Bengali Admins

Secure your wireless home network

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:11:00 +0000

Believe it or not, there are humans out there active about LOOKING for networks from which they can abduct claimed data. What follows are some basal guidelines to advice you accumulate your arrangement safe from crooked access.

Keep software up to date!

More specifically, accumulate the firmware that is anchored (installed) in your accouterments current! Software is never absolute or bulletproof if aboriginal released! Vulnerabilities are apparent and so patches are appear by the accomplish to bung these aegis holes.

Even if you've just purchased a section of arrangement hardware, be abiding to go to the manufacturers website anon and analysis for updates! Do not accept what’s loaded assimilate your accouterments is the a lot of contempo version! Aegis holes can acquiesce anyone admission to your Internet affiliation and admired abstracts on your arrangement computers!

Change the Administrator password!

The wireless router will appear to you with a absence password. This countersign should be afflicted immediately! Most... if not all... wireless routers leave the architect with the Admin login name and password. I kid you not!

Go to the router’s agreement page and attending for the hotlink or appellation that says Admin. From there, you should be able to change the login name and password. If you accept any trouble, just analysis the manual.

Change your SSID.

SSID or Service Set Identifier is the name of a wireless bounded breadth network. SSID is like a "secret" key that should be set by the arrangement administrator. Every wireless router comes with a absence SSID. However, all wireless accessories on a arrangement accept the aforementioned SSID in adjustment to acquaint with anniversary other. By alteration it to a non-default SSID, you're authoritative it harder for crooked admission to your network.

Turn off SSID Broadcasting.

The SSID broadcasts a arresting (802.11 (Wi-Fi)) which allows anniversary wireless arrangement accessory to allege to one another. But acceptance your SSID to advertisement makes it easier for rogue accessories to be added to your network.

Once you've configured anniversary of your wireless accessories to the exact SSID you specify, about-face broadcasting off!

Enable WEP

WEP or Active Equivalent Privacy, encrypts the abstracts affective to and from your wireless clients. If possible, you should use the arch key possible, 128-bit.

Limit admission by MAC addresses

Every arrangement agenda (both active and wireless) has a different MAC (Media Admission Control) abode assigned by the manufacturer. Set your wireless router to acquiesce admission from alone specific MAC addresses and you'll abundantly advance the aegis of your network. Here's how to acquisition your MAC address... *

Windows NT/2000/XP

* Click the Start button --> click Run --> type winipcfg and click OK.
* Choose your network card from the drop down list.
* Your MAC address can be found in the Adapter Address field.

Once you've determined the MAC address for each of the network cards you're using, go to the manufacturer's site for your wireless router. There you'll want to find information on using MAC address security.

Remove Ads from Yahoo Messenger

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:02:00 +0000

Users of Yahoo Messenger 8.0 or 9.0 notice a very annoying animated ad at the bottom of the main window. Messenger has all the best features, with lots of advertisements and animated ads. If you don’t like the ads and wants no ads on Yahoo! Messenger window.

How to get rid of the ads?

1. Close Yahoo Messenger.

2. Copy the following code to a notepad file and save the file with anyname.bat extension.

Notes:

Please note that if you run Yahoo Messenger from a FAT32 disk, this fix disables some features from Yahoo Messenger, like chat rooms and the plug-in manager. NTFS is the standard file system used in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, so it's likely that you won't see these limitations if you use a recent version of windows.
______________________________________________________
@ECHO OFF
TITLE Remove ads from Yahoo Messenger 8-9

ATTRIB -R "%PROGRAMFILES%\Yahoo!\Messenger\Cache\urls.xml"
ECHO "" >"%PROGRAMFILES%\Yahoo!\Messenger\Cache\urls.xml"
ATTRIB +R "%PROGRAMFILES%\Yahoo!\Messenger\Cache\urls.xml"
cacls "%PROGRAMFILES%\Yahoo!\Messenger\Cache\urls.xml" /E /P %username%:N

SET CONTENTPATH=""
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 SET CONTENTPATH="*"

> %TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO REGEDIT4
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO.
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Yahoo\Pager\YUrl]
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO "Messenger Ad"="*"
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO "Webcam Upload Ad"="*"
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO "Webcam Viewer Ad"="*"
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO "Webcam Viewer Ad Big"="*"
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO "Webcam Viewer Ad Medium"="*"
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO "Change Room Banner"="*"
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO "Conf Adurl"="*"
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO "Chat Adurl"="*"
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO "Y Content"=%CONTENTPATH%
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Yahoo\Pager\Locale]
>>%TEMP%.\noYMads.reg ECHO "Enable Messenger Ad"="0"
REGEDIT /S %TEMP%.\noYMads.reg
DEL %TEMP%.\noYMads.reg
______________________________________________________

