Windows Tips

[How many partitions you have?]

How many partitions you have?
1-2
	32 (61%)
2-4
	15 (28%)
4-5
	3 (5%)
6-8
	1 (1%)
More than
	1 (1%)
Total Voters: 52

[robertalmario]

To Enable the Built-in Windows Zip Utility.

Click Start, then Run and type:
Enable: regsvr32 zipfldr.dll
Disable: regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll
You may have to reboot.

[Justin]

shortcut of

Miximize--> Windows Logo+D
Minimize--> Windows Logo+M

[Justin]

Removing the Windows wait time

Here's a simple way to shave a few seconds off the time Windows takes to start up.

Have you ever noticed the messages:

Starting Windows 95... or
Starting Windows 98...

when you turn on your computer? What Windows is actually doing is waiting to see if you're going to press F8 or F4 to halt the Windows startup. If you were to press one of those keys when the message is being displayed, you would be brought to either the command prompt, or an option menu.

However if you're never going to halt the Windows startup, you might as well just disable this feature, and save a few seconds every time you turn on your computer. Here's how:

Through either My Computer, or the Windows Explorer, navigate the the root directory of your c drive. Make sure you have the ability to see hidden files (go in the View>Folder Options menu to turn on displaying of hidden folders is you haven't done so already), and locate the file intitled msdos.sys.

Right click on that file, and select Properties. [txtspk] check the read-only and hidden properties. Now open the file in notepad.

In the [Options] section of the file, you should see a line that says
BootMulti = (something)

modify it so that it reads
BootMulti = 0

Now save the file, and change the properties of it back to hidden and read-only.

From now on you will never see the Starting Windows 95... message or the wait time associated with it.

[Spidey]

Create a Vista password reset disk using a USB flash drive

The USB flash drive

First, let?s take a moment to talk about the USB flash drive. The reason that I?m spotlighting your old small-capacity USB flash drive is that it is really too small to be of much use in today?s world due to that fact that portable storage needs are now reaching more towards the GB range. However, that?s not to say that you couldn?t use a 1 GB USB flash drive for a password reset disk. Some might consider that to be a waste of disk space because the password reset file only weighs in at 2 KB, but flash drives are inexpensive ? you can pick up a 1 GB USB flash drive for under $20 or a 128 MB USB flash drive for under $5.
Creating a password reset disk

Follow these steps to create a password reset disk:

1. Insert your USB flash drive and wait for it to initialize and receive a drive letter.

2. Once the drive is ready to use, click the Start button and type User Accounts in the Start Search box.

3. Press [Enter] or click User Accounts in the Results panel. Either way, you?ll see the User Accounts dialog box. You will need to locate and click Create A Password Reset Disk in the Tasks panel (Figure A).

Figure A

Windows Tips

When the User Accounts dialog box appears, click Create A Password Reset Disk in the Tasks panel.

4. When you see the Forgotten Password Wizard?s Welcome screen, take a look at the information and click Next.

5. On the next screen, you?ll receive a prompt to choose your USB flash drive?s drive letter (Figure B). To continue, click Next.

Figure B

Windows Tips

Choose the drive letter assigned to your USB flash drive

6. On the next screen, type your Currrent User Account Password (Figure C) and then click Next.

Figure C

Windows Tips

When prompted, type your current user account password and click Next.

7. You?ll see a rapidly moving progress bar. Once it reaches 100 percent, click Next, and you will see the last screen in the Forgotten Password Wizard. To complete the operation, click Finish.

8. Click the Safely Remove Hardware icon, choose your USB flash drive?s drive letter, and remove the drive when prompted to do so.

9. Label the drive and put it away in a safe place.

While you may be tempted to label the drive Password Reset, remember that anyone who happens upon this drive can use it to bypass your password and break into your computer. Try a label that will help you recognize the drive but that isn?t so obvious.

Using a password reset disk

If you type an incorrect password in Vista, The User Name Or Password Is Incorrect error message will appear on the login screen (Figure D). Click OK.

Figure D

Windows Tips

At this point, the only thing you can do is click OK.

Follow these steps:

1. Return to the login screen, where you will reset your password below the Password box (Figure E).

Figure E

Windows Tips

To launch the Password Reset Wizard, click the Reset Password message.

2. Insert your USB flash drive and wait for it to initialize and receive a drive letter.

3. To launch the Password Reset Wizard, click Reset Password.

4. When you see the Password Reset Wizard?s Welcome screen, take a look at the information and click Next.

5. Choose your USB flash drive?s drive letter (Figure F) on the next screen and click Next.

Figure F

Windows Tips

Choose the drive letter assigned to your USB flash drive.

6. The Password Reset Wizard will open the saved file, read your saved password, and perform a few operations in the background.

7. The wizard will then prompt you to create and confirm a new password. You?ll also have to create a new password hint (Figure G).

Figure G

Windows Tips

Create a new password, confirm it, and create a new hint.

8. Clicking Next will take you to the Success screen. Click Finish to complete the operation.

You can now use the new password to log on to your Vista system.

Note: As soon as you use the Password Reset Wizard to change your password, the information in the password reset file on the USB flash drive will be outdated. Therefore, as soon as you log back into Vista, you should run the Forgotten Password Wizard again and create a new password reset file.

