Lock A Folder, Without Installing Any Software

This trick has only been tested in Windows XP.

Suppose you want to lock the folder viru in d: which has the path D:\viru.
In the same drive create a text file and type

Code:
ren viru viru.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

Now save this text file as lock.bat

create another text file and type in it

Code:
ren viru.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} viru

Now save this text file as key.bat

Now you can see 2 batch files
lock and key.Press lock and the folder viru will change to control
panel and you cannot view its contents.Press key and you will get back
your original folder.

Enhance SATA disk performance

Do you have a SATA disk drive in your computer? If so, you can squeeze a little more performance out of your hard disk. This speeds up the performance of your hard disk by enhancing write caching. However, if your computer is not connected to a battery backup and you loose power you have a increased risk for data loss or corruption. If you have a laptop your chances are data loss or corruption are dramatically less since your laptop battery will kick on if your power source is lost. Let's get started:

1. Click on the Start Button and key in Device Manager and hit Enter.
2. Expand Disk Drives.
3. Right click on your hard drive and select Properties.
4. On the Policies tab, check Enable advanced performance.
5. Hit OK and close Device Manager.

Enabling and Disabling Hibernate Mode in Vista..

Hibernate mode consumes disk space equal to the size of RAM.. so if you fall low disk space you can recover GB's as most of the ppl these days have RAM gr8tr than 2GB, without deleting any stuff..

Steps to enable/disable hibernate mode..
1. Run Command Prompt in Administrative Mode (it will not work if u not open cmd in administrative more, so take care of it)
2. Type
to Disable: powercfg –h off
to Enable : powercfg –h on

Enable Hidden BootScreen in Windows Vista

start -> run -> msconfig -> System Configuration
click on Boot tab
and tick No GUI boot option

Reduce Disk Space Used by windows Vista System Restore

This has become one of the biggest problems with users who made the switch to Windows Vista and have limited disk space. Unlike System Restore in Windows XP, you could adjust the amount of disk usage from XP's Ststem Restore utility.

Vista's System Restore keeps two types of restore points, one for shadow copies of files used to restore previous versions of a file that you want to recover due to corruption or deleting of files, and the typical restoring of a previoius saved system state. System Restore uses up to 15% of each NTFS drive on the system that is at least 1 GB.

To determine how much disk space System Restore is using, the following command can be used:
vssadmin list shadowstorage

For the above command to run you must use elevated privileges:
Click on the Start menu then click All Programs / Accessories
Right Click on the Command Prompt option and from the drop down menu click on the Run as Administrator option
At the command prompt type vssadmin list shadowstorage and Press Enter (NOTE: if the command does not run change directories to c:windowssystem32)
After the vssadmin has executed you will see results similar to the following:

Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 237.419 MB
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 400 MB
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 2.092 GB
The output above shows space used on the C: drive by System Restore is 237.419 MB.

The maximum space allocated for System restore is 2.092 GB

To view the number of restore points you currently have on your Computer run the following command
vssadmin list shadows

Next, to reduce the allocated space used by Vista's System Restore, use the following command:
vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=[OnVolumeSpec:] /for=[ForVolumeSpec:] /maxsize=[MaxSizeSpec]

Where

OnVolumeSpec: is the drive letter, for examaple C
ForVolumeSpec: is the drive letter, for example C
MaxSizeSpec: is the maximum size you want System Restore to use, example 1GB

example: vssadmin resize shadowstorage /On=C: /For=C: /Maxsize=1GB

When decreasing the space allocated to System Restore, you will loose the earlier system restore points. The advantage is gaining extra free space. If you are concerned with losing the previous restore points, wait until you do not need them anymore before reducing the allocated space.

If you plan on upgrading to Windows Vista or running a clean install and will need extra space, consider reducing the space after installation has completed.

It is not recommended to disable System Restore. The capability to restore to a previous point in time or having the new Shadow Copy feature available can be a time saver if something goes wrong or if you delete a file.

Pop a banner each time Windows Boots

To pop a banner which can contain any message you want to display just before a user is going to log on, go to the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\WinLogon
Now create a new string Value in the right pane named LegalNoticeCaption and enter the value that you want to see in the Menu Bar. Now create yet another new string value and name it: LegalNoticeText. Modify it and insert the message you want to display each time Windows boots. This can be effectively used to display the company's private policy each time the user logs on to his NT box. It's .reg file would be:

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Winlogon]
"LegalNoticeCaption"="Caption here."

Turn Off Autoplay for Program CDs

· Click Start, click Run, type GPEDIT.MSC to open Group Policy in the Microsoft
Management Console.

· Double-click Computer Configuration, double-click Administrative templates,
double-click System, and then click Turn off autoplay.

· The instructions on your screen describe how to configure this setting. Click
Properties to display the setting dialog.

