E-RUSE 6

OPTIMIZED XP
The page file is a dedicated spot reserved on your hard drive that the computer refers back to when it needs extra memory for programs and applications. Page file, or virtual memory is the slowest component of the memory process, because your computer has to call to the hard drive to access the page file. By optimizing your page file you can speed up Windows’ responsiveness and performance.

Defragmenting The Page File

Defragmenting your hard drive is recommended by everyone, but what about your page file? Your page file too, like the hard drive, can get cluttered and fragmented so it’s important to make sure your page file is defragmented for optimum for performance.

There are two main methods for defragmenting your page file: Installing a page file defragmenting software, or disabling the page file then running the Windows Disk Defragmenter.

PageDefrag

A good program for defragmenting your page file is PageDefrag.

1. Download and unzip pagedefrag

2. Launch the program and select ‘Defragment at next boot’, or if you want to select ‘Defragment every boot’, though it’s not really necessary.

3. Now when you restart your computer PageDefrag will defragment your computer’s page file.

Windows Disk Defragmenter

To use the built-in Windows Disk Defragmenter to defragment your page file you’ll have to first disable your page file, so that way Windows can access it.

1. Go to your Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Performance Settings -> Advanced Tab -> Click Change button -> No paging file -> Set -> OK -> Restart Your PC

2. After you restart your computer, your page file will be free for the disk defragmenter to defragment. Run Microsoft Disk Defragmenter and defragment your computer like you normally would.

Now that your page file is defragmented we can work on optimizing it.

Optimizing The Page File

The page file’s size can be set by Windows, or specified by user-settings for the minimum and maximum size. Window’s default settings for the minimum page file size is the amount of memory installed multiplied by 1.5, and for the maximum page file size is the memory installed multiplied by 3.0 on your machine.

The best way to optimize your page file is to place one page file on a different hard drive partition, preferably without any system files or data. And also have a smaller one on the primary drive partition as well. Due to an internal algorithm in Windows it will fall back to the page file on the least accessed partition.

If you don’t have an extra hard drive, you can try setting your page file manually to 1.5x-3.0x your memory. I’ve heard that this is a good solution for keeping your page file in line. You can also try setting your page file minimum and maximum size to the same amount, either 1.5x or 3.0x your installed memory and see how that works. Theoretically by having your page file maximum and minimum set to the same size it should speed up Windows, because it won’t have to constantly resize the page file depending on what applications you’re running how much memory you’re using, and it won’t become fragmented due to the size no longer changing.

Should You Disable Your Page File?

Several people suggest that you disable the page file to increase performance, by doing away with the page file that means your computer won’t have to access the hard drive. So it should be faster, right? It can be, or it can cause several instability problems for your computer. Many programs won’t even run without a page file enabled.

Over at Tom’s Hardware Guide, they tested a Windows Vista machine with 8GBs of RAM, and promptly disabled the page file to see what would happen. The 8 GB system ran just like normal, but when they lowered the amount of memory available to 2 GBs, system instability occurred. “Applications immediately crash as soon as the system runs out of RAM and Windows is unable to write the files to virtual memory on the hard drive.” Their only solution was to reboot. Limiting the memory even further to 512 MBs resulted in no longer being able to open any applications without the system crashing. Even low resource Windows-based applications like Notepad caused it to crash. The systems also crashed while idling after a short while.

By optimizing your page file you can boost your Windows performance. Even though it is possible for a computer to run with the page file disabled, it is not recommended by anyone to disable your page file, even if you have access to large amounts of RAM. Defragmenting the page file, changing the size of the page file, and putting it on a separate partition are several different methods you can use, but it’s the combined effort of all these methods, that will provide the biggest performance increase.

