The best thing about having a mobile PC (a notebook, Tablet PC, or ultra-mobile PC) is that you can take it with you wherever you go. You can use it just about anywhere-on a trip, at the library, or even at your favorite café. The downside is that your computer-and the valuable data on it-may be a target for thieves and hackers.

You know it’s important to protect your hardware and personal information, but perhaps you’re not sure how to go about it. Look no further. You’ll find nine tips here to help you help protect your mobile PC-without sacrificing mobility or connectivity.

1. Use a cable lock

You’ve got a great mobile PC, but do you have a cable lock? How about an anti-theft alarm? Chances are your mobile PC has a lock slot in the side or the back of its case. For about $30, you can buy a cable that loops through the lock slot to secure your mobile PC to a stationary object. For a little more money, you can buy a cable lock with an alarm.

2. Buy a locking carrying case

You need a case anyway, so why not buy a hard-side case with a solid lock? Unlike a nylon case or backpack, a hard-side case doesn’t advertise that you’re carrying a valuable computer. The lock shows thieves that they’ll need to work a lot harder to open your case. A locking carrying case doesn’t cost much, and it will also help protect your mobile PC if you drop it.

3. Get insurance

You might be lucky enough to have replacement coverage through your homeowner’s or renter’s policy. If not, you can purchase insurance from companies that specialize in computer coverage. It depends on where you live, but you can probably protect your hardware inexpensively.

4. Create a strong password

A strong password is one of the best ways to ward off hackers. You should create strong passwords to log on to Windows and any networks that you use. For even better security, make a habit of changing your passwords frequently.

To create a strong password, follow these tips:

• Include at least eight characters.
• Use letters, numbers, and symbols.
• Make the password significantly different from your previous passwords.
• Don’t use your name or user name.
• Avoid common words, names, or phrases.

5. Back up your files regularly

If your computer is stolen or the hard disk fails, you could lose your data-unless you made a backup. Backing up your files to a location that is separate from your mobile PC is an essential part of protecting your important files. You should back up your files at least once a week, or, for even better protection of your most recent data, once a day.

You can back up your files to a CD or DVD, a USB flash drive, an external hard drive, or another computer if your mobile PC is on a network. Make it easy on yourself by scheduling automatic backups that can run even while you’re using your computer. Here’s how to set up an automatic backup:

1. Click the Start button , click Control Panel, click System and Maintenance, and then click Backup and Restore Center.
2. Click Back up files, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

6. Install Windows updates automatically

You know that it’s important to install Windows updates to help protect your computer, but you can’t always be at your computer when you get notified that new updates are available. No problem-you can set updates to be installed automatically, as soon as they are available.

With Windows automatic updating, you can choose to install important updates only, or important and recommended updates. Windows installs the latest updates as soon as you connect to the Internet. You can set the time that you want Windows to install the updates, such as 3:00 A.M. If you turn off your computer before then, Windows installs the updates the next time you’re online. Here’s how to turn on automatic updating:

1. Click the Start button , click Control Panel, click Security, and then, under Security Center, click Turn automatic updating on or off.
2. Make sure that the Install updates automatically (recommended) option is selected.
3. Under Recommended updates, make sure that the Include recommended updates when downloading, installing, or notifying me about updates check box is also selected.

7. Use Windows Firewall

If your mobile PC is running Windows Vista, Windows Firewall is already working for you. A firewall checks information coming from the Internet (or a network) and either blocks it or lets it through to your mobile PC. Windows Firewall can prevent hackers from installing worms or viruses on your mobile PC. You can change the settings for Windows Firewall, but don’t turn it off completely. If you prefer not to use Windows Firewall, be sure to install and use another firewall.

8. Use Windows Defender

Windows Defender, which comes with Windows Vista, helps keep spyware and other potentially unwanted software at bay. Though not all detected software is harmful, Windows Defender will notify you if it detects spyware and malicious software (also called malware).