· Click Enabled, and choose CD-ROM drives, then click OK, to stop CD autoplay.
This setting does not prevent Autoplay for music CDs.

Add "INSERT" Option in CD Drive Context Menu !

Finally I got it working.
After a few minutes of R&D, I got an option "Insert" in my CD Drive context menu to close the open tray

What I did, I had a setup of a little utility on my HDD since ages, actually I got the utility from a CHIP CD (I think?). This utility just sits in the system try and lets u open/close the tray.

I just installed it bcoz some1 requested me to find out some way to add close cd option in the CD Drive context menu.

Then after some R&D, I got that a file cdeject.dll is installed by it and causes the open/close operation.

So I just copied the DLL file and then uninstalled the s/w. Now the Insert option was not available in CD drive context menu. And thats what I wanted!

Now I copied the DLL file to System32 folder, and added its entry in Registry.

And VOILLA, I got the Insert option back.....

So here is the step-by-step procedure:

1.) D/l the attached file, extract it and copy the DLL file to "%windir%\System32" folder.
2.) Copy following code in notepad:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{02A07E80-EFA2-11D4-8306-A7EBD4C50C7C}]
@="CDEject Context Menu Shell Extension"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{02A07E80-EFA2-11D4-8306-A7EBD4C50C7C}\InprocServer32]
@="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\cdeject.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandler s\{02a07e80-efa2-11d4-8306-a7ebd4c50c7c}]
@="{02a07e80-efa2-11d4-8306-a7ebd4c50c7c}"


3.) Save the file with any name but the extension must be .REG
4.) Now run the file, it'll ask ur permission, accept it.
5.) Now u'll get an Insert option in the CD Drive context menu

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

Make your folders invicible...

1)Right Click on the desktop.Make a new folder
2)Now rename the folder with a space(U have to hold ALT key and type 0160).
3)Now u have a folder with out a name.
4)Right click on the folder>properties>customize. Click on change icon.
5)Scroll a bit, u should find some empty spaces, Click on any one of them.

click ok

Make your Folders Private

•Open My Computer
•Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C, unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
•If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
•Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
•Double-click your user folder.
•Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
•On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.


Note

•To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
•This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
•When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
•You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS

To Rename the Recycle Bin

To change the name of the Recycle Bin desktop icon, open Regedit and go to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/CLSID/{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

and change the name "Recycle Bin" to whatever you want (don't type any quotes).

Speed up your browsing of Windows 2000 & XP machines

Here's a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks. Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn't search for Scheduled Tasks anymore. Here's how :

Open up the Registry and go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

and delete it.

This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.

This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.

To make your Desktop Icons Transparen

Go to control Panel > System, > Advanced > Performance area > Settings button Visual Effects tab "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop"

To Remove Windows XP's Messenger

Theoretically, you can get rid of it (as well as a few other things). Windows 2000 power users should already be familiar with this tweak.

Fire up the Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the %SYSTEMROOT% \ INF folder. What the heck is that thingy with the percentage signs? It's a variable. For most people, %SYSTEMROOT% is C:\Windows. For others, it may be E:\WinXP. Get it? Okay, on with the hack! In the INF folder, open sysoc.inf (but not before making a BACKUP copy first). Before your eyes glaze over, look for the line containing "msmsgs" in it. Near the end of that particular line, you'll notice that the word "hide" is not so hidden. Go ahead and delete "hide" (so that the flanking commas are left sitting next to one another). Save the file and close it. Now, open the Add and Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Click the Add / Remove Windows Components icon. You should see "Windows Messenger" in that list. Remove the checkmark from its box, and you should be set.

NOTE: there are other hidden system components in that sysoc.inf file, too. Remove "hide" and the subsequent programs at your own risk.

Increase Your Virtual RAM

This makes your computer faster by using part of your HD space as virtual RAM. ( Takes around a gigabyte of space,when initialized. but still speeds up your computer greatly!)

If your HD has less than 20GB of free space left then don't do this.

Alright, this is how you do it:


Instructions:
1. Right Click on "My Computer" icon and select "Properties".
2. Click on the Advanced tab.
3. Under Performance, click Settings.
4. Then click the Advanced tab on the button that pops up.
5. Under Virtual Memory at the bottom, click Change.
6. Click the Custom Size button.
7. For the initial size (depending on your HD space), type in anywhere from 1000-1500 (although i use 4000), and for the Maximum size type in anywhere from 2000-2500 (although i use 6000).
8. Click Set, and then exit out of all of the Windows.
9. Finally, restart your computer.
10. You now have a faster computer and 1-2gb of virtual RAM!

