Take a screen shot of Window XP

Ever see something on your screen that you’d like to email or save for later? With Microsoft Windows XP, you can take a screen shot and capture an exact image of what’s on the screen.

To take a screen shot and save it as a picture

1. Click the window you want to capture. Press Alt+Print Screen by holding down the Alt key and then pressing the Print Screen key. The Print Screen key is near the upper-right corner of your keyboard. (Depending on the type of keyboard you have, the exact key names on your keyboard may vary slightly.)

   Note

   • You can take a screen shot of your entire desktop rather than just a single window by pressing the Print Screen key without holding down the Alt key.
2. Click Start, click Accessories, and then click Paint.
3. In the Paint window, click Edit, and then click Paste.
4. When the image appears in the Paint window, click File, and then click Save As.
5. In the Save As dialog box, in the File name box, type a name for the screen shot, and then click Save.

You can now print or email the saved screen shot just like you would any other picture.

Change Windows XP all sounds

You can personalize the sounds that your computer makes when different tasks happen, such as when you turn on your computer or when you receive an email or an instant message.

To obtain sounds, you can search the web for sound clips from your favorite songs, TV shows, and movies, and then download the clips to your computer. If you want to record your own sound clips, copy sound clips from a CD or DVD, or save anything else you can hear through your computer speakers, you can use Sound Recorder, a basic sound program that comes with Windows XP.

Sounds have to be in the .wav format; you can't use .mp3 or .wma sounds. Once you've downloaded or recorded some sounds, you can set them up to play in Windows.

To change the sound associated with a program event

1. Log on to your computer as an administrator. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices.
3. Click Change the sound scheme. The Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices Properties dialog box appears.
4. In the Program events list, click an event. Then, click the Play button to listen to the sound currently assigned to the event.
5. To change the sound, click the Sounds list down arrow, and select a different system sound. To choose a sound that you have downloaded or recorded, click the Browse button, select the sound, and then click OK. Click the Play button again to preview the sound.
6. When you are satisfied with your sounds, click Save As.
7. In the Save Scheme As dialog box, type a name for your scheme, and then click OK.
8. In the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties dialog box, click OK.

Change Windows 7 sounds

As usual, click on the link “Sounds”:

Here, you will find all saved Windows 7 sound schemes:




Most of our themes come with new sound themes, which can be changed and customized here. If you want to apply a new sound file for “Critical Stop”, you simply click on “Browse” and locate the sound file that you want to assign for this error.

You can apply any WAV sound files as a replacement sound for:
“Asterisk”, “Close Program”, “Critical Battery Alarm”, “Critical Stop”, “Default Beep”, “Device Connect”, “Device Disconnect”, “Device Failed to Connect”, “Exclamation”, “Exit Windows”, “Low Battery Alarm”, “Maximize”, “Menu Command”, “Menu Pop-up”, “Minimize”, “New Fax Notification”, “New Mail Notification”, “Open Program”, “Print Complete”, “Program Error”, “Question”, “Restore Down”, “Restore Up”, “Select”, “Show Toolbar Band”, “System Notification”, “Windows Change Theme”, “Windows Logoff”, “Windows Logon”, “Windows User Account Control”, “Blocked Pop-up Windows”, “Complete Navigation”, “Empty Recycle Bin”, “Fax error”, “Fax sent”, “Feed Discovered”, “Incoming call”, “Information Bar”, “Move Menu Item”, “Search Provider Discovered”, “Start Navigation”.
Often you will also be able to customize sounds for special applications like iTunes or VNCviewer for example. So, there are quite a lot of sound files that you can change and customize.
If you are new to this, I would start with the most important sounds:
Asterisk, Critical Stop and Default Beep

Where can I download WAV sound files for my Windows 7 theme?

You can find, search and download sound files for Windows 7 here:
www.wavcentral.com/
www.ilovewavs.com/
www.moviewavs.com/
There are many sites out there, where you can download WAV files. You should also be looking for sound files that are SHORT, because it would be pretty annoying to hear a 12 minute long sound every time you receive an error message.

Create Windows 7 Themes

A lot of people ask me how to create Windows 7 themes. If you want to create some themes in Windows 7, you have to know that Microsoft made creating and sharing themes really simple, thanks to a new file format “.themepack”, which is basically a special ZIP format that includes cursors, sounds, wallpapers, icons, colors and more.



First of all, to create Windows 7 themes open your “Personalize” Control Panel. To do that right-click on your desktop and click on “Personalize”:
On the following windows, you will be able to create, customize and share Windows 7 themes.

The highlighted items are the most important entries. You can change “Desktop Background”, “Windows Color”, “Sounds”, “Screensaver”, “Desktop Icons” and “Mouse Pointers”.

Create Windows XP Themes

• 1
  Open and start Windows XP. There is no need to enter safe mode to create themes.
  
• 2
  Click on the Start menu and select the "Control Panel" menu option.
  
• 3
  Click on the "Appearance" link in the Control Panel window (if you are viewing the control panel in the default Windows XP view). If you would like to switch to the classic Windows Control Panel view, click the "Switch to Classic View" link.
  
• 4
  Click the "Display" icon in the Control Panel. From here you will be able to control nearly every aspect of your Windows XP themes.
  
• 5
  Click on the "Appearance" tab along the menu bar.
  
• 6
  Experiment with different settings. Change fonts, colors and sizes. Tweak the way the menu buttons behave.
  
• 7
  Click the "Desktop" tab to choose from the collection of wallpapers you have stored on your hard drive. You can choose to stretch, center or tile the wallpaper to make it appear the way you desire.
  
• 8
  Change your screensaver to something that fits with the themes you are creating. Just choose from the list provided and change its parameters to see how it would look in different states.
  
