Tips 'N' Tricks :)
- ADJUST BROWSER CACHE
*THE MAXIMUM SIZE OF YOUR INTERNET EXPLORER BROWSER CACHE IS ### MEGABYTES. GENERALLY, CACHE SIZES ABOVE 80 MEGABYTES CAN ACTUALLY WASTE DISK SPACE AND CREATE POOR COMPUTER PERFORMANCE.
*HERE IS HOW TO ADJUST YOUR IE CACHE SIZE:
*START INTERNET EXPLORER
*SELECT TOOLS >> INTERNET OPTIONS >> GENERAL TAB
*UNDER TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES CLICK THE SETTINGS BUTTON.
*IN THE BOX FOR THE AMOUNT OF DISK SPACE TO USE, ENTER A VALUE BETWEEN 5 AND 80 MEGABYTES.
*CLICK OK TO ACCEPT THE CHANGES.
*NOTE: THE FASTER THE CONNECTION, THE LOWER THE NUMBER. I HAVE DSL SO I USE 5MB AND THIS WORKS FINE FOR ME. - IMPROVE WINDOWS XP MENU RESPONSE AND SHUTDOWN SPEEDS
*NOTE: THE VALUES FOR THE TWEAKS LISTED BELOW ARE A RECOMMENDED VALUE ONLY AND REPRESENT WHAT HAS WORKED BEST ON A VARIETY OF SYSTEMS. IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE TRYING THIS TWEAK FOR YOUR SYSTEM, PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT IT.
*GO TO START>> RUN. TYPE IN: REGEDIT [ENTER] OR CLICK OK.
*DRILL DOWN TO THE FOLLOWING REGISTRY KEY:
*
*HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL PANEL\DESKTOP
*CLICK ONCE ON THE ENTRY TITLED: DESKTOP
*THE CONTENTS OF THE "DESKTOP" ENTRY WILL NOW BE DISPLAYED IN THE RIGHT PANE.
*DOUBLE CLICK THE ENTRY TITLED: HUNGAPPTIMEOUT
*CHANGE THE "VALUE DATA" TO A VALUE OF: 4000
*THIS CHANGE WILL CONTROL THE DELAY THAT WINDOWS USES TO START THE SHUTDOWN PROCESS. (1000 = ONE SECOND)
*DOUBLE CLICK THE ENTRY TITLED: MENUSHOWDELAY
*CHANGE THE "VALUE DATA" TO A VALUE OF: 20
*THIS CHANGE WILL CONTROL THE DELAY THAT WINDOWS USES TO DISPLAY A MENU OR SUB-MENU.
*DOUBLE CLICK THE ENTRY TITLED "AUTOENDTASKS"
*CHANGE THE "VALUE DATA" TO A VALUE OF: 1
*CHANGING THIS VALUE TO "1" WILL TURN ON THIS FEATURE AND WILL NOW AUTOMATICALLY CLOSE ALL RUNNING APPLICATIONS WHEN SHUTTING DOWN WINDOWS.
*NOTE: WITH THIS FEATURE ON, YOU WILL NOT BE GIVEN A PROMPT TO SAVE WINDOWS. - INCREASING THE FOLDER CACHE
*THE DEFAULT SETTING FOR WINDOWSXP IS TO CACHE THE EXPLORER SETTINGS FOR 400 FOLDERS.
*TO INCREASE IT:
*GO TO START >> RUN
*TYPE IN: REGEDIT
*NAVIGATE TO HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\SHELLNOROAM
*CHANGE THE VAULE OF BAGMRU TO WHATEVER SIZE YOU WANT (HEX):
*1000 - 3E8
*2000 - 7D0
*3000 - BB8
*4000 - FA0
*5000 - 1388
*OR...YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRY FILE (BELOW) THAT WILL SET THE FOLDER CACHE TO 5000. - SPEED UP THE START MENU
THE TWEAK BELOW REQUIRES MAKING A CHANGE IN THE WINDOWS REGISTRY. BE SURE TO MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF THE REGISTRY PRIOR TO MAKING ANY CHANGES.
CLICK START>> RUN. TYPE IN: REGEDIT [ENTER] OR CLICK OK.
IN THE REGISTRY EDITOR, NAVIGATE TO THE FOLLOWING REGISTRY KEY:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL PANEL\DESKTOP
SINGLE LEFT CLICK THE "DESKTOP" ENTRY TO EMPTY ITS CONTENTS IN TO THE RIGHT PANE.
