HAPPY NEW YEAR

HIDDED PROGRAMS IN WINDOWS XP

You can access all these programs by going through START/RUN.

• SQL Client Configuration - cliconfg
• System Configuration Editor - sysedit
• System Configuration Utility - msconfig
• System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately)- sfc /scannow
• System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot)- sfc /scanonce
• System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot) - sfc /scanboot
• System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting)- sfc /revert
• System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache)- sfc /purgecache
• System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x)-sfc/cachesize=x
• System Information - msinfo32.
• Task Manager – taskmgr
• System Properties - sysdm.cpl
• Task Manager – taskmgr
• TCP Tester - tcptest
• Telnet Client - telnet
• Tweak UI (if installed) - tweakui
• User Account Management- nusrmgr.cpl
• Utility Manager - utilman
• Windows Address Book - wab
• Windows Address Book Import Utility - wabmig
• Windows Backup Utility (if installed)- ntbackup
• Windows Explorer - explorer
• Windows Firewall- firewall.cpl
• Windows Magnifier- magnify
• Windows Management Infrastructure - wmimgmt.msc
• Windows Media Player - wmplayer
• Windows Messenger - msmsgs
• Windows Picture Import Wizard (need camera connected)- wiaacmgr
• Windows System Security Tool – syskey
• Windows Update Launches - wupdmgr
• Windows Version (to show which version of windows)- winver
• Windows XP Tour Wizard - tourstart
• Wordpad - write
• Password Properties - password.cpl
• Performance Monitor - perfmon.msc
• Phone and Modem Options - telephon.cpl
• Phone Dialer - dialer
• Pinball Game - pinball
• Power Configuration - powercfg.cpl
• Printers and Faxes - control printers
• Printers Folder – printers
• Private Character Editor - eudcedit
• Quicktime (If Installed)- QuickTime.cpl
• Real Player (if installed)- realplay
• Regional Settings - intl.cpl
• Registry Editor - regedit
• Registry Editor - regedit32
• Remote Access Phonebook - rasphone
• Remote Desktop - mstsc
• Removable Storage - ntmsmgr.msc
• Removable Storage Operator Requests - ntmsoprq.msc
• Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof) - rsop.msc
• Scanners and Cameras - sticpl.cpl
• Scheduled Tasks - control schedtasks
• Security Center - wscui.cpl
• Services - services.msc
• Shared Folders - fsmgmt.msc
• Shuts Down Windows - shutdown
• Sounds and Audio - mmsys.cpl
• Spider Solitare Card Game - spider
• Malicious Software Removal Tool - mrt
• Microsoft Access (if installed) - access.cpl
• Microsoft Chat - winchat
• Microsoft Excel (if installed) - excel
• Microsoft Frontpage (if installed)- frontpg
• Microsoft Movie Maker - moviemk
• Microsoft Paint - mspaint
• Microsoft Powerpoint (if installed)- powerpnt
• Microsoft Word (if installed)- winword
• Microsoft Syncronization Tool - mobsync
• Minesweeper Game - winmine
• Mouse Properties - control mouse
• Mouse Properties - main.cpl
• Nero (if installed)- nero
• Netmeeting - conf
• Network Connections - control netconnections
• Network Connections - ncpa.cpl
• Network Setup Wizard - netsetup.cpl
• Notepad - notepad
• Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed)- nvtuicpl.cpl
• Object Packager - packager
• ODBC Data Source Administrator- odbccp32.cpl
• On Screen Keyboard - osk
• Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed) - ac3filter.cpl
• Outlook Express - msimn
• Paint – pbrush
• Keyboard Properties - control keyboard
• IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration) - ipconfi/all
• IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents)- ipconfig /displaydns
• IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents)- ipconfig /flushdns
• IP Configuration (Release All Connections)- ipconfig /release
• IP Configuration (Renew All Connections)- ipconfig /renew
• IP Configuration(RefreshesDHCP&Re-RegistersDNS)-ipconfig/registerdns
• IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID)- ipconfig/showclassid
• IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID)- ipconfig /setclassid
• Java Control Panel (If Installed)- jpicpl32.cpl
• Java Control Panel (If Installed)- javaws
• Local Security Settings - secpol.msc
• Local Users and Groups - lusrmgr.msc
• Logs You Out Of Windows - logoff.....
• Accessibility Controls - access.cpl
• Accessibility Wizard - accwiz
• Add Hardware - Wizardhdwwiz.cpl
• Add/Remove Programs - appwiz.cpl
• Administrative Tools control - admintools
• Adobe Acrobat (if installed) - acrobat
• Adobe Designer (if installed)- acrodist
• Adobe Distiller (if installed)- acrodist
• Adobe ImageReady (if installed)- imageready
• Adobe Photoshop (if installed)- photoshop
• Automatic Updates - wuaucpl.cpl
• Bluetooth Transfer Wizard – fsquirt
• Calculator - calc
• Certificate Manager - certmgr.msc
• Character Map - charmap
• Check Disk Utility - chkdsk
• Clipboard Viewer - clipbrd
• Command Prompt - cmd
• Component Services - dcomcnfg
• Computer Management - compmgmt.msc
• Control Panel - control
• Date and Time Properties - timedate.cpl
• DDE Shares - ddeshare
• Device Manager - devmgmt.msc
• Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)- directx.cpl
• Direct X Troubleshooter- dxdiag
• Disk Cleanup Utility- cleanmgr
• Disk Defragment- dfrg.msc
• Disk Management- diskmgmt.msc
• Disk Partition Manager- diskpart
• Display Properties- control desktop
• Display Properties- desk.cpl
• Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected)- control color
• Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility- drwtsn32
• Driver Verifier Utility- verifier
• Event Viewer- eventvwr.msc
• Files and Settings Transfer Tool- migwiz
• File Signature Verification Tool- sigverif
• Findfast- findfast.cpl
• Firefox (if installed)- firefox
• Folders Properties- control folders
• Fonts- control fonts
• Fonts Folder- fonts
• Free Cell Card Game- freecell
• Game Controllers- joy.cpl
• Group Policy Editor (XP Prof)- gpedit.msc
• Hearts Card Game- mshearts
• Help and Support- helpctr
• HyperTerminal- hypertrm
• Iexpress Wizard- iexpress
• Indexing Service- ciadv.msc
• Internet Connection Wizard- icwconn1
• Internet Explorer- iexplore
• Internet Setup Wizard- inetwiz
• Internet Properties- inetcpl.cpl

