Happy New Year 2006

Happy New Year




New Years Eve
Friends and Family gathered round
Cheese and crackers for munching
Fireworks and noisemakers to welcome in the new
India to wet the whistle and
Someone to kiss to at the top of the hour
New Years Eve


Happy New Year 2006

XP Pro wont boot up says pci.sys, XP Pro wont boot up...

A Problem
Some one Asked : XP Pro wont boot up says pci.sys, XP Pro wont boot up... HELPPPPP

I booted up my computer and it says it cant start because the file pci.sys is missing or corrupt, to go to the next screen and press R to repair. So I flash the bios, hoping that will do something, nothing. I go into the bios and change the boot sequence, so I can load the xp cd and repair the problem, nothing, It wont boot from the cdrom. I am going out of my mind, I dont know how to get back into windows or reformat. Please I need help bad. I got a website to finish for my boss and I need my pc.....


Expert says :
Make sure you have a working bootable XP CD.
Then put the CD rom as first boot device in your bios and boot.

The first thing to do is to run a checkdisk.
At the recovery console prompt type: CHKDSK C: /R
(notice that there's a space between K and C : and /).
If you happen to have a spare ram module lying around, try swapping with that.
Also try to remove all peripheral hardware that is not required for basic functionality.


Another Expert : Download a copy of hdd regenerator from the files section. It will make abootable floppy or a bootable cd. boot with it & let it run. If you have bad sectors on the drive this will fix it without damaging your files. It sounds to me like you do have bad sectors & that is why windows won't boot. DO NOT USE CHKDSK. If you do it will mark the sectors as bad & you will have to repartition the drive to get rid of the bad sector markings even if you fix the disk.


One More Solution :
Or when you get to the Windows Xp Setup screen.. and its finished loading all the drivers... ( this is assuming you have a bootable Win XP cd) Press R for repair... then at the promt press 1 if there is no admin password then at the C promt type in-> fixmbr what this does is fixes a corupt boot record.. then type ->exit to get out and reboot



One More Tip :Found this...hope it helps you get running again.

http://www.jsifaq.com/subK/tip5400/rh5410.htm

Secret Worlds: The Universe Within

Hello Check this link

View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.


Follow link


N'joy

Just Relax and LOL

1. What is Common between : Krishna, Ram, Gandhiji & Jesus..?
Sardar ji Replied : All are Born on Government Holidays.

2. Teacher to a Sardar : A=B, B=C, So A=C, Give me an example,
Sardar : I Love You, You Love Your Daughter, So I Love Your
Daughter.

3. Ek aadmi ki Biwi gum ho gayi, Waha RAM ke Mandir me gaya,
Ram ne kaha
Baju wale Hanuman Ke Mandir mai ja, Meri bhi usi ne dhundhi thi.

4. A Kid asks the Priest : Father what is your Favourite Pastime...?
The Priest pats the kids head & replys : NUN My Child NUN....!!

5. Sardar bought a new mobile. He called everyone from his Phone
Book & said "My Mobile No. has changed Earlier it was Nokia 3310
Now it is 6610"

6. Santa : I am a Proud Sa rdar, My son is in Medical College,
Banta : Really, what is he studing, Santa : No is not studying,
they r Studying him.

7. Chinti aur Hathi ka Prem Vivah hua. Agle Din Hathi ki Maut ho
gai...!! Chinti Boli Wah Mohabbat, EK din ka pyar hua, ab sari
umra kabra khodnemai bitegi..!!

8. Santa Banta ko 3 live bomb mile, Police ko dene chale, Santa agar
koi bomb raste mai Phat jaye to..?
Banta : Jhooth bol denge 2 hi mile the...!!!

9. Sardar falls in Love with Nurse. He writes a Loveletter to her,
" I LOVE U SISTER.

Hosting .net XML Webservice without using IIS

We were planning to do some extensions for our exiting Java based websites by means of XML web services but the major Obstacle was using IIS to host webservice which we were not willing . But now with .net 2.0 web can host ASMX web services without IIS.
Read the article below Explaining how we can do this

An article in MSDN Magazine


Thanks Microsoft

The Software Patch - Download site for patches, upgrades, service packs and hardware drivers

The Software Patch - Download site for patches, upgrades, service packs and hardware drivers

A really useful site for all sorts of patches:

All Windows OS updates & security patches
Games
Graphics
Hardware Drivers & Updates
Tips etc ...............

Useful Sites

To help out those looking for articles/reviews/tips/help/etc., I thought I would compile a list of sites to check out to do just that (I'm sure a lot of ppl probably know about them, but here they are for those who don't). More to be added later I'm sure

Reviews/News

http://www.aceshardware.com
http://www.anandtech.com
http://www.8ballshardware.com
http://www.overclockersclub.com
http://www.extremetech.com
http://www.cnet.com
http://www.zdnet.com
http://www.pcmag.com
http://www.resellerratings.com (not only has a lot of GOOD websites linked, but CUSTOMER comments on them)

Good for Windows

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm (turn off annoying things in winxp)
http://www.download.com/Microsoft-A...4-10353597.html (Microsoft Anti-Spyware beta, credit Iod for finding)
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download (adaware)
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html (spybot)
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2 (free antivirus)
http://www.mozilla.org (firefox/mozilla/thunderbird, etc.. get em over explorer anyday imo)
http://toolbar.google.com (free popup blocker)
http://www.bmesite.com (internet sweeper)

PC Tests

http://www.futuremark.com (benchmark)
http://www.pcpitstop.com
http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest

Help/Terms/etc

http://whatis.techtarget.com
http://www.answersthatwork.com/home_page.htm (wonder what that background program does?..)
http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/index.htm (starting to build your own pc??..)

Downloads

http://www.coolmon.org (system stats on your desktop)
http://freelayouts.com (free website layouts)
http://www.webattack.com/main.html (download stuff)
http://www.download.com (download stuff)
http://www.wincustomize.com (customize windows)

http://www.cpuid.com/pcw.php#download (PC Wizard, system information program)
http://www.driverheaven.net/dforce/default.php (TuneXp, nice program)
http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijac ... l(Displays system processes and other running programs)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html (Adds over 3,000 sites to your block list)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html (Guards your browser from HiJack attempts and alerts you of attacks)
http://www.download.com/ZoneAlarm/3...t ... ZoneAlarm; checks all internet traffic and blocks malicious activity)
http://www.download.com/Kerio-Perso...tml?tag=lst-0-1 (Kerio Firewall)
http://www.download.com/Download-Ac...6.html?tag=list (Download Accelerator Plus, for those with slow connections)

Misc.

http://imageshack.us (free image uploader)

if all else fails... www.google.com is the way to go

How to Find your IP

An IP is something every human being on earth who has a computer has an IP which is unique and it stands for Internet Protocol, these IP's have a reason for being unique. 1 of them is for Internet Crime and Identification

IP's could easily get hold of no matter if its your IP you want or someone elses ( I wont give information on how to get someone elses information until MentaL gives me permission as this could be used for hacking) here is a list of how to get YOUR IP:

1. You can always use a website such as " www.IPchicken.com " which shows your IP (Internet Protocol), you might ask how this website gets your IP, we will get to that later.
2. You can also use a program to get your IP such as " IP Checker " can be found on " www.google.com "
3. You can do it manually in a manual way there is 2 ways,
Way 1. By RIGHT clicking the "Internet Connection" tray icon found on the bottom right hand corner (near the clock) and clicking on the Properties then on the Advanced Tab
Way 2. Click Start>Run type cmd and click ok, a new window will open this is called "Command Prompt", type "IPconfig /all" without the QUOTES, it will display a list of information what your looking for is the "IP Address" line, along the line you will see your IP address

Questions and Answers

Question: How does the website get your IP?
Answer: Websitews such as www.IPchicken.com use a special PHP code; When the website is accessed it pings your computer which your computer pings the website back and thats where the IP is captured and displayed
Question: What is "Ping"?
Answer: You can see what a ping is when playing a online game the ping (distance) between you and the other player/s, lets try a Ping and see what you get:
Step 1: Click Start>Run and type cmd, Command Prompt will come up type "Ping www.yahoo.com" it will display information about packets sent and recieved the lower packets sent/recieved means your internet connection is excellent, remeber your IP is logged on " www.yahoo.com " after Pinging it.

