WELL WHAT TO SAY..HERE IS A COLLECTION OF XP TIPS AND TRICKS TO LOOK OVER ..EVERY TRICK HERE IS UNIQUE IN ITS OWN AND IS USEFUL IN DAILY PURPOSE

1.Lock XP Workstation

THIS XP TRICK HELPS YOU IN LOCKING XP WORKSTATION WITH JUST TWO CLICKS OF MOUSE.

HERE’S THE PROCEDURE FOR THE TRICK: Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter ‘rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation’ in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That’s it — just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that’s not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.THIS XP TRICK GIVES US A BASIC CONCEPT OF HOW TO MAKE YOU COMPUTER WORKS FASTER FOR YOU.

2.Remove Windows XP DEFAULT system software.

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

THIS XP TRICK GIVES US A BASIC CONCEPT OF WINDOWS SYSOC.INF FILES.

3.XP ADVANCED New commands.

THIS IS NOT A XP TRICK BUT A LIST OF XP DOS COMMANDS.

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

4.windows XP supports IPv6.

AGAIN THIS IS NOT A XP TRICK BUT A KIND  TIP YOU SAY ON IP VERSION 6.

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

5.kill tasks  from the command line.

THIS XP TRICK HELPS YOU IN KILLING YOUR TASK’S FROM THE COMMAND LINE ITSELF.You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using ‘taskkill /pid’ and the task number, or just ‘tskill’ and the process number. Find that out by typing ‘tasklist’, which will also tell you a lot about what’s going on in your system.

6.Enable ClearType by default.

YES THIS XP TRICK TELLS YOU HOW YOU ENABLE CLEARTPYE BY DEFAULT.

XP has ClearType — Microsoft’s anti-aliasing font display technology– but doesn’t have it enabled by default. It’s well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry:HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/ControlPanel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.THIS XP TRICK DEMONSTRATE THE USE OF RGISTRY EDITOR.

7.Run program as different user.

NOW THIS XP TRICK IS REALLY HELPFUL..WILL NOT TELL HOW..BUTS ITS UPTO YOU TO TAKE ITS ADVANTAGE,You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As… and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note: that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

NOTE:Please remember, we cannot accept responsibility with what you decide to do with these XP TIPS AND TRICKS. These TRICKS acts as a guide to tweaking and changing Windows XP from the default settings. If you are unsure about how to make these changes then don’t meddle !

LATEST HIDDEN APPLICATIONS IN WINDOWS XP…
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Check out the latest and most worthy hidden applications in windows XP. What you have desired once and thought that this might can happen. Make it true by some of my good collections of these app which i have found from web through surfing…

To run any of these applications go to Start > Run and type the executable name (ie charmap).

1) Character Map = charmap.exe (very useful for finding unusual characters)

2) Disk Cleanup = cleanmgr.exe

3) Clipboard Viewer = clipbrd.exe (views contents of Windows clipboard)

4) Dr Watson = drwtsn32.exe (Troubleshooting tool)

5) DirectX diagnosis = dxdiag.exe (Diagnose & test DirectX, video & sound cards)

6) Private character editor = eudcedit.exe (allows creation or modification of characters)

7) IExpress Wizard = iexpress.exe (Create self-extracting / self-installing package)

Microsoft Synchronization Manager = mobsync.exe (appears to allow synchronization of files on the network for when working offline. Apparently undocumented).

9) Windows Media Player 5.1 = mplay32.exe (Retro version of Media Player, very basic).

10) ODBC Data Source Administrator = odbcad32.exe (something to do with databases)

11) Object Packager = packager.exe (to do with packaging objects for insertion in files, appears to have comprehensive help files).

12) System Monitor = perfmon.exe (very useful, highly configurable tool, tells you everything you ever wanted to know about any aspect of PC performance, for uber-geeks only )

13) Program Manager = progman.exe (Legacy Windows 3.x desktop shell).

14) Remote Access phone book = rasphone.exe (documentation is virtually non-existant).

15) Registry Editor = regedt32.exe [also regedit.exe] (for hacking the Windows Registry).

16) Network shared folder wizard = shrpubw.exe (creates shared folders on network).

