If your computer takes a long time to become useable after starting up or logging on, or you want a clean boot of Winodws XP try this,

Click Start > Run > Type “msconfig” > On the Startup tab click Disable All and on the Services tab check the Hide All Microsoft Service box and then click Disable All.

Click Restart and Windows XP will restart with only the system services and applications running resulting in a vey fast logon / startup.


This tweak will disable all non-system startup sevices and applications,

so if you have anything you want to run in the background such as anti virus software do not disable that item.

Cleaning up XP Junk Via Batch …

Clean uo ur system TEMP, RECENT, HISTORY, TEMPRORY INTERNET FILES, & PREFETCH files Via a simple Batch File

Copy This Coading To Notepad And save it as Cleanup.bat
Please Note ALWAYS RUN THIS FILE FROM SYSTEM DESKTOP

**********
@echo Off
@Title Ghost Nt Cleaning System File
@
@cd\
@
Echo. Cleaning Prefetch Files
@cd %windir%\prefetch
@del /s /q *.* |echo. >nul
@cd\
Echo. Cleaning Temprory Files
@cd %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
@del /f /s /q /a s *.* |echo. >nul
@cd..
@rd /s /q Temp |echo. >nul
@rd /s /q History |echo. >nul
@@MD Temp
@cd\
@del /s /q *.tmp
@
@cd %USERPROFILE%\Recent
@del /s /q *.* |echo. >nul
Echo. Please Wait More For Last Cleanup
@del /s /q *.chk |echo. >nul
@
Echo. Cleanup Sucessfull

Disable Alert

You can disable it in settings -> appearance -> event notifications -> advance by unchecking the sound column.

Change Alert

To change it go to settings -> service and uncheck "Enable self defense" then exit kav.
The file you have to replace is c:\Program Files\Kaspersky Lab\Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0\Skin\sounds\infected.wav

Afterwards reload kis and enable self defense back on.

If your computer seems slower than it used to be, it probably is. Over time, computers get slower because files become disorganized and resources are consumed by unnecessary software. Fortunately, Microsoft Windows XP includes tools to clean up your computer and restore its performance. The five steps in this article will walk you through the use of these tools to tune up your computer.

Before you do anything, back up your computer. Some of the steps in this article can cause pre-existing but hidden problems to surface, which may keep your computer from starting. A backup allows you to restore your important files in the unlikely event that something does go wrong.

1. Remove unused programs

First, remove programs you don't use anymore. Programs take up space on your computer, and some run in the background without your knowledge. Removing programs you don't use can help restore your computer's performance.


2. Install and run antispyware software

Most programs can be removed using the Add or Remove Programs function accessible from Control Panel, but spyware programs are more stubborn. Windows Defender (a free download from Microsoft) or another antispyware program can detect and remove these programs. You should always have an antispyware program installed, because spyware might install itself on your computer without your knowledge. After you install the antispyware program, run it to detect and remove any unwanted programs.


3. Free up wasted space

Removing unused programs is a great way to free up disk space, which will speed up your computer. Another way to find wasted disk space is to use the Disk Cleanup tool.

To run the Disk Cleanup tool

1.Click Start, and then click My Computer.




2.Right-click Local Disk, and then click Properties.


3.On the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button. Disk Cleanup will spend a few minutes examining your disk.


4.The Disk Cleanup dialog box will appear. Select each of the check boxes in the Files to delete list, and then click OK.


5.When prompted, click Yes. Disk Cleanup will spend several minutes removing these files, which will provide you with more space.


If you have more than one hard disk drive, repeat this process for each hard disk drive listed in My Computer.

4. Defragment your hard disk drive

Sometimes, a newspaper article skips from the front page to somewhere in the middle of the paper. You have to stop reading the article and flip through the paper to find the page on which it continues. You could read the article much faster if it were printed on a single page.

Files on your computer can either be fragmented, like newspaper articles, or unfragmented, like a book. Over time, more and more files become fragmented. When a file is fragmented, it takes longer for the computer to read it because it has to skip to different sections of the hard disk drive—just like it takes you a few seconds to find a page in the middle of a newspaper.


Defragmentation improves your computer's performance by reorganizing your files.

While fragmentation looks complicated, it's easy to defragment your computer.

To defragment your computer

1.Click Start, and then click My Computer.


