Removing the shortcut arrow from icons on the desktop

We can remove the shortcut arrows from the shortcut icons on desktop by following steps:-



1.Click the Start button, type regedit in the Search box ( RUN or window + R for XP) , and then press Enter to start the Registry Editor.

2.After the Registry Editor has started, navigate through HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer.

3.Right-click the Explorer folder, expand New, and select Key. Type Shell Icons as the name of the new key.

4.Right-click the new Shell Icons folder, expand New, and select String Value. Type 29 as the name of the new value.

5.Right-click the new string you just created and select Modify. Set the value to the path to the icon plus a comma and the icon index number.For example, I use C:\icons\ rolenshortcut.ico.1 The icon index number specifies which icon you want to use in the file. (Some files can contain multiple icons, such as the shell32.dll file.) Click OK when you are finished.

6.Log off and back on, and you should see you new shortcut overlay.

Removing all icons from the desktop

No matter how hard I try, I always end up with a lot of junk on my desktop. Programs that I download and documents that I was too lazy to save elsewhere as well as new program links that seem to pop up from nowhere: There is never an end to the war that I fight with my desktop to keep it clutter-free. I like to be able to see my desktop wallpaper and not have my view of the wallpaper blocked by useless icons. One cool way to win the never-ending desktop war is to just disable the desktop's ability to show the icons and instead place the most common desktop icons such as My Computer and the Recycle Bin on the Quick Launch bar.

Disabling the icons on the desktop is actually a very simple task. Most people never know about this feature because it was placed where you would never expect it in previous versions of Windows. In Windows Vista, Microsoft finally got it right. Just right-click your desktop, expand View, and then select Show Desktop Icons. Almost instantly, the icons disappear.

Don't worry; the icons and folder on your desktop were not deleted. If you ever want to turn the icons back on, just repeat the preceding steps once more.

Change drive letters

To change drive letters (useful if you have two drives and have partitioned the boot drive, but the secondary drive shows up as "D")

Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management, Disk Management, then right-click the partition whose name you want to change (click in the white area just below the word "Volume") and select "change drive letter and paths."
From here you can add, remove or change drive letters and paths to the partition.

Adding Programs To The Start Menu

Right click on any .exe file in Explorer, My Computer, Desktop and select 'Pin to Start Menu', the program is then displayed on the start menu, above the separator line. To remove it, click the file on the start menu and select 'Unpin from Start Menu'. Below you can check the before and after shots.

Disable CD Autorun

1) Click Start, Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC

2) Go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System.

3) Locate the entry for Turn autoplay off and modify it as you desire.

Create a Password Reset Disk

if you’re running Windows XP Professional as a local user in a workgroup environment, you can create a password reset disk to log onto your computer when you forget your password. To create the disk:

1.Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click User Accounts.
2.Click your account name.
3.Under Related Tasks, click Prevent a forgotten password.
4.Follow the directions in the Forgotten Password Wizard to create a password reset disk.
5.Store the disk in a secure location, because anyone using it can access your local user account.

Hide 'User Accounts' from users

Go to Start/Run, and type:

GPEDIT.MSC

Open the path in GPEDIT editor

User Config > Admin Templates > Control Panel

doubleclick "Hide specified Control Panel applets"

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

click Add button,

type "nusrmgt.cpl" into the add box

How to Convert FAT to NTFS file system

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS, perform the following steps.

Click Start, click Programs, and then click Command Prompt.

In Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type cmd and then click OK.

At the command prompt, type CONVERT [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS.

Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.

NOTE: Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion from FAT to NTFS is minimal, it is best to perform a full backup of the data on the drive that it is to be converted prior to executing the convert command. It is also recommended to verify the integrity of the backup before proceeding, as well as to run RDISK and update the emergency repair disk (ERD).

Make your Folders Private

•Open My Computer
•Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
•If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
•Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
•Double-click your user folder.
•Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
•On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.