How to Open URL in Default Web Browser ?

Use the code below to Open a Default Program for the given file type
This program is in VB6
If you give any other filename with path instead of http://rahul.f2g.net then it will open that file in its default viewer/

[code]

'used for shelling out to the default web browser
Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation As String, ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal lpParameters As String, ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long
Public Const conSwNormal = 1

ShellExecute hwnd, "open", "http://bagal.org", vbNullString, vbNullString, conSwNormal

[/code]

Database Design and Normalization

Database Design and Normalization

A nice and beginner's article for learning database design

A logical database is a collection of facts. Your company may have a personnel database wherein facts about its employees are kept. Your company may have an inventory database where it keeps facts about the numbers and kinds of objects it owns. In a relational database these facts are kept in special tables that can be manipulated by a computer. A logical database may have several related tables. For example, a library database might have a table about books and a table about library card holders (they are related because a library card holder can check out books). Database design is deciding what facts to keep in which tables.

Read on ....

Guide to Backing up your system!

Backing up your system!

c/p
Wouldn't it be great if every time something went wrong with your Windows set-up you could just click a few buttons and have everything restored to its original state in a matter of minutes? Well it can be done, very simply and all for free as usual.
What you need to do is get hold of some "imaging" software. What this will do is store an exact copy of your fully functioning Windows installation in a compressed format, which can at a later date be restored to its former glory when things start to go wrong. The best imaging program around at the moment is without a doubt Norton's Ghost. This is very quick and simple to use and runs from DOS so is capable of backing up all those system files which are inaccessible while you're actually within the Windows interface.

This backup process isn't as complicated as it sounds. All you have to do is store your Windows set-up on one partition of your hard drive and backup to a separate partition. The reason for this becomes clear after you have restored your backup to a partition that is already full of valuable data and find that it is all wiped out as a result! Unless you are using "Partition Magic" you will have to start with a formatted hard drive and use "fdisk", which is a DOS executable which comes as standard with Windows 95, 98 and Me. Make sure you are in DOS (not within the Windows environment, but in "real" DOS mode) now type fdisk and select create new partition. It is advisable to use somewhere between 1.5 and 2 gigabytes of your hard drive for your boot partition which will contain your Windows installation and any other essential applications. Now create an extended partition to be used for everything else you wish to store on your hard drive. Re-boot your computer and format both partitions using the command "format c:" followed by "format d:", re-install Windows to your c: drive and then backup the whole partition to your extended d: drive partition using Norton Ghost. Of course if you already have more than one hard drive installed you can skip all of this and simply back up to your second drive although this will involve wasting a hell of lot of space. The main reason for all this partitioning is to make more efficient use of the space you have available. When you backup a partition you can't select which bits you want to compress and which bits you don't, it's either all or nothing. For example if you have two 20 gigabyte drives and you store your Windows installation on one of them and everything else on the other, when you backup what's on your boot partition everything is compressed and stored in a single file not just your Windows and Program Files folders. The upshot of this is that when you decompress this image file back onto your drive you lose everything else which you may have stored on it after making your backup and this is why it is best to have a small-ish partition just for Windows.

Once you have installed Ghost within the Windows environment exit to real DOS using your boot disk and enter your Ghost installation directory. Now copy the main executable (ghost.exe) to your extended partition and run it from there. It is very important that you don't run the file from the drive you wish to backup. This is the only file you really need to perform a successful backup within DOS so if you know someone who already has this file you may want to see if they will e-mail it to you (it's only about 600 kb) rather than downloading the whole program yourself, which is about 14 mb. I'm sure the nice chaps at Norton spent a long time programming the extra Windows utilities which come as standard with Ghost, but in my opinion it's just unnecessary fluff. Now simply select the create image option from the menu, choose the drive you wish to back up, as well as the drive you want to store the image on, give it a name and press the OK button and voila, everything should be safely backed up to a single compressed archive, ready and waiting to save your PC from the dreaded blue screen of death in the future. It's worth remembering at this point that this system image is a file like any other so it can be moved around, deleted, backed up to a CD-R, chewed, sat on etc etc.

Now when Windows inevitably starts doing strange, unexplainable things or simply refuses to load (curse you Microsoft!) you can just format your primary partition and restore your original Windows set-up using Ghost. This process can seem a bit daunting at first so let me explain it in a bit more detail. Before doing anything as a drastic as wiping out your Windows partition make sure you have created a boot disk for yourself. This can be done via your Windows control panel in Windows 9? or Me, but is a bit more awkward in Windows 2000, especially if you're using a ripped version (which doesn't include the necessary boot disk creation files). The data for the standard Windows 2000 boot disk, well boot disks actually, occupies four floppies. God only knows what the justification for this is, but if you're one of the people without the option to create this boot disk you can use Norton's make boot disk command from within Windows (OK, I admit this is one of the less fluffy options!). When you've got your boot disk stick it in your floppy drive and reboot your computer. Providing your computer has been set up to first read from the floppy drive before looking for your Windows installation on your hard drive, your boot disk will take the reigns and boot your computer into real DOS mode. If on the other hand when you reboot your computer ignores the floppy completely and boots into Windows as usual will have to edit your BIOS settings. To do this press the reset button, wait for your computer's stats to appear in that familiar black and white table and press the delete key (if you're unsure of exactly when to do this just keep hammering your delete key until something happens or look out for the "press the del key now to enter your BIOS" message!). From the basic settings section of your BIOS menu you should be able to select your first, second, third and fourth boot device. Make sure your floppy drive is selected as the first boot device followed by your hard drive, save the settings and reboot once again.

Once you arrive at the DOS prompt, format your Windows partition using the command format c:/q - the q switch allows you to format a previously formatted drive in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. If you've never formatted before leave out the switch and twiddle your thumbs while you wait. Formatting isn't strictly necessary at this stage as Ghost will overwrite everything for you, but I like to be thorough to make sure everything runs smoothly. Now to restore your compressed image file enter your Ghost installation direction using the cd command and type "ghost". Browse through the menu until you come to the restore image option, select it, locate your image file and then press the OK button. Tell Ghost where you want to extract it to (i.e the c: drive) and click OK. When the decompression process is complete, reset your computer and let it boot into Windows as usual. And finally (take a deep breath!) step back from your screen in astonishment and admire your brand new, good as the day it was first installed Windows set up. Once you recover from the shock of how easy all this was you can proceed to fill up your computer with useless programs and games that you'll never use, safe in the knowledge that you can wipe the whole lot out and restore your set up whenever you like with a few simple steps.

Other program I like and have use that done me good in the past Acronis.

And Terabyte Unlimited make good programs also worth a try also.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/

http://www.acronis.com/

Pi to 1,000,000 places

Pi to 1,000,000 places: "Pi to one MILLION decimal places"


Checkout this site to get Most accurate value of PI

Is Some thing strange with IE ?

My friend Vinod asked me ?

Create a folder on the desktop and name it "Notepad".
Open a web-page (any web-page) in IE and see its view source (right click on the web-page - view source).

============

ne ideas, why is it so ??


Me :

Because Desktop is a instance of IE only
So its default path is set to desktop folder
When you say View source it runs a command

Notepad “URL”

When you create a folder it first gives preference to open folder.
You can also try this like put any .exe/.bat file on desktop and rename it as notepad.exe/.bat
It will get executed if you try to view source

Cheers

SQL Server 2000 Installation Fails with "...previous program installation..." Error Message

Posting Previous Post Again with details
When you install SQL Server 2000, this error message may occur: A previous program installation created pending file operations on the installation machine. You must restart the computer before running setup. After the error message appears, the installation will not continue until you address the problem.