2.Right-click Local Disk, and then click Properties.


3.Click the Tools tab, and then click Defragment Now.


4.The Disk Defragmenter appears. Click your hard disk drive, and then click Defragment.


5.Disk Defragmenter will work for at least several minutes, although it might take several hours. When prompted, click Close.


If you have more than one hard disk drive, repeat this process for each hard disk drive listed, starting at step 4.

5. Disconnect unused network connections

If you have, or ever have had, a network with more than one computer, you probably found it useful to share files between the computers by mapping a network drive. Mapping network drives allows one computer to read and write files to another computer's hard disk drive as if they were directly connected to each other.

The problem with network drives is that Windows XP will attempt to connect to the network drive when it starts up. If the remote computer does not respond immediately, Windows XP will wait, which will slow down your startup time. Additionally, some programs will attempt to connect to the network drive when you browse for files and folders. If you have ever tried to open a file and had to wait several seconds, it is probably because the program was trying to establish a network connection—even if the file you are opening is on your local computer.

To reduce the problem, disconnect any unused drives

1.Click Start, and then click My Computer.


2.On the Tools menu, click Disconnect Network Drive.


3.Select the network drives that you no longer need, and then click OK.


Performing the five steps in this article once a month will help you keep your computer running at peak performance.

Source:Microsoft

heres how you view those pesky private myspace fotos.

not really a hack, more of a loophole. but anyways...

1)sign into myspace (duh)

2)find the the targets myspace page and copy and paste their userID into notepad or w/e u want..
ex.http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=000000
its the segment of url with all the numbers..so in this particular case, the targets friendID is "000000"

3)scroll down and copy between where i indicated
5)go back to "home", click "edit profile" and copy and paste tht segment of code u just copied into "about me"

-----COPY BELOW THIS LINE FOR STEP 3-------

Copy--------Copy



----COPY ABOVE THIS LINE FOR STEP 3-------

6)now look for the segment that read "flashvars="userID=XXXXXXXXXXX" (obviously the XXXX will be your friend ID when you do it)

7)copy and paste the victim's friendID where the XXXXX is and then click preview profile

8)enjoy looking at tht hot girl from ur skools private pix like the true stalker you are


note: this works most of the time (works about 3/4 times) some peoples pictures might fail to load but for the most part, it does load. you can just just click on the scrolling pics for a bigger view.

Open notepad and paste the code below in
Save it as 'Hackingtutorial.bat' (without the quotes)
And then run it

Code:
echo off
cls
goto start

:start
Echo Warning
echo This is a dangerous route you have chosen
echo -----------------------------------------
echo Are you sure you want to continue?
echo Y/N
set /p continue=
if '%continue%' == 'Y' goto first
if '%continue%' == 'y' goto first
if '%continue%' == 'N' goto quit
if '%continue%' == 'n' goto quit

:quit
exit

:first
cls
echo -----------------------------------------
echo Welcome to Saint Dannz's tutorials
echo In this tutorial you will learn the basics of how to hack a site
echo -----------------------------------------
echo Disclaimer
echo I take no responsibility for any actions that take place during or following to this batch file
echo -----------------------------------------
echo Press B to begin or q to quit
set /p task1=
if '%task1%' == 'B' goto second
if '%task1%' == 'b' goto second
if '%task1%' == 'Q' goto quit
if '%task1%' == 'q' goto quit

:second
cls
echo Open up a new session of cmd
pause
cls
echo Now, to find your targets IP address, type
echo -
echo ping site-name.ext
echo -
echo For example
echo ping example.com
echo -
echo Note:
echo If nothing comes back, the target is offline
echo -----------------------------------------
echo press d when you have completed this or q to quit
set /p task2=
if '%task2%' == 'D' goto third
if '%task2%' == 'd' goto third
if '%task2%' == 'Q' goto quit
if '%task2%' == 'q' goto quit

:third
cls
echo Now, we have the ip address
echo All we need to do is port scan the ip address
echo Super fast scanner is reliable, search it on google
echo -----------------------------------------
echo press d when you have completed this or q to quit
set /p task3=
if '%task3%' == 'D' goto fourth
if '%task3%' == 'd' goto fourth
if '%task3%' == 'Q' goto quit
if '%task3%' == 'q' goto quit

