Hot Discussion » Windows XP

Add My Pictures folder to the Send To contextual menu in Windows XP

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 04:47:00 +0000

Add My Pictures folder to the Send To contextual menu in Windows XP

1. Go into My Computer.
2. Double-click your C: drive.
3. Click Documents and Settings for Users.
4. Go into your user folder.
5. If you haven’t already, reveal your hidden folders.
6. Click Tools and choose Options.
7. Go to the View tab and select "Show hidden files and folders."
8. Click Apply.
9. Click OK.

You’ll see a hidden folder called Send To. Open it.

Drag and drop the My Pictures shortcut on your desktop into the folder.

If you don’t already have a shortcut to My Pictures, right-click its entry and choose Create Shortcut.

Deactivating the ‘Add New Programs’ function

admin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:39:00 +0000

It really helps to have the programs in windows all neatly arranged. It’s a different case if the programs installed in the windows shortcut location in the ‘All programs’ are not arranged properly. Users may find difficulties in searching and running their desired programs. Due to that, you will definitely not like the idea if your friends freely install programs into your PC – programs whose functions are uses you are not sure of.

One of the simplest way of installing windows programs is through the control panel. Users can easily install just by clicking ‘Add/Remove Programs’ in the control panel. If you want to prevent others from using that function, the best thing to do is to deactivate it from the control panel.

To do this, you need to modify the existing windows registry arrangement

Goto start –> Run –> regedit
When the registry editor window opens, navigate to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Unistall’.
Create a new entry in the right window pane by right-clicking and selecting
New\Dword Value’; name it ‘NoAddFromCDorFloppy’.
Double-click and enter 1 to the ‘value Data’.
Next, you have to navigate to ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies|Uninstall’,
As with the previous steps, create a new entry in the right window pane and name it ‘NoAddFromCDorFloppy’.
Double-click and enter 1 to the ‘Value Data’ section
Restart the computer once u have closed all the windows.

When you are back in the system, try opening ‘Control Panel \ Add/Remove Programs’, u will no longer see the ‘CD or Floppy’ option under ‘Add New Programs’, which is usually used to install programs.

Shutdown your PC with Timer

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:01:00 +0000

Procedure 1:

1. Right click on your desktop and choose "New=>shortcuts".
2. In the box that says "Type the location of the shortcut",
type in "shutdown -s -t 3600" without the quotation marks and click next. Note: 3600 are the amount of seconds before your computer shuts down. So , 60secs*60mins=3600secs.
3. Make up a name for the shortcut and you’re done.
You can change the icon by right clicking=>properities=>change icon=>browse

TO ABORT:
To make an abort key to stop the shutdown timer just create another shortcut and make
the "location of the shortcut" to " shutdown -a" without the quotes.

Procedure 2:

Here is another trick to shutdown at a specific time, for example you wish to shutdown at 11:35am. Type this in
start=>Run
Type Code: at 11:35 shutdown –s

TO ABORT:
Code:shutdown -a

Microsoft Narrator Tutorial

admin — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:07:00 +0000

The ease of use of an operating system can be used as a barometer of its marketability in the market. There are many facilities that are integrated in windows xp. The tutorial helps to enable even the public users to quickly adapt with the software. Here, users, need only to follow and observe the guidance from the windows xp.

These functions may make the software look more interesting. There is actually one other function in windows xp which seems to be almost forgotten by most people. It is the ‘Microsoft Narrator’. It has the same function as a human voices. By using Microsoft narrator, every program, button or function that appears in the desktop is voiced out by the narrator. To call out the Microsoft Narrator, press the {windows}+ {U} key on the keyboard. Click ‘OK’ on all the opened windows. Now increase the volume of your speaker and listen to the narrator.

Important Command Line Utilities in Windows XP

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:51:00 +0000

While there are a lot of command line utilities in WindowsXP, here are some that I have been using lately.

bootcfg – Configures, queries, or changes Boot.ini file settings.

driverquery – Displays a list of all installed device drivers and their properties.

getmac – Returns the media access control (MAC) address and list of network protocols associated with each address for all network cards in each computer

gpresult – Displays Group Policy settings and Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP) for a user or a computer

gpedit.msc – group policy edit

netsh – You can use commands in the Netsh Interface IP context to configure the TCP/IP protocol

schtasks – Schedules commands and programs to run periodically or at a specific time

systeminfo – Displays detailed configuration information about a computer and its operating system

Disable Changing Password in windows xp, vista, windows 2000

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:50:00 +0000

If, for some reason, you decided that you didn’t want users of a Windows 2000
computer to be able to change their password unless prompted to, you can make
this Registry change to implement that:
Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Name: DisableChangePassword
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1
A value of 0 means they can change their password whenever they want to. A value
of 1 means that users will not be able to change their password unless prompted (by
the password expiring, or by the box next to "User Must Change Password at Next
Logon" being checked). Please use caution and frequent backups when working with
the Registry.

XP Tips and Tricks: Change/Add Restrictions Features in Windows XP, Vista | Registry Explained

admin — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:48:00 +0000

If you want to make restrictions to what users can do or use on their computer without having to run Poledit, you can edit the Registry. You can add and delete Windows features in this Key shown below. Zero is Off and the value 1 is On.

Example: to Save Windows settings add or modify the value name NoSaveSettings to 0, if set to1 Windows will not save settings. And NoDeletePrinter set to 1 will prevent the user from deleting a printer.

The same key shows up at:
HKEY_USERS\(yourprofilename)\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Poli
cies\Explorer so change it there also if you are using different profiles.