• 9
  Click back to the "Themes" tab, and then click "Save As..." in order to preserve the themes you create.
  
• 10
  Delete a theme that you no longer wish to have by selecting the theme from the drop-down menu in the "Themes" tab and clicking "Delete." You will be asked to confirm your selection, at which point you may press "Yes" or "No" to complete the operation.
  

Add an image or logo to your Hotmail Email Signature

Slightly later than planned (sorry all you folks that have been waiting with baited breath) here it is, the Clarity guide to adding an image to your Hotmail signature.
Now you may want to design your whole signature as an image (like mine, pictured) or you may just want to add an image, perhaps your logo, on to some carefully chosen words.
After much hair-tearing-out and head-bashing-on-desk I have worked out how to do it, and now I am going to share the secret with you all!
Before we start, I am going to assume you have your Hotmail (or Windows Live Mail) account open on a webpage, and that you have the picture/image/logo you would like to include. In the right size- i.e. the size you would like it to appear at on the bottom of your emails.
The crucial first step is to realise that you cannot use an image saved on your computer. You need to upload the image on to the web somewhere. If you have your own website you can upload it there, add it to a post on your blog, or just use an online image repository like flickr.com. Open a webpage with your image on it. And off we go.

Step by Step

• Click on your id in the top right hand corner of the Hotmail window, and select Options from the dropdown menu.
• On the next screen click on Mail in the left hand menu
• Click Personal e-mail signature under Writing email. This brings up a new screen with a blank ‘page’ for you to design your signature in. If you are doing a signature with some text in too, add your text now (it will be easier to position your image if the text is there first)
• Click over to the web page containing the image or just load the image itself using its URL.
• Highlight the image — just the image — with your mouse.
• Press Ctrl-C (Windows, Linux) or Command-C (Mac).
• Go back to Hotmail, position the cursor where you want to insert the image and press Ctrl-V (Windows, Linux) or Command-V (Mac).
• If you have already inserted some text, you are now done, and can click Save. However, if you have a full image signature, you need to add some text in order for the Hotmail system to save it. I used a line of __________ , but you could use ******* or ——– or anything you like. If you do NOT add text, the image will not be saved in your signature.
• Click Save.
• Do a dance because you now have a pretty email signature in Hotmail. Simples.

Add or Change a Signature in Yahoo

1. Click Options in the upper-right corner of your Mail page and select More Options.
2. From the list on the left, click Signature.
3. You can select Show a signature on all outgoing messages to enable the signature. Select Do not use a signature if you want to turn your signature off – or you can simply delete it manually from emails in which you’d rather not show it.
4. On the far right of the message window, above the text area, click either Plain Text or Rich Text. Plain Text is just the letters. In Rich Text, you can work with color, font, size and style choices that you select from the toolbar.
   
   Note: For a Rich Text signature to appear in Rich Text, you must compose your email in Rich Text. Make that selection by clicking the Rich Text link in the Compose window, to the right of the Subject box.
5. Next, add or change your signature by typing in the text area.
6. At the top of the page, click Save Changes.

Your signature will now appear at the bottom of any message you compose.

How to Change the Welcome/Login Screen in Windows XP ?

Seeing the same old blue screen each time you login to Windows XP can get quite boring for you with passing time. Probably the best way to get rid of this blue screen is to use the direct login feature and not see the welcome screen at all but for multi user computers the welcome screen acts as a login portal and you can not disable it whatsoever.
However there is a simple trick to change the welcome screen .


How would you Like this One ?
How to Change the Welcome/Login Screen in Windows XP ?
Change Windows Welcome (Login) Screen
Just make sure that you have the “Use welcome screen” option activated in

Control Panel –> Users Accounts –> Logon and Logoff Options
before trying to apply this trick.
Basically there are two ways to change your login screen.
First One is to either replace your default login screen with your new one and the other method is to play with the registry such that it recognizes the new login screen as the default one ..
The following steps will guide you how to over write your existing login screen with your new one.
Here are the steps :
1. Make a backup copy of C:\windows\system32\logonui.exe
2. Rename your new login screen to logonui.exe
3. Overwrite the existing login screen file with your new login screen and thats it you are done.
Second Method that will help Windows identify your new login screen as the default one. The good thing about this trick it that you don’t have to delete or replace your original login screen file. Here it goes.
1. Copy your custom login screen file under another name, let’s say logonuiA.exe, to C:\Windows\system3\
2. Open Start menu –> Run –> and type Regedit
3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE –> SOFTWARE –> Microsoft –> Windows NT –> CurrentVersion –> Winlogon and change the value for UIHost to logonuiA.exe.

How to Reset Windows 7 Administrator Password

Lost or forgot Windows 7 administrator password? This is the most common problem that Windows 7 users are usually confronted with. How to deal with it so that you can log back into your administrator account? Even if you don't have to reset a forgotten password now, you should get acquainted with this issue. I must admit that I managed to forget my password more than once. Here I'm going to show you 2 easy ways to reset Windows 7 administrator password, so you can log on your computer when you forgot the admin password.

 

Method 1: Use Other Administrator Account

If you can still log on to an account with administrator privileges, it's very easy to reset the password for any other user account, including the administrator account. Please follow these steps:

1. Go to Control Panel and click on the User Accounts and Family Safety, then click on User Accounts.
   
   
2. In the next window, click on the Manage another account link, you'll see a list of Windows accounts.
   
   
3. Select the administrator account that you want to remove the password for.
4. Click on Remove the password link, it will blank your forgotten administrator password immediately.
   
   

This method enables you to reset Windows 7 administrator password without using any software. But it requires you to log on through another admin account.

