► IT KNOWLEDGE ◄

Solution for the error "the requested look up key was not found in any activation context"

2009-08-17T23:44:00.000-07:00

This is a common error in IE 7. Due to this error it also blocks the activation of Windows XP.

I had to do these steps to resolve the error.

1) Uninstall IE 6 through Add/Remove Window Components
2) Delete IE7 folder from C:\Windows (This folder is hidden)
3) Use firefox to install and download IE8
4) Navigate to C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer and create the shortcut key for
iexplore.exe on the dekstop
5) When you double click IE8 shortcut, it will give you the options to open the
internet explorer with and without Add-ons. Choose the option to open the
internet explorer without Add-ons and set it as default.

Hope this works for you guys.

Steps to password protect files and folders in Windows XP

2009-08-10T23:34:00.000-07:00

Example: to password protect a folder called "Test"
1) Create the folder "Test"
2) Copy your contents in the "Test" folder
3) Create a batch file as "loc.bat" in the same location where the "Test" folder is
created (not inside the Test folder)
4) Add the following content to "loc.bat" file
ren Test Test.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
5) Double click the "loc.bat" file and the "Test" folder is hidden and password
protected
6) To view and access the "Test" folder and its contents, you have to create
another batch file as "key.bat"
7) Create a batch file as "key.bat" in the same location where the "Test" folder and
the "loc.bat" file (not inside the Test folder)
8) Add the following line to the "Key.bat" file
ren test.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} test
9) Double click the "Key.bat" file and then you will be able to view and access the
"Test" folder
10) You can copy "loc.bat" and "key.bat" to some other location once the "loc.bat"
is used.

Change the user name in Comment box in Excel

2009-08-08T01:52:00.000-07:00

1. Choose Tools|Options
2. Select the General tab
3. Delete the existing User Name, and type a new entry
4. Click OK

Ways to Fasten up Windows XP

2009-07-30T02:22:00.001-07:00

(1) Do disk Clean up of C:\ Drive
(2) Increase virtual memory
(3) Defrag your machine
Right click C: Drive > Properties > Tools > Defragment Now > Click on C Drive and
then Defragment tab
(4) Clean the data from the hidden folders like "System Volume Information",
"Recyclers" (You have to take the ownership of the above folders before deleting
its contents)
(5) Delete files from C:\Windows\Prefetch
(6) Stop unnecessary programs from loading at the startup
Type msconfig in RUN and in 'Start up' tab Uncheck all the ones that you don't use
too often, click ok and restart the machine.
(7) Do not save folders/ files on the desktop.
(8) Get rid of themes and skins
(9) Finally, keep your machine virus free

Solution for slow opening of Excel and Word files

2009-07-30T01:53:00.000-07:00

- Open My Computer.
- Go to Tools -> Folder Options, and click on File Types.
- Find the extension of the file in question (XLS, DOC, etc.)
- Highlight the extension, and click on the "Advanced" tab
- Select Open in the list and click button "Edit"
- Click into the "Application used..." field, and scroll to the end of the command.
- Put a space at the end, and type in "%1\" (With the quotes)
- Uncheck "Use DDE" if it is present
- Click on "OK"

Network Connection Wizard | VPN option greyed out

2009-07-22T05:05:00.000-07:00

This issue may occur if the following services are disabled:

1) Telephony
2) Remote Access Connection Manager
3) Remote Access Auto Connection Manager

Go to RUN and type services.msc
Once you get the list of services, enable the above 3 services.

Enable Routing on Windows XP

2009-07-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

To enable TCP/IP forwarding, follow these steps:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. In Registry Editor, locate the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
3. Set the following registry value:
Value Name: IPEnableRouter
Value type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 1
A value of 1 enables TCP/IP forwarding for all network connections that are installed and used by this computer.
4. Quit Registry Editor.
5. Restart the machine

Solution to error "Unable to login to primavera due to login failure or bad password"

2009-07-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

Open the SQL Query analyzer and access the pmdb database
Note: Use your database instead of pmdb database

Execute the following files

Exec sp_change_users_login 'update_one','pubuser','pubuser'
Exec sp_change_users_login 'update_one','privuser','privuser'

Enjoy

Creating SQL login with disabling Windows Password Policy requirements

2009-07-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

Open SQL query analyzer and run the following lines

create login username with password = 'password', check_policy=off

Cracking trial period of MS Office 2007

2009-07-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

1.In Windows Explorer, browse to the following folder:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE12\Office Setup Controller\Proof.en\

2.Right click on Proof.XML file, select “Open With…” in the right click menu.

3.In the “Open With” window, select Notepad to be used to open the XML file.

4.Find and Replace All 'AlwaysInsalled' to 'NeverInstalled '

5.Save the Proof.xml file

Commands used to send email from Command Prompt

2009-07-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

First establish a connection to the mail server by using telnet
Go to start--run--cmd
then type
telnet 25
once you are logged in type

HELO

You will get a welcome message from the mail server.
Then proceed with the the following steps

MAIL FROM:

RCPT TO:

DATA
SUBJECT:

.

Set multiple login for Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger

2009-07-12T06:19:00.000-07:00

Google Talk

1. Create a shortcut of Gtalk on the desktop
2. Right click that icon and select properties and then in the target place you will see something like this. “”C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe” /startmenu”
3. Rename it as”"C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe” /nomutex”
4. click apply and OK

Yahoo Messenger

1. Go to Run - Type regedit and hit enter
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / yahoo / pager /Test
3. On the right pane , right-click and choose new Dword value
4. Name it as Plural
5. Double click "Plural" and assign a decimal value of 1
6. Now close the registry and login with multiple Ids

Set Background image for pen drives

2009-07-12T06:09:00.000-07:00

Create a file as 'desktop.ini' and copy the below contents

[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}

[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
Attributes=1
IconArea_Image=bground.jpg
IconArea_Text=0xffffffff

Copy the image file in the pen drive.
Rename the image file from 'bground.jpg' to the actual filename

Find the Serial number and the Product id of Autocad Software

2009-07-12T02:33:00.000-07:00

Go to start -- run -- and type
regedit

Navigate to
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R17.2

Copy your serial key
Enjoy!!!

Drive icons not displaying

2009-07-12T02:31:00.000-07:00

Delete the follwoing key from the registry

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\DriveIcons\C\DefaultIcon]

Replace the drive letter "C" with the drive not displaying icon

MSX Server SQL error

2009-07-07T04:38:00.001-07:00

MSX SQL server error is caused due to change in computer name after installing SQL Server. To fix this error you have to run these two statements in Query analyzer

1) list the jobs
select * from msdb..sysjobs

2) update the originating_server
update msdb..sysjobs
set originating_server = 'your new computer name'
where originating_server = 'your old computer name'

Renaming a computer that hosts SQL Server

2009-07-04T04:56:00.000-07:00

To rename a computer that hosts a stand-alone instance of SQL Server

For a renamed computer that hosts a default instance of SQL Server, run the following procedures:

sp_dropserver
GO
sp_addserver , local
GO

Restart the instance of SQL Server.

For a renamed computer that hosts a named instance of SQL Server, run the following procedures:

sp_dropserver
GO
sp_addserver , local
GO

Restart the instance of SQL Server.

After the Renaming Operation

After a computer has been renamed, any connections that used the old computer name must connect by using the new name.
To verify that the renaming operation has completed successfully

Select information from either @@SERVERNAME or sys.servers. The @@SERVERNAME function will return the new name, and the sys.servers table will show the new name. The following example shows the use of @@SERVERNAME.

