Which services can I disable in Windows?

Which services can I disable in Windows?

A:

First, you will want to have a restore point already created, so I will wait here while you do that, in case you haven't already done so.

Done? Okay, great, let's get going on disabling some of the services on your computer so you can save some disk space and allow your computer to run a little bit smoother.

First, click Start, Control Panel. Now, choose the Administrative Tools link (XP users will have to click on "Performance and Maintenance" first, then "Administrative Tools", Windows Vista and 7 users need only type "Administrative Tools" into their search bar). Once there, click on Services and a list of all the services installed on your computer will come up. You can maximize the window, so you can see the status of each service.

The first column contains the complete description of the service. Run your mouse pointer over the words so you can see the whole description written out. The next column is the status of each service. If it says "Started," that means that particular service is presently running. Next, you see the Startup Type, which tells you if the service starts automatically when you boot up your computer or if it has to be done manually. Some services may also be disabled. The next column is just telling you how you logged on for each service, whether it be through your local system or by a network service.

Now, we're getting to the good part. The following services are ones that can be safely disabled, while still allowing your computer to run normally. Disabling some of these services will help you save some of your disk space, which is always a great thing!

Disabling a service is pretty easy to do, but do it with caution as to make sure you don't hit the wrong thing. Just highlight the service you want to turn off and right click on it, choosing "Properties". A service sheet will come up for that service and you'll want to look under the general tab. Here, you can choose to stop the service or turn it back on (either automatically or manually). If you have XP, once you highlight the service, blue links will show up off to the left that say Stop or Restart the service. You can click on those to do the same thing as going into the Properties menu.

Okay, here's the list you've been waiting for:

Alerter: Only alerts you of administrative alerts. You don't need them.

Application Management: Processes installation requests for Intellimirror programs. Don't even know what those are? That's why you can disable it.

ClipBook: Allows ClipBook Viewer to store information and then share it with remote computers. You don't really need to do that, do you?

Computer Browser: Works with networks and if you don't have a network, you don't need it.

Distributed Transaction Coordinator: Works with databases, message queues and file systems of networks. Once again, if you don't use a network, you can disable this.

Error Reporting Service: All this does is send a crash report to Microsoft. They don't need to know, do they?

Indexing Service: Indexes files and provides quick access to those files. This is another network use, so you can disable it.

Internet Connection Firewall (ICF): Involves Internet Connection Sharing and is just another network use.

Logical Disk Manager/Logical Disk Manager Administrative: This service deals with adding drives to your system. If you're not going to be doing that, you can disable this one.

Machine Debug Manager: Works with Visual Studio debugging. You probably won't use it.

Messenger: Sends Alerter messages between the clients and servers. Another network service you probably won't need.

Net Logon: Account authentication for network domains. Don't need this one either.

NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing.Network DDE DSDM: Allows other authorized users to access your computer through NetMeeting. Once again, if you don't have a network or have no need to allow other users on your computer, you can disable this one.

Remote Desktop Help Session Manager/Remote Access Auto Connection Manager: This one is the same as the above.

Secondary Logon: Enables starting processes under other credentials, which is not necessary.

SSDP Discovery: Locates UPnP devices on a home network. Sound confusing? That's why you can disable it.

TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper: You'll only need this if you use NetBIOS for a local network.

Telnet: Allows remote users to log on to your computer and run programs. I'm sure you don't want other users to be able to telnet into your system, do you? Disable it!

Terminal Services: Gives access to other users to be connected to one basic machine, as well as, desktop displays and other applications. You can shut this one down.

Themes: If you don't use desktop themes, you don't need this one. If you do, keep it going.

Windows Time: Synchronizes all systems on a network time.

Workstation: Same as above.

Whew, that's a lot, huh? Just keep in mind that these are just suggestions and you don't have to turn off some of these services if you don't want to. Especially don't turn them off if you think you're going to be needing them again someday. But, at least going through the list of your services will help you to determine what's running on your computer that may not need to be. You may be surprised at all you can turn off to save you some computer space.

Note: Make sure you do not turn off any services that are not on this list unless you are an advanced user and you are certain that turning them off will not hurt your computer's operation.

Improve start-up and shutdown times

Improve start-up and shutdown times

Tired of twiddling your thumbs or taking a coffee break while XP boots up or shuts down? These tweaks and hacks will speed up both for you.

1. Speed boot-up with boot defragments

The simplest way to speed boot-up is to do a boot defragment so that all the boot files are next to one another on your hard disk. By default, XP performs a boot defragment, but there's a chance that it's been turned off. Here's how to make sure it's turned on.

1. Open the Registry Editor by typing regedit at a command prompt or the Run box.
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction.
3. Change the Enable string value to Y if it is not already set to Y.
4. Exit the Registry and reboot.

The next time you reboot, you'll do a boot defragment.

2.Tweak your BIOS for faster start-ups

Each time you turn on your PC, it performs a set of BIOS start-up procedures before XP loads. Speed up those start-up procedures, and you'll speed up boot times.You change the start-up procedures by changing the BIOS settings with your system's built-in setup utility. How you run this utility varies from PC to PC, but you typically get to it by pressing the Delete, F1 or F10 keys during start-up. A menu of choices then appears. Here are the settings to tweak for faster start-ups:

3.Quick Power On Self Test (POST): With this option, your system runs an abbreviated POST rather than the normal, lengthy one. Turn it on.

4.Boot Up Floppy Seek: When was the last time you used a floppy, much less booted from it? If you're like most of the world, the answer is never. Disable this option. When it's enabled, your system spends a few extra seconds looking for your floppy drive.