 

Method 2: Reset Windows 7 Administrator Password with Software

If you forgot Windows 7 password and can't log on to your computer with any administrator account, you need to create a Windows password reset disk which enables you to reset Windows 7 administrator password quickly and easily.

1. Download the self-extracting Zip file of Reset Windows Password package.
2. Unzip the download file, there is an ISO image: ResetWindowsPwd.iso. Burn it onto a blank CD/DVD or USB flash drive using ISO2Disc or any CD/DVD burning software you like.
3. Boot your locked computer from the Windows password reset disk.
4. Wait until the boot process is complete. When a window pops up with all your Windows accounts, select the administrator account and then click the Reset Password button.
5. It will reset Windows 7 administrator password immediately.

Next, take out the Windows password reset disk and restart the computer. You can then log into administrator account without being asked for a password.

Create different viruses

Yes, You can create your own fake viruses to fool you fiends and have some fun. Creating fake viruses is so much fun that reading and following along this article would seem like a game.
It is very easy it is to create a fake virus. You don’t even need advanced skills, but after creating the virus, I bet, you friends will be amazed and think of you as a master programmer. But, actually you do not even need progamming skills to master this art.
You can fool your friends by creating fake viruses that seem identical to a normal virus. It will also seem to behave like a normal virus, but actually won’t harm the system. Remember, Our primary goal is to have some fun. We do not intend to harm anyone’s system at all. Be honest, play safe.


Fake virus message
Introduction
Fake virus message can make your friends feel that a virus has infected their system. You can create fake virus message without harming your own or someone else's computer. This fake virus will just create a mental havoc, but actually won’t harm the system.This is the most basic virus you can create using notepad. You just need to type in your message and the message is displayed as soon as anyone clicks on the bat file you created using notepad. This kind of virus may threaten the user into believing that a virus has attacked their computer and is causing such messages!But only you, being the programmer of the virus know that the message is just a command prompt command and is actually not a virus. So, have fun creating your own custom messages to threaten the user!

How to do it
1. Open notepad. Click start => All Programs => Accessories => Notepad.
2. Now type the following in the notepad as shown in the screenshot below:

3. Now save as virus.bat & in the files type select- All Files.

Shutdown Time-out

Introduction
This kind of fake virus shows an error message & shuts down the computer within a time limit. The user does not get an idea to prevent the shutdown. This fake virus starts a countdown & turns off the computer just after the completion of the countdown.This kind of virus can threaten the user. It acts as if a virus has attacked the computer, damaged system files, damaged the operating system and deleted system data. (but you, the creator of the virus actually know that it won’t delete anything, heck. It won’t even do anything!).It acts as if a virus has attacked the system which is forcing a shut down on the system. This is a great way to have fun with your friends. You threaten them & after a moment when he turns on the computer, he finds nothing has happened at all!. Then you can tell them that it is a fake virus! Don’t blame me afterwards, after all, you created it!

How to do it
1. Right click on the desktop
2. Go to New => Shortcut

3.Now in the location of the item text box type shutdown -s -t 30 -c “Your message here“.

Endless command prompt Windows

Introduction
This kind of virus opens numerous command prompt windows, which in turn hangs the user’s system (in other words, freezes the system). You can create this kind of virus to hang the user’s system, and then there is no option but to turn off the system. The user cannot do anything to stop the command prompt windows from opening!There is a flow of endless Command Prompt windows which cannot be stopped by any methods. Not even task manager will help. Untill the time you decide and see the task manager windows, you will already have a hundreds of command prompt windows!To understand the technique behind the endless flow of command prompt Windows, read the description below in full:We create 2 files- 1.bat, 2.bat. Both of them (as you know) open with command prompt. Now when we open 1.bat, 2.bat automatically opens because 1.bat calls 2.bat & 2.bat again call 1.bat. This process of calling (or opening) each other continues endlessly. We open 1.bat which opens 2.bat. Now 2.bat again opens 1.bat & 1.bat opens 2.bat again. This process continues endlessly.1.bat => 2.bat => 1.bat => 2.bat => 1.bat => 2.bat ……………………. The process continues

How to do it
1. Open notepad.
2. Now type the following: start 2.bat.

3.Now save as 1.bat with save as type: All files.

4.Now open the untitled notepad again.
5.Now type start 1.bat & save as 2.bat in the same location as the previous file 1.bat.

6.Now you need to double click (or execute) any of the bat files created to check the working of the fake virus.

Deadliest virus!!!

Introduction
This is the most dangerous virus I am going to discuss with you in this article. In short, you may say, this is going to be the deadliest virus you are going to create after reading this section!So far, I have discussed about making three types of viruses. Out of which, endless command prompt windows virus works with all windows versions, whereas the other two viruses discussed may not work in windows vista and later version of windows because they have other commands for performing the task.In this section, I am going to teach you the art of creating an actual virus that may threaten a user and make him believe that his computer has been attacked by a real virus. In this section for creating the deadliest virus, we are going to integrate all of the above mentioned viruses into one single batch file.In this final virus, we will not only integrate the previously mentioned commands, but also add some more commands and functionality to make it look like a real threatening virus!!! Ok let’s get started…

How to do it
1. Open notepad.
2. Now type the following: @echo off echo Do you want to delete C:\windows and boot sector files? (Y/N) Pause >nul dir /s echo all files deleted pause msg * Windows has encountered a problem and needs to close. shutdown -s -t 30 -c "Windows has been targetted by Dipojjal virus. Unable to locate system.exe"
3. Now save the file as complete.bat (or any file name you like with .bat extension).Here is a screenshot to illustrate the above mentioned steps:

Disable Restart Prompt

Introduction
It is irritating when your mom tells you to turn off your computer when you are doing some important work or playing a game.
The restart prompt is just like that “mom”. It's frustrating when you get a prompt to restart your computer when you do not want to.
Why is it so & how does it happen?
When you are connected to the Internet, the important updates are automatically downloaded. After the completion of the windows update, you get a message to restart your PC.
Now this is the most irritating part. Imagine that you are browsing something that is very important to you & do not want to restart or get an advanced tension of restarting it later. I admit that you can click the button restart later, but what if you could permanently remove this nagging screen?
Voilla!!! You can remove this nag screen. You can disable restart prompt. Thanks to the registry editor!

