Know your system info and get to hack 'em

About Windows

C:\WINDOWS\system32\winver.exe

Shows the version of Windows currently installed on the system.

 

Event Viewer

C:\WINDOWS\system32\Eventvwr.msc

Displays monitoring and troubleshooting messages from Windows and other programs.

 

Internet Options

C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetcpl.cpl

Internet Explorer Options or Settings

 

Internet Protocol Configuration

C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /k C:\WINDOWS\system32\ipconfig.exe

IPCONFIG is a command line tool used to control network connections on Windows-based computers

 

Network Diagnostics

C:\WINDOWS\system32\netsh.exe diag gui

Network Diagnostics scans your system to gather information about your hardware, software, and network connections

 

Programs Control

C:\WINDOWS\system32\appwiz.cpl

Add or Remove programs and Windows components and manage default programs

 

Security Center

C:\WINDOWS\system32\wscui.cpl

Configure Automatic Updates, Windows Firewall, and Internet Properties Settings

 

System Information

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\msinfo32.exe

View advanced information about harware and software settings

 

System Properties

C:\WINDOWS\system32\sysdm.cpl

View basic information about your computer's system settings

 

System Restore

C:\WINDOWS\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

Restore your computer to a previous state

 

Task Manager

C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.exe

Provides details about programs and processes running on your system

Malware Bumps Google Ads From Web Pages

A security company has identified a Trojan horse program that replaces Google text advertisements on Web pages with ads from another source, depriving Google of revenue and potentially causing problems for end users.

Google may be powerless to stop the trick since it involves the modification of an internal PC file, called the hosts file, that is used to match domain names of Web sites with IP (Internet protocol) addresses, said Romanian security company BitDefender.

When a person visits a Web site, the browser checks the hosts file to see if it has an IP address for a particular domain name. If the hosts file is corrupted or hijacked, the browser can be directed to fetch a different Web page than the one the user intended to.

Modifying the hosts file can be done for legitimate reasons. For example, PC users can change the hosts to block banner ads served from known ad networks. When a Web page tries to contact an ad server, the request is diverted by the hosts file and no ad appears.

BitDefender said in an advisory this particular malware directs a browser to download advertisements from a different server than Google's ad server.

BitDefender named the malware Trojan.Qhost.WU and said it is not spreading fast and poses a "medium" risk of damage. It did not say how the Trojan is being circulated, and company representatives did not return a call for comment.

Besides costing Google ad revenue, there is a danger that those replacement advertisements could contain links to sites with malicious software, BitDefender said. Web site owners who buy ads through Google, as well as Google itself, can lose out on both Web traffic and revenue if people are diverted from its ads.

There is not much that Google can do for those who download the malware. However, security products such as BitDefender's can detect and remove it.

Without commenting on the Trojan specifically, Google said it removes Web sites from its search index that contain malware.

"We have canceled customer accounts that display ads re-directing users to malicious sites or that advertise a product violating our software principles," the company said in a statement. From http://www.pcworld.in/news/index.jsp/artId=3473408

Microsoft Lets Everyone Try Windows XP SP3

The first release candidate of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) will be available from Microsoft's website today, the software giant has announced.

 

The move marks the first opportunity for all users of the six-year-old operating system to try out its final upgrade. Previously, several thousand users were given access to test builds of SP3 only by Microsoft's invitation.

 

According to a company spokeswoman, the version that debuts today, dubbed a "release candidate" to note progress from earlier betas, will be available from the Microsoft Download Center. She was unable, however, to say when the service pack would post to Windows Update so users can download and install it with the company's update service.

 

The final version of Windows XP SP3 remains slated for delivery sometime in the first half of 2008, the spokeswoman said. She also warned off casual users from trying the preview. "As this is a release candidate, we strongly encourage only those who are comfortable installing prerelease code to download Windows XP SP3," she said.

 

Recently, Microsoft has been downplaying the significance of Windows XP SP3. In a white paper posted to its Web site last week, and also today, the company praised Windows Vista at XP's expense, reminding users that "Vista provides the most advanced security and management capabilities of any Windows operating system."

 

"Windows XP SP3 does not bring significant portions of Windows Vista functionality to Windows XP," the spokeswoman said.

 

According to the white paper, the Download Center version of XP SP3 will weigh in at about 580MB; the version downloaded and installed via Windows Update, however, will be much smaller, typically around 70MB.

 

Windows XP debuted in October 2001 and was last updated as SP2 in August 2004; SP3 will be the final major upgrade of the operating system. <Taken from http://www.pcworld.in >

Windows Secrets Revealed- Working with Folder Names

Adding Control Panel Icons to the Desktop

This is an easy one..

1. Simply open up the Control Panel.
2. Right Click and Drag the icon you want to your desktop or folder.
3. This will create a shortcut for that icon.
4. It could come in handy if there are always certain items you need to get to quickly.

Create a Control Panel menu directly below the Start Button

1. Click the Start Button once with your right mouse button. You should see a right-button menu (called a context menu because it offers different choices in different contexts).

You should see the items Open, Explore, and Find on the context menu. Click Explore with your left mouse button.

An Explorer file management window should open. A directory tree should appear in the left pane, with the right pane displaying the contents of the Start Menu folder.

Right-click any empty space within the right pane. A context menu should appear. Click New and then Folder.

The Explorer will create a highlighted icon called New Folder. Type in the following string, all on one line, replacing the words New Folder with this new line. You must type the period, the curly braces, all four hyphens, and the hexadecimal numbers exactly as shown. After the closing curly brace, press Enter.

