4-3-1 RAM test in progress or failure>ffffh
4-3-2 Faulty Motherboard
4-3-3 Interval timer channel 2 test or failure
4-3-4 Time of Day clock test failure
4-4-1 Serial port test or failure
4-4-2 Parallel port test or failure
4-4-3 Math coprocessor test or failure
Low 1-1-2 System Board select failure
Low 1-1-3 Extended CMOS RAM failure

Anonymity

2009-08-10T22:49:00.001-07:00

Anonymity

I can see you hiding in the shadows over there and so can the logs of all the web sites, FTP servers and other nooks and crannies you visit on the web. The sort of information gathered by these logs and which is available to the webmasters of the sites you visit include the address of the previous site you visited, your IP address, your computer's ID name, your physical location and the name of your ISP along with less personal details such as the operating system you're using and your screen resolution. If someone was snooping through your dustbin to gather information on consumer trends or tracking your every move to see where it is you go everyday you wouldn't be too chuffed would you. Well the web is no different, it's still an invasion of privacy and a threat to security and you don't have to put up with it.

Proxy servers:
Every time you visit a web site, detailed information about your system is automatically provided to the webmaster. This information can be used by hackers to exploit your computer or can be forwarded to the market research departments of consumer corporations who by tracking your activities on the internet are better equipped to direct more relevant spam at you. Your best defence against this is to use what is known as a proxy server, which will hide revealing information from the web sites you visit, allowing you to surf the web anonymously. These work by altering the way in which your browser retrieves web pages or connects to remote servers. With a proxy server set up, whenever you 'ask' IE or Netscape to look at a web page, the request is first sent through an external server which is completely independent of your ISP's servers. This third party server then does the requesting on your behalf so that it appears that the request came from them rather than you and your real IP address is never disclosed to the sites you visit. There is nothing to download and the whole process takes less than a minute.

There are two different ways to use proxy servers and both have their advantages and disadvantages. The first method is to use a web based service. What this involves is visiting the proxy's home page each time you want to browse a web site anonymously. The core component of such a system is the dialog box where you enter the address of the web site you want to visit. Each time you enter the URL of the site you want to browse via the proxy into this box, your personal information, IP address and so on is first encrypted before being sent to the site allowing you to maintain your anonymity. Two of the best examples of this type of web based proxy service are Code:
hxxp://www.rewebber.com/
and hxxp://www.anonymizer.com/.

Obviously one disadvantage of using a web based service like Rewebber or Anonymizer, however, is that you have to visit the proxies home page each time you want to surf anonymously. You could choose to select this page as your default home page, but it's still quite awkward if you're forever site hopping at the speed of light. The second main 'con' is that you often have to put up with extra adverts on the pages you visit. These are automatically inserted into the pages by the proxy - they have to pay for service somehow. More sophisticated and convenient solutions are also on offer yet they come with a price tag.

The second method you can use to protect your privacy via a proxy server involves adjusting the settings of your web browser so that you can surf anonymously without having to visit the home page of your proxy each time. To do this you will first need to know the name of your proxy server and the port number it uses. This information can be gleaned from either a public proxy server list or the FAQ referring to a private subscription based service. Once you have the name of the proxy server you wish to use, select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu of your browser. Now select 'Connections' followed by 'Settings' and tick the 'use a proxy server' check box. To finish the job all you have to do now is enter the name of the server in the 'address' box, the port which it uses in the 'port' box and go forth and surf anonymously.