Boot Delay: Some PCs let you delay booting after you turn on your PC so that your hard drive gets a chance to start spinning before boot-up. It's unlikely you need this boot delay, so turn it off. If you run into problems, however, you can turn it back on.

5.How not to speed up booting

There's a tip about speeding up XP boot times that's been circulating on the Web for years -- follow it and you'll most likely slow down your PC, not speed it up. The tip recommends that you delete all the files in your C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch directory on a regular basis. But in fact, doing that will lead to a more sluggish PC.

The reason? Windows uses C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch make your applications launch more quickly.Windows XP analyzes the files you use during start-up and the applications you launch, and it creates an index to their locations. Using the index, XP launches files and applications faster.

By emptying the directory, you are most likely slowing down how quickly those applications launch. And in my tests, I've found that after emptying the directory, it takes my PC a few seconds longer to get to my desktop after boot-up.

6.Disconnect dead network connections

Windows XP has a very useful feature that lets you map a network drive to your local PC. So, for example, if there's a drive on another PC on your network or on a network server that you frequently browse to, you can make it look to XP as if it's a local disk, such as the F: drive. That way, you can quickly get to the network drive instead of having to navigate through a complex maze of paths.

That's the good news. Here's the bad news: If any of those network drives is no longer alive, it can slow down your system. Every time you start XP, it tries to connect to all the network drives you've mapped. If the remote drive doesn't respond, XP waits to start and will try to connect again until it gives up.

In addition, when you use some programs, they'll try to make the connection as well, further slowing your system. The result? When you try to open a file on your local PC, you may have to wait several seconds.

Disconnecting dead network drives is simple. Right-click My Computer and choose Disconnect Network Drive. You'll see a screen like one pictured nearby, which lists all your network drives. Select any drives you want to disconnect, then click OK. Things should now speed up.

7.Remove extraneous start-up programs

You've most likely got many programs that load into your system on start-up. These programs do worse things than just slowing down start-up -- they can bog down your PC by constantly taking up RAM and CPU power. Unfortunately, in XP, there's no single place to go to find all those start-up programs and decide which ones to keep and which to kill.

That's where Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel applet comes in. It shows you all the programs and services that load on start-up, then lets you kill any you don't want to keep.

The program is multi tabbed, with one tab for every place where a program or service may be launched on start-up. Click each tab and examine the listings. Right-click any program you don't want to run, and select Disable so that it no longer runs.

If you're not sure what a particular program does and whether you need it, do a Google search on the program name or file name for more information. The process is laborious, to be sure, but what you gain in start-up speed is well worth your efforts.

8.Don't clear the paging file on shutdown

If shutting down XP takes too long, you can tell XP not to clear your paging file when it shuts down. The paging file stores temporary files and data, but when your system shuts down, that information stays in the file.

Some people want the paging file cleared at shutdown because sensitive information such as unencrypted passwords sometimes ends up there. But if extreme security isn't a high priority, you can save yourself some time by not clearing it. (If you're on a corporate machine, check with IT before taking this step.)

9.To shut down XP without clearing your paging file:

1. Open the Registry Editor by typing regedit at a command prompt or the Run box.
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management.
3. Look for the value ClearPageFileAtShutdown, and change it to 0.
4. Exit the Registry and reboot.

From now on, your paging file won't be cleared, and shutdowns should be faster.

10.Make XP more secure

Windows XP's security tools are in serious need of upgrade. A prime example is the XP firewall. It has one very serious deficiency -- it doesn't block potentially dangerous outbound connections.

The solution: Get a free firewall that does that and more. Several are worth trying, but my favorite is Comodo Firewall Pro. It's the top free firewall rated by the independent Matousec testing site. In addition to offering inbound and outbound protection, it includes a Host Prevention System to stop malware from being installed in the first place.

XP doesn't include antivirus protection, so you'll of course need some kind of antivirus. Rather than using a bloated, big-name security suite stuffed with a firewall, backup software, identity protection and other modules, your better bet is to get an independent, lightweight antivirus program.

Two of the best are Avast Antivirus Home Edition and AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. In addition to viruses, AVG protects against spyware, and Avast includes protection from spyware and rootkits -- but that extra protection won't weigh down your PC.

Both programs are free for home and non-commercial use, keep you safe, and take up little RAM and few system resources. What more do you need?

11.Modernize XP's look and feel

Face it, you may like XP, but it's looking very old and dated these days. It's in some very serious need of eye candy.

A great way to dress it up is with the ObjectDock from Stardock. It gives XP a Mac-like look with an animated dock that mimics the one in Mac OS X.

With it, you dock your favorite applications and folders at the bottom or side of the screen. It features a slick look, smooth animations, and much more visual appeal than XP.

The clunky old method of using Alt-Tab to switch between applications in XP could use some help. Yes, it will switch you -- but that's the extent of it.

You can power up Alt-Tab with TaskSwitchXP from NTWind Software. Use it, and whenever you press Alt-Tab, you'll be able to see previews of all your open windows. From here you can close and minimize applications and their groups as well.

Finally, give your XP desktop a useful sidebar like Vista's, with Google's Desktop Sidebar. It's packed with gadgets, such as a weather tracker, stock checker, and news reader, and there are many other free gadgets you can download for it as well. Yahoo Widgets similarly offers you a sidebar and plenty of free widgets.