The bat file edits most registry values related to the ads in Yahoo Messenger from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Yahoo\pager\YUrl, replacing the data with a dummy asterisk. Here's the list of string values:

Messenger Ad
Webcam Upload Ad
Webcam Viewer Ad
Webcam Viewer Ad Big
Webcam Viewer Ad Medium
Change Room Banner
Conf Adurl
Chat Adurl

The patch also makes the file C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Cache\urls.xml read-only and it revokes all the permissions for the file, but only for NTFS disks.

If you install new versions of Yahoo Messenger, you'll have to repeat the steps above, as Yahoo setup rewrites the registry entries. New versions will most likely make removing the ads more difficult or even impossible.

How To : Network Bridge Using Windows XP

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:50:00 +0000

Windows XP's Network Bridge feature can combine two or more local area networks (such as wired and wireless) into one logical network. Computers on each network can communicate with computers on all of the other networks, sharing files, printers, and even an Internet connection.

To create a bridge between two or more network connections, open the Network Connections folder. Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking the desired connections, then right click one of them and select Bridge Connections. In this example, I'm bridging a wireless network with a wired Ethernet network.

This window appears while the bridging process is in progress.

The Network Bridge then appears in the list of network connections, along with the connections that are included in the bridge.

The Network Bridge takes on most of the attributes of a normal network connection. To configure it, right click the Network Bridge and select Properties. You can add or remove connections from the bridge, enable protocols and clients, assign an IP address, create a connection icon in the notification area, etc.

When a network connection is added to the Network Bridge, it loses its individual attributes. It no longer has an IP address, clients, protocols, etc. Here's the Properties sheet for the Ethernet Network connection, which is now included in the network bridge.

Starting the Network Setup Wizard

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:33:00 +0000

Windows XP has a built-in Network Setup Wizard that makes it easy to configure networking on computers running Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, and Windows XP. The Wizard does not work on computers running Windows 95, Windows NT, or Windows 2000.

The Wizard can perform these tasks on a Windows XP computer:

* Set up the computer as an Internet Connection Sharing server, which shares its Internet connection with other networked computers.
* Set up the computer as an Internet Connection Sharing client, which accesses the Internet through another computer.
* Create a bridge between two or more network connections, combining them into a single logical connection.
* Create a floppy disk containing the Wizard files so that the Wizard can run on another computer.
To start the Network Setup Wizard on a Windows XP computer, use either of these two ways:

* Open the Network Connections folder. Under Network Tasks, click Set up a home or small office network.

Click Start | All Programs | Accessories | Communications | Network Setup Wizard.

To start the Network Setup Wizard on a computer running Windows 98, 98 Second Edition, or Millennium Edition, use either of these two ways. If the Run command doesn't appear on the Start Menu, hold down the Windows key on the keyboard and press R to get the Run box:

* Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM in the computer's CD-ROM drive. If the Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP screen doesn't appear automatically, click Start and Run, type D:\Setup in the box, and click OK. If your CD-ROM drive letter isn't D:, substitute the appropriate letter. Then click Perform additional tasks followed by Set up a home or small office network.

# Insert a floppy disk containing the Wizard files in the computer's floppy drive. Click Start and Run, type A:\Netsetup in the box, and click OK.
If you started the Wizard from the CD-ROM or from a floppy disk, this screen appears. Click Next to continue.
The Wizard's Welcome screen then appears. Click Next to continue.
The Wizard displays a list of preliminary steps. If you haven't completed them, click Cancel to exit from the Wizard, complete the steps, and re-start the Wizard. Click Next.

Install Yahoo & MSN Messengers On a Computer Not Connected to Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:17:00 +0000

The latest versions of Yahoo & Microsoft MSN Messenger are installed with the help of online installer applications.

An online installer application is a small file which is downloaded first; it will then launch, download the required program from servers and begin installation automatically. This means that the computer on which you are trying to install Yahoo/MSN Messenger should be connected to Internet.

It is not only Yahoo & Microsoft but also other software giants like Google & Adobe are making the assumption that users are connected to Internet while installing software.

The online installation has many benefits like automatically detecting the parameters of the computer and downloading the required binaries for installation. But what about the computers that does not have access to Internet? How do we Install Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger?