Free, manual proxy servers as advertised on anonymity sites, if you can find one at all, are likely to be highly oversubscribed, and as a result the speed at which they retrieve web pages can deteriorate. In which case you can go in pursuit of a public proxy server list and select an alternative from it, which can then be set up manually. To locate such a list you can investigate sites such as Code:
hxxp://www.proxys4all.com/

however, this method isn't problem free either, so before you get too carried away and go jumping on the anonymity bandwagon there are a few things you should be aware of. It's very easy to use proxies to protect your privacy, but often the disadvantages of using them far out weigh the benefits. You see, the problem is that, like the proxy servers provided Rewebber et al, free, public proxies are nearly all over subscribed and so they can slow down web browsing considerably. Digging out fast reliable proxy servers is an art form in itself and is a skill which takes considerable practice. You could find a list of public proxy servers and then experiment with each one until you find one that runs at a reasonable speed, but this can be very time consuming and frustrating. Instead, your search would be much more efficient if you got a dedicated program to carry out this task for you. There are literally dozens of proxy seeking programs around which can do just that, and many of them are available as freeware. What these do is scan the internet for public proxy servers. These servers are then tested for speed and anonymity (not all of them are truly anonymous, even if they claim to be!) and once you find one which suits your requirements you can select it as your default proxy with the click of a button.

One of the most significant advantages of using an automated tool to locate proxy servers is that you do not have to keep editing your proxy settings manually each time you wish to try out a new one. Instead, what you do is enter 'localhost' or '127.0.0.1' into the 'address' box and '8088' into the 'port' box of your browser's proxy settings menu and then forget about it. All future proxy switching is then orchestrated from within your proxy seeking software, which subsequently relays the information to your browser or whatever type of application you are attempting to make anonymous. For those of you who are curious 'localhost' and the IP address '127.0.0.1' are the names by which every computer on the internet refers to itself.
Here's a good selection of links, which should help you to get started - Code:
hxxp://www.a4proxy.com/ Anonymity 4 Proxy
hxxp://www.helgasoft.com/hiproxy/ Hi Proxy
hxxp://www.proxy-verifier.com/ Proxy Verifier
hxxp://www.photono-software.de/ Stealther.

You may find that even when using these programs you have difficulty finding good proxy servers. It is for this reason that many people choose only to use proxy servers temporarily whilst doing something which may land them in trouble with their ISP, or in a worst case scenario with the law. The most obvious example of a situation in which you would want to cover your tracks is when scanning for public FTP servers and subsequently uploading to them. Most other net activities are unlikely to incur serious consequences so under these circumstances you can safely surf the web without a proxy. If you're really serious about protecting your privacy, however, your best bet is probably to invest in a dedicated, stable proxy such as the ones offered by Code:
hxxp://www.ultimate-anonymity.com/ Ultimate Anonymity

These aren't free, but may be worth the expense if you aren't keen on continuously switching proxy servers.

Before splashing out though it may be worth checking if your current ISP has a proxy server of its own which you can use. These aren't there to help you to commit cyber crimes and get away with it, they actually have a legitimate purpose as well - otherwise they wouldn't exist. You see, proxy servers were originally designed to help speed up web page loading times. Proxy servers contain a cache of all the web pages which have been requested via the browsers of the people using the proxy. When someone surfs the web using a proxy, the proxy first checks to see if it already has a copy of the web page stored in its cache. If this version of the page is bang up to date, it is sent to your computer and appears in your browser. If the page found in the cache of the proxy server is older than the one stored on the server hosting the page, a new request to the web server is made and the page is updated in the cache of the proxy before being sent to you. Because these servers use very fast internet connections they can retrieve web pages at much greater speeds than you can via your modest home setup. If these servers are located physically nearer to your home than the web host servers you wish to retrieve web pages from, the speed at which you browse the web will be accelerated.

Anonymity - Cookies
One last important point you need to be aware of before jumping in with both feet is that different programs have to be setup in different ways before being able to make external connections via a proxy server. For example, you can surf the web anonymously by modifying the settings in Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator as explained earlier in this tutorial, but this will only affect your browser. If you then used Flash FXP to copy a batch of 0-day releases from one FTP server to another, this isn't going to protect you in the slightest. What you have to do is enter the name of the proxy server into each application you wish to make anonymous before making any external connections. This can usually be done by browsing through the preferences of your program to see if there is a 'use proxy server' option available. If there is, make sure you use it!

