An anonymous remailer is a computer which has been configured to run remailer software. This software is a specialized kind of email server software. Unlike average email server which goes to great lengths to log all incoming/outgoing traffic and add identifying and traceable info to its outgoing mail (in the form of headers) remailer software ensures that outgoing mail has been STRIPPED CLEAN of any identifying information! Thus the name 'anonymous' remailer.

The remailer performs certain automated tasks which include retrieving mail, decrypting/processing that mail (only mail that is properly encrypted and formatted), obeying the directives within the message and, finally, delivering - remailing - the finished product to a second party in anonymized form. When received by that second party it will reveal only that it was sent from an anonymous source (usually the remailer's name and email address). The IP address shown will be the IP address of the remailer machine.

Using a chain of remailers you can send messages totally anonymous, but you can receive too with a nym, download web pages, send files in FTP, talk in newsgroups, etc...

Remailers protect the privacy and the free speech on-line, because many surveillance systems exist, from marketing to military purpose. The European Parliament scientific unit (STOA) has written up an appraisal of the technologies of political control, beyond the creation of the temporary committee on the ECHELON interception system.

How? Use this tool: https://riot.eu.org/anon/remailer.html.en

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



If you wanna make a autorun file for that CD you are ready to burn just read this...

1) You open notepad

2) now you writ: [autorun]
OPEN=INSTALL\Setup_filename.EXE
ICON=INSTALL\Setup_filename.EXE

Now save it but not as a .txt file but as a .inf file.

But remember! The "Setup_filename.EXE" MUST be replaced with the name of the setup file. And you also need to rember that it is not all of the setup files there are called '.exe but some are called '.msi

3) Now burn your CD with the autorun .inf file included.

4) Now set the CD in you CD drive and wait for the autorun to begin or if nothing happens just double-click on the CD drive in "This Computer"

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



If you don't already have a copy of MusicMatch Jukebox, download one from musicmatch.com. The "Plus" version has more features and burns CDs faster, but the free version works just fine for converting files

1. Install music match box and then restart your computer if it asks
2. open music matchbox and click file convert files
3. in the bottom right hand corner called 'destination type' change it to mp3 pro.
4.you can edit the bitrate but the higher the bitrate the bigger the size
5. choose the songs you want to convert and click start

***if you want to try something different repeat step one and 2 and instead of making the destintion type mp3 pro make it 'mp3pro vbr'

again the lower the setting the smaller the size.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



Did you know that by changing a few settings you can make your dial-up modem run better? That's right—you might have a fast modem and a good connection, but you're not getting the best performance. With a few adjustments, you can get faster connection speeds.

NOTE: Since every PC configuration is different, these adjustments might not work for everyone.

With Windows 95, 98 & ME you'll need to open your Control Panel ( Start / Control Panel ). Click "System" then choose "Device Manager". Open up "Ports", highlight your modem port (should be COM2), and choose "Properties" near the bottom. When you click "Port Settings", you will see the modem speed listed under "Bits per second".

With Win XP , just hold down the Alt key and double-click "My Computer" to bring up System Properties. Click the "Hardware" tab, then choose the "Device Manager" button. Scroll down to "Modems" and click the little (—) to show your modem, then double click it.

Selecting the "Modem" tab will allow you to adjust the port speed.


Usually, the Maximum Port Speed is on the highest setting (115,000 bps), but sometimes you will find it on a slower default of 9600 bps. If you have a 56k modem, you can crank it up to the maximum setting without any trouble (in most cases). If you live in a cave and have a 28k modem, then the fastest you can do is 57,600 bps.

Win 9x users should also adjust the "Flow Control" near the bottom. The default for this is usually Xon/Xoff which is the software control—change this to "Hardware" if you want to get the most from your modem. Next, click the "Advanced" button to adjust the Receiver Buffer to its highest setting (all the way to the right). If you run into any problems, just turn this one back to the 2/3 setting.

To check/adjust the Receive-Transmit buffers in XP, click the "Advanced" tab of your modem properties then choose the "Advanced Port Settings" button. Make sure that both are set to their highest settings.

There are many more tweaks that can be done in the registry, but the potential for disaster is too high for the average user. Some folks install dial-up accelerators, which basically tweak these registry settings for you and perform other routines to optimize performance.

Just by changing these few settings, though, you should see better performance.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



1) Don't try to modify a prog by editing his source in a dissasembler.Why? Couse that's for programmers and assembly experts only. If any of you dumb kids try to view it in hex you'll only get tons of crap you don't understand. First off, you need Resource Hacker(last version).It's a resource editor- very easy to use.

Resource Hacker Version 3.4.0
CODE
http://delphi.icm.edu.pl/ftp/tools/ResHack.zip/

Help File
CODE
http://www.users.on.net/johnson/resourceha...eshack_hlp.zip/



2)Unzip the archive, and run ResHacker.exe. You can check out the help file too, if you want to be a guru.

3)You will see that the interface is simple and clean. Go to the menu File\Open or press Ctrl+O to open a file. Browse your way to the file you would like to edit. You can edit *.exe, *.dll, *.ocx, *.scr and *.cpl files, but this tutorial is ment to teach you how to edit *.exe files, so open one.

4)In the left side of the screen a list of sections will appear.
The most common sections are: -Icon;
-String table;
-RCData;
-Dialog;
-Cursor group;
-Bitmap;
-WAV.

*Icon: You can wiew and change the icon(s) of the program by double-clicking the icon section,chossing the icon, right-clicking on it an pressing "replace resource". After that you can choose the icon you want to replace the original with.

*String table: a bunch of crap, useful sometimes, basic programming knowladge needed.

*RCData: Here the real hacking begins. Modify window titles, buttons, text, and lots more!

*Dialog:Here you can modify the messages or dialogs that appear in a program. Don't forget
to press "Compile" when you're done!

*Cursor group: Change the mouse cursors used in the program just like you would change the icon.

*Bitmap: View or change images in the programs easy!

*WAV:Change the sounds in the prog. with your own.


5) In the RCData,Dialog,Menu and String table sections you can do a lot of changes. You can
modify or translate the text change links, change buttons, etc.


TIP: To change a window title, search for something like: CAPTION "edit this".

TIP: After all operations press the "Compile Script" button, and when you're done editing save
your work @ File\Save(Save as).

TIP: When you save a file,the original file will be backed up by default and renamed to Name_original and the saved

file will have the normal name of the changed prog.

TIP: Sometimes you may get a message like: "This program has a non-standard resource layout... it has probably been compressed with an .EXE compressor." That means that Resource Hacker can't modify it becouse of it's structure.

Remember! This is only a small example of what you can do to executables with Resource Hacker.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo






If you would like your desktop Icons to have no text underneath then try this tweak:

Right click the icon and select "Rename"

Now hold the "Alt" key and type "255" and hit Enter

NOTE : It may only work with the keypad numbers and not the number keys on top of the keyboard.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo




If an essential Windows file gets whacked by a virus or otherwise corrupted, restore it from the Windows CD. Search the CD for the filename, replacing the last character with an underscore; for example, Notepad.ex_. If it's found, open a command prompt and enter the command EXPAND, followed by the full pathname of the file and of the desired destination: EXPAND D:\SETUP\NOTEPAD.EX_ C:\Windows\NOTEPAD.EXE. If either pathname contains any spaces, surround it with double quotes.

