Amazing Tricks

Mouse Sonar

2011-04-09T10:29:00.001+05:30

http://labs.google.co.in/smschannels/subscribe/SoftTricks

Here's a good little tip for users who have trouble locating their mouse pointer on the screen. Windows XP has a nifty little 'mouse sonar' option available, which will cause your mouse pointer to pop-up a little concentric ring around itself to show you where it is.

Go to 'start\control panel\mouse' choose the 'pointer options' tab and check the 'show location of pointer when I press the control key' box.

All those who use Google search engine, must use these

2011-04-09T10:23:00.001+05:30

http://labs.google.co.in/smschannels/subscribe/SoftTricks

All those who use Google search engine, must use these..
http://www.keyboardr.com
http://www.whereisdoc.com
http://www.justhearit.com/
http://www.cuil.com

Move Images in Internet explorer with JAVA Script

2010-03-14T22:19:00.000+05:30

Soft tricks google sms Channel

(1). Open your Internet explorer.

(2). Copy this code and paste it in address bar and press Enter.
And see magic.

What you feel about this Script, select a checkbox (funny, Interesting, Cool)

Disable unnecessary services

2010-01-28T14:57:00.003+05:30

Soft Tricks google Channel

Windows XP runs many, many services in the background. A lot of these are not actually necessary to the day-to-day operation of your PC, depending of course, on what you use it for. Creating a guide for which services are useful in which situation would unfortunately take up the entire remainder of this article just for itself, so we're not going to go in depth. The simple fact is different people will need different services enabled. To judge for you which are necessary, right click on 'My computer' and select 'manage' from the computer management window, expand 'services and applications' then click 'services' to open up the window listing all available services. The ones labeled 'started' are currently running, and the startup type 'automatic' denotes a service which is started by windows each time the operating system loads.

By highlighting each service, you can see a description of its properties, and make an informed decision on whether you need it or not. To stop a service from running, right click on it and select 'properties', then stop it and make the startup type 'disabled', If the description indicates that services which depend on the service you are currently examining will fail if it is disabled, you can go to the 'dependencies' tab to see which services will be affected.
SoftTricks

Cleaning up unwanted startup programs

2010-01-05T11:36:00.000+05:30

Many freeware and commercial application programs have a habit of setting themselves up to run automatically upon Windows startup. This can contribute to the gradual decline in startup speed that most Windows XP systems (and windows PCs in general) experience. Also, having programs that you only use selectively, or not at all, load automatically is a waste of system resources that could be better used for other things.

To top it off, many internet nasty programs such as spyware programs, viruses and Trojan horses will install themselves into one of the automatic start locations on your system in order to make sure that they are run on startup. So the point is, take a look at what is currently running every time you load your PC, and disable what you don't need or can't identify.

To do this: -

(1). The first place you should go is “start | programs | startup” which is a directory Windows XP uses to launch application shortcuts on boot-up. If you remove the shortcuts from this directory, the applications will not load on startup. This directory can also be a repository for much badness such as spyware and virus software. So if there are files here which are not shortcuts and you don't recognize them, you may wish to consider removing them anyways, as Windows will not place critical files in this directory.

(2). The next location for removing unnecessary startup files is the handy MSCONFIG utility that has been resurrected from the graveyard of Windows 9x especially for XP. Go to “start | run” and type “msconfig” to access the utility. The “startup” tab in MSCONFIG provides access to several other applications that are started at boot up and are running in the background. By examining their Filenames and directories, you should be able to get a feeling for what is necessary and what is not. Be aware than several viruses and worms have a habit of disguising themselves with authoritative sounding Windows system file names, such as win32.spybot.worm present in the above screenshot as MSCONFIG32.EXE. Leave these for now if you are not sure. The other method for removing these programs is through the programs themselves, as many applications, for example MSN messenger, contain the option to remove the software from startup.

Now go for it….. and next time you feel that your PC is taking less time to boot.

Alpha Numerical arrangement in window

2009-12-31T15:52:00.000+05:30

Window XP sorts files in an ascending order which have digits in their file name. Like document ‘ajay151.doc’ listed after ajay15.doc and ajay16.doc. But if you want to arrange them like this ajay15.doc, ajay151.doc, ajay16.doc, ajay161.doc then you has to set registry, after that OS will access all characters as alphabets.

(1). Open the Registry Editor and navigate the key.
“HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer”

(2). Create new entry “NoStrCmpLogical” using ‘Edit | New | DWORD value’.