17) File siganture verification tool = sigverif.exe

18) Volume Contro = sndvol32.exe (I’ve included this for those people that lose it from the System Notification area).

19) System Configuration Editor = sysedit.exe (modify System.ini & Win.ini just like in Win98! ).

20) Syskey = syskey.exe (Secures XP Account database – use with care, it’s virtually undocumented but it appears to encrypt all passwords, I’m not sure of the full implications).

21) Microsoft Telnet Client = telnet.exe

22) Driver Verifier Manager = verifier.exe (seems to be a utility for monitoring the actions of drivers, might be useful for people having driver problems. Undocumented).

23) Windows for Workgroups Chat = winchat.exe (appears to be an old NT utility to allow chat sessions over a LAN, help files available).

24) System configuration = msconfig.exe (can use to control starup programs)

25) gpedit.msc used to manage group policies, and permissions

LATEST 2010 WINDOWS 2000 TIPS AND TRICKS…
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You may have always tried and thought about tricks which you can apply on your OS and desired to make some unique things to happen. I have googled and have got many of these tricks which you can apply easily and see how easily you can do these by following only few steps.

1.Speed up the Boot Menu.

Tired of waiting thirty seconds to boot Windows 2000 if you don’t select from the boot menu? Speed up the booting process by only showing the available operating systems for just a couple of seconds.

Right-click “My Computer” on the desktop and choose “Properties”. On the “System Properties” multi-tabbed dialog box that follows, click “Advanced”. Click the “Startup and Recovery…” button. Then, on the “Startup and Recovery” dialog box that follows, next to “Display list of operating systems for … seconds”, select the number of seconds that you want the computer to wait before continuing with the default OS. When you’re done, press “OK” to close the dialog box.

2.Desktop Disappearing?

Although Windows 2000 is more stable than previous versions of NT, in some situations, strange things can happen. If, for example, Explorer crashes, most of your desktop, including the “Start” button, disappears. To bring back Explorer without rebooting your machine, press CONTROL-ALT-DELETE. When the “Windows Security” dialog box appears, click the “Task Manager” button. If the “Windows Task Manager’ dialog box appears as it should, select the “File” menu and then “New Task (Run)”. When the “Create New Task” dialog box appears, just type in “Explorer” and press the “OK” button. Windows Explorer should then reappear, complete with the “Start” button.

3.Change Process Priority.

Is a particular program or process running too fast or too slow? Is a program or process taking too much of your CPU time or can you allow a process or program to take more of your computing power? To change these settings for a particular process, just right-click on an empty area of your taskbar and choose “Task Manager…” On the “Windows Task Manager” dialog box that follows, select a process and right-click it. On the popup menu that appears, select “Set Priority” and choose one of the following priorities: “Realtime”, “High”, “Above Normal”, “Normal”, “Below Normal”, or “Low”. The lower the priority is on the popup menu, the lower percentage of CPU time will be delegated to said priority.

Note that depending on the process and your administrative rights to your machine, you may not be able to change a particular process’s priority.

4.Put the Desktop in your Taskbar.

Do you frequently multitask? If so, all of the windows created by running applications can quickly cover your desktop. If you’d like, you can make the desktop icons immediately accessible from your taskbar. Just right-click an empty area of your taskbar, choose “Toolbars”, and check “Desktop”. Your desktop icons will then be immediately accessible without having to minimize your current windows. If you have a lot of desktop icons, click on the two greater-than arrows (“>>”) to the right of your desktop icons and a popup menu will appear allowing you to select from any of the available desktop icons not immediately visible on your taskbar.

5.Changing DOS Window Titles.

If you use DOS a lot, you may frequently have more than one DOS window open at once. Perhaps you’ll have one a window for FTP, one for debugging a batch file, one for doing basic tasks such as displaying directories, etc. If so, it can get very confusing navigating between the different DOS windows since each of their titles just say “Command Prompt”. If you’d like, you can change the titles of a DOS window so you can easily see what tasks you are performing in each window.

To change the title of a Windows 2000 command prompt window, just enter in the TITLE command, followed by your desired window title. For example, to name a DOS window “Debugging Window”, just enter the following command at a DOS prompt:

TITLE Debugging Window.

6.Save the Current Directory Name.