If the file isn't found, search on the unmodified filename. It will probably be inside a CAB file, which Win XP treats as a folder. Simply right-drag and copy the file to the desired location. In other Windows platforms, search for a file matching *.cab that contains the filename. When the search is done, open a command prompt and enter EXTRACT /L followed by the desired location, the full pathname of the CAB file, and the desired filename; for example: EXTRACT /L C:\Windows D:\I386\Driver.cab Notepad.exe. Again, if the destination or CAB file pathname contains spaces, surround it with double quotes.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



Cluster is an allocation unit. If you create file lets say 1 byte in size, at least one cluster should be allocated on FAT file system. On NTFS if file is small enough, it can be stored in MFT record itself without using additional clusters. When file grows beyond the cluster boundary, another cluster is allocated. It means that the bigger the cluster size, the more disk space is wasted, however, the performance is better.

So if you have a large hard drive & dont mind wasteing some space, format it with a larger cluster size to gain added performance.

The following table shows the default values that Windows NT/2000/XP uses for NTFS formatting:

Drive size
(logical volume) Cluster size Sectors
----------------------------------------------------------
512 MB or less 512 bytes 1
513 MB - 1,024 MB (1 GB) 1,024 bytes (1 KB) 2
1,025 MB - 2,048 MB (2 GB) 2,048 bytes (2 KB) 4
2,049 MB and larger 4,096 bytes (4 KB) 8
However, when you format the partition manually, you can specify cluster size 512 bytes, 1 KB, 2 KB, 4 KB, 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, 64 KB in the format dialog box or as a parameter to the command line FORMAT utility.

The performance comes thew the bursts from the hard drive. by having a larger cluster size you affectivly have a larger chunk of data sent to ram rather than having to read multiple smaller chunks of the same data.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo




OK, so now you realize that you've got some spyware junk on your system.

Before you go headlong into deleting suspected files or editing the registry, try this simple disabling technique.

First, see if you can determine what the offending files are. You can do this by running "msinfo32" if you're using Win98. I only have experience with Win98, so I don't know the corresponding run command for this "Microsoft System Information" utility in WinXP. Go to the "Software Enviroment" section and poke around to see if you can locate an offensive or out-of-place file that looks like it doesn't belong. Make a note of the filename and location.

Then fire up Windows Explorer and navigate to the "no-goodnick" file. Now, and this is important, rename the file to something you can remember later. I like to use the same filename, but tack on the letters (in caps) "OLDXXX", where "XXX" are my initials. So, for example:

twaintec.dll

is renamed to

twaintecOLDXXX.dll

This effectively disables the offensive file, so that whatever piece of spyware junk is looking for it, it can't find it, and thus can't glop up you system. If you've made a mistake and the file is essential to your system, you can easily correct it by reversing the renaming procedure. This is much easier than restoring a deleted file, especially if you have emptied your recycle bin in the meantime!

Some bogus files can't be renamed while Windows is running, so then you have to use brute force and reboot in DOS-only mode, and use DOS commands to locate and rename the file. You may have to dig out your old DOS reference books for this like I did.

I have used this technique several times to disable offending junk until I can find a permanent way of getting rid of it.

It's a great trouble-shooting technique.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



If ure searching for something to download in google u can use this little trick. Mostly it works. Try typing this:

parent + directory + anything u wanna download

but if u wanna download anything special u can specify.

IE:

parent + directory + games + whatever

dunno if it will work for you all but for me it works quite good sometimes

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



Peer2Mail is the first software that let you store and share files on any web-mail account. If you have a web mail account with large storage space, you can use P2M to store files on it. Web-mail providers such as Gmail (Google Mail), Walla!, Yahoo and more, provide storage space that ranges from 100MB to 6GB.

P2M splits the file you want to share/store zips and encrypts it. P2M then sends the file segments one by one to your account. Once P2M uploaded all file segments, you can download them and use P2M to merge the segments back to the original file.

u can get the software from here

http://www.peer2mail.com/P2MSetup.exe

and for any info u can log to there website

http://www.peer2mail.com

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo




1: Start > Right Click on My Computer and select properties.
2: Click on the "Advanced" tab
3: See the "Perfomance" section? Click "Settings"
4: Disable all or some of the following:

Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide ToolTips into view
Fade out menu items after clicking
Show Shadows under menus
Slide open combo boxes
Slide taskbar buttons
Use a background image for each folder type
Use common tasks in folders

There, now Windows will still look nice and perform faster

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



XP PRO has a lot of fun utilities. One of the most useful ones I have found to date is the ability to remotely reboot a PC. There are 2 ways of doing this. You will need to have admin access to the PC to preform these actions. That being said, here is the first way to do it:

Right click my computer, choose manage.
Highlight the Computer Management (Local) then click on Action, choose connect to another computer.
In the window that opens fill in the machine name of the PC you want to connect to and click ok.
Once connected right click on Computer Management (Remote machine name) and choose properties.

Go to the "Advanced" tab and click the Settings button under Start up and recovery.
Click on the Shutdown button.

Under action choose what you want to do (you can log off current user, shut down, restart, or power down. you can also choose if you want to force all applications to close, close hung apps, or wait for all apps to close by themselves).

The second way... Remember dos... that good old thing. Open up a command prompt and enter in the following:

%windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -r -m \\Machinename. The command prompt has more switches and options. I highly suggest using shutdown.exe /? to see all the posibilities.


Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo





1. Start, Run, 'Regedit'.
2. Press 'Ctrl'+'F' to open find box and type 'Recycle Bin' to search.
3. Change any value data with 'Recycle Bin' to whatever name you want to give it ( ie, like 'Trash Can' or 'Dump' etc).
4. Press F3 to continue searching for 'Recycle Bin' and change wherever you come across 'Recycle Bin' to new its new name.
5. Repeat step 4 until you have finished with searching and changed all values to its new name.
6. Close regedit and hit F5 on desktop to see the new name on screen.

Note: As a good practice, always backup your registry before changing anything although changing 'Recycle Bin' name is a simple tweak and doesnt affect anything else.


Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo






First of all you can try what Microsoft Suggests:
CODE
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302089

===================================================================

then you may try some more ways of removing MSN.
I am not responsible for the use or the misuse of this information.
Use at your own risk.

==================================================================

2nd way:

To remove MSN Messenger open your run box and copy/paste this:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
Click OK, follow any instructions that may pop up, and and MSN Messenger will
uninstall! you should be rid of the little pain forever !
(Always easy to reload it if you decide you want it in the future.)

==================================================================

3rd way:

The following method works in Windows XP Professional, but
has not been tested on a system with SP1 installed. FYI, I've seen scripts that are
similar to this, but fail miserably, automatically deleting other much-needed
components! Better to do this slow and manually!

1. Exit MSN Messenger by right-clicking the MSN icon in the notification area, and
selecting Exit.
2. Add the following registry entries, both with a DWORD value of 1:

a. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client\PreventRun
b. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client\PreventAutoRun

3. Open a command prompt by clicking Start/Run, then typing "command" and clicking OK.
4. Uninstall MSN Messenger by typing "rundll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %systemRoot%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove"
5. Uninstall the leftover installation information file by typing
"rundll32 setupapi,InstallHinfSection BLC.Remove 128 %systemRoot%\INF\msmsgs.inf"
6. Allow MSN Messenger to be displayed in the Add/Remove Windows Components dialog
in the future (if it pops up again!)
by typing "notepad.exe %systemRoot%\INF\sysoc.inf" and deleting the word "hide" from the
line that starts with "msmsgs=".
It MAY be possible to skip to this step directly and perform the uninstallation directly from
the Add/Remove Windows Components dialog, but that method MAY leave unwanted
components and has not been thoroughly tested.
7. Cross your fingers and reboot! You will probably get a message asking you to confirm the
removal of some leftover files. Click OK.

