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). don''t forget to restore any changes you make after you get your software installed

You do this at your own risk.

Defragmenting Hard drives
The files when moved or created on your PC are stored into small fragments randomly on your disk drive. When you open those files it takes time to gather all those chunks and put them back together to form that single file. When you defragment your drive all those scattered fragments are arranged properly on the drive thus loading application bit faster. There is a Disk Defragmenter utility in windows,
Open My Computer > Right click on the disk drive you want to defragment > Select Properties > Under Tools tab click Defragment Now. But we recommend Power Defragmenter a small free utility by sysinternals which is faster and with various options



Delete Temporary, Junk and Obsolete files Clear cache
Clean all your drives for free space, we  recommend keep atleast 20% of your drive space free. Also, you have to clear the windows TEMP files, the web browsers temporary files, caches files, etc. All web browsers has that option. CCleaner will be a good choice for the same, it will analyze and clean all unwanted internet files, Windows Explorer files and system files.
Remove unnecessary Programs

Remove those programs which you don’t use anymore. This will free disk space and even help windows perform better. Also, remove the windows unwanted components like Indexing services & Outlook Express from the Add/Remove windows programs.

Keep PC updated
Look for regular updates, Enable Windows Updates, Updates includes major bugfixes which can be helpful. Look for new Service packs for better hardware compatibility. Update all device drivers, anti-virus programs and other applications. Hardware Manufactures keep updating their device drivers for better and smooth functioning. I have written earlier on a Free Software To Update Windows Device Drivers do read that.

1) Locate the key"Startup Delay" and double click on it.1) Press Windows Key and "R" to launch the run command.
2) Type "regedit" inside the input space.
3) Navigate to the registry key

HKEY_LOACAL_MECHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex

5) Select Decimal, and change the value to 40000

PLZ GIVE FEEDBACK WHATHER IT WORK OR NOT

1. Click on "Start" in the bottom left hand corner of screen
2. Click on "Run"
3. Type in "command" and hit ok
You should now be at an MSDOS prompt screen.
4. Type "ipconfig /release" just like that, and hit "enter"
5. Type "exit" and leave the prompt


6. Right-click on "Network Places" or "My Network Places" on your desktop.
7. Click on "properties"
You should now be on a screen with something titled "Local Area Connection", or something close to that, and, if you have a network hooked up, all of your other networks.
8. Right click on "Local Area Connection" and click "properties"
9. Double-click on the "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" from the list under the "General" tab
10. Click on "Use the following IP address" under the "General" tab
11. Create an IP address (It doesn't matter what it is. I just type 1 and 2 until i fill the area up).
12. Press "Tab" and it should automatically fill in the "Subnet Mask" section with default numbers.
13. Hit the "Ok" button here
14. Hit the "Ok" button again
You should now be back to the "Local Area Connection" screen.
15. Right-click back on "Local Area Connection" and go to properties again.
16. Go back to the "TCP/IP" settings
17. This time, select "Obtain an IP address automatically"
tongue.gif 18. Hit "Ok"
19. Hit "Ok" again
20. You now have a new IP address

Did you knew that your dear Torrent client uTorrent had a  Tetris game
Let See This Secret
just go to help->about uTorrent


 

when the about window opens just press ’ t ’ and Bingoooo.
here comes a small tetris game for you to relish
 

Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy," it says. "Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications."

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

1 Hardware conflict

The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device.

For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself.

If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route:

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager.

Often if a device has a problem a yellow '!' appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it.

Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as 'IRQ holder for PCI steering'. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it.

Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty).

When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity.

To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.



2 Bad Ram

Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.

Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble.

EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes.

3 BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.

A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer's display.

Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to 'yes' to allow Windows to do this.).

4 Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter

This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop).

Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk.

Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.

Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to

* Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use.

5 Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors
Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems.

These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate.

If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager

Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse.

The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics

Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device).

Look up your video card's manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

6 Viruses

Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs

Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance.

A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer.

An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com).

7 Printers

The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer's performance.

If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer's default settings and you may be able to carry on.

8 Software

A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don't do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message "Starting Windows" press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn't work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

9 Overheating

Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

10 Power supply problems

With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.

If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.

Today I will show you how to hack Passwords using an USB Pen Drive.
As we all know, Windows stores most of the passwords which are used on a daily
basis, including instant messenger passwords such as MSN, Yahoo, AOL, Windows
messenger etc.
Along with these, Windows also stores passwords of Outlook Express, SMTP, POP,
FTP accounts and auto-complete passwords of many browsers like IE and Firefox.
There exists many tools for recovering these passswords from their stored places.
Using these tools and an USB pendrive you can create your own rootkit to hack
passwords from your friend’s/college Computer.

Need the following tools to create our rootkit:

MessenPass: Recovers the passwords of most popular Instant Messenger programs:
MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ Lite 4.x/2003, AOL
Instant Messenger provided with Netscape 7, Trillian, Miranda, and GAIM.

Mail PassView: Recovers the passwords of the following email programs: Outlook
Express, Microsoft Outlook 2000 (POP3 and SMTP Accounts only), Microsoft Outlook
2002/2003 (POP3, IMAP, HTTP and SMTP Accounts), IncrediMail, Eudora, Netscape
Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Group Mail Free.
Mail PassView can also recover the passwords of Web-based email accounts (HotMail,
Yahoo!, Gmail), if you use the associated programs of these accounts.


IE Passview: IE PassView is a small utility that reveals the passwords stored by
Internet Explorer browser. It supports the new Internet Explorer 7.0, as well as
older versions of Internet explorer, v4.0 - v6.0

Protected Storage PassView: Recovers all passwords stored inside the Protected
Storage, including the AutoComplete passwords of Internet Explorer, passwords of
Password-protected sites, MSN Explorer Passwords, and more…

PasswordFox: PasswordFox is a small password recovery tool that allows you to view
the user names and passwords stored by Mozilla Firefox Web browser. By default,
PasswordFox displays the passwords stored in your current profile, but you can easily
select to watch the passwords of any other Firefox profile. For each password entry,
the following information is displayed: Record Index, Web Site, User Name,
Password, User Name Field, Password Field, and the Signons filename.

Here is a step by step procedre 

So i've been looking for a while on just how to close a port on a computer. I simply
couldn't find a way. Well, i finally found it. This'll only work for windows users (unless
your unix version OS has netsh).

it's actually quite simple. here's the command for it:

netsh firewall delete portopening TCP portnumber

it's that simple. Simply go to START -> RUN -> and type in that command up there,
and it'll close it for you.
or, you can also open up command prompt (START -> RUN -> CMD) and type in "netsh"
without the quotes to get to your windows firewall settings.
\
VBS Script
set ss = createobject("wscript.shell")
set ws = wscript
dim PORT
PORT = InputBox("Enter the port you wish to close:")
ss.run "netsh.exe"
ws.sleep 1000
ss.sendkeys "firewall delete portopening TCP " & PORT
ss.sendkeys "{enter}"
ws.sleep 500
'ss.sendkeys "exit"
'ss.sendkeys "{enter}"

.BAT Script
@echo off
title Port Closer
echo Port Closer
echo.
set /p port=Type the port number you wish to close here:
netsh firewall delete portopening TCP %port%
msg /w * Port %port% has been closed.
exit