How to write a new partition boot sector to the system partition

Are you look for a way to correct the partition boot sector, here is a quick fix. You have to put WINDOWS XP CD in your reboot the computer next time in recovery console. Here are the steps after you put your XP CD and boot into recovery console (Choose R for Recovery console when Windows XP setup disk starts)
1. Once console is loaded do enter this command FIXBOOT C:(where C: is the hard disk drive where WINDOWS XP is installed by default). To know more about FIXBOOT options, click here to visit Microsoft Technet site

If you have followed the instructions correctly, you are done.

What is Master Bood Record ? How to fix problems with master boot record

So what is Master Boot Record (MBR)? Master boot record is the first sector of the disk that is accessed by you computer BIOS as soon as it boots up. So what does it mean ? It means that your ability to boot to a particular operating system depends upon the correctness of Master Bood Record. If you have ever installed two or more operating system, your ability to select an operating system is controlled by master boot record. Assume if you are not able to boot due to your dislike of the changes in boot loader process or corruption in MBR (btw, this could happen for a variety of reasons, right from virus to your own experiments with multi boot process.. I have seen this happening a lot on my PC since I have a dual cpu system with Mandrake 8.1 on one partition and Windows XP on another with Mandrake graphical Master Boot Menu ) you have to correct the master boot record.
Assuming you are in Windows XP, you have to put WINDOWS XP CD in your drive and make it reboot next time in recovery console.
1. Simplest way to do this would be to would be to navigate to START-RUN and type D:\i386\winnt /cmdcons (D: is the CDROM drive in my computer) and let the process finish and reboot.
2. Once rebooted, system would prompt you to choose recovery console and chose it by entering proper menu id number (by default should be 1). Once console is loaded do enter this command FIXMBR /device/harddisk0 (where harddisk0 refers to C: drive where WINDOWS XP is installed by default). This would fix your master boot record to default XP boot. By the way FIXMBR command is only available from recovery console. What to know more about FIXMBR, visit Microsoft TechNet site

If you have followed the instructions correctly, you are done.

How to kill the IE About windows that popup from time to time

There is an Internet Explorer vulnerability to which allows some web sites to open a hidden popup tracking minimized window either upon your first visit or when you leave their web site or even when you close your browser while one of their web pages is still displayed. They do this by using the little known "about:" browser built-in command into their HTML/DHTML/XML code. Sometimes this window Go undetected as these are not resizable as you come to expect of a typical window app. If you do not have anything specific with www.about.com, there could be a registry tweak that you can do. Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE) by going to START-RUN and type regedit and navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Internet Settings\ZoneMap\ProtocolDefaults]
and add two DWORD keys"about" and "about:" and set its value to 4.

Speedup boot time by improving NTFS check

CHKNTFS is the command used to set the AUTOCHK initiation count down time. You can reduce it from default 9 seconds to a much lower value say 4 seconds. Go to command prompt and type CHKNTFS/T:4 This command would set the AUTOCHK initiation count time down to 4.

Using third part defrag utility ? Make it defrag all files

I read about this tip on web. If you are using a third party defrag utility, you can make it defrag all files. Go to C:\Windows\Prefetch directory and removing/deleting layout.ini file.

How to print content of directory

Here work around is to create a DOS batch file with command to print the dir content into your printer port (make sure you know what is your printer port, in general it is LPT1 but it could be USB001 if you have it connected to USB port, right click on the printer icon and go to port tab and figure this out first) and then creating a context menu access this batch functionality. All right here are the instructions:
step 1:
Open a text editor, such as Notepad, and type the following lines into a new document: (assuming the printer you wish to use is connected to printer port #1).
CD %1
DIR >LPT1

Save the two-line file into your Windows\Command folder, and call it PRINTDIR.BAT.
step 2:
Find the file in Explorer, right click on it, and select Properties.
Click on the Program tab, turn on the Close on Exit option, choose Minimized from the Run list, and click Ok.
Next, run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE) by going to START-RUN and type regedit and navigate to
[\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell]. Select New from the Edit menu, and then select Key. Type Print for the name of this new key, and press Enter. Highlight the new Print key, select New from the Edit menu, and then select Key again. Type command for the name of this new key, and press Enter. Double-click on the (default) value in the right pane, and type C:\Windows\Command\PRINTDIR.BAT (assuming that C:\Windows\ is your Windows folder).
From now on, when you right-click on a folder icon, you can click Print to print its contents. Note: this assumes that your printer is connected to the LPT1 port, which is true for most users. However, if your printer is connected over a network or you have more than one printer, you need to change LPT1 to the correct port.

How to restart Windows without restarting your computer

This one is again is. When you click on the SHUTDOWN button, make sure to simultaneous press SHIFT Button. If you hold the Shift key down while clicking on SHUTDOWN button, you computer would restart without restarting the Computer. This is equivalent to term"HOT REBOOT".

How to disable images using Outlook express

This has been an issue to few folks. Basically what happens is that when your receive your email, you get lot of junk mail which are formatted with HTML etc. Some of them are not suitable to your taste but also take some time to load. There are some alternative ways to block the load of images but each has its advantage and disadvantages:
1) Disable images in IE as it also affects OE
2) If you're running a firewall with rules make a rule that blocks OE's access to port 80. That way it can't get the images it needs.
3) There is a utility called Detach XP. This program could be used to apply the blocking even though its primary aim is to allows you to access these blocked files in Outlook 2002, without editing the Windows Registry manually

Minesweeper easy play

Automatically reveal mines:
1. Make the desktop clear and close all applications.
2 .Start minesweeper game.
3. Type xyzzy.
4. hold down shiftkey for sometime.
5. move the cursor above the mines .
6.Der will be a white spot in the top left corner of the screen.
7. This will turn black if you place the cursor above a mine.

Stopping the counter:
1. Launch minesweeper and press win+d to show the desktop.
2. Now click on minesweeper in the taskbar to freeze time...


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URGE, Brought to You by MTV

Microsoft may never be able to match the experience that millions of iPod buyers have
had downloading music from Appleís iTunes Store. But you canít blame the Redmond
company for trying.
URGE, shown in Figure 18, is a new music service featured in WMP 11 that has its roots in
the American video cable channels MTV, VH1, and CMT. The parent corporation, MTV
Networks, imbues URGE with a music library thatís said to be two million songs strong
(which should be enough to keep you entertained for at least a few weeks). The service,
available only in the United States at this writing, provides unlimited listening for a
monthly subscription fee, or you can buy individual tracks, similar to iTunes.Besides the usual 99-cent music downloads, URGE offers over 6,000 music videos, more
than 500 playlists by genre, and some 130 commercial-free radio stations in a wide variety
of styles.
If you canít find what you want on URGE, WMP 11 still boasts partnerships with several
other online audio stores. These include the selections of Audible.com, Napster, XM
Satellite Radio, Microsoftís own MSN Music, and so on (see Figure 19).

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Encrypt Entire Drives with BitLocker

Screaming headlines in recent years have made the public aware of stolen laptops and
desktop computers that contained the personal records of thousands of millions of indi-
viduals. These thefts might not have exposed anyoneís personal data if the hard drives in
the stolen computers had been encrypted and protected by strong passwords.
Various third-party solutions have long been available to encrypt sensitive data folders
and entire hard drives. With Vista, Microsoft now enters this market with BitLocker Drive
Encryption.
BitLocker has some advantages over competing encryption products because, integrated
as it is into Windows, it can check the integrity of a computer system before the Windows
user interface is ever loaded. BitLocker can tell when a hard drive has been moved to a
different computeróas would be the case if a drive had been stolenóand can defend
against brute-force attacks.
BitLocker also integrates with Microsoftís Active Directory domain service scheme. The
remote storage of digital keys that can unlock or restore data if a user forgets a password is
a difficult and labor-intensive chore for IT administratrors. BitLocker handles this by using
Active Directory to escrow the keys securely, while still being able to help an authorized
(but forgetful) user access crucial data thatís stored in a password-protected drive.
BitLocker is available only in Vista Ultimate Edition, which can be purchased separately
or upgraded to from the Home and Business Editions, and Vista Enterprise Edition, which
can be purchased separately or upgraded to from the Business Edition.