=====================================================================

4th way:

There Is a way to uninstall Messenger cleanly. I don't know if these steps apply for Home version.
1. Control PanelAdd Remove Programs click on "add emove windows components" on the left hand side.
In the box that pops up...scroll down to the bottom and highlight "windows messenger" then UNcheck the box.
2. Hit next and let the uninstall complete. (it's not a very obvious un-install) When it's, done make sure you
to RESTART WINDOWS! (the messenger icon will still be in the tray if you don't!)


======================================================================
5th way:

Search for sysoc.inf. It should be located in the C:\windows\inf\........
CODE
visit the:
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=288
and follow the excellent instructions given step by step by icons!

======================================================================
6th way

1. First, right click the Messenger icon in the system tray and click Exit.
2. Right click the Start button and click the Explore command to open the Windows Explorer.
3. In the Windows Explorer, expand the Program Files folder on the partition where your operating
system is installed (the partition that holds the WINDOWS directory) and right click the Messenger
folder and select Rename.
4. Rename the folder to MessengerDISABLED and press ENTER to commit the name change.
5. Restart the Computer. No more Windows Messenger

====================================================================
7th way and many thanks to ralph for the following:

You could also check out...
CODE
http://grc.com/stm/shootthemessenger.htm

Download and run our small (22 kbyte) "ShootTheMessenger.exe" utility. It will display the current
status of your system's Messenger Service. The button near the bottom of its window will allow
you to set the service to whichever state ? running or disabled ? that you desire.

If, for any reason, you should ever choose to re-enable the Windows Messenger Service, simply
re-run ShootTheMessenger to do so.
====================================================================

You could also check out...

CODE
http://grc.com/stm/shootthemessenger.htm


QUOTE
Download and run our small (22 kbyte) "ShootTheMessenger.exe" utility. It will display the current status of your system's Messenger Service. The button near the bottom of its window will allow you to set the service to whichever state ? running or disabled ? that you desire.

If, for any reason, you should ever choose to re-enable the Windows Messenger Service, simply re-run ShootTheMessenger to do so.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



If you wish to install php and mysql to run a phpBB installation on your computer, first you will need installers. Most of you have windows, so I recommend FoxServ. This is a great program that installs php, mysql, and more on your windows machine in under a minute, excluding download time.

Download foxserv 3.0 from http://www.foxserv.net/

Run the foxserv install program, it is pretty self explanatory, just do what it says.

After you get everything installed, run the foxserv control panel and click the install buttons for everything.

Open winmysql ADMIN. Create a new username and pass at start-up, and then create a new database, the one you will be using for your phpBB installation.

Now download phpBB 2.0.x from phpbb.com, or download phpBBplus from http://www.phpbb2.de/phpbb2plus/phpBB2_plus_1.2.zip.

Unzip the phpBB2 folder into C:\Foxserv\www\

After you have done such, visit http://localhost/phpBB2/ to view your install page. enter the correct information.
database name: the name of the database you created.
database username: username you created
database password: password you created

then enter your email information and everything else as it should be. Now delete the install and contrib directories from the phpBB2 folder on your computer.

Voila! All set up. If you want to have other people view your site, then you need a forwarding service. I have a dynamic IP, so I use http://www.dynu.com. Register an account there and follow all of their instructions if you have a dynamic IP. Now you should visit http://yoursite.dynu.com/ to make sure everything worked.

Also, windows xp users BE SURE TO INSTALL SERVICE PACK 1. SP1 fixes critical incompatibility issues with the apache 2.x server that prevents it from using php correctly. If you do not have service pack one, php pages will load incorrectly or not at all on your webserver.

I posted this because I was fed up with trying to find a host that supports php and mysql and doesnt have any ads on it.

NOTE: You wont get any HOST that will allows you WAREZ, then you can use your own pc as your own HOST

another program that works well is phpdev5 i have used it for a long time. and another site to register a dns name is http://dyndns.org it gives you better names, for example mine is http://shag.kicks-*ss.net.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo




Scheduled Tasks - Defrag, how to set up scheduled defrags

oi m8s i figured this out because i ran into problems with trying to get windows task manager to defrag my hardrive at a certain time by only using built in tools.

Step 1

open up notepad (or favorite editor) and type:


defrag c:
defrag d:
defrag e:
defrag f:
defrag g:
defrag j:


make sure to change the drive letters to one that match your system. After you have customized the drive letters save the file as defrag_script.BAT or whatever is easy for you to remeber. Just make sure its a ".BAT" file. I saved the file into a dir in my documents called scripts but you can put it anywhere.

Step 2

Now that you have the script already made open your control panel and click on "Scheduled Tasks".

Select file>new>Scheduled Task

it should create a file on oin the window called "New Task" slect this and right click to properties.

In the run box click browse and navigate to your script. make sure that you run it with an account that has administrator rights otherwise it might not work.

Now select the schedule tab from the top and input the time and how often. I chose to urn it every noght however you could probably run it once a week and still be fine.

After yo uset the time and how often have a look in the settings tab and see if you need to change anything. Then click okay and your done!


you can also modify the script further by adding various operations on the ends of the defrag command:
CODE

-a Analyze Only
-f Force defragmentation even if free space is low
-v verbose output
-? Display help text


You can also pipe the command defrag to a log file if you want to see what went on the last time the script ran:
CODE

--this form will rewirte the log file erasing any previous info--
defrag x: -v > x:/logs/defrag_log.txt

--this form will append the new info to the end of the old--
defrag x: -v >> x:/logs/defrag_log.txt

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



To find eBook in FTP Search, visit one of this website

http://search.ftphost.net/
http://www.filesearching.com/
http://reliz.ru/
http://www.narlytime.com/
http://amun.serveftp.com/
http://ftpsearch.tomsk.net/


e.g. if you want to search " Sams Teach Yourself " just type Teach Yourself, you will have some eBooks in some FTP servers.

also can be found with specific format (e.g. PDF & CHM)

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



Did you know that in Windows XP you can shut down your computer from the (eventually DOS prompt) command line box? Moreover, you can do this by clicking your mouse only once.

All you need to do is... right-click on an empty Desktop spot -> select New -> Shortcut -> type shutdown followed by a space, and then enter one or more of the parameters listed below -> click Next -> type a suggestive name for your new shortcut -> finally, click Finish.

This is the Shutdown.exe (located in %systemroot%\System32, usually C:\Windows\System32) syntax:


shutdown [-i|-l|-s|-r|-a] [-f] [-m \\computername] [-t xx] [-c "Text"] [-d[u][p]:xx:yy]

Valid command line switches:

-a = Abort system shutdown in progress ONLY IF the -t xx timeout option was already set to ANY value other than 0. ALL switches except -l and -m are ignored during abort.

-c "Text" = Text comment (case insensitive) to be displayed in the Message area of the System Shutdown window. MUST be enclosed between quotes. Maximum allowed 127 ASCII characters.

-d [u][p]:xx:yy = Reason code for shutdown:
u = User code.
p = Planned shutdown code.
xx = Major reason code. Positive integer number less than 256.
yy = Minor reason code. Positive integer number less than 65536.

-f = Force running applications to close without warning.

-i = Display the shutdown interface (GUI). MUST be the first option!

