101PCTricks

Activate Windows 7, Windows Vista And Windows Server

2012-01-18T03:50:00.000-08:00

If you have installed trial version of Windows 7 / Vista /Server on your system then you can enjoy the advantages of Activated Windows for free.
Click Here to Download Windows 7 Activation.zip Extract it And Run.
Below are Features and Supporting Operating Systems for this Activation (Windows Loader v 1.9.2)

Features
The rundown
This will run on x86 and x64 systems
This can activate all Windows versions at the same time, just install it on each
No core system files get modified
No extra processes are run so you have nothing eating at your RAM
All key parts of the exploit are encrypted with a custom encryption
The exploit runs before Windows so it's harder for Microsoft to prevent
The exploit patches all necessary tables making activation look authentic

Supported operating systems
Windows 7 Ultimate
Windows 7 Professional
Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows 7 Home Basic
Windows 7 Starter
Windows Vista Ultimate
Windows Vista Business
Windows Vista Business N
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista Home Basic
Windows Vista Starter
Windows Server 2008 R2: Enterprise
Windows Server 2008 R2: Standard
Windows Server 2008 R2: Foundation
Windows Server 2008: Enterprise
Windows Server 2008: Standard
Windows Server 2008: Foundation
Windows Small Business Server 2008
Note: You must be running build 7600 or greater for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
Note: Windows 7 N and E editions will only be supported when OEM SLP serials leak for these editions.
We will appreciate your feedback

For Windows XP Click HERE

Activate Windows XP - Enjoy Advantages of Genuine Windows XP

2012-01-08T04:44:00.000-08:00

To activate Windows 7 - Windows Vista - Windows Server Click Here
Install Windows XP With These Keys..

Windows XP Pro Corp - RCPFF-KKGQJ-BKJWW-W39P2-D8JQ3

Windows XP Pro Retail - H49F9-8RTVG-MTCVH-G2MFK-C47C8
Windows XP Pro OEM - XJM6Q-BQ8HW-T6DFB-Y934T-YD4YT
Windows XP Pro Upgrade - H49F9-8RTVG-MTCVH-G2MFK-C47C8
Windows XP Home Retail - RH6M6-7PPK4-YR86H-YFFFX-PW8M8
Windows XP Home OEM - JQ4T4-8VM63-6WFBK-KTT29-V8966
Windows XP Home Upgrade - RH6M6-7PPK4-YR86H-YFFFX-PW8M8
Windows XP MCE 2005 Retail - C4BH3-P4J7W-9MT6X-PGKC8-J4JTM
Windows XP MCE 2005 OEM - XJM6Q-BQ8HW-T6DFB-Y934T-YD4YT

Or If You Have Your Own Key... Just Install It With Your Own. These Are Just Sample Working Keys.

Download Windows XP Activation.zip from Here and extract it.

Extract Windows XP Crack.rar and Open AntiWPA3.cmd And Press ENTER.
Now Windows Is Activated.
To Make It Genuine! Click WGA Fixer.exe And Click Yes.

Your Done! Windows Is Now Activated & Genuine...
This Crack Does Not Change The Key At All

To Find Out Its Genuine??---You Can Check Here And then here also

It Will Also Let You Have Updates & Let You Install WMP11 & IE7 And Other Stuff That Include Validation Tests.
Don't Forget to comment on it and spread it to help others!!!

Get XP/Vista like taskbar in Windows 7

2011-03-05T03:13:00.000-08:00

If you are new to windows 7 and not able to go along with it smoothly then here is an option that you can follow to get the Taskbar icons as the same we had in XP/Vista. In XP/Vista whenever we minimized an application (folder, word etc.) it is accessed by a tab @ taskbar which describes about process and has an icon as well. But in Windows 7 this thing has been replaced by an Icon so you can't get any text over there.

To get back the similar feel in Windows 7 do the following:

1. Right Click On Start Menu Button And then Left Click on Properties

Go to option taskbar Buttons. Here you have 3 options:

1.hide labels
2.combine
3.never combine (Choose this one)

It would restore the Taskbar buttons like they were used to be in XP/Vista.

Font Issues: Make easier to Read Screen Text

2011-03-05T03:02:00.000-08:00

A lot of Windows 7 users are facing problems in the display provided in OS, it includes fuzzy Fonts in Windows 7 that makes the text unreadable most of the time. However it can be adjusted according to a user's need in Windows 7 using Control Panel.

Steps to adjust Font/Graphics in Windows 7:

1. Navigate to Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Display
2. Select the option on Left hand side pane Adjust Clear Type Text

3. It will open ClearType text tuner which would help to improve the readability of text on LCD's.

4. After checking if your monitor is set to its native resolution it would provide Four Screens where you have to select a sample of text amongst the rest which you feels best.

5. Check finish to complete the procedure to improve readability of fonts and to make their appearance sharper and clearer.

Encrypt USB drive using BitLocker In Windows 7

2011-03-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

Since Windows Vista, Windows comes bundled with a security feature BitLocker, a hard drive encryption scheme designed to protect sensitive data from being accessed on lost or stolen computers mainly laptops. To protect important data stored on USB drives, Windows 7 features the encryptions scheme called BitLocker To Go. It allows USB drive encryption and restricts access to it with a password. During the encryption process, Windows 7 installs a special reader on the USB drive. When you connect the USB drive to a computer running XP or Vista, the BitLocker To Go Reader takes control, prompts for the password, and then basically makes the USB drive a read-only device.

To set up password on a USB drive:

Insert a USB drive, and go to Control Panel > BitLocker Drive Encryption

Here BitLocker To Go can be enabled for USB drive.

As soon as you do, BitLocker To Go will begin initializing your USB drive.
During the process you don‟t have to worry about any data that is already
on the drive.

After the initialization process is complete, BitLocker To Go will prompt for a password which you can use to unlock the drive later. You can also use your smartcard PIN to unlock the drive.

Next to password setup, BitLocker To Go will prompt you to store a recovery key that helps unlock your drive in case you forget your password or lose your smart card.

Recovery Key can be saved in a file or can be printed as well.

Thereafter it would ask a confirmation for encryption process.

During the encryption process, you‟ll see a standard progress monitor which tells the percentage of drive encrypted. The amount of time that it will take to complete the process will depend on how large the drive is.

While the encryption process is going on, status of Drive can be seen as Encrypting in control Panel

When the encryption is complete, a prompt would display Encryption is Complete.

Now the drive is encrypted and password prompt on plugging the USB drive starts from next plug in.

Encrypted USB drive would prompt to enter the password immediately after it is inserted. The drive can be used only and only if Correct password is entered.

BitLocker To Go encrypted drive works in Windows XP/Vista as well i.e. it would prompt password in XP/Vista as well even if drive is encrypted in Windows 7.

The USB drive has a closed lock as an icon till it is unlocked and thereafter the icon changes to an open lock signifying drive is unlocked and ready for use.

Customize the Windows 7 log-on screen

2011-03-01T05:57:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 makes it easy changing the Windows log-on screen.