(3). Then open it and set the value data ‘1’ in the “Edit DWORD value” Window and click OK.

(4). Next step you know….so do it. Restart your PC to see registry set effect.

Disable Error Reporting Service

2009-12-18T19:05:00.000+05:30

Whenever a program crashes in Window XP, an “Error Report” comes up asking for some information on the crash. If you are getting irk with these report then you can disable them.

(1). Go to Start | Run and open Control panel.
(2). Double click on the ‘System’ Icon and select ‘Advanced’.
(3). Select ‘Error Reporting’ button.
(4). Select “Disable Error Reporting”. After you select this option, error reports will not be generated.
(5). If you select the option “But notify me when critical errors occur” it will notify you when a critical error occurs, even you have disabled error reporting.
(6). Now click on OK and have fun no interrupt (error) will irk you.

Share Folders quickly

2009-12-16T16:37:00.001+05:30

Window xp allows us to share data within the network by letting us share folders with other users. If you want to share more than one folder, there is a simple way to do it by using the “Share Folder Wizard”. Follow these steps to learn how to launch the wizard and start sharing.

(1). Go to Start | Run type SHRPUBW.EXE and click OK.
(2). It will launch the “Create Shared Folder Wizard” click on Next to continue.
(3). Browse to the folder you want to share.
(4). Enter the share name by which you would like to share this folder.
(5). Enter the share description in case you want to (it’s not compulsory).
(6). Next window allow us to set permission. You can choose the way you would like the share the data and the kind of access permission you want to set for different users.
(7). Once you have done with the above, simply restart the process and share more folders without having to exit the wizard

Make a Password Reset Disk or backup your User Password

2009-11-17T16:21:00.000+05:30

If you want to backup your user password you have to create a password reset disk. If you are running window xp professional as a local user, you can create a password reset disk to log onto your computer when you forget your password.

Let’s go to come to know about it.

(1). Click on Start and select ‘Control Panel’ and select ‘User Accounts’.

(2). Click on your account name.

(3). Under Related Tasks, click on ‘Prevent a Forgotten Password’.

(4). Follow the directions in the ‘Forgotten Password Wizard’ to create a password reset disk.
Store the disk in a secure location, because anyone like me using it can access your local user account and imagine if….. I will be there…….. Next time you need to format your PC.

Configure the Power Button of your CPU

2009-11-01T14:19:00.000+05:30

Many Computer users don’t know about the power management system of window xp that lets us configure the system power button. By default when we press the power button system get shut down.
If we are doing our job on computer and by mistake we or someone else (may be child) press the power button, will close all the application and computer itself. Now there is no chance to stop your PC from shutting down. So window xp power management system gives us a facility to get relief by accidental key press incident.

(1). Right click on the desktop and click on “Properties”.

(2). Click on the ‘screen saver’ tab and then select ‘power’ in the Monitor Power box.

(3). Now in the ‘power option properties’ select ‘advanced’.

(4). In the ‘power button’ box select option “when I press the power button on my computer”.

(5). Select your option and click on apply.

Next time when your power button is pressed your selected action will take place.

Disable low disk space warning in your system tray

2009-10-26T18:46:00.000+05:30

The popping up of low disk space warning in the system occurs when window detects that a partition of your hard drive is running out of space. If you getting irritated with this message. Here’s a simple solution with registry fix that will solve your problem.

(1). Click on 'Start | Run'. Type regedit and press OK.

(2). Browse down to the following key:-

“HKEY_CURRENT _USER \ Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ Explorer”

Create a ‘new binary value’ and set its value to ’00 00 00 01’ and exit the registry.

Restart your PC and breathe a sigh of relief.

Make a Bat file to shutdown your PC

2009-10-22T20:01:00.000+05:30

(1). Open notepad and type.

@echo off
C:\WINDOWS\system32\shutdown.exe -s -f -t 60

(2). Save this notepad with name “shutdown.bat“.

(3). Now click on it to shutdown your PC.

Here we are using @echo off to don’t show anything in the command prompt when we click on it, and 60 is time in second that it will take to shutdown your PC you can change according to you.

Create a shortcut to Hibernate your PC

2009-10-20T14:21:00.000+05:30

I have been tell in this Blog (Shut Down and Log Off your PC with command prompt) that how we can shutdown PC with command prompt using shutdown.exe command but it does not include an option to hibernate. Now I will tell you how to make a shortcut to create hibernate

Let’s go for it……..