Note

•To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
•This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
•When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
•You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS

NTFS vs. FAT

To NTFS or not to NTFS—that is the question. But unlike the deeper questions of life, this one isn't really all that hard to answer. For most users running Windows XP, NTFS is the obvious choice. It's more powerful and offers security advantages not found in the other file systems. But let's go over the differences among the files systems so we're all clear about the choice. There are essentially three different file systems available in Windows XP: FAT16, short for File Allocation Table, FAT32, and NTFS, short for NT File System.


FAT16
The FAT16 file system was introduced way back with MS–DOS in 1981, and it's showing its age. It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive, and has had minor modifications over the years so it can handle hard disks, and even file names longer than the original limitation of 8.3 characters, but it's still the lowest common denominator. The biggest advantage of FAT16 is that it is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX. The biggest problem of FAT16 is that it has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger. In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.

FAT32
The FAT32 file system, originally introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, is really just an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. As such, it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system. However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.

The Advantages of NTFS
The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.

The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.

When to Use FAT or FAT32
If you're running more than one operating system on a single computer, you will definitely need to format some of your volumes as FAT. Any programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT16 or possibly FAT32 volume. But keep in mind that you have no security for data on a FAT16 or FAT32 volume—any one with access to the computer can read, change, or even delete any file that is stored on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition. In many cases, this is even possible over a network. So do not store sensitive files on drives or partitions formatted with FAT file systems.

Restricting Logon Access

If you work in a multiuser computing environment, and you have full (administrator level) access to your computer, you might want to restrict unauthorized access to your "sensitive" files under Windows 95/98.
One way is to disable the Cancel button in the Logon dialog box.
Just run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Network/Logon

Create the "Logon" subkey if it is not present on your machine: highlight the Network key -> right-click in the left hand Regedit pane -> select New -> Key -> name it "Logon" (no quotes) -> press Enter. Then add/modify a DWORD value and call it "MustBeValidated" (don't type the quotes). Double-click it, check the Decimal box and type 1 for value.
Now click the Start button -> Shut Down (Log off UserName) -> Log on as a different user, and you'll notice that the Logon Cancel button has been disabled.

Make Desktop Icons Transparent

To make your desktop's Icon Transparent you will have to following records.

Go to ontrol Panel > System, > Advanced > Performance area > Settings button Visual Effects tab "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop"

Customizing the Frequently Run Programs list

Every time you launch an application on your PC, Windows is watching. It keeps track of the applications you run to derive the list of frequently run programs. You can find the list of frequently run programs on the left side of the Start panel.


This program list can be useful for quickly accessing your applications instead of navigating through the entire All Programs menu.

There are a few cool tweaks for the Frequently Run Programs list that will allow you to customize it to make it more useful for you. The next three sections show you how you can modify the icon size, change the number shown, hide applications from showing up, and pin applications to the list.

Customizing icon size
One way that I like to customize my Start panel is to decrease the size of the icons on the left so that I can fit more icons on the screen. Figure 2-3 shows the difference between a Start panel that has been switched to use small icons and the normal Start panel.

Changing the icons is easy. You just need to change one setting within the Start menu properties. To do so, follow these steps:

Move your mouse cursor over the Start button and right-click it, and then click Properties.

This brings up the Start Menu Properties menu that you used in the preceding section. Here you want to click the Customize button.

Scroll all the way to the bottom of the list and uncheck Use large icons.

Click OK to save your change and click OK once more to finish.

You have now made some more room so that you can display more frequently run programs on the Start panel. When you click the Start menu, you may notice that there are not any more programs showing up. That is because you also have to adjust the number of programs that will appear. The next section shows you how to adjust how many program shortcuts are displayed.

Tweaking the number displayed
By now you have changed the icon size of the Frequently Run Programs list so that you can fit more icons on the screen. Now you can increase the number of programs that will be displayed so that your list of programs will become even more useful. If you decide that you do not want to change the size of the icons, don't worry. You can still change the number of programs that display; you just can't display as many.

