Microsoft has a neat little way to prevent software piracy of their Windows operating system. “Windows Genuine Advantage”[edit: I stand corrected, it has nothing to do with WGA] with its “Product Activation” requirement. Essentially, even with a valid product key, you still need to activate your Windows to ensure that only one computer is using that specific product key. If you can’t activate your Windows, there being many reasons for this, you are left with a 30 day grace period to change your product key to one that is fully valid or get in contact with Microsoft and plea your case.

Once your grace period is up, Windows refuses to let you login anymore. You cannot access your files. You cannot go on the Internet. You cannot do anything, except the thrill of trying to activate Windows.

Well, luckily for me I do not have to worry about this issues, as my Windows is valid and activated. However, for those who do not and have been so unfortunate enough to have their Windows expire on them, I present to you a bit of relief. How to gain access to your files on an expired Windows, with even enough functionality to surf the web, talk on MSN Messenger, and load up most of your applications. It doesn’t give you full functionality of Windows, but it will be enough to get the job done until you can find the time to activate your Windows. Best of all though, it’s all very simple and easy to do!!!

First, turn on your computer and wait until you get to the Windows login screen.

Next, click to login as usual. You should get an error from Windows telling you that your Windows has expired and is asking whether you would like to activate Windows now. Click Yes.

A “Let’s activate Windows” window will appear. Let’s minimize it. DO NOT close it.

Now, hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard while you also press the “U” key. This will open up the Narrator program to help assist those with poor vision. It is this program that will help us login to our Windows.

Click the little computer icon in the top left hand side of the Narrator window. A drop down menu should appear. The last option in this menu is named “About Narrator…”. Click it. This should open up another window called “About Narrator”.

In this window, there should be the text “Microsoft Web site“. Click it, as it is a link and will open up your Internet Explorer, taking you to the Microsoft Accessibility website. Howrah! Internet access!

As if Internet was not enough, in the address bar of Internet Explorer, type “c:\”. This should display all your hard drive contents on drive “C”. From there you can load navigate your way around your computer, loading specific programs, and most whatever else.

Some common directories as to where you can find personal files and programs are:

C:\program files\
C:\documents and settings\username\Desktop\
C:\documents and settings\username\Documents\
C:\documents and settings\username\Start Menu\Programs\

On a side note, certain programs cannot be opened while Windows is still not activated. You will also not have a Task Bar at the bottom of your screen, as trying to open it will just result in it shutting itself down a few moments later. MSN Messenger works though, as well as most other non-Windows-based components.

Disclaimer: I do not applaud piracy, but I do feel people should have access to their personal files, regardless of whether Windows has expired or not. This tutorial should not be used to bypass Windows Activation, nor does it restore full Windows functionality, but I provide it to those who are in desperate need of accessing files that are suddenly lost to them through the Microsoft Genuine Advantage activation system.

[Update: some say it works even better with Vista, as the explorer.exe does not close shortly after you try to open it as it does in XP. Unconfirmed.]

Font:tomorrowtimes.blogspot.com

Setupdd.sys error 7 (when booting from hard drive or recovery cd, and even Windows PE disk.

Hardware failure -> failure in one of the memory chips.

Copy the following 3 lines into a text file and change it to be on one line only (I have split it here so that it is not detected on my page) and save it and scan it, it should detect it as a EICAR_Test virus. This is not a real virus, just a way of testing.

X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$

EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE

!$H+H*

INTRODUCTION

MORE INFORMATION

Use the Activation Wizard

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, click the following article
number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

If you have only a few volume licensing product keys to change, you can
use the Activation Wizard.

Note Microsoft recommends that you run System Restore to create a new
restore point before you follow these steps. For information about how to
create a restore point by using System Restore, see the “To Create a Restore
Point” help topic in Help and Support.

Use a script

You can create a WMI script that changes the volume licensing product key, and then deploy this script in a startup script. The sample ChangeVLKey2600.vbs script and the sample ChangeVLKeySP1 script that are described in this section use the new volume licensing key that you want to enter, in its five-part alphanumeric form, as a single argument. Microsoft recommends that you use the ChangeVLKey2600.vbs script on Windows XP-based computers that are not running Windows XP SP1 or a later version of Windows XP and that you use the ChangeVLKeySP1.vbs script on Windows XP-based computers that are running Windows XP SP1 or a later versions of Windows XP. These scripts perform the following functions:

You can create a batch file or a cmd file that uses either of the following sample scripts, together with the new product key as an argument, and either deploy it as part of a startup script or run it from the command line to change the product key on a single computer.

For more information about how to script the product key, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Example

The following example shows how to use the ChangeVLKeySP1.vbs script from a command line:

APPLIES TO

Next time you wipe your PC’s hard drive clean and reinstall Windows with that old installation disc, you don’t want to connect your fresh, unpatched and vulnerable system to the internet only to download 176 new updates from Microsoft. If your XP installation CD is older than 2004, once your system is online, you’ll have to wait for hefty service packs to download, chained to your mouse while pushing the Next button, watching progress bars, and rebooting multiple times. Wouldn’t it be better to start your installation, head out to run errands or grab coffee, and come back to an up-to-date system before your system gets online? It’s possible, using some free software and a blank disc. After the jump, I’ll show you how to create an automated, customized XP installation CD or DVD, that includes Microsoft’s official-but-not-released Service Pack 3 for Windows XP.

Note on the current status of Service Pack 3: As of May 2, 2008, Microsoft has released Windows XP Service Pack 3 to PC manufacturers, but due to a last minute bug discovery which has to do with software for businesses (not home users), they have delayed the “release to web.” This means they are not yet pushing it to users via Windows Update, and they have not yet published a Microsoft Download Center page for it. However, the official SP3 file is available for download on Microsoft’s servers. Here’s the direct link to the English version. No word on when SP3 will appear on Windows Update, but no doubt it will be soon. For more on what you get with the new service pack, here’s our complete field guide to SP3.