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Support for RSS News Feeds

IE 7.0 includes an easy way to subscribe to news feeds, regularly updated information
that sites publish in the format known as Really Simple Syndication (RSS).
When a surfer visits a site that publishes one or more news feeds, a square broadcast icon
on IE 7ís toolbar changes from grey to orange. Clicking the icon takes you to a page that
explains the content of a feed and provides a clickable link that subscribes you (see
Figure 10). This is a big improvement over previous news feed buttons in other browsers,
which formerly displayed raw XML code when clicked.
After youíve subscribed to a news feed, you can read it using IE 7ís Favorites pane. This
subwindow is accessed by clicking the yellow star in IEís toolbar and selecting Feeds.
The latest news items can be sorted by date or title or filtered by categories provided by
the author of the feed (see Figure 11).
IEís native feed handling isnít as capable as a dedicated readerís, such as NewsGator, or
an online news aggregatorís, such as Bloglines.com. But the addition of RSS support in IE
is certain to make this form of communications popular with a much larger chunk of
Internet users than had discovered news feeds prior to Vista.

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IE Protected Mode and Phishing Filter

Internet Explorer 7.0, when running under Windows Vista (not XP or earlier operating
Protected Mode. This means that dishonest web sites that
systems), operates by default in
a user happens to visit cannot trick IE 7 into changing Windows system files or other cru-
cial configuration details.
A separate feature, but one that can work in concert with Protected Mode to keep users
Phishing Filter. IE 7 regularly downloads from a
out of trouble, is Microsoftís new
Microsoft server a list of web addresses that appear to be fraudulent. These sites may get
on the list because theyíre collecting passwords or credit card numbers from gullible con-
sumers, theyíre downloading spyware to peopleís computers, or for other reasons. In any
case, IE 7 doesnít display known phishing sites, instead warning the user about the iden-
tified problems with the site.
The features just described are only two of the several Microsoft has added to Internet
Explorer. Others include protection against cross-site scripting attacks (in which one site
takes over a window used by another site), ActiveX suspension (which disables the most
dangerous ActiveX controls), and Windows Defender, which guards against spyware.
Itís too early to say whether the new IE security features will add up to an adequate level
of safety for Windows users, or whether third-party security products must still be added
to Windows. Itís likely that Microsoftís own programs will play second fiddle to third-party
developers, who concentrate specifically on antiphishing and antispyware research. Read
the comparative reviews of security add-ons in respected computer magazines to learn
which products provide the best securityóand then invest a few bucks in any independ-
ent downloads that are top rated.


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Microsoft Vista and Security

The battle for malware wages on,but new weapons have been pushed to the front
line.For Windows Vista,many new security features (as well as some updated ones)
help to protect computer systems from past,present,and future malware threats of
any class.
Vista includes many new features that help to thwart malware threats.Behind
the actual making of the software was a major plan to shift the way Microsoft does
business in the security sector.Now,making a secure,private,and reliable computing
experience has become the companyís top priority and has been dubbed
ìTrustworthy Computing.îTo preserve data con?dentiality,integrity,and availability
(CIA),Windows Vista brings a new level of con?dence to computing through
improved security,reliability,and management.It achieves this by establishing inno-
vative engineering,applying best practices,and creating a system where the OS can
be updated and maintained consistently to avoid intrusion or exploitation.

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Script Kiddies and DoS Attacks

A script kiddie is an inexperienced hacker who uses already developed tools
and methods to exploit a system or penetrate a systemís defenses, instead of
creating those tools and methods on his own. Advanced hackers and code pro-
grammers are generally considered to be elite. These experienced individuals
can create a rootkit, whereas a script kiddie will only obtain and execute it.
A DoS attack is an attack on a network or system that is designed to tie
up the systemís or networkís resources so that legitimate requests for service
cannot be answered. For all known DoS attacks, there are software ?xes that
system administrators can install to limit the damage caused by the attacks,
and steps they can take to attempt to prevent the attacks. Since 2003, the
majority of widespread viruses and worms have been designed to take control
of usersí computers for use in DoS attacks to hide the identity of the true
attacker. Infected computer system hosts (called zombies) are used to send
large amounts of data, spam, pornography, and other random data to legiti-
mate hosts. A DoS attack is usually sourced from one or multiple locations to
attack a single location. A distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack is the
ìdistributedî form of the same attack, using multiple zombie hosts to perform
a larger-scale attack more quickly.


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Vista Is Still Susceptible to Older Malware

Since its release, Microsoft Windows Vista has already been reported to be
affected by old malware. In particular, Vista has been found to be susceptible
to three common malware exploits:
Stratio-Zip W32/Stratio-Zip is a family of Zip ?les containing
worms in the Stration family.
Netsky-D W32/Netsky-D is a worm that spreads via e-mail. When
e-mailing itself the worm can spoof the senderís e-mail address.
MyDoom-O W32/MyDoom-O is an e-mail worm that creates a ?le
named services.exe in the Windows or Temp folder, and then runs
the ?le. Services.exe is a backdoor component. The worm then
searches the hard diskís e-mail addresses.
When deploying Vista, be aware that although malware defense has
been forti?ed, it still has its faults. For more information on this subject,
visit www.sophos.com/pressof?ce/news/articles/2006/11/toptennov.htmland
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39284939,00.htm.

vista still susceptible to Malware and other viruses

Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses

Many of the original MS-DOS-based viruses and other types of malware were
written as experiments intended to be either harmless or destructive,and many were
created as simple and harmless pranks.As time went on,the level of skill used to
create such malware grew by leaps and bounds,and the severity of each payload
grew exponentially as well.This inevitably caused many software programmers to
stop coding,learn security fundamentals,and start coding again while applying those
fundamentals.Because it appeared that the exploit writers were outpacing the soft-
ware developers,this practice became ìmandatoryîwithin Microsoftís own camp.
Young,inexperienced software programmers and script kiddies learning about
viruses and the techniques used to write them were getting more advanced as the
tools they created or had at their disposal expanded in number.Some of these
malware attacks proved to hurt a global economy that now thrived on the use of
the Internet.As time went on,a chase seemed to ensue,and it appeared as though
the exploit writers were outpacing the productís legitimate software development
teams.As the use of the Internet exploded,it seemed as though malware grew
more and more destructive on a daily basis.Newer exploits were coming out
rapidly that were designed to destroy files on a hard disk or to corrupt the file
system so that it could not be used.Viruses were created to cause traffic flooding
to legitimate Web servers,putting them out of business.The list goes on and on.It
wasnít until malware became extremely destructive that action was taken on a
grand scale.In 1999,Melissa (a well-known computer virus) really showed us how
fast (and far) a virus could spread.It also showed us how vulnerable our systems
were to attacks that could hurt a companyís bottom line.Melissa was the first virus

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Malware Fundamentals

Intruders,hackers,or attackers who access networks and systems without authoriza-
tion and with malicious motives can plant various types of programs to cause
damage to the network,your system,and your data.These programsóoften lumped
together under the general term virusesóperform many different functions and are
classi?ed under different categories.In this section,we will look at how granular the
term malware can actually be.Itís important to have a general understanding of the
different classi?cations of malware,and itís equally important to understand their
general behavior.
Malware is any software product or program that has been created with an intent
to cause damage or harm.The word malice is a legal term used to de?ne the inten-
tion of one party to harm or cause injury to another party.When applied to com-
puter technology,the word holds equal meaning.A malicious party creates software
to cause havoc on any host that downloads and installs it,whether knowingly or
unknowingly.When discussing malware,itís important to classify it.The term malware
is generally used to describe a broad spectrum of different types of software,such as
computer viruses,Trojans,worms,adware,and spyware.Just about any form of hos-
tile,intrusive,or annoying software or program code can be classi?ed as malware.


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Malware removal

Intruders,hackers,or attackers who access networks and systems without authoriza-
tion and with malicious motives can plant various types of programs to cause
damage to the network,your system,and your data.These programsóoften lumped
together under the general term virusesóperform many different functions and are
classi?ed under different categories.In this section,we will look at how granular the
term malware can actually be.Itís important to have a general understanding of the
different classi?cations of malware,and itís equally important to understand their
general behavior.
Malware is any software product or program that has been created with an intent
to cause damage or harm.The word malice is a legal term used to de?ne the inten-
tion of one party to harm or cause injury to another party.When applied to com-
puter technology,the word holds equal meaning.A malicious party creates software
to cause havoc on any host that downloads and installs it,whether knowingly or
unknowingly.When discussing malware,itís important to classify it.The term malware
is generally used to describe a broad spectrum of different types of software,such as
computer viruses,Trojans,worms,adware,and spyware.Just about any form of hos-
tile,intrusive,or annoying software or program code can be classi?ed as malware.