Changing the number of programs depends completely on personal preference. Do you like having a huge Start panel that stretches from the taskbar to the top of the screen? Do you like a Start panel with a small footprint? By design, the Start panel cannot contain more than 30 programs on the list. Very few users can display 30 items simultaneously because they must have their screen resolution set at a minimum 1280 × 1024, assuming that they are using the small icons. That high resolution is usually used only by owners of screens larger than 18 inches. The most common computer screen resolution is 1024 × 768. At that resolution, 22 programs can fit on the Start panel when the small icons are used. If you have an older computer or just a small display and your screen resolution is set for 800 × 600, you will be able to display only 15 programs on your Frequently Run Programs list.

The resolution settings of your screen determine the maximum number of programs that can be displayed. If you accidentally choose too many programs, Windows will let you know by giving you a friendly pop-up message when you try to click your Start menu after the change.

Now that you have an idea of the number of programs that your computer can display, you are ready to get started. To increase the number of programs, do the following:

Right-click the Start button and select Properties to bring up the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties settings.

Click the Customize button to show the Customize Start Menu options.

On this screen, locate the Start Menu Size section and the Number of recent programs to display box. You can adjust this value by clicking the up and down buttons or just by selecting all the text and entering a new number.

Tip If you want to save even more room and never use the Internet Explorer and Mail client links on the top of the Frequently Run Programs list, clear all the boxes in the Show on Start menu box on the Customize Start Menu window.


After you have entered the number of programs you want displayed, click OK to save your changes.

Click OK once more and you are finished.

The best way to set the number of programs is to experiment with several different values until you get your Start panel looking the way you want it. After you find the value that is just right, you will have a much-improved Start panel.

Keeping programs off the list
Say you have a top-secret program that you do not want anyone else to know you have. Every time you run a program on your computer, Windows Vista records it and places the shortcut on your Frequently Run Programs list. Sometimes this is not always a good thing and can cause a privacy or job-security problem.

For example, let's use the situation of a guy named Larry. Larry is a big fan of Purble Place in Windows Vista. It is not the best game, but he likes it because it is an alternative to actually doing work. Every time Larry plays Purble Place, Windows Vista automatically adds the game to the Frequently Run Programs list. In this situation, program tracking creates a big problem for Larry. He is concerned that one of his fellow employees might see his Frequently Run Programs list and ridicule him for playing a children's game or report him to management for not doing work. What should he do? First, Larry should buy a copy of Hacking Windows Vista, and then he should follow these steps:

Click the Start menu and select Run. Type regedit and click OK to start the Registry Editor.

Expand the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT folder.

Search through the list of folders until you find the folder called Applications and expand that, too.

Now you will see a list of every executable file for the programs installed on your computer. To hide a program from the Frequently Run Programs list, expand the folder that is the executable for the program. To hide Purble Place, expand the PurblePlace.exe folder.

Tip If you do not know the name of the executable file that a program shortcut points to, you can easily look this up by right-clicking the shortcut and selecting Properties. In the Properties box, you will see a full path to where the file is located and the name of the file. When you right-click the shortcut in the Start menu for Purble Place, you will discover that the name of the executable for the game is PurblePlace.exe.


Can't find a folder called PurblePlace.exe? That is because some Windows applications are not listed. If your application is listed, skip this step. Otherwise, you need to create a new Registry key. To do so, select the Applications key within HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Right-click and select New, and then select Key. Type in the name of the executable for the name of the key. For Purble Place, name the key PurblePlace.exe.

Now that you have found the folder for the application or have created one, expand it so that you can see all its values. Then right-click your executable's folder that you just created or found in the Registry. Select New, and then select String. Type NoStartPage as the name of the string variable, as shown in Figure


Close the Registry Editor and log off and then back in. You will never see Purble Place in your Frequently Run Programs list again.

Now Larry can play as much Purble Place at work as he wants without having to worry about it showing up in his Frequently Run Programs list.