Why make a “slipstreamed” disc?

Maybe you’re the type who can’t fathom being absent while Windows installs, unable to prune all the unnecessary applications and features, customize the desktop, set up user accounts and install needed drivers. Well, you and I have a lot in common, but we can both enjoy what nLite, a free slipstreaming utility, can do:

• Pre-configure and tweak Windows—Nearly every power-user setting, from hidden file showing to deep registry hacks, can be set from the get-go.
• Pre-install drivers and printers—No more searching through the Nvidia, ATI, or printer manufacturers’ sites for the exact package after install.
• Strip your system for speed—Adam’s already showed us how nLite can help you trim Windows to its bare essentials, which not only saves disk space and frees up memory, but saves you the time of disabling and removing the superfluous stuff later (and clicking “Yes” on every “Are you sure …” prompt).

What you’ll need

• A Windows installation disc
• nLite (and .NET 2.0)
• A copy of Service Pack 3 (SP3) for XP (32-bit), downloaded from Microsoft’s servers
• A working Windows system, with at least 1 GB free hard drive space
• Blank CD or DVD
• WinUpdatesList (recommended)

Note for Vista users: There’s a similar utility for creating a slipstreamed Vista DVD, vLite, which got the step-by-step treatment from Digital Inspiration. That tool, however, doesn’t allow for half as much customization—not yet, anyways.

Getting started

After you’ve installed nLite, load your installation CD into your disc drive and make sure you’ve got your 25-character product key handy. Launch nLite, click to the next screen, “Locating the Windows installation.” Before you go further, create a new folder somewhere on your computer, at the hard drive root (as in “C:\”) if possible. Click “Browse,” select your CD drive, and you’ll be prompted to copy your CD to a folder. Select the folder you created, then wait for the copy to finish.

NLite’s next screen will ask what you want to customize on your install disc. If you only want to update to SP3, only click the “Service Pack” button. But unless you love answering questions and never touch a setting in Windows XP, you’ll want to flip all the switches green and click “Next.”

Now nLite will ask for slipstream files, or packages you want to integrate into the installer. You’ll always want to have the latest service pack available, since, for instance, Service Pack 3 incorporates the fixes made in SP1 and SP2, so it makes them unnecessary. If you grabbed the latest beta of nLite, you’ll see a Service Pack 3 already offered for integration, but it’s an older release candidate. Hit the “Choose” button, select the executable file you downloaded from Microsoft with the seriously long file name, and give nLite a few minutes to implement it. When you see the version number change, hit “Next” and move on.

“Hotfixes and Update Packs” is for all the tiny little Windows Updates between service packs. If you’re including SP3, you can pretty much skip this part. But in the future, and for those not jumping onto SP3, I recommend running WinUpdatesList. You’ll see a list of all the updates you’ve installed, and sorting by date and type should show you what you’ve installed since the last service pack. Right-click on an update, and you’ll get a link to a related Microsoft Knowledge Base article, where you should be able to download the fix directly and patch it into nLite. You can also roll executables for Windows updates—like Internet Explorer 7, which (still!) doesn’t install by default—into your disc.

Click “Next,” and you’ll see an identical screen for drivers. If you know where to find the .INF files that connect your hardware to Windows, you can roll them into your install disc, but be warned: a small printer INF increased the final size of my ISO by at least 200 MB—I’m still trying to figure out why, but if you encounter similar problems, simply throw the driver installation files into spare space on the disc (more on that soon).

Customize your install

You start really making your XP system your own on the next screen. The “Compatibility Window” that pops up can protect you from yourself; unless you’re sure you can do without an item, you’ll want to leave it checked. Behind it, the “Remove Components” section is where you can pull out all the stuff you don’t ever use or don’t have. Most of the savings are small in hard drive size, but keep your system from clogging with services and drivers it doesn’t need. Among the almost-guaranteed safe removals:”Briefcase” from Accessories; most of the non-red items in Hardware; Keyboards and Languages that you don’t ever plan to use; “Tablet PC” from Multimedia; and MSN Explorer and Windows Messenger from Network.

Up next is the “Unattended” section, if you checked it, and this one requires attention to detail. If you want to set and forget your XP install, change “Unattended Mode” to “Fully automated,” but then move slowly through every tab, filling in every section you’d expect to get prompted for during install. You can fill out your Product Key in advance here, and you’ll also want to check “Skip OOBE” (Out Of Body Experience, or the introduction tour). Fill out all the name fields in “Users” and “Owner and Network ID,” and make sure to set the time in “Regional.” Once you’re content you’ve pre-empted your installer, click “Next.”

You can pretty much leave the “Options” pane alone, although I enable the “merge” option by way of hoping for a smaller package. The “Tweaks” options are up next, and while I can’t tell you how to customize your desktop, I’ll note that you can basically set up your desktop, Start Menu, Internet Explorer and lots of other Windows tweaks from these prompts. Check the bottom bar for descriptions, and fear not—all of these can be undone, and we’ve posted a good many here at Lifehacker.

Hit “Next,” and you’re almost done—click “Yes” to start the bundling process. Once that’s finished (about 7-10 minutes on a faster computer), you can click through to make or burn an ISO file. Before doing that, gather up any files you want to keep on the disc, like that finicky printer driver or your favorite app installers, and place them in their own folder in the directory where you copied your original XP CD to. Now hit “Make ISO,” choose where to save the image, and then burn it to CD or DVD using your favorite utility, like the free ISO Recorder.

You’ve now got a CD that’s completely up to date, and installs by itself (once you get past the initial blue-and-white loading screens, that is). You might have to run through nLite a few times if your images turn out bigger than you want, but you can always create a bootable DVD if needed.