Go to start, and click on Run, type Regedit & press enter there.
Navigate to :HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\ LogonUI\Background
Double-click the OEMBackground DWORD key
Set value of the key to 1.
Select a background image for Logon Screen with size less than 256KB in size (Use of Image Resize software like VSO Resizer can help)
Copy that image into the C:\Windows\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds folder
Rename the image to backgroundDefault.jpg
Reboot, and now your logon Image would have changed.

This is Mine log-on Screen and it can be yours also..

Launch an Application Instance in Windows 7 Super Taskbar

2011-03-01T05:28:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 Task bar looks like this.

If you press Windows + 1, it will create a new instance of the first icon in
the task bar. In the taskbar Shown here it will open an instance of Internet
Explorer while Win+5 open Windows media Player, Win+7 to Windows Live
writer and so on.

Assign Keyboard Shortcuts for Programs in Windows 7

2011-03-01T05:12:00.000-08:00

Application can be assigned a shortcut key in Windows 7. The application

would launch when the combo of keys is pressed which you entered as the

Shortcut Key for that application.

To create Shortcut key for any application in Windows 7 Follow these steps:

Right-click the program icon and select Properties.
Select the Shortcut tab
Click in Shortcut key textbox
Enter the keyboard shortcut for that program.
Press OK to exit.
Use the Keyboard shortcut combo to launch the application.

Above Image shows the way i have used a short-cut key "Ctrl+Alt+C" to launch calculator
application other applications can also be launched using Shortcut keys.

How To Enable Hibernation

2008-04-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

Under Windows 98, Me, or 2000 there was an option in the shutdown dialog box to enter the computer into hibernation (where all the content of the RAM is copied to the hard disk). The shutdown dialog box of Windows XP doesn't offer any longer the hibernation button. Some users may get confused about how to enable the hibernation mode.You have to do the following:

Click Start and Shut Down.
Point the standby button and maintain the shift key pushed.
A new hibernation button appears: click it while still holding the shift key: voila your PC will hibernate.

Note:This will only work if it is supported by your motherboard (ACPI)

How to Make My Computer' Open in Explore mode with Folder list

2008-04-07T06:41:00.000-07:00

In My Computer click Tools menu, and then click Options.
Click the File Types tab.In the list of file types, highlight "(NONE) Folders"
Click Advanced button, In the Actions box, highlight "Explore" Click "Set Default"
And click ‘ok’ and ‘close’. It is done now enjoy.
You can change back by following the above procedure except that set ‘open’ as default.

Any confusion u can comment here. Also send your comments

How to Remove BIOS Password

2008-04-01T05:10:00.001-07:00

First method:

Remove the battery (cell) placed on motherboard.

Second method:

Some BIOS manufacturers implement a backdoor password. The backdoor password is a BIOS password that works, no matter what the user sets the BIOS password to. These passwords are typically used for testing and maintenance. Manufacturers typically change the backdoor BIOS passwords from time to time.
AMI Backdoor BIOS Passwords

Reported AMI backdoor BIOS passwords include A.M.I., AAAMMMIII, AMI?SW , AMI_SW, BIOS, CONDO, HEWITT RAND, LKWPETER, MI, and PASSWORD.
Award Backdoor BIOS Passwords

One reported Award backdoor BIOS password is eight spaces. Other reported Award backdoor BIOS passwords include 01322222, 589589, 589721, 595595, 598598 , ALFAROME, ALLY, ALLy, aLLY, aLLy, aPAf, award, AWARD PW, AWARD SW, AWARD?SW, AWARD_PW, AWARD_SW, AWKWARD, awkward, BIOSTAR, CONCAT, CONDO, Condo, condo, d8on, djonet, HLT, J256, J262, j262, j322, j332, J64, KDD, LKWPETER, Lkwpeter, PINT, pint, SER, SKY_FOX, SYXZ, syxz, TTPTHA, ZAAAADA, ZAAADA, ZBAAACA, and ZJAAADC.

Phoenix Backdoor BIOS Passwords

Reported Phoenix BIOS backdoor passwords include BIOS, CMOS, phoenix, and PHOENIX.
Backdoor BIOS Passwords from Other Manufacturers

Reported BIOS backdoor passwords for other manufacturers include:

Manufacturer BIOS Password
VOBIS & IBM merlin
Dell Dell
Biostar Biostar
Compaq Compaq
Enox xo11nE
Epox central
Freetech Posterie
IWill iwill
Jetway spooml
Packard Bell bell9
QDI QDI
Siemens SKY_FOX
SOYO SY_MB
TMC BIGO
Toshiba Toshiba

Remember that what you see listed may not be the actual backdoor BIOS password, this BIOS password may simply have the same checksum as the real backdoor BIOS password. For Award BIOS, this checksum is stored at F000:EC60.

Boot Defragment

2008-03-30T04:31:00.000-07:00

A very important new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot defragment. This basically means that all boot files are placed next to each other on the disk drive to allow for faster booting. By default this option is enabled but some upgrade users have reported that it isn't on their setup.

Start Regedit. NavigatetoHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction
Select Enable from the list on the right.
Right Click on it and select Modify.
Change the value to Y to enable and N to disable.
Reboot your computer.

Disable CD Autorun

2008-03-27T02:28:00.000-07:00

Click Start, Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC
Go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System.
Locate the entry for Turn autoplay off and modify it as you desire.

Getting an Older Program to Run on Windows XP

2008-03-25T04:13:00.000-07:00

Right–click the executable or the program shortcut to the executable, and then click Properties.
Select the Run this program in compatibility mode check box.
From the list, select an operating system that the program runs in comfortably.

If necessary, also change the display settings and/or resolution, or disable the Windows XP visual themes.
Run the program again when you’re finished changing the settings. Adjust the compatibility settings again if the program is still not running smoothly: a program that’s unhappy on Windows 2000 may flourish on Windows 98.

Reset Windows xp Password using ERD COMMANDER (recommended)

2008-03-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

The software provided is not available on net anymore.It is called ERD Commander 2005.The company which made it was bought by MicroSoft and they discontinued it.It is a VERY POWERFUL software SO DON”T SHARE IT CUZ THEN THEY MIGHT HACK U.

1. Download this file from here
2. It is a winrar file.Extract it to get a erd50.iso file.
3. Write the erd50.iso file to a CD/DVD using Alcohol or any other software.
4. Boot the computer using the CD/DVD.(In Bios Setting you must set 1st boot-able device as CD/DVD Rom)

5. Use the lock smith to Remove/Change the password without knowing old password.(Obviously)

Note: erd50.iso is Boot-able image, so just write it with any good image burning software like Alcohol and don't select any boot-able option given by burning software.

Lets Have look on how this ERD Commander looks like, and How to use it. Below is GUI of Erd Commander, when you boot your system with erd commander CD/DVD

Goto Start->System Tools->Locksmith

The Following Window will open, now click Next.

On Clicking Next you will get the following window. Now select the Account whose password is to be reset.