NOTE:=
There is no need to go to start/run all the time...You can also start the run menu directly by using the shortcut key for that and that is windows key+r...{windows key means that key which is situated between ctrl and altr key,,if anybody does not know}

KEY-BOARD Shortcuts

Here are some of most useful key-board shortcuts.

• Copy = Ctrl+c
• Cut = Ctrl+x
• Paste = Ctrl+v
• Undo = Ctrl+z
• Delete = Delete
• Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin:= SHIFT+DELETE
• To copy selected item, CTRL while dragging an item
• Create shortcut to selected item, CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item
• Rename selected item, F2
• Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word, CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
• Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word, CTRL+LEFT ARROW
• Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph, CTRL+DOWN ARROW
• Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph, CTRL+UP ARROW
• Highlight a block of text, CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
• Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document, SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
• Select all, CTRL+A
• Search for a file or folder, F3
• View properties for the selected item, ALT+ENTER
• Close the active item, or quit the active program, ALT+F4
• Opens the shortcut menu for the active window, ALT+SPACEBAR
• Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously, CTRL+F
• Switch between open items, ALT+TAB
• Cycle through items in the order they were opened, ALT+ESC
• Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop, F6
• Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer, F4
• Display the shortcut menu for the selected item, SHIFT+F10
• Display the System menu for the active window, ALT+SPACEBAR
• Display the Start menu, CTRL+ESC
• Display the corresponding menu, ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
• Refresh the active window. F5
• View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE
• Cancel the current task. ESC
• SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.

Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:=

• Move forward through tabs, CTRL+TAB
• Move backward through tabs, CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
• Move forward through options. TAB
• Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB
• Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter
• Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER
• Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR
• Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
• Display Help. F1
• Display the items in the active list. F4

Helpful accessibility keyboard shortcuts:=

• Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds
• Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN
• Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK
• Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times
• Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
  

FINDING IP ADDRESS IN HOT MAIL!!