SELECT @@SERVERNAME AS 'Server Name'

Images are not displaying in Microsoft Outlook

2009-07-01T06:39:00.001-07:00

Have you ever come across situation were the images are not displaying in Microsoft Outlook? You will experience this when you get emails with images, the content will display but the pictures will not.
Before we go in to the fix for this let’s discuss the process of Outlook:
When you open any attachments in outlook it will temporarily save it in the windows Temporary internet folder. It’s a special folder called OLK, OLK is a super hiddenl folder which you can’t view from the explorer. So all the attachments in your Outlook will store in this folder so each and every time when you open an attachment those attachments will store in this OLK folder as a junk and when the amount of this junk increases you will experience this problem. So lets see how to fix this problem.Fix 1.
• Open your registry ( Type in “Regedit” in Run box”)
• Then navigate to this key in the registry “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security
• On the right side you could see a key called “OutlookSecureTempFolder” Right click on this key and click on Modify
• You will get a folder path something like this “C:\Users\Renjith\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\OLKC801”
• Copy this folder path and type in the Run box which will open up this location
• Now clear all the files in this folder.
• After this if you try to open any emails which has images it will display the images.
Fix 2.
• Delete the “OutlookSecureTempFolder” key from the registry and restart the computer
• This will actually create another OLK folder. I will not suggest you doing this because this will not delete all the junk files.

Hide program from control panel

2009-07-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

Method 1

* Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
* Navigate to the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Uninstall \ AnalogX Proxy

* In the right-pane, right-click the DisplayName value and choose Rename
* Rename it to anything (For example, NoDisplayName )

The AnalogX Proxy entry is now hidden. To make it visible again, rename the value back to DisplayName
Method 2

* Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
* Navigate to the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Uninstall \ AnalogX Proxy

* In the right-pane, create a new REG_DWORD value named SystemComponent
* Double-click SystemComponent and set its data to 1

The AnalogX Proxy entry is now hidden. To make it

Google Tricks

2009-07-01T02:20:00.000-07:00

(1) Get Rapidshare Links for softwares/movies/songs

Open www.google.com
and type the following words in the google search

rapidshare.com/files softwarename

Non Authoritative Restore of SSD

2009-06-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

If you have physical access to a domain controller, you can restart the domain controller in Directory Services Restore Mode locally. Restarting in Directory Services Restore Mode takes the domain controller offline. In this mode, the server is not functioning as a domain controller.
When you start Windows Server 2003 in Directory Services Restore Mode, the local Administrator account is authenticated by the local Security Accounts Manager (SAM) database. Therefore, logging on requires that you use the local administrator password, not an Active Directory domain password. This password is set during Active Directory installation when you provide the password for Directory Services Restore Mode.
Administrative credentials
To perform this procedure, you must provide the Administrator password for Directory Services Restore Mode.
To restart the domain controller in Directory Services Restore Mode locally
1. Restart the domain controller.
2. When the screen for selecting an operating system appears, press F8.
3. On the Windows Advanced Options menu, select Directory Services Restore Mode.
4. When you are prompted, log on as the local administrator.

Note:
By performing a nonauthoritative restore on Active Directory, you automatically perform a nonauthoritative restore of the system volume (SYSVOL); no additional steps are required.

Restore from backup media
Updated: August 22, 2005
To restore the server, use a good backup containing the system state or the system state and system disk.

Note:
To restore from backup, you must log on locally to the domain controller or Remote Desktop must be enabled on the remote domain controller so that you can connect remotely.
Administrative credentials
To perform this procedure, you must provide the Administrator password for Directory Services Restore Mode.
To restore from backup media
1. Start the computer in Directory Services Restore Mode.
2. To start the Windows Server 2003 backup utility, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.
This procedure provides steps for restoring from backup in Wizard Mode. By default, the Always Start in Wizard Mode check box is selected in the Backup or Restore Wizard. If the Welcome to the Backup Utility Advanced Mode page appears, click Wizard Mode to open the Backup or Restore Wizard.
3. On the Welcome to the Backup or Restore Wizard page, click Next.
4. Click Restore files and settings, and then click Next.
5. Select System State, and then click Next.
6. On the Completing the Backup or Restore Wizard page, click Advanced.
7. In Restore files to, click Original Location, and then click Next.
8. Click Leave existing files (Recommended), and then click Next.
9. In Advanced Restore Options, select the following check boxes, and then click Next:
• Restore security settings
• Restore junction points, but not the folders and file data they reference
• Preserve existing volume mount points

10. For a primary restore of SYSVOL, also select the following check box: When restoring replicated data sets, mark the restored data as the primary data for all replicas.
A primary restore is required only if the domain controller that you are restoring is the only domain controller in the domain. A primary restore is required on the first domain controller that is being restored in a domain if you are restoring the entire domain or forest.
11. Click Finish.

12. When the restore process is complete, click Close, and then do one of the following:
• If you do not want to authoritatively restore any objects, click Yes to restart the computer. The system will restart and replicate any new information that is received since the last backup with its replication partners.
• If you want to authoritatively restore any objects or if you want to create an LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) file to restore back-links on this domain controller, click No to remain in Directory Services Restore Mode.

Authoritative restoration of Active Directory (AD) in Windows Server 2003

2009-06-23T23:47:00.000-07:00

To perform an authoritative restoration, you must first recover AD from a backup by performing the following steps:

1. Restart the domain controller (DC) of interest.
2. When you see the menu to select the OS, press F8.
3. From the Windows Advanced Options Menu, select Directory Services Restore Mode, then press Enter.
4. Select the Windows 2003 OS, then press Enter.
5. Use the restore mode password and log on as the administrator.
6. Click OK to the confirmation that Windows is running in Safe mode.
7. Start the Windows Backup application (go to Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and click Backup).
8. Select the Restore option, then select the media where the backup is stored and ensure that the System State is selected.
9. Click OK to close any warning dialog boxes.
10. After the AD recovery is complete, click Close to the displayed dialog box and click Yes to restart the computer.
When the machine restarts, you need to specify which parts of the restoration will be authoritative by performing the following steps:
1. When you see the menu to select the OS, press F8.
2. From the Windows Advanced Options Menu, select Directory Services Restore Mode, then press Enter.
3. Select the Windows 2003 OS, then press Enter.
4. Use the restore mode password to log on as the administrator.
5. Click OK to the confirmation that Windows is running in Safe mode.
6. Open a command prompt--go to Start, Run and type
cmd
7. Start the Ntdsutil utility.
8. To access the authoritative restore mode, type
ntdsutil: authoritative restore
9. If you want to mark the entire database as authoritative, type
authoritative restore: restore database
If you want to mark only a certain object as authoritative (e.g., an organizational unit--OU), type
authoritative restore: restore subtree name--DN--of subtree, e.g. OU=sales,DC=savilltech,DC=com>
10. To exit Ntdsutil, type quit
11. Restart the DC as usual.
If you perform an authoritative restoration of a backup that's more than 14 days old, some trust relationships might be broken because the passwords used by the trust would have been changed twice (the directory stores both the current and previous password, which changes every 7 days). So, for example, when restoring NT LAN Manager (NTLM) trusts, you would have to break the trust, then recreate it.

Block USB Drives

2009-06-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor
4. In the details pane, double-click Start.
5. In the Value data box, type 4, click Hexadecimal (if it is not already selected), and then click OK.
6. Exit Registry Editor.

