Tips On Buying A Desktop Computer

INTRODUCTION
A desktop personal computer is a most popular mode of personal computer. The system
unit of the desktop personal computer can lie flat on the desk or table. In desktop personal
computer, is usually placed on the system unit. A Purchasing a home or business computer
can be a big and sometimes costly decision. Below is a listing of helpful suggestions for
what to look for and ask when purchasing a home or business computer new or used.
NEW vs. USED
Today there are two options to buy a computer, a new or used computer. Used computer
are some time out of date, but you can buy it with very low price as compare to new
computer, but I think branded or used computer are much stable than a new computer.
Before purchasing a computer consider if you should purchase a new or used computer.
Many individuals sell computer before they are out of date allow you to purchase a relatively
decent computer. Before purchasing a new computer from a computer manufacture look at
what is available and review the below precautions when purchasing a computer.
More Considerations
When purchasing a computer it is likely that you will have a general idea of what you may
like in the computer or how you would like to configure the computer. Below is a listing of
the various components likely to be found in a computer and recommendations and tips
when considering any of the following components.

Device Short recommendation

Generally there are two types of Computer Case are available in market,
Case
for Example Tower case and desktop case. The system unit of the
desktop personal computer can lie flat on the desk or table and the
monitor is usually placed on the system unit. An other model of the
computer case is known tower. The system unit of the tower PC is
vertically placed on the desk or table. But purchasing a computer case is
generally not an important consideration when you are going to buy a
Computer. However it depends upon the user needs and choice to
building a computer case may find it important to consider the following
considerations.

CD-R -always
will be an important consideration to think about
CD Media
when purchasing a new computer or used computer. A CD-
writer or recorder (or simply CD-R drive) is used to write data on CD-R
disks. Usually, a CD-writer can read information from CD as well as write
information on CD, The locally produced CD-R disks are created with CD
writer. The speed of these drives is up to 52X or more.
CD-RW - You must have a CD-RW drive to write date on the CD-RW.
These drives have read and write speed is up to 52X or more but the re-
write speed is 10X or more. The CD-RW drive is advanced and more
expensive than CD-R drive. It can write data on both CD-R and CD-RW
discs and also read data from them
DVD - DVD stands for Digital Video Disk Versatile Disc. DVD-ROM is an
extremely high capacity optical disc with storage capacity from 4.7 GB to
17 GB.
Hard Drive Hard drives have and always will be an important
consideration to think about when purchasing a new computer
or used computer. Hard disk is most commonly used storage
device in personal computers and laptop computers. Most
application programs and operation systems require hard disk
for installation and operation.

Processor The computer processor is and will always be an important

consideration when purchasing a computer. Processor is
considered the brain of the computer. The CPU fetches instructions of
program from main memory and executes them one by one. The speed of
the CPU is measured in Mega Hertz or Giga Hertz and speed from 500 MHz
to 3.4 GHz, it depends upon a user needs, that is why purchasing a
processor is an important consideration when building or buying a
computer. There are several considerations and additional information
about what to ask and look for when purchasing a processor directly or
already installed into a computer.

Information About Purchasing A New Computer Chassis

INTRODUCTION
Generally there are two types of Computer Case are available in market, for Example
Tower case and desktop case. The system unit of the desktop personal computer can lie flat
on the desk or table and the monitor is usually placed on the system unit. An other model of
the computer case is known tower. The system unit of the tower PC is vertically placed on
the desk or table. But purchasing a computer case is generally not an important
consideration when you are going to buy a Computer. However it depends upon the user
needs and choice to building a computer case may find it important to consider the following
considerations.
CONSIDERATIONS
• Color of Case
• Type of Case (Tower case and Desktop case)
• Size of Case
The main and important factor is Upgrade availability in case.
• Please must consider that case have enough slots which will allow you to add
additional hard disk CD-ROM, Floppy drives or other drives.
• Other main consideration is that case have the availability for slots for additional
cards to be placed in. For Example VGA Card, LAN card and internal Modem.
Tips On Buying A CD-ROM Drives.
INTRODUCTION
CD-ROM drive is used with computer to read the information from the CD-ROM. Today CD-
ROM drives have transfer rates ranging from 48X to 75X or more. Generally Purchasing a
CD-ROM drive relatively easy task however can involve some considerations when
purchasing.
Technology of CD-ROM
Before considering purchasing a CD-ROM it is also good consider the other available options.
CD-R - A CD-writer or recorder (or simply CD-R drive) is used to write data on CD-R disks.
Usually, a CD-writer can read information from CD as well as write information on CD, The
locally produced CD-R disks are created with CD writer. The speed of these drives is up to
52X or more.
CD-RW - You must have a CD-RW drive to write date on the CD-RW. These drives have
read and write speed is up to 52X or more but the re-write speed is 10X or more. The CD-
RW drive is advanced and more expensive than CD-R drive. It can write data on both CD-R
and CD-RW discs and also read data from them
DVD - DVD stands for Digital Video Disk Versatile Disc. DVD-ROM is an extremely high
capacity optical disc with storage capacity from 4.7 GB to 17 GB.
TRANSFER RATES
Today CD-ROM drives have transfer rates or speeds ranging from 52X to 72X or more. For
Example, a 52X CD-ROM drive has a data transfer rate of 7,200 KBps (i.e. 48 X 150 =
7200)or 7.2 MBps. It means that the higher the number, the faster the CD-ROM drive. This
speed is generally only going to be noticeable when installing a program or copying large
amounts of data from a CD.
PRICE RANGE
For a CD-ROM drive, not to be confused with a CD-R, CD-RW or DVD drive can vary
depending upon the speed and the interface the CD-ROM drive uses.

Tips On Buying A CPU / Processor

INTRODUCTION
Processor is considered the brain of the computer. The CPU fetches instructions of program
from main memory and executes them one by one. The speed of the CPU is measured in
Mega Hertz or Giga Hertz and speed from 500 MHz to 3.4 GHz, it depends upon a user
needs, that is why purchasing a processor is an important consideration when building or
buying a computer. There are several considerations and additional information about what
to ask and look for when purchasing a processor directly or already installed into a
computer.
TYPE
The type of the processor can be very important consideration for users who are building a
computer. The main thing in processor is the compatibility with the motherboard, Because
the processor chip is plugged into the motherboard. Today there are many processor
manufacturers AMD, Motorola and Intel. Final decision to buy a processor depends upon
user need for example a home or basic user can buy Intel Celeron or AMD processor. If you can
afford then must go for latest processor if you want your computer to retain functionality for four to six years.
When considering any of the above companies product ensure that a motherboard that is
compatible with that product is also purchased. For example if an Intel motherboard is
purchased or currently installed into the computer you will want to consider an Intel
Processor.
Tips On Buying A DVD Drives.
Introduction
DVD drives is used with computer to read the information from the DVD-ROM. Today DVD
drives have transfer rates ranging of different capacity. Buying a DVD drive is confusing task,
because there are many option for this purpose are available in market. Below we have listed important
considerations to look at when considering purchasing a DVD drive.
Technology of DVD Drives
Before considering purchasing a DVD drives, it is also good consider the other available
options.
CD-R - A CD-writer or recorder (or simply CD-R drive) is used to write data on CD-R disks.
Usually, a CD-writer can read information from CD as well as write information on CD, The
locally produced CD-R disks are created with CD writer. The speed of these drives is up to
52X or more.
CD-RW - You must have a CD-RW drive to write date on the CD-RW. These drives have
read and write speed is up to 52X or more but the re-write speed is 10X or more. The CD-
RW drive is advanced and more expensive than CD-R drive. It can write data on both CD-R
and CD-RW discs and also read data from them
DVD - DVD stands for Digital Video Disk Versatile Disc. DVD-ROM is an extremely high
capacity optical disc with storage capacity from 4.7 GB to 17 GB.
TRANSFER RATES
DVD-ROM is an extremely high capacity optical disc with storage capacity from 4.7 GB to
17 GB. DVD disc is specially use to store movie films. It is also used to store huge database,
music, complex software etc.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
There are some other important considerations to look at when purchasing a computer DVD
drives include:
DVD option: DVD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD+R, DVD+R DL,DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD+RW
DL, DVD-RAM.
Warranty: How long is the warranty and what does it cover.
Support : Is the technical support number a free number is it open 24 hours 7 days a
week.

Tips For Buying Flat Panels

Introduction of Flat Panel Monitors
These are two basic type of monitor that are used with personal computer, CRT Monitor and
Flat-Panel Monitor. Flat Panel is a relatively new technology when compared to the CRT or
standard monitor technology. Due to new technology some important considerations to look
at when purchasing a flat panel Monitor.
Technology of LCD
There are two categories of LCDs then Before looking at what type of configurations you
need to look for when purchasing a computer Flat Panel it is important to know if you want
Active Matrix LCD or Passive Matrix LCD.
Active Matrix LCD : Active Matrix LCD uses a transistor for each liquid crystal cell or pixel
and thus displays high quality images. Active Matrix LCD is also known Thin Film
Transistor(TFT) display. Today, new generation of TFT is called organic LED that displays
brighter images than standard TFT display. The organic LED uses organic molecules to
generate output on the screen.
Passive Matrix LCD : Passive Matrix LCD uses fewer transistors and requires less power than
active matrix LCD. The colors on Passive Matrix LCD are not bright as compared to active
matrix LCD.
Resolution
The quality of LCD screen depends on its resolution, which is generally proportional to the
size of screen.
15" flat panel monitor typically has a resolution of 800 x 600 / 1,024 x 768
17" flat panel monitor typically has a resolution of 1,280 x 1,024
19" flat panel monitor typically has a resolution of 1,280 x 1024
21" flat panel monitor typically has a resolution of 1,600 x 1,200.
Tips For Buying A Hard Drive

Introduction of Hard Disk

Today hard disk is most commonly used storage device in personal computers and laptop
computers. Mostly application program and operation systems require hard disk for
installation and operation. That is way it is very important to verify When purchasing a hard
disk drive, this hard disk drive is suitable for your uses and has or does not have the options
you may or may not need.
Interface of the hard disk
There are many types (interface) of hard disks available in the market for example
IDE/ATA,SCSI,External hard drive. That is why first decide your need is internal or external
hard drives. When looking to purchase a hard disk drive the first it is important
consideration is the Interface the hard disk drive uses to communicate with the computer .
• IDE/ATA This type of hard disk is used with IBM compatible
computers, and very easy to install in a computer. Each IBM computer
has the availability for a maximum of four IDE devices, for example
IDE hard disk , CD drive and DVD drive.
• SCSI The SCSI interface is generally a better and faster solution
when compared to IDE/ATA but this solution is not best for common
user only best for server level machine. however in some cases can
be more difficult to install. To install a SCSI hard disk drive you must
have a SCSI card and an available connection on the SCSI cable
connecting to the SCSI card.
• External Hard disk There are many solutions are also available;
these include, USB Hard disk drive, Fire wire Hard disk drive and
Parallel Hard disk drive. The main benefit with external hard disk, you
can move it where you want very easily. Mostly external hard disk is
used for data backup and change the physical location of data.

Other considerations

Here are some important considerations to look at when purchasing a computer new hard
disk drive:
Speed: Hare disk speed is playing an important role when your consider a computer
speed. The accessing speed of hard disk is also very high as compare to other storage
devices. It is from 5 to 15 MBps. The platters of hard disk rotate from 3000 to 10,000
revolution per min.
Warranty: How long is the warranty and what does it cover.
Support : Is the technical support number a free number is it open 24 hours 7 days a
week.
Tips On Buying A Computer Memory.

Introduction of Computer memory.

The Computer memory plays very important role in data processing. Computer memory
means the computer can use powerful program with large size. It also improves the data
procession speed of computer, that is way it is very important to verify When purchasing a
computer memory, this memory is suitable for your computer and needs. Below is a listing
of different considerations and tips to look for when purchasing computer memory.
Type Of Memory
There are many types of memory available in market, Before purchasing any memory or
considering purchasing memory it is important that you distinguish the type of memory that
is required. Below is a listing of some of the configurations of computer memory.
Memory type: SIMM, DIMM, RIMM,
Amount of Pins: 72-Pin, 30-Pin, etc..
Speed of memory: 10ns, 60ns, 70ns, etc..
Below is a listing of additional considerations to look out when purchasing computer
memory.

Tips On Buying Computer Monitors.

Introduction of Monitor
The monitor is a popular and most commonly used output device. Most monitors used in
personal computers to display text, graphics, and video information. Due to different
futures of monitor purchasing can be one of the most important task. Follow the some given
steps to buying new or used monitor.
Technology of monitor
There are two basic types of monitors that are used with personal computer.
• CRT monitors
• Flat-Panel Monitors
when you are purchasing a monitor it is important to know, you need a CRT monitor or a
Flat Panel monitor.
CRT Monitors. A CRT monitor is similar to standard television. Like televisions, CRT
monitor size is measured diagonally, in inches, across the front of the screen. Today, CRT
monitors are available in various sizes, i.e., 15, 17, 19, 21, and 22 inches. The large size
monitors are more expensive and allow you to view more information on the screen at
once.
Flat Panel / LCD. A flat panel monitor is also called LCD monitor. A flat panel monitor
takes up less desk space and also consumes less power. Flat panel monitors are available
with different sizes such as 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, and 23 inches. Flat panel monitors are
commonly used in mobile devices such as laptop and table PCs. Similarly, smart phones,
PDAs calculators have LCD screens.
There are two main categories of LCDs. These are
• Active Matrix LCD
 • Passive Matrix LCD
Resolution
The quality of monitor screen depends on its resolution, which is generally proportional to
the size of screen.
15" monitor typically has a resolution of 800 x 600 / 1,024 x 768
17" monitor typically has a resolution of 1,280 x 1,024
19" monitor typically has a resolution of 1,280 x 1024
21" monitor typically has a resolution of 1,600 x 1,200.
Once you have reviewed the appropriate information and believe that you are ready to
make a purchase of a new monitor, ensure that the source which you plan on purchasing
the monitor from is a reputable source and you have reviewed our section on what to look
out for when purchasing over the Internet.

Tips On Buying A Computer Motherboard

Introduction of Motherboard
The motherboard is the main circuit board of the system unit. You can say that motherboard
is the master circuit board in the computer. Many new user of computer are not well aware
about motherboard that is why for users planning on building a computer a motherboard
can be a confusing decision. Below we have listed some considerations and tips when
looking at purchasing a computer motherboard.
There are many factor of the motherboard is a crucial consideration when looking at a
motherboard.
PC motherboard has two or more expansion slots used to add new components to the
computer. The memory chips are also inserted into the expansion slot to expand the size of
memory. Given option are very important in any motherboard for example:
Accelerator: It is used to increase the speed of processor.
I/O: It is used to connect input/output devices such as printer, mouse and keyboard.
Game: It is used to connect joystick.
Disk Controller: It is used to connect disk and CD drives.
Modem: It is used to connect other computers through telephone line or cable telephone
line.
TV Tuner: It is used for viewing television channels on the computer monitor.
How to Buying a Printer?
Introduction
These are most commonly used output devices used to get prints of documents on the
pager. Different printers have different mechanisms. Therefore purchasing a printer can be
a sometimes confusing task. The following is additional information that will help in your
purchasing decisions.
Technology of printers
There are many types and technology of printer are available in market but the most
popular and commonly used are inkjet and laser printer.
Ink Jet Printer. The inkjet printer is not-impact character printer and prints one character
at a time. The printing quality of inkjet printer is measured by the number of tiny ink of
drops per inch(dpi). Most inkjet printers range from 300 to 2400 dpi. Printers with higher
dpi usually are more expensive but having high printing quality. The speed of an inkjet
printer is measured by the number of pages per minute (ppm) it can print. Its printing
speed is up to 15 ppm. Therefore purchasing a printer can be depends upon printers dpi
and ppm but It depends upon user need.
Laser Printer. A Laser printer is the fastest and high quality printer, but a laser printers
are more expensive than inkjet printers and their print quality is also higher. The print
quality and printing speed of laser printers make them ideal for offices and business. The
laser printer can print text and graphics in very high quality resolution. The commonly user
laser printers have resolution of 300 or 600 dpi and printing speed is from 5 to 30 ppm. The
high quality laser printers have resolution from 600 to 2400 dpi. The printing speed of these
printers is also more than 150 ppm.
Speed and price range
The price of laser printers depend on the quality and printing speed. The color printers are
more costly than black-and-white laser printers. The higher the resolution and speed, the
more expensive the printer.The price range can vary depending upon the quality of the
printer and the type of printer for example inkjet, laser printers.
READY TO BUY
Once you have reviewed the appropriate information and believe that you are ready to
make a purchase of a printer ensure that the source which you plan on purchasing the
printer from is a reputable source and you have reviewed our section on what to look out for
when purchasing over the Internet.

Introduction

Here are some Information and help on buying computers components hardware and
software. This section of Computer Tips is designed to help all users to understand and
make better decisions when purchasing computer hardware and software. There are some
tips when you are ready to buy a computer for example:

BUYING LOCATIONS

The first and important thing is to consider the buying location when purchasing a computer
or computer equipment, software and hardware. There are many location to buy a computer
but We have listed here some locations you will be able to purchase computer equipment or
from and what to look out for. Please select one of the below locations you plan on
purchasing from.

INTERNET

Internet is very easier, faster and cheaper way to buy computer hardware and software.
Because a manufacturer provides you the detail information about its products, prices and
where they are available for sale. A shop provides you a list of goods available, price of each
item, that is why you can easily compare the price and quality of one company products to
other company products.

LOCAL RETAILER
If your are not interested to buy a computer using internet then Local Retailer is one of the
safest location to buy computer hardware and software. However the important issues to
find a suitable shop for this purpose. So please first verify the return and warranty policy in

case the device is not functioning or is not compatible with your computer.

How to increase the Browsing and Downloading speed in Windows Vista?

With windows Vista you have noticed the slow internet speed. The web browsing and
downloading speed is very slow as compare to previous versions of windows. You can open
the same sites in windows XP and server 2003 with the normal speed.
Follow the given steps to increase the Vista browsing speed:
First go to Advance tab in Internet Explorer and turn off the TLS (Transport Layer Security)
encryption option. Here to fix problem with some secure pages turn on the SSL 2.0 (Secure
Sockets Layer) feature and click Ok button to close it.
Follow the major fix for this problem:
In windows Vista, the TCP autotuning feature is enabled by default. Some web servers do
not respond properly to this feature, so it appears that some sites open with very slow
speed.
To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative
rights.
First click on Start button and type CMD in Run option then press Enter.
At Command Prompt, type the following command and press enter.
netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel= disabled
This command will disable the TCP autotuning feature. Now close the command Prompt and
restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.
You can easily restore these setting by typing the following command at Command Prompt.
netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel= normal
Now close the command Prompt and again restart your computer after any changes to go
into effect.
How to start windows programs quickly with Run Command?

The run option of Start menu is used to run a program or to open a

document directly. If you do not know the exact location of the program or
document then click on Start button to open Run and type the programs shortcut name to
open it directly.

Run Commands
• appwiz.cpl -- Used to run Add/Remove wizard

• Calc --Calculator

• Cfgwiz32 --ISDN Configuration Wizard

• Charmap --Character Map

• Chkdisk --Repair damaged files

• Cleanmgr --Cleans up hard drives

• Clipbrd --Windows Clipboard viewer

• Control --Displays Control Panel

• Cmd --Opens a new Command Window
• Control mouse --Used to control mouse properties

•
• Dcomcnfg --DCOM user security

• Debug --Assembly language programming tool

• Defrag --Defragmentation tool

• Drwatson --Records programs crash & snapshots

• Dxdiag --DirectX Diagnostic Utility

• Explorer --Windows Explorer

• Fontview --Graphical font viewer

• Fsmgmt.msc -- Used to open shared folders

• Firewall.cpl -- Used to configure windows firewall

• Ftp -ftp.exe program

• Hostname --Returns Computer's name

• Hdwwiz.cpl -- Used to run Add Hardware wizard

• Ipconfig --Displays IP configuration for all network adapters

• Logoff -- Used to logoff the computer

• MMC --Microsoft Management Console

• Msconfig --Configuration to edit startup files

• Mstsc -- Used to access remote desktop

• Mrc -- Malicious Software Removal Tool

• Msinfo32 --Microsoft System Information Utility

• Nbtstat --Displays stats and current connections using NetBIOS over TCP/IP

• Netstat --Displays all active network connections

• Nslookup--Returns your local DNS server

• Osk ---Used to access on screen keyboard

• Perfmon.msc -- Used to configure the performance of Monitor.

• Ping --Sends data to a specified host/IP

• Powercfg.cpl -- Used to configure power option

• Regedit --Registry Editor

• Regwiz -- Registration wizard

• Sfc /scannow -- System File Checker

• Sndrec32 --Sound Recorder

• Shutdown -- Used to shutdown the windows

 • Spider -- Used to open spider solitaire card game

• Sfc / scannow -- Used to run system file checker utility.

• Sndvol32 --Volume control for soundcard

• Sysedit -- Edit system startup files
• Taskmgr --Task manager

• Telephon.cpl -- Used to configure modem options.

• Telnet --Telnet program

• Tracert --Traces and displays all paths required to reach an internet host

• Winchat -- Used to chat with Microsoft

• Wmplayer -- Used to run Windows Media player

• Wab -- Used to open Windows address Book.