 

Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

The code givin in the braces is the key to control panel, Other Folders can be added following the same instructions.

• Dial-Up Networking.{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48}
• Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
• Inbox.{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
• My Computer.{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
• Recycle Bin.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
• Network Neighborhood.{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
• Desktop.{00021400-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
• Briefcase.{85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}
• Fonts.{BD84B380-8CA2-1069-AB1D-08000948F534}

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windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

Windows Secret Revealed- Working with StartUp and LogOff Screen

Startup Screen

1. Create a 320x400 bitmap in the root directory and name it LOGO.SYS
2. You can use LOGOW.SYS file in the Windows directory as a starter

Logoff Screens

1. There are several files called LOGOX.SYS
2. They are actually bitmaps 320x400 that just have a different extension
3. The hidden one in the root directory LOGO.SYS is the startup logo.
4. There are two files in the Windows directory.
5. LOGOW.SYS is the Wait while Shutting down ... screen
6. LOGOS.SYS is the You may now shut-off or Reboot screen
7. To edit them, rename them with a BMP extension and use your favorite graphic editor
8. You can edit these files or create you own
9. They just need to be the same size 

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 windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

windows secrets II

Changing the clock to 24-Hour Time

1. To change the display of the clock on the taskbar to 24-hour format:
2. Open the Control Panel
3. Double-click on the Regional Settings icon
4. Click on the Time tab
5. In the Time style section select H:mm:ss

Removing the InBox and Recycle Bin Icons from the Desktop

To remove the InBox from your desktop, without needing to run the Policy Editor:

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ explorer \ Desktop \ NameSpace
3. Below that should be a few keys
4. Rename the key {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}. I usually put another character before or after the curly braces.
5. Restart Windows and the InBox icon should be gone
6. You can do the same for any other items you don't to show such as the Recycle Bin or The Internet icons

Changing or Removing the Start Menu Icons

1. Download Microangelo and install it.
2. Create a blank.ico file.
3. Put it in a directory (C:\Windows. Then double click on the Microangelo Engineer to run it.
4. When you get it up on the screen click on the "start" tab. You will see a list of all the icons in the start menu.
5. Highlight the first one (programs) and select "Change". It will bring up a dialog box - select "browse".
6. Go to the directory that contains the blank icon and select it. Hit OK until you get back to the main
7. Engineer window and do all the rest exactly the same way.
8. When you have finished changing them all to the blank icon, Hit "Apply".
9. Hit your start button and look to see if all the icons are invisible. (They should be.)
10. Close out Micro Engineer and you're finished.

Adding Drive to the SendTo List

• I have recently found that if you want to send something from A: drive or from any where to any drive, you can just make a short cut of that drive in subdirectory SENDTO.
• For example I have two hard drives, a Floppy Drive, and a CDROM
• After I have make a copy of each of my drive I will be able to send a whole directory of E:\XXX from the CDROM drive to A: drive or any other drive that i have had made the short c t in the SENDTO subdir of WINDOWS.

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windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

windows secrets III

Moving the Start Button

How to move or close the start button!

1. Click on the Start button
2. Press the Esc key
3. Press the Alt and the - keys together
4. This will give you a menu, you can move or close
5. But if you move it you need to use the arrow keys and not the mouse.

Aligning Drop-Down Menus to the Right

All dropdown menus can be aligned to the right.
This features becomes useful when trying to access
menus with submenus that appear directly to the right.

1. Open the Registory editor (e.g. regedit.exe)
2. Goto \\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
3. Create a string entry called "MenuDropAlignment"
4. Set its value to 1
5. Reboot

Note: Will not work under NT 4.0.

Repositioning a Background Bitmap

Normally, you only options for displaying a background bitmap are tiled, centered, or stretch to fit (with the Plus Pack).
You can edit the registry and have a third option which is to place the bitmap anywhere on your screen by specifying the X and Y coordinates.

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Control Panel / Desktop
3. Create new Strings called WallpaperOriginX and WallpaperOriginY
4. Give them values to position them around your desktop
5. The bitmap must be smaller than your desktop size

Changing Drive Icons

To change a drive's icon when you open My Computer

1. Create a file called AUTORUN.INF on the root of your hard drive
2. Enter the lines

[autorun]
ICON=Name of the ICON file

For the name of the icon file you can either specify the path and name (e.g. ICON=C:\WINDOWS\ICONS\MY_ICON.ICO) or
a specific icon in a library (e.g. ICON=ICONFILE.DLL,2)

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 windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

windows secrets I

Adding a Protected Briefcase

You can make your briefcase a shortcut icon on desktop so if you have multiple users on your PC and you don't want to have a password for your briefcase, you can at least protect it from inadvertent deletion by just making the briefcase a hidden file or in a different location other than \Windows\Desktop\My Briefcase, then send a copy or shortcut to the desktop.

Customizing the Start Button's Name and Icon

To change the name of the Start button:

1. Copy EXPLORER.EXE in your Windows directory to another directory
2. Start a hex editor (eg Diskedit from Norton)
3. Edit EXPLORER.EXE
4. Search for the string 53 00 74 00 61 00 72 00 74
5. This is the word Start with the letters separated by a null character
6. The section you are in should also have the words "There was an internal error..." also separated with the null character immediately following
7. Now just replace the Start letters with any of your choice (up to 5 characters only)
8. Exit Windows
9. Boot to DOS
10. Copy your new Explorer file over the original

To change the Start button icon:

1. Copy USER.EXE in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory to another directory
2. Use an icon editor that can replace icons in executable files
3. Edit USER.EXE and replace the flag icons with the icon of your choice
4. Boot to DOS
5. Copy the new USER.EXE

The same can be done with NT 4.0, just the offset will be different but the location to just before "There was an internal error..." is the same.