While installing SQL Server you face this proble . To resove it take following Steps

Restart the computer and see if you are able to run the setup. If the restart does not help, use the steps that follow.
Perform these steps and then run the SQL Server 2000 setup again:

a. Click Start, and then click Run.
b. In the Open dialog box, type: "Regedit" (without the quotation marks) or "Regedt32" (without the quotation marks)
c. Click OK.NOTE: Please make sure that you only delete the value mentioned, not the whole session manager key.
d. In Registry Editor, expand the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager
e. On the File menu, click Export.NOTE: In Microsoft Windows 2000, click Export Registry File from the Registry menu.
f. In the File name text box, type: "Session Manager Key" (without the quotation marks)
g. Click Save.
h. In the right-pane of the Registry Editor window, right-click PendingFileRenameOperations. On the shortcut menu that appears, click Delete.
i. In the Confirm Value Delete message dialog box that appears, click Yes.
j. On the File menu, click Exit.NOTE: In Windows 2000, click Exit on the Registry menu.
k. Restart the computer.

Continue installation of SQL Server

Starting new photography blog

Hello all ,
I have just created a new blog share my phtographs , Discuss photography skills and enhance them is the basline for this
Have a look at it
http://rahulphotography.blogspot.com/

Thanks

मराठी साहित्य (Marathi Literature)

मराठी साहित्य (Marathi Literature) While Browing net I just found this Interesting and beautiful blog. There are very little web sites in marathi as compared.


Congratulations on doing this beautiful blog

See if Files, Folders and Drives Exist

These functions will allow to determine whether files, folders and drives exist at runtime.

Code to see whether a file exists:
Public Function FExists(OrigFile As String)
Dim fs
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
FExists = fs.fileexists(OrigFile)
End Function
'Returns a boolean - True if the file exists


Code to see whether a folder exists:
Public Function DirExists(OrigFile As String)
Dim fs
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
DirExists = fs.folderexists(OrigFile)
End Function
'Returns a boolean - True if the folder exists


Code to check the state of a drive (returns 0 if the drive does not exist, 1 if the drive exists but contains no media, 2 if the drive exists and contains media. Hard-drives will always return 2):
Public Function DExists(OrigFile As String)
Dim fs, d
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If fs.driveexists(OrigFile) = True Then
Set d = fs.getdrive(OrigFile)
DExists = 1
If d.isready = True Then
DExists = 2
Exit Function
End If
Else
DExists = 0
End If
End Function

WAP tips top WAP Sites

WAP tips top WAP Sites: "Top Ten Tips for WAP Developers"

If you are planning on developing a WAP site, don't treat it like a small web site - treat it instead as a mobile relationship tool, or a means of delivering specific, relevant information. WAP has advantages too.

This is a nice site to tips for Building Wap Site

What is WAP?

WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol, and quite simply, it allows you to access information and services from the Internet on your mobile phone. WAP works in a similar way to the internet, users can view WAP sites from many different companies and individuals with a range of content. A lot of things available on the internet are also available on WAP. WAP offers the following features to WAP users:
email - read and reply to their emails
chat rooms - users can chat and make friends in a range of themed chat rooms. It's similar to sending SMS message, but to lots of people at once.
news - read the latest news headlines
sports - get the latest sports results and news
share prices - check the movement of your share prices
weather - check our the latest weather forecasts.
entertainment - Enter exclusive competitions and get the latest entertainment gossip
horoscopes - Check you horoscope, or find out your love compatibility with your loved one!
games - play a game online with other people
travel - users can check train timetables to make sure they don't miss the last ride home.
shopping - Go shopping for CDs, DVDs, books and more.
plus much more...

10 things you should do to a new PC before connecting it to the Internet

10 things you should do to a new PC before connecting it to the Internet

To prevent the frustration that comes with re-installing Windows, you should take the necessary steps to update, configure, and patch your new PC. Keep in mind that no matter how new your PC is, it will most likely need patching and it will definitely need to be properly configured. Here are 10 basic things you should do before attaching the Internet to a new PC.

Step 1: Make a starter CD-ROM
Step 2: Remove the promotional apps
Step 3: Install antivirus software
Step 4: Turn on a software firewall
Step 5: Install printers and other peripherals
Step 6: Establish a password
Step 7: Create a new user account with password
Step 8: Turn off unnecessary Windows services
Step 9: Establish a system restore point
Step 10: Install and configure a router

ISO's Faq

ISOs
Q. What is an ISO?

A. An ISO is an exact copy of an original CD, all the multimedia bits and pieces are uncut and therefore they are extremely large and awkward to download. The best place to find them is on FTP sites and for an ISO to work correctly it must be burnt onto a blank CD (the exception to the rule is when you use a CD emulator such as Virtual Drive - read on to learn more).

Q. I've just burnt a data ISO, but have ended up with a useless audio CD. What am I doing wrong?

A. Did you load the .cue sheet before burning or just the main .bin file? Maybe your ISO didn't come with a cue file at all because someone forgot to include it. Well whatever the reason, if you've bypassed the cue file you've probably confused your CD writing software. Because the cue file lets your software know which mode to use when burning an ISO if you don't open this file to begin with it automatically uses the default setting (usually it assumes you want to make an audio CD).

Another possible explanation is that you have a corrupt cue file, which contains incorrect file location information. If this is the case you can edit your cue file to check which directory it is pointing to. If your bin file is in a directory other than the one referred to in the cue file you have two options, you either move the bin file to match the path in the cue file or you edit the cue file so that it corresponds to the directory in which your bin file is stored. It is often more practical to delete the path reference altogether and just leave the name of the file. This way your burning software will assume that the bin file and cue file are in the same directory.

And finally, some burning software (such as CD-R Win) contains built in anti-piracy protection so that if you have used a blacklisted serial number or a faulty crack the program will only produce blank or audio CDs. The problem here is that you're not likely to get a little animated character (a la the Microsoft helper) to pop up and tell you "we know you're trying to use our product without paying for it and so this program will only create duff CDs". Instead the program just carries on as normal as though everything is going according to plan and creates a useless coaster with no hint of an explanation. The only way around this is to use a better crack or a serial number that you definitely know works (you could ask someone on a bulletin board about their experiences with different numbers).

Q. I've downloaded an ISO, but there's no sign of a cue file. What do I do now?

A. If it's an application which doesn't necessarily have to be installed from a CD you can use ISO Buster to extract the .bin file to your hard drive. Once extracted all that remains to be done is to sift through the files until you find the main installation file and run it. Although this method can be used for games which have to be run from a CD-R it is a bit trickier which is why I'd recommend converting the .bin file into another format before burning it. To do this get hold of the "Bin2Iso Converter" (available from http://www.cdrsoft.net) and use it to convert the file to .iso format. Now acquire a copy EZ CD Creator and use it to open the new .iso file. Finally, select the "create from CD image" option from the file menu and simply burn it in the usual way.

Q. I want to use an ISO, but haven't got a CD writer. Is there any way I can run an ISO from my hard drive?

A. Yes, it's possible to do this. First of all you need to get hold of a program that is capable of extracting ISO format files, Win Image will do very nicely. Install the program, run it and select the "file" option from the menu bar. Now choose the open option. Search through your hard drive for the ISO file you wish to decompress and double click on it. The next step is to return to the menu bar. This time select the "image" option and scroll down the list until you come across the word "extract". If you click on this, a dialogue box should appear to ask you where you would like to extract the files to. Pick a suitable directory and press the extract button.

Now if your ISO happens to be an application you can just browse through the extracted files until you find one labeled setup.exe or install.exe and run it. Once the program is installed you will no longer need the extracted files so they can be deleted to conserve hard drive space (remember to keep the ISO file, however, in case you need to re-install at a later date). Now you can congratulate yourself on a job well done and start using your new application immediately.

On the other hand if you are attempting to install a game, your task is going to be a bit more tricky. First of all you will have to choose one of two options. The first is to install the game and overwrite the main executable file in the directory you have installed the game to with a cracked replacement exe. In this case the game would be playable, but because the crack bypasses any CD checks you will probably lose any audio tracks/ and or video sequences which are stored within the CD image. This is the quick and easy route, but really defeats the object of downloading an ISO file, because then, essentially what you have is a rip. If you decide to take this path make sure you select the "full installation" option if there is one when you install the game to ensure that your hard drive can read the maximum amount of data that is available without accessing the CD itself.

