Tricks and Tips

50 Windows 8 Hidden tips and tricks

2012-04-22T10:28:00.001-07:00

Windows 8 tips: getting started

1. Lock screen

Launch Windows 8 and you'll first see the Lock screen, which appears whenever your system boots, resumes or you otherwise need to log on. If you have a touch screen, swipe up to clear it and enter your password; otherwise, drag up with the mouse, use the mouse scroll wheel, or just to tap the spacebar to clear it and move on.

2. The Metro home screen

Once you've logged on then the new Metro start screen will appear, packed with tiled apps. So packed you'll probably need to scroll horizontally to see them all (scrolling the mouse wheel, if you have one, will do this for you).

You don't have to put up with this arrangement, though. Click on individual apps to see what they do; press the Windows key at any time to return to the Metro screen; right-click (or swipe down on) apps you don't need and select Unpin to remove them; and drag and drop the other tiles around to organise them as you like.

3. Simplified Start menu

Metro has its own Start menu containing just a few simple options; Settings, Devices, Share and Search. Swipe from the right side of a touch screen, or move the mouse cursor to the bottom left of the screen to view and explore this.

4. Run anything

To run another app, just press the Windows key and start typing its name. The search window will appear (you can also launch this by press Win+F) with any hits, and clicking one will launch it.

Alternatively, hold down the Windows key and press R to open the old Run box, enter notepad.exe (or whatever) and launch it just as before.

5. Task switching

The Metro screen doesn't have a taskbar, so you'll soon lose track of the apps you've run. To see what's running, though, just press Alt+Tab. Pressing Win+Tab will switch from one running app to the next, and on a touch screen, swiping repeatedly from the left also cycles through running apps.

You could also simply launch an app again and, if there's another copy running, that one will be displayed.

If you have a keyboard, repeatedly pressing the Windows key will always toggle you between the Metro screen and the last app.

And if you have a mouse, move its cursor to the far left of the screen (roughly in the centre, vertically) and a thumbnail of the last app you used should appear. Click this to relaunch it.

6. Closing time

Metro apps don't have a "Close" button, and this is intentional: apps are suspended when you switch to something else, and are automatically closed anyway if you need the resources.

If you'd like to keep your system clean, though, you can always close them manually. Press Ctrl+Alt+Esc to launch Task Manager, right-click the surplus application and select End Task.

7. How to shut down

To shut down your system from Metro, call up the Settings dialog (move the mouse cursor to the bottom-left corner of the screen and click Settings, or just hold down the Windows key and press I), click the Power icon, then Shut Down.

Or, in the desktop, you can still press Alt+F4, and choose the Shut Down, Restart, Switch User or Log Off option.

Windows 8 tips: mastering Metro

8. Metro Internet Explorer

Click the Internet Explorer Metro pane and a full-screen version of the browser will appear. This is touch-friendly, and has some pluses for mouse users: right-clicking lets you pin a site to your Metro screen, for instance, or open a new browser tab or switch to an old one.

But if you prefer the old-style IE interface, that's available, too - open the desktop and launch it, or just hold down the Windows key and press 1.

9. See more apps

Metro apps normally run full-screen, but if you're using a touch interface it's possible to view two at once: just swipe from the left, drop the thumbnail onto the screen, and one app will display as a sidebar while the other takes the rest. (You can swap these by swiping again, but it's not possible to have each app take half the screen.)

10. Check the Weather

Many of the bundled Metro apps can be reconfigured, and this usually starts with a right-click.

By default the weather app will show the current conditions in Anaheim, California, for instance, but if you'd prefer to view conditions in your local city then click Weather to launch the app, right-click and select Add City, type the name of your nearest city, and choose it from the list, when it appears.

11. Spell check

Metro apps all have spellcheck where relevant, which looks and works much as it does in Microsoft Office. Make a mistake and a wavy red line will appear below the offending word; tap or right-click this to see suggested alternative words, or add the word to your own dictionary if you prefer.

12. Run as Administrator

Some programs need you to run them with Administrator rights before they'll work properly. The old context menu isn't available for a pinned Metro app, but there's something similar not far away: just right-click one of your pinned apps, click Advanced, and if it's appropriate for this app, you'll see a Run As Administrator option.

13. Hibernate or Sleep

By default Hibernate or Sleep won't appear in the Windows 8 shutdown dialogs, however you may be able to restore them.

Launch the Power Options applet (powercfg.cpl) and click "Choose what the power buttons do" in the left-hand pane.

If you see a "Change settings that are current unavailable" link, then click it, check the Sleep and Hibernate options, click Save Changes, and the new options should now appear in your shutdown dialogs.

Windows 8 tips: productivity

14. Log in automatically

Tired of manually logging in every time Windows 8 launches?

Hold down the Windows key, press R, type netplwiz and press Enter to launch the User Accounts dialog.

Clear the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" box and click OK.

Enter the user name and password of the account that you'd like to be logged in automatically, click OK, reboot, and you shouldn't be prompted for your login details again.

15. Windows key shortcuts in Windows 8

The Windows Metro interface is primarily designed for touch screens, but it does also support most of the old Windows key shortcuts, many of which are now more useful than ever.

Win + C : displays the "Charms": the Settings, Devices, Share and Search options

Win + D : launches the desktop

Win + E : launches Explorer

Win + F : opens Search

Win + I : opens Settings

Win + L : locks your PC

Win + P : switch your display to a second display or projector

Win + R : opens the Run box

Win + U : open the Ease of Access Centre

Win + W : search your system settings (type POWER for links to all power-related options, say)

Win + Z : displays the right-click context menu when in a full-screen Metro app

Win + + : zoom in

Win + - : zoom out

Win + Tab : switch between running apps

16. Launch programs quickly

If you're working with a keyboard and don't want to have to scroll through Metro tiles to find the program you need, don't worry, Windows 8 still supports a useful old shortcut.

Open the desktop, launch Media Player, right-click its taskbar button and select Pin this program to Taskbar.

Close Media Player, and drag and drop its taskbar icon to the extreme left, so it's next to the taskbar button, then press the Windows key again to return to the Metro interface.

Now hold down the Windows key, press 1, and you'll see the desktop appear and Media Player launch. You can similarly press the Windows key and 2 to launch the second icon (IE, by default), or 3 to launch the third (Explorer), while adding as many others as will fit.

17. View all installed programs

Windows 8 no longer displays a Start menu, which means you can't easily see all the non-Metro programs on the system.

Unless, that is, you hold down the Windows key, and press F to see the Search dialog. Click Apps and you'll be left with an alphabetically-sorted list of installed apps and applications - just click one to launch it, or right-click one and select Pin to add it to the Metro screen for easier access later.

18. Shutdown shortcuts

The fastest way to shut down your PC is via a suitable shortcut.

Launch the desktop app, right-click an empty part of the desktop and click New > Shortcut.

Enter

shutdown.exe -s -t 00

to shut down your PC,

shutdown.exe -h -t 00

to hibernate it, and click Next.

Type a shortcut name - Hibernate, say - and click Finish.

Right-click the shortcut and select Pin to Taskbar, or copy the shortcut to the C:\Users\<AccountName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs folder.

Hold down the Windows key and press F to open Search.

Type the name of the shortcut, click Apps beneath the search box, and it should appear on the left.

Finally, right-click the app, select Pin and it should appear on the far right of the Metro screen - just drag it wherever you like.

19. Restore the Start menu

If you've explored Metro but don't like it at all, there's a way to restore a more traditional look.

Launch REGEDIT and browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer.

Double-click RPEnabled, and change it from 1 to 0 to remove Metro, the new Task Manager, Start menu and more.

Alternatively, set RPEnabled to 2 to remove Metro, restore the Start menu but keep most of the other improvements.

20. Launch Metro apps from the desktop

Spending most of your time in the desktop doesn't have to mean abandoning Metro apps altogether.

Create a new folder on your desktop called:

Applications.

Then open it and you'll see icons for every app on your Metro screen, along with other Windows applets. So if you need to open a particular Metro app, open this folder, double-click the icon, and you can launch it without having to switch back to Metro.

Windows 8 tips: new options and features

21. Install Windows 8 from a USB flash drive

If you'd like to install Windows 8 from a USB flash drive, rather than a DVD, then the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool has been reported to work. Just point the program at your Windows 8 ISO file and it'll create a bootable Windows 8 installer on the USB drive for you.

22. SmartScreen

Windows 8 now uses IE's SmartScreen system-wide, checking downloaded files to ensure they're safe. In general this is a good thing, but if you have any problems then it can be tweaked.

Hold down the Windows key, press R, type control.exe and press Enter to launch the old-style Control Panel.

Open the Action Centre applet, and click Change SmartScreen Settings. Here you can keep the warning, but avoid the requirement for administrator approval, or turn SmartScreen off altogether. Make your choice and click OK to finish.

23. 64-bit IE

If you have the 64-bit version of Windows 8 then its copy of Internet Explorer can also run in 64-bit mode - but only when manually enabled.

Click Tools > Internet Options > Security, choose the security zone you wish to tweak, and check Enable 64-bit Mode. Click OK, restart and you're done.

24. Virtual Machines

Install Windows 8 and you also get Microsoft's Hyper-V, allowing you to create and run virtual machines (as long as you're not running in a virtual machine already). Launch OptionalFeatures.exe, check Hyper-V and click OK to enable the feature. Then switch back to Metro, scroll to the right, find and click on the Hyper-V Manager tile to begin exploring its capabilities.

25. Early Launch Anti-Malware

When your Windows 8 system launches it can now selectively decide which boot drivers to initialise, refusing to load dubious or unknown drivers and so protecting you from some infections.

You need to turn this feature on manually, though. Which may not be a good idea just yet, because if a legitimate driver is blocked then your system may crash, lock up or become unstable.

But if you'd like to try this anyway, launch GPEDIT.MSC, browser to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Early Launch Anti-Malware, double-click Boot-Start Driver Initialisation Policy on the right, and choose your preferred option.

26. Windows 8 File History

Windows 8 includes an excellent File History feature, which can back up your selected files whenever you like. To set this up, go to the desktop Control Panel, and open the File History applet. Click Exclude Folders to decide what you're saving, Advanced Settings to choose the backup frequency, Change Drive to choose the backup destination, and Turn On to enable the feature with your settings.

And once it's been running for a while, you can check on the history for any file in Explorer by selecting it, choosing the Home tab and clicking History.

27. USB drives

You don't need a large external drive to use File History - a USB flash drive will do. Just connect it to your Windows 8 system, choose "Configure this drive for backup using File History" from the menu, and by default your libraries, contacts, favourites and desktop contents will immediately be backed up. (Use the settings options mentioned above to tweak how this works.)

Windows 8 tips: tweaks and customisations

28. Control Panel

The process of customising Windows 8 starts when you click the new Metro Control Panel tile.

Click Personalise, for instance, and you can change your lock screen image in a click or two. Click User Tile at the top of the screen, though, and you can also change the picture representing your account, including grabbing an image from your webcam, if you have one.

29. Picture password

Windows 8 allows you to create a picture password, where you choose an image, then draw on it in a combination of taps, lines and circles - only someone who can reproduce this pattern will be able to log on. Click Control Panel > Users > Create a Picture Password to get started.

30. Simplify Search

By default Windows 8 includes every bundled app in its Search results. If you'll never want to use some of these - the Store app, say - then click Control Panel on the Metro screen, select Search, choose which apps you don't want included, and your search list will be more manageable in future.

31. Touch Keyboard

By default the Touch Keyboard will try to help you out by, for instance, playing sounds as you type, capitalising the first letter of each sentence, adding a period if you double-tap the spacebar, and more. If any of this gets in your way, though, you can turn the relevant feature off: just go to Control Panel > General and customise the keyboard to suit your needs.

32. Sync selectively

Windows 8 can synchronise its settings across every system you have it installed, which sounds great - but can also lead to privacy problems. It will synchronise everything, including internet history and some passwords, for instance, maybe a problem if several people use your PCs. If this doesn't suit your needs then you can customise Sync from the Metro Control Panel: simply click Sync PC Settings and select your preferred options.

33. Full power

If these basic options aren't what you need, then you can scroll to the bottom of the new Control Panel and click More Settings to see all the old applets.

Or, if you're using a keyboard, just hold down the Windows key, press R, type Control.exe and press Enter to launch the full Control Panel directly.

Windows 8 tips: Explorer tricks

34. An Explorer secret

Windows Explorer now includes a Ribbon interface. This is context-sensitive, which means it displays different sections according to what you're doing - and so until you click on an executable file in Explorer, for instance, you'll never know that it has an Application section. Click this, though, and you'll find options to pin the file to the taskbar, run it as an Administrator, or another user, or troubleshoot compatibility issues if it won't run at all.

Similarly, there's a "Shortcut Tools" which appears when you select a shortcut, although this only has one option: to open whatever folder the shortcut is pointing at.

35. Hiding the Ribbon

If you find the ribbon takes up too much space then there's an easy way to leave it hidden.

Hold down the Windows key, press R, type gpedit.msc and press Enter.

Expand the Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Explorer section of the tree.

Double-click "Start Windows Explorer with the Ribbon minimised", set the value to Enabled and click OK.

And if you start Explorer, the ribbon won't be displayed by default. Click the Down arrow to the left of the Help icon if you'd like to see it.

36. Quick Access Toolbar

The latest Explorer features a Quick Access Toolbar immediately above the menu, providing easy access to options like "New Folder", "Minimise", "Undo" and more.

This is customisable, too - click the arrow to the right of the default buttons, in the Explorer window caption bar, and choose whatever options you need. And you can include add any other ribbon option on the Quick Access Toolbar by right-clicking it and selecting Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

37. Disk error checking

Windows 8 now offers an extra option when checking a drive for errors. Right-click the problem drive in Explorer, click Properties > Tools > Check Now and you'll have two choices.

The first is the regular "Scan drive" option, which conveniently allows you to work while it runs, but may not catch anything.

The second is a new "Scan and repair" option, though. This locks the drive so you can't use it while the operation is running, and may require a reboot, but is more likely to fix all your problems.

38. Improved file copying

Try copying files in Explorer and you'll see an enhanced dialog which provides more information about what's happening. If there's a problem, you can click the Pause button to stop the operation for a while. And, if there are conflicts, deciding which files to keep and which to drop is easier than ever.

39. Mount ISO files in Windows 8

Need to take a closer look at an ISO file? Right-click it in Explorer, click Mount and you can view it as a virtual drive, launch the files it contains, or add more if you like.

40. Windows 8 Folder Options

The Windows Explorer Folder Options has moved: again. There's no Tools menu any more, but if you click File > Change Folder and Search Options then the old dialog will appear.

Alternatively, you can still load it from the old Control Panel. Hold down the Windows key, press R, type Control.exe and press [Enter] to launch Control Panel, choose "Large icons" in the View By list, and click Folder Options to open the dialog.

41. Open in a New Process

Windows 8's Explorer seemed stable to us, but if you find one instance keeps crashing and taking down others then try opening them by clicking File > Open new window > Open new window in new process. Explorer will then run the new window in a separate Explorer.exe process, so if it fails then other Explorer.exe instances are less likely to be affected.

42. Restart Explorer

If Explorer locks up for some reason, then regaining control is now very easy. No need to close the process any more: simply press Ctrl+Alt+Esc, select Explorer in the list and click Restart.

Windows 8 tips: troubleshooting

43. Virtual installation issues

If you've tried installing Windows 8 in a virtual machine you may have come across some problems. VMware Workstation 7 isn't up to the task, and Microsoft's own Virtual PC and Virtual Server also fail.

The best free option is to use the latest version of VirtualBox, then. VMware Workstation 8 and Parallels 7 on the Mac are also reported to work.

44. Troubleshoot performance problems

If your Windows 8 system seems sluggish and you don't know why, the new Task Manager may be able to help you uncover the cause.

Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch it, or right-click the taskbar and select Start Task Manager,

The Processes tab then gives you a detailed view of what's currently using your CPU time, RAM, hard drive and network bandwidth. The Performance tab gives you a graphical view of resource use, and the App History dialog shows which app is the most resource-hungry.

45. Metro apps won't launch

You click a Metro app, and the time moves but nothing else happens? This may be a display issue. Metro apps don't currently support screen resolutions lower than 1024x768, so increase your resolution if possible (launch the desktop, right-click, select Screen Resolution).

If that's no help, update your video drivers. And user account issues also seem to be a common cause. Try creating a new user account with a different email address to the one you're currently using.

46. Old Task Manager

If the new Task Manager doesn't quite suit your needs, then the old one is still easily accessible. Hold down the Windows key, press R, type TaskMGR and press Enter to launch it. (Typing TM will launch the new version.)

47. 16-bit Applications

Having problems running some ancient 16-bit application? It might be a good time to ask if the program is really essential. But if the answer is "Yes", launch the regular desktop Control Panel, open the 16-bit Application Support applet and click Enable.

48. Windows 8 crashes

When Windows 8 has a blue-screen crash it displays a far less intimidating status message than previous versions of the operating system. It also has much less information about the cause of the problem, though if you look immediately below the "now it needs to restart" message you may see something helpful.

49. Device Manager Events

If you've a driver or hardware-related problem with Windows 8, launch Device Manager, browse to the relevant device, right-click it, select Properties and click the new Events tab. If Windows has installed drivers, related services or carried out other important actions on this device then you'll now see them here, very useful when troubleshooting.

50. Repairing Windows 8

If Windows 8 stops working at some point (quite likely - it's a very early version) then there are new ways to restore normal operations.

If Windows will start, select the Metro Control Panel app, and click "General". Choose the Refresh option to essentially reinstall Windows while keeping your data. Alternatively, choose the Reset option: this restores Windows but removes your data and applications as well.

Windows 8 won't start? Then boot from your original installation disc, instead; choose your language and keyboard; click "Repair your computer", then select "Troubleshoot". Again, you may refresh or reset your PC. Click Advanced Options, though, and you'll find tools to restore Windows from a previous restore point or system image file, as well as an Automatic Repair option which looks for and fixes some common startup issues.

Or, if you don't like Metro, open the new Recovery applet in the old Control Panel: it has all these options and everything else you need to get your system working again.

------ By TECHRADAR.COM

10 Tips For The Recycle Bin

2012-04-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the PC world is such a mirror for the real world. I guess in both, the trash can (that’s the Recycle Bin) is the most neglected component of our daily usage. It’s great because it’s there. We miss it only when it goes missing.

Managing waste may be a bore chore. But in the real world too, it’s where a lot of action is taking place. Think eco-consciousness and you will get the importance of recycling waste. In the world of computers too, managing the Recycle Bin is an essential chore of improving system performance.

Can we guess the importance from this ““ The Recycle Bin is the only icon shown by default on the Windows XP desktop.

We all have had some run-ins with Recycle Bin problems. From wanting to change its icon to hunting for a way to get back its default icon. Or probably the most frequent ““ rummaging within it to find the accidentally deleted file. I know I have had my share. So over the years, my search for solutions and quick fixes has resulted in a nice collection of tricks and tips. Gradually, I have come to realize that like the real world our system’s garbage can needs constant management too. Thankfully there exists lots of free ways to customize the Recycle Bin to our liking.

Caution: Some of the tweaks involve editing the registry. If you do not know your way around the registry please bypass the steps. Always backup your registry before any changes.

So now, let’s do some dumpster diving with these 10 ways to deal with the Recycle Bin.

Change the size of the Recycle Bin

By default the size allocated to the Recycle Bin is 10% of the drive size. If you delete any file that’s larger than that, Windows will prompt you with a message. So you can increase the size.

On the other side, a 20GB drive will have a bin size of 2GB. If you consider this to be a waste of space then you can decrease the size.

Right click on the desktop Recycle Bin icon and choose Properties.
Using the Global tab, you can set a uniform size for all the drives by selecting Use one setting for all drive. Or configure each drive independently by selectingConfigure drives independently.
Move the slider according to the size you want to set. For all drives, use theGlobal tab. For independent sizes, use the tab for the drives. Click on OK and dump as much as you want.

Change the name

If the ‘Recycle Bin’ is too mechanical for you, it’s easy to rename the bin to something likeNuked! Here’s how with a registry edit. (It’s the REGISTRY ““ be careful!)

Click Start ““ Run ““ type in regedit to open the registry editor.
Drill down to the following key –HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\MUICache
On the right hand pane, double click on this value string –@C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHELL32.dll,-8964
Change the Value data to what you want to name the bin. Click OK and exit the registry editor.
Refresh the desktop to see the name change.

Change the Recycle Bin icon

The Recycle Bin icon can be changed easily from the Desktop Properties applet.

Right click on an empty area of the desktop. Select Properties.
In Display Properties, select the Desktop tab.
Click on the Customize Desktop button ““ the Desktop Items box opens on theGeneral tab.
Select the Recycle Bin icon – click on Change Icon. The choice of icons by default is provided by the Shell32.dll file. You can opt for one or browse to your favorite icon for the Recycle Bin. Click on OK to set it.

Hide the Recycle Bin

There are many reasons you may wish to hide the Recycle Bin from the desktop (e.g. if you want to use Docks or a Mac-like theme). The free, non-registry way is to use the Group Policy Editor.

Click Start ““ Run – type GPEDIT.MSC and enter.
Expand User Configuration – Administrative Templates and click on Desktop.
On the right pane, double click on Remove Recycle Bin Icon from Desktop ““ In the Properties window click on Enabled.
Press OK to exit. To show it again, just select Not Configured.

Note: The Group Policy Editor is not available in Windows XP Home edition.

Restore the Recycle Bin icon

It’s easy to hide the recycle bin icon. But what if some system error has deleted the icon forever? Then we have to head into the registry for the repair job.

Click Start ““ Run ““ type in regedit to open the registry editor.
Drill down to the following key –HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace
Create a new key by right-clicking on it ““ New ““ Key
Enter the value {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}. Click Enter.
On the right hand pane, right click on the default value”¦click on Modify. Enter any name for the recycle bin in the Value Data field of the Edit string box.
Click on OK and exit from the registry editor. The recycle bin gets restored.

Skip the Confirm Delete Box and the Recycle Bin

Deleting a file makes a Confirm Folder Delete box pop-up. Though, changing this safety net action is not recommended”¦it is easy to do so.

Right click on the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop. Click on Properties.
Uncheck the Display delete confirmation dialog. Click on Apply and OK.
Also if you don’t want to bypass the Recycle Bin completely, in the same window, select the Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted check box. Alternatively, you can hold Shift when doing a delete.

Empty the Recycle Bin with a right click on the context menu

There are several registry fixes which are available as downloadable .reg files. But to understand the entries they change, I think it’s better to go with the manual option.

Click on Start ““ Run ““ type in regedit. Hit OK.

Drill down toHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Right-click it, and create a new key – Recycle Bin

Select the new key, and right click the default value to modify it on the right pane.

Enter the value {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}.

Click OK and close the Registry Editor to bring an Empty Recycle Bin command into the context menu.

Move the Recycle Bin to the system tray

If you want to recover one icon’s worth of screen real estate and also don’t want to remove the Recycle Bin completely, then a small tool called MiniBin could be the solution. As the developer site says, this little 43KB download can come handy if you want to hide the recycle bin from the desktop. The software does not need an installation. To make it start with Windows, you can include it in your startup folder.

Change how the Recycle Bin sounds

If you like to have your own sound play when the recycle bin is emptied,

Go to Control Panel ““ Sounds and Audio Devices.

Click on the Sounds tab. Under Program events go down to Windows Explorer ““ Empty Recycle Bin.

Select any other sound from the defaults under the Sounds dropdown or browse to the location of your own wav file. Test it with a click of the little black arrow.

Bring Recycle Bin into focus when it’s hidden

This cool trick only works if the recycle bin remains at its default bottom right location on the desktop. You can bring the recycle bin back into focus if it’s obscured by a lot of open windows. Simply drag the files you want to delete into an empty area of the taskbar. All open windows minimize automatically and you can simply drop the files into the bin.

If you notice, deleting a file is probably the most long drawn Windows process. From selecting a file to deleting it, clicking on the confirmation, emptying the recycle bin and again confirming the action. Even then the file can be recovered using recovery tools as Windows does not immediately write over it. So in short, Windows gives us a lot of time to go over our decision to delete a file.

The Recycle bin has been called a safety net. That’s why it deserves our attention and all the tips and tricks we can muster. Do you know of any other?

Add A Fixed Floating Image To Your Blog

2012-04-22T10:16:00.004-07:00

A floating image is an image that will always appear in the corner of your blog even when you scroll up and down the page.In this post i will show you how you can add a fixed floating image to your blog.The image will also be a hyperlink so people can click it and go you any page you want.You may wish to have an Rss Icon for your feed or a link back to your blogs home page.

Add Fixed Image To Your Blog

1.In your Blogger dashboard Click Design > Edit Html > Tick The Expand Widget Templates Box.

2.Find the following piece of code in the html:

]]></b:skin>

3. Copy And Paste the following code directly Below / Under ]]></b:skin>

#float_corner {
position:fixed;_position:absolute;bottom:0px;left:0px;clip:
inherit;_top:expression(document.documentElement.scrollTop+document.documentElement.clientHeight-this.clientHeight);_left:expression(document.documentElement.scrollLeft + document.documentElement.clientWidth - offsetWidth);}

Note - You can change the following attributes bottom :left to place the image in different corners :

top left

top right

bottom left

bottom right

4.Find the following code in your blogs html :

</body>

5. Copy And Paste the following code directly Above </body>

</div>

Note - You Must change the following attributes :

ENTER TARGET URL HERE - Place the address you wist the image to lead to when clicked here.

Example: http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/

ENTER IMAGE URL HERE - Place the URL of the image you want to use here.

Example : http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/spiceupyourblog/info.jpg

Add A Second Floating Image To Your Blog

If you want to have a second image you will first of course have it in a different corner but you must also slightly change the code.In steps 3 and 5 change float_corner to float_corner1 for a third image you would use float_corner3 and so on.

How To Show Widgets Only In Homepage Or In Any Particular Page

2012-04-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

Once you add any widget, in your blog, it will be displayed in all the pages by default, including your homepage.
But sometimes, we do want to show some widgets only on Homepage or only for the individual posts pages, or only in a specific page, the coding is quite simple, but you need to customize the widget through the "Edit HTML" link in your "Layout" section.

Follow these steps:
Create any widget, and place it where-ever you want, and save the template. Check if it is working (should be displayed in all the pages). Remember to give a TITLE to it, like Archives/BlogRoll/Maps/Clock, anything unique.

Now go to "Edit HTML" page.
Click/mark "Expand Widget Templates"
Then find for that unique Title (by searching through CTRL+F method)
It will be something like this:

<b:widget id='HTML3' locked='false' title='UNIQUE WORD OR TITLE HERE' type='HTML'>
<b:includable id='main'>

<b:if cond='data:title != ""'>
<h2 class='title'><data:title/></h2>
</b:if>
<div class='widget-content'>
<data:content/>
</div>

<b:include name='quickedit'/>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>

Now tweak this as follows

Tip #1
To SHOW the code/widget only in HomePage

<b:widget id='HTML3' locked='false' title='UNIQUE WORD OR TITLE HERE' type='HTML'>
<b:includable id='main'>

<b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:blog.homepageUrl'>

<b:if cond='data:title != ""'>
<h2 class='title'><data:title/></h2>
</b:if>
<div class='widget-content'>
<data:content/>
</div>

<b:include name='quickedit'/>

</b:if>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>

Tip #2
To SHOW the widget in "All Posts", but NOT in HomePage

<b:widget id='HTML3' locked='false' title='UNIQUE WORD OR TITLE HERE' type='HTML'>
<b:includable id='main'>

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>

<b:if cond='data:title != ""'>
<h2 class='title'><data:title/></h2>
</b:if>
<div class='widget-content'>
<data:content/>
</div>

<b:include name='quickedit'/>

</b:if>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>

Tip #3
To SHOW the widget in any particular page

<b:widget id='HTML3' locked='false' title='UNIQUE WORD OR TITLE HERE' type='HTML'>
<b:includable id='main'>

<b:if cond='data:blog.url == "SPECIFIC_BLOG_POST_URL"'>

<b:if cond='data:title != ""'>
<h2 class='title'><data:title/></h2>
</b:if>
<div class='widget-content'>
<data:content/>
</div>

<b:include name='quickedit'/>

</b:if>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>

Add those code lines in red color, as per your requirement.

Tip #4
To HIDE a widget ONLY in a particular page/post, and to display it in all other pages of your blog, use this code (shown below is only the code in RED from the previous code):

...
...

<b:if cond='data:blog.url != "SPECIFIC_BLOG_POST_URL"'>
...
...
...

</b:if>
...
...

Tip #5
To SHOW widgets only in Archive Pages

...
...

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "archive"'>
...
...
...

</b:if>
...
...

Tip #6
To SHOW widgets only in Static Pages

...
...

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "static_page"'>
...
...
...

</b:if>
...
...

Tip #7
To HIDE widgets in Static Pages

...
...

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "static_page"'>
...
...
...

</b:if>
...
...

How To Post Status Updates In Blue Colour On Facebook

2012-04-22T10:15:00.001-07:00

Today we are again back with another amazing trick for posting Blue text messages on Facebook wall or commenting with your message in Blue Color. Well so when ever person will click on the status he will be taken to his own profile. So just check out the steps below and have fun.

Steps for Posting Blue Status on Facebook :

1. Go to Facebook.com and Login with your Credentials.

2. Now go to update status link and paste below code, and change the text saying YOUR TEXT HERE with your own text you want in blue color like.

@[1: ]@@[1:[0:1: Your Text Here ]]

3. Now after you have done writing your text click on Post and Voila ! you will have your status in Blue Color which is dam ! awesome.

4. So isn’t this amazing trick to make text Blue in color so enjoy impressing your friends on Facebook and do share this trick if they ask you how its done.

Awesome New Smiley And Emotional Codes List for Facebook

2012-04-22T10:13:00.005-07:00

Smileys are the best way to express your mood, or what you are feeling right now without typing anything but by just showing a nice emoticon that expresses everything, well we have already posted many stuff on Facebook like and these new codes join that awesome list so check image on the right demonstrating some emoticons I just messaged to my dear friend.

So I just grabbed all the codes and messaged to check if every emoticon was working or not and well yes every emoticon is working and is also rich in color and contrast so you will simply love using them.

How to use these on Facebook :
So now if you like emoticons demonstrated in the image above than you should check all the codes below for using them. Now just copy any code you like and paste them in your chat than click on Enter and your emoticon will be displayed.

[[f9.laugh]]
[[f9.sad]]
[[f9.angry]]
[[f9.sleepy]]
[[f9.shock]]
[[f9.kiss]]
[[f9.inlove]]
[[f9.pizza]]
[[f9.coffee]]
[[f9.rain]]
[[f9.bomb]]
[[f9.sun]]
[[f9.heart]]
[[f9.heartbreak]]
[[f9.doctor]]
[[f9.ghost]]
[[f9.brb]]
[[f9.wine]]
[[f9.gift]]
[[f9.adore]]
[[f9.angel]]
[[f9.baloons]]
[[f9.bowl]]
[[f9.cake]]
[[f9.callme]]
[[f9.clap]]
[[f9.confused]]
[[f9.curllip]]
[[f9.devilface]]
[[f9.lying]]
[[f9.rofl]]
[[f9.billiard]]
[[f9.cakepiece]]
[[f9.rosedown]]
[[f9.shutmouth]]
[[f9.shy]]
[[f9.silly]]
[[f9.tongue1]]
[[f9.fastfood]]
[[f9.ring]]
[[f9.plate]]
[[f9.candle]]
[[f9.party]]

[[389448181885]] – Week

[[126229700722316]] – Pikachu

[[126230880722198]] – Green Worm Ani

[[126216480723638]] – butterfly blue

[[394930959230]] – Smileys Zzzz

i ♥ u

So now just try using them on Facebook and enjoy with your friends and family members hope these emoticons entertain all your buddies do share this post with all of them so that they can also enjoy :)

Remove Write Protection on USB Drive & Memory Cards

2012-04-22T10:13:00.001-07:00

Many times using your portable devices you get errors like the disk is write protected like in the image on the right hand side. So this can happen anytime due to virus attacks or anything can be the cause. So recently I got main from one of my reader namedsoundararajan so he was asking that his 2GB card has become write protected so what he can do, well there are two ways you can try to remove its write protection so check them below.

Firstly I will recommend checking for any physical lock on that card or USB, because many times company’s provide a lock write attached to the card for making it write protected, so check that up make sure its off and than also if you are not able to copy stuff to your card than follow below methods.

Removing Write Protection Using Registry Editor :

Well this is most preferred way of removing write protection as it does not include any formatting of disk or memory card. So you just have to manipulate a .reg key and that’s it.

1. Open Registry Editor by navigating to Star Menu > Run ( on windows 7 search for Run in start Menu ) now type “regedit” and you will see your Registry Editor opened.

2. Now Navigate to the following path :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Now if you are not able to see the StorageDevicePolicies than no problem just download this.Reg File and double click on it, now restart your computer and you will have Storage DevicePolicies.

3. Now double click on the WriteProtect and make its value 0 and than click OK.

4. Now just close registry editor and restart your computer for changes to take effect, now plug your memory card or USB in and enjoy non write protected memory card.

Removing Write Protection Using Apacer Formatting Utility :

Now if you are not able to remove write protection from your Memory Cards or USB Drives using the above method than you can go for Apacer Formatting method which simply works quit good.

Now this method needs your card or USB Drive to be formatted so make sure that you have copied all the data from your USB Drive to your computer, now follow steps from below and have fun.

1. Download Apacer Formatting Utility to your computer, make sure its not kept inside the USB Drive just keep it anywhere outside where you can remember.

2. Now extract it and than plug your pen drive or memory card in to your computer and than double click on the Start.bat file present inside the folder you just downloaded. Now this step will start formatting your drive or card so let it do its work till you figure out that formatting is done.

5 Things Yahoo! Search Can Do But Not Google

2012-04-22T10:12:00.003-07:00

Google is the world’s favorite web search engine but there are a couple of cool things that you can do only in Yahoo!. Take a look:

1. Compose emails from the Yahoo! search box.

Type !mail abc@xyz.com in the Yahoo! search box and it will automatically compose a new email message for you in Yahoo! mail.

2. Get Lyrics of any song or your favorite artist.

Type madonna lyrics (for lyrics of Madonna songs) ormadonna material girl lyrics (for lyrics of a particular song)

3. Specifiy the order of search keywords in queries

Say you want only web pages where word x comes before y but not vice versa, then just put the search query in Square Brackets. An example:

[Sylvester Stallone] – will only return web pages where the word Sylvester appear before Stallone.

4. Search your favorite websites from Yahoo! itself.

For instance, type !wiki google in Yahoo! search box to search Google in Wikipedia.com. Other popular shortcuts are !ebay, !amazon, and !flickr. You can also execute these from the Firefox search box without changing the default search engine.

5. linkdomain – An undocumented Yahoo Web search operator.

A quick question – Can you find the number of articles on Wikipedia website that link to CNN.com ? It’s almost impossible to get this data from Google but you can do so quite easily in Yahoo! with the incredibly useful linkdomain operator. The answer is:

linkdomain:cnn.com site:wikipedia.org

Or take another example – How many stories on TechCrunch actually link to the PayPerPost, Arrington’s favorite topic. The answer here is:

site:techcrunch.com linkdomain:payperpost.com

Credts: Amit Agarwal (Labnol.org)

Make Windows XP Boot-Up Faster With A Quick Registry Tweak

2012-04-22T10:11:00.001-07:00

Let’s get straight to the point. This Windows XP registry tweak will make your system boot much faster. How much?

I can not say exactly how much faster, since it all depends on your computer specifications (processor, RAM, hard-drive and stuff like that…), but from my experience, this tweak decreased the time to boot-up for about 9-10 seconds.

Now you see how great this registry tweak is and it will get even better when you see how simple it is to apply. I will do my best to show you step-by-step and make it plain simple and of course with screenshots included.

How to make Windows XP start faster:

1. Click on “Start” on the taskbar.

2. Click “Run” located in the start menu.

3. Then in the “Run” panel, type: “regedit” without the quotation marks. (that will open up the Windows registry editor)

4. Then click on “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” and expand it.

5. Then click on “SYSTEM” and expand it.

6. Then scroll down, and expand “CurrentControlSet”.

7. Under that, expand “Control”.

8. Then, under that one, locate and click on “ContentIndex”. (so when you click on it, it needs to be highlighted and it’s options need to show up in the right panel of Windows XP Registry Editor)

So to sum up, here’s where you need to navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ ContentIndex

Let’s continue… You have just 6 more steps until the finish line!

9. When you have clicked on “ContentIndex” and it is highlighted and you see the options and parameters on the right side of the panel… Among those, you need to scroll all the way to the bottom and find the Registry key named “StartupDelay”.

10. Double-click on it and a new window panel will pop-up.

12. The new window has a field to enter value (and a default value entered already). But before you change the value, you need to change the base from Hexadecimal to Decimal.

Take a look at the screenshot below to see what I am talking about:

Now when you change it to Decimal, it displays a different value (480000 instead of 75300).

13. So now, all you need to do is change the value from “480000” to “40000” (forty thousand)

Many people ask me if they can change it to an even smaller value than 40000, but I would not recommend doing that. I tested it and it doesn’t work. I did not feel any difference in boot-up time when I change it to value less than 40000 (and no, you can’t put 0 either).

14. After you’ve completed all the steps above, click “OK” and close the Registry Editor.
And one just one little thing you need to do to finish all this registry tweaking…

15. Restart your computer.

Now you can notice big difference in time that your system takes to boot-up. Mine was faster for 10 seconds than usual. How much faster does your Windows XP boot now? Share in the comments below!

Boost Firefox Download Speed Using FireDownload

2012-04-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

If you are a regular downloader and love to download all kinds of stuff from Internet and you do not use any kind of download managers than FireDownload can be your best alternate which when combined with Firefox will provide you 10 times acceleration on your downloads so that means you will get state of the art download speed without even spending a penny because this add-on is available for free.

FireDownload is the extension which will provide you furious speeds on the go without any problems. So you just needed to install this add-on on your Firefox browser and than just download anything and your downloads will be boosted using this add-on.

Installing FireDownload Add-on on Firefox :
If you want to install this add-on you can grab it from http://www.fireaddons.com/downloads/ just click on Install for Windows on your Firefox browser and than this add-on will be installed. Now just restart your browser once and than try downloading any file from the internet and see the difference.

File Ice-A Geninue website To earn

2012-03-30T04:19:00.003-07:00

Fileice is a relatively new Pay Per Download site where you earn more than Sharecash.
There is an average of about $1 PER DOWNLOAD, yes that is VERY true.
They pay in Paypal, and not LR or AP, but their download rates are ridiculous! Fileice’s download system is pretty much unbypassable, so don’t worry about survey bots or any of that.
I joined Fileice few weeks ago. And i am quite amazed by the response i got. Trust me, Its 200% better than any of the download services you use.
Plus, its surverys are easy to complete and it provides a much better payout rates. .

Antivirus 2012 With Keys

2012-03-30T04:18:00.000-07:00

The bottom line: An aggressive redesign aimed at making its best-known suite more accessible than before, Avira Free Antivirus 12 combines fast scans with above-average protection for a solid security combo.

Review:
Free antivirus maker Avira debuts a laundry list of changes in its latest major update, basically repositioning the suite to remain competitive in the face of tougher competition from other free security suites and a renewed emphasis on performance from paid competitors. From the new breezy installation to the modernized interface and reputable security, the suite has a lot going for it.

However, it notably lacks some features that many people consider basics even at the free level, so this version may only wind up appealing to existing Avira users and fans.

Longtime Avira fans will note that the suites also have undergone a bit of a name change. The product title "AntiVir" has been dropped, as Avira AntiVir Personal becomes Avira Free Antivirus, Avira AntiVir Premium becomes Avira Antivirus Premium, and Avira Premium Security Suite becomes Avira Internet Security. While product-specific names may work for some companies because of legacy associations, such as the Norton product from Symantec, new user confusion has likely forced security suite makers to streamline their operations.

The suites have also skippped version 11, perhaps driven by a Spinal Tap-esque fear of exploding amps, and gone straight to version 12. It's also possible that the company was thinking of aligning the version number with the release year, as most security suites released in the fall have version numbers that reflect the coming year.

Installation
Getting into Avira has never been easier, as version 12 debuts a two-click install. The company says that it developed the two-click installation as part of its "less is more" strategy, where it offers the same level of protection as before without the hassle. Of course, that's a tacit acknowledgement of prior problems.

Avira 12 renews commitment to security

Anyway, the new install is the simplest of the major free security suites. The two-click process will auto-detect competing security components and remove them, so be warned if you think you're going to be more secure by running two overlapping AVs. Avira won't let you.

Another click will take you past the Ask.com toolbar and search engine re-direct, but at least Avira is polite: it's an opt-in, not opt-out, experience. The toolbar screen itself is a bit unclear: it's actually Avira's WebGuard feature, powered by an Ask.com search engine that's part of the toolbar. There's also an option to have Ask.com become your browser's default engine, although that's not checked by default.

At the end of the installation process, Avira will begin a quick scan. On our test machine, it took about 1 minute, 25 seconds to complete, a completely reasonable wait to endure before the suite is ready to go.

Interface
The new interface is simple and mimics that of many competitors. A left nav shows you your tools, while the center pane focuses on a deeper dive into your security. New on-off buttons make it easy to toggle features, although it's noteworthy that the free version is quite restricted when compared with the free competition.

The new main interface for Avira Free Antivirus 12.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

A red banner with the program name serves as a wrapper to anchor the suite, with a Windows XP-style menu bar above it. It doesn't look bad in Windows 7, although it is definitely archaic. The only feature that you can't reach from any other part of the interface except the menu bar is the Help menu.

The main interface is the Status window, with a green check box letting you know when you're safe. It turns to yellow when there are security tasks to perform or when you've turned off a feature, like real-time protection. It turns red when there's something mission-critical that requires your attention.

Below that, you've got two categories: PC protection, and Internet protection. What this really means is that the former protects you from threats locally, while the latter guards you against new threats from attacking you. Under PC protection, you can toggle your real-time protection, manually run a scan, start an update, or upgrade to a paid version of Avira. Use the gear icon next to each option to open the configuration window, which has its own slider in its upper-left corner to quickly change between the standard view and expert mode.

One hint about the system scanner option from the left nav: this is where you would go to initiate specific types of scans, or scans on specific parts of your computer, such as a rootkit scan in C:/Windows. For a generic scan, use the Scan System option from the Status window.

Under Internet protection, you only get one option in Avira Free: Web protection. If you chose to not install the toolbar, then this entire section will appear grayed out.

It doesn't sound like much, but that's the point. This is the easiest-to-use version of Avira yet.

Features and support
This is one area where the changes Avira has made are not so apparent. Longtime users of Avira Free are not likely to recognize much new. The scanner checks for virus, Trojans, rootkits, and adware. There's a generic threat removal engine, but Avira--like many security suites--is much better at preventing threats from infecting you, rather than removing ones you've already got.

The advanced options menu doesn't contain much that's new, either, but the layout is new, and it's quite easy for a savvy person to drill deep into security settings and either extract the information they want or set a very customized level of security. This includes scanning as Administrator from the main interface, a window showing realtime scan performance, configuring how to scan of archives, and a restart reminder in case you enjoy that kind of automated nagging.

The engine powering the scans has been improved, too. Your Hosts file is protected by default, and resource usage has been slashed. And after the daily virus definition file update, Avira still takes over your screen with a pop-up asking you to upgrade.

The company told me that it kept it because its users like it. According to its market research feedback, the pop-up apparently reminds people that they've been protected. Be that as it may, I find it an unnecessary distraction that blocks me once a day from doing something more important than clicking away an ad.

If a problem is discovered, a one-click Fix problems button appears at the top of the Status window. Click it, and even if the fix is something as simple as reactivating a deactivated module, the program will do it for you.

The WebGuard feature, available only if you install the Avira toolbar, takes a more aggressive approach to detecting sites that could be hosting malware before they load on your computer. This is not unlike Avira's competitors. However, for the performance cost to the browser for a toolbar, search result ratings would be a nice compensation. Too bad they're not offered.

Avira 12's WebGuard toolbar.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Features-wise, the free version provides the kind of security that most people will be comfortable with. For people who want more, Avira Antivirus Premium 12 ($29.99 for a one-year license) comes with a suspicious behavior guard for when programs or files that might be trusted act in an unsecure manner; the silent/gaming mode for fullscreen use; and live telephone support. Avira Internet Security 12 ($49.99 for a one-year license) rolls in parental controls; an e-mail spam guard; antiphishing measures; and a firewall that I found to be obnoxiously chatty and intrusive.

While the firewall and parental controls are always relegated to premium status, it seems quite niggardly of Avira to reserve the silent/gaming mode for premium users, when competitors don't and all the while insisting upon a pop-up that can interrupt any activity you're using your computer for.

Performance
Avira's performance in the past has been hit or miss, with strong detection rates but high false positives. Avira's been doing a lot of work in that area, though, and this is one of the best-performing versions of Avira that we've seen.

Avira Free Antivirus 12 shares the same detection engine as its premium upgrade siblings, Avira Antivirus Premium 12 and Avira Internet Security 12, so all three are discussed here.

In a real-world test, Avira completed its initial scan during installation in 1 minute, 25 seconds. However, the new Avira still does not whitelist known safe files on your system, so repeated scans will check out the same file, even if it's got a hash that indicates that it's been unchanged since the last scan. The Full scan averaged 1 hour, 36 minutes over three installs, which is an appropriate benchmark for such a resource-intensive scan.

CNET Labs' benchmarks found that Avira benchmarked well in most system tests, but with room for improvement in the critical test of boot-time impact. Note that while last year's benchmarks were tested on the basic installation of Windows 7 x64, CNET Labs is now using a Windows 7 x64 test bed running Service Pack 1. So while results are more comparable than they would be with, say, a Windows XP computer, there's still a notable difference between the test computers.

Avira Internet Security 12 performed had one of the smallest impacts on computer start up, slowing it down only by 13.1 seconds when the average was 25.3 seconds. However, Avira Free Antivirus and Avira Antivirus Premium slothed along and added nearly 60 seconds each, the two worst suites tested so far this year.

Once we get past that poor first showing, Avira tested better than average on nearly every system test we looked at. As the chart below shows, shutdown time, scan speed, and the in-use system tests of MS Office performance, iTunes decoding, and were almost always better than average, often by a lot. Avira was weak on the Cinebench test.

Security program	Boot time	Shutdown time	Scan time	MS Office performance	iTunes decoding	Media multitasking	Cinebench
Unprotected system	40	6	n/a	395	120	342	17,711
Average of all tested systems (to date)	65.3	15.4	1,114	415	125	347	17,106
Avira Free Antivirus 12	98.8	12.4	860	409	125	345	17,000
Avira Antivirus Premium 12	100.3	12	1,026	407	125	342	17,125
Avira Internet Security 12	53.1	13.7	959	407	124	346	17,030

Note: All tests measured in seconds, except for Cinebench. On the Cinebench test, higher numbers are better.

Independent testing agency AV-Test.org has marked acceptable scores for Avira Premium Security Suite 10 (Avira Internet Security as of version 12) during the first two quarters of 2011. On a Windows 7 computer during Q1, Bitdefender scored 4 out of 6 on Protection, 3.5 out of 6 on Repair, and 4 out of 6 on Usability, for an overall score of 11.5 out of 18, just clearing the minimum of 11 for an AV-Test.org certificate.

In the second quarter, on a Windows XP computer, the same suite did slightly better. The suite hit 3.5 out of 6 on Protection, 4.5 out of 6 on Repair, and 4 out of 6 on Usability, for a total of 12 out of 18. However, at that point Avira hadn't updated the detection engines in a while.

When AV-Test.org tested Avira Premium Suite Security 10.2 in July and August of 2011, Avira climbed a bit higher, with a 4 out of 6 on Protection and Repair, and 4.5 out of 6 on Usability, for a total of 12.5 out of 18.

Note that AV-Test.org defines its categories as follows: "The 'Protection' covers static and dynamic malware detection, including real-world zero-day attack testing. In case of 'Repair,' we check the system disinfection and rootkit removal in detail. The 'Usability' testing includes the system slowdown caused by the tools and the number of false positives."

Third-quarter results aren't in yet, but results shared by AV-Test.org with CNET indicate that along with the new name, the suite has made some significant improvements in the level of protection offered. It notched a 99.73 percent malware detection rate, higher than the overall average rate of 99.29 percent in September 2011 certification testing. The suite was able to remove 87.5 percent of active malware infections, slightly higher than the industry average of 84.6 percent. AV-Test.org did not test or did not release numbers for rootkits. In AV-Test.org's zero-day attacks test, Avira Free blocked 92.7 percent of threats, while the two premium suites blocked 96.4 percent of the attacks, compared to the average September 2011 certification results of 92.7 percent. The suite also did not find any false positives against more than 330,000 samples.

In short, AV-Test.org found Avira 12 to be more effective than Avira 10, although there were suites both paid and free that did better.

The most recent AV-Comparatives.org Whole Product test, which looks at on-demand scanning, retroactive tests, and "real-world" guards including cloud-based protections, puts Avira Premium Security Suite 10 in the top four suites tested. The August 2011 test found that it blocked 98.4 percent of attacks and threats thrown at it, only behind Trend Micro's Titanium and Symantec's Norton. Meanwhile, looking at Whole Product test results cumulatively from January 2011 to August 2011 found that Avira 10 did far worse, coming in ninth with a 97.0 percent success rate. So, while Avira started the year off rough, it has clearly made strides to improve and that bodes well if you're considering using version 12.

A third testing lab, Dennis Technology Labs, had much worse news for Avira from its January 2011 test. In its test of high-end suites, including Avira Premium Security Suite 10, Dennis Labs placed Avira second to last out of 11 suites. Avira had an Accuracy score of 28 out of 100, but this did not include false positives. The Total Accuracy score, which does include files that are marked as threats but in fact are not, also put Avira at second to last with a score of 64.5 out of 150. Avira struggled with the lab's Protection test, earning only a 66 percent, second to last and well below the average of 84 percent. The bottom line here is that Dennis Labs and Avira 10 did not mix well, at all.

It's fair to conclude that according to third-party tests, Avira 10 tested weakly at the beginning of 2011, but has made strides to improve and should not be discounted. Still, movement in the right direction is not the same as consistent performance, but things are looking up for Avira at least when it comes to protecting its customers.

Conclusions
Avira Free Antivirus 12 is a solid effort by one of the most popular, and therefore most trusted, security suite makers to address an ever-changing and increasingly more dangerous threatscape. It offers solid and effective free protection, with a newly accessible interface, but it lacks some of the competitive features that other free suites give their users. Also, depending on your system, you might have to prepare for much longer computer startup time, and there's that daily pop-up nag to contend with. We're glad to see that Avira has no intention of straying behind the pack anymore, however, we expected more from this long-overdue update.

Review By Cnet.com

Download Link

Funny Trick

2012-03-30T04:13:00.000-07:00

Make Matrix Effect Of Falling Text By Notepad

Type In Notepad And Save It As .bat file

@echo off
:loop
COlor 0A
Title TRICK BY WIN7TRICKSANDTIPS

echo 0 A 0 1 1 1 A 0 1 0 1 0 7 7 8 9 9 1 0 1 0 1 A 1 0 a d d f f 1 0 8
echo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 A 0 A 1 0 A 1 1 1 1 0 A 1 0 A 5 5 6 7 a n k k k
echo 0 1 0 1 0 A B J 0 3 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 B A A O i d d 3 3 4 4 6 7 7 g u
echo 0 2 3 1 1 1 5 5 6 5 6 8 9 5 4 5 4 5 5 4 5 5 6 4 f f f g j d g d f g d
echo 2 4 5 6 5 5 6 5 9 4 5 7 7 7 7 8 9 9 0 66 6 1 5 5 6 4 5 5 8 6 4 4 6 4
goto :loop

Save it As .bat file

Your Drive Using Notepad

2012-03-30T04:12:00.002-07:00

Ever wondered of a way to format your hard disk using just notepad ?
I bet you haven’t even thought about it or if you have had then you would still have preferred using reliable software’s available to do the job.

In this post i am going to share a simple way to format your C drive (Yep, only C drive) using just notepad. This is just a nice little nifty trick, which i am sharing with you. Make sure you don’t actually use it on your business computer. Try to make this trick work in a VMWare Machine in your free time.

Moving on, in order to completely format your C: Drive (Primary disk) follow the steps given below :-

Open notepad.
Type the following the code in it (Or just copy paste it).

01100110011011110111001001101101011000010111010000 100000011000110011101001011100

0010000000101111010100010010111101011000

Save it as an .exe file giving any name you desire.

Thats It ! Now just double click on the file (to open it) and your C: drive will be formatted !

This is just a little binary fun. Be Careful while using it.

Note : No, you can’t run it from C: drive itself (not from the drive in which OS is installed & running)

Search Tricks

2012-03-30T04:11:00.003-07:00

1) Make OO Disappear In Google Logo (Google)
See The SCREENSHOT And VIDEO

1) Go To Google.com and Search For darkartsmedia.com/Google.html and press the first result

2) After that hold your left mouse button for 2 seconds and release

3) The OO in Google Logo Disappears

4) To Reappear Again Click Left Mouse Button

2) PIRATE

Go To Google.com And Type "LOL LIMEWIRE" and Press Iam Feeling Lucky

3) Fake Google

Go To Google.com And Type "fakegoogle" and press iam feeling lucky
and search anything

4) mov0001.swf

Go To Google.com And Type "mov0001.swf" and press Iam Feeling Lucky

Note: If Google is Going on suggesting sites the Click Settings And Change Your Setting, See The Screenshots Below

First Click Settings

Set Off And Save Settings

Ways To Get Rid Of Un-deletable Files

2012-03-30T04:10:00.001-07:00

There are times when certain files in your computerbecome undeletable because of some virus or any other reason. This means that the file cannot be deleted by simply clicking the delete button. Files usually become undeletable because of an active process that has an open handle to the file which prevents it from being deleted. Under most circumstances if you close down all running programs you’ll find that most files will then be free to delete, but that’s not always the case, and in some cases it may even be a trojan or other form of malware that’s preventing itself from being deleted. Now some undeletable files may not harm your computer but usually these type of undeletable files cause problem in proper functioning of an operating system. In this post am going to give some computer help and will share with you different ways of getting rid of such stubborn files :

Method 1

Open command Prompt window and leave it open.
Close all running (active) programs.
Click Start > Run.
Key in “TASKMGR.EXE” (without quotes) in the Run window.
Go to the Processes tab.
End process Explorer.exe.
Leave the Task Manager open.
Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory in which the undeletable file is located in.
In the command prompt type “DEL <filename>” (without quotes) where ‘filename’ is the file you wish to delete.
Now go back to Task Manager.
Click on File > New Task.
Enter “EXPLORER.EXE” (without quotes) to restart the GUI shell.
Close Task Manager.

And thats it ! You have deleted the file safely. Visit the directory in which the undeletable file was located to verify that the file has been deleted.

Method 2

Open Notepad.
Click on File > Save As.
Locate the folder where the undeletable file is located.
Choose “All files” from the file type box.
Click once on the file which you wish to delete so its name appears in the “filename” box.
Put a ” at the start and end of the filename (it will overwrite it).
Click on save.
It will ask you to overwrite the existing file, then choose yes.

Now after doing so just locate the file and delete it as you delete any other file. The file will most probably be deleted.

Method 3

Click on Start > Run.
Type “command” in Run dialog box.
Go to the directory in which the undeletable file is located. [type: cd c:xyz (xyz stand for your folder)]
Once you are in the folder in which the non-deletable file is. Type in “dir” (without quotes) a list will come up with every file inside.
Now delete the file by entering the file name.

If you cannot access the folder because it has spaces. For example, Program Files, in this case you will have to type only the first 6 letters then put a ~ and then 1 without spaces. Example: cd c:progra~1

An example of how to delete the file using command prompt: If your file name was temp jerry.bmp you would type once in the specific folder thorugh command, del tempje~1.bmp and your file should be gone (Make sure to type in the correct extension).

NOTE: This method may not work for all types of files especially virus files. I therefore suggest you to first use Method 1 and Method 2 first

Source: Other Internet Website

To Make Kaspersky To Browse For Key File

2012-03-30T04:10:00.000-07:00

Kaspersky Antivirus doesnt allow to browse for key file, then how should we make it to do

Follow The Simple Steps

1) Disable or Unplug Your Internet Connection

2) Click Manage License And Enter The Activation Code 1111-1111-1111-1111x and Press OK

3) Now You Can Browse The Key

Video Tutorial

A Game With Notepad

2012-03-30T04:08:00.002-07:00

Make A Simple Game/Quiz With Notepad

Just Type The Below Code In Notepad And Save It Is "something.bat" File

@echo off
color b0
:menu
cls 
echo Hey! Welcome to the game!
echo 1) start!
echo 2) how to play
echo 3) Exit :,(
set /p number=

if %number% == 1 goto StartGame
if %number% == 2 goto help
if %number% == 3 goto exit

:startgame
cls
echo Type Your Name:
set /p name=
echo Hello %name%!
echo Do you want to start the quiz? (y/n)
set /p start=
if %start% == y goto level1
if %start% == n goto menu
goto startgame

:help
cls
echo Press the number of the answer then hit enter.
echo go back? (y/n)
set /p menugoto=
if %menugoto% == y goto menu
if %menugoto% == n goto exit
goto help

:exit
goto exit

:level1
cls 
echo Okay, Let's Start.
echo What is 100 + 100?
echo 1) 1
echo 2) 200
echo 3) 500

set /p answer1=
if %answer1% == 1 goto wrong1
if %answer1% == 2 goto correct1
if %answer1% == 3 goto wrong1
goto level1

:correct1
echo You are right! Next Level? (y/n)
set /p NL1=

if %NL1% == y goto level2
if %NL1% == n goto menu
goto correct1

:Wrong1
Echo Sadly, you were wrong. Retry? (y/n)
set /p WA1=
if %WA1% == y goto level1
if %WA1% == n goto menu
goto wrong1

:level2

cls
echo Who is on the 100 Rupee Note?
echo 1) Mahtma Gandhi
echo 2) Tommy King
echo 3) Thomas Train
echo 4) Jeff Dunham
set /p aa=
if %aa% == 1 goto correct2
if %aa% == 1 goto wrong2
if %aa% == 1 goto wrong2
if %aa% == 1 goto wrong2
goto level2

:correct2 
echo You are right! Next Level? (y/n)
set /p NL1=

if %NL1% == y goto level3
if %NL1% == n goto menu
goto correct1

:wrong2
cls
echo YOU LOST! RETRY GAME? (y/n)
set/p retry=
if %retry% == y goto level1
if %retry% == n goto menu
goto wrong2

:level3

cls
echo Do You Like Win7tricksandtips.blogspot.com?
echo 1) Yes
echo 2) No
echo 3) Somewhat
echo 4) Waste Of Time Browsing That Website
set /p aa=
if %aa% == 1 goto correct3
if %aa% == 1 goto wrong3
if %aa% == 1 goto wrong3
if %aa% == 1 goto wrong3
goto level3

:correct3 
cls
echo YOU WIN THE GAME!
goto correct3

:wrong2
cls
echo YOU LOST! RETRY GAME? (y/n)
set/p retry=
if %retry% == y goto level1
if %retry% == n goto exit
goto wrong3

Stars Wars Movie In Command Prompt

2012-03-30T04:07:00.007-07:00

Every one of us has watched Star Wars on television, computer or in a theater. It is the same movie with aliens fighting each other for galaxies and such stuff. There is nothing new in it. But wait, have you watched an ASCII( American Standard Code for Information Interchange) version of Star Wars and that too in Windows using telnet. A word mostly linked with computer wizards. Well if you have not, then you must do it now!

There is a complete copy of Star Wars done entirely in ASCII characters that you can watch in the windows operating system (or any OS that supports telnet). The only thing required to watch it is an internet connection; speed does not matter.

To watch it on Windows XP,

Go to Start, Run.
Now type "telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl" without the quotes and press Enter.

On Windows 7 and Windows Vista

Telnet is turned off by default in the latest versions of Windows. So, in order to watch star wars, you must first enable telnet by going to Control Panel › Programs › Turn Windows Feature On or Off and ticking both the telnet check boxes. After doing that, follow the steps given below:-

Go to Start, Search.
Type telnet and press Enter.
In the following command prompt window, type "o" without quotes and press Enter.
Now type "towel.blinkenlights.nl" without the quotes and press Enter.

If you do not need telnet anymore, you can turn it off.

A command prompt window like the one in the image will open with the movie being played in it. See the movie yourself. Did you enjoy watching this new version of Star Wars? Well, I did and know it for sure that you would have too.

By http://tweakandtrick.blogspot.com

With Iam Feeling Lucky

2012-03-30T04:07:00.003-07:00

Although Google feels the I'm feeling lucky button is not 'as useful', it can still be used to try some excellent Easter eggs that are a direct result of Google bombing (remember miserable failure and the whole George Bush case?). Here is a list of some of them.
Before starting this list, I would advise you to disable Instant from your Google preferences. To use these Easter eggs, go to Google's homepage, type in these phrases and hit the I'm Feeling Lucky button.

Google Loco
Type Google Loco in the Search box, hit the I'm feeling lucky button and you will be taken to a Google homepage where each letter of the Google logo will continuously dance. Also, the search button and the I'm feeling lucky lucky button are written in the incomprehensible Wingdings font. What you type in the search box also appears in the same font. Even the search box changes its colour every time you type a letter.

Google Pacman

Not a Google bomb but an immensely popular doodle which Google used on its homepage on the 30th anniversary of Pacman, the arcade game in May 2010. Just type Google Pacman in the search box, hit the I'm feeling lucky button and you will be taken to the Google Pacman page. You can use your arrow keys to start playing the game. To play in 2 player mode, hit the Insert Coin button. W, S, A and D keys will control the second player.

Google Guitar (Les Paul Doodle)
Another very popular doodle which Google featured on its homepage to mark the 96th birthday of Les Paul. This flash and JavaScript based doodle allows users to not only play tunes by holding down the guitar and twanging its strings but also to record them. It also gives a link to share the recorded tunes with your friends. Just use the Google Guitar phrase or directly head over to Google Guitar.

Google Hacker

Ever wondered what Google would look like if it was hacked? Google Hacker can give you an idea of such a scenario. Just use the Google Hacker phrase and you will be taken to a Google homepage entirely in the leet language ( the language supposed to be used by hackers), where Normal Search is n0rM4L s34rCh, and the I'm feeling lucky button is "Eye Am ph33|1n6 |u(ky." This is an official Easter egg by one of those crazy Google engineers.

Google Weenie
Do you get angry at websites with extremely small fonts? Google weenie will definitely make you angry then. Type this phrase in the Google Search box and you will be taken a Google homepage where everything decreases in size until it becomes a bit too small to read. This website is the exact opposite of Epic Google where everything grows in size.

Google Magic

Do you like magic? Here's a trick to impress your friends with. Type in Google Magic in the Google search box and hit the I'm feeling lucky button and you will be taken to a special Google homepage. On this page, cover the two O's in the Google Logo with your hand and click anywhere on the page. Wait for sometime (5 seconds). You can say some magic words to add effect. Remove your hand and you will be surprised to see that the two O's have disappeared. Again cover the two O's and click anywhere on the page. Again wait for 5 seconds and the O's will magically reappear. A third click however will take you to the actual Google homepage.

Search Google in different colors
Are you bored of Google's default color scheme and want to try something different? Then search Google in different colors. Just use the word Google followed by your color and hit the I'm feeling lucky button and you will be taken to a Google homepage in that paricluar color. (e.g: Google Pink, Google blue etc.)

Your Computer Welcome You

2012-03-30T04:07:00.002-07:00

Do you watch movies? Have you always loved the way how Computers in movies welcome their users by calling out their names? I bet that you too would want to know how you can achieve similar results on your PC and have a computer said welcome.

Then you are at the right place, this article describes exactly how you can make your computer welcome you like this.

With this trick, you can make your Computer welcome you in its computerized voice. You can make your Windows based computer say "Welcome to your PC, Username."

Make Windows Greet you with a Custom Voice Message at Startup

To use this trick, follow the instructions given below:-

Click on Start. Navigate to All Programs, Accessories and Notepad.
Copy and paste the exact code given below.

Dim speaks, speech
speaks="Welcome to your PC, Username"
Set speech=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")
speech.Speak speaks

   3. Replace Username with your own name.
     4. Click on File Menu, Save As, select All Types in Save as Type option, and save the file as Welcome.vbs or "*.vbs".
   5. Copy the saved file.
     6. Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup (in Windows XP) or toC:\Users\ User-Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup (in Windows 7 and Windows Vista) if C: is your System drive.
     7. Paste the file.

Now when the next time you start your computer, Windows will welcome you in its own computerized voice.

Note: For best results, it is recommended to change sound scheme to No Sounds.
You can change the sound scheme to No Sounds by following the steps given below:-

Go to Control Panel.
Then click on Switch to Classic View.
Then Click on Sounds and Audio Devices.
Then Click on the Sounds Tab.
Select No Sounds from the Sound Scheme option.
If you wish to save your Previous Sound Scheme, you can save it by clicking Yes in the popup menu.
Click on OK.

Try it yourself to see how it works. In my personal opinion, this is an excellent trick. Whenever I start my PC in front of anybody and the PC welcomes me, the fellow is left wondering how brilliant a computer do I have.

Unique Ways To Log Into Your Windows Computer Without Typing A Password

2012-03-30T04:05:00.002-07:00

Most people log into a computer the same way. They sit down, they select their account, and they type in their password. This method of logging in isn’t fancy, but it continues to be the most popular because it works well. It’s quick, secure and doesn’t require any special effort on the part of the user.

Still, there is always room for improvement, and new technologies have opened up new ways to log in to your computer. Let’s take a look at two login methods that bypass normal password protection and instead use parts of your body for identification.

Facial Recognition: Luxand Blink

The easiest and most convenient alternative to using a password to log into your computer is facial recognition. This method of log in requires that you have a webcammounted on top of your monitor and requires that you have facial recognition software installed on your computer.

It’s possible that your webcam might come with such software bundled, but the webcam I have did not come with this included. In order to enable facial recognition I downloaded the free version of Luxand Blink.

Luxand Blink is simple software (at least, the free version is). When you install it and boot the program, it will automatically begin the process of remembering your face. This only takes a few moments. Once your face has been stored (this is called a face template by the software) you will be able to log in simply by sitting down at your computer and pointing your face in the direction of your webcam. You will still have the option of logging in with your password, however.

I found that Blink was reliable even when I changed the lighting in my office. However, keep in mind that extreme differences in lighting and the quality of your webcam can cause issues. It’s best to record your face template during a lighting condition that most accurately represents the lighting of the room when you’d normally log in.

Fingerprint Readers

Another alternative to the traditional password login is a fingerprint reader. This feature, which is often included on high-end business laptops and workstations, is both convenient and secure.

Obviously, you’ll need to own or buy a fingerprint reader if you want to log in using this method. There are many fingerprint readers on the market including theMicrosoft Fingerprint Readerand options from less well known companies like Eikon.

Unlike webcams, which don’t always come with facial recognition software packaged in, fingerprint readers ship with everything you should need to use them. Once you’ve unpackaged and installed the software you simply need to register your fingerprint with the detection software. Tada! You’ll now be able to log in to your computer simply by pressing your finger to the fingerprint reader.

Fingerprint readers are reliable because accuracy isn’t dependent on environmental factors such as lighting. These readers can also be used to as a log in method for a lot more than just your PC. Fingerprint identification can be used to log into websites, sign on to wireless networks, and more (provided that the drivers and software shipped with your fingerprint reader supports these features, of course).

Conclusion

These alternatives to logging in with a password do require more setup and, ultimately, more cash than logging in with a password. Even if you can obtain the software for free, you still need the hardware. Still, prices aren’t too prohibitive – around $20 to $50 for a decent webcam and $50 for a fingerprint reader. If you know of a neat alternative log in method that isn’t mentioned here let us know in the comments.

By MakeUseOf.com

To Install Windows 7 On Netbook From A USB Drive

2012-03-30T04:05:00.000-07:00

Installing a new operating system on a netbookwithout a CD/DVD drive should be an easy task thanks to Unetbootin, but when it comes to installing Windows 7, there are a few extra steps that need to be taken before you are able to get the latest Windows OS onto your netbook.

In this guide, we’re going to show you how to create a bootable USB flash drive using eitherWindows XP or Windows Vista, and then install the files onto the USB and then install Windows 7 onto your Netbook from USB.

You will need one USB flash drive, with a capacity of at least 4GB, a copy of Windows 7, a program to extract the contents of your Windows 7 image file, such as 7-Zip, and a computer running either Windows XP or Vista. Windows XP users will need to download an additional program, MBRWizard.

Before getting started, you need to make sure you can boot your netbook from a USB by going into the BIOS settings. This can be done on most netbooks by hitting F2 as it is starting.

Once you are in the BIOS settings, go to the Boot tab, and ensure that ‘USB HDD’ is included in the Boot priority order list. If it is, you should be able to boot from your USB flash drive.

Format The USB Flash Drive

First, we need to format the USB to get it ready for use. Right click the USB drive in your Explorer window and click on ‘Format.’ The file system you will be using is NTFS.

Windows XP users, if you do not see that choice in the drop down menu, follow this guide, to enable formatting your USB flash drive, using NTFS.

Activate The USB Partition

At this point, Windows XP users will put the program, MBRWizard to use. After you have downloaded the zip file, extract its contents to the C drive, then open the Windows Command Prompt. (Click the Start button, hit ‘run‘, type ‘cmd‘ and press enter.)

Using MBRWizard and the command prompt, you are going to be able to activate the partition, by typing the following commands:

cd\

cd mbrwiz2.0

mbrwiz list

You should now see, as in the screenshot below, your USB listed as one of the disks, in my case, Disk 1.

You will then type the following command:

mbrwiz /disk=X /active=1 (Where X is the number of your Disk)

When prompted with “Are you sure you want to set the partition(s) Active?“, answer Yes.

Windows Vista users will not need to download MBRWizard, but rather can go straight into the command prompt and type the following:

Diskpart

list disk

You will then need to identify your USB flash drive, again in my case, it is Disk 1, and type the following

Select Disk X (Where X is the number of your Disk)

List partition

Select partition 1

Active

You should then see the message: Diskpart marked the current partition as active.

Extract Windows 7

Navigate to your Windows 7 image file, and extract its contents to a folder named Windows7 in the C Drive. These files can be deleted once you are done.

Return to your command prompt window and type the following:

cd Windows7\boot

bootsect /nt60 X: (Where X is the letter of your USB drive – in my case G:)

You should then see the following:

The final step in getting your USB ready is putting Windows 7 on it, which is where unetbootin comes in.

Once you have the program installed, select Diskimage, and browse to your Windows 7 image file, and select the USB that you have prepared for the install, and click OK.

Unetbootin should take about 15 to 30 minutes to copy the files onto your USB.

Installing Windows 7

All that’s left to do is install your new OS. Plug the USB into your netbook, and start it up. When starting your netbook, you can select to boot from the USB by entering the Boot Menu. In my case, on the ACER Aspire One, I had to hit F12, but with some other netbooks, this can be done by hitting the ESC button.

Once you are in the Boot Menu, you can choose to boot from your USB flash drive, and will then enter the Windows 7 set up menu.

If you are upgrading from Vista, you should be able to preserve your program files and settings, but upgrading from XP is not possible. A clean install is necessary, but all of your files and folders will be preserved in a folder in the C drive, labeled Windows.Old.

By MakeUseOf.com

Your Windows XP Administrator Password With The Installation Disk

2012-03-30T04:03:00.005-07:00

Have you lost your Windows Administrator Password? There are lots of options to recover it nowadays but almost all of them require a third party piece of software. What if I tell you that you can recover your windows administrator password with your install disk? All you need is your install key (hint: this does not need to be the same key that is installed on your machine but the key needs to match the media).

We will actually be doing a Repair. Once the repair session hits the GUI screen we can launch a command prompt that will let us reset your password, create new accounts or promote another user to be the administrator. Heck we can even make it so the machine logs in as the Administrator automatically! So here’s how you do it.

Grab your CD along with its CD key and boot to your media. Once you boot to your CD, it will say, “Press a key to boot to CD”. Go ahead and press any key.

Let Windows do its thing and start. We will not format or lose any data if you follow my explicit instructions. I was amazed when I got this to work and also sickened by how insecure workstations can be! If you have a third party SCSI, RAID or SATA adapter you will have to point it at the drivers so it can access your hard drive. If this is you then you know what to do already ““ F6 and point it to the drivers.

Another few minutes will pass by and Windows setup will say that it is starting Windows. Be forewarned ““ DO NOT HIT THE R KEY ON THE NEXT SCREEN. We will be hitting Enter to start the installation.

On the screen below that says Welcome to Setup make sure you hit the ENTER key and not R. R here will take you to the recovery console ““ if you do not have the administrators password you will have to start ALL OVER AGAIN! So hit Enter to set up Windows and continue.

The agreement pops up hit the F8 key to continue.

Ah ha! Now on this screen below you will want to highlight your installation of Windows if there is more than one. And hit the R key! Yes, here is where you will hit that key to repair the installation. The process rewrites all the system files and what not.

After you hit that R key the Setup wizard will start to copy the system files from the media to your hard drive/Windows Installation. This took about 4 minutes on my machine.

Windows will now reboot automatically or you can hit ENTER to speed things up a little. When the machine restarts DO NOT BOOT FROM THE CD! DO NOT HIT A KEY TO BOOT FROM YOUR CD! Take the CD out of the drive if you think this is going to be an issue for you.

Once the computer starts back up it will jump into the installer. Here, when you get to about 37 minutes left on the installer it will say Installing Devices on the bottom left hand side of the screen ““ Hit Shift-F10 at the same time and a command prompt will pop-up! Just like that.

Using some basic command line kung fu we type control userpasswords2 and we can do whatever we want to. You can get at anything from this command prompt you have full root/administrator access!

Once you have the user accounts control panel up, you can add, modify or remove users. Promote a user to administrator status or what have you. Remember only use this for good and not evil.

Log in and you are good to go! Do you have another method to get back into your machine that does not require any media? We would love to hear about it in the comments.

Credits To Makeuseof.com

How to Reset / Remove / Bypass a BIOS or CMOS Password?

2012-03-30T04:03:00.002-07:00

BIOS passwords are used to add some extra security to computers. You can either set a password to prevent access to BIOS settings or to prevent PC from booting.

But sometimes this extra security might become a pain when you forget the BIOS password or someone changes your system BIOS password intentionally.

But there is no need to worry. There are many known ways to reset / remove / bypass the password:

By removing CMOS battery
By using motherboard jumper
By using MS DOS command
By using software
By using Backdoor BIOS password

Now I'll try to explain each method one by one:

DISCLAIMER: This information is intended for experienced users. It is not intended for basic users, hackers, or computer thieves. Please do not try any of following procedures if you are not familiar with computer hardware. We'll not be responsible for the use or misuse of this information, including personal injury, loss of data or hardware damage. So use it at your own risk.

By Removing CMOS Battery:

Almost all motherboards use a small coin sized CMOS battery to store all BIOS settings along with the password. To reset the password, unplug the PC, open the cabinet and remove the CMOS battery for approx.15-30 minutes and then put it back. It'll reset all BIOS settings as well as the password and you'll need to re-enter all settings.

If it fails, then try to remove the battery for at least one hour.

By Using Motherboard Jumper:

Almost all motherboards contain a jumper that can clear all CMOS settings along with the BIOS password. The location of this jumper varies depending upon the motherboard brand. You should read your motherboard manual to check its location. If you don't have the manual then look for the jumpers near the CMOS battery. Most of the manufacturer label the jumper as CLR, CLEAR, CLEAR CMOS, etc.

When you find the jumper, look carefully. There will be 3 pins and the jumper will be joining the center pin to either left or right pin. What you need to do, is remove the jumper and join the center pin to the opposite pin. e.g. if the jumper joins center pin to left pin, then remove it and join center pin to right pin. Now wait for a few seconds and then again remove the jumper and join the center pin to left pin.

Make sure to turn the PC off before opening the cabinet and resetting the jumper.

By Using MS DOS Command:

This method works only if you have access to the system when its turned on because this method requires MS DOS. Open Command Prompt from Programs menu and provide following commands one bye one:

debug
o 70 2E
o 71 FF
quit

NOTE: The first character in the above commands is English alphabet "o" and not the number 0.

After providing the above commands, restart your system and it should reset the CMOS Settings along with the BIOS password.

If you are curious to know how it works? then let me explain the above commands:

In this method we are using the Debug tool of MS DOS. The "o" character present at first in these commands, outputs the values to IO ports. The number 70 and 71 are port numbers which are used to access CMOS memory. By providing FF value we are telling CMOS that there is an invalid checksum and it resets the CMOS settings as well as BIOS password.

By Using Software:

There are a few software which can also reset CMOS settings or BIOS password or both within a few clicks. But as stated above you should have access to a system which is turned on and should have access to MS DOS or MS Windows:

CmosPwd

KillCMOS

By Using Backdoor BIOS Password:

Some BIOS manufacturer put a backdoor password in BIOS which always works irrespective of what password you have set in BIOS. Its a master password which is used for testing and troubleshooting purposes.

AMI BIOS Passwords:

A.M.I.
AAAMMMIII
AMI?SW
AMI_SW
AMI
BIOS
CONDO
HEWITT RAND
LKWPETER
MI
Oder
PASSWORD

AWARD BIOS Passwords:

01322222
589589
589721
595595
598598
ALFAROME
ALLy
aLLy
aLLY
ALLY
aPAf
_award
award
AWARD_SW
AWARD?SW
AWARD SW
AWARD PW
AWKWARD
awkward
BIOSTAR
CONCAT
CONDO
Condo
d8on
djonet
HLT
J64
J256
J262
j332
j322
KDD
Lkwpeter
LKWPETER
PINT
pint
SER
SKY_FOX
SYXZ
syxz
shift + syxz
TTPTHA
ZAAADA
ZBAAACA
ZJAAADC

PHOENIX BIOS Passwords:

BIOS
CMOS
phoenix
PHOENIX

Misc Common Passwords:

ALFAROME
BIOSTAR
biostar
biosstar
CMOS
cmos
LKWPETER
lkwpeter
setup
SETUP
Syxz
Wodj

Other Manufacturer BIOS Passwords:

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

NOTE: All these passwords are case-sensitive and are changed from time to time by manufacturers.

Credit Goes To