Thursday, October 16, 2008

Three most used Backdoor programs

There is a general misconception about security today. Most people would love to believe that their firewalls are completely capable to protect them from anything indecent. The sad part, they could not be more wrong. Hungry Hacker aim to prove it with three separate programs that can compromise the security of computers you have the opportunity to say “What’s a backdoor?” Yes, these programs were created in 1990, but still pose a real threat today. It is the first two that are still being developed.

Using these programs any noob can remotely access your computer without any Authentication and do whatever he wants. I will tell you some of the features rest of them you need to try it and find out. These Programs :

* Work as a key logger.
* Send any Information from Victim’s PC to the Hacker’s PC.
* Run any program on the Victims PC.
* Display any Violating Image on victim’s Screen.
* Open the CD Drive of the Victim’s PC.
* Open any Web page on the Victims Screen.
* Disable any Specific Key or whole Keyboard.
* Shutdown Victim’s PC.
* Start a Song on the Victim’s PC.etc.etc…………..

Back Orifice / Back Orifice 2000

Back Orifice is one of the most common backdoor programs, and one of the most deadly. The name may seem like a joke, but sure, the threat is real. Back Orifice was established in Cult of the Dead Cow group. Back Orifice is an Open Source Program. The main Threat of this software is that by making some changes in the code anybody can make it undetectable to the Anti virus Program running on the Victim’s computer. Apart from the strange title, the program usually gets port 31337, the reference to “Lit” phenomenon is popular among hackers.

Back Orifice uses a client-server model, while the server and client is the victim attacker. What makes Back Orifice so dangerous that it can install and operate silently. There is not required interaction with the user in, meaning you could its on your computer right now, and do not know.

Companies such as Symantec have taken steps to protect computers against programs that they consider dangerous. But even more attacks using Back Orifice 2000. This is due partly to the fact that it is still evolving, as open source. As stated in the documentation the goal is ultimately the presence of the Back Orifice 2000 unknown even to those who installed it.

Back Orifice 2000, developed for Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Where can I download Back orifice 2000?

Back Orifice 2000 can be downloaded at the following address: http://sourceforge.net/projects/bo2k/

Infected! How do I remove it?

Removing Back Orifice 2000 may require that you change the registry settings. To remove it at 7 simple steps, refer to the diagram below.

How do I delete Back orifice 2000

1. Click Start> Run, and type “Regedit”(without the quotes)
2. Follow the path below: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices “
3. Now looking in the right box: “The umgr32 = ‘c: \ windows \ system \ umgr32.exe”
4. Right-click on this entry and click Remove. Now restart your computer.
5. After restarting only open Windows Explorer. Make sure you can see all registered extensions. To do so, select “View Options and configure the appropriate settings.
6. Go to the WINDOWS \ SYSTEM directory, and find “umgr32.exe” file. Once you find it, delete it.
7. Exit Windows Explorer and reboot again.

NetBus / Netbus 2.0 Pro

NetBus was established around the same time that the Back Orifice was in the late 1990’s. NetBus was originally designed as a program prank friends and family, of course anything too malicious. However, the program was released in 1998, and is widely used as a backdoor to manage computer.

Like the Back Orifice, NetBus allows attackers to do virtually everything in the computer victim. It also works well under Windows 9x systems, as well as Windows XP. Unlike Back Orifice, the latest version of NetBus regarded shareware is not free. NetBus is also implementing less stealthy operations, as a direct result of criticism and complaints of abusive use.

Where can I buy and download NetBus?

NetBus can be purchased and downloaded at the following address: http://www.netbus.org/

Ok, I am infected. Now what?

Fortunately, the latest version of NetBus is a valid program. It can be removed just like any other program. Previous issuance NetBus is a bit more tricky, however. If you are not lucky enough attacked with the latest version, the withdrawal process and in the Back Orifice.

How do I remove NetBus?

1. Click Start> Run, and type “Regedit ‘(without the quotes)
2. Follow the path below: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices “
3. Now, in the right box, looking as follows: “[Name_of_Server].”Exe Of course, you have to find the actual name of this file EXE-. Usually This” Patch.exe ‘or’ SysEdit.exe “, but may vary.
4. Reboot and remove all traces of the actual program, which can be left. Additionally, you can set yourself NetBus, and then use its own function disposal.

SubSeven / Sub7

SubSeven or Sub7, has been established for the same purpose was to NetBus pranks. Sub7 actually has more support for pranks, and has more advanced users. Sub7 also widely used by the script kiddies, although that many firewalls and anti-virus software before initialization.

Since Sub7 not supported for several years, the threat is usually very low. Most security programs will not have any problem in ending Sub7 before it has a chance to be started. This shows that the importance to the modernization and security programs is critical, because the money was still there.

Nevertheless, it is widely used by those who have physical access to your firewall, or security programs. If access rights, the tool will work without restrictions.

Where can I buy and download Sub7?

Sub7 not supported more, and hence is not available for download on any legitimate websites. If you were to make a Google search, you would find links to download Sub7. However, this is not the official site, and should be considered dubious and dangerous.

Sounds harmless, How do I remove it?

1. End of the following processes through the curator: “editserver.exe, subseven.exe”
2. Delete the following files: “editserver.exe, subseven.exe, tutorial.txt.”

Why these programs is absolutely legitimate?

All the basis behind these programs is that they are designed to help people, not harm. While some like NetBus really were originally created for pranks, they switched routes to avoid legal problems.

These programs claim to be the legitimate remote desktop program, although they certainly easily used for malicious use. These programs really should be used to aid or customer support departments. Why all adolescents is to copy these programs goes beyond us, but leave the content of their networks, while computer is a good idea.

The advent of new technology has made these programs in some respects less effective. However, programs such as Back Orifice 2000, yet still evolving, so do not be surprised to learn that he works in the background, waiting for instructions. Since the best defense is a good offense, be sure to save a sharp eye on what is installed on the network computers. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Top 20 hacking tools

These are Top 20 Hacking Tools, the list is exhaustive, this are a few to name.

Nessus

The “Nessus” Project aims to provide to the internet community a free, powerful, up-to-date and easy to use remote security scanner for Linux, BSD, Solaris, and other flavors of Unix.

Download Nessus here

Ethereal

Ethereal is a free network protocol analyzer for Unix and Windows. Ethereal has several powerful features, including a rich display filter language and the ability to view the reconstructed stream of a TCP session.

Download Ethereal here

Snort

Snort is an open source network intrusion detection system, capable of performing real-time traffic analysis and packet logging on IP networks.