Disable Writing to USB Drives

2009-06-23T07:26:00.000-07:00

Go to registry and edit the following as shown

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies]
“WriteProtect”=dword:00000001

Easy steps to enhance XP performance

2009-06-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Windows XP Professional Configuration

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After Installing Windows XP follow these steps

Instructions:
Click Start
Click Control Panel
Click Switch to Classic View
Click View
Click Details

Click Display
Click the Desktop tab
Click Customize Desktop
Uncheck Run Desktop Cleanup, and then click OK
Click the Screen Saver tab
Choose (None) for the Screen Saver
Click Power
Change Turn off monitor to Never
Click Apply, and then click OK
Click the Appearance tab
Change the color scheme to Silver
Click Effects
Uncheck Use the following transition
Uncheck Show shadows under menus
Click OK
Click the Settings tab
Change Screen resolution to 1024x768 pixels
Click Advanced
Click the Monitor tab
Change Screen refresh rate to 75 Hertz
Click Apply
Click Yes
Click OK
Click OK

Click Folder Options
Click View
Check the following boxes:
Display the contents of system folders
Display the full path in the title bar
Display the full path in the address bar
Show hidden files and folders
Uncheck the following:
Automatically search for network folders and printer
Hid extensions for known file types
Click Apply
Click Apply to All Folders
Click Yes
Click OK

Click Internet Options
Click Use Blank, and then click Apply
Click the Content tab
Click AutoComplete
Check Forms, and then click Apply
Click the Connections tab
Click LAN Settings
Check Automatically detect settings, and then click OK
Click Setup
Type area code, and then click OK
Click OK
Click Next
Click Next
Select Set up my connection manually, and then click Next
Select Connect using a broadband connection, and then click
Next
Click Finish
Click the Programs tab
Change HTML editor to Notepad
Uncheck Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser, and then click Apply
Click the Advanced tab
Uncheck the following:
Enable Install on Demand (Other)
Enable page transitions
Notify when downloads complete
Show Go in the address bar
Check the following:
Use inline AutoComplete
Use Passive FTP
Do not search from the Address bar
Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed
Click Apply
Click OK

Click Mouse
Click the Pointer tab
Change Scheme to 3D-White (system scheme)
Uncheck Enable pointer shadow
Click the Pointer Options tab
Uncheck Hide pointer when typing
Click Apply, and then click OK

Click Sounds and Audio Devices
Check Place volume icon in taskbar
Click Sounds Tab
Choose No Sounds for the Sound Scheme
Click No
Click Apply, and then click OK

Click System
Click the Advanced tab
Click the Settings button under Performance
Select Adjust for best performance
Check the following:
Show window contents while dragging
Smooth edges on screen fonts
Use drop shadows for icon labels
Use visual styles on windows and buttons
Click Apply, and then click OK
Click the Error Reporting tab
Select Disable error reporting
Uncheck But notify me when critical errors occur, and then click OK
Click the System Restore tab
Check Turn off System Restore on all drives
Click Apply, and then click Yes
Click the Automatic Updates tab
Select Turn off automatic updating
Click the Remote tab
Uncheck Allow Remote Assistance
Click Apply, and then click OK

Click Taskbar and Start Menu
Uncheck Lock the taskbar
Check Show Quick Launch
Click the Start Menu tab
Select Classic Start menu
Click Customize
Check Display Favorites
Check Show Small Icons in Start Menu
Uncheck Use Personalized Menus
Click OK
Click Apply
Click OK

Click User Accounts
Click Change the way users log on and off
Uncheck Use the Welcome screen
Click Apply Options
Close the Window
Exit the Control Panel

Open My Computer
Right-click on the hard drive icon and select Properties
Uncheck Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast searching
Click Apply
Select Apply changes to X:\, subfolders and files, and then click OK
Click OK
Reboot machine

Untold secrets about windows operating

2009-06-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

A collection of Tips and Tricks which no body normally knows, the secrets which Microsoft is afraid to tell the people, the information which you will seldom find all gathered up and arranged in a single file. To fully reap this Manual you need to have a basic understanding of the Windows Registry, as almost all the Tricks and Tips involve this file..

****************

Important Note: Before you read on, you need to keep one thing in mind. Whenever you make changes to the Windows Registry you need to Refresh it before the changes take place. Simply press F5 to refresh the registry and enable the changes. If this does not work Restart your system

****************

Exiting Windows the Cool and Quick Way

Normally it takes a hell lot of time just Shutting down Windows, you have to move your mouse to the Start Button, click on it, move it again over Shut Down, click, then move it over the necessary option and click, then move the cursor over the OK button and once again (you guessed it) click.This whole process can be shortened by creating shortcuts on the Desktop which will shut down Windows at the click of a button. Start by creating a new shortcut( right click and select New> Shortcut). Then in the command line box, type (without the quotes.)

'C:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindowsexec'

This Shortcut on clicking will restart Windows immediately without any Warning. To create a Shortcut to Restarting Windows, type the following in the Command Line box:

'c:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows'

This Shortcut on clicking will shut down Windows immediately without any Warning.

Ban Shutdowns : A trick to Play on Lamers

This is a neat trick you can play on that lamer that has a huge ego, in this section I teach you, how to disable the Shut Down option in the Shut Down Dialog Box. This trick involves editing the registry, so please make backups. Launch regedit.exe and go to :

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

In the right pane look for the NoClose Key. If it is not already there then create it by right clicking in the right pane and selecting New > String Value.(Name it NoCloseKey ) Now once you see the NoCloseKey in the right pane, right click on it and select Modify. Then Type 1 in the Value Data Box.

Doing the above on a Win98 system disables the Shut Down option in the Shut Down Dialog Box. But on a Win95 machine if the value of NoCloseKey is set to 1 then click on the Start > Shut Down button displays the following error message:

This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.

You can enable the shut down option by changing the value of NoCloseKey to 0 or simply deleting the particular entry i.e. deleting NoCloseKey.

Instead of performing the above difficult to remember process, simply save the following with an extension of .reg and add it's contents to the registry by double clicking on it.

REGEDIT4

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

"NoClose"="1"

Disabling Display of Drives in My Computer

This is yet another trick you can play on your geek friend. To disable the display of local or networked drives when you click My Computer go to :

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

Now in the right pane create a new DWORD item and name it NoDrives.. Now modify it's value and set it to 3FFFFFF (Hexadecimal) Now press F5 to refresh. When you click on My Computer, no drives will be shown. To enable display of drives in My Computer, simply delete this DWORD item. It's .reg file is as follows:

REGEDIT4

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

"NoDrives"=dword:03ffffff

Take Over the Screen Saver

To activate and deactivate the screen saver whenever you want, goto the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ScreenSavers

Now add a new string value and name it Mouse Corners. Edit this new value to -Y-N. Press F5 to refresh the registry. Voila! Now you can activate your screensaver by simply placing the mouse cursor at the top right corner of the screen and if you take the mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen, the screensaver will deactivate.

Pop a banner each time Windows Boots

To pop a banner which can contain any message you want to display just before a user is going to log on, go to the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WinLogon

Now create a new string Value in the right pane named LegalNoticeCaption and enter the value that you want to see in the Menu Bar.. Now create yet another new string value and name it: LegalNoticeText. Modify it and insert the message you want to display each time Windows boots. This can be effectively used to display the company's private policy each time the user logs on to his NT box. It's .reg file would be:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]

"LegalNoticeCaption"="Caption here."

Delete the Tips of the Day to save 5KB

Windows 95 had these tips of the day which appeared on a system running a newly installed Windows OS. These tips of the day are stored in the Windows Registry and consume 5K of space. For those of you who are really concerned about how much free space your hard disk has, I have the perfect trick.

To save 5K go to the following key in Regedit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Tips

Now simply delete these tricks by selecting and pressing the DEL key.

Change the Default Locations

To change the default drive or path where Windows will look for it's installation files, go to the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\SourcePath

Now you can edit as you wish.

Secure your Desktop Icons and Settings

You can save your desktop settings and secure it from your nerdy friend by playing with the registry. Simply launch the Registry Editor go to:

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

In the right pane create a new DWORD Value named NoSaveSettings and modify it's value to 1. Refresh and restart for the settings to get saved.

CLSID Folders Explained

Don't you just hate those stubborn stupid icons that refuse to leave the desktop, like the Network Neighborhood icon. I am sure you want to know how you can delete them. You may say, that is really simple, simply right click on the concerned icon and select Delete. Well not exactly, you see when you right click on these special folders( see entire list below)neither the rename nor the delete option does not appear. To delete these folders, there are two methods, the first one is using the System Policy Editor(Poledit in the Windows installation CD)and the second is using the Registry.

Before we go on, you need to understand what CLSID values are. These folders, like the Control Panel, Inbox, The Microsoft Network, Dial Up Networking etc are system folders. Each system folder has a unique CLSID key or the Class ID which is a 16-byte value which identifies an individual object that points to a corresponding key in the registry.