SCROLL THE RIGHT PANE TO LOCATE AN ENTRY TITLED: MENUSHOWDELAY
DOUBLE CLICK MENUSHOWDELAY.
CHANGE THE "VALUE DATA" NUMBER. THE DEFAULT DELAY VALUE FOR THE START MENU IS 400. SELECT A LESSER NUMBER TO SPEED THIS PROCESS. I'VE GOT MINE SET TO 0.
CLICK OK AND EXIT THE REGISTRY EDITOR. - FOLDER MEMORY SETTING
WINDOWS XP REMEMBER THE VIEW SETTINGS FOR THE 400 MOST RECENTLY USED FOLDERS BY DEFAULT. ONCE THAT FIGURE HAS BEEN REACHED, IT WILL START OVERWRITING THE DATA OF THE OLDEST FOLDER. BELOW YOU WILL FIND A REGISTRY TWEAK THAT WILL INCREASE THE NUMBER OF FOLDERS FROM 400 TO 5000. THE INFORMATION IS STORED IN TWO REGISTRY KEYS:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\SHELL
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\SHELLNOROAM
OPEN WINDOWS EXPLORER AND GO TO TOOLS>> FOLDER OPTIONS>> VIEW>> ADVANCED SETTINGS. ENSURE THAT "REMEMBER EACH FOLDER'S VIEW SETTINGS" IS CHECKED.
GO TO START>> RUN. TYPE IN: REGEDIT [ENTER]
NAVIGATE TO: HKCU\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\SHELL
RIGHT-CLICK ON "SHELL", THEN FOLLOW TO NEW>> KEY>> DWORD VALUE.
NAME THIS ITEM "BAGMRU SIZE" (WITHOUT QUOTATION MARKS) ENSURE THERE IS A SPACE BETWEEN BAGMRU AND SIZE.
DOUBLE-CLICK BAGMRU SIZE, GIVE IT A "DECIMAL" VALUE OF 5000, THEN CLICK OK.
NOW NAVIGATE TO HKCU\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\SHELLNOROAM.
CREATE ANOTHER BAGMRU SIZE DWORD VALUE FOR "SHELLNOROAM". AGAIN, GIVE IT A "DECIMAL" VALUE OF 5000, THEN CLICK OK.
CLOSE THE REGISTRY AND REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER.
WINDOWS XP WILL NOW REMEMBER 5000 FOLDER VIEW SETTINGS INSTEAD OF 400. - CHANGE WINDOWS EXPLORER'S DEFAULT START FOLDER
GO TO START>> ALL PROGRAMS>> ACCESSORIES.
RIGHT CLICK WINDOWS EXPLORER AND SELECT PROPERTIES.
IN THE "TARGET" TEXTBOX, ENTER THE LOCATION CHANGE. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU WOULD RATHER HAVE WINDOWS EXPLORER START AT THE ROOT DRIVE (USUALLY C:), MAKE THE FOLLOWING CHANGE:
%SYSTEMROOT%\EXPLORER.EXE /ROOT, C:\ - WIN:CREATING A SHUTDOWN/REBOOT ICON
WINDOWSXP HAS A PROGRAM CALLED SHUTDOWN.EXE WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO EASILY CREATE ICONS TO SHUTDOWN OR RESTART YOUR COMPUTER.
TO CREATE A SHUTDOWN SHORTCUT ON THE DESKTOP:
RIGHT CLICK ON AN OPEN AREA OF THE DESKTOP
SELECT NEW / SHORTCUT
ENTER IN "SHUTDOWN -S -T 00" - (NO QUOTES)
PRESS THE NEXT BUTTON
FOR THE NAME, ENTER IN ANYTHING YOU LIKE. I JUST USE SHUTDOWN. CLICK THE FINISH BUTTON.
FOR A REBOOT, ENTER "SHUTDOWN -R -T 00"
SHUTDOWN [{-L|-S|-R|-A}] [-F] [-M [\COMPUTERNAME]] [-T XX] [-C "MESSAGE"] [-D[U][P]:XX:YY]
PARAMETERS:
-L - LOGS OFF THE CURRENT USER, THIS IS ALSO THE DEFUALT. -M COMPUTERNAME TAKES PRECEDENCE.