E-RUSE 5

GET PRODUCT KEY OF INSTALLED WINDOWS XP AND MS OFFICE.
CLICK THIS LINK BELOW:
SAMI

E-RUSE 4

Block any installed application from lunching on your computer
Today tip will help you to block any windows built-in applications or other third party programs from being executed on a target computer. If you want to restrict an application from running your family members and co-workers then AppLocker provides a simple solution to do so. However this tip is very useful for you, if you are sharing your computer with others or you do not want that other persons run all installed applications. This trick will work in nearly all of the windows versions like windows 2000, XP, 2003 and 2008.
AppLocker provides us a complete solution to block any programs from being executed on a target computer. You can download this tool for any windows version using AppLocker(http://www.computeronlinetips.com/Free-Dump/AppLockerV1102.zip) link. Download it and run the easy setup.
After installation, double click on AppLocker icon on your desktop to start the Application Locker software. Now this application will display the list of computer software programs like Microsoft Word, Excel, Internet Explorer and many others.
Here click on any application checkbox and then click on Save button to block any software. For example, if you want to block Internet Explorer then select the checkbox of internet explorer and now after saving the change click on Internet Explorer to start it
Now here you can add other application other than the default lock application list, you can lock other programs by clicking the “Configure” button to open the configuration window. Type the caption you want displayed on the ‘Lock application list’. Then, type the programs executable file name and click the ‘Add’ button to add new applications.

E-RUSE 3

Disable the right click functionality on the desktop
Today tip is very useful particularly for home users who want to protect their system default settings against unwanted changes that other users can make. For example changes in system desktop appearance, themes, and screen saver as well as other display settings. Using registry editor, you can disable the right click functionality on desktop to access the "Display Properties" dialog box and this will also prevent users to access windows explorer.
Follow the given steps to disable the right click functionality on desktop:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.
Click Start button and type regedit in Run option then press Enter for next
Here locate the location to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Here in right side panel, right click to create a new DWORD value with the name NoViewContextMenu (it is case sensitive), then assign number 1 in value data box.

Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.
But next time, if you want to enable right click functionality on desktop then simply change the value of data box or delete the NoViewContextMenu DWORD item.

E-RUSE 2

Turn Off the Dr. Watson Debugger
Dr. Watson is a program error debugger that detects and diagnoses program errors in Windows and creates log files that contain the diagnostic data.

To turn off the Dr Watson debugger, apply the following Windows registry change:

Always be sure to backup your registry before making any changes !

To edit the registry go to Start, then Run and type in regedit and click Ok. To backup your registry go to File then Export and choose a location and name for your registry backup.

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug
Name: Auto
Type: REG_DWORD
Use a Value of 0 to disable
Use a Value of 1 to enable

To re-enable Dr Watson, you can also type drwtsn -i from a command prompt

E-RUSE 1

Helpful DOS Commands

Sometimes when troubleshooting your computer you will need to use command line based utilities to find information or run programs that you can’t do within Windows. In this section we will go over some of the more helpful DOS based commands that you can use to solve your computer problems.

To get to a command prompt go to Start, Run and type cmd (command for Windows 98) and click Ok.

Some of these commands use switches which are different options that will make the command do different things. Switches are usually used by typing a / and then the switch after the command. For example: Command /switch. You can also type Command /? for help on that particular command such as the available switches and how to use them.

* Chkdsk - Creates and displays a status report for a hard drive based on the file system and also lists and corrects errors on the disk.

/f : Fixes errors on the disk.
/r : Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information.

* Copy - Copies one or more files from one location to another
* Del - Deletes specified files.

/p : Prompts you for confirmation before deleting the specified file.

*
Dir - Displays a list of a directory's files and subdirectories.

/p : Displays one screen of the listing at a time.

*
Exit – Exits the command prompt utility.
*
Gpupdate - Refreshes local and Active Directory-based Group Policy settings, including security settings.
*
Hostname - Displays the host name portion of the full computer name of the computer.
*
Ipconfig - Displays all current TCP/IP network configuration values and refreshes Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Domain Name System (DNS) settings.

/all : Displays the full TCP/IP configuration for all adapters.
/renew : Renews DHCP configuration for all adapters.
/release : Sends a DHCPRELEASE message to the DHCP server to release the current DHCP configuration and discard the IP address configuration.

* Mkdir - Creates a directory or subdirectory.
* Mmc - Opens Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
* Move - Moves one or more files from one directory to the specified directory.
* Nbtstat - Displays NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) protocol statistics, NetBIOS name tables for both the local computer and remote computers, and the NetBIOS name cache.

-A IPAddress : Displays the NetBIOS name table of a remote computer, specified by the IP address.
-n : Displays the NetBIOS name table of the local computer.
-RR : Releases and then refreshes NetBIOS names for the local computer that is registered with WINS servers.

* Netstat - Displays active TCP connections.
* Ping - Verifies IP-level connectivity to another TCP/IP computer by sending Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request messages.
* Print - Sends a text file to a printer.
* Rename - Changes the name of a file or a set of files.
* Shutdown - Allows you to shut down or restart a local or remote computer. Used without parameters, shutdown will logoff the current user.