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Uninstalling Unused Network Protocols and Services

Unwanted network protocols and services consume network resources.You should uninstall these ser-
vices and protocols if they are not used in the network.If you have multiple network protocols
installed for a particular network adapter,check their binding order as well.The Network and
Sharing Center in Windows Vista provides a central place to manage networking hardware,protocols,
and resource sharing.In order to view the protocols installed for a particular adapter,perform the fol-
lowing steps:
1.Right-click the network icon on the Taskbar and click Network and Sharing Center.
2.In the Network and Sharing Center,click the Manage Network Connections link.
3.Right-click the network connection (for example,Local Area Connection) and select
Properties.
4.Click the Continue button in the User Account Control dialog box.
5.In the Local Area Connection Properties window,check the installed protocols and
services for the network adapter.This is shown in Figure 10.23.
6.Clear the checkbox for a service or protocol that is not required.
7.Click OK to save your settings and close the Properties window.


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Protecting Memory from Malicious Applications

Windows Vista includes Data Execution Prevention (DEP),a memory protection application that monitors the use of memory by applications.By default,it does not allow applications to use those memory locations reserved for the system.This essentially helps protect the system from malicious code that may insert itself into a system memory location.In other words,DEP is a security feature that allows only system applications to use system memory locations.If DEP detects that any appli- cation is inappropriately using system memory locations,it shuts down the application and displays a message.
By default,DEP is enabled only for essential Windows services and applications.You can con-
?gure DEP for all services and programs as well as specify exceptions.Vista provides this feature as a software-based solution for protecting system memory.Some hardware vendors provide DEPas a hardware-based solution.Even if your computer hardware does not support DEP,a malicious applica- tion such as a virus program can be prevented by Windows Vista DEP from undesired use of system memory.This helps in keeping the system stable by preventing inappropriate memory usage by mali- cious software.

Enabling Data Execution Prevention
To check whether your computer supports DEP or not,or to enable DEP,use the following
procedure:
1.Click Start | Control Panel |System and Maintenance | Performance
Information and Tools.
2.Click the Adjust Visual Effects link on the left-hand side panel.
3.Click the Continue button in the User Account Control dialog box to con?rm your
administrative action.
4.Click the Data Execution Prevention tab in the Performance Options window.The
DEP window is shown in Figure 10.17.
5.Notice that DEP is enabled by default for essential Windows programs and services only.
The information on the bottom part of the window indicates that the computerís processor
supports hardware-based DEP.
6.To enable DEP for all programs and services (including Windows programs and services),
click the radio button for Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those
I select.
7.Click the Add button to add exceptions.Select the applications for which you do not wish
to enable DEP.
8.Click OK twice to close the Performance Options window.

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Windows ReadyBoost

Another signi?cant addition to Windows Vista is the Windows ReadyBoost feature.Windows
ReadyBoost enables Windows to use a USB ?ash drive instead of hard disk space to manage virtual
memory requirements.Since reading and writing data on a USB drive is much faster than the hard
disk,you can signi?cantly enhance system performance using this new feature.This helps improve the
overall system performance and user experience rating of the system.
The following conditions must be met in order to use the ReadyBoost feature:
The USB drive must be USB 2.0 ?ash drives,Secure Digital (SD) memory cards,or
CompactFlash Cards.
The USB drive must be of the Fast Flash Memory type.
The size of the drive must be 512MB or larger.
The maximum amount of USB drive size you can use with ReadyBoost is three times the
size of physical RAM.For example,if you have only 512MB of physical RAM in the com-
puter,you can use a maximum of 1.5GB from two USB drives for the purpose.


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Adjusting Virtual Memory

As noted earlier,if required,Windows Vista will automatically reserve a fraction of hard disk space to
be used as virtual memory or a paging ?le.Virtual memory is used as a temporary storage when the
system runs out of physical RAM.In most cases,you will not need to manually adjust the virtual
memory settings.Typically,Vista will allocate a minimum amount of virtual memory equal to the
amount of RAM in the system.The Task Manager,located in the Taskbar,provides a quick view of
memory usage in the system and can help you decide if you need to adjust the virtual memory set-
tings.The Resource Monitor also provides details on the available resources in the computer,
including system memory.Any of these two utilities can tell you if the system is running out of
memory.Under normal working conditions,if you are running out of virtual memory,Windows
Vista will display a warning message,indicating you need to adjust the size of the paging ?le.
Should you want to manually adjust the size of the paging ?le,the following steps will help you
understand the procedure:
1.Click Start | Control Panel | System and Maintenance | Performance and
Information Tools.
2.Click the link for Adjust Visual Effects on the left-hand panel.You will need to click the
Continue button in the User Account Control dialog box to con?rm your action.
3.The Performance Options window opens.Click the Advanced tab.
4.Click the Change button in the Virtual Memory section to open the Virtual Memory set-
tings page.
5.Notice that the Automatically Manage Paging File Size For All Drives option is checked,
while other options are grayed out.Click this option to clear the checkbox,as shown in
Figure 10.15.
6.Select the hard disk drive in the Drive (Volume Label) box.This will provide informa-
tion about the existing size of the paging ?le on each drive.Note there are three options to
select for the paging File size:Custom Size,System Managed Size,and No Paging File.
7.To manually adjust the paging ?le size,click the Custom Size radio button.
8.Type the Initial Size and Maximum Size in MB.
9.If you want to clear the paging ?le earlier con?gured,click the No Paging File radio
button.
10.Review the information in the Total Paging File Size For All Drives section.This informa-
tion is helpful in determining the minimum,recommended,and currently allocated size for
the paging ?le on each drive.
11.Click OK twice to close the Virtual Memory and the Performance Options windows.


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Optimizing Memory

Like other core components of the computer,such as the processor and the hard disk,memory also plays an important role in overall system performance.The physical memory is dynamically allocated to running system services and applications.Computer memory is mainly classi?ed into two types:
physical memory,which is the Random Access Memory (RAM),and the Virtual Memory,a combi- nation of the RAM and a fraction of hard disk space.Windows uses virtual memory when it runs out of available RAM installed in the system.It also transfers data in and out of RAM as,and when, required to make room for working programs.
For most applications and background system services,Windows Vista will automatically manage the available physical memory installed in the system.In addition to this,Vista will also take care of the virtual memory,which is used in case the physical memory is unable to handle all memory requirements of systems services and applications.The process of writing information to virtual memory is known as paging.The information is written to a paging ?le named page?le.sys. Windows automatically sets the initial size of the virtual memory equal to the amount of RAM plus 300MB.The maximum amount can be as large as three times the amount of RAM.For better performance,however,you should not set the maximum size to more than twice the amount of RAM.Doing this might cause hard disk fragmentation.In this section,we will learn how to ?ne- tune the virtual memory settings in order to boost the overall system performance.


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Whatís New with Wireless in Vista?

Microsoft has designed Windows Vista to provide better support for wireless networking that is more closely integrated with the operating system than ever before.This has resulted in improved stability and reliability.In 2001,wireless networking wasnít prevalent;therefore,Windows XP didnít support it natively.You could use wireless network cards with XP but what you got was typically a proprietary interface from the hardware vendor.This meant that when enterprises implemented wireless local area networks (WLANs) their IT departments would have to learn different vendor-speci?c wireless
software depending on the computer hardware they used.Windows Vista provides a single wireless client that,regardless of the computerís manufacturer,is consistent for users and IT personnel. The new Native Wi-Fi Architecture in Windows Vista has been redesigned.Now 802.11 is rep- resented as its own media type in Windows,separate from 802.3,which now allows features such as larger frame sizes to be taken advantage of.Wireless support in Windows Vista also includes the fol- lowing changes:
The Single Sign-on feature Behavior change with no preferred wireless network available
Hidden wireless network support
Command-line con?guration
WPA2 support
Integration with NAP
Other changes with wireless support can be found in Windows Vista,such as the Network
Diagnostics Framework,Network Location Types,and the next generation of TCP/IP to name a few.
These also apply to general networking and were covered in Chapter 6.Therefore,weíll focus on
those changes specific to wireless.
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Let the Windows Sidebar Be Your Second Set of Eyes

we want to take a minute to show you how you can use it to keep you informed at all times. It's not just easy to doit's fun. Dozens of gadgets exist that you can use, and more are being created daily. On the sample Windows Sidebar, we have a clock, a calendar, a search bar, a news feed, the weather, and a notepad. Kids can leave notes on the notepad for Mom, we can see the time clearly from the desktop, and we know at a glance whether the weather is nice enough to kick the kids outdoors. In addition, we know all the latest news and what's happening in the world around us.