Pinning programs
I use the Calculator application all the time when I am using my computer. My desk calculator is always lost, and I don't want to waste time looking for it when I just need to do a quick calculation. Every time that I want to use the Calculator application, I have to click the Start menu, select All Programs, and then navigate up through the Accessories menu until I finally can click the Calculator app. There is a much better way that I can access this program.

Instead of navigating through the program listings, I can just pin the program to the Start panel. Pinning a program is a simple task that allows the program that you pin to appear on the Start panel just above the Frequently Run Programs list. If you pin a program shortcut, it appears just below the Internet Explorer and e-mail icons in the Start panel.

Navigating through the entire Start menu to launch a program you use all the time is a waste of time. Why waste your time? Pin your most commonly used programs today!

Are you excited yet? No? Okay, well let's get started anyway:

Start your pinning adventure by navigating through the Start menu as you normally do to launch a program. Navigate to a program that you use all the time, such as the Calculator application in the Accessories menu.

After you have highlighted the item, right-click the item and select Pin to Start menu. That's it. Your program will now appear directly on the Start panel.

Now let's say that you got a little too excited and pinned too many applications and want to remove some. What should you do? Just click the Start button once more to bring up the Start menu and highlight the program you want to unpin from the Start panel. Next, just right-click the item and select Unpin from Start Menu.

Pinning your favorite programs is a simple solution to speeding up your access to your programs.

Customizing User Navigation

Customizing user navigation is the next stop on the Windows Vista customizing road trip. In the preceding chapter, with the help of some cool hacks, you were able to change and improve the boot and logon screens. This chapter picks up where Chapter 1 left off and shows you how to customize and improve the visual navigation elements of Windows Vista.

This chapter starts with customizing the look and the contents of the cool new Start panel. The improved Start panel in Windows Vista has many useful new features, and I show how you can use them best. Then, I show you how you can customize the new program list and customize almost everything you see. If you don't like the new Start panel, you can then find out how to get the old classic Start menu back. Then, I show you some cool hacks to improve and customize the classic Start menu.

You also learn how to customize the taskbar on the bottom of your screen. The taskbar is an essential part of navigating your computer. I show you how to customize and improve its features and give you some new ideas on how you can use it that may dramatically improve your experiences with Windows Vista.

Customizing the Start Panel
The Start panel is what I consider the replacement for the traditional Start menu that you may be familiar with if you were a pre-Windows XP user. I call this the Start panel because it is not just a menu anymore. It is now a collection of various shortcuts and features, all thrown onto one panel that pops up. It offers many new features such as a dynamic list that includes your most frequently run programs so that you can easily access them without having to navigate through All Programs. In addition, the Start panel has replaced all the icons on the desktop except for the Recycle Bin so that your desktop will look much cleaner and uncluttered. New in Windows Vista is a Search box on the bottom of the Start panel. This new box enables you to easily search through programs in the Start menu and search your computer for documents and launch commands like a traditional Run box. Everything can be accessed from the Start panel now!

Today, tools and hacks allow you to customize the Start panel. Almost everything on it is customizable. You can add and remove icons and shortcuts, and you can even change the way it looks. You can even change the way the features on it, such as the Search box, work.

When you have finished reading these next few sections, you will have transformed your Start panel into something that works better for you and is much more useful for your everyday tasks.

Customizing navigation shortcuts
You will find many new navigation links on the Start panel that will help you navigate to various parts of Windows. All these shortcut buttons on the right side of the Start panel can be customized. Many can be removed completely, and others can be added. By default, you will see a button with your username followed by buttons for Documents, Pictures, Music, and Games. All these buttons are shortcuts to your personal folders. The next set-Search, Recent Items, Computer, Network, and Connect to-are more functional navigation shortcuts that allow you to jump to the most common system components. The last three shortcuts offer you a way to access system configuration components such as the Control Panel and Default Programs and a convenient shortcut to Help and Support for new users.

Some shortcuts are not displayed, such as the classic Run button, Printers, and Favorites. Other features, such as Display as Menu for buttons, that allow you to jump directly to a specific child item are also missing. This feature can be useful in some situations. For example, if you enable Display as Menu on the Computer button, you will see a list of drivers that you can jump directly to. This eliminates a few extra clicks that will help you get to where you want to go faster.