Nice unseable shortcuts using win key on keyboard

Today’s tip is about running some of the commands quickly using Windows key (key with Windows symbols on it) along with the key depending on the desired command execution. These shortcut keys in the alphabetical sequence are -

Windows Key + d —> Desktop (A good function that can make your desktop appear by minimizing all the open windows)
Windows key + e —> Opens My Computer (To check your storage devices etc.)
Windows key + f —> Opens Search window (To search files and folders)
Windows key + l —> Lock your computer or switch between users (Use it if you are going away for sometime or want other user to use the PC)
Windows key + m —> Minimizes all the open windows and brings desktop
Windows key + r —> Run a command from the Run dialog box

The Windows key is the key with typical Windows logo on it, i.e., . For above functions, you have to keep the Windows key pressed when pressing any other key. You can release the two keys after the desired window has appeared or function has been done.

Now, some of the functions can also be done after the Windows key has been pressed once to make the Start menu appear. It can then be released and the corresponding underlined character key be pressed to run the command as shown below.

Windows Key, u –> Shutdown
Windows key, h –> Help and Support
Windows key, c –> Reaching Search menu or other programs starting with C in the Start menu (example Creative Mediasource Go)
Windows key, s –> Reaching Settings menu
Windows key, d –> Reaching Documents menu or programs starting with D in the Start menu

So, when next time you are interested in saving some of your seconds in Shutting down your PC, running a command in the Run window, taking Windows help or reaching some other commands as explained above, use Windows key and the required shortcut keys.

I hope that this tip helps you in saving some of your seconds. Also, it’s good to use keyboard after one has been using mouse for a long time

"Show hidden file " not working

1. Go to your Start menu, click on Run and open up your Registry Editor by typing "regedit" without the quotes and pressing OK.

2. Once there go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folde r\Hidden\SHOWALL

3. Delete the value CheckedValue. (Its type should be REG_SZ and data should be 0 or 1.)

4. Create a new DWORD value called CheckedValue (same as above, except that the type is REG_DWORD) by right clicking on the right pane->New->DWORD Value. Modify the value data to 1 (0x00000001).

by
Abdul Adil - T
E-Mail :- adilaat@gmail.com
Visit :- aatwap.hexat.com

Shut down faster

When a user shuts down Windows XP, first the system has to kill all services currently running. Every once in a while the service does not shut down instantly and windows gives it a changeto shut down on its own before it kills it. This amount of time that windows waits is stored in the system registry. If you modify this setting, then windows will kill the service earlier. To modify the setting, follow the directions below:
Start Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control. Click on the "Control"
Folder. Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" Right click on it and select Modify. Set it a
value lower than 2000 (Mine is set to 200).
One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is its album thumbnail generator, which automatically places the appropriate album cover art on the folder to which you are copying music (generally in WMA format).But what about those people that have already copied their CDs to the hard drive using MP3 format? You can download album cover art from sites such as cdnow.com or amguide.com, and then use the new Windows XP folder customize feature to display the proper image for each folder.But this takes time--you have to manually edit the folder properties for every single folder--and you will lose customizations if you have to reinstall the OS. There's an excellent fix,however.
When you download the album cover art from the Web, just save the images as folder.jpg each time and place them in the appropriate folder. Then, Windows XP will automatically use that image as the thumbnail for that folder and, best of all, will use that image in Windows Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) if you choose to display album cover art instead of a visualization. And the folder customization is automatic, so it survives an OS reinstallation as well. Your music folders never looked so good!
Album cover art makes music folder thumbnails look better than ever!Windows XP Tips, Small tips for a better experience

Creating a Password Recovery Disk

In case you forget your password, you can create a password recovery floppy disk beforehand to help you out of this problem.
Single-click Start menu
Go to the Control Panel / User Accounts
Click the User Account
On the left hand side, click on Prevent forgotten password
You will need to know your password to create the disk.
If you don't remember your password sometime in the future, click on the green arrow like normal at the login and you will be prompted to insert the password recover disk.

Setting System Time Over the Internet

You can set your system clock to a time server on the Internet.
Double-click the time on your taskbar
Click the Internet Time tab
Check Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server
Click on the Update Now button

Speeding Up the Display of Start Menu Items

An easy way to speed up the display of the Start Menu Items is to turn off the menu shadow.
Right click on an open area of the Desktop
Select Properties
Click on the Appearance tab
Click on the Effects button
Uncheck Show shadows under menus

Disabling Error Reporting

By default, WindowsXP will request to report application errors to Microsoft.
To turn this off:
Right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop
Select Properties / Advanced
Click on the Error Reporting tab
Check Disable error reporting

Disk Tools to Speed Up your PC

Every month or two you should do a little disk maintenance to optimize the performance of your computer.
1 - Disk Cleanup - Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup.
Click the unnecessary files you want to remove, and click OK.
2 - Run ScanDisk - Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, ScanDisk.
(run Standard and check Automatically fix errors)
3 - Run Disk Defragmenter - Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.
(note this may take a long time to run the first time.)