That's what we mean by staying informeduse the Sidebar to give you the information you need at a glance. If you need to add gadgets to meet your needs, right-click the Sidebar, and click Add Gadgets. A gadget dialog box will display showing all the gadgets you have on your system. Need more? Click Get More Gadgets Online to be taken directly to the Windows Vista Gadgets Gallery. Browse the categories, select the gadget you want, and download it. When it installs, it will automatically appear in your Sidebar as well as in your desktop gadget folder. Just drag and drop it to the Sidebar location you prefer.

As you select gadgets in the Windows Vista Gadgets Gallery, you'll see that some are available for your computer, some are for your Live.com site, and some are for your Windows Live Spaces space. Live.com and Windows Live Spaces are not part of Windows Vista; rather, they are Internet tools available from Microsoft. Look for gadgets that say "download"those will download directly to your computer for use on the Sidebar.

Another point to consider as you download gadgets is that some are created by Microsoft, and some are freeware created by third parties. The Gadgets Gallery offers them all to you but will warn you when you attempt to download a gadget not certified by Microsoft. It doesn't mean those gadgets are maliciousbut they could be. Just exercise caution when you download any of them!

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Use Windows Calendar to Organize Your Life and Family

If you've ever wished for a single calendar that can help you plan and manage your own activities as well as coordinate the rest of your family's activities, look no further. Windows Calendar is built right into Windows Vista and offers several features you will probably find useful. The Windows Calendar automated integration features make it the easiest calendar we've seen for groups of people to use. You can create appointments, tasks, reminders, and priorities; review and compare multiple calendars; import information from calendar Web sites that use the iCalendar format; publish your own calendar to the Web; and send e-mail appointments and invitations to friends and family directly from your calendar.

That's a lot of organization in one place! Since we don't have all day to get you organized, we'll hit the highlights. First you need to open Windows Calendar. You can do that by clicking the Start menu and typing Windows Calendar in the Start Search box. Click it to open it when the result appears under Programs.

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Transfer Data with Windows Easy Transfer

In the olden days, we actually rather dreaded buying a new computer. It was a hassle to set it up and get it just right. It took days, if not weeks. You had to call your Internet service provider (ISP) and ask for the settings to connect to the Internet. And then you had to call them back when you couldn't figure out how to do it yourself. You had to call them again because you could send an e-mail but not receive one. You had to export and then import Microsoft Internet Explorer Favorites, create new user accounts, somehow bring over the address book and e-mail messages, and one way or another copy all your personal data. No more. Windows Easy Transfer, which comes with Windows Vista, lets you to transfer all of this and more with no problem at all (and no calling your ISP).

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What Is Aero?

You've probably heard the hype about something called Aero. But what is it? In a nutshell, Aero is the ultimate visual experience for Windows Vista. It's a new user interface with a transparent glass design with animations and cool new colors, and it's a feature you can use only if your computer meets some specific requirements.

Aero comes with Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Home Premium, and Windows Vista Ultimate, but you'll also need to meet some hardware requirements. For starters, this includes a 1-gigahertz (GHz) processor, 1 gigabyte (GB) of random access memory (RAM), and a 128-megabyte (MB) graphics card. Aero also requires a DirectX 9class graphics processor that supports a Windows Display Driver Model, Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware, and 32 bits per pixel. You'll need your display settings for color at 32-bit too.

TURN ON AERO

Come on, you know you want to...turn on Aero, and give it a whirl:

Right-click an empty area of the desktop, and click Personalize.

Select Windows Color And Appearance.

If you see what's shown in the following illustration, you can use the Aero interface. If you see something else, specifically an Appearance Settings dialog box, you don't meet the minimum requirements to run Aero. (This may be because of the edition of Windows Vista you're running or because your computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements.)

Select Enable Transparency.

Select a color.

Click OK.

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The Automated System Recovery Wizard

Letís look at the Automated System Recovery Preparation Wizard (ASR Wizard).
This wizard is a special variant of the Backup Wizard.This wizard makes a Normal
backup of the complete system,thus all volumes,no questions asked.Additionally,it
will copy a few con?guration ?les to a ?oppy,again no questions asked.The ?les
put on the ?oppy are equal to the Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) you have in
other Windows versions.Only the ERD could help you with boot,Registry,and
system ?le problems.If your disk crashed,the only way out was to reinstall the
complete system and then restore the backups you had.This ASR Wizard goes a
step further,by also making a complete backup of your system.The Recovery
Console (see Chapter 15) can restore this backup without ?rst reinstalling the
system.Because the ERD and the backup are made at the same time,they form a
perfect pair and will not contain inconsistencies and discrepancies.
Remember that you will need a backup medium that is accessible by the
Recovery Console;this will most likely require several gigabytes of data.Note
that in case of a recovery,your restore is as up-to-date as the backup made.You
are advised to run the ASR Wizard every time a signi?cant hardware and/or soft-
ware change is made to a system.Note that you need to run on every system to
be able to make a clean recovery,and never be convinced that two PCs are the
same because you bought them at the same time.Now let us look what it takes
to run the ASR Wizard and create a recovery point for your system.

1.Select Tools | ASR Wizard.
2.The ?rst thing you will notice is that the Backup tab will be selected.In
the situation you previously made ?les/folders selection,a dialog box
will appear asking you if you want to use this selection for the wizard.
Click No to clear the selection.Now the Automated System Recovery
Preparation Wizard open with its Welcome page.Click Next.
3.The next page is called Backup Destination.Note that the ASR Wizard
will make a backup of everything on your Windows XP system,so you do
not get an option to make a selection.On this page,you need to choose:
Backup media type
Backup media or ?le name Notice that you cannot choose the
Floppy as a backup media.Use Browse to determine the destination.
4.Click Next.
5.In case you have selected a media type that is not local to the system,for
example a backup unit or folder of a Windows Server in the network,a
Warning dialog box is displayed,informing you that this media may not
be accessible during a recovery.Click OK to continue,or Cancel if you
want to rethink the situation.
6.You have reached the last page of the wizard,but you are not off the
hook yet.Click Finish.
7.The Full backup will promptly start and continue for a while,depending
on the amount of data that needs to be backed up and the speed of
the backup media.Instead of staring to the monitor,make use of the
time available and get a blank diskette or one with at least 300 kilobytes
available.
8.Once the backup ?nishes,you will be asked to insert a blank ?oppy in
the A drive.Three ?les will be written to the ?oppy:asr.sif,asrpnp.sif,
and setup.log.All three are plain-text ?les that describe the current
system state.If you lose one of these ?les,you are not able to perform an
automated System Recovery.Note:ìasrîstands for Automated System
Recovery;ìasrpnpîstands for Automated System Recovery Plug ën Play
(describing the current PnP settings);and ìsifîstands for State
Information File,or System Information File.
How the recovery takes place is addressed in the ìRestoring Your Systemî
tion.Chapter 15 also addresses the topic of recovery in a broader setting.
.syngress.com

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Scheduling Tasks

As you use your system,you will have to perform the same tasks over and over
again.If such a task can run unattended,you can schedule that task at a time
when it does not interfere with your work and does not stress the computer
while you are using it.Another advantage is that once you add a job to the list,it
will automatically run,without you having to remember to run it manually.Of
course,it is good practice to regularly check to see if these jobs produced any
errors.An example of a job you can run unattended is the command-line utility
defrag.You can make sure that this utility will be run every week at a particular
time,assuming you have the computer up and running at that time.To schedule
defrag,you may want to create a batch script to run one or more subsequent
defragmentations.
You can start Scheduled Tasks from All Programs | Accessories |
System Tools,which will open an Explorer window .The right
pane shows all scheduled tasks and an Add Scheduled Task Wizard at the top of
the list.
You maintain Scheduled Tasks in an Explorer window because every task is a
?le with a special ?le type that is identi?ed with the extension .job.These jobs
are located in the folder C:\WINDOWS\TASKS (assuming that you do not
have a multiboot system where the drive letter may be something else then C:\).
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The Limitations of Disk Defragmenter

The best way to identify the usage of Disk Defragmenter is to quote Microsoft
from its Knowledgebase document ìRunning Windows 2000 Disk Defragmenter
Requires Administrator Privilegesî(Article ID Q231176):
ìDisk Defragmenter was designed primarily for stand-alone workstations or
servers whose users have the ability to log on locally with administrator privi-
leges.Disk Defragmenter is not intended to be a tool for administrators to main-
tain networked workstations.î
Taking this into account,along with information from the documents
ìWindows 2000 Disk Defragmenter Limitationsî(Article ID Q227463) and
ìFiles Excluded by the Disk Defragmenter Toolî(Article ID Q227350) we come
up with the following limitations of Disk Defragmenter:
It can only be used by users with administrator rights.
It can only be started from the console.