Windows Defender works in three ways:

• First, it can automatically scan your computer for spyware and other potentially unwanted software. To better protect your computer, set Windows Defender to automatically scan your computer each day.
• Second, it notifies you when software attempts to install itself or run on your mobile PC.
• Third, if you opt to join the online Microsoft SpyNet community, it lets you know how other people in the community have responded to software that hasn’t yet been classified as a risk. If they think it’s harmful, you’ll know. If you think it’s harmful, you can prevent it from running on your computer and your choice will be used to help other people decide what to do.

You can also scan for spyware and other potentially unwanted software at any time. Here’s how:

• Click the Start button , click Control Panel, click Security, and then, under Windows Defender, click Scan for spyware and other potentially unwanted software.

9. Install an antivirus program

Anytime you go online, your mobile PC is at risk for viruses. To help protect your mobile PC from viruses, install an antivirus program and keep it up to date. Antivirus programs scan for viruses that try to access your e‑mail messages and attachments, operating system, or files. To find an antivirus program, see the Windows Vista Security Software Providers website.

Add these tips to your daily routine

Remember, the best way to help ensure that someone doesn’t help themselves to your hardware or files is to follow a few simple steps:

• Use a cable lock to secure your mobile PC to something big and heavy when you leave it in your home or office.
• Don’t let your mobile PC out of your sight or let someone you don’t trust use it.
• Insure your computer against theft and damage.
• Create a strong password and change it often.
• Back up your files regularly.
• Set Windows Update to install updates automatically.
• Let Windows Firewall help protect you. Don’t turn it off.
• Let Windows Defender help protect you. Don’t turn it off.
• Install an antivirus program and update it regularly.

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1. Reboot the computer
2. Right after the bios is finished, hit F8 (or F2,10,12)
3. Select ‘Safe mode’ or ‘Safe mode with networking support’
4. Windows will boot up to the logon screen. Click administrator, 9/10 there is no password.
5. Do, Start->Run->type ‘command’
6. At the prompt, type ‘net user’ which will display a list of usernames. Find the one you are looking for, try ‘net user username’ for them all. Type ‘net user /HELP’ for more info.
7. To reset the password type ‘net user username *’ where username is the username you want to reset.
8. For no password, leave blank.
9. Now, reboot and you can login as that user.

SECURING YOURSELF FROM THIS METHOD

1. Log into your account (must have admin rights)
2. Get to a command prompt and type ‘net user username *’ where username is Administrator, or the renamed administrator account.
3. Give administrator a STRONG password.

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[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\command]
@=”Command &Prompt”

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\command\command]
@=”\”cmd.exe\” /k cd \”%1\”"

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After you install Windows Vista in a dual-boot configuration together with Microsoft Windows XP, you receive an error message that resembles the following when you try to start the computer by using Windows XP:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. Please re-install a copy of the above file.

CAUSE

You experience this problem if Windows Vista is installed in formerly unallocated disk space that existed in front of the partition on which Windows XP is installed.

In this situation, the Windows Vista Setup program creates a new partition in the unallocated disk space. Because a new partition is created in front of the partition on which Windows XP is installed, the Boot.ini entry for the Windows XP installation points to an invalid partition.

Consider the following scenario:

In this scenario, the Windows XP startup files are now located on disk(0)partition(2). However, the Boot.ini file still points to disk(0)partition(1) for these files. Therefore, Windows XP does not start successfully.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, modify the Windows XP Boot.ini file to point to the correct partition. To do this, follow these steps:

1.	Start Windows Vista.
2.	Right-click Start, and then click Explore.
3.	On the Organize menu, click Folder and Search Options.
4.	In the Folder Options dialog box, click the View tab.
5.	In the Advanced settings area, click Show hidden files and folders, click to clear the Hide extensions for known file types check box, click to clear the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) check box, click Yes to confirm that you want to display operating system files, and then click OK.
6.	Locate and then click the Windows XP system drive. In the Windows Vista Windows Explorer program, this will likely be drive D.
7.	In the right pane, right-click boot.ini, and then click Properties.
8.	In the boot.ini Properties dialog box, click the Security tab, and then click Advanced.
9.	Click the Owner tab, and then click Edit.If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password or click Continue.
10.	In the Change owner to list, click your alias or leave the default Administrators option selected, and then click OK four times.
11.	Right-click boot.ini, and then click Edit.
12.	Modify the Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) path as appropriate for the correct path of the Windows XP startup partition. For example, if the Windows Vista Setup program created a partition in the unallocated disk space in front of the partition on which Windows XP is installed, you must increment the partition value by one. Therefore, if the Boot.ini file contains partition(1) along the ARC path of the Windows XP operating system, modify the ARC path to use partition(2). In this situation, the ARC path resembles the following: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
13.	Save the changes to the Boot.ini file, and then exit Notepad.

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HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer.

Make a new DWORD value named ThumbnailSize. Double click the value and type in a number in decimal anywhere from 32 to 256. Making it smaller will display many more images on the screen for quicker perusual. Its an immediate change.

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Watermark Your Documents
Creating your own watermark for professional looking documents is pretty simple in Work. First go to view > Header and Footer and click on the Show/Hide Text toolbar button located on the Header and Footer toolbar (insert icon image). This should temporarily hide the text. Now you can insert a graphics object using Clip Art, Word Art or even AutoShape. Place the graphics where you want it to be seen, and adjust the color of the watermark by right clicking on the object and choosing properties.

Convert Tables to Plain Old Text
Sometimes copying to and fro with a browser result in unwanted tables being created. this can be easily removed by converting into individual paragraphs and click on Table to Text option under Convert in the Table menu. the separation character can also be specified instead of normal column lines using the “Separate text with” option

Center Text Vertically
Text in Word can be centered horizontally as well as vertically. For the vertical centering, open File > Page Setup and click on the Layout tab. Select the Center option in the Alignment pill-down menu. Format you r document as usual and view its positioning using the print preview button.

Get Rid of Curly Quotes
Typing quotes in Word results in straight quotes being converted to small quoted automatically. This is done by Autocorrect function. Pressing Ctrl+Z (Shortcut for Undo) after typing single or double quoted will give you straight quotes. To permanently turn the feature off, click on Tools > Autocorrect > AutoFormat as you type and disable Straight quotes with smart quotes.

Collate Documents
Collating documents copies can be done automatically in Word. To collate documents while you print, click on the Print option from the File menu and click the “Collate” check box in the Copies heading. then fill the number of copies you want tin the box labeled “Number of copies”. Simple click Print to get the collated multiple copes you want.

Bring Straying Lines Back Into Fold
A cool feature for your squeezers; get those extra lines on the last page of your document. Click on File > Print Preview. in the Print Preview window, click the Shrink to Fit button to fit the few overflowing lines onto the last page.

Create Email Signatures
Word allows you to create multiple signatures for your emails created in Word. To create to add a new signature, go to Tools > Options and click on the General tab, click the Email Option button. Type the signature it the text box below, type its name and click Add to add it to the set of signatures you can use. You can also set the default signatures for New and Forwarded/Replied Messages.

Take the Synonym Shortcut
Checking out synonyms of a word generally involves looking it up in the thesaurus in the Tools > Language menu. A faster way is to just select the word and right click it. In the menu, select synonyms and you will be presented with a list of synonyms to choose from. You can also click on Thesaurus to lookup more synonyms. often, Word will also present a few antonyms when you know what you don’t mean to say.

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You might want to restore the driver for a device to a previous version if you encounter problems with your computer or device after upgrading the driver.

1.	Open Device Manager by clicking the Start button clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Device Manager.‌ If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
2.	Double-click the category containing your device driver, and then double-click the name of the device you want to restore to a previous driver version.
3.	Click the Driver tab, and then click Roll Back Driver.

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1. Click on the start button and select run.
2. type “mplayer2″ and click OK. it’s the orginal movie player.

If you want to make this the default media player follow the directions below:

1. When the classic windows media player is running click on the view menubar and select options.
2. Then click on the format tab anc choose your computer to open all the formats with the player.