What changes, updates, or advanced features have you slipstreamed into your Windows disc? What do you still wish you could have loaded onto your Ultimate No-Touch Install CD? Let’s hear ‘em both in the comments.

font:lifehacker

Windows XP Technical Overview

Windows XP is the next version of Microsoft Windows beyond Windows 2000 and Windows Millennium. Windows XP brings the convergence of Windows operating systems by integrating the strengths of Windows 2000—standards-based security, manageability and reliability with the best features of Windows 98 and Windows Me—Plug and Play, easy-to-use user interface, and innovative support services to create the best Windows yet.
This article provides a broad technical overview of what’s new in Windows XP. It shows how new technologies and features make it easier to get work done, share information, manage your desktop, stay productive while traveling with a mobile computer, obtain help and support, and perform many other computing tasks.
Windows XP is built on an enhanced Windows 2000 code base, with different versions aimed at home users and business users: Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional. Unless otherwise noted, this article addresses technologies and features common to both versions of the operating system.

Windows XP and .NET: An Overview

The release of Windows XP comes at a time of transition and growing maturity of the Internet.
The Web has grown to include many millions of sites on almost every conceivable topic. Although more information is available than ever before, the opportunities to fully manage and customize it have remained limited. Until now.
The Microsoft .NET initiative aims to change this through a framework built around XML-based Web services that interoperate via existing open Internet protocols such as TCP/IP and HTTP.
And at the heart of the .NET platform for knowledge workers, business users, and consumers lies the new client operating system, Windows XP.

XP bandwidth brouhaha

The newness of Windows XP — with its sometimes addled approach to licence restrictions, copy protection and security — lends itself to confusion. Reader Tom Gleason sent me an example, quoting websites that claimed XP needlessly consumes 20% of your PC’s network bandwidth.
Like a lot of online talk, this is misinformed. Windows 2000 introduced QoS (quality of service) features using an admission control service and the Internet Engineering Task Force’s RSVP signalling. XP doesn’t support these two protocols but provides its own QoS components. The QoS packet scheduler dialogue box in XP Professional shows a default “bandwidth limit” of 20%. This created a buzz on the web to the effect that XP artificially withheld a fifth of your bandwidth, even if its packet scheduler was turned off.
Not to worry. There’s no restriction unless your network specifically supports XP-style QoS and it’s requested by an application, such as a streaming media player. Even then, by default only 20% is set aside. (See Tech TV’s website).
Click here for the article.

Microsoft KB article on removing messenger

January 30th 2002-Microsft has releases a knowledge base article(Q302089) on preveting MSN messenegr from running on a windows XP machine. This article describes how to prevent Windows Messenger from running. By default, Windows Messenger is installed by Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition, and the user interface does not provide a way to remove or to uninstall Windows Messenger.
The information in this article applies to Microsoft Windows Messenger 4.0, Microsoft Windows Messenger 4.5, and Microsoft Windows Messenger 4.6 running on Windows XP Professional and Windows XP home edition based computers.
Click here for the article.

How to Install the Netbeui Protocol on a Windows XP-Based Computer

This article describes how to install the NetBEUI protocol on a Windows XP-based computer. This may be useful because the NetBEUI protocol is not included in the list of installable protocols in Windows XP even though the files that are needed to install the protocol are included with the installation CD-ROM. It is important to note that the NetBEUI protocol is not supported on Windows XP.
The Netnbf.inf and Nbf.sys files are the files that are needed to install the NetBEUI protocol. To install the NetBEUI protocol:

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Network Connections.
2. Right-click the adapter you want to add NetBEUI to, and then click Properties.
3. On the General tab, click Install.
4. Click Protocol, and then click Add.
5. Click Have Disk, insert your Windows XP CD-ROM, open the Valueadd\msft\net\netbeui folder, click the Netnbf.inf file, and then click Open.
6. Click OK, and then click OK to complete the installation.

Visit the Gateway Windows XP Info Center

If you have recently installed Windows XP or are thinking about upgrading to Windows XP, check out Gateway’s Info Center for Windows XP today.
Most folks know Gateway only as a maker of personal computers, but the company also offers learning tools to help you use Windows XP, accessories, and — for owners of Gateway machines — great technical support. The Windows XP Info Center will help you figure out just what sort of tools you need to start ruling the digital universe, whether you do so from a desktop PC or a notebook.
Click here to visit Gateway’s Windows XP Tips and Info Center.

Change Out Your Pointer Scheme

Tired of seeing your pointer as an arrow or an hourglass all the time? Windows XP offers a number of alternative pointer schemes, such as Dinosaur, Ocean and Sports.
Open the Control Panel, double-click Mouse, and select the Pointers tab. (If you start in Category view, select Appearance and Themes, then click Mouse Pointers under “See Also.”) Next to Schemes, click the down arrow and select a scheme to preview its pointers. Click OK to apply the scheme to your desktop. Simple as that.

Check Out the Read1st File First

When you’re ready to install Windows XP, what are the first two things you should do? First, place the installation CD into your CD drive, but do not start Setup. Instead, click Browse this CD, open the file named READ1ST.txt, and then go read it. This file contains a variety of useful information including:

• Last minute information that did not make it into other documentation.
• Selected pre-installation information.
• A roadmap that will help you find other useful text files.

Use the ultimate configuration tool (Professional Edition only)

One of the most full featured Windows XP configuration tools available is hidden right there in your system, but most people don’t even know it exists. It’s called the Local Group Policy Editor, or gpedit for short. To invoke this editor, select Start and then Run, then type the following:
gpedit.msc
After you hit ENTER, you’ll be greeted by gpedit, which lets you modify virtually every feature in Windows XP without having to resort to regedit.

Want to remove MSN Messenger?

A lot of people want to know how to remove the MSN Messenger service from XP… here’s how:
Locate SYSOC.INF in the \Windows\INF folder (hidden file and folder), Open it in Notepad and locate the line: msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
Remove the word “hide” from the line and save the file. You will now have an entry in add/remove programs. Do what you will
OR (XP Pro Only) leave it installed, but tell Windows to never let it run. If you’re running XP Professional, you can use GPEDIT.MSC to prevent Messenger from loading. Otherwise, even disabling it in startup won’t cause it to “always” not run. NOTE: Outlook, Outlook Express and some Microsoft web pages can still make it load.