For Our Case it is Administrator. Enter Your New Password that will be used to log on that particular Account(i.e Administrator). After Selecting Account Click Next

Now Finish Dialog will Appear Thats It. Now happily log on your system with New Password :-)

Click Finish.

Many Many Congrats, Erd Commander Saved you.

Other Features Of ERD Commander are:

ERD Commander

When your server or workstation won’t boot, you need ERD Commander 2005. ERD Commander 2005 boots dead systems directly from CD into a Windows-like repair environment. You’ll have full access to the dead system’s volumes, so you can diagnose and repair problems using tools located on the ERD Commander 2005 Start menu. And you’ll have built-in network access to safely move data off of, or on to, the dead system. With ERD Commander 2005 you can repair a system quickly and easily, saving you time and rescuing your critical data.

* Boots dead systems directly from CD
* Easy, familiar Windows-like interface
* Intuitive Solution Wizard helps you select the right tool to correct your system issue
* Includes Crash Analyzer Wizard to pinpoint the cause of recent system crashes for repair
* Allows complete disk sanitizing/data removal with Disk Wipe utility
* Includes the Locksmith utility to reset lost Administrator passwords
* Includes FileRestore so that you can quickly find and recover deleted files
* Provides access to XP Restore Points on unbootable Windows XP systems
* Detect malware and other applications that may be consuming system resources
* Includes an Internet browser to facilitate downloading needed files and patches
* Compares key info on unbootable systems with that of a working system for diagnosis and troubleshooting
* Automatically identifies and replaces critical system files that have become corrupt
* Allows for formatting and partitioning of disks
* Provides emergency removal capability for faulty hotfixes
* Built-in network access to safely copy data to/from dead systems
* Repair and diagnostic tools located on Start menu
* Repair tools include System Restore tool, System File Repair, Service and Driver Manager, Hotfix Uninstall Wizard, Locksmith, Registry Editor, Explorer, Disk Management, and Command Prompt
* Data recovery tools include Disk Commander and FileRestore
* Diagnostic tools include Crash Analyzer Wizard, System Compare, Autoruns, Event Log Viewer, System Information, TCP/IP Configuration, and Logical volumes utilities
* Compatible with Windows NT, 2000, XP, and Server 2003

How to Convert FAT to NTFS file system without data loss in Winodws XP

2008-03-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

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

NOTE: Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion from FAT to NTFS is minimal, it is best to perform a full backup of the data on the drive that it is to be converted prior to executing the convert command. It is also recommended to verify the integrity of the backup before proceeding, as well as to run RDISK and update the emergency repair disk (ERD).

Create Password Reset Disk to Reset XP Password

2008-03-20T02:33:00.000-07:00

Make a "password reset disk" to reset your windows xp password whenever you forget your password.This is a floppy disk you can use in the event you ever forget your log on password. It allows you to set a new password.

Here's how to create one if your computer is NOT on a domain:

Go to the Control Panel and open up User Accounts.
Choose your account (under Pick An Account to Change) and under Related Tasks, click "Prevent a forgotten password".
This will initiate a wizard.
Click Next and then insert a blank formatted floppy disk into your A: drive.
Click Next and enter your logon password in the password box.
Click Next to begin the creation of your Password disk.
Once completed, label and save the disk to a safe place

Here's how to create one if your computer is on a domain.

Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE. The Windows Security dialog box appears.
Click Change Password. The Change Password dialog box appears.
In the Log on to box, click the local computer--for example, click Computer (this computer).
Click Backup. The Forgotten Password Wizard starts.
On the Welcome to the Forgotten Password Wizard page, click Next.
Insert a blank, formatted disk in drive A, and then click Next.
In the Current user account password box, type your password, and then click Next. The Forgotten Password Wizard creates the disk.
When the progress bar reaches 100 percent complete, click Next, and then click Finish. The Forgotten Password Wizard quits and you return to the Change Password dialog box.
Remove and then label the password reset disk. Store the disk in a safe place.
In the Change Password dialog box, click Cancel.
In the Windows Security dialog box, click Cancel.

How to use a password reset disk

1. In the Welcome to Windows dialog box, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE.

2. In the Log On to Windows dialog box, type an incorrect password in the Password box, and then click OK.

3. In the Logon Failed dialog box that appears, click Reset. The Password Reset Wizard starts. You can use the Password Reset Wizard to create a new password for your local user account.

4. On the Welcome to the Password Reset Wizard page, click Next.

5. Insert the password reset disk in drive A, and then click Next

6. On the Reset the User Account Password page, type a new password in the Type a new password box.

7. Type the same password in the Type the password again to confirm box.

8. In the Type a new password hint box, type a hint that will help you remember the password if you forget it.

9. Click Next, and then click Finish. The Password Reset Wizard quits and you return to the Log On to Windows dialog box. The password reset disk is automatically updated with the new password information. You do not have to create a new password reset disk.

10. In the Log On to Windows dialog box, type your new password in the Password box.

11. In the Log on to box, click the local computer--for example, click Computer (this computer), and then click OK.

Note This hint is visible to anyone who tries to log on to the computer by using your user account.

The Most Convenient Method to Restore Windows XP password

2008-03-19T03:13:00.000-07:00

If that’s your only problem, then you probably have nothing to worry about. As long as you have your Windows XP CD, you can get back into your system using a simple but effective method made possible by a little known access hole in Windows XP.

1. Place your Windows XP CD in your cd-rom and start your computer (it’s assumed here that your XP CD is bootable – as it should be - and that you have your bios set to boot from CD)

2. Keep your eye on the screen messages for booting to your cd Typically, it will be “Press any key to boot from cd”

3. Once you get in, the first screen will indicate that Setup is inspecting your system and loading files.

4. When you get to the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to Setup Windows now

5. The Licensing Agreement comes next - Press F8 to accept it.

6. The next screen is the Setup screen which gives you the option to do a Repair.

It should read something like “If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it”

Use the up and down arrow keys to select your XP installation (if you only have one, it should already be selected) and press R to begin the Repair process.

7. Let the Repair run. Setup will now check your disks and then start copying files which can take several minutes.

8. Shortly after the Copying Files stage, you will be required to reboot. (this will happen automatically – you will see a progress bar stating “Your computer will reboot in 15 seconds”

9. During the reboot, do not make the mistake of “pressing any key” to boot from the CD again! Setup will resume automatically with the standard billboard screens and you will notice Installing Windows is highlighted.

10. Keep your eye on the lower left hand side of the screen and when you see the Installing Devices progress bar, press SHIFT + F10. This is the security hole! A command console will now open up giving you the potential for wide access to your system.

11. At the prompt, type NUSRMGR.CPL and press Enter. Voila! You have just gained graphical access to your User Accounts in the Control Panel.

12. Now simply pick the account you need to change and remove or change your password as you prefer. If you want to log on without having to enter your new password, you can type control userpasswords2 at the prompt and choose to log on without being asked for password. After you’ve made your changes close the windows, exit the command box and continue on with the Repair (have your Product key handy).