Here are the direct links to bypass online/web installers of Yahoo & MSN Messengers and download the offline installers

Links to Download Yahoo Messenger Offline Installer

Trick to download MSN Messenger Offline Installer

There is no direct link to download MSN Messenger offline installer but we can backup the installer from web installer. Follow these steps to take a back of MSN offline installer

1. Go to Windows Live Installer
2. Choose Messenger Application alone from the products list
3. Click on Install. This downloads a web installer and then it automatically installs MSN Messenger
4. Wait till the installation is completed
5. Open the folder C:\Program Files\Common Files\WindowsLiveInstaller\MsiSources
6. You will find a file with the name Install_{Random Name}.msi and size of the file close to 16 MB
7. Take backup of this file and rename it as MSN Messenger.msi
8. Use the backup MSI as stand alone MSN Messenger Installer

Delete Programs That Can't Be Deleted

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:57:00 +0000

When you try to delete a folder or file you get the error File/Folder cannot be deleted because it's already being used by another program. This happens because a process is still using the target file/folder.

To solve this error follow these steps:

1. Download Unlocker 1.8.5
http://www.filehippo.com/download_unlocker/

2. Install the program.
3. Right click on the folder/file or file you want to delete and click Unlocker.
4. Now simply delete the folder/file (repeat the step for every folder/file that give you this error)

bengaliadmins Web Toolbar released

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:49:00 +0000

Website toolbar for bengaliadmins released today. You can keep touch with bengaliadmins more from now on. Download the toolbar from the bellow link and let it be installed on your internet browser.

Download Toolbar Here

System Requirements
Windows, Mac, Linux
Windows Vista/XP/2000)

Supported Browsers
Mozilla Firefox
Internet Explorer 5.0+

Share A Keyboard And Mouse Between Two Computers

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:17:00 +0000

Method 1: Input Director

Input Director is a windows-exclusive program that allows you to control more than one computer without using more than one keyboard and mouse. With input director, you simply control both computers with the keyboard and mouse, and press a certain hotkey to change which computer you would like to control.

You can either use the hotkey method, or just move the cursor off the screen, and it will appear on the other computer, allowing you to use the keyboard for that one instead.

My favorite feature about input director, is the ‘clipboard’ feature. This feature allows you to copy something from one computer, and paste it on another computer. It’s very handy. Also, please note that the only systems that currently support Input Director are Windows 2000 (SP4), Windows XP (SP2) or Windows Vista. And may I please remind you that, the computers you wish to control simultaneously must be networked.

To download Input Director, go here:

Method 2: Synergy

Synergy is very similar to Input Director, but is just as good. A nice little feature about Synergy is that it can control computers, even if they are different operating systems, which is really helpful if (like a lot of people) you have an XP and Vista. To change the computer you wish to control, just move the mouse off the screen, it’s as simple as that.

Synergy also supports the ‘Clipboard’ feature. My favorite feature of Synergy, though, is the fact it automatically synchronizes the screen savers of the computer’s it is controlling, so they start and stop at the same time. And, in addition to that, it can password-unlock all the computers with one password, so no need to go around unlocking all of the computers if they automatically lock.

To download Synergy, go here:

http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

The way both Synergy and Input Director work are the same, and it’s a very simple concept - It’s basically remote controlling a computer, without the real time screen appearing. Both software have their basis around a slave and master system, so only one computer is actually being controlled by a keyboard and mouse, but that computer almost mimics the actions onto the other computer, as if the ‘master’ is controlling the ’slave’.

The only problem I’ve found with the two programs, is sometimes the lack of compatibility, as Input Director does not support mac, or all that many Operating Systems really. Synergy supports a few more, but it’s still a hassle changing your computer’s operating systems to get this to work.

And feel free to share your review.

Speed Up Your Acrobat Reader

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:29:00 +0000

Do you get irritated when acrobat reader takes 5/10 seconds to load when you want to open a PDF document? There is a simple way to speed up the loading time of a PDF document.

1. Go to the installation folder of acrobat reader
(C:\program files\adobe\acrobat\reader\.. whatever)

2. Move all the files and folders from the "plugins" directory to the "Optional" directory. (I repeat.. cut and paste the files NOT copy & paste).

Also make sure that acrobat reader is not open else it will lock the files and not allow you to move the files).

Now your acrobat reader will load very fast
and almost as good as notepad..
the same.

Importing Bookmarks Of Your Firefox

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:47:00 +0000

If you have previously used a different browser or want to e.g. import your bookmarks from a memory stick or other media, Bookmark Manager's Import function is what you are looking for.

To open Import, select File -> Import in Firefox's Bookmark Manager window.