(1). Create a shortcut on desktop at the empty place

(2). In the “Type the location of the item” box type or copy and paste this text:-
“rundll32.exe PowrProf.dll SetSuspendState”

(3). Click on Next button. In the “Type a name for this shortcut” box type Hibernate and click on Finish.

If shortcut does not work then you probably need to configure your computer to enable hibernation.

To enable Hibernation:-
(1). Go to Control Panel and open Power options.

(2). Click on the Hibernate tab and make sure the Enable Hibernate option is checked.

Now you can change the icon of the shortcut.

See hidden file through Command Prompt

2009-10-06T10:01:00.000+05:30

(1). Open command prompt and go to directory where your files are hidden.
(2). Type “dir/a” and press enter to see all the files with hidden file.
(3). Type “dir/ah” to see only hidden file.

Why we do Defragmentation of our Hard Drive?

2009-10-03T20:06:00.000+05:30

Defragmentation of a hard drive is the act of re-ordering the data on the drive so that each file can be read continuously from the disk. By default, Windows XP will attempt to store any files it needs to write to the hard drive in consecutive clusters (a cluster is the smallest unit of storage space available on a hard drive) on the drive, so that the file can then be read continuously. A hard drive which has been frequently used over a long period of time will have developed many fragmented files, files which are scattered over different clusters on the surface of the disk. This can occur because of many factors, for example uninstall programs that leave files behind, system crashes while in the act of writing to the hard drive, regular deletion of files, etc. A file becomes fragmented when the portion of consecutive clusters on the disk that Windows begins to write into is not large enough to hold the whole file. The remainder of the file then needs to be written to a different physical area of the disk. This does not have any effect on the operating system's ability to access the files themselves, but it does slow down disk access times (and by extension, any application that depends on disk access) due to the extra time needed to reposition the read heads of the hard drive to access the rest of the fragmented file. Windows XP includes a disk defragmentation utility which you can use to re-arrange the files on the drive and eliminate fragmentation.
This can have a significant affect on the speed of your computer. To access this utility, go to 'start\programs\accessories\system tools\disk defragmenter.' To begin with, you need to analyze your hard disk(s) to see if defragmentation is needed. Select a drive and hit the 'analyze' button. This could take a little while depending on the amount of data on the drive. While the system is analyzing, it is best to leave your computer alone or the process may need to restart.
Once the analysis is finished, you will have a graphical representation of your disk's level of fragmentation. See the picture below for an example of a highly fragmented drive.
Windows will also inform you if it recommends defragmenting the drive. You must have 15% of the drive free in order to fully defragment it. Anything less will result in only a partial re-ordering of the files. You may need to delete a few things to obtain this free space.
To defragment the drive, select it and hit the 'defragment' button. Note that depending on the size of the drive and the level of fragmentation, this can take a long time. It's a good thing to leave overnight, since you should not run anything else while doing the defrag either.

Embed documents in Word

2009-09-12T09:45:00.002+05:30

(1). Know what file you want to embed and where that file is saved.
(2). Go to Insert and pull down to Object.
(3). Click on the Create from File tab/button. Click Display as Icon (unless you want to entire file to show in your document.)

(4). Browse to find the file.
(5). you can also change the icon picture and/or title. It is recommended that the title be changed; otherwise the name/caption is too long.

Shut Down and Log Off your PC with command prompt

2009-08-14T18:06:00.000+05:30

(1). Go to 'Start |Run ' and in the displayed window type cmd then click on OK.

(2). Command Prompt will open then here type shutdown and with shutdown command use following

-i Display GUI interface, must be the first option
-l Log off (cannot be used with -m option)
-s Shutdown the computer
-r Shutdown and restart the computer
-a Abort a system shutdown
-m \\computername Remote computer to shutdown/restart/abort
-t xx Set timeout for shutdown to xx seconds
-c "comment" Shutdown comment (maximum of 127 characters)
-f Forces running applications to close without warning
-d [u][p]:xx:yy The reason code for the shutdown
u is the user code
p is a planned shutdown code
xx is the major reason code (positive integer less than 256)
yy is the minor reason code (positive integer less than 65536)

C:\Documents and Settings\ajay>shutdown -s

Start window XP to directly boot to the desktop bypassing the login screen

2009-08-10T19:04:00.000+05:30

First you have to make sure that you have logged into an administrative account else you will not be allowed to make changes.

(1). Go to ' Start | Run '.

(2). Now in the Open Window, type "control userpasswords2" and click on OK.

(3). After you have done OK a new window will pop up.