-l = Log off the current user of the local computer (default action). Can NOT be used with the -m option unless the current user has Sysadmin rights, in which case the -m switch takes precedence.

-m \\computername = Remote/network computer name (most always case sensitive) to log off/restart/shut down. Current user MUST have Sysadmin rights to be allowed to use this switch!

-s = Shut down the local computer.

-r = Shut down and restart (reboot) the local computer.

-t xx = Set shutdown timer to timeout for xx seconds. IF NOT specified defaults to 20 seconds. Allowed values between 0 and 99 seconds. The -a switch is the ONLY one that CAN be used during the timeout period.

NOTES:
The dash (-) in front of these switches can be replaced by a forward slash (/).

Spaces are NOT required to separate the shutdown command from ANY following switches, but ARE required to separate ANY switch from its following parameter(s), if any.
For example:

shutdown -s -c "Shutting down!" -t 3

tells your computer to shutdown after waiting for 3 seconds while the System Shutdown window will display text above in the Message area.

Optional: after you're done creating your customized shortcut for shutdown -> right-click on it -> select Properties -> enter your desired key "combo" in the Shortcut Key box (e.g. Ctrl + Alt + End) -> click OK/Apply.
From now on just left-click on your shutdown shortcut or hit that key combination to turn off/restart/log off your computer.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo


http://systemhelp4u.blogspot.com

Change Default Location of i386 Folder

Occasionally when attempting to install something, you are asked to insert the windows xp cd, and sometimes you’re just too lazy to get up and go get it, or it's not available to you at the moment. Well here’s something that'll solve that problem...

1. Insert your windows xp cd

2. Click on, “Perform Additional Tasks”

3. Now click on, “Browse this CD”

4. Look for the I386 folder, right-click on the folder and copy.

5. Go into, “My Computer”

6. Right click on you C: drive and paste.

How can I change the default location of the i386 folder?

After installing Windows 2000 or XP, if you ever need to add a component to it (like DHCP etc.) it always asks you for the CD, even if you copy the i386 files to your local drive. Can I fix this?

Yes you sure can.

1. Open the registry editor and go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

2. Highlight the Setup folder.
3. On the right pane, locate the SourcePath.
4. Double-click the SourcePath and replace the drive letter in the box to C:\ (if you copied the files to your C:\ drive). Make sure it's C:\ and not C:\i386.
5. Close the registry editor.
6. If the system ever needs files from the i386 folder, it will automatically look in the C:\i386 folder.

You can also do the trick with Windows 2000 and XP Professional client computers that were installed from a shared folder on your network, but do not copy the i386 folder to the local drive of each computer. Instead, copy the i386 folder to a share located on a network server. Edit the registry for the Windows 2000 or XP Pro machines and make it point to the UNC path of the network server.

Also, if you installed from a RIS server, keep the RIS server running. Your system is smart enough to grab the files from the RIS server when it needs extra files.

This tip works for service packs too. You'll notice at the registry string from step #1 that it says service packsourcepath. Extract the SP from the command prompt to a folder on your hard drive using the w2ksp# -x switch, make the path in the registry where you put the files, and you won't have to go fishing for service pack disks again.

Well folks, from now on you should never be asked for that cd again…

*BTW, after all my writing, I found a program that takes the place of having to modify the registry manually. It’s called BanishCD from AnalogX. Here’s what they have to say:

One of the best ways to make Windows more convenient is to copy the CAB files from the CD onto your harddrive, so whenever you install any new hardware, you don't need to put the CD in your system. Unfortunately, Windows still ASKS for the CD, and you need to point it to where you copied the CAB files to, until now...

AnalogX BanishCD is a small utility that allows you to change the path that Windows will look for the CAB files. Normally, the only way this could be done would be to modify the registry manually, which is a very tricky process, and if you make a mistake it can be hard to repair. With BanishCD, you can quickly browse through your system and select the path; and just in case you make a mistake it will store the original path!

Download BanishCD from here:
CODE
http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/system/banishcd.htm

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



As you know Google.com is the most popular search engine in the world.

Here are some tips to helps you find eBooks with Google:

Find Apache's (default) Index page

Try this query:


+("index of") +("/ebooks"|"/book") +(chm|pdf|zip|rar) +apache


Find a particular eBook file

Try this query:


allinurl: +(rar|chm|zip|pdf|tgz) TheTitle

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo

Some Google Tricks

Posted by Reetta | 8:13 AM




A few things you might want to try with Google:

Hand type the following prefixes and note their utility:

link:url Shows other pages with links to that url.

related:url same as "what's related" on serps.

site:domain restricts search results to the given domain.

allinurl: shows only pages with all terms in the url.

inurl: like allinurl, but only for the next query word.

allintitle: shows only results with terms in title.

intitle: similar to allintitle, but only for the next word. "intitle:webmasterworld google" finds only pages with webmasterworld in the title, and google anywhere on the page.

cache:url will show the Google version of the passed url.

info:url will show a page containing links to related searches, backlinks, and pages containing the url. This is the same as typing the url into the search box.

spell: will spell check your query and search for it.

stocks: will lookup the search query in a stock index.

filetype: will restrict searches to that filetype. "-filetype:doc" to remove Microsoft word files.

daterange: is supported in Julian date format only. 2452384 is an example of a Julian date.

maps: If you enter a street address, a link to Yahoo Maps and to MapBlast will be presented.

phone: enter anything that looks like a phone number to have a name and address displayed. Same is true for something that looks like an address (include a name and zip code)

site:www.somesite.net "+www.somesite.+net"
(tells you how many pages of your site are indexed by google)

allintext: searches only within text of pages, but not in the links or page title

allinlinks: searches only within links, not text or title


I hope there is something new in here for you and maybe this infos will be helpfull for ya.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo

get a smtp server ( i use mx1.hotmail.com) theyre normally like
mx1,mx2 etc..thehost.com.

Now, go to Start>Run>cmd
then in the cmd window, type
telnet mx1.hotmail.com 25
then
HELO hotmail.com
then
MAIL FROM : (fakeemailhere)
then
RCPT TO: (person)
then
DATA
then type your message, you can press enter for a new line, finish the message by a full stop (.) on a new line, press enter!

spoofed.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo

Speeding up menus in XP

Posted by Reetta | 4:08 AM



Go to Start --> Run --> Regedt32

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Locate the key called "MenuShowDelay" and it is probably set to 400.

Change that value to 150.

Reboot your computer.

You should notice a slight increase in the speed of your menus


Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo


Some times we need to stop some restart process quickly. In windows XP some times it gives auto restart warning and here is good solution for it.

1. Go to Start menu
2. Click on RUN
3. Enter the following command excluding hashcodes "shutdown -a"

its Done.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



If the above instructions for configuring your system to boot from CD or you have acquired the necessary boot floppy/floppies; you can now boot the computer and follow the on screen prompts. Have your Product Key available, typical install is around 30 minutes. If setup seems to hang, wait at least 10 minutes + before restarting system. You should experience
momentary screen blackouts.

1. Power on the computer. Press the Pause/Break key as soon as you see text on the screen. [If you currently are running in an OS of any flavor, insert XP CD and restart computer. Skip to #3 if system is configured to boot from CD.]


2. Insert XP CD into CD drive. Press ENTER to resume booting from the XP CD. (BIOS must support booting from CD and boot order must be set so CD boots before hard drive. If computer does not support booting from CD go to 2a for floppy install).