A new window will appear, asking you where you want to import your bookmarks from. If you want to import your IE favorites, or if you want to import bookmarks from a Mozilla Suite or Netscape 6/7 profile, select the appropriate option. Firefox will automatically find and import your favorites/bookmarks for you.

If you want to import bookmarks from another browser, backed up Firefox bookmarks, or bookmarks from any other source, select From File. In this case, a dialog window will appear that allows you to select the file you wish to import. Please note that it may be necessary to export your bookmarks first, depending on the browser you want to import them from. For Mozilla Firefox here is the way to export and save the bookmarks.

Export and Save Your Bookmarks from Firefox

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:24:00 +0000

Your bookmarks on your Firefox are easily exported and saved so that you can back up, share or use them on another computer.

Instructions

Step1
Open up a Firefox window.
Step2
Click on the “Bookmarks” menu and select “Organize Bookmarks...”

Step3
Click on the “File” menu and select “Export” in the window that pops up.
Step4
Give your bookmarks whatever title you like and choose a location to save them, in the save window that comes up.
Step5
Open this file on any computer with a Web browser and click on the links to go to each bookmark, now that your bookmarks are saved as an HTML file. Or you can import them into the bookmarks or favorites menu of another computer.

Add Copy To / Move To to the Windows Explorer Right Click Menu

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 07:12:00 +0000

A hidden functionality in Windows allows you to right click on a file, select Copy To Folder or Move To Folder, and the move to box will pop up and let you choose a location to either copy or move the file or folder to.

Here's the quick registry hack to get this working. As usual, back up your registry just in case. You will want to browse down to this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\Con textMenuHandlers

Once you are at that key, right click and choose the New Key option:

Now you will double-click on the (Default) value and enter the following:

{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

Click OK and continue.

If you want to enable Move To, you will repeat the same steps, except creating a new key named Move To, and using this value:

{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

Now when you right click on a file or folder, you should see the following options:

Let's click Copy To Folder just to see what happens….

Done!

If you dont want to play up with your Registry by own download the following file, extract it and double click on the two registry items.

http://rapidshare.com/files/136963638/bengaliadmins_Copyt-Move.rar

Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:46:00 +0000

If you've ever asked for help with your Windows computer that won't boot anymore, you've probably been told to "Backup all your data and then reinstall"… but if you can't boot, how can you get to your data? That's the question we'll be answering today.

One of the easiest methods to access your data is to simply boot off an Ubuntu Live CD… and it's completely free (except for the cost of a blank cd).

Burn an Ubuntu Live CD

If you have another computer, you can download and burn the Ubuntu Live CD using a very simple application called ImgBurn. Otherwise, you can bug one of your friends to help you burn a copy.

Just open up ImgBurn, and click the icon to "Write image file to disc"

Then click on the icon next to "Source", pick the downloaded ISO file, stick a recordable CD into the drive, and click burn.

Now that you have the boot cd (which you should keep in a safe place, as it's very useful), just stick it in the drive of the computer and boot from it. You should see an option to "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer".

Once the system has started up, the first thing you want to do is choose Places \ Computer from the menu.

This should show you all the drives available in the system, including your Windows drive. In my case, that is the 52.4 GB volume.

You can try and double-click on the drive to open it… and if it immediately works then lucky you! Most of the time it's going to give you an error saying "Unable to mount the volume", because Windows didn't shut it down cleanly.

Click the Details link so that you can see the full message, and leave this window open. You'll see a "Choice 2″ in the message, which includes the commands to force Ubuntu to use that drive even though there's something wrong.

What you'll want to do is open a new Terminal from Applications \ Accessories \ Terminal on the top menu. Once you've done that, then you'll want to type in a bunch of commands, which I'll walk you through.

First, we'll want to switch to "administrator" mode, which in Linux terms is known as "root". The simplest way to do it is with this command:

sudo /bin/bash

Now we'll need to create a directory that we'll mount the drive on. The full explanation of mounting drives is a little complex, so just run this command:

mkdir /media/disk

Now comes the tricky part. You'll need to type out a command very similar to this one, but you'll need to replace /dev/sda1 with what you see in that message box we showed you above. This command tells Ubuntu to use the ntfs-3g driver, and force mount even if there is a problem.

mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/disk -o force

If your drive is FAT32 instead of NTFS, then you can use the following command instead:

mount -t vfat -o umask=000 /dev/sda1 /media/disk

If you are having problems figuring out whether you have NTFS or FAT32, and you can't figure out which /dev/whatever to use, then type in the following command at your prompt (make sure you already ran the command to run things as root)

fdisk -l

In the output you should see a lot more information about the available drives… you can see in this example that the filesystem type is NTFS and the device name is /dev/sda1.