If you are a bit more patient, a better option is to use a piece of CD emulation software. This allows you to keep the extracted image file on your hard drive while tricking your computer into thinking that it is really in your CD drive. A good program to start with is Virtual Drive. Once this is installed all you have to do is select the directory where you have extracted the ISO image file to and choose the "mount" function. This will create a new virtual CD icon which can be accessed through Explorer in the same way as any other normal CD. Because Virtual Drive incorporates "on the fly" data compression your CD images will take up minimal space on your hard drive until the moment they are being accessed. Also, because hard drives are many times faster than CD drives your games will run at a lightning fast pace without the need to wait for your drive to start up. To begin using a virtual CD simply double click on its icon as though it were a real CD and wait for the installation menu appear. Now install the game and play as usual with the added bonus that you'll never be able to lose the CD behind the couch because there isn't one.

Q. But I don't like Virtual Drive, are there any other programs which will perform the same function?

A. Yup, have a wander over to Daemon's Home and see what you can find. An even better solution, however, is to stump up the cash for a CD writer. They're very cheap nowadays and really are an essential part of any warezoholic's toolkit. I don't know how I'd live without mine!

Q. What is an SFV file?

A. These are tiny files which can be created using a program called Win SFV. They can be opened in any text editor and serve to verify the CRC status of a set of compressed files to make sure that the files that you have on your hard drive are identical to the ones that were originally uploaded to the net. Apparently, if you want to do it the sexy way you can use Hoopy's PD SFV. Not only will this utility enable you to check your SFV files, it will also allow you to create new ones for your own DIY releases.

Q. I'm trying to burn an ISO image file, but it's much larger than the capacity of my CD-Rs. How do I make it fit?

A. ISO images very often contain more data than you can squeeze onto a 650mb or 700mb CD-R, but this is nothing to worry about. You see these inflated ISO files also contain all the necessary formatting information needed to reproduce the original CD. This can be anywhere in the region of a few to hundreds of megabytes. However, what is important is not the size of the file to begin with, but the estimated time it will occupy on the burnt CD. If in doubt open the "CD Info" dialog box within your CD writing software and look for a reference to how many minutes worth of data your ISO is going to require. If this is less than 74 minutes use a standard CD-R and if it is somewhere between 74 and 80 minutes use an extra length 700mb CD-R.

Q. How can I tell whether or not a CD has been copy protected?

A. You can sometimes guess what method of protection has been used manually by looking at the contents or the physical structure of a CD, but a much more accurate way would be to use CD Protection Scout. This completely free utility will automatically detect the presence of a multitude of different protection systems and report its findings in an easy to understand format. Once you have this vital information at your fingertips you can enter it into Clone CD to produce a perfect copy of whatever it is you wish to duplicate.

Q. I've downloaded an ISO archive containing three files with the extensions CCD, IMG and SUB. What am I supposed to do with them?

A. These files are part of an image created using Clone CD. The CCD file works in a similar fashion to the CUE files mentioned above, which you are probably more familiar with. A CCD file contains information regarding the logical structure of the CD and is the file you would open in Clone CD in order to burn the image to a CD-R. When this file is opened the other two files are automatically processed providing they are stored in the same directory and share the same filename. The IMG, or image file, contains the main channel data of all tracks of the CD and the SUB file contains the sub channel data of all the tracks of the CD. To burn a Clone CD image you would select "write from file" from the "file" menu, browse for the CCD file and select OK.

Q. Which program should I use to extract an ISO in C2D format?

A. The C2D format was originally devised by Cequadrat and is designed to be used with their homegrown CD writing app, Win On CD. However, this is a very bulky and unnecessary download if you only wish to use it to burn one ISO. Instead you might want to try ISO Buster, which is a mere one meg download and is free to boot. As well as offering support for Win On CD file types, ISO Buster can also handle Nero, Clone CD, Blind Read and EZ CD Creator formats without breaking into a sweat so is a good all round burning prog to add to your collection.

Q. If it's so easy to bypass the copy protection of original CDs using Clone CD why don't the release groups use it?

A. That's a very good question and one that's very difficult to answer definitively. Clone CD has been used in the past to produce warez releases, but they tend to be just the older games and applications which most people already have or aren't interested in - this is why they haven't received much attention on warez sites. Quite recently a release group (whose name escapes me at the moment) appeared who specialised in old cloned games, but they seem to have vanished just as quickly as they arrived - I expect they were heralded as impostors and hounded out by the "real" crackers.

Although Clone CD doesn't get on well with all hardware configurations, I don't think the problem lies in incompatibility issues. To use a Clone CD release you don't necessarily have to have a CD writer as you can convert the image files to another format and then extract them to your hard drive to be used with Virtual Drive or a similar CD mounting program. On the other hand if you have got a CD writer, but one which doesn't support Clone CD, you can convert the files to a format which your writer does support and then burn it to a CD afterwards.

I think a lot of it comes down to tradition; cracking an original CD is a fine art form which takes many years to master and I doubt very much that the release groups relish the prospect of being usurped by an automated program. I'm sure that in many cases Clone CD could quite easily put the crackers out of a job, but it's a job they're not willing to give up without a battle.

Make Windows Explorer Open To C: Drive

Make Windows Explorer Open To C: Drive
For XP users


In Windows XP the default when opening Windows Explorer is My Documents. In Windows 98 it was the C: drive and I prefer it that way. Some times I even set it to open to the D: drive for quick access to my downloaded files on that drive. If you have several links to Windows Explorer already (in the quick launch, on the desktop etc.) each one will have to be done separately but if you have just one in your start menu and you fix that one then you can put it on your desktop or the quick launch bar and the change will go with it.

Heres how:

find your Windows explorer short cuts and right click properties you will see the Target: window with System root surrounded by percent signs ending with explorer.exe. At the end of explorer.ex add a space then switch and e,c: and end with a back space like this:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,c:\ (note that there is a space between the .exe and the switch /)

Now explorer will open to the C: drive instead of My Documents.

If you change the c to a d the D: drive will be opened.

What do you think would happen if I entered this:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,d:\Downloads
The D: drive would open with the Downloads folder open as well.

How to Change Drive Letters

How to Change Drive Letters

If you want to change the letters assigned to your fixed or removable drives:
Right Click on My Computer
Select Manage
Select Disk Management

For a Fixed Disk:
Select it
Right click
Select Change Drive Letter and Path
Click on the Edit button
Enter in the letter you want to use

For a Removable Disk:
In the lower, right hand panel, right click on the Disk or CD ROM #
Select Change Drive Letter and Path
Click on the Edit button
Enter in the letter you want to use

Note: This can only be done for drives that do not have the Operating System Installed or you are booting to.

The complete guide to firewalls for newbies

The complete guide to firewalls for newbies


Viruses, trojans, script kiddies, denial-of-service attacks – the Internet can be a dangerous place for the unwary. Even big companies aren’t immune, with regular embarrassing stories about how credit card numbers (or other personal information) they’ve collected have been accessed by hackers. So, is there any way to keep your system secure when you go online?

One piece of advice you’ll hear again and again, is that you must get a firewall. This is certainly a good idea, but there are so many myths in this area, that it can be difficult to figure out why. Who is most at risk online? Is going online via an ADSL connection more insecure than using a modem? Once you’ve installed a firewall, does this mean you’re safe? And what exactly does a firewall do, anyway?

Port to port
Before you can understand how to restrict your PC’s access to the Internet, you first need to know how it works normally, so let’s begin with a little theory.

The Internet is normally associated with Web pages, but it offers plenty of other services: POP3 and SMTP email, Usenet, FTP and Telnet are well-known examples (see www.networkice.com/advice/Exploits/Ports/ for a full list), and there’s nothing to stop a single computer providing all of these features.

To help keep things organised, each service is normally allocated to a different port on the server. This isn’t a physical feature of the computer, like a serial port – it’s just a number contained within every packet of data the server receives. Each service looks for its own port identifier, and handles any incoming information that belongs to it.

Such flexibility is useful, but not something the average user cares about – they just want to run their FTP or news program, and see it work correctly. To make this happen, most services use standard port numbers: FTP is 21, HTTP uses 80, NNTP news servers default to 119, and so on. Your browser and other Internet applications know which ports to use, and so everything works automatically.