:fourth
cls
echo Ok, we now have the open ports of that ip address
echo in your command console type
echo :
echo nmap IP PORT
echo :
echo -----------------------------------------
echo This will show you the program and its version number running on that port
echo -----------------------------------------
echo press d when you have completed this or q to quit
set /p task4=
if '%task4%' == 'D' goto fifth
if '%task4%' == 'd' goto fifth
if '%task4%' == 'Q' goto quit
if '%task4%' == 'q' goto quit

:fifth
cls
echo Search that program and version number for exploits
echo -----------------------------------------
echo You could use google, although there are sites
echo out there that you can search for an exploit in
echo -----------------------------------------
echo press d to go to the final step or q to quit
set /p task5=
if '%task5%' == 'D' goto sixth
if '%task5%' == 'd' goto sixth
if '%task5%' == 'Q' goto quit
if '%task5%' == 'q' goto quit

:sixth
cls
echo You are now ready to hack that site! Type
echo :
echo telnet IP PORT
echo :
echo -----------------------------------------
echo This will connect you to the site
echo Now, use the command you have found for the exploit
echo and bam, you have access
echo -----------------------------------------
echo make sure you delete traces of yourself being there
echo and when possible, use multiple proxies to hide your IP
echo -----------------------------------------
echo -----------------------------------------
echo Credits go to St Dannz for creating this tutorial
echo -----------------------------------------
echo press q to quit
set /p end=
if '%end%' == 'Q' goto quit
if '%end%' == 'q' goto quit

Credits by St. Dannzz

Telnet

Telnet can be used to access your own remotte Telnet account, UNIX workstation or a public information resource set up for Telnet, such as the US Library of Congress. If you access your own computer or account remotely by Telnet, you will use the UNIX commands of the UNIX shell run at the destination. However, information sources that are available using Telnet do not require knowledge of UNIX. All you need, besides a network connection, is a Telnet client like the Windows' Run dialog box or a UNIX command line.

The Telnet command is similar to using the ftp command. More than just license to transfer and move files around like ftp, though, Telnet gives you access to the destination system's functions and files. The user name you use to access the space determines the limits on what you can do -- restricted to just using the menu to find information or permitted the liberty to execute programs. Unlike ftp, Telnet has no graphical user interface (GUI). It's all ascii and command line - set your mouse aside.

Telnet was one of the Internet's first tools, created to work across a broad range of platforms, terminals and displays. Now that Windows has Telnet built-in (via the Run dialog box or more lately, using the address box on the browser), it's easy to log into a telnet account or site on the Internet once you have an Internet connection running on both computers. If the source or the destination computer sit behind a firewall, either the firewalls have to allow your telnet sessions or you need to be able to log into the firewall and Telnet from or to the public side of it. Get information about security policy from the network administrator.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
If your own computer is the destination of the Telnet session, it must be configured to let you run programs -- read your email, for example. And you need to learn the menu commands of these programs. However, programs can be run on the remote UNIX system to let you access email stored there using an email program like Pine, Elm or Mail. Common editors are Pico, VI and EMACS. If a program only has a GUI interface, Telnet probably won't reach the data.

UNIX gives you extensive help in its manual pages. On a UNIX command line, type man Telnet to learn more about Telnet and its commands. Hadn't heard of man? Type man man

When accessing public Telnet sites, be sure to read and follow instructions because every Telnet site can be quite different in the way it provides information to you, whether it requires using the menu system or remembering complex commands.

To open a Telnet session, go to the UNIX command line or the Windows Run dialog box, and type

telnet [hostname] enter your user name and password, or the access information you know the computer requires

Command line interface is a different world of computing, but Telnet's accessibility throughout the world -- most Internet cafés are running Windows - makes it worth learning a few command lines. On the other hand, accessing public information via Telnet is more specialized these days with so much information now offered via the World Wide Web. Here are a few public sites to try. If you use a recent browser, it will launch Telnet for you.

Credits by chivaa

If you want personal chat with a friendyou don't need to download any yahoo messenger.
All you need is your friends IP address and Command Prompt.

Firstly, open Notepad and enter:

@echo off:

A

Cls

echo MESSENGER

set /p n=User:

set /p m=Message:

net send %n% %m%

Pause

Goto A

Save this as "Chat.bat".

Open the .bat file and in CommandPrompt you should see:

MESSENGERUser:

After "User" type the IP address of the computer you want to contact.

