Find the IP address of the sender in Gmail, Yahoo! mail or Hotmail

Make Undeletable Or Unreadable Folders

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:00:00 +0000

By holding down alt, then typing numbers on the number pad (right of the keyboard) you can create special characters. If you hold down alt, then press 1, then let go, you got the ascii character 1. You try some randomn numbers. This goes all the way up to 255. Open a dos prompt, and type md (alt+1+9+4)someword. md is the dos command to make a directoy, now try and open the directory in Windows, you can't. To open it, type ren (alt+1+9+4)someword someword (ren is the dos command to rename).

Create Ringtones Online

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:36:00 +0000

Cellsea is a web based Ringtone maker. Using their cool service you can quickly create ringtones for yourself by uploading your audio files (MP3, MIDI, M4A and AAC are supported). If your lazy to upload, they will get the audio file for your from a remote URL or even a Google Search.

After uploading, you can crop your audio files and listen to preview before sending it to production. The ringtone will be saved to Dashboard, you can either download it to your machine and then upload it to your cellphone over Bluetooth, Data Cable or IR. An simpler alternative would be point your browser to wap.cellsea.com and then entering your download code.

Note: The maximum upload size for audio files is just 5 MB, since most MP3s thesedays are under 5 MB, this shouldn’t be an issue.

Find the IP address of the sender in Gmail, Yahoo! mail or Hotmail

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:14:00 +0000

When you receive an email, you receive more than just the message. The email comes with headers that carry important information that can tell where the email was sent from and possibly who sent it. For that, you would need to find the IP address of the sender. The tutorial below can help you find the IP address of the sender. Note that this will not work if the sender uses anonymous proxy servers.

Finding IP address in Gmail
1. Log into your Gmail account with your username and password.

2. Open the mail.

3. To display the headers,
* Click on More options corresponding to that thread. You should get a bunch of links.
* Click on Show original.

4. You should get headers like this:
Gmail headers : name
Look for Received: from followed by a few hostnames and an IP address between square brackets. In this case, it is - 65.119.112.245. That is be the IP address of the sender!

5. Track the IP address of the sender.

Finding IP address in Yahoo! Mail
1. Log into your Yahoo! mail with your username and password.

2. Click on Inbox or whichever folder you have stored your mail.

3. Open the mail.

4. If you do not see the headers above the mail message, your headers are not displayed. To display the headers,
* Click on Options on the top-right corner.
* In the Mail Options page, click on General Preferences.
* Scroll down to Messages where you have the Headers option.
* Make sure that Show all headers on incoming messages is selected.
* Click on the Save button.
* Go back to the mails and open that mail.

5. You should see similar headers like this:
Yahoo! headers : name
Look for Received: from followed by the IP address between square brackets [ ]. Here, it is 202.65.138.109. That is be the IP address of the sender!

6. Track the IP address of the sender.

Finding IP address in Hotmail
1. Log into your Hotmail account with your username and password.

2. Click on the Mail tab on the top.

3. Open the mail.

4. If you do not see the headers above the mail message, your headers are not displayed. To display the headers,
* Click on Options on the top-right corner.
* In the Mail Options page, click on Mail Display Settings.
* In Message Headers, make sure Advanced option is checked.
* Click on Ok button.
* Go back to the mails and open that mail.

5. If you find a header with X-Originating-IP: followed by an IP address, that is the sender's IP address Hotmail headers : name, In this case the IP address of the sender is [68.34.60.59]. Jump to step 9.

6. If you find a header with Received: from followed by a Gmail proxy like this
Hotmail headers : name
Look for Received: from followed by IP address within square brackets[].
In this case, the IP address of the sender is [69.140.7.58]. Jump to step 9.

7. Or else if you have headers like this
Hotmail headers : name
Look for Received: from followed by IP address within square brackets[].
In this case, the IP address of the sender is [61.83.145.129] (Spam mail). Jump to step 9.

8. * If you have multiple Received: from headers, eliminate the ones that have proxy.anyknownserver.com.

9. Track the IP address of the sender.

Speed up your internet by 20%

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:01:00 +0000

Microsoft reserves 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes like Windows Updates and interrogating your PC etc.

You can get it back:

Click Start then Run and type "gpedit.msc" without quotes. This opens the group policy editor. Then go to:

Local Computer Policy>Computer Configuration>Administrative Templates>Network>QOS Packet Scheduler>Limit Reservable Bandwidth.

Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab i.e."By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default."So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.It works on Win 2000 as well.

Secret Codes of Nokia 5110

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:38:00 +0000

WARNING :
Using secret codes may be harmful to your phone and result in disabling or worse. One of our users had that bad experience.

IEMI
If you need to know the IMEI code of your phone, simply press:

* # 06 #

To get additional information from your phone you can use the so called "warranty code", try typing:

*#92702689#(= *#war0anty#).

Now you are in service menu where you'll find:

1 IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identification)
2 Made MM/YY (date of production of the phone mm/yy)
3 Purchasing Date (here you can enter the date of purchase. If you enter an incorrect date, you cannot correct it later !
4 Repaired (date of repair, if there was one)
5 Transfer user data?

*3370# EFR will be activated after a reboot of the phone ( consumes more power )

#3370# EFR will be switched off after a reboot of the phone.

*4720# Half Rate coded will be activated after a reboot of the phone ( better standby time )

#4720# Half Rate coded will be de-activated after a reboot of the phone

If you press the "Power on" button for a short moment, the menu with the profiles is shown on the display.

If you press one more time, the mobile turns itself off.

You can use the up and down cursor keys to scroll and enable a different alert setting.

Secret Codes of Nokia 8810/8850/8210

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:33:00 +0000

WARNING:
Using secret codes may be harmful to your phone and result in disabling or worse. One of our users had that bad experience.

IMEI number
*#06#

Software Version
*#0000#

1st Line - Software Version
2nd Line - Date of Software release
3rd Line - Phone Type.

Serial Number
*#92702689#

1st Screen - Date of phone manufacture
2nd Screen - Serial #, IMEI
3rd Screen - Purchasing date
4th Screen - Last Repair Date.

Secret Codes of Nokia 6110/6150

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:18:00 +0000

Get rid of Shortcut Arrow from Desktop Icons

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:44:00 +0000

Have you ever noticed shortcut icons in desktop ? It has an arrow in the corner of each icon. Today’s tips will let you remove it completely. OK, let you follow the steps.

1. Open the Registry Editor program by running regedit, click Start > Run and type regedit then press Enter.
2. Find the key path.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile

3. Click on the lnkfile folder, you will see IsShortcut key in the right page like the picture below.

4. Right click on IsShortcut and choose Delete. Click Yes button.

5. Log off and then Log on Windows XP again.

6. Now the shortcut arrows are disappeared.

Hide specific Drives

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:34:00 +0000

This tutorial illustrates how to hide and show your computer drives from Windows XP. You can hide or show as you want both drives in your computer and drives in the computer network. This way can be safe for data in your computer and prevent others from accessing to your drives that may contain important information. This example I will hide drive D and you can apply this method to another drive you want, just change a value that I will explain “how to” in detail. Let you hide drives now.

1. Access to the Registry Editor program, running regedit.
2. Find the path like below,

HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Policies>Explorer

3. Right click on the Explorer folder and select New > DWORD Value.
4. Name the registry NoDrives.

5. Double click on NoDrives which is in the right page.
6. In the DWORD Value window, select Decimal.

7. In this case I want to hide drive D, so I must fill 8 in Value data. The number you filled varies with drive you want it to be hidden. If you want to hide the other drives, you must put the drive-related number like below,

Note :
A=1, B=2, C=4, D=8, E=16, F=32, G=64, H=128, I=256, J=512, K=1024, L=2048, M=4096, N=8192, O=16384, P=32768, Q=65536, R=131072, S=262144, T=524288, U=1048576, V=2097152, W=4194304, X=8388608, Y=16777216, Z=33554432, All drive=67108863
For example, I can hide drive J only if I put the number 512 under selecting Decimal. What to do in case I prefer to hide more than one drive ? That is easy just plus the numbers. To illustrate, I want to hide drive C and E so I put the result number of 4 plus 16 that is 20.

8. Click OK button and close the Registry Editor program.
9. Log off and Log on your computer. Finish !

How to Create a Control Panel components Desktop Shortcut

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:51:00 +0000

Control Panel menu in Windows XP has many components, such as User Accounts, Add/remove programs, Security Center, and many more. Now, the question is, how to create a desktop shortcut for the componenets? If you find yourself using any of these frequently, and you want to access them from the desktop, you should be create a shortcut, but how?

Follow this simple step: First, go to this directory ---> \WINDOWS\System32, and find these files:

appwiz.cpl -----> Add/Remove Programs
desk.cpl -------> Display Properties
firewall.cpl ---> Firewall Settings
inetcpl.cpl ----> Internet Options
mmsys.cpl -----> Sound and Audio
ncpa.cpl ------> Network Connections
nusrmgr.cpl ----> User Accounts
powercfg.cpl ---> Power Options
sysdm.cpl ------> System Properties
wscui.cpl ------> Security Center
wuaucpl.cpl ----> Automatic Updates Configuration

Those are control panel components files. To create the shortcut, you just right click the files, and then choose Send To ---> Desktop (Create Shortcut), now, in your desktop was added a shortcut that refer to control panel components you have choosen. If you want, you can change the icon of the shortcut with windows standard icon or the icon you were created...

Removing Properties Menu on "My Computer"

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:37:00 +0000

"My Computer" context menu (will be appear when we pushed right click of "My Computer"), by default, will shown properties menu. As we known, in the properties menu of "My Computer", there are some important setting for computer. I will tell you how to make the properties menu disappear from "My Computer" context menu. These are the instruction you can do:

Open Registry Editor by click (Start > Run), then type regedit. Find the following key on your registry editor:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Policies>Explorer

Then create new DWORD Value on the key. Then give the value name by NoPropertiesMyComputer. Double click the value, and set the data value by 1. Close the registry editor. Logout from your account or restart your PC to take the effect. Now when you log in again, there isn't properties on "My Computer" Context Menu.

Hope this could help you!!!

Blocking Application to Prevent from Execution

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:24:00 +0000

Now I will give you a trick, that's blocking application to restrict it to execution. This is an useful trick I think to System Administrator or who have a PC that they want to protect their privacy...

Open your registry editor, then find the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Policies>Explorer

If you have found the key, add new DWORD Value and rename it to be DisallowRun. Double click the value and set data value to be 1. Then create new subkey under Explorer key, so the complete key will be like this:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Policies>Explorer> DisallowRun

On DisallowRun key, create new String Value, and rename it to be (example: application1). Double click the value and set the data value by application that you want to block. Example winamp.exe, cmd.exe, or regedit.exe. Close your registry editor. Logout or restart PC to take the effect.

What is herbalism?

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:54:00 +0000

Although it may sound a bit primitive, it forms the basis of modern pharmaceutical medicine in many ways.

Often considered and derided as a form of folk medicine, herbalism is something you, I and everyone generally practices whether we realize it or not. It is simply the use of certain plants to relieve a particular ailment. When you take aspirin for a headache, you are essentially practicing herbalism in a sense. Why? Aspirin comes from the inner bark of the Willow tree. Obviously, it does not come in the form of a tablet, but there is no denying the relief you obtain from taking it is from the plant derivative of that bark.

While it is true that most remedies come from natural sources, the modern definition of herbalism is much more restrictive than what I have suggested to this point. It is more about the direct rendering of herbs to a medicinal form where industrial manufacturer of pills is not involved.

This form of herbalism has a long history. From 3000 BC, we have records of Summerians using thyme to treat ailments. The first herbalism book is believed to be one found in China and dating from 2700 BC. This book is of great interest and importance. Why? It listed over 365 herbs and their medicinal properties. One was Ma Huang, which you probably know better today as Ephedrine.

The popularity of herbalism cannot be understated. From the Greeks to the Romans to the Chineses and beyond, herbalism formed the basis of medicine through much of the world. It was only in the 17th century that it began to lose its dominant position as modern medicine slowly started to create new forms of treatment and distractions of plant medicinal properties into hybrid medications.

Does this mean herbalism is dead or should be avoided as a form of medicinal treatment these days? Of course not. Pharmaceutical companies spend vast amounts of money sending people into the rainforests for a reason. They are looking for that next great drug that will revolutionize the world, the next aspirin if you will.

On a more practical level, herbalism has a definite place in your daily life. Herbal medicines tend to be better for you than modern alternatives because they do not contain the additives you find with pharmaceuticals. This makes them better for you, but also easier to take as they are often mixed with teas and so on.

Is herbalism for you? Only you can answer that. Just understand that it herbalism is not some extreme fad or something weird. It formed the basis of medicine in our world for such a long period of time that one must wonder how different the world would look today had it not been discovered.

10 Tips That Helped You Lose Weight

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:26:00 +0000

Someone recently asked me what were the most important things I learned about losing weight during the time I lost 48lbs (22kg). In response I came up with 10 things that I felt were crucial to my success and could help anyone, no matter which diet they chose to follow...

1. Lose weight slowly (1 or 2 lbs per week). Any more than this can cause you to have a "haggard" look when you have reached your ideal weight (Because of the elastic nature of your skin). Losing too much too quickly can also cause you serious health problems.

2. Consistency. Your weight and general health will reflect what you do and eat most of the time.

3. Exercise burns fat quickly and gives you energy. There seem to be many different opinions about whether you need to exercise to lose weight or just change your diet. I believe you need to do both for many reasons and the main two for me are: Number one, it makes you feel great! and number two, it allows to cheat more than you would be able to if you didn't exercise (think chocolate covered energy bars!)

4. Muscle building. I don't mean body building. Your muscles use energy all day so the bigger they are the more energy they need and the less energy gets stored as fat. Just doing small amounts of weight training can make a big difference (especially for women).

5. Metabolic rate. Raising your metabolic rate will use energy which either burns fat or stops fat being stored. Exercise will raise you metabolic rate and so will spicy foods. For instance, I have found adding mustard to food helps me.

6. Planning. Plan what you are going to eat at least a week in advance. This makes sure you stick to the diet and don't accidentally eat the wrong thing. If you find it difficult to plan or just don't have the time try using an online service.

7. Eat regularly and often. Always have breakfast, lunch and dinner - every day. If possible eat 5 times a day, a small snack between breakfast and lunch and another one between lunch and dinner. Each time you eat you raise your metabolic rate - see number 5.

8. Some food should not be mixed. Mix meat and/or diary products (such as cheese) with vegetables and never with rice or pasta or potatoes. For example, at parties if you see a buffet only eat the meat and cheese and vegetables or only eat the pasta and rice. Mixing the wrong foods is worse that eating too much.

9. Drink plenty of water. Staying hydrated all day helps your general fitness and health which is particularly important when exercising regularly and burning fat.

10. Listen to your body. Your body will let you know how it is doing and what it needs. For example, your stomach produces the same chemicals as your brain when reacting to things. The only difference between the two is that your stomach has not learned to doubt itself!

These are the things that helped me and I hope you find something in here to help you to. I am not a doctor and this article is for informational purposes only. You should always consult your doctor for your dietary and health choices.

Source : www.diettips.net

Speed up Vista Start Menu Search By Limiting Results

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:34:00 +0000

The Windows Vista start menu search box is one of my favorite features in Vista, but searching can be pretty slow if you have a lot of personal files, because by default the start menu search also searches files, windows contacts, windows mail, history, and favorites.

You can customize the search results returned in the Start menu search box to only return the results that you want. I personally only want to use the start menu search to pull up applications, so I disabled everything else.

To configure this setting, right click on the Start button and select Properties. Click the Customize button, and you can scroll down to the Search checkboxes. Here's the screen with my settings:

For best results, change the Search files radio button to "Don't search for files". The start menu is too small to find files anyway. This will speed up searching immensely.

Here's the details on what the other options do:

Search - Should disable the search entirely, but doesn't seem to remove the search box. I left this enabled.
Search communications - Disables searching through emails and contacts. As far as I can tell, it's only Windows Mail and Windows Contacts right now. I assume other applications will eventually be included here. I disabled this since I don't use either product.
Search favorites and history - Searches through your IE favorites and history. Perhaps it will also search a future version of firefox. I disabled this since I use Firefox.
Search Files - You can change this to search all files, or just your home directory. Or disable entirely for speed.
Search Programs - Searches through the start menu and applications.

You can customize to your liking.

Use Hotmail from Microsoft Outlook

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:24:00 +0000

If you are still using Hotmail but would prefer to access your email from a desktop client, then you might be interested to know that Microsoft has released a connector that will allow you to send and receive Hotmail or Office Live Mail through Outlook 2003 or 2007.

This is especially helpful for those of us that maintain a hotmail account but don't like to ever check it because we don't use it all that often.

Installation

Make sure that Outlook is closed, and then download and install the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector. Open Outlook and you'll immediately be prompted with the settings dialog.

Enter in your account details into this screen, and then close the dialog. You'll be prompted to restart Outlook again.

Once you've restarted, you'll now see your Hotmail account in the list of mail accounts, and you can send/receive to download your messages.

If you want to send email with the hotmail account, you'll notice a new drop-down for Account, which will let you switch the account you are sending the email as.

Hopefully this will save you some of the pain of the slow-loading hotmail website.

Resize Picture Attachments in Outlook 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:48:00 +0000

Those who are familiar with resizing picture attachments in Outlook 2003 might wonder where on earth they hid this feature in Outlook 2007 - at first glance, it seems like they removed it completely, when in reality they buried it in the Ribbon.

Resizing picture attachments before they go out is one way to be nice to the people you are sending files to… there's really no reason to send emails with gigantic picture files when the other person just wants to see the picture. It's also easier than resizing them before sending.

On the Ribbon select the Insert tab and click Attach File.

Windows Explorer opens up. Select and double click the picture you want to send in your email. *Note: You can also drag and drop the picture into your email message.

Now that you have the picture attached in your message click the Include Dialog Box Launcher (Yes really is the official name for this little icon). Look where the mouse is in the following screenshot… yes, you have to click that tiny little icon.

Once you click that icon, the "Attachment Options" panel will pop up on the right hand side of your window. In the Picture Options section, you can resize the attached picture automatically to one of the pre-set sizes.

Notice especially the checkbox for "Show when attaching files". If you check this, then the next time you attach a file, this side panel will show up the next time without having to do anything extra.

This comes in extremely useful when sending pictures that have not been resized, cropped, or scaled down from the original size. As picture files can get quite large this allows you to send them as a reasonable sized attachment.

Customize Windows Vista Logon Screen

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:32:00 +0000

For those of us looking to customize the Windows Vista UI experience, there's nothing more annoying than seeing the default logon screen every time you start up your computer, or when you lock your workstation. Thankfully the nice folks at Stardock have created a free utility to replace the logon screen with any wallpaper you choose.

All you have to do is download and install the utility, and click the apply button to immediately see the changes. (It will lock your computer to show you, so you'll have to use your password to unlock it)

The utility is remarkably easy to use, just click on an entry in the list, and use the Apply button to select it. The download button will take you to the directory of logon screens on WinCustomize.

You can also click the Create button and choose any image you want. For instance, if you wanted to have the logon screen match your desktop wallpaper, just choose the wallpaper using the browse button.

You can then save the wallpaper as a logon screen file and even share it with other people on WinCustomize.

Hide Desktop Icon Text on Windows Vista

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:34:00 +0000

Some icons are just obvious enough that nobody should need text below them to tell them what the icon is for. A good example of this is the icon for Internet Explorer. We're all really used to it by now, and the text just makes it ugly.

Just right-click on the shortcut, and choose Rename. Now hold down the Alt key and type in 255 on the keypad to the right of the keyboard. You can't use the number keys right above the keyboard, they won't work. If you have a laptop, you can turn on numlock and then use the little number keys next to the regular letters. (You know you always wondered what they were for)

For the first shortcut on the desktop, a simple Alt+255 will do. For the next shortcut, you'll have to enter the combination twice (Alt+255, Alt+255). For the third, 3 times… you get the idea.

The way this works is that the Alt+255 character is blank, so the shortcut filename is actually just named with a character that is completely blank. Since you can't have two shortcuts or files named the exact same thing, the second shortcut will have to be named with two blank characters.

Now we have a sweet looking icon on the desktop, with no bothersome text beneath it.

This tip should actually work on any version of Windows, but it works a lot better on Vista, because Vista has beautiful icons.

If you use this tip to rename a folder, you will not be able to rename the folder back using the right-click rename. I’m not sure why this is. What you’ll have to do is open a command prompt and change directory into the containing folder (For instance, the desktop folder), and run this command:

ren “Alt+255” “NewFolderName”

You will need to actually type the Alt+255 characters where illustrated in the command. It will appear as a space.

Show Your Name In the System Clock

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:11:00 +0000

This tip is absolutely and completely useless, and will even make applications that depend on timestamps have issues. It's mostly just to be used as a cool trick you can show off to your friends, so we're going to show you how it works.

The way this trick works is by modifying the regional settings for the time format. Instead of using just AM or PM, you can put up to 12 characters of text in that field.

Start by opening Regional and Language Options from the start menu search box or the control panel.

On the Formats tab you'll see the "Customize this format" button, which you'll need to choose.

Select the Time tab, and then here's where we can make whatever settings we want.

I chose to set mine to "AM - Geek" so I could still see AM or PM, but you can choose any 12 characters for either field. Keep in mind that the PM symbol is only going to display during the "PM" hours.

This does change more than just the displayed clock, so I'd advise not using this on a computer you do actual work on. Using the F5 key in notepad shows the "Geek" text as well:

It's one of those things that's interesting to know… just not very useful. It does work in XP as well.

To know IP Addresses

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 21:05:00 +0000

An IP Address is 4 sets of decimal numbers, 0-255, separated by periods (for example, 192.168.255.251) which form the address of a computer on the internet or within a local network, and allow it to be referenced by other computers.

An IP address consists of two parts, a network portion and a host portion.

Within a single network, for example the one you are about to set up, all computers will have identical network portions. In order for two computers to communicate with each other directly, they must be in the same network, and thus have identical network portions of their IP addresses.

The host portion of an IP address indicates a computer's unique identifier within its network. Every computer on a given network must have a unique host portion in order to communicate with other computers in the same network.

An IP address is always accompanied by a subnet mask, which separates the network and host portions of the IP address. A subnet mask is shown in the same format as the IP address (for example 255.255.255.0). As far as this article is concerned, assume that the values of the 4 sets of numbers in the subnet mask can be either 0 or 255.

Sets with the value of 0 indicate the host portion of the IP address, and sets with the value of 255 indicate the network portion. For example, with an IP address of 192.168.3.25 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, the network portion of the address would be '192.168.3', and the host portion would be '.25'. This means the computer assigned this address is host 25 within the 192.168.3 network.

Things do get significantly more complex than this, especially when you consider that the subnet mask is not actually restricted only to values of 0 or 255, but that is beyond the scope of this article.

Now, on with the networking!!!

About networking and file sharing

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:37:00 +0000

Networking, or connecting computers together to share information, has long been one of the more difficult areas of basic computing to get a grasp on, mainly because it is one of those points at which the generally friendly user interface of your average Windows box starts showing cracks, or possibly gaping holes ready to swallow up the unsuspecting user.

Now granted, since windows 98 started the process, Microsoft's OSs have been getting progressively better at automating the process of connecting computers together, but there is still the external setup required, and if something goes wrong... well it's good to know where to look to fix it.

The purpose of this article is two-fold. First, to enable you to set up your own home network and share files between your computers, and second to make you comfortable with basic computer networking terminology and practice. Internet sharing deserves its own article, and so is not part of this one.

First, some important terms. Skip them if you know them.

Ethernet Network adaptor
An internal device that allows computers to communicate with each other via electrical signals passed through cable. Also known as a NIC (Network Interface Card).

Hub
An external device with multiple connections (ports). A computer attached to one port can communicate with computers attached to any of the other ports. They are available in many sizes, most commonly 5 ports.

Switch
Similar to a hub, but more efficient. While a hub will send data it receives from one port out all its other ports and let the computers attached to it figure out who the data is intended for, a switch stores information about the computers connected to it, then sends data only to the computer it is addressed to.

Firewall
A term for a software program or hardware device which can restrict specific kinds of data from passing into (or in some cases, out of) your network from the internet. Used for security purposes.

Cable/DSL router
Network devices which combine the functions of a switch and a firewall. They also provide the ability to easily share a DSL or cable Internet connection.

By default, all Windows operating systems use the TCP/IP protocol suite to communicate with each other through network devices. We'll look at this vital method of addressing computers on the next page.

By default, all Windows operating systems use the TCP/IP protocol suite to communicate with each other through network devices. Any computer network adaptor using TCP/IP requires 3 things to communicate with other computers: An IP address, a subnet mask for that IP address, and a default gateway. These terms will be defined in a moment. First, though, an idea of how a TCP/IP network works logically.

When you give a computer an IP address, you identify the network which it is a member of, and give it an identification number within that network. A computer in a given network can communicate with any other computer that is local to it (in the same network), provided there is a way for information to pass between them (network cables, wireless network, etc.).

Computers in a network cannot, however, communicate with computers in a different network (remote network) directly, even if they are physically connected to each other via cables.

This is where the default gateway comes in. A gateway is defined as a path out of the local network to other remote networks. A gateway can be a number of things physically, such as a DSL/cable router for your local network, a Windows server computer with multiple network adaptors split between different networks, etc. Gateways must all share one thing in common though. They are connected to at least 2 networks, and have the ability to pass traffic between them.

The default gateway assigned to a network adaptor is sent all traffic that does not belong in the local network. As an example of this, say you have a DSL Internet connection. When you connect to the Internet, you are provided with a default gateway assigned by your service provider. When you attempt to connect to a site on the Internet, the URL you type is converted into an IP address by your Internet provider.

Since this address is not going to be in your local network, the network adaptor in your computer forwards the request for the web page to its default gateway, your service provider.

From that point, your request will be passed from network to network through the internet until it reaches the local network and the data needed to display the web page starts its way back through the internet to your IP address.

That isn't where IP addresses stop, as you'll discover next.

Tweaking your windows settings

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:27:00 +0000

I hope these are a list of programs to help you mess around with you registry settings. Before you do anything remember these programs could really mess up your system and I don't want you complaining to me if you do. These programs are

1. For advanced users
2. People that know how to get themselves out of trouble when they do get themselves in trouble.

There is my disclaimer before you try any of these programs, so don't complain to me, because your pleas will fall on deaf ears. I'll try to help you if you screwed things up, but don't send me a bill. Now I'm not sure if I should even include this section...ahh what the heck, mayhem can be fun and it makes you grow as a person.

Fresh UI
This has lots of basic hacks that will make your system run a little more like you want it too. It's what I consider it a "safe" program. Has lots of things that you can change, you shouldn't get into trouble using this program. Lots of changes you can make to your system and you really don't have to worry about destroying your computer with it...it's also a freeware download, so no harm in downloading it and giving it a try.

Tweak UI
This is part of the Power Toys Microsoft puts out but doesn't really support. Basically Microsoft is saying, "Here's this program, it's cool, can do lots of stuff, but if you screw up don't come crying to us". There are two versions of this program, one for Win XP and one for Win 98, 95, ME...Download the right one.

These are the two programs I've tried, if you have any that you like just drop me an email and I'll check it out. I'll be writing registry hacks for this site where you go directly into regedit and do the changes yourself...but it's late tonight while I write this and I'll continue and add more as this website gets a little bit older and gets more visitors.

Tips increasing system browsing

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:44:00 +0000

Another thing XP has changed is the way the folder icons look. It used to be small icons for the all the drives and the controll panel now it's made up of rather large icons that consume their fair share of the system resources.

To prevent the large icons from taking up too much system resources start by clicking on the view button --> list

Next click on the view button again --> status bar.

Double click on my computer, a window will pop up, at the top of the window click on the tools button --> folder options.

General tab, you won't need to do anything here.

View tab, it's comprised of two sections, folder view and advanced settings. In the advanced sections area start by making sure you have the same settings as listed below,

                 Uncheck - Automatically search for network folders and printers
                 Uncheck - Display file size information in folder tips
                 Uncheck - Display simple folder view of Explorer's Folders list
                 Check - Display the contens of system folders
                 Check - Display the full path in the address bar
                 Check - Display the full path in the title bar
                 Check - Do not cache thumbnails
                 Check - Show hidden files and folders
                 Uncheck - Hide extensions for know file types
                 Check - Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
                 Uncheck - Launch folder windows in a seperate process
                 Uncheck - Remember each folder's view settings
                 Uncheck - Restore previous folder windows at logon
                 Check - Show control panel in My Computer
                 Check - SHow encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color
                 Uncheck - Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items
                 Check - Use simple file sharing

After you're done checking and unchecking all of of those options, click on apply button at the bottom of the window, then at the top. Click on the "Apply to All Folders" button to apply the same settings to ALL windows folders. Click on the X to close the window. You won't need to do anything else on the other tabs.

Now browsing through the Windows file system should be immensely faster.

Clearing the file and URL history in Windows Media Player

noreply@blogger.com (Red Papper) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 05:12:00 +0000

When you play a file, link to the file is stored in the Windows Media Player history. To clear the file and URL history in Windows Media Player 10, use the following steps:

Open Windows Media Player
Click Tools, select Options
Select the Privacy tab
In the History section, click the Clear History button once
Click OK and close Windows Media Player