Cookies:
You have little to fear from the edible variety, but the digital ones can be a major threat to your security and privacy. A cookie is a tiny text file (usually less than 1kb in size), which is created and stored on your hard drive whenever you visit a dynamic (or an interactive if you like) web site. These are used to log your personal details so that you can access members only areas of web sites without having to type in a password every time, or to retain your customised settings so that they are available the next time you visit. If you're using a shared computer, anyone who visits the same site that you have previously logged in to can access your accounts. This is particularly worrying if you have entered your credit card details into a form on an e-commerce site. If your browser is set to automatically fill in these details whenever you
return to a previously visited site, this information could be clearly visible - you don't need me to explain the problems this could entail.

The solution to this problem is to delete any cookies which contain sensitive data once you have completed your transactions. Your cookies will be stored in a different place depending on which operating system you are using so you will have to use your detective skills to find them. As an example, in Windows XP they are located in your 'c:\Documents and Settings\Kylie Minogue\Cookies' directory (that is if your name is Kylie Minogue. Mine isn't in case you're wondering!). If you look in this directory, in some cases it is easy to identify which cookie is associated with which web site, but in other cases it's not so obvious. The cookie which was created when you visited Yahoo.com to check your email may be called kylie minogue@yahoo.txt for example. Unfortunately some cookies refer to the IP address of the site you visited and so look more like kylie minogue@145.147.25.21. These cookies can be selectively deleted one at a time if it's obvious which ones are causing a threat to your security, or you can just wipe out the whole lot in one fell swoop and have them recreated as and when they are required. However, if
you're really struggling to find your cookie jar, you could delete your cookies via your browser's tool bar instead. In Internet Explorer this can be done through the 'Tools' > 'Internet Options' menu items.

If all this sounds like too much hassle, you can always find a labour saving program which will be happy to take the job off your hands. These 'cookie crunching' programs allow you to be more selective when editing, viewing and deleting cookies from your system, and some of them will even prevent cookies from being created in the first place. Yes, I know you're hungry for links so I won't deprive you. Have a look here - Code:
hxxp://www.rbaworld.com/Programs/CookieCruncher/ Cookie
Cruncher
hxxp://www.thelimitsoft.com/ Cookie Crusher
hxxp://www.angove.com/ Cookie Killer
hxxp://www.kburra.com/ Cookie Pal
and
hxxp://www.cookiecentral.com/ Cookie Web Kit.

Advanced Shellcoding Techniques

2009-08-10T22:47:00.002-07:00

***********************************************
* *
* Advanced Shellcoding Techniques - by Darawk *
* *
***********************************************

Introduction

This paper assumes a working knowledge of basic shellcoding techniques, and x86 assembly, I will not rehash these in this paper. I hope to teach you some of the lesser known shellcoding techniques that I have picked up, which will allow you to write smaller and better shellcodes. I do not claim to have invented any of these techniques, except for the one that uses the div instruction.

The multiplicity of mul

This technique was originally developed by Sorbo of darkircop.net. The mul instruction may, on the surface, seem mundane, and it's purpose obvious. However, when faced with the difficult challenge of shrinking your shellcode, it proves to be quite useful. First some background information on the mul instruction itself.

mul performs an unsigned multiply of two integers. It takes only one operand, the other is implicitly specified by the %eax register. So, a common mul instruction might look something like this:

movl $0x0a,%eax
mul $0x0a

This would multiply the value stored in %eax by the operand of mul, which in this case would be 10*10. The result is then implicitly stored in EDX:EAX. The result is stored over a span of two registers because it has the potential to be considerably larger than the previous value, possibly exceeding the capacity of a single register(this is also how floating points are stored in some cases, as an interesting sidenote).