• WinWord -- Used to open Microsoft word

• Winipcfg --Displays IP configuration

• Winver -- Used to check Windows Version

• Wupdmgr --Takes you to Microsoft Windows Update

• Write -- Used to open WordPad

Suggested Reading
• A Quick Document Printing
• Adding a Shortcut Key to Your Internet Connection
• Adding Internet Prefixes and Suffixes Automatically
• Are You Ready for SP2?
• Automate the DIR Command
• View previously open Folders after Shutdown or Logoff
• Boot in Time
• How to start windows programs quickly with Run Command? New
• Browsing Your Computer via the Address Toolbar
• Change The Recycle Bin's Name
• Changing the Icon Spacing
• Choose The Sounds For Each Windows Event
• Clarifying Using Run
• Control all open windows
• Dealing with Print Screen
• Disabling Auto run CD
• Print Through DOS Mode
• Dragging and Dropping Program Files in the Start Menu
• Enabling Toggle Keys
• Export Registry File Before Editing
 • More Control Over Your Computer's Boot Process
• New Monitors can give life to an older PC
• No NTFS Floppies
• Turn Your Num Lock On Forever
• Quick Close All Windows
• Quick Format Vs Default Format
• Using REGEDIT With Safety
• Removing Add/Remove Programs Entries From RegEdit
• Safer Registry Editing
• Task Manager running but hidden from view
• Write A Batch File To Start Program In Startup
• Recycle as Much as You Want
A Quick way to print a Document
There are many ways to prints a document, but you can print a document quickly if you put
a shortcut to the printer on your desktop and drag a document icon to it, no need to open
file for printing just drag a file to printer icon and get your print.
To do this, first click Start button, Settings, then Printers ( first make sure you installed
your printer driver). When the Printers window opens, hold down Ctrl and drag the printer
icon to your system desktop.
Now you can drag a document icon and drop it in printer icon on your desktop. Here you will
get a print quickly and with out open a file.
How you can add a Shortcut Key to Your Internet Connection?
This basic and common way to dial the internet connection using giving path:
• Click on Start Button > sittings then click on Network and dial-up connections option,
here you can dial your internet connection.
• Another way to dial your internet connection if you have a shortcut to your internet
connection on your desktop. Simply boot your system and dial your internet
connection from your desktop shortcut.
•
• A new cool tip to dial internet connection with out using the mouse, simply add a
shortcut key that will allow you to do this. Just right-click on your Internet
connection and go to Properties option. Click in the Shortcut Key box and then press
a key combination that you would like to use here like (Ctrl-Alt-I). When you have a
combination you like, click OK. Next time no need to use mouse to run your internet
connection simply use this shortcut from your keyboard, you can just press your
shortcut key combination (Ctrl-Alt-I) to launch your Internet connection.

Adding Internet Prefixes and Suffixes Automatically

Here's a cool tip for accessing a Web page from any Windows address bar. You can
enter any string of characters in an address bar and then press Ctrl-Enter; Windows
will automatically add both "www" and ".com", and then search for the page on the
Internet. For example, if we type
computerfreetips
in an address bar and then press Ctrl-Enter, Windows will take us to the
computerfreetips
Web site at www.computerfreetips.com. Give it a try.
Are You Ready for SP2 and why you install it
Windows XP's Service Pack 2 basically a windows update and it is very necessary to secure
your windows XP from virus, worm and other security problems. Window's XP SP2 are
available on Microsoft site and ready to download without any cast. If you're ready to install
this major OS update, you can check out the info at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx
and find out how to get a hold of this important OS update. Download this file and install it,
after installing restart your system. If you want to check SP2 installed or not then right click
on "My Computer" then properties option for confirmation.
How you can Automate the DIR Command

If your are using same switches frequently in Command prompt then open your system
command prompt using open Run option
Click Start and open Run option then type cmd to open command prompt, here type
set dircmd=/w/o/p
then press Enter, now every time thereafter that you type
dir
the /w/o/p switches will be automatically applied and now need to type every time. If your
are interested to use single switch like /w you can use it
set dircmd=/w
and press Enter.
and same if you wants to undo these switches then you can very easily by typing
dir /-switch
For example, if you wanted to do a directory with only the /w switch, you could enter
dir /-p/-o
When you exit the Command prompt window, however, the Dircmd setting returns to its
default settings.

View previously open Folders after Shutdown or Logoff

If you need to access lot of folders on your home computer or on the network regularly then
you can set them re-open automatically, when you will login, shutdown or restart your
computer next time. There is no need to open regularly used folders manually, just
configure the simple sitting, your computer will automatically reload all the previously
opened windows.
By default windows XP disables this option to reload automatically all the previously opened
windows, when you login on, shutdown or restart your computer.
Follow the given steps to configure your computer to reload previously opened folders
automatically after shutdown.
• To edit this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with
administrative rights.
• First click on Start button then go to Control Panel.
• Open the “Appearance and Themes” option in control panel then click on
Folder Options.
• A small windows dialog box will appear with the title “Folder options”, click on
View tab.
• Under the Advanced setting section, scroll down to bottom and click the
“Restore previous folder windows at logon” option and then click Ok button to
save sitting.
• Now when you log off, restart or shutdown, your computer will automatically
open the previously opened folders from the same location as before.

How to change the boot Time in window XP?

You can set the boot time in windows XP as your wish if you are install two operating systems
on same computer, for example window 2000 with windows XP or more than two. Yow can do
this with editing Boot.ini file. Here you can also set the sequence for operating system which
operating system boot first.
First Right Click on My Computer option and then select its Properties. In next dialog box open
Advanced tab button. Under Startup and Recovery, click on the Settings button. Use the spin
box "Time to display list of operating systems" to set the number of seconds you want the
system to wait before automatically starting the default operating system. Here you will set
time in seconds and its range start from 0 and ends with 999 seconds.
After set the time, then click OK option to close the dialog box to save your change. The
next time you restart, the new time will take effect.

How you can Browsing Your Computer via the Address

Toolbar?
Here is a very cool tip to open your system drive and web page quickly. You can open any
web page without opening browser, windows will automatically open your windows browser
and open your web page. you can do this if you put an Address Bar on your Taskbar.
Right click on your system taskbar > go to Toolbars and then click no Address option, here
you will see a mark on Address option. After this a Address Bar will appear on your system
Taskbar, you can open any web page by typing URL name here and press Enter, Windows
will automatically open your web page in be default set browser.
You can also browse files and folders on your computer by using the Address Bar. simply
type drive letter like C:\ , D:\ in Address Bar and Press Enter.
C:\

How you can Change The Recycle Bin's Name?

You can change the name of Recycle Bin of your system if you wish. It is very easy and
interesting but it require some changes in windows registry,
• First click on Start button > click on Run option.
• Type here regedit.exe and press enter then you will find there regedit editor.
 • In regedit editor you will open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT folder, In this folder
open the CLSID folder then open the {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-
00AA002F954E} folder >ShellFolder folder at last.
• Here simply change the data value from "40 01 00 20" to "70 01 00 20".
After performing all above steps restart your computer then you will find option to rename
Recycle name after right clicking on Recycle Bin Icon. Now you can change new name as
you wish.

How you Changing the Icon Spacing in XP?

You can manage your desktop icons in windows XP horizontally as well as vertically spacing.
You can change the location, size of icons and spacing between icons manually but you can
arrange these setting using windows methods.
First Right click on your windows XP desktop then click on Properties option. Here click the Appearance tab then
go to Advance button and under Item you will find many options to change the desktop icons, for example choose
icon spacing in both ways and then here you can change the size putting number (minimum or maximum) under
size. When you finished all setting then click ok button.
How to Choose The Sounds For Each Windows Event?
Here is a cool tip to choose the sounds for each windows event, you can get these sounds
files using windows special sound folders but you can add sounds from any third source.
• First Click on Start button, Control Panel and then Click the Sounds and audio
devices icon.
• Click on sounds option , select it and then click Browse button.
• After clicking browse option you will go c:\WINNT > Media or Sounds folder
(windows default sounds folder), but you can add sounds here from any third
source.
• Simply locate here the sound file you want to associate with the selected
event and double-click it.
• Now you can play this sound file in preview to observe if your like the sound
file or not.
• Click OK, and then Click OK again to close the dialog box.
How you can save Energy using Energy saving feature?
You can save your system energy applying these feature.
• First Right click on our your system desktop and a popup menu will appear.
• Select the Properties option from the menu.
• Click Screen Saver tab and then select Power button, here you will get
Power saving sitting option for your monitor.
• Select your power scheme from available option, for example turn off monitor
time, turn off hard disk and stand by your system.
• At the end Click OK button to apply the selected scheme.
Control all open windows using windows shortcut keys
A cool tip to minimize and maximize all your active windows programs. You can do all using
your mouse, but if you want to do this with keyboard then simply press Windows key+M
to minimize all active programs and later maximize it using Windows key+Shift+M.
If you want to minimize the all active windows programs one by one then use the shortcut by
pressing Alt+Space+N keys and sequentially maximize the active windows programs using
shortcut Alt+Space+X keys.
How you can Deal with your Print Screen Button?
Today a very useful tip for those who are interested to copy or download an images
(Specially for Copyrights Images) from any site using Internet. Then there are two options
to copy these images in Windows XP, Just open the required image page website, one
option deal with this the Print Screen Button on your Keyboard and other is press Alt- Print
Screen Button. If you simply press Print Screen Button after open a image from any site,
here you can copies the entire windows to the Clipboard, and if you press Alt- Print Screen
Button, Windows XP copy the only active window.
Now you can use any Graphic Tools like (Adobe Photoshop, Paint) to manage and print this
image. Just open one tool then paste this image, this will paste all Clipboard contents into
Paint. Now you can print, save this image or can do more work on this image.

How to Disable or Enable Auto run CD in Windows XP?

In windows XP you can enjoy a good feature to run CD or DVD automatically when you
loaded it into you CD drives on your computer. This is a defaults feature in windows XP but
you can disable and enable it according to your nature of work. In user interface mode there
is no option to disable or enable this feature, you must edit the registry of windows and be
careful to work registry.
Click Start button then type regedit in Run option then press Enter for next.
Here locate the location to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom
Here you can disable or enable automatically running your CD. Change the value of
Autorun to 0 for disable and change the value to 1 for enable. At the end restart your
computer for this change.
Print and Edit Through DOS Mode
If you are working at the Command Prompt your can modify and print the text file very
easily. There are different ways to print text a file while working at the Command Prompt.
Assuming the file you want to print is in your current folder, you can type here with your file
name with extension. For example
print filename.txt
and press Enter. Here .txt is the file extension. You must use the extension. Now in the
same way you can edit this file before printing with given command
edit filename.txt
and press Enter. This command opens the MS-DOS Editor to edit this file. Edit the file and
then press Alt, F, P to print it.

Dragging and Dropping Program Files in the Start Menu

Perhaps the most commonly asked question from readers of these tips is how to
sort the Programs menu in alphabetical order. Once again, the trick is to go to
Start, Programs and then make sure that you move your cursor to the right, so that
your cursor is inside the actual list of programs. Then you just right-click and
choose Sort By Name.
This works with Favorites, too. Please note that in both these cases, unfortunately,
new programs and Favorites are always added to the bottom of the list, so you'll
have to re-sort them later. You can also drag and drop the shortcuts in the list of
programs, just in case you want to move the most frequently accessed programs to
the top. Just go to Start, Programs and then click and hold on a program or folder.
Drag it and release to move it where you like.
How to Enable Toggle Keys of your Systems?

Toggle Keys option designed for those people who are typing while looking away from the
screen or for those who are vision impairment. When your system Toggle keys is turned on,
you will get a special sound when special keys are pressed like CAPS, NUM, SCROLL LOCK
keys.
To enable or disable your system Toggle keys, go to Control Panel using Start button. In
your system Control Panel normally the first option will be Accessibility options. Double click
on Accessibility options and check the Toggle keys box, Windows will automatically send you
a special beeps when you will press locking keys.

How you Export and Import Registry File Before Editing ?

Today an important tip about the back up of your system Registry. Make sure before
modifying your system Registry about its backup because Registry contains all information
how your system runs. This backup will help you to restore Registry in case any problem
occurs after modifying.
You can backup the whole Registry and also Registry subkeys.
Click Start Button then type regedit in Run box and click Ok button. Here you can export the
whole Registry or you can locate the required subkeys that contain the information that you
want to edit.
Go to File menu option then click on Export option for backup and save it with on any your
system drive with .reg extension and you can restore this backup going File menu using
import option.
More Control Over Your Computer's Boot Process
You can set the boot time in windows XP as your wish if you are install two operating
systems on same computer, for example window 2000 with windows XP or more than two.
Yow can do this with editing Boot.ini file. Here you can also set the sequence for operating
system which operating system boot first.
First Right Click on My Computer option and then select its Properties. In next dialog box
open Advanced tab button. Under Startup and Recovery, click on the Settings button. Use
the spin box "Time to display list of operating systems" to set the number of seconds you
want the system to wait before automatically starting the default operating system. Here
you will set time in seconds and its range start from 0 and ends with 999 seconds.
After set the time, then click OK option to close the dialog box to save your change. The
next time you restart, the new time will take effect.

New Monitors can give life to an older PC

If you want to upgrade your computer, the new monitor is the easiest way to upgrade your
computer, because if you have old monitor with new PC, your monitor slow down the
system to download image on the screen. The main change with new monitor is the
increased screen resolution, fast refresh rates in which a monitor will refresh a image on the
screen.
If you want to change the refresh rate of your monitor, Right click on Desktop >
Properties > Settings then open Advanced options. Here on the Monitor tab, go to
Refresh Frequency list, Here you can change your Monitor frequency with new refresh
rate. The default frequency setting of old monitor is 60 Hertz, but your monitor may support
more than 60 hertz. First check your monitor manufacturer documentation about your
monitor supports. The higher refresh rate reduces the flicker problem on your screen.
No NTFS Floppies
Windows XP has never supported NTFS with floppy disks because floppy disks are too small
in size for NTFS data structures. If your are using Windows XP and ready to format floppy
disk, first right click on drive A, then the only option you will find FAT format.
If your system uses any file system like FAT , FAT32 and NTFS, but you can format your
floppy using FAT only.
How to Turn Your Num Lock On Forever?
You can set your Num Lock to stay on by default when you logon your system.
There are two different techniques to set Num Lock stay on by default.
• If you can use Registry Editor correctly then Click on start button and type
Regedt32.exe in Run command. Here Navigate to
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard and change the value for
InitialKeyboardIndicators from 0 to 2.
• You can do same by configuring the script to change the NUM LOCK state.
Click Start button and then open Notepad. Copy the giving code and paste in
Notepad.
set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.SendKeys "{NUMLOCK}"
Now save this file with name "num.vbs" must including the quotes. At the end
copy this file to user startup folder. The path for this folder is Documents and
Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

Now restart the computer. Num Lock should come on and stay on.

How to Close All Windows Programs quickly?

A cool tip to minimize and maximize all your active windows programs. You can do all using
your mouse, but if you want to do this with keyboard then simply press Windows key+M
to minimize all active programs and later maximize it using Windows key+Shift+M.
If you want to minimize the all active windows programs one by one then use the shortcut
by pressing Alt+Space+N keys and sequentially maximize the active windows programs
using shortcut Alt+Space+X keys.

Using REGEDIT With Safety

Make sure before modifying your system Registry about its backup, because Registry
contains all information how your system runs. This backup will help you to restore Registry
in case any problem occurs after modifying. Learn how you can Export and Import Registry
File Before Editing?
You can backup the whole Registry and also its subkeys.
Click Start Button then type regedit in Run box and click Ok button. Here you can export the
whole Registry or you can locate the required subkeys that contain the information that you
want to edit.
Go to File menu option then click on Export option for backup and save it with on any your
system drive with .reg extension and you can restore this backup going File menu using
import option.
Removing Add/Remove Programs Entries From RegEdit
Generally we use Add/Remove programs option in Control Panel to remove any unwanted
program from our computer. Normally this may be due to poorly designed uninstaller with
this program. That is why some programs may not be removed properly and a reference to
this program remains in the computer registry. This reference in registry may be creating
problems to run your computer smoothly. Here you need to delete this reference to edit
your computer registry using RegEdit editor.
• First go to Start button and open Run dialog box. Type here RegEdit and press
Enter.
• Now in editor Navigate to the given path
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Unins
tall.
• Here locate the entry created by your program with its name and select that
entry from the list on the left panel and delete its key.
• Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer, the program will be
removed from your computer permanently.

Safer Registry Editing

Make sure before modifying your system Registry about its backup and you need to know
how to organized the registry, how to perform the basic editing, because Registry contains
all information how your system runs. This backup will help you to restore Registry in case
any problem occurs after modifying. Learn how you can Export and Import Registry File
before Editing?
You can backup the whole Registry and only Registry subkeys also.
Click Start Button then type regedit in Run dialog box and click Ok button. Here you can
backup the whole Registry or you can locate the required subkeys that contain the
information that you want to edit.
Go to File menu option then click on Export option for backup and save it with on any your
system drive with .reg extension and you can restore this backup going File menu using
import option.

Task Manager running but hidden from view

If you are using Windows Task Manager to display the information about programs and
processes that are running on your computer. You can start your Windows Task Manager
with pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys or with pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys.
To keep Task Manager hidden when it is minimized.
 • First open it by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys then go to Options menu and click on
Hide When Minimized.
• You can easily restore it, if you click on the icon of Task Manager that will appear in
taskbar near the time display.

Write A Batch File To Start Program In Startup

You can start your computer applications automatically and control the sequence of the
programs when your computer comes up.
Here we consider you want to run three different applications (WordPad, calculator, and
notepad) and minimized automatically with sequence at windows startup. However, you can
write a batch file to do the job for you. Open any text editor like notepad and type the
following command.
start /min wordpad.exe start /min calc.exe start /min notepad.exe
Now choose the option, Save As to save this file with .bat extension. For example
filename.bat.
Now Right- click on Start button and choose open > Double click Programs > here open
Startup folder. Now drag your .bat file in the Startup folder and close the dialog box.
Next time When you restart the computer, WordPad, Calc will start first and then Notepad.
You won't see the batch file run because you told it to run minimized.

Recycle as Much as You Want

You can increase and decrease the size of the Recycle Bin. There are some size limitations
with Recycle Bin size, its default size is equivalent to 10 percent of the drive size. But if you
delete a larger size file accidentally, you can retrieve this file from Recycle Bin that is why
you should set the maximum storage size of the Recycle Bin.
• First Right click on the Recycle Bin icon on the Desktop of your computer then
go to Properties.
• Adjust the slider bar in the center of the screen from 10% to maximum size
as you want.
• Then click OK button to save your new sitting and exit the Recycle Bin
Properties Window.
• After change reboot your computer to have Windows fully initiate the
necessary changes to your system.

• How to enable the advance performance setting in windows vista?

•
• If you have noticed that the speed of your system is very slow with
windows vista then today tip is very useful for you to increase the
performance of windows vista. There is some default setting in vista
which is used to manage the write caching on disk. By default windows
enabled the write caching on disk but the advanced performance
setting is disabled.
• Follow the given steps to configure the advance performance setting in
Windows Vista:
• To enable this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer
with administrative rights.
• First right click on My Computer icon then select the option Manage.
 • Here small windows will appear with title Computer Management, now
select the Device Manager option, then locate the SATA Disk under the
Disk Drives.
• Here select the enable advanced performance sittings on the SATA
disk.
• Now click on Ok button to apply the setting and restart your computer
after any changes to go into effect.
How to delete files that are used by other programs in windows XP/Vista?

Today tip will help you to delete the files and folders that are being used by
another programs and applications, for example a virus affected file. You
have tried to delete such kind of files or folders and received the any
following messages.
• Cannot delete file: the file is in use by the other program
• Cannot delete file: There has been a sharing violation
• Cannot delete file: The file is in use by another program or user
• Cannot delete file: Disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.
• Cannot delete file: The source or destination file may be in use
Normally, a windows restart will allow you to delete such files or folders that are being used by
other program, but if you want to manage it without restart your computer then simply you need
to download a freeware tool called Unlocker.
You can download this tool for any windows version using Unlocker link. Download it and run the easy setup.After
installation, right click on file or folder that you want to delete and select the option Unlocker. If your requested file
or folder is used or locked by other application then a small window listing of lockers will appear.
Here simply click on “Unlock All” button and now you can easily delete this file.
Suggested Reading
A Quick way to print a Document
There are many ways to prints a document, but you can print a document quickly if you put
a shortcut to the printer on your desktop and drag a document icon to it, no need to open
file for printing just drag a file to printer icon and get your print.

To do this, first click Start button, Settings, then Printers ( first make sure you installed
your printer driver). When the Printers window opens, hold down Ctrl and drag the printer
icon to your system desktop.
Now you can drag a document icon and drop it in printer icon on your desktop. Here you will
get a print quickly and with out open a file.

How you can add a Shortcut Key to Your Internet Connection?

This basic and common way to dial the internet connection using giving path:
• Click on Start Button > sittings then click on Network and dial-up connections
option, here you can dial your internet connection.
• Another way to dial your internet connection if you have a shortcut to your
internet connection on your desktop. Simply boot your system and dial your
internet connection from your desktop shortcut.
 •
• A new cool tip to dial internet connection with out using the mouse, simply
add a shortcut key that will allow you to do this. Just right-click on your
Internet connection and go to Properties option. Click in the Shortcut Key
box and then press a key combination that you would like to use here like
(Ctrl-Alt-I). When you have a combination you like, click OK. Next time no
need to use mouse to run your internet connection simply use this shortcut
from your keyboard, you can just press your shortcut key combination (Ctrl-
Alt-I) to launch your Internet connection.
How to find a lost file on your Computer?