SOURCE

[Justin]

Speeding Up the Dual-Boot Timeout

 

If you dual-boot your computer with Windows XP and another operating system, you see
an operating system selection menu on startup. If you typically boot into Windows XP
and not the other operating system, you can speed up the dual-boot timeout value so that
you do not wait so long for the boot process to select your default operating system and
continue with the boot process. The default timeout value is 30 seconds but you can
change this setting to 10. This gives you enough time to select the alternate operating
system if you want but also speeds up the boot process. You can skip this section if you
do not use a dual-boot configuration.

 

Follow these steps:

1. Locate the boot.ini file on your computer. It is a hidden file by default; mine is located
in C:\boot.ini.

2. Open the file with Notepad (which is what opens it by default).

3. Change the Timeout value to 10.

4. Select File/Save and close Notepad.


Source book --> Make Windows XP Start 60x Faster

[Justin]

Unnecessary Features in Vista

If you've been using Windows Vista for awhile now, you have probably noticed that it contains, by default, many new features you may not even need. Those extra and unnecessary features can slow your computer down and take up more storage space than is needed. So, if you would like to uninstall or turn off some of those extra features, this is the tip for you!

Some of the Windows Vista features can be uninstalled using the Windows Features utility. Simply follow these steps to uninstall any applications you don't need:

* Click on the Start button and select Control Panel.

* Under Programs, click the option of "Uninstall a program."

* Next, on the side menu, click on "Turn Windows features on or off."

* Go ahead and scroll through the list, as shown below, and remove the checkmark from any feature you do not want installed on your computer.

Windows Tips

* Click OK when you're finished making your changes. The features will then be uninstalled.

That's all there is to it. Here's to a brand new Vista for you!


Source --> www.worldstart.com

[ysNoi]

From Add/Remove Programs.....
appwiz.cpl

This command helped me a lot to uninstall the Power DVD on my Manager's Notebook......

The case is whenever he clicks anything in his notebook, for example in control panel, the Power DVD windows will appear.....

So what i did is I use the appwiz.cpl to go directly to Add/Remove Programs to uninstall the Power DVd...

Thanks a lot Sir Justin for your windows Tips.....

[Justin]

To change the Startup and Logoff screens
Startup Screen

    * Create a 320x400 bitmap in the root directory and name it LOGO.SYS
    * You can use LOGOW.SYS file in the Windows directory as a starter

Logoff Screens

   1. There are several files called LOGOX.SYS
   2. They are actually bitmaps 320x400 that just have a different extension
   3. The hidden one in the root directory LOGO.SYS is the startup logo.
   4. There are two files in the Windows directory.
   5. LOGOW.SYS is the Wait while Shutting down ... screen
   6. LOGOS.SYS is the You may now shut-off or Reboot screen
   7. To edit them, rename them with a BMP extension and use your favorite graphic editor
   8. You can edit these files or create you own
   9. They just need to be the same size

Source --> HERE

[nogi]

How to verify XP software you bought is OEM/UPGRADE/RETAIL?

1. insert your XP cd in cd-drive
2. right click the cd-rom then choose search
3. search the Setupp.ini file

double click on it, there is a field called PID=. this PID is what would tell us exactly what we have got.First 5 bytes of PID decide whether (it is OEM or RETAIL or is an UPGRADE ) and last three digits determine what kind of CD KEY will it accept. here are some of the typical PID values:

Retail = 51882 335
Volume License = 51883 270
OEM = 82503 OEM

[nogi]

How To Overwrite Deleted Data in Windows!

When you delete files or folders, the data is not initially removed from the hard disk. Instead, the space on the disk that was occupied by the deleted data is "deallocated." After it is deallocated, the space is available for use when new data is written to the disk. Until the space is overwritten, it is possible to recover the deleted data by using a low-level disk editor or data-recovery software.If you create files in plain text and then encrypt them, Encrypting File System (EFS) makes a backup copy of the file so that, if an error occurs during the encryption process, the data is not lost. After the encryption is complete, the backup copy is deleted. As with other deleted files, the data is not completely removed until it has been overwritten. The new version of the Cipher utility is designed to prevent unauthorized recovery of such data.

To overwrite deleted data on a volume by using Cipher.exe, use the /w switch with the cipher command. Use the following steps:

1. Quit all programs
2. Go to Start\Run\cmd
3. Type cipher /w:driveletter:\foldername, and then press ENTER. Specify the drive and the folder that identifies the volume that contains the deleted data that you want to overwrite. Data that is not allocated to files or folders will be overwritten. This permanently removes the data. This can take a long time if you are overwriting a large space.

[nogi]

How to Backup your System Partition?

Automated System Recovery (ASR) can be used to help recover from some problems that may prevent your Windows computer from booting properly. This pocess allows you to recover a system that is unable to start because of a hardware mulfunction.

First you must create ASR Backup:
1. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and click Backup.
2. If the Backup or Restore Wizard starts click the "Advanced Mode" link.
3. Press the button marked Automated System Recovery.
4. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen. You will be prompted for a destination for your backup; this can be either a file or a tape drive. You will need a blank, formatted, 1.44MB floppy disk to complete the procedure.

How to Recover a Computer Using an ASR Backup
1. Boot the computer with a Microsoft® Windows® XP or Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 CD (or with the setup floppy disks).
2. During the boot process you will be prompted as follows, along the bottom of the screen: "Press F2 to run Automated System Recovery (ASR)...".
3. When you press F2 you will be prompted to insert the ASR Recovery Disk; insert the disk that you created during the backup process and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the recovery.

 

[ysNoi]

Thanks for sharing these nogi...!

 

[nogi]

you're always welcome 

[yengph]

nosebleed 

[dhiching03]

dami..salamat..