-l : Logs off the current user.
-s : Shuts down the local computer.
-r : Reboots after shutdown.
-a : Aborts shutdown.
-f : Forces running applications to close.
-m [\\ComputerName] : Specifies the computer that you want to shut down.
-t xx : Sets the timer for system shutdown in xx seconds. The default is 20 seconds.

*
Sfc - Scans and verifies the versions of all protected system files after you restart your computer.

/scannow : Scans all protected system files immediately.
/scanonce : Scans all protected system files once.
/scanboot : Scans all protected system files every time the computer is restarted.
/revert : Returns the scan to its default operation.

*
Time - Displays or sets the system time.
*
Ver - Displays the Windows XP version number.
*
Xcopy - Copies files and directories, including subdirectories.

COMPUTER TROUBLSOOTING 47

Changing your computer’s boot order

There may come a time when you need to boot from a floppy for troubleshooting purposes or boot from a CD to install a new operating system.
To do this you can change the boot order in your computer’s BIOS (basic input/output system). The BIOS is built in software that determines what the computer is setup to do without using information from the hard drive or operating system.
To get to your BIOS settings, start your computer and look for what it says you need to do to enter setup. You may have to press the delete or F2 key. Not all systems are the same.
Once you get into the BIOS there will most likely be a section named Boot. From there you can change which drive the system looks at first to boot from.

COMPUTER TROUBLSOOTING 46

Funny Computer Trick

Check out these funny trick.

Copy and paste the java script code to the address bar of your browser

javascript:function Shw(n) {if (self.moveBy) {for (i = 35; i > 0; i--) {for (j = n; j > 0; j--) {self.moveBy(1,i);self.moveBy(i,0);self.moveBy(0,-i);self.moveBy(-i,0); } } }} Shw(6)

2: Press enter and watch your window's "shaking it". You can change the value of i if you wish :-)

COMPUTER TROUBLSOOTING 45

Increase the speed of your slow internet connection
Today broadband internet connection is available in all the major cities, but in some area people are still using slow dial-up internet connection. So don’t worry, you can enjoy your dial-up internet connection faster than its normal speed using internet accelerator. The Web Accelerator application designed to provide the full acceleration for your routine web sites browsing. With the help of Web Accelerator you can browse your internet 4 to 6 times faster than normal dial-up connection. Basically this services compressing the website text data, images and heavy graphics to open or download this data with high speed.

This technique is more useful for static websites and for email applications but don't accelerate with secure and downloading audio or video files. Some good web accelerator retains your system cache to reuse websites with faster speed and can also block windows pop-up. If you are using FTP sites and downloading any program using dial-up, then web accelerator is not for you. There are various web accelerator software are free available on internet, visit and download it to enjoy your connection.

COMPUTER TROUBLSOOTING 44

General Tips about Windows XP
Windows XP General Tips | Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Home Edition Few general tips about Microsoft Windows XP.
There are two types of Windows used by single users. First one is Microsoft Windows XP Professional and 2nd is Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.
If you are confused that which windows you are using. I'll tell you the procedure.
Click on "Start Menu"
Click on "Run Command"
Type "winver" (without quotes) and press Enter
You can see Windows Full Name covered with red oval.
Windows XP Professional Edition provides more functionality over network while Windows XP Home Edition is designed only for home users who are not using networking.

COMPUTER TROUBLSOOTING 43

Hidden User Account
For my next trick I will make a user account disappear, yet remain a full functioning account. Today's Security Tip is another way to lock down your system, and it does this by hiding specified user accounts. This feature is only available in XP and 2000, so unfortunately the rest of you are out of luck. This process does involve an easy registry edit, but if you're uncomfortable with that you might want to think twice about attempting this.
Normally when you log into XP, you see the startup screen where you see all the icons for the users who can access. What this tip does is allow you to hide a desired account from this screen. If you want to log on as this user you have to press Cntrl+Alt+Del twice at the Welcome screen to make a Windows Security dialog box appear. Here you can type in the user name and password of the hidden account and log in. Limited Users shouldn't be able to see any sign of you except for the listing in the Documents and Settings folder. Other administrative users will be able to see your hidden account in Control Panel/User Accounts, so keep this in mind when you're planning this out.
All right, now down to the good stuff. If having a hidden account sounds like your cup of tea, and you have no problem with small Registry augmentation, then let's go:

* First we need to open up the Registry Editor. Go to Start/Run and type "regedit" and click OK

* You should be looking at the Registry editor, and what we need to do now is navigate to H-KEY\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\Userlist . You will not see this folder if you do not have "show hidden system files" turned on.