So, now comes the ever-important question. How can we use these attributes to our advantage when writing shellcode? Well, let's think for a second, the instruction takes only one operand, therefore, since it is a very common instruction, it will generate only two bytes in our final shellcode. It multiplies whatever is passed to it by the value stored in %eax, and stores the value in both %edx and %eax, completely overwriting the contents of both registers, regardless of whether it is necessary to do so, in order to store the result of the multiplication. Let's put on our mathematician hats for a second, and consider this, what is the only possible result of a multiplication by 0? The answer, as you may have guessed, is 0. I think it's about time for some example code, so here it is:

xorl %ecx,%ecx
mul %ecx

What is this shellcode doing? Well, it 0's out the %ecx register using the xor instruction, so we now know that %ecx is 0. Then it does a mul %ecx, which as we just learned, multiplies it's operand by the value in %eax, and then proceeds to store the result of this multiplication in EDX:EAX. So, regardless of %eax's previous contents, %eax must now be 0. However that's not all, %edx is 0'd now too, because, even though no overflow occurs, it still overwrites the %edx register with the sign bit(left-most bit) of %eax. Using this technique we can zero out three registers in only three bytes, whereas by any other method(that I know of) it would have taken at least six.

The div instruction

Div is very similar to mul, in that it takes only one operand and implicitly divides the operand by the value in %eax. Also like, mul it stores the result of the divide in %eax. Again, we will require the mathematical side of our brains to figure out how we can take advantage of this instruction. But first, let's think about what is normally stored in the %eax register. The %eax register holds the return value of functions and/or syscalls. Most syscalls that are used in shellcoding will return -1(on failure) or a positive value of some kind, only rarely will they return 0(though it does occur). So, if we know that after a syscall is performed, %eax will have a non-zero value, and that the instruction divl %eax will divide %eax by itself, and then store the result in %eax, we can say that executing the divl %eax instruction after a syscall will put the value 1 into %eax. So...how is this applicable to shellcoding? Well, their is another important thing that %eax is used for, and that is to pass the specific syscall that you would like to call to int $0x80. It just so happens that the syscall that corresponds to the value 1 is exit(). Now for an example:

xorl %ebx,%ebx
mul %ebx
push %edx
pushl $0x3268732f
pushl $0x6e69622f
mov %esp, %ebx
push %edx
push %ebx
mov %esp,%ecx
movb $0xb, %al #execve() syscall, doesn't return at all unless it fails, in which case it returns -1
int $0x80

divl %eax # -1 / -1 = 1
int $0x80

Now, we have a 3 byte exit function, where as before it was 5 bytes. However, there is a catch, what if a syscall does return 0? Well in the odd situation in which that could happen, you could do many different things, like inc %eax, dec %eax, not %eax anything that will make %eax non-zero. Some people say that exit's are not important in shellcode, because your code gets executed regardless of whether or not it exits cleanly. They are right too, if you really need to save 3 bytes to fit your shellcode in somewhere, the exit() isn't worth keeping. However, when your code does finish, it will try to execute whatever was after your last instruction, which will most likely produce a SIG ILL(illegal instruction) which is a rather odd error, and will be logged by the system. So, an exit() simply adds an extra layer of stealth to your exploit, so that even if it fails or you can't wipe all the logs, at least this part of your presence will be clear.

Unlocking the power of leal

The leal instruction is an often neglected instruction in shellcode, even though it is quite useful. Consider this short piece of shellcode.

xorl %ecx,%ecx
leal 0x10(%ecx),%eax

This will load the value 17 into eax, and clear all of the extraneous bits of eax. This occurs because the leal instruction loads a variable of the type long into it's desitination operand. In it's normal usage, this would load the address of a variable into a register, thus creating a pointer of sorts. However, since ecx is 0'd and 0+17=17, we load the value 17 into eax instead of any kind of actual address. In a normal shellcode we would do something like this, to accomplish the same thing:

xorl %eax,%eax
movb $0x10,%eax

I can hear you saying, but that shellcode is a byte shorter than the leal one, and you're quite right. However, in a real shellcode you may already have to 0 out a register like ecx(or any other register), so the xorl instruction in the leal shellcode isn't counted. Here's an example:

xorl %eax,%eax
xorl %ebx,%ebx
movb $0x17,%al
int $0x80

xorl %ebx,%ebx
leal 0x17(%ebx),%al
int $0x80

Both of these shellcodes call setuid(0), but one does it in 7 bytes while the other does it in 8. Again, I hear you saying but that's only one byte it doesn't make that much of a difference, and you're right, here it doesn't make much of a difference(except for in shellcode-size pissing contests =p), but when applied to much larger shellcodes, which have many function calls and need to do things like this frequently, it can save quite a bit of space.

Conclusion

I hope you all learned something, and will go out and apply your knowledge to create smaller and better shellcodes. If you know who invented the leal technique, please tell me and I will credit him/her.

A Novice's Guide To Hacking

2009-08-10T22:47:00.001-07:00

This file is an addendum to "A Novice's Guide To Hacking" written by "The
Mentor". The word "hacking" is here used the way the non-hacking public
thinks it is used, to mean breaking into somebody else's computer. Its
purpose is to expand and clarify the information about the TOPS-20 operating
system, which runs on DECsystem-20 mainframes. The Mentor basically lumped
this system in with TOPS-10 and didn't note important differences between the
two. I will here reproduce in full what The Mentor had to say about TOPS-10
and about VMS, which are the parent and the offspring of TOPS-20.

VMS- The VAX computer is made by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC),
and runs the VMS (Virtual Memory System) operating system.
VMS is characterized by the 'Username:' prompt. It will not tell
you if you've entered a valid username or not, and will disconnect
you after three bad login attempts. It also keeps track of all
failed login attempts and informs the owner of the account next time
s/he logs in how many bad login attempts were made on the account.
It is one of the most secure operating systems around from the
outside, but once you're in there are many things that you can do
to circumvent system security. The VAX also has the best set of
help files in the world. Just type HELP and read to your heart's
content.
Common Accounts/Defaults: [username: password [[,password]] ]
SYSTEM: OPERATOR or MANAGER or SYSTEM or SYSLIB
OPERATOR: OPERATOR
SYSTEST: UETP
SYSMAINT: SYSMAINT or SERVICE or DIGITAL
FIELD: FIELD or SERVICE
GUEST: GUEST or unpassworded
DEMO: DEMO or unpassworded
DECNET: DECNET

DEC-10- An earlier line of DEC computer equipment, running the TOPS-10
operating system. These machines are recognized by their
'.' prompt. The DEC-10/20 series are remarkably hacker-friendly,
allowing you to enter several important commands without ever
logging into the system. Accounts are in the format [xxx,yyy] where
xxx and yyy are integers. You can get a listing of the accounts and
the process names of everyone on the system before logging in with
the command .systat (for SYstem STATus). If you seen an account
that reads [234,1001] BOB JONES, it might be wise to try BOB or
JONES or both for a password on this account. To login, you type
.login xxx,yyy and then type the password when prompted for it.
The system will allow you unlimited tries at an account, and does
not keep records of bad login attempts. It will also inform you
if the UIC you're trying (UIC = User Identification Code, 1,2 for
example) is bad.
Common Accounts/Defaults:
1,2: SYSLIB or OPERATOR or MANAGER
2,7: MAINTAIN
5,30: GAMES

**** note: I'm remembering this stuff from several years ago, and in some
cases my memory may be foggy or stuff may be outdated.