How to retrieve your Windows Vista password

How to retrieve your Windows Vista password

One of our most popular articles is a guide on how to reset your Windows Vista password using the password reset disk. However, if you did not create a password reset disk and you have forgotten your password, you cannot login and use your computer. In these situations there are certain tools that can help you out, most of them being commercial solutions, such as Active Password Changer. Still, there exist also some free alternatives, one of them being Ophcrack. In this guide I will show how to get Ophcrack and how to use it to crack and retrieve your Windows Vista password when you don't have any password reset disk at hand.

First, go to the Ophcrack site and download the Live CD (No Installation needed). Please make sure you download the Windows Vista Live CD and not the one for Windows XP. The Live CD is a disc image saved as an '.iso' file which you need to burn onto a CD. Use a good CD/DVD burning solution to write the image file on a blank CD. If you don't have any, you can try CDBurnerXP. It is free and it works very well.

Once the disc is ready, you need to boot directly from the CD you just created. If you don't know how to do this, please read this guide.

Once you manage to boot from the Ophcrack Live CD, you will have three choices on how to launch the tool. The first two options will launch Ophcrack in a graphic mode. If you have problems with the first mode, then reboot and choose the second. Depending on the hardware configuration, on some computers both modes will work. On the computers i have tested it, sometimes the first mode did not function properly but the second one always worked just fine.

If you don't want any graphics, then choose the third option which will launch Ophcrack in text mode.

Once you have chosen a mode, Ophcrack will start loading and retrieving your passwords. This can take a few minutes, depending on your configuration and how strong the current passwords are. Please be patient and wait until the screens with text like the one below disappear and the graphical user interface is displayed.

Once the tool loads, it will show a screen like the one below . Please be patient as not all graphical elements will be shown at once. This is because Ophcrack will be busy cracking the passwords for all users registered on the PC.

When finished, Ophcrack will show you all the registered users from your Windows Vista and their corresponding passwords in the NT Pwd column

Write down the password for the user that interests you, reboot your PC and login to Windows Vista using the password you just recovered

Type text in any language

Type text in any language

Type international languages using a Windows computer with an English keyboard

Introduction

You may only occasionally need to type text that includes international and accented characters, perhaps when writing to a friend in another country or booking a holiday abroad, but for others it is a constant problem.

This is especially so for language students and foreigners living in English-speaking countries where most computers are equipped with English keyboards.

Fortunately, Windows can cope with the needs of all these users, though the technique that’s most appropriate varies according to circumstances.

This Workshop will introduce the main methods of typing international characters — using the Windows Character Map, keyboard shortcuts, Microsoft Word special keys or by ‘remapping’ the keyboard – and will help you choose which is most appropriate for you.

1. Both XP and Vista are equipped with an accessory called Character Map, whose job is to help you type foreign characters and other special symbols. For casual users this is the simplest approach because it involves no setting up of the computer and there is no need to memorise any special keys or techniques. To open Character Map, click the Start button and place the mouse pointer over All Programs, then click Accessories, followed by System Tools, followed by Character Map.

2. When it opens, Character Map displays a table of all the characters that can be typed in the conventional way using the keyboard plus many additional symbols and foreign characters. Hundreds more characters are available by using the scroll bar at the right-hand side of Character Map. Every time the chevron at the bottom of the scroll bar is clicked, another line of characters is revealed. Use the upper chevron to scroll back to the beginning. Fortunately, the most frequently required accented characters are on the initial screen.

3. At the top, Character Map displays the name of the font selected when Character Map was last used. It’s a good idea to change this to the font being used in your current document because when you copy characters from Character Map to another program, they always retain their selected Character Map font. To change the font, click the current font name to display a dropdown list. If you have a lot of fonts, use the scroll bar (as you did in Step 2) to view them all. Click to select the font you wish to use.

4. You can choose to insert individual accented characters from Character Map into the current document or you can create the entire word in Character Map. The choice is yours and probably depends on how long the word is and how many accents it contains. In the case of a French word such as garçon, we’d plump for copying the special character of single c with cedilla. Do this by double-clicking the c with cedilla in Character Map, and when the character is displayed in the panel at the bottom of Character Map, click the Copy button.

5. Using the buttons on the Windows Taskbar at the bottom of the screen, switch to Microsoft Word or whatever program you are using to create the current document. Click in the document to position the text-entry cursor where you would like the special character to appear, and then paste it into place using the keyboard paste shortcut (hold down Ctrl and press V). Alternatively, click the Edit menu and select Paste. In either case, you may need to use the normal Insert and Delete keys to tidy up any extra spaces and line breaks that may appear.

6. If you tend to use just a few accented characters, but you use them frequently, there is a quick way of inserting individual characters by using keyboard shortcuts. To do so, make sure that Num Lock is on, and then hold down the left Alt key and type the appropriate three- or four-digit code on the numeric keypad on the right of a standard keyboard. For example, Alt and 0234 produces an e with a circumflex as used in the French word fenêtre. You can view a complete list of Alt codes for every European language at the Vistawide language website (www.snipurl.com/aldti).

7. The Character Map and Alt and numeric code techniques work with all Windows programs, but there is an even more convenient trick if you are using Microsoft Word. Let’s say you want to insert an e with an acute accent above it, as in the word passé. Simply hold down the Ctrl key and tap the apostrophe key to indicate you require an acute accent, then release the Ctrl key and tap the E key. In fact, Ctrl can be used together with several other punctuation marks to produce the accent that most closely resembles each mark.