· Start, Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC

· Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Messenger

· You can now modify whether it starts initially and/or whether it’s to run at all. UPDATE: I have recieved some email that say this fix slows down outlook when starting, that is because outlook wants to start messenger when it starts, the easiest and fastest way to disable messenger and still have a quickj starttime with outlook is to rename the exe file, located here c:\program files\messenger\msmsgs.exe, to something other than msmsgs.exe, such as msmsgsnew.exe.

Know your rights

Windows XP comes bundled with Windows Media Player 8.0. While Media Player plays just about any digital media file format–it supports 35, including MP3, it records music only in the Windows Media Audio, or WMA, format. The reason? Content protection.
When recording, or ripping, music from CDs, Media Player allows you to make protected recordings so that no one will be able to copy the recording from one computer to another. You can turn copy protection on or off on the Copy Music tab by checking or unchecking the box that says Protect Content.

Protect your identity

Like many other audio players, Windows Media Player rushes out to the Internet to find information for you when you play a CD. Some of this information, such as song titles and album art, is useful, but Media Player also identifies your copy of Media Player to the site where it’s getting data. Why? According to the help file, “The server uses this unique identifier to monitor your connection. By monitoring your connection, the server can make adjustments to increase the playback quality and to alert you about events that occur when receiving streams over the Internet.”
If you’re disturbed by this exchange of information, here’s how to stop it. In Windows Media Player, click Tools > Options and go to the Player tab. Notice the option that says “Allow Internet sites to uniquely identify your player?” Turn it off.

Group and Ungroup Similar Taskbar Items

Just open three or four Internet Explorer windows and you won’t see them all in a row on your Taskbar, as you did in previous versions of Windows. By default, Windows XP groups similar items on one button. For example, if you have 3 Internet Explorer windows open, you’ll see an Explorer item with the number 3 on it. Click it to see a pop-up list of those windows, then select the one you want.
If you would like, Windows XP will display all open windows separately on the Taskbar. Right click a blank area of the Taskbar and select Properties. Under Taskbar Properties, deselect Group Similar Taskbar Buttons, then click OK.

Turn back the clock

Gray is definitely out. The folks at Microsoft bathed Windows XP in color. Don’t like XP’s look? To switch back to the Classic look that resembles Windows 2000, right-click the desktop, select Properties, click the Themes tab, and choose Windows Classic from the drop-down list. Voilà! You’re back to comfy shades of blue and gray–not to mention having all those familiar icons.
Click “Switch to Classic view” in the upper-left corner of the Properties dialog to bring back the familiar Control Panel icons of earlier versions of Windows. To get back to a Start menu that looks more like Windows 2000’s, right-click in an empty portion of the Start menu’s left-hand column, select Properties, and go to the Start Menu tab. Select Classic Start Menu. To bring the new look back, just reverse these steps.

Customize the Start menu

The Start menu gets more real estate in XP than in previous versions, and it’s more customizable. To make the Start menu display only the applications you want, rather than the default determined by Microsoft, right-click in an empty section of the Start menu’s left column, and select Properties > Start Menu > Customize. Here you’ll find a list of your most frequently used programs. (XP keeps track of what you use and what you don’t, then updates this list dynamically.) Don’t want your boss to know that Pinball, Solitaire, and Quake all make your list? Go to the General tab, click Clear List, and set the counter to zero.

Swap out the defaults

In XP, your favorite programs are displayed in the top left column of the Start menu. Microsoft starts you off with Internet Explorer and Outlook Express.
Want to display a different set of applications in this spot? Right-click an empty portion of the Start menu’s left column and select Properties > Start Menu > Customize. At the bottom, deselect the program you no longer want displayed in the “Show on the Start menu” dialog, and, using Windows Explorer or My Computer, navigate to the program you want instead. Right-click the program and select “Pin to Start menu.” To rename the new shortcut, right-click it and select Rename. Note: You can’t pin files, just programs.

Organize your desktop

The only default icon on XP’s desktop is the Recycle Bin, but we think it’s a good idea to add a shortcut to Computer Management, a quick and dirty way to get to such important tools as the Event Viewer, Local Users and Groups, Shared Folders, the Device Manager, and Disk Management. To surface this handy management dialog, click Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools. Right-click the Computer Management shortcut. Select Copy from the dialog menu. Right-click an empty portion of the desktop and select Paste Shortcut. Use this procedure to add shortcuts to anything else; use Windows Explorer or My Computer to find your target

Turn on your firewall

Microsoft included a firewall in Windows XP to keep you safe from hackers while you cruise the Internet. How do you know that the Internet Connection Firewall is on? Go to the Control Panel and double-click the Network Connections icon. In the dial-up, DSL, or cable connection dialog that appears, check the Status column. If your firewall is on, it should say Firewalled. You can turn the firewall off with the check box, but unless you are going to add a third-party firewall for heightened security, it’s best to leave it on.
Now that you know that your firewall is on, how do you know that it’s doing its job? Test it with ShieldsUp, the free testing service sponsored by Gibson Research. According to our tests, XP’s Internet Connection Firewall kept the computer in full stealth mode. Hackers could not break in and couldn’t even see the computer online.
But, given the latest security problems with USB 2.0, etc, you should always go to Windows Update to make sure you have the latest patches, no matter what operating system you use.

Microsoft Narrator

Want to hear your computer talk? Select Start, Programs, Accessories, Accessibility, Narrator. Or press the Windows key plus the letter “U” to open the Utility Manager. Microsoft Narrator, an accessibility option designed to assist readers who are blind or have impaired vision, starts automatically.
Once you’ve read through the intro screen (or let the Narrator do it), click OK and you’ll see a dialog box of Narrator options. Assuming you want to leave Narrator running, select the desired options, then minimize its dialog box. And if you’ve opened the Utility Manager, feel free to close it.
To turn Narrator off, click the Exit button or right-click its taskbar item and select Close.