Download Snort here

Netcat

Netcat has been dubbed the network swiss army knife. It is a simple Unix utility which reads and writes data across network connections, using TCP or UDP protocol

Download Netcat here

TCPdump

TCPdump is the most used network sniffer/analyzer for UNIX. TCPTrace analyzes the dump file format generated by TCPdump and other applications.

Download TCPdump here

Hping

Hping is a command-line oriented TCP/IP packet assembler/analyzer, kind of like the “ping” program (but with a lot of extensions).

Download Hping here

DSniff

DSniff is a collection of tools for network auditing and penetration testing. dsniff, filesnarf, mailsnarf, msgsnarf, urlsnarf, and webspy passively monitor a network for interesting data (passwords, e-mail, files, etc.).

Download DSniff here

GFI LANguard

GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner (N.S.S.) automatically scans your entire network, IP by IP, and plays the devil’s advocate alerting you to security vulnerabilities.

Download GFI Lan Guard here

Ettercap

Ettercap is a multipurpose sniffer/interceptor/logger for switched LAN. It supports active and passive dissection of many protocols (even ciphered ones)and includes many feature for network and host analysis.

Download Ettercap here

Nikto

Nikto is an Open Source (GPL) web server scanner which performs comprehensive tests against web servers for multiple items, including over 2500 potentially dangerous files/CGIs, versions on over 375 servers, and version specific problems on over 230 servers.

Download Nikto here

John the Ripper

John the Ripper is a fast password cracker, currently available for many flavors of Unix.

Download John the Ripper here

OpenSSH

OpenSSH is a FREE version of the SSH protocol suite of network connectivity tools, which encrypts all traffic (including passwords) to effectively eliminate eavesdropping, connection hijacking, and other network-level attacks.

Download OpenSSH here

TripWire

Tripwire is a tool that can be used for data and program integrity assurance.

Download Tripwire here

Kismet

Kismet is an 802.11 wireless network sniffer - this is different from a normal network sniffer (such as Ethereal or tcpdump) because it separates and identifies different wireless networks in the area.

Download Kismet here

NetFilter

NetFilter and iptables are the framework inside the Linux 2.4.x kernel which enables packet filtering, network address translation (NAT) and other packetmangling.

Download NetFilter here

IP Filter

IP Filter is a software package that can be used to provide network address translation (NAT) or firewall services.

Download IP Filter here

pf

OpenBSD Packet Filter

fport

fport identifys all open TCP/IP and UDP ports and maps them to the owning application.

Download fport here

SAINT

SAINT network vulnerability assessment scanner detects vulnerabilities in your network’s security before they can be exploited.

Download SAINT here

OpenPGP

OpenPGP is a non-proprietary protocol for encrypting email using public key cryptography. It is based on PGP as originally developed by Phil Zimmermann

Download PGP here

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Customize Right Click Menu

Customize Your ‘Send To’ Right-Click Windows Menu

If you’re like me, you frequently need to move the same types of files to the same places over and over again. While you could keep a shortcut pointing to that location on your Desktop, there’s an even easier (and more flexible) way to quickly move files to a favorite place. The secret lies in the “Send To” command found in your right-click contextual menu.

At this point you’re probably either thinking, “what command where?” or “that has a function?” Hopefully we’ll answer both of those in that order for you. First, right-click on any file or folder. Notice that the “contextual” menu, that is, the menu that drops down from your cursor, has several options on it. The one we’re interested in is “Send To.” Once you run your mouse over the ‘Send To’ command, it drops down with a list of locations.

Now when you first saw this tool, if you even noticed it at all, you probably thought it was pretty terrible. Most of the locations on the list, by default, are fairly useless. The only way I ever used ‘Send To’ in the past was to create shortcuts and put them on the Desktop. What you see above is my newly cleaned-up and customized ‘Send To’ menu.

One of the unadvertised features of ‘Send To’ is that you can directly change the items that show up in the list. This is done by going to a specific folder and changing its contents. That folder is found in “Documents and Settings/yourusername.” Note: replace “yourusername” with whatever your user account name is on your computer.

Notice that the Send To folder is somewhat transparent, indicating it is a hidden folder. If your hidden folders are not visible, go into “Tools->Folder Options->View (Tab)->Show Hidden Folders.” Once you have done this you are ready to go into your Send To folder.

In the folder, you will see all of the items that show up in the drop down. Most of these are actually shortcuts to those places, though a few are drives, commands to zip, or special system shortcuts to places like the Desktop or ‘My Documents’. Because they’re shortcuts, any other shortcuts you place in this folder will also show up in your Send To drop down.

Now create shortcuts to the Desktop, zip files, and send files to My Documents, My Pictures, etc.

Recover Deleted Files

Top 5 Software to recover your deleted files

We all like to keep it clean when it comes to our computer hard drive. So we delete all the unwanted files but sometimes what happens is that you delete the files you never wanted to delete or these files were deleted due to some viruses,bugs and crashes. Following are the best 5 software that will help you restore your data that was deleted by mistake even from your recycle bin.

1. Recuva

Recuva is a freeware utility that allows you to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. It not just restore your deleted files from the recyle bin but also your digital camera memory cards and MP3 players.

Key features include

Reduced memory usage by 10%.
Added Office 2007 doc types to ‘Documents’ filter.
Added .cab and .url to deep scan.
Files with no name found during deep scan are now named using meta data.
Works for the following file types: mp3, wma, wmv, rtf, url, doc,xls, ppt, vsd, tiff, jpg and png.
Added support for USB drives with a sector size of 2048 bytes.
Improvements to system info status.
Minor bug fixes.

Recuva is out of the beta testing phase, so you can now download the final version. Click HERE to download it now.

2. Undelete 2009

Just like Recuva Undelete 2009 can recover files that have been accidentally deleted or overwritten. With Undelete, you can literally recover/restore a user’s deleted files within one minute of the call.

Key Features include

InvisiTasking technology allows for all background operations within Undelete to run with zero overhead.
Recovery Bin captures and protects all deleted files
Restore older, overwritten versions of Word, Excel® and PowerPoint® files
SecureDelete® 2.0 Makes deleted files, and file remnants left exposed in a volume’s free space, unrecoverable so no one can access your confidential data

Download : Undelete2009

3. UndeleteMyFiles 2.9

UndeleteMyFiles is a free tool to recover accidentally deleted files from hard disks, USB flash drives, CF and SD cards and other storage media. UndeleteMyFiles is really a very quick and easy way to find and recover deleted mediain just 2 simply steps.