It can only defragment local volumes,thus not networked volumes.
It can only defragment one volume at a time.
Only one copy of Disk Defragmenter can run at a time.
It canít scan a volume while defragmenting another volume.
It canít defragment the MFT and Paging ?le(s).
It can only run a complete defragment process if at least 30 percent of
disk space is free (this is a rule of thumb).
It canít run in a Windows script,nor can it run as a scheduled task;you
need the command-line version of Disk Defragmenter,called defrag.
It can only run at normal priority and needs to compete with other
running applications.
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How Disk Defragmenter Works

The main goal of the Disk Defragmenter is to place every ?le in one contiguous
space,so when you access a ?le,it can be read in one stream.The tool will ana-
lyze the volume to determine to what extent the ?les on it are defragmented.For
FAT/FAT32 volumes,it checks the File Allocation Table (FAT);for NTFS vol-
umes,it uses the Master File Table (MFT).Both table types record the data blocks
that are used by each ?le,so the defragmenter can easily determine which ?les
are using discontiguous volume space.
After the Disk Defragmenter has analyzed the volume,it can defragment it by
going through the list of fragmented ?les,and every ?le is moved to a place of
suf?cient free storage to hold the complete ?le.If such a space is not available,it
will try to defragment the other fragmented ?les ?rst,assuming it can open up
more contiguous space.The Disk Defragmenter will move a ?le to the free space
that is closest to the size of the ?le.This means that it will move a ?le even it is
surrounded with free space,as long as there is a better ?tting piece of storage.
Remember that Disk Defragmenter has its limitations,especially because a run-
ning system will always be subject to storage changes.The best proof is running
two consecutive defragmentations,whereupon you will notice that it will make
changes to the volume.

You also will notice that after a defragment operation there will still be
pockets of free disk space.This occurs because the Disk Defragmenter is neither a
disk reorganizer nor a compacter.In general,defragmenting will improve your
system performance,because the process will improve average ?le access speed.
The Disk Defragmenter will not always defragment all ?les,and you should
not be surprised that at the end of the defragmentation if it reports that it was
not able to defragment small ?les,even if enough free space is available to do so.
Before you start wondering about the usefulness of Disk Defragmenter,we
should look to the purpose and intent of this tool and the limitations that come
with it.

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Search Box Tips

When you are working with the file/folder search box, you want to find files quickly.
The real key to this is making sure you name files logically or include pertinent infor-
mation as metadata to the file. We will discuss this in-depth momentarily. For example,
say you go to a folder and type in the name you are looking for (Expense Report
Germany); immediately all the files that dont correspond disappear, making it easier to
select the file you need. You could also type partial words like exp; the search box
brings up all the files with those letters in the title or within the content.
Another cool feature isthat you can find a file by type: document, picture, or music. In
the search box, just type one of those and it filters out the others. You might want to be
more specific about the type of filefor example, is it a .bmp or .jpg? You can do that,
too, by typing in the extension of the file. (Using wildcards such as *.jpg generates a
clearer search.)
Now lets talk about tags. When you create files, you are asked whether you want to
add any tags . This could make finding files, especially pictures, much
easier, but only if you take the time to set the tag. You can also search by author, but
you could see how that would be helpful only if you have a few items from one author
on your system.

The reason these search filters work is because Windows searches through every-
thingthe name, contents, properties, tags, and so forth. But you might want to search
more selectively. Thats possible, too. For example, you can search by the property you
are looking for by specifying the property and the term separated by a colon. For exam-
ple, entering Name:Disney brings up only the files with Disney in the name.
Tag:Wedding brings up only files with the tags set with the word Wedding (great
for pictures). Modified:11/18/2006 gives you the files modified on a certain date. If you
enter a specific year, it gives you files modified within that year, although that might
be too broad for your search.

Almost any property in the file list headings can be heard. Here is where search
becomes very cool. Lets say you have a document and you dont remember the name
or where you put it but you have it in your hands and its six pages long. You can type
Pages:6 in the Search box and it will find all the documents of that size!
You can also use Boolean filters to refine your search a bit more. For example, you recall
the standard onesAND, NOT, OR (make sure you use capital letters when using these
because otherwise Search thinks these are real words). Even better, you can combine
Boolean filters with the file property searches, for example, Author: Ed AND David
which finds files authored by both persons. You can find more information on Boolean
filters and file properties in the Vista help files.

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Tweaking the Clock

Here is one tip for gettinga little extra functionality from the Vista clock on the taskbar.
As simple as that clock is, many users need to keep track of time in multiple time zones.
Fortunately, you can do that right within your taskbar.

Right-click your clock on the taskbar and
select Adjust Date/Time. Select the Additional
Clocks tab and then determine whether you
need one or two additional clocks; then
select which names and time zones you
require.
The next time you hover your mouse over
your time, you will see the other time zones
you have configured. This is a great tool for
travelers who like to call home or business
employees who have offices and clients in
other zones.
You could also set up gadgets in the
Windows Sidebar to show you multiple
times in different zones. You are welcome to
choose whichever method you like best.

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Changing the Boot Graphic

Some of us love the Vista boot screens. We love when that little orb appears in the mid-
dle of the screen and then the colorful login screen displays. For those who dont love
t just the way it is, well, you can actually change it slightly. During boot, behind the
scenes is a boot screen that Vista techno-geeks call Aurora. The only difference
between it and what you see by default is that, instead of a scrolling bar with a Vista
graphic at the beginning of the process, you see a stationary picture with the text
Starting Windows Vista at the bottom.
If you are tired of the default boot screen in Windows Vista, there is a better looking one
hidden away, and it looks like the Aurorathat everyone has been raving about since
Longhorn was in its alpha days.
To enable the Auroraboot screen:
1.Press the win+ R combination on your keyboard to display the Run dialog.
2.Type
MSCONFIG.EXE.
3.If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.
4.In the System Configurationwindow, click on the Boottab.

5.Select your Windows Vista installation and under Boot options, check No GUI
boot.
6.Press OK.
7.In the dialog that appears, check Don™t show this message again, and then
click on Restart.
8.Your computer will now reboot, and you will see the auroraboot screen with
text that says Starting Windows Vista.
And if youreally like the Aurora boot screen you should also try out the Aurora screen-
saver.

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Disabling the Welcome Center

Fortunately, if you dont like the Welcome Center you canjust clear the Run at Startup
check box in the bottom-left corner to disable it. There are also extreme approaches to
disabling it by a Registry entry. Its totally unnecessary, but very fun to know anyway.

Note that in this tip, OOBE stands for out-of-box experience, which is defined by
the users first contact with a software application. So, in this case, upon startup the
oobefldr.dll is executed, which is the .dll for the Welcome Center.
You could also open a command prompt in elevated Administrative permissions, by
going to the Start orb, under All Programs, Accessories, right-click the command prompt
and select Run as Administrator and run the following command to delete that key:

reg delete HKCR\CLSID\{FD6905CE-
952F-41F1-9A6F-135D9C6622CC}
You can also type reg /? from the command
line to see some of the other options, but we
will consider more Registry edits later in the
book.
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Remap a key in your keyboard

Suppose you do not have your winkey in your keyboard . You can reassingn another useless key to be your winkey . This can be achieved by the following steps:
Most people use these softwares:
sharpkeys
keytweak
Microsoft keyboardlayou creator

How to do : sharpkeys

1. Pick a key on your desktop.
2.click add
3.select special
4.Select the picked key from the map this key list
5.select the key (windows logo key) from to this key, and click ok.
6.Go back to the main window, click write to registry.
7.Logout out and restart to make the change in effect.