13. Once the Repair is done, you will be able to log on with your new password (or without a password if you chose not to use one or if you chose not to be asked for a password). Your programs and personalized settings should remain intact.

I tested the above on Windows XP Pro with and without SP1 and also used this method in a real situation where someone could not remember their password and it worked like a charm to fix the problem. This security hole allows access to more than just user accounts. You can also access the Registry and Policy Editor, for example. And its gui access with mouse control. Of course, a Product Key will be needed to continue with the Repair after making the changes, but for anyone intent on gaining access to your system, this would be no problem.

u can hack or reset windows xp password by using "ERD COMMANDER". for more information click here

How to Restore Windows XP Password

2008-03-18T02:39:00.000-07:00

First try to remind your password

Secondly,

When u start your system at the very first black screen (at the time of booting)

Press F8 funtional key.

Then use your keyboard up downs arrow keys to scroll to the ‘safe mode”.

And press Enter key

You will be directed to a welcome screen u will log in your windows through

Username: administrator and leave password space empty press Enter key.

Now you have logged in with a administrator account and you have all rights.

Go to start then control panel then user accounts then select your account

(The account you have forgotten the password) click on change password.

Type your new password and then confirm password and then type hint (if you want)

Now restart your computer n now type your new password and log in and enjoy your windows

Note:

The account you had logged in to change your password is the main window’s administrator account and its password will be none if u have typed nothing in password field when u installed windows if u have typed some password at the time of installation then this administrator acoount will also acquire that password when you logged in through safe mode.

It’s the limitation of this method.

YOU can hack or reset windows xp password by using "ERD COMMANDER" for more information click here

Folder Lock without software

2008-03-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

lock folder without any software

Folder Lock without any S/W

Open Notepad and copy the below code and save as locker.bat. At first time start it will create folder with Locker automatically for u. Don't forget to change your password in the code its shown the place where to type your password.
after creation of Locker folder again click on the locker.bat.it will ask.press Y then Locker folder will be disappeared.again to get it click on locker.bat. and give ur password u will get the folder again.

**********************************************************

cls
@ECHO OFF
title Folder Locker
if EXIST "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" goto UNLOCK
if NOT EXIST Locker goto MDLOCKER
:CONFIRM
echo Are you sure u want to Lock the folder(Y/N)
set/p "cho=>"
if %cho%==Y goto LOCK
if %cho%==y goto LOCK
if %cho%==n goto END
if %cho%==N goto END
echo Invalid choice.
goto CONFIRM
:LOCK
ren Locker "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
attrib +h +s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
echo Folder locked
goto End
:UNLOCK
echo Enter password to Unlock folder
set/p "pass=>"
if NOT %pass%==type your password here goto FAIL
attrib -h -s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
ren "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Locker
echo Folder Unlocked successfully
goto End
:FAIL
echo Invalid password
goto end
:MDLOCKER
md Locker
echo Locker created successfully
goto End
:End

Hanging The Internet Time Update Synchronization

2008-03-07T07:26:00.001-08:00

To change the interval that Windows updates the time using the internet time servers via regedit, navigate to:
1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services \W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient
2. Select "SpecialPollInterval"
3. Change decimal value from 604800 to a different value in seconds. i.e.: 172800 (2 Days) or 86400 (1 Day) and so on.

We don't recommend changing this unless you are on a broadband connection.

Make XP genuine - No download necessary

2008-03-06T02:30:00.001-08:00

For some reasons this method might not work!!! If you want guaranteed working method then read this article Make Windows XP Genuine---but download is necessary.
* Right click your desktop and select new text document.
* Open that document and paste the following info.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion]
"CurrentBuild"="1.511.1 () (Obsolete data - do not use)"
"ProductId"="55274-640-1011873-23081"
"DigitalProductId"=hex:a4,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,35,35,32,37,34,2d,36,34,30,2d,\
31,30,31,31,38,37,33,2d,32,33,30,38,31,00,2e,00,00,00,41,32,32,2d,30,30,30,\
30,31,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,86,56,4e,4c,21,1b,2b,6a,a3,78,8e,8f,98,5c,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,dd,da,47,41,cc,6b,06,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,38,31,30,32,36,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b5,16,\
00,00,83,83,1f,38,f8,01,00,00,f5,1c,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,66,e5,70,f3
"LicenseInfo"=hex:33,b7,21,c1,e5,e7,cd,4b,fd,7c,c6,35,51,fd,52,57,17,86,3e,18,\
d3,f4,8c,8e,35,32,7b,d1,43,8d,61,38,60,a4,ca,55,c9,9a,35,17,46,7a,4f,91,fc,\
4a,d9,db,64,5c,c4,e2,0f,34,f3,ea

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents]
"OOBETimer"=hex:ff,d5,71,d6,8b,6a,8d,6f,d5,33,93,fd

* In notepad click then File->Save
* For file type in the save dialog box select "all files" and for the file name type in License Key.reg or whatever you want. It doesn't matter as long as it has the .reg extension.
* Click save.
* Double click the file that's now on your desktop. It will ask you are you sure. Tell it yes.

* To see that it worked go to
Code:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/FAQ.aspx

and click on "Validate Windows" over on the right

Turn off Welcome screen

2008-03-05T04:52:00.000-08:00

Open User Accounts in Control Panel.

Click Change the way users log on or off

Speed up viewing shared files across a network

2008-03-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

Windows 2000 & XP machines delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks. Here's how to prevent this remote search for Scheduled Tasks:
Open up the Registry and go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

and delete it.

If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary. This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.

Setup XP from a Network drive

2008-03-05T04:50:00.000-08:00

You use three switches. If D: is the target, and G: is the net drive.

G:i386winnt32 /tempdrive:D /makelocalsource /s:G:i386

Use a Shortcut to Local Area Network Connection Information

2008-03-05T04:49:00.000-08:00

Something new in Windows XP—instead of using the command line program and typing ipconfig to find local area network information, you can use the following shortcut:

1.Click Start, point to Connect to, and then click Show All Connections.

2.Right–click the connection you want information about, and then click Status.

3.In the connection Properties dialog box, click the Support tab.

For even more information, click the Advanced tab. To automatically enable the status monitor each time the connection is active, in the connection Properties dialog box, select the Show icon in taskbar notification area when connected check box.

What are XP powerToys

2008-03-05T04:47:00.002-08:00

PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after the product has been released to manufacturing, but before the next project has begun. These toys add fun and functionality to the Windows experience.

We've taken great care to ensure that PowerToys operate as they should. But please note that these programs are not part of Windows and are not supported by Microsoft. For this reason, Microsoft Technical Support is unable to answer questions about PowerToys

The PowerToys are installed into the directory you specify during setup. Typically this is the system32 directory.

To uninstall the PowerToys, Open the control Panel. Launch the Add/Remove Programs control panel applet. Find the PowerToys for Windows XP entry, and choose Modify/Remove. From here you can remove specific toys or all of them.