Still, some servers do use alternative ports. You may have seen when this happens on a site, as the URL has a colon, followed by the new port number at the end of the address: www.bigsite.com:8080/downloads/.

The chances are you don’t have a Web server at home, of course, but that doesn’t matter. Your PC makes use of ports, too, and whenever you go online they’re accessible to everyone else on the Internet. This could make your PC and data available to any passing hacker, but what are the actual risks?

Port scans
Despite the constant scare stories, it’s really very difficult for someone else on the Internet to hack into your PC. Their first challenge is just to find you. When you go online, your ISP will almost certainly allocate you a different IP address (your unique location on the Internet) every time. Any hacker then only has the duration of that single Internet session to penetrate your defences, or see all their work go to waste.

You’ll almost certainly have read dire warnings about how this doesn’t apply to broadband connections. Get ADSL, you’re told, and its ‘always-on’ connection means that hackers can be hammering at your PC 24 hours a day. Fortunately, this simply isn’t true. While you can pay extra for a static IP address, the standard BT ADSL connection provides a dynamic address, giving you similar protection to a normal modem user.

Good news? Yes, but you’re still potentially at risk for the time you’re online. A hacker will typically use an automated port-scanning tool to check a wide range of IP addresses, sending a message to the key ports on each system, and examining the responses (if any) for potential vulnerabilities.

The best way to protect yourself is to see the type of information your PC is currently giving out, and there are plenty of Web sites that offer to do just that. We particularly like Sygates free online scanning service (scan.sygatetech.com) for its detailed reports, and HackerWatch (www.hackerwatch.org/probe) for its in-depth tests, while BlackCode (www.blackcode.com) allows more experienced users to scan a particular range of ports. Interpreting the results can be difficult, though, unless you know what to look for.

Who’s at risk?
One problem with most online port-scanning sites is they tend to over-dramatise their results. Typically you’ll be told that having port 139 (Windows NetBIOS file and printer sharing) open leaves your entire hard disk open to other Internet users, for example.

However, if your PC isn’t connected to a network, then you probably won’t have file and printer sharing installed (select Network in Control Panel, to check). In this case, there’s nothing listening at port 139, and it’s not possible for an external hacker to use it to access your hard drive.

Networked PCs are at more risk, but even here hackers can only access folders you’ve chosen to share (which is why it’s a good idea to share individual folders like ‘My Documents’, rather than your entire PC). And they’ll only be able to do this if you’ve forgotten to password-protect each share, or used a password that’s very easy to guess. (For lots more helpful information on NetBIOS, see the Navas Group page at cable-dsl.home.att.net/netbios.htm).

Although scanning sites target lots of other ports on your PC, the risks are very limited. Hackers can send all the messages they like, but unless you have an application running that’s listening to the targeted ports – a Web or FTP server, say – they can’t get any kind of access to your system.

So, a standard Windows 98 system is likely to be very safe when online, and even a networked PC can be strongly protected, simply by making use of security features that already exist in the operating system. Adding a firewall is still advisable, though, as a look at one of the more popular examples will make clear.

ZoneAlarm
A firewall is a system (either software, or hardware based) that monitors your PC’s network and Internet traffic, and decides whether it should be allowed through, or blocked. Typical personal firewalls allow you to increase your online security, by closing all but the most essential ports. They can also protect against ‘denial of service’ attacks, where other people online might send a huge number of messages to a particular port, in an effort to crash your machine or disrupt your Internet connection. Visit the firewall FAQ (www.faqs.org/faqs/firewalls-faq) for more info.

ZoneAlarm (www.zonelabs.com) may not be the most configurable product around, but a combination of simplicity and price (it’s free for personal use) make it a very good choice for your first firewall.

After a straightforward installation, you’ll find the program pops up every time you launch an application that wants to access your Internet connection (browser, FTP program, email software, whatever it might be), and asks if you want to allow this. This can be tiresome, initially, but you can instruct ZoneAlarm not to ask you again for your main Internet programs, and it soon quietens down.

Why does it do this? Well, you may have accidentally installed a Trojan. These unpleasant programs masquerade as something useful, perhaps a game or utility, but in fact they have a more sinister function.

If you’re unlucky enough to install SubSeven, for example, then a remote user could be able to use your computer as though they were sitting in front of it: use programs, browse files (all of them, regardless of network shares), take screen shots, capture your keypresses, almost anything they want. (See http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/ve...r.subseven.html for the scary details).

Trojans beat even viruses for sheer nastiness, but in order for them to work, they need to be able to communicate with the outside world. After distributing them, perhaps as executable binary attachments in newsgroups, the authors will run an automated detection tool. This scans the port used by the Trojan, across a wide range of IP addresses; if you’re online at the time, and infected, then the Trojan sends a response, and the hacker will probably be able to take over your system.

Unless, that is, your PC has a firewall. If your system has something like ZoneAlarm installed, the firewall will block the suspicious port scan (and let you know it’s happened), so the Trojan never gets activated. Even if that level of security failed, you would still be warned if the Trojan tried to send any information about your PC to its creator. Good news, then – but you need to be careful about how you interpret your firewalls’ alerts.

Tracking hackers
Install a firewall, then spend some time online, and you’ll quickly find yourself alerted to suspect port scans, perhaps as many as one an hour. Beginners usually interpret this as a dangerous attack, and post enthusiastic newsgroup messages about how their firewall has saved them from hacker hell – but is this really true?

If the port scan was an attempt to activate a Trojan, for example, then it could only ever have any effect if you happened to have the Trojan installed on your PC. Firewalls offer some protection against that eventuality, but it’s not particularly difficult to bypass them (see keir.net/firehole.html and tooleaky.zensoft.com for some worrying examples). The best idea is not to get infected by malicious software in the first place, so there’s still a place for Trojan detectors like PestPatrol (www.safersite.com).

Deciding whether other port scans are malicious or not is notoriously difficult. A bunch of alerts that occur as soon as you log on, for example, could occur because a Web site is trying to send information to the last user of your IP address.

Some mail or news server configurations can provoke your firewall into thinking something sinister is going on, as can plenty of other standard ISP and network activities. So what should you do when your firewall reports an attack? One approach it to try and figure out what’s going on for yourself. Tools like Visual Route (www.visualware.com/visualroute/index.html, and on this month’s CD) offer a great way to determine where a particular IP address is located, and you can use a Web site like Sam Spade (www.samspade.org) to figure out the attackers ISP. Send them an email, and they’ll take it from there. Be polite, though – IP addresses can be faked, and even if it is genuine, the system carrying out the port scan might itself have been hacked via a Trojan.

A simpler alternative is to send your firewall logs to a site like My NetWatchman (www.mynetwatchman.com) or DShield (www.dshield.org). These companies accept firewall reports from users all over the Net, strip out the false alarms, and forward the most serious cases on to the ISP from which the attacks originated (at no charge to you). An ISP is far more likely to be interested in a collection of 1,000 reports, than one, so if you feel like fighting back against the hackers and script kiddies, this could be the way to go.

Stay alert
It’s very easy to be complacent about your online security. And it’s dangerous, too. Some people are, to put it mildly, overly trusting. They don’t bother with anti-virus software because ‘there’s not that much risk really’, and think that hackers will leave their PC alone because ‘they only target big companies’. Their luck has held out so far, and so they think it always will.

At the other end of the spectrum, you’ll find a rather more paranoid group. These folks believe that going online is a supremely dangerous activity, where evil cookies track your every movement, malicious Web sites steal personal information, and hackers are waiting to format your hard drive at the drop of a hat. Worse still, they think that installing a firewall offers a total solution, leaving them invulnerable to Trojans or similar threats.

The best approach is to find a way between these two extremes; the Net isn’t entirely safe, but it’s not as dangerous as some people suggest, either. So read up on the risks. Check out a security site occasionally (net-security.org or www.securityfocus.com are good places to start). Visit a site containing the type of tools hackers might use (like www.thenewbiesarea.com), so you can learn more about the potential dangers. And make sure you install a firewall, but remember – this is just the first step in making yourself secure online, and not the last

SRVM a Panoramic Photo

SRVM is My school .