At this point, you should be able to access your hard drive through the icon in Computer.

Note: If you have more than one drive in the computer, or more than one partition, they should show up separately in Computer. You should perform the same steps as above to open those drives up as well.

Backing Up to External USB

The absolute simplest thing to do at this point is to plug in an external USB drive, which should place an icon on the Ubuntu desktop, and most likely immediately pop up a nautilus window showing the contents of the drive.

Note: I plugged in a USB Flash drive for illustration… it would be better to plug in a full external USB drive so you'll have more space for backups.

What Should I Backup?

If you aren't extremely technical, you might be wondering what on earth you should be backing up… and that's a very good question.

1) Best Method

If you have loads of empty space on your external drive or network share, you should simply backup the entire contents of the drive, and sort through it later. It'll take a little longer, but at least that way you can be sure everything has been backed up.

2) Still Good

You should try and backup your entire user folder… on XP you'll go to "Documents and Settings", and on Vista you'll go to "Users", and you should see your username in the list:

You can simply copy this entire folder to your backup drive, which should contain your music, documents, bookmarks, and most of your important files.

Important Note: This will not backup your application files, and you should look around your drive and see if you've saved anything important somewhere else. This is especially true if you have more than one drive. Again, your best bet is to simply backup everything.

Backing Up to Network Share

If you would rather backup your drive to a network share on another computer, you can use the Places \ Connect to Server item on the menu.

Change the Service type menu to "Windows share"…

And then enter in the details for your network drive, with these being the required fields:
Server: Computer Name
Share: Shared Folder Name
User Name: your username

Once you click the Connect button, you'll be prompted to enter in your password. Typically you can leave Domain set to the default, but if you have a custom workgroup name you should enter that instead. I also chose the "Remember password until you logout" button just so I won't have to enter the password again.

Once you click the Connect button you should have an icon on the desktop for your network share.

Now you can open up the network share, and if everything is setup correctly on the shared folder side of things, you can copy all of your files across the network using the instructions above on which files to choose.

At this point you should have a backup of your data. If you backed up to an external hard drive, you might want to consider also copying those files to another computer just in case, and if you copied across the network you could consider backing that up elsewhere as well.

Now you can proceed with reinstalling or whatever else you'd like to do.

Remove unused device drivers from Windows XP machines

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:33:00 +0000

When you install a device driver on a Windows XP machine, the operating system loads that driver each time the computer boots regardless of whether the device is present—unless you specifically uninstall the driver. This means that drivers from devices that you have long since removed from your system may be wasting valuable system resources.

Follow these steps to view and remove these unnecessary device drivers:

1. Press Windows + Break to bring up the System Properties dialog box.
2. Select the Advanced tab and click the Environment Variables button.
3. Click the New button below the System Variables panel.

4. In the New System Variable dialog box, type devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices in the Variable Name
text box and 1 in the Variable Value text box.

5. Click OK to return to the System Properties dialog box and then click OK again.
6. Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
7. In Device Manager, go to View | Show Hidden Devices.

8. Expand the various branches in the device tree and look for the washed out icons, which indicate unused device drivers.
9. To remove an unused device driver, right-click the icon and select Uninstall.

Get MAC addresses in Windows XP with ARP

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:20:00 +0000

When securing a wireless Windows XP network, in addition to using Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption, you can use Media Access Control (MAC) address filtering.

When you enable MAC address filtering, the wireless access point or wireless router verifies that the network card in the computer requesting access has a MAC address in its filter list before allowing the computer to access the network. This means that you must first obtain the MAC addresses of each client computer. To do so, you might think that you have to manually visit each computer and use the Getmac command.

An easier way to gather MAC addresses is to take advantage of the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
command. Here’s how:

1. From one computer, use the Ping command to ping each of the other client computers that will connect to the wireless access point or wireless router.
2. Type the ARP command along with the -a parameter: Arp -a

When used with the -a parameter, the ARP command displays the ARP cache, which stores the IP and MAC addresses of the computers that most recently accessed the system—or in this case, those computers that responded to the Ping command.

Configuring Out Of Office/Vacation Response Message in Outlook, GMail, Yahoo Mail and Windows Live Mail

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:39:00 +0000

Whenever we are not available for any reason, it is good create an Out-of-office/vacation response email message. For those who don’t know what an Out-of-Office/vacation response message is, it is an email message that is sent automatically to anyone who sends an email to you.

Most of the popular email clients like Microsoft Outlook, GMail, Yahoo Mail and Windows Live Mail support configuring out-of-office/vacation response messages.

Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2007 to Send Out of Office Response

1. Select the menu option Tools -->Out of office Assistant; displays “Out-of-office Assistant” configuration window
2. Choose the option I’m currently Out of the Office
3. Type the auto response message in the input area “AutoReply only once to each sender with the following text:”
4. Click on “OK” to save the settings

Configuring GMail to Send Vacation Response

1. Log in to GMail web application
2. Click on Settings link (available on the right top corner)
3. Scroll down the page and identify “Vacation responder:” section.
4. Choose the option “Vacation responder on”
5. Enter auto reply “email” subject and “message”
6. If preferred, choose the option “Only sends a response to people in my Contacts” so that this message will be sent only the people whom you know. Is this not a good option to protect us from spammers?

Configuring Yahoo Mail to Send Vacation Response

1. Log in to Yahoo Mail web application
2. Click on “Options” link (available on the right top corner) and select the option “Mail Options”
3. Click on “Vacation Response” link available in the left side panel
4. Select the option “Enable auto-response during your vacation”
5. Specify the period during which you want to send auto response message by entering “from” and “until” dates
6. Type auto reply Message
7. Click on the “Save Changes” Icon available (on top of the display panel)

Configuring Windows Live Mail/Hotmail to Send Vacation Response

Log in to Windows Live Mail web application
Click on “Options” link and choose “More Options…”
Click the link “Send automated vacation replies” available in the section Manage your account.
Choose the option “Send vacation replies to people who e-mail you”
Type auto reply Message
By default Windows Live Mail chooses the option “Only reply to your contacts” to protect you from spammers and warns you not to unselect the option. Not bad Windows Live Mail is a step ahead of GMail! (only in this case)
Click on “Save” button

Simulation on How To Setup or Install Windows XP

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:31:00 +0000

The first thing I learn about fixing computer is how to format my hard drive and reinstall a clean copy of Windows. When I know how to reinstall Windows, I can fully mess around with the system, get it corrupted and then try to fix it back. When I couldn’t fix it, the ultimate solution is to reinstall Windows which will definitely get my system back to a working state.

Although Windows Vista is out for many months and Microsoft plans to retire Windows XP early, it’s never too late to learn how to install Windows XP since Vista installation is pretty similar to XP setup. However, for a computer beginner to learn how to reinstall Windows is no easy task unless there is someone willing to guide and teach them.

The safest way to learn how to setup or install Windows XP is by using simulation first. Once you’ve got used to it, then you can perform the real Windows installation on your computer.

Windows XP Setup Simulator is a program that teaches you how to install Windows XP, without having to worry you will mess up your hardware or software.

It just simulates installing Windows XP as if it was the real setup. It reproduces every step exactly as it is in the real setup, and it does not restart your computer. This program can also be used as a guide for learning how to install Windows 2003 and Vista, because the steps are very similar. The package also includes an e-book that explains every step of the Windows XP Setup and some other Windows XP Basics. You can also find the simulation with every step explained in several languages.

Once downloaded the Windows XP Setup Simulator from the link below, extract it and you will find a few files in the folder. Windows Xp Setup.exe is the Windows XP setup simulation and Tutorial.exe is like an ebook that teaches you about the basics of Windows XP.

Download:

http://rapidshare.com/files/131788624/winxp_simulator.exe

PC Slows When Accessed over the Network

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:24:00 +0000

Although heavy network traffic can bog down a PC, it may indeed be nothing more than a hardware problem. Specifically, your network adapter may conflict with another hardware device in your system.

If you're using a desktop PC, shut down Windows, unplug the power cable, and crack open the case. Locate your network adapter the card into which you plug your network cable remove the screw, pull out the card, and pop it into a different slot. Reassemble and turn on your PC and see if the problem goes away.

If, on the other hand, your NIC is integrated on the motherboard, it probably shares an IRQ with one of the PCI slots, and thus the PCI card in that slot may be causing the problem. Remove all nonessential PCI cards from your system, and start up Windows. If the problem persists, you may have to shuffle the remaining, essential PCI cards until you resolve the problem. If, on the other hand, the problem vanishes after you remove the PCI cards, shut down your PC and reinsert the cards one by one, reassembling and restarting your system after each insertion, until you find the culprit. If the culprit is a troublesome PCI slot, cover it with a piece of masking tape to remind yourself to keep it unoccupied.
If you're still stuck, you may need to update your network drivers or even replace your network hardware.

Find Missing Remote Printers

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:22:00 +0000

The traditional way to use a printer installed and shared on another PC is to open the Printers and Faxes control panel and then click Add Printer. On the "Local or Network Printer" page, choose "A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer," and on the next page, choose "Browse for a printer." Unfortunately, a variety of problems can cause the printer to be absent from this screen.

First, make sure the PC to which the printer is connected is turned on, the network is working for all PCs involved, and the printer is indeed shared. On the remote PC (the one with the printer), open the Printers and Faxes control panel. Right-click the printer you'd like to share, select
Properties, and then choose the Sharing tab. Select the "Share this printer" option, and then click OK.

If the printer is shared, and you're sure its driver supports network sharing, there's a quick workaround that usually works (although it won't solve the underlying problem, whatever that might be). Open Windows Explorer on a PC not directly connected to the printer, and click the My
Network Places folder. Open Entire Network , then Microsoft Windows Network , then your workgroup (e.g., MSHOME ), and then the PC to which the printer is attached. Inside, you'll find a Printers and Faxes folder, and inside that, you'll see all the printers shared on that PC. Right-click the printer you want to use, and select Connect.

If all goes well, the printer will show up in the Printers and Faxes dialog in 10 - 20 seconds, and you should be able to print to it immediately thereafter.

Note: Note that some printers can't be shared (this problem may come up if the manufacturer sells a more expensive "network-ready" printer that they'd rather have you buy). Review your printer's documentation and check the manufacturer's web site for driver updates if you can't get sharing to work. Typically, printers suffering from this limitation do show up in the "Browse for a printer" list but display an error when you try to install the drivers or print remotely .

Find Missing Computers in My Network Places

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:06:00 +0000

This is a really common problem, and one that is not always easily solved. First, a remote computer may not appear in My Network Places if it doesn't have any files or printers shared.

Shared folders on remote PCs can show up in two places in the My Network Places folder: shortcuts to previously accessed folders sometimes appear right in the My Network Places folder itself, but for a complete list, navigate to \ Entire Network\ Microsoft Windows Network , open your network (e.g., MSHOME ), and then open any PC to show its shared folders and printers.

Also, you may or may not see a PC that is in another workgroup in the Microsoft Windows Network folder in My Network Places . If you don't see the other workgroup, and you have control over the other PC, change its workgroup name to match the rest of the PCs on your network.

Open the System control panel (or right-click My Computer and select Properties), and then choose the Computer Name tab. The name of your PC, as well as the workgroup to which it belongs, is shown here (see Figure); click the Change button to rename the PC or join a different workgroup. All the PCs on your network should belong to the same workgroup, but no two PCs should share the same computer name.

If the workgroup matches but the PC still doesn't show up, one trick that often works is to type the name of the PC directly into Windows Explorer's address bar. (If you don't see the address bar, select View Toolbars --> Address Bar.) Erase the text in the address bar, and type two backslashes followed by the missing PC's name, like this: \\misterx
where misterx is the name of the remote PC. Press Enter, and with luck and about 510 seconds of patience Windows should list the shared folders on the remote computer.

If you still can't see the PC, make sure the network is functioning on both the remote computer and the local PC (the one you're sitting in front of). If they're both connected to a router that provides a shared Internet connection, for instance, open a web browser on each PC to test the connection. If you can load a web site, the network is working.
Often, you can force stubborn computers to show up by setting a static IP address for each PC on your network. Then use the ping command to test connectivity. Select Start --> Run, type cmd , and click OK to open a Command Prompt window, and then type:

ping 192.168.1.107

In this example, 192.168.1.107 is the IP address of the remote PC; replace this with the appropriate address. If you get a reply like the following from the remote machine, it means your computer can see and successfully communicate with that machine on your network:
Reply from 192.168.1.107: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
If, on the other hand, you see a timeout message like this, the connection is broken:

Request timed out.

File sharing will not work as long as ping returns this error, so your best bet is to check your hardware and IP address settings instead of toiling with the My Network Places folder.

If the network checks out but you still can't see the remote PC, try restarting both computers and resetting your router (refer to your router's instructions for the reset procedure).

If all else fails, it's likely a problem with the hardware. Try replacing the cables if you have a wired network

Remove Old Drivers After Upgrading to New Hardware

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:13:00 +0000

If you are experiencing weird issues after upgrading your hardware, or you’ve just upgraded to the latest hardware device and aren’t seeing the performance you’d like, you might want to remove the old drivers which are still installed for the old hardware, even though you can’t normally see them in device manager.

