Normally when you need to secure your important data from other users, then your first choice is to burn it on CD or put it to removable drive instead of hard drive. But imagine if your data size is more than 100 GB then it is not easy to burn it on CD. No worry, you can save your full drive from other users access using this trick.
Showing posts with label Computer Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Computer Tips. Show all posts
Hard disk failure is possibly the worst thing that can happen to your computer and it often occurs without giving any warning signs. You may however run certain tests on your computer beforehand to get an idea about the current condition of your hard disk. This should in turn help you decide whether a replacement drive is necessary or not.
There is a common problem that when ever you turn your computer on and log in, computer takes a long time to load the desktop and system tray icons? Here is the Solution Your windows takes long time to load because of so many reasons like Virus,Damaged Registry, Fragmented Hard Disk, too many start-up items, less memory space. Firstly Removing Unwanted start-up Items then Fixing HDD Errors.
Recently Microsoft released Ms Office 2010, but most of them are still using MS Office 2003.They have not even upgraded to Ms Office 2007. Ms Office 2007 default file format are .pptx .xlsx .docx files. Ms office 2003 or other earlier versions doesn't support this file format. Now there are 3 easy Ways to open docx file format.Normally, when you delete a file or folder, it goes automatically to the recycle bin. You can review the contents of your Recycle Bin before deleting the files or folders permanently from it. In the case in which you have accidentally deleted a file, you can go to recycle bin and un-delete it to recover the file again.
Now mouse lovers can enjoy their own kind of shortcuts. X-Mouse Button Control is a free Windows app that lets you customize all the various buttons on your mouse so that they are a bit more useful, and the best part is that you can customize it on a per-app basis. For example, in your web browser you may want to use the extra buttons on your mouse to navigate back/forward through your browsing history, but maybe in Microsoft Word you want those buttons to perform copy/paste operations.
There are so many Windows programs can accessed through Run dialog box. For example Registry Editor, Group Policy, Command Prompt, etc.. For you who often work with Run command, perhaps accessed it more then ten times a day. It gonna be a long way when you should click Start then click on Run to display Run dialog window. So, to enable quick access to Run dialog window, there some ways you can use.
You can increase the speed of your broadband internet connection, if you are using windows XP on your computer. This is built-in feature of windows XP to reserve the 20 percent of bandwidth of your internet connection, but you can override of this default setting. By enabling these setting, you can use this reserve bandwidth and enjoy your speedy broadband internet connection. You can set reserve able limit from 0 to 100 percent, but if you want to enjoy 100 percent bandwidth of internet connection, you should configure bandwidth limit 0 percent.
Microsoft paid close attention to personalization in Windows 7, and shipped it with a gorgeous collection of desktop backgrounds and themes. Windows 7 also makes it easy for users to create their own personalized themes and then share it with other Windows 7 users. If you are still using an older version of Windows (like Windows XP or Vista), you don’t have to feel left behind because, with some simple tricks, you can enjoy all or part of what these Windows 7 themes have to offer.
Use Windows 7 Themes with XP and Vista
First, launch the official Windows 7 themes directory and download some of the themes you like to your Windows XP or Vista desktop.
These files have a unique .themepack extension which is just another zip format containing all of the elements of a theme including the background images, Aero glass colors, sounds, cursors, icons, screen savers, etc.
To use these files on an older version of Windows, you first need to extract them as only Windows 7 can natively understand the themepack format. You can either change the file extension of the Windows 7 theme file from .themepack to .cab and then extract the files with a right-click, or install the free 7-Zip utility as 7-Zip can automatically hand the themepack file format.
Once extracted, your theme files will now be in a new folder that has the same name as your original themepack.
Aero Glass Border and Desktop Backgrounds
Now that you have all the required files, its time to activate the Windows 7 theme on your non-Windows 7 computer.
If your computer is running Windows Vista that supports Aero, simply double-click the .theme file that is present in the them folder you just extracted. This will set your windows border glass to the color of the Windows 7 theme and your wallpaper to the default background of the theme. However, this background picture will disappear when you reboot your computer, so you need to set that as a permanent background.