8. If you need to type long passages of foreign text rather than just a few odd words, it is faster to modify the English keyboard layout so that it emulates the appropriate foreign language. To avoid confusion you can stick temporary key labels over those keys that are different from English or you can print out a chart and keep it next to the keyboard for reference. You will find suitable keyboard charts for most European languages on the Wikipedia website at www.snipurl.com/algur.

9. Setting up an English keyboard to work like a foreign one is not as difficult as it sounds, and once it has been done it is possible to switch between English and alternative languages with a couple of clicks. To set up an alternative keyboard using Windows XP (the procedure is similar, though not identical, in Windows Vista), click the Start button and then click Control Panel. When the Control Panel opens, click the underlined link labelled Date, Time, Language and Regional options.

10. When the Date, Time, language and Regional options are displayed, click the link for Regional and Language options to view its dialogue box. At the top of the dialogue box, click the Languages tab and then the Details button. This opens a second dialogue box entitled Text Services and Input Languages. It displays the languages that are currently installed and the keyboards used to access them. In the example pictured here there is a single language (English) and a single keyboard (United Kingdom).

11. Click the Add button. This displays a small dialogue box containing two dropdown lists with which you can choose to install new languages and new keyboards. Because we’re only interested in typing foreign characters while continuing to use Windows in English, it is only necessary to install a keyboard, and not the language itself. To do this, click on the panel labelled Keyboard layout/IME to view a list of keyboards, and then click the one you desire. Use the scroll bar (as you did in Step 2) if the language you require is not visible. Click OK.

12. The Text Services and Input Languages dialogue box now shows a single language (English) but two keyboards (French and United Kingdom). Click the Language Bar button to view a small dialogue box labelled Language Bar Settings. Ensure that the only option to be ticked is Show the language bar on the desktop. Click OK to close this dialogue box, then OK to close the Text Services and Input Languages dialogue box, and then OK to close the Regional and Language options dialogue box. Close the Control Panel by clicking the X in its top right-hand corner.

13. You can now switch between the French and UK keyboard layouts by clicking the tiny keyboard icon that is displayed next to the icons on the right of the Windows Taskbar. On clicking this, a small window appears in which you can select the appropriate layout. If you select the third option, which is Show the language bar, it turns the discreet keyboard icon into a toolbar that can be moved around the screen. To return to the keyboard icon, click the Minimise icon (a tiny bar) at the top right of the toolbar.

14. You can now test the new keyboard layout by opening Wordpad or any word processor and typing QWERTYUIOP[]. If the French keyboard is selected, this produces the sequence AZERTYUIOP¨£. Exactly the same techniques as those described in Steps 9 to 12 can be used to install additional keyboard layouts for other languages. Unwanted keyboard layouts can be removed by following Steps 9 and 10, highlighting the offending layout and then clicking the Remove button. When no alternative keyboards are available, the keyboard icon on the Windows Taskbar is no longer displayed.

Disk Cleanup to Solve some Computer Problems

Perform a Disk Cleanup and then Check your hard disk for errors.

You can help solve some computer problems and improve the performance of your computer by making sure that your hard disk has no errors.

Open Computer.

Right-click the hard disk drive that you want to check, and then click Properties.

Click the Tools tab, and then, under Error-checking, click Check Now. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

To automatically repair problems with files and folders that the scan

detects, select Automatically fix file system errors. Otherwise, the disk

check will simply report problems but not fix them.

To perform a thorough disk check, select Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. This scan attempts to find and repair physical errors on the hard disk itself, and it can take much longer to complete.

To check for both file errors and physical errors, select both Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

Click Start.

Depending upon the size of your hard disk, this may take several minutes. For best results, don't use your computer for any other tasks while it's checking for errors.

Note:

If you select Automatically fix file system errors for a disk that is in use (for example, the partition that contains Windows), you'll be prompted you to reschedule the disk check for the next time you restart your computer.

A Click A Day to Secure, Clean, Repair, & Optimize Your PC

Advanced SystemCare Free

(formerly Advanced WindowsCare Personal) has a one-click approach to help protect, repair, clean, and optimize your PC. With over 20 MILLION downloads since 2006, this fantastic, award-winning, free PC repair software is a "must-have" tool for your computer. 100% safe with no adware, spyware, or viruses; a PC maintenance program that’s incredibly easy to use.

What's new:

+ Improved Spyware Removal function

+ Added "Game Booster"

+ Supported "Google Chrome" privacy sweep

+ Improved "disk defragment" engine

+ Improved "Utilities" section

* Fixed bugs in update function

* Fixed general bugs

Key Benefits Enjoy That New PC Feeling Again

Designed for the latest Windows system environment. Gives your PC better speed and reliability. Powerful Hard Drive Defragmentation

High-speed Disk Defrag function to defragment hard drives up to 10 times faster than other defragmentation tools. Next-generation Registry Clean and Optimization

Safely cleans registry junk, compacts registry bloats and defragment the whole registry for maximum performance. Defends PC Security with Extra Protection

Detect and analyze Windows security environment. Scans and removes spyware and adware using up-to-date definition files. Prevents spyware, hackers and hijackers from installing malicious items on your computer. Erases and updates your PC’s activity history. Quick and Extensive Clean-up for Hard Drives

Boosts your system’s performance by cleaning missing files, destroying unwanted files, deleting obsolete files, and removing junk files. Supports clean-up of over 50 different types of junk files. Speeds Up PC Performance and Internet Access

Tunes up Windows by unleashing the built-in power of your system. Dramatically improves both system and Internet performance up to 400%. Fixes Multiple System Errors

Does more than a registry cleaner, keeping your PC stable and running at peak efficiency. Repairs PC configurations by eliminating system bottlenecks and preventing crashes. Extremely Easy to Use

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Resize Your Photos with Easy Thumbnails

Resize Your Photos with Easy Thumbnails

Looking for a good program to create resized copies of your pictures with? Then Easy Thumbnails is a program that you should take a close look at. And, It's Free.