To delete these system Folders from the desktop simply go to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\Namespace{----}

To delete an icon simply delete the 16 byte CLSID value within "NameSpace". The following are the CLSID values of the most commonly used icons:

My Briefcase:{85BBD920-42AO-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}

Desktop: {00021400-0000-0000-C000-0000000000046}

Control Panel:{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

Dial-Up-Networking:{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD01CCC48}

Fonts: {BD84B380-8CA2-1069-AB1D-08000948534}

Inbox :{00020D76-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

My Computer :{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

Network Neighborhood:{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-O8002B30309D}

Printers :{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-O8002B30309D}

Recycle Bin :{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

The Microsoft Network:{00028B00-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

History: {FF393560-C2A7-11CF-BFF4-444553540000}

Winzip :{E0D79300-84BE-11CE-9641-444553540000}

For example, to delete the Recycle Bin, first note down it's CLSID value, which is: 645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E. Now go to the Namespace key in the registry and delete the corresponding key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

Similarly to delete the History folder, delete the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{FBF23B42-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}

Sometimes, you may need to play a trick on your brother or friend, well this one teaches you how to hide all icons from the Desktop. Go to the following registry key:

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

In the right pane create a new DWORD value by the name: NoDesktop and set its value to: 1. Reboot and you will find no icons on the desktop.

Till now you simply learnt how to delete the special system folders by deleting a registry key, but the h@*k would have been better if there was a way of adding the DELETE and RENAME option to the right click context menus of these special folders. You can actually change the right click context menu of any system folder and add any of the following options: RENAME, DELETE, CUT, COPY, PASTE and lots more.

This h@*k too requires you to know the CLSID value of the system folder whose menu you want to customize. In this section, I have taken up Recycle Bin as the folder whose context menu I am going to edit.

Firstly launch the registry editor and open the following registry key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder.

In Case you want to edit some other folder like say the FONTS folder, then you will open the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{CLSID VALUE HERE}\ShellFolder.

In the right pane there will be a DWORD value names attributes. Now consider the following options:

To add the Rename option to the menu, change the value of Attributes to
50 01 00 20

To add the Delete option to the menu, change the value of Attributes to
60 01 00 20

3. To add both the Rename & Delete options to the menu, change the value of Attributes to 70,01,00,20

4. Add Copy to the menu, change Attributes to 41 01 00 20

5. Add Cut to the menu, change Attributes to 42 01 00 20

6. Add Copy & Cut to the menu, change Attributes to 43 01 00 20

7. Add Paste to the menu, change Attributes to 44 01 00 20

8. Add Copy & Paste to the menu, change Attributes to 45 01 00 20

9. Add Cut & Paste to the menu, change Attributes to 46 01 00 20

10.Add all Cut, Copy & Paste to the menu, change Attributes to 47 01 00 20

We want to add only the Rename option to the right click context menu of the Recycle Bin, so change the value of attributes to: 50 01 00 20. Press F5 to refresh and then after rebooting you will find that when you right click on the Recycle Bin a RENAME option pops up too.

To reset the default Windows options change the value of Attributes back to

40 01 00 20

The Registry File which one can create for the above process would be something like the below:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\Shell-Folder]

"Attributes"=hex:50,01,00,20

To access say the Modem Properties in the Control Panel Folder, the normal procedure is: Click on Start, Click on Settings> Control Panel and then wait for the Control Panel window to pop up and then ultimately click on the Modems icon.

Wouldn't it be lovely if you could shorten the process to: Click on Start> Control Panel>Modems. Yes you can add the Control Panel and also all other Special System Folders directly to the first level Start Menu. Firstly collect the CLSID value of the folder you want to add to the start menu. I want to add Control Panel hence the CLSID value is: 21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D

Now right click on the Start Button and select Open. Now create a new folder and name it: Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

NOTE: Do not forget the period after the 'l' in Panel. Similarly all system folders can be added to the Start Menu.(accept My Briefcase, I think)

Deleting System Options from the Start menu

You can actually remove the Find and Run options from the start menu by performing a simple registry h@*k. Again like always Launch the registry editor and scroll down to the below key:

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

Right-click on the right pane and select New, DWORD Value. Name it NoFind.(To remove the RUN option name it NoRun). Double-click the newly create DWORD to edit it's value and enter 1 as its value. This will disable the FIND option of the Start Menu and will also disable the default Shortcut key(F3 for Find.)

To restore the Run or find command modify the value of the DWORD to 0 or simply Delete the DWORD value.

Fed Up of the boring Old Yellow Folder Icons?[Drive Icons Included]

NOTE: This trick hasn't been tried on Win98.

You can easily change the boring yellow folder icons to your own personalized icons. Simply create a text file and copy the following lines into it:

[.ShellClassInfo]

ICONFILE=Drive:\Path\Icon_name.extension

Save this text file by the name, desktop..ini in the folder, whose icon you want to change. Now to prevent this file from getting deleted change it's attributes to Hidden and Read Only by using the ATTRIB command.

To change the icon of a drive, create a text file containing the following lines:

[Autorun]

ICON=Drive:\Path\Icon_name.extension

Save this file in the root of the drive whose icon you want to change and name it autorun.inf For Example, if you want to change the icon of a floppy, SAVE THE icon in a:\icon_name.ico One can also create a kewl icon for the Hard Disk and create a text file [autorun.inf] and store it in "c:\".

Securing NT

By default, NT 4.0 displays the last person who logged onto the system. This can be considered to be a security threat, especially in the case of those who choose their password to be same as their Username. To disable this bug which actually is a feature, go to the following key in the registry editor:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Click and select the ReportBookOK item and create a new string value called DontDisplayLastUserName. Modify it and set it's value to 1.

As a system administrator, you can ensure that the passwords chosen by the users are not too lame or too easy to guess. NT has this lovely utility called the User Manager which allows the administrator to set the age limit of the password which forces the users to change the password after a certain number of days. You can also set the minimum length of passwords and prevent users to use passwords which already have been used earlier and also enable account lockouts which will deactivate an account after a specified number of failed login attempts.

When you log on to Win NT, you should disable Password Caching, this ensures Single NT Domain login and also prevents secondary Windows Logon screen.

Simply copy the following lines to a plain text ASCII editor like: Notepad and save it with an extension, .reg

----------------DISABLE.reg-----------------

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Network]

"DisablePwdCaching"=dword:00000001

----------------DISABLE.reg-----------------

To Enable Password Caching use the following .reg file:

--------------Enable.reg-----------------

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Network]

"DisablePwdCaching"=dword:00000000

--------------Enable.reg-----------------

Cleaning Recent Docs Menu and the RUN MRU

The Recent Docs menu can be easily disabled by editing the Registry. To do this go to the following Key:

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

Now in the right pane, create a new DWORD value by the name: NoRecentDocsMenu and set it's value to 1. Restart Explorer to save the changes.

You can also clear the RUN MRU history. All the listings are stored in the key:

HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU

You can delete individual listings or the entire listing. To delete History of Find listings go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRU

and delete.

Customizing the Right Click Context Menu of the Start Menu

When you right click on the start menu, only 3 options pop up: Open, Explore, and Find. You can add your own programs to this pop up menu( which comes up when we right click on it.) Open Regedit and go to the following registry key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell

Right click on the shell and create a new Sub Key (You can create a new SubKey by right clicking on the Shell Key and selecting New > Key.). Type in the name of the application you want to add to the start menu. I want to add Notepad to the Start Menu and hence I name this new sub key, Notepad. Now right click on the new registry key that you just created and create yet another new key named Command. Enter the ful| path of the application, in this case Notepad in the default value of Command in the right

pane. So I Modify the value of the default string value and enter the ful| pathname of Notepad:

c:\wndows\notepad.exe.

Now press F5 to refresh. Now if you right click on the Start Button you will find a new addition to the Pop Up Menu called Notepad. Clicking on it will launch Notepad.

We can not only add but also remove the existing options in this pop up box.

To delete the Find option, go to the following registry key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\Find

Delete Find. DO NOT delete Open else you will not be able to open any folders in the Start Menu like Programs, Accessories etc.