What you have to do is set a less-known flag to allow you to see non-present devices, and then launch device manager. You’ll then see the old devices in the list, and can uninstall the drivers for them.

In Windows Vista, the first thing you’ll need to do is open a command prompt in administrator mode. Type cmd into the start menu search box, and then use Ctrl+Shift+Enter to open in administrator mode. (You can also right-click on the command prompt and choose Run as Administrator)
Now paste in the following line:

SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1

Then type in devmgmt.msc to start up Device Manager from the administrator command prompt:

Once you are in Device Manager, go to the View menu and choose Show Hidden Devices, which will show all the device drivers including things that aren’t currently installed in your computer.

Notice how I have 6 mice in the list, even though I only have two installed (and my drawing tablet). The other 3 mice are old mice that I’ve used until they died…. the Geek tends to wear through input devices very quickly since he never leaves the computer…

You can right-click on the driver and then choose Uninstall from the menu to remove the drivers for that old hardware.

I’ve found that this can resolve a lot of weird issues, and even increase performance on some machines where you’ve upgraded a ton of times. This isn’t necessarily going to increase performance, but it’s nice to have a tidy computer nonetheless.

Lock folders without any software

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:02:00 +0000

1. Open Notepad and copy the below code
2. Change your password in the code it’s shown the place where to type your password.
3. Save file as locker.bat .
4. Now double click on locker .bat
5. I t will create folder with Locker automatically for u. After creation of the Locker folder, place the contents u want to lock inside the Locker Folder and run locker.bat 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

Change The Default Location For Installing Apps

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:00:00 +0000

As the size of hardrives increase, more people are using partitions to seperate and store groups of files.

XP uses the C:\Program Files directory as the default base directory into which new programs are installed. However, you can change the default installation drive and/ or directory by using a Registry hack.

Run the Registry Editor (regedit)and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion

Look for the value named ProgramFilesDir. by default,this value will be C:\Program Files. Edit the value to any valid drive or folder and XP will use that new location as the default installation directory for new programs.

Disable the Welcome Screen in Windows XP PRO

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:56:00 +0000

You must have a computer administrator account on a computer that is a member of a workgroup or is a stand-alone computer to turn on or turn off the Use the Welcome screen feature. Logging on at the Welcome screen is not available on computers that are members of a network domain.

1.Open User Accounts in Control Panel.

2.Click Change the way users log on or off.

Do one of the following:

1.To specify that users log on to the computer using the Welcome screen, select the Use the Welcome screen check box. A user logs on to the computer by clicking his or her user account name on the Welcome screen. If a password is assigned to the account, the user is prompted to type it.

2.To specify that users log on to the computer without using the Welcome screen, clear the Use the Welcome screen check box. The Welcome screen will no longer appear when you start the computer. To log on to the computer, type your user name (and password, if you have one) in the standard Log On to Windows dialog box.

Note: To open User Accounts, click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click User Accounts. Fast User Switching is available only when the Welcome screen is turned on.

Note: To disable the Welcome screen you can also open the Registry editor and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\

Windows NT\Current Version\WinLogon

Change the value for LogonType, from a “1” to a “0″. This is because a 0 specifies Classic Mode and a 1 specifies Welcome Screen.

Now, exit the Registry and Reboot your computer

Burn .bin file Without A .cue file

noreply@blogger.com (Rajib) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:34:00 +0000

To burn a bin file, you will need an appropriate cue file.

You do exactly the same as for iso files, but when you click on “burn image,” you don’t browse to the bin itself, but instead to the cue file, and you open that one.
When the writer starts to burn, it will automatically search for the bin file and start burning it. In fact, the cue file tells the burning program where it can find the bin file that is attached to it. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you use the right cue file when you burn a bin. i.e both cue and bin files that are attached to each other must be located in the same folder, and every bin file has it’s own cue file.

Normally, when you download a bin file, you can download the appropriate cue file as well. If you do not have the cue file (or feel bold) you can make the cue file yourself, which is really easy to do:

a. Open notepad

b. Copy the folowing text into notepad:

FILE“nameofimage“BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE1/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00

Where nameofimage.bin is the name of the bin file you want ot burn.

c. The rest is easy: just save the notepad text with the name of the bin, but with the cue extension.

d. The file should be saved in the same folder as its appropriate bin file and should be something like myfile.cue

Or you can use Alcohol 120% to burn directly from the bin file.