Adding the Device Manager to your Desktop

This allows you to quickly see all the devices attached to your computer.
I use it a lot to select Refresh when I add new external SCSI devices that were not
powered up at startup. This way you do not need to restart the computer. To add the Device Manager Icon:

1. Right click on an open area of your desktop
2. Select New / Shortcut
3. Type in C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL SYSDM.CPL, SYSTEM, 1
4. Replace C:\WINDOWS with whatever directory you installed Windows95
5. Click on the Next box
6. At the next dialog box type in Device Manager
7. Click on the Finish when you are done

Note: Replacing the 1 with a 3 will bring up the Performance Status

Adding Options to the Right-Click of the Start Menu

To add an option to the Right-Click of the Start button:

1. Go to Control Panel, View, Options
2. Click on the File Types Tab
3. Scroll down until you see File Folder
4. Click on Edit
5. Click on New
6. Type in the Name you want to in the Action box
7. Type in the Application you want to use

A good option to add is an MS-DOS Prompt:

Try this c:\command.com /k cd %1
It also puts the shortcut on a regular folder.
This command will open a DOS window with that folder as the current directory.

How to make the task bar Auto Hide

1. Click the right button on a blank area of the task bar
2. Select Properties
3. Select Autohide
4. Click OK

This will make the task bar slide off the screen when the cursor moves away from it,
and it will slide back on when the cursor is moved near it again.

The same can be done for the MS Office task bar. The "sliding" effect is nice, and can free up some desktop space.

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 windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

windows secrets III

Moving the Start Button

How to move or close the start button!

1. Click on the Start button
2. Press the Esc key
3. Press the Alt and the - keys together
4. This will give you a menu, you can move or close
5. But if you move it you need to use the arrow keys and not the mouse.

Aligning Drop-Down Menus to the Right

All dropdown menus can be aligned to the right.
This features becomes useful when trying to access
menus with submenus that appear directly to the right.

1. Open the Registory editor (e.g. regedit.exe)
2. Goto \\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
3. Create a string entry called "MenuDropAlignment"
4. Set its value to 1
5. Reboot

Note: Will not work under NT 4.0.

Repositioning a Background Bitmap

Normally, you only options for displaying a background bitmap are tiled, centered, or stretch to fit (with the Plus Pack).
You can edit the registry and have a third option which is to place the bitmap anywhere on your screen by specifying the X and Y coordinates.

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Control Panel / Desktop
3. Create new Strings called WallpaperOriginX and WallpaperOriginY
4. Give them values to position them around your desktop
5. The bitmap must be smaller than your desktop size

Changing Drive Icons

To change a drive's icon when you open My Computer

1. Create a file called AUTORUN.INF on the root of your hard drive
2. Enter the lines

[autorun]
ICON=Name of the ICON file

For the name of the icon file you can either specify the path and name (e.g. ICON=C:\WINDOWS\ICONS\MY_ICON.ICO) or
a specific icon in a library (e.g. ICON=ICONFILE.DLL,2)

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 windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

Facebook Members Sell Their Own Ads

By Louise Story on The New York Times on December 7, 2007

URL: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/facebook-members-sell-their-own-ads/

More than 1,500 Facebook users have started placing advertisements on their own profile pages–despite the social networking site's rule against such ads.

They are posting them with the help of a Montreal-based company called Weblo, an advertising network that sells ads onto people's blogs and social networking profile pages.

Visitors to Weblo's site will see that they can "earn money from your popularity online." Weblo estimates people's advertising value based on variables like how many friends they have in their social networks, and, thus, how many people will likely see ads on their pages.

Facebook does not allow users to sell ads on their profile pages. Chris Kelly, Facebook's chief privacy officer, told me on Nov 6 that is because Facebook does not want people's profile pages to become cluttered.

"We don't want a free-for-all," he said.

But Weblo's chief executive Rocky Mirza says that people should be able to sell space on their pages on Facebook (and a variety of other sites like MySpace and YouTube) because they are the content creators on those sites. Facebook would have no content if not for its users, he said, which makes it different from media organizations, for example, that have content because they pay reporters.

Weblo started the service in October. In the past month the number of people using it on Facebook has grown from 200 to 1500.

"Obviously Facebook is providing the infrastructure, so they can place ads on the left side," Mr. Mirza said. "But users should be getting paid for the time they spend on the Internet and the friends they draw to their pages."

Facebook does allow people and companies that design widgets for use on the site to sell ads in the widget interface page, called the "canvas page." But those widget companies cannot sell ads on the profile pages, either.

Weblo shares ad revenues with the people who let it place ads on their pages. It will be interesting to see how long Facebook allows them to carry on. Facebook clearly would not want to alienate even more users now, after its Beacon debacle over the past month.

Weblo gets to the heart of a question of ownership that will generate more debate as more people spend more of their time looking at content created by other ordinary people. When users post reviews of restaurants on a media site, for example, should they get to share in the ad revenues generated?

Facebook has also yet to respond to my inquiry about Weblo, but I will update you when they do.