1.Open RegEdit
2.Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\CurrentVersion\Policies
3.Go to the Explorer Key (Additional keys that can be created under Policies are
System, Explorer, Network and WinOldApp )
4.You can then add DWORD or binary values set to 1 in the appropriate keys for ON
and 0 for off.

NoDeletePrinter – Disables Deletion of Printers
NoAddPrinter – Disables Addition of Printers
NoRun – Disables Run Command
NoSetFolders – Removes Folders from Settings on Start Menu
NoSetTaskbar – Removes Taskbar from Settings on Start Menu
NoFind – Removes the Find Command
NoDrives – Hides Drives in My Computers
NoNetHood – Hides the Network Neighborhood
NoDesktop – Hides all icons on the Desktop
NoClose – Disables Shutdown
NoSaveSettings – Don’t save settings on exit
DisableRegistryTools – Disable Registry Editing Tools
NoRecentDocsMenu – Hides the Documents shortcut at the Start button
NoRecentDocsHistory- Clears history of Documents
NoFileMenu _ Hides the Files Menu in Explorer
NoActiveDesktop – No Active Desktop
NoActiveDesktopChanges- No changes allowed
NoInternetIcon – No Internet Explorer Icon on the Desktop
NoFavoritesMenu - Hides the Favorites menu
NoChangeStartMenu _ Disables changes to the Start Menu
NoFolderOptions _ Hides the Folder Options in the Explorer
ClearRecentDocsOnExit – Empty the recent Docs folder on reboot
NoLogoff – Hides the Log Off …. in the Start Menu
NoViewOnDrive – Restrict a drive to open

And here are a few more you can play with

ShowInfoTip
NoTrayContextMenu
NoStartMenuSubFolders
NoWindowsUpdate
NoViewContextMenu
EnforceShellExtensionSecurity
LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo
NoDriveTypeAutoRun
NoStartBanner
NoSetActiveDesktop
EditLevel
NoNetConnectDisconnect
RestrictRun – Disables all exe programs except those listed in the RestrictRun subkey This key has many other available keys, there is one to even hide the taskbar, one to hide the control panel and more. I’m not telling you how, as someone may want to play a trick on you. The policies key has a great deal of control over how and what program can run and how one can access what feature.

In the System key you can enter:

NoDispCPL – Disable Display Control Panel
NoDispBackgroundPage – Hide Background Page
NoDispScrSavPage – Hide Screen Saver Page
NoDispAppearancePage – Hide Appearance Page
NoDispSettingsPage – Hide Settings Page
NoSecCPL – Disable Password Control Panel
NoPwdPage – Hide Password Change Page
NoAdminPage – Hide Remote Administration Page
NoProfilePage – Hide User Profiles Page
NoDevMgrPage – Hide Device Manager Page
NoConfigPage – Hide Hardware Profiles Page
NoFileSysPage – Hide File System Button
NoVirtMemPage – Hide Virtual Memory Button

In the Network key you can enter:

NoNetSetup - Disable the Network Control Panel
NoNetSetupIDPage – Hide Identification Page
NoNetSetupSecurityPage – Hide Access Control Page
NoFileSharingControl – Disable File Sharing Controls
NoPrintSharing – Disable Print Sharing Controls

In the WinOldApp key you can enter:

Disabled – Disable MS-DOS Prompt
NoRealMode – Disables Single-Mode MS-DOS

Make your own startup and shutdown screen in xp, vista and 95

admin — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:27:00 +0000

Do you dislike the Windows startup and shutdown screens, and wish
to replace them with your own images? Here’s how:

1. On your c:\ drive (root directory), you will find the following files:
LOGO.SYS startup screen LOGOS.SYS shutdown screen
LOGOW.SYS "wait to shutdown" screen
2. COPY these files to a floppy disk before attempting to alter them. You
may want to replace them if you decide or need to use them again.
3. Despite the .sys extensions, these files are standard bitmaps (.bmp files)
Once you’ve copied them, change the extension on one of your copies
to .bmp and view it in Ms.Paint Check the IMAGE, ATTRIBUTES
menu and note that it is 320 pixels (pels) wide and 400 pixels high.
4. Before you replace any of these images, you need to find or create,
or crop a bitmap image to 320 x 400. Choose your image, and set the
size in IMAGE, ATTRIBUTES in Ms.Paint.
5. Save your new image to your floppy disk, naming it after the logo file
you intend to replace (using the .sys extension).
6. Now, on the c:\ drive, change the extension of the original logo file
(the one you are replacing) to .bmp. This way, you’ll have two originals
in case of trouble -one on your c:\ drive and one on your floppy disk.
7. Now, move your new logo file into your root c:\ directory. The next
time you start up or shut down, you’ll see your new screen.
8. If you don’t like your new image, move it out of your root directory
and replace it with one of your original files (with the .sys extension).
Be sure to do this before you exit and re-enter Windows 95!

Turn off logon, logoff status messages

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:40:00 +0000

Not Displaying Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages
To turn these off:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionpoliciessystem
If it is not already there, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages
Give it a value of 1

Automatically Run programs at Startup

admin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:00:00 +0000

If there are applications or commands that you run every single time you start your computer (Email comes to mind) you may want to consider setting things up so that these programs run automatically during the Windows XP startup. This can be done quite easily in XP by creating shortcuts and shuffling them around.

Here’s how: Windows XP has a startup folder located at ‘C:\ Documents and Settings\ (your user name)\ Start Menu\ Programs\Startup.‘ Shortcuts placed into this folder will be run automatically when Windows XP starts up.

If you already have shortcuts for the programs you desire to use, copy and paste them into the startup folder. Otherwise, go to ‘start\programs,’ select the program you would like to create a shortcut for, right click it and select ‘send to’ then ‘desktop.’ This will create a shortcut on the desktop that you can then use.