Download Easy Thumbnails (version 3.0)

Setup

Installation is quick and easy…in the final install window you will have the opportunity to add a “Make Thumbnail” shortcut to Windows Explorer if desired.

Once you have finished installation and started Easy Thumbnails up, this is what you will see. Notice that there are no menus or options to have to worry about…everything that you need to use the software can be found in the first two tab areas (very nice!). The Original Image and Preview Output tabs are accessible at all times.

The Files Tab is used to navigate and select the files that you want to work with… You can also specify a different location to save newly created pictures in if you do not want them placed in the same folder/area as the originals.

The Settings Tab is where you specify the sizes of the resized pictures that you will be creating. Notice the drop down menus, jpeg quality selection, photo correction adjustments, and the ability to rotate the photo as well.
The About Tab provides basic information about the program, access to the Help Files, and an easy click-and-go website button.
The News Tab provides News Updates for Fookes Software…

A Closer Look at the Settings

Here is a much closer and detailed look at the drop down menus available in the Settings Tab…

The Resize Menu lets you choose between “No Resize”, “Best Fit”, “Shrink To Fit”, “Enlarge To Fit”, and “Stretch To Fit”.

The Algorithm Menu provides you many choices to select from…choose the algorithm that best suits your needs.

The New Name Menu lets you decide the renaming scheme that you would like to use for your newly created pictures. Choose from “Auto Detect”, “Add Nothing”, “Add Prefix”, “Add Suffix”, and “Rename”.

Note: It is recommended to use a suffix, prefix, or renaming so that your original files are not overwritten.

Easy Thumbnails in Action

Time to try things out! For our example we chose an anime picture that was quite large…notice that the file name, image size in pixels, and file size are all displayed in the Title Bar. We also have the Original Image Tab displaying at the moment… Click on the file that you want to work with to select it.

Now over to the Settings Tab where we have entered in our desired size for our soon-to-be new picture. The Preview Output Tab shows a much smaller version of our original picture.

Note: You will need to calculate the new size for your photos.

To create your new picture, click on “Make”. Once Easy Thumbnails has finished, you will see the following message window. That is all there is to it!

Note: If you are wanting to work with batch processing and all of the photos are the same size, the “Make All Button” will help you make short and easy work of it.

Checking back to the Desktop Files display shows that our new reduced size picture is sitting there ready to go.

Conclusion

Easy Thumbnails is a good dependable photo resizing program that will make a nice addition to your photo app collection.

Securing shared folders in Windows NT, 2000 & XP

Securing shared folders in Windows NT, 2000 & XP

It is good practice to secure any folders that you share for access over the network. It is a simple process and helps prevent the spread of viruses and minimises the risk of your such shares being abused.

By default when you create a shared folder the group 'Everyone' is given permission to access that folder. This is very insecure as the Everyone group means exactly that - anyone who can access the network has permission to see what is in your shared folder, can edit the material you have stored there and can save anything that they like to it.

Although you may believe that because people do not know it exists they will not find your shared folder this is not true. There are simple tools available for identifying network shared folders, and many viruses now search for shared folders and then attempt to use the folders they find to duplicate themselves. However by following the information below you can secure your shared folders.

Under Windows 95 /98 the sharing process is different - all users have to be specifically added i.e. the Everyone group is not added by default, so the same risk does not occur. However we would recommend that access to shares is limited to only those people or groups who specifically require it.

To secure a shared folder:

Before you start, decide on who will need access to the shared folder that you have created. Access can be to either individual users by login name, or to groups of users - these are the same as those available in Outlook, however you can only use centrally defined groups. So you can choose to have either a number of specified colleagues or a relevant group e.g. your departmental staff group, or a combination of both. We would advise the use of groups where possible, as this leads to easier management, and that access should be kept to the minimum required, to reduce risks.

Open Windows Explorer or My Computer and locate the folder you wish to secure. Shared folders can be identified by the hand underneath them - in this example the Utilities folder.

Right click on the folder and select the 'Sharing' or 'Sharing and Security' option from the list provided

You will now see a dialogue box similar to the one below (they vary with operating system), giving information about the shared folder. Click on the 'Permissions' button

NB. If you have not shared the folder before you will need to click on the 'Share this folder' radio button and then select a share name for the folder - by default this is the same as its local name. By adding a $ sign after the name (e.g. Utilities$) the folder will not be openly visible on the network.

A new window (Share Permissions) lists the users or groups of users who can access the share you have created, by default this is the Everyone group.

Click on the Add button and in the lower window type the names of the users / groups that you wish to limit access to - separated by a semi-colon. If you are not sure of the names you can use the upper window to browse for them, check that the 'Look in' box is set to essex or Entire Network first.

In this case we are going to grant access to Computing Service Staff (serstaff) and Keith Brooke (kbrooke).

Click on OK.

The Share Permissions window now contains the added users. You can now use the lower portion of this window to modify what the people you have granted access to are able to do.

In this case I want to only allow Keith to read the material in the folder, so having selected Keith in the top portion I confirm that only the Read box is checked in the lower portion. I also want to limit Service staff to being able to modify material (they cannot create new material or delete existing material), so again I select them in the top portion and now ensure that the Change and Read boxes are checked.