This is panoramic view of SRVM

Image Hosting Sites

Image Hosting.....

Some sites that you can upload your pictures to......

No Registration Required.......

/http://putfile.com/ ...File size limit 1 MB

/http://www.uploadimages.net/index.php ...File size limit 1 MB

/http://www.imagetown.net ....File size limit 1 MB

/http://www.imghost.us ...File size limit 1 MB

/http://www.imagehop.com/upload.php...File size limit 1 MB

/http://paintedover.com...File size limit 1.5 MB *THUMBS AVAILABLE*

/http://www.pichold.com/index2.php...File size limit 1000 kb

/http://www.imageshack.us/index.php ...File size limit 850 kb

/http://www.image-upload.com ...File size limit 850 kb

/http://pics.xs.to ...File size limit 750 Kb

/http://www.imgspot.com ...File size limit 650 kb

/http://www.spaceavenue.com/images ...File size limit 650 Kb

/http://www.savefile.com ...File size limit 600 kb - All file types

/http://www.filenote.com ...File size limit 500 kb

/http://www.uploadyourimages.com ...File size limit 500 kb

/http://www.imageark.net ...File size limit 500 kb

/http://imagehost.bizhat.com ...File size limit 400 kb

/http://imagehost.5gigs.com ...File size limit 100 kb

/http://www.glowfoto.com/ .......File limit size 1 MB *THUMBS AVAILABLE* - Resizes Large Images

/http://www.imagevenue.com

/http://www.uploadtemple.com/ .....File Types: All file types except for .php,mp3
Max Size per File: 30.00 MB

/http://www.uploadthis.com/images/image_uploader.php ...File size limit 1.3 MB

/http://www.theimagehosting.com ...File size limit 1 MB *THUMBS AVAILABLE*

Signup required...

/http://www.photopeg.com ...File size limit 1 MB

/http://www.imagebay.org ...File size limit 1 MB

/http://www.myonlineimages.com ...File size limit 500 kb

/http://www.villagephotos.com

/http://www.photobucket.com

/http://www.uploadit.org/members

Tweak your own PC!, Increase your DL 20%

Windows XP uses 20% of your bandwidth !

Microsoft reserve 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes (suspect for updates and interrogating your machine etc..)

Here's how to get it back:

Click Start-->Run-->type "gpedit.msc" without the "

This opens the group policy editor. Then go to:

Local Computer Policy-->Computer Configuration-->Administrative Templates-->Network-->QOS Packet Scheduler-->Limit Reservable Bandwidth

Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab :

"By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default."

So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.
Works on XP Pro and 2000.


Topic taken from PUZO forums, but I thought it was worth the post so here ya go. Oh BTW, this gpedit.msc is another great way to tweak pc without having to use outside tools. But be careful and read the information bars before you make any changes.

Hide Your IP Address - A Tutorial

Hide Your IP Address - A Tutorial

Whoever you are, anonymity is your right!




With proxy server u can hide your IP on the net. Which means while u r posting on a forum, sending a email, chatting with someone and whatnot, your real IP will not be revealed. Follow the steps to do the same

1. Go to http://www.proxy4free.com/page1.html and Copy any IP with high anonymity along with its port number.

2. Open Internet explorer > Tools > Internet Options > Connections Tab > Lan Settings > Check the box which says "Use a Proxy Server for your LAN......"

3. Paste the IP in the Address field and Port in the Port field

4. OK

5. Apply

6. OK


Now to verify if your proxy server is working or not Go to
http://www.whatismyipaddress.com/ and check your IP, if you are unble to open any sites, then your proxy server is dead. In that case choose another proxy from http://www.proxy4free.com/page1.html





Hope that was useful.

Tips For Safe Online Chatting, almost safe

Tips For Safe Online Chatting

1. Position the computer in your main living space and make sure the monitor faces OUTWARD into the room so there is no secrecy. This is the single MOST valuable thing you can do for your child's health and safety online.
2. Work as a team to set your boundaries. Discuss with your child exactly what is OK and what is not OK regarding what kind of Web sites are appropriate for them to visit, which chat rooms to visit and what kinds of things to talk about there. Set logical consequences for when your child disregards your rules (like grounded from the Internet for 1 week), but do NOT threaten to ban the Internet forever.

3. Stress to your child that they need to tell you if they get any weird or upsetting messages while chatting, and that you will not be angry with them nor will you ban the Internet as a result. Make it clear to the child that you understand that the child cannot control what other people say to him or her and that they are not to blame if this happens.

4. Set strict time limits for Internet chat use and enforce them. Internet addiction is a real thing!

5. Make it clear to your child that people in chat rooms are ALWAYS strangers, no matter how often they chat to them, and no matter how well they think they know them, and that while they may be good or bad people, they are still strangers. Your child should therefore not always believe everything people say in chat rooms.

6. Make sure your child understands that they are never to tell a person online their real name, their school, their phone number or where they live.

7. Do not permit your child to be left alone in cyberspace for long periods of time - this is when they are most vulnerable. Make sure that their chat time occurs when YOU are around in the house so that you can check in on them regularly.

8. Be sure to stress to your child that they are to behave politely and respectfully at all times while chatting online with strangers or sending email to friends.

9. Don't panic! No one can harm your child through the Internet as long as your child follows your rules.

10. Take an active interest in your child's activity online. Do NOT use the Internet as a babysitter! Learn to surf the Web and chat online yourself so you understand what it is that your child is doing. If you don't know how to chat online, ask your child to teach you!

General FTP Errors Explained

Q) How do I use FTP Links?

A) Though most browsers that are relatively new will handle them alright, we recommend downloading a standalone FTP Client. Try CuteFTP

Q) What do I do with RAR and ISO Files?

A) RAR files and ISO files are both extractable archives. You can extract them both with WinRAR, which is what we recommend. There are other programs that will do the same though, including WinISO.

Q) The Link isn't working! I get an Error 421 when I try to connect!

A) When connecting to an FTP server, an error 421 means that there are currently too many users connected.
This means that the link is indeed working, but that you must wait for someone to disconnect. You must get very lucky to connect to a heavily trafficked server like this.

Q) The Link isn't working! It says '404 - File Not Found'

A) Sometimes, files are taken off the server after they are being hosted.
If you encounter a dead link you can report the link to a moderator, and the topic will be closed.

Q) The Link isn't working! I get an Error 331 when I try to connect!

A) It means the link you clicked did not provide a password. If the thread poster does not specify the password, I'm afraid you are out of luck... Unless you have some hacking skills

Here is a complete list of the various FTP error codes.

331 User name okay, need password.
332 Need account for login.
350 Requested file action pending further information.
404 File Not Found
421 Service not available, closing control connection, too many users
425 Can't open data connection.
426 Connection closed, transfer aborted.
450 Requested file action not taken. File unavailable (e.g., file busy).
451 Requested action aborted, local error in processing.
452 Requested action not taken. Insufficient storage space in system.
500 Syntax error, command unrecognized.
501 Syntax error in parameters or arguments.
502 Command not implemented.
503 Bad sequence of commands.
504 Command not implemented for that parameter.
530 User not logged in.
532 Need account for storing files.
550 Requested action not taken. File unavailable (e.g., file not found, no access).
552 Requested file action aborted, storage allocation exceeded
553 Requested action not taken. Illegal file name.



Hope this helps..

HOW TO Change Windows XP Home to Windows XP Pro

HOW TO Change Windows XP Home to Windows XP Pro

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

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

Alternately, buy XP Pro, or get a Mac.



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

Here’s the detailed breakdown you asked for.

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

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

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

Jai Maharashtra

A cricket match was in progress between the Aussies & Indians at
Wankhede Stadium. Bal Thackrey was sitting in the balcony watching it.
He's very happy that the Pakies are not there.

Suddenly Sachin hits a sixer to McGrath and the ball lands up just Next
to Bal Thackrey's seat. McGrath shouts, 'Hey ! Gimme the ball.'

Thackrey shouts back, 'Yey, Marathit bol.'

McGrath doesn't understand a thing & repeats his statement. This gets
the same reply from Thackrey. Now, a security official standing at the
Boundary goes to McGrath & tells him, 'Sir, He is Bal Thackrey.'