Today tip will help you to enjoy the quick and easy way to find lost files on your computer.
Here I recommends you, try to search a file with its file extensions (for example for word
file, type *.doc, Excel *.xls, Acrobat *.pdf, *.ppt and *.exe for executable files. If you
don't know the name of file but know that it contains a string of text then try to search for
files containing specific text, type the text you want to find from any file or folder. This is
time taking process but creates very precise result. In Look in, click the drive, folder, or
network you want to search. To save time, always select the specified drive or location
instead of whole computer.

Click Start Button, point to Search, and then click For File or Folders, a Search Results
dialog box will appear. In Search for files or folders named, type the file name or folder
name you want to find in containing text.

To specify additional search criteria, click Search Options, and then click one or more of the
following options to narrow your search:

• Select Date to look for files that were created or modified on or

between specific dates.

• Select Type to look for files of a specific type, such as a text or

WordPad document.

• Select Size to look for files of a specific size.

• Select Advanced Options to specify additional search criteria.

• Click Search now.

Windows Hot shortcut keys

Shortcut keys Action
Win Press windows key to open start menu
Win+R Apply to open Run dialog box
Win+M Apply to minimize all opened windows
Win+Shift+M Apply to maximize all opened windows
Win+L Press keys to lock keyboard in windows XP
Win+E Press keys to open My Computer
Win+F Apply to open search options
Win+U Apply keys to open Utility Manager
Win+D To view desktop/minimize all windows
Win+F1 To view the detail windows help page
Win+Pause To view the System Properties dialog box
Win+Tab Move through taskbar programs
Win+F+Ctrl Apply to open search for computers
Alt+Tab Move through opened windows programs
Alt+F4 Press keys to close active windows program
Alt+Enter Apply to open properties of selected item
Alt+ SPACEBAR Open the system menu of active window
Alt+ SPACEBAR +N Press keys to minimize the active program
Alt+ SPACEBAR +R Press keys to restore the active program
Alt+ SPACEBAR+C Press keys to close the active program
Alt+ SPACEBAR+X Press keys to maximize the active program
Alt+ SPACEBAR+M Press keys to move the active program
Ctrl+Alt+Delete Apply to open windows task manager
Ctrl+Shift+Esc Apply to open windows task manager
Ctrl+Esc Press keys to open start menu
Shift Shift key to prevent CD from automatically playing
Shift+Delete To delete items permanently
Suggested Reading
• A Quick Document Printing

• Adding a Shortcut Key to Your Internet Connection

• Adding Internet Prefixes and Suffixes Automatically

• Are You Ready for SP2?

• Windows Hot shortcut keys New

• How to restrict user's to access shutdown button?

• Automate the DIR Command

• View previously open Folders after Shutdown or Logoff

• How to run the systeminfo utility in Windows XP? New

• Boot in Time
• How to login with multiple ID's at the same time in Yahoo messenger?
• How to disable auto-start applications on windows startup?
• How to start windows programs quickly with Run Command?

• How to add or remove new font in Windows XP? New

• Browsing Your Computer via the Address Toolbar

• Change The Recycle Bin's Name

• Changing the Icon Spacing

• Choose The Sounds For Each Windows Event

• Clarifying Using Run

• Control all open windows

• Dealing with Print Screen

• Disabling Auto run CD

 • Print Through DOS Mode

• Dragging and Dropping Program Files in the Start Menu

• Enabling Toggle Keys

• Export Registry File Before Editing

• More Control Over Your Computer's Boot Process

• New Monitors can give life to an older PC

• No NTFS Floppies

• Turn Your Num Lock On Forever

• Quick Close All Windows

• Quick Format Vs Default Format

• Using REGEDIT With Safety

• Removing Add/Remove Programs Entries From RegEdit

• Safer Registry Editing

• Task Manager running but hidden from view

• Write A Batch File To Start Program In Startup

• Recycle as Much as You Want

How to adding your favorite image to a folder?

Dear friends here I have a very useful and interesting tip for you. Sometimes you have to face
some problem to distinguish the folders because in standard configuration of window explorer
each folder seems closely the similar to others.
If you want to explore your folder in windows explorer's thumbnail view and make these folders
are prominent then it is easier to distinguish using text name, for example you're download audio
files or digital photos. But if you want to add image to a folder to distinguish with others then
you should choose that folder which you want to decorate.
First open Window Explorer and right click on the folder to display the folder menu. Now
choose Properties option from the menu, here a new dialog windows will appear with title
"Program Properties".
Select Customize tab and click on "Choose Picture" button to add favorite image./p>
The image which you want to use navigates to that image and then clicks "Open" to view a
sample of the picture inside the folder icon. Click on Ok button, if you are satisfied from that
image .If you are not satisfied then choose another image.
Now at the end, go to View menu to display the folder in Explorer's thumbnail with image.
How to restrict user's to access shutdown button?
This tip is very interesting for home and some small office users, who wants to restrict
user's ability to shutdown their computer. You can hide the Shutdown button from the Start
menu using registry editor and also restrict access to shutdown, if a user clicks on
Ctrl+Alt+Del.
Follow the given steps to hide system shutdown button from start menu:
• To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with
 administrative rights.
• Click Start button and type regedit in Run option then press Enter
for next.

• Here locate the location to:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Policies\Explorer

•
• Here in right side panel, right click to create a new DWORD value with
name NoClose.

• Now assign number 1 to its value data box.

• Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any
changes to go into effect.
• But next time, if you want to unhide the shutdown button then simply
change the value data box to 0 or delete this DWORD item.
• Again close the registry editor and restart your computer after any
changes to go into effect.
How to create a System State data backup?
Using System State backup technique, you can create the backup of windows critical components on any system
drive and this backup file can be used if the original copy is lost, damaged, or destroyed. On windows 2000/XP/Vista,
system state data wizard backed up the following components.

• Windows registry

• Windows boot files

• COM+ class registration database

But if you are running domain controller, system state data wizard backed up the following components.

• Active Directory

• System volume (SYSVOL)

• Windows registry

• Windows boot files

• COM+ class registration database

Follow the given steps to run System State data backup wizard:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.
First click on Start button> All programs> Accessories> System Tools then click on Backup.
Now by default backup wizard will start, click on advanced mode option to change the backup settings.Here a dialog
box will appear with title "Backup Utility", select "Welcome" tab and click on Backup Wizard [Advanced] button to
create backup of windows important components.
Click on Next button to continue backup wizard.
Now select option "Only back up the System State date" on what to back up page and click on Next button.
Here click on Browse button to specify the destination for backup file and also set backup file name under "Type a
name for this backup" box then click on Next button.
Now verify your selected settings and click on Finish button to start backup process.

How you can Automate the DIR Command

If your are using same switches frequently in Command prompt then open your system
command prompt using open Run option
Click Start and open Run option then type cmd to open command prompt, here type
set dircmd=/w/o/p
then press Enter, now every time thereafter that you type
dir
the /w/o/p switches will be automatically applied and now need to type every time. If your
are interested to use single switch like /w you can use it
set dircmd=/w
and press Enter.
and same if you wants to undo these switches then you can very easily by typing
dir /-switch
For example, if you wanted to do a directory with only the /w switch, you could enter
dir /-p/-o
When you exit the Command prompt window, however, the Dircmd setting returns to its
default settings.

How to enable/disable the compressed (zipped) folder feature in XP?

Today tip will help you to enable/disable the built-in feature of compression or de-
compression in windows XP. Windows display the several default frequently used shortcuts
in "Send To" menu, for example Compressed (zipped) Folder and others. But if you want to
use any third-party application in windows XP for compression or de-compression then you
can disable this windows built-in compressed folder feature.
Follow the given steps to disable the windows built-in compressed folder feature:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative
rights.

Click Start button and then click on Run option to open run dialog box.

Now type the following command in Run box and press Ok button.

regsvr32 /u %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll
A small message will appear with title "RegSvr32" and the message is "DllUnregisterServer
in C:\WINDOWS\system32\zipfldr.dll succeeded." Click on Ok button.
Now right click on any file or folder to verify the change.
Follow the given steps to enable the windows built-in compressed folder feature:
Now again click Start button and click on Run option to open run dialog box.

Now type the following command in Run box and press Ok button.

regsvr32 %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll
A small message will appear with title "RegSvr32" and the message is "DllUnregisterServer
in C:\WINDOWS\system32\zipfldr.dll succeeded." Click on Ok button.
Now right click on any file or folder to verify the change.

How to logoff your computer automatically after a period of inactivity?

Today tip will help you to log off your computer automatically after some specific period of inactivity.
Because most of the users left logged on their computer may represent a security threat for the company.
For this purpose, first install the Winexit.scr tools that includes in Windows 2003 Resource Kit
(rktools.exe) and you can free download it from Microsoft site.

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.

After installing the rktools.exe setup, locate the Winexit.scr file in the following location.

C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools

Here right click no Winexit.scr file and select the Install option.

A Display Properties dialog box will appear, select Screen Saver tab and choose "Logoff Screen Saver"
entry under the Screen saver area.

Now click on Setting button, again a small dialog box will appear with the title "WinExit Setup Dialog".

Here select the "Force application termination" check box under the "Force logoff" area

and type the number of seconds in "Countdown for n seconds" box under Time to logoff area.

Now type the message that appears during the logoff countdown timer in the "Logoff Message" box

and click on Ok button.

Click on "Preview" button to verify the settings.

Here a small dialog box will appear with the title "Auto logoff in progress", it displays the countdown

timer and logoff message.

Click on Cancel then Ok button to finish the process.

How to download the windows latest updates automatically?

Friends, I hope you are enjoying the all my tips to play with your computer secrets. My
today tips will help you to download the latest windows features. All Microsoft Windows
versions support to run window updates automatically but today we will discuss this feature
in windows XP only.
You can enable this option to run windows update automatically when your computer will be
connected to the internet. Through this service you can check the Microsoft website for
downloadable improvements to the operating system and security patches also. These latest
updates will protect your computer from the attacks of latest viruses and potential hackers.
Windows Update is free of cost and important service that is why always makes sure its
running on your computer.
Follow the given steps to enable this important feature on your computer:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative
rights.
Click Start button and go to Settings then click on Control Panel option. Now system will
open the Control Panel windows with different categories.
Just click on System option, a small System Properties dialog box will appear with many
options like System Restore, Remote and Automatic Updates and others.
Click on Automatic Updates tab, if it is not selected already then click on “Automatic
(recommended)” box. Then this will display the different setting to continually check
Microsoft’s website for updates.
Here you can pick a download and installation schedule or select the option “Download the
updates automatically and notify me when they are ready to be installed” in the section of
settings. Through this option you can download updates automatically and it will install the
updates immediately.
If you wait a day or two before installing an updates to make sure there are not any serious
bugs reported about the latest patch you can check it through Microsoft website. Now click
on Ok button to finish the process.

Security Alerts
• Be Careful with Attachments

• Back Up Your Data

• Beware of fake security warnings!

• How to download the youtube.com videos on hard disk?

• XP SysKey Trick

• How to apply password and compression in windows XP? New

• Email Security Scan

• How to secure/hide folders on personal computer?

• Erase Your Hard Drive

• Fake Windows Update Email

• How to secure your password from hackers attacks? New

• Google Security

•
• Hidden User Account

• How Firewalls Work

• How to Find What Virus was Removed

• Run Away Icons

• Safe Online Shopping

• Virus, Trojan, Worm

• Web Bugs

• What is a Trojan horse?

• What kind of attachments can contain viruses

• Scan Individual Files for Viruses

• Wireless Security
• Secure Website Problems

•
• Be Careful with Attachments
•
• There have been a number of really bad viruses just within the past 6
months. We've seen the W32.Beagle, W32.Netsky, MyDoom, and so
on. Most of these viruses were transported or replicated from pc to pc-
using email attachments. These are easy to spot if you're paying
attention, simply because they are usually executable files, but not
always.
• Some attachments contain Macros (simple programs that run within
other programs, all the titles in Microsoft Office use macros). If you're
not that familiar with spotting file extensions, don't worry, that's what
I'm here to talk about today. If you are a little hazy on the whole "file
extension" thing then let's spend a few moments explaining it.
• File extensions are what tell the program how to treat a particular
piece of data. For example, most people are somewhat familiar with
.doc or a .txt file extensions these are both text documents and when
the user opens this file the Operating System looks at this extension
and then knows how to open it.
• Hackers try to use some sort of eye-grabbing ploy to get you to open
their email and activate the virus, which is always an attachment. Most
Anti-virus nowadays stops, or at least warns, you of these high risk
attachments and even take measures to protect you. However, on the
average 10-15 new viruses are created every day and I personally
wouldn't count on any program to 100% protect my pc. That's why I
scrutinize any email, if I wasn't expecting an attachment, I won't open
it until I had a chance to talk to the sender.
• Some of the more common file types used to hide viruses include:
• .scr - Windows Screen Saver - USE CAUTION if you receive a screen
saver via email. They can contain worms or viruses
.pif - DO NOT OPEN! This is most likely a virus. Clicking it will run a
program or code that can mess up your computer.
.exe - executable file - a program that contains a virus, Trojan horse,
or worm
.pps - MS PowerPoint (can contain macro virus)
.zip - Zip (compressed) file
.vbs - Visual Basic script
.bat - Executable MS-DOS batch file
.com - DOS executable command
.asp - active server page - internet script
.doc - Word document (can contain macro virus)
.xls - Excel file (can contain macro virus)
• This is in no way a complete list. Just because an attachment may
have one of these extensions doesn't mean that it is a virus, but it
should send up warning flags. Hackers use clever subject lines, and
 viruses can appear to come from a friend so keep on your toes and
don't fall victim to their deceptive traps. Scan those attachments and
verify with the sender before opening.
•
• Back Up Your Data
•
•
•
• Just about everybody has important data on their hard drive, from
digital pictures to important documents, emails, earmarked websites
the list goes on and on. In my experience people are pretty lax about
backing up their PCs, and I think this really is an area that deserves
attention. With a good back up set you can bounce back from a fatal
hard drive crash and be up and running with all the your pictures,
documents, downloads, email and favorites before you know it. Having
important files stored on removable media is also a good safety
precaution in case you get a virus or Trojan horse.
•
• There are a couple of different ways to back up important data, from
the casual copy and paste to running complicated scheduled backups.
There is no wrong way, as long you have a copy of everything you
need.
• You can save the data on a couple of different types of media (floppy,
ZIP, CD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, Flash memory, even dat drives) but for
home use I really recommend either CDs or DVDs, floppies are just to
small, Zips, although bigger than floppies are still small (100-200MB),
and they're old and kind of expensive. Flash memory can store data
but it's not really something you want to save data to and store away
unless there is no other option. DAT tapes are more for the corporate
end of things and are overkill in most homes. CDs are cheap, hold a lot
of data, work on any PC and are easy to store.
• If you use CD-RW, or DVD-RW you can actually save money by setting
up a "round robin" with your backups. To do this, you need at lest 3-4
of the same backup set, take the oldest and erase it. Now use the
blank disk for the new backup, the next time you do a backup use the
oldest disk in the set and so on and so forth.
• As for the methods of backing up, I find it's easiest when all my
intended files and folders are organized in structured manner and not
scattered all over my hard drive. This is a good way to insure that you
don't forget anything important by hunting for a bunch of individual
files. An easy way to stay organized is to create a descriptively labeled
folder structure and try to be diligent about saving your data to it's
designed folder.
• Another good practice is to test your backups, don't just take the
burning software's word for it. After a backup, explore the disk and
randomly go through files and open them up to make sure that they're
complete and not corrupt. Learn from my experience, waiting for a
 complete system failure is not a good time to check the validity of your
backups. This is a good way to get yourself in a lot of trouble as well ?I
know if didn't back up the pictures or movies of our kids I wouldn't be
able to live with my self.
• Once you have all your ducks in a row, it's time to back up. There are
a number of ways to do this as well. The easiest is to open you
burning program and select data CD and go through the folder then
explorer and grab the folders you want to back up. When you select a
folder you should see it in the "burn" selection window, once you done
with your backup selection choose "burn".
• If you have Windows XP you have the luxury of being able to open up
the blank CD or DVD in Windows Explorer and copying and pasting the
desired folders right onto the disk and select "Write files to CD" and
Windows will do the rest for you. This is nice but not all of us have XP,
and I personally still like to use my third-party software.
• Most burning software has their own backup services, and there
are a number of third-party back up titles out there. The nice
thing about using these types of software is the options. Things
like compression, backup jobs, and incremental backups. These
are nice features especially when you have some backups that
you want to insure are up to date. For instance, you can create
a "Back up Set" which is basically a saved and named list of
folders and files that you want backed up. This makes the whole
process so easy?you can create a backup set and once a week
or so your can run it and it will either create a new back up or
save just the changes to the backup. These are two options that
are usually found in backup programs. If you use "backup sets",
it's important to keep the files organized, and in all the correct
folders. You can also schedule Backup Jobs, which are basically
backup sets that are scheduled to run at predetermined times,
and intervals (i.e. once a week Friday at 6:00).
•
•
• Beware of fake security warnings!
•
•
•
• Sometimes you'll be surfing the web and a window pops up that looks like a
legitimate warning from Windows. Before you click, read carefully and you'll
find that it's just a pop up ad trying to entice you to a product site by clicking
"Yes". I've even seen some with a shield that resembles the new SP2
Security Center logo.
• Just click the X at the top of the window to close it and go on your way.
•
• How to download the youtube videos on hard disk?
• Using this tip, you can easily download the youtube.com
movies and save on your computer hard disk. Actually all
videos are saved on youtube in flash video format, so you
can simply play these videos on the website and can't save
directly to your computer. But there are many tools are
available in the market to download these videos on the
hard disk, but here you can do this using a website. You
can convert also the downloaded videos from youtube into
any common video format, for example, windows media
video file (wmv), windows video file (avi) and movie file
(mpeg).
• Follow the given steps to download videos from youtube on
your computer:
•

• First open www.youtube.com then plays any your favorite

video.
• For example, you search a video and the URL of that
youtube video is
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVkUG6XLItc
• The ID if this search is pVkUG6XLItc after equal sign.
• Now open a website http://youtube.navi-gate.org, now
copy and paste above video ID in the search box, and
press button ID search.
• The result may be displayed in any different language, but
don't worry, just click on download button and save this
video on your computer hard disk. Now use any video
converter to convert it in any other common format.
•
• XP SysKey Trick
•
• If you have Windows XP then I really think you're going to like this
week's security tip. Are you in a situation where you really don't want
anybody accessing the family PC while you're not around? Maybe you
don't want anybody to use your computer at all. Maybe you just want
a little tighter control over when and by whom your PC gets used. If
any of these situations sounds like yours then read on.
• This week's security tip is on the syskey command. The syskey is a
command line tool to help you enable your Startup Key. Without
getting too techy on you, the Startup key is a complex algorithm that
if configured can stop anyone from logging on to your system who
doesn't poses the key. No startup screen or user accounts will be
available until you present the key, you're basically looking at a black
 screen with one small lonely window asking for the Startup Key to gain
access. The Startup Key, which is a floppy disk with the appropriate
key code, simply needs to be inserted into the floppy drive, and
activated. This will satisfy the security request and allow you to
proceed to the login screen. If you don't have a floppy drive then I'm
afraid you might as well stop reading now.
• The Startup Key is created when you enable the Startup Key process
as described later in this article. One thing you must keep in mind, and
is of the utmost importance, you should make at least one copy of this
floppy, test it to insure that it works, and put it in a safe place. If you
lose this Key you will not be able to log into you Operating System.
You may even want to make a third copy to keep off-site. If you do
lose your Startup key then your only option is to use a Restore Disk (If
you have one) to restore your registry to a state it was prior to the
enabling of Startup Key.
• OK, if this sounds like a security measure you would like to put into
action then follow the directions below. Again, please make at least
one copy of this disk so you don't lock yourself out of your system and
send me a bunch of hate e-mail. Well, with that said twice I guess it's
show time. The directions below will help you get things set up, and
below that I have attached a link out to Microsoft's information on this
so you can look it over.
• CONFIGURING STARTUP KEY:
• * Go to Start/Run and in the blank field type "syskey" press enter, or
OK.
* You should see a small window titled "Securing the Windows XP
Account Database". From this Window select the "Update" button to
move to the next window.
* The "Startup Key" is the next window. You'll see a couple of options
there, but the one we are looking for says "Startup Key on floppy
disk", along with some warning about how your system is going to
startup now.
* After selecting this click OK, and a pop-up will alert you that the key
has been changed. Another message follows asking you to insert a
disk in drive A: (Floppy drive).
* Insert the floppy, click OK, and one more window will come up
telling you that the Key has been changed and you need to have this
floppy disk in order to log into Windows. That's exactly what we want.
• When you're all done go ahead and eject the floppy (you might want
to slide the little lock up on the floppy to insure you don't format it on
accident), and restart the PC. Windows will appear to come up
normally, but after it loads the kernel the "Windows XP Startup Key
Disk" window pops-up. Grab your Startup Key floppy put it in the
floppy drive, and select OK. You'll see Windows load up and bring you
to your user logon screen.
• I told you this is a cool trick and really helps lock down you PC. I hope
you get some use out of this, but please be careful.
•
• Email Security Scan
•
• The problem with all the security holes that arise from day to day is
that it's hard to keep up. "Am I protected?" you wonder, "I update
constantly, I scrutinize all my email messages, especially attachments,
and read all of Chad's awesome security articles, but how do I know
for sure?"
• Well, since such a large number of security holes center around email
I'm glad to announce today a service that can check your system for
potential exploits. The service is a web based email scanner that you
can tailor to send out over 20 different emails, each attempting to
defile your system with dummy exploits. It's like hiring a security
agent to go over your system and tell you what aspects of your
security is in good shape, and what areas could use some
improvement. When set in motion, the scanner fires off the dummy
viruses and exploits to the specified email address. Don't be surprised
if your virus software starts popping up with security messages, as a
matter of fact, this is exactly what you want to happen; it means your
system is seeing the threats coming in.
• The emails themselves have message bodies describing what their
particular test was for and how to make sure you're protected from
this sort of attack. Some of the emails have attachments and some
attempt to create text documents on your desktop, the emails tell you
exactly what to do to ensure the tests ran correctly, thus providing an
accurate assessment of your system's defenses.
• In addition to the testing your system for security holes this is also a
good way to educate yourself on some email-born security issues by
getting a chance to see them in action without putting yourself in any
danger.
•

• Erase Your Hard Drive

•
•
•
• People give their old PCs away to family members, charities, and some end
up at the local PC repair shop without ever being properly wiped clean.
Everything stored on your PC is on the hard drive. There was a two-year
experiment done by MIT graduates Ali and Eman where they collected 156
hard drives from various places (the web, ebay, PC shops, and businesses).
Out of the 158 drives tested, 129 drives worked and hardly any of them were
properly wiped clean. There were thousands of credit card numbers, private
"adult" stuff, love letters, you name it, that was completely recoverable on
these drives.
• Most people believe that deleting data and then cleaning out the recycle bin
does a sufficient job. This is NOT the case. When you delete something in
windows, it just marks it to be overwritten. There is also a misconception
that formatting a hard drive permanently erases stored data. This is also not
true, a format just reconstructs the allocation table and checks the blocks on
the disk. It does nothing actively to remove the data; it simply leaves it
"unprotected". With both of these scenarios, if you have the right software
you can recover data thought to be unrecoverable.
• So, how do we erase this data on a hard drive for good? You can physically
destroy the drive but that's not as easy as you think and you would be
amazed at what people can recover data from. There are cases where people
have drilled holes in the platters and it could still be recovered. You can take
it to a PC repair store that has a Degausser that removes all the magnetism
from the drive leaving it useless for good, but this can be way too expensive
to justify the price for the common end user. You can write Zeros to the drive
with the utilities at the hard drive manufacturer site and that will stop most
people, but experienced users can still recover it.
• If you don't want to destroy the drive, and are concerned about keeping your
privacy then check out these two free programs that can take your hard
drive to a state of non-recoverability...