2a. Floppy install: Boot from Win98/Me/Special XP install floppy disk with smartdrv.exe added to the boot disk; or the Win XP set of 6 floppy disks.

3. Look for message "booting from CD" usually located at the bottom of the screen. If you have a factory splash screen, press ESC to unload it.

3a. Floppy install: From the A Prompt; A:\type: smartdrv.exe. then press ENTER. If you are using the XP boot floppy setup disks skip to step #5.

4. Press any Key when you see the prompt to "Press Any Key"

4a. Floppy install: CD to the location of the CD-ROM drive with the XP setup files; CD to the i38 folder where you will type: winnt.exe to start setup.

5. Setup will start copying files, if you need to install any third - party or RAID drivers press F6 at this time. the copying of files can take awhile.

6. Next you will get the option to repair or enter setup, choose to enter setup. Press ENTER. To see images full size, place mouse cursor over image and click/double click or press the left button and open.

7. Press F8 if you agree to the license.

8. Setup will scan for previous Windows installations

9. If you are using the upgrade version of XP on a computer without any version of Windows currently installed, this is where you will replace the XP CD with your qualifying CD, XP setup will scan the qualifying CD and instruct you to replace it with the XP CD to continue XP setup; otherwise, you will not see this screen. Clean install qualifying media can be any of the following Win NT3.51, 4.0, 2000, Win 95, 98, Me. 10. Choose the location to install.

10a If this is a clean hard drive, you can choose to create a partition in the un-partitioned space. At this point, you can allow Setup to use all the space or set a size for the partition.

10b If the hard drive or partition has a previous installation of XP you want to remove, choose to delete the partition by pressing "D". You will then be prompted to create a new partition in the
empty space. This will remove all data from the delete space.

10c If you intend to use multiple partitions, or dual boot, this is where you specify the size of the boot partition and or setup location for XP. If you are planning to dual boot XP, I would create a small 100 meg DOS partition for the first primary partition, then an 8 to 10 gig partition for XP. You can partition and format the remaining space after XP is setup from Disk Manager. If you do not intend to dual boot, you can either use all the un-partitioned space,or create an 8 to 10 gig partition for XP and leave the rest free to partition later.

Note: If a fat32 partition larger than 32 gigabyte is desired, the hard drive or partition will need to be created before running XP setup. XP will not create a fat 32 partition larger than 32 gig, but will support one previously created.

11. Choose the file system from this screen. If dual booting and you created the small 100 meg partition, make it a fat partition. NTFS is configured at the optimal file size during the initial setup. See this link for more on NTFS

12. If you have more that one partition or hard drive on your system, make sure you are formatting the correct partition/drive.

13. Select F to continue.

14. Setup will show a progress box and reboot when copying files is complete.

15. When you see the "Press any Key to Reboot" do not Press any Key. If CD boots anyway, remove CD and reboot.

16. From this point, you will follow the on screen prompts.

17. If you live outside the US, you will probably need to modify the default settings.

18. Personalize your XP Enter your Name and Organization.

19. Enter the Product Key. The Key is located on the back of the CD folder in the Retail versions, and on a holographic label with the OEM versions purchased with a piece of hardware. Write this key down and secure it in a safe place in case the original is misplaced destroyed through natural causes or stupidity. 8-)

20. Choose a name for the computer, this should be a unique name for the computer, especially if it is to be connected to a network. In Pro, you are given the option of creating a password or leaving it blank.

21. Set your Time Zone and Time and Date.

22. Setup will scan for network.

23. If detected you will have the choice to choose a typical configuration or custom. Choose typical if you are unsure.

24. For home you will choose your workgroup, if a network is already established and you intend to connect to it, use the existing workgroup name, otherwise, I suggest using the default.

25. For Pro, the same goes for Pro as suggested for Home, but you will have the choice to join a Domain, if you do not have a Domain or do not know leave blank.

26. Setup will continue and reboot when completed ignore the "Press Any Key".

27. The loading XP window will now display after reboot.

28. You will see a change display settings, say yes, and accept the setting if you can see the screen after accepting.

29. You will see a welcome screen, press next and unfortunately you have to wait for the dialog to finish.

30. Set up you internet or network connection.

31. This is the Activate, Register screen. You must activate within 30 days of installing XP, but you do not ever have to register, Registration is completely optional and if you do not register, no
personal information will be transmitted during activation. If you register, then activation will transmit that information along with the activation. The first Activation is usually done over the internet if the computer is connected to the internet, otherwise, it can be accomplished by copying the alphanumeric string from the activation screen and make a phone call to the on screen supplied phone number. The activation center will then give you a slightly longer number to input into for activation. I suggest you do not activate immediately in case you need to make hard ware changes, or install to a different system within the thirty days, and you will be reminded on boot up until you do.

Blaster worm warning: Do not immediately activate over the internet when asked, enable the XP firewall before connecting to the internet. You can activate after the firewall is enabled. Control Panel - Network Connections. Right click the connection you use, Properties, and there is a check box on the Advanced page.

32. Setup users screen. Set at least one user for yourself or the person that will be using the computer.

33. Thank You

34. Logon to XP and apply Service Pack and Critical updates from Windows Update before installing any software or hardware.

35. Install your anti-virus software.

36. Install all applications and setup your email.

37. Restore from Files and Settings transfer after reinstalling all
applications.

Last updated 2/23/04 Michael Stevens MS-MVP

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo


Did you ever go to warez/cracks sites (which we all know is BAD!) only to be bombarded with 10 windows opening up at a time, with porn, spam etc?

I've discovered a VERY easy way to block about 90-95% of this sh!t, without using any pop-up stopping programs (I hate installing that garbage!).

This is for Internet Explorer 6.0, but I'm sure that it can work with other browsers if you take the time to fiddle around.

Here's how you do it...

1) Go to TOOLS and then INTERNET OPTIONS.

2) Click the SECURITY tab, move the slider up to HIGH and click APPLY.

This applies the highest security settings to IE, which blocks EVERYTHING, including JavaScript, Applets, and so on that pop-ups are based upon.

The catch is this... Some places like online banks and other web sites need these functions to work properly... So you'll need to re-enable one important thing...

1) Go to TOOLS and then INTERNET OPTIONS.

2) Click the SECURITY tab, CUSTOM LEVEL, scroll down to SCRIPTING, and under ACTIVE SCRIPTING, select the ENABLE radio button.

3) Click APPLY and you're pretty much done!

Note: This does NOT completely remove pop-ups and other annoyances, but it sure helps ALOT, without having to trash your computer with pop-up blockers

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



There's DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and even DVD-ROM! So what's the difference between all of these different names, aren't all DVDs the same? Well, it's not quite that simple.

Let's first start with the most obvious difference: some have R and some have RW. The "R" stands for readable, while the "W" stands for writeable.

The main difference between DVD-R and DVD-RW, or DVD+R and DVD+RW is that the R disc formats can only be written to once, and then it is only readable and can’t be erased for the rest of its digital life. While RW discs are can be written to and erased many times, they are both readable and writeable.

"R" discs are perfect if they are only needed to be written to once, such as giving some files to a friend or transferring them between PCs. "RW" discs have their strength in the ability to be used many times over, which is great for routine system backups, etc. And naturally, the RW discs are slightly more expensive than the R discs, but you'll have to decide if the trade offs are worth the money.

Now, onto the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R. As I just described above, DVD-R & DVD-RW are sister discs, the difference being one is writeable once, while the other is writeable multiple times. The same thing is true for DVD+R & DVD+RW. So the question is, what's the difference between the plus and minus?

In order to explain this we must take a trip back in time. When DVDs were first being developed, there was no industry standard. Multiple companies were competing to develop what they hoped would be the dominant form of the future.

The DVD-R DVD+R difference can easily be summarized by the following:

* The DVD-R/RW standard was developed by Pioneer, and is used primarily by Apple and Pioneer. These "minus" discs can only be written to in one layer on the discs surface. In addition, this format is supported by the DVD forum, but is in no way an industry standard. DVD-R/RW discs are cheaper than the "plus" format.
* The DVD+R/RW format is supported by Philips, Dell, Sony, HP, and Mcft. These discs can be written to in multiple layers, giving them slightly better and more disc storage than the "minus" format. Because of this additional capacity, they are slightly more expensive than "minus" discs.

A couple final things to clear up is the difference between DVD-ROM and DVD+RW, or the other DVD formats I mentioned above. The DVD-ROM drive can only read DVDs, while the other DVD drives can read and write data to DVDs.

And naturally the DVD+RW CD+RW difference can be explained by the "DVD" or "CD" prefix. DVDs, on average, can store up to 4.7 GB of data, while a CD can only store about 700 MB of data, or about 15% of a DVD's capacity. While CDs are slightly cheaper, in my opinion, the benefits of DVDs are much greater.

So now that you've learned about the difference between DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and even DVD-ROM, which one is right for you? The easiest way to determine which is more beneficial is to watch the industry trends. A few years ago all pre-built computers were shipping with DVD-ROM drives. Today, most PCs have a burnable DVD drive.

I feel that the benefits of having a burnable DVD drive far outweigh any additional costs. They store much more data, and they are ideal for storing your home movies to watch on your DVD player.

My advice is to look at DVD burners that support all of the major formats I've mentioned above, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW. While a DVD drive that supports all of these formats may be slightly more expensive, it will allow you to use any type of DVD disc to burn to, and you'll be protected from any industry shifts to one format or the other.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo




How to turn MSN Messenger Display Pictures into User Pictures on XP
For the pix you downloaded from MSN

If you’ve ever wanted to turn the display pictures you download from MSN into an account picture (the one that appears in your Start Menu next to your username) for XP here’s how.

1) In messenger Choose ==> Change Display Picture and then ==> Download more pictures.

2) Download the desired images.

3) Open 'Folder Options' in Explorer and make sure you can view Hidden Files and folders.

4) Navigate to X:\Documents and Settings\User_Name\Application Data\Microsoft\MSN Messenger, where X: is the drive XP is on and User_Name is your username.

5) In here you'll see folders with long numbers for names. The next bit is trial and error. If you go into each of the folders you should see that some of them have a folder called UserTile inside of them. In that directory it will have .dat files. The files which have TFR in their names are the images (to make your life easier there is a list at the bottom showing which file is which for a few of them).

6) Going through all the UserTile folders copy these .dat files to a new folder. Now rename them and change their extension from .dat to .bmp by right clicking on them and choosing 'Rename'. Then try to open them in MS Paint or the Windows Fax and Picture Viewer. Not all of them will work (I'm not sure if this is just because some of them aren't actually image files, but any you downloaded should do).

7) If you want to edit them open them up in MS Paint and then make changes there or copy and paste them into your favourite image editor (opening directly doesn't seem to work as the formats are bit messed up from the renaming). Make any changes you want and save (either as BMP, JPEG, GIF or PNG).

8) Go to Control Panel ==> User Accounts

9) Click on your account and then choose 'Change my picture', then select 'Browse for more pictures'.

10) Browse to the image you just saved and select 'Open' and that's it!

11) You can also use the image as your SoD avatar - to do so you'll have to resize the image to being 64 X 64 pixels and save as either (gif, jpeg, swf, png). If you are uploading it to SoD make sure it's less than 20 KB. Otherwise upload to a web server and enter it's URL in the space provided and press 'Update Avatar'.

A list to help you identify the file you want:

CODE


TFR1C - Spider
TFR3F - Leaf
TFRRB - Jellyfish
TFRRC - Ladybug



N.B. The codes above may change, I'm not sure. I may add more files to the list later on.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo


My Suggestions For A Better And Easier Computing:

-> First partition ur HDD as follows. C: (primary, bootable) 10GB, D: (ur choice), E: (10 GB)

-> Next install 2 OSs, it can be XP,XP or XP,9X. One OS in C: and other E:
Let OS in C:\ be called "TRASH" and that in E:\ be called "GOOD"

-> Boot into GOOD OS. Install all the important software (image viewer, winamp, winrar, acrobat, ms-office etc) in E:\program files\. Tweak all you settings, Install all the latest drivers, AV, service packs, patches etc and do the same for TRASH if you want! ALSO INSTALL THE IMAGING SOFTWARE.

-> Now boot to TRASH OS and move the "E:\Documents and Settings" to D:\ and change the default Desktop folder and My Documents folder to d:\doc & settings of TRASH OS. (right click on My Doc, Properties. There just change E: to D:\ or manually "MOVE") for changing desktop u need a tweak program (I use X-Setup, fast and free) NOW INSTALL THE IMAGING SOFTWARE.

-> Depending on ur requirements, allocate pace for D: (say 15 GB). Now OS in E: is the main OS is called GOOD (just for easy identification). and the OS in C:\ is standby and is called TRASH (again this is for easy identification)

DONT FORGET TO ON BOTH THE OS. (I use Paragon HDD Manager, it is fine. The compression is good)

-> Boot into GOOD OS. and change the default Desktop folder and My Documents folder to d:\documents and settings.

-> Boot into TRASH OS. Defragment E:. Now load the imaging program, take the image or save image to file (NOT DRIVE COPY) and store safely (if it is on secondary hdd it is good) or if dont have one, save it to different partition or save on CD.

For installing image viewer, winamp, winrar, acrobat, ms-office and other must have apps use the Program Files folder (E:\)


Now you are done!

Since documents and settings is in D:\, if u restore from image, your private files are NOT lost.
The OS in C: is TRASH and the OS in E: is GOOD. These are just labels for better identification.



Use E:\ OS or GOOD as your primary OS. After this install any software utls to D:\. Sort software in categories like video, audio, dvd, cd, internet, graphics, protection etc. and install each app in thier sub-folder under the category.

If anything goes bad, goto standby OS, load Imaging app, restore the E-drive.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo




Keeping an eye out for viruses

Computer viruses are everywhere! This guide will show you how to stay alert and how to avoid getting infections on your computer. Having an updated virus scanner is only a small part of this, there are many ways that you can prevent having viruses other than a virus scanner, as it will not always save you.


Types of viruses
There are many type of viruses. Typical viruses are simply programs or scripts that will do various damage to your computer, such as corrupting files, copying itself into files, slowly deleting all your hard drive etc. This depends on the virus. Most viruses also mail themselves to other people in the address book. This way they spread really fast and appear at others' inboxes as too many people still fall for these. Most viruses will try to convince you to open the attachment, but I have never got one that tricked me. In fact, I found myself emailing people just to make sure they really did send me something. It does not hurt to be safe.