(4). Under the "User" tab you will see a check box writing "User must enter a user name and password to use this Computer". Uncheck that box.

(5). Now if you have multiple user logins, then it will ask you which login you would like to automatically log into.

(6). Enter the user name and password if any and click on "OK".

(7). Restart your Computer and it will directly reach the desktop.

Use 'Shift' to turn off 'Caps Lock'

2009-08-07T11:31:00.000+05:30

You can change this feature in the Registry Editor. Simply follow this feature

(1). Click on 'Start | Run'. Type regedit and press OK.

(2). Browse down to the following key:-
“HKEY_CURRENT _USER \ Keyboard Layout”

(3). In the right panel, right click and select ‘New | DWORD Value’.

(4). Name the new value ‘Attributes’. Now double click on the new Attributes Value.

(5). In the value box enter 00010000 and press OK.

(6). Exit the registry and Reboot your PC.

Now the Caps Lock key will always turn on but you must press either of the Shift key to turn it off.

Protect Your Folder without any Software

2009-08-04T12:07:00.001+05:30

(1). Go to Folder Options > View.

(2). There is last option called "Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended)".
Uncheck it then click "OK".

(3). Open the Properties of folder which you want to protect.

(4). Go to tab "Security". There are listed "User Names" who can access that folder as written under: "Group OR Usernames"

(5). Now, Click on Advanced and Uncheck
“Inherit from Parent the permissions entries that apply to child objects. Include these..........."
And Click on "Remove" then OK.
Now, try to access that folder, you will not be able to access it.

Now to access this folder:-
(1). Open Property > Security > Advanced >
& check that option
"Inherit from Parent the permissions entries that apply to child objects. Include these..........."
2) Click OK.

Now you able to access that folder again.

Hide your files in a JPEG file

2009-07-28T12:11:00.000+05:30

For this, you will only need to download WinRAR. You just need to have a little knowledge about Command Prompt and have WinRAR installed.

(1). Create a folder in C drive and name it hidden. Collect all the files that you want to hide in this folder (C:\hidden\your files).

(2). Now, add those files in a RAR archive (e.g. hidden.rar). This rar file should also be in the same directory (C:\hidden\hidden.rar).

(3). Now, search a simple JPEG picture file (e.g. logo.jpg), Copy and Paste that file also in the same directory (C:\hidden\logo.jpg).

(4). Now, open Command Prompt and go in directory C:\hidden.

(5). Now type “COPY /b logo.jpg + secret.rar output.jpg”.

Now, logo.jpg is the picture you want to show, hidden.rar is the file to be hidden, and output.jpg is the file which contains both.

(6). Now, after you have done this, you will see a file output.jpg in C:\hidden. Open it and it will show the picture, you wanted to show. Now open the same file with WinRAR, it will show the hidden archive.

You can change Drive, Directory, jpeg file name, rar file name according to you but you must use these names in command prompt.

Shake your Internet explorer with JAVA Script

2009-07-23T18:25:00.002+05:30

(1). Open your Internet explorer.
(2). Copy this code and paste it in address bar and press Enter.
And see magic.

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

(3). Click on Internet explorer to off shaking.

What you feel about this Script, select a checkbox (funny, Interesting, Cool)

SPEEDUP FOLDER BROWSING

2009-07-16T17:19:00.000+05:30

You may have noticed that every time you open my computer to browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers every time you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing significantly:

(1). Open My Computer

(2). Click on Tools menu

(3). Click on Folder Options.

(4). Click on the View tab.

(5). Uncheck the “Automatically search for network folders and printers” check box.

(6). Click Apply.

(7). Click Ok.

New Reboot your computer…..

Change Drive Letters

2009-07-14T15:54:00.000+05:30

(1). Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management.

(2). Then at the right-side you will see the partition of your hard disk.
(3). Then choose a partition for you want to change Drive letters and right click on it.

(4). whose name you want to change (clicks in the white area just below the word "Volume") and select "change drive letter and paths."

From here you can add, remove or change drive letters and paths to the partition

Some Interesting Bugs

2009-07-11T19:46:00.000+05:30

This is something funny and can’t be explained… At Microsoft the whole Team, including Bill Gates, couldn’t answer why this happened!

It was discovered by a Brazilian. Try it out yourself…

Open Microsoft Word and type

=rand (200, 99)

And then press ENTER
And see the magic…..!

Also try this one

Open notepad and type

“Bush hid the facts” and save it with name bush now open it.
Have fun & enjoy.......