-S - SHUTS DOWN THE LOCAL COMPUTER.
-R - REBOOTS AFTER SHUTDOWN.
-A - ABORTS SHUTDOWN. IGNORES OTHER PARAMETERS, EXCEPT -L AND COMPUTERNAME. YOU CAN ONLY USE -A DURING THE TIME-OUT PERIOD.
-F - FORCES RUNNING APPLICATIONS TO CLOSE.
-M [\COMPUTERNAME] - SPECIFIES THE COMPUTER THAT YOU WANT TO SHUT DOWN.
-T XX - SETS THE TIMER FOR SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN XX SECONDS. THE DEFAULT IS 20 SECONDS.
-C "MESSAGE" - SPECIFIES A MESSAGE TO BE DISPLAYED IN THE MESSAGE AREA OF THE SYSTEM SHUTDOWN WINDOW. YOU CAN USE A MAXIMUM OF 127 CHARACTERS. YOU MUST ENCLOSE THE MESSAGE IN QUOTATION MARKS. - WIN:DISPLAY MESSAGE AT STARTUP
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DISPLAY ANY MESSAGE IN A POPUP WINDOW WHEN WINDOWS IS STARTED, HERE'S HOW:
GO TO START> RUN, THEN TYPE IN: REGEDIT
HIT [ENTER] ON YOUR KEYBOARD
FOLLOW THIS PATH: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS NT\CURRENTVERSION\WINLOGO
MODIFY THE KEY LEGALNOTICECAPTION WITH YOUR TEXT OF CHOICE.
MODIFY THE KEY LEGALNOTICETEXT WITH YOUR TEXT OF CHOICE.
RESTART WINDOWS FOR THIS TO TAKE AFFECT. - DISABLE XP'S SPLASH SCREEN
DISABLE XP'S SPLASH SCREEN
THE WINDOWS XP SPLASH SCREEN IS DESIGNED TO HIDE ALL OF THE BEHIND THE SCENES BOOT INFORMATION THAT IS ORDINARILY NEVER NEEDED TO VIEW. HOWEVER, IF YOU NEED TO TROUBLESHOOT A STARTUP PROBLEM, IT MAY BE NECESSARY TO VIEW THIS INFORMATION TO DETERMINE THE TROUBLE. TO FIND OUT, YOU CAN DISABLE THE SPLASH SCREEN BY MAKING A SMALL CHANGE TO THE BOOT.INI FILE. FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW:
PRESS [WINDOWS][BREAK] TO OPEN THE SYSTEM PROPERTIES DIALOG BOX.
ON THE ADVANCED TAB, CLICK THE SETTINGS BUTTON IN THE STARTUP AND RECOVERY SECTION.
IN THE STARTUP AND RECOVERY DIALOG BOX, SELECT THE EDIT BUTTON IN THE SYSTEM STARTUP SECTION.
THE BOOT.INI FILE WILL OPEN IN NOTEPAD; LOCATE THE LINE THAT ENDS WITH THE /FASTDETECT SWITCH.
POSITION YOUR CURSOR RIGHT AFTER THE PARAMETER, PRESS THE SPACEBAR, AND ADD THE /SOS SWITCH.
SAVE THE BOOT.INI FILE, AND CLOSE NOTEPAD.
CLICK CANCEL TO CLOSE BOTH THE STARTUP AND RECOVERY DIALOG BOX AND THE SYSTEM PROPERTIES DIALOG BOX.
RESTART THE SYSTEM.
WHEN THE SYSTEM RESTARTS, THE SPLASH SCREEN WILL NO LONGER APPEAR. YOU CAN OBSERVE SOME OF THE OPERATIONS THAT WINDOWS XP PERFORMS DURING THE STARTUP STAGE.
TO REVIVE THE SPLASH SCREEN, SIMPLY REPEAT THE ABOVE STEPS TO EDIT THE BOOT.INI FILE AND REMOVE THE /SOS SWITCH. - WIN-XP:REMOVE MSN MESSENGER
START, RUN AND ENTER GPEDIT.MSC
COMPUTER CONFIGURATION > ADMINISTRATIVE TEMPLATES > WINDOWS COMPONENTS > WINDOWS MESSENGER
YOU CAN NOW MODIFY WHETHER IT STARTS INITIALLY AND/OR WHETHER IT'S TO RUN AT ALL. - WIN-XP:REMOVE SHARED DOCUMENTS
OPEN REGEDIT(START- RUN- REGEDIT) AND NAVIGATE TO HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE MICROSOFT WINDOWS CURRENTVERSION EXPLORER MY COMPUTER NAMESPACE DELEGATEFOLDERS THERE WILL SEE A SUB-KEY NAMED {59031A47-3F72-44A7-89C5-5595FE6B30EE}. BY DELETING THIS YOU CAN REMOVE THE 'OTHER FILES STORED ON THIS COMPUTER' GROUP. - WIN-XP: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 BLOCK WEBSTIES WITHOUT SOFTWARE?
JUST DO THIS AND BLOCK UNWANTED SOFTWARES FROM ACCESING .
STEPS:
1] BROWSE C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
2] FIND THE FILE NAMED "HOSTS"
3] OPEN IT IN NOTEPAD
4] UNDER "127.0.0.1 LOCALHOST" ADD 127.0.0.2 WWW.THESITENAMETHATYOUWANTBLOCK.COM , AND THAT SITE WILL NO LONGER BE ACCESSABLE.
5] DONE! - SAVING BACKGROUND SOUNDS : OUTLOOK EXPRESS
IT IS POSSIBLE TO SAVE BACKGROUND SOUNDS EMBEDDED INTO EMAIL ONTO YOUR HARD DISK. OPEN TOOLS > OPTIONS > SEND. CHANGE BOTH MAIL SENDING FORMATS TO PLAIN TEXT. OPEN THE MESSAGE YOU WANT TO GRAB THE SOUND FROM AND CLICK ON FORWARD. THE SOUND FILES WILL APPEAR ATTACHED TO THE FORWARDED MESSAGE. SAVE THE FILES FROM HERE AND CLOSE THE MESSAGE. - HACK ADMIN PASSWORD FROM USER MODE
FOLLOW THESE STEPS: 1. OPEN COMMAND PROMPT (START->RUN->CMD), 2. ENTER THE FOLLOWING COMMAND, THEN PRESS ENTER 3. ENTER THE FOLLOWIN COMMAND, THEN PRESS ENTER: COMPMGMT.MSC THIS SHOULD OPEN THE COMPUTER MANAGEMENT CONSOLE. 4. GO TO LOCAL USERS & GROUPS->USERS. RIGHT CLICK ON ANY USER AND SELECT "SET PASSWORD". IF YOU GET A "ACCESS DENIED" DO THE FOLLOWING: START>RUN>CMD THEN USE FOLLOWING COMMANDS 1) NET USER TEST /ADD (THIS COMMAND WILL MAKE TEST NAMED USER) 2) NET LOCALGROUP ADMINISTRATORS TEST /ADD (THIS COMMAND WILL MAKE TEST USER AS ADMINISTRATORS RIGHTS) AND USE NET USER COMMAND TO RESET YOUR ADMIN. PASSWORD - SET WALLPAPERS IN DRIVES
[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}] ICONAREA_IMAGE=C:\WINDOWS\WEB\WALLPAPER\1POSTER.JPG ICONAREA_TEXT=0X00FFFFFF NAME IT AS DESKTOP.INI >>>>>>>>>>SAVE IT AND NOW WHEN U OPEN YOUR LOCAL DRIVE U CAN SEE YOUR FAV WALLPAPERS - FOLDER LOCKER WITH PASSORD WIDOUT ANY S\W
COPY THE FOLLOWING PRGRAM: CLS @ECHO OFF TITLE FOLDER LOCKER IF EXIST "CONTROL PANEL.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" GOTO UNLOCK IF NOT EXIST LOCKER GOTO MDLOCKER :CONFIRM ECHO ARE YOU SURE U WANT TO LOCK THE FOLDER(Y/N) SET/P "CHO=>" IF %CHO%==Y GOTO LOCK IF %CHO%==Y GOTO LOCK IF %CHO%==N GOTO END IF %CHO%==N GOTO END ECHO INVALID CHOICE. GOTO CONFIRM :LOCK REN LOCKER "CONTROL PANEL.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" ATTRIB +H +S "CONTROL PANEL.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" ECHO FOLDER LOCKED GOTO END :UNLOCK ECHO ENTER PASSWORD TO UNLOCK FOLDER SET/P "PASS=>" IF NOT %PASS%==TYPE YOUR PASSWORD HERE GOTO FAIL ATTRIB -H -S "CONTROL PANEL.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" REN "CONTROL PANEL.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" LOCKER ECHO FOLDER UNLOCKED SUCCESSFULLY GOTO END :FAIL ECHO INVALID PASSWORD GOTO END :MDLOCKER MD LOCKER ECHO LOCKER CREATED SUCCESSFULLY GOTO END :END >>>>NOW PASTE IT IN NOTEPAD. >>>>SAVE IT AS BATCH FILE(WITH EXTENSION .BAT).>>>>>NOW YOU SEE A BATCH FILE. DOUBLE CLICK IT TO CREATE A FOLDER LOCKER.>>>>>>> A NEW FOLDER NAMED LOCKER WOULD BE FORMED AT THE SAME LOCATION. >>>>>>>>NOW BRINGS ALL THE FILES YOU WANT TO HIDE IN THE LOCKER FOLDER. >>>>>>>>>>NOW DOUBLE CLICK THE BATCH FILE TO LOCK THE FOLDER NAMELY LOCKER. >>>>IF YOU WANT TO UNLOCK YOUR FILES,DOUBLE CLICK THE BATCH FILE AGAIN AND YOU WOULD BE PROMPTED FOR PASSWORD.ENTER THE PASSWORD AND ENJOY ACCESS TO THE FOLDER. - RETRIEVING LOST PASSWORD FOR CONTENT ADVISOR
CONTROL THE WEB SITES THAT USERS SURF USING YOUR PC VIA CONTENT ADVISOR IN IE. SPECIFY A PASSWORD. FORGET THE PASSWORD AND YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO VISIT CERTAIN WEB SITES AT ALL. THERE IS A WORK AROUND THOUGH. GO TO START > RUN, AND TYPE ‘REGEDIT’ TO BRING UP THE REGISTRY EDITOR. NAVIGATE TO THE REGISTRY KEY HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\ CURRENTVERSION\POLICIES\RATI NGS. DELETE THE KEY ENTRY IN THE RIGHT PANE AND CLOSE THE REGISTRY DITOR. NOW, START INTERNET EXPLORER, GO TO TOOLS > INTERNET OPTIONS > CONTENT > CONTENT ADVISOR AND CLICK ‘DISABLE RATINGS’. DO NOT ENTER ANY PASSWORD WHEN ASKED TO DO SO AND CLICK OK. THAT’S IT! ALL CONTENT ADVISOR SETTINGS ELIMINATED - BACKING UP THE ISPSETTINGS
IT PAYS TO BACKUP ALL THE INFORMATION STORED IN YOUR DUN CONNECTION FOR EASY RETRIEVAL, IN CASE YOU NEED TO RESET ALL THE VALUES FOR FUTURE INSTALLS, OR WHILE TRANSFERRING TO ANOTHER COMPUTER. ALL THE INFORMATION THAT YOU NEED TO DIAL INTO YOUR ISP—NAMELY THE AUTHENTICATION DETAILS, TELEPHONE NUMBER AND IP ADDRESS INFORMATION FOR ALL DUN PROFILES—IS STORED IN THE REGISTRY. GO TO START > RUN AND TYPE REGEDIT. NOW, IN THE LEFT PANE, NAVIGATE TO THE HKEY_CURRENT_USER\REMOTE ACCESS KEY. TO BACKUP THIS BRANCH OF THE REGISTRY, GO TO REGISTRY > EXPORT REGISTRY FILE COMMAND. CHOOSE THE SELECTED BRANCH OPTION AND ASSIGN A NAME, SAY INTERNET.REG. TO IMPORT THIS SETTING TO ANOTHER COMPUTER, JUST COPY THE KEY TO THE SECOND PC, RUN REGEDIT, AND IMPORT THIS FILE INTO THE REGISTRY. - ARROW FREE SHORTCUT
SHORTCUT ICONS HAVE A SMALL CURVED ARROW IN THE LOWER-LEFT CORNER. TO REMOVE THIS ARROW: 1. START THE REGISTRY EDITOR. 2. LOCATE THE KEYS HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\LNKFILE AND HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PIFFILE. 3. DELETE THE VALUE ISSHORTCUT UNDER BOTH THESE KEYS. 4. CLOSE THE REGISTRY EDITOR AND RESTART WINDOWS.