* Once here we need to create another DWORD value. This is easier than it sounds, right click on the User list label file on the left side of the screen and select New>DWORD . You'll see the new entry in the right pane of the window, rename this value the name of the user account you want hidden (exactly how it is listed in the Startup screen, case sensitive) and leave the value at 0.

* Close your Registry Editor and restart the PC. When the Welcome screen comes up you'll notice that there's no icon for the user you just concealed. So how do you log in? This is where you press Cntrl+Alt+Del 2x's and the Windows Security Dialog box will come asking you to authenticate (name/password) after this the system should log you in.

Here's one more thing you might want to keep in mind, Windows logon screen. This is the screen where you see the available users you can choose to log in as. You can turn this option on/off in the User Accounts ( Start/Control Panel/User Accounts then "Change the way Users log in or off" and "Use Windows Welcome Screen" and you need to turn it off if you plan on using a hidden account and there are no other accounts on the system. The reason why is that the Windows doesn't have any user accounts to display in the Welcome screen, so it will continuously reboot. Now if you do run into this or any problems simply enter Safe mode at the next boot, this will allow you to go to the User Accounts Window and fix any problems. If you find that you can't log in at all with your hidden account go back and look at the registry value you created. Make sure you're spelling the user name is correct and that it's in the right location in the registry

COMPUTER TROUBLSOOTING 42

Control all open windows using windows shortcut keys
A cool tip to minimize and maximize all your active windows programs. You can do all using your mouse, but if you want to do this with keyboard then simply press Windows key+M to minimize all active programs and later maximize it using Windows key+Shift+M.
If you want to minimize the all active windows programs one by one then use the shortcut by pressing Alt+Space+N keys and sequentially maximize the active windows programs using shortcut Alt+Space+X keys

COMPUTER TROUBLSOOTING 41

Here are the steps to perform a clean boot in Windows XP

Make sure you are logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group.

1. Click Start, click Run, type msconfig, and click Ok.

2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup, and then clear the Process System.ini File, Process Win.ini File, and Load Startup Items check boxes. You won’t be able to clear the Use Original Boot.ini check box.

3. On the Services tab, select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.

4. Click OK, and then click Restart to restart your computer.

5. After Windows starts, check to see if you still have the same problem or error.

Run msconfig again and check the General tab to make sure that the check boxes that you cleared are still cleared. Continue to step 6 if none of the check boxes are selected. If the Load System Services check box is the only disabled check box, your computer is not clean booted. If additional check boxes are disabled and the issue is not resolved, you may require help from the manufacturer of the program that places a check mark back in Msconfig.

If none of the check boxes are selected, and the issue is not resolved, you may have to repeat steps 1 through 5, but you may also have to clear the Load System Services check box on the General tab. This temporarily disables Microsoft services and permanently deletes all system restore points. Do not do this if you want to retain your restore points for System Restore or if you must use a Microsoft service to test the issue.

6. Click Start, click Run, type msconfig and then click Ok.

7. On the General tab, select the Process System.ini File check box, click Ok, and then click Restart to reboot your computer. If the issue continues, the issue is with an entry in your System.ini file. If the issue does not continue, repeat this step for the Process Win.ini File, Load Startup Items, and Load System Services check boxes until the issue occurs. After the issue occurs, the last item that you selected is the item where the issue is occurring.

Note Microsoft strongly recommends that you do not use System Configuration Utility to modify the Boot.ini file on your computer. Doing so may make your computer unusable.

COMPUTER TROUBLSOOTING 40

Set automatically saving document option in word?

Microsoft Word also has an important feature of saving your work automatically into the current document. By default, Word automatically saves your current document after every ten minutes. But you can set this time according to your document importance. To change this time, follow these steps:
Choose Options command from Tools menu.
Select the Save tab in the dialog box. Click the Save Auto Recover info every check box and enter the time in minutes.
Click the OK button of dialog box.