Please note that the boxes offered in the lower portion of the window maybe different with your operating system but they can be used in the same way.

Finally you need to remove the Everyone group. Select it and then click the remove button.

Access to share is now restricted.

How to upgrade WinXP home to WinXp Professional

There is a registry trick to convert and Upgrade Windows XP Home to Windows XP Professional without using the os software, follow procedure below.

1. Open registry edit (regedit).
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet00X/Control/Product Options, where ControlSet00X is the one with the highest number.
3. Delete the ProductSuite registry key
4. Then, create a new DWORD value and named it as Brand.
5. Set the "Brand" value data as 0.
6. Reboot the system.
7. On boot up after the Bios screen, press F8 to display Windows XP Startup Menu.
8. Choose Last Known Good Configuration (LNG) and hit Enter.

Windows XP will start up as usual. After logging into the desktop, check the
system properties to verify that it's now Windows XP Professional.

How to Repair Missing or Corrupted Ntfs.sys in Windows XP

When you decided to convert your hard disk from FAT32 to NTFS, sometimes after restart the Windows XP you may experienced an error message like this: “Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys.”

The main cause for this problem is the Ntfs.sys file is missing or corrupted when you convert your hard disk. The other causes might be virus attack, hardware or software problems, etc. Here is the method to repair it.

Insert your Windows XP CD or startup disks and restart your computer.

1. Wait the reboot and when the welcome screen appears, press R button to select To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R option. The Recovery Console will appear.
2. Enter the number of Windows installation you are repairing.
3. If there is administrator password in your installation, you need to enter the password first.
4. You will lead to command prompt. Rename your previous Ntfs.sys (if it just corrupted and not missing) by typing the following command: cd \windows\system32\drivers. Press Enter. If the Ntfs.sys is missing then go to the next step.
5. Type ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old. Press Enter.
6. Type copy X:\i386\ntfs.sys Y:\windows\system32\drivers and press Enter. X represents your CD-ROM drive letter and Y represents the drive where your Windows XP is installed.
7. Type quit and press Enter to quit the Recovery Console. Remove your CD or disks.
8. Restart your computer.

How to free up RAM to make Windows run faster

How to free up RAM to make Windows run faster

Here is a method you might like to use to free up RAM

to make Windows run faster.

When programs run in Windows XP, they frequently use

what are called DLLs (Dynamic-Link Libraries).

These contain shared programming instructions and other

files like icons, graphics, sounds, etc. that different

applications use in order to run. DLLs are stored in RAM

whenever the applications load them; when you quit a program,

XP is supposed to release the DLL from memory. But some

DLLs can get stuck.

Here is the method to mend this up.

Step 1: You can force Windows XP to release DLLs by adding a Registry key.

Step 2: Select Start > Run >Enter regedit >Hit Ok

Step 3: This will open the Registry Editor and navigate to

My Computer -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows ->

CurrentVersion -> Explorer.

Step 4: Right click on EXPLORER in the Left Pane, Select New > Key.

Step 5: Name it as AlwaysUnloadDLL and set the default value to 1.

Step 6: Restart Windows to activate the change.

Avoid Win XP Re-activation

Avoid Win XP Re-activation

The time may come that you'll need to reinstall your Windows XP. It could happen. Maybe you'll add a new motherboard or hard drive. Maybe you'll get constant errors and problems that just won't go away. Or perhaps you're a neat freak who wants to rid yourself of clutter and start fresh with a clean operating system. If you do reinstall Windows XP, then you'll need to re-activate it too—that is, unless you keep this tip handy ;-)

See, the first time you activated XP it created a file called "wpa.dbl" that lives in the WINDOWS\system32 folder. By creating a backup of this file on disk, you can simply put it back into the folder after reinstalling XP and avoid the whole re-activation hassle. Here's how...

Go to My Computer then select your Hard Drive (usually drive C). Go to the WINDOWS\system32 folder and scroll way down until you find the wpa.dbl file.

Right-click and choose "Send To" then either Floppy Drive (make sure you have a disk in) or CD-R/RW.

Now, when you reinstall Windows XP you'll come to the activation screen—decline to activate and let the install finish.

Restart your computer in Safe Mode (keep hitting F8 at start-up then when the Advanced Boot Options menu appears arrow down to Safe Mode).

Find your way back to the WINDOWS\system32 folder. It's a good idea to rename the wpa.dbl file you're replacing just in case you run into problems, so call it something like "wpa.nothing".

Get the backup disk and copy the old wpa.dbl file back to the WINDOWS\system32 folder and reboot.

There you go—XP is up and running again.

P.S. Your wpa.dbl file might NOT work on another computer.

How to Access Data of a Password Protected User in Windows XP in Case the PC Fails to Boot

How to Access Data of a Password Protected User in Windows XP in Case the PC Fails to Boot

You may come across a situation in which your windows XP PC fails to reboot, and the most accepted solution to that problem is to re-format the Hard Disk. Before formatting, you should backup your files. If your computer is password protected, you won't be able to access them from outside, so here is a method for getting around this.

1. Boot the machine from Windows XP bootable CD.

2. At the setup screen, select R to repair using Recovery Console.

3. Now the console program will prompt you to select the Windows folder (eg. C:\WINDOWS) where the Windows is installed (you need to enter a number from the list of folders shown to you).

4. Type 'HELP' (without single quotes) and press enter for available commands. This is like a DOS program, but some features are not available.