All these features and shortcuts are customizable on one screen. Follow these steps to access the Start Menu Customization screen:

Right-click the Start button and click Properties.

On the Start Menu tab, click the Customize button on the top right of the window. This loads the Customize Start Menu window, as shown in Figure

Scroll through the list and make changes to the items as you see fit. Refer to the sections that follow for my recommendations.

When you're finished adjusting the options, click OK and OK once more to close Taskbar Properties. Your changes will be live instantly.

Now that you know how to change the settings, the next few sections guide you through my recommendations for creating a clean and powerful Start panel.

Hiding user folders
Having all the user folders on the Start panel can be useful for some but not for me. You are already given a button that has your username on it. Through that button, you can access your music, pictures, and documents. Having these extra folders visible is just cluttering the Start panel and taking up real estate that could be better spent.

To clean up the user folders, while on the Customize Start Menu window (shown in Figure 2-1), set these options:

Documents: Select Don't display this item.

Music: Select Don't display this item.

Pictures: Select Don't display this item.

Games: Select Don't display this item. You can reach the games through the normal Start menu.

Customizing system component and management shortcuts
The system component shortcut buttons and management buttons also take up a lot of space on your Start panel. I rarely find myself using any of these buttons with the exception of Search and Computer. The others I have in my Quick Launch bar, or you can find them in the system tray. Here are my recommendations for these two sections:

Connect To: Clear the checkbox. You can access this in the system tray.

Computer: Set to Display as menu.

Default Programs: Clear the check box.

Help: Clear the check box.

Network: Clear the check box. You can access this in the system tray.

Printers: Check. The only other place you can get this is in Control Panel, which is inconvenient if you print a lot.

Run: Check if you like the old Run button. You can use the search box now as a Run box, too, but some may still like the old Run box. I do!

Tip While in the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window (right-click the Start button and select Properties), I recommend removing the check next to Store and displaying a list of recently opened files. This removes the annoying Recent Items entry on your Start panel.


You are now finished customizing your Start panel. If you followed my recommendations, your Start panel will now look like Figure

Changing the Logon screen background

How would you like to be able to customize the background image used on the Logon screen just as easily as you change the background image of your desktop? With a cool and free utility from Stardock, this is now possible. The logon in Windows Vista is nice looking and much better compared to XP. However, if you are like me, and you probably are if you are reading this book, you want to customize the background your way. This section shows you exactly how to do that using Stardock LogonStudio for Windows Vista.
Let's get started. First, Download a copy of the latest version of LogonStudio for Windows Vista and install it. When you have finished, follow these steps to change your logon background:

1. Click the Start button, type LogonStudio, and press Enter.

2. When you install LogonStudio, a few logon backgrounds will come pre-installed. Just click a background and click Apply to change the logon background.

3. To use your own image, click Create a new Logon screen from the side menu.

4. Type in a name and then click the Browse button to locate your image.

5. After you have selected your image, click Save.

6. Select your new logon image and click Apply to see it in action.

Enabling Num Lock by default

If you have a password that has both numbers and letters and you frequently use the number pad to enter part of your password, this hack is for you. I cannot count the number of times that I started to type my password and was then presented with a logon error telling me that my password was incorrect. I would sit there staring at the screen for a second before I realized that Num Lock on my keyboard was not on.

This is a great hack for every desktop computer with a full-size keyboard with a separate number pad. Turning on Num Lock by default on a laptop is not a good idea because usually most laptops do not have a separate number pad. Enabling this feature on a laptop will result in almost half of your keyboard functioning as the number pad, and you would be much better off using the numbers above the letters. To get started, follow these steps:

Click the Start menu, type regedit, and press Enter.

When the Registry Editor loads, navigate through HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard.

Locate the InitialKeyboardIndicators entry, right-click it, and select Modify. To enable Num Lock, enter 2 into the box. If you want to disable it, enter 0 into the box.