People can also sign up to run weblo ads on their pages by using a Weblo widget on the site called Internet Worth.

Nokia Offers Free Updates to N95

Nokia is offering existing owners of its N95 mobile phone handset the chance to improve its battery life and try out extra features via a free software update.

The over-the-air upgrade, available to Nokia N95 customers, promises maps that load faster as well as recognizing and redrawing positioning times more quickly. A three-day trial version of its real-time navigation service is included as part of the update.

Nokia is also pushing the multi-tasking capabilities of its popular handset. The N95 was already able to play music while surfing the web; Nokia says the software update will make multitasking more efficient since paging files are updated faster.

While these refinements are as much a way of crowing about the advanced capabilities of the Nokia N95 handset as anything else, the update that will be of most use to handset owners is the prolonged battery life.

Nokia claims an increase of up to 30 percent between charges. As much as 12 hours of use can be enjoyed once the update is installed, claims Nokia.

Nokia recently started selling a revised version of the Nokia N95 with 8GB of onboard memory, compared to the original handset's 4GB. It has also just launched a successor to the N95 in the form of the slimmer N82.

windows secrets III

Moving the Start Button

How to move or close the start button!

1. Click on the Start button
2. Press the Esc key
3. Press the Alt and the - keys together
4. This will give you a menu, you can move or close
5. But if you move it you need to use the arrow keys and not the mouse.

Aligning Drop-Down Menus to the Right

All dropdown menus can be aligned to the right.
This features becomes useful when trying to access
menus with submenus that appear directly to the right.

1. Open the Registory editor (e.g. regedit.exe)
2. Goto \\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
3. Create a string entry called "MenuDropAlignment"
4. Set its value to 1
5. Reboot

Note: Will not work under NT 4.0.

Repositioning a Background Bitmap

Normally, you only options for displaying a background bitmap are tiled, centered, or stretch to fit (with the Plus Pack).
You can edit the registry and have a third option which is to place the bitmap anywhere on your screen by specifying the X and Y coordinates.

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Control Panel / Desktop
3. Create new Strings called WallpaperOriginX and WallpaperOriginY
4. Give them values to position them around your desktop
5. The bitmap must be smaller than your desktop size

Changing Drive Icons

To change a drive's icon when you open My Computer

1. Create a file called AUTORUN.INF on the root of your hard drive
2. Enter the lines

[autorun]
ICON=Name of the ICON file

For the name of the icon file you can either specify the path and name (e.g. ICON=C:\WINDOWS\ICONS\MY_ICON.ICO) or
a specific icon in a library (e.g. ICON=ICONFILE.DLL,2)

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 windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

Hacking Windows III

Minimizing All Windows

To minimize all windows:
Press Ctrl-ESC ESC to bring up the Task Bar
Right Mouse Click on an open area of the Task Bar
Select Minimize all Windows
This makes it a lot easier to minimize windows when all your open applications are full screen.
With the Microsoft Keyboard, you can accomplish the same thing by pressing the Window-M key.

Removing the Shortcut Icon Arrows

Open REGEDIT.EXE
Open the Key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
Open the Key LNKFILE
Delete the value IsShortcut
Open the next Key PIFFILE
Delete the value IsShortcut
Restart the Win95

Turning on AutoArrange for Folders

To make all folders keep AutoArrange turned on:
Open up an existing folder
Select View / Arrange
Arrange the Icons the way you would like, (e.g. Name, Size,etc.)
Select View / Arrange again
Select AutoArrange
Press the Ctrl-key while you close the window.
This folder should now have AutoArrange always selected.
This should allow you to create new folders that have AutoArrange selected by default.
You only need to specify by Name, Size, etc. if you want to change it from the default you set above.

Creating Document Scraps

If you are using Microsoft Word 7.0,
you can highlight a section of the document then drag and drop the highlighted area to
your desktop. Windows will create a file for you with a name something like
"Document Scrap From..." followed by the first few words you selected

Quick Access to Your Desktop

How do you access your darn desktop when you have a ton of applications open?
Well you could right click on the taskbar and do a minimize all, but that can be slow.
Instead:
Open a browser window (double-click on "My Computer")
If there is no toolbar, select View from the menu and select Toolbar.
Then from the dropdown list-box in the toolbar select desktop.
Now minimize it and forget about it.
The next time you want to access your desktop just click the desktop window on the taskbar.
As long as you don't close the window when you shutdown, it will reopen when you start windows again.
Additional Note: You can also drag the Desktop folder to the start menu.
Then you just press Ctrl-ESC and click on Desktop

Restoring Corrupted Icons

If you use a graphic Card and you change the resolution, sometimes the icons are bad.
End Win95 and restart. When you see the starting message press F8 then type standard.
After this start of Win95 exit and restart.
Change back to your Resolution and restart.
The icons should be corrected.

Turn Off Window Animation

You can shut off the animation displayed when you minimize and maximize windows.
This tip makes navigating Windows 95 a lot faster especially for those that don't have
super fast video cards.
Open Regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Control panel
Desktop
WindowMetrics
Right Mouse Click an empty space in the right pane.
Select new/string value.
Name the new value MinAnimate.
Doubleclick on the new string value (MinAnimate) and click on "Modify"
Enter a value of 0 for Off or 1 for On then hit
Close Regedit and all programs then reboot.