Windows XP does not support Aero glass, but you can still use the background images from downloaded Windows 7 theme on your XP desktop. You can find the backgrounds inside the theme-pack folder itself or in a sub-folder named Desktop-background. Pick any image, right click on it, and select “Set as Desktop Background.”
Windows 7 like Desktop Slide-shows for XP and Vista
Most Windows 7 themes consist of multiple background images and Windows 7 will automatically change your desktop background at periodic intervals using one of the images from the theme-pack. Windows Vista and XP do not support desktop slideshows, but you can easily bring that feature use the excellent and free John’s Background Switcher program.
To create a desktop slideshow, click the add button and choose “A folder on your computer.” Now select the Windows 7 theme folder that contains all the background images. The program allows lot of tweaking but you can skip that because the default settings are very similar to what you need for simulating Windows 7 behavior on your XP or Vista computer.
However, John’s Background Switcher by default shows the name of the image in the top right hand corner of the picture. To remove this, click the “More…” button that has a gear icon on it. Unchecked the box beside the 3rd entry which says “Show picture info on the top-right corner of the screen.” Now click Ok, and then click Ok in the main window, and your desktop slide show is all ready.
For RSS-enabled Windows 7 Themes
Some Windows 7 themes download images from the internet (via RSS feeds) when switching desktop backgrounds.
To know if the theme you are looking to port on your Vista or XP computer uses RSS or not, open the .theme file in a text editor like Notepad. Then search for the string “RssFeed” without the quotes. If you find that string, copy the link address of the RSS feed and, you can then use the “RSS photo feed” option in John’s Background Switcher program to create an RSS powered desktop slideshow on your XP or Vista machines.
Windows 7 Sounds, Cursor, Screen savers, etc.
Most Windows 7 themes only contain a glass color and desktop backgrounds. However, some may contain screen-savers, sounds, cursors, and icons as well. The good part is that you can use the elements on your Vista / XP theme as well.
Sounds - You can copy the sound files (.wav) to the default media folder (C:\Windows\Media), and if you have set the Windows 7 theme in Windows Vista as described above, it will automatically these sounds. Else, you will have to manually change your sounds from the Control Panel.
Icons - If the Windows 7 theme that you plan to use with XP or Vista contains a different set of desktop and system icons (.ico files), you may follow the directions below to apply them on your version of Windows:For Windows Vista – Right-click on the desktop, select Personalize and choose “Change Desktop Icons.” Select the items you which to change, click “Change Icons,” and browse to the location of new icons that are part of the Windows 7 theme.For Windows XP – Right-click on the desktop, select Properties and choose "Customize Desktop" under the Desktop tab. Select the items you wish to change, click “Change Icon,” and browse to the location of the icons from your theme.
To change icons of individual programs, simply right-click on the program shortcut on your desktop, select Properties, and click the button that says "Change Icon" in the Shortcut tab. Browse to the location of the icon extract from the Windows 7 theme and select the one you want to apply.
Screensavers – For using a Windows 7 screensaver inside XP or Vista, just copy the relevant screensaver files (.scr) into your Windows system folder usually located at C:\Windows\System32. Now, change your system screensaver using the usual method. Please remember that not all Windows 7 screensavers will work correctly on previous versions of Windows.
Cursors – You can copy the Windows 7 cursor files (.cur or .ani) to C:\Windows\Cursors on XP or Vista, and then apply the new set using the mouse settings under Control Panel. Use the [Control Panel\Cursors] of the .theme file (see example) to understand the default cursor mappings.
There is a common problem related to the MS Word, whenever ones try to open the Word file after generating an error, it opens in an unreadable format.
Here is the solution,
The first step that one you should take is to ensure that the Word file(s) you should trying to access have not bee displayed by the program. The MS Office program usually adds a file to this list, if the list file causes a serious error, such as causing the program to crash when two or more unsuccessful attempts have been made to open the file. To remove the file from the disable list
Click ‘About Microsoft Word’ from the help menu and click disable item button.