Faster User Switcher
Note: You cannot use this toy if fast user switching is not enabled.

What it is: With Fast User Switching enabled on Windows XP, this PowerToy allows you to switch users without having to use the logon screen.
Special requirements: This PowerToy requires a Windows key on your keyboard.
How to use: Press the Windows key then the Q key to activate; release and press Q to switch to a different user tile, then release both Q and Windows key to switch to that user.

Shell Player
What it is: This PowerToy plays MP3 files and WMA files from the taskbar.
How to use: Right click on the taskbar, click toolbars, then click "Audio Player." If the taskbar is locked and you want to resize the player, you will have to unlock it. This will allow you to access the play list editor and view all the buttons.

Task Switcher
What it is: Replaces the existing Alt + Tab application switching mechanism of Windows XP. It provides a thumbnail preview of windows in the task list and is compliant with the new Windows XP visual style.
How to use: (NOTE: You must log off and then log on again for the changes to take effect). Use just as you do the existing Alt + Tab mechanism by pressing the Alt key and the Tab key to activate. While holding down the Alt key, press the Tab key to cycle through running applications. To move backwards, press Shift + Alt + Tab. Release all keys when the desired application is highlighted.

Open Command Window Here
What it is: This PowerToy adds an "Open Command Window Here" context menu option on file system folders. This gives users a quick way to open a command window (cmd.exe) pointing at a selected folder in the Explorer UI.
How to use: After installation, right click on the folder you would like to have a quick launch command window for.

Tweak UI
What it is: Provides access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface.
How to use: Go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, TweakUI for Windows XP.

PowerToy Calc
What it is: Graphing calculator
How to use: Go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, PowerToy Calc

Bulk Resize for Photos
What it is: Allows you to make a new, resized copy of your selected pictures in the same folder they are currently located in. You can opt to resize one or many pictures (as a batch).
How to use: Right click any image(s) and select Resize Pictures in the context menu.

ISO Image Burner
What it is: Allows you to burn an ISO Image using a CD-ROM burner that is compatible with Windows XP
How to use: Go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, ISO Burner

Slide Show Generator
What it is: Generate a slideshow when burning a CD
How to use: Add only images to a CD-ROM using Windows XP Explorer, then Write these files to disk. A new task is presented in the wizard for generating the autorun for the slideshow.

Virtual Desktop Manager
What it is: Manage up to 4 desktops from the Windows Shell Taskbar.
How to use:Right click on the taskbar, click toolbars, then click "Desktop Manager." If the taskbar is locked and you want to resize the manager, you will have to unlock it.

Background Wallpaper switcher
What it is: Allows you to switch the background image periodically.
How to use: Access this PowerToy by right clicking the desktop, click properties. It has added a new tab that will allow you to specify the interval as well as the directory to obtain the images from.

Taskbar Magnifier
What it is: Allows you to magnify part of the screen from the taskbar.
How to use:Right click on the taskbar, click toolbars, then click "Taskbar Magnifier." If the taskbar is locked and you want to resize the magnifier, you will have to unlock it.

Slide Show Wizard
What it is: This wizard helps you create a slide show of your digital pictures. When you're done, you can put your slide show on the Web so that your family and friends can view it.
How to use: Launch the Wizard from the Start Menu under All ProgramsPowertoys for Windows XPSlide Show Wizard. Follow the steps of the wizard to select and arrange your pictures, choose from a few simple options, and then save a Web-ready HTML slide show to a folder.

Unlocking WinXP's setupp.ini

2008-03-05T04:47:00.001-08:00

WinXP's setupp.ini controls how the CD acts. IE is it an OEM version or retail? First, find your setupp.ini file in the i386 directory on your WinXP CD. Open it up, it'll look something like this:

ExtraData=707A667567736F696F697911AE7E05
Pid=55034000

The Pid value is what we're interested in. What's there now looks like a standard default. There are special numbers that determine if it's a retail, oem, or volume license edition. First, we break down that number into two parts. The first five digits determines how the CD will behave, ie is it a retail cd that lets you clean install or upgrade, or an oem cd that only lets you perform a clean install? The last three digits determines what CD key it will accept. You are able to mix and match these values. For example you could make a WinXP cd that acted like a retail cd, yet accepted OEM keys.

Now, for the actual values. Remember the first and last values are interchangable, but usually you'd keep them as a pair:

Retail = 51882335
Volume License = 51883 270
OEM = 82503 OEM

So if you wanted a retail CD that took retail keys, the last line of your setupp.ini file would read:

Pid=51882335

And if you wanted a retail CD that took OEM keys, you'd use:

Pid=51882OEM

Note that this does NOT get rid of WinXP's activation. Changing the Pid to a Volume License will not bypass activation. You must have a volume license (corporate) key to do so.

Ping

2008-03-05T04:46:00.001-08:00

In a previous tip, it was revealed how to continuously ping a host until stopped. Here are all of the ping options:

example .. In DOS .. c:>ping 192.168.0.1 -t

-t Ping the specifed host until interrupted

-a Resolve addresses to hostnames

-n count Number of echo requests to send

-l size Send buffer size

-f Set Don't Fragment flag in packet

-i TTL Time To Live

-v TOS Type Of Service

-r count Record route for count hops

-s count Timestamp for count hops

-j host-list Loose source route along host-list

-k host-list Strict source route along host-list

-w timeout Timeout in milliseconds to wait for each reply

Experiment to see how helpful these can be!

FDISK Tutorial

2008-03-05T04:43:00.000-08:00

Primary partitions are the only one that are bootable. They're always the C: drive when active. Normally you can only have one (more with some special tricks etc.) Extended partitions are needed when you want more than one partition. You can only have ONE Extended partition. Logical Drives come into the Extended partition. They are handy since you know that you can only have one Primary and one Extended so you can get more than only two partitions. They would be your D:, E:, etc. drives.

First you need to reboot your system with the Boot Disk inserted.

1.At the A: prompt start "FDISK."

2.If asked to use Large Disc support say Yes.

3.The first screen looks like this:

Create Dos Partition or Logical Drive
Set Active Partition
Delete Partitions or Logical DOS Drives
Display Partition Information
Change current fixed drive. (In case you have two or more Hard Drivess)
So, to prepare you hopefully did a backup from your data. You did, didn't you ?!

4.Next we need to remove the existing partitions. So go to 3.

5.Next screen like this:

Delete Primary DOS
Delete Extended DOS
Delete Logical Drives
Delete Non-DOS
Delete always in the following order

Logical (All) > Extended > Primary (Last)

6.Go back to first screen after all partitions have been removed.

7.Now we need to setup our new partitions. Go to 1.

This screen looks like this:

Create Primary DOS
Create Extended DOS
Create Logical DOS Drives
Here we create in the following order

Primary > Extended > Logical Drives.

8.First create the Primary. If asked to use all space say No and enter the amount you wish for the C: drive. It should be set automatically to be the (only) Active partition. If not it may ask you or you have to select "2. Set active partition" from the main menu.

9.Next create the Extended Partition. Use all space left.