BMP Thumbnail As Icon

You can actually change the default BMP icon to a thumbnail version of the actual BMP file. To do this simply go to HKCU\Paint.Picture\Default. In the right pane change the value of default to %1. Please note however that this will slow down the display rate in explorer if there are too many BMP thumbnails to display. You can use other icons too, simply enter the pathname.To restore back to the normal change the vale of default back to: C:\Progra~1\Access~1\MSPAINT.EXE,1..

Customizing The Shortcut Arrow

All shortcuts have a tiny black arrow attached to it's icon to distinguish from normal files. This arrow can sometimes be pretty annoying and as a Hacker should know how to change each and everything, here goes another trick. Launch the Registry Editor and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Shell Icons.

Now, on the right pane is a list of icons ( we found out that on some systems, Windows 98 especially, the right pane is blank. Don't worry, just add the value as required ). Find the value 29. If it isn't there, just add it. The value of this string should be C:\Windows\system\shell32.dll, 29 ( which means the 30th icon in shell32.dll - the first one begins with 0 ). Now, we need blank icon to do this. Just create one with white as the whole icon. Go here to learn how to create an icon. Once done just change the value to C:\.ico, 0 where "" is the ful| path of the icon file and "0" is the icon in it.

Now for some fun. If the blank icon is a bit boring, change it again. You will find that under shell32.dll there is a gear icon, a shared folder ( the hand ) and much more. Experiment for yourself!

Use Perl to Get List or Services Running on your NT box

Use the following Perl Script to get a list of Services running on your NT system

--------------script.pl-----------------

#!c:\per\bin\perl.exe

use Win32::Service;

my ($key, %service, %status, $part);

Win32::Service::GetServices(' ',\%services);

foreach $key (sort keys %services) {

print "Print Name\t: $key, $services{$key}\n";

Win32::Service::GetStatus( ' ',$services{$key};

\%status);

foreach $part (keys %status) {

print "\t$part : $status{$part}\n" if($part eq "CurrentState");

}

}

-------------script.pl-------------------

Internet Explorer Tricks and Tips

Resizable ful| Screen Toolbar

The ful| Screen option increases the viewable area and makes surfing more enjoyable but sometimes we need the Toolbar but also need to have extra viewing area. Now this h@*k teaches you how to change the size of the Internet Explorer toolbar. This registry h@*k is a bit complicated as it involves Binary values, so to make it simple, I have included the following registry file which will enable the resizable option of the Internet Explorer toolbar which was present in the beta version of IE.

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar]

"Theater"=hex:0c,00,00,00,4c,00,00,00,74,00,00,00,18,00,00,00,1b,00,00,00,5c,\

00,00,00,01,00,00,00,e0,00,00,00,a0,0f,00,00,05,00,00,00,22,00,00,00,26,00,\

00,00,02,00,00,00,21,00,00,00,a0,0f,00,00,04,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,a0,0f,00,\

00,03,00,00,00,08,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

*******************

h@*king TRUTH: Internet Explorer 5 displays the friendly version of HTTP errors like NOT FOUND etc . They are aimed at making things easier for newbies. If you would rather prefer to see the proper error pages for the web server you're using, go to Tools, Internet Options and select the Advanced tab. Then scroll down and uncheck the Show friendly http errors box.

*******************

Making the Internet Explorer & the Explorer Toolbars Fancy

The Internet Explorer toolbar looks pretty simple. Want to make it fancy and kewl? Why not add a background image to it. To do this kewl h@*k launch the Windows Registry Editor and go to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\Toolbar\.

Now in the right pane create a new String Value and name it BackBitmap and modify it's value to the path of the Bitmap you want to dress it up with by rightclicking on it and choosing Modify. When you reboot the Internet Explorer and the Windows Explorer toolbars will have a new look.

Change Internet Explorer's Caption

Don't like the caption of Internet Explorer caption? Want to change it? Open the registry editor and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main.

In the right pane create a new String Value names Window Title (Note the space between Window and Title). Right click on this newly created String Value and select Modify. Type in the new caption you want to be displayed. Restart for the settings to take place.

Now let's move on to some Outlook Express Tricks.

Colorful Background

Don't like the boring background colors of Outlook Express? To change it launch the Windows Registry Editor and scroll down to the

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Mail And News key.

On the left pane, click on ColorCycle or select Edit and Modify in the menu. Now change the value to 1. Close and restart. Now, launch Outlook Express and whenever you open up a New Message, hold down ctrl-shift and tap the z key to scroll to change the background color. Repeat the keystroke to cycle through the colors.

Internet Explorer 5 Hidden Features

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 has several hidden features which can be controlled using the Windows Registry. Open your registry and scroll down to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions

Create a new DWORD value named x(See complete list of values of x below) and modify it's value to 1 to enable it and to 0 to disable it.

NoBrowserClose : Disable the option of closing Internet Explorer.

NoBrowserContextMenu : Disable right-click context menu.

NoBrowserOptions : Disable the Tools / Internet Options menu.

NoBrowserSaveAs : Disable the ability to Save As.

NoFavorites : Disable the Favorites.

NoFileNew : Disable the File / New command.

NoFileOpen : Disable the File / Open command.

NoFindFiles : Disable the Find Files command.

NoSelectDownloadDir : Disable the option of selecting a download directory.

NoTheaterMode : Disable the ful| Screen view option.

h@*king Secrets

Almost all system administrators make certain changes and make the system restricted. System Administrators can hide the RUN option, the FIND command, the entire Control Panel, drives in My Computer like D: A: etc. They can even restrict activities of a hacker my disabling or hiding, even the tiniest options or tools.

Most commonly these restrictions are imposed locally and are controlled by the Windows Registry. But sometimes the smart system administrators control the activities of the hacker by imposing restrictions remotely through the main server.

Poledit or Policy Editor is a small kewl tool which is being commonly used by system administrators to alter the settings of a system. This utility is not installed by default by Windows. You need to install in manually from the Windows 98 Installation Kit from the Resource Kit folder. user.dat file that we saw earlier.

The Policy Editor tool imposes restrictions on the user's system by editing the user.dat file which in turn means that it edits the Windows Registry to change the settings. It can be used to control or restrict access to each and every folder and option you could ever think of. It has the power to even restrict access to individual folders, files, the Control Panel, MS DOS, the drives available etc. Sometimes this software does make life really hard for a Hacker. So how can we remove the restrictions imposed by the Policy Editor? Well read ahead to learn more.

You see the Policy Editor is not the only way to restrict a user's activities.. As we already know that the Policy Editor edits the Windows Registry(user.dat) file to impose such restrictions. So this in turn would mean that we can directly make changes to the Windows Registry using a .reg file or directly to remove or add restrictions.

Launch Regedit and go to the following Registry Key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/CurrentVersion/Policies

Under this key, there will definitely be a key named explorer. Now under this explorer key we can create new DWORD values and modify it's value to 1 in order to impose the restriction. If you want to remove the Restriction, then you can simply delete the respective DWORD values or instead change their values to 0. The following is a list of DWORD values that can be created under the Explorer Key-:

NoDeletePrinter: Disables Deletion of already installed Printers

NoAddPrinter: Disables Addition of new Printers

NoRun : Disables or hides the Run Command

NoSetFolders: Removes Folders from the Settings option on Start Menu (Control Panel, Printers, Taskbar)

NoSetTaskbar: Removes Taskbar system folder from the Settings option on Start Menu

NoFind: Removes the Find Tool (Start >Find)

NoDrives: Hides and does not display any Drives in My Computer

NoNetHood: Hides or removes the Network Neighborhood icon from the desktop

NoDesktop: Hides all items including, file, folders and system folders from the Desktop

NoClose: Disables Shutdown and prevents the user from normally shutting down Windows.

NoSaveSettings: Means to say, 'Don't save settings on exit'

DisableRegistryTools: Disable Registry Editing Tools (If you disable this option, the Windows Registry Editor(regedit.exe) too

will not work.)

NoRecentDocsHistory: Removes Recent Document system folder from the Start Menu (IE 4 and above)

ClearRecentDocsOnExit: Clears the Recent Documents system folder on Exit.

