Windows XP Tricks

How to remove Virus from USB Drives

2008-12-12T06:33:00.000-08:00

One of the ways by which a virus can infect your pc is through USB/Pen drives. Common viruses such as ’Ravmon’ , ‘New Folder.exe’, ‘Sho is banned’ etc are spreading through USB drives. Most anti virus programs are unable to detect them and even if they do, in most cases they are unable to delete the file, only quarantine it. Here are the things which you can do if you want to remove such viruses from your USB drives

Whenever you plug a USB drive in your system, a window will appear similar to the one shown below

Don’t click on Ok , just choose ‘Cancel’. Open the Command Prompt by typing ‘cmd‘ in the run box. In the command prompt type the drive letter: and press enter . Now type dir /w/a and press enter.

This will display a list of the files in the pen drive. Check whether the following files are there or not

* Autorun.inf
* Ravmon.exe
* New Folder.exe
* svchost.exe
* Heap41a
* or any other exe file which may be suspicious.

If any of the above files are there, then probably the USB drive is infected. In command prompt type attrib -r -a -s -h *.* and press enter. This will remove the Read Only, Archive, System and hidden file attribute from all the files. Now just delete the files using the command del filename. example del Ravmon.exe. Delete all the files that are suspicious. To be on a safer side, just scan the USB drive with an anti virus program to check whether it is free of virus or not. Now remove the drive and plug it again. In most of the cases, the real culprit turns out to be the “Autorun.inf” file which mostly gets executed when someone clicks Ok in the dialog window which appears above. Thus the infections can spread

20 things you didn't know about Windows XP

2008-09-21T14:23:00.001-07:00

20 things you didn't know about Windows XP

You've read the reviews and digested the key feature enhancements and operational changes. Now it's time to delve a bit deeper and uncover some of Windows XP's secrets. 1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).

2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.

9. 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/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.

11. 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.

12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.

13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.

14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.

16. 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.

17. 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 alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.

18. 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.

19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.

20. The next release of Windows XP, codenamed Longhorn, is due out late 2002 or early 2003 and won't be much to write home about.

NTFS vs. FAT

2008-02-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

NTFS vs. FAT

To NTFS or not to NTFS—that is the question. But unlike the deeper questions of life, this one isn't really all that hard to answer. For most users running Windows XP, NTFS is the obvious choice. It's more powerful and offers security advantages not found in the other file systems. But let's go over the differences among the files systems so we're all clear about the choice. There are essentially three different file systems available in Windows XP: FAT16, short for File Allocation Table, FAT32, and NTFS, short for NT File System.

FAT16
The FAT16 file system was introduced way back with MS–DOS in 1981, and it's showing its age. It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive, and has had minor modifications over the years so it can handle hard disks, and even file names longer than the original limitation of 8.3 characters, but it's still the lowest common denominator. The biggest advantage of FAT16 is that it is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX. The biggest problem of FAT16 is that it has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger. In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.

FAT32
The FAT32 file system, originally introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, is really just an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. As such, it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system. However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.

The Advantages of NTFS
The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.

The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.

When to Use FAT or FAT32
If you're running more than one operating system on a single computer, you will definitely need to format some of your volumes as FAT. Any programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT16 or possibly FAT32 volume. But keep in mind that you have no security for data on a FAT16 or FAT32 volume—any one with access to the computer can read, change, or even delete any file that is stored on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition. In many cases, this is even possible over a network. So do not store sensitive files on drives or partitions formatted with FAT file systems.

Make your Folders Private

2008-02-23T08:05:00.000-08:00

Make your Folders Private

•Open My Computer
•Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
•If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
•Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
•Double-click your user folder.
•Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
•On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.

Note

•To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
•This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
•When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
•You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS

How to Rename the Recycle Bin

2008-01-29T02:17:00.000-08:00

How to Rename the Recycle Bin

To change the name of the Recycle Bin desktop icon, open Regedit and go to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/CLSID/{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-

00AA002F954E}

and change the name "Recycle Bin" to whatever you want (don't type any quotes)

How to Remove Windows XP's Messenger

2007-12-23T17:03:00.000-08:00

How to Remove Windows XP's Messenger

Theoretically, you can get rid of it (as well as a few other things). Windows 2000 power users should already be familiar with this tweak. Fire up the Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the %SYSTEMROOT% \ INF folder. What the heck is that thingy with the percentage signs? It's a variable. For most people, %SYSTEMROOT% is C:\Windows. For others, it may be E:\WinXP. Get it? Okay, on with the hack! In the INF folder, open sysoc.inf (but not before making a BACKUP copy first). Before your eyes glaze over, look for the line containing "msmsgs" in it. Near the end of that particular line, you'll notice that the word "hide" is not so hidden. Go ahead and delete "hide" (so that the flanking commas are left sitting next to one another). Save the file and close it. Now, open the Add and Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Click the Add / Remove Windows Components icon. You should see "Windows Messenger" in that list. Remove the checkmark from its box, and you should be set. NOTE: there are other hidden system components in that sysoc.inf file, too. Remove "hide" and the subsequent programs at your own risk.