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Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how to get started.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
Select ClearPageFileAtShutdown from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 1 to enable.
Reboot your computer.

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Disable it by pointing regedit to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem and set ‘NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate’ to 1.

NTFS uses disparate master file control tables to store filesystem information about your drives. Over time these core MFT files grow and become fragmented, slowing down all accesses to the drive. By setting aside a little space, MFT’s can grow without becoming fragmented. In the same key where you disabled the last access feature creat a new DWORD value called ‘NtfsMftZoneReservation’ and set it to 2.

Note: This tweak will not work on FAT32 file systems!

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If you’re not sure where to start, here are some ideas on what to discuss with your kids to teach them about using the Internet more safely.

How much swap space do you need? That depends the amount of RAM you have and the programs you use. The rule of the thumb is 1.5 times the

amount of system memory, unless you have too much memory on your system (make it 1 times or less) or too much load (make it more than you

system’s load). Say we decided we must create a swap file of 512MB.

Linux guys have always relied on disk partitions specially designated for the swap. That way, the swap is never fragmented. You can use a

similar approach in Windows. If you are doing a fresh install, leave some unpartitioned space in your disk drive to fit the swap file (A little

more than 512MB). If your system is already installed, you must use some re-partitioning software like ‘Partition Magic’.

In Windows, you have to create and format the swap partition using the Disk Management settings (Start->Control Panel- >Performance and

Maintenance->Administrative Tools->Computer Management->Storage->Disk Management). Be careful because this tool has the ability to destroy your

data if you are not careful!

Make sure you create an ‘Extended’ partition in the free disk space and then create a ‘Logical Drive’ inside the extended partition. Apply the

changes and then format it. Note that you don’t need to format the swap partition using advanced filesystem types like NTFS or FAT32. FAT16 is

quite faster than the other two, and since this partition is only going to host one file, you don’t need to worry about cluster size. Also, the

security/fault tolerant features of NTFS are not needed for the swap, unless of course you are running under *real* tight security.

From then on, it’s easy. You have to go to Performance Options (Start->Control Panel->Performance and Maintenance- >Administrative Tools-

>System->Advanced->Performance->Settings->Advanced->Virtual Memory->Change). Change the values ‘Initial Size’ and ‘Maximum Size’ to the size of

your swap (512MB). Note that you have to specify the *same* amount for both values. This will keep your swap file from resizing, fragmenting

and eventually slowing itself down.

Another cool trick can be used if you have more than one disks. Provided that both disks are of almost the same speed, in the above dialog you

can split the swap file in two or more equally sized partitions (256MB each in our example). This will result in greater swap file performance,

since the system will be reading from two disks at the same time. This way you will be actually setting up a raid0-like swap!

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Maintain Proportions While Resizing Elements
Resizing your images while retaining proportions in their positions relative to one another can be done easily in PowerPoint. Select the object one at a time, keeping the Shift key pressed, Drag the object to the desired size and PowerPoint will automatically scale them all.

Import Outlines From Word
Instead of creating presentations outlines in PowerPoint, they can also be conveniently imported straight away from Word. First, open eh file in Word and click on the File > Send To. Select Microsoft PowerPoint to export outline to PowerPoint. it will help to have the outline properly formatted with word heading styles.

Animate your Slide Show
Add animations to your presentation for that extra pep and dazzle. Switch to slide you wish to animate. click Show > Custom Animation > Timing. Check the checkboxes for the objects you which to animate from the list of objects. Choose the animation from the Effects tab for each other. click OK to save the animation.

Create Semi-transparent Objects
To create a semitransparent object, say, for watermark, select the object you want and them ungroup it by clicking on Draw > Ungroup from the Draw toolbar. Once the object is ungrouped, regroup it by selecting the Group option again from the Draw menu. This will convert the picture to a Microsoft Office Drawing Object. click on Format > Object. Under the Colors and Lines tab check the Semitransparent box. Click the OK button to get your see though object.