Nolnternetlcon: Removes the Internet (system folder) icon from the Desktop

Under the same key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/CurrentVersion/Policies you can create new subkeys other than the already existing Explorer key. Now create a new key and name it System. Under this new key, system we can create the following new DWORD values(1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option):

NODispCPL: Hides Control Panel

NoDispBackgroundPage: Hides Background page.

NoDispScrsavPage: Hides Screen Saver Page

NoDispAppearancePage: Hides Appearance Page

NoDispSettingsPage: Hides Settings Page

NoSecCPL: Disables Password Control Panel

NoPwdPage: Hides Password Change Page

NoAdminPaqe: Hides Remote Administration Page

NoProfilePage: Hides User Profiles Page

NoDevMgrPage: Hides Device Manager Page

NoConfigPage: Hides Hardware Profiles Page

NoFileSysPage: Hides File System Button

NoVirtMemPage: Hides Virtual Memory Button

Similarly, if we create a new subkey named Network, we can add the following DWORD values under it(1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option):

NoNetSetupSecurityPage: Hides Network Security Page

NoNelSetup: Hides or disables the Network option in the Control Panel

NoNetSetupIDPage: Hides the Identification Page

NoNetSetupSecurityPage: Hides the Access Control Page

NoFileSharingControl: Disables File Sharing Controls

NoPrintSharing: Disables Print Sharing Controls

Similarly, if we create a new subkey named WinOldApp, we can add the following DWORD values under it(1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option):

Disabled: Disable MS-DOS Prompt

NoRealMode: Disable Single-Mode MS-DOS.

So you see if you have access to the Windows Registry, then you can easily create new DWORD values and set heir value to 1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option. But Sometimes, access to the Windows Registry is blocked. So what do you do? Go to the Windows Directory and delete either user.dat or system.dat (These 2 files constitute the Windows Registry.) and reboot. As soon as Windows logs in, it will display a Warning Message informing you about an error in the Windows Registry. Simply ignore this Warning Message and Press CTRL+DEL+ALT to get out of this warning message.(Do not press OK) You will find that all restrictions have been removed.

The most kind of restriction found quite commonly is the Specific Folder Restriction, in which users are not allowed access to specific folders, the most common being the Windows folder, or sometimes even access to My Computer is blocked. In effect, you simply cannot seem to access the important kewl files which are needed by you to do remove restrictions. What do you? Well use the RUN command. (START >RUN). But unfortunately a system administrator who is intelligent enough to block access to specific folder, would definitely have blocked access to the RUN command. Again we are stuck.

Windows is supposed to be the most User Friendly Operating System on earth. (At least Microsoft Says so.)

It gives the User an option to do the same thing in various ways. You see the RUN command is only the most convenient option of launching applications, but not the only way. In Windows you can create shortcuts to almost anything from a file, folder to a Web URL. So say your system administrator has blocked access to the c:\windows\system folder and you need to access it. What do you do? Simply create a Shortcut to it. To do this right click anywhere on the desktop and select New > Shortcut. A new window titled Create Shortcut pops up. Type in the path of the restricted folder you wish to access, in this case c:\windows\system. Click Next, Enter the friendly name of the Shortcut and then click Finish. Now you can access the restricted folder by simply double clicking on the shortcut icon. Well that shows how protected and secure *ahem Windows *ahem is.

****************

h@*king TRUTH: Sometimes when you try to delete a file or a folder, Windows displays an error message saying that the file is protected. This simply means that the file is write protected, or in other words the R option is +. Get it? Anyway, you can stop Windows from displaying this error message and straightaway delete this file by changing its attributes to Non Read Only. This can be done by Right Clicking on the file, selecting Properties and then

unselecting the Read Only Option.

***************

There is yet another way of accessing restricted folders. Use see, DOS has a lovely command known as START. Its general syntax is:

START application_path

It does do what it seems to do, start applications. So in you have access to DOS then you can type in the START command to get access to the restricted folder. Now mostly access to DOS too would be blocked. So again you can use the shortcut trick to launch, c:\command.com or c:\windows\command.com. (Command.com is the file which launches MS DOS).

Accessing Restricted Drives.

The problem with most system administrators is that they think that the users or Hackers too are stupid. Almost all system administrators use the Registry Trick (Explained Earlier) to hide all drives in My Computer. So in order to unhide or display all drives, simply delete that particular key.(Refer to beginning of Untold Secrets Section.)

Some systems have the floppy disk disabled through the BIOS. On those systems if the BIOS is protected, you may need to cr@ck the BIOS password. (For that Refer to the Windows h@*king Chapter). Sometimes making drives readable (Removing R +) and then creating Shortcuts to them also helps us to get access to them.

Further Changing your Operating System's Looks by editing .htt files

If you have installed Windows Desktop Update and have the view as Web Page option enabled, you can customise the way the folder looks by selecting View > Customise this folder. Here you can change the background and other things about that particular folder. Well that is pretty lame, right? We hackers already know things as lame as that. Read on for some kewl stuff.

Well, you could also change the default that is stored in a Hidden HTML Template file (I think so..) which is nothing but a HTML document with a .htt extension. This .htt file is found at: %systemroot%\web\folder.htt.

The %systemroot% stands for the drive in which Windows is Installed, which is normally C:

You can edit these .htt files almost just like you edit normal .HTM or .HTML files. Simply open them in an ASCII editor like Notepad. The following is a list of .htt files on your system which control various folders and which can be edited to customise the way various folders look.

controlp.htt Control Panel

printers.htt Printers

mycomp.htt My Computer

safemode.htt Safe Mode

All these files are found in the web folder in %systemfolder%. The folder.htt file has a line:

'Here's a good place to add a few lines of your own"

which is the place where you can add your own A HREF links. These links would then appear in the folder whose folder.htt file you edited. All this might sound really easy and simple, but you see these .htt files do not contain normal HTML code, instead they contain a mixture of HTML and web bots. Hence they can be difficult for newbies to understand.

Disable XP boot-logo

2009-06-23T07:20:00.002-07:00

It is possible to disable XP splash screen, which will slightly speed up the overall boot process. Be aware that removing the splash screen will also cause you not to see any boot-up messages that might come up (chkdsk, convert ... ), but if your system runs without any problems then it should not matter.

1. Edit boot.ini
2. Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".

(or check the /noguiboot switch in msconfig on the boot.ini tab)

Upon restarting, the splash screen will be gone. It can be re-enabled by removing the new switch.

Speed-up-web-browsing

2009-06-23T07:20:00.001-07:00

Speed-up-web-browsing

If you are in a networked environment and browse via network neighborhood, this tweak is for you. It speeds up your network browsing experiance.

Click Start | Run | Then type Regedit

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

Locate and delete this key {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

Reboot.

Increase-your-cable-modem-or-dsl-speed

2009-06-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

This tweak is for broadband cable connections on stand alone machines with winXP professional version - might work on Home version also. It will probably work with networked machines as well but I haven't tried it in that configuration. This is for windows XP only..

This tweak assumes that you have let winXP create a connection on install for your cable modem/NIC combination and that your connection has tcp/ip - QoS - file and print sharing - and client for microsoft networks , only, installed. It also assumes that winxp will detect your NIC and has in-box drivers for it. If it doesn't do not try this. In the "My Network Places" properties (right click on the desktop icon and choose properties), highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK

1. From the windows XP cd in the support directory from the support cab, extract the file netcap.exe and place it in a directory on your hard drive or even in the root of your C:\ drive.

2. Next, open up a command prompt window and change directories to where you put netcap.exe. then type "netcap/?". It will list some commands that are available for netcap and a netmon driver will be installed. At the bottom you will see your adapters. You should see two of them if using a 3Com card. One will be for LAN and the other will be for WAN something or other.

3. Next type "netcap/Remove". This will remove the netmon driver.

4.. Open up control panel / system / dev man and look at your network adapters. You should now see two of them and one will have a yellow ! on it. Right click on the one without the yellow ! and choose uninstall. YES! you are uninstalling your network adapter, continue with the uninstall. Do not restart yet.