How to do it
1.Click run located on the start menu.
2.Now type “regedit” and click OK.
3.Now you will encounter a registry editor screen.
4.In the registry editor screen, navigate to- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies > Microsoft\Windows
5.On the right pane, right click & select New => Key
6.Now a Folder is created.
7.Right click the folder created on the left pane & select New => Key
8.Now you will see a sub-folder. Rename this sub-folder to AU (AutoUpdate)
9.Now return to the right pane & select New => DWORD Value.
10.Now right click on the new DWORD Value created & change the name to- NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers & the value to 1 (value 0 means false & 1 means true).

Results
Now you are completed with the operation of preventing windows from showing that irritating, frustrating restart dialogue box. Now you may restart the windows to see the changes. From now, you wont be asked to restart windows after updating you system
A single restart for preventing the lifetime automatic restart. Seems like a profitable deal isn’t it?

Hide drives of your computer

Introduction:
It is amazing know that we can hide windows drives. You might be aware of how to hide files and foldes, but did you know you can hide drives in windows?
Hiding a whole volume is fun but sometimes it becomes important also. Actually for me, It's fun to hide a full drive.
Actually the main purpose behind hiding a drive is to restrict users from viewing the contents of a particular drive. You can hide the whole drive and it can be any of your drives- d drive, e drive, or even c drive!. Yes, you can hide any of them. Once you hide a drive, it’s gone! No one would even get to know about the hidden drive.
Consider an example situation where hiding a drive becomes necessary - I have kept my security passwords, important files, folders, etc. on drive E: and I don’t want anyone to view the contents of that drive, so I will simply hide the drive, so that it is harder even for an advanced user to open that particular drive.
A normal PC user will not even get to know that E: drive is there, already residing on your computer because he cannot see it. But only me and you know the inside secret that it has been hidden. No one can unhide the hidden drive without using group policy editor (gpedit).

How to do it:
1.First go to "Start" => "Run"
2.In the "Run" dialog box, type "gpegedit.msc"
3.Now you will see the group policy editor window.
4.In the group policy editor window, navigate to- Administrative Templates => Windows Components => Windows explorer
5.Now on the right pane, double click- ‘Hide these specified drives in my computer’.
6.Now on the ‘Hide these specified drives in my computer properties’ screen, click enabled.
7.Now in the section ‘pick one of the following combinations’ click the down arrow to see all the drives.
8.Select one of the mentioned drives in the down arrow & click apply
9.Click OK.
10.Close the group policy editor window

Remove welcome screen in "Window XP"

Introduction:
If you have only one user account & do not have a password for it, you can remove Welcome screen. Earlier I installed a software that turned on Welcome screen & it irritated me a lot because I had only one account to switch to & did not have a password for it, still had to click on my user account to open it every time I turn on my computer.
Generally, in such a case as outlined above, we do not need to click on the username, so we don’t have a welcome screen. But, sometimes some antiviruses or other softwaes may turn on the welcome screen. You need to click on your username everytime you turn on the computer.
Finally I decided to get rid of this unnecessary irritating welcome screen. I will teach you the same so that you can also remove welcome screen.

How to do it:
1.Click start.
2.Now click control Panel to open it.
3.Now click User Accounts.
4.Now in the pick a task section, click “change the way users log on or off”.
5.Now uncheck ‘Use the Welcome screen’.
6.Click apply option.

Brief how to do it:
Control Panel => User Accounts => Change the way users log on or off.

Convert "FAT32" to "NTFS"

Introduction
"Windows XP" have 2 types of file systemsm, which are given below.

• FAT32
• NTFS

You may keep any of the above mentioned file systems but, I recommend you to use NTFS file system because I have tried both files systems & concluded that NTFS has many advantages over FAT32 file system. That is why I created the article to convert FAT32 to NTFS file system, so that you can update your file system.
It would be worthless to convert NTFS to FAT32 file system. NTFS is a newer and better file system than FAT32. Here are some of the advantages of NTFS file system over FAT32 files system:

• NTFS file system is much faster than FAT32.
• NTFS drives can be compressed to save disk space.
• NTFS drives have stronger security system than FAT32.
• Administrator password on a FAT32 drive can easily be hacked, whereas doing so in an NTFS drive is difficult.

So, I recommend you to use NTFS file system rather than FAT32 files system as it is the latest, more secured, fast, and reliable file system than the previous FAT32 file system.

How to do it
1. Click "start"
2. Click "Run"
3. Type "cmd" (without ‘’ quotes)in the run dialog box & click OK
4. Now you should see the command prompt window. In the command prompt window, type ‘convert [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS’ (without ‘’ quotes).