Use Curved Text
WordArt allows text to be styled and twisted in various ways. For using curved text in PowerPoint, click on Insert > Picture > WordArt, choose the style that you want to apply to the text and click OK. A dialog box will prompt you for the text to be places in the given format. After the WordArt object has been generated, select it and click on the Shape button on the WordArt toolbar. Here you can choose the style in which you want the text to be bent.

Check Your Formatting
Checking text formatting on all the sides for consistency can be time consuming and tough. PowerPoint can help you with this. Switch to Outline or Normal view and click on the Show Formatting button on the Outlining toolbar. The outline will show all formatted text that would appear in the presentation, thus allowing you to compare between slides and remove any inconsistencies between font styles.

Use Portions of Images
You can keep a just portion of a Metafile in a slide instead of teh complete picture. Insert the image into your slide and select it. Click on Draw > Ungroup from the Draw toolbar to ungroup the image components. You can now select the portions you don’t want and delete them. Regroup the image once you are finished.

Making Notes in Slide Sorter View
When you’re checking out your presentation in Slide Sorter view, the Notes pane is not visible. No need to change views to add a note to the given slide though/ Clicking the Speaker Notes button on the Slide Sorter toolbar gives you a dialog box to add you noted in.

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INTRODUCTION

This article contains recommendations that may help you protect a computer that is running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows XP from viruses. This article also contains information to help you minimize the effect of antivirus software on system and network performance.

MORE INFORMATION

For computers that are running Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, or Windows XP

Do not scan the following files and folders. These files are not at risk of infection. If you scan these files, serious performance problems may occur because of file locking. Where a specific set of files is identified by name, exclude only those files instead of the whole folder. Sometimes, the whole folder must be excluded. Do not exclude any one of these based on the file name extension. For example, do not exclude all files that have a .dit extension. Microsoft has no control over other files that may use the same extensions as the following files.

For Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 domain controllers

Because domain controllers provide a critical service to clients, the risk of disruption of their activities as a result of malicious code from a virus must be minimized. Antivirus software is the generally accepted way to mitigate the risk of virus infection. Install and configure antivirus software so that the risk to the domain controller is reduced as much as possible and so that performance is affected as little as possible. The following list contains recommendations to help you configure and install antivirus software on a Windows 2000 or on a Windows Server 2003 domain controller:

Warning Microsoft recommends that you apply the following specified configuration to a test configuration to make sure that in your specific environment it does not introduce unexpected factors or compromise the stability of the system. The risk from too much scanning is that files are inappropriately flagged as having been changed, resulting in excessive replication in Active Directory. If testing verifies that replication is not affected by the following recommendations, you can apply the antivirus software to the production environment.

Note Specific recommendations from antivirus software vendors may supersede the recommendations in the article.

1. %systemroot%\sysvol                                                  Exclude

2. %systemroot%\sysvol\domain                                           Scan

3. %systemroot%\sysvol\domain\DO_NOT_REMOVE_NtFrs_PreInstall_Directory  Exclude

4. %systemroot%\sysvol\domain\Policies                                  Scan

5. %systemroot%\sysvol\domain\Scripts                                   Scan

6. %systemroot%\sysvol\staging                                          Exclude

7. %systemroot%\sysvol\staging areas                                    Exclude

8. %systemroot%\sysvol\sysvol                                           Exclude

APPLIES TO

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Display DNS Cache Info Configuration: ipconfig /displaydns

Clear DNS Cache: ipconfig /flushdns

Release All IP Address Connections: ipconfig /release

Renew All IP Address Connections: ipconfig /renew

Re-Register the DNS connections: ipconfig /registerdns

Change/Modify DHCP Class ID: ipconfig /setclassid

Network Connections: control netconnections

Network Setup Wizard: netsetup.cpl

Test Connectivity: ping www.ossmall.info

Trace IP address Route: tracert

Displays the TCP/IP protocol sessions: netstat

Display Local Route: route

Display Resolved MAC Addresses: arp

Display Name of Computer Currently on: hostname

Display DHCP Class Information: ipconfig /showclassid

Products affected

• iTunes for Windows

To resolve this issue, it will be necessary to uninstall QuickTime (installed with iTunes), download the QuickTime standalone installer, and reinstall QuickTime. Follow the steps below to do this:

Microsoft Windows Vista

1. On the Start menu, click Control Panel.
2. Under Programs, click Uninstall a program.

Alternately, in Classic View of Control Panel, click Programs and Features.