5. Check your connection properties to make sure that no connection exists. If you get a wizard just cancel out of it.

6. Now re-start the machine.

7. After re-start go to your connection properties again and you should have a new connection called "Local area connection 2". highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.

8. Choose connection properties and uncheck the "QOS" box

9. Re-start the machine

10. After restart enjoy the increased responsiveness of IE, faster page loading, and a connection speed boost.

Drives cannot be accessed? Steps to access the drives

2009-05-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

Go to 'RUN' and type 'regedit'
and delete the following key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2

Now try accessing the drives...

Enjoy!!!

EXPLORER.EXE corrupted or infected ?

2009-05-26T11:49:00.002-07:00

Symptoms:- System boots properly but doesn’t load icons or start up menu. Some time gives some errors.

Cause:- This virus comes through USB Drive. If you keep USB Drive pluged into your system and restart then it infects.

Here is the procedure to remove it.
1. CTRL-Alt-Del to bring up Task Manager.

2. Click File | New Task(run).

3. Type regedit in the Run box and click OK.

4. Browse to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution.options

5. Under this key there will be subkeys named explorer.exe and iexplorer.exe. Delete the explorer and iexplorer keys entirely. They should not be listed under the Image File Execution.Options key.

6. Close the Registry Editor.

7. Restart the computer.
Even after this if it is not working then again follow all the steps from 1 to 5 and then go to Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Winlogon
In that folder there is a sub called "Shell". Double click it give value "explorer.exe". if it is not there then create it.
After removal just clear the USB Drive by scanning with Good (Symantec) updated antivirus.

Steps to remove the ntde1ect.com and autorun.inf files from the drives

2009-05-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

Steps to remove the ntde1ect.com and autorun.inf files

There is a Trojan/virus (either the Win32/Pacex virus or the Win32/PSW.Agent.NDP trojan) that uses the two files ntde1ect and autorun.inf Here is how you can get rid of them:

• Open Task Manager and in Processes tab end explorer.exe and wscript.exe process

• Open up File –> New Task (Run) in the Task manager

• Type cmd and hit Enter

• Type
del /a:h /f c:\autorun.*

• Go to your Windows\System32 directory by typing cd c:\windows\system32
Type dir /a:h /f avp*.*
If you see any files names avpo.dll or avpo.exe or avpo.exe, use the
Del /a:h /f avpo.exe

• Open up File –> New Task (Run) in the Task manager, Type regedit

• Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
If there are any entries for avpo.exe, delete them.
Do a complete search of your registry for ntdelect.com and delete any entries you find.

• To Restore Folder Options Settings, Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL
Look at the “CheckedValue” key… This should be a DWORD key. If it isn’t, delete the key.Create a new key called “CheckedValue” as a DWORD (hexadecimal) with a value of 1. The “Show hidden files & folders” check box should now work normally.

2009-05-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

Home Pictures Videos

How To Set Up an FTP Server in Windows Server 2003

2009-05-20T03:19:00.000-07:00

Install Internet Information Services and the FTP Service

Because FTP depends on Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), IIS and the FTP Service must be installed on the computer. To install IIS and the FTP Service, follow these steps.

NOTE: In Windows Server 2003, the FTP Service is not installed by default when you install IIS. If you already installed IIS on the computer, you must use the Add or Remove Programs tool in Control Panel to install the FTP Service.

Click Start, point to Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.
Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
In the Components list, click Application Server, click Internet Information Services (IIS) (but do not select or clear the check box), and then click Details.
Click to select the following check boxes (if they are not already selected):
Common Files
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Service
Internet Information Services Manager
Click to select the check boxes next to any other IIS-related service or subcomponent that you want to install, and then click OK.
Click Next.
When you are prompted, insert the Windows Server 2003 CD-ROM into the computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive or provide a path to the location of the files, and then click OK.
Click Finish.

IIS and the FTP service are now installed. You must configure the FTP Service before you can use it.

Configure The FTP Service

To configure the FTP Service to allow only anonymous connections, follow these steps:

Start Internet Information Services Manager or open the IIS snap-in.
Expand Server_name, where Server_name is the name of the server.
Expand FTP Sites
Right-click Default FTP Site, and then click Properties.
Click the Security Accounts tab.
Click to select the Allow Anonymous Connections check box (if it is not already selected), and then click to select the Allow only anonymous connections check box.

When you click to select the Allow only anonymous connections check box, you configure the FTP Service to allow only anonymous connections. Users cannot log on by using user names and passwords.
Click the Home Directory tab.
Click to select the Read and Log visits check boxes (if they are not already selected), and then click to clear the Write check box (if it is not already cleared).
Click OK.
Quit Internet Information Services Manager or close the IIS snap-in.

The FTP server is now configured to accept incoming FTP requests. Copy or move the files that you want to make available to the FTP publishing folder for access. The default folder is drive:\Inetpub\Ftproot, where drive is the drive on which IIS is installed.

Add/Change Restrictions in Windows

2009-05-20T02:18:00.000-07:00

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\CurrentVersion\Policies
3.Go to the Explorer Key
4.Then right click on the right side pane and select "Create Dword".
Select appropriate value name from the list given below and enter 1 for enabling the value and 0 for disabling it

NoDeletePrinter - Disables Deletion of Printers
NoAddPrinter - Disables Addition of Printers
NoRun - Disables Run Command
NoSetFolders - Removes Folders from Settings on Start Menu
NoSetTaskbar - Removes Taskbar from Settings on Start Menu
NoFind - Removes the Find Command
NoDrives - Hides Drives in My Computers
NoNetHood - Hides the Network Neighborhood
NoDesktop - Hides all icons on the Desktop
NoClose - Disables Shutdown
NoSaveSettings - Don't save settings on exit
DisableRegistryTools - Disable Registry Editing Tools
NoRecentDocsMenu - Hides the Documents shortcut at the Start button
NoRecentDocsHistory- Clears history of Documents
NoFileMenu _ Hides the Files Menu in Explorer
NoActiveDesktop - No Active Desktop
NoActiveDesktopChanges- No changes allowed
NoInternetIcon - No Internet Explorer Icon on the Desktop
NoFavoritesMenu - Hides the Favorites menu
NoChangeStartMenu _ Disables changes to the Start Menu
NoFolderOptions _ Hides the Folder Options in the Explorer
ClearRecentDocsOnExit - Empty the recent Docs folder on reboot
NoLogoff - Hides the Log Off .... in the Start Menu.

Trouble with Windows Pictures and Fax viewer ?

2009-05-20T02:08:00.000-07:00

Click on Start --> "Run"

and type:
regsvr32 /u %windir%\system32\shimgvw.dll
After this process is completed then type

Click on Start --> "Run"
and type :
regsvr32 /i %windir%\system32\shimgvw.dll

This will reinstall the Windows Fax and Picture Viewer on your computer. Reboot the system if required.