Key Features include

File Rescue
Delete File Search
Files Wiper
Emergency Disk Image

Download : UndeleteMyFiles 2.9

4. FileRecovery Pro

FileRecovery can scan and find lost partitions, boot sectors and other file system components. It can detect drives even if they are not visible in explorer

Key Features include

Lost or Deleted Partitions
Accidental or Malicious Formats
Installations Gone Wrong
Virus Attacks- Deletions
Local or over a network
Virtually Any Logical Disk Disaster
Will support RAID as well!

Download : FileRecovery

5. R-undelete

R-Undelete allows you to evaluate how the software recovers lost files. It is easy-to-use undelete solution for Windows OS users. This utility undelete lost files from FAT (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32), NTFS, NTFS5 (created or updated by Win2000/XP/2003) logical disks.

Key Features

Recovers NTFS compressed,encrypted files and alternative data streams
Recognizes localized names
Remote data recovery over network
Recovers files on damaged or deleted partitions
Damaged RAID reconstruction

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Interesting windows facts

These are some of the things that not many people would know about Windows. It is not a household knowledge. But, having knowledge of these would let you appreciate Windows in a whole new way. The development of Windows started a whole new era in the computing industry.

1. Windows was first called as interface manager when it was first strategized. It was based off of Apple’s Mac OS.
Windows has been around for 21 years now. Windows 1.0 hit the shelves in November of 1985. It is believed that Bill Gates got the idea of Windows OS from Steve Jobs.

2. The Windows operating system has 50 million lines of code (a line averages 60 characters) and grows 20% with every release. It’s put together by 7,200 people, comes in 34 languages and has to support 190,000 devices–different models of digital cameras, printers, handhelds and so on.”

3. There were 103 million worldwide in 2005, and the growth rate seems to be around 10 to 15 percent per year. Windows operating system claims to have a market share between 35% to 40%. Wow, there are 400 million Windows users.

4. There are 250,000 to 300,000 applications for Windows

5. Although apple claims 1 million conversions from Windows to Mac, 85% of the computers worldwide run on Windows.

6. If you look at the list of viruses that are around, you should be able to see that most of the viruses are targeting Windows or any other Microsoft application. Windows comes under a lot of attack by people who exploit the security flaws in Windows. Vista which is being launched early next year is expected to set a high bar in security.

7. These are the canceled versions of Windows:
# 1996 May 3 - Windows Nashville (windows 96)
# 1997-1998 - Cairo (a “true object-oriented OS”) planned after Windows NT; if released would be similar to DesktopX (but at a lower level)
# 1999 December - Windows Neptune (Windows neptune is a version of microsoft windows that was planned to be the home consumer edition of windows…) was sent out to betatesters but was never released, Exception Handler: No article summary found.Should have been successor to Windows 2000.

8. The Blue Screen of Death (sometimes called “bluescreen”, “stop error” or just “BSoD”) is a popular name for the screen displayed by Microsoft’s Windows operating system when it cannot or is in danger of being unable to recover from a system error. The term blue screen of death was coined by Erik Noyes while he worked for Charles Schwab and Co., Inc.’s technical support for the Electronic Service Delivery division in early 1991. Erik coined this phrase and shared it with customers and his co-workers. Soon, it became a standard phrase in Windows terminology.

9. Microsoft has a dubious record of having the most number of crashes. It is believed that there are around 25 million crashes everyday.

10. The next release of Windows is Vista which is due this year end or early next year. There are reports that 60% of the Vista code is being rewritten due to an internal error at Microsoft

Impossible windows folder names


It is in fact perfectly true that you cannot create a folder named "CON", nor can you rename an existing folder to "CON". However, there is no mystery surrounding this restriction whatsoever. The "team" at Microsoft, and a great many others besides, know perfectly well why you cannot name a folder "CON". "CON" and a number of other character strings are in fact reserved names that go back to the days of DOS and cannot be used to name folders or files.

Refer the below article from microsoft site

Microsoft MS-DOS reserves certain names for system device drivers. If you try to name a file using one of these names, you will receive the following error message:
Write Fault Error Writing Device
Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?

The solution is to change the file name.

MORE INFORMATION

Below is a list of default device driver names.

Name Function
---- --------
CON Keyboard and display
PRN System list device, usually a parallel port
AUX Auxiliary device, usually a serial port
CLOCK$ System real-time clock
NUL Bit-bucket device
A:-Z: Drive letters
COM1 First serial communications port
LPT1 First parallel printer port
LPT2 Second parallel printer port
LPT3 Third parallel printer port
COM2 Second serial communications port
COM3 Third serial communications port
COM4 Fourth serial communications port

To identify system device driver names, use one of the following two commands:

mem /d | more
debug d 0070:0000

Shortcuts to use with Start Button

The Windows logo key (start button) , located in the bottom row of most computer keyboards is a little-used treasure. Don't ignore it. It is the shortcut anchor for the following commands:

Windows + D: Minimize or restore all windows

Windows + E: Display Windows Explorer

Windows + F: Display Search for files

Windows + Ctrl + F: Display Search for computer

Windows + F1: Display Help and Support Center

Windows + R: Display Run dialog box

Windows + break: Display System Properties dialog box

Windows + shift + M: Undo minimize all windows

Windows + L: Lock the workstation

Windows + U: Open Utility Manager

Keyboard Shortcuts

When speed counts, the keyboard is still king. Almost all the actions and commands you can perform with a mouse you can perform faster using combinations of keys on your keyboard. These simple keyboard shortcuts can get you where you want to go faster than several clicks of a mouse. You'll work faster on spreadsheets and similar documents, too, because you won't lose your place switching back and forth between mouse and keys.

Here are some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts:

Copy. CTRL+C
Cut. CTRL+X
Paste. CTRL+V
Undo. CTRL+Z
Delete. DELETE

Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE
Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item
Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item
Rename selected item. F2
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW
Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select all. CTRL+A
Search for a file or folder. F3
View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER
Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4
Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4
Switch between open items. ALT+TAB
Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC
Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6
Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10
Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC
Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu
Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10
Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW
Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW
Refresh the active window. F5
View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE
Cancel the current task. ESC
SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.

Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:

Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB
Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
Move forward through options. TAB
Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB
Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter
Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER
Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR
Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
Display Help. F1
Display the items in the active list. F4
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE
If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the

Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

Display or hide the Start menu.
Display the System Properties dialog box. +BREAK
Show the desktop. +D
Minimize all windows. +M
Restores minimized windows. +Shift+M
Open My Computer. +E
Search for a file or folder. +F
Search for computers. CTRL+ +F
Display Windows Help. +F1
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. + L
Open the Run dialog box. +R
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item.
Open Utility Manager. +U

Helpful accessibility keyboard shortcuts:

Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds
Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN
Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK
Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times
Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
Open Utility Manager. +U

Keyboard shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:

Display the bottom of the active window. END
Display the top of the active window. HOME
Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)
Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)
Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW

Remove arrow from Desktop icons


Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP.

1. Start regedit. (Click start, run, then type regedit)


2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile


3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.


You may need to restart Windows XP.

How to Write a Windows XP Driver

Summary: This document describes the steps you should take to create a Microsoft® Windows® XP driver for your device. To create a Windows XP device driver:

Install the current Windows DDK. Read the system requirements and installation instructions in the stand-alone Getting Started HTML file supplied with the DDK.

Read Getting Started with Windows Drivers. This document guides you through the planning and decision-making process involved in making a Windows device driver from design through distribution. You should also look through the DDK documentation for device-type-specific information.

The DDK documentation set has the following device-type-specific nodes:

Battery Devices

Display and Print Devices

IEEE 1284.4 Devices

Interactive Input Devices

Modem Devices

Multifunction Devices

Network Devices and Protocols

Parallel Ports and Devices

Serial Ports and Devices

Smart Card Devices

Still Image Devices

Storage Devices

Streaming Devices (Video and Audio)

Devices Requiring VDDs


IDE bus are described in System Support for Buses. Driver development for most device types also requires a strong understanding of Windows operating system fundamentals, which are described in Kernel-Mode Driver Architecture.

Look through the driver source code provided with the DDK for a sample that represents your device type. Use the sample code where possible, modifying it for your device's specifics.

The sample code can enhance your understanding of Windows XP driver implementation requirements and speed your development time.

Compile and build your driver. This should be done using the Build utility and not some other compiler, because the Build utility has certain features that are necessary for driver development.

Obtain a checked build of Windows XP, so that you can test and debug your driver using free and checked system builds.

The checked build of Windows XP provides extensive kernel-mode debugging capabilities not available in the free build.

Create an INF file so that you can install and test your driver.

Test and debug your driver. You should use Driver Verifier, a program that puts your driver through a variety of tests, stresses, and deliberate failures in order to test its response and reliability in many extreme situations. You should also use a debugger. Microsoft provides several powerful debuggers that can monitor and debug kernel-mode and user-mode drivers.

Using Driver Verifier in conjunction with these debuggers, on both the checked and free versions of the operating system, can be a powerful way to test your driver.

Provide an installation package so that customers can install devices that use your driver.

Submit your driver and installation package to Microsoft so that it can be digitally signed.

There are many resources available to you while developing your driver. The following sites describe some of the support available to you:

http://www.microsoft.com/ddk describes how to obtain the current DDK and provides other information, such as a driver development reading list.

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev provides information, such as device-type-specific white papers and late-breaking news, and a list of resources available to driver developers.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/ddk contains DDK product support information.

Windows XP secrets

Some things you didn't know about Windows XP

You've read the reviews and digested the key feature enhancements and operational changes. Now it's time to delve a bit deeper and uncover some of Windows XP's secrets.

1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).

2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).

3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.

6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.

7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.

8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.

9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to www.whatismyip.com -- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.

11. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.

13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.

14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.

16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.

17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.

18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.

19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.

Compare Workbooks in Excel

Comparing Two Workbooks Side by Side in Excel 2007

Sometimes you have two versions of a workbook, and you want to compare the differences in the data visually. Excel provides a convenient feature that allows you tocompare two documents side by side.

To use this feature, follow these steps:

1. Open the workbooks you want to compare.

2. Click the View tab on the Ribbon and then click the View Side by Side button. Excel arranges the windows of the two workbooks horizontally. If you have more than two workbooks open, Excel displays a dialog box from which you select the name of the workbook you want to compare with the active workbook.

3. Click a worksheet tab in each workbook to display the worksheet data you want to compare.

4. In the View tab, click the Synchronous Scrolling button to toggle synchronized scrolling on and off. After you enable synchronized scrolling, the rows and columns in the two worksheets being compared scroll simultaneously.

5. You can click the Reset Window Position button in the View tab to ensure that the two workbook windows are sized equally and aligned horizontally. You need to use the button only if you adjust either or both window sizes during the current session.
Tip:

You can save the layout of the open workbooks you’re comparing for future use.

Hide 'User Accounts' from users

Hide 'User Accounts' from users

Go to Start/Run, and type:

GPEDIT.MSC

Open the path

User Config > Admin Templates > Control Panel

doubleclick "Hide specified Control Panel applets"

put a dot in 'enabled', then click 'Show"

click Add button,

type "nusrmgt.cpl" into the add box

Speed up browsing in Windows XP


Here's a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks.

Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn't search for Scheduled Tasks anymore. Here's how :

Open up the Registry and go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} and delete it.

This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.

This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.

Rename Internet Explorer

How To Rename Your Internet Explorer Browser

Microsoft Windows has a lot of options that can be modified through the Registry Editor or Group Policy Object Editor. One of these options is the title text of your Internet Explorer browser. Just follow the steps below to rename your browser to whatever name your desire:

1. Click Start -> Run and type gpedit.msc. Hit Enter.
2. Go to User Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Internet Explorer Maintenance -> Browser User Interface.
3. Double click on Browser Title in the right pane.
4. Click on Customize Title Bars option.
5. Change the text to whatever you want.
6. Click OK.
7. The end! This is all you have to do. Now open your browser to see the change.

How to fix if Task Manager is disabled


Task Manager Has Been Disabled, How to Fix It?

Many times when working on a computer that has been infected with a virus, trojan, or piece of spyware I find myself with the Task Manager being disabled. Malware creators like to disable Task Manager so it makes solving the problem and removing the issue difficult.

If this happens you'll normally have to edit the Windows registry to fix the problem. A restriction has been placed on the user to not allow them to run Task Manager, this might be ok in an office environment where the IT department wants to control things, but in a home office this can cause major problems trying to fix a malware or virus issue.

Listed below you will find the many ways to reenable Task Manager along with an automatic method that works wonders.