From the item list, select file(s) and click enable.
Close the MS Word file and open the file again. If you still unable to access the file, download and install any of the file recovery tools that are available online, and run the file(s) through that software. Example of such tools includes Nucleus Data Recovery (www.wordfilerecovery.com) or eRepair.
Some times it is necessary to block a particular website in our system but we can block a particular site in particular browser easily but blocking a site in all browser is some what skilly but it is easy by using this trick we can able to block the site in all browsers. To block site in all browsers we need to add the site to be block to the windows HOSTS file. Once you added site to this file the website will never opens it gives error like “Failed to Connect”.
The steps to block website in all browser by manually as follows :
- Go to “RUN“
- Type the following address in that (this is the address for the “HOST” file where it is located)C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC {for Windows XP and Windows Vista}
C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
{for Win 2000}
C:\WINDOWS
{for Windows 98 and ME}
- Open it in NOTEPAD The default windows Host look like this———————— # Copyright (c) 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 be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost
—————————
- To block a website in all browser add one more line below the line 127.0.0.1 as follows127.0.0.1 site to block ex: 127.0.0.1 www.youtube.com
127.0.0.1 http://www.youtube.com
This blocks the website youtube.com you can add any number of website to this list to block in all browsers
Save and exit
Open that website in any browser it will not open it will displays the error
Cannot find server or DNS Error saying: “The page cannot be displayed” or some other error as displayed in the image
There were generally two downsides to this trick. First was that you can only hide the folder on the desktop, the reason behind it was that users can easily change the background color of the desktop in order to merge with the folders surrounding, but it was almost impossible to hide a folder in any directory or folder.
Secondly, the hidden folder was still search-able and any one who was looking for that folder could easily type the folder name in Windows Search box and steal any confidential stuff from within it. Certainly no one wants this to ever happen. Luckily, there is another more powerful technique that not only works within the directory or folders, but its also un-searchable. If you want to provide maximum security to your confidential files and folders, read on…
Create Hidden and Unsearchable Folder in Windows
Step #1. Go to Start->Run or use WindowsKey+R keys combination,
Step #2. Open Command Prompt by typing cmd
Step #3. Inside the window go to that folder that you wish to hide. In our case for instance, we’ll be hiding a folder name Private that is residing in Drive E, inside another folder named DCIM. The final path would be, E:DCIM
Notice the commands we have used to reach the destination of that folder,
Step #4. Once you are there, type in the following command in DOS
attrib +s +h MyFolder
where attrib stands for ‘attribute’, +h means ‘hide folder‘ while +s means ‘unsearchable‘
For example, we’ll replace MyFolder with Private, since our folder name is Private, and hit Enter. Reference screen-shot above,
Now if you go to that path where the target folder was residing, you no longer will see that folder. Try searching this as well and surprising it won’t appear in the search results. Your friends or clients won’t even know the folder ever existed!
You can easily make this folder visible and searchable again, simply repeat the process up till Step #3, then use the following command to unhide the folder,
attrib -s -h MyFolder
where -h means ‘Unhide folder‘ while -s means ‘Make the folder searchable‘. Notice we have used minus (-) sign instead of plus (+) to un-hide the folder,
Tip: If the folder that you want to hide contains a space, simply enclose the folder name in double quotes, as shown below.
Have you tried any of these methods? Which method do you prefer the most and why?
If you are conscious about your personal stuff, before leaving your computer, use any of the three tips as mentioned below.
First up is to add a custom shortcut to your desktop. This will help you instantly lock your PC with a click. Here is how you create a desktop shortcut,
1. Right click on your desktop ->New->Shortcut – see screen-shot below,
2. A window will pop up, prompting you to type the location of the item.
3. Enter the following, %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation and click next.
4. Give a name to the shortcut, such as; LOCK-PC etc. Hit the finish button.
Now a new shortcut icon will appear on your desktop. If you double click on it, your computer will be locked instantly.
If you feel that you are as lazy as I am and can’t create a simple shortcut, then use the following procedure below to lock your PC automatically.