Internet Connection Sharing

To enable Internet Connection Sharing on a network connection:

1. Open Network Connections.
2. Click the dial-up, local area network, PPPoE, or VPN connection you want to share, and then, under Network Tasks, click Change settings of this connection.
3. On the Advanced tab, select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection check box.
4. If you want this connection to dial automatically when another computer on your home or small office network attempts to access external resources, select the Establish a dial-up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet check box.
5. If you want other network users to enable or disable the shared Internet connection, select the Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection check box.
6. Under Internet Connection Sharing, in Home networking connection, select any adapter that connects the computer sharing its Internet connection to the other computers on your network.

Watch your cookies

In XP, the Documents And Settings folder holds all user information, including configuration settings, favorites, and cookies. The Documents And Settings\Username\Cookies folder is where XP stashes cookies. How do you control the number of cookies you allow on your system? Click Start > Control Panel > Network And Internet Connections > Internet Options. Click the Privacy tab, then use the slider bar to modify your cookie settings. For instance, you can block cookies from sites that use personal identification without your consent. To increase your security, try out the other privacy settings in this dialog. The lowest level is Accept All Cookies while the highest is Block All Cookies, with low, medium, medium-high, and high settings in between. (An explanation of each appears as you move between settings.) Keep in mind that rejecting cookies may limit your actions on some Web sites, and some sites use cookies to track how many times you see a popup, for example, on this website, if you blocked cookies, you would see a popup on every page.

The omnipotent Administrator

When you use Windows XP, you belong to one of two groups: Administrators or Users. Administrators are all-powerful: if you have a so-called Admin account, you can make systemwide changes and change other users’ accounts. While this power is a boon to the ego, it’s also dangerous. If, for example, you encounter a virus, a Trojan horse, or a worm while you’re logged on as Administrator, you could wreck all the accounts on your entire system. Log in as User, on the other hand, and any damage you cause will be less extensive, because ordinary users are prevented from making systemwide changes. A word to the wise: Do your everyday computing as a regular user and log on as Administrator only when it’s absolutely necessary, such as when adding a new user or changing security settings. To sign on as User, use the Run As command: just right-click a shortcut and select Run As. As long as you know the username and password, you can sign on as another user.

Reduce Temporary Internet File Space

The temporary internet files clutter your hard drive with copies of each page visited. These can build up over time and take up disk space. Even more bothersome is that instead of getting new pages each time IE often takes the page out the temp internet files. This can be a problem if you are viewing a website that is updated all the time. If you are on a slow connection such as a 56K or lower then this can be good but if you are on a fast broadband connection, like me, then you can get away with decreasing the size of your temp internet files to just one meg without any performance decrease.

Launch Internet Explorer.

Select the Tools from the menu bar. Then select Internet Options… from the drop down menu. Once the internet options has loaded click on the general tab. Under the temporary internet files section click the settings button. A settings window will load. Slide the slider all the way to the left so the size indicated in the text box on the right is one. Click OK Click Ok

Turn Off System Recovery

Right click on My Computer and choose Properties. Click on the System Restore tab and check the box Turn off System Restore. (This will increase Windows performance & save disk space)

Enable / Disable Firewall

Open Control Panel and double click on Network Connections. In the new box that appears right click on the Connection and click on the Advanced tab. Check or uncheck the box according to your desire.

Win XP Won’t Completely Shutdown

• Goto Control Panel, then goto Power Options.
• Click on the APM Tab, then check the “Enable Advanced Power Management support.”
• Shut down your PC. It should now successfully complete the Shut Down process.

WinXP Clear Page file on shutdown

Go to Control panel Administrative tools, local security policy. then goto local policies —> security options. Then change the option for “Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile”

Turn off hibernation

Control Panel-Screen Saver Power-Hibernate Tab-uncheck hibernation box-reboot and hiberfil.sys is no more.

Adjust various visual effects

1. Open up the control panel
2. Go under system and click on the advanced tab
3. Click settings under Performance options
4. You can now change various graphical effects (mainly animations and shadows)

Disable error reporting

• Open Control Panel
• Click on Performance and Maintenance.
• Click on System.
• Then click on the Advanced tab
• Click on the error-reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
• Select Disable error reporting.
• Click OK
• Click OK

Close Multiple Windows : Note works in all versions of Windows

If you just opened a number of separate, related windows (a folder inside a folder, and so on), there’s an easier way to close them all than one-at-a-time. Hold down the Shift key as you click the X caption button in the upper-right corner of the last window opened. Doing so closes that window and all windows that came before it.

Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons

Here’s how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP.

1. Start regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile
3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

You may need to restart Windows XP.

Remove Shared Documents

Open Regedit(Start- Run- Regedit) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer My Computer NameSpace DelegateFolders There will see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. By Deleting this you can remove the ‘Other Files stored on This Computer’ group.

Change the text in Internet Explorers title bar to anything you want

In regedit navigate to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMain
change the value of the string “Window Title” to whatever you want on the title bar of Internet Explorer - to have no title except the title of the web pages you are browsing do not enter anything for a value.

Easy sendto menu modification

first open - X:Documents and SettingsusernameSendTo (it is hidden) where X is your drive letter and username is your username make and delete shortcuts to folders at will

Enable Clear Type

Easy way- Click on or cut and paste link below: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/cleartypeactivate.htm?fname=%20&fsize= or

• Right click on a blank area of the Desktop and choose Properties
• Click on the Appearance Tab; Click effects
• Check the box: Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts
• In the drop down box select: Clear Type

Turn of CD Auto Play

• Open My Computer
• Right click on your CD ROM and choose Properties
• Click on the Auto Play tab
• In the drop down box you can choose the Action for each choice shown in the drop down box

Or

1. Go to Start->Run->gpedit.msc
2. Computer Config -> Administrative Template -> System
3. Double click Turn off Autoplay
4. Enable it.