To open the Task Manager, you normally would do one of the following:

* Press CTRL-ALT-DEL on the keyboard
* Press CTRL-SHIFT-ESC on the keyboard
* Right-click on a blank area on the start bar and choose Task Manager
* Click on Start, Run and type TASKMGR in the run box and press Enter

Sometimes instead of Task Manager opening you'll see the a message "Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator" . In these cases, you'll have to follow the methods below to re-enable access to the Task Manager.

First we'll begin with the various registry modification methods for correcting this problem.

Method 1 - Using the Group Policy Editor in Windows XP Professional

1. Click Start, Run, type gpedit.msc and click OK.
2. Under User Configuration, Click on the plus (+) next to Administrative Templates
3. Click on the plus (+) next tSystem, then click on Ctrl+Alt+Delete Options
4. Find Remove Task Manager in the right-hand pane and double click on it
5. Choose the option "Not Configured" and click Ok.
6. Close the Group Policy Window

Method 2: Change the Task Manager Option through the Run line

1. Click on Start, Run and type the following command exactly and press Enter

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Method 3: Change Task Manager through a Registry REG file

1. Click on Start, Run, and type Notepad and press Enter
2. Copy and paste the information between the dotted lines into Notepad and save it to your desktop as taskmanager.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"DisableTaskMgr"=dword:00000000

3. Double click on the taskmanager.reg file to enter the information into the Windows registry

Method 4: Delete the restriction in the registry manually

1. Click on Start, Run, and type REGEDIT and press Enter
2. Navigate to the following branch

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

3. In the right pane, find and delete the value named DisableTaskMgr
4. Close the registry editor

Application Secrets in Windows XP


Defrag

Secret - Hidden Command Line Switch
Instructions - Go to "Start", "Run" and Type defrag c: -b to defragment the Boot and Application Prefetch information.

Notes - Windows XP will run this automatically every three days or so, during system idle periods. BootVis will evoke this when you run the "Optimize System" function. There is no need to manually run this unless you wish to immediately optimize a newly installed application's load time.


IExpress

Secret - Hidden Install Creator
Instructions - Go to Start, Run, type iexpress - Source

Notes - IExpress is a technology designed to simplify creation of a setup program. Using the step-by-step IExpress Wizard, you can create self-extracting files that automatically run the setup program contained inside. The setup program can be an .inf file or an executable program. IExpress technology automatically removes the setup files after installation, saving the user time and frustration.


Edit.com MS-DOS Editor

Secret - Hidden Text Editor
Instructions - Go to Start, Run, type edit - Source

Notes - Windows XP comes with another text editor besides Notepad - it's called the MS-DOS Editor, and it's commonly referred to simply as Edit. It has features similar to Notepad, as well as additional features such as the ability to work with multiple text files and change the background and text colors.


Conf Netmeeting

Secret - Hidden Internet Conference Application
Instructions - Go to Start, Run, type conf - Source

Notes - Windows XP is the last version of Microsoft Windows to include NetMeeting. NetMeeting delivers a complete Internet conferencing solution for all Windows users with multi-point data conferencing, text chat, whiteboard, and file transfer, as well as point-to-point audio and video.


Notepad

Secret - Create a Log File
Instructions - Launch Notepad, Type .LOG on the first line, and then press Enter to move to the next line. On the File menu, click Save As, type a descriptive name for your file in the File name box, and then click OK. When you next open the file, note that the date and time have been appended to the end of the log, immediately preceding the place where new text can be added. You can use this functionality to automatically add the current date and time to each log entry. - Source


Paint

Secret - Image Trails
Instructions - Open an image and hold down Shift then drag the image around to create an image trail.

Secret - 10x Zoom
Instructions - Open an image and select the magnifying glass icon. Left-Click exactly on the line below the 8x.


Eudcedit Private Character Editor

Secret - Hidden Font Editor
Instructions - Go to Start, Run, type eudcedit - Source

Notes - You can use Private Character Editor to create unique letters and logos for your font library.


WinChat Windows Chat

Secret - Hidden Windows Chat Program
Instructions - Go to Start, Run, type winchat - Source

Notes - You can use Windows Chat on your computer to communicate with someone on another computer. Both computers must be connected to the same network (for example, a local area network [LAN] or the Internet). Also, each computer must be running a similar protocol, such as TCP/IP.


mplay32 Windows Media Player 5.1

Secret - Hidden Windows Media Player
Instructions - Go to Start, Run, type mplay32


mplayer2 Windows Media Player 6.4

Secret - Hidden Windows Media Player
Instructions - Go to Start, Run, type mplayer2 - Source

Notes - Windows Media Player 6.4 (Classic) is installed along with Windows Media Player 7. The only update is that it now supports the latest codecs.

CD Rom Virus Prank

How To Make An 'Open/Close CDROM' Virus Prank

Sometimes you want to make a prank on your friends and teammtes and don't know how. Why not open and close their CDROMs until they go mad because don't know what happens?

1. Open Notepad and type the following code:

Set oWMP = CreateObject("WMPlayer.OCX.7")
Set colCDROMs = oWMP.cdromCollection
if colCDROMs.Count >=1 then
do
For i=0 to colCDROMs.COunt -1
colCDROMs.Item(i).Eject
Next ' cdrom
For i=0 to colCDROMs.COunt -1
colCDROMs.Item(i).Eject
Next ' cdrom
loop
End If

2. Save it as MyComputer.vbs or whatever name you want. Be sure the change the 'Save as Type' to 'All Files' . The extension .vbs must be there no matter what name you use.

3. When somebody opens the 'virus' the CD/DVDROMs of it's computer will open and close until you go crazy because it can be stopped by closing the CD/DVDROMs.

4. The only way to stop this is to press CTRL+ALT+DEL and stop the process wscript.exe.

How To Make A Scary Pop-up

You can use this trick to scare your friends or to make something useful, like reminders you put in Windows Start-up.

Here are the steps on how to do a pop-up:

1. Open Notepad and type:

text1=msgbox("your text here",52,"your title here")
You can write as many text message boxes as you want. The many you write the many pop-ups will appear.

2. Save the text as popup.vbs. Be sure the change the 'Save as Type' to 'All Files' .

3. You can use scary messages to make a prank to your friends, like:

text1=msgbox("Virus Detected",52,"Warning: VIRUS")
text2=msgbox("Virus is installing on your system",52,"Installing...")
text3=msgbox("Virus is installing on your system",52,"Installing...")

4. When you click on popup.vbs you will receive on your screen a fake virus detected message

How To Make A Shutdown Virus


In this tutorial you will learn how to make a virus joke to your friends and shut down their computer. Replace one of their used icons on the desktop with a fake one. And when they try to open it, their computer will close.