Lock your USB port

To do this you have to make a registry tweak that will prevent writting to the usb port in Windows XP.
1) Go to 'Start|Run' and type 'Regedit'.
2) Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control.
3) Here add a new folder on the left pane by right clicking on it and selecting 'New|Key'.
4) Name this folder 'StorageDevicePolicies'.
5) Click this new folder and in the window on the right create a new DWORD value, lsbel it
WriteProtect, give it avalue of '1'.
6) Now users will not be able to write any data on the USB.
To turn it off just set th evalue to '0'

Lock folder without any software

Suppose you want to lock the folder games in d: which has the path D:\Games.In the same drive create a text file and type
ren games games.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
Now save this text file as loc.bat
create another text file and type in it
ren games.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} games
Now save this text file as key.bat
Now you can see 2 batch files loc and key.Press loc and the folder games will change to control panel and you cannot view
its contents.Press key and you will get back your original folder.

{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} - Turned to Explorer
{0DF44EAA-FF21-4412-828E-260A8728E7F1} - turned to startmenu properties
{6DFD7C5C-2451-11d3-A299-00C04F8EF6AF} - Turned to Folder Options
{7007ACC7-3202-11D1-AAD2-00805FC1270E} - Turned to Network Connections
{D20EA4E1-3957-11d2-A40B-0C5020524152} - Turned to Fonts Folder
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} - Turned to Shedule tasks
{E211B736-43FD-11D1-9EFB-0000F8757FCD} - Turned to Scanners & camera

{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} - Turned to Recycle bin

{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} - Turned to Printers Folder

Increase Harddisk Speed

To speed up your hard disk speed we need to configure a special buffer in the computer's memory in order to enable it to better deal with interrupts made from the disk.This tip is only recommended if you have 256MB RAM or higher.
Follow these steps:
Run SYSEDIT.EXE from the Run command.
Expand the system.ini file window.
Scroll down almost to the end of the file till you find a line called [386enh].
Press Enter to make one blank line, and in that line type
Irq14=4096
Note: This line IS CASE SENSITIVE!!!
Click on the File menu, then choose Save.
Close SYSEDIT and reboot your computer.
Done. Speed improvement will be noticed after the computer reboots.Update: The most speed improvement is visible with IDE drives, however there are reports that this tweak also does good for SCSI disks. In any case, it won't harm your system, so why not try it yourself and let me know what you find.
Please If ur not sure wht ur doin plz dont do it or else m not be responsible 4 that

An icon to switch user fast

If you have enabled the Windows XP feature "Fast User Switching", you can create an additional icon to switch user FAST.

Right-click an empty space on your desktop
Select the option "new shortcut"
Type "rundll32.exe user32.dll LockWorkStation" (Exactly as shown here, but without the quotes. LockWorkStation is case-sensitive.)
Click next
Type a name for the shortcut (e.g. Switch User Fast) and click finish
This icon is so fast and handy and completely safe that I would recommend dragging it to your Quick Launch bar.


Abdul Adil - T
E-Mail :- adilaat@gmail.com
Visit :- aatwap.hexat.com

Hiding ur secret file in a JPEG

# You will need the following.. Windows 2000 / XP
# Basic Knowledge of the Command Prompt
# WinRar
1. Gather your image and the files you wish to lodge into it. Here I have a meeting.txt which I will hide inside my toshow.jpg.
2. Add the files you want to hide into a new RAR archive. (so meeting.txt.rar created newly)
3. Open Command Prompt and go to the folder where your files are located, e.g., 'C:\hidden'.
4. At command prompt type 'copy /b toshow.jpg + meeting.txt.rar lizard.jpg'(without quotes).
(toshow.jpg is the picture I want to show, meeting.txt.rar is the file to be hidden, and
lizard.jpg is the file which contains both.)
6. Now test the lizard.jpg by double clicking it, and verifying it still opens.
8. Now try opening that same lizard.jpg file from menu: file->open of WinRar. It will show the original hidden file meeting.txt.
now lizard.jpg is a simple JPEG for others, but it contains a secret file meeting.txt for you !!!!!!!!!
here is a test image..
user posted image
Save this picture in your desktop and open normally and open in winrar to see the difference.

by
Abdul Adil - T
E-Mail :- adilaat@gmail.com
Visit :- aatwap.hexat.com

Faster windows xp boot!

First restart ur pc and look at the blue line(boot screen) and see how many times it goes..
that u have to do is:
1- start>run> and past ''regedit''
2- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/ SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Control / Session Manager / Memory Managment / PrefetchParameters / EnablePrefetcher.
3- dobbel ** on "Enableprefetcher"
4- past 1 in Value Data, and Hexadecimal most be on(enable)
then restart the pc and and look at the blue line and see how many times it goes

by
Abdul Adil - T
E-Mail :- adilaat@gmail.com
Visit :- aatwap.hexat.com