5. Change the current directory to the user's directory where you want to backup.

6. Type 'CD "C:\Documents and Settings\X"' (without single quotes) and press enter. Where X is the username.

7. Now the current directory will change to "C:\Documents and Settings\X".

8. Now change the directory to Desktop by entering 'CD Desktop' (without single quotes) and press enter to go to the desktop folder.

9. Type 'DIR' (Without single quotes) and press enter, you will be listed all the available files in Desktop.

10. Type 'COPY a.doc D:\BACKUP' (without quotes) and press enter, where a.doc is a file available in Desktop and the folder D:\BACKUP available to copy the files.

11. As in step 7,8,9,10 you can backup other folders like "My Documents", "My Music", etc.

12. Note that you cannot use wildcards for COPY. I.e, you cannot copy all the files in a folder at once. You must copy one file by one.

TIPS

• Before doing this, try changing the password to blank so that you can access the data from another machine to easily drag and drop to copy your data.

• Any data not backed up will be permanently deleted when you re-format the hard drive, so make sure you back up any thing you want to keep.

• You will need Windows XP CD

How to Log on to Windows XP if You Forget Your Password

How to Log on to Windows XP if You Forget Your Password

Here is a simple way to access Windows XP with Administrator rights and privileges if you have password protected your User account on your Windows XP system and can't remember the password(s) to login. Whenever Windows XP is installed on a system, it creates a default account called "Administrator" and by default this account is not password protected. Therefore, if you bought a brand name computer (such as Dell, HP, Compaq or Sony)or you have installed Windows XP yourself. You should be able to login to the computer through the unprotected Administrator account.

1. Reboot your machine.

2. Press F8 before the Windows boot screen appears.

* Do not press F5 as used on the NT/9x series of Windows.

3. You will be prompted with a boot options menu.

4. Select the Start Windows in Safe Mode option.

5. Click through several self-explanatory screens until your reach the familiar 'Welcome' screen.

6. Note that this welcome screen is limited to 256 colors and 640x480 resolution because the primary graphics will have been set to the Windows Safe Mode software VGA adapter. You will not be able to change this mode even in Display options, while Windows is running in Safe Mode.

7. Find the icon for the Administrator user. If the default settings of your system haven't been changed, there should be no password for this account.

*The Safe Mode Welcome screen might display some of the other users on your system.

8. Login as the admin.

9. Press Yes at the prompt asking if you would like to continue using Safe Mode.

10. Continue on to the User Settings control panel. Here you can change any of the other passwords for user on the machine. Make any changes you want.

11. Reboot your computer. As long as you don't press any keys (i.e. F8) during the boot-up the computer will startup normally.

12. Login as the user for which you set the password.

TIPS

• You can access the Administrator account through the login prompt without logging into safe mode. If the computer utilizes the welcome screen instead of the standard NT domain login prompt, you can press Ctrl + Alt + Del twice to get to the login prompt. This is only true if you are running Windows XP Professional Edition. Windows XP Home Edition will also allow you to use this method to log on.

• Some users are smart enough to password protect their Administrator account when they install windows. If that's the case, you'll have to know that password in order for this method to work.

• There is a way to crack the windows "SAM" and system files to retrieve the original passwords Monitor, you need a program such as LC5 installed on a computer, and the SAM file in C:\WINDOWS\system32\config if LC5 is not installed on the computer that you forgot disk because as soon as you can get into the hard drive, windows is using the file so you cant copy it.

• Use SysInternals ERD Commander to change the admin. password. Boot from the CD and select the locksmith option to change whatever password you like. Alas, this product seems to have been discontinued, however there are many other options out there for resetting the password so long as you are willing to spend a little money.

• Much simpler is simply to rename or delete the SAM file (renaming is safer). For this you need to boot the box using some other operating system on a CD and then mount the drive (otherwise Windows locks the SAM file and won't let you touch it). NTFSDOS is also a good utility for this purpose. Find the SAM file and change the first character. After you reboot, all the accounts are still there, but they all have null passwords. Note: if you rename the SAM file on XP SP2, when you reboot, XP fails to initialize and forces you to reboot in safe mode. However when you boot into safe mode you get the same message, so don't try this method on XP SP2.

WARNING

• This method does not work with machines running XP SP2, you will need to use "safe mode with networking" instead.

• Use these instructions for ethical purposes only, please. Accessing Windows Administrator and changing passwords could be construed as illegal entry and electronic trespass in a court of law.

• This whole process is pointless if you know the administrator's password as you can easily remove passwords without going into safe mode. Assuming that your PC only has one user profile with administrative powers.

WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) Fix

WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) Fix

1. Download the file from the link given below
2. Extract into a forlder > open the folder wga_fix >
3. Double click on the Installer file
4. Follow the instructions.
5. Once it is done, restart your computer
6. That's it ! Your problem fixed..

Download Link

Explanation of Computer Virus

WHAT IS A VIRUS?

1) Virus is a little program whose activity can destruct/destroy some files

and a computer system.If this program does not open, it's inactive and

could not or will not destroy anything.

WHAT IS A VIRUS-EMAIL?

2) The virus program is brought to you by an email as attachment. It has a server itself (virus server). File virus attachments cannot go to

another email, such as an email was sent by user (netter), member, moderator etc to be as their attachment. It must be brought to you by

email itself,that we called EMAIL Of VIRUS.

WHAT'S THEIR ADDRESS?