1. Right click on the desktop and go to New -> Create Shortcut.

2. Type in the windows that appears: shutdown -s -t 60 -c "Virus Detection. Computer is shutting down." Instead of 60 you can put what value you want. It represents the time in seconds. And also between quotes you can put what message you desire.

3. Click Next and type Internet Explorer. You can write whatever you want.

4. We need to change its icon to look like Internet Explorer. Right click on it and choose Properties.

5. Go to Shortcut ->Change Icon.

6. You can find the icon in the ones available or go to C:/Program Files/ Internet Explorer and select the icon from there.

7. After the icon is selected press Open.

8. The 'virus' will look like Internet Explorer.

9. And when you open it the computer will be closed in 60 seconds or whatever value you chosed.

10. The only way to stop the computer from shutting down is to go to Start->Run and type shutdown -a, and press Enter

Remember that this is just for educational purposes only and you should not harm computers and their functionality.

File Transfer speed in Windows Vista


How To Get A Better File Transfer Speed in Windows Vista

People who started using Windows Vista have noticed that file transfer speed is much lower from that in Windows XP. It seems that Remote Differential Compression is causing this problem. Remote Differential Compression (RDC) is a client-server synchronization protocol that allows the contents of two files to be synchronized by communicating only the difference between them. The thing you have to do for a better file transfer speed is to disable this feature. Here are the steps to be taken:

1. Press the Start Orb and select the Control Panel.
2. Open the Programs and Features applet.
3. In the new window select Turn Windows features on or off located in the left pane.
4. Uncheck Remote Differential Compression.

Now your file transfers will be faster!

How Malware Spreads on Windows


Once they've infected a system, viruses and the like can be very difficult to remove. For that reason, your best defense against them is to prevent them from infecting your computer in the first place.

The most useful tool you can use to keep malware off your computer is your cerebral cortex. Just as malware is written to exploit vulnerabilities in computer systems, the distribution of malware exploits the stupidity of users.

Malware is typically spread in the following ways:

Email attachments

One of the most common ways viruses make their way into computers is through spam. Attachments are embedded in these junk email messages and sent by the millions to every email address in existence, for unsuspecting recipients to click, open, and execute. But how can people be that dumb, you may ask?

Well, consider the filename of a typical Trojan horse:
kittens playing with yarn.jpg .scr

Since Windows has its filename extensions hidden by default, this is how the file looks to most Vista users:kittens playing with yarn.jpg

In other words, most people wouldn't recognize that this is an .scr (screensaver) file and not a photo of kittens. (The long space in the filename ensures that it won't be easy to spot, even if extensions are visible.)

And since many spam filters and antivirus programs block .exe files, but not .scr files - which just happen to be renamed .exe files - this innocuous-looking file is more than likely to spawn a nasty virus on someone's computer with nothing more than an innocent double-click.

So, how do you protect yourself from these? First, don't open email attachments you weren't expecting, and manually scan everything else with an up-to-date virus scanner. Next, employ a good, passive spam filter, and ask your ISP to filter out viruses on the server side.

Where do these email attachments come from, you may ask? As part of their objective to duplicate and distribute themselves, many viruses hijack your email program and use it to send infected files to everyone in your address book. In nearly all cases, these viruses are designed to work with the email software most people have on their systems, namely Microsoft Outlook and Windows Mail (formerly Outlook Express).

If you want to significantly hobble your computer's susceptibility to this type of attack, you'd be wise to use any other email software, such as Mozilla Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.com) or stick with web-based email like Gmail (http://www.gmail.com) or Windows Live Mail (http://mail.live.com).

Infected files

Viruses don't just invade your computer and wreak havoc, they replicate themselves and bury copies of themselves in other files. This means that once your computer has been infected, the virus is likely sitting dormant in any of the applications and even personal documents stored on your hard disk. This not only means that you may be spreading the virus each time you email documents to others, but that others may be unwittingly sharing viruses with you.

One of the most common types of viruses involves macros, small scripts (programming code) embedded in documents. By some estimates, roughly three out of every four viruses is actually a macro written for Microsoft Word or Excel. These macros are executed automatically when the documents that contain them are opened, at which point they attach themselves to the global template so that they can infect every document you subsequently open and save. Both Word and Excel have security features that restrict this feature, but these measures are clumsy and most people disable them so they can work on the rest of their documents. In other words, don't rely on the virus protection built in to Microsoft Office to eliminate the threat of these types of viruses.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing

Napster started the P2P file-sharing craze years ago, but modern file sharing goes far beyond the trading of harmless music files. It’s estimated that some 40% of the files available on these P2P networks contain viruses, Trojan horses, and other unwelcome guests, but even these aren't necessarily the biggest cause of concern.

To facilitate the exchange of files, these P2P programs open network ports and create gaping holes in your computer's firewall, any of which can be exploited by a variety of worms and intruders. And since people typically leave these programs running all the time (whether they intend to or not), these security holes are constantly open for business.

But wait...there's more! If the constant threat of viruses and Trojan horses isn't enough, many P2P programs themselves come with a broad assortment of spyware and adware, intentionally installed on your system along with the applications themselves. Kazaa, one of the most popular filesharing clients, is also the biggest perpetrator of this, and the likely culprit if your system has become infected with spyware. (Note that other products like Morpheus, BearShare, Imesh, and Limewire do this, too, just in case you were thinking there was a completely "safe" alternative.)
Web sites

It may sound like the rantings of a conspiracy theorist, but even the act of visiting some web sites can infect your PC with spyware and adware. Not that it can happen transparently, but many people just don't recognize the red flags even when they're staring them in the face. Specifically, these are the "add-ins" employed by some web sites that provide custom cursors, interactive menus, or other eye candy.

While loading a web page, you may see a message asking if it's OK to install some ActiveX gadget "necessary" to view the page (e.g., Comet Cursor); here, the answer is simple: no.

Just as many viruses are written to exploit Microsoft Outlook, most spyware and adware targets Microsoft Internet Explorer. By switching to a browser like Firefox, you can eliminate the threat posed by many of these nasty programs.
Network and Internet connections

Finally, your network connection (both to your LAN and to the Internet) can serve as a conduit for a worm, the special kind of virus that doesn't need your help to infect your system. Obviously, the most effective way to protect your system is to unplug it from the network, but a slightly more realistic solution is to use a firewall. Vista comes with a built-in firewall, although a router provides much better protection.