Windows 2000 lets you temporarily store the name of the current directory that you are in, letting you recall the directory name later after you are doing other processing. This may be useful if you are jumping around DOS directories a lot, either manually or through a batch file.

To store the name of the current directory, or rather, to PUSH the name of the current directory onto the stack, enter the PUSHD command followed by the name of a directory that you would like to access next. For example, if you are in the “C:\Program Files” directory and want to push that directory name onto the stack, jumping to the C:\WINNT” directory, enter:

PUSHD C:\WINNT

After you are done working in the “C:\WINNT” directory and ready to go back to the “C:\Program Files” directory, don’t type in “CD C:\Program Files”, just POP the old directory from the stack.

RENAME RECYCLE BIN…
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you might have wondered that why cannot we rename our RECYCLE BIN, and as you know guys the word impossible only says I M Possible. So follow our easy steps to do what u might have desired once…

1. Start, Run, ‘Regedit’.
2. Press ‘Ctrl’+'F’ to open find box and type ‘Recycle Bin’ to search.
3. Change any value data with ‘Recycle Bin’ to whatever name you want to give it ( ie, like ‘Trash Can’ or ‘Dump’ etc).
4. Press F3 to continue searching for ‘Recycle Bin’ and change wherever you come across ‘Recycle Bin’ to new its new name.
5. Repeat step 4 until you have finished with searching and changed all values to its new name.
6. Close regedit and hit F5 on desktop to see the new name on screen.

Note: As a good practice, always backup your registry before changing anything although changing ‘Recycle Bin’ name is a simple tweak and doesnt affect anything else.

WELL THE POST IS NOT JUST ABOUT RECOVERING YOUR FILE AFTER  YOUR COMPUTER CRASHED BUT ALSO TO TELL YOU THE IMPORTANCE OF BACKUP AND SAFEGAURD THE FILES WHEN PC CRASHES.

The common problem  faced by everyone using computers and laptops…
First thing to keep in mind: If your computer hasn’t crashed yet, it will in the future! So instead of waiting for fate to strike, take some precautions now:

1) BACK-UP! how to backup my files???

Buy some decent DVD-R discs and put everything useful in them. When you have more useful stuff, backup again. Do this often.

2) Keep your computer healthy.

Use an antivirus, an anti-spy, and a firewall. Keep them updated. Check regularly for Windows critical fixes.

3) Don’t install harmful software

softwares that could harm your  hard drive. A boot manager would fall in this category.

4) Use a registry cleaner

before and after you install or uninstall any software. Many of the problems that will keep Windows from booting are  caused by sloppy software that mess up your registry.

Which registry cleaaner should i use??

A good registry cleaner is Tune-up Utilities.
Code:http://www.tune-up.com/

5) Run chkdsk now and then.

Go to Start> Run. Type chkdsk /F. Press enter.

what if my pc has crashed can i able to get back my files??

To be exact you can still recover your data if you format your drive (by using special software), but only if you don’t write anything on the disc afterwards. In other words format + windows install = bad idea. If you reinstall windows without formating your drive, you will only lose the files on your desktop and “My Documents” folder.

In all occasions you should make sure to safeguard your files before attempting any kind of repair!

So let’s go about how to do that:

The fast way: Go to this site:
Code:http://www.knoppix.org

Knoppix is a Linux distribution than runs from a CD. Download the Knoppix ISO and burn it. Put it in your CD drive. On startup access BIOS and change the boot sequence so that your computer boots from the CD drive. Save settings and exit. Upon reboot, Knoppix will load.

Knoppix is much like windows and it comes with its own CD burner. Locate it, launch it and backup everything you want on CD. Now you don’t have to worry anymore!

The less fast way:

This requires that you have access to a second PC. Open the case of your computer and remove the hard disk.

Install it as a slave on the second PC.

Depending on respective configurations, you may have to change some jumper settings on the drive. Read the manual for help with installing hard drives and setting jumpers.

After this is done, boot the second PC. If everything went out ok, you should be able to access your drive without problems. (Edit: Note that Win98 cannot recognize a local NTFS (Win2K/XP) disk.)

Copy everything you need from your own hard drive to the other one. Now you don’t have to worry anymore!