3) EMAIL OF VIRUS would be sent by any email address of any account, that

it found and cracked from some mailbox or address-book of other person anywhere. So that why the email of virus looks like it was sent by our

friend, our member,our moderator etc..... even it is able to email a

virus by our own email address.

HOW TO SEE IS THAT A VIRUS ATTACHMENT?

4) To identification of virus attachment:

a). it has a small size ( <150kb>

b). it has extension file name such as below:

*.scr

*.clp

*.pif

*.bat

*.exe

*.com

*.txt

*.doc

*.lhz

*.rhz

and some time it's compressed by *.zip file.

Also by the fake name HotMovie.MPEG__________scr.

Actually the file is virus file with extension .scr

HOW TO SEE IS THAT AN EMAIL VIRUS?

5) You are would able to understand an email virus from their SUBJECT,most

of them contains an amazing statement or unusual word, such as

below:

Weah ^_^ )

Hokki=)

Hi

ello!=))

Hello -:))

Hey, dude, it's me ^_^

access Mpeg

Re:your text

Re:Text message

Re:Msg reply

Re:Is that your document?

Re:Hot Movie(MPEG)

Re:Information...

Re;Important info

Re:This is your photos!:)

and more, and more...

If you received emails with the subject matter as above, you should delete even with out opening.Most of these viruses can be avoided if you use an anti-virus program and up-date it every week.

NOTE:

Don't have words in your email subject which resembles a virus mail Otherwise your email would be deleted by recipient[s].

BEWARE it's dangerous.

*** If one of your file is infected by virus, it will change into function

of a virus and might infect all files in your hard disk.

There are several large players in the anti-virus software. These links will

take you to their web-sites.

Norton Anti Virus

http://www.symantec.com

Trend Micro Incorporated

http://www.antivirus.com

Data Fellows Virus Information

http://www.datafellows.com

Symantec Antivirus Research Center

http://www.symantec.com/nav/index.html

AVG

www.grisoft.com

Norman Data Defense Systems

http://www.norman.com/local

Dr. Soloman's

(a Network Associates company)

http://www.drsolomon.com

iRiS Software

http://www.irisav.com

Alladin Knowledge Systems

http://www.esafe.com

Proland Software

http://www.pspl.com

Computer Associates

http://support.cai.com

Command Software Systems, Inc

http://www.commandcom.com

Central Command

http://www.avp.com

Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team [A.V.E.E.R.T] (a Division of NAI Labs)

http://www.avertlabs.com

Sophos, Inc.

http://www.sophos.com

McAfee, Inc. (a Network Associates company)

http://www.mcafee.com

A good site to get further help from if you need it is:-

http://getvirushelp.com

How To Fool A Keylogger!

How To Fool A Keylogger!

These days Agents spy on you everywhere, in college, at work, maybe a trojan virus on your home PC which keylogs your paswords and mails it to someone else. If you think you are being logged, try this:

Whenever you have to type a password, never type the complete password in one go, ie, if your password is WINDOWS, you should type NDOW, then move cursor to start of the password field using the mouse ONLY, then type WI, then move cursor to end using the mouse and type S. This way the logger will record your keystrokes as ndowwis instead of WINDOWS.

Haha, keylogger fooled

How to Enable or Disable Hibernation in Windows Vista

How to Enable or Disable Hibernation in Windows Vista

With the following tips you can enable or disable hibernation in Windows Vista.

1. Click Start, All Programs.

2. Right click on Command Prompt.

3. Click on Run as administrator and then click Continue.

4. In the command prompt console, type “powercfg –h on” (or “off” without the quotes) and hit the Enter button.

5. Done.

Disable Windows XP Boot Logo

Disable Windows XP Boot Logo

You can speed up the boot process with disable Windows XP splash screen. Follow these steps:

1. Click Start - Run.

2. Type msconfig & click OK

3. Click boot.ini.

4. Place a check mark in the /noguiboot checkbox.

5. Click OK

After these steps, when you reboot your PC, you’ll see the Windows XP logo has disappeared

Make Your Windows Genuine in Single Click

Make Your Windows Genuine in Single Click

This small tool make your windows XP genuine just in a single click. Why is this appearing again? In the last few weeks, I’ve seen many Windows XP users confronted with a window that pops up out of nowhere to install “Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications.”Windows Genuine Advantage is Microsoft's antipiracy tool, designed to identify pirated copies of Windows XP and make them irritating to use. It has no relevance to you and has nothing to do with security. WGA has been around for years and your computer has already passed this test – there’s no excuse for making you go through this again.

The software was actually downloaded as a “critical” update through the Automatic Updates system. You’re installing a new version of the WGA program with changes that are meaningless to you. There’s nothing new that justifies putting this in your face. Even worse, the installation fails a fair amount of the time.

So to be clear: the popup window about Windows Genuine Advantage is a legitimate Microsoft update and your computer will continue to annoy you until you install it. It’s not harmful. Go ahead and click Next. If you have trouble installing it the first time, download and install it manually.

The truly unforgivable thing is the checkmark inserted by default after installation in a box that says, "Show me more information about the joys of running licensed software." When you finish the WGA installation, your web browser takes you to a Microsoft anti-piracy web site.

An unexpected popup window, a vaguely described “update” out of nowhere, a rather bizarre trip to an irrelevant web site after installation - frankly, the whole experience resembles something I’d expect from a malware program, not from Microsoft.

Download the file from the link below, open the folder, doble click on the file "Microsoft Genuine Advantage Diagnostic", and wait for the popup that will show the result. That's it. you are done.

Download Link