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360 Desktop

You might have heard about 3d cube desktops,and many other desktops features like that. There is a new one for you : 360 Desktop, Its cute .... Its changes your desktop into a virtually generated 3d desktop. I can convert it to a never ending horizontal desktop which you can scroll to get more windows. This also include changing it to a cylinder that you can rotate endlessly to get more windows.... For download link click here



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Window Snapping

It will be a good feature if you were able to work with two windows at a time. This is possible with by arranging the windows in an orderly way such that the multiple windows are visible simultaneously. This is more userfriendly and fast when this can be done by using keyboard shortcuts.

To get started download the latest version of Freesnap : click here


Once you have installed free snap you can make use of the following keyboard shortcuts:

Win key + Up Arrow – Snap top
Win key + Down arrow – Snap bottom
Win key + Left arrow – Snap left
Win key + Right arrow – Snap right
Win key + Home - Move to top-left corner
Win key + Page Up – Move to top-right corner
Win key + End – Move to bottom –left corner
Win key + Page Down – Move to bottom-right corner
Win key + 5 – Center window/next monitor
Win key + Plus – Resize up
Win key + Minus – Resize down
Win key + Shift + Up arrow – Grow top
Win key + Shift + Down arrow – Grow bottom
Win key + Shift + Left arrow – Grow left
Win key + Shift + Right arrow – Grow right
Win key + Ctrl + Up arrow – Shrink top
Win key + Ctrl + Down arrow – Shrink bottom
Win key + Ctrl + Left arrow – Shrink left
Win key + Ctrl + Right arrow – Shrink right
Win key + . (period) – Minimize
Win key + Enter – Maximize
Win key + / – Close
Win key +? – Help


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SpyNet

One of the benefits to Microsoft being solarge, with such a huge install base, is that a
group of people from all over the world called
SpyNet are assisting in finding new spyware and other harmful programs and report-
ing them to Microsoft. SpyNet essentially allows for a voting option on software that
hasnt been categorized as harmful or safe. You will be able to see how other users have
rated the application and what percentage installed it or declined to install it. This gives
users a greater opportunity to be in control of what is installed on their systems at a
much earlier stage than before. If Microsoft sees that people are uninstalling a particu-
lar type of software, it can check it out itself and add that to its definitions of software
that Defender automatically detects.
Vista Masters run in packs sometimes. SpyNet is an optional club (or gang, whichever
makes you feel cooler about participating). You can choose not to be a part of it at all,
or you can choose Basic or Advanced membership by selecting Tools and then SpyNet.
With Basic, Defender sends Microsoft some information regarding software it encoun-
ters on your system that isnt classified. You arent alerted if Defender detects software
or changes made by software that have not been analyzed for risks.
With Advanced, Defender does notify you if it detects software or changes made by
software that have not been analyzed for risks. Windows Defender sends more infor-
mation to SpyNet about spyware discoveries made on your computer, including
filenames and directories, how the software works, and changes that it makes to your
computerinformation that is used to help warn and protect other Windows Defender
users.

Windows Defender

First, what is Windows Defender? Its Microsofts answer to spyware (keyloggers, bots,
rootkits, and so on). Its a relatively simple tool (with an easy-to-use dashboard) that
can be used to perform an immediate scan ofyour system to look for the latest spyware
and eliminate it from your system. Or, youcan have it working in the background to
stop spyware from infiltrating your systemahead of time. Spyware can do any number
of things to annoy you and slow down your system, such as displaying pop-up ads, altering
your Internet settings, and even using private information without permission. Beneath the
simple dashboard of Defender, the underly- ing engine is constantly working in the
background to protect you, even looking into Zip files (or other archive file formats) to see
whether you have harmful software within, even before you open the files (which is a
huge benefit because many spyware/mal- ware creators use archive installers).

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Windows Integrity Control

Another invisible feature of Vista thatyou should understand is the Windows Integrity
Control (WIC). Previously, a system used Access Control Lists (ACLs)to determine
whether an individual could modify an object. For example, if you attempt to access a
file, and that file has a permission setting that denies you access, you are done, you
have no access. Files, folders, processes, threads, Registry keys, and so forth all have
ACLs.
Now, however objects also have an Integrity rating. There are four levels: low, medium,
high, and system. Standard users receive medium, and elevated users receive high.
Processes that you (as a user) start receive the integrity you are running (medium or
high). But this isnt the case if the file already has a setting of low on it. System serv-
ices receive the highest-level system rating.
How does this work? Well, lets say you are running IE 7 in protected mode (so its run-
ning with a level of low integrity) and something from the Internet wants to write a
virus to the operating system. The attack fails because, if it tries to access an object with
a higher integrity level, it is stopped.
Objects that dont have an integrity code assigned are treated as medium so that lower-
level integrity processes cannot harm them.
As for changing integrity levels, only users with the Change Label privilege can change
integrity levels to a higher level. The primary point in WIC is that an object cannot be
modified if it has a higher integrity level than that which is trying to modify it.



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Removing Vista from Your Dual-Boot System

Removing Vista from a dual-boot system probably sounds like a strange thing to do. But
under some circumstances, it can be necessary. Lets say you have your XP system and
youve been running a beta/RC1 version of Vista in a dual-boot configuration. As the
date approaches for the OS to be out of date, you might want to just go back to XP.
Long Zheng(www.istartedsomething.com) give us the steps we need to uninstall Vista
from our dual boot situation:

After playing around with Vista for a few days, you may want to remove it from your sys-
tem, and reclaim the hard drive space. Microsoft has made this step very simple as well.
1.Boot your computer in to Windows XP.
2.Ensure you have the Vista DVD image emulated or in the DVD drive.
3.Go to Startand Run. Type in
e:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force
(replacing e: with the drive letter of your Vista DVD).
4.Restart the computer, and you will notice the boot selection menu is gone.
5.Format the partition/drive where you had Vista installed.
6.Remove two files (Boot.BAK & Bootsect.BAK) on your XP drive™s root folder (C:),
these were backup files of your previous bootloader, now no longer useful.
7.Optional: Restart to ensure it still works.
8.Use your partition software to merge your partitions together.
And now you have returned your computer to its previous state, without Vista and with-
out the new bootloader. If anyone has any issues, please post it in comments and try
to resolve it.

Error : windows cannot find a file *.exe

when you try to ooen a file with .exe extension, the following error happens..
Windows cannot find filename.exe.

This problem may occur if the W32/Swen.A@MM (Swen) worm installed itself on your computer when you installed a security update that you received as an e-mail attachment to an unexpected e-mail that claims to be from Microsoft.

To resolve this problem, follow these steps.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry,

1. Restart your computer in safe mode.
   
   For additional information about safe mode in Microsoft Windows 2000, For additional information about safe mode in Microsoft Windows XP,
   
   description of the safe mode boot options in Windows XP
2. Change the file association for .reg files on your computer. To do this, follow these steps.
   
   

   Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

   1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Open.
   2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the File Types tab.
   3. In the Registered file types list, click Registration Entries, and then click Change.
   4. In the Choose the program you want to use list, click Registry Editor, and then click OK.
      
      Note If Registry Editor does not appear in the Choose the program you want to use list, follow these steps:
      1. Click Other, and then click My Computer in the Look in list.
      2. Double-click Local Disk (C:), and then double-click WINNT.
      3. Click regedit, and then click Open.
      4. Click OK, and then click Close.
   
   

   Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

   1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Open.
   2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the File Types tab.
   3. In the Registered file types list, click Registration Entries, and then click Change.
   4. In the Programs list, click Registry Editor, and then click OK.
      