Replace your computer’s hard disk, fix all problems and reverse the process to copy the data back to your computer, or take CD backups on the other PC.

just remember :waiting for a pc crash and then recover your files is a fool act so better try and keep backups of your files use regular registry cleaner and disk checkup,use healty anti virus,anti spy softwares and a firewall.

This thing is often seen in cyber cafe,where a user is given a login id and is allowed to use the computer for a specified time,and when the time limit is over the user automatically logged out.So what is the scene behind it..and how to set time limit for a user to logon a computer..we have a very cool feature in our windows system that deals with such questions.well obviously there are softwares to restrict a user logon hour but we are just explaining the basic concept behind its working.

Here’s it:

To restrict a users logon hours , we use the net user command. This command is used from the Command Prompt.
follow the steps to use net user command:

go to Start – RUN – and type cmd
Command prompt will open.

type in “net user” (without “)

a list of all the users will be created,to specify the logon time for a specific user type

net user USERNAME/TIME:DAY-DAY,TIME-TIME

Below are some examples:

1 – net user Joanna /time:M-F,08:00-17:00

2 – net user Ninja /time:M-F,8am-5pm

3 – net user Echelon /time:M,4am-5pm;T,1pm-3pm;W-F,8:00-17:00

4 – net user Shine /time:all (this one means this user can always log on)

Note:You can only restrict when a user can logon to the computer, On a stand alone computer, there is no way to force a user to log out when their hours expires, without a third party script or software.

HOW TO RENAME MULTIPLE FILES OF DIFFERENT EXTENTIONS WITH THE SAME NAME IN WINDOWS XP.

Last day i was just working with my files on windows xp,and i end up with a pile of it with some different extensions.usually we don’t need to rename number of files of different extentions with the same name,but a day or the other we need to.So after i google around 10 sites i found this simple way of renaming multiple files of different extensions in a single named file.So here’s the write up of what i found:

rename multiple files in windows XP  is easy and can be done  by simply selecting multiple files within Windows Explorer and pressing the F2 key. When you use this feature, the OS applies the name you enter to the first file and applies the same name with a number in parentheses to the other files you selected (the file extensions remain unchanged).

For example, if you select the following files,
* notes.doc
* figures.xls
* disney.jpg
* holiday.gif

and rename the first file (notes.doc) to SoD.doc, XP renames the remaining files as follows:
* SoD (1).xls
* SoD (2).jpg
* SoD(3).gif

A SMALL AND A SIMPLE NOTE ON AN OPEN SOURCE GENTOO LINUX  WORKING AND PORTAGE AND USE FLAG IN TERMS OF GENTOO LINUX.

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE ON GENTOO LINUX IS SELF WRITTEN AND IF YOU WANT TO PUT IT ON YOUR WEBSITE OR SOMEWHERE PLEASE PUT THIS SITE LINK AT THE TOP OF THIS ARTICLE,NOT DOING SO WILL LEAD TO SOME SERIOUS ACTION.WE ARE TRACKING OUR VISITORS.

GENTOO is an operating system.It is based on either linux or freeBSD.Gentoo linux can be automatically optimized and customized for just about any application and need.
Gentoo linux is capable of functioning as a powerful workstation,desktop system,hardened server,or even a simple router.
PORTAGE is the heart of Gentoo.

WHAT IS PORTAGE??
It acts as a package management system as well as the package distribution system.There are many package management systems such as yum in RED HAT,CentOS and fedora,or dpkg in DEBIAN AND UNBUNTU,but unlike them,portage downlaods and compiles the source code according to the preferred USE flags,and the instructions are in the file called ebuild.PORTAGE is used in gentoo linux as a pakagemanagement system.

HOW TO GET THE LATEST SOFTWARE FOR GENTOO LINUX?

To get the latest software for gentoo linux you type one command: emerge –sync. This command tells Portage to update your local “Portage tree” over the Internet. Your local Portage tree contains a complete collection of scripts that can be used by Portage to create and install the latest Gentoo linux packages.

HOW TO INSTALL PACKAGE THROUGH PORTAL??

To install a package through portage you type emerge package name, at which point Portage automatically builds a custom version of the package to your exact specifications, optimizing it for your hardware and ensuring that the optional features in the package that you want are enabled — and those you don’t want aren’t.THE same rule is applied in case of gentoo linux using portage.

