Tool and Tricks

Some times it becomes necessary to block a website on our Computers for one or other reason. You can easily and effectivily block access to a website by adding it to your Windows HOSTS file. Once the website is blocked in the HOSTS file, it will not appear in any of the browsers. That is, the website becomes completely unavailable. 1. Go to your HOSTS file which is located at: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC for XP, Vista and Win 7 C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC for Win 2000 C:\WINDOWS for Windows 98 and ME 2. Open HOSTS with Notepad. The default Windows HOSTS looks like this:  ______________________ # Copyright © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.  #  # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.  #  # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each  # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should  # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.  # The IP address and the host name should

Know The Image From Which Mobile It Is Captured Go to ur xplorer and select image. Then edit its name as shown in below image Example – if your image name is ‘village.jpg’ then edit like this ‘patho.jpg.txt’ Then click on ‘village.jpg.txt’ file there you can see the mobile from which this image is captured and its date on which it is captured IMP NOTE - 1.This will work only with the images captured from mobile camera 2.only works with images which are not edited by any means

Open registry editor by going to Start then Run and entering regedit. Once in registry, navigate to key  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ My Computer \ NameSpace \ DelegateFolders  You must see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. If you delete this key, you have effectively removed the my shared documents folder.

Logon wallpaper is the wallpaper or image that windows xp shows on screen when windows logs on (before it asks for username & password) . It’s usually set to the image-logo of the brand(manufacturer) of our computer (e.g. in compaq laptops). Now we can set it to our own image or any other image(any bmp file) by following trick.  Open Startmenu->Run type regedit and press ok to open registry editor.(shows a tree like structure of directories at left)  In that hierarchical structure in left, navigate to registry entry  HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop  In right side pane see a number of values placed in a table format. choose the value named Wallpaper from there and double click it. Now you see a box with value name as Wallpaper and value data as Path to the image file .There give the full path of the image(bmp file) which you want to set as logon wallpaper by deleting previous path and writing path to your bmp file e.g. C:\WINDOWS\lon.BMP (to set image lon.BMP file as l

The bad thing about Recent Documents History is that Windows XP has to calculate  what should be put there each time you boot Windows, which can slow things down.  1. Open the Registry Editor (select Start/Run, type regedit, and click OK).  2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mcft\Windows\  CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.  3. Create a NoRecentDocsHistory D_WORD key. Double-click the value to open it  once it is created.  4. Set the Data Value to 1 to enable the restriction.  5. Click OK and close the Registry Editor. You'll need to restart the computer for the  change to take effect

Suppose you want to lock the folder movies in d: which has the path D:\movies.In the same drive create a text file and type ren movies movies.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} Now save this text file as loc.bat Create another text file and type in it ren movies.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} movies Now save this text file as key.bat

This is a great trick you can play on your friends. To disable the display of local or networked drives when you click My Computer.  1.Go to start->run.Type regedit.Now go to:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer  Now in the right pane create a new DWORD item and name it NoDrives(it is case sensitive). Now modify it's value and set it to 3FFFFFF (Hexadecimal) .Now restart your computer. So, now when you click on My Computer, no drives will be shown(all gone...). To enable display of drives in My Computer, simply delete this DWORD item that you created.Again restart your computer.You can now see all the drives again. Magic........lol..

Go to Start then Run  Type 'Regedit' then click 'Ok'  Find "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\"  Select "MenuShowDelay"  Right click and select "Modify'  Reduce the number to around "100"  This is the delay time before a menu is opened. You can set it to "0" but it can make windows really hard to use as menus will open if you just look at them - well move your mouse over them anyway. I tend to go for anywhere between 50-150 depending on my mood.

Disclaimer : Use this article for eductational purpose ONLY.  Follow these steps:  1. Open command prompt (Start->Run->cmd),  2. Enter the following command, then press ENTER  3. Enter the followin command, then press ENTER:  compmgmt.msc  This should open the computer management console.  4. Go to local users & groups->users. Right click on any user and select "set password".  If you get a "access denied" do the following:  start>run>cmd  then use following commands  1) net user test /add (this command will make test named user)  2) net localgroup administrators test /add (this command will make test user as administrators rights)  and use net user command to reset your admin. password

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

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

Change Text and Baloon Tip Associated With All Desktop Icons You need to know the object's class ID (CLSID), which uniquely identifies each system object. The following table lists the CLSIDs for common desktop objects. CLSIDs for desktop objects Desktop object CLSID My Computer {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} Recycle Bin {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} Microsoft Outlook {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} Internet Explorer {FBF23B42-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8} The Internet {3DC7A020-0ACD-11CF-A9BB-00AA004AE837} My Network Places {208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D} Briefcase {85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D} Dial-Up Networking {992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48} Run the Registry Editor, go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID, a key that lets you change characteristics of system objects, and highlight the CLSID whose name or balloon text you want to change. For example, to change My Computer, highlight the subkey HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-10

When I first saw the default search pane in Windows XP, my instinct was to return it to its classic look; that puppy had to go. Of course, I later discovered that a doggie door is built into the applet. Click "Change preferences" then "Without an animated screen character." If you'd rather give it a bare-bones "Windows 2000" look and feel, fire up your Registry editor and navigate to:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ CabinetState.  You may need to create a new string value labeled "Use Search Asst" and set it to "no".

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 yo

You can start or stop programs from executing at bootup by adding or deleting them to/from the run Keys in the Registry. Windows loads programs to start in the following order; Program listed in the Local Machine hive, then the Current User hive, then theWin.ini Run= and Load = lines and then finally programs in your Start Up folder. To add or remove programs in the Registry. Open RegEdit. .Go to the desired Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Micrsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices Add a new String Value and name it anything you like. For the value data, enter the path and executable for the program you want to run. By adding the value to the KEY_CURRENT_USER hive instead allows the program to start only when that user is logged on. If you add the value to the RunOnce key the pro

Change Icons of your Desktop Objects(MyComputer, Recycle bin..) Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID, and look for the CLSID subkey from the table above for the object whose icon you want to change. Open the subkey and then the DefaultIcon subkey under that. To change the icon for My Computer, open the subkey HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\DefaultIcon. Change the Default value to the path of the icon that you want displayed. Follow the same for changing the icons of ther items as well. Exit the Registry. You might have to reboot for the new settings to take effect. If you aren't able to change your icons still, then try editing the following: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft \Windows\CurrentVersion \ Explorer\ CLSID\, and you will be in.

Google is indisputedbly the best search engine out there on the Internet, however there are a few ways by which you can customize Google and make it even better. I have got 3 best free Firefox extensions using which you can customize Google by adding extra useful information to your search results and remove unwanted informationlike ads, spam and click tracking so as to improve the overall searching experience. The following are the 3 best extensions for Firefox using which you can improve the search results. 1. OptimizeGoogle: Using OptimizeGoogle , you can get rid of text ads from Google search results, add links from about 10 other search engines, add position counter, product results and more. You can even filter your search results to see dead websites (using WayBack Machine ) and remove click tracking so that you can search anonymously. Here is a list of some of the other useful features of this plugin. 1. Use Google suggest (get word suggestion while typing)