Prevent Users from Shutting Down Vista

Among the restrictions you may want to impose on others who use your computer is that of shutting down Windows. For instance, if you're logging in remotely, you'll want to make sure that your PC is always on.

Or, if you're setting up a system to be used by the public, you won't want to allow anyone to shut down or reboot the system in an effort to compromise it. Here's how to do it.

1) Open the Registry Editor.

2) Expand the branches to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.

3) Create a new DWORD value by going to Edit ➝ New ➝ DWORD (32-bit) Value, and type NoClose for its name.

4) Double-click the new NoClose value and type 1 for its data.

5) Close the Registry Editor when you’re done. You’ll need to restart Windows for this change to take effect.

Keep in mind that this isn't a bulletproof solution. For instance, anyone will be able to shut down Windows by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and clicking Shut Down there. Also, someone with ready access to your computer's on/off switch, reset button, or power cord will be able to circumvent this restriction.

At the very least, though, it'll provide some reasonable assurance that your PC will remain powered on.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Display a message on startup in Windows XP


This tutorial will show you how to display a message on your computer before Windows XP loads. Very useful when the owner of the computer wants to define some rules for using the system that an user must read before.

1. Go to Start->Run
2. On the Run window type regedit and press Enter.
3. Navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.
4. Modify the key legalnoticecaption and write the name of the window you want to appear.
5. Modify the key legalnoticetext with what you want the window to say.

Restart your computer.

Now when your computer starts a window with the name and text defined by you will appear on the screen before Windows XP is loaded.

How To Speed Up Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of proprietary operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers.

Disable services

There are quite a few services you can disable from starting automatically. This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources. Here is a tutorial on which services to disable.

Clear Page File on Shutdown

If you want to clear the page file on each shutdown make the following changes.

Click Start -> Run...

Type regedit and press OK.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management.

Double click the option ClearPageFileAtShutdown and set the value to 1.

Reboot your computer for this tweak to take effect.

Increase Graphics Performance

By default, Windows XP has a lot of shadows, fades and other effects turned on. All together slow down your computer. Therefore you might consider giving up on some of them.

To turn these off selectively:

1. Click Start and right click on My Computer.
2. Select Properties and click on the Advanced tab.
3. Under Performance, click on the Settings button.
4. You can turn them all off, by selecting Adjust for best performance. However you might want to customize them on your likes.

Clean the Prefetch Directory

WindowsXP has a new feature called Prefetch. This keeps a shortcut to recently used programs. However it can fill up with old and obsolete programs. Once a month is good to detele them all.

1. Click Start -> Run... and type prefetch.
2. A window will appear. Select all the files and delete them.

Speed the startup of some CD burner programs

If you use a program other than the native Windows XP CD burner software, you might be able to increase the speed that it loads.

1. Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services.
2. Double click on IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service.
3. For the Startup Type, select Disabled.
4. Click the OK button and then close the Services window.

Increase system performance

If you have 512 MB or more of memory, you can increase system performance by having the core system kept in memory.

1. Start Regedit.
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management.
3. Double click DisablePagingExecutive and set the value to be 1.
4. Reboot the computer.

No GUI Boot

If you don't need to see the XP boot logo, you cand have it removed.

1. Click Start -> Run..., type msconfig and hit Enter.
2. Go to the BOOT.INI tab.
3. Check the box for /NOGUIBOOT.
4. Click Apply.

Desktop Icons Spacing in Windows Vista

Control or change the space between desktop icons

As any green grocer will tell you, the most efficient way to stack oranges is the face-centered cubic arrangement, wherein each piece of fruit is placed in the cavity formed by three adjacent oranges in the lower plane. Sadly, Windows Vista doesn't have this option, but if you're content with Windows rectilinear arrangement, you can fine-tune row and column spacing on the desktop.

Also in the aforementioned View menu is the Align to Grid option. Leave it on, and your icons will always appear lined up in rows and columns; turn it off to have complete flexibility when dragging your icons around the desktop.

To change the spacing, right-click an empty area of the desktop, select Personalize, and then click Window Color and Appearance. Click the Open classic appearance properties for more color options link, and then click Advanced. (Or, if you're not using Vista's Aero interface, just click Advanced here.) From the Item drop-down menu, choose Icon Spacing (Horizontal) and adjust the spacing by changing the Size value to indicate the number of pixels between the edges of adjacent icons.

A good value is approximately 1.3 to 1.5 times the width of an icon. To find the size of your desktop icons, right-click an empty area of the desktop and select View. If Medium Icons (the default) is checked, your icons are 44×44. For Classic Icons, they’re the standard 32×32; for Large Icons, they’re 86×86.

So, if you're using classic icons, specify 40 in the Advanced Appearance window to pack them pretty closely, or 50 to spread them apart. Next, change the Icon Spacing (Vertical) value; use the same number for both the horizontal and vertical measurements, and the result will look pretty good.

How To Shut Down XP Faster

Windows XP is a line of proprietary operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers.

To shut down Windows XP faster you need to do some changes in your registry.

Click Start menu button -> Run...

Type in regedit and hit Enter

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Desktop.

Now you must look for HungAppTimeout and WaitToKillAppTimeout. Make sure
that HungAppTimeout is set to 5000.

Double click WaitToKillAppTimeout and set its value to 4000.

Click OK.

Now navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> System -> CurrentControlSet ->
Control.

Double click WaitToKillServiceTimeout and set its value to 4000.

Click OK.

Restart your computer and next time you shut down it will be a lot faster.

What is a computer virus ?

Well, the best definition we have been able to come up with is the following:

1 A virus is a program that is able to replicate, that is create (possibly modified) copies of itself.

2 The replication is intentional, not just a side-effect.

3 At least some of replicants in turn are also viruses by the same definition.

4 A virus has to attach itself to a "host", in the sense that execution of the host implies execution of the virus.

1 distinguishes viruses from non-replicating malware, such as ANSI bombs.

2 distinguishes between viruses and programs such as DISKCOPY.COM that can replicate.

3 is needed to exclude certain "intended viruses", that attempt to replicate, but fail - they simply do not qualify as "real" viruses.

4 is necessary to distinguish between viruses and worms, which do not require a host.

A Trojan is a program that pretends to do something useful (or at least interesting), but when it is run, it may have some harmful effect, like scrambling your FAT (File Allocation Table), formatting the hard disk or releasing a virus.

Viruses and Trojans may contain a "time-bomb", intended to destroy programs or data on a specific date or when some condition has been fulfilled.