Worms
Worms are different type of viruses, but the same idea, but they are usually designed to copy themselves a lot over a network and usually try to eat up as much bandwidth as possible by sending commands to servers to try to get in. The code red worm is a good example of this. This worm breaks in a security hole in Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Server) in which is a badly coded http server that, despite the security risks, a lot of people use it. When the worm successfully gets in, it will try to go into other servers from there. When IceTeks was run on a dedicated server at my house, there was about 10 or so attempts per day, but because we ran Apache, the attempts did not do anything but waste bandwidth and not much as I had it fixed a special way. Some worms such as the SQL slammer will simply send themselves over and over so many times that they will clog up networks, and sometimes all of the internet. Worms usually affect servers more than home users, but again, this depends on what worm it is. It is suspected that most worms are efforts from the RIAA to try to stop piracy, so they try to clog up networks that could contain files. Unfortunately, the RIAA have the authority to do these damages and even if caught, nothing can be done.


Trojans
Trojans are another type of virus. They are simply like a server in which enables hackers to get into and control the computer. A trojan such as Subseven can enable a hacker to do various things such as control the mouse, eject the cd-rom drive, delete/download/upload files and much more.


MBR virues
Boot sector viruses are another type, they are similar to file viruses, but instead they go in the boot sector and can cause serious damage when the computer is booted, some can easily format your drive simply by booting your computer. These are hard to remove.


Most viruses have various characteristics. For example, a worm can also be a trojan and also infect the boot sector. It all depends on how the virus is written and what it is designed to do. That's why there are not really strong structured categories, as they can easily mix one in the other.


Know the potentially dangerous files
Like any other files, viruses must be opened in order to do something. Most viruses come through e-mail as an attachment. Some will make it look like it's someone you know, and it will try to convince you to open an attachment. Never open attachments at any cost! Some viruses will infect files in programs, so opening a program will actually open the virus, maybe the same one, or another part of it.


All files have what is called an extension; This is the 3 last letters after the last period. For example, setup.exe has a file extension of .exe.


Extensions to watch out for are .exe .com .bat .scr .pif .vbs and others, but these are the most seen. .exe .com .bat .pif and .scr are valid extensions for executables. A virus writer will simply rename it to one of these and it will work the same way. .pif is a shortcut to an ms-dos program and will have the ms dos icon, but will still execute whatever code is in it, so an .exe can be renamed to .pif and be run the same way. .bat is a batch file, which can contain instructions to do various file activities, but again, a .exe can be renamed to .bat and it will execute it! .vbs is a visual basic script. For some reason, Microsoft provides this scripting language along with the scripting host to make it more convenient to design and write viruses quickly and easily, I've never seen another use for this scripting language other than for writing viruses. There are programs that are written with that language, but it is compiled into an exe. Exe is the usual extension for programs, you would not have a software CD install a bunch of vbs files all over!


Bottom line is, if you don't know what a file is just don't open it. Some viruses will sometimes be named a way as to mask the real file extension to make it look like a harmless file such as a image file. This is easily noticed, but can still be missed. Simply don't open unexpected files.


If you get something that appears like something legit, just ask the person it came from if they sent it. Most viruses use a friend's address to make it look like it comes from them. The virus does this by using the person's address when sending itself to the address book contacts.


Downloads
Email is not the only way to get viruses; P2P (file sharing programs such as kazaa, winmx, direct connect etc) is also another way to get viruses.


When downloading programs, the main thing to watch out for is the file size. If you are downloading a program that you expect to be rather large such as a game, don't grab a file that is 10KB, since it's most likely a virus. However, I've been caught with a virus even with large files, so file size is not the only thing to watch, as an exe is still valid even if junk is added at the end, so a 64KB virus will still function even if it is turned into 650MB.


Icons are something to look for too, fortunately, virus writers don't take time to put icons. If your download should be a setup file, you should see the icon of a setup file. If it's just the blank icon that typical plain or corrupted exes have, don't open it.


Another thing to do, which should be obvious, is to scan the file for viruses using updated virus definitions. But don't rely on only your virus scanner, as they are not perfect, and if the virus has not been reported to them yet, they won't know to create a definition for it!


Changing settings to stay safe
If you do open a virus, you want to avoid it going to all your friends. The simplest thing to do is to NOT use the windows address book. It is easy for viruses to get through and Microsoft is not doing anything about it. Just don't use it. Put them in spreadsheet or even better write them down somewhere. Don't use the address book.


Another "feature" to avoid is the auto preview. Some viruses can attempt to open themselves just by opening the email. There are security holes in Microsoft mail programs that allow this. In Microsoft Outlook, click on the view menu and remove auto preview. You need to do this for every folder, but the inbox is most important. In Outlook Express, click on the view menu and go to layout. In the dialog box, you will see a check box for show preview pane. Uncheck it and click ok.


Another thing you should change, especially if you download a lot, is the option that allows you to view the file extension. In Win98, go in any folder, click on view then folder options and choose the view tab and where it says hide file extension for known types, uncheck it. In win2k, it is the same process, but instead, go in the control panel and open the folder options icon.


Avoiding server worms
Some viruses, mostly worms, can exploit through servers and affect other servers from servers that have been infected. A good example is the SQL slammer. This was a worm that affected SQL servers run by Microsoft IIS and Microsoft SQL Server. Once the worm gets in, that particular server starts trying to find more exploitable driving internet connections to a halt in the process. Servers running Apache were unaffected by that, except for the many hits to try to get in. IceTeks received about 100 hits per day when it was run on a dedicated home server. Most hits came from major ISPs and other big websites that had no clue they were still affected.


The simple solution to avoid these types of viruses is to NOT use Microsoft based server software for your server, especially if it is a public server. The operating system is also crucial, but the actual server software is much more. Apache, which is free, is much more secure than Microsoft based server programs such as IIS. IIS may be easier to understand and administer, but it saves a lot of hassle to learn how to use Apache. IIS has a large number of vulnerabilities, such as the ability to gain access to cmd.exe and basically delete the whole drive by doing a ../ request in the address bar. These don't require viruses, but simply commands, but there are worms written to automatically make these commands. The code red does this.


Removing a virus
The best way to do this is to do a clean install. However, depending on how bad the virus is, a simple clean install won't remove it. So to be extra sure, you'll want to do a low level format. This is especially true of you got a boot sector virus, as even repartitioning and formatting won't quite remove it, but sometimes you can get away with an fdisk /mbr, but not all the time. here are various removal tools for viruses, it is good to use them and see if they work, but proceeding with the clean install is recommended. You never know if the virus is completely removed by deleting files you suspect are infected. Some viruses such as the Bugbear will close anti virus programs and other programs to make it hard and annoying to figure out what to do. A clean install is the best way to ensure that it's gone for good.

Viruses are out there, don't be one of the many infected ones! Stay alert and stay safe! Don't open unexpected files, regularly update your virus definitions and scan downloaded files!

I hope this article was useful for you!

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo




here is a list of services that can be turned off
this will speed up your pc a bit

right click my computer
manage
services and applications
services

set these to disabled you will need to reboot for them to take effect if you have a problem with any just reenable them again ie if you have a smart card and you disable it wont work

alerter
application layer gateway service
application management
ati hotkey poller
automatic updates
background intelligent transfer service
clipbook
com+ event system
com+ system application
distributed transaction coordinator
error reporting service
fast user switching compatibility
help and support
human interface device access
imapi cd burning com service
indexing service
internet connection firewall(icf)/internet connecton sharing(ics)
ipsec services
logical disk manager
logical disk manager administrative service
messenger
ms software shadow copy provider
net logon
netmeeting remote desktop sharing
network dde
network dde dsdm
nt lm securtiy support provider
performance logs and alerts
portable media serial number service
qos rsvp
remote desktop help sesson manager
remote registry
removable storage
secondary logon
security accounts manager
server
smart card
smart card helper
ssdp discovery service
system restore service
task scheduler
tcp/ip netbios helper
telnet
terminal services
uninterruptible power supply
universal plug and play device host
upload manager
video proes
volume shadow copy
webclient
windows time
wireless zone configuration
wmi performance adapter
workstation

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



These settings allow you to boost the speed of your broadband Internet connection when using a Cable Modem or DSL Router with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Open your registry and find the key below.