1. Right click on your desktop, click ‘Personalize‘ or ‘Properties‘ (in Windows XP).
2. Click on Screen Saver.
3. Check the box which says; ‘On resume, display log-on screen‘ or ‘On resume, password protect‘ (for Windows XP).
4. Set the time in minutes and screen saver accordingly.
5. Click OK when you are done.
The next time you’ll leave your system unattended, Windows will automatically take care of locking your PC.
By far the most easiest method is that you use a keyboard shortcut combination. Simply lock it by using WindowKey+L.
You are probably reading this article because your Windows XP takes a lot of time before it shuts down and you want a way to solve this problem once and for all. So why does your Windows take eternity to properly shut down?
This problem is caused by third party applications and sometimes by Microsoft apps themselves that need to be properly cleaned up when exiting. Windows will keep on trying this until its done and this will generally take 1-2 minutes before it shuts down. This could even take more time if the number of third party applications increases overtime.
Cut short time and boost up Windows XP Shutdown speed
1. Click on Start Menu -> Run,
2. Enter: regedit
3. A Registry Editor window will pop up, look for HKEY_CURRENT_USER, click on the folder,
4. In the drop down menu click on Control Panel folder, next click on Desktop,
5. On the right side of the pane, you’ll see a list of files, scroll down to HungAppTimeout,
6. Double click on the file, a small window will pop out. Under the value data, the default value is set to 5000, change this to 1000. Click OK when finished.
7. Now scroll down in the same list and click on WaitToKillAppTimeout, change this value to 1000 as well. Default is set to 20000. Click OK when done.
Next up is to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, click on the ‘+‘ (plus) sign to expand the folder,
1. Inside it look for the System folder,
2. Next click on CurrentControlSet and then Control,
3. On the right side of the window, search for WaitToKillServiceTimeout, and set it to 1000,
In the end, go to HKEY_USERS \ DEFAULT \ Control Panel \ Desktop,
1. Change HungAppTimeout to 1000 and click OK,
2. Scroll down and also change WaitToKillAppTimeout to 1000,
Save changes and reboot your system to see whether it work or not. In case it doesn’t start from 10000 and then decrease the count. The reason lower values like 1000 might not work is because some of the programs may be performing cleanup maintenance.
Play around with the values to see which works for your system. Note, if you do change these values, make sure they are uniform throughout each setting.
However, if you are afraid to use this hack, you can download User Profile Hive Cleanup Service as an alternative to this hack. Basically, this tool helps to ensure user sessions are completely terminated when a user logs off
Need to convert your YouTube video or *.flv video format to Mp3 format just come and read this article. Most of all the video in YouTube are in the format of .flv think you just downloaded a video song form YouTube and you need only Mp3 format of that video then what you do ? Here today I am going to show you how easily we can convert “YouTube videos to Mp3” format easily.
Today there are many software are available to convert your YouTube video to Mp3 format but I am introducing only one of them which can easily convert YouTube video to Mp3. To convert flv to Mp3 I am using one of the handy software called “Freez Flv to MP3 Converter”.
Freez Flv to Mp3 converter is a handy tool to convert your *.flv or YouTube video to Mp3 format without affecting the sound quality so that it can be played in Windows media player or any Mp3 player software. The advantage of using “Freez Flv to Mp3 converter” is you can change the Mp3 audio Bitrate, changing the Mp3 audio Frequency, changing the Channels like Mono or Stero or simply leave Default settings.
Convert Flv or YouTube video to Mp3 using Flv to Mp3 convertor:
1. First download the “Freez Flv to Mp3 converter”
2. Install and Run that application you will see Add Flv File(s) option click it and select the YouTube video or .Flv video to convert to Mp3 format and click Start Converting option it will converts your video with in few seconds depending on your video size. If you wish you can change Audio Bitrate, Audio Frequency by un-checking the default settings.
There are tonnes of free antivirus applications available on the internet and each of them claims to detect and remove viruses from your computer. Generally, most of these software's are available for free, but despite their claims to protect your PC, usually they are worthless. Unless you buy premium anti-virus applications such kaspersky, Mcafee, ESET, etc, you won’t be 100% sure whether you are being protected by the malicious viruses or not.