It probably advances automatically to the next step, creating the Logical DOS Drives.

10.Enter the amount you wish for the D: partition and than the rest for the third partition.

Think first about the size for the partitions.

OK now we're finished with FDISK so just exit it. Next you need to reboot with the disc still inserted and Format all partitions (the C: partition might need to be formatted with "format c: /s", check the Win95 tip). Another reboot and you can go ahead and install Windows.

When your system supports booting from CD just insert the Windows CD and reboot. The setup will start.

If not, follow these steps:

Win98: insert Boot Disk and CD, reboot, choose "2. boot with CDROM support" and once you're at the prompt change to your CD-drive letter (depends on your partition setup) and enter "setup".
Win95: You must format the C: partition with "Format C: /s"!. Next install your CDROM driver, reboot, insert the Win95 CD, change to the CD-driveletter, enter "setup".
I hope I made no mistakes.

Playing DVDs in Windows XP

2008-03-05T04:27:00.000-08:00

Microsoft raves about how Media Player plays DVDs. But that's a lie. Windows XP can't play DVDs right out of the box. See, even though you've bought a Windows XP computer, a DVD drive, and a DVD, you need something else: special software called a decoder. This bit of software, called a codec because it converts one format to another, enables your computer to translate numbers on a disc into videos of galloping horses on the screen.

Unfortunately, Windows XP doesn't come with a DVD codec, so you must pick up one somewhere else. Where? Well, most computers with DVD drives come with DVD-playing software — a little box with its own little controls. That software installs its own DVD codec in Windows, and Media Player simply borrows that. But if you don't have DVD-playing software, there's nothing to borrow, and Media Player ignores your DVDs.

If you choose Windows Media Player instead of your third-party DVD player to watch DVDs, the controls are pretty much the same as they are for playing CDs.

You probably need to update your DVD software so that it will work under Windows XP. Otherwise, your DVD software won't work under Media Player, either. Head for the Web site of your DVD player's manufacturer and look for a Windows XP patch or upgrade. If you're lucky, the manufacturer won't charge you for the upgrade. Some companies, however, make you buy a new version.

DVD stands for Digital Video Disc & Digital Versatile Disc.

Bending to pressure, Microsoft made a last-minute deal with three companies to provide software for Windows Media Player to create MP3s and play DVDs. The catch? The complete package costs between $20 and $30, with separate components (the DVD decoder on its own, for instance) costing less.

The three companies, CyberLink, InterVideo, and RAVISENT, each offers a DVD Decoder Pack for Windows XP. After October 25, 2001, Windows XP users may order and download the add-on packs from each company's Web site through links inside Windows Media Player.

If you've upgraded to Windows XP from an earlier version of Windows, and your old DVD software no longer works, using the links to get the add-ons might be your best option.

Controlling Running Instances

2008-03-05T04:26:00.001-08:00

It is common for applications to control their startup so that only a single instance may be running on a machine at any given time. There are many valid reasons for doing this: licensing restrictions, required dedicated access to specific hardware resources, and perhaps even enforcing data integrity. However, with multiple users on the same machine, it might be desirable to allow multiple users-each with their own instance-to work with (for example) a personal finance program as long as their data remains isolated. At this point, the commonly used mechanisms for controlling running instances may exhibit some unwanted side effects when operating under Windows XP's fast user switching or remote desktop.
The most common method for discovering whether another instance is running is to use the FindWindow or FindWindowEx APIs to search for a window that, if your application is running, you know to be open. Somewhat unexpectedly, both of these APIs work in a single user session only. So using this method won't prevent another instance of your application from being started by another user.
A more robust method for controlling multiple instances is to use one of the NT kernel objects: events, semaphores, mutexes, waitable timers, file-mapping objects, and job objects can all be used with Global\ or Local\ prefixes on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. By default, each user (terminal service) session will have its own namespace for kernel objects. By creating a Global\ object-for instance, a mutex or semaphore-when your application is started (and closing it upon exit), your application can detect running instances across multiple user (terminal service) sessions. Of course, you can't just switch to the previous instance: It may be in another session! What typically happens in that case is the user clicks on an icon and then nothing appears to happen (since the app thinks it's located another running instance). At a minimum, you should warn the user that there's another instance running.

What about sound? Well, the terminal services in Windows XP have been designed to configure sound to both the interactive and disconnected sessions. While it may be difficult to imagine at first, there may be valid scenarios where it would desirable to output multiple audio streams. For instance, what if you used a sound card in one user session to output audio to the home stereo system and at the same time the active user wanted to hold an interactive meeting with sound? In this case, you certainly would not want to blend the two streams. And neither would you want to suspend the audio stream in the disconnected session. Getting this right can be particularly important when working with shared media devices like DVD players.

One general guideline is to do "as little as possible, as much as necessary" when you are the disconnected session. To do this, it can be helpful to know when a session switch occurs. While most applications won't need to be notified, if your application accesses a shared resource-such as a serial port or other hardware device-you may want to know when the machine switches between user sessions. To be notified when a session switch occurs, you must register to receive the WM_WTSSESSION_CHANGE message by calling the WTSRegisterConsoleNotification API. Using this function, you can choose to be notified for a single session or for all sessions, and when either local or remote sessions connect or disconnect. When you no longer require notification, you should unregister using the WTSUnRegisterConsoleNotification API.

Programming Issues

2008-03-05T04:25:00.000-08:00

Both fast user switching and remote desktop use Windows XP's updated terminal services technology. Improvements have been made to both the server and client components of terminal services. Windows XP now features support for both local and remote sound, 24-bit video, performance optimizations, and the mapping of the local drives and printers.
Fortunately, most applications don't have to be rewritten to work with terminal services and, thus, fast user switching and remote desktop. Rather, they need to respect basic user settings management guidelines. These guidelines are not new: Most are covered in the Windows 2000 Certified for Windows Application Specification, which has been available on Microsoft's Web site for some time. The Data and Settings Management section of this specification includes several topics that are particularly important when supporting multiple users on a single machine:

· Default to the My Documents folder for storage of user-created data;
· Classify and store application data correctly;
· Degrade gracefully on "Access denied" messages.
Mostly, this means isolating data and settings for each user. And an important step in this direction is to ensure that you are using the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry key rather than HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for storing settings in the system registry. You should also be careful to install programs correctly and to classify and store data correctly. You can use the ShGetFolderPath API to obtain the path of a specific named folder-such as "My Documents" or even "Program Files"-as well as the appropriate directories for storing Roaming, Non-Roaming, and Shared application data. The following are some general guidelines for locating data:
· Profiles\username\Application Data\appname
- Roaming, auto-created user files (e-mail DB, custom dictionaries…)
· Profiles\username\Application Data\Local Settings\appname
- Discardable/local-only user data files (e.g., offline stores)
· Profiles\All Users\Application Data\appname
- Last-resort for local-only, common dynamic data (e.g., log files)

A notable exception to the isolation rule is that you should support "All Users" installations: It is extremely frustrating for users to install the same application repeatedly for multiple user accounts.
By carefully locating user data, user settings, and computer settings, applications can make it easier for users to backup individual documents and settings, share a computer among multiple users, and even to work with the same documents and settings on multiple computers. By handling data and settings properly, you can enable your application to run in both the home (fast user switching) and business enterprise (remote desktop) marketplaces.