      Note If Registry Editor does not appear in the Programs list, follow these steps:
      1. Click Browse, and then click My Computer in the Look in list.
      2. Double-click Local Disk (C:), and then double-click WINDOWS.
      3. Click regedit.exe, and then click Open.
      4. Click OK, and then click Close.
3. Create a .reg file that is named Repair.reg to repair the registry. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Right-click an empty area on the desktop, point to New, and then click Text Document.
   2. Press ENTER.
   3. Double-click New Text Document.txt, and then paste the following in the document:

      REGEDIT4
      
      [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] "DisableRegistryTools"=dword:00000000
      
      [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\exefile\shell\open\command] @="\"%1\" %*"
      
      [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\batfile\shell\open\command] @="\"%1\" %*"
      
      [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\comfile\shell\open\command] @="\"%1\" %*"
      
      [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\piffile\shell\open\command] @="\"%1\" %*"
      
      [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\scrfile\shell\open\command] @="\"%1\" %*"
      

   4. On the File menu, click Save As.
   5. In the Save in list, click Desktop.
   6. In the File name box, type Repair.reg.
   7. In the Save as type list, click All Files.
   8. Click Save.
   9. Double-click Repair.reg on the desktop, click Yes, and then click OK.
4. Update the virus definitions of the antivirus software that is installed on your computer. To do this, scan your computer with the antivirus software, and then follow the instructions for removing this worm.
5. Use Task Manager to remove any file that the Swen worm created to run as a background system process. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Right-click the taskbar, and then click Task Manager.
   2. Click the Processes tab.
   3. Click the Image Name column header to alphabetically sort the processes.
   4. Scroll through the list of processes, and look for any randomly-named values that the worm created, such as "ZNFUL."
   5. If you locate a randomly-named value, click it, and then click End Process. In the Task Manager Warning dialog box, click Yes.
   6. Exit Task Manager.
6. Restart your computer after you remove the worm.

troubleshoot xp errors, windows cannot open a file, file currept,file no found,startup error

Problems during hacking the boot screen.

If u use a hacked system file with a new boot screen and replace the old file on your computer, after you restart, you may find that your computer will not start and will give you a nice error message: "C:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe". Missing or currupt? This is the most common problem that users experience when trying to change their boot screen using the swap technique.

Users that get this message , or any similar error message , are recieving it because they replaced their system file with a file that is not compatible with their version of windows XP.

Windows XP was released in many different languages for different parts of the world. Each language version of xp has a slightly different v3ersion of code.. Additionally, Microsoft continuously releases software update patches to update the code of the system files such as the monthly security updates and almost and almost yearly service packs. All of these factors result in several different versions of the boot screen system file floating around on web.


Problems during hacking, Desktop changer, Boot screen changing, troubleshoot xp errors, Boot problems, Boot hacking problems, Error during startup.

Some useful shortcuts that can be used in xp

- Windows key + D - shows the desktop
- Windows key + M - minimizes all open windows
- Windows key + Shift + M - maximizes all open windows
- Windows key + E - Runs Windows Explorer
- Windows key + R - shows the RUN dialog
- Windows key + F - shows Search window
- Windows key + Break - shows System Properties box
- Windows key + TAB - Go through taskbar applications
- Windows key + PAUSE Display the System Properties dialog box
- Windows key + U Open Utility Manager
- ALT + TAB - Cycle through opened applications
- Hold down CTRL while dragging an item to Copy it
- CTRL + ESC Display the Start menu
- ALT + ENTER View the properties for the selected item
- F4 key Display the Address bar list in My Computer or
- NUM LOCK + Asterisk (*) Display all of the subfolders that are under the selected folder

Changing the boot up screen.

The image that is displayed during the boot is hidden away in a sytem file called ntoskrnl.exe. This system file is loaded during startup and the image and animation in that is displayed. Users have to use hacking tools to hack the file and replace the image.
Majority of users does not do it their own . instead they download it from some sites.. This method works for some people but for somebody it may cause serious errors.

Create your own desktop cleaner..

1.Make a file desktopcleaner.txt in your desktop...
2.Edit that and type the following dos commands..

move *.exe desktopitems/setups
move *.ink desktopitems/shortcuts

move *.mp3 desktopitems/songs
move *.wma desktopitems/songs
move *.wav desktopitems/songs

move *.avi desktopitems/video
move *.mp4 desktopitems/video
move *.mpg desktopitems/video

move *.html desktopitems/webpages
move *.xml desktopitems/webpages
move *.htm desktopitems/webpages

move *.jpg desktopitems/images
move *.gif desktopitems/images
move *.bmp desktopitems/images

move *.pdf desktopitems/documents
move *.doc desktopitems/documents
move *.txt desktopitems/documents

Now save the file....

3. Make a folder named desktopitems in your desktop...
4. Make subfolders in it such as images,video,songs,webpages,shortcuts,setups,documents etc.....
5. close it.....
6. replace the desktopcleaner.txt file to desktopcleaner.bat....
7.Doubleclick on that file to make your desktop clean.....

Note: You can add your own commands and add such folders in your desktop items....
Its easy and robust......

Turn your pc to ultimate gaming machine

Instead of disabling hardware stopping services, let's say for gaming, create a Hardware Profile.

Right click on My Computer - select Properties. Select Hardware Tab, then click Hardware Profiles.

Mark "Original Configuration", then Copy and then Rename to e.g "Game" Now you have created a menu that shows up when you boot your computer. Set the properties for your boot option in the "Hardware profiles selections" You normally would boot with the Original Configuration. Never delete your "Original Configuration" if you boot in another profile. Reboot your computer to see that this takes effect.

Now, to tweak the different services for a Game Machine listed in this document

Select each service to configure, right-click, select Properties, Choose "Log on" tab. In the lower part of this box select "Disable" or "Enable" dependent on which hardware profile you configure. If you configure for "Game" you choose "Disable" to free up system resources.

Careful: You can also disable/enable different hardware in the Device Manager - "Device Usage" box according to what Hardware profile you boot on, this is only recommended if you have any hardware that causes problems for games, etc.

If you used XP "clean-up" on your hardisk, then defragmented it, the PC would perform even better. Enjoy.

LOAD UR PC IN JUST 10 SECONDS

TURN ON IN 10 SECONDS

First Click on the start button then press R it will take u to Run well go to run
n type Regedit
press enter
this will open Registery Editor
now look for the key

HKEY_LOACAL_MECHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex

now there find the Key Called
"Startup Delay"
Double Click On It
Now where its Base
Click Decimal
Now its Default Value Is 4800000 (75300:hexadecimal)
Change The Value To 40000
here u go u have done it
now close the Registery Editor and Restart Your Computer

adding more folders to SEND TO MENU

How often do you copy songs from a CD? Or some photos from a CD?

What do you do? You select the required files and do a CTRL –C. Open the destination folder and do a CTRL-V. Here is something you can benefit time from. Customize your SEND TO MENU.

you can create your own list of folders that need to be in send to menu.

First you’ll need access to hidden files. So change your view settings to make all hidden files visible.
Tools -> folder options -> view (tab) and select the show hidden files and folders.
go to parent drive:/documents and settings/(user name)/send to

Open up my computer and locate your most used folders.

Create a shortcut of the most used folders in SEND TO FOLDER.You can do this in a number of ways.

Right click -> send to desktop(create shortcut) and move the shortcut from the desktop to the SEND TO FOLDER

Copy the most used folder and go to SEND TO FOLDER and right click -> paste shortcut.

Also remember to rename the shortcuts to send to videos or send to potos. We don’t need confusion when we use the same later.

Can u Remove Recycle Bin?

use regedit
do backup if u are a newbie....
* launch d registry...
* open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder
* to add a rename and delete option, change the Dword attribute to 70 01 00 20
* refresh and reboot the system..... u r done.

PS: always backup ur data as well as registry b4 attempting 2 work on it if u r a newbie....

setting Autoplay on or off for Program CDs

Start, click Run, type GPEDIT.MSC to open Group Policy in the Microsoft Management Console. Double-click Computer Configuration, double-click Administrative templates, double-click System, and then click Turn off autoplay. The instructions on your screen describe how to configure this setting. Click Properties to display the setting dialog. Click Enabled, and choose CD-ROM drives, then click OK, to stop CD autoplay. This setting does not prevent Autoplay for music CDs

Speed up Internet Explorer 6 Favorites

For some reason, the Favorites menu in IE 6 seems to slow down dramatically sometimes--I've noticed this happens when you install Tweak UI 1.33, for example, and when you use the preview tip to speed up the Start menu. But here's a fix for the problem that does work, though it's unclear why: Just open a command line window (Start button -> Run -> cmd) and type sfc, then hit ENTER. This command line runs the System File Checker, which performs a number of services, all of which are completely unrelated to IE 6. But there you go: It works.

Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer

Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don’t want to log off? You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screen saver. To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer: Right-click the desktop. Point to New, and then click Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following: rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation Click Next. Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it "Lock Workstation" or choose any name you like. Click Finish. You can also change the shortcut's icon (my personal favorite is the padlock icon in shell32.dll). To change the icon: Right click the shortcut and then select Properties. Click the Shortcut tab, and then click the Change Icon button. In the Look for icons in this file text box, type: Shell32.dll. Click OK. Select one of the icons from the list and then click OK You could also give it a shortcut keystroke such CTRL+ALT+L. This would save you only one keystroke from the normal command, but it could be more convenient.