Getting MP3 ripping to work in Windows Media Player 8 in XP

Enter the following in the registry : [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE
MicrosoftMediaPlayerSettingsMP3Encoding] “LowRate”=dword:0000dac0 “MediumRate”=dword:0000fa00 “MediumHighRate”=dword:0001f400 “HighRate”=dword:0002ee00 This corresponds to 56, 64, 128 and 192 Kbps. You can change this to your liking using the following dword hex values : 320 Kbps = dword:0004e200 256 Kbps = dword:0003e800 224 Kbps = dword:00036b00 192 Kbps = dword:0002ee00 160 Kbps = dword:00027100 128 Kbps = dword:0001f400 112 Kbps = dword:0001b580 64 Kbps = dword:0000fa00 56 Kbps = dword:0000dac0

Increase BROADBAND

This is for broad band connections. I didn’t try it on dial up but might work for dial up.

1. make sure your logged on as actually “Administrator”. do not log on with any account that just has administrator privileges.
2. start - run - type gpedit.msc
3. expand the “local computer policy” branch
4. expand the “administrative templates” branch
5. expand the “network branch”
6. Highlight the “QoS Packet Scheduler” in left window
7. in right window double click the “limit reservable bandwidth” setting
8. on setting tab check the “enabled” item
9. where it says “Bandwidth limit %” change it to read 0

Effect is immediate on some systems, some need to re-boot. This is more of a “counter what XP does” thing. In other words, programs can request up to 20% of the bandwidth be reserved for them, even with QoS disabled, this is no big deal and most programs do not request it. So, although QOS has caused a big stink because people think it reserves 20% of their bandwidth, you can still disable it, just to be sure, hehe.

Increase your cable modem or DSL speed in XP

This tweak is for broad band cable connections on stand alone machines with winXP professional version - might work on Home version also. It will probably work with networked machines as well but I haven’t tried it in that configuration. This is for windows XP only, it does not work on win2000.
I use 3 Com cards so I don’t know how it works on others at this point. It does not involve editing the registry. This tweak assumes that you have let winXP create a connection on install for your cable modem/NIC combination and that your connection has tcp/ip - QoS - file and print sharing - and client for microsoft networks , only, installed. It also assumes that winxp will detect your NIC and has in-box drivers for it. If it doesn’t do not try this.
In the “My Network Places” properties (right click on the desktop icon and choose properties), highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose “Advanced” then “Advanced Settings”. Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK

1. From the windows XP cd in the support directory from the support cab, extract the file netcap.exe and place it in a directory on your hard drive or even in the root of your C:\ drive.
2. next, open up a command prompt window and change directories to where you put netcap.exe. then type “netcap/?”. It will list some commands that are available for netcap and a netmon driver will be installed. At the bottom you will see your adapters. You should see two of them if using a 3Com card. One will be for LAN and the other will be for WAN something or other.
3. Next type “netcap/Remove”. This will remove the netmon driver.
4. Open up control panel / system / dev man and look at your network adapters. You should now see two of them and one will have a yellow ! on it. Right click on the one without the yellow ! and choose uninstall. YES! you are uninstalling your network adapter, continue with the uninstall. Do not restart yet.
5. Check your connection properties to make sure that no connection exists. If you get a wizard just cancel out of it.
6. Now re-start the machine.
7. After re-start go to your connection properties again and you should have a new connection called “Local area connection 2″. highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose “Advanced” then “Advanced Settings”. Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.
8. Choose connection properties and uncheck the “QOS” box
9. Re-start the machine
10. after restart enjoy the increased responsivness of IE, faster page loading, and a connection speed boost.

Why it works, it seems that windows XP, in its zeal to make sure every base is covered installs two seperate versions of the NIC card. One you do not normally see in any properties. Remember the “netcap/?” command above showing two different adapters? The LAN one is the one you see. The invisible one loads everything down and its like your running two separate cards together, sharing a connection among two cards, this method breaks this “bond” and allows the NIC to run un-hindered.

Use a Shortcut to Local Area Network Connection Information

Something new in Windows XP, instead of using the command line program and typing ipconfig to find local area network information, you can use the following shortcut:

• Click Start, point to Connect to, and then click Show All Connections.
• Right–click the connection you want information about, and then click Status.
• In the connection Properties dialog box, click the Support tab.
• For even more information, click the Advanced tab.

To automatically enable the status monitor each time the connection is active, in the connection Properties dialog box, select the Show icon in taskbar notification area when connected check box.

Change the Start Menu Style

Does the new Windows XP Start menu take up too much space on your desktop? You can easily change the look back to the Windows Classic Start menu by following these steps:

• Right–click the Start button, and then click Properties.
• Click Classic Start menu.
• Click the Customize button to select items to display on the Start menu.

By default, selecting the Classic Start menu also adds the My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, and Internet Explorer icons to your desktop.

Add a Map Drive Button to the Toolbar

Do you want to quickly map a drive, but can’t find the toolbar button? If you map drives often, use one of these options to add a Map Drive button to the folder toolbar.

1. Option One (Long Term Fix)
   • Click Start, click My Computer, right-click the toolbar, then unlock the toolbars, if necessary.
   • Right-click the toolbar again, and then click Customize.
   • Under Available toolbar buttons, locate Map Drive, and drag it into the position you want on the right under Current toolbar buttons.
   • Click Close, click OK, and then click OK again.

You now have drive mapping buttons on your toolbar, so you can map drives from any folder window. To unmap drives, follow the above procedure, selecting Disconnect under Available toolbar buttons. To quickly map a drive, try this option.

1. Option Two (Quick Fix)
   • Click Start, and right-click My Computer.
   • Click Map Network Drive.

If you place your My Computer icon directly on the desktop, you can make this move in only two clicks!

Do Not Highlight Newly Installed Programs

Tired of that annoying little window that pops up to tell you that new software is installed? If it gets in the way when you’re logging off, turn it off completely.