Fast User Switching

2008-03-05T04:23:00.000-08:00

Windows XP introduces fast user switching. Undoubtedly, fast user switching is the single most important feature that makes sharing Windows-based computers workable. Using fast user switching, it is not necessary for a user to log off the computer before allowing a second user to access their own account. Instead, the first user's account is "disconnected," which leaves all the programs running; the second user can then log on, and then the users can switch quickly between logged-on accounts. Many accounts can be open simultaneously on one computer, though only one account at a time will be able to interact with the keyboard, screen, and input devices.

In the home environment, for instance, fast user switching allows a parent working on a personal finance program to yield the computer to a child to work on homework by browsing the Internet, without requiring the parent to shut down and restart the finance program and without exposing the child to the parent's financial information. In the business environment, fast user switching can allow multiple users in a common environment, such as a research lab, to share a single machine.
Fast user switching is just one of two mechanisms that allow multiple users to work with a single system. Remote desktop, another built-in Windows XP feature, allows users to interact with machines remotely across a network and to access data and applications on those remote machines. While fast user switching is aimed principally at the home market, remote desktop enables business users to access their corporate desktops from remote computers-and vice versa, enabling them to operate home machines while at work.

User Accounts and Fast User Switching

2008-03-05T04:22:00.000-08:00

Windows XP represents Microsoft's big push to get the largely Windows 9X-based user community to an operating system family based on the Windows NT-kernel. In Windows XP, new client services not only blend the ease of use of familiar Windows 9X profiles with the robustness of Windows NT (and Windows 2000) user management, but significantly improve on the combination. While the majority of these advancements will be appreciated most by home users, enterprise customers that share assets-for instance, with shift workers and telecommuters or with users who access e-mail from multiple machines while roaming-will also see improvements.

Many computers are shared between multiple users, particularly in the home environment where studies have shown that 80% of computers are used routinely by multiple people. In previous versions of Windows NT, user account management-which could be strictly enforced across the enterprise by administrators-was a somewhat tricky process that was beyond the abilities of most non-computing professionals. Simple-to-use Windows 9X profiles, however, were not enabled by default and were largely ignored: The cost of actually using the profiles, which required that users log off before allowing other users to access the system, meant that the vast majority of machines made do with a single shared profile, with all of the corresponding security, configuration, and data-loss risks.
In Windows XP, user profiles are always enabled and even non-enterprise users are encouraged to create accounts during the Setup process. These accounts are based on Windows NT profiles and allow Windows XP to provide strong isolation and protection of users' data and settings. If multiple user accounts are configured on a machine, then users are presented with a Welcome screen that appears featuring separate-and customizable-graphics for each user. Users of Windows XP machines that are members of an NT-style domain do not see this screen, since presenting a list of machine users could be considered a security violation. A new control panel applet replaces the familiar Windows NT User Manager and Windows 2000 Computers and Users snap-in, providing a simple interface that allows almost anyone to set up a new user and give them appropriate rights and privileges.

Rename a Series of Files

2008-03-05T04:21:00.000-08:00

When you download photos from your digital camera, they often have unrecognizable names. You can rename several similar files at once with the following procedure. This also works for renaming other types of files.

1.Open the My Pictures folder. (Click Start, and then click My Pictures.) Or open another folder containing files that you want to rename.
2.Select the files you want to rename. If the files you want are not adjacent in the file list, press and hold CTRL, and then click each item to select it.
3.On the File menu, click Rename.
4.Type the new name, and then press ENTER.

All of the files in the series will be named in sequence using the new name you type. For example, if you type Birthday, the first will be named Birthday and subsequent files in the series will be named Birthday (1), Birthday (2), and so on. To specify the starting number for the series, type the starting number in parentheses after the new file name. The files in the series will be numbered in sequence starting with the number you type. For example, if you type Birthday (10), the other files will be named Birthday (11), Birthday (12), and so on.

How to Write a Windows XP Driver

2008-03-05T04:18:00.000-08:00

· Install the current Windows DDK. Read the system requirements and installation instructions in the stand-alone Getting Started HTML file supplied with the DDK.
· Read Getting Started with Windows Drivers. This document guides you through the planning and decision-making process involved in making a Windows device driver from design through distribution. You should also look through the DDK documentation for device-type-specific information.
The DDK documentation set has the following device-type-specific nodes:
· Battery Devices
· Display and Print Devices
· IEEE 1284.4 Devices
· Interactive Input Devices
· Modem Devices
· Multifunction Devices
· Network Devices and Protocols
· Parallel Ports and Devices
· Serial Ports and Devices
· Smart Card Devices
· Still Image Devices
· Storage Devices
· Streaming Devices (Video and Audio)
· Devices Requiring VDDs
· IDE bus are described in System Support for Buses. Driver development for most device types also requires a strong understanding of Windows operating system fundamentals, which are described in Kernel-Mode Driver Architecture.
· Look through the driver source code provided with the DDK for a sample that represents your device type. Use the sample code where possible, modifying it for your device's specifics.
· The sample code can enhance your understanding of Windows XP driver implementation requirements and speed your development time.
· Compile and build your driver. This should be done using the Build utility and not some other compiler, because the Build utility has certain features that are necessary for driver development.
· Obtain a checked build of Windows XP, so that you can test and debug your driver using free and checked system builds.
· The checked build of Windows XP provides extensive kernel-mode debugging capabilities not available in the free build.
· Create an INF file so that you can install and test your driver.
· Test and debug your driver. You should use Driver Verifier, a program that puts your driver through a variety of tests, stresses, and deliberate failures in order to test its response and reliability in many extreme situations. You should also use a debugger. Microsoft provides several powerful debuggers that can monitor and debug kernel-mode and user-mode drivers.
Using Driver Verifier in conjunction with these debuggers, on both the checked and free versions of the operating system, can be a powerful way to test your driver.
· Provide an installation package so that customers can install devices that use your driver.
· Submit your driver and installation package to Microsoft so that it can be digitally signed.
There are many resources available to you while developing your driver. The following sites describe some of the support available to you:

Music and Audio with XP

2008-03-05T04:15:00.000-08:00

Great Digital Media with Windows XP includes everything you need to know to play digital music stored on your PC, on audio CDs, Internet radio stations, and through Web-based streaming audio. But it doesn't end there: With Windows XP, you can almost endlessly configure Microsoft Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP), manage digital music directly from the Windows shell and through MPXP, copy music from audio CDs to your PC, and create your own audio "mix" CDs and data CD backups. And best of all, these capabilities are all built into Windows XP... for free!
Here are some tips for working with digital music and audio in Windows XP.