Renaming the Recycle Bin

Start the Registry Editor
Type Ctrl-F to bring up the Find Menu
In the Find What box type Recycle
Double click on the Recycle Bin in the right pane
Type in the new name under Value Data
Restart Win95

Turning off Desktop Icons

If you want to turn off all the icons on your desktop:
Start the System Policy Editor
Select File / Open Registry
Select Local User
Select Shell / Restrictions
Select Hide all items on Desktop
All Icons will now be hidden.
Note: One side effect is the your CD will no longer automatically play when it is inserted.

Adding in Old Windows Groups

If you are setup to dual boot between your old Win 3.x and want to add in the old groups, just click on the *.GRP file in your old windows directory. The programs will be added to your list under Programs in the task bar.
Note: Any DLL's the programs require will need to be copied.
To speed up the Start Menu
Start the REGEDIT program
Search for the word desktop
This should be in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT / CLSID / {00021400...
Right Click on the right panel
Pick NEW / String Value.
Name it MenuShowDelay, all one word.
Select a value from 1-10, 1 being the fastest.
Exit REGEDIT

Restart Windows

To change the My Computer or Recycle Bin icon
Open Regedit
Find My Computer or Recycle Bin
Tab to the left panel
Double click on the highlighted line
Double click on DefaultIcon in the left panel
Double click on DefaultIcon right panel
Type in the value for the new icon
Note: DLL files can be used. Specify the location of the new icon with the filename,#

Remove the tildes in short filenames

Open Regedit
Go to Hkey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
Right Click on the Right pane
Select New / Hex
Add the value NameNumericTail= 0
To remove the Network Neighborhood Icon
Start POLEDIT. It is on the CD in \Admin\Apptools\Poledit
Open Registry
Select LocalUser
Select Shell
Select Restrictions
Select Hide Network Neighborhood
To change the Startup and Logoff screens

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windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

Hacking Windows I

More Removing Shortcut Arrows

'lnkfile', 'piffle' and 'internetshortcut' are the three places that are seen in the isshortcut arrow.
The best way to deal with this is to rename the 'isshortcut' to 'isshortcutbak' by right clicking on the 'isshortcut' then
select rename and add 'bak' to the end.

Closing Nested Folders

If you have several nested folders (folders within folders) and want to close them all,
simply, hold the Shift key while closing the last folder
This will close all previous ones as well.

Changing Application Icons

To have a wider choice of application icons:

1. Right click on the icon shortcut
2. Chose Properties
3. Click on the Program tab
4. Chose Change icon
5. Click on Browse
6. Select Files of type All Files
7. Browse to the directory where your icon files are kept
8. You can even use some bitmap files for you icons

Moving and Resizing the Taskbar

You can move the taskbar by pointing on a corner panel and dragging it
It is easier to move if you close all your windows first

You can also resize it by moving the mouse to the edge and dragging it larger or smaller.

Correcting Corrupted Fonts

If you have a problem with your non-true type fonts, here's what you do:

1. Open the Control Panel
2. Double click on Fonts
3. Search for the "Monotype Sorts" font
4. Delete this Font

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 windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

Hacking Windows II

Changing Desktop Folders - With No Registry Changes

1. From the Explorer, create a folder somewhere OTHER than the desktop, and call it something like "Desktop Folders."
2. Move all your desktop folders into that folder.
3. Create shortcuts to all of those folders on your desktop.
4. Now, you are free to change the icons of each shortcut individually, to anything you like!

Updating the Desktop without restarting it

If you want to update the desktop, for example after you've been changing the registry.

1. Right-Click anywhere on the desktop
2. Press F5

Adding the Desktop to your Start Menu

Create a shortcut to the Explorer on your Desktop

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Choose Open
3. Go into the Programs Folder
4. Drag the Windows Explorer Icon on your Desktop using the RIGHT Mouse button
5. Choose copy here

Change the command line switch

1. Right click on the Shortcut you created
2. Choose Properties
3. Choose Shortcut
4. Type in following command line as target:
   • C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE /n, /root,
   • The last "," is vital!
5. If you want the two pane Explorer view ad the switch ,/e
6. Then rename the Shortcut to "Desktop" or whatever you choose and drag the icon onto the start button.

Removing shortcut arrows

One problem when removing shortcut arrows is that
if you delete a desktop item, it will remove it.
If it is a shortcut it will just remove the icon.
If it is not a shortcut, then it will remove the program.
Having the little icon arrow is one way to tell the difference.

Getting rid of Click Here to Continue

1. Start the Registry Editor
2. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Policies / Explorer
3. Create a binary value and call it NoStartBanner
4. Double-click on it and give it a value of 01 00 00 00
5. You will need to repeat the same steps for HKEY_USERS / .Default / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Policies / Explorer

Changing the Desktop and Explorer Folder Icons

The following steps will change the icon that is displayed as the default Folder icon.

1. Start the Registry Editor.
2. Search for "Shell Icons".
3. This will bring you to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / explorer / Shell Icons.
4. Double-click on the one has the value name of "3" in the right pane.
5. Type in the new icon you want to use.
6. If you have a DLL file specified, you need to count for the location of the particular icon you want to use, starting at 0.
7. To reset the icon cache, use a program such as Tweak with comes with the PowerToys from Microsoft.

Note: Please, be cautious when editing registry values lest your system could undergo serious problems.