TOPS-20, once you are inside, resembles VMS much more than it resembles
TOPS-10, as far as I know (I'm not really familiar with VMS). From the
outside, it's more like TOPS-10, except that the prompt is a @ instead of a
period. You can enter many commands without logging in, including SYSTAT and
probably FINGER. (Sometimes you can even use the mail program without
logging in.) It is very helpful. Not only does the command HELP lead to
lots of useful information, but anywhere in typing a command you can press ?
and it will tell you what the format of the command expects. For instance,
if you type ? by itself, it will tell you all the words that a command can
begin with. If you type S?, it will tell you all the commands that start
with the letter S. If you type SYSTAT ?, it will tell you the options
available on the systat command. You can use this at any point in any
command. Furthermore, if there is only one possibility (you have typed a
unique abbreviation), you can press Escape and it will finish the word for
you. I'm not sure, but I think TOPS-20 was the system that first introduced
filename completion as well --turning a uniquely abbreviated filename into a
complete name when you press escape, beeping if the abbreviation is not
unique. With command keywords you can leave the abbreviation un-expanded,
with filenames you have to expand it (or type it all in) for it to work.

Use the "Login" command to log in, followed by a username. It will prompt
for a password. Note that a password can be something like 39 characters
long, as can the username itself. TOPS-20 does NOT use numbers like 317,043
for user IDs. (Note that these numbers in TOPS-10 are octal, not decimal.)
Furthermore, the password can contain spaces. So, if somebody wants to make
his password difficult to guess, he can easily do so.

(But sometimes they might get overconfident. I remember a story from
Stanford... Someone asked the large cheese if he would let him know what the
operator password was, and he said "The operator password is currently
unavailable." So the guy tried "currently unavailable" as a password, and
got in. (Which reminds me of the time they got a real bug in the system
there... a head crash caused by an ant on the disk platter.))

In general, TOPS-20 does not limit the number of login attempts, nor does it
keep a record of bad tries. However, it is not difficult for the local
management to add such measures, or others such as a delay of several seconds
after each attempt. And unlike Unix, it is difficult to evade these even
once you're in. Without heavy in-depth knowledge, you can't test a username-
password combination except through a system call, which will enforce delays
and limited failures and such against password-trying programs.

So, TOPS-20 is easy to defend against the "database hack", in which you try
many different common passwords with many different usernames. (Unix is
much more vulnerable to this.) But any particular system, especially a lax
one like a college machine (DEC is always popular in academia), might have
little defense here. But you might not know how much defense until too late.

Do try the GUEST username.

But TOPS-20 can be very vulnerable to trojan horses. See, there's this thing
called the Wheel bit. A username that has the Wheel property can do anything
the system operator can do, such as ignore file protection masks, edit the
disks at the track/sector level, change any area of memory... On Unix, only
one user, the superuser, can read and write protected files. On TOPS-20, any
user can do these things from any terminal, if the Wheel attribute is set in
his user data. Some campus computers tend to accumulate excess trusted users
with wheel bits, and have to periodically prune away the unnecessary ones.

The thing is that a wheel can do these things without knowing that he has
done them. Normally the privileged commands are deactivated. But a program
run by a wheel can activate the privileges, do anything it wants, cover its
tracks, and deactivate them without the user ever being the wiser. So if you
can get any wheel user to run any program you wrote, such as a game or small
utility... there's no limit to what you can do. In particular, you can
create a new username, and make it a wheel. Or you can simply ask the system
outright for someone's password, if I'm not mistaken. (All this requires
access to TOPS-20 programming manuals, but some of the necessary material
should be available on line.) You cannot actually conceal this creation, as
far as I know... but maybe with sophisticated enough knowledge you could
make it not immediately apparent... Anyway, once you get that far in, you can
probably keep one step ahead of them for a while... If they erase your new
accounts, you can use the passwords to old ones... They can change all of
the wheel passwords, but a lot of the regular users won't change for some
time... You could even lock the operators out of their own system by
changing all their passwords for them, if you were crazy enough, perhaps
forcing them to shut the machine down to regain control of it. They might
even have to restore stuff from tape backup.

Even if you don't wedge your way into secret stuff, a TOPS-20 system can be
fun to explore. It's much more novice-friendly than most systems, and much
more hacker-friendly as well. I think the ascendency of Unix as the least-
common-denominator OS that everybody can agree on is a definite loss,
compared to TOPS-20.