COMPUTER TROUBLSOOTING 39

LOCK YOUR PRIVATE FOLDER
Suppose you want to lock the folder movies in d: which has the path D:\movies.In the same drive create a text file and type
ren movies movies.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
Now save this text file as loc.bat

Create another text file and type in it
ren movies.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} movies
Now save this text file as key.bat
Now you can see 2 batch files loc and key. Press loc and the folder games will change to control panel and you cannot view its contents. Press key and you will get back your original folder.
try it out

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING 38

Uninstall the windows XP using command prompt



Today tip will help you uninstall the upgraded version of windows XP using the command prompt options. If you have upgraded your operating system from the previous versions of windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition (Me) and now you wants to revert to the operating system that was previously installed on your computer. Windows XP can be removed by uninstalling from a Command Prompt option in Safe mode because XP includes the Uninstall Windows XP option.
Follow the given steps to revert to the operating system that was previously installed on your computer:
To manage windows XP, first you should log onto your computer with administrative rights
First boot your system in Safe mode by pressing F8 button at the same time before the windows logo appears.
First click on Start button and type cmd in Run option then press Ok button to display the Command Prompt.
At the command prompt type cd/ command and press enter.
Now again type the command cd\windows\system32 and press enter button. After execution of this command, system will change the previous directory mode.
Now type the command at command prompt osuninst.exe to start the process.
Now on the computer screen, follow the instructions on the screen to begin uninstalling Windows XP from your computer to restore the previous operating system

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING 37

Turn Your Num Lock On Forever
You can set your Num Lock to stay on by default when you logon your system.
There are two different techniques to set Num Lock stay on by default.
If you can use Registry Editor correctly then Click on start button and type Regedt32.exe in Run command. Here Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard and change the value for InitialKeyboardIndicators from 0 to 2.
You can do same by configuring the script to change the NUM LOCK state. Click Start button and then open Notepad. Copy the giving code and paste in Notepad.
set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

WshShell.SendKeys "{NUMLOCK}"
Now save this file with name "num.vbs" must including the quotes. At the end copy this file to user startup folder. The path for this folder is Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.
Now restart the computer. Num Lock should come on and stay on.

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING 36

Close All Windows Programs quickly
A cool tip to minimize and maximize all your active windows programs. You can do all using your mouse, but if you want to do this with keyboard then simply press Windows key+M to minimize all active programs and later maximize it using Windows key+Shift+M.
If you want to minimize the all active windows programs one by one then use the shortcut by pressing Alt+Space+N keys and sequentially maximize the active windows programs using shortcut Alt+Space+X keys.

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING 35

Preview Windows before Switching using Alt+Tab keys

Today tips will really impress you to provide the detail preview of application window icons using the Microsoft PowerToy. Sometimes you are confused about all that files which you have opened different time and you want to preview all windows before switching to them.
Here I will tell you how you can preview windows applications before switching to them.
First press the Alt+ Tab keys to preview the icons of running windows applications. When you have done this step then window will display a box which contain all that programs and windows you have opened. You have to hold down the Alt keys to switch them. You keep tabbing when you are doing this until you have highlighted one of them.
You are flying blind when you are using Alt+Tab keys. You can’t see a window before switching to it. This will create problem for you when you have opened many windows in a program and you don’t know about that file which you will be switching to.
Here I have solution for this problem. Here is an Alt+ Tab Replacement tweak which is named as Microsoft PowerToy. Jest visit the following link to download it from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx
After you have downloaded this tweak then first run the setup to install it. After installing, when you will use the Alt+ Tab keys you will get a preview of that window which you are going to switching.

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING 34

Adding your favorite image to a folder

Dear friends here I have a very useful and interesting tip for you. Sometimes you have to face some problem to distinguish the folders because in standard configuration of window explorer each folder seems closely the similar to others.
If you want to explore your folder in windows explorer's thumbnail view and make these folders are prominent then it is easier to distinguish using text name, for example you're download audio files or digital photos. But if you want to add image to a folder to distinguish with others then you should choose that folder which you want to decorate.
First open Window Explorer and right click on the folder to display the folder menu. Now choose Properties option from the menu, here a new dialog windows will appear with title "Program Properties".
Select Customize tab and click on "Choose Picture" button to add favorite image./p>
The image which you want to use navigates to that image and then clicks "Open" to view a sample of the picture inside the folder icon. Click on Ok button, if you are satisfied from that image .If you are not satisfied then choose another image.
Now at the end, go to View menu to display the folder in Explorer's thumbnail with image.