• Fake Windows Update Email

•
•
•
• Well Microsoft believes that the grace period is over and wants
everyone to jump on board and get Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed. I
know everyone has an opinion on the Service, some good some not so
good, but it really is only a matter of time. Do you know anyone
without SP1 on his or her XP machine? I hope not.
• As you may also know, Microsoft has picked the second Tuesday of the
month to run their new security patches. These two issues have really
set the stage for a new attack on windows users. Hackers have
decided to try and slip one by your defenses with a Phishing/Trojan
scam. You may get a spoof emails that link to a bogus Microsoft site
where the hackers get you. If successful in their efforts, the ambushed
PC will be infected with the TrojDSNX-05, a back door Trojan that
attempts to gain control over your system. With control of your system
the hacker will more than likely use you (of course unknowingly) as a
spam server to mail out huge amounts of spam in your name. If a
network PC happens to get infected, then a denial of Service,
exploitation of network shares, and further infection are something
you may look forward to.
• The TrojDSNX-05 is not the newest virus on the block and can be
controlled if you have decent anti-virus software that is up-to-date.
• Microsoft will never send you an email reminding you to
update.
• Very similar to the fact that companies will never send you an email
asking you to reply with your credit card and account info in order to
fix some discrepancy with your account. In fact, if you ever receive
any emails that seem "Phishy" to you, try going directly to the
company web site (not the link in the email) and see for yourself
what's going on.
• As far as SP2 goes, if you haven't installed it yet I suggest doing it on
your own terms, backup all your important data (pictures of the
family, documents, whatever is important) set a system restore point.
Go out to the manufacturer's site of your favorite programs and see if
there are any known issues, FAQ's, or patches. If so, follow the
instructions to properly install any necessary components and follow
any necessary procedures in the exact manner in which the
instructions describe. After this you should have all your bases
covered, and feel comfortable installing SP2.
•
• Google Security
•
•
•
• Google is always adding new products and features. One of these is
the Personalized Google Homepage. You can customize it with news,
movies, weather, stock market reports and more. How convenient. But
there is a dark side.
• Google saves your search history. Every person, place, thing, or word
you look up is stored in your history (BTW-same goes for the Google
Toolbar). This can be cleared or paused on your end, but it will still be
saved on the Google server. It's in their Privacy Policy:
• "You can delete information from My Search History, and it will be
removed from the service and no longer available to you. However, as
is common practice in the industry, and as outlined in the Google
Privacy Policy, Google maintains a separate logs system for auditing
purposes and to help us improve the quality of our services for users."
• So, if you have a Personalized Google Homepage, here's how to at
least manage history items on your end...
• Click the "My Search History" link then "Remove Items". Put a check
next to the items on the list you want removed, or select "All". Finally,
hit the "Remove" button.
• If you don't want Search History activated, just click the "Pause" link.
Again, the search info still goes to Google, but it doesn't show up in
your search history display. To turn S.H. back on just hit "Resume".
• As I mentioned, the Google Toolbar also keeps your history, but it
doesn't track you like the Personalized Homepage. To turn off...
• Go to the "Options" button and select the "Search" tab.
• Uncheck "drop down search history", "Save the search history...", and
"Automatically search..."
• Hit OK.
• Now your toolbar searches are known only to you. As for the personal
homepage searches... at least no one outside of Google or the
government can see what you looked up.
•
• Hidden User Account
• For my next trick I will make a user account disappear, yet remain a
full functioning account. Today's Security Tip is another way to lock
down your system, and it does this by hiding specified user accounts.
This feature is only available in XP and 2000, so unfortunately the rest
of you are out of luck. This process does involve an easy registry edit,
but if you're uncomfortable with that you might want to think twice
about attempting this.
• Normally when you log into XP, you see the startup screen where you
see all the icons for the users who can access. What this tip does is
allow you to hide a desired account from this screen. If you want to
log on as this user you have to press Cntrl+Alt+Del twice at the
Welcome screen to make a Windows Security dialog box appear. Here
you can type in the user name and password of the hidden account
and log in. Limited Users shouldn't be able to see any sign of you
except for the listing in the Documents and Settings folder. Other
administrative users will be able to see your hidden account in Control
Panel/User Accounts, so keep this in mind when you're planning this
out.
• All right, now down to the good stuff. If having a hidden account
sounds like your cup of tea, and you have no problem with small
Registry augmentation, then let's go:
• * First we need to open up the Registry Editor. Go to Start/Run and
type "regedit" and click OK
• * You should be looking at the Registry editor, and what we need to do
now is navigate to H-KEY\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\Userlist . You will not
see this folder if you do not have "show hidden system files" turned
on.
• * Once here we need to create another DWORD value. This is easier
than it sounds, right click on the User list label file on the left side of
the screen and select New>DWORD . You'll see the new entry in the
right pane of the window, rename this value the name of the user
account you want hidden (exactly how it is listed in the Startup screen,
case sensitive) and leave the value at 0.
• * Close your Registry Editor and restart the PC. When the Welcome
screen comes up you'll notice that there's no icon for the user you just
concealed. So how do you log in? This is where you press
Cntrl+Alt+Del 2x's and the Windows Security Dialog box will come
 asking you to authenticate (name/password) after this the system
should log you in.
• Here's one more thing you might want to keep in mind, Windows logon
screen. This is the screen where you see the available users you can
choose to log in as. You can turn this option on/off in the User
Accounts ( Start/Control Panel/User Accounts then "Change the way
Users log in or off" and "Use Windows Welcome Screen" and you need
to turn it off if you plan on using a hidden account and there are no
other accounts on the system. The reason why is that the Windows
doesn't have any user accounts to display in the Welcome screen, so it
will continuously reboot. Now if you do run into this or any problems
simply enter Safe mode at the next boot, this will allow you to go to
the User Accounts Window and fix any problems. If you find that you
can't log in at all with your hidden account go back and look at the
registry value you created. Make sure you're spelling the user name is
correct and that it's in the right location in the registry.
• How Firewalls Work
• There are mean people out there that want very badly to get into your
system or network. Maybe they want to steal information, to simply cause as
much destruction as possible, or to use your system for their own uses. If
you're online a lot or have a broadband connection, the attempts to enter
your system may be relentless.
• I feel that there are three main areas of defense against these threats: Anti-
virus (of course), Firewall, and Spyware removal. With some programs being
more important than others, but none being without importance. What I
would like to do is give all of our readers at least a good concept of what
these Firewalls and Anti-virus programs do to protect your system. I'm going
to attempt to highlight the functions of these utilities and even some good
practices that you can implement.

This week I'll be discussing the first line of defense between you and the
Internet firewall. A firewall isn't going to stop you from getting a lot of
viruses out there, unless it's the kind of viruses that proactively scans
systems for open ports like the 32.Sasser that has recently stepped onto the
virus scene. Where firewalls really come into play is in the area of Internet or
Network access.
• There are two basic types of firewalls: hardware and software.
• A common hardware firewall is a routers. In a small network it sits in-
between your PC and modem. These firewalls feature the ability to hide your
PC from others on the Internet by assigning you private IP addresses through
a process called NAT (Network Address Translation) or DHCP (Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol).
• I may have lost some people there who are not familiar with IP addressing.
This can get confusing rather quickly. To put it simpler: a router will take the
Internet address that your ISP has doled out to you and give the PCs the are
 connected to the router a generic private IP address (not valid for the
internet). The other primary job is to close ports (these are numbers that are
associated with certain jobs, for example most email clients and servers use
SMTP port 25 and POP3 port#110) ports can be a vulnerability as seen in the
past and a hacker can have an easy time getting into your PC with ports wide
open to the world. When hackers try to scan your network for known
vulnerable ports the Firewall simply drops the packets because they contain
data that no PC on the network requested.
• Software firewalls are a little bit different and they have good points and bad
points. First let me start by saying that it is always better to have a firewall
then not to. The main difference between the two styles of firewalls is that
one is an external device that runs on it's own hardware. The software
firewall is an application that runs on your PC. This is the one down side I
believe because it's one more application running on your PC while you're
trying to surf the web and can cause resource overhead and slow things
down in older PCs. In concept the firewalls really are the same, except that
one of the biggest differences is a software firewall doesn't have any address
translation services (i.e. NAT or DCHP).
• Software firewalls do have some really great features however. For instance,
a software firewall is great for someone who is new to this area of PCs and
wants to learn more. I say this because most of these firewalls have a
reasonably easy to understand interface different from the more "Techie"
looking router interfaces.
• Software firewalls also have a feature for Internet access that I think is very
informative, for example in most of the software firewalls I have come across
when a program tries to access the internet the firewall will pop up and ask
you if you want this action to be allowed every time, prompt every time, or
deny Internet access to the program. Most software firewalls will also notify
you when someone from outside is hitting your firewall and a lot of times you
get the IP address of the party on the other end of the actions. Both of these
features can be used to further protect your PC, in some cases you might
even be able catch a hacker trying to get into your PC by getting their IP
address and then asking there ISP what this IP address is doing pinging your
IP address.
• I've actually helped one of customers do this they called me up and said that
there firewall kept making noises and popping up with windows saying that
there was some activity on here firewall. She said that this had been going
on for a couple of days. Well we opened up the interface and looked at the
log describing what the activity was and from whom it originated. There were
a bunch of pings hitting her firewall, but the software gave us the IP address,
and from there we opened up a command line and pinged the IP address
back and it came up with their ISP's domain name. She called that ISP and
talked to them about this address and what has been going on. I wouldn't be
surprised if he was kicked from his Internet service.

• How to Find What Virus was Removed

• Norton does a great job of protecting me from viruses. It will pop up and let
me know that it is scanning outgoing and incoming mail. While receiving
email, if the program runs across a virus it will pop up a save window letting
me know where the backup file is being saved, This is usually the quarantine
folder within the Norton program. With Outlook / Outlook Express simply
right click the paperclip icon in the preview pane. You'll see that the
attachment is called "Norton Antivirus Deleted1.txt", click the file.
• A message will come up in notepad telling you the name of the infected
document that was removed and what virus it contained

• McAfee has very similar features: it scans my incoming and outgoing mail
and it pops up to let me know when there's a threat in my email. The pop up
window in McAfee also has the name of the potential virus with a link to more
information concerning the virus in question.
• This is nice and because you can see the threat without going though the
procedure of clicking the paperclip for the name of the virus like in the before
mentioned Norton antivirus. However, you can view the virus information by
clicking on the paperclip like you do with Norton if you didn't catch the virus
name in the initial pop up and would like view information on it.
• Both McAfee and Norton have virus information sections of their website. This
is a good place to take any information that you have gathered on the virus
or threat, and plug it in. This can give you a really good idea about what's
going on in your system and over time make you a virus expert.

• Run Away Icons

• Q:
When I try to click my icons, they seem to "run away" from my mouse. I
can't get to them and I'm having a hard time using my computer. What's
wrong?
• A:
•
It's actually a virus, the "magistr" one to be exact. If you've been infected
with it for more than two months, it will cause the jumpy icon. In addition, it
causes massive system instability, can mess up your BIOS, and delete all
kinds of files. It will even take some text files and fill them with as many
dirty words as it can (rated G newsletter or I'd tell you what word in
particular :-)
• Needless to say, this one is nasty and can really cause some damage. In fact,
if it messes up your computer's BIOS, it can potentially render your computer
useless. It's extremely well written and very robust for a virus. In other
words - you don't want it playing around on your machine - ever.
• Although it comes via e-mail, the subject line varies, as does the attachment.
There's no way to even guess what to look out for. This is another one that
distributes itself by sending to the people in your address book, so remember
- just because you get an attachment from a friend doesn't
 automatically mean it's safe! If your friend is infected, he won't even
know he sent it to you!

• Safe Online Shopping

• How can you tell if an online company is legit when you're thinking of buying
something? Well, there are some key things to look out for:
• If you get an unsolicited email about a product from a company you don't
know, then DEFINITELY do your homework before you buy. Check out their
reputation, or see if the same product is available from an online business
you trust.
•
• Since web addresses can change, look on the site for an address and phone
number. Know where to complain or contact if you are dissatisfied or have a
question. You might also want to review the Privacy Policy to make sure they
won't sell your information to marketers.
• Read the refund and return policy (if the website does not have one). Can
the item be returned? What if it is opened? Is there a restocking fee? What
about damaged merchandise.
• If the site displays the BBB Online Reliability logo, click it and read the popup
(hold your Ctrl key if you have a pop-up stopper) to make sure the company
is currently participating.
• Keep a record of your online purchase. Print out the page with the seller's
name, address, and phone number. Print out the page about the item you
ordered. Print any email confirmation messages you get and any follow-up
messages about problems in shipping.

• Virus, Trojan, Worm

• Q:
What is the difference between a Virus, Trojan, and Worm?
• A:
•
Basically, they all fall under the generally category of "viruses".
However, there are a few distinctions.
• Virus - Technically, a virus infects another file (attaches or inserts
itself into it). They usually infect program files or MS Office
documents. From there, it can replicate, do damage, etc. Unlike a
worm, these do not function as a stand alone (except possibly to infect
a given file).
• Worm - This is almost identical to a "true virus", except that it lives
on its own and generally doesn't infect other files (although it can
replace them). Usually, these copy themselves using e-mail, networks,
disks, etc. Again, these are very close to a true virus, and can do the
same kind of damage.
• Trojan Horse - This type of program doesn't copy itself but does do
damage to your computer. These types of programs rely on people to
pass them around and to run them. They do not e-mail themselves.
 The idea is to make the program look like it's something harmless, like
a screen saver or joke, so it gets sent around.
• Web Bugs
• Have you ever heard the term Web Bug? How about Web Beacon or
Clear GIF? Well, don't feel left out if you haven't, it's not everyday
terminology. The terms I mentioned are different names for the same
thing. For the sake of remaining simple I'll stick with one name Web
Bug. So what are Web Bugs and what to they do? They are small (1 by
1 pixel), usually transparent gifs hidden on websites or e-mails within
other images like banner adds. Web bugs come from a different site
than the one you are viewing but are most often affiliated with the site
being viewed.
• They are a lot like cookies in that they allow sites to recognize you and
track where you've been. Web Bugs have a couple of major differences
however. Web bugs share your information with any site that you may
visit with the same type of web bug imbedded on it. The personal
information bugs are sharing can be harmless information or very
personal information, it depends on what information you have put on
one of these sites. If you have given one of these sites information like
your email address, then every other site you visit with the same bug
will have your email address and can now send you spam. By sharing
this personal information between sites these entities using bugs can
get your email address and send out more spam and web bugs right to
your front door. If you visit a site that recognizes you from a Web Bug
then that server can not only track you but also send images and
blocks of text to you. Web Bugs are also harder to detect than cookies
because they are hidden, extremely small, and invisible.
• These Web Bugs can also be placed in e-mails, a favorite trick of
spammers is to hide a Web Bug in a random email. Opening or even
previewing this e-mail can initiate the Web Bug process, which tells
spammers that this is a valid e-mail address when someone views it.
This validates your address, essentially making you part of their list of
e-mails to spam. Most of the more recognized e-mail clients are
affected by this such as Outlook Express, Gecko for Linux, Netscape,
AOL, and more.
• So, how do you stop or prevent these web Bugs from tracking you? As
far as e-mail, make sure you don't open or even preview e-mails from
unknown sources. Another thing you can do to prevent the Web bugs
from biting is to block images in your e-mail all together, this will stop
the GIFs from getting through your defenses. Win XP Service Pack 2
turns this setting ON by default in Outlook Express, and other e-mail
clients have similar options (i.e. MSN/Hotmail and AOL).
• You can also configure tougher cookie settings in your browser, but
keep in mind all of these settings will affect the way you surf the web
and view your e-mail. You can get advertising blocking software, but
these programs have a hard time distinguishing between images that
show information and images that are crawling' with Bugs. You can
 also go through the HTML code and look for the img tag that relates to
a cookie (sounds like fun).
• So are these bugs really something to get all worked up about? Well if
you really don't like the thought of constantly being tracked and
evaluated. If you don't like spam or pop-ups then this could be
something you might want to at least regulate. You can figure out
exactly what a web bug is doing by viewing the privacy policy which
should be located on the website of the owner of the bug. If you don't
find the privacy policy, you can always send the company e-mail and
ask for what purposes do they have web bugs on their site.

• What is a Trojan horse?

• In it the Greeks give a giant wooden horse to their enemies, the Trojans,
supposedly as a peace offering. But after the horse is inside the city walls,
Greek soldiers sneak out of the horse's hollow belly and open the city gates,
allowing their soldiers to enter and capture Troy.
• Similarly, what is known as a Trojan horse is a destructive program disguised
as a simple application or useful program. The program contains additional
hidden code which allows the unauthorized collection, exploitation,
falsification, or destruction of data. Though lumped in with viruses, it doesn't
propagate itself like a virus does.
• One of the worst kinds of Trojans is a program that claims to rid your
computer of viruses but instead puts them on your computer. Another
common type will open a security hole for a hacker to get into your system
and do all kinds of nasty stuff
• You can prevent getting a Trojan Horse by having up-to-date anti-virus
software, not opening unsolicited attachments, and scanning freeware and
shareware you download before you unzip.

• What kind of attachments can contain viruses

• Q:
What kind of attachments can contain viruses?
• A:
Basically, anything that is executable (able to run). You're generally
safe with picture files, text files, and the like. However, it still pays to
scan first.
• Here is a very short list of the most common to watch out for:
•
• exe
zip
scr
vbs
bat
com
pif
 asp
doc
xls
• Those are the most common; don't misinterpret this to mean that if
you get one of these files it's automatically a virus. A ".zip" file may be
nothing more than a set of compressed files your friend sent you to
look at. A "doc" or "xls" file may simply be an MS Office file. It's just
that these type of files could also be viruses.
• A couple other virus tricks you need to be aware of. First, MS Office
files can contain what are called "Macro Viruses". Without getting into
too much detail, these files can run a "macro" (a macro is a mini-
program run from within another program) that can be as destructive
as any "regular" virus. So, my advice on MS Office attachments is not
to open them unless you are expecting them. If they just show up,
verify with the sender first.
• The other trick you need to look out for is an extra extension added to
an attached file. For example, you may have something like
"mypicture.jpg.vbs". In fact, if you don't have your computer set to
view file extensions, it may just look like "mypicture.jpg" and omit that
last "vbs" part.
• This may appear to be a jpg picture file, but it's actually a Visual Basic
Script file. If executed, it will happily infect your computer with a virus.
• So, be careful out there.
• Scan Individual Files for Viruses
• We often recommend that when you download files you should scan for
viruses. The same is true for attachments sent via email (although, if you
have decent antivirus software this should be taken care of).
• But do you need to scan your whole computer? No, you can scan just one file
with most AV software (Norton, McAfee, AVG).
• Just right click the setup file and you should see "Scan with whatever
AntiVirus" or just "Scan for Viruses".
• Your AV software will come up, scan the file, and let you know of any
infections.
• Some newer AV also lets you scan zipped folders before unzipping.
• Knowing that it's safe, you can then proceed with installation of the program
or opening the file.
• wireless Security
• The ability to share an Internet connection is great and the ability to
do this wirelessly is even better. Wireless networks are easy to install,
you don't have to run cables, and you can roam around a location
within the WLAN (wireless local area network), or physical range of
wireless connectivity . These features are what makes wireless
networks so popular with both end users, and hackers.
• The one problem with wireless networks is the vulnerability of your
network. A typical hardwired network has physical security due to
limited access to the actual network and one opening to the internet
(Gateway) has a firewall or two in place (or it had better). This can
 stop most unauthorized access to your network. The difficulty in
setting up wired networks has discouraged a lot of people from
installing networks in the first place.
• Then a long came the wireless which, as I stated earlier in the article,
made the home networking game more appealing and not as
intimidating. Having a wireless network means that the physical
security that is inevitable in a wired network is simply not there.
Anyone in the range of your wireless network can see your network,
and if not secured properly, can gain access. If your wireless access
point isn't the router on your network then outsiders can slip in behind
your firewall. This used to happen at my college, there was an
apartment complex behind a portion of the school, and the other techs
would piggyback on some guy's network. He had an unsecured
wireless network, no one did anything bad to him, they just used him
for Internet access but he never knew.
• There are some practices you can perform to insure that no one is
using your connection or trying to get on your personal network. First
and foremost you need to get WEP (Wired Equivalent Protection) in
place, which is an encryption that stops unauthorized users from
accessing your network. There are at least two encryption types in
802.11b (128bit, and 64bit) and should probably be changed every
other week or so. WEP encryption used to be completely the user's
responsibility, but now I'm seeing hardware out of the box with at
least one encryption key configured, forcing the user to configure his
PCs in order to connect.
• Using WEP is essential to wireless security, but don't rely on it alone,
there are other security measures you can put in place as well. With
some wireless units you can set a MAC address filters, witch can really
beef up your security. A MAC address is an identification number the
manufacturer stamps on a network device, and is (or should be)
completely unique. If this security is in place then even if someone
knows the WEP Key they still cannot get into the network because
your wireless access device will deny it.
• There are two other things you might want to do to tighten up your
network: The first thing you should do is go through and change all of
the default security settings, and passwords. The reason I said this is
most Routers and access points usually have a lot of these
configuration fields (i.e. username and password or the SSID ) filled
out with generic values for ease of setup. The bad thing about this is
that people can use these settings against you to gain access into your
network. Secondly, with a lot of routers your SSID is set to broadcast
by default, this means that it's broadcasting your network's name to
the physical reaches of your network. Not good, even if your neighbors
don't have the security rights to access your network they will
constantly see it every time they boot up one of their wireless PC's.
• Secure Website Problems
 • Q:
When try to go to secure websites I get a message saying that the
page cannot be displayed. Is it something wrong with my browser?
• A:
•
Could be. You may not have the correct security settings for you to
connect to secure web pages. For instance, let's say you want to get in
on one of our great software specials and when you click "Checkout"
you can't get to the page.
• With Internet Explorer go to Tools/Internet Options and select the
"Advanced" tab. Scroll down to the bottom of the list and make sure
the following are checked: Use SSL 2.0 and Use SSL 3.0
• Click the "Refresh" button (green arrows) and the page should appear.
• With Firefox you'll get a pop-up window telling you that you cannot
connect because SSL is disabled.
• Go to Tools/Options, click "Advanced", and scroll to the bottom.
Under "Security" check off the following: Use SSL 2.0 and Use SSL
3.0
• Click OK. Try connecting to the secure site again and it should come
up.
• If you are a Netscape user you'll get a pop-up window telling you that
you cannot connect because SSL is disabled.
• Go to Edit/Preferences and expand "Privacy & Security" by clicking
the arrow next to it. Select "SSL" from the list. Check off the following:
Use SSL 2.0 and Use SSL 3.0
• Click OK. Try connecting to the secure site again and it should come
up.If there is still a problem, check your Firewall/Network
Configuration. Make sure that the SSL port (port 443) is open. Since
every setup/software is different, we can't give exact instructions.
Check your manual or help file for details.
• Hopefully, though, it's just an SSL problem and you'll be on your way.Top of Form

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Database Tips

what is database?
A database is a collection of related data stored in an efficient and compact manner. The
word “efficient” means that stored data can be accessed very easily and quickly.
Similarly, the word “compact” means that stored data takes up as little space as possible. In
the above definition of database, the phrase “related data’ is used. It means that a database
contains data or information about a particular topic such as:
• Database of employees that contains data of employees of an organization or
department.

• Database of students that contains data of students of college or university.

A database holds related data as well as description of that data. For this reason, a
database is also defined as a self describing collection of integrated records. The description
of data is known as the system catalog or data dictionary or metadata. For example when a
table of a database is designed, the data type, size, format and other descriptions of fields
are specified. This is an example of metadata, which describes the properties of data to be
stored into fields of table.
The data of any organization is its integral part. The data is very important for developing
new products and their marketing. The data must be accurate and available when needed.
This is the reason that all organization must organize and manage their data into database.
The databases are used for variety of purposes in as organization. For example, when you
purchase goods from your local supermarket, the checkout assistant will pass the purchased
product through a scanner device known as bar code reader. This device will read the bar
code printed on the product and gives the accurate price of the item. Actually, the bar code
reader is accessing the database, which contains the information about the products. The
bar code reader is linked to a database application program, which uses the bar code to
access price of item. The database program automatically updates the database. The
assistant can also check whether a required item is in stock by running the database
application program. Similarly, you can purchase goods using your credit card. Your credit is
checked by a card reader linked to a computer system. In this case, there is a database
somewhere that contains information about your credit. Almost all organizations and
government departments of every country in world use database to maintain their records.
Some examples of large databases that have been developed around the world are:
• When you draw amount from bank through ATM card, you are accessing the
database; your account is accessed and checked through auto teller machine. When
you draw some amount from your account, your record in the database is
automatically updated immediately.

• When you visit your local library, there may be a computerized database containing
details of the books in the library. There will be a computerized index, which allows
you to find a book based on its title, its author’s name etc.

• The meteorological organization contains databases having information about current

and previous meteorological data. The meteorological department is totally
dependent on the meteorological data.

A database may be generated and maintained manually or it may be computerized. The

library card catalog is an example of a database that is created and maintained manually.
On the other hand, a computerized database may be created and maintained either by
using application program, which is developed specifically for that purpose or by a database
management systems.

• General Database Tips

• Rolling Back and Roll forward Database Recovery

• Database Backups - Hot Backup vs. Cold Backup

 • Function of Client and Server environment

• Phases in Database Development Life Cycle

• Different File Type from Storage point of view

• Database Security, Authorization and Encryption rules

• Record Locking and Deadlocking

• Database Development Process

Rolling Back and Roll forward Database Recovery
Database can fail due to some reasons like media failure, operating system failure,
accidental damage, and intentional damage to the database. When database stops working
due to any above reasons, it's the responsibility of Database Administrator to recover the
database using its backup files and restoration of database into the state it was in, before its
failure. Normally full backup are done after one week but incremental backup are done on
daily basis.
In these days, almost every database management system gives a number of methods to
restore the failure database using its backup. It depends upon the size of backup file, when
the size of database is large, recovery process may take a lot of time. There are two major
types of complete recovery the database.
Backward Recovery
In backward Recovery the database is restored into the previous state and the unwanted
changes are eliminated. It means that all changes made by various transactions are undone.
For example, it will be equivalent to the state that was fifteen days before the failure. This
sort of recovery is made when up to the time backup is not available or changes of previous
period are needed to be undone.
Forward Recovery
It is also called Roll-forward. Changes of some failed transactions are applied to the
database in order to roll it forward. Thus database becomes updated with all the changes
confirmed.

• Related Articles
Database Backups - Hot Backup vs. Cold Backup
Data and information are as important for an organization as blood in human body. In case
data and information become unavailable due to any reason, all the working of the
organization stops and it becomes unmanageable loss. In order to avoid such big loss,
Database Administrator (DBA) must take backup of his database frequently according to the
nature of the database. Normally full backup are done after one week but incremental
backup are done on daily basis. Backup can be defined as second copy of original database
produced by backup facilities provided by DBMS or operating system. This second copy or
saved copy of original database is produced on separate storage media such as magnetic
tape, external hard disk and on CD-drives. These should be placed in a separate and secure
location, where unauthorized persons do not have any access. The best way, you can store
your database backup online using Internet and you can access this backup any time, from
any location using Internet. There are two important types of backup.
Hot Backup
You can say hot backup is dynamic or active backup. Hot backup is taken when database is
running and data is being updated, added, or read by its users but doesn't handle running
transactions. Only database management system (DBMS) facility can be used to take hot
backups. Make sure that hot backups should only be done during low working hours. Hot
backup is taken in environments where database needs to remain online 24-hours a days
and 7-days a week, because they do not require downtime as in cold backup.
Cold Backup
Cold backup is taken when database is offline, not accessible for updating and users cannot
do anything on the database.. DBMS as well as operating system facilities can be used to
take the cold backup. Normally, cold backup is taken at the end of a working day or at
weekends when database comes offline. Cold backup is suitable in environments where
database is not running 24-hours a day. Instead, there are sometime intervals when it
remains off.
Backups can be taken manually through the DBA or these can be taken automatically by
configuring the DBMS. In case of automatic backups, you must specify day, time, and
location on storage media where DBMS will take the backups. These settings are required
when configuring the DBMS.

Function of Client and Server environment

In client and server database systems, the server contains the whole DBMS and controls all
of DBMS at a center point, while all the users send and receive all information using
database server via the client computer. The functions of database server is to receives the
queries from the user and answers them using centralized point. Here the main functions of
client and server are:
Functions of the Client
A Client is used as front-end to communicate with the database server. It plays very vital
role in the client and server environment, because maximum interaction of client continue
with the server machines to save and extract information from database. There are many
functions performs by client end:
• It presents and manages the user-interface through application program and data
manipulation functions.
• Database client sends the queries to the database server that is processed by the
server.
• It interprets the results send by server and presents the results to user.
• It also executes the local application.
• Client has the ability to process further the queries results received from server.
• It can also send and receive messages to and from different clients in the network
environment.
• It enforces the constraints applied in the application program.
Functions of the Database Server
The database server contains the DBMS software and database file and allows the clients to
add information in cartelized database and extract information from the database. The main
functions of database server are:
• It manages the database stored inside it.
 • It receives queries or requests from client, interprets and executes the queries and
sends the results of queries to the relevant clients.
• It manages the database recovery, security and backup services of the DBMS.
• The entire database constrains that are specified inside the DBMS enforced by the
server machine.
• Database access, users management, and all control functions are handles by
database server.

Phases in Database Development Life Cycle.

The database development process comprises a series of phases. The major phases in
information engineering are:
• Planning

• Analysis

• Design

• DBMS Selection

• Implementation

• Maintenance
Database planning
The database-planning phase begins when a customer requests to develop a database
project. It is set of tasks or activities, which decide the resources required in the database
development and time limits of different activities. During planning phase, four major
activities are performed.
• Review and approve the database project request.
• Prioritize the database project request.
• Allocate resources such as money, people and tools.
• Arrange a development team to develop the database project.
Database planning should also include the development of standards that govern how data
will be collected, how the format should be specified, what necessary documentation will be
needed.
Requirements AnalysisRequirements analysis is done in order to understand the problem,
which is to be solved. It is very important activity for the development of database system.
The person responsible for the requirements analysis is often called "Analyst".
In requirements analysis phase, the requirements and expectations of the users are
collected and analyzed. The collected requirements help to understand the system that does
not yet exist. There are two major activities in requirements analysis.
• Problem understanding or analysis

• Requirement specifications.
Design
The database design is the major phase of information engineering. In this phase, the
information models that were developed during analysis are used to design a conceptual
schema for the database and to design transaction and application.
• In conceptual schema design, the data requirements collected in Requirement
Analysis phase are examined and a conceptual database schema is produced.
 • In transaction and application design, the database applications analyzed in
Requirement Analysis phase are examined and specifications of these
applications are produced. There are two major steps in design phase:
• Database Design

• Process Design
DBMS
In this phase an appropriate DBMS is selected to support the information system. A number
of factors are involved in DBMS selection. They may be technical and economical factors.
The technical factors are concerned with the suitability of the DBMS for information system.
The following technical factors are considered.
• Type of DBMS such as relational, object-oriented etc

• Storage structure and access methods that the DBMS supports.

• User and programmer interfaces available.

• Type of query languages.

• Development tools etc.
Implementation
After the design phase and selecting a suitable DBMS, the database system is implemented.
The purpose of this phase is to construct and install the information system according to the
plan and design as described in previous phases. Implementation involves a series of steps
leading to operational information system that includes creating database definitions (such
as tables, indexes etc), developing applications, testing the system, developing operational
procedures and documentation, training the users and populating the database. In the
context of information engineering, it involves two steps.
• Database definitions.

• Creating applications.
Operational Maintenance
Once the database system is implemented, the operational maintenance phase of the
database system begins. The operational maintenance is the process of monitoring and
maintaining the database system. Maintenance includes activities such as adding new fields,
changing the size of existing field, adding new tables, and so on. As the database system
requirement change, it becomes necessary to add new tables or remove existing tables and
to reorganize some files by changing primary access methods or by dropping old indexes
and constructing new ones. Some queries or transactions may be rewritten for better
performance. Database tuning or reorganization continues throughout the life of database
and while the requirements keep changing.
Different File Type from Storage point of view
File organization is a technique for storing and arranging data on secondary storage devices
so that it can be retrieved easily when needed. It includes the physical order and layout of
records on secondary storage devices. The techniques used to write and retrieve data to and
from the storage devices called it access methods.
There are main three type of files from storage point of view.

• Sequential files

• Direct or random files

• Indexed sequential file

Sequential Files
In sequential data files, records are stored on the storage media in a sequence. No locations
are specified for individual records. The records are stored in an order, one after the other.
Similarly, records are also retrieved in sequential order. It means that records are accessed
one after the other in the same sequence in which they are stored on the storages devices.
For example, to access a particular record from a data file, all records are searched one by
one until the specified record in found. Therefore, accessing records in sequential files is
very slow.
Direct or Random files
Direct files are also referred to as random files. In these files, records are not stored in a
sequence. Each record is stored by specifying a particular address or location within a file.
The address is calculated against the value of the key field of the record. Sometimes, the
same address is calculated, which creates a problem to store record. This problem is known
as synonym. Data accessing from direct files is very fast. A record is accessed directly by
specifying its address.
Indexed Sequential Files
These files can be processed sequentially as well as randomly. In these files, the location of
individual record is also stored along with data of record. For this purpose, an index is
created to keep the track of locations of individual records.
Index refers to the location on the storage media where record is stored. You can say that an
index is just like a table that is used to find out the location of a particular record. The key
fields of the records are stored separately into the index along with the address of each
record. Usually, an index is created in a new file called index file. The index file is updated
whenever a new record is added or an existing record is deleted. Indexed file organization is
more effective and fast in accessing data from data file than sequential file organization.
These files occupy more space on the storage media but accessing speed of records is same
as random access files.

Database Security, Authorization and Encryption rules

Database security is concerned with authorization rules, user-defined procedures,
data encryption and authentication schemes etc. Let's have a detailed overview of
these concepts:
Authentication Rules
Authentication rules are restriction on users, applied through DBMS for controlling data
access and limiting actions on data. For example, a user can access a database table after
giving a valid username and password. Another user can change records in the table but
cannot add new records. Senior users are given full authority to take any action with the
table. This authorization is applied by DBA according to the sensitivity of data and
organizational rules.

User-Defined Procedures
In addition to the passwords and usernames, users can define their own procedures for
security. For example, a user can add some secret questions in the procedure, in order to
secure his account. Now, whenever the user logs in, he has to give procedure name along
with his password. The procedure will ask the answers of the given secret questions and on
submission of correct answers the user is given access to the database.

Encryption
Data encryption is a technique in which highly sensitive data is encoded (converted into
unreadable form) before its storage or transmission over a network. The encoding method is
kept tightly protected by the DBMS. The encoded data decoded (reverse process of
encoding) for authenticated users only. Thus unauthorized users cannot read data and
sensitive data is automatically encoded by DBMS. For example, in ATM system the pin code
provided by the customer is encoded (encrypted) before its submission to the database
server. A DBA can also manually encrypt data when needed.
Authentication schemes
Illegal access to computer resources is becoming a serious problem in the modern world.
Passwords and usernames cannot identify the actual person who is logging on the computer
system. Password can be leaked out or stolen therefore; it is not a secure method to block
illegal access. Alternatively, some systems are using other authentication schemes for this
purpose. These authentication schemes include signature dynamics, fingerprints and retina
prints etc. Smart cards are normally used for the implementation of these schemes. For
example, fingerprints are permanently stored on the smart card and whenever user wants
to log in, he is required to insert his card into a card reader. He is also required to scan his
fingerprints. Now if saved fingerprints on card and his actual fingerprints match with each
other he is given access otherwise access is denied.
Record Locking and Deadlocking
Record locking mechanism is the most common method to implement the concurrency
control in DBMS. Locking means record must be locked (i.e. access disallowed) for other
users, when any user opens it for update.
Suppose in the above example, as soon as an opens his account through his ATM card. The
record is locked for person B, when A completes his transaction, the balance is updated to
2000 $ and record is unlocked. Now when B opens his account, the system will show the
balance of B cannot overdraw 2000 $ and thus it.

Types of Record Locking Record locking can be of following two types:

Shared Locks
Shared locks are also called Read Locks. When shared lock is applied by a transaction, other
users or transactions can be read but not update the locked record shared locks are applied
in case when you want to open same record for reading such that no other user changes
these records during this time. Other transactions can also apply shared locks but not
exclusive locks on these records.
Exclusive Locks
Exclusive locks are also called Write Locks. In case of exclusive locking, other transactions
cannot be read or update the locked record. Exclusive lock is applied in situations when you
want to change or update record such that no other user or transaction is able to read or
update this record during this time. Other transactions cannot apply any type of lock on
exclusively locked records. It note that locks are applied for short time only as other users
are restricted for certain operations during this time.

Deadlock
Record locking mechanism may create an undesirable situation where two or more users are
waiting for the completion of each other's actions. This situation is called deadlock. In order
to explain the concept of deadlock, let's take an example. Suppose there are two users Jone
and Tony. They are working in a multi-user environment and try to access a common
database table "student". Jone accesses record number 3 and exclusively lock it. Similarly,
Tony accesses record number 6 and he exclusively locks it. Now Jone needs to read record
number 6 before releasing record number 3 and Tony needs to read record number 3 before
releasing record number 6.Both are waiting for each other's actions, which will never occur.
A deadlock has been created and working of both the users has been stopped. More users
may get involved in this deadlocked situation. A deadlock situation may also arise in real
world. Suppose two trains approach each other from opposite sides on a single track. Each
train wishes other one to get back to make way for it. But this will never happen. A
deadlock has happened.

Controlling Deadlock
There are different methods to control the situation of deadlock. The most common method
is Deadlock Prevention. In deadlock prevention it is required that all the needed records are
locked in the beginning of a transaction. No record is locked afterwards until the completion
of the transaction. If at the beginning of transaction, some records (which are needed) are
already locked, and then the transaction must wait to start until all the needed records are
released. Another method is Deadlock Resolution in which DBMS takes its responsibility, to
solve the deadlocked situations. Users don't need to take any action.
Database Development Process
The database is the fundamental component of the information system of an organization.
In a computerized environment, the information system includes the resources such as
data, DBMS software, computer hardware and storage media, the people who use and
manage the data, the application programs. The database development is very important
and creative activity. The database development process consists of two activities. The first
activity involves the design of the data contents and the structure of database. The second
activity is related to the design of database applications. The two activities are closely
related to each other. For example, by analyzing the database application, we can identify
the data items that will be stored in the database.
Designing and developing an effective information system, is most important activity.
Therefore, in order to build an effective database and related applications, the development
team thoroughly understands the data of an organization. To do this, the team builds a data
model that identifies the data to be stored in the database and defines their structures and
the relationships among them. There are two strategies for developing a database.
• Top-down approach
• Bottom-Up approach
A system consists of components in the form of hierarchy. The Top-down approach starts
from the highest-level component of the hierarchy and proceeds towards lower level of the
hierarchy. Similarly, the Bottom-Up method uses the same approach as Top-Down method
but Bottom-Up approach starts from the lowest level component of the hierarchy and
proceeds towards higher level to the top-level component. Information system architecture
is a conceptual blueprint for plan that expresses the desired future structure for the
information system in an organization. An organization needs information system
architecture and a methodology that supports for developing that architecture. Information
engineering is formal methodology, which is used to create and maintain information
system. It is a top-down methodology.
An organization needs a methodology (related series of steps) and related set of tools to
develop the information system architecture. Conceptually a methodology includes a set of
instructions. A variety of tools are required to support the development of information
system. CASE (Computer-Aided Software Engineering) tools provide automated support for
some portion of the system development process.

Hardware Tips
 • How to connect home computer from Remote location?

• Graphic Card Troubleshooting

• How to change the windows default identity?

• CD-ROM Troubleshooting

• How to block any installed application from lunching on your computer? New

• How to send a voice mail to your friend using Windows XP?

• How to backup of your computer installed drivers?

• How to log off, restart and shutdown, connected computer from one location?

• How to enable the Windows Task Manager and Regedit Editor?

• How to solve low memory problems?

• How to uninstall hidden devices, drivers using device manager?

• How to Enable Logging to solve windows startup issue?

• How to change default location of program installation?

• How to troubleshoot the Hard Drive problems?

• How to clear all windows history files with a single click?

• How to detect viruses in a computer using multiple antivirus engines?

• How to restore the windows default icons?

• Monitors Troubleshooting

• How to set security on your Recycle Bin properties? New

• Sound Cards Troubleshooting

• RAM Troubleshooting

• Fighting Unknown Hardware Errors

• Overcoming Printer Buffer Overflow

How to connect your home computer from Remote location?

Using the Remote Desktop feature, you can connect your home computer (host) from any
other remote computer (client) and can access all computer resources (installed programs,
data and any network resources). You can run any computer application on the remote
computer as you were running actually sitting in front of home computer.
Follow the given steps to configure your computer to connect remote computer:
To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative
rights.
To perform this task, first make sure your both computers are connected to the internet.
First you have to configure the host computer that allows the users to connect it remotely.
On the host computer, right click on "My computer" and click on Properties option.
Under the Remote tab, select the option "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer"
and click Ok button.
Now get the IP address of host computer (type the "ipconfig /all" on the command prompt
of host computer to find IP address).
Now make a connection on remote or client computer, click on Start button, go to All
Programs> Accessories, and Communications, then click on Remote Desktop Connection,
option. A Remote Desktop Connection, dialog box will appear.
Click on Options button for detail configuration, under the General tab, type the IP address
of host computer in the Computer box and also type username and password of host
computer then click on Connect button to make a connection to remote computer.
If your username and password is correct then a remote desktop windows will appear.

Graphic Card
The graphic card is one of the most important pieces of hardware in your PC. Without it, your super
monitor with all the bells and whistles is just a junk box.
Make Directional Input
Most video cards come with simple frame capture programs, but you'll have to do some programming if
you plan to integrate video capture with other operations on your computer, such as adding text data as an
overlay or changing video-in channels on the fly. In this case you'll need good programming libraries in a
language with which you are familiar for the video card. Some companies include libraries with their
cards, but most charge extra. Most often libraries, when available, are for C or BASIC, and sometimes
Pascal.
Choose Between 24 bit and 32 bit
For True Color mode, some graphic cards offer 24 bit while some offer 32 bit. Which is the best? When
True Colour mode was first suggested, it utilizes 32 bit which was very pleasing to the eye, they realize
that 24 (with less coolers) won't look much different since the human eye can only take about a certain
amount of colors. On the other hand, 24 bit will run faster compared to 32 bit because it uses less colors.
So if your card utilizes 24 bit, don't worry, it isn't bad.
Always Use The Latest Drivers
Yes, it is important to make sure you always have the latest drivers. The latest drivers will offer you better
performance, more utilities and more compatibility (usually for DirectX or Direct3D). Take the effort to
check you card manufacturer's site to look for the latest driver updates.

CD-ROM

The maximum a floppy disk can contain is 1.44 MB. To play a game with around 200 MB you are stuck
with 100 over diskettes. The CD-ROM is a revolutionary invention that allows up to 625 MB at one time.
However, it is read only, which means you can't store in anything.
Buttons Fun
Although most CD-ROMs comes with only 2 buttons, do you know you can also skip, play previous track
and play the next track as well with a proper combination? Check properly on your instruction manual for
additional functions. You just might be surprised what it can do.
Clean Thoroughly
It is important to clean the CR-ROM at least once every month. Get a CD lens cleaner. If possible, choose
one with an alcohol solution drop. This should ensure that your CD-ROM will always be able to read
properly.
Clean You CDs
It is just as important to clean your CDs often. Why? Because if you have a speck of dust on the surface
of one of your CDs, once spinning at high-speed in the drive, the speck of dust is enough to produce
scratches on your precious CD.
Running In DOS
One of the common problems with CD-ROMs is unable to access it under DOS. This might be because
the protected-mode CD-ROM driver isn't available. You'll need to add the real-mode device driver,
usually included with your CD-ROM drive, in CONFIG.SYS and load MSCDEX.EXE, which is
available in the Windows\Command folder. You should also make sure both files are on your startup
disk.
Run List
Like those cool expensive hi-fi systems, you can customize the run list of your Audio CD, only not with
the CD-ROM itself. Use Windows' CD player to customize the run list and you can have your CD
running in any track order you like.
Read Ahead
The read ahead buffer is useful to speed up things. Go to Control Panel, System. Click on the
Performance tab. Click on the File System... button. On the File System Properties, click on CD-ROM.
Make sure you have the fullest cache. Even if you have a CD-ROM with less than Quad speed, just move
ahead. You'll be surprised to find your CD-ROM running faster.
How to backup of your computer installed drivers?
You can easily create the backup of your computer installed drivers (just the particular or all drivers)
and use it to troubleshoot any driver problems. This backup will be very useful when you will
format your computer window due to any reason. There is no need to search the drivers from
internet or drivers CD, just import the driver backup and within five minute, you will complete
the driver installation process. You can move this backup from one computer to other computer
for installation.
To complete the all process, we will use a simple tool called DriverMax. Using this tool, we
can easily export the backup of any specific or all drivers and then import it for reinstallation
later or elsewhere. You can free download (with free registration code) this tool for windows
XP and Vista also. Download it and run the easy setup.
After Installation launch DriverMax, the first screen you will get with title "DriverMax -
Version" and options "Export drivers, Import drivers and Installed drivers report". Just click
on "Export Driver" option to start backup process.

Now after welcome screen, system will take few seconds to create the list of
all installed drivers and then show you all installed drivers list.
Here you can select any specific device driver or click on "Select all" button to create the backup of
entire installed drivers.
Press the Next button and in next screen you can select the export type
(simple backup or in zip format) and then choose the backup location
(always choose drive other than C drive).
Again press the Next and system will take some time (depend upon the size
of your drivers) to finish exporting the selected drivers.
Click the "Open extraction folder button" to view the backup files or press
Close button to finish it.
Now you can use this backup files (using import option) to restore drivers
backup or move to any other computer. Copy the Following link to download
it.
Hard Drive
Your hard drive, or also called hard disk, is a gigantic diskette in your computer. It is one disk big enough
to store you Operating System, games and programs. Without it, your PC is just an empty shell.
Check Your BIOS
Better beware of older systems with large hard drives. If you have an older motherboard, your BIOS
might not recognize hard drives larger than 2.1 GB. Hopefully, your BIOS is EPROM which means
although read only (noticed the ROM?) it can be edited by authorized editors. Nearly all newer
motherboards support that. All you need to do is to go online, go to your motherboard manufacturer's
website and try to download a flash BIOS update. Install it and it should be done.
Are You FAT Enough?
If you have a large capacity hard drive with more than 2.1 GB, you might have a problem. Windows 95
itself will only recognize a partition with not more than 2.1 GB. You need FAT32. With FAT32, you can
have one large capacity hard drive without partitioning. You will also save some space with FAT32. In
short, larger hard drives require FAT32.
Consider Partitioning
Although you can have one big fat hard drive as one partition, you should consider partitioning as well, if
you have a big hare drive. Partitioning is the method of dividing an area on a disk into smaller portions of
lesser capacities that can be recognized by the operating system. Picture this: your hard drive is a cake. It
is easier to eat a cake divided into pieces than to eat it whole.
Partitioning enables you to achieve greater efficiency and functionality from high-capacity disks (2.1GB
or greater). You can create partitions by using FDISK on a system running in MS-DOS mode or by using
a third-party disk utility. Remember that after partitioning, all data will be loss so be careful.
You can set aside a small partition for backup purposes. In case you should decided to format, just format
the partition you use to store Windows. Your data in the backup partition is still there. But be careful! If
you format a FAT32 partition with a FAT16 formatting utility, your partitions with data in it will all be
loss! So never install DOS after formatting Windows. Because DOS utilizes FAT16, your FAT32
partition will all be gone.
Access Time or Seek Time?
If you want to buy a hard drive but are confused with the specifications of access time and seek time,
remember that the key to the speed of a hard drive is the average access time. This is the time taken to
access a single sector to the time when the drive's head reaches the sector. But beware, some ads quote
seek time that is not the appropriate measurement. Access time is seek time plus latency (the time it takes
for the chosen sector to come around to be positioned under the read/write head)
Speed, Not Space
A lot of people are confused between speed and space. If you have a Quantum Fireball with 1.2 GB and a
Quantum Bigfoot with 3.5 GB surely you should put the Bigfoot as the master and Fireball as the slave
right? Wrong! You should always consider speed as well as space. The Quantum Fireball has a faster
access time. A faster hard drive means better performance. Make sure your operating system is store in
the faster hard drive. You can use the Bigfoot to store your programs or games which makes not much
difference to the speed. With speed hungry programs or games, store them in the faster drive too. You
must know what to put where.
The status of the drives is determined by setting small jumpers that are usually located next to the IDE
connector on the drive itself.
How to solve low memory problems?
Normally this warning message shows when you run many programs same time than the
RAM installed on your computer is designed to support. Your can solve this problem by
increasing the system paging file size also called as virtual memory. Using this virtual
memory windows moving information to and from the paging file for fast processing. This
will free up enough RAM for other programs to run properly.
To increase the system page file follow the give path:
Control Panel > System > Advanced > Click on Settings (Under Performance) > Advanced
> Change
Here under Drive (Volume label), you have option to select any of your hard disk drive, but
the best choice is, select any drive other than C drive for virtual memory.
Set the double Initial & Maximum Size of your Virtual Memory. Here set initial size 700 MB
and maximum size up to 1000MB; you can change this size according to the free space
available on your hard drive.

Monitor
The monitor is a television-like box except it is used in a computer for display. You can't use the
computer at all without a monitor. The monitor is different from the television is many ways. It is flatter
compared to the television. Television refreshes the screen by interlacing while the monitor is using non-
interlaced functions. Monitors uses pixels to display, making it finer and better to display text.
Larger Resolution, Smaller Display
One thing you should know, since monitors measure by pixels, you should always set the resolution right.
A larger resolution uses smaller pixels, making everything smaller but you have a larger view. The
default is 640x480 but most prefer 800x600. For larger monitors, you can decide on 1024x800 or
1280x1024. Also remember, since there are more pixels, the higher the resolution, the slower the screen
refreshes.
Decide On A Screen Filter
Although computer screens are just 30% of the radioactivity from the TV or less, you still might want to
consider a screen filter. It helps filter up radioactivity. Never settle for a cheap screen filter. A lousy one
won't filter the screen - it just darkens it. Always make sure that it won't make everything look dark.
Some good screen filters provide a wire to clip it at the back of the casing to lose the radioactivity.
On the other hand, you should also make sure you don't need one. Here are a few points to guide you.
• Your computer (& monitor) is placed under a bright place and can
balance with the brightness of the monitor
• Your monitor is anti-glare and non-reflective.
• Your monitor produces little static and radioactivity.
 • Your monitor produces clear, crisp and not-too-bright images.
• You won't have problems staring at the monitor for a long time.
If your monitor fits that criteria, you can forget the screen filter.
Blink Your Eyes!
This is not actually a hardware tip, just to let you know how important it is to blink your eyes. Your eyes
don't actually get strained staring at the monitor, just loses moisture and making the eyes dry. It has been
proven that people staring at the monitor for a long time has the tendency to blink less than the normal
rate. Make an effort to blink your eyes. If not, try eye moisture drops.
Degauss
Degauss is a very important function that helps you restore your monitor when colors are distorted or you
noticed weird colors at the corners of your monitor. This is cause by magnetization that can be caused by
jerking the monitor, shifting to a different direction or moving it across the globe (different magnetic
field). The degauss control removes magnetization from your monitor
Use the degauss control lightly. You should only degauss if you see color purity problems. Otherwise,
don't use it. Too much degaussing stresses the circuitry components and overheats the large coil around
the CRT. If possible, when the display clears up, shut down the monitor/computer for a while to let it cool
down.
Take Control
When your monitor comes, modify the factory default setting of your monitor! Get more colors or
brightness. And stretch the screen to the fullest! Although this may sound trivial, a lot of people just think
it's alright to follow the original setting, losing valuable screen space, you will be surprised to know how
much bigger you can stretch the screen. A bigger display is always better.

Sound Card
A world without sound is boring. The same goes to computers. Imagine playing quake with the beeps
from the PC speaker. The sound card is a piece of hardware to generate high quality sound. It enables
your to listen to your CD, record voices with the microphone and playing your sound files.
Don't Throw Away Your Old RAM
If you have and old PC that utilizes old 32 bit RAM, don't throw it away. If you have and AWE (advance
wavetable effect) sound card, with empty memory slots, you may plug it into your soundcard to load
more instruments. Very useful. If you want, you can go to computer junkyards or dealer with old
computers to find some old 32 bit RAM. You can get it for almost nothing.
More, more!
If you are using an AWE soundcard, you might want to get more voices or instruments. Go to your
manufacturer's website and search for sound fonts. Like fonts, they are the same instruments but produces
different sounds. The amount of sound fonts you can load at a time depends entirely on how much
memory you have.
No Sound From Mike
An ageing sound card probably doesn't supply the DC voltage needed to power a new electrets
microphone-the kind with a mini-stereo (ring-tip-sleeve) plug on the cable. If so, you'll need either an
inline battery pack to power the new microphone, or an older dynamic microphone that doesn't need DC
power. But the best bet is to throw it away and get a new one.

Fighting Unknown Problems

Hardware problems are quite difficult to tackle, worse if under Windows. There was once when installing
a software, I accidentally inserted the Audio hardware diskette. Thinking it was harmless, I went on,
thinking I can always "undo" everything again. How wrong was I. The next moment I restarted Windows,
I got the blue screen of death. Yeah, Windows is very nasty when it comes to hardware.
Find The Culprit
Always calm down. Try to solve the problem yourself before resolving to formatting or sending to your
computer dealer. First, know what's happening and the cause of it. In my case, the installation must have
overwrite my old setting and replaced the wrong file. There must be a reason why Windows is acting
improperly.
Logging Back On
First, try to log back on. If you can't log into Windows, don't panic. Restart the computer. When the text
"Starting Windows 98..." appears, press F8. A menu will appear. Choose "Safe Mode" to continue. Safe
mode will take some time to load. When you are in Windows, go to Control Panel, System. Click
on the Device Manager tab. Find the faulty hardware driver and delete it. Open autoexec.bat
and config.sys (both are hidden files in your root directory) with notepad. If the hardware is a CD-
ROM or sound card, it will probably write add some lines. Check whether there are backup file
(autoexec.bak, autoexec.b~k e.g.) since most installation will back up the 2 important files. If there is,
simply replace them with the backup files. If there isn't, put "REM " in front of every line that loads the
hardware.
Repairing
When you restart, your computer is probably ok, since you have deleted all instances of the hardware
drivers. But the hardware isn't functioning. re-install the hardware drivers, restart and you're done! If the
problem persists, your probably have a system conflict go to the next page for more.

When Your Printer's Buffer Overflows........

Yes, the printer isn't perfect. When you give the printer more load than it can "remember" from it's
memory buffer, it will either hang, stop, pause or abort the print and give you an error message. Here are
a few ways to fight the problems.
Compress
From experience, I found out that a printer seldom or never encounter any buffer overflow from printing
text. Rather, it is graphic files (up to 5 MB at a time) that crashes the printer. If you are printing multipage
when you get errors, print one at a time. It may be painstaking but it sure beats having an error message.
Now if a huge graphic file still makes your printer's buffer overflow, try to compress the current format
you are using. If you are using Photoshop, save it as a normal or "flatten" (without layers) to lower the file
size. You might want to try using GIF or JPEG. JPEG is a high-color compression method that can reduce
up to 90% less. But saving in this format can be "lossy" (image looks a bit different than the original). I
prefer GIF. Although the file size may be bigger in high-colors, but it looks better.
Go For The Upgrade
Most printers allow you to upgrade the memory. The more memory, the less buffer overflow. This is the
best solution. Go to your nearest computer dealer to ask for a memory upgrade. Make sure they can get
the exact company and model. It might cost a bit but hey, that's what upgrades are for!
Turn on a screensaver with adding a shortcut
• You can run screensaver on your system with a single click, If you have any
screensaver file like .scr extension, or first download it using Internet, there
are many free sites for screensaver downloading.
• If you have not any .scr file then please go to Start button, and click on
Search button. Here in search windows type *.scr and search all screen saver
file from your hard disk.
 • Here you will find a list of screensavers in the results. Pick a screensaver you
want. You can preview it by double-clicking it.
• Right click on the file, choose Send To, and then click Desktop (create
shortcut).

• To activate the screensaver, double-click the icon on your desktop.

• Turn on a screensaver with adding a shortcut
• Back It Up!
• Different methods through viruses may be transferred
• Clear Your Backups
• Defragment System for Better Performance
• Deleting Setup Files
• Disable Anti-virus When Installing New Program
• Windows common shortcut keys
• Fixing Uninstall Errors
• Get Your Computer Details
• How Much Hard Drive Space I Have
• Hide Drives and Partitions
• Window Illegal Operations
• Keep Clean Your Computer
• Missing Window Files at Startup
• Over-Clocking Way to Get Performance
• Power Management Setting
• Reactivate DLL's File of Your System
• Send an error report to Microsoft
• Set Computer's Clock
• Stop XP Pop-ups
• System Password Protection
• Troubleshoot Start up Problems
• Troubleshooting Video problems
• Viruses that Won't Go Away
• To search for a file or folder stored on computer
• What of these things called"$NtUninstallQ
• Windows 98 Shut Down Problems
• Windows Repair Install

Back It Up!

As most of you know, I recommend backing up your computer on a regular basis.

Since I'm always harping about it, I thought it might be a good idea to actually
explain how to do this!
First, what exactly does it mean to "backup" your files?
To backup simply means to copy files to another disk. This can be in the form of
using a program designed to do backups or just doing a straight copy from your
computer to a floppy (probably a lot more than one floppy), a zip disk , or CD-RW .
For a zip disk, just copy and paste the files you want to save onto the disk. For a
CD-R or CD-RW, use your CD burning software. (Note that most CD burning
software and Zip drives come with some kind of backup utility you can use if you
like).
If all your files will fit on a single CD or Zip disk, then you're in good shape just
copying your files straight to it. If your files are too large, you're probably better off
using a backup utility, since they can "split" your files up automatically and most
can even compress them.
That's really all there is to it. You just take the files you want to be sure to save and
copy them to a disk or CD.
Now, here's my advice for easier backups:
One question that seems to come up all the time is. "If I do a re-format and re-
install every year or two, how can I be sure I get all my important files?"
I use to have a terrible time with this one. I would hunt through every folder on my
hard drive searching for my data. I would still miss stuff and lose it.
Well, a long time ago, I decided to keep any file I create (documents) or want to
save (i.e. downloaded software) in the My Documents folder. Then when I go to
backup my info, I know it's all in one place. I back up My Documents and it's a
done deal. I have it all.
I also advocate putting sub-folders into the My Documents folder. You can do this
from most "Save As" dialog boxes by clicking the “New folder " icon. You
can also do it from Explorer by opening the My Documents folder, right-clicking
on a blank area, then selecting New, Folder from the resulting menu.
Make sure you backup your e-mail and Favorites too! You can set current versions
of Outlook Express (and many other e-mail clients) to save your e-mail to a
specified folder, like the My Documents folder. Doing that will insure you at least
keep your e-mail.
As for the Favorites, those you'll have to work a little harder at. They are usually
found under your C:\Windows folder. XP users will find them under the
Documents and Settings area.
Now, here's a tip-in-a-tip:
I didn't know you could do this - kind of found out by accident- but you can actually
drag your Favorites folder to your My Documents folder. I tested this on Win
98/ME/XP (I'm sure it'll work on Win 2000, not sure on 95). Each time, it worked
perfectly. Explorer didn't "lose" any of the favorites and since they are in the My
Documents folder now, it makes for MUCH easier backups.
What about program files?
My advice on backing up programs is not to - as long as you can re-install them. I
personally back up just the stuff I have "made". You know, things like documents,
web pages, pictures, graphics, etc. If I had to take time to make it and save it, I'll
back it up.
If it's a program I can reinstall, then I don't back it up. After all, if I lose it, I can
always reinstall Besides, many programs have files in locations other than their own
directory - so it makes it hard to find everything.
Oh, and if you're backing up because you're doing a reformat of your hard drive
and a reinstall of Windows here's something else to consider -
If the reason for the reinstall is poor system performance, you don't necessarily
want to copy old files to the newly formatted hard drive. Sure, most of them would
probably be OK, but what if you're transferring a file that was causing some of your
bad performance? It's kind of like getting a new car and putting used parts on it.
Of course, there's not any kind of "fixed" rule for backing up or not backing up your
program files, so use your best judgment
One final idea for our more advanced users:
If you find yourself doing the re-format thing fairly often, you may want to partition
off a section of your hard drive for your data. If you keep all your information on a
separate drive, you can re-format your Windows drive all you want and your data
stays safe on the other drive partition.
A word of warning though. If you decide to do this, only keep data (documents,
spreadsheets, pictures, etc) or downloads on the drive. If you install programs to it,
you may find that when you re-format you need to re-install those programs
anyway because they had DLL files that were living in the Windows System folder.
Different methods through viruses may be transferred

There are different methods through viruses may be transferred from one computer to another.
• Now- a-days, most of the viruses spread due to receiving unknown e-mail messages that
contains viruses. When a user opens such an infected message, the virus is also loaded
into the computer memory. In this way, many other program files loaded into the memory
are infected. This virus is also transferred to other computers when e-mail messages are
sent from the infected computer to them. Due to these viruses, some time an auto
generated email message from your email ID sends to your friends from your side with
different virus messages. Never open unknown and attractive subject line email
messages, always scan first even if you know the sender of the message.
• Another way of spreading virus is by using Internet and other networks. For example,
when you download infected executables files or data files from the Internet or from a
shared disk on the network, viruses are transferred to your computer. It must be noted
that many software are available on the Internet with free of cost. Most of that software
contains viruses, for example free PHP or ASP scripts are the main source of virus,
always get these scripts from reliable sources. In an LAN, if a computer contains a virus,
then all the computers on the network may be infected with that virus.
• One important means of exchanging data is through the use of removable media like,
CDs, MP3 player, ipod and flash devices. So, when you copy the data from one computer
to another by using a removable media, the viruses are also transferred.
• The virus can also infect your computer by using pirated software. The software, which is
installed into your computer without license is referred to as pirated software. Some
companies may intentionally attach some virus programs into their software. This
program will only activate when it does not find some special files like license files on
your computer.
• Clear Your unnecessary backups files
 • It is a good practice to make the backup of the important data. In
many computer applications you can use the auto backup option to
make the backup of a important file after specific time or set make
auto backup on save. Normally backup files take up few kilobytes of
your hard disk space but backup size depends upon the size of actual
size.
• But some time these auto backup files take up extra hard disk space
and can slow your computer performance. You can clear these
unnecessary backup files cluttering up you computer. First search and
then delete these file. Search with some common backup file
extensions, for example .bac, .bak, .bck, .bk!, .bk$. After search result
you can delete the unnecessary backup files.
• Defragmenter Program to Optimize the Placement of
Files.
• This utility program is used to re-organize the files and un-used
space on the hard disk, so that operation system can access
data more quickly and easily. When operating system stores
data on the disk, it stores the data in the first available sector
on the disk. In this case data of a file is stored on disk in a
scattered form; it is referred to as “File is fragmented”. The
fragmentation slows down the data accessing speed of
computer. You can improve the performance of your computer
by de-fragmenting your hard disk. In De-fragmentation
process, the data of each file is stored in continuous sectors.
There are many third party software’s available in market for
this purpose but you can use windows built-in utility program
called Disk Defragmenter. To start disk defragmenter utility,
first make sure all running program are closed.
• To run disk defragmenter utility, go to the Start button and
type dfrg.msc in Run option then press ok. Now here a disk
defragmenter window will appear. Select any drive and press
defragmenter button. If you have a large hard disk, this
process can take several hours. I recommend you doing this
after one month if you want to improve the performance of
your computer.
Search system and hidden files
In windows you cannot search hidden and system files, because by default search system
does not support to search hidden and system files. This is normally done to protect these
files from users to modify and delete accidentally. Many computer viruses, Trojan and
hackers hide their files in your computer, in this way making it hard to find them and then
delete them. Some key logger and password breaker software hides their files from user to
keep user password and credit card history. But you can search these hidden files (viruses,
spyware, key logger) with some modification in search system.
To search the hidden or system file, follow the giving step:
• First click on Start button then click on Search option.
• Here click on "All files and folders" then click on More advanced
options.
• In advanced options, select the Search system folders and Search
hidden files and folders check boxes.
• Now your computer configured to search all hidden and system files.
• Most commonly used Security Techniques against viruses.
• Virus detection and its removal are mode through an antivirus or with
some other security program. Different antivirus programs are
available in the market and over Internet. The most common and
famous security technique against viruses is as under:
• Virus Signature/ Virus Definition
• Virus signature is a known pattern of code of a code of a virus
program; this pattern is used by antivirus program to detect viruses
and then to remove these viruses. You should update virus definition
continuously by downloading updates from Internet. This ensures that
your antivirus is always able to detect changing viruses.
• Inoculation
• Inoculation file is separate file created and maintained by antivirus
program to record information like file size and file creation date. This
information later on is used for virus detection and removal.

• Quarantine
• Quarantine is a separate area on a hard disk. It contains the infected
files and folders that cannot be cleared or deleted by antivirus due to
some reason, for example sharing violation or unknown virus for that
antivirus.
• Recovery Disk
• Recovery disk is a removable disk that holds un-infected system
commands and startup information. In case the boot record of actual
hard disk fails, this recovery disk can be used to start the computer.
Afterwards an antivirus program can be used to remove the virus.
• Un-authorized access
• Accessing a computer system without the knowledge or permission of
its user is called unauthorized access. It is always recommended to
restrict computer resources with the help of usernames and
passwords. These are unique combination of characters to identify
users and their secret codes respectively.
• Firewall
• Firewall is a security system consisting of hardware and software to
prevent unauthorized access of a network or computer. Big companies
use a separate computer firewall software or hardware to protect their
date from unauthorized access. Firewall check outgoing and incoming
traffic and manage data access to the authorized users only.
• Biometric Devices
• A biometric device reads personal characteristics like fingerprints hand
structure, facial features, and voice recognition to authenticate a user
for any further access to a computer system or other peripheral
devices. A biometric device translates the personal characteristics into
digital code that is matched to already store user data in that system.
If the digital data matches with any of the stored data, it gives access
to the person. In case of no match, the access is denied.

• Roll back the faulty update driver

• In Windows XP you can restore the previous versions of the installed
driver, if you update it with faulty driver. Some time you replaced the
 any old device driver with new one, but that new driver create problem
to run properly then you can restore the old version again.
• To roll back the previous version of device driver, right click on “My
Computer” and “Manage”, here in left side “Computer Management”
dialog box, locate and click on Device Manger option.
• Here locate and highlight the device driver that you want to roll back
then press the “properties” button. Here select the “driver” tab then
click on the “roll back driver” button.
• Now reboot your system to roll back properly your older version.

• Get Your Computer Details

• Want to figure out all your computer specs? Stuff like CPU
speed, RAM, Hard Drive space, screen resolution, etc? It's
actually not as easy as it should be. Maybe I'm missing
something, but as far as I can tell, you have to go to
separate areas in Windows to figure this it out.
• RAM & Windows Version -
Right-click My Computer and select Properties . The
screen that pops up will give you info on what version of
Windows you're running and how much RAM is currently
installed in the machine.
• Hard Drive Space -
Open My Computer , right-click the C: drive, and select
Properties from the resulting menu. You'll get a handy
little Pie chart that gives you used and available HD
space.
• Screen Resolution -
Right-click the Windows Desktop and select Properties .
Hit the Settings tab on the resulting screen. You'll see
your resolution and color depth listed there.
• CPU Speed -
Windows XP will actually give you this if you right-click My
Computer, Properties . However, older versions of
Windows won't give you the slightest hint as to the CPU
speed.
• So, what can you do?
• First place to look is towards the top of the screen when
the computer first starts up. Some machines will display
the type of processor and speed. If you have some sort of
splash screen come up when you first turn on the
computer, try hitting the Escape key. Sometimes that will
remove the splash screen and let you see the "real"
screen behind it.
• If that doesn't work, you may need to find a third party
software utility to check CPU speed.
•
Low Hard Drive Space warning messages
In windows XP, when you’re hard disk space of any drive left 200 MB or less than 200 MB, it
begins you a alerting message “You are running out of disk space on drive C or D. To free
space on this drive by deleting old or unnecessary file, click here.” May be this warning
message is useful for the maintenance of your hard disk space, and remind you to
uninstalling unnecessary programs and deleting temporary files. But some time this
message annoying, especially once you well aware about this situation. To disable this
warnings message permanently, you have to edit the computer registry. But the best
technique to edit the windows registry keys, always export or backup the whole windows
registry keys on backup drive before editing. Because any mistake in Registry can cause
problem in your computer to run properly.

Follow the given steps to disable the warning message.

• First click on Start button then type Regedit in Run option.

• In Registry Editor panel go to the path:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\P
olicies\ Explorer.

• Here in right hand side panel, create the new DWORD value, Value
name “NoLowDiskSpaceChecks”.
• Now double click on that value, now set its value 1 and press OK.

• Now restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

Useful tip to Hide drives and Partitions

You can hide your system partitions or drives from other users. This tip is very useful if
different type of users are using same computer then you can safe your important drives
with this trick from any illegal action. You can use windows XP TweakUI utility or registry
editor to hide drives. To work with windows XP TweakUI go to Run and type tweakui then
press enter. A small TweakUI interface will open with options to uncheck drives that you
want hidden. Click OK to finish it.
You can also use registry editor to edit the computer registry to turn off the display of
drives, but be careful to work with computer registry.
Follow the given steps to hide computer drives:
• First click on Start button then type Regedit in Run option.
• Here locate the location to:
HKey_Current_User \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows
\ Current Version \ Policies \ Explorer
• Here right click on right side of Registry editor panel and add new DWORD
then put its value 3FFFFFF.
• Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to
go into effect.

• Suggested Reading
Install windows 2000 after you have installed windows XP
If you want to install two windows (windows 2000 and XP) on the same computer then the
sequence is that first install windows 2000 then windows XP. But if you have already
installed windows XP on your computer and now want to install the windows 2000 on the
same computer then after windows 2000 setup your XP windows will create problem. Follow
the given steps how to install windows 2000 after you have installed windows XP.
• First backup the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files in windows XP,
locate these files NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM in the boot drive
(normally in C drive root directory). Usually these files are hidden files
but you can locate to adjust your explorer options to show them. You
can search these files on your computer C drive.
• Now copy these files on USB drive or write on black CD. But you can
also save these files on other hard disk drives like D or E drive.
• After backup these files, boot your computer from bootable windows
2000 CD and run the windows 2000 setup.
• Try to install the windows 2000 to a different partition that XP is
installed. After complete the windows 2000 setup, boot your computer
into windows 2000.
• When your computer boot into windows 2000, attach the backup drive
that you used earlier for backup, now copy back NTLDR and
NTDETECT.COM to the root directory of your boot drive.
• Now, you'll be able to restart your computer and boot into windows
2000 or windows XP.
Keep Clean Your Computer
You can save your computer maintenance cost if you clean your computer on the regular
basis. This will improve the cooling and performance of the computer components. Your
computer components could damage, if you do not keep it clean on periodically basis,
because dust is the main cause to heat up your system and heat link to hardware failure.
• Never place your computer on the ground, always use computer table
or shelf for this purpose.
• To clean computer case first unplugs your system power from the
electrical outlet. Remove all cables and connectors from the back side
of your computer.
• Now blow the air around all the hardware components and keeping
away your blower nozzle 4 to 5 inches away from main board
components. You can use vacuum cleaner also for this purpose but
compressed air is the better solution to clean a system.
• At the end using lightly dampened cloth or spray any cleaning fluids on
the computer case and use paper towel to dry it.
• Never clean inside computer components or other circuit board with
damp or wet cloth.
• Always be careful to eat or drink around the computer.
Remove or uninstall Windows XP SP2
Windows XP service pack 2 is a powerful tool to fight against malicious intrusion, but if you
are experiencing problem with SP2, you can uninstall or remove it. There are many methods
to remove it, but a simple one to remove using “Add or Remove Programs tool in Control
Panel”.
Follow the given steps to remove windows XP SP2:
• First click on Start button then open Run on Popup menu.

• In Run dialog box type appwiz.cpl and press Ok button.

• Here Add or Remove Programs dialog box, select the Show Updates
check box on the top of that dialog box.
• Now select Windows XP Service Pack 2 program then click on remove
button.

• At the end Removal Wizard will start, click Next to finish it.

Create your own pictures screensaver

If you have your pictures in computer and also like using a screen saver then you can
create your own pictures slide show screen saver. You can use any third party application to
run your picture as slide show. But windows XP also supports this feature and takes any
picture that stored in your computer “My Pictures” folder to run in random order as a screen
saver.
Follow the given steps to create your pictures screen saver.
• First store all your pictures in your computer “My Pictures” folder.
• Right click on empty area of your desktop and then click on properties.
• Now select Screen saver tab on top of the dialog box.
• Here click on Screen saver list and choose My Pictures slideshow option.

• Now check its preview and press ok button.

Power Management Setting

Q:
Why does my monitor go black after about 15 minutes of not using the computer?
A:
Windows has a Power Management setting that will shut your monitor off after a
specified amount of time. If you don't like when it's shutting the monitor off, you
can change it by doing the following:
1. Hit the Start button, Settings, Control Panel (XP users: hit the Start button,
Control Panel , then go to Performance and Maintenance link). Then, open the
Power Management icon .
2. Look for the " Turn off monitor " drop box. Select the amount of time you want
the computer to wait before shutting off the monitor, or tell it not to shut the
monitor off at all.
Activate DLL's File of your Computer using Run command
DLL's (dynamic link library), basically a combination of executables files that can be used by
Windows programs to run properly. Some time you received a sudden pop-up message
"System could not fine this DLL file" for example binkw32, maxkernl. Normally you received these
types of messages when you installed any new application, computer driver program and some time due to computer
mishandling. Actually some DLL files are deactivated due to new software's installation but don't worry you can
reactivate these file with the help of a simple command called Regsvr32.
To activate the missing dll file go the Start then Run and type here "regsrv32 with missing dll file name" for
example you missed "urlmon.dll" file then you will type in Run "regsvr32 urlmon.dll" and press Ok button. Your
system will activate this missing file and hopefully you will not get this missing message again.

Disable the Send an error report to Microsoft

In Windows XP and Windows server 2003, when any computer application crashes, you may
receive a message “send error report to Microsoft”. This windows feature may be useful if
you are using windows registered version or you have installed Microsoft recommended
software’s on your computer, otherwise a simple error message disturbing you, nothing
else. This error message close the document; you were working on when the application
crashed. You can disable or enable this feature in windows XP.
To disable the Error reporting feature, follow the giving steps:

• First Right click on My Computer and select Properties option then go

to advanced tab.

• Here at bottom click on the button name “Error Reporting”.

Select the item name "Disable error reporting". But it is good think to
leave a tick in the check box "But notify me when critical errors occur".
• Click "OK" to exit the "Error Reporting" window and then click "OK"
again to exit System Properties.
Use windows XP built-in pop-up blocker
In routine when you are browsing the internet and suddenly a new window pop-up dialog
box display with different messages for example "speed-up your internet ","free upload your
files or images". All pop-up messages are not dangerous for you but some unwanted pop-up
program and website that might be disturb your computer performance.
There are many free pop-up blocker software's available on different websites, but always
download it from well-known sites. You can use windows XP built-in pop-up blocker for
internet, if you are using windows XP with service pack 2, then this is best option for you,
because Microsoft claims the internet explorer pop-up blocker is smart enough to know not
to block pop-up windows that you have opened intentionally by clicking a link. To enable or
disable the pop-up blocker, open the internet explorer and click on Tools option then
manage pop-up blocker sitting here. If you want to allow a pop-up for a particular site, you
can click the Information Bar and choose whether to allow pop-ups from that site on a
temporary or permanent basis.
System Password Protection
You should always lock your computer when you leave it. A password will protect your computer from others.
There are three or four methods to lock your computer manually, but you can lock your computer automatically
using screen saver option. You can turn on automatically lock dialog box after specified time.
Follow the giving steps to set screen saver to lock computer automatically:
• First right click on your computer desktop then select the properties option.

• In the Display Properties click on Screen saver tab.

• Now select any screen saver file then in Wait field set any suitable time to turn on screen saver.
• At the end check the Password Protected option and press OK. Now after specified time, when
your screen saver will turn on, your computer will be automatically locked.
 Increase the speed of your slow internet connection
Today broadband internet connection is available in all the major cities, but in some area
people are still using slow dial-up internet connection. So don’t worry, you can enjoy your
dial-up internet connection faster than its normal speed using internet accelerator. The Web
Accelerator application designed to provide the full acceleration for your routine web sites
browsing. With the help of Web Accelerator you can browse your internet 4 to 6 times faster
than normal dial-up connection. Basically this services compressing the website text data,
images and heavy graphics to open or download this data with high speed.
This technique is more useful for static websites and for email applications but don't
accelerate with secure and downloading audio or video files. Some good web accelerator
retains your system cache to reuse websites with faster speed and can also block windows
pop-up. If you are using FTP sites and downloading any program using dial-up, then web
accelerator is not for you. There are various web accelerator software are free available on
internet, visit and download it to enjoy your connection.
Increase the speed of your slow internet connection
Today broadband internet connection is available in all the major cities, but in some area
people are still using slow dial-up internet connection. So don’t worry, you can enjoy your
dial-up internet connection faster than its normal speed using internet accelerator. The Web
Accelerator application designed to provide the full acceleration for your routine web sites
browsing. With the help of Web Accelerator you can browse your internet 4 to 6 times faster
than normal dial-up connection. Basically this services compressing the website text data,
images and heavy graphics to open or download this data with high speed.
This technique is more useful for static websites and for email applications but don't
accelerate with secure and downloading audio or video files. Some good web accelerator
retains your system cache to reuse websites with faster speed and can also block windows
pop-up. If you are using FTP sites and downloading any program using dial-up, then web
accelerator is not for you. There are various web accelerator software are free available on
internet, visit and download it to enjoy your connection.
Windows Repair Installation
Some time windows missing the startup files due to the power failure, virus's
attack and any illegal action by user. You can solve the windows startup
problem with running the windows repair installation. Almost all windows
serious problem can be solved using windows repair function. For repair
windows XP, you should have the bootable windows CD.
• First boot your computer using bootable windows XP, CD. To
boot from CD, first change the booting order setting in your
system BIOS.
• When first blue screen will appear, do not choose any option here; simply
press the Enter button to go for next option.
• Next you will get "Windows License agreement" page, simply press F8 button
to accept this agreement.
• Now in second blue screen press the R on your keyboard to repair the
windows XP installation. This recovery function repaired the all-missing
windows features.
• In half an hour windows will complete all recovery process. This recovery
process will not disturbed your Desktop and My Document data. May be your
some windows sitting will change after completing process.
 Using the Internet Tips

• Customize Your Browser Toolbar

• Crumble Cookies
• Play With Your Favorites
• Fake Security Warnings
• How to insert YouTube movies into PowerPoint slides?

• Font is too small Of Your Web page

• Speed up your slow internet connection
• How to save your favorite Web Pages on Your PC? New
• Internet Error Codes
• How to enjoy Mozilla Firefox using best shortcuts keys?
• How to access the restricted or banned websites?

•
• Lost Dial-Up Connection
• How to enjoy Internet Explorer using shortcuts keys?

• Move Your Temporary Internet Files

• How to speed up Internet Explorer 7? New
• How to operate Gmail account using shortcuts keys?

• Set Explorer Multiple Homepages

• Pop up Blockers & Email Trouble
• Print Pictures from Web Pages
• Print the Whole Page
• Printer Friendly Page
• Run vs. Save When Download A Program
• Search Engine Tricks
• Indicate Secure Sites
• Stop the Spyware Invasion
• Take Bookmarks and Favorites with You
• Take your contacts with you
• Turn Off Extra Browser Toolbars
• What is a Web Accelerator?
• Wheel Mouse Tricks
• Check program before downloading
• Clear History and Temporary Internet Files
• Enjoy with Internet Explorer shortcut keys

How to Customize Your Browser Toolbar?

You can customize your system web browser toolbar according to your need. There are many toolbar buttons you
never used. You can add some mostly used buttons for example "Paste" or "Print Preview" in your browser toolbar
or remove with same option.
If you are using Internet Explorer then right click on the empty area of the toolbar and
select the option "Customize". Here you will find a list of options in left and right panel, if
you want to add any toolbar button then simply highlight it from the left panel and click on
the "Add" button. But if you want to remove any toolbar button then first highlight it from
the right panel and click on the "Remove" button.
You can also change the order that buttons appear by moving them up and down from the
list.

How to enable or disable cookies

When you are browsing your internet, the web server placed some text files on your
computer as cookies. The main purpose of cookies to save your preferences that you specify
for future reference. You can enable or disable your computer web browser cookies, but it is important for you
if you disable your browser cookies, may be some website will not work properly.
If you are using Internet Explorer 6.x and later then follow the given steps to enable or disable cookies.
• Open Internet Explorer, click on the Tools then Internet Options.
• Click on Privacy tab from the left top of dialog box and click on Advanced button.
• To enable the cookies, select the Accept option and for disable check the option Override automatic
cookies handling then click on block.
• Now restart the browser to execute changes.

• Play With Your Favorites

• A cool tip to move your favorites list, because there is no any option to
copy it. But using a method you can create a printable HTML
document.
• To create this HTML list, first open Internet Explorer. Here go to File
option then you will find here option Import and Export, to run the
Import/Export wizard Click here then Next.
•
Here you can select what to import and export, Select Export Favorites
option then click Next button. Next you will get option which folder you
want to export. You can select the top folder Favorites or just a
specific folder.
• Select "Export to a File or Address" option and give it a name and
location. Click Next and Finish it. Now you have one html file and you
can move it any where with you.
• How to avoid fake Security Warnings or pop-up?
• When you are browsing the internet and suddenly a window pop up with
different messages for example" free update for your computer ","scan your
computer with free antivirus". May be some pop-ups messages helpful for you
but you should read first in detail before clicking it. Pop-ups basically an
advertiser message or unwanted program and website that might be disturb
your computer performance.
• If you are working with Internet Explorer and want to block the pop-ups
windows and unwanted messages. Open the Internet Explorer and click on
Tools menu and go to Pop-up Blocker option, here you can Turn Off Pop-up
Blocker to block pop-up from all websites. But you have option to allow some
websites for pop-up. For this purpose open the Pop-up Blocker Setting. Here
 you can add some specific websites name to allow for pop-up and click Add. If
you feel any problem to block any pop-up message due to some problem,
simply click on the X at the right top of the pop-up windows.
• How to insert YouTube movies into PowerPoint slides?
• You can insert the YouTube movies into your PowerPoint slides to
express your idea or better way to communicate something. You can
convey these ideas in more effective ways, if you are using movie files with
your simple slides.
• Follow the given steps to add YouTube movies into PowerPoint slides:
• First of all download the YouTube.com movies and then save on your
computer hard drive. Mostly movies are available in flash video file
format on YouTube site. You can convert also the downloaded movies
from YouTube into any common format, for example, windows media
video file (wmv), windows video file (avi) and movie file (mpeg).
• First of all open the presentation in which you want to insert movie
file.
• Now click on "Movies and Sounds" option from the Insert" menu and
choose the option "Movie from File".
• Now select your movie that you want to insert into slide and click on
Ok button.
• Here now you are asked "Do you want your movie to play
automatically in the slide show? If not, it will play when you click it."
• Recommend choosing Ok button to play automatically even if you want
the movie to play when clicked.
• Finally save your PowerPoint presentation and run it for test.

How to Change the Font size of Web page?

If you are visiting a website or reading an e-mail and there is some problem to read text
due to color of page or the font too small. You can change the font and color as well to solve
this problem.
• To increase or decrease your font size and color of webpage in Internet Explorer,
select the Tools option from the top of your Explorer window and go to the Internet
options.

• Here go the General option and then click on Accessibility button on right lower of
the dialog box.

• Now change the status of checkbox marked "Ignore font sizes specified on Web
pages" and next Ignore Colors specified on Web pages", end with Ok.

• For change the font size select to View option from the top menu and go to Text size
option to change it.

How to speed up your slow internet connection?

Today a special tip for those who are still using any slow dial-up internet connection due to
unavailability of any broadband connection in their area. The Web Accelerator application
designed to provide the full acceleration for your routine web sites browsing. With the help
of Web Accelerator you can browse your internet 4 to 6 times faster than normal dial-up
connection. Basically this services compressing the website text data, images and heavy
graphics to open or download this data with high speed.
This technique is more useful for static websites and for email applications but don't
accelerate with secure and downloading audio or video files. Some good web accelerator
retains your system cache to reuse websites with faster speed and can also block windows
pop-up. If you are using FTP sites and downloading any program using dial-up, then web
accelerator is not for you. There are various web accelerator software are free available on
internet, visit and download it to enjoy your
How to save your favorite Web Pages on Your PC?
Today tip will help you to save any webpage on your disk in proper way. Many times you
find a webpage, which want to view or read when you are not connected to the internet. It's
happened to you dozens of times in a month. Here I have solution to this problem, almost
all web browsers allow you to save any webpage to your computer and when you can enjoy
those pages whenever you want. There are many options in web browser to save your
favorite web pages.
First open your favorite web page then go to File menu in web browser to save that page. In
File menu choose Save as option here. You should browse to any folder where you want to
save that webpage and choose the proper format to save it in.
Webpage Complete (*.htm, *. html)This option saves the webpage in its regular HTML
format. With this format, Internet Explorer saves all the graphics of that webpage only in
one folder.
Web Archive, Single file (*.mht)
Using this option, the explorer saves the webpage in a single file in a zipped format which is
known as Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension HTML. There are no folders creating with this
technique and it save all the graphics of webpage in only one file. If you don't want to use
the code of HTML, this format is better to save any file because this option saves all the files
in a single file.
Webpage, HTML only (*.htm, *. html)
With this option you can save only the HTML portion of the webpage, with this option you
can save webpage without any graphics. For the next time when you will try to open the
page which you have saved though it might be difficult to read because graphics are
normally use to hold the pieces of webpage together. If you want to reuse the HTML in a
webpage you want to create then choose this option.
Text File (*.txt)
You can save a webpage as text format (text only) with using this option. If you want to
save only text from a page and you do not want about the pictures then this is good option
for you.

When you want to read that saved page, open your browser and go to File menu and then
browse to that folder where you have saved that pages.

Internet Error Codes and Meaning

Sometime you are browsing the internet and trying to open any website, your e-mail and
any FTP sites , but you see different error codes there. You should be familiar with these
error codes. You can solve these problems if you are well-known with the meaning of error
codes.
Error Codes Meaning
400 This is bad request error, First check you may be typing wrong
URL name and server could not understand your request.
401 You are trying to open any unauthorized access site or page. Check
your username and password if you are trying to open any webpage.
402 Payment Required Error
403 You are trying to open any forbidden page and you are blocked by
that domain.
404 Here you are trying to open the webpage that was removed or re-
named, also check the URL spelling.
408 This is time out error. you should send the request with in time that the server set for you.

How to enjoy Mozilla Firefox using best shortcuts keys?

In Mozilla Firefox, you can use the combination of different keyboard keys to accomplish
your routine task. With shortcut keys, you can speed up your surfing without lifting your
hands from the keys; otherwise require a conventional mouse to select menus and buttons
options. Basically keyboard shortcuts keys help you to save time and you can perform any
tasks without leaving the keyboard keys.
Useful Mozilla Firefox shortcuts keys

Shortcut keys Action

CTRL+A Selects the all items on active page
CTRL+B Display the "Organize Bookmarks" dialog box
CTRL+D Include the active page to your Bookmarks list
CTRL+F Display the "Find" dialog box to search text
CTRL+I Display the Bookmarks pane
CTRL+H Display the History sidebar of Mozilla Firefox
CTRL+N Use to open new Mozilla Firefox page
CTRL+P Use to print the active web page
CTRL+R Use to reload the active web page
CTRL+T Display a new Tab in active Firefox window
CTRL+U View the source code of active web page
CTRL+W Closes the active Mozilla Firefox window
CTRL++ Use to increase the font size of active page
CTRL+ - Use to decrease the font size of active page
CTRL+Tab Move to next Tab in Mozilla Firefox
ALT+Home Use to open the home page of internet explorer
ALT+Left Arrow Go to previous page of active page
ALT+Right Arrow Go to next page of active page
ALT+B Go to Mozilla Firefox Favorites Menu
ALT+D Go to address bar of current Firefox page
ALT+E Go to Mozilla Firefox Edit Menu
ALT+F Go to Mozilla Firefox File Menu
ALT+S Go to Mozilla Firefox History Menu
ALT+T Go to Mozilla Firefox Tools Menu
ALT+V Go to Mozilla Firefox View Menu
Tab Move forward between all items on active web page
F5 Refresh the active web page
F7 F7 activate the cursor to move with keyboard
CTRL+SHIFT+DEL Use to clear all Private Data history
CTRL+SHIFT+D Use to Bookmarks all Firefox Tabs
F11 Press F11 key to view any webpage in full-screen view and then
again press for normal view.
Press Ctrl+Enter Windows will automatically add both "www" and ".com". For
example, if we type

computerfreetips

in an address bar and then press Ctrl-Enter, Windows will take us to the
www.computerfreetips.com

Press Shift+Enter
Windows will automatically add both "www" and ".net" Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter Windows will
automatically add both "www" and ".org"

Suggested Reading
How to access the restricted or banned websites?

You can access the restricted or banned websites with the help of this tip. You may have
problems to accessing your favorite's politics, news, and sexy websites in your office and other
public places. Some time these websites banned by Government, ISP and may be by your office
network administrator. This tip is very useful, if you are using internet particularly in school,
college and office.
Follow the given points to access the banned website:
Technique 1: Search the banned website, for example www.computerfreetips.com in Google
and yahoo search engine then open the cached copy of that page to access the website. You
can get also cache link of that website, if you search in Google with keyword cache:URL
name and get cache link to access the website.
Technique 2: Another method to access the banned website using its IP address, because
you can open the website with IP address instead of actual URL name. This technique
bypasses the URL based restrictions. For example if www.myspace.com is banned in your
school, you can open it using IP address 216.178.32.51. You can search online IP
conversion tools to get IP address of any website.
Technique 3: There are some mini web browsers can help you to open the banned websites, for
example Opera Mini Browser, install it and try to open any banned website. Another Real Player
browser can successfully help you to access the banned website. This Real Player browser
bypasses the many restrictions of website banned tools.
Technique 4: There any many websites Anonymizer tools are available to fetch the banned
website. These anonymous surfing tools that protect your identity on the internet and give the
access to banned sites. As far as the service provider is concerned you are viewing a page from
Anonymizer and not the blocked site.
These tips are very useful to access the banned websites in your university, cybercaf� ,office
and other public places.
Hangs up internet dial-up connection
When you are browsing your favorite websites using dial-up internet connection, your
incoming calls can create problem with your modem if the call waiting option in your modem
sittings is enable. Your modem may be hangs up and disconnects the internet connection
frequently. Normally when you disabled the call waiting option in your modem sitting and
any body tries to call you, he will get the busy beep during internet connected. You should
always disable the call waiting option to avoid modem disconnectivity or hangs up.
• To disable the call waiting option, first click on Start button, then Network
Connections.
• Here double click on your internet connection and click on Properties button then
General.
• Under General tab select Use Dialing Rules box then click on dialing rules button.
• Here select My Location then click on Edit button. Under General tab select the
option To disable call waiting dial and put any number in next box like *32.
• At the end click on Ok button and dial your connection again.
How to enjoy Internet Explorer using shortcuts keys?
In Internet Explorer, you can use the combination of different keyboard keys to accomplish
your routine task. With shortcut keys, you can speed up your surfing without lifting your
hands from the keys; otherwise require a conventional mouse to select menus and buttons
options. Basically keyboard shortcuts keys help you to save time and you can perform any
tasks without leaving the keyboard keys.
Useful Internet Explorer shortcuts keys

CTRL+A Selects the all items on active page

CTRL+B Display the "Organize Favorites" dialog box
CTRL+D Add the active page to your favorites list
CTRL+F Display "Find" dialog box to search text on active page
CTRL+I Display the Favorites pane
CTRL+H Display the History pane
CTRL+N Use to open new Internet Explorer page
CTRL+P Use to print the active web page
CTRL+W Closes the active explorer window
CTRL+Tab Go to address bar of current explorer page
ALT+Home Use to open the home page of internet explorer
ALT+Left Arrow Go to previous page of active page
ALT+Right Arrow Go to next page of active page
ALT+A Go to Internet Explorer Favorites Menu
ALT+D Go to address bar of current explorer page
ALT+E Go to Internet Explorer Edit Menu
ALT+F Go to Internet Explorer File Menu
ALT+T Go to Internet Explorer Tools Menu
ALT+V Go to Internet Explorer View Menu
Tab Move forward between all items on active web page
F5 Refresh the active web page
F11 Press F11 key to view any webpage in full-screen view and then
again press for normal view.
Press Ctrl+Enter Windows will automatically add both "www" and ".com". For example, if
we type

computerfreetips

in an address bar and then press Ctrl-Enter, Windows will take us to the
www.computerfreetips.com

Move the Location of your Temporary Internet files.

When you are browsing your internet, the website you visit placed some temporary files on
your computer. The main purpose of temporary files to save your preferences that you
specify for future reference. Normally internet temporary files are saved on C drive in
windows folder but you can change the location of temporary folder to hide your internet
browsing history from others.
If you are using Internet Explorer then follow the given steps to change the location of temporary folder.
• Open Internet Explorer, click on the Tools then Internet Options.
• Go to General tab then Settings button under the Temporary Internet Files.
• Here click on Move folder button then select new location to save Temporary files on different
drive or computer.
• Now restart your computer for this change.
How to speed up Internet Explorer 7?
Today tip will help you to increase the speed of Internet Explorer 6 to Internet Explorer 7 by
modifying the maximum number of connections per server. This should allocate the
additional bandwidth and reasonably improve internet browsing performance. Using registry
editor, you can implement this task in all windows versions with minimum effort. Make sure
before modifying your system Registry about its backup because Registry contains all
information how your system runs. This backup will help you to restore Registry in case any
problem occurs after modifying.

Follow the given steps to increase the explorer speed:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with
administrative rights.

Click Start button and type regedit in Run option then press Enter for next.
Here locate the location to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\InternetSettings

Here in right side panel, locate the values called "MaxConnectionsPerServer" and
"MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server".
If these values are not present then in right side panel, right-click to create new DWORD
value with the name "MaxConnectionsPerServer" and "MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server" then
assign number 6 in value data for both keys.
Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.
How to operate Gmail account using shortcuts keys?
You can operate your Gmail account using keyboard shortcuts keys instead of mouse to
navigate. Basically keyboard shortcuts keys help you to save time and you can perform any
tasks without leaving the keyboard keys. Many computer applications help you to create
your own custom shortcuts keys to enjoy even more flexibility.
Useful Gmail account Shortcut keys
Shortcut keys Action
f Press simple f help you to forward email message to next
Shift+I Use to mark email message as read
Shift+u Use to mark email message as unread
r Reply to the sender of mail
a Reply to the all email recipients
Ctrl+c Use to save current email as draft
Z Press z key to undo any previous action
? Display the keyboard shortcut keys help
c Press c button to compose an new email message
/ Press / button to move your cursor in search box
u Press u key to refresh your email account to view latest email
! Press ! key to mark an email message as spam
p Press p key to move cursor to precious message
. Press . key to display more options
Esc Escape cursor from any current field.
Suggested Reading

Set Explorer Multiple Homepages

Many web browsers like Mozilla Firefox but now Internet Explorer 7.0 also allow you to set
the multiple home pages. You can open all home pages at the same time; this is great
option to open your favorite websites with a single click. But you have option to set single
home page according to your need.
Follow the given steps to set multiple home pages in Internet Explorer.
• First open the Internet Explorer 7 and go to the option Tools then click on
Internet Options.
• Select the General tab, here you will get option "To create home page
tabs, type each address on its own line" and type the URL in the Home
page section.
• Type one URL in one line then press Enter to type another URL. Press Ok to
finish.

• Run vs. Save When Download A Program

 • When you are downloading any program or file from the
internet, for example any antivirus program or an email
attachment from your friends. Here you will get a dialog box
with three options to Run, Save or Cancel. Basically this is
confirmation from a user "Do you want to run or save this file",
even you can cancel it to abort the downloading.
• Here if you select the Run option, only the setup file is
downloaded as temp file in your computer temporary internet
folder and your computer run this program setup automatically
without your confirmation or virus scanning. This is unsafe for
your computer if you are downloading this program from any
new or unknown source.
• But if you select other option Save, You can save this program
on your computer in any location. Now you have the full source
of program on your computer, you can scan the all program
before open it.
• Normally you should select the Save option, if you are
downloading this program from any free software sites. You
have extra security layer if you save the setup file before run
it.

Searching Information tips using Search Engine

If you want to get some information about any topic using search engine, the search engine
will search the given information and will provide a list of links of websites along brief
description about each website. You should use the right search terms for relevant results.
The following points must be noted to search the information on the internet.
• You can type all word in lowercase and also in uppercase, search engine will
return the same result. But the best practice is type search keywords always
in lowercase.
• Use + sign between words if you want to search the all words. For example,
to search history of Football in Europe, type as:
history+Football+Europe
• To search the exact match, write the words in double quotation marks. For
example to search the map of Europe, then type as:
"Map of Europe"
• Always avoid to use "and", "or" with search keywords, because these
words will affect the search result.
•
Suggested Reading
Indicate Secure Sites for save Transactions
Today there are many application of e-commerce such as home banking, buying stocks,
collaboration electronically with business partners around the globe, marketing and
advertising products, providing services to the customers using internet. But you should
avoid sending your personal information like your bank account numbers, credit card
numbers and password using any unknown site. Always use secure websites for this
purpose because secure websites safe your private information from others using encryption
and some authentication standards. Internet Explorer always display a small lock icon on
the task bar when we open any secure site and start domain name with https\\.
 Take action to stop the Viruses
Computer virus program negatively affects the working of a computer by altering user data
or information without the permission or knowledge of its actual user. But you can prevent
your computer data and resources from viruses, if you follow the given tips and tricks.
• Never open unknown e-mail messages, and always scan first all email before
downloading even if you know the sender of the message.
• You should minimize the data transfer between computers through use of USB drives
and MP3 player, if it is necessary then always scan first before open it.
• While using the Internet, avoid downloading free ware software without first
checking it for virus. Normally the key generator sites are the main source of virus.
• Always use antivirus program with latest version, to detect and remove viruses from
your system. You should update antivirus program periodically, because older
versions of antivirus may not remove the new viruses.
• Always keep backup your important data, because your can restore your data using
backup if a virus deletes your data or modifies it.

Take Bookmarks and Favorites with You

A cool tip to move your favorites list, because there is no any option to copy it. But using a
method you can create a printable HTML document.
To create this HTML list, first open Internet Explorer. Here go to File option then you will
find here option Import and Export, to run the Import/Export wizard Click here then Next.

Here you can select what to import and export, Select Export Favorites option then click
Next button. Next you will get option which folder you want to export. You can select the
top folder Favorites or just a specific folder.
Select "Export to a File or Address" option and give it a name and location. Click Next and
Finish it. Now you have one html file and you can move it any where with you.

How to customize your Browser Toolbars

If you are working with Internet Explorer and want to customize browser toolbars according
to your need then open your Internet Explorer. Go to View option then Toolbars, here you
can turn off or turn on the many third-party toolbars features, if these features are extra for
you or you are using occasionally. In customize option you can change or move the toolbar
button, text labels and also icon size. You can restore these changes again with the same
procedures.

What is a Web Accelerator ?

Today a special tip for those who are still using any slow dial-up internet connection due to
unavailability of any broadband connection in their area. The Web Accelerator application
designed to provide the full acceleration for your routine web sites browsing. With the help
of Web Accelerator you can browse your internet 4 to 6 times faster than normal dial-up
connection. Basically this services compressing the website text data, images and heavy
graphics to open or download this data with high speed. This technique is more useful for
static websites and for email applications but don't accelerate with secure and downloading
audio or video files. Some good web accelerator retains your system cache to reuse
websites with faster speed and can also block windows pop-up. If you are using FTP sites
and downloading any program using dial-up, then web accelerator is not for you. There are
various web accelerator software are free available on internet, visit and download it to
enjoy your connection.
Mouse in Windows Environment
Mouse events are the actions that can be performed by using the mouse. Following are the
most common events triggered with a mouse.
Left Click
This event occurs when you press the lift mouse button. Windows captures this event and
performs different task. Normally this event is used to select a graphical object such as a
file icon or to press a button such as the Start button and closing, opening or minimizing an
application windows.
Right Click
This event occurs when you press the right mouse button. This event is usually used to
display a shortcut menu. The shortcut menu contains frequently used commands that are
associated with the selected item.
Up and down Dragging
This event occurs when you press the left mouse button and move the mouse while keeping
the left mouse button pressed. This event is used to select more than one item at a time, or
to drop and object into another application.

Check program before downloading

Computer security can be defined as the protection of computer and its data from any loss
or illegal access from other users. Normally file virus or program virus attaches itself with
program files and activates when these program files are run. Infected program files are
normally downloaded from Internet. When ever you are trying to download any program
from the Internet, always download from trusty sites. On Internet the Software cracker or
key generator sites are the main sources of computer virus.
When you are downloading any program or file from the internet, for example any antivirus
program or an email attachment from your friends. You must select the Save option, if you
are downloading this program from any unknown or free software sites. First scan the
downloaded program before open it. You have extra security layer if you save the setup file
before run it.

Clear History and Temporary Internet Files

When you are browsing the internet, the Internet browser cached some file on the system
as temp files for later use. Specially if your are viewing some private but your web browser
will store all your information (visited websites) as a history and your co-workers, family
members can trace your activates on the internet with clicking of toolbar history button or
with simply press Ctrl+H. If your are using internet at any public place like internet cafe
then you should clear your temp file history to safe yourself from cyber crimes.
• If your are using Internet Explorer and wants to delete the history, then first
open your Internet Explorer.
• Click on Tools Menu then go to Internet Options. Here in General tab you will
find the Delete Cookies and Delete files tab in the center of the screen.
• First click on Delete Cookies option to delete all the cookies in the temporary files
folder and then click on Delete files option to delete all the offline temporary
files.
 • Now click on the Clear History button to clear your recently visited sites. You can
set days to keep pages in history here. Be default it is 20 days, but you can change
it from 0 to 99 days. If you set it 1 days, the system will clear your browser
history automatically after one day.
• Click on Ok button to save your changes.
Enjoy with Internet Explorer shortcut keys
Normally a computer user spending his maximum time daily with internet browsing different
sites. But if you are familiar with internet explorer shortcuts keys, you can increase your
browsing speed and can handle many online browsing restrictions very easily.
Here are some common internet explorer shortcut keys.
• Press F5 to refreshes the webpage.
• Press Backspace button back to the previous page.
• Press Alt+Home button same time to go home page of the website.
• Press any time Ctrl+N to open the new browser windows.
• Press F11 key to view any webpage in full-screen view and then again press
for normal view.
• Press Ctrl+P keys to send the print command for current whole page.
• Press Ctrl+H keys to view your browsing history.
• Press Ctrl+w keys to close the current browser window.
• Press Esc button to stop any page browsing.
• Press Ctrl+Enter Windows will automatically add both "www" and ".com".
For example, if we type
computerfreetips