Some examples to help you
1.convert c:/FS:NTFS- This will convert file system of C: drive from FAT32 to NTFS.2.convert d:/FS:NTFS- This will convert d: drive from FAT32 to NTFS.
Here is a screenshot illustrating conversion of FAT32 to NTFS:

Rename your recycle bin on desktop

Introduction:
Renaming the "Recycle Bin" can be a bit of fun because as I guess you would be pleased to hear your friend saying- wow how did you do it? It’s amazing, you are a genius. Does not it sound nice? I would not admit that renaming "Recycle Bin" is as easy as renaming other icons & even if I would, I would be lying to you.
This is because you cannot just right click Recycle Bin & select rename from the right click option. You will not even get the option to rename it. The option for renaming is not shown when you right click recycle bin icon. However, it would generally do so in case of any other file, folder or icon. You can not just rename the recycle bin icon in "Windows XP" using normal ways to rename. If you want to rename the recycle Bin, you would need to use the Registry Editor (a component included in Windows to edit, manage & maintain the registry).
But, it is still easy. Just follow the step by step procedure, you will breeze through the steps and the process would seem like a gameplay.

How to do it:
1.Got to start & click Run.
2.Now in the open dialog box, type ‘regedit’
3.Now, you should see a registry editor screen as shown below:
4.Now navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\EXPlorer\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}.
5.Now after navigating to the above mentioned address in the Registry Editor, You will see an entry called (Default) which has no value data. Right click it & select Modify.
6.Now in the value data type "Trash" (Without quotes) as shown in the screenshot below:
7.Now you are finished, so click OK & close the registry editor.
8.Now as soon as you refresh your Desktop, the boring Recycle Bin text is gone & you are ready with you new text- Trash.

Results:
Now as soon as you see the desktop, refresh the desktop by pressing "F5" & you are ready with the new name of Recycle Bin.Restart if you still do not see the changed name.

Change drive icon in "Window XP"

Introduction:

Changing drive icons in "Window XP" manually is very easy. The technique is similar to a "CD" with an autorun icon. If you know how various 'CDs" and "DVDs" display their own customized icons, You can easily change drive icon. It does not matter if you do not know. You can still change the drive icon.When you insert a game "CD", you can see an icon representing the "CD". The technique behind is similar to the technique I am going to teach you in this tutorial. Here are the screenshots of a normal game "CD" and another game "CD" with an icon:

Similarly you can change drive icons in "Window XP". Now I think you are ready for the action. Let's start.

How to do it:
1. Open any drive whose icon needs to be changed.
2. Now in the drive, create a notepad text document & open it.
3. Now in the notepad text editor, type the following-
[autorun]
Icon= name-of-the-icon-goes-here.ico
Here is a screenshot:

4. Now after typing the above code, go to file menu & click save as.
5. In the save as dialog box, select all files from the save as type drop down list.
6. Now in the file name text box, type- ‘autorun.inf’ to save the file.
7. Now restart your system & you will be able to see the effects just after the first restart.
NOTE: There should be 2 files- autorun.inf & an icon file. Both the files should be saved in the drive itself and the locations should be: D:\autorun.inf & D:\guddu.ico.
This means both the files should be in the same drive location & they should be placed under the parent drive itself not on any other folder.

Results:
As soon as you restart the computer, the drive icon changes.
Here is what happened after restarting my computer:

How to protect a compressed folder by requiring a password

You can restrict access to files and folders in compressed folders by requiring a password.

Important The password for a protected, compressed file is not recoverable. If you lose the password, you will be unable to access that file.

Note You cannot protect an empty compressed folder with a password.

To protect the contents of a compressed folder, follow these steps:
Double-click the compressed folder that you want to protect.
On the File menu, click Add a Password.
In the Password box, type the password that you want to use. Type the same password in the Confirm Password box, and then click OK.
Note When you try to move or open a file that is protected with a password, a Password Needed dialog box is displayed. Type the correct password in the Password box, and then click OK.

iPhone Secret Codes

*3001#12345#* + tap Call. Enter Field Mode. Field mode contains lots of iPhone internal settings, especially newest network and cell information.
*#06# It shows your IMEI number. IMEI number is a unique identification number for your mobile phone hardware.
*777# + tap Call. It shows account balance for prepaid iPhone.
*225# + tap Call. It shows 'Bill Balance' for Postpaid only.
*646# + tap Call. Using this you can check remaining minutes (Postpaid only).
*#21# + tap Call. It is used to set interrogation for call forwards. It discover the settings for your call forwarding. Using this you can check whether you have voice, data, fax, SMS,sync, async, packet access, and pad access call forwarding enabled or disabled on your iPhone.
*#30# + tap Call. It is used for check the calling line presentation. This shows whether you have enabled or disabled the presentation of the calling line, presumably the number of the party placing the call.
*#76# + tap Call. It is used to check whether the connected line presentation is enabled or not.
*#43# + tap Call. It is used to check if call waiting is enabled for your iPhone or not. It also shows call waiting status for voice, data, fax, SMS, sync data, async data, packet access and pad access. Each item is either enabled or disabled.
*#61# + tap Call. Used to check the number for unanswered calls. It also show the number for voice call forwarding when a call is unanswered and also show the options for data, fax, SMS, sync, async, packet access and pad access.
*#62# + tap Call. This code can be used to check the number for call forwarding if no service is available.
*#67# + tap Call. This code can be used to check the number for call forwarding when your iPhone is busy on another call.

Display Full Paths in the Address Bar

1.Open "My Computer" on the desktop.

2. Select "Tools", Then select "Folder Options".

3. When the "Folder Options" multi-tabbed dialog box appears, select the "View" tab.

4. Check "Display the full path in the address bar".

5. Click "OK".

Show or Hide Control Panel in My Computer

1. Open "My Computer", select "Tools", Then select "Folder Options".

2. When the "Folder Options" multi-tabbed dialog box appears, select the "View" tab.

3. Scroll down to "Show Control Panel in My Computer" and check or uncheck the box as desired.

4. Click "OK".

Change the Background Picture of Google

Google is rolling out a feature that allows you to change the background picture of Google.com to a user defined image. Here is how to customize your Google.com landing page background image.