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 windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun III

Adding AnyFolder and Mail to SendTo

An easy way around this is to use the following methods. <Without editing REGISTRY>

To add ANYFOLDER:

1. Open the Explorer
2. Go to \Windows\SendTo
3. Right click in the right hand panel
4. Select New / Text Document
5. Name it anything with a .otherfolder extension

When you want to send files to another folder:

1. Select the files with Explorer
2. Right Click
3. Select Send to and the name you just created
4. You them have the option of copying or moving the file to a folder of your choice

To add Mail:

1. Open the Explorer
2. Go to \Windows\SendTo
3. Right click in the right hand panel
4. Select New / Text Document
5. Name it anything with a .MapiMail extension (ignore any warnings about the file extension)

When you want to Mail files as attachments:

1. Select the files with Explorer
2. Right Click
3. Select Send to and the Mail name you just created
4. This allows you to easily mail multiple files

Adding Shortcuts to Desktop Without "Shortcut To" text

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to:HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer
3. Add binary value to Explorer:link="00,00,00,00"
4. Now You can make Shortcuts to desktop without Shortcut To" text.

Easier User Interface

Add a menu item named "Open THIS folder!" to each of your cascading menus off of the Start menu.
This makes it easier to put items wherever you want them!

1. Go to Windows \ Start Menu \ Programs \ (etc.) in the Explorer
2. Start right click/dragging folders to the desktop, one by one.
3. Rename them and left click/drag them back to the same folder.

It takes a little while, but when you are finished you have a much easier interface to work with.

Removing the Start Button

1. Click on the start menu button twice, so there is a dashed line around the button
2. Press Alt and the minus sign
3. Choose Close to make the start button disappear, or move to move it to the right!

Note : - You have to re-boot to get it back again, or:

1. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete
2. Highlight Explorer
3. Click on the End Task button
4. Select No to doing a full shutdown
5. Wait a few seconds and the click on the End Task button

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windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun II

Customizing Individual Folder Icons

To change a folder's icon:

1. Open Notepad and enter two lines,

   [.ShellClassInfo]
   IconFile=file name,number
   (e.g. IconFile=C:\Icon\CustomFolder.ico,0)

2. Save the file as DESKTOP.INI in the folder you wish to change.
3. Click Start -> Run, type in the command line,
   ATTRIB +S "folder name"
   (e.g. ATTRIB +S "C:\Custom Folder")
4. Open Explorer or My Computer and refresh (press F5 key).

This tip only work Windows 95/NT 4.0 + IE 4.0 with shell integration, or Windows 98/NT 5.0.

Removing the Recycle Bin

To remove Recycle Bin from the desktop:

1. Run REGEDIT.
2. Find NAMESPACE key in left pane (HKEY_Local_Macine \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Current Version \ Explorer \ Desktop \ Namespace)
3. Expand NAMESPACE (click '+' box)
4. Delete the value RECYCLE BIN in right pane

Adding Send To the Recycle Bin

Add a SHORTCUT TO THE RECYCLE BIN in your SEND TO folder.

That way you can just right click on a file you want to delete, and send it to the recycle bin without having to confirm each time.

Having Icons with No Name

Normally you have to have a name for an icon, just spaces are not allowed.
To create an icon with no name attached:

1. Make sure NumLock is on
2. Highlight the Icon you want to change
3. Right-Mouse click and select Rename
4. While holding down the Alt key, type 0160
5. Now the icon will have no name below it.

To Create Multiple Icons with No Name -

1. Follow directions detailed above
2. With the second icon simply add one space-bar character AFTER the 0160 number.
3. Each successive icon gets an additional space-bar character at the end (to prevent a duplicate naming error).

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 windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun I

Unable to Create Shortcuts on the Desktop

If you can't create shortcuts on your Desktop, you might have a corrupted registry.

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellNew\Command
3. Make sure it has a value of:
4. RunDLL32 AppWiz.Cpl,NewLinkHere %1 if you don't have IE 4
5. or RunDLL32 AppWiz.Cpl,NewLinkHere %2 if you have IE 4.0 or IE 4.01

Removing the InBox from the Desktop

A faster way to remove "Inbox" from the Deskop is to

1. Right mouse click on "Inbox"
2. Select delete
3. It will then tell you "you cannot store the inbox in the recycle bin. . .etc"
4. Click "Yes"
5. Wait 2 secs and it's gone.

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 windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

Getting Screen Shots

Getting Screen Shots

If you need to get a screen shot, and you do not have a screen capture program, try this:

• Hit the Print Screen key. This copies a bitmap of the full screen into the Windows clipboard. Start up a graphics editor and paste it in.
• Alt + Print Screen will capture only the active window.

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  windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

Increasing the Size of the Scroll Bar

Increasing the Size of the Scroll Bar

How to adjust the width of the scroll bar:

1. Right Click with Mouse on Desktop Area.
2. Select Properties
3. Select the Appearance tab
4. Go to the item list and find scrollbar.
5. Increasing the value in the Size field will increase the scrollbar width.

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   windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

Full Window Drag ( Without Plus! )

Full Window Drag ( Without Plus! )

1. Start Regedit
2. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER /ControlPanel /Desktop /DragFullWindows
3. On "DragFullWindows" properties change 0 to 1

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windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

Fixing Corrupted Desktop Icons

Fixing Corrupted Desktop Icons

Easier way to reset icons then deleting SHELLICONCACHE.

There's no need to exit Win95 and delete the SHELLICONCACHE file in order to reset icons that you may have changed (like Network Neighborhood).

1. Go to Control Panel, Display, Appearance Tab.
2. Select Icon from the Item drop down list.
3. Change the Size up or down one and apply.
4. Change the Size back to your original and apply.

If your Start Menu is slow or your icons are black for some reason, it means your Shelliconcache file is corrupt and should be deleted.
Delete the hidden file C:\WINDOWS\SHELLICONCACHE
It will be recreated the next time you start Win95

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windows secrets- hacking your system to better performance and fun

Google to release cell-phone

Google is to release its own mobile platform ne-xt year to drastically shake up the cell-phone industry and provide mob-ile users with a host of new applications, Wall Street Journal reported.

The paper today said that Google planned to make a formal announcement of its plans in about two weeks.Google is in talks with cell-phone maker HTC of Taiwan and LG of South Korea to manufacture the phone, which would be tailored to Google software. Google is also seeking partnerships with wireless operators like Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA, France Telecom's Orange SA and Hutchison Whampoa's 3.

The Google ogibe would make Google applications and services as easily accessible on mobile phones as PCs, so that the company can extend its advertising business to the more than three billion users of cell phones and other wireless devices. Worldwide, mobile ad spending is expected to reach $1.5 billion this year and grow to $11.3 billion by 2011, according to market researcher Informa Telecoms & Media.

Until now, Google has pursued various strategies to tap this market, adapting Google websites for mobile browsers.

Search Engine Positioning

Search Engine Positioning, or SEP, is the process of boosting and maintaining your website's position in the results that Internet users see when they run queries on different search engines.

There are two distinct steps you need to take in order to maximize the effectiveness of your position in a search engine listing.  The first is to make key modifications to your pages in order to gain top positioning within a search engine's index.  The second is something that is commonly ignored.  That position needs to be maintained.  Too often, webmasters gain a great position on a search engine only to let it slip away, taking business away with it.  Don't make this mistake.  This essay is written to give you a good idea of how important SEP is in bringing more people to your website.

            As you probably know by now, merely being listed in a search index is not enough to bring new visitors to your website.  Your website must rank at or near the top of the search results in order to collect all the traffic that search engines can produce.  The first major step in positioning your site is choosing descriptive and focused meta-keywords.  The importance of excellent keywords cannot be emphasized enough--you can read about keywords in the essay Keyword Importance.  Once you have a list of candidates for your final meta-keywords, you can use AddWeb 4's Page Builder Plus to quickly create a test Doorway Page for your website using the keywords of your choice.  Once the doorway page has been built it is time to analyze the page using Page Advisor.

            Page Advisor will analyze your new page and give you a score based on real data taken live from the Internet's top-ranking websites.  The report tells you where to make specific changes in the Doorway Page based on what the analysis finds.  For example, the analysis might tell you to include a longer or shorter title.  It may also tell you that there are not enough instances of the chosen keywords in your page.  Or you may need to reduce or increase the amount of description text on the page.  Keep in mind that while all of these items may seem minor, they are worth checking and modifying if necessary, as they may affect your ranking position. You can then build the changes into a new Doorway Page using Page Builder Plus.

            Page Advisor can now be used to analyze the new page and return a score that gives you an estimate as to how well that page is optimized for good positioning on search engines in general, or one specific engine.  The importance of this second analysis cannot be underestimated.  In fact, the best results come from repeated building-and-analysis, until the Doorway Page is optimized as well as possible.  Once you have a page that you are happy with, you can use AddWeb 4's AISubmit module to automatically register your new doorway page with all of the search engines you want to be listed on.  The hardest part is now remaining patient as you wait for all of the indices to pick up your listing.  This can take anywhere from several seconds to several months, depending on the individual search engine.  Check for your ranking regularly to determine if you are listed, and if you are, where you are positioned.

            If you have chosen good keywords, and followed the steps outlined above, you should have a good position near the top of the listings.  Now the trick is to maintain that position.  Just because you appear at the top of the search results doesn't mean that you are guaranteed to remain there.  New websites appear by the second and search engines regularly change the methods they use to index them.  To ensure that you maintain your position, you must first re-submit your site around once a month and check your ranking on each major search engine regularly, preferably once a week.  By checking your ranking you can determine what your position is and whether it is trending upward or downward.  If you are heading up over time, great, pat yourself on the back for a job well done.  If your rank is spiraling downwards, or you just can't seem to push ahead of certain competitors, its time for some more advanced work.        

            Take a look at the websites that have higher listings than you and note their URL's.  Go to Page Advisor and run a comparison analysis on the specific URL that is competing against you.  Page Advisor's report will show you both your stats as well as those for your competitor.  You can do a side by side comparison and see exactly what your competitor has that you don't have, or what you have that your competitor doesn't.  Maybe that extra keyword or those extra hyperlinks are nosing them ahead of you into Position 1--use Page Advisor to find out.  Once you've got an idea of what you can do to improve your ranking, use Page Builder Plus to make the necessary changes.  Check your rankings again in a week or so and look for any differences.  This is a constant process that you must maintain with some vigil.  Don't let your competitors get a leg up on you by ignoring your ranking trends for too long.  Maintain your position and you will get a constant, steady reward in the form of new visitors and increased traffic to your site.

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 This article has been adapted from  AddWeb Article- Copyright (c) 2000  Cyberspace Headquarters, LLC. www.cyberspacehq.com

Search Engine Spiders

Search engines need a way to examine the websites that people submit to them.  Some search engines like Yahoo!™ employ people to check each website registered with them, but these are in the minority.  Most other search engines use specialized software called "spiders" or "robots" to do this.  Spiders help search engines deliver accurate search results by determining how relevant a website is to the phrases and keywords a web surfer uses.  Spiders "crawl" through websites, analyzing text content and following hyperlinks.  This information about the website is used to determine how it should be categorized and ranked.  Because the spider's functions are so critical, anything relating to the way they operate is a closely guarded secret that the search engines would prefer you not to know.  It is, however, in our best interest to understand as much as we can about them, and to use that information to our advantage when designing a webpage.

One of the most important things to keep in mind when designing your website is to see your site from a spider's point of view.  A spider can only analyze text and words that are in a structured format.  That is exactly why a frames-based site rarely ranks well on a search engine.  The HTML for a frames site doesn't have a conventional format-- all of the content is jumbled about the page in different code sections and script exerpts, and that confuses spiders.  Also, a spider needs to know right away what it should look for when it crawls your site.  Using meta keywords is the best method for doing that.  Otherwise, spiders will try to guess the content on your page and won't necessarily be successful -- getting ranked high for something unrelated to your site isn't helpful at all.

Descriptive and targeted meta keywords aren't the only thing search engine spiders look for.  If you do use meta keywords, a spider tries to find out how relevant those keywords are for your site.  For example, if your site is about recreational fishing, and you use the words fly-fishing, angling, and deep-sea fishing multiple times in your site, the spider will see your site being more relavant to those particular words than words which only appear once (for example, "commercial fishing").  Also, some spiders consider the position of a keyword to be important.  If a keyword is in the page title, or in the first six lines of the page body, some search engine spiders consider that to be very significant.  The "weight" of a keyword is a big factor, as well.  If a keyword appears three times in a page with one thousand words, that keyword has a lower weight then if it was on a page with thirty words.  Pages with heavily weighted keywords are considered more relevant to that keyword, and usually rank higher.  However, it is possible to go too far and actually abuse the way a spider works.

            While it is good to optimize your page, overdoing it can cause the spider to think that you are trying to fool it or spam the engine.  The most common way of doing this is by using too many meta keywords.  In an effort to rank their site higher, some webmasters will have an absurd amount of keywords.  They'll include a meta keyword section two or three times in their page.  Not only is this not effective, it is counter-productive.   Something just as common is repeating a keyword over and over again on the page.  Years ago it was useful to do this, but search engine spiders have advanced enough that simple tricks aren't going to fool them.  Another, more devious plot, is called ghosting.  When a spider accesses a site, it tells that site who it is.  So, a webmaster can detect that a search engine spider is going to look at its site.  Instead of serving up the normal webpage that is seen in a web browser, the webmaster gives the search engine spider a specially optimized page designed to rank perfectly on that engine.  While this practice may seem good for pages with a lot of dynamic content and not a lot of text, it is still abusing the purpose of spiders.  The webmasters who practice ghosting aren't only misleading the search engines, but they are also misleading web surfers coming to their site expecting to find the information they are looking for, but instead find themselves at a site which they didn't want to visit.  The people behind search engines are always updating their spiders, making them both more effective and better able to sniff out sneaky webmasters trying to abuse the system.

            Spiders are the workers behind the scenes at the search engines.  Some of them crawl through millions of websites every month.  A website's success depends on cooperating with the search engines and their methods.  To cooperate with the search engines, it is also important to understand how they and their spiders operate.  AddWeb 4's Page Advisor is designed to help you determine what spiders are looking for when they award a page a high ranking position.  Also, by comparing your website to the top three sites on an engine, you can learn what other webmasters do that give them a high position, and you can incorporate those features into your site.   

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 This article has been adapted from  AddWeb Article- Copyright (c) 2000  Cyberspace Headquarters, LLC. www.cyberspacehq.com

Always use classic logon

This setting forces the user to log on to the computer using the classic logon screen. By default, a workgroup is set to use the simple logon screen. This setting only works when the computer is not on a domain.

 

Start > Run "gpedit.msc"

Go to > Local Computer Policy

                Computer Configuration

                    Administrative Templates

                       System

                            Logon

 

Then go to "Setting State" and configure Always use classic logon

Apple imposes limits on iPhone sales

Associated Press

San Jose, October 27: Apple Inc no longer accepts cash for iPhone purchases and now limits sales of the cell phone to two per person in a move to stop people from reselling them. The new policy from Thu-rsday, said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris. Before then, there was no cash restriction and the purchase limit was five per person. "Customer response to the iPhone has been off the charts, and limiting iPhone sales to two per customer helps us ensure that there are enough iPhones for people who are shopping for themselves or buying a gift," Kerris said. "We're requiring a credit or debit card for payment to discourage unauthorized resellers." More than 1.4 million units of the hybrid cell phone-iPod have been sold since it debuted on June 29, according to Apple. It is expected to be a popular gift for holidays. Apple thinks some people already have bought multiple iPhones to resell, including those looking to modify, or 'unlock', the phones so they work on networks other than Apple's carrier partner in the United States, AT&T Inc. Apple estimates that buyers of 250,000 of the iPhones sold so far intended to unlock them, Apple's chief operating officer Tim Cook said in a conference call with analysts this week. New operating system for Mac: LOS ANGELES: Apple has released a new operating system for its ever more popular Mac computers. The upgraded OS 10.5, nicknamed Leopard includes some 300 impr-ovements including a 'time machine' that tra-cks and resurrects lost data and improved vid-eo-conferencing. — DPA