• Log into your Hotmail account with your username and password.
• Click on the Mail tab on the top.
• Open the mail.
• If you do not see the headers above the mail message, your headers are not displayed . To display the headers,
• Click on Options on the top-right corner
• In the Mail Options page, click on Mail Display Settings
• In Message Headers, make sure Advanced option is checked.
• Click on Ok button
• Go back to the mails and open that mail.
• If you find a header with X-Originating-IP: followed by an IP address, that is the sender's IP address
• Hotmail headers : Daniel ,In this case the IP address of the sender is [68.34.60.59]. This is be the IP address of the sender.
• If you find a header with Received: from followed by a Gmail proxy like this
• Hotmail headers : Daniel
• Look for Received: from followed by IP address within square brackets[]. In this case, the IP address of the sender is [69.140.7.58].
• Or else if you have headers like this
• Hotmail headers : Daniel
• Look for Received: from followed by IP address within square brackets[].
  In this case, the IP address of the sender is [61.83.145.129] .
• If you have multiple Received: from headers, eliminate the ones that have proxy.anyknownserver.com.
  

FINDING IP ADDRESS OF THE SENDER IN YAHOO! MAIL

• Log into your Yahoo! mail with your username and password.
• Click on Inbox or whichever folder you have stored your mail.
• Open the mail.
• If you do not see the headers above the mail message, your headers are not displayed . To display the headers,
• Click on Options on the top-right corner
• In the Mail Options page, click on General Preferences
• Scroll down to Messages where you have the Headers option
• Make sure that Show all headers on incoming messages is selected
• Click on the Save button
• Go back to the mails and open that mail.
• You should see similar headers like this:
• Yahoo! headers : Daniel.
• Look for Received: from followed by the IP address between square brackets [ ]. Here, it is 202.65.138.109.
• That is be the IP address of the sender!
  

HOW TO FIND THE IP ADDRESS OF THE SENDER IN GMAIL

When you receive an email, you receive more than just the message. The email comes with headers that carry important information that can tell where the email was sent from and possibly who sent it. For that, you would need to find the IP address of the sender. The tutorial below can help you find the IP address of the sender.

• Log into your Gmail account with your username and password.
• Open the mail.
• To display the headers,
• Click on More options corresponding to that thread. You should get a bunch of links. Click on Show original
  
• You should get headers like this:
• Gmail headers : Daniel
• Look for Received: from followed by a few hostnames and an IP address between square brackets. In this case, it is 65.119.112.245.
  
• That is be the IP address of the sender!!

NOTE:=
This will not work if the sender uses anonymous proxy servers.

HOW TO DISABLE YAHOO FROM TRACKING YOU

Yahoo! has hidden this option way deep inside somewhere but I'm declaring it here in case there are people who want it anyway:=

• Go to the address http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy & click the "Cookies" link under the "Special Topics" column.
• Click the "Web Beacons" link under the "Reference Links" Column.
• On this page, click the "click here to opt out" link toward the end of the third paragraph under the "Outside the Yahoo! Network" title.
• After a while, a page that says you have been out of the monitoring program will load. Without doing anything, close that page or continue your usual surfing by typing another address in the address bar. (Do NOT click the "Cancel Opt-out" button, your action will be cancelled!).
• You're done! Now Yahoo! will not record what you're doing during surfing.
  

MAKE YOUR FOLDERS PRIVATE

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

NOTE:=

• This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
• When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
• You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS .{{ if your drive is not formatted as NTFS file system & you want to format it as NTFS file system, i've also written on how to convert FAT to NTFS file system..Just go through it.}}
  

REMOVING THE SHORT-CUT ICON ARROWS

This trick is for all those users who feel the short-cut icon arrow as a black spot over the icons..By going through following steps you will be able to remove the arrows.

• Open REGEDIT.EXE by writing "regedit" in Start/Run menu
• Open the Key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
• Open the Key LNKFILE
• Delete the value IsShortcut
• Open the next Key PIFFILE
• Delete the value IsShortcut
• Restart the windows.
  