Error Reporting in XP

2007-02-28T16:32:00.001-08:00

If error reporting in XP is bugging you then turn it off.

When a system error occurs in XP, a little dialog box appears asking if you want to report the error to Microsoft. Click the message box to make it disappear. You don't have to report the error if you don't want to and on today's "Call for Help" Leo shows you how to turn off the feature if you find it distracting. To disable error reporting, follow these directions:

1. Right-click My Computer and choose Properties.
2. Click the Advanced tab on your System Properties dialog box.
3. Click the Error Reporting button on the Advanced tab.
4. Place a checkmark next to "Disable error reporting."
5. Leave the other radio button unchecked next to the text labeled, "But notify me when critical errors occur."
6. Click OK.

Remote Assistance

2007-02-21T01:23:00.000-08:00

Provide Remote Assistance When Using a NAT Device

You can provide Remote Assistance to a friend who uses a Network Address Translation (NAT) device by modifying the Remote Assistance invitation using XML. Network Address Translation is used to allow multiple computers to share the same outbound Internet connection. To open a Remote Assistance session with a friend who uses a NAT device:

1. Ask your friend to send you a Remote Assistance invitation by e–mail.

2. Save the invitation file to your desktop.
3. Right–click the file, and then click Open With Notepad. You'll see that the file is a simple XML file.
4.Under the RCTICKET attribute is a private IP address, such as 192.168.1.100.
5. Over–write this IP address with your friend's public IP address. Your friend must send you his or her public IP address: they can find out what it is by going to a Web site that will return the public IP address, such as http://www.dslreports.com/ip.
6. Save the file, and then double–click it to open the Remote Assistance session.

Now, you'll be able to connect and provide them with the help they need. So that your inbound IP connection is routed to the correct computer, the NAT must be configured to route that inbound traffic. To do so, make sure your friend forwards port 3389 to the computer they want help from.

All about Torrents

2007-02-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

Torrents is a p2p basis....that is files arent hosted in any servers....Torrent is designed to distribute large amounts of data widely without incurring the corresponding consumption in costly server and bandwidth resources. Download any Bit torrent client like utorrent any enjoy downloading unlimited from torrent network with resume function supported.You can download any software, Movie, Music , ebooks From Torrent. Now you don't have wait for rapidshare or megaupload restrictions.

Before starting downloading from torrent please i will let u know about its basics
What is a Seeder, Leacher, and a torrent file?

What is a seeder?
A seed(er) is a client on the BT network that has a complete copy of a particular archive. For any archive to work, there must be at least one seed to download from originally. Sometimes under certain circumstances, there may be no one seeder but enough people with all the parts to make up the whole archive, this is called a distributed copy. It is HIGHLY recommended that once you have gotten an archive you leave the BT client running for at least the amount of time that it took you to download the archive to help ensure that others will also be able to get it. Share and Share alike!

What is a leecher?
A leech(er) is a client on the BT network that does not have a complete copy of a particular archive yet. When any new client begins downloading an archive, they are a leecher until they have finished downloading the entire archive and then become a seeder. The name 'leecher' here is an unfortunate use that has become too commonly used even though it is really not applicable to what the meaning is. A leecher normally means someone who downloads without uploading (takes but does not give.) But here, a leecher is part of the network and is uploading as well, many times more KB than they download. But hey, it's worth the new meaning once you appreciate the vast resources that BT brings to you.

What is a .torrent file?
To download something with BitTorrent, you must have a .torrent file. This file contains in it a location that tells the BitTorrent client where to go to find the tracker that manages the uploading and downloading of the archive. An archive is a complete set for downloading which may include one file or many files. The one .torrent file contains the archive information also. To download on this network it is simply a matter of clicking on the .torrent file in your web browser, then the BitTorrent client kicks in and asks where you'd like to save the archive.

That's it, from there you just sit back and watch the client work it's magic.