Now McGrath is excited, (he has heard about him) and shouts, 'OH! BALL
TAK REY.'

Bal Thackrey is happy and throws the ball back to him.

Jai Maharashtra......

Happy Diwali

Wish you a very very Happy Diwali and prosperous New Year

Rahul Bagal
Asmita Bagal
And Bagal Family

Why Computers Crash

"Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy," it says. "Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications."

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

1 Hardware conflict

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2 Bad Ram

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

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

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

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

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

3 BIOS settings

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

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

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

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

4 Hard disk drives

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

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

5 Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.

These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

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

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

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

6 Viruses

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

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

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

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

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

7 Printers

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

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

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

8 Software

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9 Overheating

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

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

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

10 Power supply problems

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

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

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

General Windows Errors Explained

Q. Why do the icons on my task bar spontaneously turn black whilst using Getright?

A. This problem is caused by running more applications than your system resources will allow. If you do nothing your PC becomes unstable and is likely to crash. To avoid this just close down one or two memory hogging programs. If the colour doesn't flood back into your icons you can drag your task bar out of view and then bring it back on screen again. If you're still experiencing a blackout keep closing windows until you see the light!

Q. I have entered a pirated serial number into Getright and now the "enter Code" field is greyed out. How do I bring it back?

A. Simply download this registry fix and double click on it. The box should magically reappear allowing you to enter a different code and register successfully.

Q. I've downloaded an MP3 file, but it has a strange file extension which Media Player refuses to accept. What can I do to make it play?

A. To avoid suspicion when uploading MP3s some people choose to rename the files so that they appear more like legitimate web site content. Typical extensions used are .js, .class, .htm and so on, but no matter what extension you choose to give an MP3 file it still remains an MP3 file. Hmmm, that reminds me of a line from Romeo and Juliet about sweet smelling roses, but I digress. The only problem is that with a different extension it will not be processed by Media Player in the usual way. So to fix the problem you can either drag these files into Media Player every time you want to play them or you can rename them so they will be recognised automatically the next time you double click on them.

This can either be done from the DOS prompt or from within your Windows folder. More than likely the extensions of the most common file formats will be hidden from view in Windows by default. To make them visible again you will need to make the following changes - from within your folder click on the "tools" menu and select "folder options". Choose the "view" tab and de-select the "hide file extensions for known file types" options by unticking the check box next to it. Press OK and return to your folder. The file extensions of all your files should have been revealed. If you right click on one of them and select the rename option from the popup menu you will be able to change them back to mp3 by deleting and replacing the characters after the dot.

Alternatively to do this from the DOS prompt, click on the "start" button followed by "programs" and "accessories" and select "command prompt". Now browse to the directory where your music files are stored using the cd (change directory) command and type ren musicfile.class musicfile.mp3 (where "musicfile" stands for the filename of your mp3 file and .class stands for its fake extension) to force the file to revert back to its former extension. If you have a large group of these fake files you can convert them all in one go by typing ren *.class *.mp3.

If when you try to play your newly renamed files they still don't work it could be that they have first been compressed using Winzip before being uploaded, in which case repeat the above procedure to rename the files to .zip, open them in Winzip and see if the MP3 file is contained within the archive. If your luck's in you can just extract and double click on the file to play it.

Q. I'm trying to update my copy of ......................... I've uninstalled the old version of the program, but when I try to install the new one I am told to completely uninstall the old one first. I thought I'd already done this. What's it talking about?

A. When you uninstall a program, despite what you are led to believe lots of junk is left behind which can conflict with later installations of the same program. The main problem is that the program's now redundant registry entries are left untouched and first need to be swept out before you can re-install the program. This can be done manually using using regedit.exe, but will take a very long time to flush out every last useless entry and even if you are very thorough you can't be sure that you've got rid of everything. Instead you could get Microsoft's Reg Clean (the same one I mention in the more tips section) to do the job for you. If that still hasn't done the trick you might want to try a heavy duty alternative such as Reg Cleaner. This will allow you to identify all the entries associated with a particular program so that they can be removed. This simple involves putting a tick in the relevant box and running through the whole suite of clean up options.

Make Windows Explorer Open To C: Drive

Make Windows Explorer Open To C: Drive
For XP users


In Windows XP the default when opening Windows Explorer is My Documents. In Windows 98 it was the C: drive and I prefer it that way. Some times I even set it to open to the D: drive for quick access to my downloaded files on that drive. If you have several links to Windows Explorer already (in the quick launch, on the desktop etc.) each one will have to be done separately but if you have just one in your start menu and you fix that one then you can put it on your desktop or the quick launch bar and the change will go with it.

Heres how:

find your Windows explorer short cuts and right click properties you will see the Target: window with System root surrounded by percent signs ending with explorer.exe. At the end of explorer.ex add a space then switch and e,c: and end with a back space like this:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,c:\ (note that there is a space between the .exe and the switch /)

Now explorer will open to the C: drive instead of My Documents.

If you change the c to a d the D: drive will be opened.

What do you think would happen if I entered this:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,d:\Downloads
The D: drive would open with the Downloads folder open as well.

Get creative! You can have different shortcuts open to different places.

Error installing SQL Server2000: A previous program installation created pending file operations

While installing SQL Server "A previous program installation created pending file operations on
the installation machine. You must restart the computer before running
setup."


You can have the Soution as
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;3129 95

Delete The registry key in For Pending file Operation :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\PendingFileRenameOperations


I just now solved the Problem for my laptop using this trick

Kerala - Heaven of India

Kerala - Heaven of India




Recently I had been to Kerala ( The southern end of India ) . After overnight driving to Cochin ( Kerala ) from Bangalore we saw this beutiful morning. Rays coming out from clouds, Reflections in see backwater gives a peaceful effect .


I have taken this snap using my new Canon A 510 Camera

DVD Recordable Formats (Guide)

DVD Recordable Formats (Guide)

C/P
Buying or bought a new DVD Burner and now you see DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM?, DVD+R DL? What are all these? AHH Im confuzled? Well I will tell you what this is about and other junks too

DVD-R
DVD-R is the most compatible of the formats. This format will play in about 90% of DVD Players, DVD-Roms etc. It was the first recordable format out. This format supports up to 4.37GB of data on a disk. You can also get this disc double sided* and expand its space to 8.75GB of data. This disc can be written on once and only once. Basically if it screws up, you get a nice, shiny coaster.

DVD-RW
This format is the same as DVD-R but can be rewritten several times. This format is compatible with about 80% of DVD Players, drives, etc.

DVD+R
DVD+R is very simlar to DVD-R but supports a few more features, thus sacrificing compatiblity. It supports lossless linking and both CAV and CLV writing. Newbies dont worry about these features . This format is compatible on about 80% of DVD Players, drives, etc. This disc can be written on once and only once. Basically if it screws up, you get a nice, shiny coaster. Supports the same amount of data DVD-R does. 4.37GB and 8.75 GB Double Sided

DVD+RW
DVD+RW is the same as DVD+R but can be written on more several times. It is compatible with about 70% of DVD Players, drives, etc.

DVD+R Dual-Layer
DVD+R is the same as DVD+R but supports 7.95GB on one disc. This disc achieves this by having two seperate recordable layers. This disc is the most expesive of the formats. This disc is also available in double sided* format supporting up to 15.9GB of data. It is compatible in about 75% of DVD Players, drives, etc.

DVD-RAM
DVD-RAM is the least supported format. many DVD Burners do not support this. DVD-RAM usually comes in a catridge and will not fit in most DVD-ROM drive, Player, etc. It is compatible with about 20% of DVD Players. To my knowlage, no DVD-ROM drives support this format. Think of this format as a slow harddrive. This format is not recommended.

Which is Right for Me?
Okay so now you know about all the formats but which is right for you? Well that is up to your DVD-Player. It is best to buy 1 or 2 of each format and try them out. Sometimes a DVD-Player will read DVD+R but not DVD-R. Same goes for other formats. Some DVD-Players will not read any recordable format and that just is no fun now is it.