• To do this Click Start, right-click at the top of the Start menu where your name is displayed, and then click Properties.
• In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, on the Start Menu tab, click Customize.
• Click the Advanced tab, and then clear the Highlight newly installed programs check box.
• Click OK, and then click OK again.

Now that message won’t be popping up when you least want to see it.

Speed up the Start Menu

You can use this tip to speed up the Start Menu in Windows XP release candidate 1. You can customize the speed of the Start Menu by editing a Registry Key.

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type Regedit in the box, and then click OK.
3. Expand the menu in the left panel and select the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop folder.
4. Scroll down in the right panel and double click on the MenuShowDelay file.
5. In the Value Data box, change to default value for the menu speed from 400 to a lesser number, such as 1.
6. Click OK.

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your computer.

Use the Windows Classic Look

More comfortable performing a task with the familiar Windows Classic user interface? You can quickly switch the user interface to the familiar Windows Classic appearance on your computer if it helps you remember a task in your operating system or program. You can go back to the original Windows look with a couple clicks.

• Right-click on your desktop, and then click Properties.
• Click the Appearance tab.
• On the Windows and Buttons menu, select Windows Classic. Click OK.

There you go, now you can feel right at home with the old look, and you’ll still get the best out of Windows XP, new look or old.

Add Familiar Icons back to your desktop

It’s the case of the missing icons. Many of you may be wondering where all the icons from your desktop are in Windows XP? Well if you’re like me, you like to have at least My Computer, My Network Places, and My Documents on the desktop.
To do this:

• Right-click on the desktop, and then click Properties.
• Click the Desktop tab and then click on Customize Desktop.
• Put a check mark in the box next to My Document, My Computer, My Network Places, or Internet Explorer, to add those familiar icons to your desktop.

Unlock Toolbars to Customize Them

Windows XP now features locking toolbars, and you can adjust them. You can customize a lot of the Windows XP features such as the Taskbar, Start Menu, and even toolbar icons in Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. Remember your right-click:

• Right-click on a toolbar, and then click Lock the Toolbars to remove the check mark.
• Right-click on the toolbar again, and then click Customize.
• You can add and remove toolbar buttons, change text options and icon options. When you’ve got the toolbar customized, click Close.
• Now right-click on the toolbar and then click Lock the Toolbars to lock them in place.

Display Your Quick Launch Toolbar

Is your Quick Launch toolbar missing from the taskbar? To display your familiar Quick Launch toolbar:

• Right-click an empty area on the taskbar, click Toolbars, and then click Quick Launch.
• Easy as that your Quick Launch bar appears. To add items to your Quick Launch toolbar, click the icon for the program you want to add, and drag it to the Quick Launch portion of the taskbar.

Keep Your Favorite Programs Near the Top of the Start Menu

Do you have a favorite program that you frequently use? Elevate its priority on the Start menu by putting it at the top of the list. This ensures that the program will remain on the Start menu and cannot be bumped by other programs, even if you use the others more frequently. Right-click the link to your favorite program on the Start menu and select Pin to Start Menu. Your program will be moved permanently to the top part of the list, just below your browser and e-mail programs.

Use the Address Bar to Launch Programs or Web Pages

Windows XP Professional enhanced the functionality of the Address bar to make it easier to launch your favorite programs. You can add the Address bar to the taskbar on the bottom of your desktop. Then you can launch programs simply by entering their names in the Address bar. For example, to launch Calculator, simply enter calc in the Address bar. Anything you would normally enter in the Run box on the Start menu can be entered in the Address bar. The Address bar also lets you quickly go to any Web page you specify.
To add the Address bar to the taskbar:

• Right-click an empty area on the taskbar.
• Point to Toolbars, and then click Address.
• Open the Address bar by double-clicking it.

Stop Password Expiration

After you have run Windows XP for a while, you may receive this message when you log on: “Your password will expire in 14 days…..”.
By default, Windows XP is set up with passwords which will expire after 42 days. 14 days in advance, Windows will start warning you of this fact. If you do not want your passwords to expire:

1. Go to Start > Run and in the Open: box type control userpasswords2
2. Select the Advanced tab in the User Accounts window
3. Press the Advanced button below the Advanced user management header
4. Select Users in the Local Users and Groups
5. In the right pane, right-click the user name for which you want to change the setting, and select Properties
6. On the General tab, check Password never expires
7. Click Apply and OK (all the way out)

Safely Remove Hardware Icon?

If you have an USB device attached to your system, you will notice an icon in the Notification area, which - when clicked - will give you the option to Stop your hardware, before you unplug it.
It is possible that you never unplug this hardware. So how do you get rid of the icon? As far as I know the only way is to right-click the notification area, and selecting Properties. Under the Notification area heading, click Customize. Find the Safely Remove Hardware icon and select Always hide in the Behavior column next to it (press OK and Apply to back out).

Multiuser features

Like Windows 2000, but unlike Windows 95, 98, and Me, the ability to log in multiple users simultaneously plays a big role in Windows XP. There is a default Administrator account set up when Windows XP is first installed, but you can create as many accounts as you need later, depending on how many people will be using the machine. Each user, once he or she has an account, can customize XP to his or her liking. Individual users get their own subfolders in the Documents And Settings folder; this folder serves as a centralized location for most personalized information, such as the Start Menu, Favorites, and Documents settings.

Missing Administrator account

Once you have created regular user accounts, the default Administrator account vanishes from the Welcome screen, which you see when the computer starts up. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete twice at the Welcome screen to retrieve the standard logon dialog. You can log on as Administrator from here. To switch among accounts, just click the Log Off button on the Start menu. You’ll then see the Log Off Windows dialog box. Click the Switch User button, and you’ll be taken to the Welcome screen where you can select and log on to other accounts.