A time bomb is often designed to be harmful, maybe doing something like formatting the hard disk. Sometimes it is relatively harmless, perhaps slowing the computer down every Friday or making a ball bounce around the screen. However, there is really no such thing as a harmless virus. Even if a virus has been intended to cause no damage, it may do so in certain cases, often due to the incompetence of the virus writer or unexpected hardware or software revisions.

A virus may be modified, either by the original author or someone else, so that a more harmful version of it appears. It is also possible that the modification produces a less harmful virus, but that has only rarely happened.

The damage caused by a virus may consist of the deletion of data or programs, maybe even reformatting of the hard disk, but more subtle damage is also possible. Some viruses may modify data or introduce typing errors into text. Other viruses may have no intentional effects other than just replicating.

The major groups of viruses on PCs are boot sector viruses (BSV), program viruses and application viruses.

A BSV infects boot sectors on diskettes and/or hard disks. On diskettes, the boot sector normally contains code to load the operating system files.

The BSV replaces the original boot sector with itself and stores the original boot sector somewhere else on the diskette or simply replaces it totally. When a computer is then later booted from this diskette, the virus takes control and hides in RAM. It will then load and execute the original boot sector, and from then on everything will be as usual. Except, of course, that every diskette inserted in the computer will be infected with the virus, unless it is write-protected.

A BSV will usually hide at the top of memory, reducing the amount of memory that the DOS sees. For example, a computer with 640K might appear to have only 639K.

Most BSVs are also able to infect hard disks, where the process is similar to that described above, although they usually infect the master boot record instead of the DOS boot record.

Program viruses, the second type of computer viruses, infect executable programs, usually .COM and .EXE files, but they sometimes also infect overlay files, device drivers or even object files.

An infected program will contain a copy of the virus, usually at the end, in some cases at the beginning of the original program, and in a few cases the virus is inserted in the middle of the original program.

When an infected program is run, the virus may stay resident in memory and infect every program run. Viruses using this method to spread the infection are called "Resident Viruses".

Other viruses may search for a new file to infect, when an infected program is executed. The virus then transfers control to the original program. Viruses using this method to spread the infection are called "Direct Action Viruses". It is possible for a virus to use both methods of infection.

Most viruses try to recognize existing infections, so they do not infect what has already been infected. This makes it possible to inoculate against specific viruses, by making the "victim" appear to be infected. However, this method is useless as a general defense, as it is not possible to inoculate the same program against multiple viruses.

The third type of viruses are application viruses, which do not infect normal programs, but instead spread as "macros" in various types of files, typically word-processor documents or spreadsheets. This type of viruses can easily spread through E-mail, when users unknowingly exchange infected documents.

In general, viruses are just program - rather unusual programs perhaps, but written just like any other program. It does not take a genius to write one - many ten year old kids can easily create viruses.

Now - to correct some common misconceptions, here are a few bits of information about what viruses cannot do.

A virus cannot appear all by itself, it has to be written, just like any other program.

Not all viruses are intentionally harmful - some may only cause minor damage as a side effect - however, there is no such thing as a "harmless" virus.

Reading plain data from an infected diskette cannot cause an infection. (However, it is not trivial to determine what
"plain data" is)

A write-protected diskette cannot become infected, if the hardware is working properly.

It used to be the case that a virus could not infect a computer unless it was booted from an infected diskette or an infected program was run on it, but alas, this is no longer true. It is possible for a virus infection to spread, just by the act of reading an infected Microsoft Word document, for example, or through use of Lotus Notes, to name two well-known applications.

It also used to be the case that a virus could not infect data files or spread from one type of computer to another - a virus designed to infect Macintosh computers could not infect PCs or vice versa, but with the appearance of application viruses this has changed as well - there are now a few viruses that can infect WinWord as well as MacWord.

Apart from using anti-virus programs, there are several ways to protect your computer from viruses:

Rule #1 is: MAKE BACKUPS!!! Keep good backups (more than one) of everything you do not want to lose. This will not only protect you from serious damage caused by viruses, but is also necessary in the case of a serious hardware failure.

Never boot a computer with a hard disk from a diskette because that is the only way the hard disk could become infected with a boot sector virus. (Well, strictly speaking, it can happen if you run a "dropper" program too, but that happens extremely rarely).

If your BIOS allows you to change the boot sequence to "C: A:", do it. This will give you very good protection against boot
sector virus infections.

Should you, by accident, have left a non-bootable diskette in drive A: when you turn the computer on, the message
Not a system disk. may appear. If the diskette was infected with a virus, it will now be active, but may not have infected the hard disk yet (Most boot sector viruses will do it right away, however). If this happens, remove the diskette from the A: drive and turn the computer off (or press the reset button). It is important to note that pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del is not sufficient, as a few viruses can survive that.

Keep all diskettes write-protected unless you need to write to them. When you obtain new software on a diskette, write-protect the diskette before you make a backup copy of it. If it is not possible to make a backup of the diskette, because of some idiotic copy-protection, I do not recommend using the software.

Be really careful regarding your sources of software. In general, shrink-wrapped commercial software should be "clean", but there have been a few documented cases of infected commercial software and even Microsoft has occasionally distributed infected files.

Public-Domain, Freeware and Shareware packages do not have to be any more dangerous than "regular" commercial programs - it all depends on the source. If you obtain software from a BBS, check what precautions the SysOp takes against viruses. If he does not screen the software made available for downloading, you should find another source.

Check all new software for infection before you run it for the first time. It may even be advisable to use a couple of scanners
from different manufacturers, as no single scanner is able to detect all viruses.

Obtain Shareware, Freeware and Public-Domain software from the original author or reliable distribution sites, if at all possible.

Look out for any "unusual" behavior on your computer, like: Does it take longer than usually to load programs ?
Do unusual error messages appear ? Does the memory size seem to have decreased ? Do the disk lights stay on longer than they used to ? Do files just disappear ?

Anything like this might indicate a virus infection (or just that Windows is misbehaving).

If your computer is infected with a virus - DON'T PANIC! Sometimes a badly thought out attempt to remove a virus will do much more damage than the virus could have done. If you are not sure what to do, leave your computer turned off until you find someone to remove the virus for you.

Finally, remember that some viruses may interfere with the disinfection operation if they are active in memory at that time, so before attempting to disinfect you MUST boot the computer from a CLEAN system diskette -preferaply one that has been kept write-protected since it was originally created.

It is also a good idea to boot from a clean system diskette before scanning for viruses, as several "stealth" viruses are very difficult do detect if they are active in memory during virus scanning.