Then click OK to save the changes. That's it!

If you are on a laptop and you attempted to enable Num Lock even though I told you not to and need to fix your system, repeat the preceding directions but replace the value of InitialKeyboardIndicators with 0 to disable the feature.

Displaying a security message

Would you like to display a message to your users before they can log on? Are any instructions necessary for users of your computers, such as "Do not shut down this computer!" or possibly a security warning informing unauthorized users that they are breaking the law if they try to log on to your laptop? All these are possible with the help of Group Policy. With just a few clicks, you can easily display a message to your visitors, as shown in Figure:

Using the Local Security Policy editor, you can turn this feature on. Follow these steps to activate it on your PC:

1. Click the Start button, type secpol.msc, and press Enter.

2. When the Local Security Policy editor loads, navigate through Local Policies and then Security Options.

3. Locate the Interactive logon: Message title for users attempting to log on policy. Right-click it and select Properties.

4. On the Local Security Settings tab, type a title that you would like to use for your message and click OK.

5. Locate the Interactive logon: Message text for users attempting to log on policy. Right-click it and select Properties.

6. On the Local Security Settings tab, type your message and click OK.

7. Close the Local Security Policy editor; you are finished.

As soon as you log off or reboot, the security message settings will be activated.

Changing the Logon screen screensaver

If you turn on your computer and let it sit at the Logon screen long enough, eventually the screensaver will appear. This setting can be tweaked so that you can set the screensaver that you want to see instead of the boring Windows default. Unlike changing your screensaver for your account when you are logged on, it is possible to change the Logon screen screensaver setting only by using the Registry. With the help of a few quick Registry hacks, you can fine-tune the screensaver that is displayed and other settings such as the screensaver Timeout value that determines how long before the screensaver is activated.

Follow these simple steps to customize your Logon screensaver:

1. Start the Registry Editor. Click the Start button, type regedit in the box, and press Enter.

2. When the Registry Editor starts up, navigate through HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\ Control Panel\Desktop.

3. Let's change the amount of time the system waits after the last activity was detected before starting the screensaver. To do this, right-click the ScreenSaveTimeOut entry and select Modify. The amount of time to wait is stored in seconds. By default, the system waits 600 seconds (10 minutes) before starting the screensaver. If you want to change this value to something shorter, such as 1 minute, just enter a new value, which for 1 minute would be 60. Then click OK to save your changes.

4. By default, the boring flat Windows Vista logo screensaver displays. Try something a little more exciting such as the Mystify screensaver. To do this, right-click and select Modify on the SCRNSAVE.EXE string value. Set the value to the full path of the screensaver you want to use. For example, I use C:\windows\system32\Mystify.scr for the Mystify screensaver. Refer to Table for a list of Windows screensavers and the paths you can use. When you have finished making your change, click OK to save.

5. Table : Windows Vista Screensavers
   Open table as spreadsheet

   Screensaver Name	Full path
   Aurora	C:\Windows\System32\Aurora.scr
   Bubbles	C:\Windows\System32\Bubbles.scr
   Logon (Windows default)	C:\Windows\System32\logon.scr
   Mystify	C:\Windows\System32\Mystify.scr
   Photos	C:\Windows\System32\PhotoScreensaver.scr
   Ribbons	C:\Windows\System32\Ribbons.scr
   Blank Screen	C:\Windows\System32\scrnsave.scr
   Vista	C:\Windows\System32\ssBranded.scr
   3D Text	C:\Windows\System32\ssText3d.scr

6. Close the Registry Editor. You are now finished. After a reboot, you will see your new screensaver.

Clearing the last user logon

Every time you boot up your PC, all computer accounts and users who have logged on to it display on the Logon screen. This can be a big security risk because it shows the usernames of all accounts that someone can try to use to break into the computer. In addition, the Logon screen can become cluttered with user accounts. Therefore, it might be a good idea to enable the Do not display last user name policy. In previous versions of Windows that used the classic Logon screen, this policy would just clear the User name text box so that an attacker would have no clue about the last account used to log on. With the removal of the classic Logon screen in Vista, this policy behaves slightly differently by removing the Account list on the Logon screen and turning on basic User name and Password boxes, as shown in Figure