Make your XP work fast

2007-02-11T20:55:00.000-08:00

IN windows XP there are many services which we do not want but they consistently consume memory we can disable these services by using following commands but remember do this only when you are having sound knowledge of your PC .

Indexing Services

Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts
of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This
system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are
on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for
something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the
index lists. If you don't search your computer often, or even if
you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary.

To disable do the following:
1. Go to Start2. Click Settings3. Click Control Panel4. Double-click Add/Remove Programs5. Click the Add/Remove Window Components6. Uncheck the Indexing services7. Click Next

OPTIMISE DISPLAY SETTINGS

Windows XP can look sexy but displaying all the visual items can
waste system resources. To optimise:
1.Go to Start

2. Click Settings

3. Click Control Panel

4. Click System

5. Click Advanced tab

6. In the Performance tab click Settings

7. Leave only the following ticked:- Show shadows under menus- Show shadows under mouse pointer- Show translucent selection rectangle- Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop- Use visual styles on windows and buttons

DISABLE PERFORMANCE COUNTERS

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several
areas of your PC's performance. These utilities take up system
resources so disabling is a good idea.
To disable:
1. download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List2.Then select each counter in turn in the 'Extensible performance
counters' window and clear the 'performance counters enabled'
checkbox at the bottom.button below.

SPEEDUP FOLDER BROWSING

You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse
folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP
automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you
open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing
significantly:
1. Open My Computer2. Click on Tools menu3. Click on Folder Options4. Click on the View tab.5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and
printers check box6. Click Apply7. Click Ok8. Reboot your computer

IMPROVE MEMORY USAGE

Cacheman Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing
the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.
Once Installed:
1.Go to Show Wizard and select All2.Run all the wizards by selecting Next or Finished until you are
back to the main menu. Use the defaults unless you know exactly
what you are doing.3.Exit and Save Cacheman4.Restart Windows

OPTIMISE YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION
There are lots of ways to do this but by far the easiest is to run
TCP/IP Optimizer.
1. Download and install2. Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed
(Kbps)3. Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to
connect to the Internet4. Check Optimal Settings then Apply5. Reboot.

OPTIMISE YOUR PAGEFILE

If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating
system from needing to resize the page file.
1. Right click on My Computer and select Properties

2. Select the Advanced tab

3. Under Performance choose the Settings button

4. Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change.

5. Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the
initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.
Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual
physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with
smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a
typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of
virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the
page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change
the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.

RUN BOOTVIS - IMPROVE BOOT TIMES

BootVis will significantly improve boot times
1. Download and Run

2. Select Trace

3. Select Next Boot and Driver Trace

4. A Trace Repetitions screen will appear, select Ok and Reboot

5. Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log
your system's boot process. When it's done, in the menu go to Trace
and select Optimize System

6. Reboot.

7. When your machine has rebooted wait until you see the Optimizing
System box appear. Be patient and wait for the process to complete.

REMOVE THE DESKTOP PICTURE
Your desktop background consumes a fair amount of memory and can
slow the loading time of your system. Removing it will improve
performance.
1. Right click on Desktop and select Properties

2. Select the Desktop tab

3. In the Background window select None

4. Click Ok

REMOVE FONTS FOR SPEED

Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system
resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just
those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that
applications may require.
1. Open Control Panel2. Open Fonts folder3. Move fonts you don't need to a temporary directory (e.g.
C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them
back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you
will gain.

DISABLE UNNECESSARY SERVICES

Because Windows XP has to be all things to all people it has many
services running that take up system resources that you will never
need. Below is a list of services that can be disabled on most
machines:
Alerter

Clipbook

Computer Browser

Distributed Link Tracking Client

Fast User Switching

Help and Support - (If you use Windows Help and Support leave this enabled)

Human Interface Access Devices

Indexing Service

IPSEC Services

Messenger

Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)

Portable Media Serial Number

Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)

Remote Procedure Call Locator

Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)

Remote Registry Service

Secondary Logon

Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)

ServerSSDP Discovery Service - (Unplug n' Pray will disable this)

Telnet

TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper

Upload Manager

Universal Plug and Play Device Host

Windows Time

Wireless Zero Configuration (Do not disable if you use a wireless network)

Workstation

To disable these services:
Go to Start and then Run and type "services.msc"

Doubleclick on the service you want to changeChange the startup type to 'Disable"