Speeds
There are several speeds for discs. 2.4x, 4x, 8x, 16x. What do I get?
Well you should get the same speed as your DVD Burner supports. If you get slower than what it supports do note try to burn with a higher speed than what the disc says on it or you will probably end up with a coaster. EG: burner a 2.4x Disc at 4x. Same goes for burning a 4x disc at 2.4x. That stragely could still cause you to get a coaster.

Cheap Media
When CD-Writers came out blank discs were about $5 each. But then cheap $2 blanks came out and people decided to save money and buy those. Big mistake, back then. Those people ended up with alot of coasters and ended up losing money. Now times have changed, you can buy any brand blank CD discs and you will probably get a quality burn. Well that old expensive versus cheap media has started all over again, this time for Recordable DVD media. Do not buy cheap no name DVD Recordable discs. Stick with known brands. I recommend:

-- TDK
-- Kodak
-- Verbatim
-- Ritek

Definitions
Double Sided: Both sides of the disc have a recordable surface.
Coaster: An object you use to place cups on or beverages on to.
Dual-Layer: A disc with two recordable layers. Almost doubling the discs capacity.
Sizes: The disc size may say 4.7GB on the Label but infact is 4.37GB.

How to speed up start menu

How to speed up start menu


When you click the Start button and choose Programs, there's about a half-second delay before you see Programs submenu folder. This also applies to selecting any Start menu item that displays a submenu. You can change this delay to anything you want, right down to no delay at all.

To start the Registry Editor.

Go to Start.
Select Run...
Type regedit.
Click OK.

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop

Right-mouse click anywhere in the right pane. Choose New, and then select String Value.

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop

Name the new value MenuShowDelay.

Double click on MenuShowDelay and enter a number as close to zero as you want. The default is 400, which accounts for the almost half-second delay. Click OK and then close the Registry Editor.

Restart Windows 9x, then click Start and select some folders to see your change. (If things are moving too fast or too slow, go back to the Registry Editor and change the setting to a higher or lower number.

If you are one of those people that wishes to not navigate through the registry, you can download the registry file here. All files have been scanned and are virus free.

Now that you have made your start menu fast, let's make it even faster. This tip was provided by Mosaic1.

Go to Start.
Select Settings.
Click on Control Panel.
Double-click on the Display icon.

Select the Effects tab and uncheck the Animate windows, menus and lists check box.

Click Apply and then click OK.

Now give it a try. Your menus should open lightning quick.

Win XP Tips - So many

Win XP Tips - So many

Lock XP Workstation (#1)

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


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Remove Windows XP system software (#2)

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

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New commands (#3)

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

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Windows XP supports IPv6 (#4)

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

------------------------------------
Kill tasks from the command line (#5)

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

----------------------------------
Enable ClearType by default (#6)

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

HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/ControlPanel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

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Run program as different user (#7)

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

----------------------------------
Speed up the Start Menu (#8

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

----------------------------------
Rename multiple files at once (#9)

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

------------------------------------
Show cover art in Media Player (#10)

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

--------------------------------------
Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog (#11)

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!

------------------------------------
Enable ClearType on the Welcome Screen! (#12)

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.

------------------------------------
Change User Picture (#13)

Click on the Icon at the top of the start menu. Select desired picture from resulting screen Windows 2000 style logon. To revert back to the Win2k style logon so you can log on as the administrator and other options, press ctrl+alt+delete twice at the logon screen. Change the location of the My Music or My Pictures folders:

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

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

--------------------------------------
Protect Your Files From Unauthorized Users (#14)

Other users with permission to delete a file (users with Modify or Full Control permission) can't use your encrypted files-but they can make them difficult for you to use. Any such user can rename your files, which can make them difficult to find, and can also delete your files. (Even if the user merely deletes them to the Recycle Bin and doesn't remove them altogether, the deleted files are unavailable to you because you don't have access to any other user's Recycle Bin.) Therefore, if you're concerned about protecting your files from other authorized users as well as from a thief who steals your computer, you should modify the NTFS permissions to prevent any type of modification by other users.

---------------------------------------
Shutdown Your System in a Hurry (#15)

If you need to shut down in a hurry-or if a frozen application prevents you from shutting down in the normal ways-you can use the following procedure. Be aware, however, that you won't get an opportunity to save open documents. To perform an emergency shutdown, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to display Task Manager. Open the Shut down menu and hold down the Ctrl key as you click the Turn Off command. Poof! If your computer is part of a domain, the procedure is similar. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and then hold down Ctrl when you click Shut Down. In this situation, you'll get a warning message pointing out-quite correctly-that this should be used only as a last resort.

--------------------------------------
Provide Personal Support (#16)

It never fails: when friends, co-workers, or family members discover that you're a Windows expert, you get pressed into service as an unpaid support technician. If the party asking for help is running any edition of Windows XP and has an active Internet connection, your job is much easier. Have the other person send you a Remote Assistance request; when you accept the request, you connect directly to their computer and can edit Registry settings, fix file associations, set System options, and perform just about any other troubleshooting or repair task, just as if you were sitting at the other person's desk.

----------------------------------------
Quickly Fix Connectivity Problems (#17)

Are you having trouble connecting to other computers on your local area network? If your network uses a hardware firewall that assigns IP addresses to each machine and you're certain you've configured all other components correctly, check to see whether the Internet Connection Firewall is enabled. That component can effectively block communication between PCs on the network.

---------------------------------
Hack IE Title Bar (#18

This can be an impressive bit of personalization. Use your name or moniker to brand Internet Explorer. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ and left-click on Main to change the string "Window Title" to whatever you wish.

---------------------------------
Unload DLLs (#19)

To prevent Windows from caching DLLs after the program using them has closed, follow this procedure: Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ then left-click on Explorer. Right-click (as above) and create the DWORD

AlwaysUnloadDLL with a value of 1. This requires a reboot to take effect. This will allow memory to be used more efficiently.

---------------------------------
Registry Hacks (#20)

Editing the Windows Registry, while much more common now than in years past, is still not to be entered into lightly. You can break Windows, cause boot failure. I know you're gonna do it anyway; why else would you be reading this. Just be careful, OK?

These are few because, for the most part WinXP can be customized through the interlace or with third-party freeware (as above).

All of the tips below require running regedit. To do so, hit 'Start/Run' then type 'regedit' and follow the instructions.

Naturally, I take no responsibility for any damage or loss of data incurred in the remote possibility that something goes terribly wrong.

------------------------------------
The Ultimate Appearance Tweak (#21)

Microsoft said: "You can connect up to 10 monitors to your Windows XP-based computer and display numerous programs or windows at one time. You can use your mouse to move items from one monitor to another. You can open a different file on each monitor. Or several. Or you can stretch one item across several monitors; so for example, you can see more columns in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, or the entire layout of a Web page, without scrolling." Consider it. Monitors and PCI video cards are pretty cheap now. Windows recognizes the addition & allows easy adjustments on the 'Display Properties/Settings' menu.

--------------------------------
Save Streaming Media (#22)

It's cool to listen to MP3s (or watch movies) over the Internet. Often, saving this media, however, seems impossible. Hey, if it plays on your computer, it's on your hard drive. Once the file is fully loaded and with folder view set to show hidden and systems folders, searches for the media (.mp3 or .mpg). There it is!

-------------------------------------
Securing the Paging File (#23)

If you're truly concerned about the possibility of your computer falling into the wrong hands, you should be sure that you don't leave any tracks in the paging file. By default, when you shut down your system, the paging file remains intact. People who've access to your computer could conceivably look through the unencrypted paging file to find information they shouldn't have.

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Assign a Keyboard Shortcut (#24)

Click in the Shortcut Key field and press a keyboard combination that you want to use for launching or switching to this program. The shortcut key you assign must consist of one character key (a letter, number, or symbol) plus at least two of the following three keys: Ctrl, Alt, and Shift. (If you press a character key only, Windows automatically adds Ctrl+Alt.)

Shortcut keys work only when assigned to a program shortcut on the Start menu, the Programs menu, or the Desktop. The shortcuts you define will not work if it conflicts with a combination used in the program whose window has the focus.


These tips act as a guide to tweaking and changing Windows XP from the default settings. If you are unsure about how to make these changes then don't do aynthing!!