CUSTOMIZING THE START BUTTON'S NAME

• Copy EXPLORER.EXE in your Windows directory to another directory
• Start a hex editor {U'll need the hex editor software}
• Edit EXPLORER.EXE
• Search for the string 53 00 74 00 61 00 72 00 74
• This is the word Start with the letters separated by a null character
• The section you are in should also have the words "There was an internal error..." also separated with the null character immediately following
• Now just replace the Start letters with any of your choice (up to 5 characters only)
• Exit Windows
• Boot to DOS
• Copy your new Explorer file over the original
  

BRANDING WINDOWS WITH YOUR NAME

• open notepad dump the following lines into it and save it with the name OEMINFO.INI in the c:\windows\system32 directory:

• [General]
• Manufacturer=Your Name Here
• Model=Your Model Here
• [Support Information]
• Line1=Your Name Here
• Line2=Your Address Here
• Line3=Your Email Address Here

• Save the file, then make a right click on my computer select properties, in the general tab a button will be highlighted (support information) make a click on it, you will be able to see the changes.
• Now if you want to display some more information then simply increase the line in the file.
• ex: Line4=Your Working Hours Here
  

How to convert FAT to NTFS file system...

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS, perform the following steps.

• Click Start, click Programs, and then click Command Prompt. In Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type cmd and then click OK.
• At the command prompt, type CONVERT [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS. Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.

NOTE:=
Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion from FAT to NTFS is minimal, it is best to perform a full backup of the data on the drive that it is to be converted prior to executing the convert command.

HOW TO SPEED UP THE START MENU ??

• Start the REGEDIT program
• Search for the word desktop
• This should be in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT / CLSID / {00021400...
• Right Click on the right panel
• Pick NEW / String Value.
• Name it MenuShowDelay, all one word.
• Select a value from 1-10, 1 being the fastest.
• Exit REGEDIT
• Restart WindowS
  

HOW TO HIDE THE PARTITIONS?

• This trick is for all those people who want to hide tons of data into their box. So here it is, if you have very important data in your hard drive placed in some partition which you do not want anybody to access then this trick is only for you!
• Just click on start>run type gpedit.msc, now navigate through user configuration> administrative templates > windows components> windows explorer, now double click on “Hide these specified drives in My Computer” modify it accordingly then just below you will find another option “Prevent access to drives from My Computer”, double click on this option and modify it accordingly.
• To make it visible again select "disable" by double clicking on the “Hide these specified drives in My Computer” option.
  

HOW TO REMOVE PROGRAMMS LISTED FROM THE CONTROL PANEL'S ADD/REMOVE PROGRAM SECTION

• If you remove an installed program and its files by deleting the files,
  it may some time still show up in the Add/Remove programs list through the control panel.
  In order to remove it from the list (so you don't need to re-install in order to just remove it again).
• Start the Registry Editor by writing regedit in run.
• Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows / Current Version / Uninstall.
• Delete any programs here.
• This will only delete them from the list, not delete the actual programs.
  
  

RUNDLL ERROR MESSAGE

If when you start your computer you get a RUNDLL error message in a dialog box here is what you do.

• First use RegEdit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / MICROSOFT / WINDOWS / CURRENT VERSION / RUN
• and delete the string that appears in the dialog box this will remove the string and everything will be groovy!!
  

HAVING ICONS WITH NO NAME

Normally you have to have a name for an icon, just spaces are not allowed.To create an icon with no name attached:

• Make sure Num Lock is on
• Highlight the Icon you want to change
• Right-Mouse click and select Rename
• While holding down the Alt key, type 0160
• Now the icon will have no name below it.
  

GETTING SCREEN SHOTS

If you need to get a screen shot, and you do not have a screen capture program, try this:

• Hit the Print Screen key. This copies a bitmap of the full screen into the Windows clipboard. Start up a graphics editor and paste it in.
• Alt + Print Screen will capture only the active window.
  

Windows XP secrets

1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).
   
2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only)
3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked.
4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.
5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.
6. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.
7. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.
8. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address – they can find this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.
9. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.
10. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.
11. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run… from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.
12. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.
13. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.
14. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.
15. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks – if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.