Change the Google Background Image:

* Go to Google.com and be sure you are logged into your Google account.
* Hover over the bottom left corner of Google.com and click on “Change background image”.
* Select an image either from the Public gallery, Editor’s picks, your Picasa album, or an image from your       own computer.
* Click ‘select’ and close the window.
Your Google.com background is now set to a custom image.

Google.com has long been very minimalist, but this is obviously taking a page from the Bing playbook. Bing has long included attractive images as the search engine home pages background picture, it is not particularly functional it is just attractive.

Remove the Google Background picture:

Removing the Google.com background wallpaper is just a matter of hovering over the lower left corner of the Google homepage and click on “Remove background image”

You can also use an alternate Google local search engine, set the custom background to white, and some other techniques to remove the Google background if you hate it.

Lock Your Drives Without Using Any Softwares

Many of us like to have privacy for our computer. There may be files which we want to keep safe and hidden from others. There may also be some files which we don’t want others to find out like some important documents, office files,video’s etc.

Is there a way to hide my drives? Can I do it without the use of any softwares? Can I unlock my drives after locking it? etc, May be some of your questions when you see this post for the first time. Well, my answer is yes. We can either use a software to lock the drives or we can do it manually. In this post I am going to post on how to lock the Drives manually and vice versa.

1. Lock Drives via Registry Editor:

STEP 1 : Open Registry (go to run command, then type “regedit” and press ENTER)
STEP 2 : Then navigate to this key

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurre ntVersionPoliciesExplorer

STEP 3 : Now right click in right side panel and create DWORD Value (blue color)
Rename it as “NoViewOnDrive” (for locking drive)
or
Rename it as “NoDrives” (for Hiding drive)
STEP 4 : Double click on the newly renamed DWORD and put the numbers mentioned below corectly to lock your desired drives and then Click OK.

FOR A Drive : 1
FOR C Drive : 4
FOR D Drive : 8
FOR E Drive : 16
FOR F Drive : 32
FOR G Drive: 64
FOR H Drive: 128

STEP 5 : Finally restart or log-off the computer to take effect of the changes done.

Keep in mind that “0” (zero) is Default Value to Disable or remove this Setting.

2. Lock Drives via Group Policy:

STEP 1 : Goto “RUN” and type “gpedit.msc”
STEP 2 : A window will be opened (Group Policy). On the left sidebar there would be two options.
STEP 3 : Drop down the “user configuration” and again drop down sub menu “Administrative Templetes” and again drop down another sub menu “Windows Components” and click on “Windows Explorer“.
STEP 4 : Right click on “Prevent Access To Drives From My Computers” and then click on properties.
STEP 5 : Click on the radio button “Enabled” and you can select any option in the menu.

To Disable the change made Follow the same procedure. Then click on radio button “Disable“.

If you have any doubts regarding my post please don’t hesitate to ask. Also let me know if any of the above mentioned trick doesn’t work for you.

Lock a folder in windows XP without any software

To Lock a folder in windows XP without any software. Follow the steps given below. Make a folder in "C" drive rename it as “abc” without quotes. Now open Command Prompt from Start Menu. Then type “attrib +s +h C:\abc” without quotes and press enter. This command will make your folder invisble and it can not be seen even in hidden files and folders To make it visible again type “attrib -s -h C:\abc” you can lock any other folder also by changing the location C:\abc to address of your folder.

To Lock a folder in windows XP without any software. Follow the steps Below. Make a Folder in C drive rename it as “abc” without quotes. Now open Command Prompt from Start Menu. Type “attrib +s +h C:\abc” without quotes and press enter. This command will Make your folder invisble and it can not be seen even in hidden files and folders To make it visible again type “attrib -s -h C:\abc” You can lock any other folder also by changing the location C:\abc to address of your folder.

Read more at: http://www.caclubindia.com/forum/lock-a-folder-in-windows-xp-without-any-software-181229.asp

How to resize a digital photo in Windows XP

Even though Windows XP seems to have everything included in its package, it has overlooked the need for an image resizing program. You could probably use the ms paint, however I have found an easier way. To resize a digital photo in Windows XP you simply have to pretend to send the picture through your email. In fact this little trick to resize a digital photo can be done on Windows Vista and Windows Seven if you have Thunderbird or Outlook installed on your computer. You can also batch resize photos using Picasa and Windows Live Photo Gallery.

What you need to resize a digital photo:

1. You will need an email program on your computer such as Outlook, Outlook Express, or Thunderbird.
2. This tutorial is for Windows. Basically any version.

Here is how to resize a digital photo in Windows:

1. If your digital photos are stored in the My Pictures Folder, go to the start menu and choose My pictures
2. Double click on the folder containing your digital photos that you want to resize. Select one or more photos by making them blue.
3. Right click on the selection and choose to send to
4. Then choose mail recipient.

1. The Send Pictures Via Email dialog box will appear. If you choose to show more options, you can even pick the size of your photo.
2. Press OK and a new message window will appear.
3. Go to the file menu at the top and choose Save Attachments, and then choose where to save your photos.
4. Close the new email dialog box because your photos have been resized and saved.

Notes on Resizing digital photos:

• Press The Windows key + E to launch Windows Explorer. An easy way to browse for your digital photos in Windows xp.
• If my pictures folder is not on the start menu, it will be located in the My documents folder.
• In Windows Vista it is not necessary to use this tip as the mspaint program has been upgraded to resize photos.

Create a free photo cd slide show with Windows XP

A cd photo slide show is a great way to share photos with your friends and family. You can send them a cd in the post for as little as $1.00 and all they have to do is pout it in their computer and the photo slide show will start.
This is also handy for sending your photos to non computer savvy people who just like to have things work automatically without having to find the pictures or try to view them on their computer.