Show yourself

Only the Administrator can set up new user accounts (go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Create A New Account). You can select a picture to identify the account. When you’re logged on to the system under your username, this picture, along with your username, peeks out at you from the top of the Start menu. There are a slew of 48×48-pixel bitmap images to choose from within XP. They’re housed in D:\Documents And Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures. But why limit yourself? You can also copy any graphic you want into this folder or browse for another from your hard drive. Usable file types are BMP, GIF, JPEG, or PNG. However, always use a square picture, to limit the white space on the side. Your image can be any size but will be displayed as 48×48-pixel image, so a close-up works best.

Hide yourself

Once you’ve created a user account, password-protect it to keep other users from viewing your files, Favorites, and cookies. Why? You may not want your child to see the note that you’re sending to his or her teacher, or you may be planning someone’s surprise party. (Note: Anyone with an Administrator account can still see them.)
Worried about remembering your password? Create a hint to help you when you initially create it by following the prompts during setup. XP stores the password hints in the Registry at Hkey_local_machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Hints.
What if the hint doesn’t help? Any user or Administrator can create a password reset disk, which you can use to log on and create a new password. Go to Control Panel > User Accounts and select “Prevent a forgotten password” in the Related Tasks box on the left. Follow the wizard’s instructions. After creating the disk, find a safe place for it. Don’t forget the password or where you put the disk. Someone else could use it to change your password without you knowing it.

Not A Tweak, But A Double XP Surprise!

Neither Win2K nor WinME has the ability to create a simple, basic, DOS- based boot floppy (a “startup disk”) unless you jump through hoops or do things in nonstandard ways. Because XP is the fusion of Win2K and Win9x/ME, I assumed it would follow the same “no boot floppy” tack. But instead, I was surprised to poke around in XP and see that the format option there does indeed offer a “Create MS-DOS Startup Disk.”
As an experiment, I created a startup disk, and all went smoothly. I was able to use the disk to boot my PC without any problems. But when it started up, I got the second surprise. The DOS boot message showed “Microsoft Windows Millennium.” To confirm this, I typed “Ver” to see what version of DOS was running, and the screen showed: Windows Millennium [Version 4.90.300]
Although it’s very strange to see the WinME startup message on an XP-created floppy, all this means is that Microsoft cribbed a few essential DOS boot files from WinME, and made it so XP can drop them onto a freshly- formatted floppy for you. I’m glad they did: It’s a very good thing that Microsoft restored the ability to make a simple boot disk.

Fast Boot /Fast Resume Design

Customer research shows a frequently requested feature that users want from their PCs is fast system startup, whether from cold boot or when resuming from standby or hibernation. The Windows development team at Microsoft has taken bold steps in making fast startup PCs a reality with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system.
The design goals for Windows XP on a typical consumer PC are:

• Boot to a useable state in a total of 30 seconds
• Resume from Hibernate (S4) in a total of 20 seconds
• Resume from Standby (S3) in a total of 5 seconds

Boot and resume times are measured from the time the power switch is pressed to being able to start a program from a desktop shortcut. Click here to go to Microsoft’s development center and learn how, download boot tools and read white papers on the subject.

Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog

For some reason, Hibernate isn’t available from the default Shut Down dialog. But you can enable it simply enough, by holding down the SHIFT key while the dialog is visible. Now you see it, now you don’t!

Speed up the Start Menu

The default speed of the Start Menu is pretty slow, but you can fix that by editing a Registry Key. Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay
By default, the value is 400. Change this to a smaller value, such as 0, to speed it up.
If this doesn’t work for some reason, then you might try the following: Navigate to Display Properties then Appearance then Advanced and turn off the option titled Show menu shadow. You will get much better overall performance.

Automatically defrag drives with a new context menu item

Create a new Registry import file named context_defrag.inf in Notepad (be sure to save with it with the Save as type set to All Files and not Text Documents) and place the following text inside:
; context_defrag.INF
; Adds Defrag to the right click context menu in Windows XP
[version]
signature=”$CHICAGO$”
[DefaultInstall]
AddReg=AddMe
[AddMe]
HKCR,”Drive\Shell\Defrag\command”,,,”DEFRAG.EXE %1″
Then, right-click and choose Install. This will add a context menu to XP that allows you to automatically defrag drives, using the command line version of the built-in defragmentation utility. To use it, navigate to a drive in My Computer, right-click, and choose Defrag. A command line window will appear, and that drive will be defragged. When it’s complete, the window just disappears.

Display the Sharing Tab in Folder Properties

In Windows 2000, getting to the Sharing options for a folder was simple: Just right-click, choose Properties, and you’d see a Sharing tab. In Windows XP, this feature is missing by default, but you can make the system display the Sharing tab if desired. Simply open up Folder Options (My Computer, then Tools, Folder Options) and navigate to the View tab. In the Advanced Settings section, scroll down to the bottom and uncheck Use simple file sharing (Recommended), a Mickey Mouse feature if there ever was one. Now share your folders on the LAN as you would in Windows 2000.

My Computer Won’t Shut Down Itself After Installing XP

There are a number of users who have been complaining that their PC will no longer automatically power down/shut off without pressing the power off button on the computers unlike in Windows Me/95/2000. There could be a number of reasons for this - but the main one seems to be that ACPI is not enabled on the computer or in Windows XP. Here is how to enable it:

1. Click - Start - Control Panel - Performance and Maintenance - Power Options Tab
2. Then click APM - Enable Advanced Power Management Support

Create a Password Reset Disk

Microsoft has enhanced security features in XP including the the ability to create a floppy diskette to recover your password incase it is forgotten.

• Click Start
• Click Control Panel
• Click User Accounts
• Click on the account which you want to create a password disk
• Click Prevent a forgotten password which starts the Forgotten Password Wizard . This is found under Related Tasks
• Insert a blank, formatted disk into drive A, and click Next
• Enter the password in the Current user account password box

To use the recovery disk, at the Welcome screen

• Click the user name whose password is on the recovery disk
• Click the question mark button
• This causes the Did you forget your password message to appear.
• Click use your password reset disk
• This will star