Create the following DWORD values, as most of these values will not already exist you will need to create them by clicking on 'Edit -> New -> DWORD Value' and then set the value as shown below.

DefaultTTL = "80" hex (or 128 decimal)
Specifies the default time to live (TTL) for TCP/IP packets. The default is 32.

EnablePMTUBHDetect = "0"
Specifies whether the stack will attempt to detect Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) routers that do not send back ICMP fragmentation-needed messages. The default is 0.

EnablePMTUDiscovery = "1"
Specifies whether the TCP/IP stack will attempt to perform path MTU discovery as specified in RFC 1191. The default is 1.

GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize = "7FFF" hex (or 32767 decimal)
Specifies the system maximum receive window size advertised by the TCP/IP stack.

TcpMaxDupAcks = "2"
Determines the number of duplicate ACKs that must be received for the same sequence number of sent data before "fast retransmit" is triggered.

SackOpts = "1"
Enables support for selective acknowledgements as documented by Request for Comment (RFC) 2018. Default is 0.

Tcp1323Opts = "1"
Controls RFC 1323 time stamps and window scaling options. Possible values are: "0" = disable RFC 1323 options, "1" = window scale enabled only, "2" = time stamps enabled only and "3" = both options enabled.

TcpWindowSize = "7FFF" hex (or 32767 decimal)
Specifies the receive window size advertised by the TCP/IP stack. If you have a latent network you can try increasing the value to 93440, 186880, or 372300.

Exit your registry and restart Windows for the changes to take effect.

If you don’t want to edit the registry, here's a little TCP utility that is ideal...


http://www.broadbandreports.com/front/doctorping.zip

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo


Google’s calculator tries to understand the problem you are attempting to solve without requiring you to use special syntax. However, it may be helpful to know the most direct way to pose a question to get the best results. Listed below are a few suggestions for the most common type of expressions (and a few more esoteric ones).

Most operators come between the two numbers they combine, such as the plus sign in the expression 1+1.

Operator Function Example
+ addition 3+44
- subtraction 13-5
* multiplication 7*8
/ division 12/3
^ exponentiation (raise to a power of) 8^2
% modulo (finds the remainder after division) 8%7
choose X choose Y determines the number of ways of choosing a set of Y elements from a set of X elements 18 choose 4
th root of calculates the nth root of a number 5th root of 32
% of X % of Y computes X percent of Y 20% of 150


Some operators work on only one number and should come before that number. In these cases, it often helps to put the number in parentheses.

Operator Function Example
sqrt square root sqrt(9)
sin, cos, etc. trigonometric functions (numbers are assumed to be radians) sin(pi/3)
tan(45 degrees)
ln logarithm base e ln(17)
log logarithm base 10 log(1,000)


A few operators come after the number.

Operator Function Example
! factorial 5!


Other good things to know

You can force the calculator to try and evaluate an expression by putting an equals sign (=) after it. This only works if the expression is mathematically resolvable. For example, 1-800-555-1234= will return a result, but 1/0= will not.

Parentheses can be used to enclose the parts of your expression that you want evaluated first. For example, (1+2)*3 causes the addition to happen before the multiplication.

The in operator is used to specify what units you want used to express the answer. Put the word in followed by the name of a unit at the end of your expression. This works well for unit conversions such as: 5 kilometers in miles.

You can use hexadecimal, octal and binary numbers. Prefix hexadecimal numbers with 0x, octal numbers with 0o and binary numbers with 0b. For example: 0x7f + 0b10010101.

The calculator understands many different units, as well as many physical and mathematical constants. These can be used in your expression. Many of these constants and units have both long and short names. You can use either name in most cases. For example, km and kilometer both work, as do c and the speed of light.

Feel free to experiment with the calculator as not all of its capabilities are listed here. To get you started, we’ve included a few expressions linked to their results.

1 a.u./c
56*78
1.21 GW / 88 mph
e^(i pi)+1
100 miles in kilometers
sine(30 degrees)
G*(6e24 kg)/(4000 miles)^2
0x7d3 in roman numerals
0b1100101*0b1001


Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo



By default, Microsoft includes the /prefetch:1 switch to speed up it's Windows Media Player application start time. This switch can be used for other Windows applications and also many third party programs.

Example #1

You have AOL 8.0 installed on the computer. Complete the steps outlined bewlo to add the /prefetch:1 switch to AOL's Target path.

1. Right click on the AOL shortcut and select properties from the menu.

2. In the Target: Field add the /prefetch:1 switch to the very end of the path, like this: "C:\Program Files\America Online 8.0\aol.exe" /prefetch:1 and then click ok.

Now start AOL. It would load at least 50 times faster than ever before.

Example #2

1, Go to the Start button/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools

2. Right click on System Restore and select properties from the menu that appears. Add the /prefetch:1 to the Target Path entry so it looks like this %ystemRoot%\System32\restore\rstrui.exe /prefetch:1 and click ok.

Now System Restore will start immediately when executed.

Note: This switch will only work with some programs. Others will return a message saying the program in the target box is invalid. Just remove the switch

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo


Hello friends

May be this might be useful. I install 98 with backup/restore utility.

My way of auto installation of XP. Then on second partition or the same partition XP without pagefile.sys.

Then i get a dual boot. So after booting into XP, Install all ur fav progies n games. Test each of them, to make sure they work... etc etc... all ur drivers also. Tweak ur xp.

make sure u unhide all files relates to win xp dir and progra files.

Then boot into 98 > goto backup utility of 98.

Select the folders used by XP, eg
my documents and settings
winxp (or windows- what ever name u gave to windows dir)
check all files in the root
program files folder
and like this all folders and files used by xp.

then start the backup process.

make sure u have ~ > 3gb of free space on the disk / partition
u r planning to save the image file.

Then when ur XP crashes or U crash it ... lol then just boot into 98, goto restore option, and click ok. Over write old files or new ones as u like.

It takes ~20min to install



Windows Xp including

Office Xp
Interdev
.net framework
winzip
winrar
tweaks
easy cleaner
adobe
gif animator
acdess 6
service pack1 , and now service pack 2b
lan settings
mcafee antivirus
zone alarm
cute ftp3 pro
Easy CD-DA Extractor 7
Eraser
Ahead
Links Organizer
Bulk Rename Utility
BitStrike Software
Mozilla Firefox
Microsoft Visual Studio
Opera
Onlinetimer
Nokia
Ulead Systems
UltraISO
Virtual CD v4
SlimBrowser
Yahoo!
Msn
Webroot
Spamihilator
inetpub


U can exclude any folder, u think is not needed at that time for reinstallation.

The whole task id completed in 20 minutes ... in the mean while I make a nice cup of tea for myself and wait for XP to start

PS: dont forget to include boot.ini file.

Hope it will help.

Stumble ThisFav This With TechnoratiAdd To Del.icio.usDigg ThisAdd To RedditAdd To FacebookAdd To Yahoo
Related Posts with Thumbnails

Latest Posts