To create a photo slide show you will need:

• A genuine copy of Windows XP.
• You will need to download the free cd slide show power toy from the Microsoft website. Install the program by choosing run when the download has finished.
• You will need some photos on your computer.
• A blank cd.

How to choose photos for your cd slide show:

The simplest way to choose the photos for your cd slide show is to right click on the individual file and choose send to, then choose to send to your cd drive.
The file will be put in the writeable cd folder, waiting for more to be added. See more details on How to burn a Cd using Windows XP
If you want to select more than one photo at a time, hold the ctrl key down when you are selecting photos. When they are all blue, right click on a blue bit and choose send to cd drive.

Every time you add a file to the writeable cd folder a balloon notification will appear in the taskbar. You can double click on this balloon to see what you have added that is going to be burnt to a cd.


How to make the photo cd slide show after adding photos:

1. Double click on the balloon to open the writeable cd folder.
2. Press on Write these files to CD in the left column. (See Screenshot below)
3. Now the cd writing wizard will appear.
4. Choose a name for your cd, then press next.
5. Then choose Yes, add a picture viewer. Then press next.
6. When you have finished your cd will have its own autorun.exe file on the cd which will start the slide show.

Notes:

• If the cd drive is not on auto play, when you insert the cd you can choose to view files and then double-click on the autorun.exe file.

Create a Custom Toolbar

If you are constantly accessing a particular folder, you can add it to your taskbar for quick access. Right click the taskbar and scroll to Toolbars, then select "New Toolbar". It will open an Explorer window, so browse to your folder and select it. It is also handy to add My Computer as a toolbar.

Disable Delete Confirmation

You can disable the confirmation that pops up whenever you are deleting something by right-clicking the Recycle Bin and selecting the Properties. Uncheck the delete confirmation box, click Apply and then OK, and you are done. Also, you can bypass the Recycle Bin entirely by holding down the "Shift" key while deleting files.

Shut Down from Your Desktop

If you are trying to eliminate every extraneous mouse click, you can shut down your computer with an icon on the desktop. Right click on your desktop, click "New" and then click "Shortcut" and Type the location of the item field, type "shutdown -s -t 00" to give you a way to shut down the computer immediately. (Change the -s to -r to create a reboot shortcut instead.)

Control Inactive System Tray Icons

You don't have to hide or show all the icons in your system tray—you can control their disappearing acts. Right-click on the taskbar and select Properties. Click on the checkbox next to "Hide inactive icons" (if it's not checked by default), then click on the Customize button. For each item on this list, you can choose "Hide when inactive," "Always hide," or "Always show" options to decide what you'll see and when.

5 Methods To Reset Administrator Password in Windows XP

1. Use Alt, Control, Delete & The Windows Welcome Screen

If you have set your computer up to login via the Welcome Screen, there may be a slight chance that you will be able to login as the Administrator. Depending on who installed XP on your computer, there may or may not be a password on the Administrator’s account.
So simply press Alt+Control+Delete twice. You will be presented with a login box. Click OK to login without typing any user name or password in. If that doesn’t work, type in “˜Administrator‘ into the username box and press enter. If that doesn’t work, so far, you are in bad luck.
If you are able to log in, simply go to the control panel, go into User Accounts and change your password.

2. Login To Another Account & Reset The Password Through User Management (XP Professional Only)

This will only work if you have Windows XP Professional, and you can login with an account. Right click on My Computer and select Manage. Then select Local User and Groups ““> Users. Right click on your username and select Set Password. Follow the prompts and set yourself a new password.
If you can’t get into Device Manager because you don’t have a user account to get into your computer, you can try opening Device Manager from another computer. Right click on where it says Computer Management (Local) and choose Connect to another computer“¦ once you are logged in to another computer within your home network.

Then enter your computer IP or Name. For example 169.168.x.x, 10.1.1.x or \\DesktopPC. (replacing x.x with your computer IP address. You can also click on Browse ““> Advance ““> Find now to browse for computers on your network.

If you are granted access to the remote computer, follow the steps I mentioned above and set a new password. If not, continue reading.

3. Reset The Password Through Safe Mode & Command Prompt

If the above steps have failed so far, you can try and boot into Safe Mode. To do this, press F8 while your computer is booting. Once in safe mode, you can try going into the control panel and reset your password. If you can’t, you can try and open up a Command Prompt by opening Run and typing cmd. Enter net user [username] [enternewpassword]. For example, If I want to change my account which is Jack to password abcde, I would type in net user jack abcde and press enter. Your password should now be changed.

4. Use A Live (Bootable CD)

If you are at this stage, and haven’t so far managed to get into your computer, you may want to use a Live Bootable CD. You may want to have a look at the post 3 Ways To Reset A Forgotten Windows Administrator Password and follow those steps.
Alternatively, you can use the Live CD so you can boot into your computer and access the files so you can back them up on an external hard drive or USB stick. If you can’t get into Windows, this is your only option.

5. Remove Your HardDrive, Backup, Format, Reinstall

One final way, and probably a good thing to do if your computer is running really slow, or you can’t get into Windows at all; take out your hard drive, put it into another computer, backup your data, format the hard drive, put it back into the original computer, and re-install Windows. You may want to have a look at The Idiot’s Ultimate Guide to Building Your Own PC for some help taking out your hard drive.
So these are my basic tips if I can’t get access to a computer to a user account in a Windows XP computer. I hope these tips will come in handy.
Do you have any other tips to get access to your computer because you forgot the password? Let us know in the comments.