3. Select QuickTime.
4. Click Uninstall.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 if you have multiple QuickTime entries listed.
6. Download the QuickTime for Windows standalone installer at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html and save it to your desktop.
7. Double-click the QuickTimeInstaller.exe file on your desktop and follow the instructions to install QuickTime.
8. Open iTunes and play a movie file. The audio should now play with the video.

Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 2000

1. On the Start menu, click Control Panel.
2. Open the Add or Remove Programs control panel.
3. Select QuickTime.
4. Click the Change/Remove button.
5. Click Remove.
6. Click OK.
7. Repeat steps 3 through 6 if you have multiple QuickTime entries listed.
8. Download the QuickTime for Windows standalone installer at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html and save it to your desktop.
9. Double-click the QuickTimeInstaller.exe file on your desktop and follow the instructions to install QuickTime.
10. Open iTunes and play a movie file. The audio should now play with the video.

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A service is an application type that runs in the background and is similar to a UNIX daemon application. Services typically provide access to key features such as file servers, Web servers, database servers, and other server-based applications to users, both locally and across the network.

Some of the most common tasks associated with managing services are starting and stopping a service, disabling a service for a hardware profile, and changing the startup method for a service.

To improve performance and security in the Windows Server 2003 family, several services have been disabled by default that were previously enabled. You should not change the startup method of a service unless you are sure you are choosing the appropriate startup method.

To start, stop, pause, resume, or restart a service

Caution

Notes

To enable or disable a service for a hardware profile

Caution

Notes

To start, stop, or change the startup method for a service

Caution

Notes

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Because IM is so popular, virus writers can use it to spread malicious programs.

Understanding instant message viruses

Like e-mail viruses, instant message viruses are malicious programs that are designed to travel through IM.

These viruses are spread, in most cases, when a person opens an infected file that was sent in an instant message that appeared to come from a friend.

When you open one of these files, your computer can become infected with a virus. Because of the virus, your computer may slow down or stop responding, or you may not notice any change at all.

However, the virus might have installed a covert program on your computer that could damage software, hardware, or important files, and that may include spyware, which can track information entered on the computer.

A computer infected by a virus may continue to spread the infection by sending copies of the virus to everyone on your IM contact list, that is, the collection of IM names that you can store in your IM program.

5 steps to help avoid instant message viruses

As with most threats on the Internet, you can help keep yourself safe by taking basic precautions. If you know how to avoid e-mail viruses, you’ll already be familiar with many of these steps.

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Files you download could be just what you expect, but they might also be a vehicle for malevolent intent. Malicious software (also called malware) is software that can harm you or your computer; it can include viruses, worms, spyware, and other unwanted programs.

Before you download files, make sure you are as protected from unwanted software as you can be.

Keep your software safety net up-to-date

Improve your computer’s overall security

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To use the bootcfg command, start the Recovery Console with the Windows XP CD-ROM, and then click Recovery Console. Or, install the Recovery Console locally, and then select the command from the Boot menu.

The bootcfg command has the following uses:

You can also modify the Boot.ini file in the Windows XP graphical user interface (GUI):

APPLIES TO

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1. Open My Computer
2. Click on the Tools menu and select Folder Options…
3. Under Folder Options select the view tab.
4. Uncheck the very first box that reads “Automatically search for network folders and printers”.
5. Click “Apply” or “OK”

You should see a dramatic increase in speed when Windows displays your icons.