Windows XP RUN COMMANDS

2009-05-20T01:31:00.000-07:00

Go to
StartMenu>RUN> "cmd "

Accessibility Controls
access.cpl

Add Hardware Wizard
hdwwiz.cpl

Add/Remove Programs
appwiz.cpl

Administrative Tools
control admintools

Automatic Updates
wuaucpl.cpl

Bluetooth Transfer Wizard
fsquirt

Calculator
calc

Certificate Manager
certmgr.msc

Character Map
charmap

Check Disk Utility
chkdsk

Clipboard Viewer
clipbrd

Command Prompt
cmd

Component Services
dcomcnfg

Computer Management
compmgmt.msc

Date and Time Properties
timedate.cpl

DDE Shares
ddeshare

Device Manager
devmgmt.msc

Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)*
directx.cpl

Direct X Troubleshooter
dxdiag

Disk Cleanup Utility
cleanmgr

Disk Defragment
dfrg.msc

Disk Management
diskmgmt.msc

Disk Partition Manager
diskpart

Display Properties
control desktop

Display Properties
desk.cpl

Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected)
control color

Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility
drwtsn32

Driver Verifier Utility
verifier

Event Viewer
eventvwr.msc

File Signature Verification Tool
sigverif

Findfast
findfast.cpl

Folders Properties
control folders

Fonts
control fonts

Fonts Folder
fonts

Free Cell Card Game
freecell

Game Controllers
joy.cpl

Group Policy Editor (XP Prof)
gpedit.msc

Hearts Card Game
mshearts

Iexpress Wizard
iexpress

Indexing Service
ciadv.msc

Internet Properties
inetcpl.cpl

IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration)
ipconfig /all

IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents)
ipconfig /displaydns

IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents)
ipconfig /flushdns

IP Configuration (Release All Connections)
ipconfig /release

IP Configuration (Renew All Connections)
ipconfig /renew

IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP & Re-Registers DNS)
ipconfig /registerdns

IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID)
ipconfig /showclassid

IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID)
ipconfig /setclassid

ava Control Panel (If Installed)
jpicpl32.cpl

Java Control Panel (If Installed)
javaws

Keyboard Properties
control keyboard

Local Security Settings
secpol.msc

Local Users and Groups
lusrmgr.msc

Logs You Out Of Windows
logoff

Mcft Chat
winchat

Minesweeper Game
winmine

Mouse Properties
control mouse

Mouse Properties
main.cpl

Network Connections
control netconnections

Network Connections
ncpa.cpl

Network Setup Wizard
netsetup.cpl

Notepad
notepad

Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed)
nvtuicpl.cpl

Object Packager
packager

ODBC Data Source Administrator
odbccp32.cpl

On Screen Keyboard
osk

Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed)
ac3filter.cpl

Password Properties
password.cpl

Performance Monitor
perfmon.msc

Performance Monitor
perfmon

Phone and Modem Options
telephon.cpl

Power Configuration
powercfg.cpl

Printers and Faxes
control printers

Printers Folder
printers

Private Character Editor
eudcedit

Quicktime (If Installed)
QuickTime.cpl

Regional Settings
intl.cpl

Registry Editor
regedit

Registry Editor
regedit32

Remote Desktop
mstsc

Removable Storage
ntmsmgr.msc

Removable Storage Operator Requests
ntmsoprq.msc

Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof)
rsop.msc

Scanners and Cameras
sticpl.cpl

Scheduled Tasks
control schedtasks

Security Center
wscui.cpl

Services
services.msc

Shared Folders
fsmgmt.msc

Shuts Down Windows
shutdown

Sounds and Audio
mmsys.cpl

Spider Solitare Card Game
spider

SQL Client Configuration
cliconfg

System Configuration Editor
sysedit

System Configuration Utility
msconfig

System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately)
sfc /scannow

System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot)
sfc /scanonce

System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot)
sfc /scanboot

System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting)
sfc /revert

System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache)
sfc /purgecache

System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x)
sfc /cachesize=x

System Properties
sysdm.cpl

Task Manager
taskmgr

Telnet Client
telnet

User Account Management
nusrmgr.cpl

Utility Manager
utilman

Windows Firewall
firewall.cpl

Windows Magnifier
magnify

Windows Management Infrastructure
wmimgmt.msc

Windows System Security Tool
syskey

Windows Update Launches
wupdmgr

Windows XP Tour Wizard
tourstart

Wordpad
write

Increase the Internet Speed

2009-05-20T01:25:00.000-07:00

Open Notepad and paste the below code in it.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Tcpip\Parameters]
"SackOpts"=dword:00000001
"TcpWindowSize"=dword:0005ae4c
"Tcp1323Opts"=dword:00000003
"DefaultTTL"=dword:00000040
"EnablePMTUBHDetect"=dword:00000000
"EnablePMTUDiscovery"=dword:00000001
"GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize"=dword:0005ae4c
Now save this file as "any_name.reg"

Execute it and check your internet speed

Keyboard Shortcuts

2009-05-20T01:12:00.000-07:00

Windows key + R = Run menu
This is usually followed by:
cmd = Command Prompt
iexplore + "web address" = Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc = Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management
services.msc = Services
eventvwr = Event Viewer
dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services
Windows key + E = Explorer
ALT + Tab = Switch between windows
ALT, Space, X = Maximize window
CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager
Windows key + Break = System properties
Windows key + F = Search
Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows
CTRL + C = copy
CTRL + X = cut
CTRL + V = paste
Also don't forget about the "Right-click" key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you've opened up any program.

Keyboard Shortcuts
[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications
[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter
[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu
[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)
[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window
[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document
Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word
Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph
[F1] Open Help for active application
Windows+M Minimize all open windows
Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows
Windows+F1 Open Windows Help
Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons
Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box

acessability shortcuts
Right SHIFT for eight seconds........ Switch FilterKeys on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN....... Switch High Contrast on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK....... Switch MouseKeys on and off.
SHIFT....... five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.
NUM LOCK...... for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.
explorer shortcuts
END....... Display the bottom of the active window.
HOME....... Display the top of the active window.
NUM LOCK+ASTERISK....... on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.
NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.
NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.
LEFT ARROW...... Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder.
RIGHT ARROW....... Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder.

Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run
devmgmt.msc = Device Manager
msinfo32 = System Information
cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup
ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc = Microsoft Management Console
excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)
msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)
powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)
winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)
frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)
notepad = Notepad
wordpad = WordPad
calc = Calculator
msmsgs = Windows Messenger
mspaint = Microsoft Paint
wmplayer = Windows Media Player
rstrui = System Restore
netscp6 = Netscape 6.x
netscp = Netscape 7.x
netscape = Netscape 4.x
waol = America Online
control = Opens the Control Panel
control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog

internetbrowser
type in u're adress "google", then press [Right CTRL] and [Enter]
add www. and .com to word and go to it

For Windows XP:
Copy. CTRL+C
Cut. CTRL+X
Paste. CTRL+V
Undo. CTRL+Z
Delete. DELETE
Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE
Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item
Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item
Rename selected item. F2
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW
Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select all. CTRL+A
Search for a file or folder. F3
View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER
Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4
Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4
Switch between open items. ALT+TAB
Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC
Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6
Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10
Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC
Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu
Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10
Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW
Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW
Refresh the active window. F5
View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE
Cancel the current task. ESC
SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.
Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:
To Press
Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB
Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
Move forward through options. TAB
Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB
Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter
Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER
Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR
Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
Display Help. F1
Display the items in the active list. F4
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE
If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

Display or hide the Start menu. WIN Key
Display the System Properties dialog box. WIN Key+BREAK
Show the desktop. WIN Key+D
Minimize all windows. WIN Key+M
Restores minimized windows. WIN Key+Shift+M
Open My Computer. WIN Key+E
Search for a file or folder. WIN Key+F
Search for computers. CTRL+WIN Key+F
Display Windows Help. WIN Key+F1
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. WIN Key+ L
Open the Run dialog box. WIN Key+R
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U
accessibility keyboard shortcuts:
Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds
Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN
Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK
Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times
Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U
shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:

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

Set a background image for your pen drive

2009-05-20T00:54:00.000-07:00

Step:1
Copy the below code in the notepad and name the file as "desktop.ini"

[.ShellClassInfo]
IconFile=%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll
IconIndex=127
ConfirmFileOp=0
[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
Attributes=1
IconArea_Image="your_image.jpg"
IconArea_Text="0xFFFFFF"
VeBRA sources - don't delete the tag above, it's there for XXXXX purposes -
[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
{5984FFE0-28D4-11CF-AE66-08002B2E1262}={5984FFE0-28D4-11CF-AE66-08002B2E1262}
[{5984FFE0-28D4-11CF-AE66-08002B2E1262}]
PersistMoniker=Folder.htt
PersistMonikerPreview=%WebDir%\folder.bmp

Step 2:
Put "desktop.ini" file onto your pen/flash drive and replace "your_image" with the
name of the picture you want to use leaving the .jpg extension the same.

Step 3:
Now copy the picture that you want to use onto your flash drive.

Step 4:
Refresh (F5) or Go back to My Computer and open your flash drive again