Speeding Up Share Viewing

This is a great tweak. Before I found it, I was always smashing my head against the table waiting to view shares on other computers. Basically, when you connect to another computer with Windows XP, it checks for any Scheduled tasks on that computer - a fairly useless task, but one that can add up to 30 seconds of waiting on the other end - not good! Fortunately, it's fairly easy to disable this process. First, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace in the Registry. Below that, there should be a key called {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}. Just delete this, and after a restart, Windows will no longer check for scheduled tasks - mucho performance improvement!

Increasing options in add/remove programs:

Not a fan of MSN Messenger? don't want Windows Media Player on your system? Fair enough, but if you go to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, by default none of Windows XP's 'built in' programs are visible. it's fairly easy to change, though... just open the file X:\Windows\inf\sysoc.inf (where X: is the drive letter where Windows XP is installed) in Notepad. You should see a section of the file something like this:
[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
IEAccess=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,ieaccess.inf,,7
This is a list of all components installed at the moment. I've taken the example of MSN Messenger - the program entry called 'msmsgs', third-last line. You can see the word 'hide' highlighted - this is the string which tells Windows not to display the component in the Add/Remove Programs list. Fix this up by simply deleting the word 'hide' like so:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
To this:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7
Now, after restarting, you should be able to see MSN Messenger in the Add/Remove Programs list. If you want to be able to quickly view and remove all components, simply open the sysoc.inf file and do a global find and replace for the word ",hide" and replace it with a single comma ",".
Automatically Kill Programs At Shutdown:
don't you hate it when, while trying to shut down, you get message boxes telling you that a program is still running? Making it so that Windows automatically kills applications running is a snap. Simply navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop directory in the Registry, then alter the key AutoEndTasks to the value 1.

Menu Delays:

Another minor and easy tweak to remove any delay from menus sliding out. For this you will need to use regedit (open regedit by going to Start -> Run..., then typing 'regedit' and pressing enter). The key you need to change is located in HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop. The actual key is called MenuShowDelay - all you have to do is change the value to 0. Remember, you will have to re-boot your computer for this tweak to take effect.
GPEDIT.MSC And Autoplay
A great tweaking file that comes with XP is gpedit.msc. Go to Start -> Run... and then type in 'gpedit.msc' and press enter. This is effectively the Policies Editor, and it comes in handy often. For example, if you hate CD autoplay like I do and want to permanently disable it, you can use this tool to do so. Just run gpedit.msc, then go to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System. In here you can see the value 'Turn Off Autoplay'. Right-click on it and then click 'Properties'.

No Shutdown:

Wanna play with your friends by removing the shutdown option from start menu in their computer.
Just hack it down !!!
Regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
"NoClose"="DWORD:1"

Display legal notice on startup:

Wanna tell your friends about the do's and dont's in your computer when they login in your absence. Well you can do it pretty easily by displaying a legal notice at system start up.
REGEDIT
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system]
"legalnoticecaption"="enter your notice caption"
"legalnoticetext"="enter your legal notice text"
Automatic Administrator Login:
Well here's the trick which you can use to prove that Windows XP is not at all secure as multi-user operating system. Hacking the system registry from any account having access to system registry puts you in to the administrator account.
REGEDIT 4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"

How to hack windows XP admin password

If you log into a limited account on your target machine and open up a dos prompt
then enter this set of commands Exactly:
cd\ *drops to root
cd\windows\system32 *directs to the system32 dir
mkdir temphack *creates the folder temphack
copy logon.scr temphack\logon.scr *backsup logon.scr
copy cmd.exe temphack\cmd.exe *backsup cmd.exe
del logon.scr *deletes original logon.scr
rename cmd.exe logon.scr *renames cmd.exe to logon.scr
exit *quits dos
Now what you have just done is told the computer to backup the command program
and the screen saver file, then edits the settings so when the machine boots the
screen saver you will get an unprotected dos prompt with out logging into XP.
Once this happens if you enter this command minus the quotes
"net user password"
If the Administrator Account is called Frank and you want the password blah enter this
"net user Frank blah"
and this changes the password on franks machine to blah and your in.

Have fun
p.s: dont forget to copy the contents of temphack back into the system32 dir to cover tracks

Get Rid Of The Update Nag

Aren’t you frustrated by the number of times Windows asks you if you want to restart
after an update? It won’t even listen if you tell it to restart later! Here’s how you can
get rid
of that.
In group policy, you’ll find this blissful setting under Local Computer Policy >
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components >
Windows Update > Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations. Done! Now all
you have is an icon in the system tray to remind you in the unobrtusive way that it
should have in the first place.

No More Windows CD

To avoid the hassle of hunting down your Windows XP CD every time you want to
restore a system file (Windows File Protection at work) or add and remove components,
just copy the entire thing to your disk and modify a setting in the Group Policy Editor.
Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System.
On the right-hand pane, you’ll find “Specify Windows installation file location”.
Double-click this, select Enable, and enter the path to your Windows XP setup file.
You can even point it to a network path on your office LAN, so you don’t have to run to your system admin every time Windows wants the installation CD.

Clear The Page File On Shutdown

This setting may or may not improve your system’s performance (it depends on your
usage patterns), but it does provide relief to the paranoid. Your Windows swap file may
contain unencrypted text, including passwords, that could be exploited by interested
parties. To delete the file when you shut down your system, you’ll find a setting under
Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies >
Security Options called “Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile”. Double-click this,
select Enabled and click OK. Your shutdown time will increase marginally, though.

Start > Run Shortcuts

Use these shortcuts in Start > Run to get to your configuration tools faster in Windows
XP Professional:
compmgmt.msc Computer management console
devmgmt.msc Device manager
diskmgmt.msc Disk management
dfrg.msc Disk defragmenter
fsmgmt.msc Shared folders
gpedit.msc Group policy editor
lusrmgr.msc Local users and groups
perfmon.msc Performance monitor
secpol.msc Local security settings
services.msc Manage services

Bad Doggie!

The Microsoft obsession with annoying animated characters didn’t end with the demise
of Clippy—here’s how you can get rid of the animated dog that turns up every time you
want to search for files.
In the search window, click Change Preferences > Without an animated screen
character.
Furthermore, to get back the Windows 2000-style search window, go to Change
Preferences > Change files and folders search behaviour and select Advanced. Finally—
sensible search.

Speed Up With A USB Stick pendrive

If you’ve got yourself a large USB Flash drive (at least 1 GB, preferably 2), you can move
your system’s page file onto it for significantly better performance, because accessing
flash memory is typically faster than your average hard disk.
You should also optimise the Flash drive for performance—right-click on it in My
Computer, select Properties. Go to the Hardware tab, select your Flash drive and click
Properties. Under the Policies tab, select “Optimise for performance”.
A couple of caveats: Firstly, if you remove this drive while Windows is running, you
could cause it to crash, so be careful there. Secondly, Flash drives are good only for
limited read/write cycles, so this approach is definitely going to eat into its lifetime.
Use this tip only for when you really need the performance boost rather than as a
permanent solution.

Speed Up With A USB Stick pendrive

If you’ve got yourself a large USB Flash drive (at least 1 GB, preferably 2), you can move
your system’s page file onto it for significantly better performance, because accessing
flash memory is typically faster than your average hard disk.
You should also optimise the Flash drive for performance—right-click on it in My
Computer, select Properties. Go to the Hardware tab, select your Flash drive and click
Properties. Under the Policies tab, select “Optimise for performance”.
A couple of caveats: Firstly, if you remove this drive while Windows is running, you
could cause it to crash, so be careful there. Secondly, Flash drives are good only for
limited read/write cycles, so this approach is definitely going to eat into its lifetime.
Use this tip only for when you really need the performance boost rather than as a
permanent solution.

Improving the Slow Boot up ( loading) time:

There are a variety of reasons why your windows XP system would boot slowly.
Most of the times it this has to do with the startup applications.
If you would like to speed up the bootup sequence, consider removing some of the startup applications that you do not need.

Easiest way to remove startup apps is through System Configuration Utility.

1.Go to Start then Run and enter msconfig ..
2.Then go to the Startup tab.
3.Deselect/UnCheck application( s) that you do not want to startup at boot time.