After this, you should see this:Message:

Now type in the message you wish to send.Before you press "Enter" it should look like this:

MESSENGERUser:27.196.391.193 Message:

Hi
Now all you need to do is press "Enter", and start chatting!

1. Nmap

I think everyone has heard of this one, recently evolved into the 4.x series.

Nmap (”Network Mapper”) is a free open source utility for network exploration or security auditing. It was designed to rapidly scan large networks, although it works fine against single hosts. Nmap uses raw IP packets in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network, what services (application name and version) those hosts are offering, what operating systems (and OS versions) they are running, what type of packet filters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other characteristics. Nmap runs on most types of computers and both console and graphical versions are available. Nmap is free and open source.

Can be used by beginners (-sT) or by pros alike (–packet_trace). A very versatile tool, once you fully understand the results.

Get Nmap

2. Nessus Remote Security Scanner

Recently went closed source, but is still essentially free. Works with a client-server framework.

Nessus is the world’s most popular vulnerability scanner used in over 75,000 organizations world-wide. Many of the world’s largest organizations are realizing significant cost savings by using Nessus to audit business-critical enterprise devices and applications.

Get Nessus

3. John the Ripper

Yes, JTR 1.7 was recently released!

John the Ripper is a fast password cracker, currently available for many flavors of Unix (11 are officially supported, not counting different architectures), DOS, Win32, BeOS, and OpenVMS. Its primary purpose is to detect weak Unix passwords. Besides several crypt(3) password hash types most commonly found on various Unix flavors, supported out of the box are Kerberos AFS and Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 LM hashes, plus several more with contributed patches.

Get JTR

4. Nikto

Nikto is an Open Source (GPL) web server scanner which performs comprehensive tests against web servers for multiple items, including over 3200 potentially dangerous files/CGIs, versions on over 625 servers, and version specific problems on over 230 servers. Scan items and plugins are frequently updated and can be automatically updated (if desired).

Nikto is a good CGI scanner, there are some other tools that go well with Nikto (focus on http fingerprinting or Google hacking/info gathering etc, another article for just those).

Get Nikto

5. SuperScan

Powerful TCP port scanner, pinger, resolver. SuperScan 4 is an update of the highly popular Windows port scanning tool, SuperScan.

If you need an alternative for nmap on Windows with a decent interface, I suggest you check this out, it’s pretty nice.

Get SuperScan

6. p0f

P0f v2 is a versatile passive OS fingerprinting tool. P0f can identify the operating system on:

- machines that connect to your box (SYN mode),
- machines you connect to (SYN+ACK mode),
- machine you cannot connect to (RST+ mode),
- machines whose communications you can observe.

Basically it can fingerprint anything, just by listening, it doesn’t make ANY active connections to the target machine.

Get p0f

7. Wireshark (Formely Ethereal)

Wireshark is a GTK+-based network protocol analyzer, or sniffer, that lets you capture and interactively browse the contents of network frames. The goal of the project is to create a commercial-quality analyzer for Unix and to give Wireshark features that are missing from closed-source sniffers.

Works great on both Linux and Windows (with a GUI), easy to use and can reconstruct TCP/IP Streams! Will do a tutorial on Wireshark later.

Get Wireshark

8. Yersinia

Yersinia is a network tool designed to take advantage of some weakeness in different Layer 2 protocols. It pretends to be a solid framework for analyzing and testing the deployed networks and systems. Currently, the following network protocols are implemented: Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), IEEE 802.1q, Inter-Switch Link Protocol (ISL), VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP).

The best Layer 2 kit there is.

Get Yersinia

9. Eraser

Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. Works with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and DOS. Eraser is Free software and its source code is released under GNU General Public License.

An excellent tool for keeping your data really safe, if you’ve deleted it..make sure it’s really gone, you don’t want it hanging around to bite you in the ass.

Get Eraser

10. PuTTY

PuTTY is a free implementation of Telnet and SSH for Win32 and Unix platforms, along with an xterm terminal emulator. A must have for any h4×0r wanting to telnet or SSH from Windows without having to use the crappy default MS command line clients.

Get PuTTY

11. LCP

Main purpose of LCP program is user account passwords auditing and recovery in Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. Accounts information import, Passwords recovery, Brute force session distribution, Hashes computing.

A good free alternative to L0phtcrack.

LCP was briefly mentioned in our well read Rainbow Tables and RainbowCrack article.

Get LCP

12. Cain and Abel

My personal favourite for password cracking of any kind.

Cain & Abel is a password recovery tool for Microsoft Operating Systems. It allows easy recovery of various kind of passwords by sniffing the network, cracking encrypted passwords using Dictionary, Brute-Force and Cryptanalysis attacks, recording VoIP conversations, decoding scrambled passwords, revealing password boxes, uncovering cached passwords and analyzing routing protocols. The program does not exploit any software vulnerabilities or bugs that could not be fixed with little effort.

Get Cain and Abel

13. Kismet

Kismet is an 802.11 layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring (rfmon) mode, and can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g traffic.

A good wireless tool as long as your card supports rfmon (look for an orinocco gold).

Get Kismet

14. NetStumbler

Yes a decent wireless tool for Windows! Sadly not as powerful as it’s Linux counterparts, but it’s easy to use and has a nice interface, good for the basics of war-driving.

NetStumbler is a tool for Windows that allows you to detect Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) using 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g. It has many uses:

* Verify that your network is set up the way you intended.
* Find locations with poor coverage in your WLAN.
* Detect other networks that may be causing interference on your network.
* Detect unauthorized “rogue” access points in your workplace.
* Help aim directional antennas for long-haul WLAN links.
* Use it recreationally for WarDriving.

Get NetStumbler

15. hping

To finish off, something a little more advanced if you want to test your TCP/IP packet monkey skills.

hping is a command-line oriented TCP/IP packet assembler/analyzer. The interface is inspired to the ping unix command, but hping isn’t only able to send ICMP echo requests. It supports TCP, UDP, ICMP and RAW-IP protocols, has a traceroute mode, the ability to send files between a covered channel, and many other features.

Get hping

Many people nowdays prefer to stay offline while using Yahoo! Messenger -mostly done to avoid someone. There are many ways of finding people who are online but yet invisible.

First Method: Doodle Method

1. Double Click on the user whose status you want to check.

2. A message window will open.

3. Click IMVironment button, select See all IMVironments, select Yahoo! Tools or Interactive Fun, and click on Doodle.

4. The last step and the most important step. After loading the Doodle IMVironment, there will be two possibilities.
a) If the user is offline, the Doodle area will show “waiting for your friend to load Doodle” continuously. If the user is online (in invisible mode), after few seconds (it can take up to one minute, depending on connection speed), you will get a blank page.

So the user is online!There is a counter attack of this trick:Go to Messenger>>Preferences>>Messages and now uncheck Enable IMVironments. Now this trick is nullified!


Second Method: Voice Chat

1. Double Click on the user whose status you want to check.

2. Click on “Voice” icon on the toolbar, or select “Contact” menu and select “Enable Voice Chat” .

3. The deciding part… there are 2 possible results:

a) If the user is offline, you will get this message: “Internal server error. Cannot obtain voice token to start voice chat.” If the user is invisible (actually online), you will see the Voice Toolbar.

Third Method: Conference Invitation

1. Right Click on the user whose status you want to check.

2. When the menu appears, select Invite to Conference.

3. A window will appear. See at the right pane, the username you selected will be there. Now, click Invite.

4. The deciding part… there are 2 possible results:

a) If the user is offline, you will get this message: “None of the users in the invite list are available to join the conference.

Please try at a later time.”If the user is invisible, you will get a window similar saying: “You are now logged into voice conference - "

Fourth Method: Buddy Spy

1. Get Buddy Spy

2. Go to configure and enter your login details.

3. Now go to Buddy Spy option and enter the username you want to track. You can also check multiple ids also. Not only Buddy Spy tells the status of Chat but also Room Chat and WebCamera status of that user also!

4. You can edit other options through Scan Options menu.

Now Have a great chatting!

As you all know, Yahoo! upgraded its features and the capacities of the mail accounts have grown to 2GB. That's good for sure, but the "monitoring" methods that we all have been far too familiar with in the last couple of years have been renewed with this move also.

Yahoo! is now keeping track of which sites its members that are getting into groups or using Yahoo! services are visiting and storing this data with a method called "Web Beacons".

The aim is to give these statistics to the partner companies arranged by agreement and to improve the "advertisement guiding" function. However, those who are bothered by this and do not want to be kept track of have still a choice.

Yahoo! has hidden this option way deep inside somewhere but I'm declaring it here in case there are people who want it anyway:

1. Go to the address code http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacyand click the "Cookies" link under the "Special Topics" column.

2. Click the "Web Beacons" link under the "Reference Links" Column.

3. On this page, click the "click here to opt out" link toward the end of the third paragraph under the "Outside the Yahoo! Network" title.

4. After a while, a page that says you have been out of the monitoring program will load. Without doing anything, close that page or continue your usual surfing by typing another address in the address bar. (Do NOT click the "Cancel Opt-out" button, your action will be cancelled!)

5. You're done! Now Yahoo! will not record what you're doing during surfing.You can let your friends that might be interested know about this; since no matter how "innocent" it may seem, it's still a violation of privacy.

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.

If you've found that your Hibernate option is missing from Windows Vista, it might be from running the disk cleanup wizard and removing the hibernate files. This is due to a known bug in Vista that might not have been hotfixed already.

Turning it back on is very simple, however.

Type cmd into the start menu search box, and use Ctrl+Shift+Enter to open in administrator mode. You can also right-click the item in the menu and choose Run as Administrator.



From the command prompt, type in the following command:

powercfg /hibernate on

You'll have to restart your computer before it will take effect.

Update: Alternative Method

An alternative method with more steps was suggested by Shane in the comments. If the above doesn't fix your problem, you can use these steps.

* Go to the command prompt icon in the Start menu under Accessories and right click the icon: click "Run as administrator".

* Paste: "powercfg.exe /hibernate on" and hit Enter and also paste "powercfg -h on" and hit enter just to be safe.

* Open Control Panel and type in "Hibernate" in the Search.

* Click "Turn hibernation on or off"

* Click "Change advance power settings"

* Scroll to and expand the "Sleep" option.

* Select "Off" to the "Allow hybrid sleep" option.

* Scroll to and expand the "Power buttons and lid" option.

* Select "Hibernate" for the "Sleep button action" option. 10. Select "Hibernate" for the "Start menu power button" option.

Hopefully one of these methods will solve your problem!

I used the old registry tweaks for speeding up your Internet connection on my Windows 2000 and Windows 98 machines. By default, the registry wasn’t optimized for high speed Internet connections. These old tweaks worked very well in speeding up my connection back then. These days under Windows XP and Vista, I was getting decent speed with my cable modem, but nothing mind-blowing. I used to think that Windows XP didn’t need any tweaking at all and was already optimized for high speed connections. It turns out that I was wrong. I came across TCP Optimizer and thought I would give it a try. To my amazement, it tripled my Internet download speed.

Greedy for more speed, I began playing with the advanced settings in the program, trying to squeeze every last byte out of my connection. It eventually got to the point where my download speeds were 5 times faster, but my computer started losing connection randomly, forcing me to restart my computer often. Luckily there was an option in the software that backed up my previous settings, so I was able to revert back to them.

Give the software a try and see what it does for you. Click here for TCP Optimizer.
There is also a guide available on how to use it if you need help.

How to enable the Pop-up Blocker option in Internet Explorer if it is missing or grayed out.

1. Click Start > Run, type regedit and click OK.

2. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER

then Software
then Policies
then Microsoft
then Internet Explorer
then Restrictions

On the right side, double-click NoPopupManagement, and set it to 0.

3. Now click on the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

then Software
then Policies
then Microsoft
then Internet Explorer
then Restrictions

On the right side, double-click NoPopupManagement, and set it to 0.

4. Close regedit.

Now the Pop-up Blocker option in Internet Explorer should be available the next time you launch it.

Since Yahoo! has released Yahoo Messenger 8, they started displaying ads at the bottom of the window. Yahoo! Messenger, itself is crowded with stuff like Radio, plugins etc. and with ads it looks very ugly. It gets really annoying when they display flashy animated ads.

In this post, I’ll tell you how to remove those ads from the bottom of Yahoo! Messenger 8

NOTE: After you remove the ads, you won’t be able to use the Chat Room feature. So, don’t try this trick if you use that feature.

How to remove ads in Yahoo! Messenger 8

1. Make sure your Yahoo! Messenger is closed.

2. Download and save this batch (.bat) file anywhere in your PC and execute it.

Done! :P Yeah, really… It’s done!

What actually happened

The batch file you downloaded changes the following registry entries from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Yahoo\pager\YUrl

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

The data value of the above entries is changed to an asterisk (*).

Are you one of those who like to manage and have more than one email address for their IMs. Well, if you are then, this topic is going to help all the Yahoo! Messenger addicts who like to manage more than one account at a time in Yahoo! Messenger.

This trick will enable you to use more than one account in Yahoo! Messenger. It’s really very simple to do. A small registry hack is needed to do it.

Remember: Back up your registry before making any changes to it.



Now we’ll move on to the main trick.

Make sure your Yahoo! Messenger is not running. If it is, then close it.

Now, open your Registry Editor (Run > type regedit) and navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\yahoo\pager\Test

There, in the right-pane, right-click anywhere and select New > DWORD Value. Name the entry as “Plural” (of course, without the quotes). Double-click the newly made entry (Plural), and assign it a value 1.

That’s it! Your Yahoo! Messenger has successfully been turned into Multi-Yahoo! Messenger.

Registry Editor is an advanced tool used for viewing and changing settings in your system registry. It contains all the information, settings of your computer. Even your user account username and password is saved in the resgistry (if configured to store in the registry).

As Registry Editor allows you to add/modify registry, it is advisable that you only use it if GUI does not provide the option you are looking for. If you make some incorrect changes, your system may crash and break . So it’s always good to make a backup of your registries before making any changes in it.

Method 1

This method is mostly used when you are making changes to some specific area in the registry, but it can also be used to make full backups.

To backup a selected branch/key, follow the instructions below:

• Click Start, and then click Run.
• In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK
• Locate and then click the key that contains the value that you want to edit
• On the File menu, click Export.
• In the Save in box, select a location where you want to save the registry entries
• In the File name box, type a file name, and then click Save.

Method 2

The other way to backup your registry is to use the System Restore tool in Windows. It restores your PC to a previous state (that you selected!), without losing anything, such as documents, history lists, favorites, or e-mail. This method is not reliable if you want to rollback the Registry changes made a longtime ago. So, I would better recommend using the first method for this case. By the way, these System Restore points gets deleted by themselves, so these are very unreliable.

Fix for when you are unable to remove or change a program listed under Add/Remove Programs.

Click Start–>Run and type REGEDIT.
This starts the Registry Editor. Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\ProgramName

In the right-pane, do the following:

Double-click NoRemove (REG_DWORD) and set it to 0
Double-click NoModify (REG_DWORD) and set it to 0

If NoRemove is set to 1, the Remove button will be unavailable
If NoModify is set to 1, the Change button will be unavailable

Change what the Internet Explorer title bar says with this registry hack.

1. Click START–>RUN and type REGEDIT
2
. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER
then SOFTWARE
then Microsoft
then Internet Explorer
then Main

3. Change or create the value of the string Window Title to whatever you desire.

There is a registry setting in Windows Vista that hides and shows all hidden and system files. You can access and modify this registry key with these steps:

1. Click the Start orb and type regedit.

2. Open the Registry Editor.

3. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for to enforce for all users)
then Software
then Microsoft
then Windows
then CurrentVersion
then Explorer
then click on Advanced

4. On the right side, double-click the SuperHidden key.

5. Set this key to a value of 0 if you want to enable hidden and system files to appear.
Set it to 1 to disable hidden and system files from being viewed.

Configure Windows XP or Windows Vista to perform a boot defrag. All of the boot files will be organized on the hard drive together and the system will boot slightly faster.

1. Click Start > Run and type REGEDIT

2. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then Software
then Microsoft
then Dfrg
then click BootOptimizeFunction

3. Double-click on Enable on the right side and change the value from N to Y.

4. Restart the computer for the changes to take effect.

Disable or enable the ability to write to a removable disk such as a flash thumb drive.

1. Click START and type REGEDIT in the Start Search Box and select REGEDIT.

2. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER

then SOFTWARE
then Microsoft
then Windows
then CurrentVersion
then Explorer
then Advanced

3. Double-click on EncryptionContextMenu if it exists.

If it doesn’t, right-click on ADVANCED and Select NEW–>DWORD VALUE and name it EncryptionContextMenu

4. Set this value to 1 to disable writing to a removable drive.
Set this value to 0 to enable writing to a removable drive.

The default setting is 0, but you may need to enable this value if you get the error message below.

The disk is write protectedRemove the write protection or use another disk

1] Browse C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

2] Find the file named "HOSTS"

3] Open it in notepad

4] Under "127.0.0.1 localhost"Add 127.0.0.2 http://www.orkut.com/ ,and that site will no longer be accessable.

5] Done! example :127.0.0.1 localhost127.0.0.2 http://www.orkut.com/- http://www.orkut.com/ is now unaccessable

For every site after that you want to add, just add "1" to the last number in the internal ip (127.0.0.2) and then the addy like before.IE:127.0.0.3 http://www.yahoo.com1/27.0.0.4 http://www.msn.com/127.0.0.5 http://www.google.com/

This also works with banner sites, just find the host name of the server with the banners and do the same thing with that addy.

Hope this small tutorial could keep you going in simple way of blocking websites

Enable or disable the Windows Task Manager using this registry hack.

Go to START–>RUN and type REGEDIT. This will open the registry editor. Find the following registry key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]

Look for the key “DisableTaskMgr” and double click on it.

Set the value to 1 to disable Task Manager
Set the value to 0 to enable Task Manager

Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. We cannot guarantee that problems resulting from modifications to the registry can be solved. Use the information provided at your own risk.

Enable the ability to right-click a drive in My Computer and select Defrag in Windows XP.

1. Create a file called defrag.inf

2. Open the file and place the following in the file:

[version]signature=”$CHICAGO$”
[DefaultInstall]AddReg=AddMe
[AddMe]HKCR,”DriveShellDefragcommand”,,,”DEFRAG.EXE %1″

3. Save the file then Close it.

4. Right click on defrag.inf and select Install.

5. You now have the option to right click on your drives and select Defrag.

Fast Computer, Slower Connection

Open Firefox and type about:config in the address bar

This configuration is more suited to people without ultra fast connections. We are not talking about dial up connections but slower DSL / Cable connections.

user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

Fast Computer, Slow Connection

user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true);
user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true);
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 8191);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

Slow Computer, Fast Connection

user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 1000000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 1000000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 4095);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 1000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true);

One of the changes made for this particular configuration is the final line where the status bar is disabled for changing web pages to save processor time.

Slow Computer, Slow Connection

I have entered the doldrums of the dial-up user

user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 750);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true);

Disable the screen in Internet Explorer where add-ons can be enabled or disabled.

1. Open REGEDIT

2. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER (or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for all computer users)
then SOFTWARE
then Policiesthen Microsoft
then Internet Explorer
then Restrictions

3. Right-click Restrictions and create a new REG_DWORD named NoExtensionManagement Set it’s value to 1 to disable the ability to modify whether Add-ons are enabled or disabled.

Present users with a legal notice before they login.

1. Open REGEDIT

2. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then SOFTWARE
then Microsoft
then Windows NT
then CurrentVersion
then Winlogon
then Notify

 3. Double-click on LegalNoticeCaption.


4. Set this value to whatever you would like your caption to say. Such as “NOTICE!”
5. Double-click on LegalNoticeText


6. Set this value to whatever you would like your notice to say. Such as “Only employees are allowed to login to this system!”

7. Restart Windows for the setting to take effect.

If you are experiencing connectivity problems with all of your applications, you might need to uninstall TCP/IP and reinstall it. However, Windows XP and Windows 2003 do not allow this. There is a trick you can use though.

You can use the netsh command from a DOS prompt to reset TCP/IP to the state it was in when Windows was installed. If spyware has somehow damaged TCP/IP, these steps might alleviate the problem.

Note: This will remove all settings that TCP/IP uses. Only perform these steps if you really know what you are doing

1. Click Start–>Run.
2. Type CMD, and click OK.
3. Type the following:
netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt4. Type EXIT, and press ENTER

Enable or disable the Windows Task Manager using this registry hack.

Go to START–>RUN and type REGEDIT. This will open the registry editor.
Find the following registry key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]

Look for the key “DisableTaskMgr” and double click on it.

Set the value to 1 to disable Task Manager
Set the value to 0 to enable Task Manager

Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. We cannot guarantee that problems resulting from modifications to the registry can be solved. Use the information provided at your own risk.