Using the policy is easy, if you choose to enable it. If so, just follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button, type secpol.msc, and press Enter.
2. When the Local Security Policy editor loads, navigate through Local Policies and then Security Options.
3. Locate the Interactive logon: Do not display last user name policy. Right-click it and select Properties.
4. On the Local Security Settings tab, select Enable, and then click OK.
5. Close the Local Security Policy editor and you are finished.

As soon as you log off or reboot, the new Logon screen settings will be present.

Hiding users on the Logon screen

One of the side effects of the new Logon screen is the list of all the user accounts on the computer. What if you created an account that you want only to run a service under? You do not want other users of your computer to even have the option to log on to that account because you designated it only to run a service. With the help of a simple Registry hack, it is possible to hide any account on the Logon screen so that it is no longer possible to log on to it (unless you turn on the Do not display last user name policy and manually type the username and password).

Hidden away in the local system settings is the feature that Microsoft used in the past to hide system accounts from the Logon screen. In Windows Vista, the actual Logon screen hides system accounts, so the old method code was removed from the Registry. However, the functionality still exists. In the next few steps, I show you how to re-create the missing Registry code so that you can use this feature once again to hide your accounts:

1. Click the Start button, type regedit in the Search box, and then press Enter.

2. When Registry Editor loads, navigate through HKEY_LOCAL\MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.

3. You must now create a new key. Right-click the Winlogon folder, select New, and then select Key. Name this new key SpecialAccounts.

4. Right-click the new SpecialAccounts folder, select New, and then select Key. Call this new key UserList.

5. Now you are ready to add the name of the account that you want to hide. To add a name, right-click and select a new DWORD value, as shown in Figure
6. When the new DWORD is created, enter the name of the user's account as the name of the DWORD. After you have done this, you can close the Registry Editor.

After you log off and back on or reboot, the user will not be displayed on the Logon screen. Keep in mind that no one will now be able to log on to this account interactively (as in having a graphical session).

If you ever change your mind and want the account to display on the Logon screen again, just delete the entry that you made in the list in the system registry, and everything will be back to the way it once was.

Customizing the Logon Screen of Vista, Changing user pictures

Windows Vista included a slightly improved Logon screen similar to the one that was used in Windows XP. Gone for good this time is the Windows NT-style classic Logon screen with which many domain users are familiar (because it was included in the last several releases of Windows). The new Welcome screen, as I called it in Windows XP, is here to stay, and is now your only choice for logging on. Not much changed except for a few visual enhancements that make the screen look more professional and make it fit in with the theme of the rest of the operating system.

In Windows Vista, Microsoft has done a lot of work on securing the logon system by digitally signing the logon components. This makes it next to impossible for anyone to modify the Logon screen files, so it greatly increases the security of Vista. Unfortunately, it also makes it next to impossible for people like us who want to customize the Logon screen; you can no longer just hack a system file and replace some resources in it. Now, if you hack a system file with a resource hacker and customize the images in it, the digital signature will be broken and the file will no longer be used by Vista.

The days of customizing the Logon screen are over for now until someone writes an application that extends the Logon screen or someone releases a patch that disables the requirement for the Logon screen system files to be digitally signed.

So, is this the end of customizing the Logon screen? Not at all! You can still do a lot of useful tweaks to the Logon screen that will give the Logon screen a personal touch, such a changing user pictures, hiding users, customizing the Logon screen screensaver, and more.

Changing user pictures
Each user who is set up on your computer can associate an image that appears next to his or her name on the Logon screen, as shown in Figure. By default, you have the option to select a picture for your account when you install Windows. However, the screen that allows you to pick an image offers only a small selection of the pictures available to you. In addition, if you do not like the images that Windows has to offer, you can select any image file.