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following text into a new file:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder]
“Attributes”=hex:50,01,00,20

“CallForAttributes”=dword:00000000

Now save this text file as a .reg file, such as “Rename Recycle Bin.reg” and

put it wherever you like. Double click on the file, and when it asks you if

you want to import it into the registry, choose Yes. You’ll notice a new

option in the right-click menu to Rename the Recycle Bin. You can also

rename it by highlighing the Bin and hitting F2, or by highlighting it and

clicking on the file name (just like renaming any other file.
If you want to turn off this new feature, make another .reg file with the

same content as above, but change the first number in the “Attributes”=hex:

line from 50 to 40 and import that file into the registry.

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Windows XP Powertoy TweakUI 2 PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released to manufacturing. They add fun and functionality to the Windows experience. You must uninstall your old PowerToys before installing the new ones. Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP Get it here!

Window XP PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released to manufacturing. They add fun and functionality to the Windows experience!

Microsoft has taken great care to ensure that PowerToys operate as they should, but they are not part of Windows and are not supported by Microsoft. For this reason, Microsoft Technical Support is unable to answer questions about PowerToys.

Microsoft Releases XP PowerToys Update: Months after it originally removed PowerToys for Windows XP from download, Microsoft developers have finally released the long awaited update to the popular tools. PowerToys are a group of small applications that add extra functionality to Windows XP by taking advantage of hidden settings. A Microsoft spokesperson said the need to make minor improvements as the reason for pulling PowerToys and promised an update in the spring.

You must uninstall your old PowerToys before installing the new ones. “If you installed PowerToys prior to April 23, 2002, you must uninstall your old PowerToys before installing the versions available here, Microsoft.”

Window XP PowerToys Fun Pack:

Download PowerToys_Full.exe 1.62 MB file here!

New – Windows XP Video Screen Saver PowerToy: The Windows XP Screen Saver PowerToy makes it easy to play any Windows Media® Video or series of videos (such as home movies created with Windows Movie Maker 2) as your Windows XP screen saver. powertoys_wpchanger.exe 182 KB file.

New – Windows XP Desktop Wallpaper Changer PowerToy: Make your computer desktop more dynamic, interactive, useful, and fun. The Wallpaper Changer PowerToy allows your desktop wallpaper to change automatically. It also lets you choose which images to display. Select the folder of images to display as a slide show and set the display interval to change wallpaper every few minutes, hours, or days. The simple intuitive interface is easily available from the system tray. Partial Fun Pack 2: Video Screen Saver PowerToy PowerToys_VSS.exe 410 KB file.

PowerToy choices:

Open Command Window Here:
This PowerToy adds an “Open Command Window Here” context menu option on file system folders, giving you a quick way to open a command window (cmd.exe) pointing at the selected folder. CmdHere.exe – 514 KB file

New Alt-Tab Replacement
With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open. Alt-Tab Replacement – 534 KB file

Tweak UI:
This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more. WinXpFix.com TweakUI.exe – 564 KB file

Tweak UI for Itanium™-based systems TweakUI.exe

Power Calculator:
With this PowerToy you can graph and evaluate functions as well as perform many different types of conversions. 624 KB PowerCalc.exe

Image Resizer;
This PowerToy enables you to resize one or many image files with a right-click. ImageResizer.exe – 521 KB file

CD Slide Show Generator:
With this PowerToy you can view images burned to a CD as a slide show. The Generator works downlevel on Windows 9x machines as well. Slideshow.exe – 548 KB file

Virtual Desktop Manager:
Manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar with this PowerToy. Deskman.exe – 550 KB file

Taskbar Magnifier
Use this PowerToy to magnify part of the screen from the taskbar. Magnifier.exe – 515 KB file

Webcam Timershot:
This PowerToy lets you take pictures at specified time intervals from a Webcam connected to your computer and save them to a location that you designate. Timershot.exe – 610 KB file

This is an old PowerToys no longer included in the New PowerToys.

HTML Slide Show Wizard:
This wizard helps you create an HTML slide show of your digital pictures, ready to place on your Web site. Htmlgen.exe – 771 KB file

Note! Although released by Microsoft, they are not a part of XP therefore Microsoft are unable to offer any technical support for PowerToys. PowerToys are for Windows XP only.

You can download the powertoys files (one at a time) at Microsoft download page Here!