Copy CD Audio in MP3 format with an MP3 Encoding Add-on Pack
Microsoft Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) can record CD audio in Windows Media Audio (WMA) 8 format natively, but if you want to use the more common MP3 format, you will need one of several MP3 Encoding Add-on Packs, which will be available for download by the time Windows XP is widely released on October 25. The add-on packs will cost less than $10, and will be available from Cyberlink, InterVideo, and Ravisent.

Use transcoding to save space on portable audio devices.

When copying music from an audio CD to your hard drive, you will probably want to use a decent encoding rate (128 Kbps WMA or 160 Kbps MP3 format) to ensure that the resulting files are as close to CD-quality as possible. But such files are pretty large, and if you're going to be copying them to a portable audio device--such as an Iomega HipZip or a Pocket PC--you won't be able to bring very many songs with you on the road. To overcome this problem, Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) supports a feature called transcoding, which will let you downsize files on the file as you copy them to a portable device. So you might transcode 128 Kbps WMA files down to 64 Kbps, for example, to fit twice as many songs in the same amount of space, with only a small loss in sound quality. To configure this feature, open MPXP and navigate to Tools, Options, Devices. Then, choose the appropriate device and click Properties. This dialog will allow you to set a custom quality level for music copied to that device.

Use audio CD artwork in your digital media folders.
One of the coolest new features in Windows XP is its album thumbnail generator, which automatically places the appropriate album cover art on the folder to which you are copying music (WMA 8 format by default). But what about those people that have already copied their CDs to the hard drive using MP3 format? You can download album cover art from sites such as cdnow.com or amguide.com, and then use the new Windows XP folder customize feature to display the proper image for each folder. But this takes time--you have to manually edit the folder properties for every single folder--and you will lose customizations if you have to reinstall the OS. There's an excellent fix, however. When you download the album cover art from the Web, just save the images as folder.jpg each time and place them in the appropriate folder. Then, Windows XP will automatically use that image as the thumbnail for that folder and, best of all, will use that image in Windows Media Player for Windows XP (MPXP) if you choose to display album cover art instead of a visualization. And the folder customization is automatic, so it survives an OS reinstallation as well. Your music folders never looked so good! Also, you can save a smaller-sized image albumartsmall.jpg if you'd like: This file is used to store the album art thumbnails you see in folder icons.

20 things you didn't know about Windows XP

2008-03-05T04:10:00.000-08:00

It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).

You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.

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/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.

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.

Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.

You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.

Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.

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.

You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.

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.

Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.

Mustek 600 CP scanner or other software unable to install on XP

2008-03-05T04:09:00.001-08:00

If you have a piece of software that refuses to install because it says that you are not running Windows 2000 (such as the Win2K drivers for a Mustek scanner!!) you can simply edit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/ProductName

to say Microsoft Windows 2000 instead of XP and it will install. You may also have to edit the version number or build number, depending on how hard the program tries to verify that you are installing on the correct OS. I had to do this for my Mustek 600 CP scanner (compatibility mode didn't help!!!) and it worked great, so I now have my scanner working with XP (and a tech at Mustek can now eat his words). BTW, don't forget to restore any changes you make after you get your software installed

Make your Folders Private

2008-03-05T04:08:00.000-08:00

•Open My Computer

•Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer).

•If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.

•Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.

•Double-click your user folder.

•Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.

•On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.

Note

•To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.

•This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.

•When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.

•You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS click here

Set up and Use Internet Connection Sharing

2008-03-05T04:07:00.000-08:00

With Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) in Windows XP, you can connect one computer to the Internet, then share the Internet service with several computers on your home or small office network. The Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP Professional will automatically provide all of the network settings you need to share one Internet connection with all the computers in your network. Each computer can use programs such as Internet Explorer and Outlook Express as if they were directly connected to the Internet.

You should not use this feature in an existing network with Windows 2000 Server domain controllers, DNS servers, gateways, DHCP servers, or systems configured for static IP addresses.

Enabling ICS

The ICS host computer needs two network connections. The local area network connection, automatically created by installing a network adapter, connects to the computers on your home or small office network. The other connection, using a 56k modem, ISDN, DSL, or cable modem, connects the home or small office network to the Internet. You need to ensure that ICS is enabled on the connection that has the Internet connection. By doing this, the shared connection can connect your home or small office network to the Internet, and users outside your network are not at risk of receiving inappropriate addresses from your network.

When you enable ICS, the local area network connection to the home or small office network is given a new static IP address and configuration. Consequently, TCP/IP connections established between any home or small office computer and the ICS host computer at the time of enabling ICS are lost and need to be reestablished. For example, if Internet Explorer is connecting to a Web site when Internet Connection Sharing is enabled, refresh the browser to reestablish the connection. You must configure client machines on your home or small office network so TCP/IP on the local area connection obtains an IP address automatically. Home or small office network users must also configure Internet options for Internet Connection Sharing. To enable Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) Discovery and Control on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition computers, run the Network Setup Wizard from the CD or floppy disk on these computers. For ICS Discovery and Control to work on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition computers, Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later must be installed.

To enable Internet Connection Sharing on a network connection

You must be logged on to your computer with an owner account in order to complete this procedure.

Open Network Connections. (Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double–click Network Connections.)

Click the dial–up, local area network, PPPoE, or VPN connection you want to share, and then, under Network Tasks, click Change settings of this connection.

On the Advanced tab, select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection check box.

If you want this connection to dial automatically when another computer on your home or small office network attempts to access external resources, select the Establish a dial–up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet check box.

If you want other network users to enable or disable the shared Internet connection, select the Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection check box.

Under Internet Connection Sharing, in Home networking connection, select any adapter that connects the computer sharing its Internet connection to the other computers on your network. The Home networking connection is only present when two or more network adapters are installed on the computer.

To configure Internet options on your client computers for Internet Connection Sharing

Open Internet Explorer. Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Internet Explorer.)

On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.

On the Connections tab, click Never dial a connection, and then click LAN Settings.

In Automatic configuration, clear the Automatically detect settings and Use automatic configuration script check boxes.

In Proxy Server, clear the Use a proxy server check box.

How to Convert FAT to NTFS file system

2008-03-05T03:57:00.000-08:00

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

Click Start, click Programs, and then click Command Prompt.

In Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type cmd and then click OK.

At the command prompt, type CONVERT [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS.

Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.

How to Rename the Recycle Bin

2008-03-05T03:56:00.000-08:00

To change the name of the Recycle Bin desktop icon, open Regedit and go to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/CLSID/{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

and change the name "Recycle Bin" to whatever you want (don't type any quotes).

Remove the Recycle Bin from the Desktop

2008-03-05T03:53:00.000-08:00

If you don't use the Recycle Bin to store deleted files , you can get rid of its desktop icon all together.

Run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/explorer/Desktop/NameSpace

Click on the "Recycle Bin" string in the right hand pane. Hit Del, click OK

How to make your Desktop Icons Transparent

2008-03-05T03:42:00.000-08:00

Go to Control Panel > System, > Advanced > Performance area > Settings button Visual Effects tab "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop"