Windows Xp Tweak's !

GShellPack 2.0 Easy Se7en Pack !

2009-07-10T06:43:00.001-07:00

Dear subscribers,
The construction of Gshell Pack (version2.0) is now finished and ready for you to download.

Gshell Pack details:
_ The new version of the program is more optimal and no more a trial.
_ In this version it has been tried to activate/de-activate the programs through 'ControlPack'; you can also activate or de-activate the program before you install the programs.
_ If you feel your system's speed has changed, you can activate subsidiary programs.
_ The program which is de-activated through 'ControlPack' will be de-activated completely on your system, and you do not need to delete the programs.

Please note
_ Before you install the program, you have to install DotNet 2.0 (and above) and IE7.
_ After the installation completed, immediately restart you system.
_ Refrain from installing the program on viral computers.
_ It is recommended that you not install the program on low-speed computers (or if you do, do not install the other extra programs)
_ This program can only be installed on Windows XP ServicePack3
_All programs Together not active (Warning)
_If you have the new version do not select IE6 and Windows Media Player 11

Files > Internet Explorer > Internet Explorer 6
Files > Windows Media Player 11

Points to ponder
_ If you have not selected the 'enable' option, you can put it on Windows Start-up from the Setting menu.
_ In order to re-install the Pack you must uninstall it first.
__ Delete all the programs that you have already installed to change the Windows' environment, and make sure that all the settings of Windows XP are in 'Standard' mode.

Download : Link

More Info : Link

Use Window Blinds XP to add themes !

2009-07-01T01:23:00.001-07:00

Windows Blinds XP has been integrated into the Windows XP operating system. Microsoft and Stardock have entered into a partnership in which Microsoft will use their technology in the Windows XP operating system. With Windows Blinds XP installed you have additional styles to choose from in display properties. Take a look below:

And the best part is you can download over 1000 different styles and even make your own very easily with the SDK.

To get started go to Stardock and download the software.

To download more styles click here and select windows blinds on the menu on the left.

XP Home advanced file permissions !

2009-07-01T01:22:00.003-07:00

This is actually an addition to my previous post entitled "Get XP Pro file security with XP Home". In the aforementioned post I outlined how to access *Advance file Permissions* on NTFS file systems for XP Home simply by booting into *Safe Mode*, rt-clicking any file or folder, and navigating to the *Security tab*. This gives the user the ability to allow or deny read, write, execute, read & write, display contents, full-control, iheritance, and take ownership permissions, with many more options available to apply to different users and groups stored on the computer.

Well, you don't have to do this in *Safe Mode* (XP Home). Although it is a little less intuitive, you can simply go to your command prompt - Start>All Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt. Now type "cacls" in the window (without the quotes). This gives you the ability to add, remove or modify file permissions on files and folders through the command prompt. Type "cacls /?" for help on different options and variables. You do not need to be in safe mode to use this so it makes it a little quicker than using the safe mode security tab GUI.

Remember - this only applies to NTFS.

Here also is a very useful link to find a lot of extras and tweaks straight from the horse's mouth - the Microsoft Resource Center. You will find a lot of very useful web-based extra's here, most of them left unknowing to the general public - such as, "Online Crash Analysis" - a site that looks like Windows Update but you can upload your crash "dump logs" (when you get those system or application crash error reports). Microsoft will then analyze the log file and tell you some more info about WHY the system crashed (ie. faulty hardware/software/conflicts, etc).

Tray Icons Be Gone !

2009-07-01T01:22:00.001-07:00

Do you need to hide a program running in the background that shows in your System Tray? Try this reg hack to hide all tray icons. It’s not anything like the Windows XP tray icon hider, this one shows no trace of any icons. It would look like someone closed all background programs.

1) Click on START>RUN and type "regedit" (without the quotes).
Navigate to the following key;

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Explorer

2) Add a "REG_DWORD" entry entitled "NoTrayItemsDisplay". Open it up and assign the Hex value of 1 to hide the Icons. The value of 0 is normal (default), showing the icons.

3) Close "regedit" and reboot computer and the icons should not be there anymore. Control Alt and Delete will bring up Windows Task Manager and items can be displayed and closed (if need be) from in there instead.

I found this hack to be very useful when covertly using telephone recording software. Now the girlfriend can be engaged in her game of SIMS™ while talking on the phone and being recorded and she has no idea.

Quick access to your files !

2009-07-01T01:21:00.001-07:00

This works in earlier versions of Windows as well. Simply click and drag your My Computer icon onto the Task Bar near the right side icons next to the clock. This will create a cascading menu from where you can easily access just about anything on your system. OR - right-click on the task bar, choose "toolbar" - and then click on My Computer.

Get rid of the confirmation to delete files !

2009-07-01T01:20:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate when you delete a file it asks if you're sure...It's annoying!

Right-Click on your Recycle Bin -> Properties -> Global Tab -> and Untick "Display delete confirmation dialog" ... No Reboot required :)

Classic Start Menu Style !

2009-07-01T01:19:00.000-07:00

This tweak (group policy setting) forces the display of the Windows 2000 style Start menu and the display of the standard desktop icons.

START > RUN > type GPEDIT.MSC > USER CONFIGURATION > ADMINISTRATIVE TEMPLATES > START MENU AND TASKBAR > find FORCE CLASSIC START MENU > check ENABLED > OK > REBOOT

If you check DISABLED only the XP style Start menu can be displayed.
If you check NOT CONFIGURED the user can change the view.

Absolutely Windows 2000 Log On Screen !

2009-07-01T01:18:00.000-07:00

If you are already using classic style log on, this rather lengthy tweak will completely change the log on to the Windows 2000/NT style we're all used to.

Step1: Back up the following registry keys so you can revert to the default XP style later. Click each key in the left pane of the registry editor and select File-Export. Choose a name to save each key as a 'reg' file.

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ThemeManager
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

Step 2: Create a new '.reg' file by copy-paste the following entries. Do this in Notepad or another text editor ... do not use a word processor like MS Word. Include only the text BETWEEN the lines starting and ending with //. Right click on the new 'reg' file and select "Merge". Log off or reboot to see the changes.

//START COPY BELOW THIS LINE//
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ThemeManager]
"ThemeActive"="0"

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors]
"ActiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"ActiveTitle"="10 36 106"
"AppWorkSpace"="128 128 128"
"Background"="58 110 165"
"ButtonAlternateFace"="181 181 181"
"ButtonDkShadow"="64 64 64"
"ButtonFace"="212 208 200"
"ButtonHilight"="255 255 255"
"ButtonLight"="212 208 200"
"ButtonShadow"="128 128 128"
"ButtonText"="0 0 0"
"GradientActiveTitle"="166 202 240"
"GradientInactiveTitle"="192 192 192"
"GrayText"="128 128 128"
"Hilight"="10 36 106"
"HilightText"="255 255 255"
"HotTrackingColor"="0 0 128"
"InactiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"InactiveTitle"="128 128 128"
"InactiveTitleText"="212 208 200"
"InfoText"="0 0 0"
"InfoWindow"="255 255 225"
"Menu"="212 208 200"
"MenuText"="0 0 0"
"Scrollbar"="212 208 200"
"TitleText"="255 255 255"
"Window"="255 255 255"
"WindowFrame"="0 0 0"
"WindowText"="0 0 0"
"MenuHilight"="0 0 0"
"MenuBar"="212 208 200"

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]
"BorderWidth"="1"
"CaptionFont"=hex:f5,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,bc,02,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,54,00,61,00,68,00,6f,00,6d,00,61,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"CaptionHeight"="-270"
"CaptionWidth"="-270"
"IconFont"=hex:f5,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,54,00,61,00,68,00,6f,00,6d,00,61,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"IconSpacing"="75"
"IconTitleWrap"="1"
"IconVerticalspacing"="-1125"
"MenuFont"=hex:f5,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,54,00,61,00,68,00,6f,00,6d,00,61,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"MenuHeight"="-270"
"MenuWidth"="-270"
"MessageFont"=hex:f5,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,54,00,61,00,68,00,6f,00,6d,00,61,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"ScrollHeight"="-240"
"ScrollWidth"="-240"
"Shell Icon BPP"="16"
"SmCaptionFont"=hex:f5,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,bc,02,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,54,00,61,00,68,00,6f,00,6d,00,61,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,

5 Tweak's To Die For !

2009-06-24T11:17:00.001-07:00

1. Disable auto-reboot

When Running windows and it crashes you will get a blue screen and it will automatically restart, ofter it will restart too fast for you to see the error message. You could check the error log in this case but that is too easy. We are going to disable auto restart on system failure.

1. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> System (Windows+Pause works, too)
2. Go to Advanced
3. Under the Startup and Recovery section, click Settings...
4. Under System Failure un-check "Automatically restart"
--------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Disable automatic updating

To save memory and CPU time turn off the automatic update system in windows. You can always check manually for updates and most users have no problem with that. For those of you lazy bums out there you can leave this feature on but I warned you.

Open control panel.
(if using XPstyle control panel, click on performance and maintenance.)
Click on System.
Then click on the automatic updates tab and select Turn off automatic updating. If Service Pack 1 is installed uncheck Keep my computer up to date.
Click Ok.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

3.Disable Indexing Services

Indexing services is a small program that hogs HUGE amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexing and updates lists of the files on your system, so you can search for them quickly, but it's completley unnessesary.

To disable it, go to the Control Panel and click Add/Remove Programs. Click the Add/Remove Window Components. Simply unclick the Indexing services and click next!

Indexing service creates a database index of all files on your system when the system is otherwise idle. Unless you do frequent searches, it is suggested you disable this service.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

4.Disable XP Boot Logo

It is possible to disable XP splash screen, which will slightly speed up the overall boot process. Be aware that removing the splash screen will also cause you not to see any boot-up messages that might come up (chkdsk, convert ... ), but if your system runs without any problems then it should not matter.

1. Edit boot.ini
2. Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".

(or check the /noguiboot switch in msconfig on the boot.ini tab)

Upon restarting, the splash screen will be gone. It can be re-enabled by removing the new switch.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

5.Modify application timeout

The operating system has a set amount of time that a program must be frozen for before it is timed out. Often this number is set too high, but in some circumstances it is set too low. If the program is doing a lot of calculations in the background the computer may think that it is timed out. To prevent this, increase the value of the timeout in the registry.

Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how to get started.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Select HungAppTimeout from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to the new timeout value.
Reboot your computer.

Must Do Security Settings !

2009-06-24T11:08:00.000-07:00

Start > Run > Type – services.msc

Security Settings

1. Messenger – Home/Pro = Disable

Have you ever been surfing the net and all of the sudden you get a pop-up with a “Messenger Service” listing in the title bar? If so, disable this service.

2. NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing – Home/Pro = Disable

This creates the ability for someone to remotely access your computer through NetMeeting. This is not good! If you don’t use NetMeeting or not that often, disable this service.

3. Protected Storage – Home/Pro = Disable

This service will store your passwords as well as enable the auto-complete function within Internet Explorer (auto-complete is where you type – for e.g. – tweakxp and then hit Ctrl + Enter to allow IE to fill in the WWW and .Com for you).

4. Remote Desktop Help Session Manager – Home/Pro = Disable

This service provides support for Remote Assistance sessions. Again, if this service is not something you use or use rarely, disable until required.

4. Remote Registry Service – Pro = Disable

If you don’t require the assistance of someone to remotely have access to editing your registry settings, then disable this service. Your systems registry isn’t something you want to surrender easily to a remote computer.

6. Routing and Remote Access – Home/Pro = Disable

This service enables remote computers dial-in routing to your computer. That surely doesn’t sound like something I would want set to “automatic”.

7. Security Accounts Manager – Home/Pro = Disable

This service works just as Protected Storage collecting secure user information. For XP Pro users, you will not be able to run the Group Policy Editor with this service disabled (the Group Policy Editor is unavailable for XP Home users).

As with anything that may be questionable, create a system restore or backup your system with an image utility such as DriveImage 2002. As a precautionary measure, you may as well, take note of the default state of the service before you adjust it. It wouldn’t take up too much storage place for a simple Note Pad file holding the defaults for 7 services.

How to Work with the Registry !

2009-06-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

The full guide along with all pictures is here, click me.

Opening the registry editor

This is step number one, just opening the editor to view the registry.

This is easy, just click on the start button and then on run. Once run is open, type in regedit and click OK.

Navigating the registry

Once you have regedit open, it is fairly easy to get where you want to.

Now you see the "folders" HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, and HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG

First lets get some basic terminology down. These five main "folders" are calles hives, and their subfolders are called keys.

Click on the + next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER to expand the hive.

Now if you wanted to open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft, click the + next to Software, then the + next to Microsoft.

This is how you can get to any place within the registry.

Exporting registry keys

This should be done to any and all registry keys before changing them.

It will give you an easy way of changing back any changes that you make editing the registry.

Right click the key that you want to export, and select Export.

Then give it a name so you remember what it is. I use the name of the key as an example.

Importing registry files

Now that you have exported keys to change back your changes, you need to know how to import them into the registry.

Usually a double-click on a registry file will merge it for you unless you have changed the default action, then you have to right-click the file and select Merge.

Changing existing values

You now know how to navigate to different keys in the registry and how to back up these keys before you make changes to them.

Logically next you need to know how to make these changes.

There are three main types of registry values that you will deal with: STRINGS, DWORDS, and BINARY values.
There are others, but these are 99% of what you will deal with doing normal editing.

To change an existing STRING value, just double click it and enter in the new value data.

To change an existing DWORD value you have two options, hexadecimal and decimal. Be sure you know what type the value should be, 200 hexadecimal is 256 decimal, c8 is hexadecimal for 200 decimal, for example.

To change binary values it is a little more complicated because they are written in hex.

The applicable values are entered in 2's and have the format 00 01 02 - 0F - FF and each have a different value associated with them.

Having to change a binary value from something other than 01 to 00 or 00 to 01 is pretty rare.

Adding new values

Adding values is very similar to changing them with the exception that you have to name the value.

Right click in the left-hand-side of the registry editor and select New > String (or whatever value type you want to add) and then name it what you need.

Then you change its value by doing the same method as if it was an existing value.

Adding new keys

Along with adding values, this is most helpful if you are trying to add group policy values through the registry.
Most of the keys that are needed for them are not there by default.

So, you need to add a key under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft, how?

Easily, just right-click on HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft in the folder tree, and then New > Key

Now you need to change the name of the key to the desired name.

Deleting keys and values

The first thing that must be realized when deleting keys or values is that there is no 'Recycle Bin' for the registry, once its gone its gone.

To delete keys or values, just right-click them and select delete. Also keep in mind that deleting a key also deletes all subkeys of that key.

Writing registry files

Now you can automate the manual entry and deletion of registry values and keys with .reg files. Use notepad or wordpad to write registry files, you just save them with a .reg extension.

The first line in the registry file for XP or 2000 has to be:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

NOTE: For windows 98, ME, NT 4.0, [also works with XP and 2k] replace with:

REGEDIT4

Put a line in between Windows Registry Editor 5.00 and the next entry.

Now you have to declare the key that you want to change values in by writing it in brackets.

This will also create the key if the one declared doesn't exist:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Key\Subkey]

Now the next line will either create the string "String 1" equal to "Value 1" if "String 1" doesn't exist,
or change the value of the string "String 1" to "Value 1" if it does:

"String 1"="Value 1"

The (default) value is a string and you use the "at" symbol for this.

@="Default 1"

To change or create dword values, you must know the value in hexadecimal, for that is how they are written.

The next line will create the dword "Dword 1" equal to a decimal 20, by setting it equal to dword:00000014,
or if "Dword 1" already exists, it will change it's value to a decimal 20.

Just remember dword:00000010 is actually decimal 16, dword:0000000a is decimal 10

"Dword 1"=dword:00000014

Now binary values. This line will create or change a binary value "Binary 1" equal to 01 AA 05 55.

"Binary 1"=hex:01,AA,05,55

So this is the reg file to add a string, default, dword, and binary value to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Key\Subkey:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Key\Subkey]
"String 1"="Value 1"
@="Default 1"
"Dword 1"=dword:00000014
"Binary 1"=hex:01,AA,05,55

Now how to delete values or keys with regfiles.

If you want to delete a key just put a minus sign in front of it in the file:

[red[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Key\Subkey]

If you want to delete a value, it doesn't matter what kind, set the value equal to a minus.

"String 1"=-

@=-

"Dword 1"=-

"Binary 1"=-

So if you wanted to add a dword "Dword 1" that equals 1,
and delete the value "String 1" in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Key\Subkey1 and delete the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Key\Subkey2, the file would look like:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Key\Subkey1]
"Dword 1"=dword:00000001
"String 1"=-

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Key\Subkey2]

The final thing to learn is how to comment the files,
add a semiclon in front of any line and it will be ignored:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Key\Subkey1]
;This changes the dword to equal 1
"Dword 1"=dword:00000001
;This deletes the string value
"String 1"=-

;This deletes the key Subkey2
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Key\Subkey2]

This should help you navigate and hack through the registry with atleast a partial map to guide you.

Remove Control Panel Applets !

2009-06-24T04:41:00.001-07:00

This tweak is useful for uncluttering your Control Panel and removing unused functions:

Open regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel and add a key named "don't load" (minus the quotes)

Next add String values within the "don't load" Key. You will use one String value for each control panel applet you want removed.

For example, I want to remove the "System" applet once I configure my Paging File to Performance settings as well as Restore functions and more - I will make a string value with the name "sysdm.cpl" and no value set and the System applet will no longer be available under the Control Panel.

To restore a full control Panel to default just delete the "don't load" key.

Here are the Windows XP Pro Control Panel applets:

System Properties = sysdm.cpl

Network Connections = ncpa.cpl

ODBC Administrator = odbccp32.cpl

Display Properties = desk.cpl

Add or remove programs = appwiz.cpl

Internet Properties = Inetcpl.cpl

Game Controllers = joy.cpl

Phone and modem Options = telephon.cpl

Time and Date Properties = timedate.cpl

Region and Language Options = intl.cpl

Power Options = powercfg.cpl

Mouse Properties = main.cpl

Accessibility Options = access.cpl

Add Hardware Wizard = hdwwiz.cpl

Sound and Audio Devices = mmsys.cpl

User Accounts = nusrmgr.cpl

Speech Properties = sapi.cpl

What is svchost.exe?

2009-06-24T04:37:00.001-07:00

One of the most common questions about system processes is what is svchost.exe and why are there so many processes running? First appearing in Windows XP, svchost.exe hosts multiple services within one process. This allows the operating system to save memory by reducing process overhead by cutting down on the number of processes that need to be running.

Every system service such as Windows Update, Event Log, Terminal Services, Audio Service, etc. runs within svchost.exe. Depending on the access the services need, they are grouped together and are run in a number of processes which explains why you see so many in Task Manager running under different accounts such as System, Local Service and Network Service.

Identifying what services are running is different depending on the version of Windows you have.

Windows XP

In Windows XP at a command prompt run:

tasklist /svc

The tasklist utility will show you what processes are running under each svchost.exe process.

Change Start Button Text !

2009-06-24T00:42:00.001-07:00

The start button is the most clicked on button in all of Windows. If you are going to customize windows, why not customize the start button. It is possible to change the text of the start button through the use of a hex editor which is a special program that allows you to edit files that were already compiled.

To get started, all you need is a hex editor which you can dowload for free on the web. If you do not have a hex editor, visit download.com and preform a search for hex editor and you will find several.

Once you have the hex editor downloaded and installed, just open up explorer.exe which is found in the windows directory in the program. Then go to the following offsets and you will see the text S T A R T. Just modify the letters to what ever you wish and save the file and you are set to go. Make sure that you leave the spaces between the letters and you only overwrite the five letters.

The file offsets for XP are: 000412b6 - 000412bf and 0004158a - 00041593

This method has a few limitations though, you can only use exactly 5 letters. If you want to us somthing with more than five letters, below is another guide that will also change the start menu text. It is from tweakersguide.com but it was in German so here's my rough translation.

First of all you will need to download a exe editor - Resource Hacker and Hacker 2.0 are avaliable from www.downloads.com and are adequate for the task in hand.

The first 3 steps stop the file we are going to tamper with from being restored automatically when windows restarts

1) with notepad or a text editor open the file c:\windows\system32\restore\filelist.xml (you might need to change it's properites from read only first by right clicking on the file and selecting properties, then remove the tich from the read only checkbox)

2) add the following line to the first section to exclude explorer.exe from the protected file list
- %windir%explorer.exe

3) save the file (and apply the read only properties back if you wish)

The next 2 steps actually modify the explorer.exe file that is the windows shell so back it up first if you are uncertain what you are doing (to back up the file, open a cmd window and type -
copy c:\windows\explorer.exe c:\windows\explorer.bak)

4) Open the file c:\windows\explorer.exe with your exe editor and edit the text in following lines

String Table > 37 > 1033
String Table > 38 > 1033

You just edit the text inside the "Start" to what ever you want and compile if necessary (depends on your exe editor - you will if you use ResHack)

5) save the file as (file > save as) explorer.xp (back up this file to another disk if you want to save a bit of hassle after you recover the machine next time)

Now you need to copy the file you've modified best way I've found to do this is to boot to safe mode command prompt although it's been suggested that you can stop the explorer.exe process with Task Manager, copy the fie in a cmd prompt then restart the process again - that worked for me but the origional returned after a restart. The next 3 steps describe how you copy the file

6) restart the machine and start tapping F8 to get the start menu - choose safe mode with command prompt

7) log on as Administrator and you'll be presented with a cmd prompt

8) To copy the modified file just type
copy c:\windows\explorer.xp c:\windows\explorer.exe
assuming that's where you saved it to with your exe editor)

9) Restart Machine and VOILA!

De-crypt Encrypted files on Windows XP !

2009-06-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

1. Login as Administrator

2. Go to Start/Run and type in cmd and click OK.

At the prompt type cipher /r:Eagent and press enter

This prompt will then display:

Please type in the password to protect your .PFX file:

Type in your Administrator password
Re-confirm your Administrator password

The prompt will then display

Your .CER file was created successfully.
Your .PFX file was created successfully.

The Eagent.cer and Eagent.pfx files will be saved in the current directory that is shown at the command prompt. Example: The command prompt displays C:\Documents and Settings\admin> the two files are saved in the admin folder. (For security concerns, you should house the two files in your Administrator folder or on a floppy disk).

3. Go to Start/Run and type in certmgr.msc and click OK. This will launch the Certificates Manager. Navigate to Personal and right click on the folder and select All Tasks/Import. The Certificate Import Wizard will appear. Click Next. Browse to the C:\Documents and Settings\admin folder. In the Open dialog box, change the Files of Type (at the bottom) to personal Information Exchange (*.pfx,*.P12). Select the file Eagent.pfx and click Open. Click Next. Type in your Administrator password (leave the two checkboxes blank) and click Next. Make sure the Radio button is active for the first option (Automatically select the certificate store based on the type of certifcate). Click Next. Click Finish. (You'll receive a message that the import was successful). To confirm the import, close Certificates Manager and re-open it. Expand the Personal folder and you will see a new subfolder labeled Certificates. Expand that folder and you will see the new entry in the right side column. Close Certificate Manager.

4. Go to Start/Run and type in secpol.msc and click OK. This will launch the Local Security Policy. Expand the Public Key Policies folder and then right click on the Encrypted File System subfolder and select Add Data Recovery Agent... The Wizard will then display. Click Next. Click the Browse Folders... button. Browse to the C:\Documents and Settings\admin folder. Select the Eagent.cer file and click Open. (The wizard will display the status User_Unknown. That's ok). Click Next. Click Finish. You will see a new entry in the right side column. Close the Local Security Policy.

You, the Administrator are now configured as the default Recovery Agent for All Encrypted files on the Local Machine.

To Recover Encrypted files:

Scenario #1

If you have completed the above steps BEFORE an existing user encrypted his/her files, you can log in to your Administrator account and navigate to the encrypted file(s). Double click on the file(s) to view the contents.

Scenario #2

If you have completed the above steps AFTER an existing user has already encrypted his/her files, you must login to the applicable User's User Account and then immediately logout. Next, login to your Administrator account and navigate to the encrypted file(s). Double click on the file(s) to view the contents.

*Warning

Do not Delete or Rename a User's account from which will want to Recover the Encrypted Files. You will not be able to de-crypt the files using the steps outlined above.

Faster startup of Windows XP !

2009-06-23T11:23:00.001-07:00

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

Click Start > Run > Type "msconfig" > On the Startup tab click Disable All and on the Services tab check the Hide All Microsoft Service box and then click Disable All. Click Restart and Windows XP will restart with only the system services and applications running resulting in a vey fast logon / startup.

N.B This tweak will disable all non-system startup sevices and applications so if you have anything you want to run in the background such as anti virus software do not disable that item.

Note from tweakxp Staff - While this tweak will do what it promises, it's not one we recommend. Rather, we suggest you visit the Common Questions area in our support forum and follow the direcitons in the Services post to disable unnecessary services.

Faster Boot-Up without tons of fonts !

2009-06-23T11:22:00.002-07:00

Many of the files that load during the boot-up process are fonts. You probably only use a handful of them. I suggest moving some you never use into another folder. You won't be able to access the fonts in Word or Notepad.

Create a New Folder by right clicking on desktop. New>Folder.
Open "Fonts" in Control Panel. Switch to Classic View to find them easier.
Highlight a group of fonts younever use and move them to the other folder. Repeat if you have tons of fonts.
Put the folder into My Documents for easy access.
Reboot and see if it starts any faster for you. If not, just copy the fonts back to the original font folder.

Disable XP Boot Logo !

2009-06-23T11:22:00.001-07:00

(or check the /noguiboot switch in msconfig on the boot.ini tab)

Upon restarting, the splash screen will be gone. It can be re-enabled by removing the new switch.

Disable unnecessary programs !

2009-06-23T11:21:00.001-07:00

When you install some programs they will insert themselves into an area of your registry that will cause them to load when your computer starts up. Obviously this will use memory and slow down your system.

Start Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Run
Once there, locate any entry's on the right. You can identify the program by the path to the executable. Find programs that you can live without starting up from the list.
Right click on them and select Delete
You may also want to navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Runonce and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Run.
Delete unnecessary programs.
Also go to START - PROGRAMS - STARTUP and see if there is anything there you wish to remove.
Reboot your computer.

Alternative method:

Click on the start button and select run.
In the text box type msconfig and click ok.
Once the window has loaded, click on the startup tab and uncheck programs you do not want to start up anymore.

Backup - The easy way !

2009-06-23T11:20:00.002-07:00

NT Backup is, by default, installed only with XP Pro

(To install it in XP Home Editon doubleclick this file on your XP cd:\VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP\NTBACKUP.MSI)

Start>run>NTBACKUP .

Adjust Graphics for Speed !

2009-06-23T11:20:00.001-07:00

Windows XP has a lot of new cool looking visual elements, however, those new elements take up more RAM and cause your computer to be less responsive. By tweaking your graphics settings, you can increase the performance of your computer.

To get started, Let's reduce the color quality. This setting determines how many colors are displayed on your screen.

Right click on your desktop and select properties.
Click on the settings tab and adjust the color quality drop down box to Medium (16 Bit).
Click OK.

Next, let's use the windows performance settings to optimize your computer for performance. This will revert back to the old Windows 2000 look as well as take away a lot of the fancy graphics effects. However, if you are really into performance, this is the price you have to pay.

Right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop or in your start panel and select properties.
Next, Click on the Advanced tab and hit the setting button under performance.
On the visual effects tab, select Adjust for Best Performance and hit OK.
Hit OK once more to exit system properties.

Now your computer will run slightly faster!

Create a shortcut to switch users !

2009-06-23T05:47:00.000-07:00

Fast user switching has been a very useful feature of Windows for multi-user computers. Dating back to Windows XP, fast user switching allows multiple users to be logged into a computer at once. This is very useful if a user is in the middle of work but another needs to use the computer shortly. Fast user switching will allow the other user to log in while still retaining the other users session. Once the other user is finished the session can be switched back to the original user.

Creating a shortcut to switch the active user is as easy as creating a shortcut to c:\windows\system32\tsdiscon.exe

Right click where you want the shortcut to be created and select New and then Shortcut.
Copy and paste “c:\windows\system32\tsdiscon.exe” into the location box and hit Next.
Give it a name and hit Finish.

Fix Broken and Slow Tab Issues in Ie 8 !

2009-06-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

Some users that upgraded to Internet Explorer 8 experience issues with tabs not working properly or taking a very long time to load. It seems for most users the issue can be attributed to a problem with actxprxy.dll not installing properly during the upgrade. If you have a similar problem with IE8, fixing the issue is as simple as a running one command.

Just open up an administrative level command prompt and type in regsvr32 actxprxy.dll and hit Enter. Reboot your computer and your tab issue should be resolved.

Kill Processes from Command Prompt !

2009-06-23T05:39:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you are familiar with the traditional way to kill or end a process in Windows using Task Manager. This method is effective but not nearly as fun as killing a process in Command Prompt. Additionally, killing processes in Command Prompt provides much more control and the ability to end multiple processes at once.

All of this is possible with the TaskKill command. First, let's cover the basics. You can kill a process by the process ID (PID) or by image name (EXE filename).

Open up an Administrative level Command Prompt and run tasklist to see all of the running processes:

C:\>tasklist

Image Name PID Session Name Mem Usage
========================= ======== ================ ============
firefox.exe 26356 Console 139,352 K
regedit.exe 24244 Console 9,768 K
cmd.exe 18664 Console 2,380 K
conhost.exe 2528 Console 7,852 K
notepad.exe 17364 Console 7,892 K
notepad.exe 24696 Console 22,028 K
notepad.exe 25304 Console 5,852 K
explorer.exe 2864 Console 72,232 K

In the example above you can see the image name and the PID for each process. If you want to kill the firefox process run:

C:\>Taskkill /IM firefox.exe /F

C:\>Taskkill /PID 26356 /F

The /f flag is kills the process forcefully. Failure to use the /F flag will result in nothing happening in some cases. One example is whenever I want to kill the explorer.exe process I have to use the /F flag or else the process just does not terminate.

If you have multiple instances of an image open such as multiple firefox.exe processes, running the taskkill /IM firefox.exe command will kill all instances. When you specify the PID only the specific instane of firefox will be terminated.

The real power of taskkill are the filtering options that allow you to use the following variables and operators.

Variables:

STATUS
IMAGENAME
PID
SESSION
CPUTIME
MEMUSAGE
USERNAME
MODULES
SERVICES
WINDOWTITLE

Operators:

eq (equals)
ne (not equal)
gt (greater than)
lt (less than)
ge (greater than or equal)
le (less than or equal)

"*" is the wildcard.

You can use the variables and operators with the /FI filtering flag. For example, let's say you want to end all processes that have a window title that starts with "Internet":

C:\>taskkill /FI "WINDOWTITLE eq Internet*" /F

How about killing all processes running under the Steve account:

C:\>taskkill /FI "USERNAME eq Steve" /F

It is also possible to kill a process running on a remote computer with taskkill. Just run the following to kill notepad.exe on a remote computer called SteveDesktop:

C:\>taskkill /S SteveDesktop /U RemoteAccountName /P RemoteAccountPassword /IM notepad.exe /F

To learn more about taskkill run it with the /? command just like any other Windows command.

Blue Death Screensaver !

2009-06-23T05:33:00.000-07:00

Description :

I liked the way the error screen looked so I made it into my screensaver. but if you still have a CRT monitor I wouldn't recomend letting it run for too long since it doesn't move therefore increasing the chances of it leaving a permanent image on your monitor. LCD displays should be fine though.

TO EXIT THE SCREENSAVER YOU MUST PRESS "Esc" KEY

Download : Link

More Info : Link

Media Center 1.0 - Year 2008

2009-06-23T02:43:00.000-07:00

Description:

Install System : GSoft, from GIGASoft.IR

- Added additional Media Center :

Microsoft .Net Framework
Install Media Cneter Vista

Install Windows Plus

Boot Screen
Logon Screen
Sounds
Cursors
Wallpaper
Vista Start
Visual Style
True Transparency

Write ISO Files to CD

Windows Xp Live For Convert Xp Pro To MCE

Or

Convert Xp File

Download Installer

Needed Files PLUS.CAB SONIC.CAB MEDIACTR.CAB
-------------------------------------------------------

Download : Link

More Info : Link

Longhorn Inspirat !

2009-06-22T14:35:00.001-07:00

Description :

Old version of "Vista Inspirat" !

Do not use this old Bricopack with :
- Windows Vista (x86 and x64)
- Windows XP x64
- Windows XP SP2
- Windows XP SP3

This first release was made after looking at the screenshots of the beta version of their next operating system, at the time its name was LongHorn.

Download : Link

More Info : Link

Leopard 1.0 - Year 2009

2009-06-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

Description:

Leopard Shell Pack

Support:
Windows XP (Home, Pro, RTM, SP1, SP2, SP3, Corporate)
Windows 2003 (Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, RTM, SP1, SP2)
Windows Media Center Edition (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition - All Language Versions

NOT work with 64 bit versions of Windows

Softwares: Flurry screen saver by Matt Ginzton
RK Launcher Nightly by RaduKing
Reshacker by Angus Johnson
Styler by ta2027
Tclock by Two_toNe
TransBar by Anders Kjersem
TrueTransparency by Lefreut
YzShadow by M.Yamaguchi

Download : Link

More Info : Link

From Xp To Vista !

2009-06-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

Description :

BricoPack Vista Inspirat is a free pack which modifies Windows XP system files in order to change its appearance and make it look like Windows Vista (the next operating system made by Microsoft).

Rewarded by a lot of magazine, Vista Inspirat BricoPack is the best way to change quickly and easily your Windows icons, logon and visual style.

Warning : the use of a BricoPack installed without following our instructions can make your system down. Before installing this BricoPack, please read the instructions page "about the BricoPacks". You must not install this pack on Windows x64.

Download : Link

More Info : Link

GShellPack 1.9 - Year 2009

2009-06-22T14:21:00.001-07:00

Description:

Dear subscribers,
We greatly appreciate your support that gave us the required incentive to go on our effort to design and construct a new Gshell pack. The construction of Gshell Pack (version 1.9) is now finished and ready for you to download.

Files > Internet Explorer > Internet Explorer 6
Files > Windows Media Player 11

Download : Link

More Info: Link