The process of changing a user's image is simple. Just perform the following steps and you will have it changed in no time:
1.Click the Start button, and then click your user picture, as shown in Figure




2.Select Change your picture from the middle of the list.

3.You will now be shown all the Windows user images that you can choose from. If you find one you like, click it, and then click the Change Picture button.

4.If you prefer a different photo, click Browse for more pictures to select and use any image file on your PC.

5.After you have selected your new image, your setting change is instantly applied. You can now close User Accounts and Control Panel.

Now you have changed your user image on the Logon screen; you have also updated the image used on the Start menu.

How to remove Recycle Bin Icon from Desktop

To remove recycle bin icon from desktop plez follow these steps

If using XP Pro

Go to START > RUN

Type GPEDIT.MSC

Navagate to USER CONFIGURATION >ADMINISTRATIVE TEMPLATES >Click on DESKTOP,

On the right hand pane find ” Remove Recycle Bin icon on the desktop ” , double left click on it to ENABLE it.

Sorted!

If using XP Home
Create or modify the following registry entry

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel

{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

REG_DWORD

0×00000001

Fun with null and zip

1) Make a text file let give name a.txt file

2) Open and type the null character (alt + 255)

3) Press ctrl + a then ctrl + v a couple times to make some null bytes

4) Now make several copies of a.txt and name accordinly

5) Open cmd.exe

6) Type copy /b *.txt mainfile.txt

7) Now every copy is made into a super copy and repeat

now zip it and see its size.....its very less so give that file to you friend and say him to unzip.....

Free Airtel GPRS with full free unlimited download

Now a days Airtel gives New option to the Subscriber to access Mobile Office daily @ Rs.25.00/- per day.

But I got a Trick that’s help me to Activate my Mobile Office whole 30 days only for 25.00/. Its really good.

Just follow the Trick-
1) Your account balance should be above 25.00 for the first time.
2) Activate your mobile office by dialing *444*1#. You will Activate your Mobile Office in the Morning.
3) You got an Activation msg. Your account should deducted by Rs. 25.00/-
4) After that your can enjoy mobile office for 24 hours.
5) But for unlimited access you will do this :: Just switch off your mobile from 7.00 am to 10.00am. and your account balance should be below 25.00 /
6) Just try it enjoy the whole world only by 25.00.

Admin Password

Many ppl ask me why there is no built-in Administrator account available in Windows Vista and 7 like previous Windows versions? Why can't we use the default Administrator account? The answer is "Yes! The default Administrator account is created in Vista and 7 but its disabled by default for security purposes."

You might want to enable it for troubleshooting or to get rid of the annoying UAC prompts while tweaking your system. So here I'll describe a few methods to enable / activate the hidden Administrator account in Windows Vista and 7:

1st Method:

1. Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select "Manage", it'll open "Computer Management" window. ( You can also open it by giving "compmgmt.msc" command in RUN dialog box or Startmenu Search box).

2. Goto "Local Users and Groups -> Users". In right-side pane double-click on "Administrator" account. It'll open its Properties. Deselect "Account is disabled" option and Apply it.

2nd Method:

1. Type "secpol.msc" in RUN dialog box or Startmenu search box, it'll open "Local Security Policy" window.

2. Goto "Local Policies -> Security Options".

3. Double-click on first option "Accounts: Administrator account status" and select "Enabled" and apply it.

3rd Method:

1. Click on “Start button -> All Programs -> Accessories“. Right-click on “Command Prompt” and select “Run As Administrator“. If you are prompted to enter password, enter the password and continue. You can also open Command Prompt in Administrator mode by typing “cmd” in Startmenu Search box and press “Ctrl+Shift+Enter“.

2. Now provide following command:

net user administrator /active:yes

3. Thats it. The Administrator account will be enabled. If you want to disable it again, simply replace "yes" with "no" in above command.

NOTE: Never activate the hidden Administrator account until required. Its better to use other general accounts for better security. Also the Administrator account has no password, so if you enable it then don't forget to set a strong password for it.