WHAT IS USE flags??

USE flags are almost like running –prefix when running ./configure,but are defined globally,and make it easy to take care of dependencies.

Example(from a section of gentoo handbook a nice book on gentoo linux):

“Enter the USE flags.such a flag is a keyword that embodies support and dependency-information for a certain concept.If you define a certain USE flag,portal will know that you want support for the choosen keyword.ofcourse this also alter the dependency information for a package.
“Let us take a look at a specific example:the kde keyword.”
if you don’t have this keyword in your USE variable,all the packages that have optional kde support will be compiled without KDE support.All packages that have an optional KDE dependency will be installed without installing the KDE libraries(as dependencies).If you have defined the kde keyword,then those packages will be compiled with kde support,and the KDE libraries will be installed as dependencies.
By correctly defining the keywords,you will receive a system tailored specifically to your needs”.

HOW DOES GENTOO LINUX WORKS??
Gentoo linux doesnt have its own installer.It depends on manual installation and that is done with the help of command line.The default gentoo linux installation only provides with a minimal set of softwares.We have taken on gentoo installation in our other posts.So any query relating..how to install a gentoo linux is covered there.just to summarize in the case of gentoo linux we build a system almost from the scratch.

NOTE:THIS POST IS WRITTEN AFTER A REVIEW FROM

*LINUX -COMPLETE MAGAZINE ON OPEN SOURCE.
*GENTOO HOMEPAGE(www.gentoo.org).

How To Remove and Add Right-Click Menu Items from Files and Folders??

REMOVING ITEMS
A lot of programs you install will add themselves to the right-click menu of your files and/or folders. And most times, you have no choice in the matter and, as a result, your right-click menu can get very long with added items you don’t even
use.
Fortunately, you can easily remove those unwanted menu items, if you know the registry values to edit. And it’s not at all difficult ,just follow these simple steps;
1.GO TO ‘RUN’
2.TYPE ‘REGEDIT’(WITHOUT QUOTES)
3.A REGISTRY WINDOW WILL OPEN.
4.GO TO HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

5.Click the the + sign next to the ContextMenuHandlers key, to expand it.

Now you will see some of the programs that have added items to your right-click menu. Simply delete the program keys you don’t want.
or,Instead of deleting the values,you can disable them. Simply double click the default value for the program on the right hand pane and rename the clsid value by placing a period or dash in front of it.
ie; – {b5eedee0-c06e-11cf-8c56-444553540000}
Then exit the registry, refresh, and right click a file to see if the item was removed from the menu.

Note that the above key only applies to the right click menu of files.
To remove entries from the right click context menu of folders, you need to navigate to the Folder and Drive keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

All you have to do is follow the same procedure as for Files – either disable or delete items you wish to remove.
Adding Items
Adding Items to the right click menu of Files and Folders is also fairly simple using the Registry. It just involves the creation of a few new keys for each item you wish to add. You edit the same keys used for removing items. Let’s use Notepad as an example of an item you’d like to add to the right click menu of all your files or folders.

For folders, go to this key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder
Click the + sign next to Folder and expand it so that the Shell key is visible. Right click the Shell key and choose New>Key and name the key Notepad or whatever else you’d prefer (whatever the key is named is what will appear in the right-click menu). Now right click the new key you made and create another key named Command. Then, in the right hand pane, double click “Default” and enter Notepad.exe as the value.
Exit the registry, refresh, and right click any folder. Notepad should now be on the context menu.

For files, go here again:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*
Expand the * key and see if a Shell key exists. If it does exist, follow the same procedure as for folders. If it does not exist, you’ll have to create a new Shell first. Just right click the * key and choose New>Key and name it Shell. Then right click the Shell key and continue on the same way you did for adding items to the right click menu of folders.
Once done, Notepad should appear as an option in the right click menu of all your files.

How to burn quicker in windows xp?? Windows xp has a built-in burning software which can cause problems sometimes when burning with other programs.to resolve the issue one can opt to turn default windows xp burning tool. To turn windows xp burning tool off follow these simple steps:

1.Go to “administrative tools” in the control panel.

2.In the “services” list, disable the IMAPI CD-Burning COM service. and you are done.