However, there is one simple test to verify whether your anti-virus program is upto its mark or not. In this tutorial we will teach you how to create a fake (dummy) virus and then run it on your system to see if your anti virus detects anything or not. Here is what you have to do;
1. Go to Notepad and open it,
2. Copy paste the following code onto your notepad,
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
3. Save the file on the desktop (or any other directory you like) with any file name you like, for instance; fakevirus.txt. The file that you have just created is actually an EICAR test file, developed by the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research, to test the response of computer antivirus programs.
4. Now re-open the file. If your anti-virus displays a warning sign and closes the text file, then rest assured that it is working fine.
Installing Windows from USB has its advantage which is you don’t need to worry if the DVD drive cannot read the disc or if there is any scratches on the Windows installation CD, and it is more convenient to carry around your USB flash drive rather than a DVD disc. Moreover, a lot of new compact small laptops or desktops doesn’t even have a CD/DVD drive. Other than that, you can even save useful software setups such as Firefox, Windows Live Messenger, 7-Zip, Orbit Downloader and etc into the USB drive so you can install them once Windows installation has been completed.
Make sure you have at least a 4GB USB flash drive. Windows 7 installation files takes up around 3GB of space. The manual way
1. Insert your USB flash drive.
2. Hit WIN+R, type cmd and click OK.
3. Type diskpart and hit ENTER
4. Type list disk, hit ENTER and identify the disk number for your USB flash drive. You MUST be very sure of this or else you’ll be formatting the wrong drive later on. If you have only one hard drive, then normally your USB flash drive will be disk 1.
6. Type clean and hit ENTER
7. Type create partition primary and hit ENTER
8. Type select partition 1 and hit ENTER
9. Type active and hit ENTER
10. Type format fs=fat32 and hit ENTER
11. Type assign and hit ENTER
12. Type exit and hit ENTER
13. Insert the Windows 7 installation DVD disc and copy everything from the DVD to your USB flash drive.
14. Boot up your computer with USB flash drive. You will need to go into your BIOS and make sure it is set to boot from flash devices. If you got it right, the Windows 7 installation should load from your USB flash drive.
The automatic way
There is a software called WinToFlash that does everything above automatically. All you need to do is run the program, set the location of the Windows 7 installation disc and the destination of your USB flash drive.
1. Download the latest version of WinToFlash
2. Extract and run WinToFlash.exe
3. Click the big check button to start Windows setup transfer wizard.
4. Click Next
5. Specify the locations of Windows files and USB drive then click Next. The Windows files path if the drive letter of your DVD drive and the USB drive is the drive letter of your USB flash drive.
6. Select “I Accepted the terms of the license agreement” and click Continue.
7. Click OK to start formatting your USB flash drive and the files will be automatically transferred from your Windows 7 install disc to your USB flash drive.
8. Click Next when finished copying and boot up the computer with USB flash drive. You will need to go into your BIOS and make sure it is set to boot from flash devices. If you got it right, the Windows 7 installation should load from your USB flash drive.
There is a software called WinToFlash that does everything above automatically. All you need to do is run the program, set the location of the Windows 7 installation disc and the destination of your USB flash drive.
2. Extract and run WinToFlash.exe
3. Click the big check button to start Windows setup transfer wizard.
4. Click Next
5. Specify the locations of Windows files and USB drive then click Next. The Windows files path if the drive letter of your DVD drive and the USB drive is the drive letter of your USB flash drive.
6. Select “I Accepted the terms of the license agreement” and click Continue.
7. Click OK to start formatting your USB flash drive and the files will be automatically transferred from your Windows 7 install disc to your USB flash drive.
8. Click Next when finished copying and boot up the computer with USB flash drive. You will need to go into your BIOS and make sure it is set to boot from flash devices. If you got it right, the Windows 7 installation should load from your USB flash drive.
Your computer hardware specification plays a part on the time taken to install Windows.
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