SPEEDUP FOLDER ACCESS - DISABLE LAST ACCESS UPDATE
If you have a lot of folders and subdirectories on your computer,
when you access a directory XP wastes a lot of time updating the
time stamp showing the last access time for that directory and for
ALL sub directories. To stop XP doing this you need to edit the
registry. If you are uncomfortable doing this then please do not
attempt.
Go to Start and then Run and type "regedit"Click through the file system until you get to
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\C ontr ol\FileSystem"Right-click in a blank area of the window on the right and select
'DWORD Value'Create a new DWORD Value called 'NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate'Then Right click on the new value and select 'Modify'Change the Value Data to '1'Click 'OK'

IMPROVE XP SHUTDOWN SPEED
This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing
any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.
Go to Start then select RunType 'Regedit' and click okFind 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\'Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'Right click and select 'Modify'Change the value to '1000'Click 'OK'Now select 'HungAppTimeout'Right click and select 'Modify'Change the value to '1000'Click 'OK'Now find 'HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop'Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'Right click and select 'Modify'Change the value to '1000'Click 'OK'Now find 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Contr ol\'Select 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout'Right click and select 'Modify'Change the value to '1000'Click 'OK'
SPEED UP BOOT TIMES I
This tweak works by creating a batch file to clear the temp and
history folders everytime you shutdown so that your PC doesn't
waste time checking these folders the next time it boots. It's
quite simple to implement:
1. Open Notepad and create a new file with the following entries:
RD /S /q "C:\Documents and Settings\"UserName without quotes"\Local
Settings\History"RD /S /q "C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local
Settings\History"RD /S /q "D:\Temp\" <--"Deletes temp folder, type in the location of your temp folder" 2. Save the new as anything you like but it has to be a '.bat' file e.g. fastboot.bat or deltemp.bat 3. Click 'Start' then 'Run' 4. Type in 'gpedit.msc' and hit 'ok' 5. Click on 'Computer Configuration' then 'Windows Settings' 6. Double-click on 'Scripts' and then on 'Shutdown' 7. Click 'Add' and find the batch file that you created and then press 'Ok'

I will be providing more info in the next blog

**Data Taken from various Websites **

**To apply these changes you need Administrator power on ur PC **

Tricks on Windows XP

2007-02-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

You've read the reviews and digested the key featureenhancements and operational changes. Now it's time todelve a bit deeper and uncover some of Windows XP's secrets.

1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previousversions of Windows were cozy about how long they wentbetween boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina.Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot ofuseful info, including the uptie. If you want to keepthese, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later withNotepad. (Professional Edition only).

2. You can delete files immediately, without havingthem move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Startmenu, select Run... and type ' gpedit.msc'; then selectUser Configuration, Administrative Templates, WindowsComponents, Windows Explorer and find the Do not movedeleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it.Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- somemay stop your computer behaving as you wish.(Professional Edition only).

3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks ofthe mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exeuser32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field.Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- justdouble click on it and your computer will be locked.And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

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

5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XPhas a number of interesting new commands. Theseinclude 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creatingand watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoringperformance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' forhandling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the commandname followed by /? will give a list of options --they're all far too baroque to go into here.

6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generationof 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 thecommand line to find out more. If you don't know whatIPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.

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

8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is niceif you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, youcan make XP leave zip files well alone by typing'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back asthey were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.

9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing fontdisplay technology -- but doesn't have it enabled bydefault. It's well worth trying, especially if youwere there for DOS and all those years of staring at ascreen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat.To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop,select Properties, Appearance, Effects, selectClearType from the second drop-down menu and enablethe selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome loginscreen as well, set the registry entry HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/ControlPanel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friendwho's using network address translation(NAT) on ahome network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit thefile. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IPaddress, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with yourchum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to makesure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewalland forwarded to the errant computer.

11. 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 passwordyou want to use. This only applies for that run. Thetrick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, whichmany require. Note that you can have some fun byrunning programs multiple times on the same system asdifferent users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

12. Windows XP can be very insistent about youchecking for auto updates, registering a Passport,using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, thenagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go toHKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD valuecalled EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.

13. You can start up without needing to enter a username or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open theuser accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password ToUse This Computer, and click on OK. An AutomaticallyLog On dialog box will appear; enter the user name andpassword for the account you want to use.

14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically deletetemporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start thebrowser, select Tools / Internet Options... andAdvanced, go down to the Security area and check thebox to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, justin case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your networkcard. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop,then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties,then check the Show icon in notification area whenconnected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon onthe right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.

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

17. You can rename loads of files at once in WindowsExplorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, thenright click on one and rename it. All the other fileswill be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder youcan arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View,Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.

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

19. Windows key + Break brings up the SystemProperties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up thedesktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.

**Matter taken from various other websites **