Reset Windows Vista Password

What should you do when you forgot the password to login to Windows Vista? Ask an administrator to reset the Vista password for you. If you yourself are administrator, and you can't remember the administrator password, the problem get a little tricky, and probably hard to recover the 'forgotten password' again. Before you search for Windows installation DVD to format and reinstall Windows Vista onto the computer, here a few ways you can try to unlock the Windows to gain access to the system again, at least by resetting Windows Vista password.

Method 1: Use Windows Vista Password Reset Disk

If you did create the Windows Vista password reset disk before forgot Windows Vista password, the method will be helpful. While, there are exactly little users who remember to prepare such a useful disk. If you already have a Windows Vista password reset disk, please follow these steps to reset your Vista password easily.

1. Once you've typed the wrong password, Windows Vista will show a Reset password link below the login box.
   
   
2. Click on Reset password. Make sure that password reset disk is plugged into the computer at this point.
3. When the Password Reset Wizard appears, click Next to continue.
4. Select the right password reset disk. Click Next.
5. Type in a new password and a hint for the password. Click Next.
6. Click Finish. Now you can log in to your PC with the new password.

Method 2: Reset Windows Vista Password in Safe Mode

In Windows Vista there is a hidden account called Administrator which does not show up on the login screen but it is always available for use if required. If you didn't change this Administrator's password, the password is empty by default. You can boot up in Safe Mode (by pressing F8 when your computer starts) and log on with the built-in Administrator account. After getting into Windows, you can reset any Vista account password easily!

Method 3: Use the Sticky Keys Trick to Reset Windows Vista Password

The Sticky Keys trick to restore a forgotten administrator password is reliable, easy to carry out, and does not require third-party software. All you have to do is boot up from a Windows Vista setup DVD, launch the Windows Recovery Environment (RE), and then replace the sethc.exe file with cmd.exe. You can also use this method for Windows 7, but you have to use a Vista or Windows 7 DVD.

Method 4: Reset Windows Vista Password by Third-party Software

1. Download the self-extracting Zip file of Reset Windows Password package.
2. Uncompress the package, there is a ISO image: ResetWindowsPwd.iso. Burn it onto a CD/DVD or USB flash drive.
3. Boot your locked Vista computer from the newly burned CD/DVD or USB flash drive.
4. Wait until the boot process is finished. When a window pops up with all your Windows Vista accounts, select the target one to reset its forgotten password.

Networking Tips

How to Set Up and Troubleshoot a Home Computer Network

Setting up a home computer network may sound daunting, but it’s relatively simple, provided you break everything down into specific steps. Home computer networks are ideal for sharing a wireless connection among multiple computers, especially for those who have a home office, teenagers, or another computer configuration.

1:  Purchasing a Router

Before you begin to worry about software, worry about hardware. A excellent router, like a Cisco router or a Linksys router, will save you from having to endlessly reboot and reprogram while still allowing you to quickly set up a home network. Make sure you buy from a company that has years of experience designing high quality routers that are capable of handling high amounts of traffic (such as data heavy media files). Virtually any home network will run smoothly without irritating slowness or delays.

2:  Wireless Bandwidth

After you’ve purchased a router, the next step is to determine how much bandwidth you are receiving from your wireless connection. This becomes particularly important if you have a household where the network users are habitually downloading movies or other large data files. While a router can rapidly transfer this information, it is constrained by the amount of bandwidth available to the household. A connection that transmits data at 2.4 GHz with a 54 megabit speed is usually adequate to the task.
If your network feels exceptionally sluggish, check to make sure that you are receiving the wireless by ‘pinging’ the network. Alternatively, if you are receiving the full wireless bandwidth but are still experiencing slow results because of the types of media you are transferring, you may consider paying for a faster service.

3:  Software Drivers

While software drivers for networking are fairly easy to find and download from the Internet, purchasing software directly from a computer retailer is recommended as a way to keep your network free of faulty software. A higher incidence of spyware and viruses makes downloading free software inadvisable, especially for something as sensitive as a computer network.
Purchasing software from one of the major companies, such as McAfee or Symantec, will also provide you with another vital component of wireless home networking: a firewall. Because wireless networks are difficult to secure, the best option is to buy software that not only allows you to network, but is built specifically to keep out uninvited users. Firewalls are designed to protect your valuable information behind a tightly secured ‘wall’ which can’t be accessed unless a very specific encrypted code is used.

4:  Basic Set-Up

Now that you have all the components, you’ll want to set up the router first. Install the software driver onto each computer that will use the network. Set up a passkey that is fairly hard to break. Avoid simple or obvious terms that an outside user could easily guess. Set up each computer with this information.
The company that is providing your wireless connection will usually assign you a name and a passkey. However, in some configurations, you will be able to reprogram this information.

5:  Troubleshooting

No matter how expertly a system is set up, on occasion a technical problem manifests, resulting in a lack of connectivity for computers. There are a few ways to quickly check what’s working and what’s not.
Usually, problems are caused by one of two things: the software on the computer itself is malfunctioning, and not allowing the computer to connect. You can test this by seeing if any other computers can connect to the network. If they can, the problem is local to that computer. A simple reboot of the software should solve this problem. However, if the software continues to be unable to connect to the internet, you will need to uninstall the software, and then reinstall it. Sometimes, a version can become corrupted. By wiping it clean and starting anew, the problem should resolve itself.
The second most common problem is that the router needs a quick reboot. If you purchase a quality router, you will not have this problem very often, although every now and again even the best routers need a quick reboot. Turn the router off for at least thirty seconds. Switch it back on, and check your connectivity in about ten minutes. This gives the system plenty of time to reset itself.
If this doesn’t work, the wireless provider may temporarily be out. Call your wireless provider to determine if they are experiencing an outage, and when you can expect the resumption of service. If all of these methods don’t resolve your problem, there is a basic flaw in your initial setup.