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Microsoft Knowledge Base Article

This article contents is Microsoft Copyrighted material.
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Trademarks

Start > Run > cmd

and the Command Prompt window will apear

cmd.exe (Windows 2000 and XP), command.com (98 and Me): These commands (you don’t need to enter the period and extension) open the window where you enter the other commands discussed here. Using either one with the /c switch, you can create a shortcut that opens a command window, executes a command, and then closes the window. This allows you to launch a command just by double-clicking its icon or choosing it from the Start menu. For example, to make an icon that refreshes your network connection, right-click the desktop or in any folder window and choose New, Shortcut. In the first box, type cmd /c ipconfig /renew , as well as the discussion of ‘ipconfig.exe‘ below). Click Next and follow the wizard’s instructions to create the shortcut. If you want the command window to stay open so that you can see the results of your command, simply replace the ‘/c’ with /k. You can use this shortcut technique with many of the commands listed here.

attrib.exe: This command lets you change one or more of a file’s attributes (such as ‘Hidden’, ‘System’, ‘Read-only’, or ‘Archive’). It’s usually easier to right-click the file in an Explorer or folder window, choose Properties, and check the desired boxes But when you need to change attributes for files in multiple subfolders, this command line (with the /s switch) can do it for you in one step.

compact.exe: If your drive is formatted with the NTFS file system (available only in Windows 2000 and XP), you have the option of compressing files and folders by right-clicking them, choosing Properties, clicking Advanced under the General tab, and selecting the appropriate check box. But what if some of the files in a folder are already compressed (such as JPEG photos), while others could benefit from compressing? Use this command with the /s switch and wild-card characters to compress only specific files in the selected directory (and in all its subdirectories). For example, compact /c /s:c:\doc *.doc will compress all of the Word documents in your Doc folder and subfolders. To uncompress, change the ‘/c’ to /u.

ipconfig.exe: This helpful network utility displays your current IP address, as well as its subnet and gateway addresses. Use the /all switch to see even more network information. The /renew switch (/renew_all in Windows 98 and Me) refreshes the connections. (See also ‘ping.exe’ below.)

openfiles.exe: If you need to figure out who on your network has a shared file open, type this command at the prompt and press <Enter>. You can also use it to close the open files in a shared folder or to disconnect the user currently viewing them. For details, type openfiles /disconnect /? at the command prompt.

ping.exe: When your network is experiencing technical difficulties, this simple troubleshooting utility will tell you whether two computers are talking to each other. Just type ping, a space, and the network name or IP address of the problem computer. If it reports a reply, you’ll know that the connection is okay. You can also use this command to confirm that your own Internet connection is working.

recover.exe: If you lose a file to a corrupt sector on an NTFS disk, this command restores as much of the lost data as possible. Type recover followed by a space and the full path and name of the file you want to resuscitate. No wild-card characters are allowed in the specified file path, and you can recover only one file at a time when using this command.

runas.exe: People who log in to a non-administrator Windows account (which Microsoft recommends for security reasons) may think that they have to log off and back on to perform administrator-only tasks. Not so! This command launches a program as if you were another user. Just type runas /user: followed by the name of the profile under whose auspices you want to run the application, then a space and the program’s name. (Use the /? switch to get details on the exact form to use with this command.) You will, of course, be prompted for that profile’s password before the program launches.

sort.exe: To sort the items in a text file alphabetically, type sort, a space, the name of the file, another space, the greater-than symbol (>), another space, and the path and name of the file in which the sorted entries will appear (for example, you might type sort messylist.txt > neatlist.txt). Add the /r switch at the end if you want the list to appear in reverse alphabetical order.

taskkill.exe: You could use Windows XP’s Task Manager to close any running application or process, but this utility not only closes one app, it also lets you stop multiple programs at once via wild cards and filters. For example, to shut down all applications that are not responding, type taskkill /fi “status eq not responding”. For more options, consult the help screen.

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Microsoft Knowledge Base Article

This article contents is Microsoft Copyrighted material.
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Trademarks